We had a nice
Passover holiday in Sharon. We spent a lot of time with Dina’s family for the
first days, while Simmie and family were with her in-laws in Cedarhurst.
We managed to have a
lot of fun with the children during the middle days. On Monday we took Ella and
Maya (Dina, Julia, and Noah came along as well) shopping. We bought each of the
girls three new Shabbat outfits and a
bunch of other things. On Tuesday, we took Maya to see the movie “Penguins,” a
beautifully done documentary. The last few minutes were especially fascinating
as they showed scenes of the actual filming of the movie. On Wednesday, the
weather cooperated and we met up with a large group of former Sharonites,
friends of our daughters who were in town for the holiday, at the Roger
Williams Zoo in Rhode Island. On Thursday Barry took Joshua to a PawSox game
and then Eliana to see the movie “Shazam!” which she loved.
Before we knew it,
the last days of the holiday came and went and on Saturday night we put our
kitchen back to its regular state and headed home to New York on Sunday.
Today is the 9th
day of the Omer. For those of you not familiar, here is a brief definition from
Wikipedia:
Counting of the Omer
is an important verbal counting of each of the forty-nine days between the
Jewish holidays of Passover and Shavuot as stated in Leviticus 23:15–16.
I freely admit to
being somewhat lax on many traditions, but for some reason over many years
Barry and I have taken up this challenge. The Orthodox Union (the organization responsible
for, among other things, the little circled U on a wide variety of food products that ensures
the items are kosher) publishes a magazine that comes out before Passover that
lists all the foods that they certify as “Kosher for Passover” and provides
tips on preparing the kitchen. The last page is always an “Omer Calendar” which
I dutifully cut out and tape to our bedroom door as a reminder each evening. Like
so many Jewish activities, the count starts with a blessing, but there is a
hitch: if you forget to count one day, you can keep counting but no longer say
the blessing, so it loses something. Each evening when we count the omer we always
“high five” to celebrate that we are still counting with the blessing.
This tradition probably
seems sort of silly, but at this point, this year, having seen so many friends
pass on, perhaps this counting is a good reminder that we are very fortunate to
be here each and every day. We “introduced” two friends who had recently lost
their husbands to cancer, one in Sharon and one here in Riverdale, and they managed
to get together for lunch in New York on Sunday. They are grateful to have met each
other but I wish we would have had better circumstances to get these two bright
and compassionate women together.
It is almost May: warmer weather has to
be ahead, right?
Love,
Rebecca
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