My Mother Should Have Posted This Last Week
My daughter and her dancer friends want you to know that her mom should have told you last week to submit links for the JPIX Blog Carnival that will appear tomorrow on Pesky Settler’s blog. JPIX is the blog carnival for Jewish Photo Bloggers (about Jewish topics, but one can stretch this to nature, everyday living and food photos); everyone is welcome to enjoy the show.
Spring is sprung, da grass is riz.
I wonder where dem boidies is?
Some say da boids is on der wing.
But dat’s absoid!
Da little wings is on da boid…
It is a Jewish custom before the Shabbat in which one sings Shirat HaYam (the Song of the Sea, the song about the crossing of the Reed Sea) to feed the birds. Why feed the birds? I found two explanations:
1) There is a tradition that on the first Shabbat of the Manna, not only did people go out looking for Manna, but they (wicked people, says Rashi) had previously scattered Manna around the camp in order to find it and “make a liar out of Moshe”.
Birds came by early in the morning and ate up the Manna, thus protecting the honor of Moshe, and of G-d Who had said that Manna would not fall on Shabbat. In repayment “one good turn deserves another” style, we feed the birds around this Shabbat when we read of the Manna in the weekly portion.
And here is the second:
2) We joyously sing praise to G-d for His having taken us out of Egypt and saved us from the Egyptians. Singing is the special domain of the birds. That is how they express themselves in acknowledgment of the Creator (so to speak – or so to sing). We borrowed their skill; therefore we “pay royalties” on our Song by feeding birds on (before) this Shabbat.
Since last Friday was right before Shabbat Shira, I decided that this was the perfect time finally to take the new bird feeder I bought out of the box and hang it on our garage window (with the help of my seven-year-old daughter):
After some initial difficulty with the suction cup attachments (you have to first soak the suction cups in hot water, then dry them, then rub them with your thumb, then attach them), I finally got the feeder to stay up properly. However, I don’t believe any of our neighborhood birds have been eating from it. I did see one pecking away at my compost.
I believe this bird is a chickadee (thanks, Eileen).
This is what is left of the finch feeder sock I bought one month ago:
As one of the reasons for the feeding the birds custom is to become more sensitive to the needs of the animals around us, I plan to continue to feed the birds. As Michelle of Rambling Woods has taught me, once you start feeding the birds, they expect it.
I hope to post more bird photos tomorrow for SkyWatch; one day last week, my eldest son said, Eema, there’s a bird making a strange noise outside. I went out with my camera and there many, many, many birds.
I didn’t have much time to blog this week, as my kids are off from school and we went on vacation to the Berkshire Mountains.
If I had more blogging time this week, I would have done a Nature Notes post about both Tu B’Shvat (the Jewish holiday of the trees) and Parshat B’Shalach, before which one is supposed to feed the birds. Here is a nice story about the Maharal, feeding birds, and teaching children.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the Describe Person Experiment. You are still most welcome to participate!
The colors of Robin’s flower and Ilana-Davita’s Swedish shed photos are similar in palette, yet the photos are so different in subject matter and in photographic style.
I really enjoyed Michelle’s videos after the rain then during the snow. She’s funny, whether she means to be so or not… listen to the goldfinch who didn’t get the January memo.
Having been born Jewish, I often find it curious why someone would convert…”There are Jewish roots in my family, on my Dad’s side,” says Rachel. <- I suppose that helps
Eva Abreu in the Home News Tribune wrote about how people use Twitter to connect and produce new business relationships. She included the example of how I connected with Kacy Campion Renna of CCW Insurance, and I wrote up a post about Eva’s newspaper story.
Red Male Cardinal in a Burning Bush
Mrs. S. pointed out that the burning bush, the name of the shrub that the cardinal is hiding in, was also in the parsha yesterday.
Parsha quiz: Who were Shifra and Puah? Give two possible answers.
Update: See Daniel’s post for three answers.
*** Worth a Read: a post about a talk by an adult survivor of child sexual abuse. – now posted – Protect Children from Abuse ***
Gary Rosenblatt, Editor of the Jewish Week, spoke in December
The Orthodox Forum of Highland Park/Edison features a variety of speakers; Gary Rosenblatt spoke in December on Responsible Journalism and the Orthodox Jewish Community. On Saturday night January 9th at 8 pm at Congregation Ohr Torah the Orthodox Forum of Highland Park/Edison is presenting Facing up to Abuse in the Orthodox Community: A Victim and a Rabbinic Leader Speak Out, with Mutti Weiss, a victim of child abuse, and Rabbi Yosef Blau, Mashgiach Ruchani at YU and current President of the Religious Zionists of America.
The question and answer section at the end was quite animated at Gary Rosenblatt’s talk. Questions were about his role in breaking the Baruch Lanner case, the pro-Israel stance of his paper and other newspapers, and why did the Jewish Week take so long to arrive in the mailbox after publishing.
Welcome to JPIX, the blog carnival of Jewish photo bloggers. Click on any of the thumbnails to visit the posts.
Mottel:
Mother in Israel showed hikes; Ilana-Davita featured a synagogue window:
Leah Lipszyc:
Batya:
Pesky Settler (two on the left) and Dina in Jerusalem (chanukiah on the right):
G6:
Mrs. S.:
Seraphic Secret, Imabima, Lady-Light and Real Shaliach:
Robin (who has just opened an Etsy shop – visit her blog for details):
Leora:
And some more (by Leora, Mottel and Robin):
To participate in a future JPIX blog carnival please send in your links to favorite photos by February 24. You may also send them to jpixcarnival at gmail dot com. Pesky Settler will be hosting a JPIX on February 25. Thanks for volunteering.
All that is left of colorful Chanukah candles - the wax and some ash
Chanukah has come to an end, and all that was left of colorful candles yesterday was bits of red, yellow, blue and white wax. Frume Sarah hosted Haveil Havalim yesterday; reading her blog carnival post can bring a little cheer.
As a reminder, JPIX, the blog carnival of Jewish Photo Bloggers, will appear on this blog on Wednesday. Entries may be submitted using this blog carnival form. Feel free to come back and visit to see the show.
Fourth Night of Chanukah
Each night of Chanukah we light one more candle, until by the eighth night we have eight candles lit. This is to remember the miracle that happened in the Temple a long time ago, when one little container of oil that should have lasted for only one day lasted for eight. In the photo are four orange candles for the fourth night, and the purple one called the “shamash.” The shamash is an extra one, the helper; the shamash lights the other candles. One can choose any colors; my daughter picked these colors. My sons and husband use an oil chanukiah (menorah), as the one in the Temple used oil.
I’ve been taking many photos of the lights, or as the title of this post declares, I’ve been “playing with fire.” Here’s the photo of the candles on a jar, using the warp tool in Photoshop as instructed in this tutorial on the warp tool effect.
