Rains of blessing

As the amazing storm of the century continues unabated and the Kinneret’s water level continues to rise, our Rav has instructed that one recite the thanksgiving blessing for rain.

He added that both men and women should recite the blessing, which can be recited either in public (i.e. as part of a congregation in shul) or in private.

Here is the Hebrew text followed by an English translation*:

ברכת הודאה על הגשמים

מוֹדִים אֲנַחְנוּ לָךְ ה' אֱלֹקינוּ וֵאלֹקי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ עַל כּל טִפָּה וטִפָּה שֶׁהוֹרַדְתָּ לָּנוּ.

ואִלּוּ פִינוּ מָלֵא שִׁירָה כַּיָּם, וּלְשׁוֹנֵנוּ רִנָּה כַּהֲמוֹן גַּלָּיו, ושִׂפְתוֹתֵינוּ שֶׁבַח כּמֶרְחֲבֵי רָקִיעַ, ועֵינֵינוּ מאִירוֹת כַּשֶּׁמֶשׁ וכַיָּרֵחַ, ויָדֵינוּ פרוּשׂוֹת כּנִשְׁרֵי שָׁמָיִם, ורַגְלֵינוּ קַלּוֹת כָּאַיָּלוֹת, אֵין אֲנַחְנוּ מַסְפִּיקִים להוֹדוֹת לךָ, ה' אֱלֹקינוּ וֵאלֹקי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ, וּלְבָרֵךְ אֶת שִׁמְךָ עַל אַחַת מֵאֶלֶף אַלְפֵי אֲלָפִים, ורֹב רִבֵּי רבָבוֹת פּעָמִים הַטּוֹבוֹת, נִסִּים ונִפְלָאוֹת שֶׁעָשִׂיתָ עִמָּנוּ ועִם אֲבוֹתֵינוּ.

מִלּפָנִים מִמִּצְרַיִם גּאַלְתָּנוּ ה' אֱלֹקינוּ, מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים פּדִיתָנוּ. בּרָעָב זַנְתָּנוּ וּבְשָׂבָע כִּלְכַּלְתָּנוּ. מֵחֶרֶב הִצַּלְתָּנוּ, מִדֶּבֶר מִלַּטְתָּנוּ, וּמֵחְלָיִם רָעִים ורַבִּים דִּלִּיתָנוּ.

עַד הֵנָּה עֲזָרוּנוּ רַחֲמֶיךָ ולֹא עֲזָבוּנוּ חֲסָדֶיךָ.

עַל כֵּן אֵבָרִים שֶׁפִּלַּגְתָּ בָּנוּ, ורוּחַ וּנְשָׁמָה שֶׁנָּפַחְתָּ בּאַפֵּנוּ, ולָשׁוֹן אֲשֶׁר שַׂמְתָּ בּפִינוּ, הֵן הֵם יוֹדוּ וִיבָרְכוּ וִישַׁבּחוּ וִיפָאֲרוּ אֶת שִׁמְךָ מַלְכֵּנוּ תָּמִיד. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֵ-ל רֹב הַהוֹדָאוֹת.

The Thanksgiving Blessing for Rain

We gives thanks to You, Hashem, our God and the God of our fathers, for each and every drop which You sent down for us.

And were our mouths as full of song as the sea, and our tongues as full of joy as the multitude of its waves, and our lips as full of praise as the expanse of the heavens, and our eyes as radiant as the sun and the moon, and our arms as outspread as the eagles of the sky, and our legs as swift as hinds, we still could not thank You enough, Hashem, our God and the God of our fathers, or bless Your Name for even one of the thousands of thousands and the myriads of myriad favors, miracles, and wonders which You performed for us and for our fathers.

From Egypt, You redeemed us, Hashem, our God; from the house of slaves, You liberated us. In famine, You nourished us, and in plenty, You sustained us. From the sword, You saved us; from the plague, You rescued us; and from malignant and numerous diseases, You spared us.

Until this point, Your mercies have helped us, and Your kindnesses have not forsaken us.

Therefore, the organs which You fixed in us, and the spirit and the soul which You blew into our nostrils, and the tongue which You placed in our mouth – they will thank and bless and praise and exalt Your Name, our King, forever. Blessed are You, Hashem, God of bountiful thanksgivings.

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* The Hebrew-to-English translator who provided the above translation has asked me to announce that she’s available for translation work. For more information, please contact me at OurShiputzim at gmail dot com, and I’ll gladly forward all serious inquiries to her.

Nov

Warning: The following post may exceed the recommended daily allowance for other people’s vacation pictures/videos. Proceed at your own risk.

