THE YAHRZEIT "CLUB"
Yizkor - In Memory Of...
I remember growing up being fascinated by the twinkling lights of the "Memorial Plaques" which were all turned on for Yom Kippur. I also remember my Mom lighting the "yahrzeit" candles for her Dad who died even younger. As a young child, I wondered if I would ever light those candles for someone I loved. Continue reading
How does an heirloom begin?
First, the story, shared 20 years later.
On the March of the Living (see http://www.motl.org ) in 1994, a young girl came up to me at the end of our 2 weeks in Poland and Israel, and asked: "Alida, I want to light the Sabbath candles when I get home, but I know my Mom won’t let me. What should I do?" I had just spent 2 incredibly meaningful and powerful weeks with this young lady, so I knew her story.
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Passover is over and now it is time to get ready for the next holiday of Shavuot.
It’s been fun and ever-interesting to create ceramic Judaica to share and become treasured heirlooms for future generations. I’ve loved sharing my passion with the pottery, the photos, my NEW Web Site, my thoughts….
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Jewish heirlooms. Remember, you don’t have to write to me personally: you can share your comments right on the Blog page at the bottom of each new Blog.
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REMEMBERING THE HOLOCAUST
A Story For The Entire Family
In 1991, my husband was in Cracow, Poland. He was one of the founders of "The March of the Living." He had some free moments so he went to visit his friend, the manager of the "Antiquarium," an "antique" gift shop in the basement of the rebuilt Jewish Community Center. They had met 3 years earlier. Continue reading
I was recently reading Meg Stone’s Blog www.myjewishhome.com and found her blog entitled "Sentimental Saps." It intrigued me, because I find myself often walking a fine line between keeping something for it’s sentimental value, or just tossing it because I only take it "out of the box" once every decade.
How do we decide what to keep and what to discard?
How do we calculate the intrinsic value of an item?
By throwing away something of sentimental value, are we eliminating some part of our memory bank? Continue reading 
We all know the "Four Questions" of Passover.
We may never fully understand the level of abject poverty under which many Jewish families lived throughout history. To alleviate the need for a groom to purchase an expensive ring for his bride, an interesting custom arose, whereby an entire village would buy one expensive ring. Historically, these highly ornate rings were ceremonial, used only at the couple’s wedding, and thought to be owned by the community or passed down in families. Continue reading 
"At first blush, most of us are probably inclined to liken religious ritual to an heirloom, something handed down to us from our parents and grandparents. We’re enjoined, sometimes explicitly and sometimes more tacitly, to take care of rituals, to ensure that they don’t vanish. When seen from that perspective, ours is the responsibility of stewards, curators and historians."
Continue reading What do I remember most from my grandmother’s house?
Simple answer: smells and things. The smells were from rendering chicken fat and
potato knishes, matzoh balls and apple strudel (with dough so thin you could see through it.)
The material things were: a pair of brass Shabbat candlesticks (which now proudly grace our candle lighting table (can you pick them out from the picture of my Shabbat candle lighting table?), a stone mortar and pestle (now long gone) and a goose feathered quilt given to my parents on their wedding day over 65 years ago.
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