Jewish Musings, Monday, April 22, 2024

[peachymom1]

What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.

Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:

Frieda (hopefully)?
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy

And for those of you that stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to, but you are also welcome to chime in. Don’t be shy!

[peachymom1]

Good morning everyone! We are ready for Passover! And I will have a decent amount of loafing time today, before it’s time to take our baked goodies over to our bff’s daughter’s house for the first seder tonight. Hooray!

This past Shabbat, the rabbi shared a startling personal decision about his Passover observance this year. This rabbi comes from a long line of Ashkenazic Jews, all of whom have always strictly observed the custom of not eating kitniyot (rice, corn, beans, peas, etc.) during Passover. But tradition and family identity notwithstanding, he decided that this year, he and his immediate family are going to eat kitniyot.

Why? He explained that in addition to all the new things they’re doing at their seders this year (relevant readings, extra drop of wine, an empty chair, dogtags, etc.), he wanted to do something personal to show unity with all Jews. The issue of eating kitniyot or not does divide Jews during Passover, and he feels that this is no time to encourage any kind of divisions among us. He talked about law versus custom and gave some historical background on kitniyot, but here’s what I found particularly moving from his drash on Shabbat:

“The truth is, I don’t know what else I can do at this point to teach my children that they belong to the same people as the Yemenites and the Italians and the Sephardic soldiers who stand right now on the front lines in Gaza, in the north, and in the Golan Heights. And if in some small way this small gesture of eating kitniyot brings them closer to those distant cousins…I want them to know that that’s their family…that we’re one, we stand together.”

What do you think of this? I thought it was beautiful. This rabbi has great respect for tradition and the binding power of minhag (custom, as opposed to law); I never would have thought he would make this decision. What are your comments / opinions?

Everyone have wonderful, warm and meaningful seders tonight and tomorrow night! I won’t be posting for Tuesday, but I will for Wednesday. Chag sameach!

[louise]

I like your rabbi's reasoning!
As for me I just follow what my rabbi says. Kitniyot makes little sense to me so I don't feel strongly about it (but I do refrain from it). My rabbi eats quinoa as it is not on the list of kitniyot. It seems to me this is because the rabbis did not know about it. My rabbi agrees but sees no reason to add to the list. Yeah, well.

My caterer gave us peeled hard boiled eggs for the seder plate. I told him I canot roasted a peeled egg. My rabi wasn't thrilled but it said it would be okay to use. Not obssessing over that one either.

I made the raspberry sauce for my torte last night but couldn't add the lemon juice and sugar because I'm doing IF and did not want to break my fast (you add it "to taste"). Will finish that off later when my eating window opens. Now I have to make the torte - some amount of trepidation after the exploding bowl incident Thanksgiving. Courage! Then there's the usual "Please let it come out of the pan" plea.

[peachymom1]

I went to the gym at 5 a.m., as is my usual Monday routine, and I was heartened by all the "chag sameachs" I heard. I had a great workout and have racked up a good amount of extra points that will help cover some indulgent eating tonight. Now if I can just find the charger for my Fitbit -- DS33 dusted the office yesterday, and now I can't find it, ugh!

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE! Please pray for Israel.

Re today's topic: I liked everyone's posts.

Have a peaceful day, and enjoy celebrating tonight, Lee