We are in the middle of my favorite Hebrew month and this year we have 2 of them- Adar Alef and Adar Bet. That fact that my Birthday is in Adar (Adar 22 which this year falls on March 16, so if you missed my March 6th Birthday you now have another opportunity to celebrate with me) of course of one reason I like it so much but the other has to do with the energy of the month of Adar. Adar is a time for celebrating JOY! We are told to Be Happy, It is Adar! Mi Shnichnas Adar, Marbim b'Simcha - When Adar comes in our joy is increased!
In the past when I have planned yoga classes for the Hebrew month of Adar I have put together play lists with music that made me happy. Jonathan Edwards- Sunshine (Go Away Today), a song that makes me think of my year in Israel, and Sweet Home Alabama which always make me smile. Usually my mixes are a bit more Jewish but these work with the them of joy in Adar.
This year I'd like to do something different. In class we will look for ways to access our bliss bodies. Each of us is created as a holy being, pure and full of joy. Life happens and sometimes this pure essence becomes obscured, or covered with schmutz as my teacher Alan Morinis says. Our job is to wipe away the schmutz so that our holiness can shine through. We will do a series of yoga poses that focus on opening the stagnant areas in our bodies and help us access the joy of being alive and able to move our bodies.
In the daily prayer liturgy we thank God for giving us bodies that work. But not just for the sake of having a body. The full prayer thanks God of giving us a body that functions in order that we can praise God. When all of this comes together, our kedoshim-holiness, our gratitude, our openness and our connection to God, then we can feel bliss.
Be Happy, It's Adar.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Rabbi Steven Moskowitz: Obama And Libya
Steve has found and written some very apt comments about the situation in Libya and our role.
Rabbi Steven Moskowitz: Obama And Libya: "Why Doesn't Obama Have A Plan To Assist The Country In Its Emergency? | TNR by Leon Wieseltier Again I quote from Leon Wieseltier's most re..."
Rabbi Steven Moskowitz: Obama And Libya: "Why Doesn't Obama Have A Plan To Assist The Country In Its Emergency? | TNR by Leon Wieseltier Again I quote from Leon Wieseltier's most re..."
Notes From The Delegation: Is Spiritual Power The Most Solid Foundation? by Vered Harris | Jewcy.com
This is an interesting article on spiritual power and connects with the notion of service as a way of serving God and enhancing our Judaism.
Notes From The Delegation: Is Spiritual Power The Most Solid Foundation? by Vered Harris | Jewcy.com
Notes From The Delegation: Is Spiritual Power The Most Solid Foundation? by Vered Harris | Jewcy.com
Thursday, February 24, 2011
How May I Serve You?
I recently read an article McChrystal: Why America Needs National Service - Newsweek about how we applaud people who are in the military serving our country, but we consider their obligation to be theirs and not ours. Stanley McChrystal reminds us that addition to the idea that as Americans we are entitled to inalienable rights we also have responsiblities.
As Jews we are constantly reminded of this notion, but not just through Tikun Olam, repairing the world, which is a Kabbalistic idea. The idea of service to the community is pervasive in Jewish life.
We celebrate that the world stands on three pillar, Torah (study), Avodah (worship) and Gemilut Chasadim (acts of loving kindness/helping others). Well the third one is obvious but the pillar that caught my attention was the second one. Why do we translate Avodah- which literally means work, as worship or prayer. We have to go back to the time of the Cohanim, the priests, to understand this term.
In the days of the Temple in Jerusalem, when you wanted to communicate with God you brought a sacrifice to offer in the Temple. This was a lot of hard work for everyone. The offerer had to carry the animal. The cohanim had to slaughter it, barbeque it, and serve it, all the while following a specific set of rules to insure that everything was done properly and that the offering would be accepted by God. This was a lot of hard work- avodah.
When prayer replaced sacrifice the name stuck. It still continued to be called Avodah (and it is still, hard work, albeit in a different way.)
These offerings are called sacrifices because you had to literally sacrifice something of value to you. They had to be from the best of your flock or crop. You had to give up something, and in return you gained a blessing.
