Robert, I've seen that knife in action, and yes, surprisingly it does what it sets out to do at your Shabbos table.

I really like your 7 a.m. task...that is something very special that you and Karen do. Hopefully these notes have been saved by you/her over the years, or hopefully at least the messages deemed even more special have been saved.

Finally, when you're done setting your Shabbos table, can you please head over here to set ours?

On that note, have a wonderful Shabbos.

I've set the table many times, and it's never seemed like such an adventure. Imagine if you baked a cake!
Mata

Wonderful. I set the table for my parents, down the block, and I never thought of it as anything other than kibbud Av v'Eim. Even this cold Litvak will enjoy it more in the future. Yasher Koach!

Now, the knife. Did you mean that amoleiki fang on the page you linked, or did you mean the more demure http://csstoreonline.stores.yahoo.net/kitclas.html

Anyway, I couldn't have any knife like that in my house. My wife's fumble-fingered family is famous for getting cuts when they're in any proximity to sharp objects.

I almost forgot. I was in Beverly Hills yesterday, having attended the Schoen/Feinstein wedding the night before, and I DID see a Subaru. And, as is my luck, it rained. Like it did when I went to Phoenix some years ago. Maybe the Subaru had something to do with it.

Pearl:

You should have seen your eyes when you saw my challe knife: they grew as wide as saucers.

Yup, I've kept every single one of Karen's Shabbos notes. Together, they constitute a major work, like one of Fanny Burney's epistolary novels.

As for setting your Shabbos table. Oddly enough, my g-mail account is rapidly filling up with invitations from all over the globe -- with the identical request.

Mata Hari:

Karen and I just watched a "Good Eats" episode on cable where Alton Brown baked an Angel Food cake.

Whoa.

Which is to say: It's on my radar.

Barzilai:

What a wonderful mitzvah, to set the Shabbos table for your parents. Yasher Koach to you!

Now, as to the knife. Alas, the puny blade you linked to is, um, maybe good for peeling soft-boiled eggs in Casa Avrech. Nope, here we favor big combat/tactical knives for our moist Shabbos challes. We like the razor sharp edge of the steel, the serious heft. We really hate it when we see those expensive, lousy, fancy shmancy knives just butcher challes on Shabbos, shred them to little itsy-bitsy pieces. It's disrespectful.

Now, as to that Subaru (what is that Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, one of those crypto-Scandinavian Communist countries?) that snuck into Beverly Hills.

I'm on it. Calling the fashion police. You can be sure. It will not happen again :)

Have a lovely Shabbos.

My family has also discovered cold brew toddy coffee. Folgers never tasted so good!

I think I'll write my wife a note...

Solomon2:

When I see people walking into Starbucks, paying money for that bitter dreck—when they could be drinking the delicious, smooth Toddy, I just shake my head in puzzlement.

Let me tell you, once your wife gets your notes, time and again, life will never be the same. It only gets better. Romeo and Juliet—the shtetl version.

Have a beautiful Shabbos.

Robert, you made me cry.

Dear Karen,

A big "Mazal Tov" on your splendid article. I enjoyed it much. It is quite lovely ... really nothing less than a love note to your son Ariel, ZT'L. As the afternoon wanes, I am taking a break from Shabbat cleaning and am enormously glad I've had this chance to tell you how much I regard your heart-rending musings with respect to Ariel's presence within the pages of that siddur.
I suspect the use of that siddur will expedite your t'filos to the attention of The One Above!

I'll close by advising you ... that the admixture of a late Friday afternoon with Robert's column, writing this note to you topped off by a cd of Tony Bennett singing "Smile" ... well, it's almost too much ... so I wish you and yours a smiling :) Shabbat Shalom.

In Memory of Ben Z'L,

I remain,

Very Sincerely Yours,

Alan D. Busch

Cruisin-Mom:

Who knew that setting a table could evoke such emotions?

Thanks so much. Have a lovely Shabbos.

What kind of knife are you using for your challah? Is this a machete-looking knife? Growing up my family's tradition was to just rip off chunks of challah, but my husband is too much of a germ-a-phobe and is too obsessed with proper manners to ever allow someone to place their grimy fingers on the challah and rip off a piece like an uncouth barbarian...

Nevermind, I just realized you linked to a picture. You crack me up! You don't really use that knife at your Shabbos table...right?!

Fern:

If you click the hyperlink in the body of the text it will lead you directly to the knife I'm using. It's a "Recon 1" made by Cold Steel, and it's used primarily by soldiers, Marines, counter-terrorist operatives, etc. It's a wicked awesome blade. Heh-heh.

Ripping challah?

Ouch!

Have a serene Shabbos.

