HAPPY PESACH!!!



I wish you a Joyful Passover, Meredith and Saundra. And, in the spiritual patrimony of our faiths, a Blessed Shalom.

Thank you Lola! Hubbo and I had a Seder tonight, after way too much time spent cooking and cleaning. This is a cooking-and-cleaning holiday if there ever was one.

We'll be cooking a lot over the next week, as all bread, pasta, rice, soy burgers etc. are off-limit. I'm thinking of creative ways to make holiday veggies.

We hold another Seder tomorrow night. Hubbo's main culinary contribution is matzoh ball soup, so I'm sure that'll be on tomorrow's menu as well.

London is 8 hours ahead of California so Birkat Hachammah (sp?) was yesterday...and it was soooooooo clear and sunny the whole day!. What a blessing you and Saundra live in sunny states or you'd have 28 years to wait for another Birkat, if you lived in London where sunshine is a hit and/or miss affair. And true to form, it's cloudy and grey in London today.

A friend gave my grandchildren a copy of her grandchildren's DVD Haggadah animation yesterday and we'd be watching that today. Wishing you and Hubbo an abundance of God's blessings and joy.

Joining Lola in wishing you a peaceful holiday filled with God's blessings and awareness.

I wish the same for you Meredith. My very favorite food cooked for Sukkot, is the egg bread, Challah. I swear I could just eat the entire loaf myself.

Happy holidays, one and all. However you celebrate the beginning of spring, the beginning of life, may you be joyous and happy and full of life.

Thanks everyone! We had another Seder tonight and I convinced Hubbo that we had enough food without the matzoh ball soup (although I promised him he could make it later in the week.)

We have several versions of the Haggadah (the book telling the story of the Exodus from Egypt) and read a different one each night. Last night I chose the one with the gorgeous artwork. Tonight Hubbo chose the traditional one with all the didst's and saith's.

Lola, I'm surprised you heard of Birkat Hachammah (spelling optional -- it means Blessing of the Sun) as that's as obscure as observances get. For those of you who never heard of it (which is probably everyone here except me and Lola) -- every 28 years, the sun is supposed to be the exact same place in the sky as it was on the day of creation. Here's an article:
http://www.ritualwell.org/holidays/sitefolder.2008-09-16.5411107743/

Many cultures have a spring holiday celebrating renewal. What I like most about Passover is the theme of -- remember your oppression, and use that knowledge to help others who are oppressed today. It's a religious call to social action.

Thank you, Lola. Blessings to all. Ms. M, wish I were close enough to come to dinner one night.

My mother always did all the cooking and my father said all the prayers. My parents kept my family together that way. Now the few still alive in my family are scattered and I honor the holidays in my heart.

I made my annual contribution to the Jewish Federation. They help people of all faiths and races and that's right on target for me.

I've only heard of Birkat last month, Meredith. My friend, the generous source of my Haggadah DVD, celebrates her birthday on 21st March. I had wished her a good sunny day for that date, as it falls on the Spring Equinox and it had only been grey and cold for weeks in London. Then she said, "I wish sunny on Birkat". So, it took off from there.

I have been assigned to read Exodus at Mass tomorrow. It's part of the Catholic liturgy for Easter Vigil. Nowhere is the deep spiritual bond between Judaism and Christianity more apparent than in our liturgy. The very concepts of our liturgical cycle of feasts, and the lectio continua principle of the lectionary that so mark Catholic tradition are adopted from Jewish liturgical practice. Our faiths are so linked together at the very level of their identity because of the unique relation that exists between Judaism and Christianity. The faith and religious life of the Jewish people as they are professed and practiced still today, greatly help me to understand better certain aspects of the life of my Church and Her spiritual patrimony with Judaism.

Saundra, the Orthodox Jewish community in London have host families for Shabbat and other feasts for visiting tourists and those that live alone. Would you have one close to where you live?