Today

I bought a NAFA ELECTRONI today L'NAFOT my KEMACH for my CHALLOT and UGIOT. It will streamline my AFIAH every YOM SHISHI and it's ME'OD KEF to use. Golda and I have ordered the insert MEYUCHAD for KEMACH MALEH with CHORIM YOTER GEDOLIM.

YOM NA'IM.

thanks arye!!

since e/o else here is having their own private conversations with people, i just wanna thank arye 4 like saving my life. i wrote this rly RLY bad english essay and he totally made it rly rly good so yeah...yay arye!! ok im done.

Wonderful times.

Kudos to Sar! She was still smiling when we got home.
We had an amazing time in Eilat. All of Simmy's coworkers said we made them jealous looking so relaxed. It was perfectly timed, nice vacation before baby. And now back to reality... Yes our basement is flooded again, next move is to relandscape the garden, but not until we can. Everytime the basement fills up with water i feel like cursing out the old lady, Oy va voy. Well, gam zu le tova. I guess the basement is off limits for the winter.

SARRA

what kind of pizza did you order when i took you to the airport?
i really want some now but i have no one to go with.

This is the Loop

Dav and Shan are coming for Shabbos, along with Shoshana and a friend, probably a girl. Sar is in Maalot watching our nieces and nephews so their parents can go away. Hmmmmm... I'm getting an idea...

Have a Gut Shabbos. Enjoy my napless Joe. :) HA VEEVAH!

stumped 2 rabbis

when did the whole Cham incident happen with noach?
it seems as if it happened right after they got off the boat but apparently Canaan was there and he was Cham 4th son, and there were no kids allowed on the boat. so how long after the boat ride did the story happen??
have a good shabbos

Kashrut Alert

"Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Cake Mixes have gone back pareve status. Pinnacle Foods has reversed a decision made in 2005 to switch the product to dairy. Twelve of 18 Moist Deluxe flavors, representing more than 80 percent of sales, are being returned to pareve. These include, Moist Deluxe Classic Yellow, Devil’s Food, Lemon Supreme, Butter Recipe Golden, Swiss Chocolate, Spice, Fudge Marble, Pineapple Supreme, Butter Recipe Fudge, German Chocolate, Red Velvet and Dark Chocolate Fudge. Pareve production began in September and Duncan Hines has begun shipping product to stores. It should be in most locations by November and December, the company says."

Since the main reason I left the US was that Duncan Hines became Milchig, I can go home now. Oh wait, I bake from scratch. I guess I'll stay here.

My Bubby

My 90-year-old Bubby, my mother's mother, has breast cancer.

Please Daven for Hinda Raizel bat Sara.

Hebrew Speaking Gan

Today is Jonah's first day of school. He is going to Hebrew Speaking Gan, at Beth Shalom every Wednesday, this way he will be able to communicate with all his cousins, not just the Detroit ones.

A couple of our friends send their kids there and they highly recommended it, so Nat and Jonah went to check it out last week, and Jonah really liked it. He came home from just forty five minutes and already knew that "Tapuch" is an apple and "Mitz" is what you say for apple juice, although sometime he does say "Meatzballs"

Nat may fill you in with what actually happens at this Gan, since she is by far the better parent and knows these things.

So while he will be able talk to his Israeli cousins, I will have no clue what he's talking about:)

new laptop

Does anybody else feel that dad is supporting the computer industry all by himself?

Dad, laptops are not meant for one time use.

