tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79092342024-03-23T11:57:07.301-06:00The Mussar of Writing“Gam zu l'tova. This too is for the good.” – Nachum Ish Gamzu, Talmud, Taanit, 21aGoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-49298156402912782642023-10-13T18:30:00.002-06:002023-10-13T19:04:26.018-06:00Live Music is the Truth -- Peter Anspach, Goose.
<!-- Google tag (gtag.js) -->
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-8XWJDF79N1"></script>
<script>
window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
gtag('js', new Date());
gtag('config', 'G-8XWJDF79N1');
</script>
<p> <span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">If there were ever a night to light candles, sing songs of peace and bless our children... This is it.</span></p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Truth: I don't feel as connected to Israel as many of my Jewish friends, colleagues, and community. I've never even been there. (How many of you would have guessed that?!)</span><br /><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">But I feel deeply, viscerally affected by the slaughter of 260 innocent Jews doing my favorite thing on earth, attending live music. I know how happy their hearts were just moments before the horror. I feel it in my soul.</span><br /><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">On Saturday night I was on the lawn at CSU with thousands of other people watching my favorite band Goose. It was the perfect evening. I even got a high five from one of the guys in the band! I hadn't seen or heard any news that day. I didn't know what had happened in that desert. </span><br /><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">I felt deep sadness for the attacks at concerts at the Bataclan in Paris (130 dead) and in Las Vegas (58 dead). My safest, happiest place had been invaded and attacked by terrorists and a mass shooter.</span><br /><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">But the musicgoers near Kibbutz Re'im were not chosen because they were easy targets at a concert.</span><br /><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">No. They were targeted because they were Jews.</span><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because. They. Were. Jews. I cannot stop thinking about the moment when euphoria turned to terror.</span><br /><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">I've felt this kind of soul solidarity before.</span><br /><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">I was the religious school director at our synagogue when the Pittsburgh massacre happened. I held Hebrew School the next day. I refused to let the Jew-haters (a term I prefer over the wishy washy "antisemite") terrorize me, my students, my community.</span><br /><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">As soon as that awful Shabbat ended, I emailed my teachers. My message concluded with this:</span><br /><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">"Remember our purpose and our focus: Teaching Jewish values to children and young adults so they can go out and make this world a better place to live. We do holy work. Take care of yourselves as you need to. Take a break from the news of you need to."</span><br /><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">We had one of the best days of school of my career. Every child was a reason to maintain the hope for peace. HaTikvah.</span><br /><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">May we all find moments of peace this Shabbat. Inhale the crisp fall air. Gaze into the sky for the awe-inspiring dance began the sun and the moon. Crunch a dry leaf in your hand and fell the circle of life. </span><br /><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">I'm going to turn off my phone, watch British Baking Show with Evan and Elliot, my hopes.</span><br /><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Shabbat Shalom</span><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">שבת שלום</span><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10161175319722959&set=a.10150105523697959">My high five with the keyboardist for Goose, Peter Anspach</a><br /></span><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></div>GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-56279150521022333012021-03-30T21:02:00.001-06:002021-03-30T21:22:50.729-06:00Pining for Egypt -- A Preview of Post-Covid Life?<p>Pining for Egypt -- Or, Do I have to Leave My House Post-Covid?</p><p>It's Passover, the holiday where we remember and celebrate the liberation of the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery thousands of years ago. The holiday is one of my favorites. As a writer, how could it not be? The primary mitzvah/obligation of the 8-day holiday is to tell the story of the Exodus to your children -- and anyone else stuck at the Seder table who has to listen to you. </p><p>Saturday, instead of a seder, we watched The Prince of Egypt for the quintillionth time. I was particularly struck this year by the final scene. Moses, standing on Mt Sinai, the two tablets with the 10 Commandments in his arms, overlooking the assembled masses -- blurred in the distance. THE END. Roll credits. Yay!</p><p>At our delayed, outdoor Seder last night, the story in the Haggadah ended similarly: "...the sea parted and our people passed through on dry land to freedom." DAYENU! Pass the brisket. Yay!</p><p>Slavery-->Exodus-->Freedom!</p><p>Orson Welles famously said, "If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." </p><p>I'd be hard pressed to find a better example of this axiom playing out in real life than Passover. You want a happy ending? Stop after the Sea and skip the next 2.5 books of the Torah. You can come back for the very end, but it's not a happy end for everyone, not even our once triumphant hero, Moses. </p><p>End it with the euphoria of freedom gained. Stop before you get to the trials, tribulations, and tragedies of living free.</p><p>If the Prince of Egypt had continued just a few more seconds, Moses would have seen the people come into focus, their dancing bodies circling the golden calf, built in their panic when he left them for 40 days and 40 nights. We would have seen him smash the tablets, burn the golden calf, grind it into powder, scatter it in the water, and force the people to drink it. </p><p>If the Haggadah had gone on just a few more verses, we'd know that barely a month after crossing the sea, the Hebrews started mumbling and grumbling against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt. ... For you have brought us out into this wilderness to starve this whole congregation to death.” (Exodus 16:3) They BEGGED to go back to Egypt.</p><p>Those stopping points don't make for happy endings, to be sure, but maybe they make for better, more instructive endings. Especially this year, as we come closer to our liberation from Covid. </p><p>Will we look back on these times with nostalgia and yearning? Will we turn our anger on those who worked to secure our freedom because it did not come fast enough or meet up to our fantastical visions? </p><p>It seems ludicrous on its face, doesn't it? </p><p>Go back!? Are you kidding? Get me out of here as fast as you can! </p><p>We've spent a year thinking about the after-Covid life. Imagining how it will be. The plans we will make. The things we will accomplish. Oh, the places we will go! </p><p>Are we only thinking as far ahead as the next stopping place that creates a happy ending, spurred on by the endless parade of vaccine selfies and photos of vaccination cards?</p><p>When Hebrew school kids start studying Exodus beyond what we tell on Passover, they are shocked(!) to find out about the mumbling, grumbling, complaining, and rebelling. </p><p>When people are adults when they learn the unabridged Exodus for the first time, they are not surprised at all. They know where the story goes after "We're free!" The hard part is just ahead. </p><p>The kids see their own lives as lacking freedom and control. Ask them what freedom looks like: No bed times! Pizza every meal! Unlimited video games! No curfews! No homework!</p><p>They will not say: Working full-time! No 12-week summer vacation! Paying bills! Traffic! Never enough sleep! Buying those $60 video games! </p><p>Yes, when we get past this pandemic, we will be free to do a great many things we want to do now and can't. This kid in me is still anticipating the Live Music! Coffee Shops! Restaurant Meals with Friends! Shmying! Oh, I need a good shmy*.</p><p>But we will again be obligated to a great many things we never wanted to do. Commuting to work. Dressing up for work. Sitting in traffic. Running hours of errands after work before you can get home. Being overscheduled and defaulting to "I'm sooo busy!" Only seeing your busy teenage kids in passing. </p><p>After the Exodus, the Israelites wandered for 40 years before reaching the Promised land. You can see it as punishment for their rebellions, or you can reframe it to say they needed that time to learn the rules of being free. When to work, when to rest. When, where, and how to worship. How to set aside some of what they own for the widow, the orphan. How to seek justice and be ethical in your diet. How to cultivate and maintain freedom.</p><p>We are at an advantage. </p><p>We were not born into this pandemic.</p><p>We can look back into our own lives and see how we lived.</p><p>Look back to the year before the Year of Covid. When we were free, how did we enslave ourselves? When we were free, did we see ourselves as such? When we were free, did we see how others were not? </p><p>Covid took away many of our freedoms. What did it free us from? And can we maintain that newfound freedom going forward?</p><p>Can we set our expectations and intentions so we don't look back from 2022's Passover and say, "Wow, that really would have been a happy ending if we had stopped in April 2021"? </p><p>When we write our stories, picking where to stop is easy. </p><p>When we live them, not so much. </p><p>This story will not stop at "Yippie! We're vaccinated! We're free!" Though I would not be surprised if that's how we tell it to later generations.</p><p>In all likelihood, any happy ending is further down the road than we can see. Not right in front of us, but not yet behind us. We can't stop now. This is not The End, my friend. </p><p>Maybe we can rest here a bit, in the in-between space, with freedom close ahead and constriction behind. Look back and forth and see both through lens of the other. </p><p>Then we can gather our things -- carefully choosing what to bring and what to leave behind -- and get moving. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-13334983418211792092021-03-18T08:38:00.003-06:002021-03-18T08:38:09.825-06:00 The Year of No Photos<p>At work, they asked for photos from all of us to share during a virtual
slide show that runs in the online Teams room between meetings. It's really a
great idea - many of us have yet to meet in person. <o:p></o:p></p><p>I have no photos to submit.<o:p></o:p></p><p>Looking back over the past year's worth of images in my phone, the great
majority are screenshots -- tweets, memes, a screenshot of a song I was
listening to on Spotify to share with a friend. <o:p></o:p></p><p>And pictures of smoke and fire from our summer of living under two constant
threats to our air -- fire and Covid.<o:p></o:p></p><p>But if I keep scrolling back... and back and back and back and back...<o:p></o:p></p><p>There you are. <o:p></o:p></p><p>My friends. <o:p></o:p></p><p>My family. <o:p></o:p></p><p>My tribe. <o:p></o:p></p><p>And we are dancing and singing and rocking to the most amazing music in the
most amazing places. <o:p></o:p></p><p>We are praying and learning (and teaching) Torah. We are grasping hands as
we bless the bread.<o:p></o:p></p><p>We are in restaurants and bars trying each other's food and sharing sips of
cocktails.<o:p></o:p></p><p>We are hugging and standing close and squishing together to get into the
selfie.<o:p></o:p></p><p>We are on crowded planes and sitting on beaches.<o:p></o:p></p><p>We are huddled in the kitchen, cooking together and passing down family
recipes.<o:p></o:p></p><p>We are marking the milestones of life -- graduations, birthdays, b'nei
mitzvahs, new jobs, retirement.<o:p></o:p></p><p>We are cheering on our teams from behind first base, and toasting champions
in sports bars.<o:p></o:p></p><p>We are living. <o:p></o:p></p><p>And we will again.<o:p></o:p></p><p>Let It Be So | כן יהי רצון<o:p></o:p></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="38am1" data-offset-key="6mpdc-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></div>GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-72456589667197150662020-11-09T11:55:00.003-07:002020-11-09T11:55:30.526-07:00For the Many Tomorrows to Come: Kindness, Singing, and Love<p>Below are what I posted on election day and the day after election day, 2016. The election day post, "Tomorrow I Will" was posted at 11 pm, after we knew the results. Not much sleep followed that post, and by the morning I had cobbled together some thoughts for my children.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgruU1cjDMXZaDllRHYhO8E3km3iHnMfc3IuRzxFvJ2NsKIo8Rr4CskWrH2xrUAwhYalK5gyMH7zfKceMYgc6PqaBbI4pDbBTa6ePu9uso4a26vkDP-BEvVQgs0ehKKxxaYEmub/s753/Day+of+2016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="751" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgruU1cjDMXZaDllRHYhO8E3km3iHnMfc3IuRzxFvJ2NsKIo8Rr4CskWrH2xrUAwhYalK5gyMH7zfKceMYgc6PqaBbI4pDbBTa6ePu9uso4a26vkDP-BEvVQgs0ehKKxxaYEmub/s320/Day+of+2016.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTiUDwokUw7X2Bd9gSrGL8PobL20o2SozE3WFAC8snal4KobJMkgwl25Ne3MA606ghYus7dk0oFLsm6rOkx8QTbFd_pik8uxHIOen6yDNs7z-gVGoX_rPXZjYSPOWsKZwr4bj9/s674/Day+After+2016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="674" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTiUDwokUw7X2Bd9gSrGL8PobL20o2SozE3WFAC8snal4KobJMkgwl25Ne3MA606ghYus7dk0oFLsm6rOkx8QTbFd_pik8uxHIOen6yDNs7z-gVGoX_rPXZjYSPOWsKZwr4bj9/s320/Day+After+2016.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />I'm in a unique position among many of my Facebook friends. My feed is not an echo chamber of fellow progressives who agree with my view of what reality is or what is possible. I watch Fox News and listen to right-wing talk radio. Hannity, Limbaugh, Shapiro, Ingraham, Owens, Levin, Savage, Beck, Jones, QAnon... I have had dozens of conversations with Trump supporters. <p></p><p>When progressives expressed our fears for what a Trump administration could (and did) mean, we were met with gleeful dismissals: FUCK YOUR FEELINGS! and people rejoicing over LIBERAL TEARS and OWNING THE LIBS. We were SNOWFLAKES and LIBTARDS. </p><p>All while the Trump administration rolled back legal protections for people I love, put into action capricious and cruel immigration policies, promised plans that never appeared (infrastructure, health care), ignored and mishandled a pandemic response, called the free press the enemy of the people, and spewed playground-level insult rhetoric from the official accounts of our leaders. </p><p>So I am not surprised when Biden's gracious outreach in his victory speech is being met with a big ol "Yeah, right!" and hostility from Trump supporters. It's how they reacted, so it's how they expect us to react. </p><p>My celebration of the Biden/Harris victory is not rooted in hatred of the other side. I believe that progressive, inclusive policies will better the lives of all 300 million Americans. I will fight for your healthcare, your civil rights, and your freedom without asking who you voted for. </p><p>I am not out to "own" Trump supporters or rejoice in their pain as they have rejoiced in ours. When you lead with compassion, you never say 'fuck your feelings'.</p><p>I have tried to spend as many tomorrows since 2016 (now yesterdays) being kind, loving, and singing over these past four years. </p><p>There are many tomorrows to go -- may the kindness, singing, and love only grow. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="a152u" data-offset-key="43hio-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></div>GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-72331384523998433222020-02-02T14:52:00.002-07:002021-01-22T10:32:26.174-07:00The Beatles and Bo<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">2020 “Speaking Words of Wisdom”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">When I was writing this, I kept having
visions of <b>Father Mackenzie, writing the words of a sermon that no one would
hear. </b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">So, thank you for lending me your
years, letting me sing you a song, and not standing up and walking out on me
when I sang out of tune. </span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">I get by with a little help from my </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">chaverim.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Todah Rabah.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">--------------------------------------------------------------------------</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">When I find myself in times of trouble</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">, words of
Torah speak to me. Speaking words of wisdom, “<b>Set them free.</b>”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">I read the
news today. </span></b></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Oh boy.</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">A tyrant is in
charge of the highest office in the land. Repeated calls from the people to do
the right thing have been ignored<b>. Day after day alone on the hill,</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">The man with
the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still,</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Nobody seems
to like him</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">They can tell
what he wants to do</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">His courtiers,
with one or two exceptions, are standing fast in their support. His heart is
hardened and, despite repeated pleas, warnings of impending disaster, and the
destruction of his nation, he refuses to yield. An enslaved nation waits.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">The tyrant?
Pharaoh.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">The people?
Israel, the God wrestlers.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">One has a
hardened, stubborn heart. The other just wants to go live in the desert and
worship their God and live in peace. The back and forth has been going on for 7
plagues now.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">You say yes.</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">I say no.</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">You say stop</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">I say go</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">I say high</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">You say low</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">You say Why,
and I say “I don’t know!”</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">7 plagues upon
the Egyptians, and still Pharaoh will not yield.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Go again, God
tells Moses. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">I’ve made his
heart hard and stubborn and heavy and strong, but go. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Moses is
tired. <b>It’s been a hard day’s night, and I’ve been working like a dog. It’s
been a hard days’ night. God. I should be sleeping like a log. </b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Weren’t you
the one calling out into the night, God reminds him. I heard you: <b>Help! I
need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. </b>And here I am. Not just here,
actually. <b>Here, there and everywhere!</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Yes, <b>My
sweet Lord<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">I really want
to see you<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Really want to
be with you<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Really want to
see you Lord<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">But it takes
so long, my Lord</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Go, God tells
him again. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Moses, the
prince raised in the palace, the recently-appointed spokesperson for the
people, goes up to give his once-upon-a-time brother one more chance:</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">For though we
may be parted there is</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Still a chance
that he will see</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">There will be
an answer</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Kein yehi</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Beatles
were all about love. In fact, they used the word “love” 613 times in their
lyrics. It’s no <b>magical mystery</b> -- 613 repetitions of love. 613 mitzvot
in the Torah. A gift from God with a note attached saying, “<b>with love from
me to you”. </b>Mitzvot which we do -- freely -- with love in our hearts. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">God may as
well have said: <b>Love me? Do. </b></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">You know I
love you. I’ll always be true. </span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">So if you love
me. Do. </span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">In this story,
no one is free -- not the people, not Moses, not Pharaoh. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">But Moses
knows the value of freedom, the innate desire for freedom, and so he goes to
the Pharaoh.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He say, "I know you, you know me"</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://genius.com/The-beatles-come-together-lyrics#note-828439" style="text-decoration: none;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">One thing I can tell you is we got to be free</span></b></a></span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">. </span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">You say you
want a revolution? </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Pharaoh scoffs.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Well, you
know. We all want to change the world</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Don't you know
that you can count me out</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Two of
Pharaoh's own advisers plead with him. Egypt is already destroyed! We’ve
suffered 7 plagues. How long will you let this go on? There’s gonna be more!
