election confusion

A few months ago, because my rabbi asked the congregation to do so, I registered to vote in the election for the World Zionist Congress. Our rabbis said that the outcome of this vote affects policy, allocation of funds, etc to the various movements in Israel, but they haven't gone into much detail yet.

My ballot arrived yesterday. Thus far I've also received one phone call and two paper mailnigs soliciting my vote for particular candidates. Our rabbis are encouraging a particular candidate. (Each "candidate" is really a slate, and you can't split your vote.)

The ballot was accompanied by brief platforms from the 11 slates in the running. It also, of course, came with instructions on how to cast a vote.

The only thing missing from all of this is a clear statement of what this vote accomplishes. I mean, each slate has its own areas of emphasis, but in order to choose intelligently, I have to know what the winners actually have the power to do.

This is not a vote for the government of Israel; even if this were the right time for such a vote, I'm not elligible. This seems to be tied into the government in some vague, unspecified way, though, and one of the solicitations I received was signed by a member of the Knesset.

I guess I will have to ask my rabbis for more information. The election web site doesn't contain this information either. Bah.

( My assessments of the slates: )

kitniyot

Pesach is in a few weeks, and this week at services Rabbi Freedman gave his kitniyot rant (as he described it).

Kitniyot is a class of food that isn't, strictly speaking, forbidden during Passover, but the Ashkenazi world has a long tradition of banning it as a fence. This includes foods such as rice, legumes, corn, peanuts, and their derivatives. (This is, for example, why you'll be able to find special Coke in the stores in a couple weeks. Corn syrup is kitniyot, but some bottlers produce Coke with real sugar for Passover. Even if you don't keep kosher or care about kitniyot, this is a score for taste reasons.)

Rabbi Freedman believes that kitniyot has made things so complicated that less-committed Jews just throw up their hands and don't try to do kosher-for-Pesach at all. So he is encouraging people to eat kitniyot and focus the energy they save on the real issues, the 5 grains and leavening. Eat the peanut butter and don't worry about the Coke, but really clean out the bread and cakes and beer. A worthy goal; I wonder if anyone who was there will actually follow up.

My personal practice thus far has been to not stress about kitniyot but not offer it to guests (in case they keep that stringency). And I avoid "deliberate kitniyot" -- that is, corn syrup in the Coke is ok but I probably won't actually cook up a pot of rice and beans.

misc

We had an On the Mark practice this afternoon. I think we're in good shape for the con in two weeks. Now as soon as they tell us whether we're doing one long concert or two shorter ones, I can finalize the set list.

Soon we have to actually have a discussion with our prospective new members, and I have to photocopy music and stuff for them.

Dani is a sweetie. He had already agreed (a while back) to pick me up at the airport Sunday afternoon/evening when my plane gets in from the con. Tonight I asked him if he would take me to the airport Friday morning before he goes to work, and he agreed. That saves me either $45 or a lot of time mucking with public transit. (My plane leaves at 10:30, which means I'm supposed to be there at 8:30.)

Passover is in a few weeks, which means we'll be in Toronto for several days. I wonder if Dani's relatives have figured out who's doing the seders yet. I need to remember to contact my cat-sitter.

I really enjoyed Ralph's D&D game on Wednesday. It started off light and kind of silly but ended with Plot Development that involves my character's home town. I've commented on this game in Ralph's journal because he wrote about it, but I hadn't gotten around to mentioning it here yet. I still have to produce the Larissa's-eye view of recent events for the game log.

The observation (from Ralph) that characters can cooperate in creating magic items has opened up all sorts of possibilities. I wasn't going to take item-creation feats; as a sorceress I don't get that many spells, so these feats seem limited. But if someone else can supply the spell... so I took Craft Wondrous Item and am now trying to figure out what things are useful, available, and affordable with my current level and resources. Aside from my familiar's mage-armor gadget, which was my top priority.

Next weekend Seth and Karen come to visit. Yay! I am looking forward to this.