My story really starts with my parents, who came from very different backgrounds.
Mom is the youngest of 6 kids - Pentecostal preacher's daughter - and was raised in Wenatchee, WA. My grandmother was 45 when mom was born and there is a vast age difference between my mom and her oldest sister who basically raised her. This aunt of mine left home in her early 20's and moved to Taiwan to start an orphanage and work as a missionary. She married a British man and raised 7 kids in Taiwan.
Mom's upbringing was strict. She wasn't allowed to wear sleeveless dress for reasons of modesty, movies and card playing were considered immoral/evil and frowned upon. She was very involved and immersed in the church and took what she read in her Bible as not just a friendly suggestion. She says she gave up eating pork in high school because she read in her Bible that it wasn't to be eaten. Period.
After high school she left Washington state to move to California to attend Pentecostal Bible College (seminary?). While there, she was introduced to my Dad by the pastor of the church they were both attending.
Dad wasn't raised with much religion. His father was rabidly anti-religious although Dad's mother did take him and his siblings to church on occasion. I don't know many details but have the general impression that Dad sort of raised himself, dabbled in some things he maybe shouldn't have, ran with a rough crowd and in general didn't have much moral direction. He was very good-looking and married at the age of 18 (the Friday night after high school graduation) because his girlfriend was pregnant. The marriage lasted a week and in the divorce/annulment he gave up all rights to the baby who he never saw.
Dad married again and had a son. The marriage lasted about 3 1/2 years I believe.
Then Dad moved to California because he got a job working for United Airlines as a mechanic. Through a co-worker he became a born again Christian.
He and my Mom met and married and they continued to be very involved in their church. Dad led the youth service, they both sang, Dad played the drums, mom played the piano, organ and accordion.
My brother and I were raised in the church for O.....I dunno.......I'm guessing until I was around 8 or so. Then we stopped going and I'm not sure why. Dad mentioned recently that we were asked to leave but again.....I'm not sure why. I should ask but I keep forgetting.
Anyway, from that point on, my Dad would lead the four of us in a small, private church service at home. He'd teach from the Bible, we'd sing hymns, my brother and I would be given 3 Bible verses a week to memorize and we'd have to stand up and recite them the following week. Sometimes the four of us would brainstorm together and set the verses to music of our own composition just to make them easier to remember. To this day, I can still remember some of them. We never left the dining table after a meal without reading from the Bible (HATED that!).
My parents also made the decision that Mom would homeschool both of us which she did through (for me) 11th grade. We used correspondence courses and were close with a number of other Christian families who were doing the same.
After we'd been having "church at home" for some time, my Mom started seeing things in what she was reading and being taught that didn't make sense and being the truth-seeker that she is, she had to find out what was up with that. Mom researches everything to within an inch of it's life and this was no different. Just a lot more was at stake than usual.
She started reading up on the history of the early church, books written by Christian authors, and was stunned when she came to the realization that Catholicism was the original Christianity. (Protestants tend to look upon Catholics as mistaken and, sadly, idolatrous brothers who have strayed from the One True Path.)
She carried on reading the history of the church in chronological order. Now we're up to the 1500s, Martin Luther and reading about the Protestant Reformation. She had always held him in high esteem as being the father of her brand of Christianity. And at the same time she had always strongly believed that the Jews were The Chosen People. But when she read (excerpted in these books she was reading from) what Martin Luther had to say about the Jews (likening them to what comes out of the backside of a pig.....nice huh?), that REALLY pulled the rug out from under her. How could he? How dare he? She assumed these excerpts were taken out of context. He couldn't have said that! So she called the Berkeley Theological Library and had them send her the complete works of Martin Luther - very large tomes - so she could read these citations along with both the before and the after and get the context and lo and behold......nothing had been misquoted or taken out of context. Martin Luther started out his career with lots of warm, fuzzy feelings towards the Jews because he was sure they were going to buy his theology and when they didn't, he turned on them.
Mom carried on reading. She was asking questions like: If Jesus was a nice, mitzvah-observant Jewish boy who kept the kosher dietary laws and the holidays and I, as his follower, am supposed to be emulating him, then why don't I keep kosher? Why don't I keep the Jewish holidays? Why don't I keep a Saturday Sabbath? Who changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday? Who gave them the right to? And how dare they? (See: http://amightywind.com/wolves/sabbathchanged.htm and http://www.sabbathfellowship.org/biblestudies/erwingane/biblestudy_gane_sabbathchng.htm) It was the early Christians (aka Catholics).
This brings us to Jesus and Paul.
Jesus and Paul weren't even contemporaries and never met. Like Martin Luther, Paul started out with warm fuzzies towards the Jews and when they didn't buy his theology, he, too, turned on them. He then changed his tactics and turned his attention to converting the pagans where he had much success. (Interestingly, sun worship was common among the pagans and very likely had something to do with changing the Sabbath day from the 7th day of the week to the 1st day since the 1st day of the week is named after the sun and would therefore have been considered by them to be of more importance. And we won't even touch on the pagan origins of Christmas!)
It got to the point where she'd read everything on the early church history, Judaism, comparative religions, etc. that the public libraries contained - and remember, everything she'd been reading until now was writting by Christian authors.
That left the Jewish perspective on all of this to explore but......having grown up in white, Christian America, there are widely-prevalent, deep-seated prejudices and stereotypes about Jews that one absorbs, one being that they are penny pinchers and dishonest in their business dealings.
