Jewish Musings, Sun., 2/19

[gazelle18]

Hi everyone!

DH (jet lagged) fell asleep in the room with the laptop, and I can't cut and paste from this iPad. Will do better tomorrow!

I hope everyone is well. If I missed anything major in anyone's life, please fill me in. I did see where Angelika took dinner to her brother and sister in law, so I am guessing he is out of the hospital. That's good....

so, India is wonderful. Total sensory overload, with all of the sights, sounds, smells. It is a whole different world. The people are incredibly lovely. There are about 26 official languages of India, because it is a country of many old kingdoms put together. Fortunately, kids all learn English at school, which is the language of business, so it was easy to navigate there. 

I learned so much there! And of course I did not even scratch the surface.  But I do want to use this week to give you a taste of what it was all about.

One of the first things that struck me was the way people greet one another. In the West, if you see someone you know on the street , you might say, "Hi, how are you?" Or you might say "good morning." Nothing wrong with that. But in India, a person will stop walking, or pause his steps. He will put his palms together, near his chest, bow slightly, and say "Namaste." I looked up the translation of this greeting, and it literally means, "I bow to the divine in you."

What thoughts does this evoke in you? Like/don't like? 

[peachymom1]

Brucha ha-ba-ah! Welcome back! So glad to see you back!

I didn't know people in Indian greeted each other with "Namaste." I only know the word from yoga, and I love it. I like the idea of seeing the divine in everyone; it's like our concept of everyone being created in the image of God, with a divine spark.

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well. Welcome back Lynne, and I can't wait to hear more about your travels! I have heard about people greeting each other with "Namaste" but I didn't know it was commonly done. That's wonderful; I think it would help people remember to see each other more kindly, at the very least. You asked for news, so here's mine. I fell and hurt my shoulder awhile ago, but it didn't really start hurting until January. Finally, it got painful enough that I went to see my doctor, and he sent me to an orthopedic specialist, who recommended physical therapy. I am currently going to PT 3X a week and will be doing that through the end of March, and I will see the orthopedic doctor again in April. Then he will decide what we should do next.

Today I plan to do a lot of laundry (being very careful of my shoulder, of course) and not much else. The sink is full of yesterday's pots and pans, but I am hoping that H will do them (!). If not, then I will probably do some today and some tomorrow, depending on how I feel. It's supposed to be a beautiful day, so I will most likely open up the windows. The weather here in VA has been really weird: cold one day and unseasonably warm the next. The cherry blossoms are predicted to bloom at the end of March! I am looking forward to that.

It's just after 6AM, I've had breakfast and am on my second cup of coffee. I would like to start the laundry but don't want to make noise, so I will wait until H and DS get up.

I'll check in later. Have a peaceful day, Lee

[louise]

So glad to have you back and that the trip was so good. Definitely look forward to hearing more about it. I also know "Namaste" (and the alternative "Jai Bhagwan") from yoga classes. I didn't know it was the everyday salutation in India today. The fact that people pause and do the motion with their hands and a bow of the head makes me think that they feel the words when they say them. We learn the salutations Shalom and Aloha and hear them as hello and goodbye and not necessarily with the overtones of peace and affection that these words have to native speakers. I think it's lovely that these salutations carry so much with them both acknowledging someone and sending care and respect.

[savtele]

Boker Tov All! Welcome home - and "Namaste!"

From our own wishes for "good" day, Peace/well-being (Shalom), to bowing to the divine in each other - it's really not such a far stretch if we remember that is what we are doing! I'm sure that once it is a cultural norm, many of the spiritual overtones are removed. (like "bless you" or "gesundheit" after a sneeze - the "blessing" started because of the belief that you were expelling part of your soul with the sneeze, let's just bless that right back into you!)

I love looking at the "reasons" for cultural norms - like a handshake (because I cannot draw my sword while shaking your hand). Which then causes me to wonder if the lower castes were culturally also greeted in this manner. (Now it is the norm in most of S.E. Asia)

Lee - I also am getting ready to do laundry. I just cleaned out the corner where the wood-stove is - it was deep in dirt, ash, dust.... a fire on a cold day is really warming (in a way that the electric furnace is not - even if it is the same temp) but it is dirty! Shades of Cinderella!

