Ode to Savta

My amazing, wonderful, fantabulous grandmother has had enough of us drying all of clothes in the living room with the space heater. "Avraham and I want to buy you a dryer," she said. Jonathan and I told her we'd have to get back to her - that's a HUGE gift, I didn't know if we could accept it. The next day she calls back and leaves a message: "Hi, this is Savta. This is ridiculous, I ordered you a dryer. It's a gift, you have to accept it. No strings attached. It should be there in a few days." THEN she says she's getting a new washing machine, so she's giving us hers! It's eons newer than the clunker in our apartment. So as of right now, we have a dryer being delivered tomorrow, and a washing machine coming next week. And as if that wasn't enough, she sent us a package with flannel sheets and a comforter, plus a supply of hats, mittens, and scarves.

Life is good. Winter will be vanquished.

Life is also fabulous because Jonathan and I made homemade lasagna. No, of course we didn't make the noodles, hah - but we DID layer in noodles and a mix of cottage cheese/bulgarit (like feta), made our own sauce, and browned and spiced meat. So we had a lovely, albeit entirely unkosher dinner. I'm in heaven. CHEEESE!

And random trivia of the day, courtesy of my Bible class: Any city with Beit (house) in its name originally had a temple and a god parked in the center of the town. The most famous example is Bethlehem, aka Beit Lechem, aka Beit Lachmo. Who was Lachmo, you ask? The Canaanite god of vegetation, back in the day!

And I found out why the Book of Maccabees isn't included in the Hebrew Bible, but is in the Apocropha, even though it's very close in time to the last few books of the Tanach - it was writen by the Saducees, who portrayed themselves as heroes. But the Deuteronomic editors of the Bible were Pharisees, the opposing party. It was purely a political decision!

(And yes, I know this is three posts in one night. I have a Hebrew test tomorrow. Procrastination, anyone?)