Jewish Musings, Monday 11/14

[lee058]

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:

Angelika
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. It's cold here in VA this morning; DS and I had to wear our warm jackets and there was frost on my car. No problems though, and the full moon was spectacular in the early morning sky. Look for it tonight too.

I've been thinking about what was said yesterday, and among all the wise comments in the thread were many thoughts about fear. How can we tell what is in our minds and possibly amplified, and what is objectively real? And how will this affect how we act now and in the future, considering probable changes in the USA? Personally, I detest a great deal of what Trump and his allies believe in and want to implement, and yes, I am afraid that these changes would hurt a lot of people. Yet I think the nation will keep going, and that eventually the pendulum will swing back towards ideas and actions that are inclusive of all Americans.

As for fear, I do not want my life to be consumed by it. I am planning on focusing on what I personally can do to help this country and its individuals and groups work together. I do not want to see us permanently separated by hate and mistrust.

Granted, I am still somewhat in a state of shock that the Republicans --- especially Trump --- will be ruling starting in January. That does scare as well as anger me.

Somebody said, don't agonize, organize. Those words are ones that can be lived by.

I'll be back later. Have a peaceful day, Lee

[savtele]

Boker Tov, Lee & ATF! No moon to be seen here - buckets of rain!

Frieda - a question you asked stuck with me: What does it mean to be an American? I had mentioned that, as Americans, protesting is what we DO. We have the freedom of lawful assembly. Which begs the question- when it morphs into riots, are we in danger of losing that freedom? If so, do we have anyone but ourselves to blame? With great freedom comes great responsibility - freedoms must be safeguarded. In this last election, depending on which news outlet you are listening to, between 43 - 46% of eligible, registered voters did not bother to vote. What does that tell us?

To my way of thinking, the USA was founded by outcasts, prisoners, malcontents & disenfranchised people from all over Europe, who wanted a place where "they" could be free. They themselves, not necessarily the next boatload, from another country. And of course, eventually, it all worked itself out.

I'm spending more time with mom today. We are sending out party invitations for her birthday. (she and her friends are of an age where you can't do that on FB or Instagram, LOL!) She's getting into it now (she had told me she didn't want a party!), even suggested the groups she volunteers with to be included.

Have a good day ladies - I'll probably be gone most of the day.

[hollygail]

Yiddish version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah: tinyurl.com/jgxb3wa
some info on the safety pins concept: www.good.is/articles/safety-pin-america-trump-brexit

I'll be back after minyan.

[hollygail]

So much going on...

I started coming down with something (have decided it's a cold) Tuesday. Taught Tuesday afternoon 4:30 to 6. I think I told you my students were all involved in the election returns. So of course my lesson plan for yesterday was to give them a safe space to talk about their feelings. It worked. They took all three hours to unload. Most of them were pretty careful about "owning" their own feelings; there was almost zero blaming each other or attacking each other, and I think that's a real accomplishment for 6th and 7th graders.

I read Torah last week Monday and Thursday (actually, only the first aliyah) as practice for Saturday, when I was reading for one of my students who became bat mitzvah then. Thursday I had almost zero voice, and left minyan as soon as the Torah was returned to the ark. I've been vegging a lot. (Yes, I did teach Sunday morning... I may be paying for it now though.)

I'm drinking 64 ounces of herbal tea each day (which I normally do), and sucking on lozenges that DH swears by. My eyes are at half-mast...

I wanted to respond to the "what does it mean to be an American" question that came up yesterday, and even have some of my response in my head, but I'm just too pooped to stay here at the computer right now... I'll be back when I can.

Carry on.

[peachymom1]

Happy Monday everyone!

I treated myself to lunch out today, and on the way back, I turned on the news and heard a little of President Obama. One of the things said about Donald Trump and the presidency was that reality has a way of interjecting itself into life, or something like that. "This office has a tendency to wake you up," was the other thing that stuck in my head. I think he's right; Trump is going to be blindsided come January and will have to scramble to figure out what to do. I hope this will serve as a catalyst for acquiring some humility. One can hope.

[louise]

From my rabbi's blog last week:

Our sages said about those who are full of anger: if they are wise, their wisdom departs from them. If they are prophets, their prophecy departs from them.

For those who find the outcome of the election to be troubling, now is a time to be gentle with each other, as nerves are frayed and tension is high. Many of us (myself included) may need reminders over the next few days to walk and drive more slowly and carefully, to react more slowly, and to avoid taking out stress and anger on loved ones and random people. Crises often bring out our best impulses but sometimes (in the short term especially) our worst tendencies. This may be why Maimonides cautions so strongly against expressions of anger even for causes we regard as righteous (and, of course, to the angry person, anger is always righteous): anger corrodes and corrupts our souls and causes our wisdom to dissipate.

This really struck home for me because on that first morning my emotions were all over the place and, as I mentioned here, I did yell at someone that I normally would probably have shown more patience for.

[louise]

In that same blog he also quoted Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (19th c. Ukraine) - a line that some of you may know in song:

כל העולם כולו גשר צר מאד והעיקר לא לפחד כלל

"The whole world is a very narrow bridge; the important thing is not to fear at all.

In these famous words, it is hard for me to believe that Rebbe Nahman of Breslov was really suggesting that people should never fear. Fear is an essential emotion -- and fear plays a vital role in keeping us safe. Those who have a realistic sense of fear are much safer than those who are never afraid. My sense is that Rebbe Nahman was identifying that fear is a distorting emotion. In fact, (in my opinion) irrational fear of the other is exactly what led so many to make the electoral choice they made. To me, this quotation by Rebbe Nahman is the Jewish version of the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Whatever happens, we do better when trying as hard as possible to lead with other emotions rather than fear.


We must be vigilant, especially in identifying the warning signs of the pausing or dismantling of the government’s system of checks and balances on presidential power. We must be activists on behalf of groups that are an important part of the American mosaic that have been threatened by the President-Elect when he was a candidate. But we should remember that the United States has been through a lot of difficult times in its long history, and the Jewish people has been through even more difficult times in its much much longer history. The current moment calls for vigilance and activism -- as every moment does. The current moment does not call for despair -- as no moment does."

I used to live in Florida where we have "causeways" - roads that go over land and also partly over water (as a bridge or built up land). Driving down to the Keys the strip of land is pretty narrow on either side of the road, with the ocean on both sides. My mother was doing the driving on the way down and was pretty freaked out (I drove on the way back). This to me is a good image of that narrow bridge - we have to trust it is wide enough to cross on.

[happysavta]

I treated myself to a movie today in Houston while the girls are in school and the parents are at work I saw "Arrival" and enjoyed it. I like a good Sci-Fi once in a while. The underlying message of the movie is that our use of language directs our actions.


In the movie, we are unable to communicate with the aliens and call on a professor of linguistics to try to figure out their language. 12 nations are each doing the same thing and are unable to co-operate with each other to understand the language and intent of the aliens. Some good lessons in that movie for modern day politics too about how important it is to talk to each other.

[lee058]

Hi again everybody, and thanks for your thoughtful responses. I think that the point that a lot of us are making is that it is important to use our brains as well as our hearts; our thoughts as well as our feelings. I think that we will get through the changes that are going to come, and who knows? Hopefully there will be good things that come out of being pressured to change.

I wish I could go on the Million Women March, but I don't think that my health would allow it. I'll be there in spirit though.

Thanks for the movie review of "Arrival." I wasn't sure if I wanted to see it but now I do.

Have a peaceful night, Lee