Have a good day all! Namaste!

[happysavta]

Nasmaste, Lynne,

We use that phrase when we finish Laughter Yoga classes and some of the Silver Sneakers instructors use it too.

Last night, my DD took me to a concert at the Houston JCC. Going out with her is a treat; she's a live wire. It was called "Soul to Soul: Yiddish and African-American Music Meet in a Celebration of Two Cultures". It was a blend of klezmer music and gospel music and it was a history of the black and Jewish struggle and a history of how the 2 musical traditions blended with musicians such as Benny Goodman, Irving Berlin, Cab Callaway, Louis Armstrong, some of the folk songs of the 60s (Dona, Dona, etc. Two of the singers were white Jewish women, and the two men were African American who sang in perfect Yiddish. One of the lady singers is a cantor, one of the African American men is a Broadway performer. The canter also played a mean trumpet (!!) and did a couple of Louis Armstrong numbers including "Its a Wonderful World". I'd love to go to her synagogue!

On piano was conductor Zalmen Mlotek, a gray-haired, orthodox Jew who is Music Director of the National Yiddish Theatre. He did a couple of comedy Yiddish parodies of American songs and the audience sang along between bursts of laughter. One of the featured musicans was a terrific clarinet and saxophone player who did a lot of great klezmer solo parts.

The show was accompanied by pictures on a large screen above of singers of historical events significant in Jewish history (the Holocaust, the Ellis Island arrivals, the Statue of Liberty) There were also pics of historical events in African-American history, the arrival of chained slaves in slave ships, the slave workers on the plantations, freedom riders holding hands and singing, pictures of Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney, Rabbi Abraham Heshel and other clergymen marching with MLK, Cab Calloway, Benny Goodman's integrated band. Each of the singers introduced songs, talked to the audience about personal experiences or gave the historical narrative. They sang such a huge range of songs from Mahalia Jackson gospel hymns to Theodore Bikel folk songs. They sang in English, Hebrew, Yiddish.

The auditorium was full and audience was up on its feet and cheering by the end. Another nice touch was the reception after the show with all the singers. We took pictures with them. Everybody was dancing Israeli dances in the reception and drinking wine. Zalmen Mlotek took over the piano and ordinary members of the audience did Yiddish Karoke with the microphone - Ba Mir Bist Du Shein and more. It turned into a concert - party. My daughter loved it and so did I. It was so alive!

I hope that the next time the JCC invites them, they'll do a daytime matinee so the children in the community can also be exposed to the soul to soul experience.

[louise]

Okay, apropos to nothing - my rabbi's daughter came up with this joke:

What do you call a torah with a seatbelt? (which you remember our torahs now have)

A sefer torah.

[hollygail]

Welcome home, Lynne. Wonderful to hear how much you enjoyed your trip.

I'm familiar with Namaste. To me, it has always meant "that which is God in me greets that which is God within you" and even though I know that the "you" may not have "God" per se in his/her belief system, it resonates for me.

Just got back from a memorial service for a 92-year-old man who was a morning minyan stalwart for more years than I've been attending. When he couldn't drive any more, I picked him up and brought him home a couple of times a week (whenever I could) for as long as he could manage. After a while, he told me he wasn't getting enough sleep; he didn't want to set the alarm clock because it was very loud (he was hearing impaired) and he didn't want to disturb his wife's sleep. His name has been on the mi sh'beirach list for quite some time, so it didn't come as a complete surprise when I walked into services one morning to learn Bob had died the previous day. He was buried in Ohio (where he grew up and lived until he retired). It was a moving service. I'm very glad I was there.

And the rain doesn't seem to be finished... I know it's good that the drought is over, but really, this much rain? this late in the season? Oy... ess g'noog / g'nug (where the "oo" is the vowel in "book, cook, brook" or the "u" is the vowel in "put," NOT "putt") (Yiddish for "enough!")

[lee058]

Hi again everybody. It's been mostly a nice day, except for my shoulder hurting. It could be worse, so I won't complain (much). It was so warm today that we opened up the windows and the house got aired out. After doing the laundry, I took a nap on the couch with the windows open. It was very pleasant to feel the fresh air coming in.

That's about it for the moment. Have a peaceful night, Lee