THREE IN BRIEF

Number the first:
I have added 'Midianite Manna' to my blogroll ( http://www.midianitemanna.blogspot.com/ ).
I would've done so sooner, but until it was clear that she was ready to step into the bloglight, I held off. Then I saw a post of hers featured on Dovbear (here: http://dovbear.blogspot.com/2007/03/medium-quality-post.html ).
Well okay then. Cat out of bag, so to speak.
I enjoy reading her (especially her comments on certain other blogs, like, fer instance, Dovbear's feuilleton http://dovbear.blogspot.com/ ). I think you will too.


Number the second:
Robbie ( http://rjmedwed.blogspot.com/ ) wishes you a chag sameach, and has some recipes.
Robbie's aunt Sarah ALSO has some recipes...... but to get them, you will have to go to Robbie's blog (this posting: http://rjmedwed.blogspot.com/2007/04/robbies-recipes-part-3-aunt-sarah_2337.html ).
Potato kugel, matzah balls, and gefilte fish.
You might also note his blog-posting labels. The recent food postings seem to be labelled as 'jewy jew jew'.
I cannot wait until the logical corrolary shows up: Southern barbecue under 'goooey goy guys'.


Number the third:
Vesom sechel (Rabbi Joshua Maroof http://vesomsechel.blogspot.com/) has a long posting wich you should actually have read a few days ago, before Peysach started (here: http://vesomsechel.blogspot.com/2007/03/pesah-and-matsah-and-maror-but-why.html) but it is never too late.
He also has a guide to the laws of Passover (here: http://vesomsechel.blogspot.com/2007/03/guide-to-laws-of-passover.html).
Again, it would've been better had I seen this before the holiday started - my fault, I was somewhat preoccupied. But it is never too late.


Note: The final line of his guide is somewhat amusing: "One should make every effort to complete the entire Seder , including Hallel, before "midnight" (in Rockville this year, 1:12 AM; in NYC, 12:59 AM). If this is not possible, one should at least eat the afikoman before this time."

Why amusing?

Because the midnight it refers to is based on Halachic hours, which are the equal divisions of the time between sunrise and sunset, and therefore vary from place to place and day to day as the seasons wax and wane.

According to the Rambam, an hour according to Halacha is one precise twelfth of daylight - in summer, the hours are longer than in winter. But that means that a day is from the beginning of the light of day (whenever that is - also a problem) to the end of the light of day (and, like dawn, also problem). This is not how the Torah tells it - we know that a day begins at nightfall. But for calculation purposes, the halachic hour takes the period between sunrise and sunset into account.

In addition, nightfall is defined as the appearance of stars - which varies also, most of the time being before sunset, sometimes after (it isn't haphazard, but can actually be calculated, though I will not bore you or myself with the details).

What all of this means is that the day, for time-measuring purposes, is taken to begin at a point between dawn and sunrise, and end at a point between sunset and the appearance of stars. The exact points cannot be determined, ergo the precise division of time necessarily has a fuzziness. Halachically, the time in between dawn and sunrise, and the time in between sunset and the appearance of stars, is both day and night, and neither day nor night.

And again, this varies from place to place and season to season. Time is strictly local, and dependent upon strictly local time.

Midnight is a zen concept.