DOWN TO THE WIRE

בס"ד


On Shabbes we had a 3 mile walk to shul in the hot & sunny schvitzy desert. Joel led Pesuqey Dezimrah & I was surprised with the honour of carrying the Torah (I write 'em, so why cant I carry 'em?). It was odd because I haven't carried it for men to touch in several years - I carry it on our side of the mechitzah at Shaarey Telfilah all the time.

Anyway, people seemed to enjoy us very much.
I connected with a Womens League rep from TO (that would be Toronto, for all you non-Canucks) who I quite liked & am looking forward to networking with. Our hosts, Stan & Janine is are SO SWEET! We chatted with friendly people over qidush & then took our 3 mile walk back in the sweltering heat.

I was dirty beyond redemption! (that's one of those quotes that bad journalists will love to take out of context. Next thing you know, there'll be a web site called "Soferet-Cam"...NOT!)

We did qidush again at home & had lunch just the three of us of YUMMY Turkish Sephardic food that Janine made. We have really enjoyed our stay. The Bensussen's have made our visit very welcoming & heimish & we have terrific conversations with them.

Talked forever about Jews, Judaism in small towns, how to keep your kids Jewish in a consumer-society & NOT in an idolatrous way (being that Joel & I believe that Jewish denominations are simply yet another "consumer choice"; & to treat our religion & consequently our relationship to G@d as such is, in fact, idolatrous). We also talked about the concept of home, world wildlife, Halakhah, gay marriage...until finally I had a schulf. :)
They kept chatting!

Some of the dialogue we've had this week with them has really opened my eyes as to just how difficult it can be to make a Jewish home & family in a small centre. Joel & I both grew up in small towns & we want our kids (may G@d bless us with them) to enjoy that sort of childhood, too. The thing is, no resources. This is why we're looking into kosher ways of building a small miqveh (that way I can go each morning before work, not just for taharat hamishpachah), he wants to learn how to shecht, & we want to tempt mitzvah-inebriated Jews to make a community with us.

An extended family.

Neighbours dog barked me awake, so I was grumpy & disoriented for the rest of the day :(

Havdalah was very sweet. Then I hit the shower so I could finish fixing the second Torah. That's right - I didn't get all my work done by Friday (I'd make a bad Robinson Crusoe), so back to the shul I go!

The thing is, I spent 2 days just on the last yeri'ah of Devarim, so it took me longer than I had estimated. Janine, ever the trooper, let me into the shul & sat down with her book. I got into Sefer Breyshit (working from the end, not The Beginning) about 1am, attending to & givong renewed life to these poor crumbling letters.

Poor Janine is snoring on the chesterfield in the foyer as I write this - she is so great to bring me here & let me work late into the night so that I can complete the work I pledged to do this week :)

For the otiyot Lamed, Khaf, Quf, etc the top horizontal stroke is curved down toward the right, & the bottom horizontal stroke is straight (like the bottom of the bet stroke, but it doesn't overlap & extend beyond the top stroke's curve/vertical). I was taught to make this bottom stroke curve up to meet the top one. I think the way this sofer does it is very pretty (so is my sofer's way), but he has the advantage - I think it's a bit faster...

I FINISHED! B"H!!

Shavu'ah tov!