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Post by hollygail on Mar 14, 2017 8:22:52 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 who stop by to read this thread without posting — you are certainly welcome to, but you are also welcome to chime in!
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Post by hollygail on Mar 14, 2017 8:29:59 GMT -5
I'm chanting the second aliyah on Saturday morning, and then later the haftarah. My students will come up to the bimah with me to chant the blessings before and after the haftarah (part of their training to become bnai mitzvah).
Here's aliyah #4:
22 Adonai spoke to Moses, saying:
23 Next take choice spices: five hundred weight of solidified myrrh, half as much—two hundred and fifty—of fragrant cinnamon, two hundred and fifty of aromatic cane,
24 five hundred—by the sanctuary weight—of cassia, and a hin of olive oil.
25 Make of this a sacred anointing oil, a compound of ingredients expertly blended, to serve as sacred anointing oil.
26 With it anoint the Tent of Meeting, the Ark of the Pact,
27 the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and all its fittings, the altar of incense,
28 the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the laver and its stand.
29 Thus you shall consecrate them so that they may be most holy; whatever touches them shall be consecrated.
30 You shall also anoint Aaron and his sons, consecrating them to serve Me as priests.
31 And speak to the Israelite people, as follows: This shall be an anointing oil sacred to Me throughout the ages.
32 It must not be rubbed on any person’s body, and you must not make anything like it in the same proportions; it is sacred, to be held sacred by you.
33 Whoever compounds its like, or puts any of it on a layman, shall be cut off from his kin.
- - -
We get the "recipe" for the "sacred" "anointing oil." What "recipes" do you have in your life? I'm not asking about food (although we might consider that another time). I'm asking about things you always do the same way (or at least ALMOST always) and what such "recipes" do for you...
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Post by savtele on Mar 14, 2017 10:46:04 GMT -5
Boker Tov All! I never made it here yesterday, so I thought I better start here now before taking off with mom (a check-up on last week's appointment)
I'm hoping all the "East Coasters" are safe, dry & warm!
Recipes - much like "rituals" in a way: Every year, the day before Erev Pesach, Erev Rosh Hashanah, & New Year's Eve - I strip all the beds, wash all the bedding & wash all the laundry. It's a hold-over from my childhood, my mom always did this also. Go into the new year/new season with clean sheets & a closet full of clean clothes.
Anytime I am leaving the house for any length of time, I load the dishwasher & turn it on. (I don't like to leave dirty dishes in the sink - or even in the dishwasher, DH & I usually run a load about every other day) Clear the clutter that I am normally happy to live with off the counters, wipe everything down - so I can come home to a clean house.
Whenever I show up at my DGD's house (mother of Kailyn, Natalie & Penelope) the girls all climb up on my lap (ok, Kailyn is now too big & "cool" at 9 y o to do that) & have me put lipstick on them before they do anything else.
And my "recipe" for taking mom shopping:
Stop at the Farmers' Market on my way into town - yukon gold potatoes, and anything else mom has told me she would like/needs.
Drop off the groceries I brought for her, pick up mom.
Go to lunch someplace fun - last week it was Bob's Red Mill Store. She loves the big water mill out front, the weather was warm-ish (high 50s), we sat on the deck in the sunshine (they have plastic tent around the deck & heaters out there) & watched the ducks. We bought several loaves of different kinds of bread & some beans.
Head to Trader Joes. Mom loves it - her favorite grocery store! I load up her gift card for her, she circles the store, and usually heads into the wine section for a while. (I generally end up there also - they have really good prices for really good wines, and if I manage to buy one I don't care for, it's no big deal, because it was inexpensive!) We both use our big shopping baskets (hand-made in Ghana, no 2 exactly alike. I bought her 1 for her birthday)
"Home" to her apartment, where she has left her wheeled shopping cart in the foyer - we load everything into the cart, take upstairs to unload. She usually makes us "a nice cup of coffee" before I head home.