Locusts! <b>That’s what the man said. But will he listen to what the man said?</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Pharaoh seems
to waver. He tells Moses to go! <b>Picture yourself on a boat on a the Nile,
with tangerine trees and marmalade skies.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Moses says,
Thanks Pharaoh, but before I punch my <b>ticket to ride</b>, just so you know,
we’re taking our young. And the old. And the cows, the goats, the lambs. <b>The
Walrus. The octopus and his garden.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Oh,</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"> Pharaoh says.<b>
I’ve got to admit, It’s getting better. It’s getting better all the time!</b>
You know what? You can only take the young. Everything else stays.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">You’re a mean
Mr Mustard, </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">says Moses! </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Pharaoh tosses
them out. <b>Get back! Get back! Get back to where you once belonged.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Bring on the
locusts. They covered the face of the whole earth and there remained not any
green thing, either tree or herb of the <b>strawberry fields</b>,
forever. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Pharaoh is
shook. He summons Aaron and Moses to him once more.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Can we <b>Come
Together</b> on this?</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Life is very
short and there’s no time for fussing and fighting my friend. </span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">I get it,
Moses says. <b>I used to be an angry young man. Hiding my head in the sand. God
gave me the word, I finally heard. I'm doing the best that I can.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">But then God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Or did he? Whether or not he had a little push from God, Pharaoh was well down the long and winding road to a stubborn, heavy heart on his own. I won’t back down. I will stand my ground. You can stand me up at the gates of hell but I won’t back down. </span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Hatred.</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Cruelty </span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Narcissism.</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Thirst for power. </span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">You let too much of that into your heart and it will harden and calcify beyond repair.</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Our rabbis taught mitzvah goreret mitzvah. Good leads to good. Love leads to love. Love is all and love is everyone. It is knowing, it is knowing...</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">But they also taught, averah goreret averah. Evil leads to evil. At what point could Pharaoh have gone back? After the first cruelty? The seventh? The thousandth? That boy won't be happy Till he's seen you cry </span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">And it really doesn’t matter to Pharaoh.</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">If I’m wrong, I’m right…</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Where I belong, I’m right! </span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Nothing’s gonna change my world!</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">But the heart of love, Moses’s heart, keeps trying: </span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Think of what you're saying</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">You can get it wrong and still you think that it's alright</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Think of what I'm saying</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">We can work it out and get it straight, or say goodnight</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">And Pharaoh says, Goodnight.</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">His hardened heart secures the 9th plague. Number 9. Number 9. Number 9: Three days and nights of Darkness so thick you could feel it. Here, there, and everywhere. </span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Except in the Jewish neighborhood, where they sang: And though the night is fraught with darkness, there is still a light that shines on me. </span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Shine until tomorrow. </span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Let it be!</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">On the fourth day, in the light, Moses tries one last time.</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">When you were young and your heart was an open book</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">You used to say live and let live</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">(you know you did, you know you did you know you did)</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">But I guess Living is easy with eyes closed</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Misunderstanding all you see</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">The rabbis talk about how God writes the words of Torah on our hearts. Why on and not in? Because we’re collecting those words, like love notes from our sweethearts, for when our heart breaks open, all the words of love fall into the empty space and heal us. </span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">All you need is love, love. </span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Love is all you need.</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">But hardened heart can’t break, and a hardened heart can’t be healed.</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">The people of Egypt paid the price for their leader’s inability to try to see it my way. Love’s way. With the final plague, An entire nation lost its first born. They're going to carry that weight -- the weight of a hardened heart -- for a long time.</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">And Pharaoh? Did he look back? Wishing for yesterday, when all his troubles seemed so far away? </span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Or did his heart harden even more, his only pity reserved for himself? The world is treating me bad... Misery! Leave me here in misery. </span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">In the end, it’s not the job of the downtrodden to soothe the bruised ego of the tyrant. Moses and Aaron had better things to do and went to deliver the message to the people: </span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Yisrael, singing in the dead of night</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Take these broken wings and learn to fly</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">All your life</span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: ""arial"",serif; font-size: 14pt;">You were only waiting for this moment to arise</span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-43627611793154771682019-08-03T23:22:00.001-06:002019-08-03T23:39:06.947-06:00The Weeping Prophet of El Paso<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://watchjerusalem.co.il/files/W1siZiIsIjIwMTgvMDUvMjUvOWJleW05bml5eF8xODI1MDVfSmVyZW1pYWhfUGFpbnRpbmcucG5nIl1d/b7502195b0b662dc/182505%20Jeremiah%20Painting.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="504" data-original-width="800" height="401" src="https://watchjerusalem.co.il/files/W1siZiIsIjIwMTgvMDUvMjUvOWJleW05bml5eF8xODI1MDVfSmVyZW1pYWhfUGFpbnRpbmcucG5nIl1d/b7502195b0b662dc/182505%20Jeremiah%20Painting.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
This week's haftarah portion, a selection from the prophets, is from Jeremiah. Often described as the "Weeping Prophet," Jeremiah lived in Jerusalem in the 6th century BCE.<br />
<br />
He preached through the reign of five kings, and he is said to have authored the books of Kings and Lamentations, in addition to his own book or prophecies.<br />
<br />
He is often compared to Moses, and his son Ezekiel followed in the family business: scolding the Jewish people. From his name we get the English word<i> jeremiad</i>, "a cautionary or angry harangue."<br />
<br />
AJ Heschel saw Jeremiah as a middle-man of sorts, writing,<br />
"Standing before the people he pleaded for God;<br />
Standing before God he pleaded for his people."<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In this week's verses, there is rebuke and warning, and great disappointment on the part of God.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "frank ruehl libre" , "taamey frank" , "times new roman" , serif;">וָאָבִ֤יא אֶתְכֶם֙ אֶל־אֶ֣רֶץ הַכַּרְמֶ֔ל לֶאֱכֹ֥ל פִּרְיָ֖הּ וְטוּבָ֑הּ וַתָּבֹ֙אוּ֙ וַתְּטַמְּא֣וּ אֶת־אַרְצִ֔י וְנַחֲלָתִ֥י שַׂמְתֶּ֖ם לְתוֹעֵבָֽה׃</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "frank ruehl libre" , "taamey frank" , "times new roman" , serif;">I brought you to this country of farm land </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "frank ruehl libre" , "taamey frank" , "times new roman" , serif;">To enjoy its fruit and its bounty; </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "frank ruehl libre" , "taamey frank" , "times new roman" , serif;">But you came and defiled My land, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "frank ruehl libre" , "taamey frank" , "times new roman" , serif;">You made My possession abhorrent.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "frank ruehl libre" , "taamey frank" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Jeremiah 2:7</i></span></div>
<br />
I imagine Jeremiah standing in the paring lot<br />
of a mall in El Paso, surveying a<br />
country of farm land defiled.<br />
<br />
Jeremiah counts the victims<br />
20 dead<br />
26 injured<br />
blood in the aisles of a WalMart<br />
lights<br />
cameras<br />
news helicopters covering the<br />
action<br />
<br />
"To enjoy its fruit and its bounty,"<br />
he quotes himself.<br />
Is this how they farm the land?<br />
If this is what they are reaping,<br />
What kind of seeds did they sow?<br />
<br />
Perennial fear<br />
Annual hatred<br />
Succulent violence<br />
Climbing vines of supremacy<br />
Deeply rooted suspicion<br />
Shade-hardy racism<br />
<br />
And the land is defiled<br />
and abhorrent<br />
before its creator.<br />
<br />
Standing before the people<br />
Jeremiah pleads<br />
<br />
Standing before God<br />
Jeremiah pleads<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://9b16f79ca967fd0708d1-2713572fef44aa49ec323e813b06d2d9.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/1140x_a10-7_cTC/Texas-Mall-Shooting-2-1564873911.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="559" data-original-width="800" height="446" src="https://9b16f79ca967fd0708d1-2713572fef44aa49ec323e813b06d2d9.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/1140x_a10-7_cTC/Texas-Mall-Shooting-2-1564873911.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-51345651804144846182019-05-08T16:09:00.003-06:002019-05-08T16:10:28.337-06:00For the Kid with a GunHi,<br />
<br />
You don't know me. I'm just some random adult on the internet who is thinking about you today.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if you will be inspired by the school shooting yesterday in Highlands Ranch.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if you have spent today on the Internet, looking up the details of Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Arapahoe and imagining yourself with the gun, wandering through the hallways, shooting your fellow students, your teachers, your principal.<br />
<br />
I am wondering how the fantasy ends for you -- shot down in a blaze of glory? Wrestled to the ground and walked out in cuffs? Blasting off your own head with your final round?<br />
<br />
I am wondering if you go to my child's school.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if your parents own handguns or rifles they don't secure properly. And I am wondering if they taught you how to handle them safely as a child and are trusting you to remember those lessons, so you don't shoot yourself or a friend accidentally, tragically.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if they every imagined that you would shoot someone on purpose, and that learning how to handle a gun safely wasn't enough.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if you have made a plan you're just waiting to carry out. I am wondering if there is a sign or signal you are waiting for.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if you have tried to tell your friends and family about your intentions and have they missed the cues.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if any of us really know the signs to look for.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if there are any signs at all.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if you idolize previous mass shooters, see their 'fans' on the Internet and think, I want that for myself.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if you walked up to me right now, would I sense anything was off? Would I be able to tell murderous intention from teenage sulky reticence?<br />
<br />
I am wondering if you are cruel. I am wondering if you are violent. I am wondering if this will be the first time you injure another human being.<br />
<br />
I am wondering whether you're broadcasting your intent on the dark corners of the internet and are people are cheering you on, encouraging you.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if your parents know about your struggles and have done everything in their power to help.<br />
<br />
I am wondering again if they've locked up their guns.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if you understand mortality on more than a superficial level.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if we have failed to teach you the value of one human life.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if we have failed to teach you how to be kind, and how to accept kindness.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if we have simply never said clearly enough that hurting other people is not OK.<br />
<br />
I am wondering when you learned, and when you forgot, the lesson about treating others as you would want to be treated.<br />
<br />
I am wondering what else on earth could satisfy your blood lust and enable you to solve your problem a different way.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if we glamorize villains to our own detriment. I am wondering how many docu-series, documentaries, and 'tortured hero' shows you have watched.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if I should have any sympathy for you at all.<br />
<br />
I am wondering if you can be stopped.<br />
<br />
I am wondering again if you go to my child's school.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-25618970841058667872019-04-28T16:57:00.001-06:002019-04-28T18:12:39.201-06:00Dear Parents (II)<span style="color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Shalom Religious School
Families,<br />
<br />
It has been exactly six months since I wrote a very similar letter to you on a
somewhat similar Saturday night. Once again, we come out of Shabbat reeling
from news of another shooting at a Jewish institution -- this time the Altman
Family Chabad Community Center in Poway, California.<br />
<br />
Today was not only Shabbat, a day of peace, it was also the final day of
Passover, the holiday where we teach our children a story of terrible
oppression and a miraculous journey to freedom. We are all wrestling with and
trying to process this latest shooting. The early news is that the killer, a
19-year-old male, hated Jews and espoused some of the most harmful and
ludicrous conspiracy theories about us.<br />
<br />
One person lost her life and at least three people were injured. These congregants
had come to synagogue for the exact same reasons we do: to study, to pray, to
observe the ending of a holiday, to say Kaddish and observe Yizkor, the Jewish
memorial service.<br />
<br />
Some have physical wounds to recover from, and we will pray for the complete
healing of the victims:<br />
We will mourn the dead.<br />
We will come together as a community to grieve, question, and try to wrap our
minds around yet another violent attack on Jews.<br />
We will fight against all forms of anti-Semitism and not shy away because the
task is hard. As our sages taught,<br />
It is not your duty to complete the work.<br />
Not up to you to finish it.<br /> But neither are you free to desist from it. (Pirke Avot
2:20,21)<br />
<br />
My continuing task is to create a supportive and welcoming Jewish community for
you and your children. In that spirit,<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><strong><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Religious School will open </span></strong><strong><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px;">tomorrow</span></strong><strong><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; margin: 0px;"> morning as usual at 9:00 am</span></strong>.
Please come inside with your children for the all-school shira, which this week
includes a special performance by the kids in our PreK/B'resheet program.<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Security</span></strong><br />... Remind your children
that the adults who work at Har Shalom care about their safety. We do this in
all sorts of ways: having buildings that lock, having an adult with them at all
times, having a security guard onsite, etc. Their teachers will review safety
procedures with them -- not to alarm, but to reassure.<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; margin: 0px;">A Space for Parents</span></strong><br />
Please take the time to escort your children into the sanctuary tomorrow and
join us for our beginning-of-the-day shira (song) and tefillah (prayer)
sessions. We will sing songs of peace and hope, and songs that remind us of our
place in healing the world.<br />
<br />
After the children are dismissed, we will have time to gather as parents before
the community-wide service at 10:00am. We will have an opportunity to draw
strength and ideas from one another, and we can discuss how to talk about these
events with our children.<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Letting the Children Lead</span></strong><br />
I know not every child will be aware of the attack in Poway, especially the
littlest ones. In the classrooms, the teachers will let the children be the
guides. There will be space for them to express their feelings and share
concerns, and the teachers will be a calm, reassuring presence.<br />
<br />
If you have any questions about tomorrow's schedule, security, or just want to
let me know something about your children in particular in advance of school,
just reply to this email..<br />
<br />
You and your children are dear to me, and I look forward to seeing you at
school, where we will learn, pray, sing, and study the ways of peace together.
