One Fine Land

08/05/2024

For his bar mitzvah, Hersh read Parshat Noach.
For months ahead, not only did he prepare his Torah portion, but he swam.
And for each kilometer that he swam, he collected sponsors.
He raised money to help others; to build a well in Africa.
Now it's our turn to swim to help Hersh.
So Ella and I have teamed up with Dasee Berkowitz and Ilana Nelson to swim for Team Hersh: Swimming to Bring Them Home.

Will you sponsor our swim?
.
And so so many others who need to come home.
Now.

Hersh, keep remembering that rainbow.

Rehabilitation Daycare Center

23/04/2023

From the desk of a :

This document presents some Independence Day recipe suggestions from Israel's early days, proposed by the young government.

Menu items include wild mallow leaf pancakes in memory of the food scarcity during the War of Independence, kreplach to represent pocket-foods that had come to symbolize an enemy strike (ref: Purim hamentashen), a stuffed meat dish to represent the blending of eastern and western Jewish traditions, and finally a seven-species cake to celebrate the renewed connection to the Land of the Bible.

Here is one beautiful sample of the early Israeli folklorization process activated to create one nation of the newly gathered Jewish diasporas.

Food in fact is a classic folk tool to manifest our hopes, dreams and deepest concerns.

In fact, just last week, the traditional "Schlissel" or key challah, baked the first shabbat following Passover to symbolically open the heavens to "parnassa" (income), was joined by a heart-shaped challah intended to offer to a neighbor in loving kindness, an act designed to honor the memory of the three Dee women who were recently lost in a tragic and brutal terror attack.

These days most people barbeque on Israel's Independence Day.
However, if you were to offer up a new menu to encapsulate 75 year old Israel's deepest challenges and loftiest visions, what might it include?

Please comment below!