Can you think of any famous farewells, in history or in literature? Or famous deathbed scenes? Do you have any farewells in your own memories that you are willing to share?
In Ancient Secrets: Using the Stories of the Bible to Improve Our Everyday Lives by Rabbi Levi Meier, Rabbi Meier suggests that the farewell address of Moses in the Book of Devarim (Deuteronomy) is written for lasting impact, as “words of parting are perhaps remembered best.”
Welcome to JPIX, the blog carnival of Jewish photo bloggers from around the world.
Batya:
Robin:
Ilana-Davita, G6, and Rahel:
Maya and Mike in Midwood:
Devo aka Pesky Settler and Proud Mommy:
Occidental Israeli, TRS and Mottel
Soccer Dad and Mrs. S.:
CosmicX:
Mother in Israel, Rafi and Imabima:
Baila and Jew Wishes:
Jewish Side and Mimi:
Leora:
If you see a photo you like, please click on it to visit the blog from which it came. You may find other photos you like as well, and perhaps an explanation of the photo. In particular it is always nice to leave a complimentary comment on the blog of the photographer about the photo. You can also leave the photo blogger questions about the photo on his or her blog.
Unless someone volunteers to host JPIX in the next few months, the next addition of JPIX will be in December. Batya has volunteered! See below.
Stained Glass Window at Congregation Etz Ahaim, Highland Park, New Jersey
I photographed this one stained glass window at Congregation Etz Ahaim where we are members last Sunday. It was dark in the room, but I managed to capture this one panel of many that line the top of the sanctuary. This stained glass panel depicts the fourth day of creation, Yom Daled in Hebrew.
Genesis 1:16 –
And God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars.
This portion of the Torah is the one my son will be reading next October, when he turns 13, and we celebrate his bar-mitzvah.
Jew Wishes mentioned Journey from the Land of No by Roya Hakakian (review now offline, sadly), a book I highly recommend, especially if you want to learn about Iran. Roya is a good storyteller.
I haven’t written a parsha post in a while, but Jewish Side requested the category of parsha on my blog in the link challenge I proposed last week. So, Bahalotcha, here we come — (if you live in Israel, you must be an expert on this parsha by now, as you heard it last Shabbat).
In this parsha we learn a lot about the Levi’im (Levites) and the roles they played in the mishkan. (Pop quiz: what did a Levi do between the ages of 25 – 30?) Curiously, however, the parsha does not mention the Levi’im singing. I asked my husband about this, and he said the singing Levi’im must be part of Torah sheBa’al Peh, the Oral Law. He thought there was a hint of it when the parsha says the Levi’im worked the burdensome work up to age 50, at which point they only did the less cumbersome tasks (and one assumes this would be singing – see Numbers 4:47). I did a search on the web and found this about sources of Levi’im singing in the Torah on the Darche Noam website. FYI, my boys and my husband are Levi’im.
On a somewhat related topic, Rabbi Abraham Twerski explains why the tribe of Dan was last. While the Levi’im were up in front carry their parts of the Mishkan, Dan was put at the back. Why? Rashi says their job was to pick up stragglers and lost objects. Here’s a story that Rabbi Twerski relates to explain:
A European Jew consulted his rabbi. His son, who had deviated from Torah observance, had emigrated to America. he became successful in business and was sending his father money. However, since the son was not shomer Shabbos (observant of Shabbos), the father was reluctant to take money which may have been earned on Shabbos.
The rabbi said, “It is unfortunate that your son has dropped observance of the mitzvos. The one mitzvah he is still observing is honoring his father. We may hope that observance of this great mitzvah may have an influence on him to observe other mitzvos. If you refuse the money, you will be depriving him of an important mitzvah.”
Rabbi Twerski explains that Dan was the weakest of the tribes, the one that still had idol worshippers and produced King Yeravam, who caused the secession of the ten tribes. So Dan is somewhat like the wayward son in America. Dan’s good role was in picking up objects and returning them to their owners, and perhaps by doing these mitzvot they would eventually return to being loyal to God. Sometimes doing a mitzvah for a fellow human being can bring one to be closer to God, as well.
• • •
Which brings me to my final topic: Jewish Side, who you can follow on Twitter @Jewish_Side, is looking for her first “real” job post college. She wrote her resume, and she asks, what next? If you have any job hunting tips, you are welcome to leave them in the comments or via Twitter (do @Jewish_Side and whatever you have to say).
Note: this is the first of in series of those who take my link challenge. I was going to do a more light-hearted post for the first one, but I got news that my friend Rick Black’s father died on Sunday. So this one is for G6 and Rick Black.
I remember vividly walking home from the hospital in utter desolation after his petirah, feeling like my world was so very dark, that I would never learn another thing ever again — how would I smile and laugh again?
