What a lovely Pesach holiday it’s been so far! We’ve been blessed to have my mom and all of our married children with us this year – a far cry from last year, when we had the strictest quarantine of the year in place.
Two ingredients for a wonderful holiday are a very nice group of compatible people combined with lots of yummy food! Watching and being part of the interactions of all these people is extremely heartwarming.
As far as the food – it’s always a big project! It seemed like the food shopping before Pesach would never end. Though I bought a lot, I know it will get used up remarkably fast.
I bought a case of onions, seventy+ pounds of potatoes, thirty pounds of carrots, a case of fennel, a case of sweet potatoes, a case of napa cabbage, 1/2 case of kohlrabi, some butternut squash, 25 pounds fresh garlic, loads of cucumber and tomatoes, and lots of clementines and pears for snacking. There were also cases of chicken and meat, and lots of dairy (mostly cheese and cottage cheese), as well as eight trays (30 each) of eggs.
Initially when I wrote out my menu before Pesach, I listed various cakes and kugels that looked appealing. Then I looked at what I had written and considered how much more appreciated a more basic menu would be. That means going heavier on the vegetables and light on the cakes and kugels.
Shabbos lunch: salmon, cholent with yaptzug (basically a potato kugel mixture poured on top of boiling cholent and left to cook on the blech), kishke, beet salad (with fresh parsley and garlic), marinated carrot salad, macaroons
Sunday lunch: roasted garlic, onion dip, tomato cucumber salad, mint napa salad (with fennel, zucchini, kohlrabi and oranges) – I made a huge amount of these two fresh that morning and it was almost all eaten – beet salad, marinated carrot salad, potato kugel, kishke, chicken, marble cake
I noticed something interesting about the salads – the size and shape of the pieces of the vegetables seem to determine how much is eaten. The one salad that really didn’t go over well was the marinated carrots, which I thought was pretty. The carrots were thinly crinkle cut, with a blended olive oil/lemon juice/parsley dressing. It was hardly touched. My daughter said she thought if the pieces were smaller, it would have gone fast. I like to have a variety of shapes and sizes so every salad doesn’t look like a repeat of the next, but in any case I don’t serve all the salads at one meal so that really isn’t an issue.
For chol hamoed I’m loosely planning for two big meals each day – we’ll see if that actually works out! I find that keeping a huge pot of cooked potatoes and a pan of baked sweet potatoes on hand is very helpful.
main meal: shepherd’s pie, hot dogs with sauteed napa, peppers and onion, vegetable meat loaf, chicken and potatoes, baked fish
I won’t be planning the meals for the end of the holiday until we’re closer to that point. Somehow it feels like too much for me to plan all of that at this point. I’ll see what we’ve eaten in the course of this week and from there, determine what kind of dishes will be most appreciated.
It was a blog reader from South America who first contacted me to let me know my site had become inaccessible last week. From there, it quickly became apparent that my site was being blocked worldwide due to the content of my previous post.
The thought of losing thousands of posts written over the last fifteen years was very painful. And yet when my husband commented, “You’re taking this very well,” he was right. For many months I have repeatedly asked myself if I was demonstrating a lack of integrity by keeping silent on an issue that was so opposed to my value system (widespread media censorship and government coercion). There was a relief in finally saying my truth, and when I paid the price by having my site shut down – and it looked as if I might not be able to get it back – having acted in integrity with my values was a real comfort. Having said that, I’m so relieved to have been able to retrieve it.
Last night I left my computer open and while I was sleeping my 22 year old son read my blog for the first time (with the exception of my oldest daughter, my kids don’t read my blog). He spent hours reading through through years of posts, and first thing this morning told me how deeply touching it was to read about so many of our family experiences. This blog is a part of our family history and it would have been a huge loss to have not been able to retrieve it. (We intend to hire someone to back it up so even if I’m blocked again, I’ll still have my content.)
