Rosh Hashana

Rosh Hashana Challot

 

 

Fresh baked Cinnamon Sugar Challot for Rosh Hashana 5773

 

Wishing everyone out there a

 

L'shana Tova Um'tuka.

Kativa V'chatima Tova.

 

May the entire world only know peace, health and knowledge of the Ribbono Shel Olam in the new year.

So Called Jewish Feminism

It's truly sad that theses women don't learn Torah. If they did they would see that the Torah considers women to be on a much higher spiritual level than men. Because of a mans lower level he needs the reminders to keep him in-line, so to speak. When a woman wants to dress and act like a man, she is telling the Jewish world she is lacking as a Jewish woman. It says she is on a lower spiritual level than other Jewish women. Not only that, but all these woman that want to take on the mitzvot of men that they are not obligated to do, do they observe the mitzvot that women ARE obligated to do? I notice in the photos non of the women cover their hair. Kal v' chomer, are they observing taharat mishpacha?

http://www.timesofisrael.com/four-women-arrested-for-wearing-prayer-shawls-at-the-western-wall/

Obama has never been a friend of Israel.

Tisha B'Av: The Root of Destruction

Here is a short video that helps explain why we observe Tisha b'Av.




Tisha B'Av: The Root of Destruction

For Crypto-Jews of New Mexico, art is a window into secret life | The Times of Israel

For Crypto-Jews of New Mexico, art is a window into secret life | The Times of Israel

Indian Shabbat

Most of my posts have been about Yiddishkeit, current events or things that piss me off,
so I thought for a change of pace I'd write about food.

This past shabbos I decided to do some experimenting in Indian cooking.
I really love Indian food but the closest Kosher Indian restaurant is about an hour away.
Although I was overall happy with the results, I will want to tweak a few things here and there next time.

For an appetizer I made Samosas with a Mango Chutney.

Filling of potato, peas, garlic, ginger, fried onion, cilantro and jalapeno.

I used won ton wrappers.

Mango Chutney

Ingredients for Mango Chutney put all together and cooked down.

Being shabbos before the nine days, I had to get some meat on my menu so I picked Tandoori style chicken along with Saag Paneer and plain Basmati rice.
I found some Nan for motzei that not only was OK kosher but also Pas Yisrael.

For my chicken I used parve sour cream instead of yogurt, garam masala, cumin, ginger, garlic, smoked paprika, chili powder, a little salt, and olive oil instead of Ghee.(clarified butter)

I baked the chicken in the oven because I forgot to buy charcoal.

One of those tweaks I mentioned.

For Paneer I used Extra Firm Tofu that I cut up and put in a colander and sprinkled with salt.

I than fried the Tofu in olive oil.

I pulsed together onion, garlic, cilantro, turmeric, ginger, jalapeno, cumin, and a little salt and fried it in the oil after the Tofu. To this I added the spinach and some pareve sour cream.

I used Texas grown Basmati Rice

Here is the Nan I used

Because the food was highly spiced I used Rashi Joyvin White wine for Kiddush.

If you have any critiques, comments or question please contact me. I love talking about food.

Texas Yid

Jewish Celebrities

When the average secular Jew thinks of meeting a Jewish celebrity I bet they think of Woody Allen, Barbra Streisand, Adam Sandler, or any number of other Hollywood types.

I bet if you were to ask the average Jewish kid to name a famous living Jew you would get similar answers. A list of actors and athletes.

Sad.
I came to this conclusion this past Tuesday afternoon.
I was sitting at a local car repair shop when I received this text message from my Rabbi,

"I have a good chance of getting the Satmar Rebbe to come to the mikva today. Can you come with a camera?"

Needless to say my mouth opened and my eyes got big.

Now for a little background.

There is a slaughter house here in my city that does kosher slaughter for the Satmar Chassidim in
Kiryat Yoel.
The shochtim live here for three days out of the week and then return to N.Y. On Thursdays.
Every so often the Rebbe comes for inspection.

Our Chabad House recently completed our new mikva.
A beautiful thing.
The majority of the funds were donated by Satmar Chassidim with encouragement of the Rebbe.
The mikva is named for his Great-Uncle Rav Yoel Teitelbaum.  Ztz "L.
Mikva Divrei Yoel.