Longtime readers know that unlike most Israelis, who tend to visit Eilat during Chanukah vacation, the extended Shiputzim family prefers to head in the opposite direction and spends Shabbat Chanukah up North.

This year, our specific destination was Nov, a religious agricultural moshav, located right next door to Avnei Eitan in the southern Golan Heights, and B”H, we had a wonderful time.

Which was nice for us, of course, but unfortunately, not so nice for you.

Because after all, it wouldn’t be the week after Chanukah here on Our Shiputzim without me forcing you to sit through, er, sharing our vacation pictures.

And so, without further ado, here are the threatened promised photos:

As always, please feel free to click on the pictures for a much better view.

Exterior of our tzimmer

The kitchen/eating area

The bedroom

The sleeping loft

A view of the indoor swimming pool

A flock of sheep

And as if all those pictures weren’t fascinating enough, and on the off chance that I haven’t yet managed to bore you all to tears, here’s a short video from our drive up to Nov on Friday. If you listen carefully, you can even hear the day’s weather report:

Have you ever been to Nov?

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P.S. Speaking of Shabbat Chanukah, don’t miss my tribute to my Zaidy z”l. (It’s especially noteworthy, because it’s the first time I ever posted a picture of myself here on the blog…)

P.S.S. The latest Kosher Cooking Carnival is available here. Special thanks to Batya for including my “ceasefire pie” (aka chocolate mousse pie) post.

Pool of the Arches

A special shout-out to our dear friends and family on the Eastern Seaboard. We’re thinking of you and hope you all stay safe and dry! Oh, and in case you were wondering, here in Israel, we enjoyed beautiful, clear weather today. I’m just saying…</gratuitous aliyah plug>

We interrupt this blog’s incessant litany of national parks to bring you an idea for a family outing*: a visit to Ramle’s Pool of the Arches.

*Full disclosure: Most of the Shiputzim teenagers did not join us on our recent trip to the pool – they felt that it sounded, and I quote, “boring” – and thus, “family outing” might perhaps be too strong a phrase. But each of the younger (and older) members of the family who came along had fun.

Built in 789 CE, the Pool of the Arches is an underground water reservoir. The ceiling is supported by a series of pillars and curved arches (hence the name), and today, visitors get to explore the pool in row boats:

One of the rowboats

One of the arches

More arches

Historians believe that people would lower buckets into holes in the ceiling to draw water.

Suggestion: The Pool of the Arches can serve as a perfect companion trip to the Nesher cement factory, which is located nearby.

Have you ever been to the Pool of the Arches?

We now return you back to your regularly scheduled catalogue of national parks…

Reason #7043 for making aliyah

Shavua tov and shanah tovah!

What better way to begin 5772 here on Our Shiputzim than with an aliyah-promotional post?

But, don’t worry, this isn’t going to be yet another essay extolling the joys of one day of yom tov.

(Although coming, as it does, on the heels of two days of Rosh Hashanah followed by Shabbat, such a post would certainly be, uh, in its place – if I may use the Heblish term...)

The thing is that I’ve pretty much covered the topic here, and also, I realize that it’s very difficult for those who haven’t yet had the privilege of experiencing one day of yom tov to see it as an advantage. (And, IMHO, the standard “day and a half” halachic arrangement offered to many visitors from abroad doesn’t count as “experiencing” one day of yom tov.)

Because chances are, if you’re like many Diaspora Jews – my pre-aliyah self included – you love yom tov and, in spite of all the cooking and preparations, can’t imagine willingly giving any of it up. (But check out my original post if you’re curious.)

And, so, instead, this post will focus on a different, albeit related, reason for making aliyah – namely, hot showers on yom tov.

Yes, that’s right.

Contrary to popular belief, one may, in fact, take showers on yom tov – as long as one adheres to certain conditions and restrictions. (For example, one can’t wash or immerse one’s entire body at once; one can’t shampoo one’s hair; etc. CYLOR for details.)

Of course, this is true in chu”l as well. However, outside of Israel, few – if any – people have solar water heaters, and thus (again, CYLOR), cold showers are the only option on yom tov in the Diaspora.

But here in Israel, where – except for on rainy, winter days – we heat our water with the ubiquitous dude shemesh (solar water tank/boiler), most authorities hold that one may use hot water for showers on yom tov.

In other words, my friends, if you, too, wish to enjoy a hot shower on yom tov, you have a little less than two weeks to pack your bags and join us here in Israel… before Succot and Simchat Torah (which are both three day affairs in chu”l this year).

