Watercolor: A Study of an Aravot Leaf, 2008
After that bad news of antisemitism* in Edison, New Jersey, I had to post some good news of the Temple in Highland Park re-opening its sanctuary three years after a terrible fire. I haven’t been inside the new sanctuary, but at some point I’ll go over there with my camera and take photos.
Someone remarked that the shortest Yom Kippur service in Highland Park is at the Temple. The longest is where we attend, Congregation Etz Ahaim – not even a break this year. One of the reasons is the beautiful piyutim (liturgical poetic songs) sung by our visiting chazzan, Refael Ishran. I started listening to the CD of the chazzan in the hopes of preparing a post about the piyutim. Stay tuned.
*If you want to know why I spelled antisemitism without a hyphen, you will have to take Prof. Roni Stauber course on the History of Zionism, coming to you online for free sometime later this fall. Stay tuned for more on that, too.
I took this photo of flowers at Howell Living History Farm in western New Jersey in the middle of the summer. This shot was taken with the sepia setting on my camera.
This photo was taken a few minutes later, in full color.
Mary is celebrating the 50th round of Sepia Scenes. Glad I was able to share in this one. And Wordpress tells me this is my 900th post.
Sukkah 2008; painting of grapes in the corner
Batya has done three blog carnivals this month, and her final one is the
46th edition of the Kosher Cooking Carnival. Some of the highlights include
Zwetschgenkuchen, the relationship between solet and semolina, and whether it is better to have insects and or insecticides (I’ll take the bugs, thank you very much – no insecticide for me – soap sometimes can drown aphids, that’s as far as I get). We mostly get bees in our sukkah; I think the nastier bugs have gone South by the time Sukkot comes.
As this coming week is Sukkot, I suspect many of you celebrating this upcoming holiday are (again) meal planning and cooking? What’s on the menu? I’m hoping to make an apple pie, and I also plan to make strawberry cashew pudding (another recipe from Klara). The pudding, if all goes well, will become a post, too.
Rudbeckia or black-eyed susans in September 2009
By the end of September my rudbeckia develop a worn look but also a reddish glow inside the yellow petals. Marigolds pop up between the rudbeckia and are looking well, with their ruffles of orange and yellow.
For more flowers, visit Today’s Flowers:
Yom Kippur is a day (and night – the holiday starts at night and ends on Monday about an hour after sundown) of fasting and prayer. Our congregation Etz Ahaim is Sephardi, and the liturgy is different from that of the Ashkenazi synagogues that my husband and I experienced in our childhoods. The “piyut” or poem that stands out most in my head is Oked Vahanekad (which is for Rosh Hashana). I couldn’t find a good source on the piyutim of Yom Kippur, but here is a link to piyutim of the High Holidays in general with some mp3s available to listen.
It is customary to ask forgiveness of others before Yom Kippur, so if I have done or said anything to offend you, please forgive me.
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