A friend of my Mom's had recommended Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel's book The Horeb. There was a Jewish bookstore within about a 45 minute drive from where we lived at the time and my Mom went there to buy this book (which I, myself, have not read). She was on an extremely limited budget at the time and the book was not cheap. She stood outside on the sidewalk shaking in her boots, working up the courage to go into the bookstore. She ran in, bought the book, and got out as fast as she could. She got it home and within days the binding started to fall apart. Here's a dilemma! What should she do? Keep the book and live with the defective binding? Not really the thing to do since she'd paid good money for it. Take it back and have her prejudices about Jews confirmed? She took the book back, walked up to the counter, showed the woman behind the counter the book and just started to explain what the problem was. She barely got 2 words out of her mouth before the woman took the book from her and said, "O of course. Here. Let me get you another one." End of story. My Mom was dumbfounded that it was so simple. What. You mean you're not going to accuse me of damaging the book myself? That woman's perfect response freed my Mom (and us) to go back and shop at that store on many other occasions and we got to know the mother-daughter owners of the store quite well. If that shop owner had had any other response, my Mom would have walked out and never looked back and we most probably would not be Jewish today. Which just goes to show you what a profound effect your actions can have in someone's life and you may never know.
Mom carried on reading about Judaism vs. Christianity, now from a Jewish perspective. She started sharing her findings with Dad who found the whole subject highly threatening and wanted no part of it. She also slowly started asking me and my brother to read certain, easy-read books on the subject. (All of this was going on when I was between the ages of 10-13 approximately.)
There was one small book that I read that made it "click" for me and with which there was no arguing - The Real Messiah.
Mom's research - start to finish - took her three years and over that time she slowly came to the decision that she wanted to convert to Judaism and she asked me and my brother if we also wanted to and we both said yes.
Dad had made some decisions with his life that precipitated their divorce and until my Mom saw that he was headed away from our family with his decisions, she did nothing about pursuing conversion or outward observance.
They separated which allowed her desire to convert to be put on the front burner. They weren't divorced yet so an Orthodox rabbi would not even speak to her so the three of us ended up taking a conversion class for a year that was given by a local Conservative rabbi and in 1986 we had a Conservative conversion because due to my parents still being legally married, that was all we could get at the time. Two years later, after their divorce became final, we learned for 3 more months with an Orthodox rabbi and went to L.A. for our Orthodox conversion.
Like I said......a veeeeery large nutshell.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Are You Bored?
Have you heard that familiar "I'mmmmm boooooorrrred!" whine once too often? I know I have.
Firstly, when my kids say that I don't start instantly jumping through hoops to entertain them. I tell them, "That's ok. If you let your brain rest for a few minutes, I'm sure you'll think of something to do." Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. If they don't, I then present them with several suggestions of things to do (i.e. fold the laundry, feed the cat, pick up the clothes off the floor of their room, etc. ). Works like a charm. They find something else to do with alacrity! Who would have thought they were at loose ends just mere minutes before?
Over the years, I have compiled a list of web sites that either have educational and/or non-violent online games that young children can play or are good resources for craft ideas or have free educational printouts. Here is my list. Next to each link I've tried to give a short description of what the site contains. If there are any other sites that I may not know about, I would be happy to hear from you and add the link to my collection.
http://www.aaamath.com/ (Spelling, Math, Vocabulary, Geography - sorted by grade level)
http://math.about.com/od/addingsubtracting/Addition_Subtraction_Multiplication_Division_Worksheets.htm (printable math worksheets)
http://www.akhlah.com/ (Jewish children's learning - Parsha, Hebrew, Holidays, Heroes, Traditions)
http://www.aplusmath.com/Worksheets/ (Printable math worksheets and worksheet generators - sorted by grade level)
http://www.crayola.com/ (Coloring pages, craft ideas, games)
http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/langearlyread/index_2.htm (Links to online word/vocabulary games, printable flashcards/phonics worksheets, etc.)
http://resources.kaboose.com/games//earthday.html (Online Earth Day games)
http://chinuch.org/ (Jewish education resources by age - months, parsha, mishnayot, hashkafah, Hebrew, puzzles, stories, songs, holidays, halacha, history, arts and crafts)
http://www.edhelper.com/ (free lesson plans - reading/writing, math, language, social studies, science)
http://www.tlsbooks.com/mathworksheets.htm (free printable math worksheets by grade level + alphabet, language arts, geography, handwriting, history, holidays, nursery rhymes, science, spelling)
http://www.kidzone.ws/math/grade1.htm# (Math worksheets)
http://www.funbrain.com/ (online math, reading and general games)
http://funschool.kaboose.com/ (online math and reading games, craft ideas, coloring pages)
http://visualfractions.com/IdentifyCircles/identifycircles.html (online fraction game)
http://resources.kaboose.com/games/index.html (online non-violent games - general)
http://www.kidsgames.org./ (online non-violent games - general for ages 6-10)
http://www.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-read/play.htm?f (WONDERFUL beginning reading web site!)
http://www.learningplanet.com/stu/index.asp (online educational games by grade)
http://www.dositey.com/2008/index-page-home.php (math and language/grammar games)
http://www.netrover.com/~kingskid/MulTab/Applet.html (multiplication table applet - visual tool)
http://pbskids.org/barney/children/games/ (storytime, music, games and coloring with Barney and friends)
http://www.songsforteaching.com/index.html (I am convinced that you can teach ANYTHING to kids if it's put to music. This site offers CDs and downloads of music for sale on a variety of topics - math, phonics, science, holidays, social studies, etc.)
