The last of the Tishrei holidays has arrived. I am sad. It has been so nice to have had the time to celebrate. It has been nice to have the time off of work. I don' t know what I will do when I finally have a full week of work. It will be difficult.
Have a great holiday!
Showing posts with label jewish holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jewish holidays. Show all posts
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Beauty
When I looked outside of my bedroom window this past week this is what I saw. Its a crab apple tree . Its so beautiful. FYI , this was taken in the midwest where I spent the week of Rosh Hashannah.
One of the things that I miss about the midwest is having nature right outside one's window sill.
I really need to find a way to incorporate nature even in the concrete jungle of the big apple.
Monday, September 26, 2011
the holiday meltdown
tishrei is the jewish holiday season. when you are single or don't have everything required for a family oriented holiday season the blues can sometimes take over. sometimes the mantra 'well at least i have my health ' isn't sufficient to keep one smiling (though it should be).
if you are waiting for that black swan to appear and change everything in your life and well it doesn't appear well then we are in the same boat. but this is what i do when the melancholy blues try to take over..... i review this mantra.... life is not fair. it doesn't matter how good you are or how frum you are. life does not always turn out the way you would like it to. it does not mean that one should not be frum since things will not be perfect for you even if you always do the right thing. it just means that we do not understand why things happen the way they do. things may get better. thing may get worse. its best to focus on the good one has instead of just one what what lacks.
shanah tovah!
if you are waiting for that black swan to appear and change everything in your life and well it doesn't appear well then we are in the same boat. but this is what i do when the melancholy blues try to take over..... i review this mantra.... life is not fair. it doesn't matter how good you are or how frum you are. life does not always turn out the way you would like it to. it does not mean that one should not be frum since things will not be perfect for you even if you always do the right thing. it just means that we do not understand why things happen the way they do. things may get better. thing may get worse. its best to focus on the good one has instead of just one what what lacks.
shanah tovah!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
tisha b'av
today is one of the most difficult days on the jewish calender. we mourn the destruction of the beis hamikdash as well as every tragedy in jewish history. every other day of the year we are like the caged bird singing. today we mourn our galus and the loss of our former glory . may mashiach come bimhayrah beyamaynu. have an easy fast.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
shavuous
ordinarily when holidays arrive it accentuates my singleness. this year i have a different attitude. i think that we should all really appreciate life and the fact that we are on this earth to celebrate another holiday. life is never what you expect it to be. this doesn't mean that we shouldn't strive for anything it just means that no matter how much effort is expended the outcome may not be as anticipated.
on that note, have a peaceful and grateful shavuous.
on that note, have a peaceful and grateful shavuous.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
pre-pesach peril
i HATE crowds. and because i hate them so much i normally stay out of brooklyn supermarkets at their most busiest times. today i had to pick something up in a grocery store . i should have done so while i was still in manhattan. manhattan is not having a pre-pesach shopping meltdown in their supermarkets.
first i had opted for shoprite. bad move. i should probably be benching gomel. a grey haired russian , probably jewish, man who was in front of me pushing a shopping cart was upset that i was behind him so he pushed into his cart backwards with brute force into my cart. i fortunately was able to move back quick enough so i was unscathed. a shoprite employee reprimanded him , but i had enough. i left shoprite and instead made my way over to my least favorite avenue m supermarket- moishe's. there too there were those with shopping carts who stood behind me who bumped into me, but when i told them not to they stopped. the express line was long,the temperature july-esque, but i was able to get what i needed without any physical injury.
needless to say, i do not plan on entering any brooklyn grocery stores until after pesach.
first i had opted for shoprite. bad move. i should probably be benching gomel. a grey haired russian , probably jewish, man who was in front of me pushing a shopping cart was upset that i was behind him so he pushed into his cart backwards with brute force into my cart. i fortunately was able to move back quick enough so i was unscathed. a shoprite employee reprimanded him , but i had enough. i left shoprite and instead made my way over to my least favorite avenue m supermarket- moishe's. there too there were those with shopping carts who stood behind me who bumped into me, but when i told them not to they stopped. the express line was long,the temperature july-esque, but i was able to get what i needed without any physical injury.
needless to say, i do not plan on entering any brooklyn grocery stores until after pesach.