Sacrifice today is still about hard work and giving up something precious to us whether it is time or the ability to earn more money or money itself.
My father-in-law, Carl Moskowitz, is an amazing volunteer. In his retirement he volunteers for the Red Cross on a weekly basis and FEMA when there are crises. But it didn't start there. When I first met him, 25 years ago he was President of his Temple, Shaare Emeth. And I would hear stories about when in was a volunteer fire fighter in NJ. The only reason he stopped was that they didn't have volunteer fire departments in St. Louis. He believes that it is his responsibility to get involved and to make his community better.
I'm amazed and proud (and grateful)to all of the people connected to Temple Beth Torah who are Volunteer Fire Fighters and EMT- Debbie Archer, Chris and Marilyn Byron, Josh Nachenson, Howard and Amy Kaplan, and Elyssa and Nikki. If I've left people out, just let me know and I'll add them here.
Charlie Cicio is another volunteer hero. He is a retired police officer and is a constant volunteer at the Gerald Ryan Outreach Center and the Mercy INN soup kitchen in Wyandanch. When he came to speak to our JTV kids about feeding the hungry, he was getting ready to leave to go to Haiti to volunteer there.
My friend, Judy, is on her third or fourth trip to Volunteer in the Israeli Army.
Dr. Stephen Harris travelled to Peru with the organization Medical Missions for Children and more recently to the Ivory Coast with the organization Global Smiles Foundation. He describes what he does, "As part of the surgical team, I have the privilege of repairing cleft lips and palates in infants, children, and adults." His whole family has gotten involved, and through them his kid's Chavurah group got involved raising money, collecting goods and creating awareness. The Ripple Effect of helping others.
Both our Jewish values and our American values require us to give back to the community. Doing so takes sacrifice. Fortunately it doesn't have to feel like a burden, but it is hard work. There is always something else one could do, too little time, not enough money. When we want to find excuses not to get involved, it is easy to find them. But let's not do that. Yes, it will take some work, but this is the holiest kind of work, Avodah. McChrystal called for an American Service Corps to be created, Judaism has always called for a Service Corps- here are some ideas. Click on the names to go to their websites
Get involved in your Synagogue and local community centers. (At Temple Beth Torah we are constantly offering ways to get involved)
American Jewish World Service (AJWS)-offers voluntourism, travel experiences in places where there is a great need.
Volunteers for Israel - spend a week or two on an army bases helping with stock and supplies to free the soldiers up for their jobs.
URJ Adult Mitzvah Corps- currently they do not have any trips scheduled, but they have gone to Louisiana, Calif, Vermont.
But as important as those inalienable rights are, there are also inalienable responsibilities that we must accept and fulfill. Those responsibilities are wider than are often perceived or accepted. Just as we have allowed the term “service member” to apply solely to the military, we have allowed the obligations of citizenship to narrow.He calls for a service corps which would be part of every Americans obligation of citizenship.
Even the most basic responsibilities of being an American are considered optional by many. In the seeming anonymity of modern life, the concept of community responsibility has weakened, yet is needed more than ever.
As Jews we are constantly reminded of this notion, but not just through Tikun Olam, repairing the world, which is a Kabbalistic idea. The idea of service to the community is pervasive in Jewish life.
We celebrate that the world stands on three pillar, Torah (study), Avodah (worship) and Gemilut Chasadim (acts of loving kindness/helping others). Well the third one is obvious but the pillar that caught my attention was the second one. Why do we translate Avodah- which literally means work, as worship or prayer. We have to go back to the time of the Cohanim, the priests, to understand this term.
In the days of the Temple in Jerusalem, when you wanted to communicate with God you brought a sacrifice to offer in the Temple. This was a lot of hard work for everyone. The offerer had to carry the animal. The cohanim had to slaughter it, barbeque it, and serve it, all the while following a specific set of rules to insure that everything was done properly and that the offering would be accepted by God. This was a lot of hard work- avodah.
When prayer replaced sacrifice the name stuck. It still continued to be called Avodah (and it is still, hard work, albeit in a different way.)
