MrsGiyoret

Mrs. Giyoret decided that she should make a list of all the books she reads so that she can keep track of them, whether for rereading or for sharing with friends. And she thought that you, dear reader, may also like to share her reading list, so here it is. Eliach, Yaffa. Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust. New York, Oxford University Press, 1982.  Source: Borrowed from the synagogue library. Date: Finished 18 April 2018. This is the first book on the Holocaust that really spoke to me. Although I'm usually a nonfiction reader, the nonfiction books I've read so far on the Holocaust have left me looking for a sense of what  really  happened, what it was  really  like. The author of the masterful tales in this book validated the stories wherever possible, and sources are given at the end of each tale. The tales are arranged in chronological order, leading from the closing of the Nazi trap on the Jews, through the hell of the concentration camps, to Allied liber...

Thus saith Wikipedia: Modern reconstructions of Israel's religion have become much more circumspect in how they use the Old Testament, not least because comparative data (the comparison of ancient Israel with other cultures) and archaeology have led many to the conclusion that the Bible is not a reliable witness to the religion of ancient Israel and Judah and represents the beliefs of only a small segment of the ancient Israelite community, the members of a late Judean religious tradition centred in Jerusalem and devoted to the exclusive worship of the god Yahweh. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_hypothesis Haha. Scholars are so silly.  This Wikipedia article makes contemporary scholars sound so circumspect about Biblical criticism that they are reluctant to agree that "history is written by the winners".  Really, is anybody shocked by the thought that the Bible doesn't convey "history" in the modern sense? Modern history didn...

I take a deep breath and leap into the rabbit hole of an ancient legal system.... The first piece of Talmud is "Tract Sabbath", Chapter 1, "Regulations Regarding Transfer on Sabbath". The Talmud starts with a ruling on when transferring something from one person to another on the Sabbath makes you guilty, and when you are free of guilt for transferring on the Sabbath. The Mishnah posits 2 people: one outside a house and one inside a house, with a window between them. The translation calls them mendicant and master of a house . If the mendicant reaches through the window AND puts something into or takes something from the master's hand, the mendicant is guilty--he has performed an illegal act of transfer on the Sabbath.  If the mendicant reaches through the window and the master puts something into or takes something from his hand, both are innocent--"free" of the guilt of transfer on the Sabbath.  This is not what I was expecting at all. ...

Starting to read the Talmud is like being a character in a science fiction novel--one of those novels where the main character falls through a rabbit hole and lands in an entirely new world where nothing is familiar. I'm exceedingly grateful to have found an English translation of the Talmud at  http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/talmud.htm . I'll need a lot more reading practice--and, no doubt, a teacher--before I can hope to read the actual Talmud, and I'm delighted that I can at least take a few baby steps toward this goal. Because I burn to read the Talmud. From the moment that I first set eyes on it in the Rabbi's study, I wanted it desperately. Not just because it's so big that I can read it for the rest of my life without "running out" of material. Not just because it'll be great fun learning (at least) two brand-new languages. Not just because it's history, which is my strongest suit. And certainly not because I plan to follow every rule...

The Talmud is just... weird. And by "weird", I mean marvelous. There is nothing like it in the world. A bunch of brilliant guys talking to each other about everything under the sun for several hundred years. And here's a phrase I haven't run into so far: "The verse indeed was just stated as an aside, and is not the source of the law. (6b – 7a)". An aside? Who knew there were asides in the Talmud? Well, Talmud scholars, for starters.

The day begins at 6:30, when my husband, who'd taken the day off to help make the Seder, hurries off to work because he forgot to do an important thing. Le sigh. But it's okay. I forget enough important things myself. Next up is tzimmes, followed by an exciting round of Hunt the Haggadot. I win the tzimmes round, but I lose the haggadot round. I hope my husband can find them when he makes it back from work. (I think he "tidied them up" while he was cleaning the living room last weekend in preparation for today. He is a marvelous husband.) And at Seder time there is chaos. Guests arrive late and in waves, with lots of food they didn't sign up to bring. And they bring new items for the seder plate. And I forget to orient everyone on how to use the haggadot, so there is confusion all night long. But we struggle through, from the strait places to freedom, giggling all night long. (The Plague Masks help with the giggling.) Dayenu!

Mrs Giyoret is making her first Seder dinner. She is feeling a little frantic. Mrs Giyoret has been to 30 years of Seders, so she is an experienced Seder-goer. But she is an inexperienced Seder-maker. And she has just learned that double the number of people are coming tomorrow night. Double. Eek! Mrs Giyoret can cook more food--that's not the problem. But Mrs Giyoret only knows how to cook one thing at a time. She doesn't know how to cook two things at a time. Never mind three things at a time. Plus, her ability to make hard-boiled eggs is pretty sketchy. And there's only one bottle of wine. And not enough chairs. But everything will be fine. Because Seder is not about having everything perfect. Seder is about praising Hashem together. Seder is always Dayenu. So we will perch on someone else's folding chairs, eat whatever Mrs Giyoret manages to get cooked, sip from our one bottle of wine, read the Haggadah, and... Baruch Hashem, we will be free.