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Post by hollygail on Mar 13, 2017 1:02:25 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 certainly welcome to do so but you are also welcome to chime in!
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Post by hollygail on Mar 13, 2017 1:32:02 GMT -5
This week's Torah reading is Ki Tissa (when you take), found in Exodus 30:11 – 34:5, and for those synagogues that follow the triennial cycle, here are the first three aliyot:
Aliyah 1
30:11 Adonai spoke to Moses, saying:
12 When you take a census of the Israelite people according to their enrollment, each shall pay Adonai a ransom for himself on being enrolled, that no plague may come upon them through their being enrolled.
13 This is what everyone who is entered in the records shall pay: a half-shekel by the sanctuary weight—twenty gerahs to the shekel—a half-shekel as an offering to Adonai.
Aliyah 2
14 Everyone who is entered in the records, from the age of twenty years up, shall give Adonai’s offering:
15 the rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than half a shekel when giving Adonai’s offering as expiation for your persons.
16 You shall take the expiation money from the Israelites and assign it to the service of the Tent of Meeting; it shall serve the Israelites as a reminder before Adonai, as expiation for your persons.
Aliyah 3
17 Adonai spoke to Moses, saying:
18 Make a laver of copper and a stand of copper for it, for washing; and place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar. Put water in it,
19 and let Aaron and his sons wash their hands and feet [in water drawn] from it.
20 When they enter the Tent of Meeting they shall wash with water, that they may not die; or when they approach the altar to serve, to turn into smoke an offering by fire to Adonai,
21 they shall wash their hands and feet, that they may not die. It shall be a law for all time for them—for him and his offspring—throughout the ages.
- - -
A census is to be taken and instead of counting each "head" (the Hebrew word [rosh] used in the second verse, 30:12), each person will pay one-half shekel; then you can count the money collected and divide by 2 to know the number of people you're counting. And the point is made that regardless of whether a person is rich or poor (and presumably, everyone in between), each individual pays the same amount. This reminds me of one of the differences between ancient Jewish law and other legal systems from neighboring lands; it was normal elsewhere for there to be a different set of laws for the rich compared with the poor. I'm proud that Judaism had a sense of "fairness" that far back in time! And then (aliyah 3), we get the initial information regarding ordination rituals: Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet. Note that water cleanses not only physically but also ritually, perhaps psychically...
What "rituals" keep you on track in your life?
I have a "routine" of sorts for my mornings. I get up, empty my bladder, turn on the computer, go downstairs (while the computer is booting up), measure 8 cups of fresh water into an 8-cup Pyrex measuring cup, add whatever herbal tea I'm going to drink that day, and place the measuring cup into the microwave. I set it for 12 minutes and return upstairs to open the files and apps I want to use, then go take my shower, comb my hair, brush my teeth, weigh myself and get dressed. I follow this routine every day, regardless of whether I'm going to 7:30 morning minyan or a 9 or 10:00 Shabbat morning service or driving 20 miles to teach (9:00) on Sunday mornings. And if anything disturbs my routine, I do my best to return to it just as soon as I possibly can...
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Post by gazelle18 on Mar 13, 2017 9:34:02 GMT -5
Sorry to be MIA yesterday... we were visiting the grandkids in Atlanta for the Purim holiday. All day long. People walked up to the door to deliver Purim goodies, and we reciprocated with goodies of our own. We did a quick kid friendly Megillah reading, and then DS and DSIL hosted a party. Very nice.
Now that I'm retired, I have different rituals on different days. On M, W, and F, I roll out of bed at 7:50, throw on my exercise clothes, brush my teeth, and make it to my exercise class for 8:30. I'm home by 9:45. I shower and dress, and have a healthy breakfast at 10:15 or so. By 10:30, I start my "day." This is so leisurely, compared to my working days, when I struggled out of bed at 7, got quickly dressed, and generally had to be in court or somewhere else by 8 or so.
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Post by louise on Mar 13, 2017 14:38:36 GMT -5
That system would never work at my synagogue - they didn't have to worry about pledges vs payments!
I don't have set rituals but feel that I should I do best when I get up early and start the day with my workout - that actually happens a few days a week.
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lee058
This space for rent
Posts: 23,287 
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Post by lee058 on Mar 13, 2017 17:41:55 GMT -5
Hi everybody. Hope you are all well, and that those of us in the blizzard areas stay indoors if possible! It just started snowing here in VA. Predictions are for anywhere from 5 to 12 inches (some help, huh?). DS is taking tomorrow off from work, and maybe Wednesday as well. I've cancelled my appointments. H probably won't have to work either, at least for tomorrow. Hopefully we can all just stay indoors and relax, although H and DS will be shoveling whatever snow we get.
Re rituals: The only one I can think of off the top of my head is that I consciously try to remember to smile at myself whenever I see myself in a mirror.
I'll keep you posted on what's happening with the storm and how I'm coping!
Have a peaceful evening, Lee
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Post by peachymom1 on Mar 13, 2017 21:50:12 GMT -5
Hi everyone, sorry so late! Louise, thank you for your kind words last night!
On workdays, my routine is the same. Up, bathroom, put on workout clothes, work out, shower, have breakfast, brush teeth and get dressed for work. Put on some makeup, pick up my purse, and it's out the door with DH by about 6:50 a.m. We carpool unless one of us needs to drive separately to go to the dentist or doctor or whatever.
Tomorrow I'm meeting an old work friend for dinner. She's such a delightful person, and it's always fun to catch up with her.
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Post by happysavta on Mar 14, 2017 0:41:58 GMT -5
Hi, everyone,
Very busy day today. DGS age 7 didn't have school today. His parents asked me to keep him so they could work. DGS calls this "Savta Camp". He was dropped off for breakfast and then we went out to get him a haircut. Our fun was going to the YMCA pool with him for 2 1/2 hours! I could hardly get him to agree to leave the pool; he stalled for 30 minutes. That boy must have fish DNA in him! Then we went to a playground, and to the library. The little bookworm brought 10 books with him just for today. I dropped him back home at 4:30 pm and went home and got straight into bed.
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