JPiX is the Jewish Photo Bloggers’ Blog Carnival. Click on each thumbnail to view original post.
Three by Batya: Herodian ruins, shopping mall, Old City of Jerusalem
Three by Sharon of Real Streets of Jerusalem: fruit stand, Gan Sacher on Israel’s 64th birthday, Jerusalem Day
Left: chol hamoed Pesach visit to the Israel Museum in Yerushalayim by Mrs. S. and Right: Ari Sephardi Synagogue by Laurie Rappeport courtesy of Daled Amos
Left: New Season of Archaeological Digging at Tel Shiloh by Yisrael Medad; Middle and Right: Yemin Moshe, a tiny neighborhood in Jerusalem, near the Old City; and Tower of David by Toby
Left: sunflower bud by Jewaicious; Middle and Right: Poppy and fence; Golden Hour by Robin
Three photos by Leah: Pidyon haben, framed Kotel photo, Lag B’omer collage detail
Three by Leora: Chametz burning, Lavan, Yaakov and Rachel, cherry blossoms
JPiX Spring 2012 is now live on Ilana-Davita’s blog. I hope you will take the time to visit and leave a comment on her blog and on the blogs of some of the photographers. I counted eighteen (18) photographers in this edition.
Adar is the Jewish month that contains Purim, a fun holiday with costumes, hamantaschen, and reading of the Book of Esther. The Adar blog carnivals are a good way to learn about Purim (and so much more).
Thank you so much to Phyllis aka Imabima who is hosting Haveil Havelim and gave top billing to JPiX. Learn more about JPiX and submit your own relevant photos or artwork on the JPiX page. The next JPiX will be hosted by Ilana-Davita on March 12.
Thank you to Yosefa for hosting the Adar Kosher Cooking Carnival. Visit the KCC post for delicious recipes and more.
Watercolor on the right is a detail from a painting I did in preparation for the Shabbat painting on this post. I love painting wine glasses.
Shabbat watercolor with challot, candles, and kiddush cup; watercolor by Leora Wenger, 2012
Every week traditional Jews around the world celebrate a holiday. As one of my friends said, we prepare Thanksgiving dinner every week! Well, maybe not turkey. In the painting are two challot (plural of challah, the traditional braided bread), two candles (we are not allowed to light new flames on Shabbat, so we light candles before the day begins; I actually light five, one candle for each family member) and 1 kiddush cup (filled with wine or grape juice). The two loaves of bread symbolize the fact that when the Children of Israel were in the desert, they would pick double the bread (actually, it was manna) the day before and rest on Shabbat. Kiddush means “sanctification” – it’s the special prayer said at the beginning of the Friday night and Shabbat lunch meals. We also say a version of kiddush on Jewish holidays like Passover or Sukkot.
I asked a few of my blogger friends to tell me some of their Shabbat favorites. Enjoy the responses!
My favorite zemer is Mizmor L’David.
My favorite things to eat on Shabbos are freshly baked challah and potato kugel (which always tastes best at the shul kiddush).
A favorite pastime on Shabbos is reading, but I also really enjoy spending time with family and friends (without the usual distractions of telephones, television, etc.).
Least favorite part of Shabbos? When it ends of course! (and we have to clean up and go back to the usual routine).
“In New York there were laws that forbade opening stores on Sunday so in order to keep Shabbat an orthodox Jew had the choice of keeping his store closed two days every week or to open on Sunday and if a policeman passed by pay a fine. My grandfather did a little of both. So what was only a marginally profitable business in the dark days of the Great Depression became even more marginal.”
And in this post From Generation to Generation Risa talks about her mother and shares how she is one of a long chain of women who have lit candles for Shabbat.
Batya talks about how she and her husband eat on Shabbat: lots of vegetables! Her Shabbat every week also has Torah – she regularly attends a women’s class called Shiur Nashim (class for women).
Ilana-Davita enjoys planning her Shabbat menus in advance of the day and reading and napping on Shabbat. Traveling back in time to 2008, she posted Quick Shabbat Dishes with Asian Touch.
Mirj of Miriyummy writes:
Favorite zemer: Dror Yikra, sung in an authentic as possible Yemenite accent.
Favorite Shabbat food: my husband makes these amazing roast potatoes. He parboils them and then roasts them in a hot oven in shmaltz!
Favorite parsha: I love parshat Beshalach because of Shirat Hayam.
