Received a treasured thank you note in response to the card I sent.
Here’s a quote from the card (Habakuk 2:4):
“The righteous shall live through his faith”
צַדִּיק, בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ יִחְיֶה
On Community
I am thankful that I belong to a wonderful community here in Highland Park, both the Jewish community and my little borough as a whole. I am glad Batya, Jack, SoccerDad (good philosophy joke here) and Jameel believe there is a Jewish community online, because I value it very much, as I express myself better on my keyboard than I do verbally. And I love all the wonderful bloggers I have met, of many backgrounds and from a multitude of countries.
Community is especially important at a time of loss. This morning, a blogger Twittered that she had lost a favorite aunt. I expressed my sadness to her in a responding Tweet. (If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm leoraw). Online community can be special; it can be a way of saying, hey, I'm having a hard time here. Does anyone else get this? And hopefully, someone does.
Just last week I responded to a blog challenge, passed on to me by Ilana-Davita. I mentioned quite a few of my favorite bloggers on that post. Then on Thursday, I get awarded this sweet little award by Jientje, who has a lovely blog called Heaven in Belgium:
What did I do for this award? I just look at her beautiful photos and tell her how much I enjoy them. And I learn about Belgium. It seems that sunshine is always a pleasant surprise there, the few days that they get some sun. I learned a little about Belgium previously from a friend who grew up there; if you skip down to the bottom of the post, you’ll see where he now lives.
Since I didn’t award Ilana-Davita in my last list, I’ll put her first here:
Ilana-Davita: I never would have believed one could make friends blogging, but I really feel like I have found a special friend! Her posts, varying from her cozy reading nook to a review or of a book or a movie, are warm and welcoming. Her photos are charming, and her recipes delicious. We’ve studied the Book of Ruth and Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) together, and now we are discussing Psalms as our next possible topic. I highly recommend the banana cake, which I made on Friday.
Next, let’s visit the rambling woods: Michelle: Her blog is beautiful. If you like mama ducks and baby ducks, she has photographed many, and she will tell you all about the birds and other critters that live near her. And every time she leaves me a comment on my blog, I enjoy hearing what she has to say.
And now to Norway, where I don’t know what’s written but the views are fabulous: Stine’s hverdag
and now I’ll say nothing else about politics. But I will show you one photo of where my friend who grew up in Belgium now lives. It’s an area that gets lots and lots of sun:
It’s in Israel; can anyone tell me where in Israel?
Finally, if you want have fun with this and go forward, please post this little award on your blog, pass it on to at least seven new bloggers, and link back to me (thank you). There’s a little expression in Hebrew called “Hakarat HaTov”, recognition of the good, and I like to think that we can spread a little good recognition around the planet.
The “object” of the gratitude should be a person, or more than one person. Not an object, not an animal, and not an idea or fictional character. (Although, it’s within the rules to address the author/creator of ideas and/or characters.) The person can be living or dead.
I’m going to be hosting the Kosher Cooking Carnival in August, so please submit here: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_208.html
Recipes, restaurant reviews, cooking, food: as long as it’s kosher!
Both mention Soccer Dad, a fine blogger indeed, though he writes so much I only read some of what he posts! (update: and Soccer Dad responds with Meme Thanks).
There are other bloggers I read that haven’t gotten mentioned yet, so that will have to be a separate post. This one has too many links already. And I love SO many of the new photo bloggers that I’ve started “reading” (more looking than reading) that the task of posting a few would be impossible.
Regarding the photo, we went there yesterday. I took pictures, and we (my husband, my daughter and I) got to act in a play. If I can think of a good angle for a post, maybe I’ll write more later.
As Ilana-Davita pointed out, by picking out seven, you are eliminating others. I decided the first person on my list would be the first person disappointed by her list, and here she is (drum roll, please):
Batya at Me-Ander: Batya was the blogger who introduced me to blog carnivals. Many months ago, she left a comment on one of my cooking posts; I felt like she introduced me to the JBlogosphere. Yay, Batya!
And now for my second pick: Daniel who’s Struggling with God: He writes nicely and a very human way. Yes, he is often struggling. Sometimes someone else can voice what others just feel.