The Satmar Rebbe, Rav Ahron Teitelbaum, he should have long life and health, visiting the new mikva.

This would be the Rebbe's first trip to see the mikva.

Meanwhile, back to opened mouth an big eyes.
I asked the mechanics how much longer til my car would be ready.
"About an hour"

Baruch HaShem it was 20 mins.
Out of there and on my way to take pictures of a real Chassidic Rebbe.

I immediately began to take photos of the Rebbe and his entourage along with my Rabbi.
I was in awe.
I was a little scared and actually had an increase in my pulse.

I photographed the Rebbe as he looked at the mikva and also as he toured our schul.
I finally had the courage to extend my hand and say shalom aleichem.
Yes, the thought did cross my mind that I should never wash my hand again.

He left after giving bracha and hatzlacha to my Rabbi.

After I got home I started to think about this celebrity thing.

This was a REAL Jewish celebrity.
Not some person who lived in make believe world.
Not a person that pretended for a living.
A REAL person.

A person that dedicates his life to Torah and mitzvos, the real definition of TIKKUN OLAM, not the definition used by secular Jews today.
This is the type of Jewish celebrity we should look up to and learn from.
The celebrity we should strive to be like and encourage Jewish children to emulate.

This is what a Jew should mean by being Star struck.

CrownHeights.info » Op-Ed: An Open Letter to Matisyahu

Amazing how much the Jewish people care about Matisyahu.





CrownHeights.info » Op-Ed: An Open Letter to Matisyahu

Kol ha'olam kulo gesher tzar m'od

I've been thinking a lot about Matisyahu lately.
I first saw/heard Matisyahu when he appeared on a Chabad telethon several years ago.
I immediately ordered his first album and played the hell out of it.

Here was this young baal tshuvah in Lubavitch chassidic garb singing such beautiful and meaningful lyrics from chassidus.

I was playing the CD when I was catering a dinner in the local Reform temple and one of the school kids came in and told me how much she loved Matisyahu.
Baruch Hashem. This was Matisyahu's shlichus.
He was reaching secular Jewish kids with his music.

Unlike Chris Mathews on MSNBC who had a tingly feeling run up his leg when he heard Obama speak, I myself got a tingly feeling once when I was driving home from work one day and I heard "King Without a Crown" playing on a local radio station with the lyrics "we want Moshiach now" coming out of my speakers.

I understood when Matisyahu stopped identifying with Chabad and explored other paths of Torah Judaism.
Gone were the hat and jacket but long peyos appeared. All still good.
Lyrics still Jewish.

Matis became a Vegan. Ok. A little weird but I can live with that.

He starts to hang out more and more with people from the Hip Hop world of music.
Are his peyos starting to look more like dread locks?

His wife and kids are being more exposed in the media.
Oh good.
She still wears a sheitel and the boys are wearing tzitzit.

He shaves his beard and peyos.
He does and interview where he says disparaging things about Jewish thought.
He moves his home from Crown Heights to L.A.
He is sharing the stage with more mainstream artists.
Have the tzitzis disappeared?
Uh Oh.
Not good.

And now,

No kipa.
Bleached blond hair.
In the company of someone smoking a joint.

Was the Judaism just a gimmick to be noticed and get famous?
Record and ticket sales will tell us that.

I try not to judge.
When I first became frum it lasted a couple of years and than I went way "off the derech."
We all have are own struggles to go through and to fight with to find our paths within Torah Judaism.
The problem I am having with Matisyahu's is his choice to do it so publicly.

Now you might ask why I give a damn.

Besides the fact that I liked his music and his message, I'm a Jew and I care what happens to my fellow Jew.
I think about his wife and the confusion for his boys.
I think about those Jews he influenced and brought back to Yiddishkeit.

Hashem leads us in the direction we want to go.
Even if that direction is not good for us.
It is up to the individual Jew to choose the path and to hopefully use the Torah as the map.

Rebbe Nachman says,
"The entire world is a narrow bridge.
But what matters most is don't be afraid at all."

