HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY YAAKOV YAAKOV YAAKOV

Jonah the palentologist

I don't know where he got it from, but Jonah loves Dinosaurs, even more than baseball and trains I think. So today we took him to the University of Michigan museum on natural science to see some dinosaur fossils and skeletons and what not.

I don't think I've seen him so excited, he was running from exhibit to exhibit, grabbing my hands saying lets go see more dinosaurs. It was nuts, I've never seen him that excited. I know that never enjoyed going to a museum, let alone ran from exhibit to exhibit, but it was really cute to see.

After that we went to teh hands on museum, which was OK, he enjoyed it, not nearly as much as the dinosaurs but what could you expect. All in all, a nice busy Sunday.

ARGUMENTS WITH ONE'S CHAVRUSA

It seems that Jack and I have more arguments than one would expect after learning together for 30 yrs. This time we argued about the obligation to give 10% of your income for tzedakah. He said that it was a mitzvah d'rabbanan. If you give 9.5% you have transgressed a rabinnic law which has severe consequences . I said NO. it is a midos tovos. It is a recommendation by the rabbis but not an obligation. I asked several rabbinic neighbors and was surprised to learn that none of them new what the nature of this 10% was. In shul , I finally asked Rabbi Eisenberger and he resolved the argument in the style of King Solomon. He said we were both correct. There are several different opinions from saying that it is a torah-like law- others that it was a rabbinic law and still others who maintained that it was a good mida recommendation. May all your arguments be resolved . Have a happy erev pesach. ( Erev peasach is that period of time between the last hamantasch and the first bite of hand shurah matzah)
the DAD

Happy Birthday Golda

יום הולדת שמח!

ahron and the rest of em

ahron has learned to climb up onto chairs. of course we are very proud of this new feat but this changes everything. now he pulls pictures off the walls and gets into things on the tables that he shouldn't. if we take him off the chair he just goes right back up there. its sort of cool yet also sort of frustrating.
the rest of em are b'h doing well
in other news i took a recent poll of residents of detroit. the question asked to 5 random people i found sitting in their houses was "what do you think of the mayor?" 4-1 said he had to go, but the 1 who said "just let the man do his job and leave him alone" had just moved into this new house because apparently she had been paying rent for the last 2 years to some guy who DID NOT own the last house she was renting, and she finally got kicked out. so i think her vote doesnt count. one person started quoting scripture and how he should be out of the limelight. but the overwhelming response was he had to go. results are accurate to +/-.31%

Jonah

For past few weeks Jonah has been asking when Spring will be here because he wants to go outside and play baseball. ( I was shepping such nachas) Yesterday the weather finally cooperated and we went outside, brushed the snow off his favorite bat and I tossed him a ball for 15-20 minutes.

He picked up right where he left off, connecting with most of my pitches, some weakly, and some really hard. Of course if I were coaching against him, I would have my fielders play a strong shift on teh first base line, because most of hits went in the same area. A couple balls came right back me. He hit a couple over the neighbors fence, which was pretty impressive.

After he would get a hit, he would run around until he decided that he was home. When we finished we went to the basement, and I draw a picture of baseball diamond on the white board, and explained where the bases were and other fun stuff.

It should be a fun spring/summer

Purim Candy House

snakes and birds

Simmy thought the snake on our mirpeset could solve the bird in the fireplace pipe problem very well, but I was not willing to pick up the snake. So Sim graciously came home during daylight hours to deal with the varius animals. He could not find the snake, either it felt very safe in its hiding place or left the same way it got up. But the bird, well that was fun. Sim pulled the oven away from the wall and we saw the bird, but when he removed the pipe, no bird. He found it cowering in the oven/fireplace. So he put on a gardening clove, got the bbq tongs and pulled the bird out. As soon as it was out it got free and flew around the house. We had wisely sent the kids upstairs, Simmy was running around opening the windows and yellig at the bird which way it should go and I was yelling 'not this way'. Finally it flew out one of the open windows. Quite the experience. Glad it is over.

Purim

our Mishloach Manot

Happy Birthday Naftali

יום הולדת שמח!

F'n Surgery - Hospital Pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/VeevZacks/FrySSurgeryFun?authkey=SZ9qfRQa-U8

To the Original Detroit Zacks

How do you pronounce the word "soot" (dirt from ashes in the fireplace)?

Long OO (moo) or short OO (put)?

happie bidet gessica

ODE TO EREV SHABBOS

6 HOURS TO LICHT BENTCHING
AND I’M SKUNK AS A DRUNK

5 HOURS TO GO
AND I’M FEELING A LITTLE FUNK

4 HOURS TO LICHT BENTCHING
AND MY NOSE FEELS LIKE A TRUNK

3 HOURS TO GO
I THINK INTO A CESSPOOL I SUNK

2 HOURS TO LICHT BENTCHING
WHAT HAD I THUNK

1 HOUR TO GO
MY LIFE JUST WENT PLUNK

AS THE CANDLES ARE LIT
MY AURA SPLITS
AND IM FEELING VERY PUNK

IT’S SHABBOS-AHHH

HAPPY PURIM------THE ORIGINAL ZACKS’

Our Purim Poem

Purim כיף was extended this year,

We got to fill 3 full days of cheer.

The next time won’t be ‘til 2021,

So enjoy it now - have lots of fun!