http://www.surfnetkids.com/games/ (Games, games and more games)
http://www.teachingtables.co.uk/ (online multiplication tables games)
http://www.teachingtime.co.uk/ (online games that teach how to tell the time - some are free, some aren't)
http://www.totshabbat.com/ (Jewish music for kids)
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_102_g_2_t_1.html (fractions applet)
http://www.ealfy.co.il/login/index.asp (very good games site in Hebrew for young kids - requires paid membership)
http://www.galim.org.il/ (very good educational games site in Hebrew - although there is a wonderful section in English for kids who are ESL learners - to access the entire site you must pay although there are parts that you can access for free)
http://www.free-puzzles.net/travel-games-for-kids/printable-games/index.php (printable travel games - bingo, tic-tac-toe, mazes, word search, etc.)
http://pbskids.org/ (games, online videos - cute site!)
http://www.pitara.com/activities/ (activities, crafts, coloring pages)
http://www.agkidzone.com/games (general online games for young kids)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/teletubbies/ (games)
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/ (wonderful EASY craft idea resource!)
http://www.fisher-price.com/us/playtime/coloring/toddler/thumbnail.asp (online coloring pages)
http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/color-by-numbers/ (free printable color by number pages)
http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/dot-to-dot/ (free printable dot to dot pages)
http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/mazes/ (free printable mazes)
http://www.mommysavers.com/kids-activities/ (Frugal activities and craft ideas)
http://www.dragonsaretooseldom.com/kids_activities.html (kids activity ideas)
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/ (online interactive games and activities - literacy, math, science)
http://www.allkids.co.uk/hobbies-interests-activities/index.html (links to childrens' hobbies and interests)
http://www.entertainthekids.com/ (paid membership site - activity/craft ideas)
http://www.gameskidsplay.net/ (rules/instructions for some games/activities to play with kids)
http://en.origami-club.com// (origami site from beginner level to advanced with instructions)
http://fun.familyeducation.com/play/outdoor-activities/33394.html (outdoor activities for kids ages 6-10)
http://www.pilkey.com/games.php (cute online games)
http://activitypad.com/ (printable preschool activities, word search puzzles, mazes, kids games)
http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/math/fraction/reducing/ (math worksheet generator)
http://worksheets.theteacherscorner.net/make-your-own/telling-time/ (telling time worksheet generator)
http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/time.html (telling time worksheets, math worksheets, reading/writing worksheets, phonics worksheets, grammar worksheets, spelling worksheets, etc.)
http://www.coloring.ws/ (free coloring pages, games, puzzles)
http://www.kidsknowit.com/interactive-educational-movies/index.php (free online annimated educational movies)
Now. I never want to hear you say you're bored again! Ya hear?
Firstly, when my kids say that I don't start instantly jumping through hoops to entertain them. I tell them, "That's ok. If you let your brain rest for a few minutes, I'm sure you'll think of something to do." Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. If they don't, I then present them with several suggestions of things to do (i.e. fold the laundry, feed the cat, pick up the clothes off the floor of their room, etc. ). Works like a charm. They find something else to do with alacrity! Who would have thought they were at loose ends just mere minutes before?
Over the years, I have compiled a list of web sites that either have educational and/or non-violent online games that young children can play or are good resources for craft ideas or have free educational printouts. Here is my list. Next to each link I've tried to give a short description of what the site contains. If there are any other sites that I may not know about, I would be happy to hear from you and add the link to my collection.
http://www.aaamath.com/ (Spelling, Math, Vocabulary, Geography - sorted by grade level)
http://math.about.com/od/addingsubtracting/Addition_Subtraction_Multiplication_Division_Worksheets.htm (printable math worksheets)
http://www.akhlah.com/ (Jewish children's learning - Parsha, Hebrew, Holidays, Heroes, Traditions)
http://www.aplusmath.com/Worksheets/ (Printable math worksheets and worksheet generators - sorted by grade level)
http://www.crayola.com/ (Coloring pages, craft ideas, games)
http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/langearlyread/index_2.htm (Links to online word/vocabulary games, printable flashcards/phonics worksheets, etc.)
http://resources.kaboose.com/games//earthday.html (Online Earth Day games)
http://chinuch.org/ (Jewish education resources by age - months, parsha, mishnayot, hashkafah, Hebrew, puzzles, stories, songs, holidays, halacha, history, arts and crafts)
http://www.edhelper.com/ (free lesson plans - reading/writing, math, language, social studies, science)
http://www.tlsbooks.com/mathworksheets.htm (free printable math worksheets by grade level + alphabet, language arts, geography, handwriting, history, holidays, nursery rhymes, science, spelling)
http://www.kidzone.ws/math/grade1.htm# (Math worksheets)
http://www.funbrain.com/ (online math, reading and general games)
http://funschool.kaboose.com/ (online math and reading games, craft ideas, coloring pages)
http://visualfractions.com/IdentifyCircles/identifycircles.html (online fraction game)
http://resources.kaboose.com/games/index.html (online non-violent games - general)
http://www.kidsgames.org./ (online non-violent games - general for ages 6-10)
http://www.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-read/play.htm?f (WONDERFUL beginning reading web site!)
http://www.learningplanet.com/stu/index.asp (online educational games by grade)
http://www.dositey.com/2008/index-page-home.php (math and language/grammar games)
http://www.netrover.com/~kingskid/MulTab/Applet.html (multiplication table applet - visual tool)
http://pbskids.org/barney/children/games/ (storytime, music, games and coloring with Barney and friends)
http://www.songsforteaching.com/index.html (I am convinced that you can teach ANYTHING to kids if it's put to music. This site offers CDs and downloads of music for sale on a variety of topics - math, phonics, science, holidays, social studies, etc.)