I don't know if it's a ritual or a recipe - anyway, it never wavers from week to week (with the exception of where we eat lunch) & it's giving us a cheerful outlook on our relationship.
I'm off to do this week's version of this.
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Post by gazelle18 on Mar 14, 2017 15:24:57 GMT -5
I have lots of rituals. My favorite is my bath time. I don't love taking showers; I like baths. (I never could get used to the idea of hot water hitting me in the face...) My ritual is to sit in the tub once there's an inch or so of water, and zone out, or meditate, while the tub is filling up. I have a big tub so this takes awhile. (Obviously, in New Orleans, there is never a water shortage!) then I lay back and soak for about 10 minutes, before I actually start scrubbing. I find this to be an essential part of getting ready for my day, and if I shower instead, I fell like I have missed something!
Stay safe, east coasters!
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lee058
This space for rent
Posts: 23,287 
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Post by lee058 on Mar 14, 2017 15:29:30 GMT -5
Hi everybody. Hope you are all well. My area (DC suburbs, Northern VA) got some snow and sleet, but not too much. DS shoveled the driveway, sidewalks and path from the front door to the driveway this afternoon. He took today off from work, and I would like him to take tomorrow off too. It is supposed to be extremely cold (single digits with the wind chill) tomorrow morning, and there will probably be ice everywhere. I don't want to drive if the roads are bad.
I am feeling extremely tired even though I took a nap this afternoon. I should cook dinner in awhile, but I don't feel like doing anything.
Re today's topic: I can't think of anything to say at the moment.
Have a peaceful rest of the day, Lee
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Post by louise on Mar 14, 2017 16:47:07 GMT -5
They kept saying to expect 12-18" of snow - got more like 6" - not complaining but buses weren't running, our office was closed, seems somehow anticlimactic; winter advisory still in effect, still snowing lightly.
All this about making the oil in a certain way, and the power ascribed to it can be seen as holy, magical, powerful, but borderline creepy also (sorry). I will be chanting the haftarah this week also - a very powerful one and I enjoy chanting it and building to the moment when Adonai lights up the sacrifice.
Rituals can keep us on track. If you have to do something a certain way and hold yourself to that it can keep you from falling into a vat of something unwholesome, as I did today - home from work with several mishloach manot bags that could not be delivered. Don't ask. I knew when I took that first piece that I would be in trouble, but that didn't stop me. Finally had enough - I guess there's some comfort to be had there, as "enough" can often be an elusive concept.
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Post by happysavta on Mar 14, 2017 19:40:52 GMT -5
Today, DS#4 and I took the trolley downtown for an appointment at the Housing Authority. After 10 long years on the waiting list, he finally got called for the Intake Interview. Everything went smoothly, thank goodness. We had all the supporting documents we needed and in 30 days, he will get the letter approving or denying him a Section 8 voucher. In 60 days, he then has to attend a 2 hour orientation. I am confident this will all go fine. There were a lot of forms and an awful lot of supporting documents to bring, but it was all fine.. The landlord of his current rental accepts Section 8 so he won't have to go out and find a new apartment. It's practically impossible to find landlords who take Section 8 anyway. Same for MediCal or Medicaid. You can get into the program, but it's nearly impossible to find a doctor who accepts that insurance.
My rituals are bad ones. When I wake up in the morning, I turn on the TV. That keeps me in bed for another hour or two. When I go downstairs, I turn on the computer which keeps me occupied for another hour. By the time I am ready to start being productive, it's noon. Time for lunch and then a nap. I tell my grandchildren they can call me "Savta Shluferke".
Of course, I didn't have this routine until I retired. Now that I don't have to get up and carpool kids and rush to the office, my pace is nice and slow, leisurely, in fact. Unfortunately, I live with the Energizer Bunny in the guise of a human - my husband. He talks very fast, he moves very fast, he juggles 20 important projects at a time, he has 6 computers, he barely sleeps 6 hours a night, and he's just go-go-go. He's a AAA-AAA-AAA personality. Ugh, makes me tired just thinking about him and his whirlwind.
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