More Joy - Pause for Thought

This week, Rabbi Miriam Lorie joined BBC Radio 2's Pause for Thought.  She explains that:

Listen here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0nls9sw

"Less oy, more joy

If there’s one stereotype of the Jewish mother, it’s that she loves to feed people. I’ve been a Jewish mum myself for 11 years, and I can identify with this somewhat, but still have some way to go to keep up with the generations of Jewish mothers before me.

My university housemate Gideon would have fish pies, lasagnes and entire chocolate cakes sent to him by his mother. Needless to say, the whole house of hungry students was extremely grateful. Legend has it that his father before him was once sent a whole roast chicken in the post from his parents in Cardiff! And another university friend had a cheesecake posted to him by his doting mother, something that baffled me - how do the physics of a cheesecake surviving the postal system work? Not to mention the food safety implications. Maybe it was sent frozen?

That cheesecake was sent specially for the Jewish festival of Shavuot, which happens to be coming up again this week. Because every Jewish festival needs delicious traditional food attached. Honey cake for Rosh Hashana, cinnamon macaroons for Pesach and hot stuffed vegetables for Sukkot.

You know, there’s a lot of heavy stuff in the world, a lot of what Jews would say “oy” to, while throwing up their hands in despair. And the Jews I know care deeply about the heavy stuff - talking and writing about it and being activists.

But alongside the “oy”, Jews do “joy” pretty well too. Fitting then, that Jewish Culture Month, which has just begun, has the slogan “less oy, more joy”, with the hope of sharing some amazing Jewish art, music, and traditions with the UK.

And food, food is definitely at the centre. Something that brings us together, something that shows our hospitality, starting way back with our ancestor Abraham who ran out into the hot desert to welcome travellers and feed them. Continuing to our times with home cooked meals from Jewish mothers - and fathers - and all food-loving Jews, sustaining the people around them.

So with that, this Jewish mama should probably be getting home to bake cheesecakes for her own little bubbalehs. But no, I won’t be putting it in the post."

 Do feel free to share your own stories of food being sent long distance by Jewish parents below!