in case you are curious, the competition was won by a local team from Olathe called Smoke to Perfection

I was planning on barbecuing the food for dinner tonight - the food for breaking the fast of the 17th of Tammuz.

The barbecue was just going to be a method of cooking - not a celebratory meal like a birthday or graduation party.

Then I had this thought, that perhaps it is inappropriate. When people, especially Haredim, have gotten "caught" barbecueing on Memorial Day (Yom HaZikaron) or Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom HaShoah), society cries out in shock and rage that these people are so insensitive and are doing something fun and celebratory on such a sorrowful day. Perhaps, if society considers it inappropriate on those days, how much more so should it be considered inappropriate today.

Or maybe it is just another method of cooking. Maybe not turning it into a picnic or party makes it ok.

I did an informal and unscientific survey on Twitter, and respondents initially seem to think it is ok, though after then comparing it to Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron BBQs, nobody really rebutted the comparison very well...

So, my informal survey continues here - what do you think about barbecueing the food for breaking the fast?

I had the opportunity to partake in, and enjoy, two vastly different barbecues within 11 hours of each other.

One was extremely Israeli style. the second was extremely American style. One was with my running group, as the conclusion of a 50km nighttime relay race. The second was with my softball team, celebrating the conclusion of a successful season in which we finished first in our division.

I never really paid attention before, but American and Israeli eating styles are completely different. It is very noticeable in the settings described above, happening so close to each other making it easy to compare.

The Israeli bbq is very informal, with lots of chummus being slapped all over the pita and meat. Salads are mostly ignored, and lots of watermelon is devoured.

The American bbq is much more formal - eating the hotdogs and burgers on buns with ketchup, mustard, vegetables (onion, pickle, lettuce, etc), etc. We had a watermelon, but we even forgot to take it out and cut it up. Salads were not even present except for the purpose of filling the buns.

Both were great, but they were very different from each other.

Man, was I stuffed after those food orgies.

I fired up the grill today to make bbq chicken for Shabbos. Looks and smells great and I can't wait for shabbos to get here so we can eat!!



Here we go...



Before:



During:



After:


Have a great Shabbos everybody!