Birchas Ha Chamah — The Blessing of the Sun
If you haven’t had your head under a religious rock these past few months, you’ve encountered the buzz about the Blessing of the Sun, which takes place every 28 years. A good explanation of this can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkat_Hachama
We went to Birchat HaChama on the beach in Boca Raton, FL. The event was co-organized by all the synagogues in the area. The morning opens, as all good mornings should, with the morning prayers. There were three minyanim, or services, going on. One each for Ashkenaz, Sephard and Chabad custom.
After the morning prayers were finished, we were told, “even though we had three minyanim, we will all move down to the beach where we will recite the blessing on the sun together, as one people.” We did.
The experience was uplifting. The size of the community and the fellowship with folks that I did not “know”, yet was connected to, was very moving.
Lots of photos were taken by lots of people, including the three that I took on my phone, below.
Do I Know The Way To San Jose?
The life of a workingman is not necessarly the stuff of which blogs are made, thus I can go from January to March with no blog entries, and nothing has been missed. We had an election in Los Angeles, but it was boring. I voted, but did so without much enthusiasm.
Some readers may know that I go back and forth to San Jose (Santa Clara, actually) pretty regulary on business. So far, I’ve done this only on the big silver bird. (Orange and Blue, actually, since I always go Southwest.) This time, things are different.
This weekend, we took our trailer out of it’s site, and drive to Santa Clara. I need to spend a week here, and it’s much more comfortable to us to do so at home than in a hotel. So the whole weekend has been soggy with nostalgia, and not without a few ironies as well.
So here we are, ensconsed in our trailer in the Santa Clara Elks Lodge, and I can hardly tell. That is the point about full time RVing. Wherever you are, you’re home. Or, “wherever you go, there you are.” Just about the only thing different from usual is that I have no broadband and have to use my aircard. This also means no VoIP phone line.
I’ll be doing a week of work in our co-location facility (data center) then back home to Van Nuys. I hope to see some friends and family while we’re here.
Inauguration Day
I’m pretty proud of us today. I have to say that I was proud of us in 2000 as well. Why? Because even as our country was being buffeted by conflict, and our executive was in doubt, NOBODY PICKED UP A GUN. The military did not take control, there were no riots in the streets, and our system functioned. The rule of law prevailed.
Then, with 50% of us dissatisfied with the outcome, during the next eight years, the same domestic peace prevailed. There was no revolution, no internal violence, no breakdown of law and society, and now, eight years later, the dissatisfied spoke, loudly, for their dissatisfaction with what had gone before.
For all it’s warts, the United States of America works.
Matzoh Brei Recipe
Chanukah has passed, although Purim has not yet arrived, but this is provided early just to get everybody’s digestive juices flowing.. (With apologies to those who do not eat gebrochts on Passover.)
It’s from my father…
Grandpa Herman’s Fried Matzah (Matzah Brei)
2 eggs per piece of matzahBeat eggs. Rinse matzah with water and break into pieces.Add to eggs and mix until matzah is soaked.
Fry until eggs are cooked. (Optional: Add swiss cheese.)
Serve with jelly or syrup (unless you added the cheese!)
WHO ARE THEY KIDDING? FOR THE GREENBERG VERSION, SEE BELOW!
Pieces of shmura matzo broken in large pieces
for each piece of shmura matzo, one piece of regular matzo broken in large pieces
soak in warm water just till soggy. Then rescue quickly. Don’t let it dissolve.
drain very well. Continue to let drain for a while more. Then put in largish bowl and add… (for the equivalent of each couple of kazayes of matzo) 2 EGGS OR THE EQUIVALENT IN EGG BEATERS OR CHEAPER STORE BRAND SUBSTITUTE. USE A LOT OF EGG. Probably a lot more than you think you should.
Let it absorb, turn gently, being careful to avoid breaking up the largish pieces of soaked, drained, eggy matzos. This is not supposed to come out chopped up like scrambled eggs but rather like thin pancakes glued together w/egg stuff.
