The Raw and The Cooked

I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July! We didn’t do much, since it fell over Shabbos (and don’t forget the oppressive heatwave / and raging thunderstorms, to boot), though I really loved that the big 250 coincided with Shabbos, because it gave us time to reflect, pause, and express gratitude to Hashem for this glorious country, who has been so good to us. Think for just a moment about how good an American Jew has it, the opportunity, the freedom. I thought a lot about both my grandfathers upbringings; one born in Czechoslovakia, and the other a first generation American. How radically different their first 24 years of life were. Either way, they each raised their children here, on American soil, and after tons of hard-work, determination, perseverance, gratitude, and a bit of Hashems charm, they rest easy, knowing how much better they had it than their grandfathers. We are so lucky to be Americans, thank you Hashem, for this miracle of a country.

This weeks Parsha is Pinchas. Which doesn’t have a very clear arc, it seems to be a bit all over the place, but it does hold several interesting themes nonetheless. It opens with violence (which ends up being rewarded), a new census taken, leadership being appointed, land about to be divided, the festival calendar repeated, daughters asking for inheritance. Let’s dive in!

View the Post

We started last week off with a fantastic Fathers Day brunch at my in-laws. I brought homemade bagels (recipe here), we had the whole local St. Louis family, plus my husbands sister, visiting from NYC, and it set a really nice tone for the week. Relaxed, slow-paced, and easy. If I could draft up a perfect summer week, this past week would be it. We’re walking into our second (third?) heatwave of the summer this week, which…. isn’t fun. Especially for my chickens. They don’t particularly care for frozen watermelon rinds, but maybe they’ll get desperate enough this time.

Meanwhile. We open with another double parsha, which is kind of a shame, because each one, Chukat and Balak, are each profound in their own way, and I really wish I could dedicate one full post to each. Oh well. Chukat, because Israel is given a very interesting punishment, but also the cure, it deals with the death of Aaron and Miriam, and there’s a lot of unpack. And Balak. Well. That’s the story of the talking donkey, and again. Could be its own post. I’m going to do my very best this week. Especially since I’m writing this day of, with a baby on my hip.

View the Post

Last week was officially the first week of summer, Camp Mommy. Where we had all four children at home, and it went pretty smoothly, all things considered. Though two out of our three mornings of swim lessons got cut short – long story. We celebrated our oldest son turning six, we had a class birthday party at the park, a second family birthday dinner + cake at home, and celebratory baseball game — the Cards got crushed by the Padres, but we did end up with a foul ball for the birthday boy! A visit from my sister-in-law as well. It was a pretty great week. For those who don’t know, yesterday was the 2026 summer solstice, which means it’s officially summer, but the days will slowly grow shorter from here on out.

View the Post

So, I got my weeks confused, and accidentally wrote this post last week. With holidays and double parsha’s it’s a lot to keep straight. I wrote about how we’d been blessed with the most perfect humidity-free early summer days, and for Missouri, that’s a gift in of itself. All last week, we enjoyed morning coffees, lunches, popsicles, cocktails, and dinners outdoors, while the girls did their chicken business around us – it was absolutely magical ✨ And then this week, we had the most oppressive three-day heatwave, the humidity alone was enough to choke you. It’s interesting how quickly things can change. And more than that, how it takes a terrible heat-wave to make you truly appreciate humidity-free summer weather. You can’t have one, at least the appreciation, without the other. Similar to this weeks parsha: you can’t have faith without experiencing a little fear…

View the Post