Passover, like everything, starts with a bang.
Hey OOTOB readers,
Hope you’ve all been well! I wrote a little something for a local Orthodox publication. Hebrew terms notwithstanding, I hope you will enjoy it. Have a wonderful holiday! Xo Ruchi
Hocking Hills State Park. Home to beautiful scenery, zip lines, horseback riding, canoeing, and Old Man’s Cave hiking. Not many Jews out there, unless they’re visiting.
Each summer we pack up the minivan and drive 400+ miles to Lakewood, New Jersey, where my parents and siblings live, for our annual visit. As the years roll by, I notice the tenor of the visits changing.
This is a tough time of the year to be Jewish.
Colloquially known as “The Three Weeks,” this is the period of time on the Jewish calendar each summer when we commemorate the various stages of the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians and later, the second Temple by the Romans, over 2000 years ago. The three weeks progress in intensity and are bookended by two fast days.
I’m used to being decisive. This is what’s for dinner, this is what I’m wearing today, here’s what I’m going to do right now. Which is why the current reality is so destabilizing for me.
In this lockdown, I’ve made a surprising discovery — I really, really like folding laundry.