Swirling Thoughts #70 – old flour and a new way of dressing

Wow! If you google ‘kemach yashon’ my first blog post comes up!
Back when my thoughts were truly swirling I wondered about the logistics of keeping kemach yashon in Israel. For those of you who’ve been clinging to the edge of your seat ever since….

A quick oversimplified lesson in Yashon. Disclaimer: I am not a rabbi.
Chadash is new wheat, Yashon is old. We are careful not to eat from the new (harvested after Pesah) crop of wheat. Translated to things we would actually buy in the supermarket, this becomes relevant for items such as flour, cereal and pasta from about Sukkot until Pesah. In NY searching for items bearing kemach yashon labeling became a preoccupation of mine spanning two seasons. To the point where friends would accuse me of making aliyah so that I would no longer have to deal with kemach yashon. You see, wheat products made in Israel automatically use the old wheat. Essentially, you don’t have to worry about the chadash.

But I live in an Anglo neighborhood where Cheerios and Ronzoni abound. And so I inquired. The answer, as expected: if it’s imported, be careful about the yashon status. (Read: stick with the Israeli stuff). So now I’m bypassing the Ronzoni and looking at the Osem Perfecto pasta. Produced in cooperation with Osem by Pasta Zara Via Castellana, Treviso, Italy? I read the rest of the label (this is the real reason I study in ulpan) looking for some mention of yashon. And what do you know – an official stamp reading: “Don’t worry about the Chadash”

Do I want to invite meat to my house?
While it sounds deeply philosophical, it’s just a poorly translated question from the midnight delivery butcher shop. The butcher shop butchering.

And so I decline meat and invite pizza (for my kids) as I try to make my way to Tel Aviv for a family wedding. I briefly consider a Bordeaux ensemble that involves 3 inch squeezy toe heels. And then I look at my feet. Swollen beyond recognition. I remember the photos from Bob’s Tel Aviv cousin’s wedding last summer. There were flower girls wearing white denim jean shorts. And so I embrace the Israeli custom of under-dressing. I managed something fancy on top complete with pretty head scarf, sparkling hair clips, heavy eye-makeup, jewelry and a pretty blouse that will hopefully distract from my black elastic waist maternity skirt and the shep sheps on my feet. That’s right. The whole outfit was designed around the shep sheps.