http://www.surfnetkids.com/games/ (Games, games and more games)
http://www.teachingtables.co.uk/ (online multiplication tables games)
http://www.teachingtime.co.uk/ (online games that teach how to tell the time - some are free, some aren't)
http://www.totshabbat.com/ (Jewish music for kids)
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_102_g_2_t_1.html (fractions applet)
http://www.ealfy.co.il/login/index.asp (very good games site in Hebrew for young kids - requires paid membership)
http://www.galim.org.il/ (very good educational games site in Hebrew - although there is a wonderful section in English for kids who are ESL learners - to access the entire site you must pay although there are parts that you can access for free)
http://www.free-puzzles.net/travel-games-for-kids/printable-games/index.php (printable travel games - bingo, tic-tac-toe, mazes, word search, etc.)
http://pbskids.org/ (games, online videos - cute site!)
http://www.pitara.com/activities/ (activities, crafts, coloring pages)
http://www.agkidzone.com/games (general online games for young kids)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/teletubbies/ (games)
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/ (wonderful EASY craft idea resource!)
http://www.fisher-price.com/us/playtime/coloring/toddler/thumbnail.asp (online coloring pages)
http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/color-by-numbers/ (free printable color by number pages)
http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/dot-to-dot/ (free printable dot to dot pages)
http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/mazes/ (free printable mazes)
http://www.mommysavers.com/kids-activities/ (Frugal activities and craft ideas)
http://www.dragonsaretooseldom.com/kids_activities.html (kids activity ideas)
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/ (online interactive games and activities - literacy, math, science)
http://www.allkids.co.uk/hobbies-interests-activities/index.html (links to childrens' hobbies and interests)
http://www.entertainthekids.com/ (paid membership site - activity/craft ideas)
http://www.gameskidsplay.net/ (rules/instructions for some games/activities to play with kids)
http://en.origami-club.com// (origami site from beginner level to advanced with instructions)
http://fun.familyeducation.com/play/outdoor-activities/33394.html (outdoor activities for kids ages 6-10)
http://www.pilkey.com/games.php (cute online games)
http://activitypad.com/ (printable preschool activities, word search puzzles, mazes, kids games)
http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/math/fraction/reducing/ (math worksheet generator)
http://worksheets.theteacherscorner.net/make-your-own/telling-time/ (telling time worksheet generator)
http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/time.html (telling time worksheets, math worksheets, reading/writing worksheets, phonics worksheets, grammar worksheets, spelling worksheets, etc.)
http://www.coloring.ws/ (free coloring pages, games, puzzles)
http://www.kidsknowit.com/interactive-educational-movies/index.php (free online annimated educational movies)
Now. I never want to hear you say you're bored again! Ya hear?
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Holiday Music
I'll admit that even though I do not miss celebrating Christmas, I DO miss the music of the season VERY much. There is something so uplifting about the music of the Christmas season that will never get old for me and will always be a part of me. I happen to think that Handel's Messiah is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written and I know it backwards and forward. I do occasionally put it on and belt out the choruses at the top of my lungs. Luckily, DH does not find this threatening.
I have tried to analyze what exactly it is about Chanukah music that bothers me and I think that it is, simply put, that all of the Chanukah songs are so childish. Come to think of it, the entire holiday is geared towards the kids. Nothing wrong with that, of course, except I always have the impression that I, as an adult, am invisible on this holiday. That no one is talking to me. Let's be honest. "I Have a Little Dreidel" vs. "peace on earth goodwill towards men"? Hmmmmm. Don't get me wrong. Lighting the Chanukah menorah, the gift giving, the yummy, greasy, fried foods, the fact that the holiday is shmeared out over 8 days (rather than so much hype for ONE day) - it's great. I'm all for it. It's just that the Christmas message just seems a tad more universal to me.
But maybe that's just me.
I therefore leave you with as kosher a version of the Halleluyah Chorus as I could find....sung by silent monks ;-)
I have tried to analyze what exactly it is about Chanukah music that bothers me and I think that it is, simply put, that all of the Chanukah songs are so childish. Come to think of it, the entire holiday is geared towards the kids. Nothing wrong with that, of course, except I always have the impression that I, as an adult, am invisible on this holiday. That no one is talking to me. Let's be honest. "I Have a Little Dreidel" vs. "peace on earth goodwill towards men"? Hmmmmm. Don't get me wrong. Lighting the Chanukah menorah, the gift giving, the yummy, greasy, fried foods, the fact that the holiday is shmeared out over 8 days (rather than so much hype for ONE day) - it's great. I'm all for it. It's just that the Christmas message just seems a tad more universal to me.
But maybe that's just me.
I therefore leave you with as kosher a version of the Halleluyah Chorus as I could find....sung by silent monks ;-)
Western Wall WebCam
I just found this online:
http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/livekotel/newkotelcam/virtualjerusalem/index.php?affid=24
For those of you who can't join us.....yet. ;-)
http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/livekotel/newkotelcam/virtualjerusalem/index.php?affid=24
For those of you who can't join us.....yet. ;-)
Sunday, November 20, 2011
A New Week
We had a very nice Shabbat considering we were pretty much cooped up in the house due to the nasty wonderful rain which basically didn't let up all day. (The country has been drought-ridden for the past 7 years I recently heard, so you can't say anything negative about the rain lest the natives hurt you.)
