Sweet Shabbat

What a beautiful sunset! There is nothing like a beautiful sunset on a Friday night at the beginning of spring break! This was a beautiful beginning to a very sweet Shabbat.
Mid-terms are over, and I think I did well on both of them.

Last night, after watching the sunset, we got ready for Shabbat. The chicken had been roasting in the oven, the food was prepared. The table set, the wine poured. The challah warmed.

Shabbat evening is always a sweet, peaceful time. Everybody bathed, everybody dressed in clean clothes.

When the candles are finally lit, the peace of entering holy time settles upon us. We make the blessing over the candles, over the children, over the wine and bread. We talk, we laugh, we eat.

This week was especially relaxing for me, as it came at the end of a busy week of studying and writing exams. When Shabbat comes at the end of a particularly long and intense week, it feels really wonderful to let go of cares and concerns and step into the freedom of Shabbat. No work or worry for twenty-four hours. Rest.

I used to think it was redundant to be commanded to rest. I thought it was like being commanded to eat. Who needs to be commanded to do such a basic thing?

In these days of 24/7 everything, I see the wisdom of the commandment. Free people can stop one day in seven and spend some time human being instead of human doing.

Today, we took a nice walk with the dogs.
We went to the very special Bar Mitzvah of a friend and the son of friends.

There was time to spend outside in the afternoon.

Notice something funny about the picture? Yes--he's barefoot. Yes that's snow! It was 65 degrees when the picture was taken, but we still have a good deal of snow leftover from the many snowstorms. Our hill is a north-facing hill. So N. spent some time barefoot because of the warm weather.

He thinks he's a hobbit!

This evening, we ended Shabbat with the simple but beautiful ceremony Havdalah--which means separation.

In havdalah we say good-by to Shabbat with wine, sweet smelling spices and fire.

Here are some of our hands, as we look at the reflection of our nails in the flame.

The spices are in the little pomegranate that hangs on the candlabra.

Here is N., surprised by the camera, as he got ready to extinguish the flame in the sweet wine.

I don't know why he was startled, exactly, because these pictures were taken after we had actually concluded havdalah. We just lit the candle again for pictures when Shabbat was actually over.

Good-by sweet Shabbat!

"May the One that separates the holy from the ordinary make our children, our wealth, as plentiful as the sands on the seashore, as the stars in the heavens."

Tomorrow, I will start my normal spring break ritual.

It is time to start cleaning the house for Passover!

Next week, Shabbat will be a welcome rest from real physical labor.

Each Shabbat is different!

Midterms & Carnival of Homeschooling 63

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up over at Tami's Blog!

It looks to be very good, with articles about homeschooling in general, math, science, social studies, and more!

Check it out!

Unfortunately, I will be checking out the Carnival a few articles at a time during breaks in studying. See the molecule to the right? That's Serotonin. It is a neurotransmitter important to learning and memory--among other things.

I will rely much on serotonin for the rest of this week.

I just finished writing for two hours straight for my Special Education Law class. There was some information to remember about the purpose of law and human rights, but most of the test covered IDEA 2004 and two SCOTUS cases, which we had in front of us. I tabbed my statute in order to find information more quickly.
Now my hand hurts!





Unfortunately, I am not done yet!
I still have Neurobiology to go. That test is on Friday and there will be no notes or diagrams allowed.

And for this kind of class, you must know everything covered in the last 4 weeks of lecture.

Today, I spent some time reviewing G-Protein receptors (pictured to the left) and how they work.

Colorful, aren't they?

They are important in second-messenger signaling in the cell. A neurotransmitter attaches to the receptor outside the cell and this causes the receptor protein to change shape and release the alpha subunit of the G-protein, which in turn causes the phosphorilization of a protein kinase, and activates a cascade of messengers in the cell that can in turn activate a gated channel in the membrane, or activate or inhibit neurotransmitter vesicle movement, or even enter the nucleus and change gene expression.

So I remember something, but I've got to go back and memorize specific pathways and the conformation of specific protein kinases and so forth!

Somebody remind me of exactly why I am doing this to myself!

I have three full days of studying ahead of me before my Spring Break begins at 5 PM MST on Friday.

The Good Life

Don't you just want to lay down there with them?



Sometimes, I say to myself, wow, I'd love to just lay down there with them!

The daybed in my office has become Nap Central.








And look at these feline nappers!

They have a two story Napping Heaven!



We should only be so lucky.



