L'khod Shabbat, l'khod Shabbat, Shabbat ha'Malkah

(The title of this post is corrupted from a piece of a song I learned in kindergarten or so.  It means: "To honor the Sabbath, to honor the Sabbath, the Sabbath, the Queen.")

I have been thinking hard recently about how to better honor the Sabbath in my dorm room this coming semester.  One major thing I plan to do is start preparing for the Sabbath an hour earlier on Friday afternoons and spend that time cleaning my room.  I also found a beautiful piece of fabric--the most beautiful fabric I could possibly imagine--and hemmed it into a runner to go under my electric Sabbath candles.  I finished that project today, and here are pictures:

For Ritual Purification

Today my official, gorgeous hand washing cup arrived in the mail.  I was so glad it did not come on the Sabbath, so I could actually sign for the package.  Here it is in all its glory:

And here is the hand washing towel that goes with it.  I've had the towel for a while (I got it last Hannukah), but I decided now was a good time to show it off again:

And here is a close-up shot of the embroidery on the towel.  The Hebrew writing says "...on the lifting of the hands"; those words are the end of the blessing we say upon completing the ritual washing:

In Exactly One Week...

In exactly one week comes Sh'va Asar b'Tammuz, the seventeenth of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, a fast day commemorating the breach of the walls of Jerusalem by Babylonian forces three weeks before the destruction of the first Temple.  Even if this event did not happen on this day, and some have argued that it did not, I feel the need to mourn the collective tragedy, and this day of the year is as good as any other.

The complication? I am the only member of my family who keeps this day, and my parents forgot about it when they planned our vacation.  On Sh'va Asar b'Tammuz, my parents and I will be on a road trip to Northern Vermont.  Getting me food after the end of the fast will be, well, interesting, to say the least.  We'll manage somehow, I'm sure.

Observing my Hebrew Birthday

I had a dream last night that made me start thinking, and I have decided that if it is OK with my parents, starting this year I would like to observe and celebrate my Hebrew birthday, not my secular birthday.  Jewish people in America observe two calendars--the Gregorian and the Hebrew--but all other important dates come from the Hebrew calendar.

The Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar; therefore, a Hebrew date that stays the same year to year moves around on the Gregorian calendar.  In 1993, February 8th--my birthday--corresponded to the 17th of the month of Shevat, just two days after the holiday of Tu B'Shevat.  This should be easy to remember.

My Precious, Holy Books

I have several books that are considered holy in Judaism, and I am proud to own them.  Here they are:

This right here is a Siddur Sim Shalom, or Sim Shalom prayer book, pocket sized.  I got this as a prize for perfect synagogue attendance when I was eight.  As you can see, it has been well used.

This is the siddur (prayer book) currently used by Jewish personnel of the armed forces of the United States.  This edition just came out last summer.  Because of my father's position, I have one; I find it the easiest to use of all my siddurim.

This is a book of Psalms put out by Artscroll, an Orthodox publishing company.  That is my full Hebrew name--Sarah Tovah (...)--monogrammed on the bottom.  Normally I would never use Artscroll anything, but this little book has a special story.  You may recall the boy in my high school class who contracted leukemia.  His parents gave each of us a ersonalized copy of one of these books.  To honor his memory, I will continue to use it.

And here is the siddur I received at my "siddur party" in first grade.  Originally it had a cover I had lovingly decorated myself.  Then the siddur disappeared, or so I thought, when I was in middle school; when I got it back two years later, the cover was toally defaced.  A teacher told me to throw it out, so I did, but that never sat right with me.  In tenth grade I made this cover to replace the old.

And this is my Tanakh, or Bible.  Yes, many pages have fallen out at the beginning; no, I have not lost a single one.

Bought With my Own Hard-Earned Money

When my parents gave me permission to spend my baby-sitting money on my main, and only big, fun purchase of the summer (I also purchased one dollhouse miniature last week or the week before, but these two are it and the rest of the money gets saved for school) I knew exactly what I wanted: my long awaited hand washing cup designed by Yair Emanuel.

In Judaism there is a concept called hiddur mitzvah, literally "beautifying the commandment."  In this picture you can see the hand washing cup I've used every morning I've remembered to perform this ritual since the day I started.  There's nothing wrong with this cup--it is functional and durable--but it is certainly not beautiful:

  

Below is a picture of the cup I picked out on the Yair Emanuel site (with crazy shipping because it is coming from Israel):

This cup is purple, my favorite color; and I just happened to fall in love with their design of medium size (six inches high) and price (35 dollars).  My cup should arrive in the mail within the next two to three weeks, and I am excited!

It feels fulfilling to buy things with one's very truly own money, rather than with money bequeathed to one by one's parents, no?

