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Today Is The Day To Bake Schlissel Challah!
According to a custom observed by many Jews of Ashkenazic (Eastern European) descent, key shaped challahs are baked the first shabbos after Passover as a symbol of the desire to bring blessings into the home. After the holiday, and the Jewish people’s deliverance from slavery, is the time for new beginnings, so it is only fitting that one would want to grace their home with good things, and what can be better than freshly baked challah? Now, one doesn’t have to actually bake challahs shaped like keys, one can also simply place a key (wrapped in aluminum foil) in the bottom of the pan, or under the braided loaf, but…
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The Old Soliterman Family Mill In Bratslav, Ukraine
Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to revisit the town of Bratslav (Breslev) Ukraine, and while my last visit a good 18 or so years ago was during the summer, this time we arrived as winter was just departing so the trees were bare and the landscape brown and I thoroughly enjoyed this special site just as much as I did the first time around. While the reason for our road trip from Uman to Bratslav (about 2 hours drive) was to visit the gravesite of Rabbi Nosson Sternhartz (more on that next week) I couldn’t help but soak in the gorgeous surroundings which includes this very large…
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Mass Holocaust Gravesites In Bratslav, Ukraine
Today is Holocaust Memorial Day, Yom HaShoah, so I thought I’d mention some of the tragedies of the Holocaust that occurred in one of my very favorite spots, Bratslav, Ukraine. Our family was very fortunate to have the opportunity to spend the Passover holidays in Uman, Ukraine this year (my first time ever not at home) and despite quite cold winter weather and main roads in the countryside that are full of deep potholes, we rented a van and a driver and made the trek to Bratslav (one of those places in the world where time seems to have mostly just stood still) with the primary intention of visiting the…
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Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial In Kiev, Ukraine
Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom HaShoah. Every year I try to post something relevant to this very sad day, and this year I am sharing photos that I took just two days ago on my first visit to the Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial site in Kiev, Ukraine. As always, there are no words to express the horrors of the injustices inflicted upon the Jews in Europe. Standing at the very site of the greatest mass killing of its time, on a hilltop within the city of Kiev, one can barely imagine how roughly 33,000 Jews were brutally murdered over the course of just two days. And yet, it did…
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Craft Schooling Sunday Is Taking A Week Off…..
Thanks so much for dropping by to join the weekly linky party! I am not able to post the features this week, due to some adventures I hope to share with you soon, so the party will be postponed until next week. I hope everyone had an amazing and meaningful Passover holiday!
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One Proud Mama Bear: My Daughter’s Pencil Drawing Success
Isn’t this pencil drawing of a mama bear and her cub just fabulous? I am that proud mama bear as this drawing was done by my 15 year old daughter. Now if I can just get her to draw all the animals I have in mind for a special project, that would be amazing. First though she needs to build her confidence as this drawing while done entirely by her was done under the watchful eye of her drawing teacher, who as I have mentioned previously was trained in Russia and thus has very goal oriented techniques for teaching art. This drawing was made using those techniques for shading with…
