Friday started early, as,after a break, I started making Challah again. This time I followed Eva's recipe, adding remilled semolina to part of the flour. It came out delicious, soft and elastic!
On Thursday evening, yesterday, A. received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. The ceremony that she had been looking forward to for a couple of years as a pleasant professional achievement and a chance to go to her native New York for the actual receiving of the degree, took place online, for obvious pandemic reasons.
It was also exciting for me to listen to the messages of the leading teachers of the HUC Rabbinical Institute. The one that inspired me most conveyed the concept of "the three-legged stool" and, if I understood correctly, it goes like this. If our work or occupation is something that puts us in contact, physically, intellectually, spiritually, with other people, perhaps even puts us in a position to influence their education, or well-being, or health, let us consider from time to time stopping for a moment. Stop not to interrupt the flow of our life, but to check if we are still 'who we' should be, if we are going in the right direction: I find this a very good piece of advice and, I would add, also a good way of checking whether our actions are even respectful of ourselves.
At the end of the event, our friend S. and I came up with the idea of a small surprise party for A.
Back to Friday, having baked the Shabbat challot with some success, I proposed to my dear friend M. to take one: she coincidentally was in our neighbourhood in the afternoon, and invited us at Benny's, a nice coffeeshop in the neighborhood. So we celebrated the "Divine Doctor" also with M., whom I love and who is for us like our Jewish Mama here in Modena.
The evening at our place with our friends W. and S. was very enjoyable, and appetising with various mezze and a spaghettata and a "boozed" ice cream! It was the best Kabbalat Shabbat in a long time, friendly, fun and peaceful, but Shabbat day was also very meaningful.
Parshat Be - Ha'alothecha`, which we read and studied on Saturday morning with the beautiful community of Or Ammim, is one of the most significant portions for me: admittedly, at some points it is a little disturbing (as in the description of the quail incident) and at some others it may make us cry out for injustice (as in the punishment of Miriam but not Aron). Yet it is full of many different topics, touching on many aspects of the life of the Israelites at the time: the rules of hygiene, the sanctity of the Levites and even their pension plan! the second chance given to those who had missed out on participating in Passover; but also a strong emphasis on the mobility of the tabernacle and the tribes, the journey; the importance of the forward thrust of the young, and at the same time gratitude and protection for to the elderly, as in the dialogue between Moses and his father-in-law (or perhaps ex-father-in-law? ), where Moses paints him an inviting future to share with the people of Israel; the profanity of the lamentations of the people who, despite all that had already been revealed to them, missed Egypt for food, and indeed the deadly tide of quails. Finally the teaching of the consequences of slander, of gossip, for everyone and not only for Miriam who had been punished. So much so that at Aron's request for her, Moses utters to G@d the short and expressive prayer that will become our "template" when asking for healing.
What better day for me to receive my first anti-Covid vaccination? Well, here I am at the ASL Centre set up at the former Aeronautica in Modena, where I had already accompanied A-sheli and my mother's assistant, finally queuing up for my turn!
And then, with an imperceptible jab by this affable and reassuring gentleman operator, who looked like the actor Fabrizio Bentivoglio, assisted by a lady operator with charming eyes that sparkled Africa, and who repeatedly asked me if I was French - but no!
… Here is my first dose, BH.
It was a Shabbat full of shalom! Shavua tov!
Photography: Ariel J Friedlander
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