- At the pharmacy, the check-out clerk asked me if I wanted to pay my bill (approximately $50) all at once or in installments
- One guy on the oppossing softball team wished me a Shabbat Shalom
- The bully schwarma guy at the mall, while he was trying to sell me a plate of chumus and chickpeas for an extra 5 shekel (I declined. He told me I should smile) yelled out his entire menu in Arabic to a woman who was passing by, all in about 5 seconds
- While I was picking up Moshe from the Ma’on and Adina was waiting in the car, two little kids (about three years old) were walking along the sidewalk next to the car. They opened the door and started questioning Adina where we lived and why she was in the car). (Chutzpah).
- Yet again, Sunday is a work day. (Didn’t stop me from pretending like it was really Sunday though)
- David (that is Daveed, not Dayvid) at the Makolet made sure that everything I was buying last Friday was lechavod Shabbat Kodesh (in honor of the holy Shabbat).
- The elections are on Tuesday. It will be a national holiday (as in “day off from work” holiday, not “holy-day” holiday). In the local kollel, there will be shiurim all day for men (something like 10 shiurim between 8am and 8pm) and Tehillim all day for women (they hope to complete the book of Tehillim one thousand times).
- I gave rides to at least a dozen hitchhikers, all of whom were Orthodox Jews. Included were men, women, Hareideim, Hassidim, young (youngest was under 10 years old) and old(er) (probably over 50).
- The Almond tree downstairs is no longer blooming. The flowers have been replaced by leaves and small little almonds. Out downstairs neighbor (and landlord) brought me over, pulled off an almond, told me that this tree’s almonds are sweet before the ripen. One Borei Pri haEitz and Shehecheyanu later I ate one. And two. Very interesting. (I couldn’t bring one into the house because I would then be obligated to give ma’asser (tithes) on it. But I could eat it next to the tree since it is still “in the field”)
- No cars on Shabbat (again)
Have a good Sunday!
March 27th, 2006 at 3:31
Did You Know?
Just some trivia for you about almonds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almonds
Regards & Shalom
Phil from Oz
March 27th, 2006 at 4:32
Not to sound ignorant, but could you explain what you mean by the whole “giving ma’asser?”
thanks, emah
March 27th, 2006 at 10:31
Phil – thanks for the link. I now have an explanation for what my neighbor told me that one of the almond trees is always sweet, the other is always bitter.
EmahS – The Torah dictates that we give parts of our produce to the Cohanim, Levi’im and Poor (Terumah, Ma’aser Rishon, Ma’aser Sheini – some years this is given to the poor, some years it is brought to Yerushalayim). Today there is no longer a temple and we are no longer 100% sure who all of the Cohanim and Levi’im are. So we no longer take off all of the part of the produce before eating them. However, there is a Torah requirement to remove some parts of produce grown in Israel before eating them (Terumah, Ma’aser). The halachot are a little bit complicated. The important thing to know is that in Israel, all fruit and vegetables have to have a reliable hashgacha. If they don’t and you eat fruit that has not had the proper amounts taken off, the Torah puts it on the same level as eating on Yom Kippur – Kareit.
There is a halacha though that produce only becomes obligated to have these “gifts” taken from them once they enter your house. If you are in the field, you are allowed to just pull one off and eat (with the owner’s permission, of course). And that is exactly what I did.
March 28th, 2006 at 3:11
cool, thanks for the explanation! I think that fruit eaten right off the tree “in the field” tastes best anyway! :)
April 2nd, 2006 at 21:12
I love it when I buys something in a housewares place, and the clerk, without my asking, instructs me as to what part must be toveled.
April 8th, 2006 at 21:54
For all these vignettes, there’s no place in the world like Israel!