The Chag Ha-sinpaddim is two days in the land, three days outside.
Why is this?
Because outside the land one celebrates not only the chag itself, but also the fact that one is outside the land.
But another opinion is that without liquor one cannot possibly stomach corned beef and cabbage - a punishment (chumrah) that they do not actually observe inside the land. It is accepted custom to eat the leftovers before they turn green, hence the additional day.
[Eating corned beef and cabbage is, d'rabbanan, one of the mitzvos asei shehazaman grama from which women are excused. It is enough that they HEAR it. ]
As the Dubliner Maggid said, "everything is dependent upon either beans or fermentation - no wonder life stinks".
How wise these words.
Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzhok, 1040 - 1105) says that one goes from the lesser to the greater - start with Guiness, finish with Whiskey. But Rabbeinu Tam (Yakov ben Meir, 1100 - 1171) advocates the Whiskey first, going by the hair. Many modern Chassidim hedge their bets by doing both. But this is kilayim!
According to the Mishneh Toreh, there are five prohibited mixings: plowing by cattle and asses in the same furrow, grapes and other crops in the same arbor, wool and linen in the same garment, Jews and Midianites in the same world, and hard and soft liquor at the same meal (one should wait six hours in the land, or three hours in Boro Park).
Errrm, enough with the St. Paddy shtuss - happy Policeman's Heritage Day, y'all.
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For a complete calendar of feasts and fasts, please see this post:http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2007/09/jewish-calendar-for-5768.html
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In other news, there is a fascinating discussion of bedikes on Dovbear's blog.
[See here: http://dovbear.blogspot.com/2008/03/perfect-example-of-how-over-ritualized.html ]
Bedikes invariably reminds me of Renegade Rebbetzin, Potatoes Paprikash, what Dovbear eats after the fast (Letsho), the two Irish girls I used to work with down in Palo Alto, vitamin C, Lucky Strike Filter cigarettes, Motzei Shabbes. There is a logical sequence to that series of associations. But I do not want to explain it in any great detail - you already have some doubts about how grounded I am on a Monday, right?
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3 comments:
Hmm, I thought I was coming down with a cold, but it's possible I'm just suffering from a proxy hangover, as a part-Irish lass who failed to imbibe at all (or even to wear green) on the pagan- er, snake-bashing holiday.
I recall this event from my youth in the frozen North. The bars would serve green beer at one dollar for two quarts. By the end of the day, the town was fairly covered in green vomit. Of course, since it would stay below zero for another month or so, the public monuments (made of green vomit) to ones embarassing behavior would stay frozen, visible and green till mid-April.
It it ever falls on the same date as Purim ("Pour'em") we're all in trouble.
R
Either brilliant or insane.
I'm inclined to believe the latter.
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