These offerings are called sacrifices because you had to literally sacrifice something of value to you. They had to be from the best of your flock or crop. You had to give up something, and in return you gained a blessing.
Sacrifice today is still about hard work and giving up something precious to us whether it is time or the ability to earn more money or money itself.
My father-in-law, Carl Moskowitz, is an amazing volunteer. In his retirement he volunteers for the Red Cross on a weekly basis and FEMA when there are crises. But it didn't start there. When I first met him, 25 years ago he was President of his Temple, Shaare Emeth. And I would hear stories about when in was a volunteer fire fighter in NJ. The only reason he stopped was that they didn't have volunteer fire departments in St. Louis. He believes that it is his responsibility to get involved and to make his community better.
I'm amazed and proud (and grateful)to all of the people connected to Temple Beth Torah who are Volunteer Fire Fighters and EMT- Debbie Archer, Chris and Marilyn Byron, Josh Nachenson, Howard and Amy Kaplan, and Elyssa and Nikki. If I've left people out, just let me know and I'll add them here.
Charlie Cicio is another volunteer hero. He is a retired police officer and is a constant volunteer at the Gerald Ryan Outreach Center and the Mercy INN soup kitchen in Wyandanch. When he came to speak to our JTV kids about feeding the hungry, he was getting ready to leave to go to Haiti to volunteer there.
My friend, Judy, is on her third or fourth trip to Volunteer in the Israeli Army.
Dr. Stephen Harris travelled to Peru with the organization Medical Missions for Children and more recently to the Ivory Coast with the organization Global Smiles Foundation. He describes what he does, "As part of the surgical team, I have the privilege of repairing cleft lips and palates in infants, children, and adults." His whole family has gotten involved, and through them his kid's Chavurah group got involved raising money, collecting goods and creating awareness. The Ripple Effect of helping others.
Both our Jewish values and our American values require us to give back to the community. Doing so takes sacrifice. Fortunately it doesn't have to feel like a burden, but it is hard work. There is always something else one could do, too little time, not enough money. When we want to find excuses not to get involved, it is easy to find them. But let's not do that. Yes, it will take some work, but this is the holiest kind of work, Avodah. McChrystal called for an American Service Corps to be created, Judaism has always called for a Service Corps- here are some ideas. Click on the names to go to their websites
Get involved in your Synagogue and local community centers. (At Temple Beth Torah we are constantly offering ways to get involved)
American Jewish World Service (AJWS)-offers voluntourism, travel experiences in places where there is a great need.
Volunteers for Israel - spend a week or two on an army bases helping with stock and supplies to free the soldiers up for their jobs.
URJ Adult Mitzvah Corps- currently they do not have any trips scheduled, but they have gone to Louisiana, Calif, Vermont.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Our Bodies, Our Souls
Yogic philosophy emphasizes "oneness." We are all one with the universe. I have always found this to be a challenging notion. I mean, I'm me, you're you, we are distinct beings, how can we be one?
The first thing that helped me grasp this concept was that I had been praying the Shema my whole life and isn't that what is says. Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai ECHAD. God is One. This central prayer affirms God's oneness, and since I believe God resides in each one of us, I could begin to imagine how we are all part of a larger whole.
In an earlier post I pondered the idea of limits and how limits actually give us more feedom (ie. Shabbat, laws, rules). Well our bodies serve as a type of limit as well. If we imagine the world, the cosmos, to be a miasma of energy swirling around- ONE giant energy swirl. And imagine our bodies to be temporary containers of the this energy, holding it long enough to allow us to experience the world, then we can see how we are all one. If you made a jello mold and scooped out portions into bowls- the jello would still be the same substance, just put in smaller containers. If you then poured the jello back into the original bowl, you'd still have one large jello.
Okay that is a goofy analogy and I haven't eaten jello in forever but it worked for me.
We need our bodies to help us experience the oneness of the universe. Without a body our souls would have no boundaries and without boundaries we would not be able to experience a distinction. It is this sense of being distinct that helps us appreciate our connection to every other being.
The first thing that helped me grasp this concept was that I had been praying the Shema my whole life and isn't that what is says. Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai ECHAD. God is One. This central prayer affirms God's oneness, and since I believe God resides in each one of us, I could begin to imagine how we are all part of a larger whole.
