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Post by louise on Mar 28, 2017 23:47:07 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 louise on Mar 28, 2017 23:50:58 GMT -5
Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheynu, Adonai echad.
Hear, O Israel, Adonai is our God, Adonai is One
In my “real life” women’s group we have been studying the blessings leading up to the Shema for several months and finally actually reached the prayer itself. As some of you may know the last letter of the first and last words are written larger in the torah than the other letters. These are “ayin” and “dalet” respectively. We learned that this could be because the “ayin” might otherwise be confused with “aleph”, both of which sound the same to our ears (i.e. silent) but the meaning would change radically from the strong “Hear” to “maybe” and because the ”dalet” could otherwise be confused with “resh”, which looks very similar, but the meaning would be changed as radically from “one” to “other”. This could lead to something like “Maybe, Israel, Adonai our God is another deity.” YIKES! We also studied that the two enlarged letters form the word “ed”, which means “witness”, since the Shema is a testimony to the one true God. Or as in Isaiah 43:10 You are My witnesses, says Adonai, And My servant whom I have chosen; That you may know and believe Me, and understand That I am He; Before Me there was no God formed, Neither shall any be after Me.
About that “ayin” – this is also the word for “eye”. So while we are saying “Hear” that last letter is perhaps also inviting us to “see”.
So why do I share these statements of faith? Why do we bear witness to God’s Oneness? I am feeling pretty fragmented and am floundering with my food. I’m looking for ways to collect myself, to focus my attention. As when we say the first line of the Shema with our eyes covered so we are not distracted. To paraphrase Angelika, I hope this is not too heavenly minded to be any earthly good!
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lee058
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Post by lee058 on Mar 29, 2017 8:39:04 GMT -5
Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well. My shoulder still hurts, but I am going to start cutting down on the pain meds at my doctor's recommendation. He said it would be better for me to taper off them gradually, so I will be doing that this week. I haven't been taking very much or anything particularly strong, so it shouldn't be difficult, especially since I am going to do it over several days.
Re today's topic: I found it interesting that "hear" and "see" are so close in writing. Perhaps it is because people have different ways of processing information, although the understanding of it can be the same.
Reminding ourselves of God's oneness is definitely a good way to feel more centered!
I'll be back later. Have a peaceful day, Lee
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Post by savtele on Mar 29, 2017 9:17:05 GMT -5
Boker Tov All! Good point, Lee - some of us are visual learners, others can follow oral instructions quite nicely. For most of us, I would think, the 2 mesh in some way - we comprehend best when we see & hear together. This, from our God, Whom we cannot see.
This all seems very apropos to me coming on the week when I am going to (hopefully) improve my eyesight on the one eye rather drastically (if all goes well). I've noticed over the past winter, many knitting or crocheting projects are simply not possible, because I can't see what I'm doing.
Today will be my only AM at the pool this week - I need to go get ready. & next week I will not be getting into the chlorinated water at all.
Have a good day, ladies. I'll "see" you after work!
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Post by hollygail on Mar 29, 2017 11:37:13 GMT -5
At minyan this morning, while chanting the sh'ma with the congregation, I thought about today's topic, Louise. I've thought about the sh'ma before, and I teach both of the things you pointed out about the enlarged ayin and daled, although not the connection between the name of the letter and what the name means; thank you for bringing that up. And Angelika, your comment <<we comprehend best when we see & hear together. This, from our God, Whom we cannot see>> brought up for me "or physically hear." Thank you too for that.
I also (sometimes) bring up in class the opening line of parashat Re'eh (also from Deuteronomy, Deut 11:26 – 16:17) in this regard: If Sh'ma (from parashat Va-etchanan, Deut 3:23 – 7:11, specifically Deut 6:4
) is our "central teaching" (of sorts), what if you're deaf? And if you're blind, how do you "re'eh anochi notein lifneichem ha-yom b'rachah uk'lala..." ("See, this day I set before you blessing and curse...")? (And depending on the maturity level of my students, I get blank stares all the way to "it's metaphorical...")
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Post by happysavta on Mar 29, 2017 15:08:29 GMT -5
Hi, everyone. My computer wouldn't open this morning. So irritating. I'm going to run pick up DGD for Hebrew school. We had a heavy rain and a tornado warning this morning. Looks like it's clearing now. Whew!
After hearing the story of the creation, my 4 y/o DGD asked "If G-d created all the animals, who created G-d?" Her mom answered, "No-one", but she wasn't satisfied with that answer. It didn't make sense to her. Next they are going to ask the Rabbi at their shul. DGD has been tested for the gifted program next year when she goes to kindergarten. Those poor teachers!
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lee058
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Posts: 23,289
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Post by lee058 on Mar 29, 2017 17:18:37 GMT -5
Hi again everybody. It turned out to be a beautiful day --- lots of sunshine, blue skies, and warm. Much better than thunderstorms, which were a possibility.
I have five hours (!!) of free time tomorrow, and am trying to figure out what to do. Any ideas? I may just spend the whole time reading, using the computer, and going out for lunch. Or maybe something else. I'm excited about this as I can't remember when I had this much time to do whatever I wanted.
Have a peaceful night, Lee
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Post by gazelle18 on Mar 29, 2017 17:27:09 GMT -5
Everyone has made profound statements today. Truly. I'm amazed at how smart we all are.
Did i say "we"? I'm running around today like the proverbial chicken with my head cut off, getting ready for Passover Seder . (I have an out of town business type trip next week, and then almost no time to do last minute prep. I have 24 people coming over!)
When my body is this busy, sometimes my mind goes on vacation. I am sad to say that I cannot think of one profound thing to say today. Ugh
On the other hand, I am, like Frieda, in a good place with my eating right now. So that's good.
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