Author Archives: Adam Oded

About Adam Oded

A person with a smartphone.

Aviad Oded 1942-2024

זכריא אביעד בן מנחם ושמעה

With heavy hearts, we regret to inform you of the passing
of our beloved father, grandfather, and friend to many,
Aviad Oded, on Monday, August 19, 2024.

Please join us in celebrating a life well lived.

Funeral will be held on Wednesday, August 21, 2024, 10:00 AM

Jewish Memorial Chapel 841 Allwood Rd, Clifton, NJ 07012

Those who wish to join via livestream, please visit the Jewish Memorial Chapel website.

Shiva will be observed at 15 Albion St., Passaic, NJ 07055
Wednesday, August 21 until Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Please allow the family privacy daily from noon to 1:30 PM and again from 6:00 to 7:00 PM.

Davening Times:

Wednesday, August 21, 2024
7:30 PM Maariv

Thursday, August 22, 2024

7:30 AM Shacharit
7:30 PM Mincha/Maariv

Friday, August 23, 2024
7:30 AM Shacharit

Sunday, August 25, 2024
8:30 AM Shacharit
7:20 PM Mincha/Maariv

Monday, August 26, 2024
7:30 AM Shacharit
7:20 PM Mincha/Maariv

Tuesday, August 27, 2024
7:30 AM Shacharit – end of shiva.

We appreciate all the love coming in from family and friends. Regarding meals: to accommodate for food sensitivities, the eldest grandkids have volunteered to make meals for the Shiva. If you would like to pitch in, please Venmo Yonadav (the eldest grandson, of course!), or send him an email at yonadav.tsuna@gmail.com

VENMO

Elsewhere Anchises

A passage from The Aeneid VI translated by Seamus Heaney after the death of his own father and the birth of his first grandchild. It describes Aeneas seeing the shade of his own father in the underworld on his epic journey home from the Trojan War.

Elsewhere Anchises,
Fatherly and intent, was off in a deep green valley
Surveying and reviewing souls consigned there,
Those due to pass to the light of the upper world.
It so happened he was just then taking note

Of his whole posterity, the destinies and doings,
Traits and qualities of descendants dear to him,
But seeing Aeneas come wading through the grass
Towards him, he reached his two hands out
In eager joy, his eyes filled up with tears
And he gave a cry: “At last! Are you here at last?
I always trusted that your sense of right
Would prevail and keep you going to the end.
And am I now allowed to see your face,
My son, and hear you talk, and talk to you myself?

This is what I imagined and looked forward to
As I counted the days; and my trust was not misplaced.
To think of the lands and the outlying seas
You have crossed, my son, to receive this welcome.
And after such dangers! I was afraid that Africa
Might be your undoing.” But Aeneas replied:
“Often and often, father, you would appear to me,
Your sad shade would appear, and that kept me going
To this end. My ships are anchored in the Tuscan sea.
Let me take your hand, my father, O let me, and do not

Hold back from my embrace.” And as he spoke he wept.
Three times he tried to reach arms round that neck.
Three times the form, reached for in vain, escaped
Like a breeze between his hands, a dream on wings.

For more context on this translation

With Seamus Heaney in Elysium

You’ve listened long enough

Seamus Heaney’s final work – ‘Death’s dark door stands open … ’

Aeneid VI by Seamus Heaney review – through ‘death’s dark door’ with Virgil

Passover 2019

Passover resources

Here are a few of the resources that we’ve been using to get ready for Passover. It includes

Kids Passover Playlist

We’ve been prepping the kids for the Seder with a playlist on Spotify. It features a few versions of Ma Nishtana and some other Seder songs.

Haggdah

PJ Library Haggadah

PJ Library offers free books for Jewish families. If you haven’t signed up for it yet, head over to their site immediately! This year they totally outdid themselves when they sent us 6 copies of In Every Generation: A PJ Library Haggadah. We loved it so much we tried to get hold of more, but they are completely sold out for 2019. You can still download a digital version for your e-reader.

2019 Oded Kids Haggadah

Continuing our decades-old family tradition, I made a Seder supplement with kids songs, contemporary interpretations of tradition and humor. It was very easy to compile the supplement using Haggadot.com.

Download the 2019 Oded Kids Haggadah From Hagaddot

Some of the highlights:

  • Four Questions in French
  • Four Questions in German
  • Four Questions in Italian
  • Four Questions in Yiddish
  • The Four Questions of Mental Health
  • Oh listen Song
  • Frogs Song
  • The Ten Plagues from the Rosenberg Holocaust Haggadah
  • A Graduate Student Haggadah: Ten Plagues
  • Ten Modern Plagues

Final Edited Haggadah for Print

Haggadot was a great starting point, and I love the way you can print up a booklet at the push of a button. Unfortunately, it uses very small fonts, so I had to lay it out again for print. For the final version, I added pictures of cats under the Seder table and the plague of frogs from medieval manuscripts.

Download the final version here.

Cats

Frogs

Remembering Ray


Ray Fishler on March of the Living 2008. 
To the right of Ray is my mother’s cousin, Nina Greenwald, one of four of my relatives who did the March with me that year.

Although I resisted it my whole life, this year, I’m invoking the Holocaust during our Seder. For many people, the Seder is their only point of contact with Jewish history and tradition. That makes it an important educational opportunity. We are using the 10 plagues from the Rosenberg Holocaust Haggadah which mentions the names of Nazi death camps near each plague.

I visited those camps on March of the Living in 2008. My guide was a survivor named Ray Fishler who passed away this year. At our Seder, I will mention Ray and the impact he had on my life and the lives of many others. There are so few survivors left. It’s our responsibility to continue telling their story.

Ray Fishler

Chad Gad Yaw

The Seder isn’t over until we all sing Chad Gad Yaw from the Maxwell House Hagaddah.

passover chad gad yaw

If your children are still toddlers, please check out the Toddler Seder we did in 2015:

Toddler Seder 2015

Make your own meat-stuffed matza balls:

meat stuffed matza balls

What is this stuff?

Possible options

Fungus

Mold 

Spores

Alien Life

Check Out This Album

Listen To This Mix

Take your party to the next level!

Rely on Philly Custom DJ for music, lights & photo booth.

Find out more

Latest cocktail hour mix:

Latest video:

Long Live Spock

Remember Leonard Nimoy

I’m happy to have had the privilege of growing up in a world with Leonard Nimoy. As Spock we watched him die, come back to life, and then hand his character off to a worthy successor in Zachary Quinto.

Here is his last tweet before traveling to the great unknown.

Check out this video of The Who performing Long Live Rock live in the studio. The host is very reverent to the band. But pretend he’s talking about Leonard Nimoy. And when they sing the song, change the chorus from Long Live Rock to Long Live Spock.

Pete kind-of forgets the words. You can go ahead and laugh with Keith Moon about that.