In Israel, they have menuchat --a few hours in the afternoon when the shops close and people gather to eat lunch--the main meal of the day--with friends and family. Even school ends before lunch, with sports and music lessons and scouts after menuchat.



They say that "only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon-day sun."



Sigh! In America, only dogs, cats and babies take a daily nap.
Somehow, in our Puritan work ethic, we are missing out on the Good Life. (Capitalization on Purpose).



We will be taking a break from formal lessons this week. At least, I will. I have midterms tomorrow and Friday. No menuchat for the weary! N. is working on his Kamana. I will be a week behind him.

Chag Purim! Happy, Hilarious Holiday

Isn't this fun! Last night, after Shabbat, my daughter, MLC, and I got a pedicure and had fun flowers painted on our toes. It was the beginning of our celebration of Purim--the Feast of Esther. We decided to pamper ourselves a little just as Esther was pampered before she was made Queen of Shushan.

PURIM

by N.

Purim is the Feast of Lots. The word pur means "lots" in Hebrew. The holiday is called Purim because the evil Haman (Booo! Hiss!) cast lots to determine the day he would kill Mordechai, and all the Jews of Shushan. That day was the 14th of Adar. But Haman (Boooo! Hisss!) did not know that Queen Esther, the wife of King Ahashverus, was the neice of Mordechai and that she was a Jew. (Her name, Esther, comes from the Hebrew root for "hidden" and Esther was a hidden Jew in the court of Shushan). When Esther found out that Haman (BOOOOO! Hissssss!) had plotted to kill the Jews, she risked her life by coming to the king unsumoned, and she saved our people. The king then declared that on 14 Adar, Haman (BOOOOOO! HISSSSSSS!) would be hung from the gallows that he made to hang Mordechai on. And the Jews were allowed to fight back against those who had come to kill them.

This was all written in the Megillat Esther, the book of Esther, that we read on Purim. The Megillah ends with: "LaYehudim hayesa orah, v'simcha, v'sasson vi'ykar. And for the Jews there was light and joy, gladness and honor."

So on Purim, we celebrate that we won--for once! And we read the Megillah and drown out Haman's name. We sing and we eat Hammentashen--cookies shaped like Haman's hat!

THE END

(Back to you, Mom).


MOM's Part

Chag Purim is indeed a happy holiday! Tonight we will be going to hear the Megillah, the scroll of Esther. Purim is a hilarious holiday that comes at the tag-end of winter. It comes one lunar month before Pesach, Passover, and the preparation for Passover begins in earnest just after Purim.

Yesterday was Shabbat Zachor--the Sabbath just before Purim, which is called the Sabbath Remember! Yesterday the Torah portion that describes how Amalek attacked Israel from the rear as they were crossing desert lands in a mixed multitude. It is an act of great cowardice to attack the rear, where the women and children and stragglers are, rather than the fighting men at the front. We are told:

Remember what Amalek did to you on the road as you came out of Egypt- how he met you on the road and with no reverence for G-d, attacked all your stragglers in the rear, those who were famished and weary. Therefore, when the Lord our G-d grants you safety from your enemies, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. Do Not Forget! (Deuteronomy 25:17-19; Exodus 17:8-16)

It is said that Haman (may his name be blotted out!) is a descendant of Amalek and so when we hear the Megillah on Purim, we blot out his name. And we celebrate with hilarity because Purim commemorates and unexpected deliverance, for in the book of Esther, G-d is not mentioned. Esther is the hidden Jew and G-d is the hidden power for redemption.

The Megillah is read with it's own tune (trop) but it does not sound as joyous or hilarious as might be expected. Rather, there are echoes of the trop for Eicha, the scroll of Lammentations. This is because the Megillah is a story of galut, exile, in which G-d is hidden and Jews are vulnerable. That is why the deliverance is unexpected. We are reminded by the trop that although we were delivered that day, it was accomplished through desperate and courageous acts by Jews, without the presence of G-d made manifest. And we are reminded of the great cost of deliverance effected this way, and of the times when there was no deliverance because G-d is hidden.

So many Hamans, only one Purim.

But still we rejoice in our deliverance. But that rejoicing has a hard edge because since those days we have had to fight and struggle for our existance. That is why the holiday is hilarious rather than joyous.

Tonight, we will eat and drink and send out misloach manot, gift baskets to friends and to the poor among us.

Those of us not driving will drink enough wine or schnapps so that we cannot tell the difference between "Curse Haman" and "Bless Mordechai!"