I sent DH and the kids to shul yesterday but they were back within 3 seconds because it had started to rain. I got everyone changed into rain coats and boots and sent them off again. I took my time getting dressed and ready, including rain boots, and took myself off to shul as well. It was COLD! By the time the service and kiddush (refreshments afterwards) were over, I couldn't even feel my feet. We were home by 11:30. I got E changed into dry clothes and he fell asleep at noon which is NOT like him to nap so early. He napped for 3 hours, I napped for FOUR! Woooohooooo!
DH has booked a two week trip to England with Y in February. I'm staying behind with T and E. I am glad he's going. He needs the break and to see his family (uncle and cousins) even though he won't admit that it's a "need" as much as a "want" for him.
A friend of ours said she had a lot of spare buttons that she'd collected over the years - some had belonged to her grandmother. She said I could have what I wanted so Friday morning I went over to her house and sorted through them and took quite a lot. I came home and made this ring by layering three buttons and gluing them together.
I sent DH and the kids to shul yesterday but they were back within 3 seconds because it had started to rain. I got everyone changed into rain coats and boots and sent them off again. I took my time getting dressed and ready, including rain boots, and took myself off to shul as well. It was COLD! By the time the service and kiddush (refreshments afterwards) were over, I couldn't even feel my feet. We were home by 11:30. I got E changed into dry clothes and he fell asleep at noon which is NOT like him to nap so early. He napped for 3 hours, I napped for FOUR! Woooohooooo!
DH has booked a two week trip to England with Y in February. I'm staying behind with T and E. I am glad he's going. He needs the break and to see his family (uncle and cousins) even though he won't admit that it's a "need" as much as a "want" for him.
A friend of ours said she had a lot of spare buttons that she'd collected over the years - some had belonged to her grandmother. She said I could have what I wanted so Friday morning I went over to her house and sorted through them and took quite a lot. I came home and made this ring by layering three buttons and gluing them together.
Cute, right? I made another beautiful one also but the pictures I took of it didn't come out very clearly.
And a couple of nights ago I made this necklace entirely out of buttons of varying shade of white, cream and pearl. It took me about an hour. Not the clearest of pictures but you get the idea. It came out SO well. I just love it. It goes with everything.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Who Does This Help?
We usually wake up to the 15 minute English news broadcast on the radio at 6:30 am. This morning, Ehud Barak (Defense Minister) was quoted as saying something along the lines of: "If we were Iran, we would also want nuclear weapons." My jaw dropped when I heard that. I mean, WHO on EARTH does a comment like that help? Does it make us feel better somehow? Does it justify the Iranians' nuclear weapons aspirations? Too many people in high positions in this country let whatever they think fall out of their faces far to readily, IMO. I dunno. Is it just me?
We have had 2 days now of black, stormy, rainy, COLD weather which is quite the novelty. Fun to discover a whole new winter wardrobe and pull out the boots, sweaters, scarves, etc. Although I must say that this weather has totally killed my ability to get out with the kids after work and do errands since I have not had the use of the car for two days now.
We have had 2 days now of black, stormy, rainy, COLD weather which is quite the novelty. Fun to discover a whole new winter wardrobe and pull out the boots, sweaters, scarves, etc. Although I must say that this weather has totally killed my ability to get out with the kids after work and do errands since I have not had the use of the car for two days now.
Monday, November 14, 2011
A Spark of Inspiration
I am not one who goes into ecstacies over every shiur (religious lecture) nor do I find very many of them spiritually inspiring. However, Dr. Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo is my rabbinical hero. Why? Because his interpretations/views are fresh and refreshing and not just a regurgitation of chapter and verse. He sees the problems within Judaism and isn't afraid to point them out and cry for change. (Interestingly, he also happens to be a convert to Judaism as well.)
He is affiliated with the David Cardozo Academy in Jerusalem (http://www.cardozoschool.org/) where you can find a huge selection of audio lecture on a wide variety of subjects. He also writes a weekly essay entitled "Thoughts to Ponder" which you can sign up to receive.
This recent essay about the importance and spiritual qualities of song and music really moved me and I wanted to share.
He is affiliated with the David Cardozo Academy in Jerusalem (http://www.cardozoschool.org/) where you can find a huge selection of audio lecture on a wide variety of subjects. He also writes a weekly essay entitled "Thoughts to Ponder" which you can sign up to receive.
This recent essay about the importance and spiritual qualities of song and music really moved me and I wanted to share.
Thoughts to Ponder
No Mashiach (Messiah) Without a Song
Nathan Lopes Cardozo
Whether the angels play only Bach praising God, I am not quite sure;I am sure, however, that en famille they play Mozart. (1)
When attending synagogue services around the world, one is often confronted with a lack of religious enthusiasm. In many synagogues, services are heavy and often depressing. It is not always the lack of concentration by the worshippers that makes synagogue services unattractive, but the absence of a song and passion. It is true that prayer is a most serious undertaking, yet our sages have often emphasized the fact that the opportunity to speak to the Lord of the Universe is a great privilege, which should bring much happiness to man. After all, for humans to converse with their Maker is something that has no logical basis. Who is man to speak to the King of Kings? This is even more surprising when one contemplates the fact that man has the opportunity to praise God with hymns and laudations. As the great German poet Johann Wolfgang Goethe once said, “Wer einen lobt, stellt sich ihm gleich.” (He who praises another person places himself on the other’s level.) And as Aristotle said—probably referring to Plato—“Everyone may criticize him, but who is permitted to praise him?”
