Jewish Musings, Monday,January 29

[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:
Frieda (hopefully)?
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy

And for those of you who 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 came across a site called Ritual Well and an article by Rabbi Irwin Keller called Prayers Before and After Reading the News. Fear ame up in some of yesterday's posts so I thought this might be interesting. I think all of us would prefer to take a break from the news from time to time, things being as they are, but we also want to know wha is goi ng on. I don’t know that I would ever pray before and after reading the news, but here’s his premise:

Before Reading the News
Elohai neshamahSoul shenatata bi tehorah hi.
My God, the soul you have placed in me is pure and vulnerable. I am afraid that looking at today’s news will be painful. Encircle me in a robe of light so that I can witness the wounds of the world without being wounded myself. Let me learn what I need to know in order to be of my greatest use, without being overwhelmed by despair. I feel your protective light now as I open myself to the world’s suffering and the world’s joys.

After Reading the News
Ribbono shel Olam, I am Yours, and all that is in this world is Yours. Today I have read stories and seen images, but my knowledge is incomplete. I don’t know how it all connects. But I know I am connected to everyone; I take joy in their joy; I suffer with their suffering. If there is no role for me to play today then let my learning leave me wiser and better prepared. If there is a role for me to play, let clarity rise up in me to see it, even if that role is a humble one. Uma’aseh yadeynu konenehu. Lift up the work of my hands, in anything they might do for peace, for justice, for the wholeness of our planet, or for the betterment of my community. Just as you turned the curse of Balaam into a blessing, so may all my actions accrue to the good.

Anything there for you?

[peachymom1]

These are fantastic - I'm going to print them out and post them on the bulletin board by my desk. Thank you so much for sharing these.

[hollygail]

What Peachy said.

And thank you.

[gazelle18]

This is good. I especially like the prayer before reading the news.

I often feel helpless reading the news these days. I often wish I could just escape into a hole of ignorant bliss. And of course that can sometimes be a short term solution. But we owe it to ourselves, our loved ones, our community, and the world to at the very least stay informed and vigilant.

I have lately put myself on a news “diet.” I allow myself to read the news, in whatever depth I wish, in the morning. Ithen I stop reading the news until the next day. I make exceptions of course if something monumental happens during the day. I have quit watching cable news. It’s too urgent and sensational. I read The Forward, a couple of newspapers online, and often an in-depth article I see on my Apple News feed. Then I really try to put it away for 24 hours. This works, sort of, but I wish it worked better!

[peachymom1]

Lynne, what a great idea, I think I will adopt your diet. It's too easy to keep checking the news "just to see," and it's depressing and exhausting too. Some time ago, I did cut down on my news influx, but it's gradually crept up again. Thanks for the reminder. I think it will be a calming factor for me.

[gazelle18]

The other thing I’ve done is turn “push notices” off . I used to get notified all day long of breaking news. Turning off that function was a good idea for me

[lee058]

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

Re today's topic: Thanks for the prayers and suggestions. Now, I am a news junkie, and getting upset goes along with that. However, what I have started doing is skipping articles that I feel would be too much for me to handle, after reading the headline and first paragraph. This makes my life easier.

Have a peaceful rest of the day, Lee

[hollygail]

I have an online subscription to a few things and here's what I look at (although not every single day, not by a long shot!):

An email from the NY Times every morning; it's a briefing of the day's news (not the whole newspaper, although a very dear friend bought me a subscription to the whole NY Times so I can access the entire paper any time I want)
1440 (which also has brief notes about the day's news with links to articles, many from other outlets like newspapers and magazines)
The Forward (which I love, but haven't been reading on a daily basis either)
For Israel / Middle East news I go online to the Time of the Israel (and once in a while also the Guardian and one other whose name just flew right out of my head...)

I do not watch any TV news shows, whether "commercial" TV or satellite (cable-type) stations.

In the car (for very short spurts of time) I tune in PBS although I frequently turn it off when it attempts to report anything in the Middle East (I got tired of yelling at the dashboard that it's not "militant Palestinians;" it's "the Hamas terrorists," etc...)