May we be strengthened by our<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><em><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; margin: 0px;">kehilah kedosha</span></em>, our holy
community.<br />
<br />
B'shalom,<br />
<br />
Susan<br />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-80553812095765450012018-09-10T15:00:00.001-06:002018-09-10T15:00:14.549-06:00Haftarah-telling, 5779. Hannah demands some R-E-S-P-E-C-T.<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">Dear Sarah, Mother of Isaac, Wife of Abraham,</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br />Chana here. It’s our day again – Rosh Hashanah, Take 1. The rabbis must have had something special in mind when they added two of the most famous barren women in the Torah to have their stories told on one of the highest traffic days in the synagogue. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">Did you ever think they’d be telling our stories, Sarah? My son? Yes. But me?</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">We lived 800 years apart, you and I, and I was </span><span style="color: green; font-size: 16.0pt;">around 3</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">,000 years before any of the people in this room were born. But our stories are all here, together, now. (<i>Your family’s story continues </i></span><i><span style="color: green; font-size: 16.0pt;">tomorrow</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 16pt;">, but you may not want to read ahead. At the very least, if Isaac asks to go on a hike to Mount Moriah with his Dad, say no.)</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">We are all here in conversation together. We barren women. We women of hope. You. Rivkah. Rachel. Me. Michal. And Samson’s Mother (Z’llppunith – such a name. No wonder we all just know her as “Samson’s Mom”.) But she had a name, and she had a story.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">I am not a prayerful woman, Sarah. My approach was always a little more “Are you there, God? It’s Me, Chanah” than pious devotion. And unlike you, I don’t get angels as regular visitors to my home.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">We come to Shiloh, to the temple, this ridiculous family of mine. My husband, Elkanah, always offers the right sacrifices, enough for that wretched second wife of his, Peninah, and <i>all</i> of their children. I get one portion. I deserve a little more R-E-S-P-E-C-T. You’d better Think, I wanted to tell Elkanah. Think about what you’re tryin to do to me.</span><s><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></s></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">Peninah’s worth increases with every child she has following her skirts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">My worth withers as each season passes. And all the while Elkanah is telling me I am his favorite. Do you know what he says to me, Sarah?</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">“Am I not more devoted to you than ten sons?”</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">Well, yes. And… no.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">And Peninah… year after year she taunts me, reminding me of what I can never forget. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">I can usually save face, but this year…this year my heart was overflowing with anger, bitterness, and anguish. I was distraught, Sarah. I could not sleep. I could not eat. I could not stop crying. And all the while Elkanah asking me, why? Why? Why? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">My heart broke--it broke into more pieces than I knew it had.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">So I left the feast and came to the temple alone.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">I can admit this to you, Sarah – I did not have faith, but I had hope, a desperate hope that drew from me an unimaginable promise. I made a deal, a bargain. If God would remember me, notice me, and give me a son, I would dedicate the boy’s life to the service of the Lord. I would have promised anything in that moment. Anything to make the pain stop.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">There will come a time, Sarah, when prayers are written down, and people will follow along to someone else’s words. I doubt I could have read anything in that moment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">No, that prayer was ripped from me like a terrible sickness. I threw myself onto the Temple steps and let my despair rush out of me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Fall on your knees.</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">Oh Sarah, you should have seen the priest Eli as he approached me. He thought I was drunk! Can you imagine?</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: #1d2936; font-size: 16.5pt;">"How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? "’Sober up!".</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">I told him, “I am not drunk! I have been pouring out my heart, my anguish, my distress.”</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">He didn’t apologize, but he gave me a little blessing as he gently escorted me out. </span><span style="color: #1d2936; font-size: 16.5pt;">"…may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of Him."</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">At that moment I had no way of knowing if my prayer had been heard, <i>but it had been said</i>. God didn’t answer right away. I had no surety, Sarah, but… maybe even if the gates of prayer are shut, the gates of tears are not.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">Elkanah’s ritualistic sacrifice had given me no comfort.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">The festive meal no joy.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">But the moment of desperation, pleading to be remembered, to be noticed…getting all that ugliness out was like a purge. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">I got up off that floor, dried my tears, and went home with Elkanah, Peninah, and her children.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">By the time the next yearly pilgrimage came around I was a mother of a son, Samuel (Shmuley to me), whose name means: </span><span style="color: #1d2936; font-size: 16.5pt;">"I asked the LORD for him."</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">As soon as I saw him, though, I was sure I’d made a terrible mistake by dedicating him to Temple service. How could I have made such a vow? How would I keep it?</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">Every year when we returned to the Tabernacle, Elkanah would ask, “So? Are you bringing the boy this year?” and every year I’d put him off.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">He’s not old enough. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">He doesn’t know his aleph-bet!</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">He’s not ready.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">The truth was, I was not ready. But I did it, Sarah. I kept my vow. I brought him to the temple, and I left him there.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">We all do it, don’t we? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">We mothers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">We fathers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">At some point we all release our children. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">Oh, it’s not always as dramatic as dropping them off for a lifetime of temple service…sometimes it’s the first day of preschool, the bus stop for summer camp, the end of the driveway, an airport gate, a college dorm room. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">We all do it. We open the circle of our embrace and let them walk out into the world. And we stand there, arms wide, waiting for them to step back in.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">You <i>did</i> let Isaac go on his trip up the mountain with Abraham. It may have butchered your heart, but you waved good-bye, and you watched them go.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">They all go. They all find other men and women to love; they leave our houses and make homes of their own. We give them to the universe and we hope, and maybe pray, that the universe treats them kindly.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">Parenthood can make <i>anyone</i> turn to prayer:</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Lord, help me get through this day!</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Lord, keep her safe…</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Misheberach…Please, God, heal him.</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">So many of the stories we tell from this bimah end in the middle. (Most good stories do.) </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">You died offstage, Sarah. There are 54 parshas in the Torah. <i>One</i> is named after a woman, and you die in the first verse.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">After my triumphant declaration of victory at the end of this haftarah, I’m never heard from again. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">My first prayer was the anguish of my heart<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">My second was a record of my joy, my thanks, my conquest!</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">It’s not how I’d wanted to be quoted, honestly, and if I could go back and change it, I would.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">There’s a <i>little</i> too much bragging.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">It’s very self-serving, all “I gloat over my enemies… the barren woman bears seven; the mother of many is forlorn…” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">That barb for Peninah was unnecessary. I know you understand the sentiment, Sarah.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">It’s so easy to say yes to that ugly impulse inside us, to want to <i>win</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">To want someone else to <i>lose</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">I understand Peninah much better now. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">I’m betting you “get” Hagar as well.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">When we felt unnoticed, we were cruel.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">When we were blessed, we forgot to be kind.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">It was a miserable journey home after leaving Samuel at the temple for the first time. My arms ached with the weight of his absence, feeling his phantom body in my embrace.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">We returned to Shiloh every year, and as time passed I had more children to shlep along. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">And every year…. <i>Every Year</i>… I’d bring Samuel a new set of robes, guessing how much he’d have grown.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">Before I knew it, he was taller than me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">He’d tease me, but I secretly enjoyed looking <b>up</b> to my son, the leader, the prophet, the musician, the artist. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">I hope he does not judge me too harshly for my vow, my promise made for him without his permission. It was my words, but his life.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">He went on to become a big deal, a real <i>macher.</i> </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">He was the last of the judges, and he appointed the first of the kings. He fought with his elders, and he was a warrior who protected the holy ark, and the covenant inside.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">He was gifted with prophecy, but he was always my baby, my little Shmuley. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">My first born. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">My gift from the universe and back to it… the prayer of my heart.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-42045601533092024882018-02-28T14:40:00.000-07:002018-03-23T11:27:24.759-06:00Hollow Words<i>for Ben</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
After Sandy Hook, we told you that you are safe. There are
over 33,000 elementary schools in the United States, and there has been a
shooting at one.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After you heard about Aurora, we told you that you are safe. Millions of people go to the movies every year, safely. Meanwhile we
check emergency exits reflexively during films and plan where to run.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEa1pVmWqvDWJtumr0Y1U5VtNlZMdO9_9gFdx4rsLrgN7XnhBODV1xgD7dU2jKsbilRiHNLsW4TJba1jGQak5AOQRorO_rdO6s7JJ4xHvOpqEz8LEirKenvl6tEgkBtmJ2fI6G/s1600/Word-Cloud-gun-headline2101.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="332" data-original-width="500" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEa1pVmWqvDWJtumr0Y1U5VtNlZMdO9_9gFdx4rsLrgN7XnhBODV1xgD7dU2jKsbilRiHNLsW4TJba1jGQak5AOQRorO_rdO6s7JJ4xHvOpqEz8LEirKenvl6tEgkBtmJ2fI6G/s320/Word-Cloud-gun-headline2101.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After Orlando, we told you that you are safe. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After Paris, we told you that you are safe. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After Las Vegas, we told you that you are safe.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We told you it was OK to go to concerts and festivals and
large outdoor gatherings. We played the numbers game.<br />
<br />
It’s more likely that you
will<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li>Get hit by a car</li>
<li>Crash a car</li>
<li>Get run over by a bus</li>
<li>Fall down the stairs and break your neck</li>
<li>Be hit by lightning</li>
<li>Lose a fight to a wild animal in the woods</li>
</ul>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We tried to comfort you and assuage your fear by listing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">other ways you could die.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s more likely you will live to 75 and get to know your
grandchildren than get shot by someone in your school, a movie, theater, a club,
a concert, your workplace, a synagogue.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As you grow older and you listen to the news and your
friends and follow social media, where shootings are turned into memes, our
“new math” doesn’t diminish your fear. You see the error in the calculus.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Videos of kids huddled in classrooms look like you and your
friends. That could be me, you think. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You drill and drill and drill and lock down and lock down
and practice for what we tell you is an infinitesimally small probability. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And when you march in protest, someone puts a sticker on
your chest that says #AmINext?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And it scares you.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And it scares me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You walk up to me with that sticker on you and all I can see
is that you might be next and that playing the odds is no way to play this game
when the house always wins. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My 16 year old son is scared to go to school.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s been 19 years since Columbine.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s been 5 years since Sandy Hook.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s been too many years that we have been trying to keep
the barrage of mass shootings from entering his world. The shootings just kept
coming, and his access to the media and the news and his friends kept bringing
them into his world, into his mind, and into his psyche.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And his mother keeps telling him that he is safe.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And he says, Mom you keep saying that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You keep saying that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You. Keep. Saying. That.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You know who else said that Mom?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Every parent of every kid who died in Florida and Vegas and
Paris and San Bernadino and that church in Texas and 100 other places that I
can’t even name.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Their moms said to them, you are safe. It won’t happen here.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What do you have to say to me now, Mom?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What do you have to say?<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-42292305592815199522017-12-13T22:22:00.001-07:002017-12-13T22:22:30.018-07:008 Songs of Chanukah: 2. Put Your Lights On<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KCBS5EtszYI/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KCBS5EtszYI?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
Hey now, all you sinners<br />
Put your lights on, put your lights on<br />
Hey now, all you lovers<br />
Put your lights on, put your lights on<br />
<br />
Hey now, all you killers<br />
Put your lights on, put your lights on<br />
Hey now, all you children<br />
Leave your lights on, better leave your lights on<br />
<br />
<br />GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-1645284533046267222017-12-12T17:48:00.002-07:002017-12-12T21:03:29.030-07:008 Songs for Chanukkah: 1. Scarlet Begonias<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Disclaimer: I haven't blogged a lot lately. To be completely transparent, taking on the role of the Religious School Director at my synagogue has made me overthink my posts, and there are many many drafts which I just haven't had the courage to publish. So let me say at the outset, any opinion expressed on Western Jew is mine, mine alone, and it not endorsed, approved, proofread, or in any other way associated officially with the Congregation Har Shalom Religious School. It's all me.)</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OrIRE8Hzl7c/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OrIRE8Hzl7c?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">8 Songs for Chanukkah: 1. Scarlet Begonias by The Grateful Dead.</span></div>
<br />
Tonight is the first night of Chanukkah, the Jewish holiday which commemorates the victory of the Maccabean warriors over an anti-Jewish king (Antiochus) and his army, who had desecrated the holy temple in Jerusalem in 167 BCE and did their best to force Jews to give up practicing Judaism. Antiochus made it illegal to observe Shabbat, study Torah, or even celebrate the new moon, which is how the Jews scheduled holy days.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWSsVTj-dKr_8tzLuh1AAXHa_TodSzM4JMhJqrQj7hqOC7r6EBfHI2nIvZxvUcUys_U7IzD35Soo7LfVHB9iy0R3Zmlkm8oXPRf8XZ9jmGL9UcwjnqvFI2anLm7PxxVMd1GtCC/s1600/istock000066001701medium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="768" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWSsVTj-dKr_8tzLuh1AAXHa_TodSzM4JMhJqrQj7hqOC7r6EBfHI2nIvZxvUcUys_U7IzD35Soo7LfVHB9iy0R3Zmlkm8oXPRf8XZ9jmGL9UcwjnqvFI2anLm7PxxVMd1GtCC/s320/istock000066001701medium.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It was a dark, dark time, but the Maccabees took up the fight, eventually defeating their oppressors and rededicating the Temple. As part of that dedication (the literal meaning of the word Chanukah) the menorah in the temple was re-lit, and just a little bit of oil miraculously lasted for 8 days. Imagine your nearly-dead phone battery lasting an entire day without a recharge!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Not a chill to the winter, but a nip to the air.</h3>
It's remarkable warm this winter in Colorado. But the early setting of the sun has not been delayed along with the cold temperature. These are dark, dark times. Darkness is one of those things you can only appreciate by knowing its opposite. Many of us felt a sense of lightness about America from 2008-2016.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Gay marriage legalized nationwide. </li>
<li>The Affordable Care Act, if not perfect, acknowledged the health care gap in America. </li>
<li>A bi-racial @POTUS. </li>
<li>Three women on the Supreme Court. </li>
<li>Intentional diversity in The Cabinet and among presidential appointees.</li>
<li>Increased visibility and acceptance of LGBTQ people. </li>
<li>Justin Trudeau. </li>
<li>Always Justin Trudeau.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
That hopey-changey thing was actually working pretty well for me.<br />
<br />
These past 12-and-a-half months have been like a never-ending descent into a bizarro America, where the light has not only faded, it has been purposely snuffed out, with glee and a sneer.<br />
<br />
People in my community have been digging deep for ways to fight back against the wave of darkness. We snark on Facebook, we donate to every organization we can who is fighting the good fight, we stand on street corners, we text and email our representatives, and we vote in every election every time.<br />
<br />
It's exhausting. And honestly, it doesn't feel like we're getting anywhere. It is literally and figuratively getting darker and and darker earlier and earlier every day.<br />
<br />
<h3>
It could be an illusion, but I might as well try, might as well try.</h3>
Chanukkah makes us do what perhaps we should be doing anyway -- <b>seek the light.</b> Tonight, the light is pretty small. We light just one candle, and if you haven't seen them, Chanukkah candles are pretty small as far as candles go. They stay lit for about 45 minutes or so, less if the wick is wonky. It's a short respite from darkness, but we should not discount it just because it's quick.<br />
<br />
We can perhaps be accused of creating a temporary illusion of light on Chanukkah. But I fully support our absolute right to refuse to engage in the darkness for as long as the flame can hold out. I do it by shutting off the news, changing to my "cute animals only" Twitter feed, reading romance novels, going to see live music, and watching kind and gentle TV like the <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80063224">Great British Baking Show</a>, where even the fiercest competitors are supportive of one another and every episode ends in a group hug. Lighting the menorah certainly fits into that category.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Seldom turns out the way it does in a song.</h3>
I wouldn't normally light any candles on a Tuesday night, and certainly not for 8 nights in a row. What an amazing power we have, to strike a match or push a button and create what Torah tells us God created with just words: Vayehi Or.<br />
<br />
Let there be Light.<br />
<br />
In the story of creation, darkness does not disappear when light is created. Instead, the light is separated from the dark, but they turn over and over and switch places in a never ending cycle, night becoming day and day becoming night. Darkness will always be there, but...<br />
<h3>
<br />Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.</h3>
<br />
Chanukkah is a strange little Jewish holiday. It's not mentioned in the Torah, or the Writings (Ketuvim), or the Prophets (Nevi'im). It's message of religious freedom, bringing light to darkness, and shining a light into the world is ancient, and timeless. Hag Sameach friends.<br />
<br />
Watch this space tomorrow for Song #2.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-5550601729331074222017-11-10T20:42:00.003-07:002021-01-13T17:25:55.136-07:00Abraham Sits By The Tent<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the cycle of the Torah, we are spending lots of time with Abraham. In the last parsha, Lech Lecha, God came to him and said, “Hey. Abe. Get up, leave your family, take your wife, and go. Where? You want to know where? I’ll show you later. You want to know what the land is called? Later, later. Just go.”</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maybe the destination didn’t have a name yet. Maybe God was just keeping secrets, or maybe the place needed to earn its name like Beth El, or “House of God,” where Jacob built his altar. Regardless, Abraham went. Last week was the shabbat of going forward, going out.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This week we read from Vayera (And God revealed himself). Abraham isn’t wandering anymore. In fact, we meet at his tent. He’s recovering from his days-old circumcision and God himself is paying a sick call. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One thing to note: Abraham is sitting </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">outside</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> his tent. In the rabbinic imagination, Abraham’s tent was open on all sides in order to welcome the wanderers and wayfarers. The other people who weren’t quite sure where they were going. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abraham was sitting and waiting for these travelers when God stopped by for a visit. They kibitzed and schmoozed, caught up on this and that, yadda yadda. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the middle of this talk, Abraham spotted three travelers. He </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">jumped</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> up, left God, ran to greet them and asked them to rest a while in his tent.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He did not stop to ask what they believed, what they held valuable, where they were from, where they were going, or who their leader was. He stood and, despite his own pain, began the welcoming.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rest here.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eat here. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Be my guest. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nourish yourself. Nourish your self.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are two ways to live in this world. One is to live with the doors and windows closed and the other is to throw them wide open. If you live with the doors closed, you concentrate on the needs of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">your</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> house -- security, food, safety, shelter. And these are all important things, but it’s easy to shut out the world and forget about the needs beyond your doorway and your wifi connection. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the writings of the rabbis, having your concerns bounded by the walls of your house is called Sodom, which is also in this week’s </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">portion. The sin of Sodom was the elevation of private property to the level of religious belief, to the level of idolatry. God destroyed Sodom after hearing the cry of a young woman who was being tortured for the sin of sharing her food, her portion, with another person. Kindness was a sin. The rabbis knew that Sodom is the sad, logical, tragic end of “What is mine is mine. What is yours is yours.” </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abraham is the opposite of that. <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"In the ultimate act of chutzpah, Abraham challenges God when the holy one decides to destroy the people of Sodom for their wickedness. Abraham, the spiritual father of mankind and its protector, rises to their defense:
“Shall you destroy the righteous together with the wicked?”
“It would be sacrilege for you to do such a thing… shall the judge of the world not do justice?”
To God he says this.
God offers a bargain. If he finds 50 righteous people, he will spare the entire area for their sake.
Abraham speaks up again and says, “I have already said too much before my Lord. But what if there are only 45?”
God says he will not destroy it if there are 45.