Friday, December 24, 2010
shabbat shalom
usually when goyim at work wish me a merry x-mas even when they know darn well im not celebrating their holiday it gets a bit awkward and i say thanks, ill have a nice day but its not my holiday. some goyim just can't comprehend how someone would not be celebrating x-mas. this year its a bit unusual because although december 25 is not x-mas or chanukah for a jew it is shabbos which actually is a holiday.hmmm.
to all of the yidden reading this blog have a shabbat shalom!!
to all of the yidden reading this blog have a shabbat shalom!!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
latkes vs sufganiot
its taken me awhile to accept the fact that sufganiot are a part of chanukah. for me latkes have always represented chanukah while sufganiot were the weak alternative , especially since i dont particularly like jelly donuts in the first place. okay thats it. i dont especially like the taste of a jelly donut so i dont understand why it has to share an equal headline as THE chanukah food . i realise the reason any food is a chanukah food is because its fried, but really now. don't you think a golden brown latke dipped in applesauce or sour cream is much better than a sloppy sweet jelly donut?
Sunday, October 3, 2010
the state of being married
it is no secret that tishrei can be a bit depressing for me as a single woman. my birthday passes and then poof, the jewish new year as well as my personal new year begin. good grief. and of course im usually off to visit easily married off relatives who are constantly giving birth. im very happy for them and i don't wish my lot upon them, but sometimes its a bit difficult to keep the perma smile plastered on my face.
some people think its a shame that there is such a pressure to be married as a frum jew and that people look at you as less than if you are single . some think that it should be okay to be single and frum and people should not feel that they should aspire to be married. i think that singles are often looked down upon due to our status. especially women. what makes things worse is when one is over the magic age (use your imagination) and then less people want to marry you. what makes it even worse is that not only are you stigmatized for being single one becomes stigmatized for not being divorced as well.
i personally would like to get married. just because its not as easy for some to get married than it is for others doesn't mean that one should settle and say one will just remain single. i wish that judaism didn't treat singles like the orphan , the ger or the widow, but they do. the only way this will change is when those who have endured my lot marry but don't have amnesia afterward. so often people forget to treat singles with respect even after having been single so long themselves. i guess they are just trying to fit in. its too bad though. the only people who can really understand what its like to be single and frum are those who have spent time being a frum single. if those of us who get to be married after a long journey of singleness remember what it was like to be single when you deal with those who are single the world would be a better place. frum judaism will always think its best to be married , but at least one wouldn't be shunned for being in a state one never wanted to be in for so many years in the first place.
some people think its a shame that there is such a pressure to be married as a frum jew and that people look at you as less than if you are single . some think that it should be okay to be single and frum and people should not feel that they should aspire to be married. i think that singles are often looked down upon due to our status. especially women. what makes things worse is when one is over the magic age (use your imagination) and then less people want to marry you. what makes it even worse is that not only are you stigmatized for being single one becomes stigmatized for not being divorced as well.
i personally would like to get married. just because its not as easy for some to get married than it is for others doesn't mean that one should settle and say one will just remain single. i wish that judaism didn't treat singles like the orphan , the ger or the widow, but they do. the only way this will change is when those who have endured my lot marry but don't have amnesia afterward. so often people forget to treat singles with respect even after having been single so long themselves. i guess they are just trying to fit in. its too bad though. the only people who can really understand what its like to be single and frum are those who have spent time being a frum single. if those of us who get to be married after a long journey of singleness remember what it was like to be single when you deal with those who are single the world would be a better place. frum judaism will always think its best to be married , but at least one wouldn't be shunned for being in a state one never wanted to be in for so many years in the first place.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
im back....
