Category: Leah’s Blog

The last events here in Israel have left me really with no words. The yin and yang of vitality and redemption coming alive in every tree planted, every skyscraper going up, every mall exploding with summer break Israelis and the never ending stream of tourists you always see walking up to Mount Zion; yet the murders of a beautiful angel of a girl and a father of ten- senseless murders of hate that cripple you, frustrate you, bring you to a place where you wonder how the sun can shine. I am standing in the bleacher seat of creation, facing the mountains of the Blessing and the Curse, wondering at how the world revolves on this even axis of mercy and judgment. This is the doorpost into the Land of Israel, a place you can’t help but feel Hashem. When someone has reached the level of feeling G-d, knowing Him and how He relates to you, either in mercy (Chesed) – when you receive the gifts of bounty and health and happiness (the Good Side) or when you are given a test, G-d forbid and you have to overcome the hurdle of judgment -Din (also known as the Other Side). I pray to have balance but also that the scale should be tipped towards goodness always.

When we pray to Hashem, it is usually done through supplication, an expression of mercy. We also do mitzvoth, good deeds, in happiness always because chesed “makes the world go around” and we are actually copying Hashem, who showers down all goodness upon His creations. Din is what gives the unending bounty pouring down its shape. It is like a vessel that contracts and actually puts up walls to contain the good in this world. Peace is a time of chesed. War is a time of Din.

Our holy Rabbis told us long ago that the mighty warrior who will fight the final war prays in the aspect of Din and actually descends into the throat of the Sitra Achra (The Other Side). He does this in order to redeem lost souls and ultimately destroy the entire realm of evil. This type of prayer causes the Other Side to vomit up all of the damaged souls and prayers it has swallowed, until at last, evil vomits up its very life force. This comes up in the form of converts and righteous gentiles who join the Jewish people in their day of war and redemption, when times are not easy – not for the Jewish people or the world. The way to perceive this tikkun is also through rectifying social media, in all its forms and having truth come out inside of twisted lies. G-d’s radiance and glory at this time will then become revealed, shining so great a light even in the darkest of dark unholy places. The final phase of this process is when total truth is revealed by the Mashiach and the entire world comes to peace.

It is interesting -when I travel, many people ask me to bless them with the Aahronic blessing-(Numbers 6:22-27) ” and G-d spoke to Moshe- “Tell Aaron and his sons – this is how you are to bless the People of Israel- say to them- “G-d bless you and keep you. G-d smile on you and gift you – G-d will look you full in the face and make you prosper”. In so doing, they will place my name upon the people of Israel- I will confirm it by blessing them!” – Little do these people know, as most of the world doesn’t realize (because nobody told them) that the tombs of the sons of Aaron, Itamar and Elazar are just a stones throw from where I stand here on Itamar. They are the darkest of dark holy places because they are meant to be a pilgrimage to, the place to receive this blessing (!), yet they are surrounded by a twisted form of worship- Allah UAkbar cries the mosque built over the mausoleums. The tombs are spray painted with swastikas and the earth (you can stand on it twice a year when the IDF escorts you in to protect you), smells putrid. When you go there- it is only at the darkest time of the night, you are like a fugitive. Maybe this symbolizes just how in the dark most people are as the sun shines.

The Jewish religion is not just one of Judaica and Temple treasures, Kiddush cups and tallits, bar mitzvahs and reading the parsha like a fairy tale. It is not just an intellectual discussion. It is not just challah and wine and a pretty dress you wear on Shabbat. It is not just a social function. Today our Magen David means countering all evil in this world and not being afraid to. It means sometimes going to a putrid place to purify it. It starts with your voice. You need to find the words.

Shabbat Shalom- Leah

On our way to the Jordan Valley one afternoon, we headed off east from the mountains here. The sun was behind us; it was the tail end of Spring. There was still a drop of green, water painting the whitewashed desert sloping down into the lowland. We were on our way to a wedding and I had fever but persisted we go. I don’t know if it was the aspirin or the mild delirium of fever but the intensity of the landscape played tricks in my mind. Or maybe not. My heart throbbed, like the ache of a crush but I flushed at the panorama of something my field of vision caught. Every time I looked at it- the ecstasy of it, the mystery of it made me want to hold on to that feeling forever. The shape of those very dry but golden hills baking there in the sun resembled a sleeping giant. It was as if it would get up any minute from an afternoon nap. I was very close to it and it to me. We knew it.