shabbos was good

hey!! so anyways this shabbos i went to DC to chill with my chabad friend, esti shemtov. she told me that her house might be a little "lively". anywho, after taking a bus and a metro and walking 2 blocks, we come to this HUGE building that says on the front "Home of the Chabad- Moshiach NOW". i was like oh so is this where u daven? and shes like no, this is where i live. so we walk in and go up 3 flights of stairs to her house and everything is ok at first. we go up to her room, shower, talk, her little brothers come in and annoy us, all the normal stuff. then, friday night. so first we go down to shul. i hate shul friday night. (lol dad i think me and god are ok again). the first people come in and my friend esti is standing by the door giving them siddurim and showing them the place, talking to them for a while. i figured ok, she's the rabbis daughter. after shul they ALL came upstairs with their kids to eat dinner. the most RANDOM people were there- it wasnt at all like Machon or anything. anyways, we were supposed to entertain the kids while the adults ate. we didnt know that one of the kids was 13 and had one of the biggest attitudes i have ever seen in a 13 year old. and we were supposed to entertain her. well.... my first impressions were wrong and she ended up being really cool. for about 2 hours, maybe more, me and my friend esti sat there trying to convince her that dating in high school is stupid and wrong and pointless. i thought it was pretty ironic that i was telling her to dump her boyfriend, but hey, she listened to me. it was really weird. what i was saying to her really mattered- like she was thinking about it and she asked for my screen name so we could talk more. kinda scary...
anyways, that was cool. then shabbos day, we woke up at around 9 something to go to shul. this time i had caught on a little more, and i started talking more to the people, asking weher they were from. even more ironically, most of them were from west bloomfield, but they didnt know me or anyone else that i knew. for shabbos lunch, we had less random people and it was more college students. one thing that really bothered me though was that my friends father, the rabbi, was really really nice to the college students. he was awesome with them and i thought it was really cool and he was a really nice guy and everything. but in the middle another rabbi came in, from israel, that needed a place to eat. the rabbi (my friends dad) completely ignored this guy, and brushed him off whenever he talked to him about anything. i just thought it was kinda like a bad example for all the people there. and even if they dont notice, its just rude. i mean, youre spouting out dvar torahs that the rebbe said about loving each other and bringing mashiach and just spread the love and all that stuff and then theres someone that really really deserves respect and you completely just make them feel uncomfortable and like you dont really want them there, its like everything youre saying is fake. it just really bothered me.
other then that, my shabbos was pretty good. except for one part when the kids were throwing balls against the wall and i played with them for a little and by mistake i threw the ball at a picture of the rebbe and they all freaked out. that was a lil embarrassing. anywho, right now im getting ready for dinner and then i have to do school stuff so im gonna go now. love ya guys!!!
shev

btw the chabad people were really nice. it was just that one thing that made me kinda confused. dont worry, im still converting to lubavitchism. :)

Great Interview!!!!

No, really! I'm serious!! Hey, that's not nice :( Anyway, I'll find out more details as time goes by, but at least the interview went well... oh, and this job I want. NO REALLY! 'ya know...

avos oobanos

This motzei shabbos we started going to avos oobanos, which is fathers learning with their daughters. I should have taken them last year, but I was probably too lazy. The people who learn with either boys or both genders call it avos oobanim, but since didn't have any banim with me I told the girls we were going to avos oobanos, and they were happy. They both answered questions that the rav asked afterwards, so it seems like they were quasi-paying attention when I was talking to them.

In other news, all is good. we had a great shabbos. Next shabbos, auntie sar is watching the kids and we're heading down to Eilat for a company sponsored vacation.

Open U

So far so good. One day down. I was so prepared. i spent yesterday learning the first part of chapter one. Of course the teacher went straight to part two, saying Part One we should read on our own it's basic background material...so i was in the dark... The girl sitting next to me lived most of her life in the States (Maryland in particular), but she refuses to speak English. There are 15, yes 15, students in my class. The teacher is the kind who tries to get everyone to talk... mainly by calling on you and asking a question...so my Hebrew should improve by leaps and bounds by the end of the semester. My favorite new word? גישה is either a Geisha or an approach. In my studying so far it's made more sense as an approach :) The most useful word? רצף is a sequence.

Ya'll have a great Shabbat :)

I'm gonna be chillin' at R&V's

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARYE!

yom holoedet sameach,
yom holedet sameach
yom holedet arye chamud
yom holedet to you

jewish turkeys?

we were eating dinner last night when yael was complaining about the color of her turkey. devorah said its just dark meat and it tastes the same, so shira piped up and said its probably not a jewish turkey if its dark meat!

GO TIGERS!!!

kudos to arye and family for making it into the detroit news
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061017/OPINION03/610170384/1383

Where's Sar?

We have been trying to reach you for the past three days. Please call. Veev.

