Thanks to everyone who commented on my new “Websites for Small Biz” blog project. This morning I tried to put a fancy magazine theme on the new blog; the fancy shmancy theme crashed the blog, so I had to delete it. I will be experimenting with themes for a while on that blog. There are lots of details to fine tune on a new blog.
I am excited to have another guest blogger that I interviewed. She is from New Jersey, and she writes about: playgrounds! Come back on Wednesday to learn more.
Rosh Hashana is coming next week – for the Jewish New Year, Jews around the world are (supposed to be) preparing themselves spiritually for the day. I approach the upcoming holiday by exploring the simanim, the food symbols that we put on the table. Beets, pictured in the above watercolor, are one siman. More on the simanim next week.
Chalfonte Hotel, Cape May, New Jersey (built in 1876)
While I am waiting patiently for Mary to post her Ruby Tuesday Mr. Linky,
Batya posted the next edition of JPIX (the Blog Carnival of Jewish Photo Bloggers). So enjoy that while you are waiting! The next one will be in December, and I will be hosting, so, Jewish photo bloggers, please photograph upcoming Jewish holiday preparations, especially your sukkah.
I happily award James and James – both are posting beautiful photos.
The first James has recently posted he is thinking of changing his blog name to something that reflects his current interest in walking (“Views from my Walking Shoes”?).
The second James lives in nearby Newtown, Pennsylvania, and I greatly enjoy his collection of photos of familiar and less familiar locations.
There is an upcoming Jewish Bloggers Convention in Israel on September 13, 2009. I would like to nominate two bloggers for the convention: Soccer Dad and Baila.
I am nominating Soccer Dad for many of the reasons Batya wrote on this post. Besides founding Haveil Havalim, he has participated in the other two Jewish blog carnivals, JPIX and Kosher Cooking Carnival (which he has also hosted). I see from this post many others agree with this nomination.
As to Baila, she writes it well herself: “Two years ago my family and I arrived in Israel on the same NBN flight–the last one of the summer. I was in shell-shock. We had just come off a really tough time with Liat being so ill that year. I was numb throughout the flight and have since said, I wish I could do it again without all the “baggage”–so to speak. This would be my chance.” Who else of the Jewish women bloggers has this kind of energy and enthusiasm to help others with their aliyah experience? Besides, I think she would be best at breaking it gently to all those new families that they will not be able to purchase baby carrots in their local supermarket.
Today and yesterday I started and finished reading Roommates: My Grandfather’s Story by Max Apple. Great book, it was written prior to I Love Gootie about his grandmother, which I previously reviewed. Max lived with his grandfather (Rocky, shortened from Yerachmiel) when he was in graduate school. After he gets married and has two kids, his wife becomes terminally ill, and his grandfather, by then over 100, steps in to help. A bittersweet tale of closeness between the generations, the grandfather is at the same time tough and stubborn and caring and fun. Here’s what Max hears about Rocky’s trip to Jerusalem in 1968:
Rocky didn’t find any synagogue that satisfied him, but there were so many that he complained about a different one each day.
Two upcoming events, one for job hunters and networking and one for fun, to raise money for terror victims:
ParnasaFest in East Brunswick: What’s a ParnasaFest? A chance for Jewish professionals to network. The upcoming event will be at 7:00 pm on September, 10 at B’nai Shalom Congregation, Fern Rd & Old Stage Rd. Learn more on the ParnasaFest website.
One Family Fund festival: Join family and friends in Highland Park for a One Family Fund festival to raise money for victims of terror on Labor Day, September 7, 2009. The festival will Feature: 3 on 3 basketball tournament, softball, arts & crafts, face painting and Mini Carnival. Admission: $18 individuals, $36 family (parents and children); $100 family plus “patron” status. To register visit www.onefamilyfund.org/FUNDAY or call 646-289-8600 ext. 202. Pizza, snacks, and refreshments will be sold. All proceeds from this event go to helping victims of terror in Israel and their families.
Note: the One Family Fund website seems to be down…
How would you respond if you got this comment on your blog:
What I find so cringe-inducing in this blog is your unconditional belief in the virtue of your son serving in the IDF. There are things worth dying for, but I posit that maintaining the status quo in Israel is not one of them. I would take no pride in having a son of mine be a pawn in a political game.
Lee Avenue in Wiliamsburg, Brooklyn, illustration by Elke Reva Sudin How did you get started doing art?
I have always been an artist. It is a personality disorder that somehow becomes acceptable when channeled through pen on paper.
What was your childhood relationship to art?
Crayola
What is your training?
Growing up I had very little access to art or the artistic mentality. My parents are not artists and growing up in a religious school with no art program did not help either. I did what I could on my own but it was not until the age of 16 when I attended a pre-college program at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) that I understood for the first time how representing subject through mark making could be such an enlightening experience.