The Land of Israel is not like any Land in the world. I can testify. I’ve lived in it for a great portion of my life. It is so alive that even the inanimate features look you in the face and tell you a story. And the living things….That old olive tree at the end of the bend there- the sea as it rushes up to meet you… the underground caves and the message also of the past- your past in this very place. (This picture is an example of how special Israel is it was circulated this week as the  largest pumkin ever grown  – from Kibbutz Kfar Hanassi)

Here in Israel there are typical things like bars and beaches. It can have a Shechem Ben Chamor. It can have dirty politics, and nastiness. But to turn a blind eye to the hidden reality of the Land of Israel is to sin the sin of the spies. They were sent to survey life in Israel on a practical level –but instead of seeing beauty and fertility in farming, in geography, in open miracles “They despised the desirable Land”(Psalms 106:24) They were distinguished famous personalities that were used to the rock that gave them water, the clouds of glory and the pillar of fire. In Israel they had to seek Hashem. That was too hard. Avoda in Israel means that what you see is not what you always get. It means you have to make a point of getting way down to kiss its earth, its rocks and its stones. It means there are giants in the Land and you are but a grasshopper.

My prayer for the coming times is that the distinguished famous Torah leaders that have not made it yet to see the Land begin to have Eretz Yisrael within their view, that special view that only comes to light from the comfort of Tzion! In the meantime, we are preparing it! Please let them allow us to share our testimony of life in it with their congregations! Let us together try and rectify the sin of the spies.

Shabbat Shalom! Leah

“For behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo- my sheaf rose up and stood erect. Your sheaves gathered around and bowed to mine.”

A few years ago I found by chance a heavy stone bowl used for grinding barley. See the flat rock nearby it, obviously ancient, decorated by hundreds of little tiny impressions of barley and whatever other grains became embedded into it thousands of years ago. This is the Land of Yosef, a fertile place that had storerooms and grain pits. It was an agricultural paradise and our people ate figs and broad beans, date palms, olives and chick peas. They were herders of sheep and goats and made wine. Around this time of the year the grains would blow in the hot chamsin winds and would turn golden dry. The hard figs would begin to ripen on the trees and the first bright red buds would appear on the pomegranate trees. The olives also emerge as tiny green pearls. There are a lot of wells and cisterns on the sides of the hard rocky ground of the Tels all around these hills. The water was stored in them when the soil became dusty like now. I am sure there is a story to this bowl I have found. For sure it has a legend, has a torah of just how the fields and harvest time directly brought to bear our identity as a people bound to this precious Land. It’s a story about the baskets of grain, the jugs of olive oil and of course, the Omer, the refined barley all grown right here in the Land of Shechem and brought to the Temple and offered.

For Shavuot, the mood is agricultural Israel. The fields in Bethlehem are illuminated, flourishing again and the bounty is being gathered in. “Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor.” Ruth’s redeemer gave her 6 measures of barley and soon afterwards the heir that will be iy”h, Mashiach.

Way earlier, even before Matan Torah, Avraham Avinu made a kinyan in Chevron when purchasing the field, taking ownership and not only for a burial spot but for an achuzat Olam. “The field with its cave from the Hitties”. “Vaykam Sde Efron”- meaning –the field and cave were elevated UP to a new level of spiritual heights in the physical realm. Avraham made a personal connection with the terrain, fulfilling the covenant and purchasing and preparing it for future generations.

Ruth’s great grand – son, David Hamelech purchased the Temple Mount in Jerusalem from Arvnah HaYevoosi when it was only a field, a threshing floor- for 50 shekels of silver. It began that way before the Temple stood erect on it ,bikurim were offered there and it became the highest pinnacle in our history.

Settling the Land, the desolate country side, widening its borders and cultivating the Land affects every Jew. The materialness of it is not one of a personal interest but of national identity. Israel’s target goal, its aims and objectives all are tied into this actualization of life in and on the Land. Shavuot is all about after leaving the exile state of mind (on Pesach) and going on to offering the Omer, the barley grown right on this soil- the refining process- entering a new realm of independence, of our own physical place that we have to refine and refine many times over till we can offer it back to Hashem.

The fields that were asleep have arisen.