We will defiantly sing: "Utsu-aytsah v'tufar! Dabru Davar v'lo yakum! Ki emanu-El!



"They have devised schemes but they have been foiled, they have made declarations [against us], but they will not be fulfilled, because God is with us! (Isaiah 8:10). "

But we will also sing the "Al-Hanissim" (For the Miracles) which is sung at Purim and Channukah:

Al hanisim, ve'al hapurkan, ve'al hagevurot, ve'al hateshuot, ve'al hamilchamot she'asisa la'avoteinu, ba'yamim hahem, ba'zeman hazeh.

"(And) for the miracles, and for the redemption, and for the mighty acts, and for the consolations, and for the battles that You performed for our ancestors, in those days, at this time."

For in these days at this season the people of Israel lives because of the mighty acts performed for us, by the courage given to many.

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

We have had an interesting end of the week (and month).

We thought we'd escaped the snow that the rest of the country is getting. We just had an interminable low pressure over us--and terrible wind.
But last night we had some clouds and when we took the dogs out for their before bedtime walk, we thought it might snow.

This morning, we woke up to a light dusting of snow--right--sunshine and a rising barometer. It was one of those, blue-and-white sparkly mornings. It was only 17 degrees, but already the morning sun was melting the snow off the bottom of the driveway.

Ah, the power of the sun!

Now there is no snow left on the driveway.



N. has been investigating the possibility of getting an air compressor in order to use a paint-blower to paint his models. We priced the paint-blower sets, but they are very expensive. So on Tuesday, we ended up getting some of our usual: Testors Model paints.

N. did find some spray paint that he had used on his last Pinewood Derby car, though, and he used it spray paint his old shoes--thank goodness, he did it in the garage.

What do you think?

N. thinks they look "sporty" and he has been wearing them everywhere as we go out and about.




N. has been waiting impatiently for his Kamana I set to come from the Wilderness Awareness School.

On Thursday, he took the unprecedented step of getting the mail-key from me and then he rode his bike down to the mailbox to greet our postal worker ("she can't be a mailman, Mom!") and see if his box had come. It did.

Here is N., as he and Lily investigate the box. It is Lily's job to pass olfactory judgement on everything that comes into the house.

The Kamana program will start in earnest on Monday, but N. has been looking up birds he sees in the North American Wildlife book he got.

N. and I read Part I of the Kamana book. I think I will be a lot slower than N. I have mid-terms this week and then during the Spring Break I have to get the house ready for Pesach and write the first draft of a hypothesis and support paper for my neurobiology class.

We did take the Pop Quiz at the beginning of Kamana I.

I know where our water comes from because Bruce is on the water cooperative's engineering committee. I know where it goes because I have a wonderful stand of scrub oak that lies downstream of the septic field. I know where north is from where I sit--after all, I live with an astronomer! I know that the closest plant to my front door is a New Mexico Desert Lilac--being a plant ecologist helped with THAT question. I was able to identify two poisionous spiders in our area--Black Widow and Brown Recluse and name important identifying marks. We don't use pesticides due to our animals, so we had to learn that information in order to use other means--Bruce's trap and release program--to maintain safe and effective insect control. I could not name two North American birds that resemble the robin--nobody in our house is a birder, although we do know the redtail-hawks, goshawks, and golden eagles that fly over our mountains. But I do know two mammals that feed within 30 meters of my house: cottontail rabbit and coyote. The cottontails eat the grasses, and coyote eats the cottontails. Finally, I know exactly what phase the moon is in for two reasons--I am married to an astronomer, so I have a cold bed on new moon nights, and secondly, the Jewish calendar is based on the lunar phases. Months start on the new moon, and most of the major holidays are either new moon (Rosh Hashannah) or full moon (the pilgrimage festivals).

N. did rather well on the quiz, too, although he did not know where our water came from. He could name the two birds, though.

However, we looked over "the alien test" (much longer)--so-called because most of us are "aliens" in our own backyards-- and we both know that we have a lot to learn.

The only question I have is this: What if this becomes more fun than graduate school?

Drawing: Another Result of the Titanic Perseveration

N. asked me to get him some drawing pencils the other day.

He had gone through a phase of drawing last year, but lately, his drawings have been for his history time-line and not for pleasure. So, expecting that he's use them for history, we went to Hobby Lobby and he picked out some decent drawing pencils.

Instead of using them for history, however, N. drew an anchor, as you can see to the left.

