The Thrice-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity

First sign of pink light

Here comes the Chamah

New day dawning over Jerusalem

The designated Bi'ur Chametz bin

Renegade Chametz-burners in a parking lot

Okay, I am falling way behind on my blogging but I am competing for computer time and how can I argue when Rosa pleads to do her homework (and maybe catch an episode or two of One Tree Hill)? And since the weather's been so great I'd rather be out and about, anyway.However, I do want to point out that this morning was Birkat Ha-Chamah: an every 28 year event in which the daily Shacharit prayers are davvened outside followed by a blessing for the sun. The tradition is that this is the time when the sun is exactly lined up as it was at the time of creation, but pseudo-science notwithstanding it was extremely cool that everyone in the city was out at 5:30 am finding a beautiful outside place to gather to pray and enjoy the dawn. Apparently the Kotel plaza was completely packed (And wouldn't that be a fun crowd to be crunched into?) and was closed off well before 6:00.

We tried to hail a cab from about 5:50 to 6:10 before one would pick us up -- we were his 3rd customers of the morning taking this route up to the Goldman Promenade in Southeast Jerusalem overlooking the Peace Forest, the Old City and much of the New. I have some photos on my Picasa album of the morning and I inserted a couple above.

It was very cool how different subgroups davvened shacharit after saying the simple blessing for the viewing of the sun (the same blessing one would say for seeing a variety of natural wonders).  There were Orthodox gatherings and egalitarian minyans and one colorful Jewish Renewal-y group was singing and dancing with instruments.


After people started dispersing, the girls were so overly tired, draggy and whiny that we sent them home in a cab (which I would never do at home, but Israelis of all ages frequently get around this way) while Dan and I walked home through the city -- really, it does not take that long to walk anywhere in this town. On the way back we passed the earliest of the day's "Biur Chametz" ("burning of the chametz"). There were some special metal trays set up along Yaffa Road for this purpose (even saying "biur chametz" on them), but most people just like to set their own bonfires which would keep the fire department extremely busy if not for the convenient fact that every building is constructed of stone. We tossed a piece of bread on the little chametz pile ablaze down our block -- Orthodox boys were enjoying squirting lighter fluid directly on the open flames which makes for great boy fun and a fairly good chance of a pre-Pesach trip to the Emergency Department.
I need to spend my allotted computer time today researching and preparing for tonight's seder: each participant has the assignment of giving a 5 minute d'var Torah on some part of the seder. I chose the teaching near the end: "Rabban Gamliel [a prominent figure among the early sages who helped transition us from a Temple/sacrifice-oriented people to a post-Temple religious tradition] used to say: 'Whoever does not speak of three things at seder -- pesach, matzah, maror -- has not fulfilled his obligation.'" This seems pretty basic but when you start parsing it apart it's actually pretty complicated. What does "speak of" entail? Do you only need these three parts? Which obligation is he talking about? What is the purpose of saying "three things" as if we cannot count them ourselves?

Evidence of rapidly-approaching seder night manifests all around: the smell of charred bread, stores and restaurants closing up, bakeries featuring all their fancy-schmancy Pesadik delicacies, chain-smoking chasids filling up with nicotine before the holiday and everyone wishing you, "Chag Samayach!" It's at Jewish holiday time that this noisy, tense, contentious place becomes not only bearable but beloved.

So no more blogging for today -- a very happy and kosher Pesach to all!! And hooray for the arrival of Spring!
Love, Me