Thursday, December 29, 2022

The queen of crowns is getting yet another one :(

Ouch--my gum hurts.  And so does my wallet.  :(

These photos of The Pond, which is at the southeast end of Central Park (and literally across the street from my dentist), are the only consolation for the giant hole that my dentist has drilled in our budget. 

One of the dentist's assistants said that, almost every year, some fool walks out onto the ice and falls in.




The Light Lab's Episode 36: The Poetry of Prayer (with Rabbi Reuven Kimelman)

Calling all tefillah (Jewish prayer) fans! Rabbi Reuven Kimelman talks about the Jewish prayer-book's historical development, kabbalists' contribution to prayer, and liturgical poetry and music. Bonus: He and Eliana Light are going to be teaching a course called The Deep Dive: Shema.

Here's a link to the podcast on Spotify.  If you're not fond of Spotify, you can also find it on Eliana's own website here, and probably on other podcast sites.

Here's the info and registration link for the course.

Here's an oldie but goodie from my blog, for Parashat Vayigash.

I'm generally a p'shat (literal interpretation) kind of person, and tend to take midrashim with a grain, if not a box, of salt--sometimes looking at the text directly makes more sense, and/or reading midrashim takes one so far from the original text that it's barely recognizable.  So my Thursday, December 20, 2007 post, Shim'on, here. Remember me? is about as close to writing a midrash as I've ever gotten.  😀 

 

For an example of how ignoring the midrashim actually clarifies the text, see here.

Monday, December 26, 2022

Oy, vey, am I late! Well, I guess I'll just give Chanukah a royal send-off with Rav Warshawsky's "Hanerot Hallalu. "

See and hear Rabbi Josh Warshawshy's HaNerot Hallalu here.

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Rabbi Josh Warshawsky's Vayeishev 5783 – Arise (d'var Torah & song)

See and hear here.

[For search purposes, see Vayeshev.]


P.S.  For those wishing to play catch-up, here's the link to Rav Josh's 5783 Musical Torah Journey.

Thursday, December 08, 2022

My new pink look :)

 


Tuesday, December 06, 2022

My thoughts (very belated) re Parashat Vayetze

Here's the link.  Thank you, Sefaria!

I'm making a few comments about Parashat Vayetze that I don't think I've mentioned before.

For openers, the early books of the Torah don't seem to show much respect for consent.  Bilhah and Zilpah are nonchalantly handed to Yaakov (Jacob) as concubines without ever uttering a word, in the same way that Hagar was handed to Avraham.  The only one the Torah shows giving consent is Rivkah (Rebecca).

Also, here's something I never realized--read carefully:

 

See also my Friday, November 24, 2017 post, Vayetze: How could Jacob have mistaken Leah for Rachel?   TheTorah.com does it again:  This is the most logical explanation I've ever read.

Rabbi Josh Warshavsky's Vayishlach 5783 – Na’ar Hayiti (d'var Torah & song)

Here's the open-access link to Rav Josh's d'var Torah and song for Parashat Vayishlach.

Monday, December 05, 2022

My Mary's Gone Crackers recommendation

Mary's Gone Crackers are kosher, parve, egg-free, gluten-free, and yeast-free.  They'd make a perfect cracker for me (and other gluten-free, dairy-free, yeast-free folks, except for those who can't eat soy or sesame), were it not for one minor problem--they don't taste like crackers.  I've been eating them for years, but I've never quite figured out what to make of them.  It finally dawned on me recently that maybe I've been taking their name too literally--since they're crunchy, like potato chips (crisps?), corn chips, and tortilla chips, and don't dissolve in soup, it makes more sense to think of them as rice-and-seed chips.  So now, instead of trying to figure out what I can spread on these so-called crackers, I just munch 'em like any other chips.  That works for me.

Yes, sometimes this is what I do at 3 AM when I can't sleep--I put the posts that I've been writing in my head down on "paper."  :)

Sunday, December 04, 2022

Autumn's last hurrah


Just click on the shot to get a closer look at the bush without so much brick behind it.   :)

Thursday, December 01, 2022

"The Pandemic Isn’t Forcing Moms Out of the Workforce — Dads Are"

This article dates back to July 2020, but I just saw it today on Facebook, courtesy of Aliza M. Hausman.

Personally, I think that both that article and the one to which it refers, about which I posted here, miss part of the problem.  As I commented:

"BTW, it doesn't have to be women who take care of the children. Rather, men could be stay-at-home dads while women work."

That decision may depend on which spouse has the higher income. [End of my comment.]

But the linked article certainly makes an important point about sharing childcare and housework responsibilities:

"For reporters: Instead of another article on how moms are struggling to juggle their work and childcare, what about a piece — or several — on how fathers are doing too little? Let’s be direct: Men’s refusal to do an equal share of domestic work during the pandemic — a decision that could roll women’s rights back by decades — is a national scandal. Why aren’t we covering it as such?

We can’t be above a little old-fashioned shaming. Not when the stakes are this high (and the behavior this shameful). The pandemic isn’t forcing mothers out of the workforce — it’s just shining a light on long-standing inequalities. The coronavirus doesn’t care who does the dishes or who helps with homework. So when we talk about these issues, let’s be precise: Covid-19 may be making it harder for parents to balance their home and work lives; but it’s dads who are making it harder for moms."

See also my Tuesday, March 12, 2019, post, "Book review: "Fed Up--Emotional Labor, Women, and the Way Forward," by Gemma Hartley.

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