The bridge is narrow but with the Torah as our guide we won't fall off.

I believe Matisyahu will come back again.
He's just getting  close to the edge.
This is where the Pinteleh Yid comes in.
That rope that connects a Jew like a bungee cord to  Hashem that can never be untied.

Have a safe trip Matisyahu but be careful.
That bridge is very narrow.

V'haikar lo lifachayd klal.

Political? Not.

Yesterday I had a very quick facebook "discussion" with someone I really love.

I commented on a photograph that she had liked/shared and commented on that had been posted by a "friend" of hers.

This is the photo.

I recommend looking up the pesukim for yourself in a Chumash

The photo showed a sign being carried in what I assumed was a pro same-sex marriage rally.
The sign showed what was supposed to be a quote from the book of Deuteronomy.
It stated that a man must marry a virgin for a marriage to be valid and if she wasn't a virgin the woman was to be put to death.
Part of my life as a an observant Jew is talmud Torah, the study of the five books of Moses.
I knew right away this was not even close to being an accurate quote.
After looking up the pesukim to see what it really said I made a mistake.

I commented to this person about this sign's total distortion of what the Torah says.
I then wrote what the Torah was actually dealing with, which was not even close to what the sign made you think it was dealing with.
I also said that I was surprised that she would post this without checking to see what the pesukim were actually saying.
My mistake? I should have done this privately not on the post itself.

Unfortunately this person took my criticism as being against same-sex marriage.
The result was a comment directed to me that I had been warned before about posting my political beliefs on her page.
She then either deleted the post or blocked it from my viewing

Personally, I could care less what two consenting adults do or declare to each other.
I was defending what the Torah said.
I can't sit by without commenting when the Torah is mistranslated, misquoted and used incorrectly for the self serving purposes of any group, right, left, center, up or down.

I'm truly sorry this person, who I truly love, didn't understand the point I was trying to make, but I will never be sorry for defending the Torah.

Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day.

Even though as Jews we should honor our mothers every day, kibbud aim, we still go along with the world and do something special for our mothers on this day in May.

My mother, Zissel Esther, has been a great mom.
She and my father raised three kids to adulthood and buried one as a teenager.

Mom didn't have an easy beginning.
My grandmother came to America from Poland in 1928.
In 1932 she married Moshe Zundel, who was born in the U.S.
I've been told that because my grandmother was the"greener" and her husband the "yankee", there was some trouble in the relationship.
In 1934 my mother was born.
Six months later, Moshe died.

My grandmother, along with one of her sisters, went to work in a sweat shop in Kansas City.
She would drop my mother off at her parents at the shoe repair store where they worked and lived in a room in the back of the store.
Here my mother learned Yiddish, watched her bubbie make luchshen, pluck chickens and make gefilte fish. Here also my mother remembers her bubbie saving the tiny chicken eggs that were often found in the freshly shechted chickens, and putting them in her soup.

When mom turned six, a marriage was arranged and my grandmother packed up mom and moved to Texas to marry the man that my mother would now know as daddy.
Ephraim would be a daddy to my mother until he died when she was in her teens.

My mother has been through a lot and has put up with a lot from her kids as I guess all parents do, but I am truly grateful she didn't give me to the Troll that lived under the bridge.

Happy Mother's Day Mom.
I Love You.

Zissel Esther. Mother's Day 2012

Oh. What did I do special for my mother today?

I made her a brunch.



Sometimes Definitions Are Important

So Obama is in favor of Gay marriage.
Surprise. Surprise. Surprise.

The concept of "marriage" is a religious concept.

Why can't Gay couples agree to a civil partnership as Romney supports.

It would be difficult to deny rights to legal partners.
Why force society to take a term that has always been associated with a man and woman and apply it to Gay relationships.

Could this lead to Rabbis, Priests, and Ministers being forced to officiate at Gay weddings or lose their license to officiate at any legal marriage?

Tis a slippery slope. Especially with the leftists in office now.
It appears the political left is always looking for a way to disrupt and or change tradition.

Just look at the left leaning versions of Judaism.

The changes they have made have nothing to do with spirituality or the continuation of Klal Yisroel.
It's all politics and so called "social justice".