Three: Gail at Rubicon3: Gail writes insightfully about politics, warmly about her family, and I love when she puts up a drawing. She’s also a great photographer. Yesterday she helped me with Twitter. I still am not quite sure what Twitter is all about, but if you want to follow me, I’m leoraw.
Four: A Mother in Israel: She’s one of the only bloggers I’ve met in person. There’s always an interesting discussion on her blog. And I’m rather partial to the lovely header she has up there (I designed it for her).
Five: Frumhouse: Always something interesting to say, an interesting angle. Sometimes a lovely poem to warm your day.
Six: Jack: He helps keep the Jblogosphere going with Haveil Havalim, and he’s funny. More the second one. I mean, the first one is a lot more work. But the second one is why it’s always worth a peek to see what he’s noting today.
Seven: Lion of Zion: He teaches me about Brooklyn, what’s up in Camp Moshava these days (I went there for four years in the 1970s), gives me a peek into the male world of leining. Unpredictable, what his next post topic will be.
Eight (who said I can count): Robin, who introduced me to all these wonderful photo bloggers and Mr. Linky fun
I will be hosting in August, so please post recipes, thoughts on food, restaurant reviews, anything food-related as long as it’s kosher. For more details, read Batya’s post, who coordinates the Kosher Cooking Carnival.
I posted the answer to the Cookie Contest in the comments to that post.
And because I love showing off photos, here’s more Kfar Blum breakfast, the kibbutz hotel we stayed out in the north of Israel. For the salad lovers, we had:
And for the all-American kids like my son (and their mothers who had to taste and decided these were the best pancakes she had ever eaten):
And I have a Pirkei Avot post that I promise, at least to Ilana-Davita, bli neder (without making the promise have to stand up in a Jewish court, or something like that), that I will get online this week. About how even if you’re an old fogey-stogey like we are becoming, you can still learn Torah. But it’s much easier to get started when you’re young.
Posted: Learn as a Child
Meanwhile, visit Therapydoc’s post about the Shidduchim Crisis (matchmaking crisis in the Jewish community).
I really enjoy sites that use this cute little widget called Mr. Linky.
I first learned about these little projects for blogs to which one adds one’s own link from Robin, who regularly posts on Wordless Wednesday. I found Robin because she sometimes comments on Mother In Israel. And I want to wish Mother in Israel a safe and happy trip to America. And thank her for coming to visit us when we were at the Kings Hotel in Jerusalem.
OK, back to Mr. Linky. At one point several months ago, I posted a composition for Project Blue, which also uses Mr. Linky. That was a lot of fun. Soon after, Ilana-Davita posted for Ruby Tuesday. I also posted a recipe in a recipe box swap that uses Mr. Linky. Today, I “met” a blogger named Dina, who was posting as part of an ABC project that uses Mr. Linky. Dina, who lives west of Jerusalem, wrote about the attack last week. If it hadn’t been for Mr. Linky, I wouldn’t have found her blog.
What is very cool about all this is that you can connect with people you really wouldn’t otherwise meet. What you have in common is the desire to share something simple, a photo or a recipe. But it’s a nice start, sort of like an ice-breaker at a party full of guests.
It seems you can use Mr. Linky on almost any blogging platform, including one’s own WordPress installation, like mine. More about using Mr. Linky here. So if anyone has any good ideas for a Mr. Linky scheme, let me know. I was thinking of an alephbet one, like every week bloggers write something about a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Would it work? An artistic one, where artists can post a link to their latest creation? Any ideas welcome. Also, if you have a favorite Mr. Linky project that you’ve found on someone’s blog, please let me know.
We are going on vacation. And so is this blog. When I will get a chance to post again is a mystery to me (as well as to you). Maybe next week? Stay tuned.
In the photo is one of the first rudbeckia (black-eyed susan) of the season. I have many of them growing in the front of my house. Rudbeckia are native to New Jersey.
Underneath my yellow rudbeckia flower is a geranium plant with purple flowers. The little orange “dot” in the upper left of the picture is one of my first marigolds of the season.