In an earlier post I pondered the idea of limits and how limits actually give us more feedom (ie. Shabbat, laws, rules). Well our bodies serve as a type of limit as well. If we imagine the world, the cosmos, to be a miasma of energy swirling around- ONE giant energy swirl. And imagine our bodies to be temporary containers of the this energy, holding it long enough to allow us to experience the world, then we can see how we are all one. If you made a jello mold and scooped out portions into bowls- the jello would still be the same substance, just put in smaller containers. If you then poured the jello back into the original bowl, you'd still have one large jello.
Okay that is a goofy analogy and I haven't eaten jello in forever but it worked for me.
We need our bodies to help us experience the oneness of the universe. Without a body our souls would have no boundaries and without boundaries we would not be able to experience a distinction. It is this sense of being distinct that helps us appreciate our connection to every other being.
First Jewish Service Broadcast on Nazi Soil
This video of a Jewish prayer service during WWII is pretty amazing.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Practicing
I love knitting because all the sudden you look down and there is something there that didn't exist until I created it. It is the most satisfying feeling. I imagine painters feel the same way. One minute there is a blank canvas and then there is an image, a painting. Wow! This act of creation does take persistance. You have knit a lot of stitches, which can be very monotonous, to get your creation. And sometimes you have to rip out all the progress you made and start again to get the results you want to acheive.
Yoga and religion also require regular practice (a word that is used to describe both - one practices yoga and one practices Judaism)*. The product can be more difficult to see, but if you keep at it, the results just appear, all of the sudden.
One day, a year or two after I began practicing yoga, a realized I had muscles you could actually feel (well I don't let too many people do that) on my sides. They had not been there before. When I'm too tired to practice, knowing that I created newly defined muscle structure, gets me back on the mat. I wish I had taken pictures of myself when I started practicing because it is hard to see all the progress and changes I've made. But photographs would only show the physical progress, I have to look at my increased energy level, my ability to handle stress and access my inner strength, and remember that yoga helped in these areas too. Through my yoga practice I was able to create a new me.
Likewise, it can be hard to see the benefits of practicing Judaism. You could get discouraged coming to services every week and not feeling a connection to God or feeling more spiritual. But let's say one week you feel that connection, that contentment. If you hadn't gone all those previous weeks and laid the groundwork for connecting to God, it might not have happened that week either.
Judaism reminds us to practice being the best person we can be - to keep learning, to help others, to give Tzedakah, to take time to pray. Some times we do a great job and other times we get need to get back on track. But each step of the way, Judaism can serve as a guide as we work to create the best world we can.
*By the way- I love that both yoga and Judaism are practices, that means I'm not expected to get it right, everytime.
Yoga and religion also require regular practice (a word that is used to describe both - one practices yoga and one practices Judaism)*. The product can be more difficult to see, but if you keep at it, the results just appear, all of the sudden.
One day, a year or two after I began practicing yoga, a realized I had muscles you could actually feel (well I don't let too many people do that) on my sides. They had not been there before. When I'm too tired to practice, knowing that I created newly defined muscle structure, gets me back on the mat. I wish I had taken pictures of myself when I started practicing because it is hard to see all the progress and changes I've made. But photographs would only show the physical progress, I have to look at my increased energy level, my ability to handle stress and access my inner strength, and remember that yoga helped in these areas too. Through my yoga practice I was able to create a new me.
Likewise, it can be hard to see the benefits of practicing Judaism. You could get discouraged coming to services every week and not feeling a connection to God or feeling more spiritual. But let's say one week you feel that connection, that contentment. If you hadn't gone all those previous weeks and laid the groundwork for connecting to God, it might not have happened that week either.
Judaism reminds us to practice being the best person we can be - to keep learning, to help others, to give Tzedakah, to take time to pray. Some times we do a great job and other times we get need to get back on track. But each step of the way, Judaism can serve as a guide as we work to create the best world we can.
*By the way- I love that both yoga and Judaism are practices, that means I'm not expected to get it right, everytime.
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