Question! About Shabbos . . . .

In the comments of my last post, Anonymous (and I) asked how Orthodox Jews hire people on Shabbos. JRK answered that question beatifully (thanks JRK!), so here's another one  . . . with a bit of a preamble . . .

According to Jew in the City (see above): "The resting that you do on the Sabbath comes from emulating what God did when he finished creating the world . . .When God rested on Shabbos all creative activity stopped. Therefore when we rest on Shabbos, we stop creating too". If this is the case, then: Why is it a mitzvah to have sex on Shabbat ? (unless - I presume -  the sex is premarital, extramarital, homosexual, and whatever other categories are prohibited). What's more creative in a God-like way than making a baby?  I don't quite get the jump from the "theory" of resting based on emulating to God, to the "practice", of not emulating the tabernacle builders.

An aside on the topic of Shabbos, my 4 year old son is SUPREMELY interested in figuring out how things -particularly mechanical and electronic ones-  work. He is therefore a little "dangerous" to have around our Shomer Shabbos friends/relatives on Shabbat/Yom Tov. Today we had to really suppress our laughter when we learned that while we were having Friday night dinner at my in-laws, Mini CL had managed to reset the light timers in the den,  turn the TV to a low buzz, and set my FIL's wristwatch to go off every hour. If for nothing else, mixed religious observance in families is good for occasional comic relief. We've tried to explain that we don't push buttons at Bubbie and Zaide's on Shabbos, but  clearly the message didn't quite go through.  Admittedly, some of the messages are very mixed . . .we can't call Bubbie on Shabbos, but when Zaide is out at Shul, she can call us. Bubbie won't drive, but she'll take a ride from us, or the bus . . . etc.

Question! $ $ $

Since halacha requires that people follow the law of the land (from what I understand), would getting paid under the table violate halacha?

Some Diversion . . .

http://poponandon.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Starships-Nicki-Minaj1.jpg

Last year I posted a video of Opera in Yiddish, and here is an incredible meeting of cultures with a Chassidic  remix with Yiddish rap of Nicki Manaj's Starships. Two things that I was surprised by from the video: 1) I thought listening to music like Nicki Menaj's (which one presumably would have to do in order to make a remix) was strictly verboten with the big furry hat and white knee-highs crowd. And 2) I was very surprised to hear Kol Isha in this context.

Also, I recently was directed to a new OTD blog that I'm enjoying, so for your reading pleasure, please visit: My Derech, On and Off..

On a Scale of One to Ten, This Passover Was . . .

a Seven. Not too bad. The seders were small and kid focused, with an excellent Food:Haggadah ratio. There won't be a Behind the Scenes post next year :). The first night was just songs and food. (Mr. CL took me by surprise, and actually skipped the story of Exodus in its entirety). The second night at my SIL's, the kids were quite engaged with the BINGO, and my SIL also was able to read her crowd, and abridge.  During my SIL's seder a few of the times she read about how we thank God for protecting us, and Mr. CL would add "except when he didn't!". We're not thaaaat far off in our mentalities.

The second day of Chag, Mr. CL stayed home from work, and the kids were in daycare. Between my clients we took a long walk, and had a good conversation re: why last year's second seder was such a mess. I stated the convo by saying that I found it so weird that he thinks omitting the story of Exodus doesn't alter the seder too much, but putting a Humanistic spin does. He explained that for him the story is pretty much irrelevant. As far as he's concerned, there are more important things in Jewish history/ far greater hardships we've endured to discuss. (And if he just gave the Humanistic Haggaddah a chance and READ it, he'd see that that sentiment is expressed there. But I digress). Anyway, for him, like for me, the main thing is celebrating with the bigger community by getting together with family, singing the songs etc.

He explained that what made him mad, was that he was the one who cooked/sorted dishes, cleaned out chometz etc., and then I was using his effort, taking over with a Haggaddah he doesn't agree with, and calling it "my" seder. I explained that that was all good and well but, I don't care for kashering our kitchen le pesach. I don't see the point - We. Don't. Keep. Kosher. I personally want nothing to do with a kosher kitchen in my house.  I tolerate the overhauling of the kitchen for the week, but I do find it a total and unnecessary nuisance - particularly when I get snapped at for what I consider idiotic minutae like accidentally using a milk fork with a meat plate*.   In other words, I tolerate a certain amount of meshugas from him over the course of the week of pesach, and therefore, he should consider tolerating a bit of my meshugas as well. He didn't say anything. I'm an optimist, so I'll take that as agreement . . .ha! In any case, I'm glad we talked about it, and may this be the biggest of our problems.

The rest of the week was also much better. Mr. CL took JRKmommy's suggestion from last year's comments and we ate a lot of "real food" which meant the week didn't feel nearly as long and bloated as it usually does (for me, anyway). So, not too bad, overall. But, glad it's over! How were your seders/pesachs?


 *I get that in an Orthodox household this is not minutae, but really in our house the rest of the year, a plate is just a plate, and a fork is just a fork. And I like it that way! That feels sane and ordered to me. The week of Passover I feel like I'm living in a communally induced mental illness. Did I mention Halacha is not my thing :p?