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Post by louise on Sept 13, 2023 23:37:49 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:
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy
And for those of you who 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 louise on Sept 13, 2023 23:39:03 GMT -5
In some years in this season I take a look at This is Real and You Are Absolutely Unprepared, Rabbi Alan Lew’s book on transformation in the Days of Awe. I never read more than a chunk of it but remember always being moved by it. I was happy to see a reviewer in the Forward say “ I have never finished this book. I read four or five pages. I stop and ponder (ponder is somewhat of a pretentious word, so perhaps, really, I just space out) over the meaning of existence and God and human growth and obligation and fallibility…. One might argue that this book, if properly read, is never finished.”
Here are some quotes from the book:
“Spiritual practice won’t change what happens. Rather, it will help us to experience what happens not as evil, but simply as what happens. Spiritual practice will help us to understand that everything that happens, even the decree of death, flows from God.”
“The great journey of transformation begins with the acknowledgment that we need to make it. It is not something we are undertaking for amusement, nor even for the sake of convention; rather, it is a spiritual necessity.”
“Our suffering, the unresolved element of our lives, is also from God. It is the instrument by which we are carried back to God, not something to be defended against, but rather to be embraced.”
And he reminds us “righteousness, and Teshuvah will not change what happens to us; rather, they will change us.”
I’m just stirring the caldron!
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Post by hollygail on Sept 14, 2023 8:11:03 GMT -5
From Thursday's thread (which I just now got back to; sorry, all.) I wasn't familiar with the particular quote, but it truly belongs in a machzor. I will copy it into my own files. I love the reminders that God remembers what we forget and doesn't need to remember what we remember. When I started reading it, I thought of people (and perhaps especially women) who tend to remember all the things we've done wrong, like all that ice cream we had the other day when we'd planned only to taste it or whatever "rules" we've put on ourselves. I tend to remember all the good times I've had with late husbands and forget any of the arguments and/or fights that are inevitable in a marriage or any long-term relationship, but I know too many women who remember only the terrible times about divorced husbands and/or x-boyfriends. However, Reb Shmelke of Nikolsberg (of whom I'd never heard) takes the concept of remembering and forgetting so much deeper! I am likely to circulate the quote among quite a few of my friends here in San Diego.
And I'm loving today's too! So many people from so many different groups in my life quote from "This is Real and You Are Absolutely Unprepared"! My own rabbi brought it out at HHD services the year it was published, and just a couple of weeks ago at a Shabbat morning service at the small chavurah I attend on as many Shabbat mornings as I can (and it meets only about once a month or two on Shabbat mornnings) had it in her lap throughout the kiddush potluck lunch (and she was sitting next to me). One of these days, I'll have to treat myself to owning my own copy...
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Post by gazelle18 on Sept 14, 2023 9:03:46 GMT -5
I love the concept of a book that no one ever finishes, because there is so much to ponder along the way. If only we all lived our lives this way at all times. When you see something that causes (or SHOULD cause) you to ponder it, it is a good thing to heed that impulse. (This is the opposite of barreling through life in a straight line, refusing to detour, even when the Divine implores you to slow down and notice, think, and perhaps, transform.)
I’m sorry to admit that I haven’t even begun this book, although I have heard of it many times. I think that Louise’s post is a sign that I should slow down, get a copy, and see what I can see. (Although I don’t promise to finish it!)
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Post by peachymom1 on Sept 14, 2023 18:44:34 GMT -5
I too have never read this book, though I've heard of it. You all have inspired me to buy myself a copy. It sounds like something I would especially enjoy during the HHD season. I'm not sure I can embrace suffering - that is definitely cause to ponder all by itself!
I was released from jury duty today, got home in time for lunch, then treated myself to a mani-pedi. I need a nap!
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Post by happysavta on Sept 14, 2023 22:48:36 GMT -5
Shalom, chaverot,
Well, guess what? I'm scheduled to have breast surgery on Sept. 25th - Yom Kippur. So, finally, for once, yes, I'm going to be fasting this year!
Sept. 25th is also my 54th wedding anniversary. Hubby had better have a slice of Costco cheesecake for me at Break Fast. Flowers are nice, but cheesecake tastes better! I can't believe I've been married for so long. I think I could be nominated for sainthood - oops, wrong religion.
I'm more than ready to start a new year. I'm done with collecting cancers, that's for sure!
Best wishes to everyone for a happy and healthy New Year. Shana Tova!
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