Passover Seder
We ended up with 25 people at our seder. I took Friday off, Val was off on Friday so worked hard, and Mom came to help, of course. The kids also helped a lot on Friday. On Saturday Glynis did a trade: she came over to help, in return for excusing the kids from helping for a bit to take them out for a hike. A good dea all around!
Everyone brought something, so the cooking wasn’t onerous. We had some new guests we hadn’t had, and incorporated their Passover traditions with ours. In addition to our family, here’s who attended:
Jann & Trev
Michelle & Barry
Ruth , Tyler, E, Levi, Pearl
Liza & Jody
Glynis & Susan
George & Linda
Jennifer & Selena
Stacy
Kathie
Karen
Ray
Passover – Day 1
I spent the first night of Passover, on 3/25, with Mom and 3 of her close friends. It was a delightful evening, an intimate sharing of Passover with non-Jewish people.
Holocaust Education
Haley’s class is studying the Holocaust (and will be leading the Yom Hashoah (day of remembrance) service at PTS on 4/12), and there was an associated Parent Education day on 3/3. Helen Farkas, a long-time PTS member and a Holocaust survivor, came and talked about her experiences, and signed copies of her book. It was an emotional talk, but a story we all need to hear.
Purim
This weekend is our Purim weekend. First, Val, Haley and I went to Kabbalat Shabbat services on Friday night at PTS, which had some special Purim moments. Oh, and the Rabbi asked me to read a section of the service, which was unexpected and delightful. Then we all got costumes together to go to a special Purim celebration in San Francisco. It took place at Temple Beth Israel Judea, and was a combined effort of people from that shul, as well as from Congregation New Tamid, Congregation Or Shalom, and Temple B’nai Emunah. We saw George and Linda there, as well as Rabbi Mark and his family and other congregants from B’nei Emunah. There was a potluck a lovely Havdalah service, a totally irreverent Megillah reading, and finally a few funny comedians. Val was a pirate, Katelyn was “Russia” from the Hitalia series, Haley was Cleopatra, and I was a sort of witch-woman (using my gown from Halloween). George and Linda were also in costume, I think as Queen Esther and Mordechai, respectively. Photos here.
This morning is the Purim celebration at PTS.
Haley in LA
Haley went to Los Angeles with other 7th graders from PTS, hosted by families from Temple Isaiah. They went to services, visited museums, had Havdalah on the Santa Monica beach, and visited Universal Studios. She had an awesome time! The only hard part was pickup from the airport afterwards. Their plane landed at 3:30 PST on Sunday, 2/3. Does that time sound familiar, especially to football fans? Yes, we had to pick her up at the airport at the exact moment the Superbowl was starting! I picked up and Kathie met us halfway to her house, so we each shared some pain of being away from the game. Folks at my house just put it on pause and waited for me, so I didn’t miss any of it. Too bad we didn’t win. 🙁
Jews in Shanghai
Val has been frequenting Congregation B’Nei Emunah in San Francisco, and our family has joined the congregation. The history of the shul is that a bunch of German Jews fled the Nazis in WW2 by going to Shanghai, and then they came to the US after that. Val and I saw a film on this history on 2/2, and she saw the second installment on 2/10. Fascinating history!
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