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Post by louise on Dec 24, 2023 22:35:32 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:
Frieda (hopefully)?
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 louise on Dec 24, 2023 22:41:27 GMT -5
Kind of an odd day -a major big deal holiday for so many people. Just a day off to me. My office is closed all week - I will still keep up with my email and whatever projects need attention. I need to get some groceries so it will be a good day to go to the kosher market. Sponsoring kiddush next shabbat in memory of my mother - trying to figure out a menu.
I thought we could talk a minute about music and how it impacts us – I was thinking particualry as calming or spiritual but I guess joyful works as well. In our parshah this past shabbat we concluded several weeks of the Joseph story. As you know, Jacob thinks Joseph has been dead for many years. The brothers now must go back to Egypt, tell Jacob the truth, and bring him back to Egypt with them. They fear Jacob will not believe them. They fear also that the news will be too much of a shock for him. The midrash is that they ask his granddaughter (Asher’s daughter Serach) to sing the news to him. She played the harp and sang the words several times and Jacob was able to take it in.
On Tisha b’Av we don’t sing so the liturgy is spoken – how I miss the tunes! I am a big believer that even when you don’t understand the words the melodies speak to us. I remember going to the World’s Fair when I was young and being mesmerized by the Gregorian chant that was playing in the Vatican Pavilion as we went past Michelangelo’s Pieta on a moving walkway. I have remained a sucker for that sound.
Do you have a story about how music can impact your mood?
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Post by hollygail on Dec 25, 2023 9:37:16 GMT -5
Only one story?
...
To this day, I cannot chant the full Eil Malei Rachamim (the prayer one says for the departed, "God full of compassion,") recited at funeral services, on visiting the graves of relatives (especially during the month of Elul), and on the yahrzeit of a close relative. The melody says more to me than the words do. I start to cry approximately halfway through. If I'm the person at weekday morning services who can at least read it, I always tell the mourner in advance that I usually cry and apologize to him/her/them in advance (so far, everyone I've said it to has assured me it's okay). One time, the mourner even put her arm around me; I felt terrible: she was the one marking the first yahrzeit for her mother yet I was the one having difficulty getting through it without crying...
There are other times in my life when music has had a profound effect on me, but reciting Eil Malei is the most recent.
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lee058
This space for rent
Posts: 23,285 
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Post by lee058 on Dec 25, 2023 10:15:33 GMT -5
Good morning everybody! Hope you are all well and SAFE! Please pray for Israel.
I agree; it is kind of weird feeling that my whole block and lots of my invisible friends are celebrating their holiday with lights, wreaths, trees and presents, while my family is having a quiet day relaxing.
Re today's topic: Music is important to me, too. I think that the most prevalent use of it now is for DS and me to sing along with the TV music stations, which we do every day. DH likes background music, but he doesn't sing along with it.
When I was younger, I used to sing in groups and I loved it. This meant a lot to me. When I was in HS, our chorale (about 50 people) got invited to a music festival in England. The whole town helped with fundraising so that we could go. We had a wonderful time!!
Have a peaceful day, Lee
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Post by peachymom1 on Dec 25, 2023 16:46:56 GMT -5
Ah, music, a gift from God! Music affects me in many ways. Sometimes it makes me want to dance. Sometimes it puts a lump in my throat. Sometimes it cheers me up when I'm down in the dumps, and sometimes it's just fun.
I totally get you, Holly, about El Malei Rachamim. It is moving and profound. HaTikvah fills me with pride and moves me in a way I can't explain, both at the same time. I always sing it as loud as I can.
Years ago, when I was in the adult choir at my shul, the choir director wrote new melodies for the Torah service and the Hallel, and I loved them (still do). In addition to Jewish music, though, everyday music makes me feel lots of things too. I could not live in a world without music.
I'm off to study my Torah readings for this Shabbat -- BBL!
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