Blog/April 2009/Apr 10th

April 10th (See this week's devar torah)
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This week: getting ready for pesach, the blessing on the sun, the pesach seder... a super busy week.

The holiday of pesach (Passover) grips the entire country in its clutches. Everything important is set aside until acharei hachagim -- after the holidays. The Kinneret's water level descends half a meter, as everyone in the country washes everything in sight to get rid of the dreaded chamets (leavened grain or byproducts thereof). Stores are packed with every conceivable variety of "kosher lepesach" products, and with shoppers looking to stock their pantries for the week-long festival. The pre-holiday frenzy builds to a fever pitch, until finally D-Day arrives: the day before pesach, when this year we had more to do than usual.

First, there was the usual morning prayer. Then, the once-in-28-years blessing on the sun (see also my devar torah). Then destruction of the chamets, and finally preparing everything for the upcoming seder night.

When night finally fell, we were ready for the requisite four cups of wine -- and b"h, our guests had brought us some nice vintages to imbibe while we retold the story of our people's descent into slavery, redemption therefrom and prayer for the future ultimate redemption. We had a very pleasant group, mostly fellow "new immigrants", who generally made the effort to read the haggadah in Hebrew rather than in the easier (for them) English. After the reading and discussion we had the seder meal, which was -- of course -- incredibly delicious. Even the matsah was good. My home-made horseradish was extremely spicy, Esther's various dishes were splendid, the company was convivial.

The only thing which would mar my otherwise perfect pesach was -- you guessed it -- ants. Since we had seen ants in one of our cupboards before the holiday, I was determined to get rid of them so we wouldn't have any unwanted intruders in our food. I got various poisons and set forth with a will to destroy them. At first, they seemed under control; but towards the end of the holiday day itself, we opened a cupboard and saw a veritable army of six-legged creepers in our cupboard. They were attacking our sealed bags of food -- and I don't think they succeeded in penetrating the plastic -- but I flipped out. Like Captain Ahab, I became obsessed with destroying my enemy -- but how? Poison didn't work, intense cleaning didn't work. Essential oils didn't work... what now? So today I took a can of expanding foam insulation, and sprayed it into various holes from where the little creeps may be entering the house. I caulked the cabinets with silicone sealant. And for good measure, I sprayed a bit more poison -- but to be honest, I think the spray actually attracts the ants. Further updates next week, should I survive the experience emotionally intact...

Stuff you can't make up:

• A chareidi man was arrested for stripping in a supermarket in protest of their selling chamets products during pesach
• Near the Machane Yehuda shuq is a store which is called "Grill, charcoal and watermelon". Yep, that's all it sells -- talk about seasonal!
• On my way to work every day, I pass Pizza Obama (kosher, thank you very much). I think it may be unique in the world.

I do hope that Obama did not order from Pizza Obama for the seder he hosted on Thursday night. What's next? A presidential Simchat Torah? No, probably not; he's also got to make nice with the muslims.

In the usual anti-semitic news roundup, Chicago's DePaul University wants to outdo Hamas. And the geniuses in Turkey were shocked by the extremely low number of Israeli tourists this year. Surprise! When your president runs off at the mouth in anti-Israel tirades, why would you expect Israelis to ignore it?

Until next week,
Shabbat shalom and mo`adim lesimcha!

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