Snow Day April 4th, Reprise

April 4th should not be a snow day. April 4th should be away to begin cleaning out the garden. It should be a day to appreciate my bulbs starting to bloom. And so, today I cleaned up a section of my garden, clearing away old growth to expose the new shoots of my horse radish coming through the soil. I also lamented over my bulbs, sadly peeking through the snow, wilting in the cold.

Instead of planning my garden, or doing more cleaning, Keren, Gavi, and I spent an hour in a snowball fight, flinging masses of powdery snow at each other, and making a general mess of the snow and each other. All winter we've wanted to have some snow time, but there was never enough snow to do it, never snow sticky enough to build a snowman or pack into real snowballs. We haven't been tobogganing. We rarely ice skate. But today - today we spent real time playing in the snow. Afterward, we built a fire and made hot chocolate before getting back to work.

All in all a pretty good February day. Now I'm ready for April.

Purim Costume Madness

Every year I tell my family to choose their costumes rely. I need time to scour Value Village or sew. This stems from the year I was engaged. Sean's parents threw our engagement party on Purim. Anyone who knows is is nodding, smiling, and thinking, "How very appropriate." (Did I ever mention our cake topper was Lady and the Tramp? Oh well, a story for another day.) Anyway, it's not like Sean didn't know he'd need a costume. He helped make the invitations. So, the day arrives, and he has no costume. He looks through my parents' attic and finds a couple of lights, which he ties to a string, and drapes across his neck. Add a straw behind his ear as an antennae and a paper plate steering wheel, and, voila, he was a car. The worst designed costume ever! Plus the lights were heavy, and he had to take them off about 5 minutes into the party.

So, costume decisions MUST be made at least 2 weeks before Purim.

This year it fell apart. Come Purim no one had ideas. I, having been sick that week, planned on using one of the many costumes in our costume storage. (Yes, I have 2 large rubbermaid bins filled with costumes and props.) So I had the Cat in the Hat on Wednesday night and a great clown on Thursday.

Suddenly, with Megillah just hours off, everyone was scrambling. I took out the bins, spread everything out, and Sean just grabbed.

 Wow!

Gavi and Keren were harder. Who knew they were costume snobs. God forbid they wear something they've worn before! After some quick googling of easy costumes, I came up with the lumberjack from Monty Python. Keren's costume took until the very last minute, but, with lots of safety pins and a dress of mine, she became a beautiful Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's. In hindsight, I realize a disposable coffee cup and danish would have been better than the long cigarette holder, but the brain is slow when we're running late to Megillah reading.

 One more year, and Eema again works miracles in the costume department.

And, should you think that only I am the miracle worker, Sean arranged for Jesse to read Megillah in Halifax, just hours before the holiday started. Thank you the Chabad in Halifax. They really came through for him.

Until next year...

Snow Day - April 4th Edition

Time travel is real.

The average snowfall for Toronto is 2 inches (5 centimetres). The average number of days it snows in April - 2. Getting 10 centimetres of snow in April happens on .1 day in April. (According to current results.com) As we enter the fourth day of April, and the third day in a row of snow, with more snow throughout the week, one thing is clear to me - we've returned to February. 

February basically didn't happen this year. In February, we're supposed to average 8.7 days of snow, with average accumulations of 10.6 inches (27 centimetres). That's this week. The ghost of February has been lingering through March, just waiting for its chance. The lion of March gave no quarter, but April blinked. Thinking it would be a fun April Fool's Day joke, April let through a glimpse of February's ghost, and in it rushed.

Ha ha, the joke's on you April. We're taking a snow day. Someone wake me in May.

DST Makes Me Stupid

So we're now a couple of weeks into Daylight Savings Time. I still have not adjusted. But it's worse. I'm not just tired. I'm actually getting stupid. Normally, I go through my day working, parenting, doing what I need to to do. Not now. I cannot focus. Pesach is coming, I'm planned nothing. I don't know who's coming. I simply can't think straight. Not only that, I'm clumsy. I drop things. I bump into stuff.
And I know I AM NOT ALONE!

I cannot understand how it is we continue to observe this ridiculous custom when so much science tells us it serves no purpose. We know more accidents occur. We know it causes problem. We know there are no benefits. (Don't tell me you like the light. Daylight is getting longer anyway. If you really like the light, lobby to have DST in the winter when we wake in the dark, and come home from school and work in the dark.)

And yet, it persists.

Blah.

Shmini- Purification

Akh ma'yan uvor mikveih-mayim yiyeh tahor v'nogei'a b'nivlatam yitma.

However, a spring or cistern will be [stay] clean, but one who touches their carcass will be unclean. (Vayikra 11:36)

Sefer Vayikra is filled with all the laws dealing with Temple rites and the conditions surrounding them. Among those rites, the issues of purity and impurity, taharah and t'mei'ah, are of utmost importance. The laws of purity often appear to have a science of their own. Pure, holy objects and rituals make others impure. The flow of impurity follows its own rules, and contaminates all it touches.

There is one exception, naturally flowing water. There is something innately holy and pure about naturally flowing water that cannot be duplicated, not by tap water, nor by anything else.

Water is the most basic building block for life. We are created in water, and when we die we return to water. Without it, crops cannot grow. Without it, life ceases. Its discovery on other planets is cause for major celebration because it offers a possibility that we are not unique in the universe.  Yet too much water, or water at the wrong time or season kills. It is a universal solvent. It bores through rock. It creates energy.  Water is a powerful substance, and sacred in every religion.

Mikveh water, holy water, baptismal water, mayim achronim (literally last waters: a ritual washing after eating immediately before reciting Birkat Hamazon), water pouring ceremonies, rain dances, prayers for rain and dew, sacred rivers. D'varim compares teaching to rain, falling to nourish those who learn from it like rain nourishes the earth (32:2). The Talmud says, "There is no water except Torah (Baba Kama 17a). We are surrounded by sacred water and symbolism.

Free flowing, natural water, meaning not drawn by bucket or pipes, cannot be made impure. A lizard may fall into a mikveh, making it temporarily unclean, but is fine once the lizard is removed. The status of the water remains unchanged. Even the presence of a corpse cannot affect the water. The corpse must be removed, making those who touch it [the corpse] tamei, but once gone, the water remains unchanged.

As the only substance to be forever tahor, pure, it also purifies. Mikvayot are filled with naturally flowing water. The water serves as a safe space, a womb from which to be reborn and purified from all that makes us impure.

Shabbat shalom.