BTW, my youngest, almost seven-year-old, often has the zechut to make hamotzi for us, at least for Shabbat lunch. I'm not certain I'd let him HANDLE such a knife as yours. I'd be sitting on the EDGE of my seat each time.
Fern talks about her germ-a-phobe hubby; mine takes the cut challah and tosses the slices/pieces like a football to everyone 'round the table; I don't know if it's a Sefardi thing, but it was his father's minhag. Imagine how it is when we have large Shabbos or Yom Tov gatherings... "He's movin' in for the toss; it's a long one...oh, it hit the player in the shoulder...and now he's out for the rest of the game!"
Gotta go light my candles now. Good Shabbos.

Thanks for sustaining and opening your home in this way. A lit fireplace couldn't generate as much warmth. (Not even if you use the Times as kindling.)

(Now I have a great excuse for declining invites to watch the Oscars: I'll tell people that instead I'm going to reread this post.)

Fern:

I absolutely use that knife. Have for years. You and Mr. Fern are hereby invited for Shabbos dinner. You'll see. And then you'll rush out and buy one for yourself. It's happened several times already. People get all warm and cuddly toward the knife — really fast.

Alan:

Karen is not at home now, but I know that she would greatly appreciate your generous note and want me to thank you in her name.

As for me, I'm hearing Tony, and I'm smiling. Thanks so much. Have a bright and happy Shabbos.

Jeremiah:

The NY Times for kindling, what a splendid idea! I'll skip the Oscars too. Don't really feel the need to see Al Gore win a statue and get a long standing ovation from all those dim bulbs.

Have a truly meaningful Shabbos.

Robert,

As a former paper boy (I delivered the Valley News- later became the Daily News) your comments made me smile.

I can remember many mornings in which neighborhood dogs encouraged me to deliver the paper more quickly. On days such as those you were lucky if the paper ended up beneath your car as it sometimes was in the tree, on the roof or in your backyard.

BTW, I have a couple of knives that are quite similar. Never thought to use them at the dinner table. Thanks for the idea.

Good Shabbos to the Avrech house.

Regarding the ripping loaves minhag, I recall being told that those huge knives "recall" instruments of war and are therefore not used on the Shabbos table. I've seen people simply raze the blunt edge of the knife alongside a loaf and rip it up--personally I don't use challah knives either. If anyone could cite a source for (or against), I'd really appreciate it.

Shavua tov to all!

Robert, do you also use Folgers for your toddy? Have you tried other brands?

Nothing particularly wrong with Starbucks - rabbis here say the local establishments' stuffs are kosher as long as you stick to the coffee, milk, and sweeteners - save the expense. Some people like the bitterness. In my office the latest thing is the "Keurig", a coffeemaker that makes one cup of coffee from a pre-measured package in thirty seconds. It's better than Starbucks but not quite as good as toddy.

Of course, toddy has advantage that one can "make" it on Shabbes using a little hot water and powdered creamer. Yum!

Jack:

No "neighborhood dogs" here to spoil the aim of the NY Times delivery guy. He's just another sinister link in the Jew-hating, liberal news-media that stretches all the way from New York to the undercarriage of my SUV.

Solomon:

If you buy pre-ground coffee you can use any brand—Folger's, Chock Full o Nuts—as long as it's labeled "for all coffee makers."

If you grind your own beans , choose any variety you like, and set grind at "coarse."

We shop at Trader Joe's and buy the Trader Joe's house brand.

Isn't it great to have the Toddy coffee on Shabbos?

I at least hope you are not paying full price for the NYT subscription

If that's what you use to cut challah, what do you use to carve a Thanksgiving turkey? A machete? A Samurai sword?

Shavu'ah Tov

Ari:

Shavua Tov.

On Thanksgiving we at Casa Avrech favor a cavalry sword from the Revolutionary War. We believe in theme-slicing.

Waitaminute! That knife is only four inches long. A typical Challah is at least five inches wide and peaks at over four inches high.

For that thing to be useful it would have to slice through challah like a hot knife through butter - without any sawing action at all. Is it really that good?

A cavalry sword from the Revolutionary War? American ones are rare; at least I've never seen one in good enough shape to cut food with. It would make me a little queasy cutting my turkey with a blade that may have been used to stab or behead someone first.

Solomon:

Special Forces soldiers use this knife to slice through, er, terrorists. Believe me, it does just fine on challe.

Okay, time for a confession. Our Revolutionary sword is a reproduction. Sigh. Even I'm not lunatic enough to use an original—if I had one—on poultry.

I loved this post!
My kids set up the dining room for Shabbat. One cleans the floor, one looks for a tablecloth and sets the table and the youngest puts the candles in the candleholders. Unfortunately he's very lazy and sometimes doesn't remove the disks from last week and I light "lopsided" candles. Gives me a laugh every week. Gotta love 'em!

I thought I was the only one who thought Starbucks was too bitter...ahh, nothing new under the sun

Now, about that knife...

