Today, we visited the school BSM will be attending next year. The teacher spoke with BSM, essentially giving him a really cute farher (oral entrance exam), and decided that he belongs in the 4-5 year-old class, rather than the 3-4 year-old class).
At the end of the meeting, the teacher checked that BSM was on his list for the coming year. He was not. "Not to worry," said the teacher, "BSM's registration form probably just got filed with the younger class. As long as you're here, just fill out a new one right quick, and everything will be in order."
So I did. And it was.
It wasn't until I got home that I remembered that I can't just take a few seconds to "fill out Hebrew forms as long as I'm already there." Hebrew forms are hard, and require close reading, occasionally trips to the dictionary, and a thorough proofreading once I think I'm done. Apparently that is no longer always true.
Cool.
Monday, July 24, 2017
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Avodah
The Three Weeks are generally a lousy time for me. Granted, the Three Weeks are generally a lousy time for the entire Jewish People across millennia (most famously, they mark the interval from when Jerusalem's walls were breached on Tammuz 17th until the Temple was destroyed three weeks later on Av 9th, but the Three Weeks also include historic events such as the Golden Calf and the breaking of the Tablets, the 1492 Spanish expulsion, the beginning of WWI, and much, much more). However, this blog is about me, and I don't like them, either. I'm tense and anxious the whole time, waiting for the other shoe to drop, obsessively checking the news, trying to bull through the Three Weeks without actually doing anything, to just get it over with.
Last night, I finally acknowledged that this is ridiculous. Judaism doesn't encourage pointless behavior, so clearly there's something useful I should be doing, rather than snapping at everyone and being too anxious to sleep. Granted, yelling at G-d seems to get solid short-term results, but along with being unhealthy, I assume that yelling at Him is pretty sketchy religiously, too.
Well to quote Proverbs 16:1, לְאָדָם מַעַרְכֵי לֵב; וּמֵה' מַעֲנֵה לָשׁוֹן. (And to translate Metzudat David there, "A person can arrange the things in his heart in a pleasing manner, but it takes Divine help to arrange his words so he doesn't trip over them.") It turns out the question I need to ask is "What is the avodah of the Three Weeks?" (Avodah is tricky to translate. Spiritual Labor? Work? Divine Service?)
Anyhow, that is a very good question to ask, because it gives a very productive answer. Mourn. The Three Weeks are marked by customs of mourning (e.g., refraining from haircuts, music, and weddings). I know that. This is a period of mourning. I know that, too. So it's pretty safe to suggest that maybe, just maybe, the avodah of the Three Weeks is to mourn.
Mourning in and of itself can be definitely be productive. (I never blogged about how long it took me to get over my first miscarriage, before I realized that "allowing myself to feel sad" was not the same as "deliberately pausing to grieve or mourn," and that was something I had to do, even though it had been an early miscarriage years before.) Still, this article I found about the Three Weeks doesn't say to just mourn. It also says to want.
Last night, I finally acknowledged that this is ridiculous. Judaism doesn't encourage pointless behavior, so clearly there's something useful I should be doing, rather than snapping at everyone and being too anxious to sleep. Granted, yelling at G-d seems to get solid short-term results, but along with being unhealthy, I assume that yelling at Him is pretty sketchy religiously, too.
Well to quote Proverbs 16:1, לְאָדָם מַעַרְכֵי לֵב; וּמֵה' מַעֲנֵה לָשׁוֹן. (And to translate Metzudat David there, "A person can arrange the things in his heart in a pleasing manner, but it takes Divine help to arrange his words so he doesn't trip over them.") It turns out the question I need to ask is "What is the avodah of the Three Weeks?" (Avodah is tricky to translate. Spiritual Labor? Work? Divine Service?)
Anyhow, that is a very good question to ask, because it gives a very productive answer. Mourn. The Three Weeks are marked by customs of mourning (e.g., refraining from haircuts, music, and weddings). I know that. This is a period of mourning. I know that, too. So it's pretty safe to suggest that maybe, just maybe, the avodah of the Three Weeks is to mourn.