Use the biggest frying pan you have, more oil or spray than you think you should, good and hot, and only fry enough at one time to cover the bottom of the pan. Otherwise it will come out steamed rather than fried. Fry till crispy. Then make some more. And more… till everything is used up. Make a lot as there will be no end of people who will want more.
Serve with maple syrup, honey, jelly or jam. Don’t forget cinnamon. If this is made for lunch or dinner rather than breakfast, onion powder or onion soup mix and garlic powder will go good but leave out the cinnamon (for the squeamish or unimaginative).
This can be kept warm in an oven till it’s all made so the people who got served first and waited don’t have to eat cold food..
Definitions
Shmurah Matzoh: Shmurah = “Watched”. This is the round cardboard-like stuff that you buy from the Chabad for use at the Seder. See image.
Kazayes: An archaic hebrew measurement. I believe it’s the volume of half an egg. Many religious requirements for consumption of ritual food require the consumption of a Kazayis. My take on Morty’s use of Kazayis is one eggs for each board of regular matzoh and one for each round of shmurah matzoh
Ten Years ago Today (December 1998)
A friend’s blog led me to another blog, where I found that somebody had done a “Twenty Years Ago Today:” entry. I think it’s neat. I’m going to try a Ten Year version, then a Twenty. We’ll see how far back I feel like going.
Ten years ago today, I was living in San Jose, working at 3Com Corporation. I was the technical lead for the web site group. The web was two years old. 3Com’s web site ran on one Sun server. It was all static HTML, except for some dynamic page generation that ran on a perl script that I had written. I didn’t know that the whole method of web delivery would change in the next year and that I’d find myself looking for other work. (Fortunately, I found it.)
Ten years ago today, I was just beginning my term as Master of my Masonic Lodge. I had become a Mason six years before, and had worked my way through the officer positions. Now I was leading the Lodge. This is a bit more dramatic than being president of most societies and boards. In the tradition of the old trade guilds, the Master has lots of power — on paper. In fact, although the Master can say, “it is my will and pleasure that…”, he’d better be careful of what “that” is, or his will and pleasure will not be very forthcoming. Nonetheless, I had a full year of lodge programs and problems to deal with, and I was much excited about it.
Ten years ago today, we were just looking at buying our first RV. This decision would lead to major lifestyle changes for us, though we had no clue that we were doing anything other than changing our vacation plans.
Ten years ago, last summer, I took a week’s motorcycle trip on the Oregon coast. I rode from San Jose, up 101 through Northern California, and all the way up 101 to Astoria. I came home on I-5. I had many interesting days, though no “adventures.” It would be the last motorcycle trip before I sold the Gold Wing.
Funny how so few paragraphs can encapsulate so many beginnings, and so many endings. Clearly I’ve given my readers a very tiny overview, but the events mentioned above meant a lot to me, and even as they were shaped by what had gone before, they shaped what came afterward.
Mumbai Tragedy
The situation in Mumbai doesn’t seem to have worked out as we had hoped. I was reading reports and holding out a bit of faith and hope, until I read “Boruch Dayan Emes” on CrownHeights.Info. That is a very final phrase. It literally means, “Blessed is the true judge”, and expresses the Jewish belief that even in tragedy, G-d has made His choices, for His reasons, and we must accept them.
I take this personally. Rabbi and Mrs Holtzberg are not faceless victims a world away. They are of us. Were I ever to be sent to Mumbai on business, not likely, I know, their Chabad House would have been on my itinerary, and I know, without ever meeting them, exactly what reception I would have gotten. So they are my friends, just friends that I wasn’t able to actually meet.
Boruch Dayan Emes…. indeed.
An Ethical Quandry
The Los Angeles Times has been laying off staff over the past few months. Several of my favorite commentators and bloggers have been axed, including Steve Harvey and Veronique De Turenne.
I’m struck by the fact that I can’t complain about this. Why?
