Jewish Musings F/Sh 9/30-10/1

[hollygail]

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

[hollygail]

Nitzavim, Deuteronomy 29:9 – 30:20

Seventh aliyah

15 See, I set before you this day life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16 For I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His laws, and His rules, that you may thrive and increase, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land that you are about to enter and possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you give no heed, and are lured into the worship and service of other gods, 18 I declare to you this day that you shall certainly perish; you shall not long endure on the soil that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life — if you and your offspring would live — 20 by loving the Lord your God, heeding His commands, and holding fast to Him. For thereby you shall have life and shall long endure upon the soil that the Lord swore to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them.
- - -
See why Nitzavim is one of my favorite portions of the week? Just look at this one. God offers us choices and tells us it's up to us what we're gonna choose.

So what do you choose? Tuesday on my way home from the hospital, I chose to go to Costco to get a chocolate frozen yogurt; I asked the cashier to put the one serving (12 oz!!!) into two cups with lids. I got home and put one into the freezer, and put some raw almonds on the other one, plopped myself in front of the TV and ate my chocolate. It worked for me. Wednesday, DH hadn't seen the one I left for him, so I ate it. Those were choices I freely made. I'm giving myself leeway in the aftermath of my friend's death. My monthly weigh in is next week...

A few weeks ago, we read Re'eh which begins, "See, this day I set before you blessing and curse" which is almost word for word the same as the first verse of the 7th aliyah in Nitzavim. And I believe the climax of what started in Re'eh culminates near the end of Nitzavim with, "I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life..."

I'm choosing life. I'm allowing myself chocolate to help me cope with my friend's death; no guilt about eating the chocolate. None whatever. And I find that I'm not overdoing it, strangely enough. I feel really good about you.

How about you? How do you make your choices?

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Thanks Holly for a thought-provoking week. I'm not sure what I'm going to say next week to guide us in our discussions, but I feel inspired by your choices.

Now, how do I make my choices? Good question. Sometimes I am a puzzle to myself, while other times I see a clear path in front of me in making decisions. Life is full of choices, so I have lots of experiences in bewilderment! However, I do the best I can, and generally things work out pretty well.

I try to look at how I feel and what I think about events, plus how what I do will affect others. I try to take a peaceful path, but one in which I am "doing the right thing." This helps me feel comfortable with myself.

I'll write more later. Have a peaceful day, Lee

[savtele]

Boker Tov All! It sounds so simple when you see it on the scroll, the page or the screen: Choose Life! Then there are the days when my brain doesn't seem to be functioning correctly.....a stressful day, with very little time to make good options available - and suddenly I am making one bad choice after another. Holly - I love your yogurt choice! I love that you recognized (preemptively) that a quick stop at Costco would be just the ticket!

One thing that truly does help me make good choices, is not watching for bad choices. We do watch TV, but I DVR everything & no longer watch most of the ads. Even "live" shows - if you start watching at about 20 minutes in, you can skip ALL ads - if I don't see Magnum bars & Papa Murphy's pizzas, I am less likely to suddenly "need" something to eat - or if I do, a serving of popcorn or handful of almonds or peanuts is fine!

Holly - I've enjoyed our discussion this week!

Shabbat Shalom!

[peachymom1]

Holly, thank you for a wonderful week. I will be chanting these verses tomorrow and will be thinking of you.

The best part about this section for me is that God wants us to choose life. The text doesn't say to choose life if you feel like it, or if it's convenient or easy, and it also doesn't say that everything is just topsy-turvy and it doesn't make any difference what you choose. What we choose to do (or refrain from doing) matters. This has been a very important life lesson for me. I can't hide in a hole of indifference and say nobody notices what I say or do, because you never know when someone is influenced or affected by something you say or do. We all have the potential to not only choose life for ourselves, but to help others choose life.

I feel especially good and happy about reading Torah tomorrow. Thanks again, Holly!

Shabbat shalom!

[louise]

Well sometimes I feel I didn't make a choice - "things happened". I know that is usually not the case because at the very least I most likely set the stage for things to happen in that way. So it's largely about consciousness.

I will try to stop in on Sunday but will be pretty busy at the synagogue - after that I won't be online until maybe Tuesday late afternoon. If I don't see you before Shana Tova to all of you. I wish you all the very best (including health and conscious choices).

[hollygail]

Yes, I too want to wish all of us and our loved ones too a shanah tovah um'tukah! May we all be written and sealed in the Book of Life for a good and sweet year.