HH #290 — Falling Back Edition
Founded by Soccer Dad, Haveil Havalim is a carnival of Jewish blogs — a weekly collection of Jewish & Israeli blog highlights, tidbits and points of interest collected from blogs all around the world. It’s hosted by different bloggers each week and coordinated by Jack. The term ‘Haveil Havalim,’ which means “Vanity of Vanities,” is from Qoheleth, (Ecclesiastes) which was written by King Solomon. King Solomon built the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and later on got all bogged down in materialism and other ‘excesses’ and realized that it was nothing but ‘hevel,’ or in English, ‘vanity.’”
Much going on in the Jewish blogosphere this past week. Many of us continue to feel the loss of friend and teacher, RivkA Matitya, as you will see reflected in several posts.
RivkA
Risa speaks of RivkA’s innovativeness in What Women CAN Do!
Brian captures RivkA’s essence in The Eternal Optimist .
Things did not go as smoothly as they could and should have, according to Batya, in Funeral “Factory”.
Ricki’s Mom expresses her sadness in Thoughts on RivkA, Life and Death.
A Mother in Israel lets us in on her long and beautiful friendship in Memories of RivkA bat Yishaya, z”l.
A picture speaks a thousand words. Two thousand, then, from Around The Island (here and here).
Our Tradition encourages us to say Tehillim on behalf of those who are ill. West Bank Mama shares her Thoughts on Saying Tehillim.
Ruti-Mizrachi shares what she learned from RivkA.
And I talk about being counted.
Finally, a new initiative that will honour RivkA’s memory has been established.
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Torah
Talk about confluence! Yechezkel offers a very modern understanding of Yaakov and Eisav in Divergence from the Womb. [LOVE this!]
Threadz of Blue reminds us about Blessing the Children…as well as being a Blessing to them.
I continue to be amazed how much can be pulled out of text. Using Torah, Midrash, personal experience and her neshama, The Velveteen Rabbi shares Seven Miriam Stories.
A Simple Jew teaches us about humility.
Don’t be put off by PopChasid’s title, Art is Garbage (and So Are You). Stick with the post and you will see how we might understand our own souls through the nature of art.
And speaking of art, The Rebbetzin’s Husband shares one women’s artistic rendering of a very personal journey. Wow.
Wisdom is found in many places, as JanetheWriter writes in Kaddish d’Rabbanan: A Modern Interpretation.
Israel
Soccer Dad points us over to a true act of tzedek over at Six Kids and a Full Time Job.
Yoel Meltzer tells us why he thinks that Annexation is the only solution.
“When in Rome, do as the Romans” could apply in the case of Christian Hutzpah by Esser Agaroth, who also shares his Response to Hertz’s “No Occupied Territories”
Joel Katz helps us stay on top of Religion and State in Israel here and here.
Take a visit to the Hula Valley Nature Reserve with Creative Jewish Mom.
Ah, blessed rain. Precipitation arrives in the Homeland and Leah over at the Ingathering reminds us to be thankful.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then The Office ought to be extremely flattered now that Israel has its own version of the show. David interviews the star of the show and reports back on his meeting in The Big Man on Campus. (Thanks, Israelity for the link)
The global market means the world is literally at our fingertips. Don’t believe me? Check out the story about Abe’s Market. (Israelity sent in this one too!)
Acclimation happens in stages. The Three-Year Mizrachi Report lets us peak at one family’s process.
Maya remarks on the Inconsistency of Israeli Telephone Numbers to which Batya adds her take on it. Batya also wonders How Do You Solve A Problem Like Our Bibi?
From the groovy to the futuristic, Cosmic X in Jerusalem gives us the extremes.
Are you a leftist screwball? Here are the Top 10 Signs according to The Jewish Fist.
Judaism
Tikkun Olam is part of childrearing, says Marjorie.
No two journeys towards Judaism are identical. Here is Yaniv Ben David’s story, courtesy of Cosmic X in Jerusalem.
Are denominations good for the Jews or not so much? Friar Yid tells us in The Blame Game.
Truth, Praise, and Help presents us with the Bar Mitzvah invitation of the future…or is it present?
Just back from India, Rabbi Lemming shares his experience.
Kashrut
Kosher. Is it a black and white kind-of-thing…or is there a grey area? See what To Kiss a Mezzuzah has to say in The Sliding Scale of Kosher
Quick — check out Chavi’s post about Quick and Kosher and enter her giveaway that ends TONIGHT at 10:00pm. Still not convinced? Read this review over at In the Pink. [And major mazal tov to Hadassah for **finally** receiving her Green Card.
Culture
Good News, indeed! Jacob has some new Jewish video games for your edification.
So what about America’s Top MOdel?? Melissa (one of the Redefining Rebbetzins) offers her thoughts.
Leora interviews Ilana-Davita (whose posts and comments give tremendous insight into European life). What a great way to get to know a fellow blogger! Leora also reminds us that pictorial submissions are now being accepted for JPiX.
Personal
SO here is an example of one of the things I LOVE about my online relationships. My life is truly enriched by engaging in respectful discourse with people who hold differing opinions. Minnesota Mamaleh, when submitting her post on Halloween, wrote, “okay, lady. i know we don’t see eye-to-eye on this one. i hope it’s still okay though!…”. Galit, we sure don’t. But I appreciate hearing other points-of-view. Sects and the City weighs in as well.
Oy! The things people say. But The Ima takes it all in stride. [Doesn’t she look beautiful, puh X3?] And Leah? She makes a slideshow.
Ricki TRIED to Tell Me, says Ricki’s Mom, who also shares her disappointment in The Burst Bubble (or the Ups and Downs of Shopping). [BTW, yasher koach to Ricki’s Mom who has lost 44 kilo (97 pounds) so far. We are SOOOO proud of you!]
Published! That’s right. Shout-out to Elianah-Sharon for her beautiful article on the OU’s Shabbat page. [With a special mazal tov from Shira Salamone in Blogger Envy.]
To Kiss A Mezuzah reminds us not to wait for bad times to seek God’s Presence.
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For those of you living in places where there is a time change, take the opportunity to change the batteries in your smoke detectors. Welcome back to standard time.
And that concludes this week’s edition of Haveil Havalim. I hope that you enjoy reading these posts as much as I did!
Next week will be hosted by The Rebbetzin’s Husband. You may do so by using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Frume Sarah is Shabbos-observant -- in a Reform way, that is. Please note that from Friday afternoons until one hour after sundown on Saturday evenings, Frume Sarah will be unavailable, in observance of the Jewish Sabbath.
Comments made during this time will be held in a queue, to be moderated afterwards.
Thank you for your understanding...and gut Shabbos!!! 
Frume Sarah's World 
Thanks for hosting. I spent some time reading more of the beautiful posts about RivkA. I was especially saddened by the one Batya wrote about the funeral. It is hard enough to mourn, but when schedules are poorly planned, no wonder people feel angry.
Hope all the jblogger photographers out there will submit to JPiX. We need some good cheer.
I just can’t imagine how any funeral can be expected to be as short as they had scheduled.
I hope they have learned from this experience.
Thank you for the hard work anf for mentioning my blog.
I have learned so much about life (general and Jewish) over on the Continent. I really appreciate you and your writing.
Great edition. Thank you for including me.
My pleasure.
Well done!
I appreciate your compliment. Thanks!
Thanks for all your work on HH!
Joel
Enjoyable work 😉 You are so welcome.
thank you, mama! and *phew* so glad to hear that all is well with our bloggy friendship! and, for the record, indeed– respectful discourse is what’s *all* about! 🙂
I can disagree with you and still adore you!
Thanks for including my post. Kol Hakavod.
Thank you, DBS. Come back anytime.
It was most generous of you to include my post. Wonderful job, Sarah!
And thank you for your submission, Rabbi Lemming. Welcome back from your journey.
Grateful and appreciative as usual.
My pleasure. Really. I enjoy the chance to read through so many posts as well as include new voices. Thanks for the opportunity.
B”H
Thanks for hosting, and for including my links!
That’s interesting that you mentioned that expression regarding Rome. When the Christian censors butchered the Ramba”m Mishneh Torah, they changed “Christians are ovdei avodah zarah” to “Romans are ovedei avodah zarah” or aku”m.
The saga continues….
Haveil Havalim #290 Is Up
Every moment is a teachable moment!
Thanks for publicizing this week’s edition.
My congratulations.
Thanks!
Thanks for a wonderful Havel Havelim, The Carnival (Celebration) of Jewish Blogs!
And thanks for publicizing it 😉
Nice job.
Thanks. I really enjoy the chance to put it all together.
Great compilation as always! I am honored to be included 🙂
Thanks.
I think that it is really important for a variety of voices to be included. And your voice is a good one to hear!
The problem isn’t that you hear voices- it is that you think they are talking to you. 😉
They are. They are asking to be included so that HH accurately represents different points-of-view.
You always do such a great job. Thanks for linking me in even though I’m too spacey to remember to send in my posts! 🙂
Thanks. You’ve got a lot going on right now. And I’ve always included posts from my reader. So I’ve always got your back!
Hmm, I thought that they were telling me to go eat ice cream.
You might want to talk to someone about that.
Beautiful job, thanks so much.
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My photography is available for purchase – visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!
It’s hard to take credit for doing something I enjoy. Plus, I was just the redactor. You guys did all the work!
Nice edition and thanks for the compliment!
Thanks. And thanks. Your hard work is paying off and is inspiring. Keep it up!
Thank you for the shout-out. I am truly honored, or as you would say, honoured! 😉