Blog/April 2011/Apr 22nd

Apr 22nd (See this week's devar torah)

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Hi, again!

The holiday of pesaḥ commenced this past Monday night (and is still going on). We had a very enjoyable seder with our good friends, and have since spent the time mostly eating and relaxing.

The first intermediate day (א' דחול המועד) we had several friends "from the old country" come over for a barbecue -- and had a great time catching up, shooting the breeze and discussing their plans for aliyah. We were a bit surprised to hear that some of them had thought Maale Adummim was populated with "religious extremists" and that it was dangerous to get here. Actually, only about a third of the population here is religious, and another third is "traditional". I'm not sure there are sufficient "extremists" to be statistically significant; and it is quite safe to get here, thank God!

On the second intermediate day we went to the Israel Museum, where Sarah got in for free (because she's in National Service), and Esther and I got in for half-price (because we've got a Leumi credit card). That lifted my spirits considerably! The museum is huge, and we only saw a small bit of it. The archaeological exhibits were very interesting, as was the exhibit of the Aleppo Codex. Sarah found the art exhibits interesting as well. But the high-and-low-light was seeing the current Minister of Defense with his family and entourage of bodyguards, not ten meters away from us. As Sarah said, in Israel you're always running into "celebrities". Too bad I couldn't actually run into him (because of the bodyguards, don't you know?).

Now it's the third intermediate day, and we're getting ready for shabbat. The weather on yom-tov was hot, then it turned cool; and it's very cloudy now with a chance of showers. It actually rained a tiny bit just now.

Because it was hot on yom-tov, our nemesis -- the ants! -- returned to Chez Aaron. So as soon as night fell and yom-tov was over, I got out our ant bait-poison and set it out for our fine six-legged friends. In a short while, they were all gathered 'round the goop, enjoying their Last Supper. When I got up the next morning and checked out the bait puddles, there was not even one single ant. So I'm not sure if the bait did the trick, or if the change of weather was discouraging to them, or perhaps it was a mass hallucination. We'll find out soon enough, I'm sure.

B"H, we'll have plenty of guests over shabbat: Sarah's friend and her friend will be staying with us (unfortunately for them and for us, they do not eat qitniyot). Other friends of ours will be coming for dinner. We'll serve: yams with squash, stuffed zucchini, baked chicken, vegetable soup, potato kugel, salatim, lamb and fava stew, beef bastilla, rice, mushroom pâté, vegetable croquettes, banana-nut cake, and chocolate-dipped macaroons (change your tunes!).

Until next week,
shabbat shalom and moʿadim lesimḥa!

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