Erev Shabbat HaGadol

Considering my very late bedtime last night, I awoke pretty early this morning. 

Apparently I was a bit groggy. I misread the headline Jessica had sent me via WhatsApp, I laughed until I cried, and then laughed and cried some more. I hadn't notice the comma in the headline. "Venezuelan warship shoots rams into German cruise vessel before sinking." (There was actually a comma after the word, "rams.") I was both relieved and disappointed after reading the article. I had visions of sheep flying through the air, like a Far Side cartoon.

Although it looked like a gorgeous day outside, I decided to stick to my plan of lazing about my place and working on one of my projects. I did the first, but not the second. Disappointing, but I realized that it was the first day since the beginning of lockdown that haven't felt anxious, so that's a win of sorts.

I considered listening to Moby Dick on Amazon Audible (the services is available free of charge right now), but I just didn't have much interest.

Here are only two hagadot I have with me here in Israel, and my annual standby: Steingroot's Keeping Passover. I didn't open any of these volumes today; I just put them on my table for future reference. (I'd better hurry up. Erev Pesach is Wednesday night!)

The bakery was, thankfully, still open at 3 o'clock. Almost no one else was out and about, either because of Shabbos prep or because it's starting to get warm in the middle of the day. I fed a couple of cats. The crows seemed to be auditioning for roles in Hitchcock's The Birds. (Covid/Corvid?)

I read part of the free sample of Robert Alter's Pen of Iron on my Kindle, and also ordered a sample of Steven Pinker's The Sense of Style. Alter's book is fascinating, but again, I was distracted by something frivolous, probably a fluff article on my phone's news feed.

The neighborhood cats seem to expect me now. The sick, white cat seems a little bit better, but certainly still needs the care of a vet.

When I returned home, I called Arlan to share likhtbentshn. He had no wine, so he blessed the candles, I chanted kiddush, and he blessed the bread. What radicals we are!

Shortly after that, I turned on the tv, but not i24 News. I caught the tail end of a movie on Channel 17. Old guys firing up the USS Missouri to fight an alien invasion. And AC/DC's Thunderstruck. My kinda flick! Or at least it was today.

Tomorrow at 4 a.m., I can join Beit Haverim for Kabbalat Shabbat in Oregon, and at 10 p.m. (I think), I can join them for Torah study with Rabbi Berg.

It's Shabbat HaGadol and the season of our freedom.