What about 40? Abraham persists? 35? 30? 20? 10?
We know how the story ends. There were not even 10 righteous ones, and God destroyed the cities, judging them irredeemable.
Every year we read it the Torah sends us a different message. This is not the same Abraham I met last November [2016], or 5 years ago.
This year's Abraham brings with him a message of hope.
It only takes 10.
If there were just 10 righteous people in the city, everyone would be saved.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why? If there were 10, would the other suddenly become righteous? Worthy of being saved because a minyan among them was good?
Of course not. But the power of those 10 was that they held the possibility of change. The possibility of influence.
If as few as 10 were like Abraham and offered radical hospitality, radical empathy, radical compassion, and radical understanding to their neighbors…. Those neighbors might change.
And then there would be 11, or 12, or 15, or 20, or 50.
They would be an ever-growing light in the darkness, for only the light can drive away the darkness and the fear and uncertainty and the walls that come with it."</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abraham did not believe that the boundaries of his house were the boundaries of his responsibility or his humanity. He moved fluidly through the public and private spaces, the inside and the outside, his and not his, the friend and the stranger. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is time for all of us to go and sit outside and see who is wandering by. If there is a way to build a more perfect union, community, <i>kehilah</i>, state, or country, it starts by leaving our tent -- even if God dropped by for a chat -- to take responsibility for those wandering on the road. Perhaps if we offer rest, a nosh, and a compassionate ear, we can give it a worthy name when we arrive. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We can call it justice.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We can call it Shalom.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We can call it home. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-27974963764918121722017-10-13T18:18:00.000-06:002017-10-13T18:18:52.843-06:00A Short Drash on Shabbat Bereshit: Exonerating Eve<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5FMfZzuwvZBguTroKrI-DypzxY33eu3qxhnW6Xe_22Nw-mEIJeO6vsZIzDExzC70sHwtM3aRrEhWO5NRTODT0OBwdepxW6snYVHxo24LZe-njuBPD8eTI52bMeSyqNbwVMku/s1600/adam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5FMfZzuwvZBguTroKrI-DypzxY33eu3qxhnW6Xe_22Nw-mEIJeO6vsZIzDExzC70sHwtM3aRrEhWO5NRTODT0OBwdepxW6snYVHxo24LZe-njuBPD8eTI52bMeSyqNbwVMku/s320/adam.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"C'mon Adam, you know you want it. Take a bite!"<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
No biblical story has had a more significant effect on the real lives of women than the creation of woman (isha) in Genesis 2. We all know the story.<br />
<br />
On the 6th day, God created Ha'Adam, the first human. God placed ha'Adam in the garden and then thought to himself, "Huh. It's not good for Ha'Adam to be alone. Let's get him a helpmate*!" I don't know what God was thinking at this point, but He created and paraded all the wild animals of the earth and sky before the man to name and, if he felt the urge, choose one as a helpmate.<br />
<br />
He's this guy:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/usedcarsalesman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/usedcarsalesman.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
"You don't like the horse? No problem. I got a beauty of a water buffalo right over here that is <i>perfect</i> for you. Zero miles. Just created it myself...."<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The man met and gave names to all the animals and birds, he didn't find any suitable to be his helpmate, his ezer k'negdo (</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ) -- his helpful counterpart, his co-warrior. You have to wonder if God knew what he was doing here, parading all of these unsuitable matches before Adam, so that the pinnacle of this event, this roll call, is </span>disappointment<span style="font-family: inherit;">. And then, to save the day, God created an ezer k'negdo just for him, from part of him. Flesh of his flesh. Bones of his bones.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Asked to recount from memory the process of this creation story, most people will say that God put Adam in a deep sleep, took out one of his ribs, closed the wound and made the woman from that rib. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;">I've always </span><span style="color: #283d4b;">preferred</span><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;"> the translation that means "sides" instead of "rib". It's a perfectly legit translation, and I think it supports a more feminist reading of the text.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;">A woman made from a rib is a second-best effort made from a spare part, a part so unimportant that the man can easily live without it. He can say to the woman:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;">You were made from me.</span></span></i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;">You have no part in me. </span></span></i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;">I will always have part of me in you.</span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;">Now imagine that first creation, that earth creature, a hermaphroditic, intersex, non-gendered creature, Ha'Adam, being cleaved in two, right down the middle. God has to "seal up the man's wound" by creating half a person, who, when whole, will become the <i>ish</i>, the man. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;">God has to do the same amount of rebuilding and creating to fashion the woman, <i>isha</i>. Ish and Isha came equally from the first earth being, Ha'Adam. They are set above the animals on the earth and below God in the heavens, so they get each other in the middle. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://img01.deviantart.net/f6f4/i/2011/113/e/6/yin_yang_2011_by_deniseawells-d3eokiq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://img01.deviantart.net/f6f4/i/2011/113/e/6/yin_yang_2011_by_deniseawells-d3eokiq.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;">A step back. Before Ha'Adam was split into two, before ish and isha were created, God gave a warning. "Go ahead," he said. "Eat anything you want. It's all for you." </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;">"Except for that tree. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;">Don't eat from that tree, or you're gonna die."</span></span><br />
<br />
Right after saying this to Ha'Adam he knocks him out cold, cuts him in half, turns half of him into a man and the other half into a woman. They wake up "become one flesh," and go tromping off to live in the garden.<br />
<br />
If you ask me, it would have been great for God to reiterate at this point his earlier warnings about the trees and the eating and the dying.<br />
<br />
But no. Instead, he left the freshly-created Man and Woman to land out in the garden with "the most cunning" animal, the serpent. This is not the way to "set your kids up for success," God.<br />
<br />
The serpent slithers up to Eve and asks her, "So, you can't eat any of the tree in the garden. Did God really say that?"<br />
Eve corrects the serpent: "Oh, we can eat everything, except that one in the middle there. We can't eat it or even touch it or we will die"<br />
"Is that so?" says the serpent. "You won't die. That's a God scare tactic. In fact, if you do eat it, you're eyes will be open and you'll be like gods. You'll know everything."<br />
<br />
Oh, Eve.<br />
<br />
One misunderstanding of what God said may have just cost you everything.<br />
<br />
God did not say you could not<i> touch </i>the tree, He said you couldn't <i>eat</i> from it.<br />
<br />
When Eve reached for the tree, one part of what she thought God said was proven wrong.<br />
<br />
Imagine her revelation: "I can touch the tree, and I'm not dead! Maybe the serpent is right. Maybe we won't die, but we will know all things."<br />
<br />
She's being rather logical, but her syllogism inputs are off:<br />
God said eating or touching the tree = death<br />
I touched the tree and didn't die<br />
Therefore, I can eat of the tree and not die.<br />
Chomp!<br />
<br />
"Then she gave some to the man who was with her and he ate."<br />
<br />
This is the big "Temptation of Adam" we have used to construct powerful social assumptions about men and women and who's at fault when a man does not control his own behavior.<br />
<br />
Look at this painting again.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNe_yqALcZex64H0GqqmEXbAYd7lsENtZro6cGNpUbs24ZPEWHtr-EG4odaq5DPYEsEtGL9rqbGqm2p9cyKq7s17zlvBl0KccZJBC8zXrHSh98M9m1HJ5ZntbvsiN3roVEL-ms/s1600/adam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNe_yqALcZex64H0GqqmEXbAYd7lsENtZro6cGNpUbs24ZPEWHtr-EG4odaq5DPYEsEtGL9rqbGqm2p9cyKq7s17zlvBl0KccZJBC8zXrHSh98M9m1HJ5ZntbvsiN3roVEL-ms/s400/adam.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;"> Look at Adam, struggling to resist the forbidden fruit that Eve is offering him. He looks taught and tortured by his indecision. And she, pushing the apple forward, that pleading look on her face. He didn't want to eat it, but she... she <i>tempted him and he could not resist</i>, so he ate! And so the sin has fallen on Eve. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My children and I have talked about why </span>different<span style="font-family: inherit;"> versions of the story matter. What do women live with in 2017 that has been supported and perpetuated because of the belief that Eve was a temptress and Adam was hapless.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span> <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When God questions Eve, she said "The serpent tricked me!"</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And the serpent was </span>punished<span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And Eve was punished: with hard labor and tough pregnancies. "And your desire shall be for your man and he will rule over you."</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And you, Adam, your punishment is because you listened to her and ate. Good luck toiling that field.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, get out.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">My child: "Why didn't Adam just not eat the apple? He knew what the consequences were."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;">My child: "Did they eat from the tree on purpose, to know more, to get out of the garden?"</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;">My child: "Why was she punished for being tricked?"</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;">All great questions that I'm not sure I have answers for. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> But I do have some.<br />
<br />
As you study these books, my children, be aware of how these stories have made their way off the page and into our culture and society. Take a look at the headlines, the man sitting in the Oval office and ask:<br />
<br />
Why are women blamed when men can't control their impulses?<br />
Why is it important for a woman not to be a 'temptation' to a man.<br />
Are men so easily tempted, distracted, and led off the path?<br />
<br />
We discussed mechitza -- an idea based on the fact that women can be so distracting to a man that even just a peek, or being able to hear<i> kol isha</i> -- the voice of a woman -- can distract him from his prayers.<br />
<br />
We talked about how people will say "she deserved it," when a woman wears a sexy outfit and a man "cannot" control his reaction.<br />
<br />
We talked about all the ways the story of Adam and Eve has been used to sell a dangerous and distorted view of how men and woman can and should live together.<br />
<br />
Eve was created as the <i>ezer k'negdo</i> and, after one transgression, demoted to someone Adam will "rule over".<br />
<br />
In the end, my child and I concluded that you can't change the <i>words</i> of the Torah, but you can most certainly change how you read it, and better than that, everyone can look closer at how they act on it.<br />
<br />
Eve was the victim of a trick.<br />
Adam was a victim of his own inability to refuse to take something he wanted.<br />
<br />
Eve deserves an exoneration.<br />
Adam deserves a lesson in self-control.<br />
<br />
And my students and my children will continue lessons in Torah with their feminist teacher guiding them. We will reclaim and rescue this Torah for them so that when they accept the responsibility of carrying it, they know where the real weight comes from.<br />
<br />GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-40575957925068136472017-08-15T21:06:00.001-06:002017-08-17T23:17:36.378-06:00I Own a Nazi Flag <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuQzpoKCUzeqZf5TSZmOIpHE0Sq8es8_CS2OhfbyKYZiBmUODtE-uYEomd0slHJbwig2yHrE9U_n7f_BZifiew64X0ivLpmJn44dyuGOu8cFysZfLcODJ8xQr1TTWw3A-QH4s0/s1600/fw23NW_WWII_Flag4-300x200.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuQzpoKCUzeqZf5TSZmOIpHE0Sq8es8_CS2OhfbyKYZiBmUODtE-uYEomd0slHJbwig2yHrE9U_n7f_BZifiew64X0ivLpmJn44dyuGOu8cFysZfLcODJ8xQr1TTWw3A-QH4s0/s1600/fw23NW_WWII_Flag4-300x200.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My Nazi flag is sizeable, probably 4-feet by 6-feet. The red background, the white circle, and the black swastika haven’t faded in the 72 years since my grandfather captured it during his service with General Patton’s Third Army and brought it home to Dorchester, MA in 1945. ( Whereupon my grandmother promptly hung it up to air out from the front porch. <i>In Dorchester. In 1945. Oy!)</i><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s not the standard Nazi flag in one way, however – the white circle is filled with the names and hometowns of the men in his unit. I’ve always wondered if each man in the unit got his own personalized fabric trophy to bring home, marked with the names of his Band of Brothers.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Nazis were certainly not shy about manufacturing flags. Every US soldier could have brought one home and there would still be thousands left to burn and destroy. Hundreds to keep in museums as exhibits of megalomaniacal power gone horribly awry.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am also the owner of a large banner for a Nazi organization for women and an SA* officer’s dagger, which has “Alles fur Deutschland” engraved into the blade. The one in the photo below isn’t mine, it’s for sale on the internet. For a few hundred dollars, you can get your own.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwjCgoI_MaRBk33vQRlR0GujpH1kYN3tNnf38-WZi-kA6m_zy-uR_FB7x5TQqmvtBIqRu3HdRs288MBQpCu1kg3AUChfyhTVjSvQkYoEw9ChF90GoqLuZBkh0ai5WchwLkaSW9/s1600/dagger.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwjCgoI_MaRBk33vQRlR0GujpH1kYN3tNnf38-WZi-kA6m_zy-uR_FB7x5TQqmvtBIqRu3HdRs288MBQpCu1kg3AUChfyhTVjSvQkYoEw9ChF90GoqLuZBkh0ai5WchwLkaSW9/s200/dagger.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
These items live in a plastic shopping bag that has moved from under my bed to the back of the closet and, more recently, back to my father’s house. They are trophies, and artifacts, and have familial and historical importance, but they are also symbols of the deep hatred of Jews. They are not replicas, bought from an online store for some angry white man to carry on the streets of Charlottesville.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My Nazi flag was made for and used by <i>the</i> Nazis. Under the women’s banner, women met in safety, knowing their beliefs, religions, and bodies were not under attack. That banner meant, for them, safety. I tell myself that the dagger was only used for ceremonial purposes, but we tell ourselves a lot of things to keep our minds from the dark places – the places where the dagger could have been used to hurt someone like me.</div>
<h2>
Neo-Nazism isn’t really all that “Neo”</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Being raised Jewish in America during the 1970s and 1980s meant absorbing a keen awareness of the power and presence of anti-Semitism. It was a topic at Pesach seders, Shabbat tables, and Sunday School. This sign, seen at a post-Charlottesville protest, resonated deeply with me. <br />
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOytUfzrUZp7AFz643S27pog2Iv34eIxcfj4alUd5Pl2Acxeec-ek9aMs3er369kp74cXnzuAjQG1GZfu1fg1txZXWaGr9SZBujdzvnFp29JKLdOeLdjmE_41hKPt17IjkDgL3/s1600/20800117_10155646025632959_7678686253852537775_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="526" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOytUfzrUZp7AFz643S27pog2Iv34eIxcfj4alUd5Pl2Acxeec-ek9aMs3er369kp74cXnzuAjQG1GZfu1fg1txZXWaGr9SZBujdzvnFp29JKLdOeLdjmE_41hKPt17IjkDgL3/s320/20800117_10155646025632959_7678686253852537775_n.jpg" width="315" /></a></div>
<br />
If you’re a Jew my age you either had family killed in the camps, survive the camps, or miraculously flee to America before the final solution was put into effect. I remember the old people in our synagogue who had faded yet legible numbers tattooed on their arms. They would catch children like me staring at them and turn away, or roll down their sleeve. And if you did not have someone in your family or synagogue with a tattoo, you had a war veteran. My grandfather never spoke to me about his time in the war, but I knew what he had done and what he had seen the Third Army liberated a concentration camp. He saw Jews.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“People don’t think it can happen here, Susan,” I was told more than once, “But no one thought it could happen there either.” </blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Nazis weren’t obliterated from the earth, we learned. We blew up their statues and monuments, put many on trial, and executed the worst of the worst. But many went back to their normal lives in Europe when the war ended. Many fled to other countries, including America. In fact, there was a Nazi party in America until the USA got involved in the war in 1941. After the war, they took down their colors, but they didn’t change their minds.</div>
<h2>
Skokie</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was 7 years old when the National Socialist Party of America (Nazis) won their case in the Supreme Court: the Nazi flag was protected free speech and the group had the right to march in Skokie, IL.** The Jewish community pulled together, found support from non-Jews, and ultimately the march took place in Chicago, not Skokie, with considerable counter-protest. They made movies (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skokie_(film)">Skokie</a> with Danny Kaye and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Forget_(1991_film)">Never Forget</a> with Leonard Nimoy) that we watched as a family with discussions during every commercial break and for weeks afterward.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Neo-Nazi marches in the 70s led to the right-wing anti-Semitic hate groups and militias of the 90s, which helped give birth to the white-supremacist anti-Muslim mania of the 2000s. Progressives were so happy to see Barack Obama in the White House that we ignored the bubbling undercurrent of racism in the birther movement and the hatred of the President and his black skin. The country had made a turn it could never go back from, we thought. The racists could never be in power again, we thought.</div>
<h2>
Know your history. Know your enemy.</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jewish kids in America receive a pretty thorough history lesson about WWII and the Holocaust. I thought everyone grew up with the same knowledge of the Nazis, the same lessons learned:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The way they took power in Germany, not by force, but by force of will.<br />
The power of rhetoric and scapegoats.<br />
The complicity of so many average German citizens.<br />
The horrors of the camps, the terrible mental and physical scars of the survivors.<br />
The signs that were missed.<br />
