Playing dress-up

Clothes, everyone says, make the man. I happen to ignore fashion as much as I can so I suppose I am un-made. Oh, well.

What do the High Priest's clothes make of the High Priest? Well, there's a lot of gold and precious stones and excellent fabrics. So we can assume that it makes him impressive and gets him respect from the people as befitting his high station. You know the dangers of assuming, right?

In Shemot, chapter 28, verses 9-12 there is a description of two stones that Aharon has to carry on his shoulders. The names of all the tribes are to be written on these stones. Stones! on his shoulders! And the guy is no youngster, you know, he is Moshe's older brother.

Then, later in the chapter there is a description of the choshen, a heavy gold tablet embedded with precious stones (!) that the poor guy has to carry upon his heart (Verses 29-30) at all times.

Are they trying to kill the man?

Aharon, and every Kohen Gadol after him, must remember at all times that, even if they are dressed in gold, rubies and silk, they are nothing more than emissaries before G-d. They are there to perform a duty. And they are there with a (heavy) responsibility. Which is why they have to carry it upon their shoulders and their heart. Caring for people is not an easy task. At times you really do feel as if they are sitting on your shoulders like an albatross. And certainly the Israelites are heavy on one's heart. Look what they did to Moshe. So a high priest must never think himself too high and mighty because he is well dressed and speaks to G-d in the holy of hollies. The stones on his shoulders and upon his heart are to remind him of the heavy load of responsibility. Of the people on whose behalf he is speaking to G-d.

We can only hope that our spiritual leaders today will remember this even without wearing rocks around their necks.

All the gold in this parasha reminds me of squash. I know, I know, who makes these associations? Well, I do. I don't care for actual gold, but I do care for golden food. Like squash (butternut or acorn or even pumpkin). My friend Lisa makes these squash muffins that my children love. What could I do? I asked for the recipe.


Squash Muffins


Mix together:

3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg


In another bowl mix:

1 cup milk (can be soy or coconut, if you want it parve)
1 and 1/2 cups cooked, mashed squash
1/2 cup softened margarine (can use soy)
2 eggs.



Add wet mixture to dry. Mix only until everything is wet. Do not overmix.
Put in muffin tins (either sprayed or lined).
Bake at 350F for 22 minutes, then at 300F for an extra 10 minutes.

I do not know how many this makes as they seem to disappear the minute I take them out of the oven. Call it 18 muffins.

Not quite the same thing

Build a mishkan, said G-d, here are the blueprints. I have made them as detailed as possible so you won't have any problems.

Really? because these people, who don't know much about being a free people, or a civilized society, or warriors, or how to judge a new land, also have no idea how to built special stuff. Because they, like, did not spend the last 400 years building stuff for a king.

So, what? G-d doesn't know that? Sure He does. But they don't. These master builders know how to build as slaves. They know how to build for a king who is human and so is mostly interested in his own glory. They have no clue how to tell the difference between that sort of building and building as free people, for the glory of G-d. 

I believe that those super detailed instructions were intended to call their minds to the fact that this is not a pyramid. This is not to glorify a human king. This is a creation that is meant to enhance the relationship between free people and the One they have accepted as their supreme ruler. Of their own free will. For their own benefit. No oppression, no cruel supervisors, no unreasonable demands. This is a labor of love.


Just because some things look alike, doesn't mean they are alike. Take pasta sauce. We were visiting my friend Debbie on Chanukah and she served a dairy meal (either in honor of Yehudit, or out of fear of my oldest daughter; I'm not sure which.) There were salads and latkes and a pasta bar. That is, we had a bunch of pasta and a bunch of sauces and a bunch of toppings and you made your own. Which is all good and well (and fun and tasty) except the newest daughter in law cannot eat tomatoes or dairy.

Now, you have already met this girl. It was at her wedding that I had that yummy butternut squash soup and she had since had this delicious baby girl who is absolutely adorable. So I felt responsible to step in and help. Can I make a pasta sauce that will look and taste like tomato sauce but will not have any tomatoes in it?

Are you kidding? Of course I can.


Tomato-free pasta sauce

6 medium red bell peppers (get ones with nice thick flesh)
1 medium onion, chopped (3/4 cup)
3 large garlic cloves (about one tablespoon), minced
1/3 cup shallots, chopped
3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp each: Italian seasoning, oregano, thyme
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Pinch black pepper


Broil peppers until skins char all over. Place in a covered pot until cool enough to touch. Peel peppers and keep them in a bowl so liquid collects at the bottom. You need this liquid.

Saute onion in oil over medium high heat until light brown (about 6 minutes). Add shallots and herbs and continue to saute until soft (about 3 minutes). 

Add garlic. Cook one minute. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Combine peppers, their liquid (mine had about 1/4 cup liquid) and the onion mixture in the food processor and process (scraping down the sides) until you like the consistency. You may wish to add a little broth or some pasta cooking water if you like the sauce to be less thick. But this is not a smooth sauce.

Add salt and pepper and serve over pasta.

Makes about 2 cups.




And how does it taste? Well, hubby was convinced it was regular tomato sauce. Not that it is any indication, you understand, as the man will eat anything that is standing still or even moving slowly. Still, my highly gourmet oriented daughter absolutely l-o-v-e-d it, and she's mighty picky about her veggies. It was good.

Basics

I read the list of important rules Moshe gives the Israelites this week and I gotta wonder: Were these people dumb, or just really, really stupid? They don't know that you should be fair in court? that you need to pay for losses or damages? that you should not lie? Seriously? But these are such basic rules. Any child knows them.

