I got inspired by your comments on my last post of candles, and I did two more. More struggling. One of the hard parts about watercolor is that once you add the color, you can’t have the white of the canvas anymore. And it’s easy to work the painting too much. So I cheated on the painting above. I used Photoshop to add some white. Why do I confess? Part of blogging is to share my feelings and issues. Can anyone else get frustration? Like you are close to a goal, but then you mess up, once again. Well, not completely mess up, but not quite get it the way you want it to be, either.
On the last post, Ilana-Davita suggested the varied colors added to a less pessimistic painting. However, at the same time, it is not supposed to be a birthday party candle, so I don’t want to make it too festive. I went to the dentist yesterday (Dr. Ira Feldman in East Brunswick, a wonderful man and good dentist, too), and he has this fascinating painting on his office wall that has purple shadows. So I thought, instead of black, maybe I should make the shadows of my yahrzeit candle purple?
Feel free to tell me anything you want about my little candles. Thank you so much for looking!
A while back when I planted my nasturtium seeds, I posted a watercolor of nasturtium, because I had no pictures of one. Now my garden is full of these pretty orange or yellow edible flowers, so I spent some time Friday afternoon photographing one in particular. The shooting mode of this chosen photo is called “Aperture Priority.” Setting a lower aperture value blurs a bit the background behind the subject.
See what others aren’t saying at Wordless Wednesday.
Tzlafchad. That is one long name. A real mouthful. But what’s more interesting are his daughters, and what we can learn from their ancient petition to Moshe.
Here’s what they asked Moshe (Numbers 27:3-4):
Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not among the company of them that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but he died in his own sin; and he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he had no son? Give unto us a possession among the brethren of our father.
So Moshe brings their case to God, and God says to Moshe that they should be allowed to possess their father’s land.
A while back I reviewed an essay in a book called Torah of the Mothers. One of the essays in this book, written by Sarah Idit (Susan) Schneider, discusses “The Daughters of Tzlafchad: Toward a New Methodology of Attitude Around Women’s Issues”. I can’t share the entire essay with you; for that, you will need to read the book yourself. However, I can relate to you some of the highlights of the essay, especially the ones I found compelling.
Why is it that women look to the example of the daughters of Tzlafchad? Sarah Schneider suggests they got their timing correct (they asked Moshe at the right time), and they asked in a respectful manner. She quotes Bava Batra 119b as a source for these attributes of their petition, and she further states that they trusted in God.
But it is not just the daughters of Tzlafchad that got something right here. Moshe, too, showed his exemplary behavior as their leader, in that he had empathy for their dilemma. He respected their love of the land, and so he prayed for a favorable verdict. Sarah Schneider writes:
The Torah is teaching a powerful lesson to the Rabbis of today. If they are to imitate Moshe (which they must strive to do) then they must find a place of deep and authentic compassion for the women who approach them with halakhic petitions. Their empathy should be so compelling that it moves them to prayer.
To me, as I review Sarah’s essay, I find the key here is the connection, the relationship. The Daughters of Tzlafchad had a certain basic trust in Moshe, and he had an understanding, an empathy for their needs. It is important to show respect for a leader; at the same time, for someone to be a true leader, the person needs to be a true listener.
I needed to send someone a condolence card. Someone who sat shiva (one sits shiva for seven days for a close relative, in this case a brother) far away. So I painted two watercolors of yahrzeit candles. I’ve never painted lit candles before, and it wasn’t easy. I chose one to send. Here are both the watercolors:
My neighbor grew these hibiscus flowers right next to my backyard so I could photograph them for Ruby Tuesday. Right? This is not the neighbor with the potted red plants, the one who paints the Jersey Shore. This is the neighbor who cooks with influences of North African, Persian and French cuisine. I have nice neighbors.
I make salmon a fair amount throughout the year. My basic recipe is quite simple: I use an oval ceramic dish, and I poach the salmon in the oven with some water and lemon juice.
Ingredients:
- Salmon, uncooked, fresh
- Lemon juice (about one half lemon)
- Dill or celery or parsley or sage or basil
Optional: onion, sliced tomato, sliced potato
Preheat oven to 350°. Place fish in ceramic baking dish with water and lemon juice, enough to cover the fish. Place something green and flavorful along side the fish, such as dill or celery. Optionally, you can put sliced tomato and onion under the fish, or sliced potato and onion. Bake for 30-45 minutes. Use a fork to test the middle to see if the fish is thoroughly cooked.
Pink sauce for fish:
Take some red beet horseradish and mix it with either plain yogurt or sour cream. Serve on top or beside the fish.
During the nine days before Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av, observant Jews do not eat meat (except on Shabbat). Fish is a possible option that one can serve during the Nine Days.
Just last week I responded to a blog challenge, passed on to me by Ilana-Davita. I mentioned quite a few of my favorite bloggers on that post. Then on Thursday, I get awarded this sweet little award by Jientje, who has a lovely blog called Heaven in Belgium:
What did I do for this award? I just look at her beautiful photos and tell her how much I enjoy them. And I learn about Belgium. It seems that sunshine is always a pleasant surprise there, the few days that they get some sun. I learned a little about Belgium previously from a friend who grew up there; if you skip down to the bottom of the post, you’ll see where he now lives.
Since I didn’t award Ilana-Davita in my last list, I’ll put her first here:
Ilana-Davita: I never would have believed one could make friends blogging, but I really feel like I have found a special friend! Her posts, varying from her cozy reading nook to a review or of a book or a movie, are warm and welcoming. Her photos are charming, and her recipes delicious. We’ve studied the Book of Ruth and Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) together, and now we are discussing Psalms as our next possible topic. I highly recommend the banana cake, which I made on Friday.
Next, let’s visit the rambling woods:
Michelle: Her blog is beautiful. If you like mama ducks and baby ducks, she has photographed many, and she will tell you all about the birds and other critters that live near her. And every time she leaves me a comment on my blog, I enjoy hearing what she has to say.
And now to Norway, where I don’t know what’s written but the views are fabulous:
Stine’s hverdag
Also in Norway, see Huset Med Det Rare I Absolutely stunning photos
And…in the South Pacific? Not sure, but this is Fish Whisperer’s blog:
Picture This Digital Photography
If you enjoy photos of Israel, be sure to visit Dina:
Jerusalem Hills Daily
Janet has a fun Wednesday “What is it?”; see great photos on her blog with the cool name:
Fond of Snape
And a big, big thank you to Mary/Teach, who runs Ruby Tuesday at Work of the Poet and always has something nice to say about my photos!
Finally, just to throw you all off course from all these great photo bloggers, I’ll mention one political blogger:
Carl in Jerusalem at Israel Matzav
and now I’ll say nothing else about politics. But I will show you one photo of where my friend who grew up in Belgium now lives. It’s an area that gets lots and lots of sun:
It’s in Israel; can anyone tell me where in Israel?
Finally, if you want have fun with this and go forward, please post this little award on your blog, pass it on to at least seven new bloggers, and link back to me (thank you). There’s a little expression in Hebrew called “Hakarat HaTov”, recognition of the good, and I like to think that we can spread a little good recognition around the planet.
As I won’t be posting again until Sunday morning, I thought I would leave this pretty orange flower at the top of my blog until then. Can anyone identify it? I took the photo in Jerusalem.
This is probably an eschscholzia (thank you, Ilana-Davita!)