The opportunities for people in power to act early on that were squandered.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was so very wrong. It’s hard enough to learn from history when you’ve <i>studied</i> the history. When you’ve never <i>heard</i> the history, it’s impossible to progress from it. The gasping, chest-clutching surprise on social media in reaction post-Charlottesville has revealed how truly blind so many have been to the continuing racism and anti-Semitism in this country.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do they see now? The white supremacists in the photo below were “protecting” a statue of Robert E Lee, but they were chanting “<b><span style="color: red;">Jews will not replace us</span></b>!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQRwejMZ1Uxi8fpMwxjZM880eRJLR9pEy_9n9PFwYISi-yamZxkZ_VGmLbKGJgi-wQif5tp4J6qEv6eH3ssaxc3yKyDCF71HltfpKVQW0OHd4kgb_rQUyPNwza5_cA1klZxWeh/s1600/DHAvmfHWAAACTdV.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="846" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQRwejMZ1Uxi8fpMwxjZM880eRJLR9pEy_9n9PFwYISi-yamZxkZ_VGmLbKGJgi-wQif5tp4J6qEv6eH3ssaxc3yKyDCF71HltfpKVQW0OHd4kgb_rQUyPNwza5_cA1klZxWeh/s320/DHAvmfHWAAACTdV.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">To everyone who has posted the famous <a href="https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007392">Martin Neimoller poem</a> to their Facebook feed or changed their profile photo on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, or hashtagged Never Again, <i>do you see?</i> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">Now that you’ve seen, what will you <i>do</i>?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<h2>
</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">* The SA was the Sturmabteilung, literally Storm Detachment, Hitler's stormtroopers. Read about them <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmabteilung">here</a>: they were horrible people.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">** For the record, I supported the Nazi's right to free speech and, even now, do not believe that banning the symbol is a way to ban the hate. The ACLU defended the Nazis all the way to the Supreme court, as they should have done.</span></div>
GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-27079632577657238592017-06-06T18:37:00.002-06:002017-06-06T18:38:17.638-06:00On This Day: Go West Young Jew Style<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
I love how Facebook lets you see your "On This Day" memories. It's (mostly) good to look back and remember where you were in this season over the years. I wish blogs did the same, but looking back for bloggers is a manual chore.<br />
<br />
Five years ago I wrote this drash/good-bye speech for the graduation Shabbat at my synagogue.<br />
One year ago Ellie chanted and studied from the same portion (Behar) and I was her tutor.<br />
This year I helped another family shepherd their son through Behar for his bar mitzvah.<br />
<br />
Three points in time. Same portion. Same Torah. Much different (perhaps) me.<br />
GoldaLeah (2017)<br />
<br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<br />
<h3>
<b><i>Original Post (June 2011)</i></b></h3>
When my office was right over there, in what is now the kitchen. I used to have a sign hanging on my wall. On it was a quote from Rabbi Mecham Mendel, about whom I know next to nothing. And I mean that – nothing is over there, and over here is what I know. But I know he spoke Truth. The quote was, simply,<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
“If you truly wish your children to study Torah,<br />study it yourself in their presence.”</h2>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That sign got lost in the move, and I never did bother to make another one, and now the time for that has passed, but that saying was always in the back of my mind – it was my guiding principle as principal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rabbi Mecham Mendel was a sneaky one, of course. Any parents who takes upon his or herself the study of Torah because they want their children to also study gets a double benefit – <i>they get to study Torah</i>, and they raise someone to study it with.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In this way, I have learned so much more than I could have ever imagined teaching in the walls of these buildings, this school, this shul.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYFXh7LLvFVocH7oE6RS5XtrJuIf8UHntp3nFh0yyZNC0UmT7fsRzNU6tOkPBjRpKQByYLPLf_4f-Ig7b2aCWfBmMeVa5ckR-y-vnrZCyW11VQs-KR8_t53GdJMaLf5C3szMMU/s1600/crop-gb-behar-behukotai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYFXh7LLvFVocH7oE6RS5XtrJuIf8UHntp3nFh0yyZNC0UmT7fsRzNU6tOkPBjRpKQByYLPLf_4f-Ig7b2aCWfBmMeVa5ckR-y-vnrZCyW11VQs-KR8_t53GdJMaLf5C3szMMU/s400/crop-gb-behar-behukotai.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crop rotation patern from Behar. https://www.etsy.com/shop/DrashDesigns</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<br />
Every time some pesky high school kid asked me a question that required grabbing the Chumash for an answer, I was blessed.<br />
<br />
Every time a young child imitates a madrichim’s movements during shira, or follows them in a dance, learning is happening…twice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ghandi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”<br />
Rabbi Mecham Mendel tells us: <i>Be the Jew you want to see in the world.</i> As Jewish parents and educators, this is important … much more so than the stories we tell, or even the Torah we read. You never know what a child will take from those.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A quick story:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
One year, a fourth grader, Isaac, was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday School.<br />
"Well mom," says Isaac, "our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his combat engineers build a pontoon bridge and everyone walked across safely. Then, he used his walkie-talkie to radio headquarters for reinforcements. They sent Seal Team Six to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved."<br />
"Really Isaac," says his mother, "is that really what your teacher taught you?"<br />
"Not really mom," replies Isaac, "but if I told it the way the teacher did, <i>you'd never believe me."</i></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Judaism you <i>tell</i> your child may be dismissed; the Judaism you <i>live</i> will get into them, down in the <i>kishkes</i>, and that stuff never leaves.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjffImh8IVeRo7r-2T-ROcrvGdkhD51hoXXzUUTCAoiFtoQeHG5mdub492Q78InThdmRjyfnJjjo23nhb3Va5A-RZxo7i7pHjRphDBSk7dm83T-KIbrzrJHLCxQWg1qXVCFx4NE/s1600/Shmitah-years-Parshat-Behar+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="735" data-original-width="800" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjffImh8IVeRo7r-2T-ROcrvGdkhD51hoXXzUUTCAoiFtoQeHG5mdub492Q78InThdmRjyfnJjjo23nhb3Va5A-RZxo7i7pHjRphDBSk7dm83T-KIbrzrJHLCxQWg1qXVCFx4NE/s320/Shmitah-years-Parshat-Behar+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Speaking of leaving, then. This week's Torah portion, Behar, is not one that will inspire much disbelief. There are no talking snakes or donkeys; no magical splitting of the sea, just what seems like mundane advice for a future agrarian society, what I like to call the <b>TRFF (turf) -- Torah Rules for Fair Farming. </b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
God tells Moses, while they're having a chat on Mount Sinai that every seven years the land gets a year off, a shmitah year. No tilling, no planting, no sewing, no hoeing. It is, literally, "released" from its burden.<br />
<br />
We are guarantors of a sacred trust -- this land, this earth -- and we must find a way to balance productivity, reset, and release.<br />
<br />
After seven series of seven years, in the 50th year, the Jubilee year, not only does the land lie fallow, but ownership returns to the original owner. Indentured servants and slaves are freed, and everyone returns to their homes, their families.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And we rest.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And the land rests.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And we enjoy the work of our labors that we have stored up for six years...and we breathe<br />
<i><br /></i> <i>kol ha neshaman tehalel yah ... halleluyah .... <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Punctuating the productivity of life with long pauses lends perspective and encourages us to express gratitude for our bounty, and what can be produced without our work, but with our gratitude<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>kol ha neshama tehalel yah ... halleluyah<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And so this time in my life is a punctuation mark as well. At this point, I'm not sure if it's a comma, a period, a question mark, an exclamation point or one of those little smiley face emoticons.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I imagine many of the other graduates in the room feel the same way. It is the end, and the beginning. The path to many hellos and perhaps a few too many good-byes. Accomplishments writ on paper and your hearts, and blank pages to come before you. Change happens.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I'm not too worried about feeling like I have a good grasp of the ways and workings of life just yet, although some of you here perhaps should be. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Between Pesach and Shavuot, in the afternoons, we are to study <i>Pirke Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers. </i>If any of you have seen Yentl, this is the book she and her father are studying. Who is rich? He who is happy with lot, etc.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Near the end of the book the rabbis get presumptuous and lay out the milestones of a life, by age.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
At 5, a child is ready for scripture.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
at 10, mishnah<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
at 13, an observer of the commandments<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
at 15, gemara<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
at 18, chupa<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
at 20, pursue a livelihood<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
at 30, full strength<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
at 40, understanding<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
at 50, offers counsel<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
at 60, attains seniority<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
at 70, tips old age<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
at 80, strength<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
at 90, stooped over<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
at 100, as if dead...<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, I am a full 7 months away from full understanding.* But to quote the great tzadik of our time, Oprah Winfrey, there is one thing I know for sure.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Delve into Torah<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and delve into it again<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
for everything is in it<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
look deeply into it<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
grow old with it<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and share all of this, as I have shared it, with your children.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Shabbat Shalom.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<i>*I was 39 when I wrote this. Understanding didn't magically come at 40, but at 45 I do feel half-way between understanding and offering counsel. </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-7527909685884029862017-06-05T20:41:00.002-06:002017-06-05T20:55:17.728-06:00A Schaibly does a Dr. Seuss Shavuot<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Every Jew down in Jewville liked God a whole lot<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But the Pharaoh building the pyramids, oh no he did not!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Pharaoh hated the Jews! He accused them of
treason!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Now, please don’t ask why. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">No one quite knows the reason.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It could be that his head wasn’t screwed on just right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But I think the most likely reason of all,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">May have been that his heart was two sizes too
small.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Whatever the reason, His heart or his shoes,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He sat on his throne, just hating the Jews,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Staring down from his palace with a sour Pharaoh
frown,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">At the warm lighted windows below in their town.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For he knew every Jew down in Jewville below,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Was hoping he’d give them permission to go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“They’ve smeared their doors with lambs’ blood” he
said with a sneer,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“They say Moses’ last plague is getting quite near!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Tomorrow, he knew, all the Jew girls and boys,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Would wake bright and early. They’d rush from those
goys!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">They would feast on Jew-bread, and Jew-bitter herbs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Which was something that got on his last Pharoahy nerve!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And then they’d do something He liked least of all!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Every Jew down in Jewville, the tall and the small,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Would stand close together, their voices raised and ringing,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">They’d stand hand-in-hand. And the Jews would start
singing!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">They’d sing! And they’d sing! And they’d SING some
more!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">They were singing as they walked right out his front door.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Now it’s 90 days later and the Jews are free<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">They ran for their lives as Moses split the reed sea<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In Rephidim they stopped and gathered their thoughts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Now at the base of Mount Sinai they’re feeling distraught. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Waiting for Moses, who’s up talking with God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And hearing the rules that will seem very odd<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To the Jews from Jewiville who started in Egypt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">They were starting to wonder if maybe they’d be
gipped<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Moses came down the mount and spoke the words of the
lord<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“If you obey me and follow my rules, I shall
treasure you most<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And you’ll never be bored. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A holy nation you shall be, with free will and free
choice,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Now say yes to my proposal, though what it is I've not said<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Or I’ll drop this holy mountain straight down on your head”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">"We’ll do it! We’ll do it!" the people agreed <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">and waited to hear details of their new-fangled
creed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Would they still worship Rah and Osiris, Anubis and
more?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Or were those things they’d have to learn to abhor?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The festival of Opet was centered in Thebes,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If they continued to celebrate would God think them
dweebs?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Moses told all the Jews to be prepared<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">God would come down the mountain and become their
laird<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Wash your clothes!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Wait three days!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Don’t touch your spouse!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And don’t you even think about starting to grouse. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When the Jews looked up at the dawn in the morn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">They saw thunder, heard lightning, bar-ba-bloots from a horn.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The mountain was smokin', God descended in fire</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The people did tremble - this was looking quite dire!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">The people were freaked out by the voices and blasts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">The mountain was smoke and the people were aghast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">How long would it last?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">How long would it last?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">They giant steps back and stood from afar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">"Hey Moses!" they said, "You go up, get the word.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">We don’t want to be charred by the things that we’ve heard."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">When Moses came down from the mountain that day</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He climbed up on a rock and had something to say,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">"Your attention, please! All of you, I demand
it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I bring to you this list of commandments!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Lord passed these to me, and now I to you,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So gather around, you big tribe of Jews!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">"First, there's just one God for all of
creation,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Not one for your house and one for vacation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Not one for the lowlands and one for the side hills.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And speaking of which, don't make any idols.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">"And regarding Him, in His name please don't
curse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If you go against this, things will get so much worse!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Instead, just relax and keepeth the Sabbath<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I think that you'll find it's a pretty great habit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">"Be kind to your parents, for it's you that
they raised<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And try not to kill folks - it's pretty depraved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Don't schtup anyone you shouldn't be schtupping!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And away with your neighbor's things don't go trooping.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">"Do your best not to lie, and be a false
witness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Stop coveting things, it's a pretty bad
sickness."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And with that Moses finished, and put down his tablet,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sighed a sigh of relief that the rules were
established.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The crowd stood there stunned, every one was so quiet<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Processing these rules and their upcoming compliance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Then they smiled, they cheered. How hard could this be?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There are only ten rules, not thirty and three.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">It was then that Moses delivered the news</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Six-hundred and three <i>more</i> rules were
awaiting these Jews<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">From the back of the crowd, a throat cleared with a hork.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">"Yeah, that's great," sneered a voice.
