It's 2:00 p.m. on Erev Shabbos and Yom Tov and I'm exhausted already! We've had quite a busy morning. Tova took me and the kids to Ramat Beit Shemesh so I could buy a lulav and esrog. Now, I've never actually ever purchased or personally owned a lulav and esrog, but Tova make a good point last night about benching all week, so I acquiesced. Basically, I really like to bench lulav and esrog at least during the first few days of Succot. With three men in my household back in Queens (at least that was the number until a few months ago), there were plenty of lulavim and esrogim to pick from. Since Succot in the States is the holiday when I have the worst allergies, I tend to stay away from shul and would come downstairs when my Father and Grandfather got back from Haskamah minyan so I could bench and then held Mom prepare for another meal.
The streets in RBS were packed with people! It seemed everyone was looking to buy a last minute lulav and esrog set. And, since we were all "last minute Charlies", the price was significantly reduced. Tova knew someone who had a table, so we decided to buy from him. The thing in Israel though is that the lulavim don't come already assembled, you buy it all piecemeal. So, right now, I have a handy travel case with the deconstructed lulav ready to be assembled. I'm missing one element, which the kid I bought it from is going to bring to the Novick house, and Noam is going to put the lulav together for me.
The other interesting difference in Israel is that none of the esrogim have a pitom (the pointy stem at one end of the esrog). If this breaks off in the middle of the holiday, the esrog becomes Pasul (no longer kosher enough to use) and then you're up a creek for the rest of the holiday. When I asked about the pitom, the kid laughed at me and said that they don't sell them in Israel with a pitom. They also don't sell them with a nice case like we get back in Queens. So, my esrog with swaddled in this pink styrophone "bag". I've been carting it around in my purse too, it's hysterical.
It's going to be interesting traveling back to Tel Aviv tomorrow night with my esrog and lulav in tow. People are going to think I'm really progressive :)
After we picked up the lulav and esrog set, we went to the bagel store and got some lunch. It was actually really good, and turns out the first bagel I've eaten since been to Israel. We got back home and the cleaning lady had done a great job in the house and then everyone just scattered. Tova went to take a nap, Noam cut up some fruit salad and the kids are all playing. I'm sitting here updating my blog and typing in some recipes from Tova's cook books. I am hoping to make my first Shabbat meal the weekend after my parents go back to the States and Tova has a great Israeli cookbook.
OK, the kids just came down so I'm going to sign off!
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