Note that he put the cost of the picture on it, as well as his initials. Now I own an early N.

The picture to the right is a drawing of the Torah Pointer that we gave him for his Bar Mitzvah. The drawing is very realistic, except for the chain that come in at angle to the left of the pointer. I think it looks more solid, don't you?

It is interesting how N. sees things. There is really tremendous detail in his drawings. The Torah Pointer really does look heavy and massive. It has the style of depression era art. I think N. captures that very well.

I also noticed the shading in the drawings. That is something new. I know that N. watched the drawing sequence for Titanic over and over again. In that sequence, the artist used a lot of shading. But this shading is very different from that. It lends a solid feeling to the picture.

You can also see how N.'s signature is evolving.

I am now out 20 cents. But I own two early N.'s.

Maybe we need to think about finding N. a class or a teacher. Or maybe some books. I wonder what he'd do with perspective?

The Porn Queen and Al Gore: Logical Fallacies and T'shuvah

Honestly! Sometimes I think I am going to "all music, all the time."

N. and I do a bit of driving. We live outside the city and on Mondays we have to drive in for my neurobiology class--which N. attends once a week--and then we meet Bruce who takes N. to dinner and Boy Scouts while I go teach my adult Hebrew class and then go home for a late dinner and an hour or so of peace and quiet before my guys get home.

On Tuesdays, we into town for N.'s science class at the Explora museum. We meet Bruce at the bookstore after that, and then Bruce takes N. home for dinner while I attend my special education law class. We do errands we need to do in town betwixt and between these commitments. Usually, we go into town on Saturday morning also, for Torah Study and Shabbat Services--although some Saturdays we do not.

We have gotten into the habit of listening to our local AM talk-radio station while driving because they play the news, traffic and weather every 10 minutes during afternoon drive time. This is very helpful because there is always road construction going on, and Albuquerque drivers are somewhat insane (not as bad as Israelis, but less predictable), and we need to know the weather in case we need to get home before the roads close. And I thought the "news" would be educational. Well it certainly is, in a counter-example sort of way.

Yesterday, I was zoned out driving when N. suddenly said: "Why is everyone so interested in this Anna Nicole Smith? Who is she? Why is she important? " I said: "I don't know. I don't know. I don't know." N. persisted. So I said: "I really don't know why everyone on the news is so interested in her because I don't know why her name is a household word for people. But that is not important. What is important is that someone has died--a real human being with a family and she is not buried yet. What do you think of that?" And from there, we talked about the importance of accompanying the dead to burial and the importance of giving people what they need in life and in death. We talked about the dignity of the human soul and about why our previous rabbi kept the press away from the funeral of a young woman who was murdered in our town years ago.

N. was silent for a while and then asked me, "Mom, is this what you mean when you say 'body profiteers?'" Well, not exactly! But then these little Aspies are so literal! So I explained about the slavery of the modeling industry and the pornography industry and how others profit from the degredation of human beings. And then my N. said: "So those news people are profiting from the degredation of this lady who died? They have no self-control?"

Exactly! Out of the mouth of a yingele!

Later, as we were driving from the museum on errands, and I was again zoned out on driving, N. piped up: "Mom, is Al Gore really a hypocrite?"

So I gave him a lesson on the logical fallacy of ad hominim attack. Basically, I told him that sometimes when people do not want to hear the messenger, they attack the person or personal life of the messenger. I explained that it is our job as thinking people to look beyond the messenger and ask the right questions. In this case, we need to ask. "What is the evidence for global warming? What is the evidence that human beings are putting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere? If the earth is undergoing global warming, then what will the consequences be for ourselves and our children? Are there direct benefits to reducing emissions? What other benefits might come from that?"

On a roll, I then explained that no human being is perfect, no human being is on message one hundred percent. We talked about how both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, champions of freedom, owned slaves. We talked about ideology and how it prevents people from thinking for themselves. We talked about how ideologues of all persuasions profit from getting us all upset about things that are not important so that they can carry out their agendas without interference from us.

N. said: "Will Al Gore have to change if he sees that he is a big emitter?"

I joked: "Yep, fewer beans for him!" Then I talked about how we all have to make t'shuvah--which means "turning" when we are shown some area of our life where we are not measuring up to who we are meant to be. But that does not mean that Al Gore's message is wrong. That is a different, and ultimately, a more important question.

N. said: "Then, this news is all a distraction--isn't it?"

Yep!

So I reached for the dial and made t'shuvah to the "all music, all the time" station.