Google image 11/4/09

Google celebrates the 40th anniversary of Sesamestreet. On Wednesday this logo was published with our national Sesamestreet character Ieniemienie. I wonder how many different Sesamestreet characters there are, that don't appear in the original US version.

The juggler

So I decided to keep on writing about all aspects of my life. I can only wish I will one day have the talent, inspiration and discipline to write like Ilana Davita, but in the mean time let me just say that I am a juggler, trying to keep all balls in the air:

* I try to spend quality time with my daughter and frumhusband

* I try to cook nutritious meals and keep the home livable

* I am working on a classroom website that I will hopefully be able to use in a week from now

* I hope to take up my sports class in two weeks

* I am trying to keep up with grading

* I try to study some Jewish topics in between

* I try to catch enough sleep

* I try not to catch the Mexican flu.

Direction

Now that the holiday season is over, I am in a melancholical mood. A logical consequence of repenting, the sealing of our fate, making new resolutions and starting a new Jewish year as a mommy. Also, I have been thinking about the direction this blog is taking or should be taking. My life has changed. I am no longer 'just' Frumteacher. I am also Frum mommy and Frum homekeeper, parts of my life that are just as real as the teaching part. I want to write about all these aspects on my blog, but that will probably make it in a mishmash, uninteresting for anyone else. Should I stick to one theme? Leave out part of my musings? I don't know yet. In the mean time, the 'Frum homekeeper' in me found the most wonderful article on revach.net, a website with quick torah thoughts. A great way to start the new year, and I couldn't resist sharing it.

Post Succos Diet - The Best Diet Plan Ever

Rav Shimshon Pincus used to say if Americans were not so obsessed with dieting, America would have eaten itself out of existence a long time ago. Do you see the Chutzpah? Not only do Americans eat like no other nation in history, but we are obsessed with looking skinny, something unheard of in the past, when pleasantly plump was considered a sign of health and wealth.

To add chutzpah upon chutzpah, there are hundreds of diet plans out there, each one teaching you "the secret" to losing weight. Of course none of these secrets have anything to do with curbing your epic appetite, because after all we love to eat and surely we wouldn't sign up for that kind of plan.

There are certain concepts that we can't relate to anymore in today's day and age and this prevents us from real Avodas Hashem. For example in the age of democracy, we have no idea what a King was. The Eimas HaMalchus that made you shake from trepidation in the King's presence. Without this, our Yiras Shamayim is lacking because we don't begin to fathom how to relate to Hashem. True dveykus went out the window when the Yetzer Hara for Avoda Zara was destroyed. Similarly in an age where food is more entertainment than nourishment, we have no idea what it means to eat, B'Kedusha U'BTahara.

It is brought down in the Seforim HaKedoshim that the Gematria of the word Maachal or food is the equivalent of the Shem Hashem spelled phonetically and the Shem Havaya. It is said that the holy Apta Rov was a man of very large proportions. He would eat any food in sight to get the kedusha out of it. Sounds ridiculous to us today.

All this being said, since creating new diets is a multi-million (maybe billion) dollar industry we will propose the Revach Diet. After all its pretty easy. First you take everything everyone said until now and turn it on its head. Then you sprinkle it with a little real science, a few Maamarei Chazal, and add one or two well hidden old wives tales. Then you package it together and you are good to go. I am highly skeptical we will be invited for a tour on the talk show circuit to discuss the Revach diet and we probably won't sell a single book, but maybe we will get at least a double take for the Post Succos dieters.

Rule # 1 No Eating Between Meals - The gemara in Yuma 74b says that at first the Bnei Yisroel ate all day like chickens pecking away at garbage, until Moshe Rabbeinu came and instituted meal time for eating. (He instituted only two meals a day but let's not push it.)

Rule # 2 A Hearty Breakfast - To paraphrase the gemara (Bava Kama 92b) Run, Run, Run as fast as you can, You will never catch the Breakfast man. The gemara further says that 83 illnesses come from the gall bladder and will all be prevented by eating breakfast. Of course only cannibals and night burglars eat right in the beginning of the day. Normal people eat a few hours into the day. Forget your coffee and donut. This diet requires sitting down to a hearty breakfast of real food that may sustain you for the next few hours without having to violate rule #1.

Rule # 3 Make a Heartfelt Bracha on Your Food - It will make the food feel better and you too. Stolen food is not very healthy according to our diet, which is what your food is before make a bracha (Brachos 35).

Rule # 4 Don't Fight Over Food - Any food eyed by someone else is affected by the evil eye. Similarly don't partake in a food, even if offered, from someone who doesn't have enough for himself, even if he wants to be generous.

