Confessions of a levi’s wife

In honor of Parshat Ki Tisa (which describes, inter alia*, how the leviim didn’t participate in Chet HaEgel and instead heeded Moshe’s cry, “whoever is for Hashem, join me,” – Shmot 32:26-29), this blog’s editorial board proudly presents:

Our Sh’fuchim:** The Life and Times of an Early 21st Century Wife and Mother of Leviim

1) First of all, I should confess that I didn’t discover YZG’s, er, levitical status until several weeks after we got engaged. (Note that this was even after I found out about his non-gebrokts tendencies…)

It was a Shabbat morning, and to my surprise, YZG was called up to the Torah for – wait for it… – Levi.

After davening, we had the following exchange:

Me: {asks casually} You’re a levi?

YZG: {astonished} You didn’t know that?!

Me: {defensively} How should I have known? It’s not the kind of thing that usually comes up in conversation.

YZG: Yeah, but STILL…

2) Actually, there was a lot I didn’t know about being a levi.

I mean, I had no idea that leviim have to deal with all sorts of complex issues on a daily basis (Reason #5888 for Making Aliyah: Birkat Kohanim seven days a week), including:

• Missing part of davening to go wash the kohanim’s hands.
• Situations where there is one overworked levi  for dozens and dozens of kohanim.
• Situations (such as our shul) where the leviim far outnumber the kohanim.
• Sinks which aren’t designed for hand washing.
• Kohanim who refuse to hold their hands over the sink and thus drip water on themselves and the leviim.
• Does a levi get an aliyah if there are no kohanim present during laining?

And on a related note, the aforementioned editorial board would like to wish a very, very happy birthday to the wonderful levi who is now known across the country for his expert laining of Parshat Ki Tisa BA”H!

“כִּי שָׁמְרוּ אִמְרָתֶךָ וּבְרִיתְךָ יִנְצֹרוּ.”

“For they observed Your word, and Your covenant they preserved.” (Devarim 33:9)

“Shevet Levi is the chosen one of the tribes and is suited for the service of the House of Hashem… Because of their great stature and their skillful actions and the grace of their merit… They are men of pure heart who are known for their sterling traits and their venerable wisdom…” (Sefer HaChinuch 408)

_________

* The time had come for the now (more or less) annual “Try and Use Inter Alia in a Sentence and Hope That You’re Doing So Correctly Celebration”. Feel free to join in… :-)

** Sh’fuchim – שפוכים – That which was spilled (plural). [See also my blog name post.]

When one door closes...

Lest the previous post led you to believe that all of today's developments occurred on the outside, let me reassure you that the interior saw its share of action as well.

Indeed, the kablan spent a good part of the day working on the doors. What's the big deal about doors, you ask? Well, apparently, a decade in door years is like... actually, I have no idea what it's like. But the point is that in that time, door standards have changed. In other words, the new doors did not fit our old door frames.

As noted here, the kablan spent a considerable amount of time yesterday on the doors. However, he soon realized that he needed help, and today, he brought [no, not Little Cats A, B, C or D but...] a door guy with him. (The roofer recommended him; they happen to be neighbors.) Here's what they accomplished today:

This is the bathroom door - [Q: When is a door not a door? A: When it's ajar...] - from the outside:

And here it is from the inside:

Here's AMG's door:

And ASG's door:

Meanwhile, before he left for the weekend, the kablan put the silicone on the bathroom sink:

That's it for now.

Good night and Shabbat Shalom from the Our Shiputzim staff.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall...

We begin tonight's wrap-up with the bathroom:

The kablan is almost finished painting the bathroom ceiling. Meanwhile, he installed the sink and the mirror.

Note the hole for the outlet to the right of the mirror:

And:

Also, the toilet is in place:

In addition, the kablan put up our heater.

And finally, for a change of pace, why don't we conclude with a roof view:

Good night from the Our Shiputzim staff.

