There’s a bun in my oven
A challah, actually.
[Hah — made you worried there for a minute, huh.]
Two weeks ago today I made my very first challah. Since then, many, many people have sent me words of encouragement, challah recipes, and even a jar of yeast.
Rather optomistic of them 😉
Last week was just a little too crazy to handle any balebusta activity.
Truth be told, so was this week. And I’ve got this blasted upper respiratory infection on top of it. But I really enjoyed how baking a challah got me in the mood for Shabbat. So I came home from work and set about mixing the dough.
Out of nowhere, Beernut appeared.
“I can’t sleep.”
Now, why is it that kids think that they can’t sleep when they’ve been asleep for a couple of hours?
“What are you doing?”
The same thing I was doing when you went to sleep two hours ago, Beernut!!!
“That’s a good braid, Mom.”
Why thank you, sonshine.
“What’s that little bit?”
[Oh. That.] Well you see Beernut, when Jews bake bread, we take a little bit of dough and separate it out as a reminder of God’s blessings.
“So do we just throw it away or something?”
[Um…actually, I did throw it away last time but felt really weird about it.] It goes back to nature.
And so tomorrow morning, before we leave for school, we will start a new tradition of giving the challah back to God.
Camp is Life…all the rest are details!
If you’ve been to Jewish camp, then you get it. And if you haven’t been…well, you missed out because Jewish overnight camp is amazing.
I am thrilled to share with you an amazing opportunity for residents of the Jewish OC. The Jewish Federation Orange County, in partnership with the Foundation for Jewish Camping, is helping make camp a reality for families with grants of $1,000 that available for first-time campers residing in Orange County, CA. There is some money available for repeat campers as well as other experiential Jewish programs.
Campership grants may be used toward any of the following resident camps:
* URJ Camp Newman (Reform)
* Wilshire Boulevard Temple Camps (Reform)
* Camp Ramah in California (Conservative)
* Camp Alonim (unaffiliated)
* Camp JCA Shalom (JCCA)
* Camp Yofi (local JCC)
* Camp Gan Israel (Lubavitch)
* Camp Gilboa Habonim D’ror (Zionist)
The Federation wants to make it possible for new campers to take advantage of the amazing breadth of inspiring, exciting, fun and friendship-building Jewish camping opportunities available to our community! Grants are available to campers applying for the Summer 2008 sessions, and may be used for a session longer than 2 weeks at any of the residential Jewish camps listed. Siblings are allowed to apply. This is not a financial need-based grant. For information and an application, contact Chelle Friedman at ext. 334 at 949-435-3484 or 714-755-5555, or email Chelle@jfoc.org. Online application will be available as of 3/18.
I cannot impress enough upon parents how significant a role Jewish overnight camp can play in the development of a child’s Jewish identity. This summer will be Beernut’s first time at URJ Camp Newman and I’ll be up there as faculty. I can’t wait!!!
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UPDATE
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In 2003, the Union for Reform Judaism made the difficult decision to close Camp Swig due to the many limitations of the site, including the scarcity of water, the San Andreas Fault and the landslide of 1995, and because it could not accommodate the growing needs of West Coast campers. With its modern design, URJ Camp Newman can accommodate these needs. As painful as it is, the Union’s Board of Trustees has a fiduciary responsibility to the Union and its congregations to move ahead with a sale so that the proceeds can benefit future generations of campers. Monies from the sale will be directly impact the current and future generations of Reform campers in the West by expanding and improving the facilities at Camp Newman and Camp Kalsman.
The property was put on the market and, of course, many hoped that it would remain a Jewish camp. However, no Jewish organization came forward with the financial backing required to purchase the camp. In early February the Union for Reform Judaism Board of Trustees approved entering into a contract with an independent religious group affiliated with the Methodist Church, subject to the due diligence and other normal real estate terms and conditions. Until the sale is closed the Union is obliged, under the terms of the contract, to maintain confidentiality about the buyer.
So it is reasonable to wonder what will become of the Judaica and artwork that is a part of Swig as well as the Holocaust memorial.
All of the Camp Swig art and Judaica has been inventoried. This includes all the CIT plaques in the CIT moadon, the murals and mosaics and quilts, the Migdal Mayim (water tower), and of course all the stained glass windows. The vast majority of art at Camp Swig is being moved to Camp Newman and, as the new Master Plan evolves, will be placed in new or existing buildings around camp for current and future generations to enjoy. As for the Holocause memorial, it is being relocated to Newman where it can be incorporated into a new memorial and serve to help educate Reform Jewish campers about the Holocaust.
The URJ and Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis are excited to invite all those who have been touched by Camp Swig to attend a farewell party on April 6th at camp. Whether you were a camper, former staff and faculty, community member, or a supporter. Families and children, young and old, are all welcome! More details can be found here.
And thanks to Jami for the reminder!!!
My New Favourite Holiday!
And I missed it?? How did I not know about this???
If it’s not good for you…
I’ve written before about my deep, deep love of peanut butter sandwiches. In today’s world, many schools have been declared nut-free in order to prevent any serious repurcussion. More and more children in America suffer from a nut allergy, and this type of allergy is the cause of more deaths than any other allergen. We know, thanks to the (Ashkenazic) Pesach prohibitions, that a peanut is a legume and not a nut but apparently they can have a similar effect on an unsuspecting victim.
Poppyseed, as a result, has never really developed a taste for PB and I am running out of lunch ideas after YEARS of nut-free lunch-making. So I took the suggestion of another mom and bought some soynut butter.
Good thing I thought to try it first or else I might have actually given her the vile stuff for lunch!
The Whites of Their Eyes
To most, the whites of the eyes recalls the Revolutionary War. As the sibling of a survivor of retinoblastoma, it means something completely different. In a healthy eye, the retina should appear red when hit by light. That’s why we have a red-eye reduction feature on our fancy digital cameras. When a tumour is present, the retina appears white. This is known as a leukocoria.
On Sunday evening, musician Jeff Healey died from cancer. As an infant, retinoblastoma robbed him of his eyesight but not of his tenacity, artistry, or joie de vivre.
Early detection and amazing medical advances can prevent the loss of sight and life. Educate yourself…and consider making a gift.
Thin Air or something else…
Anyone else see this today?
Why is it so hard to believe that Moses really did talk to God up there??
Lost in Translation?
After changing a malodorous nappie, I asked the kids to watch the baby who was cavorting on my bed.
And of course I had just stepped out of the room when Beernut shouted “MO-OM! The baby just fell off the bed!!!”
As Peach delightfully roamed free on the floor, I realized that I had placed a stumbling block before Beernut and Poppyseed. By asking them to do something they weren’t capable of doing, I had set them up for failure.
That being said, I needed to know exactly what had happened.
“You guys aren’t in trouble, but I thought I had told you to watch your brother.”
“We did!” they exclaimed, in unison.
“No you didn’t”
“Yes, we did,” they countered. “We watched him fall off the bed. “
Slow News Day???
So let me get this straight. We Jews make up something like less than 0.2% of the world’s population. And yet I heard not just one but two stories about Israel on the news today.
Israel looks for cure to doctor shortage
Why is the world so fascinated with us???
We’ve been had…
For reasons not important to get into here, Poppyseed earned herself the following punishment from her father:
Poppyseed, there will be no dressing up in your dress-up clothes after school today, is that understood?
“Uh-huh,” she nodded solemnly.
Several hours later, Poppyseed came home, marched into her room, and shut the door. After a few moments, she emerged in a completely different ensemble.
“This is my pretty Princess outfit. It’s not dress-up clothes. It’s an outfit,” she announced triumphantly.
Do Not Collect $200
So when we were little, DadGiraffe would sometimes gather us around the kitchen table for some games. Sometimes it was blackjack or poker with his Dad’s old set of poker chips. Other times it was for a board game. And there’s nothing like a little Monopol to encourage some friendly rivalry.
Yes, you read that correctly. Monopol. The Israeli version of Monopoly. Today, Hasbo (the parent company of Parker Bros. since 1991) produces Monopol which pretty much looks just like Monopoly but with Hebrew writing and Israeli towns and streets.
But the version we used? Let’s just say it was a cheap copy of the original. And we loved it. In fact, I was rather shocked to discover (at some embarassingly old age, I must add) that there was an American version of my favourite game.
Yeah, I know. I really had such a strange upbringing.
Anyway, Monopoly has always had a special place in my heart. So I was really excited to learn that a new world edition was in the works. With the public able to vote for the cities to be included. Within a short amount of time, a worldwide movement swept the Jewish world (thanks to an Israeli lobbying group, One Jerusalem) as the international Jewish community managed to get Jerusalem in the top twenty cities.
And then it happened. Israel was eliminated.
That’s right. Just like that, she just disappeared from the list. It seems that the Pro-Palestinian camp got wind of Jerusalem being noted as a city in Israel and protested. After all, they claim Jerusalem as their own as well.
What to do, what to do…
First Hasbro removed Israel leaving Jerusalem as the only city without a country.
But that didn’t really solve the problem. So now…all countries have been removed.
Blogger Yehuda asked Hasbro why they suddenly removed Israel from the Jerusalem entry in the World Monopoly vote and received the following response:
Parker Brothers, the makers of board game Monopoly has embarked upon an exercise to find the world¹s most popular cities as voted for by the public. It was never our intention to print any countries on the final boards and any online tags were merely used as a geographic reference to help with city selection. This is clearly stated in the terms and conditions of our campaign.
We would never want to enter into any political debate. We apologise for any upset this has caused our Monopoly fans and hope that they continue to support their favourite cities, all of which are deserving of a place on our final board – Monopoly Here and Now : The World Edition which will be released in Autumn 2008. The 20 pre-selected cities with the highest worldwide votes on February 29 2008 will make it onto the board. Plus voters will have from February 29 to March 9 2008 to vote on the most nominated Wildcard cities. Only the top two will make it on the board.
Yehuda replied that “the decision to leave Israel or remove Israel is in any case a political decision, and I would just like to know the impetus behind the decision to suddenly remove it.”
Their answer:
All country tags are currently being removed from the websites (there are 37 translations and it takes a while) Â cities will only be represented by their common name as they will appear on the board. I hope this does not stop you from supporting Jerusalem a very worthy and wonderful city.
Yehuda reports on his blog that “according to Hasbro, the decision to pull Israel was as a result of complaints by Palestinian activists. The decision was made by a mid-level employee without consulting upper management. The later decision to rectify he situation by pulling all country names was made as a result of pro-Israeli complaints.”
Hasbro now states that there was never any intention for the countries to appear on the final board. Rather they were for clarification purposes only.
So that no one should mistake Rome, NY for Rome, Italy, maybe??
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.
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