Mourning in and of itself can be definitely be productive. (I never blogged about how long it took me to get over my first miscarriage, before I realized that "allowing myself to feel sad" was not the same as "deliberately pausing to grieve or mourn," and that was something I had to do, even though it had been an early miscarriage years before.) Still, this article I found about the Three Weeks doesn't say to just mourn. It also says to want.
[The] avodah during the Three Weeks...is the sadness, the longing that grows out of our having been separated from the immediate Presence of our Creator.That is productive. That is healthy. Allowing myself to feel that I miss G-d (which I do! Why were Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur so long ago?) enhances my relationship with Him. That is useful avodah rather than an unhealthy descent into stress and anxiety and anger.
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Such a Mom
I'm so over being a teenager.
A friend of mine is lending me her Ergo baby carrier, and I love it. Wearing FF on my back finally gives me the independence and mobility I want: no schlepping strollers up and down steps and on and off buses, no arms getting tired, no having to reach around the baby strapped to my front, no having to be home by a certain time to nurse. Just pop the kid on my back and do my thing, taking breaks to nurse as needed.
The only downside is that the baby gets kind of warm with his whole body touching mine. And when it's shmoiling and sunny in the Middle East, that changes from "kind of warm" to "how do I know he isn't getting heat stroke?" I tried tying a hat on him, but it fell off. (And how much did it help, anyway?) I tried putting up the carrier's hood, but essentially covering him with a blanket doesn't really alleviate my heat stroke concern. (And his little legs are still sticking out the sides.)
So I did some research about babywearing in hot climates, found lots of nice tips that weren't quite helpful enough, and then struck gold: use a parasol. Of course! So I dug out my folding umbrella (hot pink covered in yellow flowers) and am happy as a clam. Do we look ridiculous? Yup. Do I feel self conscious? Not at all.
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Intelligence
Husbinator recently taught BSM to play the card game War. BSM likes the idea of it, because he thinks it must be a grown-up game, but he gets bored with it very quickly.
I taught BSM to play Go Fish today (per his request, per what Husbinator said he'd teach him next). He liked it well enough to finish the game, but he finds Go Fish pretty dull stuff, too.
Nevertheless, I maintain that BSM has to really master the basics before moving on to bigger and better games. Also, I need to relearn how to play such classics as Pisha Pesha.
This actually bodes well for me: I want to start playing board games with BSM, but I have a pretty low tolerance for Chutes and Ladders. Hopefully we'll only need a couple of games of that before graduating to backgammon!
Sunday, July 2, 2017
Plastic Bags
In January, Israel passed a law requiring major grocery chains law to charge 10 agorot per plastic bag. I was Not Happy when this law was announced. We actually use plastic bags, y'know! Carrying stuff around, lining small garbage cans, and relevant once again just as the law took effect: bagging dirty diapers. C'mon, gumment. C'mon.
Well, over half a year later, I have to admit I was wrong on this one. We continue to use plastic bags, and we continue to get those plastic bags for free. Bags from the hardware store, from the convenience store, from the overstock store. Produce bags, it turns out, are the perfect size for our garbage cans. I used to throw out all of these bags as soon as they came in the house, because otherwise we'd collect more bags than we used up. I just never realized how many of these non-grocery-store bags we were throwing out.
Even in this post-reusable-grocery-bag world, I think the plastic bags are still coming in slightly faster than they are getting used up, Diapered Addition and all. So... "Sorry for complaining, Government? Good call?" Weird.
Well, over half a year later, I have to admit I was wrong on this one. We continue to use plastic bags, and we continue to get those plastic bags for free. Bags from the hardware store, from the convenience store, from the overstock store. Produce bags, it turns out, are the perfect size for our garbage cans. I used to throw out all of these bags as soon as they came in the house, because otherwise we'd collect more bags than we used up. I just never realized how many of these non-grocery-store bags we were throwing out.
Even in this post-reusable-grocery-bag world, I think the plastic bags are still coming in slightly faster than they are getting used up, Diapered Addition and all. So... "Sorry for complaining, Government? Good call?" Weird.
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