Most interesting is the fact that one of the ways we are able to identify the Mashiach (the Messiah) is by his capacity and willingness to sing. In the talmudic tractate Sanhedrin (94a), Bar Kapara states that God intended to appoint King Chizkiyahu as the Mashiach, the ultimate redeemer of mankind, but eventually did not.
Chizkiyahu is known as one of the most righteous men the Jewish people has ever seen. He introduced significant religious reforms and was a man of outstanding devotion, committed to the highest level of morality. In fact, he was so successful in promoting Torah study that there was “no boy or girl, no man or woman in the land who was not well-versed in the religious laws of tahara and tuma – purity and impurity!”
Still, King Chizkiyahu was unable to teach the awe of God to his own son and heir to the throne, Menashe. King Menashe is known for his wickedness, and commentators observe that this was partially due to the fact that his righteous father did not know how to sing and was therefore unable to inspire him. We can be sure that Menashe was well educated in Jewish learning, but all such learning was academic and frigid, because the warmth of a song did not accompany it.
Most telling is that, as the sages inform us, King Chizkiyahu did not sing even after he experienced a great miracle that saved Israel from the hands of the wicked Sancheriv, the Assyrian king (ibid).
Being unable to sing is considered by our sages a serious and irreparable weakness that invalidates one from becoming the Mashiach (ibid). Indeed we find that all of King Chizkiyahu’s efforts to encourage Torah learning came to an end after he passed away. There is no future to Jewish education and Judaism without a song and passion.
This, however, needs some clarification. What is there in a song, not found in the spoken word, that makes it so crucial to the Jewish tradition?
It may be worthwhile to look at a highly irregular statement by the great rationalist thinker, Rambam. Discussing human reason and prophecy, he writes:
"I say there is a limit to human reason, and as long as the soul resides within the body, it cannot grasp what is above nature, for nothing that is immersed in nature can see above it. Reason is limited to the sphere of nature and is unable to understand what is above its limits… Know that there is a level of knowledge that is higher than all philosophy, namely prophecy. Prophecy is a different source and category of knowledge. Proof and examination are inapplicable to it. If prophecy is genuine then it cannot depend on the validation of reason….Our faith is based on the principle that the words of Moshe are prophecyand therefore beyond the domain of speculation, validation, argument orproof. Reason is inherently unable to pass judgment in the area from which prophecy originates. It would be like trying to put all the water in the world into a little cap. (2)"
Music raises the spoken word to a level that borders on prophecy. It gives it a taste of that which is beyond and transforms it into something untouchable. There no way to explain the difference between a spoken word and one which is sung, unless one sings. It lifts a person out of the mundane and gives him a feeling of the imponderable, which is the entrance to joy. It sets the soul in operation and brings us near to the Infinite.
“Some men go on a hunger strike in the prison of the mind, starving for God,” said Heschel (3). Only song will free them. Prayer is our answer to the inconceivable surprise of living. “To be able to pray is to know how to stand still and to dwell upon a word” (4).This is true, even more so, when a group of human beings join in communal song.
When our sages inform us that one who is unable to sing cannot be Mashiach, it should be a message to all who want to be religious. Song with passion is crucial while praying and when trying to live a meaningful life. We are deeply indebted to Sephardic tradition, Chassidism and legendary figures such as Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach z”l, for they have placed song in the center of modern Jewish life. While there is much more to Judaism than song and music, it is time that synagogue rabbis give this aspect of spiritual expression their devoted attention, teaching members of their communities to surprise themselves at what their souls are able to achieve. It is prayer in the form of song that makes this possible.
***
******(1) Karl Barth quoted in his obituary, The New York Times, Dec. 11, 1968 (2) “Letter to Rabbi Chisdai” in Kovetz Teshuvot HaRambam Ve’iggerotav, Abraham Lichtenberg, ed. Leipzig: H.L. Shnoys, 1859. II, pp. 23a-23b (3) Abraham Joshua Heschel, Man Is Not Alone: A Philosophy of Religion, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1976. p. 90(4) Abraham Joshua Heschel, Between God and Man, New York: Free Press, 1997. p. 206
Feeling Crafty...
I have been feeling SO frustrated that I have no time - well, energy, to be more precise - for doing anything creative. I am sick of it being cold and dark when I get home from work and not being able to get out of the house and DO stuff with the kids and I'm sick of them spending every evening in front of the TV. So this past Friday I spent the whole morning running around town to a fabric store and 2 craft supply stores and picked up some basic craft supplies. I have been finding some great, cute, fun, easy-looking craft ideas on the internet and want to do some with Y.
So here's what we came up with.......
Some cute bookmarks made out of large colored paper clips with ribbons tied onto them.
And these magnets made out of stacks of old buttons that we glued together and glued a magnet to the backs of them.....
So here's what we came up with.......
Some cute bookmarks made out of large colored paper clips with ribbons tied onto them.
And these magnets made out of stacks of old buttons that we glued together and glued a magnet to the backs of them.....
These two projects took me and Y a good hour.
And last Saturday night E fell asleep at 6:15 <shocked> so I actually had an evening and spent 6 hours making this necklace.
All three projects very satisfying and great fun.
I just heard a really cute joke....A new immigrant to Israel was asked, "In one word, how would you describe Israel?" He replied, "Good." Then he was asked, "In TWO words, how would you describe Israel?" He replied, "Not good."
The more I think about that, the funnier it gets. But maybe that's just me?
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
See If You Can Keep Up
Here's a rundown of how my day went yesterday. See if you can keep up.
