Friday noon and Margalit is home from school. Dena is out rushing to get Dani from Meged school, and then Ronit from Gan. I've got Margalit for 60 minutes in which we need to finish packing and get her to the Tsofim bus for her troop's shabbaton. Luckily Dena had already put everything together, and Margalit just had to empty her backpack of 30kilos of books so she could fill it with stuff for the weekend. She spied me taking the Shabbas chicken out of the oven and begged to have some -- there must be a word to describe her, oaf-ivore? Chickivore? One things for sure, she ain't no herbivore.Margalit was full of energy and ready to go off alone. Parents were invited to the shabbaton, and Dena wanted me to check with the counselllors to make sure Margalit was not the only one with out parents tagging alone. Not to fear, only two others familys had joined the Shabbaton. I asked Margalit just to make sure we were making the right decision -- "I'd really rather you didn't come." I'll see if I can get her to add the details from the Shabbaton.
Last night, Dani and I headed down to Yad Lebanim to purchase a sukkah. Just as we jumped into the car, I realized I had forgotten to measure the porch. Dani said, Abba, we'd better go measure, we can run upstairs in two seconds flat. After a little hesitation, I agreed and we ran backup the 3 flights to measure -- 280cm.
There's been a sukkah bazaar going on for a week, and even at 9pm on Saturday business was brisk. 3 different booths selling booths -- and some many different options. 2x2, 3x3, 3x4, etc. I was really feeling glad we measured, otherwise we might have ended up with 3x4 sukkah that didn't fit. Finally we found a place selling 2.5x4. Perfect! There were many many booths selling Lulav's and etrogs -- but I had already purchased two sets on Friday.
The sukkah was delivered (in pieces) this morning. Dani got home early from school at 12:45 and was eager to set it up with me. Finally at 2:15 we sat down for lunch, almost, but not quite finished. 20 minutes later Margalit bounces through the door, home from school. She takes one look at the sukkah, and shouts, "Its not kosher!!!!" We had not yet tied down the sides, and according to Rav Margalit the sides are not allowed to flap in the wind. Margalit was very excited becuase she had just learned about it in school. The next time I have a halachic question, I'll know who to ask.
P.S. My old rabbi seems to be taking it in stride. She still gets to rule on most of the other family decisions.