Tiyul

I took the kids yesterday on a Tiyul with our Shul. (Hey that rhymes) Arye had to work, so I packed us all in the car with lunch, snacks and new (reusable) water bottles, and we headed up to Haifa. The small road we went off onto was winding and beautiful. Incidentally, it was also the road we ended up on by accident last Friday on our way to Maalot. And it was just a scenic. But this time, I was going the right way. You know how when you do something stupid, you always think you're making the same mistake whenever you see the same thing again? Well for the first 20 minutes, I thought I was lost again. But, I actually was on the exact right path. The directions weren't very clear, and every Shul member who tried to get there got lost in the end, but we all made it.

The Tiyul is a path through a forest and had a long suspended bridge at the end. Which sways. Since the only thing I'm not afraid of is heights, I loved it. The kids also really enjoyed, and I made some new friends at Shul. Everyone who came I already knew, but I got to know them on a different level which was good.

We lost a kid, not mine, and when we found her, we all started breathing again.

For my Detroit family - I don't like the elements - no picnics, camping out, skiing - but I love hiking!!

sukkah PARTY!

the all american zacks sukkah party is scheduled for tonight, however, due to inclement weathe it may be held indoors. thats very sad at first thought but when you think about it the chanukah party is indoors too!
so its gonna be a festivous for the rest of us . with homemade pizza and pea/vegetable soup and who kows what else will be served!!!!
breaking news! SMALL AIRPLANE CRASHES INTO BUILDING IN NY, ITS A YANKEE PITCHER WHO APPARENTLY COULODNT HANDLE LOSING TO THE TIGERS
have a good enda chag

Armour Hot Dogs

I was just watching the Simpson's, in teh episode the whole family was sitting around the table, and the really old people, Grandpa Simpson, and Grandma Bouvier had the kids, and then the whole table, sing the Armour Hot Dogs song. This reminded me of many a Purim Seudah's when Dad, Uncle Mike and Uncle Bernie would start singing this song.

Birds

sure do poop a lot.

Thats it! My last trip to West Virginia. Mom and I went to visit the parents in the cemetery after Yom Kipur. We had a nice visit with them and also with brother Ben and family. On the the way home, we stopped for drinks and chips at a gas station. Mom went to the cashier first with her stuff and said to the IDIOT behind the cash register that I would pay for it all and then he said " Thats is what Fathers are for" He thought I was MOms father. I dont mind being Batsheva" grand father but ill be (BLIP) If Ill be your mother's father. There I said IT!!. PS Your Mother took it as a compliment that she looked young.

chello!!

heyy!!!! all u israel ppl, im glad ur sukkot was good without me. its good that you can all move on with your lives, knowing that im far away in detroit. that said, sukkot here was really good! we chilled with aunt janet and uncle berney (however u spell that) and the lasts and...i think that was it. oh yeah and the shauli's and co and the yaakovs and co. everybody has a co. i want a co. o well. anywho, i just wanted to say hey and tell all of u that i miss u and...umm...yeah. so i miss u. k love ya!!! mwa
a&f
shev

One-Day-of-Yom-Tov

In the one day we spent of Succos that was not Chol Hamoed, this is what occured:

Gol got bit in the back by her unborn baby.
Sim got bit by the "Man, daughters are interesting creatures."

Sar got bit by a scary red, poisonous ant (aunt).

Dav got bit by constant tiredness and ergo, lots of sleeping.
Shan got bit by labor, delivery, and nursing stories.
Ar got bit by "Too much Shul" (already).

I did not get bit. But my food did. It was all was awesome!!

My Succah

My succah is complete-I hope. The walls are made of blue tarp and wrapped as tightly as I can get them, that plus lots of duct tape should keep it standing all holiday.

Hope all you Isarelli zacks enjoy Maalot and hiking, chag samaech to all

Most. Amazing. Yom. Kippur. Ever.

I decided to try something new this year, so I went to Har Habayit. (Don't worry, I mikvad first!) Davening is mostly the same except a few good variations. You don't say amen on Har Habayit during chazarat hashatz, you say baruch shem kavod etc. When you bow, you bow straight on the stone floor. Arms and legs fully extended. There are a few other changes.
All in all, it made for a very special davening.
May we all be on Har Habayit next year, with a view of the Bet HaMikdash instead of a mosque.

Happy After the Fast

I have already had water, apple juice, and a granola bar. While I miss the Otis Spunkmeyer at YIOP, this was my most uplifting Neilah ever!!

Gmar Tov and Shana Tova!