Hmmm.

Here We Go Again

Chag Samayach.

Today is Pesach Sheni.

When the Beis Hamikdash stood, the Jews actually went up to Yerushalayim to eat the Korban Pesach.
Now what happened if a person was too far away or had contracted a type of tumah that prevented them from participating in the mitzva.

The Torah provides a second chance to bring and eat the korban.
On the 15th of Iyar, exactly one month after the 15th of Nisan, the day of the pesach, those that were prevented in Nisan would bring the korban in Iyar.

Only the korban was brought. All the other halachot of Pesach did not apply.

Since we can't bring the korban today, we eat a piece of matza to recognize the day.

So eat a piece of matza and drink a l'chaim in honor of Pesach Sheni.

If I could Save Shoes In a Bottle.

Sunday, to get out of the house, my brother , mother, niece and nephew and I, went to a local antique mall to walk around.
Why, you might ask, would you take children to walk around an antique mall?
As opposed to museums and zoos, the antique mall is free.
You also get to point out things you remember from your grandmother's house that you got rid of for nothing, but had you known, would have kept and then sold in a antique mall.

I did find some Judaica story books for my niece and a Spanish ship for my nephew.

The mall is set up with cubicles for the different vendors and not very well kept. Lots of things on the floor to pic through.
I guess the real antiques are the items locked up in the cases.

After digging through some books in one cubicle, I turned the corner and came face to face with the very strange item seen in the photo below.

 A sealed jar of baby booties.

Now being Stephen King's "number one fan", I started having these really bizarre ideas.

Had Mother Hubbard finally had enough?

Evidence in a CSI investigation?

The trophies of a killer?

A day care worker with a shoe fetish?

 I moved away quickly after taking the photo before someone could see me.

I guess I'll never know.

What do you think?

BTW... I did not buy this item.

CORRECTION.

OK. Old Mother Hubbard did not have kids. She had a dog but no bone.

I should have written " Had the old woman that lived in a shoe finally had enough"

Mea Culpa.

Yisgadal V'yis kadash

Billie Bob June 8, 1928----May 12, 1986

Tonight and tomorrow, on the Jewish lunar calendar, 3rd of Iyar, is the yartzeit of my father,

Billie Bob. ז'ל

Dad died at an pretty young age, 57, of a heart attack. It happened to be the same age as his mother when she died.

My siblings and I tread carefully as we head to that age.

My father was a good man. Not perfect, but a good man.

We didn't have a real close relationship, but I know he loved me.

Dad holding me probably in 1962.

Of all the things I have been grateful to my father for, the thing that means the most is the following.

After the death of my sister Pesha, my mother and I went to Israel to tour and visit with friends.

It was in Israel that I became exposed to a more authentic practice of Torah Judaism.

In the couple of years that followed our return trip, I began to add more Yiddishkeit into my life.

Now we were members of a Reform Temple and my father was a Reform convert so al pi halacha

he was not recognized as Jewish according to Torah law. But here in our world at the time he was Jewish.

We were "religious" Reform. We had family Shabbos dinners every week. Dad said kiddish, mom lit candles and motzi was said over challa.

We couldn't go out to socialize on Friday nights. We went to services at the Temple every week.

Pesach was kosher because we made seders and mostly ate at my grandmother's house during the holiday. Both mom and dad taught in the Temple Sunday School.

When I started to become more observant while in high school, my father never discouraged me.

He spent the extra money to buy me kosher meat. Mom and dad let me have my own pots and pans and dishes. He even paid associate dues to the more tradition schul were my grandmother went so I could go to services there and feel like I belonged, always going with me.

Our Reform rabbi was not as thrilled as my parents were about my studies and "new" observances.

When I made the decision to attend a two year Baal Tshuvah program in Chicago, the rabbi told my father that he was going to try to talk me out of it.

My father actually told this rabbi, the rabbi that converted him, the rabbi that married him and my mother, the rabbi that bar mitzvahed me and buried my sister, that if that was his intention then he should stay away from me.

Baruch Hashem for giving me Billie Bob as a father.

Here I am, all the years later, with a few ups and downs here and there, trying to live a Torah true life

just like he encouraged me to.

