Pesach is Coming

The streets are filled with old furniture, and the gutters are running with grime as families power-wash the last of the chometz (leavened bread/pasta) crumbs from their homes in preparation for Pesach (Passover.) Monday night is game time, when we switch over all utensils and foods to the special, super-strict kosher for Pesach level.

Of course, I don't have any of my Pesach stuff here with me, so I had to go on a whole new round of shopping. I stocked up on piles and piles of meat products (salami, sauseges, etc.) but when I got home I looked at the labels and realized they were all with kitnyot (rice, corn, and legumes,) which Sephardim can eat during Pesach, but Ashkenazim like me can't. Ah, well, it's a new country, live and learn. Into the freezer they go, until after Pesach.

Anyway, Thursday saw me at the Bar Mitzvah of one of the neighborhood kids. His chevruta (study partner) also performs tricks, like juggling and amazing feats of coordination, with his twin brother. It was pretty amazing considering the kids were thirteen.

The brothers juggle together.
Juggling together from a distance.

Juggling together from a distance, while one brother balances on a plank on a bucket. I still can't believe he was able to pull this off.

Anyway, onward tomorrow with a shidduch, finishing my Pesach cleaning, and bedikat chomets (checking the house for leaven.) Monday night will see me at the seder with my landlord. There's never a dull moment in Israel.