To the person who reported my post (and it seems clear to everyone I spoke to about this that my post wouldn’t have triggered censorship if it hadn’t been tagged specifically), while I’m saddened at what happened, I understand that what I wrote felt threatening to you, and I send you much compassion along with my blessing for you to feel safe in the world. It’s unfortunate when people think that by turning in others for ‘violations’ or simply differences of opinion that they are making the world a better place.
Additionally, I’m grateful to you. You gave me the opportunity to face something that I was afraid of and to see that I don’t have to be afraid and stay in the shadows, and as a result I feel calmer and more secure. I believe that everything that happens is for our best and in this case, you’ve helped me in a way that active supporters couldn’t.
I’m glad to be back and now on to other things.
**********************
A week ago the spring break for yeshivos began and my home suddenly filled with lots of male energy! It’s just me, my hubs and my seven boys. I love it!
It’s been a year since moving to Yavneel, and it’s been so great living in a place with a strong outdoor culture.
We had so many hesitations about making this move, particularly regarding our children. When we bought our home in September 2019, we had no idea that covid would happen or that we would move here on the first day of the most intense lockdown that Israel has experienced. Now hardly two days go by without my husband or me saying aloud how amazing it is that we moved when we did, and our children often tell me how happy they are here.
It’s not that we moved to a perfect place where everything is just as we want it, but we are living in a way that feels more aligned with the life we want. More quiet, more space, more outdoor time. Much more outdoor time. When the weather is pleasant, we spend most of the day outside!
View from my front yard
I really appreciate the quieter, slower pace of life, and the increased access to nature. To have experienced such a huge quality of life upgrade at a time of so much worldwide external stress was an incredible gift. Being here has been incredibly beneficial for us maintaining a positive and centered core at a time of challenge. We recently had some young men for a Shabbos meal, and one said he’s been hosted by many families over recent months and we’re the only ones who aren’t stressed about all that is going on.
There’s something centering and calming about being surrounded by the sights of nature. A friend who moved here a little after we did commented that she thinks everyone would benefit from the healing that happens when living in a place like this.
I also deeply appreciate the opportunities living here has created for our boys. Friends of my fifteen year old wanted to plan a group trip last week and he told them he’s not interested in joining: “I live in a vacation spot and I do hikes and trips whenever I want.” This, from a boy who prior to moving here always wanted to get out and be with friends.
There’s the daily outdoor time, lots of biking and hiking and just being. As I’m sitting here writing this on Thursday night, my 11, 13 and 15 year olds just asked me if they could take a nighttime hike to a local spring. I agreed, after cautioning them to wear their headlamps since one Friday night ds15 went with a friend – they obviously had no lights since it was Shabbos – and were chased by a pack of hyenas. So I’d like to avoid that kind of adrenaline rush this time. 🙂
Ds15 and ds13, triumphant after removing the tusks from the carcass of a wild boar that they found when hiking. Making memories with brotherly bonding.
The older boys (13, 15, 18, 22) did a long bike trip to the Jordan River during the last vacation, and this week ds13 and ds15 went with friends on a strenuous hike around the Sea of Galilee. They hiked 40 kilometers the first day, carrying all their water for the day with them. Later that evening my husband drove 45 minutes to meet them with a water refill and more food – they got really hungry with all that exercise! – and camped out with them for the night. They cut the trip from the intended three days to two since the fatigue was pretty intense, but it was still a good trip.
After working on getting my agreement for quite some time, my thirteen year old just purchased a bunch of two week old chicks and finished building a large coop for them. (He no longer has quail.) He really wanted me to agree to a cow so we could have our own milk and then negotiated down to sheep (he was hoping a neighbor with a large plot of land would agree to lease to us), but I’m not ready for the investment of fencing and animal housing on someone else’s property.
He also initiated learning with a local shochet, and is almost finished learning shechita. He’s considering doing an advanced course that is quite expensive that would qualify him to do nikur (removing the gid hanashe/ sciatic nerve), something that no one locally is trained in and pays well, even for someone his age. We’re continuing to discuss that. I’m not sure how I feel about him working in the field at this point, as competent and responsible as he is. Ds11, ds13 and ds15 have all had several opportunities to participate in skinning and kashering poultry and goat meat; there’s been a lot of hands-on learning.
