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magidShavuot is a short holiday (one or two days, depending on location and tradition) 50 days after Passover to celebrate the giving of the Torah and offering the first fruits of the season. So when I saw the idea somewhere that blintzes were not only a nice dairy food to have (there's a tradition of having dairy foods), but serving pairs of them can be seen as an allusion to the two tablets with the 10 commandments, I thought that was nice, and a good excuse for me to make blintzes this year. Where "making blintzes" means "cooking frozen blintzes," that is. Except that all the supermarkets I went to did not seem to have blintzes, though I know they had previously. I spent far too much of Thursday on my blintz-quest, and was ultimately unsuccessful. (Yes, I suppose I could have just made them. I don't own a dairy frying pan, however, so this felt a bit too daunting.) It left me stressed and not in good spirits going into the holiday (especially since it meant I didn't have time for a bike ride after all that time in the car; very frustrating, all around).
Happily, things got better.
I hosted dinner the first night, and having the time to have interesting conversations with friends always helps. I was also surprised by my guests bringing me great bounty, in the form of bottles of wine and a huge cheesecake.
There was overnight learning available, but by the time people left, around 11:30, I realized I wasn't going to be heading out. I no longer try to stay up all night, since it messes with me so badly, but I'd thought I'd perhaps go to a single class (I was especially amused to see someone offering a class on the halachic requirement to sleep during an all-night learning extravaganza :-). Had I realized early enough that thre were community dinners available where classes were offered, I might have done that, but I do prefer non-institutional-size meals, and this was quite congenial. No regrets, really.
Shavuot morning, I had two options for services in the same building. Minyan Tehillah called services for 9:30 (when their usual start time is 9:15), and they traditionally start a few minutes late. The regular ortho minyan started at 9, and I didn't feel like I had enough concentration/focus to last through Tehillah davening, which is always longer. OK, plus the room they were in is one that is more difficult for me to deal with for davening anyway, since there are windows on only one side (not the women's side), and the ceilings aren't particularly high, either. I'm not claustrophobic, but I do find it much harder to daven when jammed in with lots of other people, no space to move.
So I went to ortho, and it was pretty sparse. I wasn't sure how much of that was people who'd stayed up all night, or people who were going to other minyanim, but I don't remember the last time I saw it that empty that wasn't a weekday. Still the davening suited. I knew who the baal koreh was going to be, and he's excellent (though strangely, I'd forgotten Akdamut would precede it). The baal musaf used a particularly apt tune for part of kedushah, "The Arms of the Angel," which I took as an allusion to the haftorah reading of Ezekiel's vision (which one friend is convinced was an extremely good trip on *something*...).
I went downstairs after ortho finished, and Tehillah was returning the sefer Torah. I went in to hear the dvar Torah (it's usually before musaf), and was rather astonished that this day, of all days, there was no dvar Torah. Strange.
My lunch guests were at Tehillah, so I stayed while they finished up, and through the schmooze that is kiddush, before heading home.
The afternoons are long enough these days that I was able to get in a bit of a nap as well as reading a book before going out to dinner.
Jason made an amazing meal, as always. The highlights included hot pureed vichyssoise with a swirl of yogurt and chives, a huge poached salmon covered with cucumber slices (dill sauce on the side), and a variety of vegetables he'd grilled. Total yumminess. The other guests included Tehillah people I haven't really talked with before, which felt like a useful opportunity, especially since I often feel out of the main social circle there (too old, too single, too... something).
Shabbat Shavuot morning I ended up at ortho again, though I'd debated going to Tremont St. It's a rather long davening, having not only the usual holiday extras of Hallel and birkat kohanim, but also the book of Ruth. It's one of my more favorite books of Tanakh, being such a woman-focused story, even though in the end, it is Boaz who does the last public act to tie everything together. I love how there are feminine plural verbs! And of course, Ruth's famous statement when choosing to go with Naomi, which is just gorgeous.
I hung around kiddush (long enough that I wouldn't have made it to the Tremont St. kiddush a friend was giving on the occasion of her leaving for med school, which I'd hoped to stop by for), and was surprised by how many compliments I got on the previous day's kiddush. I've bought kiddush a number of times before, and this is the first time I remember than anyone has commented on it. Not one, but many people. Weird. Very nice, though.