Don't look now but there's some wood on our house

B"H the roof is coming along. Here are two more pictures for your viewing pleasure:

And:

Here's what the roof looked like via the hole (and the screen) earlier today:

Since then, the kablan covered up the hole:

In other news, the kablan scraped most of the cement off the bathtub and put the drains two inspection points down on the bathroom floor:

Finally, here's a picture of the inside of the cabinet that goes under the sink. (They put the handles inside to protect them.)

A trip to the "City in Growing Process" (sic)

This morning, YZG and I went to the "City in Growing Process" [sic].

(Question for our readers: Does anyone know if it's still called that? It's been a very long time since we drove that way.)

We went to the tile/bathroom fixture place to get the bathroom sink. We ended up getting the model that the kablan had suggested, but we wanted to be able to pick out the color ourselves. It comes with a cabinet below and a mirror (but not a medicine cabinet) above. Here's a black and white picture. (The color is "kafeh". B"N, we'll try and take a colored picture later.)

Meanwhile, the kablan made some more progress on the door frames:


He also brought the shower bathtub faucet with him:



But the big news is that the roof guys started working this morning. Here are two pictures from a short while ago:



And:


More exciting stuff to come....

He's all thumbs

The kablan left for now but is IY"H coming back later.

Here are the wooden strips he painted for the door frames:

While he was here, he replaced the outlet near our succah. (He did this job "on the house".)

And here's what it looks like opened:

(That's YZG's thumb - in case you may be interested. But then again, most people would probably say that YZG's thumb is a lot more interesting than pictures of wood and plaster...)

The kablan also patched up the bathroom. Here's the toilet:

And here's the sink:

P.S. Thanks to all those who have been leaving comments. We encourage all our other readers - even those subscribed via the feed - to do so as well.

Washing machine woes

Shavua tov.

Although the roofing guy was supposed to come this morning, his parents' dude broke, and he had to go fix it. Presumably, he'll come tomorrow instead. Also, the A/C guy told us on Friday that he's coming next Sunday - rather than today. However, we did have one visitor this morning: the appliance repairman. Our washing machine overflowed this morning (the water level gauge was clogged), and the repairman (who, like the kablan and the plumber, lives here in the neighborhood) came and fixed it.

Meanwhile, the kablan is here. He brought the toilet seat with him:

And also the faucet for the bathroom sink:

He put the first coat of paint on the three door frames.

The bathroom:

ASG's room:

AMG's room:

Right now, he's outside painting the strips of wood for the frame.

As always, watch this space for future updates.

These are the people in your neighborhood...

As previously noted, the kablan lives two doors away from us. In addition, the plumber lives across the street. He's fixed our dude once or twice over the years and will be the one to raise it on to the roof. Meanwhile, he was also here today, working in the bathroom and getting everything set up.

Here's where the toilet will be:

And here's the berez perach:

And here's the bathtub all emptied out:

"Curiouser and curiouser!" cried Alice

The kablan came this morning to measure the door frames. He said he'd be back later to bring us some tiles etc. for the bathroom. Imagine, then, our surprise to find this sitting out front this afternoon:

We're not sure when it arrived, but there it is. ESG wondered if perhaps it belongs to someone else. So, if you hear of someone missing one of these, please tell them to get in touch with us. :-)

Meanwhile, back on the bathroom sink front, now it turns out that we are going for the berez perach after all.

Here we go...

The kablan said he's coming tomorrow to - in his words - "hermetically seal" everything. He said that he's doing that not just for the dust - but for the water from the drill as well. Apparently, they will be cutting three strips to make the hole. The slabs of concrete will then fall directly into a "pool" which will be resting on tires to absorb the impact.

The hole will be just past the door to AMG's room, and the stairs will slope down from there towards the back of the house. In other words, when ascending the stairs, one will be facing the front of the house.

Here is what the spot where the hole will be looks like now:

Tomorrow night, the kablan will drill a few holes in the ceiling so that the guys will know where to make the hole when they I"YH arrive on Tuesday morning. According to the kablan, he's getting a "bochur yeshiva" to come clean everything up by Tuesday evening.

The stairs guy is scheduled to come on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, after clearing out the bathroom, we discovered that the bathroom sink is not a berez perach after all, but the kablan said it isn't a problem to switch it. Here's what it looks like now: