Today I’ve been thinking about different kinds of change and transformation. There are the changes that happen in the natural world: blossoms turning to seeds or fruits, plants dropping their leaves and sprouting new ones. In our human bodies, too, these time-related changes take place — we grow up, we grow older, we grow old. …
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A wonderful day
There’s so much I’ve promised to share with you: my Simchat Torah experiences, my trip to Tzfat and visit with the family, the totally fascinating twelve hour tiyyul to the periferia… And yet, today I just have to tell you about today, because it was a good one! To begin with, it’s fall now for …
Sights, sounds, scents…
A lot has been happening. I want to tell you about my Simchat Torah experience (partly a let-down, partly a big uplift). I want to share my pictures from Tzfat and elsewhere. Most of all, I want to tell you about an amazing tiyyul I went on yesterday, where we spent the day visiting some …
No Hoshanot today!
Well, no hashanot for me — or, as the English has it, no hosannas. I set my alarm for 6:30 this morning, but somehow it didn’t go off, and I slept until 7:20. After even the most cursory shower and breakfast it was too late to walk to Hoshana Rabba services as I had intended. …
Sukkot clouds
We learned in the mishna: This is the principle with regard to the roofing of a sukka: One may not roof the sukka with anything that is susceptible to ritual impurity or whose growth is not from the ground. The Gemara asks: From where are these matters with regard to the roofing of a sukka …
Yom Kippur in Jerusalem
Before Yom Kippur, we received a message from Pardes explaining the holiday. (They are very conscientious about educating us, and they make no assumptions about our level of knowledge — which is fair enough, since we run the gamut from Hebrew speakers with considerable Gemara experience, many of whom have made aliyah and lived here …
Odds and ends and photos
I will definitely tell you about Yom Kippur in Jerusalem — I would be remiss not to. But in this post, I just want to catch up on sharing some odds and ends. And I will throw in a few photos that I haven’t yet posted that might be interesting. I’ve been in a little …
Cheshbon HaNefesh — How are we to achieve successful teshuvah?
I felt proud this morning when Leah told the Intermediate Talmud class that she could see how much we had progressed in the past month. I could see it too — I was aware of things my chevruta and I had gotten that other chevrutot had missed, and I had the extraordinary joy of not …
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A Sweet Rosh HaShanah
As I write, the second day of Rosh HaShanah is winding to a close. At 7:45, it’s fully dark out, and quite cool for a change — I’ve actually closed the French doors in the living room. My holiday has been a sweet one, thank G-d! I’ve enjoyed, first of all, being in a country …
Bougainvillea Blessings
Sometimes G-d seems to be sending us messages — even those of us who don’t really “believe” in “God”. I got up from my seat just now and saw that two bougainvillea bracts had blown in through the french doors onto my tiled living room floor. “Where did these come from?” I asked myself — …
Nine months in Israel 