I’m back from Charleston (fabulous city – well, the block and half I saw of it, anyway) and am still catching up. But, please, behold the glory of last Sunday’s homemade havdalah candles:

You can see our snazzy salt shaker spiceboxes there in the background – that six dollar package of tissue paper has got to be the best investment ever.

Adorable as my little Shalom School babelehs are, I have to say it’s starting to get a little frusturating being a Jew around here. First off, when I asked the children this week how many of them actually celebrated havdalah (the short ritual that closes Shabbat) at home with their new candles and color-copied handouts, they looked at me like I was nuts. One kid told me he’d unraveled his beeswax candle and sculpted a robot out of it.

Then there’s the whole Israeli boycott business and synagogue attacks from Maine to Venezuela.

As if threats of global anti-Semitism and Hugo Chavez’s moronic machismo weren’t enough to make you sweat, apparently it’s going to get even hotter for the Jews of Savannah come summer: Plans to close down the JEA pool were announced in this month’s Savannah Jewish News.

El Yenta Man and I not thrilled about this turn of events (we’ve always welcomed the JEA pool as a wonderful opportunity to shock people with our inappropriate tattoos) and I’ve gathered from snippets overheard on the elliptical that people are VERY pissed about this. There’s a meeting on February 12th at 7pm for folks to weigh in, but I’m wondering: If the JEA board knew about the issues of the pool filter and resurfacing, why didn’t they spring into action right after the summer? That pool has been tearing up my kids feet for two freakin’ years and y’all are going to tell me no one knew a major overhaul was due? Puhleez.

If there’s no pool for camp, I have no idea what will happen to our summer plans.

*Sigh* But I’m positive we won’t be vacationing in Caracas.