Preparing for the New Year!

Like my sisters and brothers around the world I am busy getting ready for the upcoming Rosh Hashana holiday. This year the New Year begins on Wednesday night and on Thursday and Friday we gather in our synagogues to hear the shofar blown. Then without any further ado we go right into Shabbat. All this heralds a marathon of eats and on Rosh Hashana we go all out with symbolic foods signifying all the good things we wish for ourselves and our community in the coming year. For a thoughtful discussion of these symbolic foods you should read this post by The Rebbitzin's Husband . You might also be interested in this post of Leora's about the symbolic foods. 

While we're on the subject of cooking for this amazing holiday let me remind you to take a look at the Tishrei edition of the Kosher Cooking Carnival at Cooking Outside the Box a delightful blog with lots of interesting ideas while the Elul edition of the Kosher Cooking Carnival is up over at Me-ander . 

Batya Medad

Rabbanit Yemima intoduced by Tzofia Dorot

 And speaking of Batya, my favorite Shilo resident, I had a lovely experience at Tel Shilo  where both she and I attended the Tfilat Hannah and heard the inspirational Rabbanit Yemima Mizrahi. I hope to write separately about this moving experience.  She was followed by concert given by Leah Shabbat and Tal Bril.
The event was organized by Ancient Shilo which runs tours of the archaeological dig at the site where the Tabernacle stood. Besides Batya I also ran into a very good looking reservist who was called up especially to guard us and the approximately two thousand other women and young girls who attended this event. This particular reservist also worked as a guide at this site when he lived in the nearby settlement Eli. He also happens to be my son. How thoughtful of the army. 

Reservist Shayke Tzohar 

Flying (& other news)

Bunji

That's my almost 6 year old granddaughter 'Bunji jumping' at a local shopping center this week. She is getting ready to go to the first grade. Just two weeks away!
They came to say l'hitraot (see ya) because we are flying to Philadelphia tonight for two weeks of visiting family there and in the New York/New Jersey area.
Meantime Havel Havelim #325 is hosted by To Kiss a Mezzuzah and while there is a lull in posting around the net (I am not the only one going on vacation) take a look at  JPIX and Kosher Cooking Carnival. 
 Here she is with her brand new ready to go rain resistant back pack and trolley set. (The school is about 100 yards from their house and it rarely rains in Mitzpe Ramon, but we are prepared!) Good luck in your new career young lady!

What's black and white and Re(a)d all over?

A blushing zebra?
No, in the old days the answer was "a newspaper" 

Reading is no longer black and white, nor are newspapers.
The JBlogsphere is up to its eyeballs in color as witness this week's carnival reviews. Enjoy!
Ilana-Davita, our favorite blogger in France hosts JPix. I imagine it took lots of work to set up such a fine review of photos posted by the JBloggers around the web. A hearty 'kol hakavod' to her.
Ben-Yehudah put together the overview of JBloggers, Haveil Havalim entitled "One Wedding & A Funeral" with lots to read.
According to the site Leora of Here in HP is busy getting the Kosher Cooking Carnival together and we are hungrily awaiting the post! Judging by Leora's lovely blog, it will be well worth reading.

Rosh Chodesh Adar, Second Time Around, Two Carnivals!

!

Miryummy has the Kosher Cooking Carnival and Ben-Yehudah has the Haveil Havalim #307, both in honor of Rosh Chodesh Adar Bet and both full of stuff to read and think about or do. Enjoy them both !

New Moon Over Rehovot

This year we have an extra month in the Jewish year. It's 13 months instead of 12 so that Passover will be celebrated in the spring. and not in early March which is usually not very spring-like. Although this year, we could have pretended it was spring in December. For now, it is raining and has been, on and off, for the past few days giving hope that we might get a bit of winter this year after all. You can see the clouds in the twilight and that little smile in the top left corner is the new moon. 

New moon in the Jblogsphere brings a with it a slew of carnivals and reviews. 

Mrs. S is hosting her first-ever Kosher Cooking Carnival over at Our Shiputzim.

The JackB is hosting the Haveil Havalim #303. 

Esser Agorot has a round-up of the Kehilla Bloggers.

So while there are really no holidays for another 6 weeks you can take advantage of the lull and read everyone's blogs. Or you could start baking for Purim. Or you could start cleaning for Pesach. 

.

It rained in Mizpe Ramon!!!

Hooray for winter! We spent Shabbat in Mitzpe Ramon with some of our grandchildren. It was cold and windy as we have come to know winter in the hills of the Negev. 

On motsaei shabbat (Saturday night) just as we were getting the car packed a cloud burst and it began to rain. So the kids ran to get their umbrellas and run outside to romp in the rain. The rain lasted just about long enough for us to get all excited, turn on the camera and snap the photo. But up north it did rain quite a bit, they say, and when we returned home to Rehovot we got caught in a downpour. 

