As the Matzah Ball Turns

Hope all of you are having a grand Pesach Holiday or just a grand week for my non-Jewish readers. Pesach in the Holy Land has been wonderful. We had a great Seder in Israel (Click here to find out why we do two Seders outside of Israel and just one in Israel, there is more of reason than making it easier on family dynamics). Seder was at Arielle's cousins house in Jerusalem. We started the Seder at 8:00 PM and it lasted until 1:30 AM. Though a marathon, the Seder was very spirited. We read the entire haggadah in Hebrew, and had interesting conversations from why Moses is not mentioned in the Haggadah to how much time is allotted to eat the first piece of Matzah after the blessing (four minutes was the consesus).

Seder was wonderful though I did miss being home and with my family (get points for saying that!). And for those who asked, we still say "Next Year in Jerusalem," though under my breath I did say "same time, same place."

Another really cool experience was walking home from Seder at 1:30 AM, and seeing many other people doing the same thing and saying "chag sameach-- Happy Passover." I did see some stumbling Jews, I'm guessing they are light-weights from those four cups of wine.

So now we are on Passover vacation... It has been great hanging out with Arielle's mom in Jerusalem, spent the past couple of days exploring J'lem (including the biblical zoo, relaxing by the pool, and playing tennis next to the Foreign Minister of Israel-- Avigdor Lieberman) . Tomorrow we are off to Jordan and Southern Israel for four days, with a trip to Petra, Wadi Rum, and Eilat. Update of our adventures will follow!

Hope life is rolling for all of you and those bowels are moving...

Take it easy,

ERBP

HAPPY PASSOVER!!!

Though my streak of blogging seven days in a row came to a halt last night. I still have time to wish you all a Chag Sameach! Wishes for a wonderful Passover where ever you may be reading this blog from.

We are off to Arielle's cousins for Pesach Seder. It has a late start time (and probably a late end time) so we might be ending around around the same time. I'll make sure to blog up our Seder festivities, so stay tuned.

Chag Sameach,

ERBP

A Haiku for Day 4

Fun time with the Druze

I will show you tomorrow

Two days to Seder.

A short blog for tonight as we just got back from up North. But pictures and descriptions of our experiences tomorrow. (Though I think this still counts for blogging 4 times in 4 days.... I'm rocking at this... so you should comment on my blog too!).

Much love,

ERBP

Important Rabbinical School Training...

Shabbat Shalom from Atlit, Israel (15 minutes south of Haifa). We are in Atlit having a wonderful Shabbat with the Meller's (Arielle's Seeds of Peace friend's family).

For a Shabbat treat, I thought I would share a video that shows some of the rigorous training that we have to go through to become Rabbis. If you thought that Rabbinical school was just studying Hebrew, reading the Torah, and writing sermons... you better watch this video.

Enjoy!




Shabs,

ERBP

PS: Major props to my good friends Molly and Bess for putting together this fantastic movie. Check out their blog at www.mollyandbessonmoshehess.com for a blog that is updated every day!

Super Market Sweep: Passover Edition

2nd day, 2nd blog post I'm on a roll!

After a delicious dinner with Arielle's mom and sister in Jerusalem, we thought we would capitalize on our time and do a passover shopping, as we are heading up North for a couple of days tomorrow (hopefully I can continue my blog streak during our little trip).

Now along with cats, the second thing that I hate most about Israel is going grocery shopping. The aisles are narrow, the people are pushy, and I get overwhelmed by the amount of dairy products and Hebrew writing. But Arielle and I thought that if we were to go grocery shopping at 10:30 PM it would be a pleasant experience. Of course we were wrong....

Why were we wrong, well everyone one else and their mother were grocery shopping for Passover. Here is a photo montage of our journey at "Supersol."

While shopping we learned that there is kosher for Passover dish soap. I didn't know people eat dish soap.

One good thing about being in Israel for Passover is that they have so many different kosher for Passover products, from granola bars, to rice, to different cakes, to Matzah (we were careful of the pirated Matzah though.... see previous blog). We will have to wait to Monday to see if increased variety = edible.

K4Passover Rice and other exciting new products

Different K4Passover Cakes

The worst part of shopping in Israel is that people leave their shopping carts at the cash register to "save" their spot and then they continue shopping. And don't try to check-out and put your groceries on the conveyor belt in front of the "lone shopping cart" because that could start World War III.