Of course, ironically, considering that we only celebrate one day, hot showers on yom tov aren’t that essential here…

.צום קל ומועיל

Have an easy and meaningful fast.

National Parks: Palmachim Beach Edition

Located not too far from IKEA (you can stop there on the way), Palmachim Beach is, I believe, Israel’s newest national park.

It’s not that the beach itself is new, of course. (In fact, YZG and I have pictures of ourselves there as newlyweds over twenty years ago.)

It’s just that the Israel Nature and Parks Authority only assumed control of the beach – which had been part of a private concession - over the past year.

Which is great for two reasons:

1) The Parks Authority is slowly working to clean and upgrade the beach. The facilities have already improved, and now there are bathrooms and picnic tables. (Neither existed when we were there last summer.)

2) But more importantly, now that Palmachim Beach is a national park, I have an excuse to blog about it…

First, the traditional shot of the price list - to show how much money we saved as a result of our National Parks Authority membership. (Actually, this time, we only saved 5 NIS. Even members have to pay 15 NIS for parking.)

In order to avoid the crowds, we like to arrive at about 5-6 PM, when most people have left or are starting to leave.

This gives us time for some splashing around in the water and perhaps even time for kite flying, before enjoying a picnic supper as we watch the sunset.

Here’s a view from the parking lot as we arrived: 

The setting sun:

And a later view from the parking lot:

As always, please click on the pictures for a better view. 

Which beaches have you been to this summer?

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P.S. The latest Haveil Havalim is available here. Special thanks to Susan B. for including my most recent Heblish post.

Kaf Tet B’November

Several items of interest from around the J-Blogosphere:

1) Tomorrow is Kaf Tet B’November (literally, the 29th of November) – the anniversary of the day the UN voted in favor of the 1947 Partition Plan. Jameel shares a film about the historic vote.

2) Due to the ongoing drought, the Chief Rabbinate has called yet another fast day for tomorrow. In the meantime, those of us fortunate to be living in this incredibly beautiful yet autumn-challenged country can enjoy Leora’s stunning fall foliage shots.

3) The latest Haveil Havalim is available here. Special thanks to Homeshuling for including my negotiation post.

שבוע טוב וגשום לכולם!

May we finally be privileged to enjoy a winter filled with rains of blessing!

HH and Blogging 300

The latest Haveil Havalim is available here. Special thanks to Mottel for including my translation software post.

And in somewhat related news, it turns out that last week’s inaugural edition of Fish Tank Friday was my 300^th post.

Which naturally begs the question - as my Heblish-speaking kids would say - “what’s the kesher?” Is there some deep and profound significance to this random bit of trivia? Does it serve to teach us an important lesson?

Moreover, what are we to make of the fact that the combined gematriah of אוקיינוס (ocean), ים (sea), and דג (fish) is 300?

Perhaps it’s a sign or omen – a la the Rosh Hashanah simanim – for my posts to multiply like fish?

Maybe it’s an indication that this blog is coming along swimmingly?

I have no idea.

But feel free to think of your own connections.

And remember, the more farfetched and convoluted the better…

HH and Only in Israel: Drinks edition

We experienced a heartwarmingly beautiful only-in-Israel story over Shabbat. But first:

The last edition of Haveil Havalim is available here. Special thanks to Baila for including my post on the one-year Israel programs - then and now and also my post on packing for the machaneh.

And now this:

On Friday night, just after we had finished our meal, we received word that our neighborhood’s water supply had apparently been contaminated.

B”H, we had enough bottled water on hand to make it through Shabbat, and we served only juice and soda during Shabbat lunch and at seudah shlishit.

Here’s the only-in-Israel part:

On Shabbat morning in shul, they announced that the owner of one of the local grocery stores (i.e. makolet for the Hebraically-oriented among you) – who also happens to live in the affected area – had thoughtfully placed cases of drink in front of his store.

Everyone was invited to help themselves to as much as they needed. The necessary financial arrangements would wait until after Shabbat.

!מי כעמך ישראל

“Who is like Your nation Israel…”

(Divrei HaYamim I 17:21)

Chatting with ENG: Education edition

You’ll all be glad to hear that in spite of the pre-bar mitzvah tumult here in TRLEOOB, ENG is not neglecting her studies. The following conversation took place this morning as ENG was getting was ready for gan:

ENG: Imma?

Me: Yes?

ENG: Now we’re learning about Chanukah in gan, but before that we learned about water.

Me: Hmm.

ENG: It gets used up.

Me: What?

ENG: The water. It gets used up.

Me: I see.

ENG: And before we learned about water, we learned about something else.

Me: Oh?

ENG: But I don’t know what it’s called…