Jewish Musings, Tuesday, 4/18/2017

[savtele]

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

[savtele]

Boker Tov All! Louise - I do hope your voice is much better by this Shabbat - even if not 100%. Can you take some sort of cough medicine before bedtime, keep you from coughing so you can get some rest?

Peachy - all the best to your friend coming home from hospital!

We all know this poem, I think:

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me,
And I shall spend my pension
on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals,
and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired,
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells,
And run my stick along the public railings,
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens,
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat,
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go,
Or only bread and pickle for a week,
And hoard pens and pencils and beer mats
and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry,
And pay our rent and not swear in the street,
And set a good example for the children.
We will have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me
are not too shocked and surprised,
When suddenly I am old
and start to wear purple!
-Jenny Joseph

Is any of this in your future (or even your present?) I won't wear much purple (not a color I enjoy), but I have an amazing red hat! I will say that I am trying to get to the "practice" stage - and it's not for shock value. (later this week, pickle sandwiches sound wonderful!)

Can you relate to this way of thinking?

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well. I called my doctor yesterday. He wants to see me today and possibly get an x-ray taken of my arm where the curtain rod fell on it. Personally, I don't think that anything is broken, but he is very careful and will probably have me do it.

Re the poem: That poem has always made me smile. I already wear purple although I don't own a red hat! Yes, I can relate to it, even though there are things listed that I wouldn't do (like eat a pickle sandwich, ick).

I'll be back later. Have a peaceful day, Lee

[hollygail]

Once upon a time, I decided "if you're gonna go gray, you might as well have some fun about it." I've been dyeing my hair purple ever since. And yes, I joined my local chapter of the Red Hat Society, so now I own a couple of red hats too. My chapter pretty much goes to lunch once a month (once in a while, someone makes an appointment for us to do something different, but whoever signs up to "host" that month gets to decide what we're going to do). I'm the only Jewish woman in my chapter, and I really wanted to take my chapter to lunch in a sukkah last October (and I think I signed up to "host" next October too), but couldn't find one large enough to seat 12 ladies AND that was available for lunch on any particular day of Sukkot... I hope to do better next October...

I have a friend who embodied the poem. For her 75th birthday party, I crocheted her a purple kippah; it was the first (purple) one she'd ever seen, and she absolutely LOVED it (and never wore another kippah). Alas, she recently moved to be nearer her daughter and grandchildren in northern California somewhere, so I may never see her again... but she was an inspiration to me (and to many other people, including a LOT of children!). Lovely lady.

Oh, yes! I wear a lot of purple, although not because of the poem... I just like it.

Must dress for shul. Today is the final day of Pesach and I am SSSOOOOO ready to have a slice of toast!

[gazelle18]

What I love about this poem is that it celebrates and anticipates that special time of life where a person has done her job, raised her kids, provided for her retirement, and done all the work/housework/carpools/etc., etc., she NEEDS to do and can now focus on doing whatever in the hell she WANTS to do. And the fact that at the end of the poem, she supposes that it would be ok to practice a little bit now, even before she reaches that state. And of course my favorite part of the poem is where she talks about being able to eat as many sausages as she wants!

Here are some things I do now, even though I "shouldn't":
1. I nap as long as I want to on Saturday afternoon. This sometimes means that I don't sleep as well that night, and of course anything I was "supposed" to do on Saturday gets put off until Sunday, but hey, it's shabbos, right?
2. I read trashy novels, that do absolutely nothing for me except allow me to escape.
3. Every once in a while, I drink one drink too many, simply because I am with people who are likewise a bit tipsy.
4. I have funny conversations with strangers, even though it embarrasses my kids
5. Sometimes in exercise class, when we are on our backs, instructed to do bicycle crunches, I just lay there. (I hate bicycle crunches.)

[louise]

I talk to strangers too! Purple is kind of neutral in my wardrobe - I like it and wear a lot of it. But to the point of the poem I care so much less what other people think I'm freer to do what I want. I was able to lead the torah service this morningwhich is to say I could sing well enough to get through it. I was glad to finally be able to do something! I'm feeling more confident that my voice will be back for next Shabbat - I'm sure I have mentioned that I'm reading the maftir and the haftarah at my mother's shul and she would have been so disappointed if I couldn't do it.

