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Post by hollygail on Jul 28, 2023 7:27:34 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:
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!
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Post by hollygail on Jul 28, 2023 7:59:44 GMT -5
Tomorrow is called Shabbat Nachamu, so called for the first words of the haftarah (selection from the Books of the Prophets). It's one of my favorites. It's always chanted on the first Shabbat after Tisha b'Av. Leading up to Tisha b'Av (the ninth of the month of Av) are three haftarot (plural) of rebuke; following Tisha b'Av are seven haftarot of consolation (which lead all the way up to the High Holy Days). This first one begins, "Comfort, comfort my people," Nachamu, nachamu ami, which also happen to fit the lullaby which I learned as beginning "Lullaby and good-night, with the stars shining bright..." (although I just looked up the lyrics and it turns out I've been mistaken all my life; here's what I found online at several sources: "lullaby and goodnight, with pink roses bedight...") And I get to chant it tomorrow morning.
Just yesterday was Tisha b'Av when we immersed deep in the realities of human suffering and the brokenness of our world. Having delved into the depths of human trauma and suffering on Tisha b'Av, now we are called to draw on what we learned there in order to propel us in teshuvah, repentance, re/turn, turning-toward-God. As Rabbi Alan Lew writes, spiritual practice doesn't remove what hurts in the world. It doesn't take away our suffering, whether personal or national, chronic illness or the fall of the Twin Towers or death which comes too soon. But spiritual practice can allow us to see what happens more clearly, and to respond to it with compassion and with love.
There's a book by a Unitarian minister, Kate Braestrop, who wrote a book called Here If You Need Me. In the book, she tells about her husband, a Maine State Trooper, who was killed in a car accident, leaving Kate widowed with four young children who ask her why their father died. Here's her response (according to that book).
"It was an accident. There are small accidents, like knocking over your milk at the dinner table. And there are large accidents, like the one your Dad was in. No one meant it to happen. It just happened. And his body was too badly damaged in the accident for his soul to stay in it any more, and so he died.
God does not spill milk. God did not bash the truck into your father's car. Nowhere in scripture does it say, 'God is car accident,' or 'God is death.' God is justice and kindness, mercy, and always — always — love. So if you want to know where God is in this or in anything, look for love."
According to Reverend Braestrup, God is in the loving hands which prepare a casserole and deliver it to your door when something unimaginable has happened; God is in the loving arms which hold you as you weep. The Velveteen Rabbi adds the following:
"God is in the friend who offers to hold a newborn so its exhausted mother can take a shower and get some sleep. God is in those who gather for shiva so the mourner can say kaddish in the presence of a minyan. God is in the friend who makes a pasta salad and brings it to the home of a woman whose husband has slipped a disc and can't get out of bed. God is in the parent who rocks a croupy child in a steamy bathroom in the middle of the night. We find God in our acts of love for one another.
When you listen to someone pour out their worries, you are God's ears, listening. When you place a hand on someone's shoulder blade, or offer an embrace, you are God's hands, soothing. When you make meatloaf for Take and Eat, your hands are God's hands, providing sustenance. And when you offer comfort, you are God's presence, comforting."
This is how the Velveteen Rabbi understands נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּי יֹאמַר אֱלֹהֵיכֶם — Nachamu, nachamu ami, yomar eloheichem. 'Y'all comfort — really comfort — My people, says Your God.' [the complete first verse of the haftarah] It's our job to comfort one another. And when we do, we bring God's presence into the world and into our lives."
Gut shabbes / Shabbat shalom, everyone.
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Post by gazelle18 on Jul 28, 2023 9:24:44 GMT -5
Lovely, lovely, lovely! Thank you,Holly!
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lee058
This space for rent
Posts: 23,299 
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Post by lee058 on Jul 28, 2023 12:10:42 GMT -5
Good afternoon everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE! hollygail, Thank you for your post today and a good week. Re today's topic: I agree; not much more else to add. The only thing I want to add for myself is that I am grateful that I got an appointment with the eye doctor this afternoon, even though it is brutally hot. As DS says, "We're sweet but we're not made of sugar, so we won't melt." He is so amazing. Have a peaceful rest of the day, Lee |
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Post by peachymom1 on Jul 28, 2023 17:35:30 GMT -5
This is beautiful, Holly. Thank you for such an inspiring end to a great week! I'm reading 3 aliyot tomorrow, and I will think of you when I hear the haftarah.
Everyone stay cool and hydrated this weekend. Shabbat shalom!
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