The tillage, cultivating and farming going on here on that same rocky ground are nothing less than a miracle. For years now, the world has been super obsessed with it. They want to separate our Yesod-Malchut bond with our Land. They would like to rip us apart. This effects every Jew no matter where s/he may be. We can either bow or stand upright. It is a battle. “Many nations bow down to you- be master of your brothers! Cursed be those who curse you and blessed are those who bless you!” Genesis 27:29

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Shavuot Sameyach! Leah

Leah’s Blog- Yom HaShoah   –  Yom HaZikarone   – Yom Haatzmaut  May 13 2016

My father would talk openly with us kids about the agony he endured losing his entire family to the Nazi murderers and their collaborators. As a little girl it was frustrating and painful  to know he suffered living through that hellish nightmare. Something  became crystal clear one day ,of  life-changing significance for me- even at that early age. I accompanied him on a speaking engagement he had at a school for Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day). Standing tall and distinguished, he described the Nazis coming to hunt them down- he chose to run like wild into the forest alone. There was nowhere to turn since the peasants for the most part were more than happy to do the dirty work for the columns and columns of perfectly aligned Germans who entered Poland with no fight. He remembered at first hearing the firing squads, hearing the screams. He ran and ran and their dogs ran after him. Synagogues  ablaze, homes  void of people, he was totally alone in the world with not a soul he could depend on, wearing an old threadbare  horse’s coat and eating roots from the frozen ground of the forest.  With  winter approaching, what would he do? Who could he turn to? Who would defend him?

A week later in our own school we commemorated Israel’s Independence Day. The blue and white flag with its star of David was displayed proudly on a pole smack in the middle of the auditorium and the principle gave a speech all about the IDF and how they were liberating our Land and protecting our people, how we had our own land. Then we got to see a movie of the Israeli soldiers walking and riding through the ancient arched entrance into Jerusalem’s Old City. Stuck to our chairs, mesmerized, the swell of pride and comradeship we felt!– it completely  juxtaposed my father’s testimony as a solitary being struggling to survive .Maybe it was then that I decided to pack a little suitcase for when I would move into that realm of national  side by side restoration. The penny dropped for me when I was six years old.

Israel’s military achievements boggled the minds of a world that thought G-d had long ago forgotten and forsaken the Jewish people. It was a different kind of Kiddush Hashem as Jews were brought together through whatever circumstances – holocaust survivors, refugees from North Africa that were expelled with the shirts on their backs, you name it. People were collected and brought home for the struggle, for the call to action. The new arrivals in some cases fought side by side, one speaking only Yiddish and the other Yemenite Arabic, one Russian and the other Portugese. Soon enough, the old language of the prayerbook revived and became as uniform as combat fatigues. The struggle for survival became more and more one of that of a nation and not an individual. Unlike the past, the Jews had the upper hand on their destiny.

Fast forward to two summers ago. Israel is being bombarded with rockets shot out of the area of the once flourishing communities of Gush Katif in the Gaza strip. Instead of using cement to build, Chamas and the populace that took those areas turned them (as we knew they would) into terror training campsites and launching pads for the aim- rockets on the Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv. Both of our sons found themselves in the same place in that hellhole fighting shoulder to shoulder in the filthy streets and crawling through the  terror tunnels. They were entering terrorists houses that had been booby-trapped and fighting literally hand to hand in a combat of good against evil. Every day another soldier fell. Only a parent that has experienced this can know what it feels like. Every day and every night, bogey eyed, I would think about my boys and pray pray pray. I would think about the boys of other mothers, boys we had come to know and love as they forged a bond so deep, seared in loyalty to Klal Yisrael through their service. They are a collage of people from different places and cultures, kibbutznikim, Druzim, secular, Sephardic, Ahkenaz, urbanites, country folk, black, white even oriental, an assembly of love for Zion, like minded in their self- sacrifice for it and for us.

Today is Independence Day in Israel. There is no greater gift than independence. But there is a flip side – we all depend on each other. Like no other time in history. This is the glory that shines out brightest and is the light unto the nations. As we hold a candle to our soldiers, our heroes- for the safety and security and dignity of our people depend on them- we salute them on this day and thank them. We are freed in their toil, absolute in their sweat and in their blood. Today, Israel has an iron dome, an atomic bomb if needed but its greatest weapon is the unified force of Klal Yisrael on their own Land:

. ” For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest. The nations shall see thy triumph and all kings thy glory. Thou shalt be called a new name. Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken! Neither shall thy Land anymore be termed desolate! But thou shalt be called, My Delight in Her! I have sent watchmen upon thy walls!” Happy Independence Day!

