- We had American guests for Seder, so there was a second seder at our house, as well. Husbinator announced in shul that the Israelis were welcome to stop by and "see the chutznikim," perhaps even take a selfie at the second seder. Our across-the-street neighbor took him up on his offer, and made this shocked comment: "It's just like the first seder!" Yes. Yes it is.
- Good friends from the US who made aliyah to Northern Israel a few months before we made aliyah were in Jerusalem for the first day of Pesach. Since they were around, they came over and we had a BBQ and it was awesome. They also brought Charoset-flavored Ben and Jerry's ice cream that we really wanted to try but couldn't find anywhere. (It's really cinnamon-y.)
- Speaking of the first day of chol hamoed/the second day of yom tov, I only tried to get Husbinator's brother to break yontiff once. He just looked at me until I realized that he couldn't write his name on his cup...
- We went to Neot Kedumim with Nefesh B'Nefesh. The first part of the tour was us wandering freely in the park; the second part was guided. I confirmed for myself that I vastly prefer guided tours. During the guided tour, I also confirmed that pressing olives is an absolute pain in the tush, and I need not try to make olive oil again this year. Also during the guided portion of the tour, the guide pointed out that "kedem" (yore, as in days of yore) and "kadima/l'hitkadem" (onward/to progress onward) are the same root word conjugated two different ways. She also pointed out that our forefathers were shepherds (duh), and when the Jews entered Israel, they formed an agricultural society (again, duh). What I somehow failed to see until she hit us over the head with it, is that means that the Jews went from being nomadic shepherds to settled farmers. Oh. That's a huge transition.
- Before we left for Aunty Em and Uncle En's for the last day/s of Pesach, I noticed the wind was much stronger than usual, and much stronger than I'd come to expect after a week of mild, sunny weather. It was slightly overcast, and a line from the silent Amida popped into my head: "משיב הרוח ומוריד הגשם" "[G-d] winds* the wind and sends down the rain." We just stopped saying this line, in fact, since the rainy season just ended, but I suddenly realized how literal it is. Every single time it's rained over the winter, we had a few hours to a few days of strong wind, first. So I checked the weather, and sure enough, there was rain in the forecast. So I took in the four loads of laundry I had hung out before Pesach and hadn't gotten around to folding, yet. (And yes, it did end up raining while we were away. Ha! I'm telling you, there's a bunch of stuff in prayer/Torah that doesn't fully make sense out of the context of Israel.)
- Aunty Em and Uncle En completely renovated their apartment over the last few months, so they have brand-new doors to all of the rooms. These newly-balanced doors allowed BSM to learn what velociraptors learned in Jurassic Park: he can now open doors. Run!
- After Pesach, I annotated our Pesach shopping list with quantities. I must say, we overbought a little on matza and oil, and vastly underbought on eggs (we had to buy eggs twice more after I thought we were done), but all in all, we did a great job with our Pesach shopping. Round of applause!
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Yes, "winds." "L'Hashiv" means to return, to double something back on itself, to wind. The fact that I just paired the verb "wind" with the object "wind" is a very happy coincidence. I like my poetically literal translation much better than Artscroll's clearer, "Who makes the wind blow and the rain descend."
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