Well, it is holiday time once
again! Meals are being planned, clothes are being pressed and the house is
being cleaned; all in preparation for the upcoming holiday, the Jewish New
Year, Rosh Hashana. It seems like the lists of chores and errands that must be
completed before the quickly-approaching holiday arrives are endless. I, for
one, take particular satisfaction in creating intricately detailed spreadsheets
in order to organize our menus for the endless stream of meals that we must
prepare. It takes many many hours of work to go through my previous years’
menus and library of cookbooks in order to decide what exactly gets a place of
honor on this year’s menu. Then I take meticulous care in organizing what dish
will go with what meal, and the ingredients required for each recipe. Finally,
I create a shopping list replete with quantities needed for each item and
organize them by supermarket isle. This way our shopping is stream-lined and we
never need to go back to the supermarket for another round of shopping. (OK, so
perhaps this part doesn’t quite pan out the way we would like it… there’s always
that rouge instant pudding mix or extra dozen eggs that we SWORE we bought but
is nowhere to be found!!) Regardless though, by the time the week of Rosh
Hashana rolls around our menus take their place of honor upon our refrigerator,
hanging in all of their color coded glory!
Yes, planning our many
appetizers, entrées, side dishes, vegetables and desserts is certainly a
massive job. Still though, it doesn’t hold a candle to the actual cooking that
is always soon to follow. Cooking in the Goldsammler household is nothing short
of fantastic. Together, my mother and I become an unbeatable tag team;
roasting, baking, sautéing and boiling our way through the menacing menus that
stand before us. Together we have developed a sort of rhythm; an ebb and flow,
as natural as the tide itself. My mother dices onions as I peel the carrots; my
mother prepares the turkey as I mix up batters. Rarely do tempers flare or
moods falter. When my mother and I are preparing for the holidays it is as if
we are in our own warm little cocoon. In that cocoon the worries of the day
seem to fade into the background and we enjoy each other so deeply that I
almost wish for the cooking to never end. The memories created and the family
stories that are shared in our cozy kitchen are the moments that I cherish
year-long. Each utensil, pot and dish carries with it its own history. I am so
blessed to come from a long line of Jewish women who also found love and
laughter in the kitchen, and even though they have long since passed, I can
still feel their love and laughter as I stir my own pots with the spoons they
themselves once lovingly prepared holiday meals with.
As I approach the holidays this
year I hope to try and remember this joy, this warmth and these moments, as I
stand before G-d. I hope to remind myself of the happiness that permeates my
life and of my enormous fortune in being blessed with a family that is not
afraid to laugh loudly and to love deeply. Yes, my life is at times difficult,
but perhaps this year I will be able to remember that while I cry out to G-d to
heal me in the innumerable ways that only He can, I must also shout out in gratitude
to Him for the supportive and loving family that He has given me, without which
my life would be bereft of the deep joy and love that is so acutely part of who
I am, and who we are together.
I will try my best this year to
remind myself to be grateful for all that I have and whatever G-d chooses to
give me beyond that… well that’s just gravy! (Which, by the way, we have a
GREAT recipe for… :-) )