"But what about pork?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(Hat tip to reddit for their Seuss Bible thread<br />
It inspired as I required, when the rhymes were just dead.)</div>
GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-11358441292394991252017-04-30T21:31:00.000-06:002017-04-30T22:03:16.740-06:00A Reflection on Newtown: Two BensI watch a lot of documentaries on Netflix while I work on other things. This is what the screen of my laptop usually looks like:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwPwF13jWtp40z_7Siq-YP5BAHyAWx3xPK9rf5Gw0x3d-1eEcv3iiy3D_uIJH-xhoZMC2ajHJFbHTrcId6rnmpKGIvAQy5bbuJ7WKjMZhJ9RAz_OdqtyNLm0x2gGN_aEAGse6i/s1600/screen.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwPwF13jWtp40z_7Siq-YP5BAHyAWx3xPK9rf5Gw0x3d-1eEcv3iiy3D_uIJH-xhoZMC2ajHJFbHTrcId6rnmpKGIvAQy5bbuJ7WKjMZhJ9RAz_OdqtyNLm0x2gGN_aEAGse6i/s400/screen.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Those 15 tabs open on the left include research for summer camps for the kids, Twitter, Facebook, a text messaging app, research on Leviticus 13:13 prompted by an intriguing question from a friend, and my calendar, Soon there will be more tabs as I do research for this blog post.<br />
<br />
On the right is Netflix, where I'm currently watching <i><a href="http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/newtown/">Newtown</a>, </i>the PBS documentary about the school shooting in December 2012. The film is an intimate portrait of how parents, educators, first responders, and the rest of the town, survivors all, has endured.<br />
<br />
Parents of several of the murdered first graders are interviewed, including David Wheeler, father of six-year-old Benjamin Wheeler, whom they called Ben. From David's description, Ben Wheeler was a lot like our Ben at that age. He had sticker charts for all kinds of behaviors, including sitting through an entire dinner, keeping his body calm at school, listening to the teacher, etc. Five stickers in a row led to a reward or some positive reinforcement.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYh6cxP_-k-6yY4PzH6DNTjIrIKKU-6y2jB3wyQhi0pjkcvaEiZX9nY654abAwFYNZePzIn37kquVhoJFx8IsednOvY1ITscfkvM7kDi5Yo1_IqquHUQgotOtmLzPs7t9AFPaL/s1600/Capture.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYh6cxP_-k-6yY4PzH6DNTjIrIKKU-6y2jB3wyQhi0pjkcvaEiZX9nY654abAwFYNZePzIn37kquVhoJFx8IsednOvY1ITscfkvM7kDi5Yo1_IqquHUQgotOtmLzPs7t9AFPaL/s400/Capture.PNG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot of Ben Wheeler's sticker chart, from <i>Newtown.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Both of our Bens had some difficulties getting those sticker spots filled. David describes his Ben as being "so full of energy that his feet didn't seem to touch the ground," and recalls a picture of Ben jumping, caught in mid-air, which a friend titled "Flying Boy." In the videos of him, Ben Wheeler is exuberant and effusive, words and energy coming so quickly he is a blur in front of the lens. We have many such videos.<br />
<br />
At one point, David is searingly honest about parenting his Ben. "Ben was a challenge," he says. "The dinner table was <i>so hard,</i> because he was just all over the place... Nothing ever moved fast enough for him."<br />
<br />
My heart broke when I realized this will <i>always be their Ben</i>. David Wheeler will never get to realize, appreciate, relish, suffer, and witness the transformations between boy and young man. What a great gift he has lost: the perspective of looking back on a first-grade Ben and thinking, "Boy, he was a handful back then! Remember what dinner was like?" while enjoying a delightful dinner with a ninth-grade Ben. To be a witness to growth and change and maturity.<br />
<br />
As I am sitting here writing this, my Ben is practicing bass guitar downstairs. He's working on a difficult Red Hot Chili Peppers song, and he is just nailing parts of it. His grades are good, his homework gets done, he's in a band and has a group of friends. He has a generous spirit and a compassionate heart. His room is a disaster, he spends entirely too much time playing video games, and he can be as much of a knucklehead as any other 15-year-old, but in a few years, we won't care about those things. Right now we have moments like these:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQG6uoQaq6UCfY8ZagtkSqCGm0yZNZ116kQ3RTdlwBKTrIcujIxkcVe8RcEwcmuY65LyYGz0Bmd6RR5_7LIxQ6CXcFkXmvvW_18azgxedGfydKAMFAd2URq1RVQPuBDeFMgS84/s1600/17626222_10155199967557959_7322069017570676941_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQG6uoQaq6UCfY8ZagtkSqCGm0yZNZ116kQ3RTdlwBKTrIcujIxkcVe8RcEwcmuY65LyYGz0Bmd6RR5_7LIxQ6CXcFkXmvvW_18azgxedGfydKAMFAd2URq1RVQPuBDeFMgS84/s320/17626222_10155199967557959_7322069017570676941_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Ben jamming with his dad.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The Wheelers had two children, and like most parents, they marked their children's heights on a wall, a door frame in their case. Their Ben's final height was marked in November of 2012, one month before he was killed. Above that mark is just empty wall space for a couple of feet, until the place where is older brother scrawled, "Would be here."<br />
<br />
We mark our Ben's height every year on his birthday, in September. There's over a foot of growth between the mark for 9/3/12 (three months before Newtown) and 9/3/16, on his 15th birthday. He's now taller than I am. I look up to him. <br />
<br />
Of course, at some point, our Ben's tick marks will stop, too.<br />
When he reaches his full adult height.<br />
When physical growth stops.<br />
When nature determines it.<br />
Please, let it be when nature determines it.<br />
<br />
Until that happens, I'll be keeping another Ben, his parents, and a blank space on a wall in Newtown in my mind as we watch our son grow and make his marks.<br />
<br />
<br />
(Visit <a href="http://www.sandyhookpromise.org/">www.sandyhookpromise.org</a> and <a href="http://www.benslighthouse.org/">www.benslighthouse.org</a> to see how the Wheelers are carrying their Ben's legacy forward.)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-85866662480265669512017-04-24T18:24:00.000-06:002017-04-24T19:55:01.178-06:00A Yom haShoah Experiment<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<h2>
An Invitation:</h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAIrR2CkeyTOrStSeDE_BX1OlxbqizM_-MgAFFnWh3YaOUvsjQfPQKSW14Ib_RgaiXe8ilyIM_LnII-tctEiMi38pr-1tnf0LnUC3ATQhgzBVnIwUvkRQINUnFe6wEMmluzVkW/s1600/one-million-dots_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAIrR2CkeyTOrStSeDE_BX1OlxbqizM_-MgAFFnWh3YaOUvsjQfPQKSW14Ib_RgaiXe8ilyIM_LnII-tctEiMi38pr-1tnf0LnUC3ATQhgzBVnIwUvkRQINUnFe6wEMmluzVkW/s400/one-million-dots_.jpg" width="290" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<b>Background</b>: Today is the the Jewish observance of Yom HaShoah (יום השואה). Literally, the day of the catastrophe. It is an official holiday in Israel to commemorate and remember the 6 million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<b>Equipment Needed</b>: A clock, timer, or stopwatch app on your phone. (Many timers don't go as high as we need. You can download special apps to countdown to a special date if necessary -- just search your app store for "C<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">ountdown".)</span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<b>Procedure</b>: Set your timer to count down 69 days (or 1,666 hours). Set it up so there is a notification or visual reminder on your home screen that the timer is going.<br />
<br />
I've also added a countdown timer to the home page of this blog, so we can all keep time together.)</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<b>Experiment Termination</b>: When the timer goes off on July 2, 6 million seconds will have passed, one for each of the Jews who was murdered.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<b>Data Collection</b>: Optional. Record thoughts and feelings when you remember why the timer is going.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<b>Anticipated Result</b>: Unknown/Individualized</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Ready? Set?</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Remember.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-74915341046018348012017-04-08T16:28:00.001-06:002017-04-09T12:00:07.710-06:00Parsha Tzav: Just Do It (Because You Have Been Commanded)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN7EN1PKVC_lqCnii4LeR5nDr355Ym9Fm1X13Nzy5lQP3ibjZ5KrdqM08uaJ8ljV0LRKmAnK7dxe3YGL79mO_r6RMZlZRsQqwSx8pt8VPb7KlXOe5fG2tVAoqfcD09-AOy4eX6/s1600/motivation.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN7EN1PKVC_lqCnii4LeR5nDr355Ym9Fm1X13Nzy5lQP3ibjZ5KrdqM08uaJ8ljV0LRKmAnK7dxe3YGL79mO_r6RMZlZRsQqwSx8pt8VPb7KlXOe5fG2tVAoqfcD09-AOy4eX6/s640/motivation.PNG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Motivation is a big issue in modern life. Most of us lack it at least some of the time, and the internet is teeming with things to get you motivated. There are millions of pictures with imagery of powerful animals, people standing victoriously on mountain tops and using a pair of scissors to turn "I can't" into "I can". </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">If those don't work for you there are apps for your phone that gamify your goals. Create an avatar, compete against your friends, and "level up" as you earn points, badges and rewards. Any habit will do, from adding protein powder to your smoothie to reading to your child at night. Nothing is too trivial or important. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY-VBVx82ee_Ufmm41c9Mja1PCeWKLofcbYMLlROOuKT7pswQBwGztAxsFB0x1Dp-3T8Mit1DQVahMmrRUEo6lO4Qdn7W4GKpl6aKblFCO5UMmK8xb9lrBakxq_C6ol8hhzHLv/s1600/app_habitrpg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY-VBVx82ee_Ufmm41c9Mja1PCeWKLofcbYMLlROOuKT7pswQBwGztAxsFB0x1Dp-3T8Mit1DQVahMmrRUEo6lO4Qdn7W4GKpl6aKblFCO5UMmK8xb9lrBakxq_C6ol8hhzHLv/s400/app_habitrpg.png" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">God Doesn't Ask; He Commands</span></b></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">This week's Torah portion is <a href="http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0306.htm#1">Tzav</a>, which literally means "command." God speaks to Moses and says:</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "david"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david"; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: yellow;">צַו</span><span style="background-color: white;"> אֶת-אַהֲרֹן וְאֶת-בָּנָיו לֵאמֹר</span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david"; font-size: large;"><i style="background-color: yellow;">Command</i><span style="background-color: white;"> Aaron and his sons, saying:</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "david"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "david"; font-size: large;">God doesn't say:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: "david"; font-size: large;"><i>"Give Aaron and his sons these instructions about sacrifices in the tabernacle." </i></span></span></blockquote>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "david"; font-size: large;">Or:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "david"; font-size: large;"><i><span style="color: #20124d;">"Offer Aaron this responsibility."</span> </i></span></span></blockquote>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "david"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "david"; font-size: large;">And definitely not:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "david";"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><i>"Run these instructions by Aaron, get his feedback for revisions, and then let's start negotiating the process for keeping the holy fire tended."</i></span></span></blockquote>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "david"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david";"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">These are commands, and commands are to be carried out by the commanded. To be frank, I'm a little jealous of Aaron and his sons. They don't need any motivation to carry out their responsibilities. They have been commanded, and because of their covenant with God, they obey. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david";"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david";"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">Choices are demanding, and modern Jews have saddled themselves with hundreds of decisions that our ancestors, even our recent ones, never considered. From the mundane (<i>is it ok to eat a pork chop?</i>) to the sacred (<i>is it ok to work on Shabbat?</i>). </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david";"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david";"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">My great-grandmother never had to be <i>motivated</i> to keep a kosher kitchen or clean cabinets and change dishes for Passover. It's what you did, and it was a mitzvah, a commandment, to do so. (Can you tell that I'm putting off cleaning for Passover by writing this blog? Shh.)</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david";"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david";"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">Recent generations have taken great pride in throwing off religious systems that command certain behaviors and lifestyles. We are all "Jew by choice," we are told, with the added luxury of getting to choose how we express our Judaism. We are free to sift among the "commandments" and follow some, disobey others, and disregard many of them completely. I am most certainly one of those Jews, and as an educator, I love when teens find something in Torah they can really grasp onto and use in their modern, non-observant lives. I wonder, though, if I am doing them a disservice, teaching them to bend the Torah to their lives instead of changing their lives for Torah.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david";"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david";"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">My Orthodox/observant friends generally don't struggle with following the commandments. I once asked such a friend if he ever snuck a bite of a cheeseburger, just to see what he was missing. "No," he said, "keeping kosher is my field of new, untrod snow, and I don't want to ruin it by trampling on it. I want to keep it perfect." He doesn't have to wrestle with the desire to eat treif (non-kosher) food, because he doesn't <i>have</i> the desire. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david";"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david";"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>"I have no choice"</b></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3rQnH2m7-cGe2C50x_d3nxxsVL7_fGtbFnWchwY2VxH0r4uFyEuV2_uXCmnnEujjwzfoIqDeFBp_I2bmsaI15vkDpoFemg7KwpgDBTt495HL59nmTq9sL0XAZ94GXHb8hN-x4/s1600/steve-turtleneck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3rQnH2m7-cGe2C50x_d3nxxsVL7_fGtbFnWchwY2VxH0r4uFyEuV2_uXCmnnEujjwzfoIqDeFBp_I2bmsaI15vkDpoFemg7KwpgDBTt495HL59nmTq9sL0XAZ94GXHb8hN-x4/s640/steve-turtleneck.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Steve Jobs famously wore the same outfit every day, eliminating the "What to wear?" decision from his life.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "david"; font-size: large;">Modern Americans are all about choice, and it can be overwhelming. Go into a grocery store sometime and just try and count the varieties of tea available for purchase. I don't know about you, but when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s there was just "tea." Hot or iced, perhaps, but still just "tea." </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david";"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">And so we stand there in the tea aisle, or the coffee shop, or the store with 50 styles and fits of pants, overwhelmed by the choices. I've often thought, "Someone just tell me what to buy," which is really a plea to be commanded, to have the choice removed.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">As Frankfurt-born psychoanalyst </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Fromm" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0b0080; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Erich Fromm">Erich Fromm</a> writes:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">"<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">In the process of becoming freed from authority, we are often left with feelings of hopelessness... that will not abate until we use our 'freedom to' and develop some form of replacement of the old order." </span></span></blockquote>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "david";"><span style="background-color: white;">Removing the choice about <i>whether or not</i> to do something is, paradoxically, liberating. Most of us don't lie in bed in the morning wavering about whether or not to go to our jobs, or go to school. We may not do so happily, but we've taken on an obligation, so we go. In contrast, we've all put off tasks that are optional, even if they are also important. (Going to the gym, walking the dog, cleaning the bathroom, taking vitamins, balancing the checkbook, etc.) To do those things, we need the magical ingredient: </span></span><b style="font-family: David;"><i>motivation.</i></b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david"; font-size: large;">In the Torah, Aaron was <i style="font-weight: bold;">commanded</i> to keep the fire burning:</span></div>
<div>
<table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="font-family: David; width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="h" style="direction: rtl; text-align: right; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></td><td style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="h" style="direction: rtl; text-align: right; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="3"></a><br /></span></td><td style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="h" style="direction: rtl; text-align: right; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="5"></a><b>ה</b> וְהָאֵשׁ עַל-הַמִּזְבֵּחַ תּוּקַד-בּוֹ לֹא תִכְבֶּה, וּבִעֵר עָלֶיהָ הַכֹּהֵן עֵצִים בַּבֹּקֶר בַּבֹּקֶר; וְעָרַךְ עָלֶיהָ הָעֹלָה, וְהִקְטִיר עָלֶיהָ חֶלְבֵי הַשְּׁלָמִים.</span></td><td style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>5</b> And the fire upon the altar shall be kept burning thereby, it shall not go out; <span style="background-color: yellow;">and the priest shall kindle wood on it every morning</span>; and he shall lay the burnt-offering in order upon it, and shall make smoke thereon the fat of the peace-offerings.</span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="h" style="direction: rtl; text-align: right; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="6"></a><b>ו</b> אֵשׁ, תָּמִיד תּוּקַד עַל-הַמִּזְבֵּחַ--לֹא תִכְבֶּה. {ס}</span></td><td style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>6</b> Fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually; it shall not go out. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjynMvwhzRGkBfzoHDCHozJtxJKoLSqOwqg5CddP2uVULCgziYoZVTzCPLA8MVt42FSM1OIxvOAvVb8qF_qRs2XhrtVAttHCOHAZ5yKo6upUKgep3vZRsVGS8WS1SGHsMPu2XMK/s1600/f2193dedacded8fc6a40f5c1f536d2fd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjynMvwhzRGkBfzoHDCHozJtxJKoLSqOwqg5CddP2uVULCgziYoZVTzCPLA8MVt42FSM1OIxvOAvVb8qF_qRs2XhrtVAttHCOHAZ5yKo6upUKgep3vZRsVGS8WS1SGHsMPu2XMK/s320/f2193dedacded8fc6a40f5c1f536d2fd.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Aaron receiving the weight of his priestly vestments.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "david";">God didn't really care if Aaron </span><i style="font-family: David;">felt like</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "david";"> adding wood to the fire each day and making the offerings. The fire staying lit wasn't based on Aaron's morning motivation to do so. He had agreed at the base of Mt Sinai that all God commanded, he would do. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "david"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "david"; font-size: large;">No motivational posters, apps, or Fitbit required -- Aaron tended the fire and performed the sacrifices.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "david"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "david"; font-size: large;"><b>Who Commands Us?</b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Modern Jews often find themselves in a quandary when it comes to following the rules of Judaism. The Torah and God are, in Fromm's terms, the "old order" which we have shaken off in an effort to feel and be more free. Fromm goes on to suggest that those who don't use this "freedom from" properly will look for replacements for the old order and often turn to <b>authoritarianism</b>, <b>destructiveness,</b> and <b>conformity</b>. (Fromm argues that this is how Nazi culture took hold in the 1930s. The old order dissolved and people were disoriented by their own freedom, so they accepted Nazi authority.)</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's damn scary, and it's not what I'm suggesting here. Many believe there is no higher authority to answer to, no one to do the commanding. You'll get no argument from me; believing in the <i>truth</i> of the Torah and accepting its divine origins would certainly make it easier for me to follow the rules. I'm not willing to make that jump, and I doubt most of my Jewish contemporaries are either.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Go Ahead, Be Obligated. </span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0stiMKE3vJvRsfhyphenhyphenOlkto6kwOzpJuXS64V3LK9nnsF2iQw6GHVv7-uvc7ZzH_l1q36Db4EyyuLmeZDTOEAALd_WIYDCyrqtdI_9SDRluPvIBPdlxFAXY4PSLcmRFZakkwpNGX/s1600/route_mitzvot_613_postcard-r748d3bc3c4c542a993e9ddc4e472df1f_vgbaq_8byvr_324.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0stiMKE3vJvRsfhyphenhyphenOlkto6kwOzpJuXS64V3LK9nnsF2iQw6GHVv7-uvc7ZzH_l1q36Db4EyyuLmeZDTOEAALd_WIYDCyrqtdI_9SDRluPvIBPdlxFAXY4PSLcmRFZakkwpNGX/s200/route_mitzvot_613_postcard-r748d3bc3c4c542a993e9ddc4e472df1f_vgbaq_8byvr_324.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></b></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">We command ourselves, sure, but what if we play a little mind game with ourselves? What if we take on a mitzvah, just one, as if we are commanded to? Whether or not our motivation waxes and wanes, we have been commanded to perform the mitzvah, we have agreed to obey, and so we do.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">There are a lot of mitzvot to choose from: (Of the 613 commandments in the Torah, 365 are negative/don't do commandments, and 248 are positive.) For this exercise, let's take on a simple, positive commandment of Jewish prayer.** Here are some easy daily practices:</span></div>
<div>