Well, yeah. Now they do. We all live in a (more or less) civilized society. No one but a criminal will think of stealing, killing or taking bribes. We tend to take it for granted. Or, at most, consider it something that all civilized people know instinctively.

But for most of human history, this was not at all true. Usually, what happened was that the strongest person ruled and they were as nice or as horrid as their personality allowed. The peasants managed to survive by copying their rulers. Thus, if the king was a mad sadist, the rest of the country managed to be cruel and nasty to each other: steal, cheat, fight and kill.

Unfortunately, this is human nature. Power corrupts. If no one will stop you, you'll do whatever you want. Like a two year old. The only reason our society does not behave like a bunch of terrible twos is that parents, as emissaries of law and order, drill it into the kids when they are still young enough to have to obey. We mold these kids into decent human beings or the world would be run over with little Stalins.

And the only reason we have law and order and the notion of decent behavior is because, a long long long time ago, one man stood in the desert and explained that this is how G-d wants us to be. And it became so wide spread that now we take it for granted as if it is a basic instinct.

But our ancestors in the desert had no idea about such newfangled notions. They knew that the strong (Egyptians) oppress the weak (Jews) and make them do whatever the strong want them to do, to the benefit of the strong, at the expense of the weak. That's no way to run a culture, you say? Need I remind you of the many, many, human cultures that were run exactly like that? Granted, they all fail eventually, but a slave has no vision of 'eventually'.

So G-d had to teach them the basics. And thank G-d He did.

I learned how to make the following dish from my neighbor, Donna, who was into Indian flavors. It's rice, so it's basic, yet it has some twists. It comes out a rich sunny shade of yellow and the spices make it perfumed.

Of course, I made it so many times, that my kids think it's no big deal. Just basic food, ya know?


Yellow Rice


2 cups Basmati rice
2 and 2/3 cups water
1 and 1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp turmeric
3-4 whole cloves
1 inch long cinnamon stick
3 bay leaves
3 Tbs butter or margarine


Wash rice thoroughly and soak in 5 cups of water for about 30 minutes. Drain.
Combine rice and the rest of the ingredients, except the butter, in a pot. Bring to a boil. Cover well and cook 25 minutes over very low heat.
Turn the heat off and leave the pot unopened for another 10 minutes.
Gently mix butter in.
Remove cinnamon stick, cloves and bay leaves before serving.

Serves 4-6




And never, ever, ever, take our civilized society for granted. 

Just a suggestion

It's very important to know exactly how to give advice. Take Yitro. He gave Moshe an excellent advice: "Look, son, you're running yourself ragged here. These Israelites will drive you to an early grave. Trust me, I know. Heck, everyone knows. Jews are world class kvetchers. Here's what you need to do. Delegate; Delegate; Delegate."

That is, as I said, excellent advice. However, Yitro must have been close friends with both my mother and my mother in law. Like these two excellent advice-givers, he, too, starts off with the Jewish mother's famous words "What you're doing is not good." After such an opening, how do you expect the advised to pay any attention?

My mother never offers advice. She simply tells me what I'm doing wrong and how typical it is of me to be wrong. Then she sighs and utters the second famous Jewish mother's words "I told you what I think. You do what you want." 

My MIL doesn't tell me I am wrong (after all, she really has no expectations of me at all.) Instead she uses the words "Not right" and "Shouldn't." As in "You shouldn't let your kids do their homework on Shabbat" (Since I just finished telling her that Shabbat is the only day the poor girls don't kill themselves over their work.) Or "It's not right of you to feed your family pizza on Friday" (Remember that one?)

So I know what I'm talking about regarding the proper opening lines for giving advice. OK, so how did Yitro get so lucky that Moshe not only listened, not only did not resent him but actually followed the advice? Because one thing we keep hearing about Moshe is that he is very humble. Not just before G-d (see his words at the burning bush) but before people, too. 

You'd think the man will get a megalomania complex. Leader of people, emancipator of slaves, teacher of a sacred text, the only human to talk face to face with G-d. What more can one ask for?

But no. He is really, really humble. He listens to everyone; he considers everyone; he never once uses his position for extra favors. So it's no surprise that he pays close attention to his father in law when the old guy gives him a tip.

I'm not as smart as Yitro (nor as old, I think) but at least I will not start my advice with "What you are doing is not good."

What you are doing is throwing away unwanted pieces of vegetables when you cook. Mushroom stems, cauliflower leaves, broccoli stems, the dark green parts of leeks, bits and pieces of zucchini, carrots, squash, whatever. Also veggies that are not quite at their prime usually get tossed (unless you make soup.) Then you read a recipe that calls for vegetable broth and you go to the store and pay good money for some product that is mostly water with salt.

So here's a tip:


Home made vegetable broth

Every time you process veggies for anything, take an extra 2 minutes to process them in a way that will allow you to save the parts you usually throw out. Usually it means some extra washing and more careful chopping. 
Put all scraps in a gallon size zip-top bag and store in the freezer. Keep adding to it whenever you have more scraps.
Once the bag is stuffed to bursting, empty it into a large pot, add an onion (if you don't have any scraps of the onion-y type), whatever old veggies you have on hand (limp celery, dried out baby carrots, any and all root veggies that are past their prime, whatever*.) Cover with water. Add salt only if you want to. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover, cook for 2-3 hours. 
Strain. Throw out veggies. Now you have broth (with or without salt, your choice.) You can freeze it, can it, whatever. We put it in jars and process (like canning.)The important part is to store it in portions so you don't have to use the whole thing at once.
When you have to cook something that calls for broth (or even rice or quinoa) you can use it and feel virtuous and smart.

*As you get used to this process - you will think of other veggie scraps you can save for the broth. Please let me know which veggies you came up with.