im back from the midwest. i had an enjoyable time there. glad to be in my own space though. of course i will be missing my vacation very much when i get back to work tomorrow.
i went to the cemetery for the first time after my dad's funeral. it was sad, but i must say that it still hasn't sunk in totally. no pun intended. i feel that it was very good to have gone even so.i mainly went because it was before rosh hashana.
it was a lot less painful talking with my mom about my dad's death and the events surrounding it than it had been five months ago.
the whole experience has really made me want to evaluate my life choices and see if i want to make any changes. thinking about death makes one think about how one wants to improve ones life. funny how that can be.....
i went to the cemetery for the first time after my dad's funeral. it was sad, but i must say that it still hasn't sunk in totally. no pun intended. i feel that it was very good to have gone even so.i mainly went because it was before rosh hashana.
it was a lot less painful talking with my mom about my dad's death and the events surrounding it than it had been five months ago.
the whole experience has really made me want to evaluate my life choices and see if i want to make any changes. thinking about death makes one think about how one wants to improve ones life. funny how that can be.....
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
shavuot
its hard to believe that shavuot is already here. its been almost seven weeks since my dad passed away. it seems like even longer ago. time flies. time heals.
have a meaningful shavuot everyone. enjoy the cheesecake ( unless of course you are lactose intolerant!)
Saturday, March 27, 2010
pesach greetings
wishing everyone a chag kasher v'sameach! not sure if i will be able to write until after pesach since i will be out of town....
Thursday, March 18, 2010
the pesach palate
when i was growing up in the midwest the kosher l'pesach aisles in the supermarkets were much larger than they are now . here in the new york area there is quite an abundance of kosher l'pesach items packaged items that you can't even imagine that there is so much less elsewhere. last year my mom could barely find kosher l'pesach cake mixes . here in brooklyn glatt mart , mountain fruit and pomegranate are bursting with them.
dont get me started with hand shmurah matzah! growing up we used to have to order hand shmurah matzah from another city. by the time it got to us many of the matzas were broken. before 9/11 i used to buy hand shmurah matzah in brooklyn and shlep it on the plane when i would visit my parents for pesach. very few matzas were broken. i wasnt the only one shlepping matzah either! after 9/11 they reduced the amount of carry on bags you could take on a plane ride, so i stopped exporting new york hand shmurah matzahs to the midwest.
i plan on roughing it in the midwest this pesach, but for those of you who are spending the holiday in the new york area, please make an effort to appreciate all of the kosher l'pesach amenities you are so fortunate to have.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
happy purim!!
today is my favorite jewish holiday. wishing everyone a happy purim. dont drink and drive! enjoy all of the shalach manot!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
notes on the hannukah song
december 3,1994 adam sandler debuted the original hannukah song on saturday night live. i watched in it in awe and part disbelief. it was hysterically funny and unmistakably jewish. while i was watching it i had no idea it would become such a cult classic and the only hannukah song played on the radio amidst of all of the x-mas carols every december.
the hannukah song is really a very silly song. it lists all the jewish celebrities who may or may not actually celebrate hannukah so all of us lonley jewish kids dont feel like we are all alone lighting a menorah each december. it also is sung by adam sandler in one of his childishly annoying voices. no matter. somehow this silly song caught on.
its too bad a song more like al hanisim or even the dreidel song do not reach the public air waves each december. but they do not. so im glad that the hannukah song does. at least it reminds the unaffiliated that there is a hannukah and that some hip celebrity wrote a song that they might be able to relate to.
i dont think that adam sandler had any idea he was creating a cult phenomenon when he was cooking up his hannukah song. he probably was just trying to write some kooky hannukah song for a saturday night live skit. dumb luck turned it into a holiday classic. and yes i do think that this is ultimately good for the jews.