<ol style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; list-style-image: none; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 3.2em; padding: 0px;">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Say the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shema_Yisrael" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Shema Yisrael">Shema</a> twice daily — Deut 6:7 (<a href="http://www.jewfaq.org/shemaref.htm">Link to Shema</a>)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_in_Judaism" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Prayer in Judaism">Pray every day</a> — Exodus 23:25 (Use the Amidah or another Jewish prayer. Link to <a href="http://www.reformjudaism.org/shabbat-worship-services">Reform Version</a>)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkat_Hamazon" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Birkat Hamazon">Bless the Almighty after eating</a> — Deuteronomy 8:10 (Link to <a href="http://www.reformjudaism.org/practice/prayers-blessings/daily-blessings-birkat-hamazon-grace-after-meals-short-version">short version</a> of the Birkat Hamazon)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torah_study" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Torah study">To learn Torah</a> — Deut 6:7 (Link to list of the weekly parsha <a href="https://www.hebcal.com/sedrot/">here</a>. Each parsha is divided into 7 different readings, so you can do one each day.)</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Accept the obligation to recite one of these daily, as if you were commanded. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Do it the same way every day -- whichever form of the Amidah or the Birkat Hamazon you choose, use it every day. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Try it for a week.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Share with me (or someone else) your experience.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">I'm taking on #2, reciting the Amidah each day. What do you choose?</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david";"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david";"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">*Mitzvah in Hebrew comes from the same root as tzav, and although many people now think of a mitzvah as a "good deed," "commandment" is a more accurate translation. There are 613 mitzvot (commandments) in the Torah, not 613 "good deeds".]</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david"; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">** I chose prayer specifically because these prayers are uniquely Jewish. There are other commandments to choose from. Here's a list: all: </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/613_commandments#Maimonides.27_list">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/613_commandments#Maimonides.27_list</a></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "david"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-61383295523760909892017-04-01T19:33:00.001-06:002018-03-16T21:43:54.037-06:00Parsha Vayikra: It's the Little Things<h2>
The Little Aleph</h2>
<h3>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAUcHDDffs1edkVPo5NV8195BWNpleOY04mLtlAjzfn-HN5wnlkWGYg1Pd_KA6FO7UGn9adGBBGxh9GMEEHzl-f94fbIUNyktQfcd6Iz67ML-O8kiRS0VXzCSLKuetDs5ujQuP/s1600/vayikra-small-aleph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAUcHDDffs1edkVPo5NV8195BWNpleOY04mLtlAjzfn-HN5wnlkWGYg1Pd_KA6FO7UGn9adGBBGxh9GMEEHzl-f94fbIUNyktQfcd6Iz67ML-O8kiRS0VXzCSLKuetDs5ujQuP/s640/vayikra-small-aleph.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
</h3>
<br />
I'm not going to kid anyone -- the book of Leviticus/Vaikra can be a rough read. The slicing and dicing instructions for sacrifices and long lists of laws with severe consequences appear on almost every page. Laws that do not square with our modern sensibility. Laws that have caused immeasurable pain in our society. Laws against homosexual relations. Laws that determine menstruating women are "unclean".<br />
<br />
Leviticus is also the repository of the "Huh?" laws prohibiting mixing fabrics, getting tattoos, cross-breeding animals, picking up fallen grapes in your vineyard, tearing your clothes, and letting your hair become unkempt.<br />
<br />
Modern, progressive Jews have largely set aside the laws of Leviticus. We don't notice if we mix linen and wool, we get tattoos, and some of us let our hair get quite messy. The laws against homosexuality -- which in Vayikra carries the death penalty -- are abhorrent to us.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Ditch Leviticus?</h3>
B'nai mitzvah kids hate it. Progressives flinch when conservatives quote its verses. We no longer have a Temple in Jerusalem, which most of the laws apply to. Is the only reason we read Leviticus in 2018...<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiQ3KxXm2nWsuE3OxSR7A3Ztbiyl8kMv1KgEUYH3a3ZRPvirYoz9tRwdO4yVj0nqcK-lLdONX_Tm_VdlYVdm5pyF6aYTt-zDDM8FTo39uQ3N3Ym0MYwooA45XNqPOLt7gXuhJb/s1600/86a3d8c2491a068792ca32d65635b6c1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiQ3KxXm2nWsuE3OxSR7A3Ztbiyl8kMv1KgEUYH3a3ZRPvirYoz9tRwdO4yVj0nqcK-lLdONX_Tm_VdlYVdm5pyF6aYTt-zDDM8FTo39uQ3N3Ym0MYwooA45XNqPOLt7gXuhJb/s640/86a3d8c2491a068792ca32d65635b6c1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Tradition!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3>
The little aleph says no. </h3>
The little aleph says, look for the small things, the hidden wisdom. Look for what your eye may have scanned over the first time. See what's there, in the spaces, in the silence.<br />
<br />
How?<br />
<br />
1.<b> Accept reading and studying Torah as an obligation.</b> One of the consequences of reading Torah on a schedule every year is that we can't skip chapters or books that don't resonate with us. It's a homework assignment: You don't have to like it; you do have to do it.<br />
<br />
2. <b>Cherry pick.</b> When people are accused of "cherry-picking" the bible and only quoting parts that suit their agenda, I have a hard time joining in the chorus that shames them. As humans in 2018, we have no choice but to cherry-pick the Torah for verses and ideas that are meaningful to us.<br />
<br />
3. <b>Use Commentary and Modern Translations.</b> Yes, read the actual text of the Torah, but read it alongside commentary. Rabbis and Jewish educators have spent thousands of years combing the Torah for meaning in every era, and they've struggled with the same ideas you do. This year I highly recommend Rabbi Jonathan Sacks' commentary: <a href="http://rabbisacks.org/call-vayikra-5778/">http://rabbisacks.org/call-vayikra-5778/</a>. I've been reading his book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Leadership-Weekly-Reading-Jewish/dp/1592644325/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8">Lessons in Leadership</a></i> for each parsha this year.<br />
<br />
4. <b>Remember the Aleph.</b> Any tidbit of Torah that makes you think, challenges a position you hold, or enlightens your view of Judaism is <b>enough.</b><br />
<br />
Too many people turn away from Torah study because the study itself is so demanding.<br />
<br />
Lean in.<br />
<br />
You really do get an A for effort.<br />
<br />
Or maybe an aleph.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcWJGByd3Dx4Y9uGEj7VN9q2rNl6iifeWD4mAQK1ntLqZVBPvrGytDV-4n7mtj7eshvvOOR6QEo07Xu5HiYN_d3HiFvQ3J5n_t192446jFY-1iWel495raqBGyVY832IxzuWf_/s1600/aleph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcWJGByd3Dx4Y9uGEj7VN9q2rNl6iifeWD4mAQK1ntLqZVBPvrGytDV-4n7mtj7eshvvOOR6QEo07Xu5HiYN_d3HiFvQ3J5n_t192446jFY-1iWel495raqBGyVY832IxzuWf_/s320/aleph.jpg" width="251" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-67868428482010050852017-03-31T22:18:00.001-06:002020-03-20T20:32:32.288-06:00For the Record: Beatles Shabbat D'var Torah<h2 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Speaking Words of Wisdom</span></span></h2>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A drash on parsha Vayakhel-Pe</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">kudei </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"> </span><a class="outbound" href="https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.35.1-38.20?lang=bi" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #23527c; outline: 0px;" title="English translation from JPS Tanakh">Exodus 35:1 - 40:38</a></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">delivered at Congregation Har Shalom's <span style="font-weight: bold;">Beatles</span> Shabbat.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">(Beatles lyrics are in bold.)</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-00462fbb-27b2-ef23-be29-5142fd2248cf" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I find myself in times of trouble, words of Torah come to me. Speaking words of wisdom: You are free</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We finish the book of Exodus this week: Moses has told all the people to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Come Together</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It’s time to reconcile after the incident of the golden calf.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Listen, Moses says:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You say yes</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I say no</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You say stop</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I say go</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I say high</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You say low</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You say </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">why</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">? And I say I don’t know!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Life is very short, and there’s no time for tzuris and mishegas, my friends.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Try to see it my way? C’mon. We can work it out</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, money can’t buy you love</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but it can buy you a heck of a tabernacle and some downright groovy priestly vestments. So, I’m asking for your </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Help. I need somebody. Not just anybody. I need everyone</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Haven't you felt that yearning in your heart, Moses asked them? Haven’t you said, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I really want to see you</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I really want to be with you</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Really want to see you Lord</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But it takes so long, My Lord</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s all right. Even if we had </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eight days a week</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, it’s </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> long and winding road</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. But</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I will be with you. You know I will</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But even Moses needed a capital campaign.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s gonna take money. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A whole lot of spending money</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s gonna take plenty of money</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To do it right, children</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And it’s gonna take time</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A whole lot of precious time</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s going to take patience and time</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To do it right</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And so the people gave -- </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ability ...</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Offerings for the work of the Tent of Meeting and for all its service and for the sacral vestments. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Men and women, all whose hearts moved them,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brought gold to the LORD, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They came bringing brooches, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">earrings, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rings, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and pendants—gold objects of all kinds. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And everyone who had in his possession blue, purple, and crimson yarns, fine linen, goats’ hair, tanned ram skins, and dolphin skins, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(From the Octopus’ Garden maybe?</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) brought them. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Everyone who would make gifts of silver or copper brought them as gifts for the LORD; </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Everyone who had in his possession acacia wood (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not Norwegian Wood</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">for any work of the service brought that. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And all the skilled women spun with their own hands, and brought what they had spun. And to keep the camp running, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">t</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here was someone fixing</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> a hole where the rain got in, filling the cracks that ran through the door, and painting the room in a colorful way</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The people actually had to be restrained from giving too much, for each said:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'll give you all I got to give if you say you'll love me too</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I may not have a lot to give but what I got I'll give to you</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nothing you can make that can't be made.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nothing you can know that isn't known.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nothing you can see that isn't shown.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be...</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><br />
<br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This sanctuary depends on its individual elements. If one of the elements -- if one of the people, if one of the talents -- is missing, the tabernacle is incomplete.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The whole, forged by the combination of these individual pieces, is far more than the sum of its parts. When brought together, the different parts of the sanctuary all resonate with the divine, with G-d’s presence. Your piece of thread. Your curtain. Your glass for the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>ner tamid</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Your music. Your leadership. Your carpentry skills. Your teachings. Your soul. Everyone </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">getting by with a little help from their friends</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, we must develop our own abilities as best we can, but then we must join together with others to complete the larger task, magnifying your own contribution, and creating the whole.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It takes a while to see this. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I was younger. So much younger than today. I never needed anybody’s help in any way. But now those days are gone and I’m not so self assured. Now I find, I’ve changed my mind, I’ve opened up the doors</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And the people, having seen what they could do, realized: </span><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">There's nothing you can do that can't be done.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But, despite what The Beatles said, you do need more than love. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They worked a hard day’s night, working like dogs</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> They were no longer a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">nowhere people</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sitting in a nowhere land</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They had</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> a ticket to ride</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and they stopped being a</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Band on the Run</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When the tabernacle was finished, “a cloud rested upon it, and the glory of the divine filled the sanctuary” and the people said, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”And though the night is cloudy, there is still a light that shines on me. Shine until tomorrow. Let it be.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The people, the God and the Sanctuary: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One and One and One is Three</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I’ll be there,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">said the Divine.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “And everywhere. Here, there, and everywhere</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.”</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When the cloud arose, the children of Israel set forth on all their journeys. Together, singing: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our life together. Is so precious together. We have grown, we have grown</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s time, children of Israel. Children of Har Shalom. Our </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>kehilah</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Take these broken wings and learn to fly.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All your life.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You were only waiting for this moment to arise</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-72702824238571718032017-03-03T16:31:00.001-07:002017-03-04T08:49:33.646-07:00Anxiety In, Anxiety Out<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's March 3, 2017, and Donald J. Trump has been president of the United States for 42 days, and it's been (only) 114 days since he won the election. That's not even the length of two <a href="http://bryanforbes.github.io/kardashian-calc/">Kardashians</a>! The stress and anxiety levels I see in my family, town, religious community, and progressives everywhere have skyrocketed since that fateful day in November.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What stresses me out even more than the presidency, though, is how it's affecting our kids. How we're <i>letting it</i> affect our kids.</span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We Set the Stage</span></b></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This has been an amazing two years. The Republican candidates were a train wreck, and no one -- not the networks, not the newspapers, not the people -- could look away from the carnage. "Get a load of this! A reality TV star running for president!" </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In our family, we watched all of the primary debates and followed along daily as Republican candidates fell like dominoes in the face of the Trump machine. It was a laugh. None of these people would stand a chance against Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton, so why take it seriously? And the media kept feeding us, long after we were full. </span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">CNN, MSNBC, and the rest of the networks spent hours broadcasting empty podiums where Trump was going to speak "any minute now." On CNN, Trump <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/06/24/a-deep-dive-into-the-news-medias-role-in-the-rise-of-donald-j-trump/?utm_term=.2f0a344743ea">received 78% of the coverage</a> between August and September 2015. By November of that year he had received more coverage the entire Democratic field put together.</span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was great for the ratings, but bad for the country, one news executive would say post-election.</span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span>
</span><br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CZ2ius6UEAAA-1w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CZ2ius6UEAAA-1w.jpg" width="320"></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">There was nothing else to report while this was on screen?</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> It's not "breaking news" that a planned event will start soon, by the way. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>We Stoked the Fear</b></span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're a progressive, think back to how you talked to your children about Trump between August and November of this year, when he was selected as the Republican nominee and when he won. We presented a Trump presidency in the direst of terms:</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span>
