sarah in nyc

 Perhaps it is because I spend so much of my time indoors these days, each small trip out of the house feels like something of an adventure. I went to mail a package today. On the way, pigeons became crenelation on an otherwise unremarkable building. After I mailed my package on this grey day, my eye was pulled by mossy ironwork and hydrangeas that had seen better days. As I crossed 96th Street I passed lively bird feeding time. I stopped into the thrift store and saw a spitoon.   I don't think I had ever seen one before. I don't know if the copying out of the prayer I learned in childhood had unlocked one of the long-abandoned rooms in my brain but all morning bits of a song kept bubbling up.  I remembered first just a word or two scattered through the song but eventually, a holey remnant of the song was remembered. Eventually, it was enough for me to google the first line of the song. טוב טוב ללמוד תורה It is very good to learn Torah I was able to find the source of my ...

 I finished the other black strip of text.. I discovered that I had unfortunately used a paint with a low proportion of pigment --the letters were too transparent. I purchased a bottle of titanium white and another of zinc white both with more pigment. I carefully retouched all of the letters. Earlier today I did the lettering for one of the white strips. As I carefully calligraph out the text,  My God! the soul which You bestowed in me is pure; You created it, You formed it, You breathed it into me and You preserve it within me. You will eventually take it from me, and restore it in me in the time to come. So long as the soul is within me I give thanks to You, Adonoy my God. I think about the meaning of each and every word. I think about Linda's choice of this text during the year of Covid when so many many people are dying because they are unable to breathe. I also think back to learning this text for the first time when I was in second grade. We did an abridged version...

 When I have a chunk of work to do that requires a great deal of concentration and focus and has zero room for errors, it makes me a little bit anxious. That anxiety can lead to paralysis and procrastination. I have found a way to work around that paralysis. I call it priming the pump. I actually have had experience using a water pump (Thank you Curtis Betts). If you come across a water pump that hasn't been used in a while, the way to get it to work is to pour water down into the pump. The new water is somehow drawn into the workings of the pumps and then you are able to pump as much water as you need. I was about to start doing the lettering for Linda's tallit. It was difficult to source the fabric and it was expensive. The lettering for this piece just needs to look good.  In order to get ready to begin the lettering, I tackled a bunch of jobs that on the face of it looked like nothing but busy work. I had purchased the Ikea fabric for this tablecloth with my sister. It was...

Any of us who have lived through the death of a family member has also had to deal with the inevitable distribution of STUFF. Clearly, the things of great monetary value are distributed to the nearest and dearest. But people in our society accumulate an enormous number of things as we live our lives. The distribution of the mountains of the formerly precious is often an ongoing burden for mourners. My friend Elisheva's father, a Conservative rabbi, died just a couple of weeks ago from Covid. Elisheva's daughter posted photos of all of her father's filled bookshelves. The family asked friends and relatives to select books from the photos. I was among the lucky ones asked to choose. Of course, nearer and dearer got first dibs on the books. Looking at Rabbi Urbas' library was deeply moving. I felt like I was wandering through his brain and through his life. There were of course books every rabbi owns, Jewish texts, and commentaries. There were also books on psychology beca...

 Shabbat starts in a few minutes.  It was a challah baking week. But given that there are only two of us consuming the challot I cut my usual recipe in half. It's cold in the apartment so the challot didn't rise a whole lot. Earlier in the week, I ran into a dear friend who has begun baking challah during the pandemic. She had some questions about some of the first stages of challah baking. I send her photos as I worked on what a bloom of yeast looks like and at what point to let your dough rest before adding more flour. Our butcher had a special on spatchcocked chickens. So, I bought a few. This is the before shot. Our chicken isn't the last survivor of a terrible chicken massacre but is covered in gochujang, molasses, and a bit of ginger juice. Here it is cooked. Spatchcocking does make the chicken cook more quickly. Our meal is starting with a chicken soup that I started last night after dinner. and for vegetable matter we will be having blanched broccoli because there ...

 Chanukah children's songs often speak about snowy Chanukahs..like this old chestnut of a song שלג על הארץ קר מאוד בחוץ חנוכה הלילה אל הבית רוץ כי בבית חם וטוב נרות יפים דולקים משחקים בסביבון ולביבות אוכלים  If you listen to Track 5  you will hear this Chanukah song written for Hebrew-speaking American children. I remember singing this song endlessly as a very little girl and being dumbfounded that there actually wasn't snow on the ground during Chanukah. The year I got a snow shovel as a Chanukah gift ( I was probably four) there was a tiny dusting of snow on the lawn. I did my best to shovel it. The next snowy Chanukah song I know from Hebrew school Chanukah assemblies at Temple Beth El. If for some reason the video above doesn't play you can click  here.  The song gets pretty tiresome by night three so you really don't have to listen to the whole thing. But by listening to both songs you have a window into a part of my childhood. Usually, a snowy Chanukah is ...

 Tonight is the fourth night of Chanukah.  I start tonight's post with a fabulous photo of a Chanukah play from Shaar Shalom in Halifax sometime between 1953 and 1956. I just adore the kids dressed as candles. When I studied this photo when I was little I was terribly jealous that I didn't ever get to dress up as a Chanukah candle. This afternoon I went for a walk. On my way home, the sky was candy-colored. The only good thing about this new building is when it reflects a good sunset. And finally, a few things that give me a small measure of joy during this season of darkness. The scaffolding outside of my living room window divides up my view in a satisfying way. I love the mix of textiles on my couch. I made some cards.