My First Night of Chanukah: Orange Latkes, a Sad Candle-Lighting and a Non-Hefker Shtender. UPDATED
I left work early yesterday in order to light the first Chanukah candle with my family at a reasonable time. After lighting, we sat down for dinner. I was greeted with a plate full of latkes, one of the traditional Chanukah foods. Except that they were orange. I made eye contact with MHW and she smiled.
In her never-ending campaign to provide the healthiest foods possible, MHW has adopted numerous chumrahs. One of the more recent ones has been to ban anything white from our diets. White bread, white grains, white rice, and now, white potatos, have all been crossed off the list. (So, we eat whole-wheat bread, whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, and sweet potatos. B'Chasdei Hashem, there is still a Shabbos exception; we are still permitted to have regular lukshin with our (free-range) chicken soup and MHW (after almost causing a revolution in the house with an attempt to bake whole-wheat challah) still bakes wonderful, bleached-flour challah.)
Many people like sweet potatos. Indeed, my kids gobbled up the sweet potato latkes without complaint. I, on the other hand, was thinking, "I wonder if Mendy's (a Deli near my office) has greasy potato latkes"?
Just a I was thinking this, MHW, as if reading my mind, said, "You can always get regular latkes in the City". I guess that's what happens after 23 years of marriage. I will be making the trek over to Mendy's this afternoon.
After dinner I drove over to my mom. Shortly after I got there, she lit the Chanukah menorah. It was probably the first time in her life that she had done so. It was certainly the first time in 57 years. It was profoundly sad and she was crying. The chaggim are going to be very difficult this year.
Later, I went to maariv. I am now a prisoner of the clock. Everything I do for the next 11 months is related, in one way or another, to the three times a day I have to say kaddish. I am trying very hard not to miss a single kaddish.
As an avel, it is traditional that I move my seat from my normal makom kavuah (permanent seat). I moved a few rows back in the bais medrash and I saw a shtender with the following note taped on: "This shtender is not hefker. (meaning, loosely, that it belongs to someone) Please do not change any of the settings."
My immediate inclination was to change the settings. It took all my will power to act like an adult and leave it alone. A sign like that is not dissimilar to telling a little kid who is eating blueberrys, "don't stick the blueberrys up your nose". It probably would never have occurred to him, but now that you mention it....
UPDATE: At lucnh today, I was privileged to be mikayeim the minhag of eating real latkes, having purchased from Mendy's two of the greasiest potato latkes that I've had in a long while. Greasy is good. Mendy's rocks.
I left work early yesterday in order to light the first Chanukah candle with my family at a reasonable time. After lighting, we sat down for dinner. I was greeted with a plate full of latkes, one of the traditional Chanukah foods. Except that they were orange. I made eye contact with MHW and she smiled.
In her never-ending campaign to provide the healthiest foods possible, MHW has adopted numerous chumrahs. One of the more recent ones has been to ban anything white from our diets. White bread, white grains, white rice, and now, white potatos, have all been crossed off the list. (So, we eat whole-wheat bread, whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, and sweet potatos. B'Chasdei Hashem, there is still a Shabbos exception; we are still permitted to have regular lukshin with our (free-range) chicken soup and MHW (after almost causing a revolution in the house with an attempt to bake whole-wheat challah) still bakes wonderful, bleached-flour challah.)
Many people like sweet potatos. Indeed, my kids gobbled up the sweet potato latkes without complaint. I, on the other hand, was thinking, "I wonder if Mendy's (a Deli near my office) has greasy potato latkes"?
Just a I was thinking this, MHW, as if reading my mind, said, "You can always get regular latkes in the City". I guess that's what happens after 23 years of marriage. I will be making the trek over to Mendy's this afternoon.
After dinner I drove over to my mom. Shortly after I got there, she lit the Chanukah menorah. It was probably the first time in her life that she had done so. It was certainly the first time in 57 years. It was profoundly sad and she was crying. The chaggim are going to be very difficult this year.
Later, I went to maariv. I am now a prisoner of the clock. Everything I do for the next 11 months is related, in one way or another, to the three times a day I have to say kaddish. I am trying very hard not to miss a single kaddish.
As an avel, it is traditional that I move my seat from my normal makom kavuah (permanent seat). I moved a few rows back in the bais medrash and I saw a shtender with the following note taped on: "This shtender is not hefker. (meaning, loosely, that it belongs to someone) Please do not change any of the settings."
My immediate inclination was to change the settings. It took all my will power to act like an adult and leave it alone. A sign like that is not dissimilar to telling a little kid who is eating blueberrys, "don't stick the blueberrys up your nose". It probably would never have occurred to him, but now that you mention it....
UPDATE: At lucnh today, I was privileged to be mikayeim the minhag of eating real latkes, having purchased from Mendy's two of the greasiest potato latkes that I've had in a long while. Greasy is good. Mendy's rocks.
posted by MoChassid @ 9:39 AM
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