Post Seder Blog-salad

The big Passover embroidered table cloth is at the dry-cleaner's. The napkins we used for Seder are washed, dried and ironed and will, after I finish this blog post be put away.

Since the photo of the napkins is right here, I just want to spend a moment on the napkins. Unlike my mother, I don't always set my table with identical napkins. This batch of napkins has arrived in my house from a variety of sources. Some were my mother's. Most of them came into my house in the what is now usual for me method. A relative of a friend dies. there are odds and ends of linens left when the house is broken up. The cut-work embroidered linen napkins are too lovely to throw away and most people can't imagine ironing napkins. So these napkins find a home in my house and are used for fancier dinners.When my sister was setting the table she noted how the mixed napkins worked well together on the table. They were probably all made within a generation of one another. Some are mad out of nicer linen or have more elaborate or better quality embroidery but in the end, just like the people who sit around our table, not identical, not from the same place and yet willing to have delightful conversations with one another.

Out Seders were made better by everyone who was around the table. They were also improved by the introduction of a fancy KP tequila that our friend Mike brought. Starting the evening with tequila shots is something that I would consider making a tradition.

This year's maror tasted like a skinflinty mean old man.

The actual tree pit, a few days after my meaningful encounter with a homeless man

The morning of the first day of Passover I was on my way to services. A homeless man with his shopping cart was sitting perched on the edge of the little fence around one of the tree pits in front of my building. he asked me for a dollar. I told him that I had no cash on me because it was a Jewish holiday.

The homeless man asked me which holiday it was. I told him that it was Passover. He then asked me if I had reached the mountain. I understood what he meant, had we reached the anniversary of our standing at Sinai.I told the man that that would take place in 50 days.

He then asked me if I had crossed the sea yet. I told him that I would cross the sea the next week. I loved how this man's questions had me extend that understanding of in every generation to each moment beyond the seder.

He then asked me some questions about the difference between Hebrews and Jews, mentioned that he had once worked at a Jewish bakery...but I really did have to go to services, my daughter was reading the Haftara and I didn't want to be late.

Often when we encounter homeless people we don't really look at their faces. I loved that this man engaged me so I really did see the humanity and the sweetness in his face.

I did get to services in time to hear my daughter, and without a moment to spare.

We have been eating well, really well all week. I do have sewing to do so off to that.

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Connecting with the past

A few months ago I had a craving for my father’s chicken fricassee. If my father were still alive I would have called him up and he would have talked me through the process of making it. My father is no longer alive so I turned to my cookbooks and the recipes I found for chicken fricassee were nothing at all like the stew of chicken necks, gizzards and wings in a watery sweet and sour tomato sauce that I enjoyed as a kid. I assumed that the dish was an invention of my father’s. I then attempted to replicate the dish from my memory of it and failed. A couple of weeks ago I saw an article on the internet, and I can’t remember where, that talked about Jewish fricassee and it sounded an awful lot like the dish I was hankering after. This afternoon I went to the butcher and picked up all of the chicken elements of the dish, a couple of packages each of wings, necks and gizzards. My father never cooked directly from a cook book. He used to re...

The light themed tallit has been shipped!!!

I had begun speaking to Sarah about making her a tallit in the middle of August. It took a few weeks to nail down the design. For Sarah it would have been ideal if the tallit were completed in time for her to wear it on Rosh HaShanah., the beginning of her year as senior rabbi of her congregation. For me, in an ideal world, given the realities of preparing for the High Holidays I would have finished this tallit in the weeks after Sukkot. So we compromised and I shipped off the tallit last night. I would have prefered to have more time but I got the job done in time. This tallit was made to mark Sarah's rise to the position of senior rabbi but it was also a reaction to this year of darkness. She chose a selection of verses about light to be part of her tallit. 1) אֵל נוֹרָא עֲלִילָה God of awesome deeds ( from a yom kippur Liturgical poem) 2) אוֹר חָדָשׁ עַל־צִיּוֹן תָּאִיר May You shine a new light on Zion ( from the liturgy) 3) יָאֵר יְהֹ...

A Passover loss

My parents bought this tablecloth during their 1955 visit to Israel. It is made out of linen from the first post 1948 flax harvest. The linen is heavy and almost crude. The embroidery is very fine. We used this cloth every Passover until the center wore thin. You can see the cloth on the table in the background of this photo of my parents and nephew My Aunt Sheva bought my mother a replacement cloth. The replacement cloth is made out of a cotton poly blend. The embroidery is crude and the colors not nearly as nice. The old cloth hung in our basement. We used the new cloth and remembered the much nicer original cloth. I loved that my aunt wanted to replace the cloth, I just hated the replacement because it was so much less than while evoking the beauty of the original. After my father died my mother sat me down and with great ceremony gave me all of her best tablecloths. She also gave me the worn Passover cloth and suggested that I could mend it. I did. Year after year ...

sarah in nyc

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