Jewish Musings Monday, July 24

[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:

Frieda
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy

And for those of you that stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to, but you are also welcome to chime in. Don’t be shy!

[hollygail]

The first six verses of Va-etchanan (Deut 6:23–29) tell us about Moses' remembering that he had begged God to allow him to enter the Land of Israel. After all, it was God who, way back at the burning bush, told Moses to go to Pharaoh to begin with; God had been telling Moses the "next steps" all along; the one Moses had asked what to do when Moses himself wasn't sure what to do; and here it's God who refused Moses' wish. Perhaps as consolation, God showed Moses the land from across the Jordan river...

Have you ever experienced wanting something really really badly but were unable to access it? What was it like to want something so much that you'd have been willing to do almost anything to attain it? How did you feel? How did you deal with it?

[gazelle18]

It has been many years since I have experienced a feeling of wanting something so much that I would do “almost anything” to attain it. I do remember wanting to reunite with a young man I’d been dating rather intensely in college. I remember manufacturing excuses to bump into him, and grasping for gossip about him and his current female conquest. I remember losing sleep, trying to come up with ways to “get him back.” Without going into a really long story, I will say that my choice of law schools was influenced by my recognition of my need to get away from him, physically. I ended up moving to NOLA for law school, and it was in NOLA where I met my DH, thank God! Had I not recognized that I was nearing derangement, I might have gone down a terribly self destructive path!

Not unlike Moses, I thought I had found the promised land with my former boyfriend. Unlike Moses, I was totally delusional.

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE! gazelle18, Thanks for the info yesterday; I will be doing the leads next week (assuming I can think of things!).

Re today's topic: What popped into my mind was something that happened many, many years ago, during my "travelling time." I was told that I had the opportunity of going to India to help with an article for National Geographic. I wanted to go so much!! I got prepared and told people about it, and was very, very excited. Unfortunately, it didn't work out and I didn't get to go. Besides my personal disappointment, I had to tell people about it, which was distressing and highly embarrassing, as I had been so positive that I was going. I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

Another horrendous experience was when I had my miscarriage, a few years after DS was born. I had just started telling people I was expecting another baby. That was sheer disappointment, but again, it just wasn't meant to be.

Have a peaceful day, Lee

[peachymom1]

I'm sure there have been plenty of times throughout my lifetime that I wanted something really badly, but I learned early on that many things just weren't possible to get. So I either found a substitute or got along without it. But I've learned that sometimes things are indeed possible if you're persistent or resourceful or patient enough, and some things aren't as wonderful as you thought they would be when you do get them.