A Festival of Randomness

The only connection between the items mentioned in this post is that they were all made by me in the last couple of days.

 

These cherry pillowcases were made in a day of domestic goddess-hood. I’m posting the photo because these pillowcases look so great with my red flannel sheets. Feel free to admire.

 

Maya came by with her mother to tie the tzitzit. Maya was really happy with the tallit (as was her mom). I love this close-up shot of the atara/neckband.

 

I’m not sure why, but my photos of Maya in her tallit were less than stellar. Maya’s tallit is smaller than  the usual tallit.

 

Maya, being a veteran of may nears of camp was able to tie her tzitzit with ease after I said the words “ Chinese staircase”.  It is a knot well known to girls making friendship bracelets. Maya’s mom, having gone to camp in an earlier era and havign spent her arts and crafts time in camp was set on the right knot tying path with the words “ half hitch knot”.

This Shabbat during services I amused myself by reading the laws of tallit as written in the Kitzur Shulchan Arukh by Rabbi Solomon Ganzfried. The Kitzur Shulchan Arukh is a simplified code of Jewish law complied during the 19th century. I loved the books wonderful directions for tying tzitzit. I found it interesting to see Rabbi Ganzfried’s discomfort with silk tallitot. He suggests that you say the blessing for wearing a tallit over a wool one and then switch to a silk one. I  believe that silk tallitot are no longer religiously suspect. 

 

I do love how he wrapped up the chapter on the mitzvah of tzizit by reminding the reader that wrapping one’s self in a tallit  in a serious way gives the wearer a great deal of merit. I feel that when I work with a client, and teach them about the history of tallit and work with them so their tallit is full of meaning for them. I help them to do the mitzvah with knowledge and with love.

 

 

The dark days of winter have me craving bitter greens. Friday, and again today  I made this nearly instant escarole salad. I shredded a head of escarole, added a can of bens.  I dressed the mix with olive oil and white vinegar and lots of black pepper.Escarole is sour and bitter and deeply green tasting. The bright sharp vinegar and black pepper combine in a truly great way. On paper this out to be a nasty taste combination. In real life, it’s sublime.