Ds15 and ds13 both have been learning safrus; ds15 wasn’t able to complete the course since he went back to school (he’s had eight weeks of in-person classes this year), but ds13 is getting close to the end. He’s learned that it’s not something he enjoys very much (no surprise to me) but I value learning of all sorts and this has been a great opportunity. (That’s not an outdoor activity so it doesn’t really belong here but it’s part of the learning they’re doing since moving.)
Locally there’s a strong agricultural leaning so they see others raising animals and have had hands on experience with the animals of others, and it’s understandable why they want to have some, too! Ds11 really wants a milk goat but I put my foot down on that despite repeated importuning, and he got two rabbits instead. I keep reminding them we just don’t have space! I suggested he choose something small that has some practical benefit (the used bedding goes on the garden beds); though he takes good care of them, I can see that it’s not very satisfying for him.
To make a very good thing much better, six weeks ago my oldest daughter moved here with her family! I never dared hope that one of our children would choose to live close by. Having so much more time to spend with them has been wonderful! Covid has blessed me; if not for the changes in lifestyle that regulations have created, they would still be living in the previously very desirable Jerusalem neighborhood they were in. They moved from a city apartment with no balcony or outdoor space to a house with a garden, and now she finds that most of their time is spent outside, too.
Ds11 and ds13, helping their niece bottle-feed a two day old lamb
Notice that there’s been no mention of Pesach preparations, but I did do some shopping this week. They’ve had lots of trip time this week; next week we’re going to all work together intensely and do a Pesach cleaning marathon!
Edited to add: As some readers noticed, three days after posting this, my site was disabled due to exactly the kind of censorship that I referenced as a concern. For the first time in almost fifteen years, my ‘content’ was deemed problematic on my own paid site and access to it was blocked, even to me. For several days it wasn’t clear if it would be possible to get my website back. You can imagine that it was a relief when I was able to get it restored!
How I’ve missed sharing with you these last weeks! As a departure from my usual range of topics over almost fifteen years of blogging, I’m sharing some personal reflections on current events.
*******************************
I watch current events unfold and histories of the past are my guide to what is happening and what we can expect to happen. Privately I predicted almost everything that has happened in the last year (though I anticipated it would be ebola that would suddenly be the big scare and create a push for worldwide adult vaccination, which was the published goal for 2020 of the World Health Organization).
I’m not a psychic, just someone who watches the pattern of the news and carefully reads between the lines of the mainstream news. You can see what the next step will be if you read carefully. Most articles sound more like they are written by a public relations firm pushing an agenda than objective and balanced reporting, but this is the news I read and this is where you can best see what is really unfolding, because these articles are intended to prime you for what to expect. They haven’t failed me yet.
I watch democracy in Israel eroding, as the media continually churns fear and uncertainty, with the only possible solution given being an injection that on the FDA website is described as unapproved (see the bottom of page one in the fact sheet). It was surely just a mistake, or a translation error, that caused every medical organization and news outlet in Israel to claim that it was FDA approved. And surely just an oversight that the widely translated fact sheet that is supposed to accompany the injections wasn’t translated into Hebrew. Oops.
But what difference does that make, because obviously no one has had any negative side effects and the dangers of covid are so much higher than anything else. Frightening, indeed, how the yearly death rate has remained stable before and during covid. A raging pandemic that we should thank our lucky stars to have survived. What? A survival rate of almost 100 percent for the average person? Nonsense! Where do you get your statistics?!? You don’t care about anyone but yourself. You’re a murderer.
The Green Passport has been rolled out, and when introduced we were told it would be an advantage for those who take it, but not a punishment for those who don’t. After all, that would be a violation of human rights and we wouldn’t do that. Well, the next steps to ‘open the economy’ were introduced Sunday, and allow only those with proof of the injection or proof of antibodies to participate in normative life. I hope those with natural antibodies will be allowed their status for a long time to come. Sometimes I wonder where the line is between staying positive and being delusional.