College furthered what I had gotten a taste of in pre-college. Each of my 4 years gave me a deeper understanding of how any art is conceived, designed and constructed. I received a BFA in Illustration at Pratt Institute, an art and design college in Brooklyn.
What motivates you to do art?
Drawing from life. I enjoy the experience of translating one mode of experience into another. The illustration is an end product of my excitement to study and reflect without too much questioning during the process.
What in particular do you find difficult about doing “Jewish” art? Any conflicts?
The problem with “Jewish” art is that Judaism is built on the concept that God is infinite and we are contained within God. Therefore all our our earthly experiences are illusions because everything that we see as being separate, is really one unified entity. Whenever I attempt a “Jewish” art piece, it seems pointless to show material garments, ritual items and customs, because those only exist for us to find a way to connect with the ephemeral. It boils down and boils down until not even a blank white piece of paper to gives off true meaning. There is a reason we are commanded not to make graven images, people get absorbed in the image and not the meaning. I think this idea has helped Judaism survive for so long by the fact that no matter where we are in the world, we as Jews have no attachment to ritual as connected to physical things. The idea survives even when large portions of the population is wiped out.
My connection to Judaism is through action. So it is rather my process of creating the art, in which I connect to the infinite connections and acknowledging the spiritual path that it follows, that bring me to an end product which I feel is Jewish. Because there is no separation between my being and my artistic product, the product is inherently spiritual.
What would you suggest to someone who wants to learn art? Illustration?
The best advice I can give is to draw from life. Often times we draw from experiences, but our memories have a funny way of selecting what we remember, which is very limiting. Drawing from life opens up the artist to nuances and connections that would be otherwise hidden. Using our hands, we as artists have an easier time connecting to different parts of our brains, resulting in “happy accidents,” and allow us to take something physical and transform it into something representational and meaningful.
I studied illustration because it takes the principles of art and design and applies them in a more directed setting suitable for performing commercial work compared to what is generally taught in the contemporary fine art educational setting. Direction is important, because without focus artists tend to turn to their own desire to be admired by others, rather than contributing their abilities to the enlightenment of the public.
Can you tell us about the Hipsters and Hassids project?
I constructed an illustrated book titled “Hipsters and Hassids: The Youth of Williamsburg North and South.” It is an investigative illustrative study which discovers the surprising similarities these seemingly polar opposite communities have in common. I went inside the neighborhoods, with a strong focus on the Hassidic side, particularly concerning the women, to see first hand what life is like behind the surface is like. One of the biggest misunderstandings (and commonalities) is that both sides are so off-putting. On the Hipster side they sell their look and lifestyle as a product. Life is valued by the self absorbed fascination with the party, the outfit, and obscure references to music and culture, but lacking any meaning which had once held strong associations to those things. On the Hassidic end of things they are very protective of preserving their customs and way of life and outside influences are harmful in that respect. The truth is that people are the same everywhere, there will always be people open and close-minded, self absorbed and absorbed in other things, those of respect and those who bring shame to the human race, but the important thing is to remember the unity that all people share. We are all a part of this world for a reason and an obsession with particular fashions just aint it.
Moon on the 14th of the Jewish month of Av (almost full)
By the light, of the silvery moon,
I want to spoon,
To my honey I’ll croon love’s tune.
Honey moon, keep a-shinin’ in June.
Your silv’ry beams will bring love’s dreams,
We’ll be cuddlin’ soon,
By the silvery moon.
Somehow I remember a line in the song that goes “not to fork but to spoon.” The Wikipedia page has some variations of this 1909 song.
So there we (we = husband, daughter and I) are in East Brunswick, New Jersey at the Middlesex County Fair, and I notice the moon is almost full. I think, it’s almost the middle of the month! (The Jewish month is a lunar calendar, so the full moon signifies the 15th of the month.) Why, it’s almost Tu B’Av, the Jewish answer to Sadie Hawkins Day or the Israeli equivalent of Valentine’s Day.
To learn more about this holiday where the young unmarried women used to dance in white dresses in the fields, please visit:
How do you find comfort? What do you do when something or someone in your life, community or in world news causes you pain? How do you get in touch with the pain and also find new ways of self-comfort?
When my children were babies, I remember learning that it was important that they learn to self-comfort. If every time a child cries, a parent or guardian rushes to the child’s side, how will the child learn to cope on his or her own? My boys, I remember, each had a blanket that was precious in the going to sleep process.
One of my friends, when times are hard, reads from the Book of Psalms (Tehilim) when she is in distress. I feel she is fortunate that she can find comfort in that manner.
Today is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, the fast day of Tisha B’Av, the Ninth of Av, the day when the Beit HaMikdash, the holy temple that was in Jerusalem, was destroyed. Other tragic events happened on this date as well. In two days we read the haftorah from the Book of Isaiah, in which he proclaims (Isaiah 40:1-2) –
Comfort, comfort my people, so says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
“Double from sins”? – Is this referring to then or now? It seems the pain continues to this day; the warfare does not seem at an end.
