Category: Israel / Judaism

Sundown tonight marks the ending of another Passover. And every year since I’ve been living on my own, the ending of Passover has meant that one or two semi-eaten boxes of kosher l’pesach matzah start to gather dust on a kitchen counter. I usually think to myself, “well, I’ll eat them as a snack,” but every year, sometime during the summer I admit to myself that there’s no way in hell I am going to eat these now-stale objects that are taking up valuable counter space, and toss them out.

And then, of course, I’d feel guilty.

Last year, I had a small revelation. I could toss those leftover matzos into my Cuisinart and turn them into matzoh meal — a breadcrumb substitute that Scott cooks with on a regular basis. No guilt, no waste. I have no idea why it took me so many years to figure this out, but better late than never.

So now I have a new end of Passover ritual: the pulverizing of the matzoh.

Yay me!

Liteblogging on Wednesdays this semester, but I did want to point out that Steve Clemons has a good wrapup of yesterday’s Israeli elections. Check it out while I slog through work & class on Yet Another Rainy Day.

The Palestinian elections didn’t leave me feeling very good, but I’m more hopeful today.

Orcinus has a post up today about the frightening levels that Holocaust deniers go to try to harass and intimidate people who stand up to them.

Fire bombings, death threats, and more. And all this in America.

On a related note, a Hong Kong based banker I know recently reported that he:

Was in the Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) Airport earlier today, and was in the bookstore looking for something to read on the plane when a I stumble across The International Jew by Henry Ford packaged with The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Lovely. Those books, or books very much like them, are sold in not a few Muslim-focused bookstores, but I’m a little taken aback that they’re so mainstream as to make it into the airport bookshop.

As a Jew, this kind of thing starts to make me wonder if I’m really welcome in certain parts of America after all. I thought we’d resolved this issue in the US Constitution, but apparently not. Silly me:

Missouri legislators in Jefferson City considered a bill that would name Christianity the state’s official “majority” religion.

House Concurrent Resolution 13 is pending in the state legislature.

[snip]

The resolution would recognize “a Christian god,” and it would not protect minority religions, but “protect the majority’s right to express their religious beliefs.

The resolution also recognizes that, “a greater power exists,” and only Christianity receives what the resolution calls, “justified recognition.”

What’s next, legalized discrimination on the basis of what religion you are?

I’d be lying if I said I were not deeply concerned by the results of the Palestinian elections. Hamas’ charter, after all, does not even recognize Israel’s right to exist.

However, I remind myself that Sharon was viewed as a similarly unlikely partner for peace when he became Prime Minister, and those dim expectations of him turned out to be not so dim after all. So perhaps there’s still hope.