1. Up at 6 AM.
2. Spend the next 2 and a half hours -
5. 5:10 - T asks me to take her to her 5:30 appointment to get her nails done and Y asks if she can go with Y. I stupidly (since she hadn't done her homework yet) agree. While all this is being negotiated, E has managed to take off his shoes and socks even though I tell him we're going straight back out. I decide NOT to spend the time putting them back on since we're just going out to take T to her appointment and I whisk him downstairs to the car along with T and Y, all the while he's screaming that he wants his shoes on. Telling him he doesn't need them since we won't be getting out of the car does no good. The 20 minute round trip is accompanied by earsplitting shrieks and tears from E.
6. 5:45 - me and E arrive back home and I attempt to bathe him thinking that will distract him from the shoe tantrum. It just turns into a bath tantrum and thus a bath battle. He is forcibly bathed and pajama-ed while the shrieking and tears continue.
7. After the bath, we move on into dinnertime. E is calm by this point, eating an apple on the couch and watching Barney. I use the quiet time while the girls are out to make some sort of cake that was supposed to be cinnamon buns but wasn't. I was seriously needing some comfort food. And I got the couchful of laundry folded. Folded, mind. A HUGE accomplishment, considering.
8. 8 pm - The girls mosey in. T goes to the computer in her room. I introduce Y to her awaiting homework.
9. 8:15 - I'm trying to do homework with Y and keep tabs on E who keeps chewing up his apple and spitting it on the floor. E next tells me he pooped in his pants AGAIN. So we go through the whole 10 minute clean up/changing routine that we'd gone through in the morning. During these 10 minutes that I am tied up with E, Y is howling that her homework is toooooo haaaaaard and she caaaaan't do iiiiiiittt! This is when that little word "delegate" occurs to me. T is roped by me into helping Y with her homework while I wash the poop load out of E's underpants. While I'm doing this, he pees on the bathroom floor and finds that funny. Me? Mmmmm. Not so much.
10. The girls graze on The Cinnamon Buns That Weren't for dinner. Well, at least they ARE whole wheat.
11. 9:00 I join E on the couch to watch Barney and rub his feet in the hopes that he will get sleepy soon. He konks out around 10 pm along with Y who is sprawled on the cushions on the floor in the living room.
I am brain dead from watching so much Barney, cute though he is. I have folded laundry staring back at me that I do not have energy to deal with. I am cold and bored and since it is now dark by 5:30, once we hit 10 pm I feel like I've been up all night. I am needing to color my hair but too tired to add even the extra half hour that that takes to my day. I give up and go to bed without even spending a minute with DH and feeling that I haven't done ONE creative thing for myself all day. (I do NOT enjoy cooking so the Cinnamon Buns That Weren't don't count.)
And the fun continues in much the same vein today. Where's my fairy godmother???????
1. Up at 6 AM.
2. Spend the next 2 and a half hours -
- making sure T is up, dressed, has taken her Ritalin and is out the door in some way, shape or form
- making sure Y is up, dressed, has eaten and has her bookbag
- making sure E is up, dressed, has peed in the toilet, and has eaten
- lunches for both Y and E made and in their respective bags
- getting myself showered, dressed down to shoes, make-up on and cell phone in purse
- 7:40 - Y gets taken to the school bus by DH
- 8:00 - Just as me, T and E are leaving the house, E poops in his pants. I spend the next 10 minutes cleaning him up and changing his clothes while DH and T are waiting downstairs in the car for me.
- 8:15- T gets dropped of by us (due to the bus strike) at school (across town)
- 8:20 - E gets dropped off at gan (daycare)
- 8:30 - I arrive half an hour late to work
- actually work - difficult, since I am already feeling frazzled (and it's only 8:30 in the morning!)
- make skin dr. appt for T
- an appt with the podiatrist to take care of T's 2nd ingrown toenail
- eye dr. appt for Y
5. 5:10 - T asks me to take her to her 5:30 appointment to get her nails done and Y asks if she can go with Y. I stupidly (since she hadn't done her homework yet) agree. While all this is being negotiated, E has managed to take off his shoes and socks even though I tell him we're going straight back out. I decide NOT to spend the time putting them back on since we're just going out to take T to her appointment and I whisk him downstairs to the car along with T and Y, all the while he's screaming that he wants his shoes on. Telling him he doesn't need them since we won't be getting out of the car does no good. The 20 minute round trip is accompanied by earsplitting shrieks and tears from E.
6. 5:45 - me and E arrive back home and I attempt to bathe him thinking that will distract him from the shoe tantrum. It just turns into a bath tantrum and thus a bath battle. He is forcibly bathed and pajama-ed while the shrieking and tears continue.
7. After the bath, we move on into dinnertime. E is calm by this point, eating an apple on the couch and watching Barney. I use the quiet time while the girls are out to make some sort of cake that was supposed to be cinnamon buns but wasn't. I was seriously needing some comfort food. And I got the couchful of laundry folded. Folded, mind. A HUGE accomplishment, considering.
8. 8 pm - The girls mosey in. T goes to the computer in her room. I introduce Y to her awaiting homework.
9. 8:15 - I'm trying to do homework with Y and keep tabs on E who keeps chewing up his apple and spitting it on the floor. E next tells me he pooped in his pants AGAIN. So we go through the whole 10 minute clean up/changing routine that we'd gone through in the morning. During these 10 minutes that I am tied up with E, Y is howling that her homework is toooooo haaaaaard and she caaaaan't do iiiiiiittt! This is when that little word "delegate" occurs to me. T is roped by me into helping Y with her homework while I wash the poop load out of E's underpants. While I'm doing this, he pees on the bathroom floor and finds that funny. Me? Mmmmm. Not so much.
