Jewish Musings, Friday/Shabbat October 20

[louise]

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 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!

[louise]

I'm glad I went to that rally last night. I went alone and I kept picturing the news report "75-year old woman shot...." and so on. It was nothing like that. There were I think a few thousand people and all there wantng the release if the histages. A visual that will stay with me is about the digital scenes on the buildings. Times Square is so well lit it literally never gets dark there at night anymore. And so many buildings have those digital lights (screens?) that can show ever changing scenes and designs. But I never see Israeli flags and pictures of hostages covering these buildings. There were 2 blocks filled with people and these incredible changing displays. Sen Chuck Schumer was among the speakers.

In our morning minyan and on shabbat we have added Acheinu, a prayer for people in distress and captivity. Here is the English:

Our brothers and sisters
the whole house of Israel,
who are in distress
and captivity
who wander over sea
and over land —

may God have mercy on them,
and bring them
from distress to comfort,
from darkness to light,
from slavery to redemption,
now, swiftly,
and soon.

And let us say: Amen.

For the Hebrew and an absolutely beautiful rendition of it by the senior cantor at Central Synagogue go here www.centralsynagogue.org/news/our-family-in-israel. I have been keeping that link available and play it most days.

Shabbat Shalom and thank you for coming along with me.

[hollygail]

Thank you, Louise, for an unforgettable week. I loved listening to the cantor from Central Synagogue. I plan to send the link to quite a few people I know.

And thank you to Lynne for turning me onto the NY Times' coverage. I've been at a few webinars recently that have recommended news outlets they trust; the NY Times was not mentioned by any of the featured speakers at any of the webinars I attended (and I have an online subscription to the NY Times). The ones recommended are the Times of Israel, 972, the Guardian, The Economist (!), and, believe it or not, Al Jazeera (I've been to the last one only once so far). While I was at the NY Times, there was a link to
"Israel-Hamas War: Live Updates
...
Here’s the latest on the war."
I clicked on "Here's the latest on the war" and scrolled and scrolled, reading almost all the blurbs, and clicking on more of the ones nearest the top (the most recently filed reports, mostly reading what's been posted within the last few hours).

I'm fairly numb.

I'm leading a Torah study tomorrow morning for a small congregation in Walla Walla, WA. The man who usually leads the online session on the third Saturday of the month recently brought his wife home from 10 weeks of hospitalization (I think there were only two hospitals where she'd been treated; the local one at first and then she was transferred to one farther away but well-equipped to care for everything she was going through). I often go to his study sessions and last month, I was unable to cover for him, but I volunteered some time between the end of September and the first few days of October to help out tomorrow, numerous days before Oct. 7. I won't back out, and have no idea what to do about balancing Noach with current events... I'm open to suggestions, if anyone is thinking more clearly than I am...

Shabbat shalom.

[peachymom1]

Thank you for that prayer, Louise, and thank you for a great week. I am looking forward to going to shul tomorrow, to be with the community and daven together. I'm not reading Torah until next week. There's a bat mitzvah tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to a happy occasion as well, even though I don't know the family.

I had a good WI this morning, and I did get up and go to the gym, so I'm feeling positive about my WLJ.

Everyone have a wonderful weekend. Shabbat shalom!

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE! Please pray for Israel.

Re today's topic: Thank you Louise. This has been a difficult week.

Have a peaceful day, Lee

[gazelle18]

Thanks for a great week, Louise. We need to talk about the hard things, and this is the definition of a hard thing. Thank you for the prayer. Good shabbos all.