Shabbat Shalom, Chag Sameyach, Leah

Leah’s Blog – April 22, 2016   – Preparing for Pesach  is always an insane frenzied time, especially when it comes to working together  in washing down and cleaning with lots of suds and foam- and ideas of where what and who will do it. My usually not so neat and tidy husband is buying three packs of oven cleaner and Windex and unscrewing everything with a nut and bolt (what kind of chametz is in there?) He’s removing everything that was placed anywhere, scrubbing with vigor. He is standing now on top of the kitchen counter searching way above the cabinets for what! beats me. No-one has ever eaten there ; I roll my eyes and run downstairs where I’ve glossed the floor for the final time (I think).  He runs behind me then pours more boiling water on the tables – how long will this go on? I am literally foaming.. The unlikeliness of this side of him comes out only right before we ask “Why is this night different than any other?” Soon there will be an exit from all of this, yes, an escape. Then we’ll go back to me being the baalaboosta –the housekeeping boss and a whole year will go by before  this madness returns, that – and my allergies.

It’s really funny how Hashem keeps us busy. Some people more than most. I have had, over the last decade the zechut to know a man swamped with 1001 things to do because of a Pesach fetish. Unassuming, you would walk right by him in the street but he is a True Tzaddik, up all night from Purim to Pesach calling meat factories, special matzoh shemurah places-( even hand made as well ) olive oil presses and grape juice merchants making orders for thousands upon thousands of pounds of these items for hundreds of homes all over Yehudah and the Shomron. Chesed personified, no stone goes unturned as he continues to search for the names of families, even those who live out on the most remote hilltop, making sure we all have enough on our plates on this Chag. Then he goes knocking on doors in NYC ,asking for people to help. We on Itamar have had the incredible zechut to be a part of this mitzvah of Kimcha DePischa and have seen the look on the faces of the gmach coordinators as they pull up to fill up shefa and bracha and know there is someone out there that REALLY CARES – I want to take this opportunity to thank Alan and Barbara Hirsch of Brooklyn New York for their extreme generosity, humbleness and  awesomeness and all the people that partnered in this project. It is through acts of lovingkindness as so demonstrated here that the mitzvoth become a deeper yet more pragmatic dimension of avodah – and bring us closer to Hashem and to people we care about.

As we begin our ascent from Mitzrayim to Har Sinai and finally to Eretz Yisrael with this night of remembering as we have for always and forever I will be thinking about the passuk “Israel encamped at the foot of the mountain as one man with one heart.” Teamwork is the name of the game and the journey hasn’t ended as we march toward new challenges.. It is up to each and every one of us to stand up to the Pharohs of our time and impact. There is nothing worse than a person who has such potential and inner power and vibrancy but makes himself/herself small ,insignificant and powerless by someone else.- No-one should let that be done to them. All the more so, Israel as a nation will roar like a lion when necessary. The little lost sheep image is no more, tonight ends the saga of the sheep people that came to herd in Shechem and threw their brother in the pit- later they were saved by him and given a place to live in Goshen- a place special for sheep in Mitzrayim …..but later became slaves. Tonight we eat Korban Pesach and leave exile, leaving that phase behind us and into freedom and to being baalabatim of our own Land – ke”Shechem Echad Al Achecha!” together as one in brotherhood, rectifying disunity ! I want to bless you all with a chag kasher veSameyach- may we all truly mean when we say´” Next Year in Jerusalem” and strive to make it happen. Thank you for responding to our Pesach appeal mailing; please do come and visit and see how you’ve been blessing us. Tehiyoo Broochim (you- be blessed!) Enjoy the beautiful season!

Shabbat Shalom! Chag Sameyach! Leah

Leah’s Blog “The Message of the Matzoh”       April 15 2016

It’s the final countdown; only one week and yikes we will be free. Looking around I find that nothing short of a miracle… How the hands become cracked and dry, the back hurts and I’ve been using too much bleach. How many times can you go to the garbage dumpster and how many old Tupperware can you have? I find myself deviating from my work to eye the bread on our table, looking at it and trying to understand it. It takes on a whole new being and even seems peculiar. Here today and gone tomorrow, I’ll be better off anyway without those bagels, challahs and hot crossed buns.