10. The girls graze on The Cinnamon Buns That Weren't for dinner. Well, at least they ARE whole wheat.
11. 9:00 I join E on the couch to watch Barney and rub his feet in the hopes that he will get sleepy soon. He konks out around 10 pm along with Y who is sprawled on the cushions on the floor in the living room.
I am brain dead from watching so much Barney, cute though he is. I have folded laundry staring back at me that I do not have energy to deal with. I am cold and bored and since it is now dark by 5:30, once we hit 10 pm I feel like I've been up all night. I am needing to color my hair but too tired to add even the extra half hour that that takes to my day. I give up and go to bed without even spending a minute with DH and feeling that I haven't done ONE creative thing for myself all day. (I do NOT enjoy cooking so the Cinnamon Buns That Weren't don't count.)
And the fun continues in much the same vein today. Where's my fairy godmother???????
Sunday, November 6, 2011
A Blur
HOW do the days fly by so fast with not even a minute to myself to sit down and put my thoughts to.....well, blog? The world seems to be spinning too fast for me to get off!
The summer is behind us – one way or another. It was LONG. I worked my regular schedule during July, and for most of August I worked every other day which worked well for us. I tried to do day trips with the kids but of course the summer came to an end with me feeling like I didn't get done half the things I'd wanted to. O well.
T has started at her new school here in town and it seems to be going ok although she's not very forthcoming when I ask her questions about it. Y is in 2nd grade and loving it! In September, T turned 15, Y turned 7 and I turned……..ahem……12? E is very disgruntled that everyone's having birthdays but him. He even picked up the cat recently and started singing the song, "……happy birthday dear CAAA-AAAAT…." Funny boychik! LOL
Work for me has been high stress for me for the last few months. Big projects and deadlines…….I barely have time for bathroom breaks and of course zero time for personal stuff. I hope the pressure will come to an end sometime soon but it's not looking too good. They fired my best friend here at work so part of the source of the pressure I'm under came from the fact that some of what she was doing subsequently landed on my desk. Her replacement started on Sept. 6 but they have her working on other stuff now so she's not able to help me with sharing my workload so much.
DH has been doing a stock market investment course to learn how to "play" and he just started another property investment course so he's out every week on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. That's fine with me. Gets him out of the house, out of my hair and allows me to get on with what I need to do with the kids in MY time and in MY way.
DH's oldest daughter had her 2nd – a boy - on Y's birthday!
DH's uncle and his lady friend were here recently, visiting from Australia. They traveled around and didn't stay with us, thank goodness! We were invited to DH's sister's house for a large family gathering so the uncle could see everyone. O how I hate family gatherings! I have nothing in common with his extended family. Their lives are so very different to mine. Hard to find something in common to talk about that we can both relate to. Very uncomfortable.
Then DH's OTHER uncle (his mom's brother) arrived here this morning by ship from England and will be here for ONE day so DH and his uncle just came to my work to have lunch with me. The rest of today DH is spending playing chauffer - driving uncle around the country so he can see as much of the family as possible before he heads back to his ship which is docked in Haifa. I asked him whether he felt like he was in a different country. He said no not really although he made one very interesting comment. He said something about how even though all the signs are in Hebrew - street signs, shop signs, etc. - and he can't read them, even so it makes him feel like he's home. Very sweet. Yes, Uncle Gordon. You ARE home.
About 2 weeks ago on Weds. night I went to bed around 10 pm. DH was on the computer until late. He woke me up at 11:15 pm, threw me a robe and said the air raid sirens had gone off for real. He ran to wake T up, then he and I each snatched a little kid from bed and we ran out of the apartment into the stairwell. Our building is older and none of the apartments has its own bomb shelter. Newer apartments do – one room of the house is reinforced against rockets with special doors and windows that hermetically seal. We stood in the stairwell for 2 minutes then put the kids back to bed. We heard later that a rocket did fall in the city of Ashdod (about 30 minute drive from us). That's nothing new but we've never ever had the sirens go off in Rehovot before. Ah, yes. Fun fun. A good opportunity to drill, I suppose. I can't imagine going through that a few times a night like people who live in some areas do.
We just came through about a month of holidays with very few work days. It was nice to have the time off to be with the kids. We mostly just hung out at home and took it easy but we did take the kids to the nice, big zoo in Jerusalem (J-m).
About a week and a half ago we started potty training E and thankfully he caught on in about 2 days. At least with peeing. He's really good about telling me when he needs to pee and being a boy, if we're out and about and he needs to go, I can generally find a tree or a bush for him to water. Pooping, however, is a whoooooole 'nuther ball game! Not quite there yet.
Now it's soap box time.......why in G-d's name do the media and politicians keep yapping about the probability of a military strike against Iran?????? I mean, COME ON. Hasn't anyone ever heard of an important little something called "the element of surprise"?? Just because you've got Internet and FB and Twitter and YouTube and an entire smorgasbord of media outlets of various kinds available to you, doesn't mean you have to USE them! Is nothing confidential/top secret any more?? We might as well just hang out the biggest "WE'RE COMING TO GET YOU!" sign we can find so they can a) hide/cover up their nuclear weapon making facilities and b) give them time to decide what they're going to do about us. I am so disgusted/annoyed I could spit.
I don't know what else has occurred since I last wrote. Life is just crazy busy - always. I'll keep this short and sweet this time.
Till next time…..
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