the hannukah song is really a very silly song. it lists all the jewish celebrities who may or may not actually celebrate hannukah so all of us lonley jewish kids dont feel like we are all alone lighting a menorah each december. it also is sung by adam sandler in one of his childishly annoying voices. no matter. somehow this silly song caught on.
its too bad a song more like al hanisim or even the dreidel song do not reach the public air waves each december. but they do not. so im glad that the hannukah song does. at least it reminds the unaffiliated that there is a hannukah and that some hip celebrity wrote a song that they might be able to relate to.
i dont think that adam sandler had any idea he was creating a cult phenomenon when he was cooking up his hannukah song. he probably was just trying to write some kooky hannukah song for a saturday night live skit. dumb luck turned it into a holiday classic. and yes i do think that this is ultimately good for the jews.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
the hannukah stamp.
well here we are again. its december. its happy hannukah time. though i love e-cards, i always send out traditional snail mail cards. i have an aresenal of hannukah stamps. apparently i still have some of the first hannukah stamp which was 32 cents!!! i had bought a bunch of them because i was so excited they actually had a jewish stamp and i was afraid they wouldn't make them again the next year. well they did and they even made a dreidel one which i have the 37 cent, 41 cent and 42 cent version of. since ive been buying the forever stamp for the past few years i never remember how much a stamp is , so i looked it up online. turns out there is an updated menorah stamp that was made in 2008 that's actually 44 cents (which turns is still how much a stamp is in 2009) i have some now. i only bought 20 of them this time.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
too much yom tov
i think im all yom toved out! i was in shul today and read a placard that said " he who saves a single soul its as if he has saved an entire world." and i thought it said "he who saves a single's soul its as if he's saved an entire world." end the madness now!!!
Friday, October 2, 2009
tishrei blues
when the goyim talk about the holiday season its a joke. its two days . x-mas and new years. and if you want to count thanksgiving day its three days. big whoop. they are depressed and on the brink of suicide over three days. well the goyim have nothing on us jews. we have a holiday MONTH. tishrei. there's a good reason judaism isnt a missionary religion. jews tend to have a corner on mental illness to begin with, but the christian converts would not be able to handle a month of yom tov!
but seriously folks, i like the jewish holiday season of tishrei, but it can be a bit depressing for us single folk. the torah reading on rosh hashanah can really depress us single chics . if chana and sarah were so beloved and yet they had troubles having kids whats in store for us regular people? ive always heard that hashem loves to hear the davening of tzadikim and this is why they are always tested. well... enough tests. i dont think i can take any more of this.
the holiday season lightens up tonight when sukkot begins. another holiday to remind me i have no on to spend it with... and next week is simchas torah. unless one is on the upper west side this is no holiday for single women. the hakafot are really boring in brooklyn unless i have a few good friends to schmooze with.
well folks ... there is always next year... until then have a happy tishrei and a joyous sukkot!
but seriously folks, i like the jewish holiday season of tishrei, but it can be a bit depressing for us single folk. the torah reading on rosh hashanah can really depress us single chics . if chana and sarah were so beloved and yet they had troubles having kids whats in store for us regular people? ive always heard that hashem loves to hear the davening of tzadikim and this is why they are always tested. well... enough tests. i dont think i can take any more of this.
the holiday season lightens up tonight when sukkot begins. another holiday to remind me i have no on to spend it with... and next week is simchas torah. unless one is on the upper west side this is no holiday for single women. the hakafot are really boring in brooklyn unless i have a few good friends to schmooze with.
well folks ... there is always next year... until then have a happy tishrei and a joyous sukkot!
Friday, September 25, 2009
midwood memories
i like to kvetch about midwood as much as the best of them, but not today. i dont go to shul for shacharis every morning, but this year since elul, as ive been running to work every morning ive heard the shofar blowing from the shuls i pass by . no im not hearing things. this is midwood after all! im not sure why i hadnt noticed it before other years. i find it really cool.
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