SUNDAY MORNING

בס"ד
27 Adar


I received an e-mail recently from a stranger asking whether I write (sofrut) while menstruating. The answer is no. I halt writing each month & then I go to miqveh before I resume work on Sifrei Torah, mezuzot & the like. Please don't scoff at me & tell me I'm not really a feminist because I do this, because it is a choice I made based on rabbinic guidance & my own sense of what's right & wrong.
Besides, it gives me time each month to do promotional work & drum up new gigs! & this is a priority, because to be honest, speaking & teaching pays better than sofrut :)
That's probably because in our tradition, we are told to make sure we under-pay scribes. Because if sofrim get rich, they'll stop working, we are told, & then what will happen?

So I was sitting in Pini's today, the cholov yisroel pizzeria in my neighbourhood, doing research - yes, they have WiFi! It's awesome! I have internet at home, but it's great to sit in Java Hut or Beans or Esquires with a coffee or at Pini's with a bit of nosh & do work there. It gets me out of the house & into the 'hood. Anyway, I was checking out Canadian Jews (found myself on Wiki) when I came across the weirdest blog. I'm not sure that it's actually authored by 80's pop heartthrob (& Canadian Jew) Corey Hart, but if it isn't, he should probably sue them, even though it's funny: Corey Hart Drives a Fiero.

I picked up some Pesach necessities - one cool thing I found was a capped toothbrush with kosher for passover toothpaste inside the handle! So cool! & I can use it after Pesach for travel!

I had a slice of pizza while I sat & worked, which was awesome, but I often feel conspicuous for not doing netilat yadayim (ritual hand washing) & making motzie (blessing on bread) when I eat pizza in public, because some rabbis say you shouldn't & others say it's questionable.

I have pizza angst.

I also went through a book I took out from the library, Jerusalem & the Holy Land, to get me ready for my sacred pilgrimage.

This evening I davened Arvit (evening prayers) at Beth HaMidrash, the Sephardi shul in the 'hood. It was very peaceful, which is good, as the ru'ach nevu'ah (spirit of prophecy) is said to visit at this time. We want to be able to hear it, don't we?




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