- I don’t pay for a paper every day. I read it on the web.
- I don’t even pull down the ads on the website. I use an ad-blocker.
So given that I’m not a “customer”, have no right to b*tch.
How do I expect to continue to receive valuable content, if I don’t support it?
San Diego Part II
Never having returned to blog the San Diego trip, it’s clear that a followup is required.
The train trip was excellent, the bicycle riding was, as well. We rode the “Bayshore Bikeway“adjacent to Silver Strand Blvd. We rode it south-to-north, and I highly recommend the other direction. The prevailing wind was in our faces all the way.
We had a nice dinner at a brewpub in Coronado and took the ferry back to San Diego.
I stayed overnight at the Westin Hotel in the Gaslamp District. Twas quite luxurious, but expensive.
My return to Van Nuys was interrupted due to the wildfires. The train was not allowed to go north of LAUPT (Union Station) and the bus alternative wasn’t materializing, so I bailed on the train and took the Red Line to the 353 bus.
A good trip, even if I did overdo the riding.
De Train, Boss, De Train
Here I sit on the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner, in business class (cool!), on my way to San Diego. Down in the baggage car is my bicycle. The plan was to take the bus to the Van Nuys Amtrak station, take the Surfliner to San Diego, meet my friend Larry, visit, bicycle about, and take the train back tomorrow (Monday.) Â I’m posting this via my Verizon Wireless broadband card. Way cool to be able to have Internet access all the way to SAN.
The plan started to unravel when the bus came, and the bicycle rack was full. So with tears in my eyes, I pedaled off into the strong headwind to Van Nuys station. This worked out OK, and I got to the station about 20 minutes before the train was scheduled to arrive.
The plan almost unraveled again, when I discovered that the bicycle racks on the train was maxed out. Fortunately, there was a baggage car on the train, so I was able to store the bike there. The baggage car is an unusual occurance, and I almost had a major kink in my plans. Not sure what I would have done.
Well, we arrived at Union Station, and I discovered that the train reverses direction at this point. So the nice forward facing, shady side of the train, seat that I picked out is now a backwards facing, sunny side of the train seat. Oh well.
I’ll try to blog a bit after the trip progresses a bit.
A Nice Bicycle Ride in Magnolia Park
[Note: this was written in mid-september, and I'm not sure of the date, so I'm dating it Sept 13, just to get it in general sequence.]
I had a nice bike ride today. I took the bus to a good starting point, at the Orange Line Terminus in North Hollywood. I set out to follow the Chandler Blvd bike path, eastbound. Chandler is an interesting street. It originally had a freight rail line down the center. When SP abandoned the route, the city (or perhaps MTA) bought it. A portion of it became the Metro Orange Line. The segment eastbound from Lankershim (the Red Line station) was built into a bike/ped path.
The ride starts out pretty industrial. After all, this street had freight running on it. The transition to citizen use has improved the area though, and I encountered some pretty murals between Vineland and Cahuenga.
A few blocks down the road, the area becomes lined with residences on both sides. I would imagine that property values have climbed dramatically since the rail was torn out. There has been some discussion that a light rail line should run down Chandler, but there is (or would be) significant opposition from the property owners. Not having a back yard, myself, I’m rarely sympathetic to a NIMBY view, but in this case, I think it’s such a pretty street that I’d hate to see it’s tranquility disturbed.
When I got to Hollywood Way, I turned south to pass by Bicycle John’s bike store, where I bought a few accessories that I need.
Bicycle John’s recommended Porto’s Bakery and Cafe for breakfast, and I sat outside watching the world go by, while I ate my omelette and drank my coffee.
Rather than return to the bike path, I continued down Mangolia all the way to Victory. I passed (and visited several antique shops, and noted several businesses for return visits. I caught the 183 bus back to the Orange Line. I rode along the Orange Line a bit, then hopped on to return home.
All in all, I rode 6.2 miles. I had about 45 minutes of actual cycling time.
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