My Collection of Kippot (Yarmulkes)

A long time back, I think a couple of years ago, I took a group picture of my kippot/yarmulkes, which then numbered 12.  I now have 26.  I wanted to give each one its own moment to shine, so to speak: its own photograph, its own introduction.  In this post, I do just that.  With the exception of three which are not stacked with the others today, and two whose pictures would not load in the proper order, and which are therefore introduced at the end, the kippot/yarmulkes get bigger as the post goes on and I stack them one on top of the others.  Enjoy!

This is my gay pride kippah, because of the rainbow.  I searched all over the internet, looking for the cheapest one I could find, and this is it.  I got it from Etsy for 24 dollars.  Despite being my smallest kippah, it was my second most expensive.

This kippah I got in Israel, from Kippah Man on Ben Yehudah street in Jerusalem.  This is my favorite of my four crocheted kippot, which are known in Hebrew as kippot serugot.

This was my first kippah ever.  My father brought it home for me from a Rabbinical Assembly convention when I was eight years old.

And this was my second kippah ever.  This one also came to me via my father, from a Rabbinical Assembly convention.  This time, I was 10 years old.

This kippah was a freebie from my high school graduation.  I really do not like suede kippot, so the only ones I have I got free from various places/occasions, and I only have three of them.

This is another suede kippah.  Likewise, it was a freebie, this time from a roommate's wedding.

And this suede kippah comes from my Bat Mitzvah! I said I do not like suede kippot, and I do not, but at the time I was not collecting yet and had not refined my tastes.  We had both pink and purple kippot at my Bat Mitzvah; for a while the only kippah I wore was a purple Bat Mitzvah kippah.  I am not sure what happened to that one, but now I have this pink one instead.

This kippah came with my Bat Mitzvah tallit (prayer shawl).  Originally, the embroidery matched; after ten years of use the kippah has faded significantly.  For instance, that gray background used to be unmistakably purple.  Both kippah and tallit were designed by my favorite Israeli designer (for lots of things, not just kippot and tallitot), Yair Emanuel.

This kippah was also designed by Yair Emanuel.  I got it last Fall.  It is painted silk.  I had ordered it in blue; this magenta color is definitely not blue, but I have come to love this kippah for what it is anyway.

This is a kippah that I wanted for a long time before I got it.  As you can see, it is red and black, my school colors.  There were a couple of dragons available; I got the red one for school spirit.  This kippah cost me fifteen dollars on Etsy.

This was a freebie from someone's Bat MItzvah.  I did not know the Bat Mitzvah girl, but the family was holding the Bat Mitzvah on my college campus (the parents were both alumni), my favorite Rabbi was officiating, and they had extended an open invitation to students, so I went.  I was delighted to walk away with this kippah because I had really been wanting another blue one.  This one also has an attached clip inside, which I think is very cool.

This is another Yair Emanuel design.  This is my favorite style: medium sized, embroidered silk.  I have several like this.  They cost approximately ten dollars, plus shipping, on the Yair Emanuel website.  I coveted this kippah for a long time before I got it.

This is another Yair Emanuel embroidered silk.  I got it last Fall to go with my red college t-shirts, and I am pretty sure I wore it for the first time on Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year.  This is one of my two favorite weekday kippot.

And this is my other favorite weekday kippah! Yes, it's another Yair Emanuel, my most recent weekday kippah purchase from his website.  I earned the money for this one by selling back textbooks last Spring.

This is a Yair Emanuel, too, but it is just plain raw silk.  I expected it to be more gold than it is, but that is OK.  Its subtle color helps it go with more different outfits.

This was my first embroidered silk Yair Emanuel kippah.  It's no longer my favorite, but it holds a special place in my heart because it introduced me to this style.

 

This one is genuine Army issue! In the American Army, a Jewish soldier is allowed to wear a black kippah, a green kippah, or one of these.  My father is in the Army Reserves, commanding chaplains; we had a bunch of these hanging around our basement, so (with permission, of course) I took one.

This kippah came with my older brother's Bar Mitzvah tallit.  He does not do anything Jewish anymore; when I found this in a laundry basket this past summer, he said I could have it.  I believe the designer to be Gabrieli.

This kippah has perhaps the most interesting story of all: it was made by the women of the Ugandan Jewish community, also known as the Abayudaya.  These women make and sell all sorts of crafts--not always Jewish-related--as fundraisers for projects in their community.

This kippah is older than I am.  It is also huge; it can sit on my head and stay on without clips.  On Friday nights and holiday nights, I let my hair dry in natural spiral curls and wear it down with one of these on top.

This is another of my Friday night and holiday night kippot.  It was my high school graduation gift from my parents (I picked it out) and I think it is my favorite in my whole collection.

This is the one that is on my head today.  Yes, it is another embroidered silk by Yair Emanuel.

