Riddle: What Jewish holiday is represented by the number 40,320?
Answer:
Shemini Atzeret. Atzeret is the Hebrew word for the mathematical term factorial.
Shemini Atzeret = 8! (eight factorial) = 8 x 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 40,320
Ilana-Davita posted about the seven Noachide laws. According to Jewish tradition, these commandments are also binding on non-Jews. Here’s a mnemonic for remembering them:
So that no one will complain (again) that males are second-class citizens on this blog, please list popular boys’ names in the comments.
The top ten names for boys in 2006 were Itai, Uri/Ori (spelled identically), Noam, Daniel, David, Ido, Moshe, Yosef, Yehonatan, and Amit.
When I was pregnant with my oldest, I shocked my mother by telling her that we were considering the name Ido (pronounced eeDO with a long O). Now, I would think nothing of it (but none of my sons is called that).
Previous post: Popular Israeli Names for Girls
Alison left the following comment:
I am an American Jew and I am trying to find popular Israeli girl names.
We are due in April with a girl and we’d like to give her a Hebrew name (her older brother is named Avishai Navon). Both my husband and I have come up with several but none we can agree upon. I have been doing lots of web searches to try and find current Israeli girl names but I keep coming up with the same few.
The responses to my post about the unfriendly woman in shul ranged from “She’s shy” to “She’s a snot.” I think the answer lies elsewhere. First let me give an update.
One day in September while I waited for the gan to let out, she did come and sit next to me. She asked how I was, and I asked her what she was doing. After she told me I waited, and she then asked what I was doing. This was by far the longest conversation we have ever had. After Yom Kippur she approached me in shul and said that because our children had played together over the holidays and gotten to know each other, she was sure they would now be good friends in gan.
I believe that Americans and Israelis have different approaches to relationships. While some Israeli women are friendly and gregarious, the majority are more reserved. When I see someone on a regular basis, say in shul on Shabbat, I will begin to greet her when I pass her on the street. But some Israelis would need to have more in common with someone before acknowledging me. It sounds snobby, but I see it as a cultural difference.
I don’t mean to say that Israelis can’t be snobs. Snobs exist everywhere.
I mentioned this issue to my Israeli friend, O, who recently returned from a few years in Europe. She pointed out that as an English speaker living in a Hebrew-speaking country, I have an immediate connection with other English speakers even if we have little else in common. It might not be fair to compare the friendliness and closeness I feel among my English-speaking friends to the situation in my synagogue. O. has a point–any feelings of isolation among native Israelis might be exaggerated because of the contrast of my connectedness with fellow English-speakers. However, I am beginning to feel much more comfortable in our shul (although it’s been over seven years!).
Those who live in places with large groups of English speakers, like Beit Shemesh or Raanana, might not have the same experience. Wait until you are in a Hebrew-speaking course and discover one other English-speaker–you are likely to be friends for life.
Haveil Havalim #188 is up at What War Zone.
More on women’s dress at Trilcat, and a response by Frumhouse.
A Shabbat meal vanishes at Israeli Kitchen.
Here’s Leora’s interview with macrobiotic commenter Klara.
Now that we’re through kvetching about our Yom Kippur experiences, we can start analyzing Simchat Torah.
Simchat Torah is a difficult holiday for Orthodox women. It seems like the men are having the fun, while the women are sitting around waiting, watching, and mostly talking. I don’t mind sitting separately the rest of the year, when I am actually praying. But an hour and a half is too long to watch dancing, if you can call it that. My husband pointed out that the teenagers in the shul either went elsewhere or stood talking outside.
Our synagogue cut the hakafot (seven rounds of singing and dancing with the Torah scrolls) short in the morning. This worked out well, although the rabbi didn’t get to give his annual class. Maybe he could switch it to the evening.
They moved two Torah scrolls close to the mechitza (partition), so that the mothers could see and hear their under bar-mitzvah age sons reading. I missed that last year.
Modern Orthodox Singles writes about her experience, and Isramom has a roundup of blog posts on the subject. Be sure to look at Ilana-Davita’s post, and the comments.
Id like to hear more creative solutions for this annual problem.
My son, A., spent half an hour early this morning searching for his wallet. Finally I gave him money for a new bus ticket. After lunch I asked my 4-year-old whether she knew where his wallet was.
When we last met, I was injured at the bottom of a hill near Peduel. At this point I was pretty sure I would recover, so we went to our friends’ house in the community of Revava. I sat and nursed my wounds while others prepared the delicious dinner. During the meal, the wrist on the hand that I used to catch my fall began to throb. I once read that to avoid a broken wrist you should fold your arms when you fall, but I’m not sure that advice applies on a rocky mountain. Anyway, I could not move the wrist and it was so painful that we decided to go to the moked, the after-hours care center for our health fund.
After we dropped off the kids at home, the nurse at the moked put a serious-looking bandage on my leg wound, which had started bleeding again. The doctor printed out a referral to the emergency room for a wrist. So we went from a hilltop in Samaria to an urban hospital in one day. We saw the orthopedist almost immediately. My husband had insisted that I mention bumping my head, even though the bump was so small as not to be noticeable. She wrote that we needed a surgeon to look at it. When I questioned this she said they are not “choffefanim.” The best I can translate that is to say that they don’t do a half-assed job, even though I prefer not to use such language on my blog.
The nurse wrapped up my arm, and another nurse, Ahmed, dressed the wound. The young, blond doctor complained to the nurse (or perhaps intern or medical student) about a patient scheduled for an operation. The operation was delayed because of a different operation. Instead of waiting patiently (no pun intended), he left for home. The previous operation got cancelled, and the hospital lost money because the operating room was ready and waiting for for the second patient.
The x-ray technician commented that Sukkot was the holiday of the “datiim,” or religious Jews, but he loves it. It’s true that because we tend to be busy on Friday and Shabbat, the week-long holiday is an ideal time to travel. Most Israelis seem to ignore Sukkot or leave the country.
Finally the surgeon checked me out and explained that the health ministry requires anyone with a head injury to be under observation for six hours from the appearance at the hospital. But he also gave me the option of signing myself out, which I happily accepted despite the scary language of the form. He promised us me that if I came back, I would get a warm welcome.
I mentioned that I don’t bring my children to the emergency room every time they get a bump, even if it’s the size of a golfball. He admitted that he doesn’t either. “But you’re a doctor,” I pointed out, “although I have six children, so I guess I’m almost a doctor by now.” Okay, I’m not a doctor, but I still have a pretty good idea of when to bring my kids to the ER.
You must know Hebrew, and math, fairly well to get this one:
How is the number 40,320 associated with a Jewish holiday?
Hint: Reduce to prime factors.
This isn’t really a riddle, but my son said that Isru Chag Sukkot (the day after Sukkot, and the last day of vacation) is also known as Yom Hacharisha Ha-leumit (national ploughing/grubbing day). The kids use it to do all the homework they neglected over vacation.
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