Some Reign Must Fall?

The purpose of this blog is to bring some clement weather to the Shabbat table....please print and share.

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Quick trivia question for your table - What does 95-year-old Queen Elizabeth and the Pharaoh of Egypt (in the Passover story) have in common?

A: They're both called "Mummy". (Seriously - that's actually what her children call her.)

Here's how it happened (the Queen part, not the Mummy part):

On February 6, 1952, King Albert Frederick Arthur George (George VI) died in his sleep. He was only 56. (He had been a heavy smoker and suffered from lung cancer and related infirmities.)

On the Hebrew calendar, that was the 10th of Shevat, just about 70 years ago.

In addition to being the King of England, Scotland, Wales and beyond, he was the last Emperor of India.

At the moment of his last breath, his daughter Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II.

Elizabeth, heading Down Under, immediately returned to London to plan her coronation.

It's not every day that a person gets coronated, especially not as Head of the British Commonwealth, so naturally she wanted it to be well planned. 

The planning took more than a year and much of it was guided by tradition, going back to King Arthur I'm sure. 

But one of the hardest decisions to make was the date. Her Majesty gathered the most expert British meteorologists to determine the ideal date for the Coronation. They advised her that June 2 would offer the very best odds of fair weather: based on hundreds of years of records, they assured her that there her that a June 2 coronation was almost certain to be blessed with blue skies.

Ahh... the pageantry! The pomp and circumstance! The ornaments! The horses! And it was broadcast around the world on the new fangled television. 

The latter decision displeased Churchill. He told the House of Commons, "It would be unfitting that the whole ceremony, not only in its secular but also in its religious and spiritual aspects, should be presented as if it were a theatrical performance."

Alas, perhaps in his honor (or perhaps not) - it rained!

Now, you might say how unfortunate for her that it rained on her parade! That's not how these fairy-tale moments are supposed to go.

So here's a question for your table: In what way might that rainfall have been the very best thing that could have happened to Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor on her coronation day?


Shabbat Shalom


PS - Speaking of milestones, here are 10 ways to hear this week's 10th Episode of our weekly 7-minute Body&Soul podcast, "It's a Mitzvah to Eat ______" ... 

iTunes/iPhone … YidPod … Spotify … Google Podcasts … Pocketcasts … Stitcher … Podbean … Amazon Podcasts … RSS … or just on the web.
 

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The Shortest Distance

The purpose of this blog is to take the scenic route at the Shabbat table... Please share...

Mazal tov to Moshe Yitzchak and Goldy (Seinfeld) Steiner on their wedding this week. 

For the above-mentioned nuptials, my sister flew in and out of Washington Dulles Airport, which is southwest of Baltimore.

The shortest drive takes you down I-95 then around the Washington Beltway to Virginia, then due west.

After dropping them off, we asked Waze to get us home and it took us 20 miles further west, then north through rolling hills of gorgeous wintertime Virginia and Maryland farmland, before circling us back eastward towards Baltimore.
Waze didn't tell us how how much time we saved (it should!), avoiding commuter traffic. It could have been thirty minutes faster, maybe it was only five minutes faster. Maybe it was even slower. 

I don't really care because it was a most pleasant drive!

Moral of the story: the shortest distance between two points is not always the most enjoyable distance.

 Moral of the story: the shortest distance between two points is not always a straight line.

About 21 years ago, in Misgav Ladach Hospital, Jerusalem, 2 babies were born a mere 36 days apart.

Both families eventually left Israel, moving several times around North America before landing in Baltimore, a mere mile apart.

Both children grew up happy, energetic, kind... and feeling a pull to return to Israel.

Moral of the story: the shortest distance is not always a straight line.

When wishing someone success in getting married or having a baby, there is a custom to say, "B'shah tovah" - meaning, "May it happen at the right time."

Question for your table - do you believe in fate, luck, neither, or both?


Shabbat Shalom

PS - Yes, the pic above is clickable...

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