</span><br>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Armageddon</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">World War III</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">death of the environment</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">cataclysmic</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the fourth Reich</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the end of women's rights</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the end of civil rights</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hitler-esque</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">catastrophic</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">devastating</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">impossible</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-jT391xrQ_fq6mbeHHACXfH05lW7E2Y3oueYn0_87BOtDtfM4xUVv7CGwQ4eMFOtnAh5w3X8iuwofDgzh6kvbOf7g-Z-qKWUzcoqto3vjHZ2VqGHUAM1Dt8kkQF0dXoE3IPNn/s1600/Be-afraid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-jT391xrQ_fq6mbeHHACXfH05lW7E2Y3oueYn0_87BOtDtfM4xUVv7CGwQ4eMFOtnAh5w3X8iuwofDgzh6kvbOf7g-Z-qKWUzcoqto3vjHZ2VqGHUAM1Dt8kkQF0dXoE3IPNn/s1600/Be-afraid.jpg"></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I felt free and justified to use all of these scare-words and more when talking to my kids about the upcoming election. It was a warning bell. He'd never be president, but we have to be on the lookout for these kind of people. They're dangerous, and if they get into power, it will be horrifying. But don't worry. It won't happen, so you have nothing to worry about. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then Trump won the election and my role immediately flipped. It was my job (my responsibility?) to make them feel safe. I told them the worst-case scenario couldn't, wouldn't happen, and then it did. I regretted ramping up the fear and began trying to talk it back.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Take Their Point of View</b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My kids are 13 and 15. Old enough to be aware of the news. but not quite savvy enough to figure out what's an important event, what the media is hyping needlessly, and what is trolling and misdirection. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They seemed to know every Trump tweet (He went after the cast of Hamilton and SNL!), and i</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">f CNN and MSNBC are covering something endlessly, it must be important, even if it's not 100% true. Their social media feeds, usually filled with funny cat pictures and senseless memes, were loaded with dire predictions and fear. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm not saying this fear is unjustified. I could go on for days about the way the Trump administration and the resulting mood in the country makes me nervous and fearful. But why are saddling our kids with those same anxieties?</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Day After</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br></b></span></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKrESHGYThcLeXWUlMXdND1kBUnWRaZzeXj08aHoy2AuiJnN13w_Q6eNEDvpZj9zE2zdOOJw25Kq9cdqCawKGBwQ_mzbVvB2GIsEfz3o45XEUAMHkoXZ6Y9FMTB5-80XqxbGi4/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKrESHGYThcLeXWUlMXdND1kBUnWRaZzeXj08aHoy2AuiJnN13w_Q6eNEDvpZj9zE2zdOOJw25Kq9cdqCawKGBwQ_mzbVvB2GIsEfz3o45XEUAMHkoXZ6Y9FMTB5-80XqxbGi4/s640/download.jpg" width="640"></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're my age, you probably remember the 1983 TV Movie Event, "The Day After". 100 million people watched it, and the media hype around it was intense. From Wikipedia, a summary:</span><br>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The story follows several citizens – and people they encounter – in and around <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City,_Missouri" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Kansas City, Missouri">Kansas City, Missouri</a> and the college town of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence,_Kansas" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Lawrence, Kansas">Lawrence, Kansas</a>, 40 miles (64 km) to its west.<span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The film's narrative is structured as a before-during-after scenario of a nuclear attack: the first segment introduces the various characters and their stories; the second shows the nuclear disaster itself, and; the third details the effects of the fallout on the characters.<span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the first segment, as the characters are introduced, the chronology of events leading up to the war is depicted entirely via television and radio news broadcasts, enhanced by characters' reactions and analysis of the events.</span></blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was terrifying. Kids of the 60s don't get to claim all of the nuclear war fear. Yes, you hid under your desks during drills. We watched "The Day After". The film felt especially poignant because I was living in Colorado at the time. Which, as you know, is right next to Kansas <i style="font-weight: bold;">and</i> the home of NoRAD, which was prominently featured in "War Games," also from 1983.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We lived in ground zero. It was interesting to watch the people in "The Day After" deal with the fallout, but we knew there'd be no fallout for us, just annihilation.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looking back on the 80s now, it's easy for me to see, while there was a lot of <i>fear </i>of a nuclear war, the actual probability was low. Sure, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHylQRVN2Qs">Sting could sing about whether the Russians</a> loved their children, too, but the truth is they did, and no one was truly aiming for mutually assured destruction. Deterrence through strength worked. No one wanted to play the game.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wHylQRVN2Qs/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wHylQRVN2Qs?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the media capitalized on our fear. 100 million viewers means a lot of ad revenue for the network and big paydays for the producers of the film. So what if some 11-year-old girl in Colorado was terrified? So what if millions of others were, too?</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Our Family's News Blackout</b></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br></b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm a firm believer in the magic of a playlist. I have dozens of them, each designed to elicit a particular emotional response. Bad day at work and need to rage and pound the steering wheel on the way home? Rage Against the Machine right into Black Flag and Metallica. Need to cheer up? Dispatch to Guster to Bob Marley. Time to cry it out? Avett Brothers and Chris Stapleton every time. Spiritual uplift? JJ Grey, Matisyahu, and some Mumford and Sons.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a little bit of a chicken and egg conundrum -- which comes first, the mood or the playlist? It's a toss-up. I can change my mood by switching playlists, or I can set my mood. Happy song in, happy feelings out. Sad songs in, sad feelings out. Feeling spiritual? Matisyahu magnifies it. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More than we realize, we have the power to control what kind of energy makes its way into our homes. A few weeks ago we started a News Blackout in our house. No NPR in the background while getting ready in the morning, no CNN pundit roundtables even if Anderson Cooper is a cutie, and no "guess what awful thing Trump did today?" chat at the dinner table.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>It's wonderful.</i></b><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks to Netflix, we watch shows like Parks and Rec, The Office, the new One Day at a Time, and marathons of the British Baking Show. Antiques Road Show is educational and guaranteed never to stress them out. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We listen to a lot more music, and can spend hours doing down the baby elephant video vortex on YouTube. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My daughter said last week, <b>"Unless there's a bomb coming, I don't really need to know about it."</b></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My political science major, active citizen side kicked in for a few seconds there. Everyone needs to be an educated citizen! Right? You can't tune out the world! That's how we got into this mess, isn't it? </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, no. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As my son astutely noted, <b>"You adults did this. Kids don't vote."</b></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He's right, and they can tune back in again when they want to. It's always there, 24/7/365. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Be Kids, Just a Little Bit Longer</b></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Being a teenager is tough enough without adding fear and anxiety about national or even local politics. They need to be focused on school, band practice, painting, their friends, and the joy of letting go, having fun, and playing. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxexb4orcXD1a4yMRNY2UQl-vM99NwpV64QxsKNa1_2oz7UsmGsw6KD0J-X-F1RVlIxMuwjuoizT7D86i56MfWHJTINFvjrmyAtRpDc7cOQWTQHBKUEzfpqN2_aw11TwbphqB-/s1600/4019090177_aa88c5e67b_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxexb4orcXD1a4yMRNY2UQl-vM99NwpV64QxsKNa1_2oz7UsmGsw6KD0J-X-F1RVlIxMuwjuoizT7D86i56MfWHJTINFvjrmyAtRpDc7cOQWTQHBKUEzfpqN2_aw11TwbphqB-/s320/4019090177_aa88c5e67b_b.jpg" width="320"></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's not just our responsibility to keep them safe, it's also our responsibility to make them <i>feel</i> safe. That means filtering out some of the world and not letting it into their lives.They don't benefit from our anxiety, no matter how justified it is. They feed off it and they internalize it. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also want my kids to avoid despair and embrace hope. Look for the good in the world. It's there, and there are always people working to help others and make the world a better place, make the arc bend toward justice, however slowly. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY1nE_CFnrfPXy8qOMxxwGAsYau7hN8Vca9LxVNXF_LuKS8S5g3ky7mKepBKad5_mmmrud-rLxmUhIjgHX4GaOcIySE9zOBgyL_l7LGZCGEQyJ4xGN0h_jdvCbRxTBIKXX96H2/s1600/Hope-2-570x379.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY1nE_CFnrfPXy8qOMxxwGAsYau7hN8Vca9LxVNXF_LuKS8S5g3ky7mKepBKad5_mmmrud-rLxmUhIjgHX4GaOcIySE9zOBgyL_l7LGZCGEQyJ4xGN0h_jdvCbRxTBIKXX96H2/s320/Hope-2-570x379.jpg" width="320"></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And most important, I want my kids to know this:</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've got you. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<br>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span>
<br>GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-78927978464413672342016-12-01T00:52:00.003-07:002016-12-01T17:54:08.182-07:00When is a Swastika a Joke?<span style="font-family: inherit;">I know what you're thinking. A Swastika is <i>never</i> a joke. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Except maybe when it's on a cupcake. When it's drawn by 14-year-old girls who thought they were being funny.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Maybe.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span>
<br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPijCsrqnRef9wraCXFqIfURUam3NUoArrDaP3xSobfxUC6stFavvj3Ng6MU3lAczohQ226b4YEW4-0knT8aSKUeFJRHYfOHb_kJG13yVlVTSokD13hRyra4dIjCEfqDiaVG5X/s1600/583f1c191700002600e7d0fd.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPijCsrqnRef9wraCXFqIfURUam3NUoArrDaP3xSobfxUC6stFavvj3Ng6MU3lAczohQ226b4YEW4-0knT8aSKUeFJRHYfOHb_kJG13yVlVTSokD13hRyra4dIjCEfqDiaVG5X/s320/583f1c191700002600e7d0fd.png" width="320"></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Delivering Bad News to Jewish Teenagers</span></b><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Tonight I taught Hebrew High at my synagogue. The topic: A brief history of Anti-Semitism. We talked about the currrent mood in the country, and they shared some disturbing instances of anti-Semitism in their schools.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">First, I was heartened to find out that these kids (who are Jewish 8th, 9th, and 10th graders) could not name more than a few negative Jewish stereotypes. When I asked them to brainstorm, they came up with "big noses" and "penny-pinching, cheap and greedy" on their own, but were unaware of the supposed Jewish conspiracy to control the banks, the media, and Hollywood, and they'd never heard of the <a href="http://www.adl.org/anti-semitism/united-states/c/what-is-the-blood-libel.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/#.WD-s4uYrLIU">blood libel</a>. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">They were shocked to learn some people </span>believe<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Jews have horns (and sometimes tails!), we had been blamed for the killing of Jesus and the Black Plague, or that Jews were expelled from England, France, and Spain. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion" style="font-family: inherit;">The Protocols of the Elders of Zion</a> were a complete mystery to them, <span style="font-family: inherit;"> and their only connection to the Pogroms of Russia was the end of "Fiddler on the Roof". </span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I almost felt guilty telling them all of the terrible things that the Jews have suffered over the past 1,000 years. Of lifting the veil. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But then I remembered that a classmate of my daughter called someone a "Dirty Jew" last week, and another child has had pennies thrown at him in the hall. And that someone painted this<a href="http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/front-range/denver/denver-elementary-school-defaced-with-swastika-over-the-weekend"> on the door of an elementary school in Denver</a>, not all that far from here; </span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span>
<br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgAe7qfQugJnY0JWRyNcXGpjGV-KIart_4Y-f9r4NYC20nrpizHiQ4UCuN5BIxAmhap1_QBtfoGH5XlvXIb-DVNeABfJzd6J7n2JCuhbcxMMvHJZePmAZBDBCtfGGgq-ZUg16Z/s1600/15095114_10209696211715809_4477094330713882982_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgAe7qfQugJnY0JWRyNcXGpjGV-KIart_4Y-f9r4NYC20nrpizHiQ4UCuN5BIxAmhap1_QBtfoGH5XlvXIb-DVNeABfJzd6J7n2JCuhbcxMMvHJZePmAZBDBCtfGGgq-ZUg16Z/s320/15095114_10209696211715809_4477094330713882982_n.jpg" width="240"></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Our children, our Jewish children, must know that this kind of hate does not have its origins in the Trump campaign, or with the Nazis, or with the Pogroms. Anti-Semitism is built upon a vast, long, and complicated foundation.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Cupcake</span></b><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I presented the story of the cupcake in two ways.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Version One: A-14-year old Jewish girl had a birthday party last week, and her friends, who had just learned about the Holocaust, decorated one of the cupcakes with a Swastika.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Their reactions:</span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"Are you sure they were her friends?"</span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"I would have punched them."</span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"Did she make them leave?"</span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"I bet they're not her friends anymore."</span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Version Two: A 14-year-old Jewish girl had a birthday part last week and her friends, who had just learned about the Holocaust, <i>thought it would be funny</i> to decorate one of the cupcakes with a Swastika.</span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Their reactions this time:</span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"Yeah. </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Not</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> funny."</span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"That's different."</span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"So they weren't doing it to be mean, or hateful. They're just stupid."</span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"Friends do things like that sometimes. I mean, it's not OK, but it happens."</span><div><br>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">They had no intention of letting the Swastika-drawing girls off the hook entirely, but they were able to see the crucial difference between my two stories: <b>intent.</b> The intent was for the Swastika to be a joke. An ill-fated joke, and one the girls at the party didn't think through, but a joke nonetheless. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Through The Children's Eyes</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This story received national attention because the mom of the birthday girl wrote a long post about it on Facebook. (You can read the full story <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/swastika-cupcakes-birthday-gift_us_583df40ee4b04fcaa4d562a6?">here</a>). She linked the cupcake to the current political climate, and she wonder<span style="font-family: inherit;">ed, "<em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Are the lids to human kindness and decency ripped off so permanently that this can happen to YOUR kid in YOUR house?"</em></span></span><br>
<div>
<em style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #757575; font-size: 17px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span></em></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">My students were not at all surprised that the mom had this kind of reaction and the birthday girl (apparently) didn't. They were willing, once they heard the <b>intent,</b> to give the benefit of the doubt. To see that the act was insensitive but not hateful. To forgive a mistake.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Would they continue to be friends with the Swastika-drawing girls? Yes. If the girls were made to understand <i>why </i>this wasn't a way to joke around, how hurtful it could have been, and what the symbol really represented. My students were absolutely sure that, once they were informed, the girls would never repeat such an act.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I think they're right.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<b>Not Every Swastika is Created Equal</b></div>
<div>
In a follow-up post, the mother reported that the girls had apologized. The mom was clear: "This was not a hate crime," but she was still "pissed off" that it happened. I don't blame her for her anger, and I'm glad she was able to recognize the difference between a hateful act and an act of ignorance that used a hateful symbol. I'm glad my students were able to see the difference as well.</div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
The Anti-Defamation League, in their "Strategies to Confront Bias," suggests the following:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Try to assume good will. Many people who make offensive remarks do so out of ignorance. Because they do not intend harm, they often assume no harm is done.</b></blockquote>
<div>
Should we assume good will of the person who spray painted the Swastika on a school?</div>
<div>
Of course not.</div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
Should we assume good will of the kids who throw pennies in the hall, or call another student a "Dirty Jew"? </div>
<div>
No. They are obviously out to bully, but I think it's fair to assume a fair bit of ignorance and to approach these kids as educators and, more important, recognize that they can be educated. </div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
I'd love the chance to talk to those girls who decorated the cupcake. </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
To approach them without blame and with empathy.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">To see what was going through their heads when they passed that cupcake to their Jewish friend.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">To ask how they feel now.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">To encourage them to move forward without shame, and to speak up when they see other friends "joking" in the same way.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">To give them the tools to pass on the tough lesson learned.
</blockquote>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
A Swastika is never a joke... but not everyone knows that. </div><div>Yet. </div><div>Let's teach them.</div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span></b></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br></span></div>
<br></div>GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7909234.post-28369452614468878582016-03-14T12:04:00.000-06:002016-03-14T20:26:45.278-06:00Send Him to Auschwitz<div class="" data-block="true" data-offset-key="ctu3n-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhorTzmCT0JqiRTdsET_vFL0pZ4xF3d6akLsspIlEA6L5R6negpjPzFW-TyHLCzVR0m4RKkukLvaRKCnwKJy0UMCzdc8-nv-1TQ-wYAV8pDUQwvvYJRXykqUU-5QRxjtGiCvX2j/s1600/trump.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhorTzmCT0JqiRTdsET_vFL0pZ4xF3d6akLsspIlEA6L5R6negpjPzFW-TyHLCzVR0m4RKkukLvaRKCnwKJy0UMCzdc8-nv-1TQ-wYAV8pDUQwvvYJRXykqUU-5QRxjtGiCvX2j/s640/trump.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ctu3n-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;">
<span data-offset-key="ctu3n-0-0"><br /></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ctu3n-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;">
<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">This guy's been making the rounds on the Internet lately. He seemed to </span><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">take great pride in throwing up a "Heil" salute and telling a Jewish</span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ctu3n-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;">
<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">reporter to "Go to Auschwitz". (<a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/donald-trump/12192348/Man-at-Trump-rally-tells-protesters-to-go-to-f-ing-Auschwitz.html&ved=0ahUKEwiVl8qk0cHLAhVRy2MKHUEZCugQqG8IGzAA&usg=AFQjCNEoA3rtEgD-HMSu6wwzhsDkVD9blw&sig2=_Mf5fT2NPJM-FiNQ74OUgw">Watch the Video</a>)
My come-back quip has been, "That guy couldn't find Auschwitz on a map!"
Funny.
Ha ha.
Ha.
How sad is it that I'm probably right?
</span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Talkin bout my Generation</span></h3>
<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">As a Jew raised in post-WWII America I was inundated with Holocaust history from a young age. It wasn't at all unusual to run into someone at the
synagogue with a number tattooed on his or her arm. A forever brand of what it
could really mean to be a Jew in this world. I read every page of the Time-Life
book series on WWII and would wonder which of the living skeletons I would have
been? Which way would the Nazi have pointed during my selection?
Die Now
or
Die Later
I knew in my gut that I would have been one of them. A child with a yellow star on her coat. A prisoner huddling with her own children in a crowded
cattle car. A body in a mass grave dug with my own hands.
And I also knew the more difficult truth, that many of my neighbors would have actively participated in my persecution, or turned their backs, or
worse, stood silent and watched others do the heavy lifting of evil.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-offset-key="d8onr-0-0" style="background-color: white;">
<div class="" data-block="true" data-offset-key="fe753-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fe753-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;">
<span data-offset-key="fe753-0-0"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://i.imgflip.com/zrevi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://i.imgflip.com/zrevi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fe753-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-offset-key="9sce5-0-0" style="background-color: white;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9sce5-0-0" style="color: #141823; direction: ltr; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
How naive was I to think that the rest of my generation, the rest of my America, was receiving the same education? That they were devouring the same books, watching the same documentaries, staring at the same gruesome photos and wondering</div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9sce5-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">How could this happen?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
Why didn't anyone stop it?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
The man in the video, raising his hand in a Nazi salute, telling a reporter to "Go to Fucking Auschwitz," is one of the poorly educated that Donald Trump loves so much. Those who don't learn history at all won't even recognize when they're repeating it.
</span></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Educate him. Send him to Auschwitz.</span></span></h3>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'm not kidding. If not Auschwitz, then the US Holocaust Museum in DC. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let them see. Let them learn. Let them stand at the wall of photographs, the piles of shoes, the remnants of normal lives. A pair of glasses. A wallet. A schoolbook. A toy. And let them see also the uncensored photographs. The bodies. The skeletons. The rare color photographs that humanize the victims and make them, unmistakably, human.
Then let them come back and see who and what they salute.
</span></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do something.</span></span></h3>
<br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Never before have I felt the immediacy of this quote:
</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"In order for evil to flourish, all that is required is for good men to do nothing." </span></span><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">-- Edward Burke. </span></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">If I do not write.
If I do not protest.
If I do not use my most powerful tool -- my words -- I am doing nothing.
What will you do?</span></span>
<br />
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
GoldaLeahbatZvihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13797343554684767213noreply@blogger.com