So tonight, drink a l'chaim to my dad, Yehuda ben Avraham. Billie Bob .ז'ל

Dad, may you rest in peace and be comforted knowing that Dina, Moish and I, are doing fine.

Say hello to Pesha and see you in the future.

I love, miss and respect you,

Avrumel.





Teffilin Thoughts

Teffilin is to the Jewish male what the electric cord is to a lamp.

When you plug an electric lamp into a wall socket it connects to an electric source that then lights the bulb.

When a Jew puts on teffilin it connects us to our spiritual source and causes our souls to light.

( Photo...a Jewish soldier wearing teffilin and reciting the Shema)

Pesach

I have 5 1/2 hours to go before shabbos/yontif starts.
As I say every year at this time, my eggs are salted, my horse is radished, my herbs are bittered, my charo- has- set, my fish is gefilted, my soup is chickened and my balls are matza-ed.

Here is wishing all yidden through out the world a Zissen Yontif, a Chag Kasher V'samayach and
la shana haba- birushalayim b'shalom im Moshiach tzidkeinu.

Texas Yid

Pepper Spray

When a mob tries to force their way into a meeting they were not invited to like they did at Santa Monica College, they get what's coming to them.

I say college students, especially in California, need to be pepper sprayed more often.

New Aron Kodesh

A local family has generously donated the funds to have an Aron Kodesh built for our schul.

It was delivered Friday just in time for Shabbos Hagadol.

If you look carefully at the book case on the right, that is my shtender and my makom kavuah.

Baruch Hashem we have a sefer Torah. We need to get another one or two. The aron is built to hold three. So let us know if you have a Torah scroll you aren't using. We will gladly take it off your hands.

ParshaTzav

This comes from Chabad.org
Parsha in a Nut Shell

G‑d instructs Moses to command Aaron and his sons regarding their duties and rights as kohanim (“priests”) who offer the animal and meal offerings in the Sanctuary.

The fire on the Altar must be kept burning at all times. In it are burned the wholly consumed ascending offering; veins of fat from the peace, sin and guilt offerings; and the "handful" separated from the meal offering.

The kohanim eat the meat of the sin and guilt offerings, and the remainder of the meal offering. The peace offering is eaten by the one who brought it, except for specified portions given to the kohen. The holy meat of the offerings must be eaten by ritually pure persons, in their designated holy place and within their specified time.

Aaron and his sons remain within the Sanctuary compound for seven days, during which Moses initiates them into the priesthood.

This comes from a Breslov idea.
The Torah is compared to fire (cf. Jeremiah 23:29).

Today we don't have a Beis Hamikdash to bring sacrifices to.
In their place we pray three times a day (four on shabbos)
In place of the Toda offering, for example, one who has survived a dangerous situation, has been healed form a serious illness or who has traveled over an ocean, says the Birkat Hagomel during the Torah reading.

Torah study also helps one's teshuva.
Just like the fire on the altar would burn our sacrifices of repentance, so to the "fire" of our Torah study burns away our transgressions.

Shabbat Shalom V'Chag Pesach Kosher V'Samayach

640 million dollars

If the 99% hate the 1% so much, why are they buying up lottery tickets to try to win the national Mega-millions which has reached $640,000,000?

Are the 99% trying to become part of the greedy, racist, rightwing 1%?

Hmmm.

Be a king. Not a fool

There is a teaching in Judaism.

The Hebrew word for heart is lev, the place of emotion. Begins with an L (lamed)
The word for brain is mo-ach, the place of intellect. Begins with a M (mem)

The word for king is melech. Begins with a mem followed by a lamed. (ml)
The word for fool is lemech. Begins with a lamed followed by a mem. (lm)

When a person puts their mem (mo-ach), intellect, before their lamed (lev), emotion, they can be a king.
But if they put their lamed (lev), emotion, before their mem (mo-ach), intellect, they are a fool.

