Leora

Yom Kippur Tune


This beautiful tune, El Nora Alila, is sung at Congregation Etz Ahaim in Highland Park at nei’la time, the last prayer of Yom Kippur. My husband said the first tune on this video, the Turkish one, is the melody used at our synagogue, which makes sense since it was founded by immigrants from Salonika and Turkey.

Hat Tip: a friend who used to belong to Congregation Etz Ahaim and now lives in Israel; and another friend who was pleased to hear it sung at his father’s Reform temple in a suburb north of New York City.

Watery U.S. Memorial

Pacific at World War II memorial
The World War II memorial across from the Lincoln Memorial in Washinton, D.C. is a wonderful, watery display.

New Jersey
Each state is featured on a post, with the Atlantic Ocean on a large pillar with arch at one end and the Pacific on the other. I found New Jersey.

fountain squint
My middle son, my daughter and I all had to look away from the camera as the sun was strong that day in August.

water detail
For more watery posts, visit:
Watery Wednesday

Update: About the National WWII Memorial

Review with Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial in August 2010
Lincoln Memorial in August 2010

Last year: Sephardi Piyut of Rosh Hashana
Remembering: September 11, 2008

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

Symbols for Sweet New Year

Click on each thumbnail to find out more about the siman (symbol) of food that is eaten the first night of Rosh Hashana:
carrot watercolor squashes watercolor
leek  apples
Beet Leaf, watercolor on paper, 2008 bean salad   dates in front of palm tree, watercolor on paper

Simanim for Rosh Hashana

Some people use the head of a lamb (that we be like the head and not as the tail). I now have a post on dates. And I may put out celery, for a raise in salary. Past post of simanim details here.

Here is a post from G6 of new fruit for the 2nd night of Rosh Hashana. I bought a sabra, a papaya, some fresh figs and a starfruit. The idea is you need a fruit that you haven’t eaten all year, so you can make the blessing called “shehiyanu.”

Did you get everything you need?

Leek Watercolor

leek watercolor
Leeks are one of the simanim (symbols) that we eat on the first night of Rosh Hashana.

יהי רצון מלפנך, ה’ אלקינו ואלקי אבותינו, שיכרתו שונאינו
May it be Your will, Hashem, our God and the God of our forefathers, that our enemies be decimated

A traditional Turkish dish: Keftes de Prasa (leek croquettes) – and more recipes for Rosh Hashana

leek

See more posts on Rosh Hashana.

Peas with Potato Salad

peas with potatoes salad - red onion, sage, no mayonnaise
Look, Ma, no mayonnaise!

I realized after years of making potato salad that what I really like is when the potatoes and hard boiled eggs make the salad creamy, but the peas and red onion are what I love to eat. I came to this conclusion one weekend when I only had potatoes left in my salad (because I had picked out and eaten all the peas), and all I needed to do was add more peas, another hard boiled egg and some olive oil and I had more of the salad I had made on Friday.

Ingredients

6 oz. frozen peas (or cut string beans or both)
3 yellow potatoes (or any potato that becomes creamy when cooked)
1 tsp. sea salt
olive oil to coat the potatoes
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar (or use one fresh lemon, squeezed)
1/2 chopped red onion (or use a sweet vidalia onion or scallions)
1/4 cup cut fresh sage or fresh dill
pepper to taste
2 hard boiled-eggs

How to make the potato pea salad

Take the frozen peas out of the freezer and put in a bowl. Boil the potatoes in water for about 40 minutes. After 30 minutes, add the eggs to the top so they can cook along with the potatoes. When the potatoes are tender (or starting to crack), cut them up and put them in the bowl with the peas. Sprinkle olive oil to coat. Put the hard boiled eggs aside in cold water. Add sea salt and pepper to taste. Add chopped onions and mix. Peel and chop the eggs into pieces. Add apple cider vinegar, chopped eggs and fresh herbs to the salad. Mix and serve. You can double the size of the recipe, if you like.

As we have a three day holiday of Rosh Hashana coming up this week, this is an easy recipe to make the day before the holidays or even on the holiday, if you plan to cook. You just need to make sure you have the ingredients.

Nature Notes: Butterfly Gardens

monarch migration sign at butterfly garden in Washington, DC
As soon as we entered this small, two pathway long butterfly garden in Washington, DC, I thought of Rambling Woods and Nature Notes. How pretty were all the flowers in the garden!

butterfly garden in Washington, DC
The butterfly garden is near the National Gallery of Art and next to the Natural History Museum; both are on the National Mall.

butterfly bush
Despite all the butterfly-attracting flowers such as butterfly bushes, we didn’t see any butterflies. Perhaps the many people and cars and big, concrete buildings of Washington, DC scared them away?

cardinal flower
I am guessing this lovely red bloom is a cardinal flower.

butterfly at Mount Vernon
On the last day of our vacation we visited Mount Vernon, Virginia, home of President George Washington. There I spotted – a butterfly!

There is a lovely butterfly park in East Brunswick, New Jersey.

Agriculture Arches in Washington, DC

arches at Department of Agriculture
These arches are part of the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. This shot was taken from 14th SW Street, close to the U.S. Holocaust Museum.

agriculture arch
This shot is taken from the opposite end (12th SW Street). The arches are one block away from the National Mall.

Washington D.C. could use some pedestrian bridges, with all the traffic and the many pedestrians. But nothing this big for pedestrians, please.

Update: more on the bridges between the buildings on Wikipedia

Smithsonian Garden

flowers at Smithsonian garden
We just came back from 4+ days in Washington, DC. I took many photos…I have some of the Washington Monument that are especially fun. I plan to do a post about our visit to the U.S. Holocaust Museum. I also have photos from our trip to Broadway the week before, to see West Side Story. On our last day we went to Mount Vernon, Virginia, the home of George Washington.

This is a pretty Smithsonian garden near the Air and Space Museum. Across the way is a butterfly garden (I have pictures of that, too).

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