sarah in nyc

 Today is Friday. Like most other Fridays my day is a mix of cooking and my other work. In the cooking category, I baked challah this week. I also made breaded chicken. The breading is made of a mix of matza meal and coarse cornmeal and spices. The spices included hawaj, black pepper, smoked paprika, and cayenne. I topped the breaded chicken with fresh lemon juice. We will also have a salad topped with roasted vegetables. The rest of my day was taken up with carefully outlining the lettering I had done yesterday. This was the lettering yesterday. Here it is today. An outline makes all of the difference in the world.  I have another stanza or two to go before I start assembling both tallitot. Shabbat Shalom!

 This time last year, all of us in New York were not just socially distancing but were on lockdown. We avoided going outside. Each day I read the terrifying dispatches from the Covid-19 ICU written by my dear friend Kara, a hospital chaplain, who was doing her best to give comfort to the dying and their families. Helping people send last words of love to their dying parents through ipads, using remote translators to offer comfort to the dying, watching nearly every patient in the Covid ICU die except for one feisty Russian woman. Kara's postings reminded me why staying inside of my apartment was so important.  For weeks and weeks, our only contact with others was through the 7:00 pm cheer which was both a tribute to healthcare workers and a reminder to one another that we were still alive, that all of the windows facing my apartment were filled with people. The cheer gave us a moment to connect with one another not through a screen, but in real life. Last year, the thought of ...

 A post mostly about pretty stuff and a small bit about Shabbat dinner. The other day I came across an old friend in the local thrift store. In my house, growing up, this can housed Red Rose tea bags.   Each side of the can was decorated with scenes from Israel. The mix of mid-century modern abstraction with the pretty and old-fashioned shape of the can make it very appealing. Although the graphics were by a "famous Israeli artist" the candy makers failed to credit the famous artist. As a not particularly famous artist, my response is, "Grrr.". I was delighted to see the tin canister but did not purchase it. The median strip in the middle of Broadway is maintained by a neighborhood group (and the parks department). The tulips are about to go to seed but look so much like the Warhol silkscreens of poppies. I leaned over the bench to get close-ups of the tulips all while this grandpa and his grandson enjoyed one another's company. The two were so sweet together I ...

 My friend Linda is now a rabbi in a sweet little synagogue in the woods of Riverdale, New York, a fancy neighborhood in the Bronx. Linda and I met in 1984 and have been there for one another through the birth and raising of children, and ushering one another as our parents enter the exit ramp of life.  In short, we have a long history, Linda and I, (and our families). Because Linda is a rabbi she has a wardrobe of tallitot, just as a banker has a wardrobe of suits and a factory worker will probably have only one suit. I have already made two tallitot for Linda.  Linda's husband asked if I would make Linda a tallit for her birthday. I made a certificate that could be presented to her. We then met on Zoom to design the tallit. You can see both the certificate and the thoughts underlying the design process  here . Usually, I document every bit of making a tallit here in this blog. I am not sure exactly why, but I was less comfortable doing that about this tallit. ...