Rule # 5 A Torah Thought - The Mishna calls eating without Divrei Torah, Zivchei Meisim, the sacrifice of the dead. Eating the right way is like bringing a Korban, try to add a little holiness to the meal.

Rule # 6 Don't Overfill, Don't Even Fill - This is another hard one. Not only should we not overeat, but the Rambam based on the gemara says that we should not fill out stomach's more than 75%. It's hard enough to stop when we are full, but health dictates that we stop before we are full!

Rule # 7 A Ten Minute Desert - I once heard that Rav Eliyahu Lopian asked how long a meal in Yeshiva should take? When no one answered, he answered himself saying something to the effect of 15 minutes. Five minutes to eat and ten to bentch.

A few more - Don't complain about the food, eat it the way it is without figuring out how to make it tastier, try to avoid food from a bag (especially if it has ingredients with more than twelve letters in them), and try to think about the poor and separate some food for them or give money to tzedaka before you eat, which is more practical nowadays.

So before you start separating your carbs from your fats, stock up omega 3, avoid white potatoes and orange juice, and eat sugar only between midnight and 2 o'clock in the morning you may want to look more into our diet (after all we allow dairy products even on weekends). Each one of our source books was a best seller in its time, starting with the Talmud Bavli which still sells pretty well. They also include Rambam (Hilchos Deios), Shela (Shaar HaOsiyos), Rav Yaakov Emden (Siddur - Hanhagas HaSeuda), Peleh Yo'etz (Achila), Derech Seudah, Reishis Chochma and many others. Our diet plan is free, so if you are one of the people who contribute to the $35 billion dollars that American spend on weight loss products annually, you will even save some money.

Of apples and bananas

This morning I taught one of my classes on Avraham avinu, the patriarch. Because I feared that most of my students wouldn't be very motivated to know more about this (in their opinion dusty) part of history, I realized I had to come up with something interesting. So I presented Abraham as a smart, couarageous kid who asked questions and came up with revolutionary answers, someone who dared to be different than the rest of the group. To point out the effect of peer pressure, I related of a psychological experiment that was held a couple of years ago in the USA. Ten people were put in a room. They were shown a picture of an apple and had to say out loud what they saw on the picture. Two of these people were just selected randomly while walking in the street. The other eight were actors. The two 'selected' ones obviously had no idea. When the actors saw the picture, they all said that they saw a banana. Research showed that because of the eight 'banana answers', also the two randomly chosen test objects said the picture showed a banana. This proved the absurd influence a group can have on the individual. Hence, yay for Avraham for standing up against populair beliefs in his times.

Talking about bananas, I went bananas this morning. I taught my class from hell, which from now on I will call my special ed. class. Most, if not all, of these students have 'something' special. Whether it is dyslexia, ADD, NLD, autism or whatelse do we have out there, they have it. I sent three students to the office (THREE!!!) but the situation hardly improved. I had planned to watch parts of the Merchant of Venice with them for a lesson about the renaissance and the ghetto of Venice, but I realize that they won't be able to hold Shylock and Antonio apart. Anyway. So after class I went to the office myself and told the coordinators that I don't have a degree in special education and thus I have no tools to work with this class. She told me she doesn't have either. Nor does the school. I am still wondering whether this news should make me happy or sad.

PS. Today's PS consists of the two gems I found when I googled for an apples/bananas picture. A song called apples and bananas, and about thirty reasons why a banana a day keeps the doctor away. Maybe going bananas isn't so bad after all ;-)

Gilad Shalit

A couple of days ago this video of Gilad Shalit was released by Hamas. Shalit was kidnapped over three years ago, and this video is the first real sign of life his parents have received since then. Now that I am a mommy myself, I relate to the story of Gilad and his family in a thoroughly different way. Of course, so far I felt very sorry for them and I prayed for his safe return. I thought about him every morning when I said the blessing 'who releases captives'. But now I get a sick feeling in my stomache and goosebumps on my arms. How did his family survive these years? I don't know.

The dilemma that Israeli society is faced with after the release of this tape has been put down in words in a heartwrenching way by a soldier's mother. May those in charge take wise decisions and may Gilad turn home safely.

Recipes

New recipes have been added to Frumcuisine. All side dishes that are easy and quick to assemble and that will enhance your yomtov table or other festive event: sweet potatoe pie, carrot muffins and cherry crumble kugel. Enjoy!

Google school image

Apparently I missed this Google logo, which was published in September at the first schoolday of Greece. Probably only Greek users could see it, but since I loved it I am post-posting it :-)