So I'm leaving for FLA early tomorrow morning and will be away for a week. I will check in as I can (my mom doesn't have wifi). Tonight I have to put away my Passover stuff (already packed up the synagogue stuff, by bread, pack, and like that.

My boss came in today and we had a heart to heart. And he cried. Anyway, my 6 month clock has been re-set to start May 1.

[hollygail]

I was at services this morning. There's an older gentleman (early 80s) with a voice like a 30-year-old cantor. Just a total pleasure to listen to his chanting Torah and/or haftarah... Anyway, the haftarah (Isaiah 10:32 – 12:6) has (12:3) this line:
Ush'avtem ma-yim b’sason mima'a-y’nei ha-y’shu'ah. Recognize it from the dance Mayim? I never knew where it came from; now I do!

[lee058]

Hi again everybody. This is a brief medical update. I saw my primary doctor, and he sent me for x-rays, which I got this afternoon. I should get the results tomorrow.

Have a peaceful evening, Lee

[happysavta]

I've had a very busy Monday and Tuesday. Monday, I had my 7 y/o for the day because he had no school. On Friday, I will have his twin brother and sister for the whole day.

Today, I went over to my DS#4's apartment about 11 am, rang the bell a couple of times, knocked couple of times, and finally let myself in. The place was a pig sty. Apparently his ILS worker hasn't been over in the past 2 weeks. I was there for almost 4 hours helping him clean up. My DS does not have a clue what garbage cans are for. His sink was overflowing with dirty dishes.

What makes me sad is that I found 2 empty pizza boxes, the wrappers from 5 (!!) Jack In the Box Ultimate Cheeseburgers that he bought at 12:30 am on Sunday. And lots of empty bottles of Sprite (not diet Sprite), receipts from Walmart for 3 boxes of chicken nuggets and 3 lbs of cheap baloney, bottles of ketchup, bags of chips, chocolate bars. He's at the highest weight he has ever been which is really worrisome. I have seen that TV show, "My 600 lb Life", and he'll eventually get there, along with all the co-morbidities. He surrendered his debit card today to me today.

[peachymom1]

Holly, I'm sure you know that line well already -- it's part of the havdalah service, though of course it's not the same tune as the dance. I love that dance - so much fun! But I didn't realize it came from today's haftarah. It jumped out at me today too. I don't know why it never did before!

Louise, I'm so glad you were able to lead the Torah service. I'll be thinking of you this Shabbat; I'm reading the maftir also, as well as the sixth and seventh aliyot. I think someone else is leading the morning service though. I can't remember if the ritual director asked me to do it or not, but I'm sure he'll call and remind me if I am. :+)

This morning I led the morning service and also read the fourth aliyah, then I was asked to lead the Ashrei as well. I didn't make any mistakes, and I even looked at the morning service ahead of time so I would go to the right Psalm for Tuesday. Whenever I lead the morning prayers, I take my DS26's siddur that we gave him when he was studying for his bar mitzvah; it has marks and arrows and a few notes about where to go and when, and he has a couple of post-it notes to mark the beginning of the service and the place where you skip to the daily Psalm. I don't need the markings and such, but I feel a connection to my son when I use his siddur, and he likes to tease me about using it, so I keep doing it. :+)

I've never heard that poem before, but I LOVE it! I already wear purple; it's one of my best colors. Especially lavender. I have a darker purple t-shirt with a turtle on it that I bought in Hawaii. I bought matching turtle earrings with purple stones in them, and when I got upstairs with them, DD and her girlfriend exclaimed over them so much that I went right back to the shop downstairs and bought them each a pair.

I have indeed found that as I grow older, I care less about social conventions, though I still believe in good manners and caring about other people's feelings. Today when I was sitting on the bimah, just before it was my turn to read Torah, I leaned over to put away the chumash I was using to follow along, and I had trouble getting it to fit into the holder because there were some schedules stuck in there too. The gentleman sitting in the next seat said, "You've gained weight; you're eating too much matzah." Honestly, I thought he was talking to the book! Because it didn't fit into the holder! LOL! It didn't strike me that he meant ME until I was standing at the Torah with the yad in my hand, ready to start, then I wanted to laugh out loud but just cracked a big grin instead. My reading was clear and strong, and I wasn't even a little nervous. All I could think was, well, yeah, he's right, I've gained weight, but I'm up here reading Torah and he's not, so who the heck is he? Just an ill-mannered clod, that's who. Pfft!