And later Isaiah says (Isaiah 40:7-8) –
Indeed man is but grass: Grass withers, flowers fade – but the Word of our God is always fulfilled!
We can read all of Isaiah (especially the part from Chapter 40 and on), and some of us may find some comfort in the words. For many of us, struggling to understand the words of the ancient prophet is as far as we can get. Perhaps we are meant to know that even if we don’t understand the Big Picture, God does.
So getting back to comfort, here’s a short list from me, perhaps I can get your creative juices running, too:
Write a blog post.
Talk to a friend.
Paint. Draw. Putter in the garden. Find a creative outlet.
More on comfort and Isaiah: Comfort, Comfort (2005) by Professor Gary A. Rendsburg, chair of the department that I do work for at Rutgers, the Jewish Studies Department
Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They don’t judge the orphan, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
SuperRaizy wrote a post called Too Nauseated to Blog on Friday (lots of bad news in the Jewish community). I didn’t really know what to say to Raizy or about Raizy’s post, but Isaiah, the prophet of over 2000 years ago, says it well. I’m hoping to write a post called “Seeking Comfort” later this week. More words of wisdom from Isaiah.
On a related or not so related note, Jientje alerted me to a Positive Day in the Blogosphere. Did the creator of this have any idea that this is the day after Tisha B’Av, the most mourning-full day of the Jewish calendar and right before Shabbat Nahamu, the Sabbath of Comfort? Just a coincidence, I am sure.
Sometimes I think it must be easier to be non-Jewish (Jientje is not, and she is always so upbeat). But maybe we just have to be “Happy with our lot.”
Anyway, to Raizy, you wrote well in your post. May with the wisdom of Isaiah we find a way to move forward.
Update: if you are interested in discussing the details of the current New Jersey/New York scandal and Dwek, Rafi has a post: Dweck Entrapped Them? (Note: it seems that his name is spelled “Dwek,” and Rafi misspelled it in his post).
“What is the use of a book, without pictures or conversations?”
On that note from Alice, let’s begin our exploration of recipes, food topics, kashrut, anything kosher. Most links have been given a picture, because I like pictures. If you didn’t post it with a picture, I added one of my own. You are the recipe writer, I’m the illustrator. Unless you decided to self-illustrate. So without further ado, here’s Kosher Cooking Carnival #44:
Fit for a meal
Ilana-Davita teaches us how to make spicy fish – hraymi. She explains: “Hraymi is a red spicy fish dish that is popular among the Sephardic Jews of Libya.”
Annette tells us how to make Matzoh brei, which she says she makes year round! She teaches us: “Be sure to use plenty of salt and pepper, or you may find the Matzoh Brei too bland for your taste.”
Mimi makes my mouth water with her schnitzel photo and recipe. She suggests “serve with a rosé wine, cold beer, or lemonade.”
Batya shows us her delightful, sparkling minestrone vegetable soup. She says: “there are two fast days in the summer, and I love to break my fast on vegetable soup. ”
Breakfast Time
G6 shows us her breakfast food.
She says: “I figured that rather than have you all traipse over to my house in your pajamas on Sunday morning, I’ll give you the recipe here to share with your own families. It’s really easy. All you have to do is remember to set it up the night before, since it “cooks” in the refrigerator overnight. ”
Sugar cookies are brought to you by Soccer Dad’s daughter. And can you guess the missing ingredient in Soccer Dad’s challah?
Oatmeal Apple Crisp is brought to you by Mrs. S. – is it a dessert or a side dish or both? (and does it matter)
And another apple recipe (is it almost fall?) by Baleboosteh – Easy Apple Crumble.
Jacob Da Jew asks: Which Donuts Do You Desire? Responses include: “Am I the only one who doesn’t care about donuts, pizza, etc? Keep your donuts and bring me meat and beer!” and “Fresh French kruller from DD is just heavenly.”
An unexpected submission for the Kosher Cooking Carnival, Daled Amos tells us of a new job market for Orthodox Women. So will you be suggesting this to your daughter instead of occupational or speech therapy?
Since it is the Three Weeks (and now the Nine Days), a solemn time when we remember that the Beit HaMikdash (the temple that was in Jerusalem) was destroyed, I’ll leave you with some imperfection. It is customary in some families to not complete the building of a home; perhaps one brick is missing, or there is one piece of wall unpainted. So in the spirit (or lack of spirit) of the Three Weeks, here is an imperfect sentence, one that
Lorri of Jew Wishes has 
Today and yesterday I started and finished reading Roommates: My Grandfather’s Story by Max Apple. Great book, it was written prior to I Love Gootie about his grandmother, which 
