Letters from the Bema

Fasting food: a shopping list

A practical letter for the first week of the Fast.

A Savma board at a stall on the bazaar street.

Lentils, walnuts, dried apricots, short-grain rice, pumpkin, beans, sunflower oil. The market stalls on the bazaar street put up the Savma boards the week before: a handwritten list of everything that is allowed. A good seller will also tell you which of his customers are cheating.

At the seminary table: bean soup, rice with apricots, a slice of bread, tea. A first-year asked if tea counts as food. The rector said "Only if you are very hungry."