Jewish musings , Fri-Sat., Oct 27-28

[gazelle18]

Hi everyone, 
My laptop is in use by DH, so I’m doing this on my phone. Sorry about the lack of our regular opening paragraph. 
will be back in a bit to post. 

[gazelle18]

I’m reading that the incidents of outward acts of anti-semitism, already high before Oct. 7, have risen sharply since the war began. On the other hand, the other day, a Muslim patient of DH specifically called him to ask how he was doing, and to express sadness and care . It was truly lovely. Have you talked to any of your non Jewish friends or acquaintances about the war?

I hope each of you has a restful and restorative shabbos.

[lee058]

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

Re today's topic: I am sickened at the way that anti-Jewish speech and acts have increased recently. I haven't talked with anyone who isn't Jewish about this though.

Thanks for a good week, gazelle18, I appreciate your topics.

Have a peaceful day, Lee

[peachymom1]

Thank you for a good week, Lynne.

I've only talked to one non-Jewish friend about the war, and she is like-minded, so that helps. She feels that if people don't know what they're talking about, they should shut up and listen. I concur wholeheartedly.

I'm so disgusted by the state of the world that it's hard to find anything optimistic about, but I'm trying. I'm reading Torah tomorrow (four aliyot), and it helps to focus on doing a good job with that.

Everyone have a great wwekend. Shabbat shalom!

[louise]

Non-Jewish folks in my office are sympathetic but I haven't had any deel conversations.

Have you see the picture of a long shabbat table set up in Tel Aviv with a setting for each hostage? I just read that something similar has been set up in Times Square.
My rabbi just advised us we are participating in a nation wide initiative to set aside a chair in our sanctuary for a hostage held in Gaza. We are going to use one of the chairs on the bima. Rabbi is putting a siddur, a chumash and a tallit on the chair along with a sign saying the seat is reserve. This part of our participation in "solidarity shabbat" We also have a Lunch-and-learn tomorrow on "What guidance can Jewish texts give us at this time of crisis in Israel and Gaza?" The plan is to study traditional texts on issues including redeeming captives, ethics of war, and living in a precarious world.

Shabbat shalom

[peachymom1]

Louise, I have seen that picture of the Shabbat table in Tel Aviv. My shul has a chair on the bima with a siddur, chumash and talit on it too. We have a couple of baby namings tomorrow; hopefully that will cheer me up a bit too.