It was a bit strange this morning to wake up and suddenly remember that there was no reason to jump out of bed and straight into the work harness of shopping and cooking and preparing for yom tov. And yes, despite some kvetching about the sheer number of meals that were going to be prepared, served and eaten, I miss yom tov's not being just even a few more days. The family will be heading out to their own nooks and crannies today and the house already sounds too empty. We're going back to being governed by the requirements of the workday calendar, and although I'm not dreading that, it's going to take some getting used to after a month of yom tov.
Of course, some elements of yom tov linger a bit even if yom tov is officially over. Thankfully, there are some cook aheads in the fridge, so dinner is already prepared. And then there is the sukkah. Bets are already being taken as to how many more weeks it's going to remain up--not because our men folk are too lazy to take it down but because of the predicted weather. Our sukkah is all wood and putting it away wet is not an option, unless we plan on going into the mold-selling business. The decorations can come down today but the walls are too wet to put into storage as yet. And rain is predicted for all of this week. One year the sukkah finally came down over the Thanksgiving break from work--only week with no rain for months. It looks like that may be the case this year also.
I know tefilas Geshem is for rain in Eretz Yisroel, but we seem to have derived some benefit from it here as well. And yes, I shouldn't be complaining when we truly need the rain here also, but I'm so tired of the smell of wet raincoats and jackets and the dreariness of a sun-less sky. On Friday, when a sudden bright spot appeared on the front window, we all yelled "sunshine" and went to look. Darn, only a large truck whose fog lights when to bright and bounced off the window glass. Want to know how large this country really is? Speaking to my brother on chol hamoed, living in the San Diego area, he reported that they had had a record breaking temperature of 108 degrees, and that was at the bay--hotter inland. Downtown Los Angeles got a record breaking 113 degrees. We got boiled by the rain and he got fried by the sun. Once again proof that man doesn't control nature despite his mistaken beliefs that he can control it.
Oh well, time to shed the yom tov mantle and see if I can remember what "real life" is supposed to be like. I've a feeling that by Wednesday yom tov will be firmly back in the memory folder as preparing for Shabbos takes precedence. Enough dallying by the keyboard--I know there is something that I really should be doing this morning and have been stalling getting to. I think I've gotten up the courage to open the laundry hampers--are we sure that we can't hold yom tov for at least a few more days?!
1 comment:
ProfK,
Check this out from HonestlyFrum's blog. Reminded me of your post about maps in the classroom:
"Over Yom Tov I began a biography of Rav Kook entitled "Rav Avraham Itzhak HaCohen Kook: Between Rationalism and Mysticism" by Benjamin Ish-Shalom. In the introduction, Ish-Shalom describes the religious climate in Yerushalayim at the time and they appear to be strikingly similar to the current conflicts and climate. The following posters appeared in Yerushalayim in 1934 in response to the proposal to open the Chorev School by Agudath Israel for the children of German immigrants (Chorev was set up by R' Breur modeled on the Hirschian philosophy):
* "How can we express our shame and disgrace?... Our brothers, the people of Agudat Israel, have opened in Jerusalem, the Holy City, a school called "[C]horev" which threatens the world's destruction. Boys and girls, young men and women learn there together in mixed classes, a thing unknown even in the schools of the Maskilim. Yet another mixture takes place there-the teachers are both male and female, with no assurance against forbidden acts of closeness and yihud, may G-d protect us, woe to our ears etc. The place has all the impure signs of a school: writing on blackboards, ringing of bells as in a church, learning from Landkarten, called maps...and the herem was violated by no other than Agudath Israel, who permitted itself what has been forbidden for and eternity"."
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