"lone" shopping cart

I wasn't the only one who was having a frustrating shopping experience.

So there you have it... Our Passover shopping spree.

Getting excited because we are almost done checking out!

I think I'll be saying "Next Year at Stop & Shop" where you can have more than one shopping cart in an aisle.

Catch you tomorrow,

ERBP

7 Blogs in 7 Days

The challenge is on... Can I blog seven days in a row? Odds are probably as good as the odds that Cornell will win the big dance, but you never know what can happen.

And if I blog seven days in a row, my GMA said that she would give me a really special prize too.... So now I have some incentive.

Plus, I have chosen a good time to step up to the challenge as a lot is happening in good ole J'lem. From March Madness in Jerusalem, to the approaching Passover holiday, to vacation starting tomorrow, I think I will have plenty to blog about.

So to begin my blogging endeavor, I would like to share a warning to all those who are living in Israel and buying Matzah for the upcoming Passover holiday. Thanks to our good friends in Boston, Charlotte and Daniella, for sending us this article and warning us about this possible catastrophe.

See you tomorrow,

ERBP

Israeli Rabbis Warn About Fake Passover Matzah
2010-03-24 16:28:40.961 GMT

Jerusalem (AP) -- Israel's Chief Rabbinate is warning
Israeli citizens to be on the lookout for pirate matzah.

A week before the start of the holiday of Passover, Israeli
police raided a warehouse containing a 7-ton stockpile of
matzah with fake kosher certificates.

Matzah is flat, unleavened bread Jews eat during the

weeklong holiday instead of regular bread.

Israel's Chief Rabbinate published photos Wednesday of the
matzah packages, warning shoppers not to buy them. The
rabbinate suspects that non-kosher flour was used to make the
matzah. "I can't believe that someone would do something like
that," said Roy Wolf, manager of a leading matzah factory in
Israel, after receiving calls from concerned customers.

Most Israeli Jews do not eat bread during Passover.

This year is flying by (my blog posts are not though).

Long time no blog. I apologize to all my die hard blog readers (mom and gma that is you) and for keeping all of you on the edge of your computer chairs waiting for another blog post. Well the wait is over, here is a quick update with pictures too.

1. Visitors galore continue to drop by Kotel6. Two good Clark friends dropped by the Holy Land, Cara and Robin (here is your shout out!) and Arielle's father swung by too. The visits were wonderful, I'm still waiting for all of you to visit, it is not too late I think we will be here until June!

Robin, Arielle, and Me in downtown J'lem

2. My entire class took a tiyul (a trip) for a three day seminar exploring the South of Israel. Our trip included a visit to the two Reform Kibbutzim, Yahel and Lotan, in the Negev Desert, some snorkeling in the Red Sea, and a Shabbat experience in the desert.

2 Highlights of the tiyul included...

My favorite hike in Israel - Mt. Shlmo, where you can see Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia


And visit to the "Kaki Classroom" at Kibbutz Lotan. Where we learned how kibbutzniks can convert human waste into soil. (When at Lotan, I was proud to contribute to the efforts. I think my donation will help make some very sweet fruit).

3. And last but not least I got to celebrate another holiday in Israel... PURIM! Purim is a holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people living throughout the ancient Persian Empire. It also commemorates a lot of drunkness, costume wearing, and hamantashen (triangle cookies) eating on the streets of Jerusalem.

So to celebrate... Arielle and I decided to dress up as walking "bake sales" to benefit two fundraisers that my classmates are raising money for www.riding4reform.org and www.pesachproject.com. (check out my legs!)


My favorite costume was my friend Jonah, who dressed up as the undercover-mossad agent carrying a British passport who pulled off an assassination in Dubai. If you don't know the story Google it...

Arielle and I also attended the biggest Purim Parade in the entire world. It took place in Holon, Israel. We were expecting the MACY's Purim Day Parade, but instead we got a parade more like the Fairfield, CT Memorial Day Parade. (Unfortunately, there were no kids putting together a map of the middle east on the parade route....)

So as you can tell all is good here. We are off to Istanbul for a long weekend tomorrow (I know tough life... you should feel bad for us!), I'll make sure to blog about our adventures upon our return.

Be well...

ERBP