The Four Tastes of Pesach?

The purpose of this email is to bring some sympathy and some taste to the Shabbat table. Please print and share...
Wishing Devorah bat Chava and Devorah bas Tikva a continued and complete recovery.
Do you know how many days until Passover?

Quick, can you name the five tastes?

I'm not asking about music, art, literature etc. I'm referring gustatory. (That's food-taste in Anglo-Saxon.)

Answer: Sweet, Salty, Bitter, Sour, Umami

Now, you'd think that with so much daily experience with taste, we'd all understand it quite well.

It turns out that there's a lot of confusion around it. Even coming up with the above list of 5 has many people stumped.

Here's another one: many people were taught for many years that each of the five tastes are limited to specific parts of the tongue:


But is it true?

Try putting something bitter on the front of your tongue or something sweet on the back - can you taste it as bitter or sweet?




What about water? Does it have its own taste, as some people claim?

Yesterday, I was discussing the five tastes with a group of young people and we decided that four of the five are represented at the Pesach Seder. 

Question for your table - which four? Which one is missing and why?

The answer, we think, says something important about Pesach.

 

Shabbat Shalom

PS - There may not be an email next week. If not, chag sameach!
PPS - It isn't too late to get your shmurah matzah.
PPPS - As I mentioned last week, if you want my 2021 Pesach Seder gimmicks-gadgets-and-gifts list, send me an email.

Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers! Like it, tweet it, forward it....

What's the #1 Question?

The purpose of this blog is stir some visions at the Shabbat table. Please print and share...
Wishing Devorah bat Chava and Devorah bas Tikva a speedy and complete recovery.
Do you know how many days until Passover?

  

The purpose of this email is to pause for 24 hours and stop worrying about the future. Please print and share...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week one of my oldest parlor tricks failed.

Here's the trick:

When I meet a new Jewish person who doesn't know me and my modus operandi, I ask them, "Do you have a #1 burning Jewish question you've always wanted the answer to?"

Before they can answer, I say, "Wait, don't answer yet."

I then take a pad of paper and say, "I'm going to write down your question before you say it."

I proceed to scribble on the paper, put it down, and then ask them to state their question. 

It's always - until this week - a variation of the same question.

This week, my trick failed with a Jewish couple. Neither of them said what I had written on the paper.

This anecdote leads to four questions for your table:

1. What do you think I wrote on the paper?
2. What would you guess they asked instead (each asked something different)?
3. How would you guess I responded to their questions not matching what I'd written?
4. What would you have said if I had asked you for your #1 burning Jewish question?

 

Shabbat Shalom

PS - Do you know how many days until Pesach?
PPS - Click on the image for Pesach help.
PPPS - If you want my 2021 Pesach Seder gimmicks-gadgets-and-gifts list, send me an email.

Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers! Like it, tweet it, forward it....

May I Be Brutally Visionary With You?

 

 

 

 

 

The purpose of this email is to pause for 24 hours and stop worrying about the future. Please print and share...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The purpose of this blog is stir some visions at the Shabbat table. Please print and share...
Wishing Devorah bat Chava a speedy and complete recovery.

Do you know how many days until Passover?

Did this ever happen to you?

You have this idea, that may not be very practical, but it's something you very much want to do. You know that success is a long-shot, but you think the idea is so great that it's worth a shot.

You share it with someone you trust, and they say, "May I be brutally honest with you?" and just shoot it down as impractical, with zero appreciation of the vision.

How do you take it?

Now flip it:

Someone who trusts you comes with an idea that you think is 100% impractical and has zero chance of success.

How do you respond? Brutal honesty?

The ultimate question for your table: What would you rather be - an impractical visionary or a brutally honest realist?

Shabbat Shalom
 

Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers! Like it, tweet it, forward it....