Thank goodness I took Raphaela to the mall to buy new shoes at the beginning of the week, because the lines for parking at the mall this morning were insane, reminiscent of the pre-Christmas shopping hysteria.
We passed the mall today on the way to the Jerusalem Bibilical Zoo; after I woke up at four am to finish the kitchen for Pessach, and after Raphaela and I had a make-up swim lesson at eight am at the pool down the street. The zoo will be assiduously avoided next week, when the entire Israeli Chareidi population invades, but it fulfilled its purpose on this Friday, when I knew that I needed to get both of us out of the house and into the sun light. It greatly disturbed me that the one exhibit that features pig-like animals -they are actually biologically very large rodents - were removed for the week so as not to offend the Ultra-Orthodox population.
Hopefully we both manage a nap this afternoon, and then Raphaela can truly enjoy the seder this year, a year older and much more aware of the holiday and its meaning.
The one cleaning activity in which I fully involved Raphaela was the ceremony of the taping of the cabinets and drawers. She has become so adept in the kitchen, and she needed to understand that the usual cutlery and dishes will be off-limits for the next week.
For the seder itself, with our adopted Israeli family, I bought Raphaela a festive and yet appropriately girl-ish dress, a white dress. I plan on photographing Raphaela after her bath, within the first five minutes of her wearing the outfit, as I have no reasonable expectation that the dress will survive the evening.
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