The web is so cool! For me, the height of ethnic touring was getting to know my childrens' in-laws from the New York area. With such blogs as this, I find it really interesting to have a window on to the peculiarities of ostensibly level-headed fellow Orthodox Jews.
Although I still think my mechutanim are strange birds. Planning weddings with strangers, and making joint decisions about expenses and living arrangements for the kids, reveals the most intimate details of peoples' cockeyed internal lives. Still, the image of a sword wielding frum Jew attacking a thanksgiving turkey is thrillingly weird. Did you, by any chance, write the script for the Adams Family?

Betsy:

Here's my method to get rid of the wax encrusted disks. I fill a soup bowl with hot water. Soak the candle holders for a few minutes and voila! the disks just come right off. Your youngest can make a game of it.

I hate Starbucks coffee. Total scam. Someone should open a Toddy Coffee Shop and absolutely clean up.

Barzilai:

Did not write The Adams Family. But I did write the infamous Brian De Palma film "Body Double." Which has its share of truly frightening sharp-edged weapons. There is one scene... well, not for a family blog.

Robert,

What do you use to cut a good steak.

Jack:

We have a set of very fine Boker dinner steak knives. Don't want the dining room table to start looking like a Grizzly Adams set, now do we.

I'm still hung up on the cups - we've been looking for good, nice, heavy, right-sized cups for ages. Where do you get them? Can you post a link?
Many thanks!

Rob, one of the struggles for a Christian is, doing the sabbath. Sadly, the practice of Spirit and Truth has become weak; For spirit we often have a bunch of dry songs people don't remember, and for Truth we often are limited to the Bible itself.

Now, I'm somewhat of a mystic myself, and I have always been curious about the sabbath, being that the law is not repealed, but fulfilled (in our view.)

Having read your link (quite informative) it confirms what I have recently come to understand about the Sabbath via the quite formidable Truth Project. (Focus on the Family produced it.) Work in the sense of 'God worked' does not constitute monetary employment only, but specifically creative acts. In this sense, I consider it a command to both work, and rest. (As in, do creative work for six days and rest the seventh, in the image of God - as above so below.)

My question would be, I am a pianist; now, I am certain that writing music (whether I am paid or not) constitutes a creative act; which I am to rest from on the Sabbath. But the question that arises, is worshiping the Lord through my music the same thing, creative work, would you say, or a form of resting?

I may have answered my own question...

Lisa:

The glasses are from Crate & Barrel. They are the Gibraltar Tumbler, serial # 473 - 901. I don't see them on-line, so you may just have to pop into the store for a peek. Good luck and let us know if they appeal to you.

River:

I can't answer answer your question directly—because I'm not a Christian. I can only answer as a Jew.

We don't make religious judgements based on feelings. We make decisons based on halacha, legal decions that are codified. We don't want each person to sit around and struggle indivdually with these very difficult questions. It's too much for one person to bear.

So, with all due respect, I'm just going to wind up and tell you why Jewish law does not permit music to be played on the Sabbat.

Up until the times of the Temples instruments were played on the Sabbath; but after the destruction of the Second Temple, 70 CE, Rabbinic decreee declared that instruments are forbidden for fear that people would mistakenly carry their instruments on the Sabbath in public places. which is expressly forbidden—carrying, that is. This decree was a safety fence to assure the sanctity of the Sabbath. For without the Sabbath the Jewish people will not survive. Thus, we do not even blow the shofar, the ram's horn, on the Sabbath. We worship HaShem through song on Shabbat, and through the study of Torah.

This may sound quite odd, but I assure you it is grounded in Torah, written Law, and Talmud, Oral Law, and has kept the Jewish people Jewish, from time immemorial.

Hope this helps in some small way.

Rob, that was the kind of answer I was hoping for. And, I can see the reasoning behind it, it does make sense. Thanks!

River:

You're very welcome. Glad to be of service.

PS- about keeping Jewishness; Prager has an interesting article about it here: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?UrlTitle=george_soros_and_the_problem_of_the_radical_non-jewish_jew&ns=DennisPrager&dt=02/27/2007&page=full&comments=true
About the problem you've mentioned before, of the anti-Jew of Jewish origins, AKA, 'Why do these guys still vote Democrat?'

The answer he comes to is probably what you would, as well. Anyhow, interesting read.

Also, since I'm on Prager, you might want to check out this article he wrote a bit ago: http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles2/PragerHomosexuality.shtml (moderate content warning alert.)

Wow. What a Friday.

Beautifully written, as always.

River:

Great articles. Karen and I and Dennis all went to Yeshiva of Flatbush together. He was one grade ahead of us.

Tnspr:

Thanks so much.

It's always good to wake up, have a cup of coffee (in Chicago it has to be hot) and get a reality check. Thanks for the reminder to always, always, always be grateful.

Therapydoc:

Gratitude is wonderful, isn't it? It has always seemed to me that the most grim, unhappy and depressed people are those who are ungrateful for what they have.

Keep warm and thanks for writing.