Favorite dvar torah: My husband has a dvar torah for parshat Noach where he compares Noach to Avraham and Moshe. I never get bored or tired hearing that one (every year!).
Favorite Shabbat past time: kiddush hopping! Some whisky, some kugel, lots of friends!
Favorite Shabbat blog: my own post: The Story of Noah — Good Friends in High Places — where friends of ours helped us when God and the weather made it uncertain that we would get Shabbat on the table in time.
Favorite Shabbat image: my challot after they come out of the oven.
Least favorite part of Shabbat: clearing the table. I don’t mind washing dishes, I just hate the whole clearing up after a good meal. I just want to sit at the table and savor the meal, instead of getting busy clearing everything away.
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If you keep Shabbat/Shabbos, what are your favorites? Songs, food, parsha? Anything else?
Home baked challot, December 2009
Ilana-Davita will be hosting the upcoming Jewish Photo Bloggers Carnival (JPiX) on March 12. If you have a post to submit, you can learn more on the JPiX page.
Dates in Front of Palm Tree, watercolor on paper, 2011
Tuesday night and Wednesday this week is the Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shvat, the fifteenth of the month of Shvat. I like to refer to the day as a birthday party for the trees. One might think of Tu BeShevat as a Jewish Arbor Day. As it a much bigger deal in Israel than outside of Israel, I asked some of my blogger friends in Israel to tell a bit about the holiday. Here are the responses:
Hannah of A Mother in Israel wrote in an email two weeks ago: “It’s pouring here. Tu Beshevat is often wet and muddy, and the worst time of the year for planting trees!” She suggested I share this post she wrote for Green Prophet about this New Year for Trees. “The rabbis wanted to set a specific date during the agricultural season to begin counting the age of the tree. They chose one in the middle of the rainy season, when no one was likely to be planting. That way it would be easier to know whether the fruit, which almost always buds after Tu B’shvat, belonged to this year or to the previous one.” But the modern version does indeed include tree planting.
Julie of Israel Inspirations Art sent me a photo from her son’s nursery school Tu B’Shevat program. This is a cropped detail of one her son’s craft projects:
Mrs. S. of Our Shiputzim added (edited a bit on my part, apologies to Mrs. S. if I edited too much):
“According to the Talmud, it marks the beginning of the new agricultural year – which has halachic and practical significance for those of us who are fortunate to have fruit trees in our backyards – and in many schools, it marks the beginning of the spring semester.
Tu B’Shvat is also the day when kids across the country head outdoors and plant trees, and it’s the day when many families celebrate lovely Tu B’Shvat Seders.
But mainly, Tu B’Shvat is a time to appreciate Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) and its myriad incredible blessings. Tu B’Shvat is a wonderful opportunity to stop and recognize all the amazing wonders which surround us here in Israel. “
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And this one is for the search engines: how many different ways can one spell Tu B’Shvat • Tu Beshevat • Tu Be Shevat • Tu B’Shevat •Too Be Shevat • Tu B’Shevat • Tu BiShevat • Tu BiShvat • Tu BShvat • Too Bi Shevat • Too B’Shvat
Welcome to JPiX – the Jewish Photo Blogger’s Blog Carnival, Fall 2011 edition. Thanks to everyone who participated. We have a village in France, Rosh Hashana challah, Kfar Adumim, an olive oil factory, havdalah, a Jewish wedding, a lion in Jerusalem and more.
Left to right: Ilana-Davita, G6 and Wing Chun Jew (aka Jacob da Jew):
Batya:
Chosid’s Blog (Leah):
Real Jerusalem Streets (Sharon):
Cosmic X:
Mrs. S:
Leora:
I hope you will take the time to visit the photographers’ blogs and leave comments. The next JPiX will be in the spring. If you want to participate, please submit an entry here. If you are brave enough to volunteer to host, please contact me, and we can discuss the details.
Note that this post is not called The Diamond in the Window (book by Jane Langton). It’s a post about Noah, who was considered a righteous man in his generation.
So here’s the question: was Noah a righteous individual who might have not been so great in a different generation or was a shining light unto all the generations? And why is he looking at this diamond?
Or maybe he’s really looking out the window:
For the answer to these and other tantalizing questions, you will have to visit my friend’s Harry’s post Noach – Is righteousness relative?
The illustrations of Noah with diamond and window were executed by me (with some critical helpful feedback from my daughter) with pen, ink, and then a lot of playing in Photoshop. The aim was whimsical and playful.