Listening to reports surrounding the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin is a prime example of this teaching.
The conviction of the shooter, George Zimmerman, in the press without waiting for the evidence,
the bounty put out on his head by the Black Panthers, Spike Lee's tweet with, what he thought was Zimmerman's address, the wearing of hoodies by members of different branches of government, the photos of Trayvon as a 14 year old teenager juxtaposed next to an old photo of Zimmerman in an orange prison jump suit instead of a photo of 17 year old Trayvon with his bling and tattoos and a more current photo of Zimmerman in a suit.

These images can also be found on the Internet but the media will not use these because they don't stir up a person's emotion.
This might lead the public to view things differently like let's wait to hear the facts and the evidence before we lay all the blame at Zimmerman's feet.

It's tragic that a person has lost their life.
That being said, it would also be tragic to rush to judgment like with the Duke La cross team, the Tewana Brawley story or the Professor Gates episode.

By not using their heads first, and only reacting with emotion, the news media, the professional race baiters, Sharpton, Jackson, the Black Panthers, Farakahn and to some extent the current President will, end up looking like a bunch of fools.

Who is the close minded one?

Last Sunday was the Dallas Kosher Chili Cook Off.
It is held every year as a local Dallas fundraiser for different charities.

( They really wouldn't know good chili if it jumped up and bit them in the tuchis. Chabad of Ft Worth entered several years ago with my chili recipe and we weren't even mentioned.(!פאסקודניאקס)

This year, I assume without thinking, they scheduled a woman to sing the Star Spangled Banner.
Now for those of you that don't know or follow Jewish law, men are not supposed to listen to a woman sing. In laws of Tznius ( modesty ) a woman's voice is considered arousing to men.

Now before you get all bent out of shape guys, you know there have been songs that certain women sing that "get your motor running."
Kim Karnes singing "Betty Davis Eyes"
Billie Holiday, Ertha Kitt or Peggy Lee singing anything did it for me.

So those Jewish groups that observe this law reminded the organizers of this, so they had a man sing it instead.
In this weeks TJP, the local Jewish paper here in DFW, there was a letter to the editor about the switch
from someone from the JWV of Dallas. I can't tell you if this person was a man or a woman because it was one of those gender neutral names.

This person stated that the organizers decided to "bend to the wishes of a narrow-minded minority (especially when it comes to women's equality) and violate the equality of women as guaranteed under American Law"

Now who is the "narrow-minded" one.
Without the participation of the Orthodox organizations, schuls, schools and the "DK", the Dallas Kosher organization that supervises the kashrus of the event, there would be no Dallas Kosher Chili Cook Off every year.
By letting the man sing the National Anthem everyone was able to participate.
If the woman would have sung, some would have been left out. Including some of the sponsors, and the event would not raise the amount of tzedaka that it did.

So again. Who is being narrow-minded?

Sacrifices

This week's Parasha is the beginning of Vayikra.
It deals with many halachas of karbonos, sacrifices.


I hear many times from people that lean toward the less observant brands of Judaism when talking about mitzva observance and the coming of Moshiach " You want to see animal sacrifices in the Temple? That is barbaric"

Maybe this will help.

The pasuk starts "Speak to the Bnei Yisrael and say to them ' When one of you brings an animal as a sacrifice to Hashem..."

The Jews brought sacrifices for different reasons  and on different occasions.
One occasion was when one transgressed a mitzva.
The Torah commands  us to bring an animal to be sacrificed as an atonement for that transgression.
Now how does killing an animal in a ritual atone for a sin?


In the Hebrew, the Torah uses the words "mi-kem...min ha-beheimah---from you...from the animal"
When you bring this animal sacrifice, it is to represent the animal in you. That part of you that caused you to transgress. You are symbolically killing the animal within you. It is as if you were the sacrifice.

" If you bring a sacrifice "from the animal" you merit to be classified as "man"
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

A Guten Shabbos

Happiness

"Always remember:
Joy is not merely incidental to your spiritual quest.
It is vital."
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov
(The Empty Chair)

I don't get it.

If, as Obama says, drilling and producing more oil will not help the price of gas to go down, then why are he and his henchmen in the Senate wanting to release more oil from the emergency reserve?
Hmmm.

G-d Help Us

Always being a few years behind the rest of the world, I am now blogging.
This will be a way to share things about the world according to Me.

Hashem Save Us!!!!