השנה היה יותר שמחה וריקודים,

חגגנו יחד שלושה ימי פורים,

הפעם הבאה רק בעוד 13 שנה,

אז תהנו כעת - כייפו בהנאה!

פורים שמח!

שלמה ושרה הורביץ

PURIM SAMEACH
A FREILECHEN PURIM
PURIM HAPPY
:) :) :) :)

F'n Surgery - Update

He's fine and we're home. Baruch Hashem.

Ta'anit Esther

Devorah - Happy Birthday!
Everybody - have an easy / good / meaningful fast.
Purim Sameach...

F'n Surgery :)

So far the hospital experience has been a positive one for F. We
arrived at Dana Children's Hospital this morning for pre-op about half an hour before our
appointment. (Didn't want to take a chance with traffic) While F was seeing the Pediatrician, one of the Tel Aviv police squads came in singing and in costume. They handed out Mishloach Manot to the kids.

We were out of there by 11 AM. Not too bad. We thought it might
take the whole day. We even had a chance to get to the Kotel.

Tomorrow morning we're supposed to get there at 9, so I'm sure we'll be there by
8:30. F is fasting from 4 AM and we are fasting from 4:10. Maybe
we'll all wake up for a middle-of-the- night snack. The surgery is
scheduled for sometime between 10 and 11 AM. Then he has to stay there for a couple of hours to make sure he's
alright after the general.

I'll be in touch when we come home.

ahron finally spoke

ahron has been mumbling for many months now, not really saying anything with any consistency ....until now. his favorite line is now UH OH , unfortunately he only says it when he needs to and he says it pretty often. , does this count as one word or two?

in other news chanalana has disowned ahron as a brother thi morning during one of their daily spats. she informed him he was no longer her brother.

New Parsha

I sent my boys off to a Purim carnival at DSY's school, where his class is in charge and earning the money toward their graduation party.

I sent them alone. Without me. Such a nice phase in my life. I hate those things.

My school

My school is taking me today to a Macabi Tel Aviv basketball game vs. Ironi Ashqelon.

question...

does anyone buy saltless saltines, or saltless ritz crackers?
isnt the point of those foods just a method of eating salt?

Learned Something New....

Ever wonder what V-Mail is when reading Bubba & Papa's letters? I did, so finally I googled it. V-mail was created to make sending military mail overseas more efficiant. Regular mail took up a lot of space and was sent by ship which was very slow. V-mail was a form you filled in that was then photographed. 18000 letters could be put on one film. It was then shipped by plane to the states where the film was developed, the positive was then put in a little envelope and mailed to the address listed on the form.

Sammy

Sammy was fixed from top to bottom this morning:)

We had to be at the hospital at 6:15 AM, the surgeries started at 7:30 first they did his ears, and then they fixed up his lil' tushy.

I wish I had brought the camera, when we got there, they put him in a backless gown, that was huge on him, and they had huge socks for him to wear - he looked pretty funny. But sad that we didn't give him breakfast.

The whole thing took about 40 minutes, then another 40 minutes of waiting for him to wake up. Once he woke up - we stayed for about a half hour and then we came home. He's behaving like his normal old self. The only aftercare that we have to do is, they couldn't bandage the incision area, so we have to shower off his butt a few times a day to make sure that it doesn't get infected.

why do i care that aviva has a new friend or that shauli wrote on someone's wall? somebody please explain to me the draw of this book they call face?

The Best Picture!

Im Kol Hakavod to Mommy, this is the best picture I have seen in a long time. It was in Bobby's Facebook album.

Happy Whole Birthday to Devorah

Now it's only your birthday. Hamevin Yavin.

Love you Girl!!

Answer

First of all - if we are wishing Happy Half Birthdays - I'd like to point out that it's Jonah's half birthday today. But he has one every year so it's not quite as exciting. Also, he is not impressed because he would like to be 4 not 3 1/2. And the reason he wants to be 4 is because he thinks then he will be able to wipe his own tushie. And the reason he thinks he will be able to wipe his own tushie is because his newly 4 year old friend came over and insisted that he was able to wipe his own tushie now that he is 4. I had to call his mom to confirm. Believe me, I was hoping he was right!!
But that's a side point......

I was getting ready to serve dinner last night and Jonah came into the kitchen to ask for a cup of milk (he had eaten dinner earlier and was getting ready for bed). He told me he knows he can't drink it at the table. He said he knows milk is dairy and we can't have it with meat. I said he was right because it wouldn't be kosher. Then he asked why? And I said because Hashem said we have to eat kosher. He said why? I said because we are Jews and Hashem wants us to. Hashem said we should not eat milk and meat together so we don't. I could tell he was really thinking about something and trying to process the information and something wasn't sitting well with him.
Then he stumped me....... he said, "But Mommy, what will happen?"

And I didn't know what to say. My immediate thought was, "Nothing." There is not going to be a lightning bolt coming down from heaven. He's not going to get sick from it. And he won't understand the reward of Olam Haba yet.
I told him to go ask his father. And I felt really bad about that. I felt like I should have an answer for him. But I was just totally thrown off. I didn't expect my 3 1/2 year old to be asking what will happen if he doesn't keep kosher?!
Jonah is smart and he has a good memory and he's not going to forget it. So I want to bring it up again and give him an answer.
From a Chinuch perspective - what do I tell him? How do I explain it to him on his level? Is there a way? What should I say?