Friday, April 18, 2014

Parties and Pesach

This past weekend was completely packed with activities. Emet's mom, both my grandmothers, and my younger sister came to town for our engagement party and the Seder. On Sunday, my aunt and mom threw us an engagement party. It was great! All my family including grandmas, aunts and uncles, and cousins were there, plus some of my friends and friends of the family. What better excuse do you need to get the family together than an engagement!

After the engagement party, my older sister planned the best non-bachelorette bachelorette party ever. Emet and my sisters, one of my cousins, and a few of my friends played laser tag and whirlyball (after which we were all bruised) and then went to dinner for sushi and tapas. We played a game similar to Cards Against Humanity. By the end of the day, Emet and I were exhausted and looked forward to going to sleep after a long, exciting day filled with love. 

Monday was the first night of Passover, and Emet and I cleaned the kitchen to make it kosher for Pesach, mainly organizing our chametz so it was inaccessible. Being in a non-observant home, we talked with my parents beforehand to make sure they would be okay with what we were doing and they even bought us plastic plates if we wanted to use them. Our Seder was completely crazy. It was the biggest we have ever had - a majority of the people who were at the engagement party came to the Seder, too, so that we ended up having close to 35 people. It was loud and rowdy and full of good food. It gave Emet and I the opportunity to talk about how we would celebrate Pesach in the future, definitely more discussion and smaller, although I had a great opportunity to share with one of my cousins why Gd hardened Pharaoh's heart. I took out my notes from Chumash class, and read the English translations I did in order to answer the question. It was a good thing I wrote the English translation of Rambam and Ramban because there was no way I could translate the Hebrew at that moment. It was so great learning again, even if just for a minute.

Yesterday, I woke up missing Israel immensely. I missed kosher for passover restaurants and learning and community. One of the most difficult things about being Shomer Shabbat and not being within walking distance of a synagogue is that we don't have an observant community around us. Shabbat means something completely different. It's about what we can't do, rather than enjoying that time. We have been lucky to have family and friends come over to our house for Shabbat, but it still isn't the same. We don't have a plata (blech), so when we want hot food on Shabbat, we use the crock pot, but you don't want a stew or soup every week. One week we made enchiladas, and that turned out great. Even so, I miss our Pardes community, walking to shul, seeing people you know on the street, talking Torah, studying Torah, the smells of Shabbat wafting from everyone's kitchens, and the whole atmosphere that you just don't get here.

It was great spending time with the whole family and it's been absolutely amazing how welcoming my family is. Emet and I say over and over how blessed we are to have two families that embrace us, ask questions, and love unconditionally.

Shabbat shalom!

2 comments:

  1. *sigh* I miss Shabbat in Israel, too.

    By the way, I love reading about your adventures! Thank you for sharing!

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  2. I really enjoyed while reading your adventures. You can plan your trip at hotel in St Maarten to discover more happiness. Thanks for Sharing. Keep Blogging!

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