Oct 2, 2008

random thoughts from Rosh Hashana

Here are some random things that happened on Rosh Hashana that stuck out, some of them funny, some of them not..
  • During the Torah reading, the ba'al kriya mistakenly said "Zareich" instead of "Zar'acha". Both mean your child(ren), but "zareich" is the feminine usage (children of a woman), while zar'acha is the male usage. When the mistake was made, my 7 year old immediately laughed (I was surprised he even noticed it), and said "he said Avraham is a girl!"
  • We woke up the second day to find a bird flitting around the house. I could not find an open window, and could not figure out how it got in, but I opened the door and tried to chase it out. The poor thing flew into a ceiling fan and hurt itself. It then hopped out of the room and then flew (at low altitude) out the door I opened for it.
  • Kids enjoyed tashlich as we went down into the fields, with many others from the neighborhood, on the edge of RBS to a well/spring (that doubles as a mikva) in the middle of a field. It made it seem like a tiyul, so that was fun.
  • We all enjoyed the simanim, from the carrots and beans to the sheep's head, all except for the fish head. Highlights were, of course, the apple in honey and the fish candies.
  • I am not really sure that getting the exotic fruit for she'he'chyanu (this years was a gauva rather than the quince) would really qualify, on its own, for the bracha. Nobody really likes any of these fruits they sell for Rosh Hashana, and we seem to eat it in nibbles. It is a good thing we are making the she'he'chyanu anyway and not just for the new fruit.
  • During my post-Rosh Hashana run (I know, these were supposed to be thoughts from Rosh Hashana, but I think motzei also counts), I noticed a big difference between RBS and BS. RBS is pretty much a dead town. The streets were quiet after the holiday - I guess everyone is washing dishes and taking showers. In BS things were happening. People were out all over the place. Burgers Bar was jam packed, the pizza shop nearby was busy, other food establishments were getting ready to open, people were milling about, etc.

11 comments:

  1. Where is the well/spring on the edge of RBS?

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  2. Fish candies??? Gummy fish, or a candy that tastes like fish?

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  3. used to be gummies, now they are just candies in the shape of fish.

    candy that tastes like fish? I cannot think of anything more disgusting right now...

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  4. Next time try Oranges and Tangerines for new fruit. Not as glitzy as a guave but they are new season and they show up in the stores always right before RH.

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  5. can you make a shehechyanu on an orange and tangerine? they are so standard...

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  6. ma started that great minhag. we use the fish candies too and now all the kids participate in that yehi ratzon!

    This year we had decided to no longer go for the crazy exotic fruits that we turn out to despise. we looked for a basic fruit that should be sweet and one that we obviously hadn't had yet. we chosea mango, and it was delish. juicy and sweet and no bracha levatala!

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  7. it's not a bracha levatala anyway, as even without the new fruit you would still say the shehechyanu..

    I do not remember Ma having fish candies. is it new? we do it pretty much every year. It started out at juju fish...

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  8. you've been gone too long. she's been putting out those juju fish for years. she got tired of everyone making puking noises over the fish heads.

    jewel this year was actually selling sheep heads for yomtov!

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  9. If you're referring to the same well/mikvah that I know, that place is a cesspool! The one down below the perimeter road on the west side? A real public health hazard.

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  10. Jack - shana tova. sorry for using your tag line (random thoughts..)

    mordechai - it is probably one and the same. it was pretty dirty. the water level is also pretty low, so that makes it even dirtier...

    shimon a - there is a path down to it right across from the chabad shul/meuchedet at the entrance to rbs. You wold go down at and angle on the path and in a cluster of trees there is the well. We went from the other side. Across from the last occupied buildings on yarqon there is a path on the other side of the wall. if you take that path down to the right you will also find it.

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