Didn’t the whole saga in Egypt actually start with Yosef who dreamt about the wheat stalks? He interpreted the dreams of the baker and Pharaoh and then saved bread for the seven years the world screamed for it. The baskets of good and plenty and a good financial planning system really became the starting point of our cozy stay in exile. We got honored. We got comfortable. It was the golden era for a while. Then things changed and we began to forget who we were because as it says in the Torah, “And a new king took over Egypt who did not know Yosef”. They forgot us and we forgot us. It became difficult and we became meek, ignorant and worse of all, indifferent. We became slaves and had painstaking work that prevented us from knowing and being – who we were. Fast forward and we witnessed ten plagues and the fall of the Egyptian Empire. It took years but then- the appointed hour for our deliverance came and there was no time to bake bread. Poof- you have less than 18 minutes to pack up and get out.

All through the two thousand years of our exile have we been so focused on the Judaica aspect of having everything for the seder- all the little items from the seder plate to the burnt shank bone to the dishes of salt water to make it just right. We enjoy learning the esoteric meanings behind things like in matzah we don’t let the dough rise, relating to our ego and to being humble and not so puffed up. But, for the first time in two thousand years we can observe and differentiate- working hard in slavery -vrs.-earnest hard muscle obligation in being free. It’s a mind switch within the mitzvoth we do and perform but when we say, “Why is this night different than other nights?” now the message of the matzah is knocking on your front door, tapping you on the shoulder persistently, it’s saying, “This night is different because in exile you ate bread but when it was time to leave- it meant GET OUT NOW! There is no time for baking bread there anymore.” From exile you will walk out with a burnt piece of matzah. If you’re lucky.

It’s important to be heedful. The Haggadah is a book we read out loud about overcoming obstacles and opening a new place in our psyche. But it also relates to us right now as Hashem is in His everlasting presence turning the world and bringing us closer to His design at all times- then now and tomorrow. It’s a lot of work and as it unfolds it becomes more evident that you can either work hard play hard work hard play hard in a land that Yosef will eventually be forgotten or sweat in literal pain of birth pangs as you are being delivered where he is come alive. Just read Ezekiel 36, 37.

I met a person once who later became a close friend. He came up with his wife to Itamar many years ago when we were in painful contractions in many realms. Not knowing me, he handed me a piece of paper and said, “I was a Marine in the Vietnam war. We went to hell and back but the graffiti someone scrawled over our barracks sure was encouraging.- ” It said- “The difficult we do immediately. The impossible takes longer”.

Shabbat Shalom- Pesach Kasher VeSameyach!   Leah

Leah’s Blog – April 9 2016

Have you seen how stunning it is out? So green and blooming – I must go into it. Still moist, the forest floor is alive with mushrooms and wildflowers, the trees, tall now form a canopy above my head. The mix of this intoxication with the old ancient rocks just waiting to tell a story really sets the mode for the theme of revival right here- right now-. To be living in it, wow. Everything is waking up, morphing , growing right before my eyes. Also in the hothouses the bees are delighted in the flowering broccoli, the first flowers of kale and the snow peas sprouting and boasting full bellies. The raspberry bushes that were cut down almost to the ground are waking up and the earth has been plowed and turned over – what buried treasures will they reveal? Yes, it is possible to leave the insanity of Pesach cleaning and come out and feel a living G-d.

The seasons each have a specific message. This one is about coming out. It’s about the alive connection of never remaining dormant but moving on and being relevant – now as Hashem calls out to you and into an even more meaningful phase and mission in life. As a Jewish woman at this time of the world, in this place -after as a people all we have endured , I can only say thank You to being  returned home after a long exile, Exodus big time. Sometimes we personally have to jump into the water when it looks like we may drown, and then walk through the sea to get to the other side of only more challenges. The Exodus relies on Holy Chutzpah and some miracles.  In order to reach our Promised Land there are many stops along the way and when we finally reach what we have yearned for, only then does the work begin. This applies to us personally. The Exodus is the format, not just a fairy tale.

