Yes, but is it Kosher?

Up till this point i have ignored the issue of Kosher food. Well i guess thats not completely true - i have been following principles of ethical eating. We use the minimum air miles for food we buy, so buy seasonally and locally. We only eat organic meat as this means that some level of animal welfare is assured. Looking at kosher laws we have primarily felt that in forbidding eating animals likes pigs and shellfish it seems the intention was to outlaw food that is dangerous to eat in places which don't have refrigeration. However, we agreed that when we moved into our own place we would go kosher for at least a month, try and embrace it and see where we are at with it.

The list of foods that are tray (forbidden) that we don't care about : camel, rodents, repltails, animals that died of natural causes, eagles, hawks, vultures. Can live with not eating those.

On the other hand, pork, rabbit, clam, lobster, swordfish, crab, prawns. Thats more of a struggle. Worse still the sciatic nerve in the hindquarters is forbidden this is very hard to remove and as such filet mignon, sirloin steaks, etc unless from a kosher certified butcher are off the menu. I am not a happy bunny - which is fine as i am not allowed to eat them :(

Come live with me

After some careful consideration of the time commitments required for attachment-parenting, and having made an assessment of the state of my living room i have come to a conclusion.

I need an au-pair this indervidual should be wonderful with my daughter, and the child that is currently on the way. It is important however that as magnificant as they are with the children that the children never prefer them to me or my mother. The indervidual should enjoy cooking, cleaning, ironing, tidying up and washing. I would appreciate the applicant also working for me as a research assistant, and so being organised and good at spelling corrections is a must.

It goes without saying that the ideal applicant will be stunningly attractive.

I should make it clear that this an unpaid position.

Sixty Three today.

Today Israel marks 63 years of the states existence. I have very mixed feelings on this. I should say up front that I have never visited Israel – however I did spend a year studying Israel as part of my Masters Degree. My examination of the laws operating in Israel made me deeply aware of injustices that seem more prevalent than in any other democracy.

I long for a time of peace – and a time of justice for all who live in the region.

To much

At pressent i seem to be drowning in emotions. A couple of my friends - well three in fact are being ordained shortly - i trained with them and if i hadnt dropped out would be being ordained with them. We are in the process of trying to move out of my parents - into a 1 bedroom flat, this will have to accomadate my wife, me and two children.

My long suffering wife has said - well it wont be for long, beliving i will soon have better job security - or earn more. I feel like a failure for my lack of provision for my family.

UPDATE!!

So much to update on but let me give a really quick run down of the highlights and i will come back to all the details later:

The long suffering wife is expecting child number 2. This was unexpected - and a little panic inducing. Currently we are living with my mother with one bedroom - and a living room to call our own. The thought of sharing this with another child is a worry to say the least. We have wanted to have more children but hadnt thought it would be so soon. This is not to say its not good news - just that its going to take a little time to get our heads around.

Passover improved significantly - and our home seder was a wonderful evening and as always the highlight of our year. Their was much confusion through out the passover period on what is and isnt permited food wise - and i will do a post specifically on passover soon honest!

It Passed me by

Tonight was a passover seder at out synagogue, and we where excited - possibly overexcited. We have celebrated passover for 4 maybe 5 years now, but have never attended one led by someone else, and have never had a chance to do so with a Jewish community. It felt very special to be able to go - the tickets at £25 a head where painful. Really painful - but we didnt have to pay for our daughter, and we decided it was important to go - and wanted to.

The late start was a struggle - i spent a lot of time trying to stop the whirlwind that is my daughter from eating food of the seder plate - their was a lack of wine on our table and not enough time to get more - a small thing i know but their is an obligation to get at least a little drunk on passover - or so has been my belife. Their was no grape juice for the non-drinkers - only apple juice which doesnt fit with the blessing for fruit of vine. The seder was cluncky - the food was terrrable - and the whirlwind was irretable. I tried to take her to a diffrent room to play with her for a bit and keep her calm, and some one came and hassled us even their and told us that our daughter should be sitting down quietly, they told me that they know my daughter is difficult but she did need to sit down.

At this point we left and went home, and had an omlette. It gone midnight and the family has gone to bed and i am sitting alone in the living room and i just want to cry. Some times i am happy to fight - but tonight i wanted to be a night about liberation - about freedom and it didnt feel like it was any of those things.

The night before passover

For the last few years we have marked passover. We have made sure that our home is leaven free, and we have had a big meal with a hagadar. We have not however made use of a wooden spoon and a feather..so when a friend (who is also a rabbi) pointed out that we should make sure that we have a feather and spoon ready for tonight we where a little on the lost side.

After some strategic use of google we have discovered that the final search for leven should be done by candle light, and crumbs should be gathered up using a spoon and feather like a dustpan and brush. the crumbs are then put into a paper bag and the whole lot is burnt.

Apparently the reason for using a wood spoon is that the code of Jewish law Orach Chaim 445:3 says that if you dont find any leaven you must burn the utensiles you used during the search - a metal spoon might make this a little difficulty.

I remain a little confused by the whole thing - but we will give it a go!