I didn't have plans for lunch, so I drifted home (running into a neighbor-friend on the way; it was good to catch up with him), then lazed the afternoon away, between books and nap.
Happily, things got better.
I hosted dinner the first night, and having the time to have interesting conversations with friends always helps. I was also surprised by my guests bringing me great bounty, in the form of bottles of wine and a huge cheesecake.
There was overnight learning available, but by the time people left, around 11:30, I realized I wasn't going to be heading out. I no longer try to stay up all night, since it messes with me so badly, but I'd thought I'd perhaps go to a single class (I was especially amused to see someone offering a class on the halachic requirement to sleep during an all-night learning extravaganza :-). Had I realized early enough that thre were community dinners available where classes were offered, I might have done that, but I do prefer non-institutional-size meals, and this was quite congenial. No regrets, really.
Shavuot morning, I had two options for services in the same building. Minyan Tehillah called services for 9:30 (when their usual start time is 9:15), and they traditionally start a few minutes late. The regular ortho minyan started at 9, and I didn't feel like I had enough concentration/focus to last through Tehillah davening, which is always longer. OK, plus the room they were in is one that is more difficult for me to deal with for davening anyway, since there are windows on only one side (not the women's side), and the ceilings aren't particularly high, either. I'm not claustrophobic, but I do find it much harder to daven when jammed in with lots of other people, no space to move.
So I went to ortho, and it was pretty sparse. I wasn't sure how much of that was people who'd stayed up all night, or people who were going to other minyanim, but I don't remember the last time I saw it that empty that wasn't a weekday. Still the davening suited. I knew who the baal koreh was going to be, and he's excellent (though strangely, I'd forgotten Akdamut would precede it). The baal musaf used a particularly apt tune for part of kedushah, "The Arms of the Angel," which I took as an allusion to the haftorah reading of Ezekiel's vision (which one friend is convinced was an extremely good trip on *something*...).
I went downstairs after ortho finished, and Tehillah was returning the sefer Torah. I went in to hear the dvar Torah (it's usually before musaf), and was rather astonished that this day, of all days, there was no dvar Torah. Strange.
My lunch guests were at Tehillah, so I stayed while they finished up, and through the schmooze that is kiddush, before heading home.
The afternoons are long enough these days that I was able to get in a bit of a nap as well as reading a book before going out to dinner.
Jason made an amazing meal, as always. The highlights included hot pureed vichyssoise with a swirl of yogurt and chives, a huge poached salmon covered with cucumber slices (dill sauce on the side), and a variety of vegetables he'd grilled. Total yumminess. The other guests included Tehillah people I haven't really talked with before, which felt like a useful opportunity, especially since I often feel out of the main social circle there (too old, too single, too... something).
Shabbat Shavuot morning I ended up at ortho again, though I'd debated going to Tremont St. It's a rather long davening, having not only the usual holiday extras of Hallel and birkat kohanim, but also the book of Ruth. It's one of my more favorite books of Tanakh, being such a woman-focused story, even though in the end, it is Boaz who does the last public act to tie everything together. I love how there are feminine plural verbs! And of course, Ruth's famous statement when choosing to go with Naomi, which is just gorgeous.
I hung around kiddush (long enough that I wouldn't have made it to the Tremont St. kiddush a friend was giving on the occasion of her leaving for med school, which I'd hoped to stop by for), and was surprised by how many compliments I got on the previous day's kiddush. I've bought kiddush a number of times before, and this is the first time I remember than anyone has commented on it. Not one, but many people. Weird. Very nice, though.
I didn't have plans for lunch, so I drifted home (running into a neighbor-friend on the way; it was good to catch up with him), then lazed the afternoon away, between books and nap.
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}:->
Date: 2009-06-01 05:34 pm (UTC)Re: }:->
Date: 2009-06-01 06:51 pm (UTC)What class(es) did you go to at your tikkun? How late did things run?
no subject
Date: 2009-06-02 03:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-02 11:30 am (UTC)Side anecdote: One of the times I flew to Israel, there was a huge crowd of teen-aged girls flying as well, who stayed up chattering all night, while I was trying to get at least some sleep. They came to me in the morning, asking if I'd say birkot hashachar for them to say amen to, since I'd slept.