Pesach on the Edge

Well, we survived our first Pesach out here. The other frum couple in town invited us for many meal and we had a wonderful time. I have to admit that I sorely miss the dish and political conversations around Blogblond's Shabbos/Yom Tov table. Soulmate and I discuss politics and we discuss it all the time with our family (his parents, aunt, etc.), so I guess I'll have to get my fix on the weekdays.

On the Shabbos before Pesach, I made a minor faux-pas. We were all standing around at the kiddush after shul discussing the upcoming community seder on the first night of Pesach. I asked if anyone knew what time it started. One lady said she hoped it started earlier than last year, when they didn't start until 8.

I said, "Well they can't really start before a certain time."

Wrong thing to say. Suddenly, I had five people around me telling me that they could start whenever they wanted to. One woman said that their seder started at 4 pm last year. I backed away and went to get some more olive dip.

I'm so used to being with Jews who have a certain set of values and who actually subscribe to halacha - I must've forgotten that I wasn't in Kansas anymore, Toto.

The weather here has been sporadic. Last Shabbos, it was sunny and about 70 degrees F. We put on our Shabbos-casual clothes and walked the two miles down to the ocean.



It was a lovely day and Victoria has some really cute neighborhoods we walked through. On Sunday, we met Soulmate's parents (have I mentioned how much I absolutely love them?) for a picnic and then saw an IMAX movie. Victoria is so accessible. We drove to the picnic, but we could've easily walked. We did walk from the picnic to the IMAX. It's so refreshing to be able to get around safely and pleasantly on foot - couldn't do that in Detroit.

Pesach Cleaning and the Michigan Democratic Party

I tackled the living room this morning and am so far immensely satisfied with the results. Soulmate and I are having a low-key Shabbos I preparation for the big Pesach kitchen-conversion on Sunday.

I had wondered if the U.S. Postal Service was going to actually forward my mail to Canada. So, far, I've received two pieces (bills, of course). However, today I was leafing through the mail and saw an envelope addressed by hand to me at my new address. A quick glance at the return address revealed that the letter was from the enterprising folks at the Michigan Democratic Party. Now, I confess to having been a card-carrying member of the MDP a few years ago, but have had no contact with them since then. Somehow, the eager beavers at MDP headquarters in Lansing were able to get my address here in Canada and send me a plea to re-up my membership. WTF? I'm sorry, wouldn't you think that if someone moves not just out of the state, but out of the country, perhaps they are no longer interested? It was $0.39 well spent, guys.

Work Avoidance

Just a quick blog entry before I dive into the bedroom to clean it for Pesach. This is more challenging than it sounds. My shipment of stuff arrived two days ago and there are boxes everywhere. I adore our little house, but it is definitely deficient in storage.

I has been just gorgeous in Victoria for the past few days. Yesterday, it was 80 degrees on our front porch in the sunlight. Soulmate and I have taken to picnicking around the city at lunch. Here is one of our favorite places:

Last night the local Chabad had a women's event at an esthetics salon. I went, had a nice time, and learned about skin care, but I also learned that I'm much happier in my own company than in "tolerable" company. The women were perfectly nice and sweet, but I didn't sense in that any of them were kindred spirits. Ah well, it took me awhile to find M.H. when I was first becoming frum and she is quite irreplaceable. I guess these things will just sort themselves out.

In the meantime, I'm off to the bedroom to shlep and vacuum (did most of the dusting already and Soulmate did a fab job with the top of the dresser last night).

Galus

I know that one of the reasons A.S. started this blog, was to write about our adventures in a very small Jewish community. As one of her friends said, when she looked up where Victoria is, she now understood the meaning of ‘a schlep and a half’. Here is an example of how far in galus we are here. A few weeks ago I was excited to discover that we were having a Jewish film festival in Victoria, and more so when I learned that a movie I’d wanted to see for ages was playing. Then last week I was looking at the schedule and discovered that the festival was starting on Friday night. With that one item, I realized how disconnected we are from the rest of the Jewish world here.

Having to travel to Vancouver for various food stuffs or to satisfy the craving for a burger in a restaurant all became very small, when I realized that the film festival was starting on Shabbos. It wasn’t that there was anything on that night I wanted to see. No, it was the fact that the Jewish community here is so divorced from our basic mitzvot, that a Jew would begin the film festival he is running on Shabbos, and that Jews would attend it. I went to see a film (Ushpizin) motzei Shabbos, and ran into people I know from the community, and in talking with them discovered how many of them were there the night before (okay, I know that I should probably not have attended on principal, but it was a chance to watch a frum Jewish movie with other Jews, and one I’d wanted to see for the better part of a year).

I find myself struggling now. Do we move to be in a ‘real’ Jewish community, or do we continue to work to try and inspire Yiddishkeit in the community here? I admire A.S. for moving to be here with me, not only away from her friends, but away from a community where being frum is not considered weird. While watching Ushpizin, people in the audience were laughing at things we view as being normal as a frum couple. While my dream is for us to get other Jews together and to setup a moshav somewhere on Vancouver Island, I am now struggling with whether or not we’d be better off living somewhere with a strong pre-existing community.