Speaking of winter Batya hosted and posted the latest Kosher Cooking Carnival  #62 celebrating Rosh Chodesh Shevat here. I'd also like to take this opportunity to wish Batya good luck in her new job which began today.  

Esser Agoroth has the thoughtful and well organized edition of  Haveil Havalim #299 here. .

#1 grandson has begun guitar lessons and we hope to be hearing more chords from him soon while his little cousin is very enthusiastic about her art work. 

Review with Shadows

These photos were taken in a park right near my office in Rehovot. The site was originally a winery and the park was planned around the restoration of the area. I was walking in the area one afternoon as the shadows lengthened and shot these photos.

Haveil Havalim, a review of Jewish/Israeli blog posts is over at Cosmic X in Jerusalem. Next week I will be hosting.

A Mother In Israel points us to interesting posts about food, family and life.

One of my favorite food bloggers, Miriyummy shares links to other food blogs along with wit and insight.

And since I mentioned food, this month's edition of Kosher Cooking Carnival is over at me-ander. Next month it will be here at my place.




 For Shadow Shot Sunday visit Hey Harriet. 

Welcome Heshvan, Haveil Havalim and the latest Kosher Cooking Carnival

As I've mentioned before the holiday season is over and life settles down to business here in Israel. At our house we have run out of excuses and we are gearing up to eat more sensibly and try to lose some weight. Batya's latest Kosher Cooking Carnival #59 is posted over at me-ander and she even has a few recipes in the section marked 'Diet'. There, I've even said the word.

I'll be hosting the next edition so keep me in mind and point me in the direction of tasty stuff that will help us stay on the straight and narrow...
I received this quick response to my call for help and it's worth passing on now rather than later:

 Tamar Genger MA RD said...

I am a Deititian and try to cook healthy most of the time, you can find my recipes on as member Tamar at http://joyofkosher.com (my site). I am also coming out with an article on cooking with a pressure cooker, it should be up this week and is filled with healthy ideas.
Good luck.
Tamar

And so is the Haveil Havalim! at Ima's  where she brings us the "Return to Normal Blogging" edition of the popular Jblogsphere review. 

Thanks Ima. 

WWW = Wonderful Women on the Web

rutimizrachi  of Ki Yachol Nuchal! has put together a Carnival of jbloggers who have banded together and formed Kehila the brainchild of Eric at The Israel Situation. She has put together a lovely collection of blog posts decorated by lovely pictures of food  fruits and flowers. 

Batya at me-ander has posted the 58th (tfu, tfu, tfu) Kosher Cooking Carnival  which she calls "Carnival for the Hungry" because she wrote it on Tzom Gedalya. It should be appropriate for Saturday night when we finish our fast of Yom Kippur. 

And speaking of Yom Kippur Adventures in Mamaland found this here a sign of the times that shouldn't need any explanation. 

Here's wishing everyone a G'mar Chatima Tova and a meaningful fast

גמר חתימה טובה

The Renewed Israel Museum

Batya has the Kosher Cooking Carnival which is aptly named the Pre-Holiday Edition. We have a lot of eating coming up over the next two months so now is the time to begin preparing. 

Last week's Haveil Havalim  can be found over at Ima on (and off) the Bima. There should be a new one up soon, but if you've been vacationing (like me) you probably still have to read last week's posts to catch up. Soccer Dad, who is the founding father of Haveil Havalim, hosted this 280th edition. Yasher Koach!

We've been having a great time travelling around Israel. We visited the Israel Museum which was just re-opened after a major renovation. It was built at a time when everyone must have been young and healthy and didn't mind walking long distances in the hot sun. Joe Settler was there with his kids and has some nice pictures. (The guards warned me not to take any more pictures, so here's my only one.) So now you buy your tickets inside, in the air-conditioned entrance and walk up through a covered tunnel. 

The children's museum is close to the entrance. Joe's kids enjoyed their time there.  I am partial to museums that set aside special areas for children since I have very fond memories of the children's wing at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. They don't have a dedicated children's wing there anymore, they have activities for kids in groups but not just a place where your mom can take you and you can touch things and learn.  

David and I spent a lot of time in the archaeology section and promised ourselves that we would come back soon to see the rest. We did come back in the evening for a lovely concert in the sculpture garden. 

Rehovot is just a short ride from Jerusalem so we will be going back again. 

KCCing in the Rain!

Our prayers for rain which we began saying one week ago are being answered today. It is pouring rain outside along with thunder and lightening. May Hashem continue to give us this much needed rain.
So, while we're in the winter mode settle down with Batya's 35th Kosher Cooking Carnival. Being that winter is here soup figures prominently in the reporting.
B'tayavon (hearty appetite) and keep warm and healthy.