Category Archives: Jewish Life

The Capitol Limited

aka Amtrak #29 connects Washington DC and Chicago. The journey is supposed to take about 16 hours – give or take. This obviously is not all that high speed (take it from some one who has done this by car) … Continue reading

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Leaving Uganda

It is after dark and there are some lights shining out between the Cassia Lodge and Lake Victoria. It means that Shabbat has arrived. For that matter – it means that the first night of Passover has arrived as well. … Continue reading

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Pesach winding down

  With the current fad of gluten free, it is honestly easy to find food to eat during Peasch. I am not putting down or questioning the reasonable percentage of those who have actually had a diagnosis of Celiac Disease … Continue reading

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Second Night Seder

and no, I did not attend a seder last night at the start of Pesach. It fell into the “too hard to do” box. When I was here in Miami last week, I ran a search for community seders. After … Continue reading

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What? No Jews?

(note, I delayed a few days and thought about it seriously before posting the following) Whether I attended them or not, all the cruise lines seem to have a slot in the Friday night schedule for self-led services. Occasionally I … Continue reading

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quiet observations

It was about 1900 when I started back toward home. Our Strikktreff had run late since it was so lovely sitting outside Red. Given that I hiked into town it is more than reasonable to assume that a stroll toward … Continue reading

Posted in Home, Jewish Life, Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Yom Kippur at Sea

I am not sure what I expected. Certainly we wound up with the same challenges on boarding day as last spring on Costa. Services with a location posted and the safety/boarding/lifeboat drill effectively at the same time.  By the time … Continue reading

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Erev Shabbat

AKA – you may be on vacation from work, your family and life, but you are not on vacation from yourself. Just like when I am deployed, I will attempt to locate Friday evening services if I am at sea … Continue reading

Posted in Jewish Life, Travel, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Bridgetown, Barbados

And then there is Bridgetown Barbados. British complete with right hand drive cars and an upper crust accent by those who are educated. According to several locals with whom I spoke, the town is turning more and more to tourism … Continue reading

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traveling on holidays

I could have waited till after sundown tonight or tomorrow morning to drive back to Germany. After all, this is the woman who wouldn’t travel on Yom Kippur (remember that was mid-Sept because of the difference between the Hebrew and … Continue reading

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Rosh Hashanah

A time of year to think, contemplate and look ahead. This year the holiday pretty much snuck up on me. With all the changes that have happened in my life these past months, you would think I would have been … Continue reading

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Enough Matzoh

I think we all start Pesach very up beat and energetic. It is a time of celebration (they tried to kill us – they didn’t succeed, lets eat! Wait a minute – that is describes a significant amount of the … Continue reading

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Mehrgenerationhaus, Heidelberg-Rohrbach

It is an interesting movement – the Multigenerational Houses in Germany. Although we have been living in Heidelberg off and on since 1993, this past week was the first time that I learned anything about them. Getting an email from … Continue reading

Posted in Jewish Life, Prose, Uncategorized | 15 Comments

First Night

Passover has started. Normally met with an infinitely long before meal participatory service in which you tell the story of Pesach about fifteen different ways, discuss plagues, spill some wine/juice and eat too much. Instead, I spent some time thinking … Continue reading

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Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

We all remember Mr. Rogers. Well, ok, some of us remember Mr. Rogers either as a parent or as a child growing up with his regular TV program. Between being optimistic and being the cardigan wearing type, a few phrases have … Continue reading

Posted in deployment, Jewish Life, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Chanukkah

I am running quite a bit later than usual. For a while I was able to get in early in the morning, get this missive off to everyone and then spend the rest of the day figuring out what I should have … Continue reading

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Hannukah!

Or Chanuka or Hannuka or Hanukkah or whatever way you want to translate the Hebrew – It really doesn’t matter. Pick the spelling that you like best. You will come up with at least six on any websearch. And, given … Continue reading

Posted in deployment, Jewish Life, Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Kristallnacht

Frost in the air this morning, breath visible as icy puff while crunching through the thin layer on some standing water. It has gotten cold, enough so that hat, jacket, gloves are needed by the sensible to maintain warmth. What … Continue reading

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the clock ticks on

It is not that I don’t want to admit that the days, weeks, months, and years are passing. (The Clock Ticks on – Blackmore’s Night) I know that time presses on and that I am getting older. It is just … Continue reading

Posted in deployment, Jewish Life, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Ah, computers

I had a lovely, quiet day and thank you all for the birthday greetings. I enjoy getting to the office well before anyone else arrives. And if the attendence so far is any indication, I might well be the only … Continue reading

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