This is the kippah that I reserve for Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yom HaZikaron (Israel's Memorial Day), and Tisha B'Av (the ninth of the month of Av, when we mourn the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem).  This is my most somber kippah, and I wanted to do more than I was doing to mark those days.

This kippah is stacked right before the camouflage one, but the picture did not load the first time.  It is black velvet, from my younger brother's Bar Mitzvah.  I do not have one from my older brother's Bar Mitzvah because at that point I had not yet begun to collect kippot.

This is what I call my "pajamas kippah," both because I think it looks as if it goes with pajamas and because that is when I wear it.  No, I do not wear a kippah to sleep, but if I am in a nightgown and I need a kippah, this is the one that goes on my head.  I really try not to walk anywhere without one on, and certainly I need one for eating, evening prayers, and morning handwashing, so I keep this one right beside my pillow and try to remember to put it on when I get out of bed.

Last but not least, this is my newest kippah.  In the stack it goes between the gigantic maroon velvet one and the gigantic one with colorful embroidery, but as with the one from my older brother's Bar Mitzvah, the picture did not load properly the first time.  This is also from the Yair Emanuel site; it cost me fifteen dollars, which I earned by selling back textbooks at the end of the school year.

Habitat for Humanity Day One

I had an absolute blast on the construction site today! The house we were working on was mostly finished, needing things such as touch-up painting and the tightening of cabinet handles.  When I got there, I told the site boss I was good at painting.  The problem was that I meant covering large areas with rollers, and he meant touch-up detailing with a paint brush.  I did manage to do the job successfully, but only after someone came behind me saying things such as, "You missed this spot, you missed that spot, you're dripping..."

The youngest person there besides me was probably old enough to be my mother, and there were some people most likely old enough to be my grandparents.  I think everyone was really tickled that this was what a college student wanted to be doing with her summer; regardless, they were all infinitely patient with showing me how to do things I didn't know how to do, yet they also knew to back off when I (politely) told them to.  And I never gave up on a task until it was done.  I asked for advice, help, even demonstrations, but I never gave up.

I can't wait to go back next week!

My Special Habitat for Humanity Pants

Yesterday, I went shopping with my father for a special pair of pants to wear on the worksite tomorrow.  Though I really do feel more "myself" in skirts, I had been told I would be safer in pants, and the word "safety" can convince me to do almost anything.  Besides, on a worksite it's good not to mind getting dirty, and I treasure each and every one of my weekday skirts (I think I have nine, which is not a lot) and would not like to get dirty in them.

I could not buy women's pants because I needed deep pockets that closed, so that I could carry a house key, cab fare, and my cell phone without worrying about them falling out and/or being stolen.  Because I would wear boys' pants in length, we started there in width, too.  I tried on a size 12 Husky, a size 14, a size 14 Husky, a size 16, and a size 16 Husky before we gave up and moved on to mens' pants.  In mens', I tried on a size 29 waist and a size 32 waist, before I finally found a pair that fit.  I fit a size 36 waist.  Good to know.

These wonderful pants are made even more wonderful by their camouflage pattern.  I can't wait to wear them--along with an old (Habitat for Humanity) t-shirt, my work boots, and a suede kippah.  (My suede kippot are most durable, and therefore best for a worksite; also I have never liked suede kippot, plus mine were all freebies, so it doesn't matter what happens to them.)

Super Excited!

In  two more days, just TWO MORE DAYS, I start my weekly volunteering with Habitat for Humanity! I will be out on a construction site from 8 am to 2 pm, and I am so excited! I've built with them before, and I ended up being the official nail-picker-upper.  Someone has to do that job, and it requires neither strength nor dexterity, so it was perfect for me.  Maybe--who knows?--I'll get to do that again.  Regardless, I am so glad, relieved, and excited to be doing something worthwhile with my summer.  I'll post again after my first day.

Musings on "Jacob's" Birth-Month

"My" "Jacob" turns five sometime this month.  I do not know the exact day; Reece's Rainbow never reveals that.  His profile, however, tells me he was born in June of 2010, which puts him turning five this month.

The older "Jacob" gets, the less likely it becomes that he will get adopted.  Parents tend to want younger children: statistically more often girls, but certainly more often younger children.

I often stop to think about how long I have been praying for "Jacob."  I jumped into this before he turned three, and now he is turning five.  That makes it more than two years.  In all that time, his pictures have not been updated, and nothing has been added to his description.


Without an update between then and now, it is impossible for adoptive parents to know what they are getting into.  For example, his description says that he is restless and stubborn.  A true temperament issue, or just a bad day the day he was observed? Additionally, it is written that he cannot talk, but in the intervening time he might have learned how to do this.

Please join me in praying for "Jacob"!

"Jacob":