How I wish somebody could have come up to me at that very moment and taken me by my shoulders, looked in to my eyes and said….. “SEVEN YEARS FROM THIS VERY DAY you will be sitting at your Shabbos table, surrounded by your entire family, which will include a new son in law, a new daughter in law and you will be cradling your brand new granddaughter in your arms on her very first Shabbos, as everyone at the table sings zemiros and learns in your father’s memory. Your granddaughter will be given her Jewish name on this very day seven years from now.
Please leave comments for her on her post. So beautiful how she savors her father’s memory and connects it to her current family joy.
*petirah = death
• • •
An interview of a son with his father
Rick Black interviewed his father over the past two years. An excerpt from those interviews is on the Jewish Writing Project blog, spoken in his father’s voice:
I was bar mitzvahed in a very small shul – the one on Lake Street. We didn’t make much of it. It was just a small bar mitzvah for our family. I davaned Saturday morning for the service, Shacharis and Musaf, and when they took the Torah out of the ark, I had to sing the “Shema” and my voice broke, and a kid from Hebrew school said, “You alright?”
Another piece of the interview, where Rick’s father befriends Max the Russian:
So, this fella’s name was Max Bregoff and I met him. He was a tough Russian. I introduced him to a lot of my friends who were members of the club and we made him a member of the club, too. We called him the mad Russian. He used to get very angry. He’d spit at them. He was a tough hombre but he found the American way and he was able to live a good life and enjoy himself. He spent a lot of time at the Jewish Center. Yes, he did find the American way and he became a friend.
Read Growing Up Jewish, an interview of David Black by his son Rick Black.
Rick, may you be comforted among the mourners of Israel; may we all know simchas (happy occasions) like the one G6 describes, of a happy, healthy family singing and enjoying together.
Additional Note: I spoke to a friend (not Jewish) here in Highland Park who asked questions about making a shiva call. Topic for another time, explaining a shiva call – do’s and don’ts, the halachot (laws) and the customs. If anyone has suggestions for explaining a shiva call, please feel free to comment. I told my friend that the mourner is supposed to do the talking; the mourner should take the lead in the topic of conversation.
This post is less of a recipe and more of a discussion on what to eat on Shabbat that is warm. Klara, who lives near Jerusalem, came to visit me a few weeks ago. I like to learn about macrobiotics from her, even if I only eat a few of the recipes (but I learn from the discussions). We were discussing warm food on Shabbat.
It is customary for observant Jews to eat something warm on Shabbat; this is because even though we have the prohibition not to cook or to light a fire, we should still show don’t need to eat cold food. Or sit in the dark. The traditional warm Shabbat food that Ashkenazi Jews eat is chulent (see Ilana-Davita‘s and Lion of Zion‘s posts); Sephardim (Jews that were originally in Spain) eat dafina or chamin.
I prefer not to eat chulent, as I find it too heavy a food. So I have a tendency to make lots of salads, and I greatly enjoy those. However, in the middle of this winter I noticed that the food that we had warm on Shabbat was mostly chulent and potato kugel, neither of which are my favorite food. I do sometimes eat a bit of chicken warm. So I started warming up beans cooked with turmeric and other curried flavors. But I really wasn’t in the mood for the beans.
Back to my discussion with Klara: Klara felt that in keeping with macrobiotic teaching, food on Shabbat should be warm. I think there is a conflict here, as macrobiotics seem to suggest food should be eaten warm AND right away (not left on a blech or warming tray for 4 hours). And I wonder how many nutrients a salad-like food such as kale has after 4 hours of re-warming.
My conversation with Klara did spur me on to find this one dish that I liked re-warmed on Shabbat. It is simply mushrooms, onions and something green sauteed in a bit of olive oil.
Ingredients:
1 tsp. olive oil
1 onion
2 boxes of mushrooms, preferably baby bella because they are “meaty”
a green: parsley, basil, kale, collards, thyme, sage – I used a bit of broccoli rabe
Warm a bit of olive oil. Chop the onion, mushrooms (into slices) and greens (into bits). Saute the onion until translucent. Add the mushrooms. When the mushrooms begin to soften, add your chopped greens. If you don’t add the chopped greens, the recipe will be fine without it. Put it in a small casserole dish (covered) so it can be reheated on Shabbat.
Alternative: use Ilana-Davita’s mushroom recipe. She suggests serving it cold, but if you are in the mood for a warm mushroom dish for your Shabbat meal, this one might work.
Purple Iris, photographed in May 2009
Since I don’t have to craft a full post (I would love to write a tech, business or even a recipe), I present an iris and these “postalinas” (mini one sentence posts):
Working on a new, free online course with Professor Roni Stauber for the Rutgers Bildner Center on the History of Zionism.
Discovered a great post on Drupal vs. WordPress. And yes, I still want to develop expertise in both Drupal and WordPress. I will be working soon on converting a regular HTML website to WordPress so the small business owner can manage his own site.
Have a recipe for onions and mushrooms that is so simple but so delicious. Maybe next week I’ll post it?
Planning an exciting Nature Notes post for Thursday, courtesy of an email I got from Klara.
Which of these postalinas have meaning for you? Do you like the term ‘postalina’?
Imabima has hosted 