Fortunately, no one is being forced to participate in Israel’s noble country-wide experimentation that is selflessly being undertaken for the sake of humanity worldwide. There is absolutely no motive at all other than the good of the people. After all, that’s what governments always worry about – the good of the people. And because they are so worried about your well-being, they have released your personal injection status to the local government authorities, so you can be inspired to comply by your local officials. I think that warrants the elimination of medical confidentiality.
And if you feel like you’d like to wait and see what the long term results will be, since there are no long term studies of safety, or if you have the ridiculous and naive idea that you can boost your personal immunity by taking zinc/vitamin d/vitamin c/hydroxicloriquine/quercetin/ivermectin, know that there is no proof that any of those things ever helped anyone. The doctors who had impressive results with their hundreds of patients are frauds – they are manipulating you so that they can sell you vitamins! All they care about is money. Unlike the makers of the injections, for whom the financial gains are completely irrelevant.
We are so blessed to have no government coercion whatsoever. Oh, you may find it hard to live when you can’t attend school/ training programs, work/stores/social events/public places or even your own child’s wedding in a hall. But that’s really your choice. You can still buy food and medicine, and honestly, what else matters? Lockdowns that have limited the movement and lifestyle of millions of people for extended periods have shown there is no danger of any sort of imposing that continued lifestyle on anyone who won’t comply with government directives. While all legal/medical/ethical issues are ignored and steamrolled, the government simply continues passing more guidelines – all to keep us safe.
Ah, to breathe freely and happily (well, we don’t really need to breathe that much, fortunately, since we’ve all enthusiastically donned our masks), knowing that the caring politicians only have our best interests at heart! What comfort it brings me, so much so that it’s irrelevant that we are looking more like an totalitarian country than a democracy. We even now have ‘freedom’ ankle bracelets previously used for prisoners on parole that are now tracking the movements of those entering the country. Yes, a progressive and encouraging replacement of the military guard placed around the corona hotels! Freedom, indeed.
But we all know that only whacked-out conspiracy theorists have any doubts or hesitation about any aspects of the decisions that are being made. No, it doesn’t bother us that the government discussions regarding the laws rapidly being passed that have stripped us of our rights and dramatically increased the surveillance of every individual that was previously only used with the most dangerous terrorists, have been done in absolute secrecy, with the transcripts sealed from the Israeli public for thirty years. Surely that must increase your trust in your elected officials. It certainly relieves any concerns I might have had. And surely in thirty years when we see what was said and done and why, none of us will question even in the slightest the integrity and altruistic intentions of those noble politicians. Funny that they don’t trust us with that information right now. I guess they’re worried we might misunderstand what we read.
No, don’t worry about the noose growing tighter around the neck of the Israeli population who has been reluctant to participate in the country-wide medical experiment. I certainly don’t worry about it. And I feel no sadness for those who will never again be allowed to travel out of the country to see their loved ones without complying with the new directives. They deserve it, for being so selfish and spreading disease without compunction. Oh, you say people who aren’t sick can’t spread disease? We’ll take away your social media platforms, break your zoom links to your conferences, disable your videos and recordings for endangering people with your fake news.
It’s been said that the most frightening words in the world are, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” For me, this issue isn’t about whether someone gets an injection or not. My concern is whether it’s healthy for the government to be so heavily involved and controlling of the details of the lives of citizens.
*****************************
BH, all is well in my world. Truly. After so many months of silencing myself, I’m sharing some of my conflicted feelings regarding living in challenging times. I realize that the majority of the population believes the heavy governmental involvement to be appropriate in the circumstances as they’ve been presented to us.
I send each and every one of you blessings for health, stability, and security in every area of your lives. My constant effort is to remember that that G-d is running the show and my task is to stay connected and spiritually aligned.
