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Post by louise on Feb 14, 2017 23:39:51 GMT -5
What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.
Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:
Angelika
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy
And for those of you that stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to do that but you are also welcome to chime in!
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Post by louise on Feb 14, 2017 23:41:10 GMT -5
Continuing with selections from “Personal Prayers Before the Open Ark” from Siddur Lev Shalem:
A Prayer of Gratitude
I thank You, Adonai, for knowing me, for granting me a measure of fullness, a fulfillment of small hopes, and many yearnings. Thank You for the gift of this day. May the gratitude in my heart and the sense of fullness that I feel now continue to sustain me, taking root in my soul, even as I continue to dream and pray. “It is good to thank You, Adonai, and to sing to Your name, transcendent God” (Psalm 92:2). Give me strength to see the gift in each new day You grant.
There are several things I see as unique in this prayer. To thank God for “knowing” you brings a strong sense of both acceptance and intimacy. I also like asking that the gratitude you feel now “continue to sustain me, taking root in my soul”. Taking a moment and internalizing it. Does this little prayer trigger anything in you?
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Post by louise on Feb 15, 2017 8:27:41 GMT -5
Our thread went in directions I could not have anticipated yesterday. I am so pleased and proud to be part of this group. The care, thought, time, and passion people put into their responses was impressive and uplifting and I thank you.
To Holly’s particular question – first of all, thank you for pointing this out. Our new conservative siddur does indeed say “Moses, Miriam, and the people Israel joyfully sang” while our previous siddur, Siddur sim Shalom, and the one before that by the same name do not include Miriam. The margin notes in Siddur Lev Shalem say “The Torah is emphatic that Moses led the men and Miriam led the women, so that all the people Israel sang the Song at the Sea.” It does not also say “so this is why we added Miriam’s name here” and I hadn’t caught the full meaning. The margin note further directs us back to comments made earlier in the service (during Pezukai Dezimra) when the Song at the Sea is included:
“...that all of Israel – men and women – celebrated together….Rashi pictures Moses reciting the Song and the men repeating after him, and then Miriam reciting the Song and the women repeating after her.... In commenting on Exodus 15:1, Midrash Sekhel Tov (12thc Italy?) imagines Miriam reciting the Song the first half of each verse and the women completing the verse. Philo (1st century CE, Egypt) comments that the men and women, under the influence of divine inspiration, became a chorus singing hymns of thanksgiving to God – together with Moses “the prophet” leading men, and Miriam “the prophet” leading the women. He may be reflecting the prayer practice of the Jewish community of 1st-century Egypt.” My rabbi pointed out this past Shabbat the likely “call and response” nature of this Song.
(Maybe more than you wanted to read here - sorry about that)
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lee058
This space for rent
Posts: 23,285 
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Post by lee058 on Feb 15, 2017 8:56:08 GMT -5
Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well. I appreciate reading the quotes and everyone's comments; they are both so interesting! I especially liked the part about Miriam leading the women --- yay!
I had PT at 7AM today, which is going to be my usual time through the end of March. It is very convenient to be able to drop DS off at work, come home for a bit, go to PT, come home for a bit again, and then go pick DS up.
I'll be back later, hopefully with more comments. Have a peaceful day, Lee
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Post by savtele on Feb 15, 2017 9:27:19 GMT -5
Boker Tov All! I just got up, haven't even poured my coffee yet.
Peachy - plenty of room on the soapbox! I loved your thoughts.
I love the idea of a "call and response" nature of the song of the sea - perhaps even a "round" where the men start a verse and the women repeat a few beats later. I imagine it echoing through the canyons along the water's edge, bouncing back at them from cliff-sides, until "the mountains and hills before you break shall forth into singing...."
I'm off to the pool, then work today. Looking forward to it! I'll bbl to read.
Have a good day, ladies!
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