The Jewish people were created to lead history, to be an example of kindness and Mussar. That’s why Hashem set aside a special Land just for that, Israel as a people in Israel – the place. For my ancestors in the dark and middle ages, in the renaissance and even in modern times it was hard to hold your head up high. Today it is different. As we awaken and leave exile, physically and in state of mind we are standing erect whether the world chooses to recognize it or not (Kama Neetzava)- it is up to each nation to decide, for each individual to choose. Israel as a people and especially now returned to in their original Land were chosen not because they are better but because they have a task- to be a light unto the nations. If something is lacking in any country, whether it be knowledge in creating a drip system in the desert, technological advancements in science and health, or security related anti-terror methods needed right now- they know where they can turn to. Today you can literally choose to be blessed by Israel. The world is also thirsty for torah and it is being taught in places you probably wouldn’t believe like Japan the Phillipines and Nigeria.

There is a special blessing we say from the first day of Nissan, Birkat HaIlanot. It’s when you go out to a blossoming tree and bless on the buds of the tree:

“ברוך אתה ה, אלוקינו מלך העולם שלא חיסר בעולמו כלום וברא בו בריות טובות ואילנות טובות ליהנות בהם בני אדם.”

“Blessed are you Hashem, King of the world that made a world not lacking a thing and that You made wonderful creations and good trees in order for humankind to enjoy”. Go out- enjoy! This is the time.

(If Rosh Chodesh falls out on Shabbat like this year- then we wait till Sunday.)

Chodesh Tov! Shabbat Shalom! Leah

Purim 2016

So, I’m standing at the check- out counter at Osher Ad Supermarket in bustling Petach Tikva. Osher Ad means completely satisfied. To tell you the truth, it looks pretty well stacked here, the people and the aisles. Israelis are getting chubby and so am I. There are some folks ahead of me, all with exploding wagons and I have plenty of time till I reach the cashier. I ask the honey eyed woman in the next aisle if she has a piece of paper. She gives me a curious look and gives me a ripped envelope. I begin to write this blog.

There are twenty three registers in this store. The store is big and the lines are big. They are all ringing up. Ding Ding Ding! And no-one is bagging. It’s that kind of a store. I like to pack my own stuff anyway. Sure, it’s three whole days till Purim and everyone must have thought, like me- how smart to shop on a Monday morning at 11:00 o’clock! This is not just a supermarket but a super-Bazaar, especially today. Klezmer music is happily playing in the background and aside from the interesting items for sale like fold up chairs and all kinds of light bulbs and flashlights, gadgets for the kitchen and even some garden supplies, the place is a Purim market all made up with pretty Purim baskets, hamantaschen, gift boxes done up in cellophane, grogers, costumes and masks. I feel like a kid in a candy store as I can’t ignore the chocolates, jawbreakers, gumdrops, jellybeans (oh so colorful!) the mini-sugarcoated marzipan challahs, and most attractive- the hot cinnamon balls, red and hard but juicy sweet and hot inside after you’ve sucked on one enough. There are shelves and shelves of little cherry and banana liquor bottles, grape juice and miniature wine and vodka bottles. We are not in the wine section or even near the brewery. I walk fast past the granola,wafers/cookies/breakfast bars/crackers aisle straight to the meat section remembering we are making a barbeque this Purim. ( I’ll be happy to get back to nature )I remember to get charcoal and lighting fluid. A strong aroma of fresh ground coffee hits me as I pass a man holding a tray of little trial sized cups of the Turkish brew. “For your pleasure!” he smiles. Just what I need in this madness. Nam Nam. It tastes tobaccoy and a little earthy. Delicious. I throw a few bags of it in my wagon and remember I need to run to the health Food section for sesame seeds, pine nuts and walnuts. My recipe for cabbage salad- sautee these in olive oil, after shutting off the flame, pour soy sauce into it with a little ginger powder and black pepper a pinch of salt and some sugar –add to fresh green strips of cabbage.

People are so engrossed in the stock all around under the daze of the fluorescent lights that if an alarm would go off they would be reaching deeper into the shelf to check another thing off their list! Oblivious-A scruffy looking Arab man walks through the throngs of people asking if they want to buy a set of screwdrivers. WTH! He seems un -noticed. I’ve been packing some soya puddings (my granddaughter likes the ones that taste like cookies) into my, oops- someone else’s wagon. Good luck- go and find mine in this maze now. Finally I see it- the one with the giant sized granola bars box sitting where a little kid could, next to the charcoal. Phew. Ok- now I am daydreaming that all of this will be consumed/gone/eaten/devoured/gobbled up. The shelves so busting will be cleaned spic and span washed down and then made ready for Pesach. OMG! In only a few weeks!