purim night
Feb. 25th, 2002 10:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magid(Note to self: if I ever decide to start snorting powders, DO NOT start with ginger powder...)
I left work a bit earlier than usual (though I got in early, to make up for it), which was good, because the fast was making me a bit spacier than usual, and it was harder than it should've been to focus on the drive. Then Tigerbright joined me, and we walked to Harvard Hillel, making it in time for the first maariv (evening) service. This year there were many more options for maariv and megillah reading, at least 3 different times for standard Orthodox davening, at least one egalitarian, and a women's group as well (and, for the first time, I think, a kid's service). I like this, esp since it means there are options, people don't have to rush home from work, and it's not as crowded at any particular reading. But I also miss having almost everyone crammed into one room, knowing I'd see just about everyone. (and all the cool costumes. This year one I liked the most (so far) was someone who had painted her face white and blue all over, in a particular way, and signed it Picasso on her jaw. Really nicely done!)
There was a lull before things got started, so, since they took checks, I was able to do matanot l'evyonim (gifts to the poor) (I hadn't made it to an ATM as planned.). One mitzvah (commandment) of the day completely done! The megillah reading was decent, though I miss having the reader do voices. Still, just hearing the megillah trope (cantillation) is lovely. I always get shivers for those verses that are sung in eicha (lamentations) trope, the slow sadness of the destruction of the Temple in the midst of rather upbeat (music? chant? tune? none seem quite right.).
I didn't dress up. One person asked me about it, and I said I was dressed up as myself on a non-Purim day (which for me is a costume indeed :-). I'd thought to grab a silly hat, but in the rush to get there on time, forgot. Ah, well. Perhaps tomorrow.
There was a crush of people afterwards, some already giving out mishloach manot. I ducked getting one from someone I just can't stand; I'm sure he's a perfectly nice person, but I just cannot deal with him, at all. I did get a nice one from Luis and Danila, though, with beautiful hamantashen (just eaten now. yum).
Finally, over to Z's to break my fast. We reheated leftovers from Shabbat (that would be the pasta with mushrooms, which is of course distinct from the other pasta with mushrooms, not to be confused with the peanut pasta; it was a starchy lunch on Shabbat), chatted, while she fed the baby & slowly eased him towards sleep. I stayed as long as I could; her husband is on a business trip, and dealing with a relatively new baby alone at night is not such an easy thing. But in the end my tiredness won out, so back home. And now the experimental bread is in the oven. (I am totally ginger-obssessed, I admit it).
I left work a bit earlier than usual (though I got in early, to make up for it), which was good, because the fast was making me a bit spacier than usual, and it was harder than it should've been to focus on the drive. Then Tigerbright joined me, and we walked to Harvard Hillel, making it in time for the first maariv (evening) service. This year there were many more options for maariv and megillah reading, at least 3 different times for standard Orthodox davening, at least one egalitarian, and a women's group as well (and, for the first time, I think, a kid's service). I like this, esp since it means there are options, people don't have to rush home from work, and it's not as crowded at any particular reading. But I also miss having almost everyone crammed into one room, knowing I'd see just about everyone. (and all the cool costumes. This year one I liked the most (so far) was someone who had painted her face white and blue all over, in a particular way, and signed it Picasso on her jaw. Really nicely done!)
There was a lull before things got started, so, since they took checks, I was able to do matanot l'evyonim (gifts to the poor) (I hadn't made it to an ATM as planned.). One mitzvah (commandment) of the day completely done! The megillah reading was decent, though I miss having the reader do voices. Still, just hearing the megillah trope (cantillation) is lovely. I always get shivers for those verses that are sung in eicha (lamentations) trope, the slow sadness of the destruction of the Temple in the midst of rather upbeat (music? chant? tune? none seem quite right.).
I didn't dress up. One person asked me about it, and I said I was dressed up as myself on a non-Purim day (which for me is a costume indeed :-). I'd thought to grab a silly hat, but in the rush to get there on time, forgot. Ah, well. Perhaps tomorrow.
There was a crush of people afterwards, some already giving out mishloach manot. I ducked getting one from someone I just can't stand; I'm sure he's a perfectly nice person, but I just cannot deal with him, at all. I did get a nice one from Luis and Danila, though, with beautiful hamantashen (just eaten now. yum).
Finally, over to Z's to break my fast. We reheated leftovers from Shabbat (that would be the pasta with mushrooms, which is of course distinct from the other pasta with mushrooms, not to be confused with the peanut pasta; it was a starchy lunch on Shabbat), chatted, while she fed the baby & slowly eased him towards sleep. I stayed as long as I could; her husband is on a business trip, and dealing with a relatively new baby alone at night is not such an easy thing. But in the end my tiredness won out, so back home. And now the experimental bread is in the oven. (I am totally ginger-obssessed, I admit it).