Blog/May 2012/May 25th

May 25th (See this week's devar torah)

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Hi, again!

Just two days until shavuot (the Festival of Weeks), one of the three "pilgrimage holidays", and known as the day the Torah was given. Despite all that, it's the one of the three that gets short-shrift -- there are no unique commandments associated with it in our days. No maṣa (thank Heaven!), no temporary booths, nothing but ... cheesecake. Yes, cheesecake.

That's not to say that eating cheesecake on shavuot was written somewhere in the Torah, nor even that it was an institution of the Rabbis. Far from it! The eating of cheesecake on shavuot seems to have grown up as a popular custom (as is eating of dairy products in general on this yom-tov), and in many minds that grants it some sort of claim as a "real" custom which we are therefore required to follow. Of course, it doesn't hurt that cheesecake is delicious.

The idea of shavuot being a "dairy" holiday is a result of our years of being in the Exile. The Torah clearly tells us what (animal) offerings are supposed to be brought to the Temple on the holiday, and it is the only holiday on which leavened bread is brought, and it was the earliest time in the year when bikkurim (first fruits) were brought. As a matter of the Law, one is supposed to eat meat and drink wine (the men are, anyway) in order to fulfill the commandment of "rejoicing in the holiday". But because of our many and ongoing sins, we haven't got a Temple; and because without the Temple there is no unique component to the shavuot holiday, our ancestors in the Exile came up with cheesecake. As I said, at least cheesecake tastes good!

Ah well.

The biggest news for us this week is that Daniela graduated (yeah!) and also got a job (yeah!!). So we are doubly happy for her and Jeremy (in case you've forgotten, he's her intended ḥatan), and are hoping she'll be able to approach the upcoming wedding with a calmer demeanor now. We also got the birkonim, and I just found out this week that the mezuzoth I ordered will be ready in time. So, B"H, things are going well on that front.

Sarah visited a school in Tel Aviv, and was very impressed with it. Next week, she'll interview with the school she applied to in Jerusalem, and will then know what her choices are, and be able to make an informed decision. It's an exciting time of life, having all those choices ahead of you! I just hope she doesn't choose to make an embarrassing movie about us... not that there's any embarrassing material to be had, no!

I've got to go out and snip in the garden. The plants have decided it's time to sprout, and sprout they surely have. So I'll need to spend a couple hours trimming, hoeing and carrying the trimmings to the dumpster. I do need the exercise after all. In the meantime, Esther will be whirling around the kitchen in dervish-mode, causing all sorts of delicacies to appear as if by magic. At least the cheesecake is already made!

Though we'll be at someone else's place for one of the upcoming six meals, we're still making enough food to fuel the Mongol invasion: grandma Esther's baked chicken with yams and potatoes, Jewish pickles, baked salmon, cabbage salad, tomato salad, eggplant salad, carrot kugel, eggplant burekas, sambosek, tarta de cebolla, tarta de zapallitos, chard and chickpeas, fillet of sole, cheesecake!, rugelach, sheseq-mint sorbet, and banana-chocolate sorbet

Until next week,
shabbat shalom and ḥag sameaḥ!

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