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Post by gazelle18 on Oct 22, 2023 22:37:03 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 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 gazelle18 on Oct 22, 2023 22:56:03 GMT -5
I read an essay in The NY Times today by Dara Horn, a respected Jewish author, entitled “Why Jews Cannot Stop Shaking Now.” It talks about centuries of pogroms and public lynchings of Jews, and explains why so many Jews - even those who live far from Israel and may have no close family or friends there - are so emotionally traumatized in the wake of Oct. 7. The essay does not try to say that Israel has a right -or doesn’t have a right - to inflict revenge. It doesn’t try to excuse or justify any actions taken by the Israeli government. It merely attempts to explain the emotional trauma of Jews worldwide at this moment. It helped me feel less alone, and to recognize that my feelings are shared by other Jews. If you can, I hope you read it.
How have your feelings changed over the past couple of weeks? Have you moved from shock to denial, or from denial to anger? As you have read more, have your views towards what Israel should do on response to the Oct. 7 attacks changed, and if so, how?
On a much lighter note, Louise, how did the ketubah signing go?
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Post by hollygail on Oct 23, 2023 7:12:38 GMT -5
Here's a link to the referenced article:
www.nytimes.com/2023/10/22/opinion/hamas-israel-jews-massacre.html
And I also emailed it to you.
Thank you, Lynne, for telling me about it.
I have been feeling numb and am only now beginning to emerge from that terrible feeling of being unable to engage my brain. Ms. Horn wrote without having to resort to appealing to people's emotions, giving straight historical factual evidence to support her thesis. It may be the first thing I've read that has given me any real reason to return to "normal" or some facsimile of normal.
One caution: don't read the comments. My impression was that every other one was positive, with the in between ones at the least not positive and at the worst throwing in our faces the ugly side of looking at things. I had to stop reading after only a brief time (and if I remember correctly, all of the ones I read were stamped "7h" (meaning they were received 7 hours prior to the time I was reading them).
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lee058
This space for rent
Posts: 23,286 
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Post by lee058 on Oct 23, 2023 8:13:25 GMT -5
Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE! Please pray for Israel.
Re today's topic: I think my feelings have changed from shock to anger. I am also very worried (more than usual) about Jews around the world, including even in the USA. I hate to say this, but I think we are living in dangerous times, and I am afraid that they will be getting worse. I have been following the news more closely, and there is so much negativity that it scares me, but I feel like I have to read it. I can't bear watching it on TV though.
Have a peaceful day, Lee
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Post by louise on Oct 23, 2023 22:27:34 GMT -5
I apologize that I didn't get to read the article yet. It looks good and I will. Had a zoom call today with a former president and another board member that now live n Israel about how they are doing and how they feel. Both of the couple have been very active in protesting about the judicial system all year.
Was so moved to hear it described how they were torn up because even though they were not happy with their government they trusted it in so far as their security, they believed in the superiority of their military and they believed in the excellence of their intelligence. Absoultey shocked to find all this not true. They also talked about how they (and their communities) have been actively engaged in feeding Israeli evacuees and how they feel they can't trust all the rest (govt, military, etc) but they trust themselves to take of their people. Ironically the organization that was so efficient in organizing the protests all year are now busying themselves with orgnizing getting food to people.
The wedding was lovely and my signing was right on, fit easily, no mistakes. The other signee wrote iin big block letters and ran way over. I wore the pretty matching sweater I had for the ceremony and looked very nice although shivering. We sat outside (on the river) facing the Manhattan skyline and the sun set as the ceremony progressed. Beautiful. Special note to those on yesterday's call about red at weddings - remember Pretty Woman? Someone was wearing a red gown just like that (without the diamond and ruby necklace). I wore little silver heels which I lasted about 20 minutes in. I had brought a pair of black sequined clogs (yes, that's what I said) with me and switched to them as soon as I got uncomfortable - exellent move!
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Post by peachymom1 on Oct 23, 2023 22:31:05 GMT -5
Sorry I didn't get here sooner. We had some drama at work, then I got distracted.
My emotions have swung back and forth like a hammock on steroids. It's exhausting and frustrating, but of course nothing like those who are right in the middle of this awfulness. I hate the feeling of helplessness. I can make small contributions to the emergency Israel fund through my shul, and I can pray, but the actions of the world are mostly out of my hands. So I try to not give up hope.
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