Writing the Way Forward:

Wherein we discuss what this site will look like in the near future.


MP3 File

Upcoming Changes: Local and National

Wherein we discuss elections, transitions and second chances.


MP3 File

Bawling....

Okay, I'm not big on edicts, pronouncements, blanket condemnations and executive orders from the pulpit. But my dear friend Mr. Lawver is never again allowed to post about Jim Henson's funeral. I've just spent the past hour watching clips and bawling my eyes out.

Would we all someday get a tribute like this one when we go. Would we all someday live a life to be celebrated in this way.

At the End of Yom Kippur...

Wherein we discuss the longest and hardest day of my year.


MP3 File

Thoughts on the day before Yom Kippur:

Wherein we discuss not eating, attonement, Tori Amos and fear.


MP3 File

Macabees, Beeyatches!

My main squeeze sent me this Channukah video. Hilarious stuff.

Happy Channukah ya'll.

Apollo 17:

The transmission of the crew of Apollo 17, the last men to set foot on the moon is one of the most beautiful moving things I've ever heard. Remember it was 1972. America was in the final gasp of Vietnam. Watergate was on the horizon, the cold war raged. And yet all you hear is curiosity, optimism, and boundless hope for our collective future.

Apollo_17.mp3

I'm going to be listening this as we move into 2008, a new administration on the horizon, a renewed concern for the future of our planet and a reawakening of the belief, however naive, that we all, as John Kennedy once said,  ""We all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal." (via Radio Lab).

"As I take man's last step from the surface, back home for some time to come — but we believe not too long into the future — I'd like to just [say] what I believe history will record — that America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow. And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind. Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17."

– Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 Commander

"The same rocket technology that delivers nuclear warheads has also taken us peacefully into space.  From that perspective, we see our Earth as it really is -- a small and fragile and beautiful blue globe, the only home we have.  We see no barriers of race or religion or country.  We see the essential unity of our species and our planet; and with faith and common sense, that bright vision will ultimately prevail."

--President Jimmy Carter

"Cast your sins upon the water..."

While participating in a beautiful Taslich ritual (where, on Rosh Hashanah you throw bread into a moving body of water to release what you'd like left behind from the previous year), one of our leaders passed out this quote from Annie Dillard.

"On a shore, eight thousand waves break a day...At any one time, the from breaking waves covers between 3 and 4 percent of the earth's surface. The acreage of this foam -- using the figure 4 percent -- is equal to that of the entire continent of North America. By another coincidence, the U.S. population bears nearly the same relation to the world population: 4.6 percent. The U.S. population in other world, although it is the third-largest population among nations, is about as small a portion of the earth's people as breaking waves's white foam is the planet's surface. And the whole North American continent occupies no more space than waves' foam."

I love that. Also part of the ritual. We wrote phrases in the sand signifying things we also wanted to let go of for the coming of 5768. One of the others I spotted was this.

"May our actions be thoughtful and our sins forgiven."   

Indeed.

Hasids Hate Wal-Mart Too:

Jewschool pointed me to this article about a Hasidic Jewish community in Monsey, New York objecting to plans for a giant Wal-Mart to drop anchor nearby. Normally, Wal-Mart related protests are over lifestyle issues like traffic congestion and the health of local businesses, aesthetic ones (Wal-Marts are ugly) or political anger (sweat shop labor, union busting). All of that's true here but the community's also worried issues specific to Orthodoxy including magazines "picturing celebrities in provocative outfits."

I'm fascinated by real-life cases of cultures butting up against one another and trying to coexist. I guess it's fair to say the jewish version this has been on my radar since the Crown Heights Riots of the early 1990s. On my bookshelf somewhere is Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America, about a community of Orthodox Jews who purchased a kosher slaughterhouse in the town of Postville, Iowa in 1987. The book's jacket sums up the theme nicely "were the Iowans prejudiced, or were the Lubavitchers simply unbearable?".

I haven't read Postville yet but perhaps I'm overdue.

Synagogue Bulletin Bloopers:

My dad was kind enough to send me this list. Funny s*it.

SYNAGOGUE BULLETIN BLOOPERS

All the mistakes in spelling and typing were left in.

These announcements were found in shul newsletters and bulletins.
Even spell check wouldn't have helped.

1. Don't let worry kill you. Let your synagogue help. Join us for
our Oneg after services. Prayer and medication to follow. Remember
in prayer the many who are sick of our congregation.

2. For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a
nursery downstairs.

3. We are pleased to announce the birth of David Weiss, the sin of
Rabbi and Mrs. Abe Weiss.

4. Thursday at, there will be a meeting of the Little Mothers Club.
All women wishing to become Little Mothers please see the rabbi in
his private study.

5. The ladies of Hadassah have cast off clothing of every kind and
they may be seen in the basement on Tuesdays.

6. A bean supper will be held Wednesday evening in the community
center. Music will follow.

7. Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the JCC. Please use the
large double door at the side entrance.

8. Rabbi is on vacation. Massages can be given to his secretary.

9. Goldblum will be entering the hospital this week for testes.

10. The Men's Club is warmly invited to the Oneg hosted by Hadassah.
Refreshments will be served for a nominal feel.

11. Please join us as we show our support for Amy and Rob, who are
preparing for the girth of their first child.

12. We are taking up a collection to defray the cost of the new
carpet in the sanctuary. All those wishing to do something on the
carpet will come forward and get a piece of paper.

13. If you enjoy sinning, the choir is looking for you!
14. The Associate Rabbi unveiled the synagogue's new fundraising
campaign slogan this week: "I Upped My Pledge. Up Yours."