Kimche De Piska.
Our Shul (The Ra’anana Conservative Congregation) participated with all the other shuls of Ra’ananan in Kimche DePiska. I must admit I’d never hear the words before, though I understood it meant providing food for the poor on Passover. Somehow I kept thinking that Piska was related to fish – like Pisces or something. Much later I finally saw the words written in Hebrew letters and I was able to decipher what is perhaps Aramaic. The rough translation to Hebrew must be Kemach Li Pesach, or in English, Flour for Passover. Anyway, in addition to soliciting cash donations, shul members were asked to help pack the food, or/and deliver it. I talked to Dani about the project, and he did not like the idea of delivering food, so we agreed on helping to pack it at the warehouse. I got the location --- corner of Ra’anana near the fields at the end of Katzin St. I checked the map. Seemed easy enough. Figuring that Anna and her 12 year old had just arrived, I thought it might be nice to invite her Dani to come too. He readily agreed, and we were off. I checked them map, saw Kazan St – though it seemed to be in a slightly different location that I had remember. Oh well. Dani and Dani seemed to get along okay. I parked the car on a side street and we walked to the end of Kazan. Nothing but fields. Hmm. We wandered about, but clearly we were in the wrong place. Thank God for cell phones (that’s the language here, but really I should say “thank engineers”). I called Dena, who was able to give me Collins number (from the Shul), who was able to correct Kazan to Katzin and direct me where we had to go. Not actually that far away. We got to the warehouse, and somebody had managed to bring a bus load of soldiers to help too. We were pushy and found a way to help. Dani and Dani stuffed the boxes with Kemach (flour), seasonings, Oil, Grape Juice. I busied myself with getting rid of the empty boxes, and making sure the supplies were ready on hand for the packers.
More Visitors
Yael and Philippe arrived on Thursday night with Aaron and Tal. We were all beyond excited to see baby Tal. The kids ran downstairs to great them, and came up with Aaron babbling away. Dena, of course, had stolen Tal and carried him up. Totally smitten. It’s a good thing I have a little bit of a backbone left.
Friday night was had dinner with the relatives (Ofra, Amnon, Oren, Dafna, Ilan, Hedva, and Mor). It was the first time I had made more Sushi than could be consumed in a single meal. It was a big hit. Since we had run out of the Wasabi tube, I had picked up some powered Wasabi that I mixed together. Boy was it strong. Do you think we should use it for Passover?
Egal Shul
Saturday was the big day in Shul. Dena and I had both agreed to read torah. We both had short readings, but I had ended up with a Shalshelet, a very rare troupe. I’d never had one before. The big deal was not that we were reading, but that it was going to be a Egalitarian service instead of, and not in addition to, the regular conservadox service. I raced to shul to get there on time (8:30am), catching up to Sam the president, and Rabbi Rosansky (not the shul rabbi, but a member who is a rabbi). Lightening hadn’t yet struck, and no earthquakes. Within a few minutes, we had a Minyan – counting women. Had we needed 10 men, it would have required a longer wait. Slowly the shul filled up – and it really filled. Many of the members who were against the change, including a couple who had walked out of the AGM (Annual General Meeting), attended. This was very encouraging, and the gossip, is that all who attended were very positive. They’ll be several conservadox services before the next egal Minyan in two weeks. For now though, it was great. The shul was alive. It was full, there were at least a dozen kids, Shula, the Rabbi’s wife (a trained cantor) led Sharit, Rabbi Rosansky led Psukei D’zimra. Margalit and Bayle led Adon Olam to the tune of Aviv Hegiah Pesach Ba (Spring arrive, Passover is coming), Men and Women had Aliyot and read torah. I suppose it doesn’t sound all that radical – but to be there felt radical.
