Shabbat Shalom and Hag Sameah!

Every July 3 we have a cookout at the Garfield homestead. We eat, we walk to the beach and watch fireworks and then we eat some more. And inevitably every year someone asks, “Where is the cheese for the burgers?”

The answer is: there is no cheese. And why? Because this is a kosher home. We don’t mix dairy products with meat products. It’s a lot more complicated than that and this is why I have invited a special guest to explain the rules of kashrut: 

I don’t consider myself a religious person at all. I keep a kosher home because it’s a tradition in my family. I also know that some of my friends are kosher and therefore they can eat meat in my home. Or chicken. My home is kosher. I’m not.

How does one know if they are walking into a kosher kitchen? Look around. Notice the MANY cabinets. Keeping kosher means a lot of dishes means a lot of cabinets. And I only use the dishwasher for dairy. Some homes have 2 dishwashers. I have enough trouble getting my husband and son to load or empty one, let alone two.

These days I’m not as observant as I used to be. I work on Shabbat (the Sabbath) and I rarely go to services. Except for Friday evenings.

Every Friday at sundown is the beginning of Shabbat. I have a standing gig playing for a service at one of the conservative synagogues in the Boston area.

I play keyboard or piano; depending on which room we’re in. I sing, mostly harmony, with the cantor of the synagogue.  It’s a warm, wonderful evening and lasts for about an hour, sometimes longer. A lot of the same people come each week and it’s a fun, happy group. We sing, we daven (pray) and we have a good time. We change melodies all the time so the service is never boring. We have cool melodies. I even sneak in some rock beats when I can (always the prog rock musician).

For me, this service is a relaxing wind-down after a long but unfinished week. Yes, it’s employment but it’s also spiritual. It’s a true feel good evening. No stress.

There are two wonderful people who make the evening so special: Emil, who is the cantor, a dear friend and a great musician and Becky, who reads this blog faithfully and is there every Friday night waiting for me to do glissandos on the piano. She even counts the amount of times I do a gliss. That’s loyalty!

Tonight starts the holiday of Passover, so there will be no service. We will be ensconced in Seders all over the place. More about Pesach in another post. It’s involved.

So a happy, healthy kosher Pesach to those of my friends who observe.

And of course…Shabbat Shalom!