Before Pesach we have a custom of burning chametz (bread, crackers, cereal, pasta, anything made of five grains: wheat, barley, rye, oats and spelt). When I was a kid, I remember burning chametz in our backyard. Now there are laws about creating fires, so observant Jews get special permission to burn chametz. This burning took place in Edison, New Jersey.
A tradition we have in our family (and others do as well) is to burn the lulav, the palm branch left over from Sukkot, the fall holiday in which we sit in a booth outside for a week.
In this photo you can see both lulavim (plural of lulav) and real bread. It got quite smokey – my husband doesn’t remember it being so smokey in the past. Maybe this is because the regular Edison staff were on vacation for Good Friday and a nice person was left in charge who didn’t quite manage the smoke? I don’t know, but I left there sniffing my clothes, wondering if I smelt like someone who had walked into a smokey bar.
I had enough time to attend biur chametz (burning of the chametz) this year because I managed to get all the cooking I had planned the day before and early in the morning. One of the most popular dishes among my sister-in-law’s family that I made was mushroom paté; personally, my favorite was the marinated beets with ginger and garlic. Planning to make both of those again tomorrow.
I photographed the cherry blossoms (pink flowers) in front of forsythia (yellow flowers).
The geese in Donaldson Park are enjoying the spring weather by the Raritan River.
We are getting ready for Passover (Pesach in Hebrew); one of the nicknames for Passover is Hag Ha’Aviv, the Holiday of Spring.
For more Nature Notes:
I placed and photographed natural and man made objects for the theme of green. How many green objects can you spot?
Thursday Challenge is “GREEN” (Fruit, Vegetables, Animals, Clothing, Vehicles,…)
Next Week: THREE (Triplets, Trio, Triptych, Triangle,…)
I decided to go for minimalist and photographed garlic cloves.
Thursday Challenge is “FOOD” (Food Markets, Ingredients, Cooking, Baking, Pots, Pans,…).
Next week is GREEN (Fruit, Vegetables, Animals, Clothing, Vehicles,…).
Every year we decorate old oatmeal containers (and sometimes matza meal containers) with pictures and coat them with modge podge to create Purim gifts. We give these away to some of our friends. This year, my son decided to put comics and homemade Purim cards on his containers. My daughter opted for photos of her friends on her containers.
Elsewhere in the Blogosphere
- Learn about how you can help agunot (an agunah is a woman who’s husband won’t give her a get, a Jewish divorce) on Mom in Israel’s post.
- Purim in Jerusalem lasts for several days – the real Purim day in Jerusalem this year is today, Friday. Watch the fun on Real Streets of Jerusalem.
- On the blog Jewacious, there are often fabulous reviews of interesting books. For example, here’s a review of An Italian Renaissance: Choosing Life in Canada, by Robert Eli Rubinstein. “He writes forthrightly, but beautifully, detailing his parent’s journey to Canada, to start life anew, and unbeknownst to them, in a city that was filled with antisemitic individuals. His family and the other Jewish refugees were known as “greenies”, a derogatory term, and one used frequently when being spoken of. “
