Candlelighting: Week of Jan. 14, 2011
Candlelighting: Week of Jan. 14, 2011 Read More »
January 14, 2011
Lightened
Taste Of Holiness
by Emily Stern
I heard that in the garden there is a tree that grows challah.
She plays my heart and her song she prays.
living unravels me in a certain way.
What seeds are you planting?
The kind that grow deep into the ground.
The trees are bleached from growing in the sand here, or a little lightened by the sun.
He carried three hallot on the bus, in bags, under his arm.
and it was deeply ingrained in her, you see, the ability to say THANK YOU for letting a magnificent
fig tree.
blessed are You,
Who owns the ground,
for freeing the bread, for creating the fruit, and the Hachamim, the rachamim
I could smell him ten miles away.
it may be why i came here in the first place, so i could glow upon seeing you, with my eyelids,
with my arms. and she so easily gives fruit
i put “let there be light” at the very root of myself.
and i used to be in mother’s womb and listen to the very strange sounds of digestion, and Birchat Hamazon is not unfamiliar.
and maybe i am water that pushes you to rise. out of resistance, out of pressure.
because that part is laughing through it all—
light aware of it’s beginning.
Trees are bending towards the sand. Offering wheat. A tree who makes it through the winter.
Wise one who rests, I bless you with the sky in the sand of your body….
and just enough
If the fields could speak, they would say things like the voice has a place here with all creeping crawls,
and the mind with man,
and the ribs with the stars,
and the womb with expanse,
and the root with let there be light.
so if i even knew the fruits i offered,
maybe this is what they mean by “spread your wings”
like gills, in the heart. so easily it happens
in the midst of all living, is this space around the heart that the heart
opens into. These are the cupped hands for the wisest wine.
oh, heart of flesh, be cause to spread the fruit of this world.
Oceans growing beneath the trees saying “that way, this way” to the leaves, and they respond….
i am doing my job. baking bread in the sun.
There’s a certain light etched into you.
so simple like the pine cones, like the river’s braids, like choice.
like the trunk of the tree, like the strands of the muscles. that pump and pound.
oh, blessed and softened world, on shabbat we do not bleach,
we are your light.
Canberra opens ritual bath
For the first time, Orthodox Jews in Australia’s capital city have a ritual bath.
Mikvah Chaya Mushka Canberra opened its doors in Canberra this week for the small Jewish community of about 600 people.
There is no Jewish school or kosher butcher, and Orthodox and Progressive Jews share a community center for prayer services, but local Jews believe a mikvah will attract more Jews to the capital.
Chabad-Lubavitch, which sponsored the project, recently sent a young couple, Rabbi Dan and Naomi Avital, from Melbourne to assist the community and run the mikvah. Rebbetzin Naomi Avital has undergone training in one of Melbourne’s many ritual bathhouses.
Rabbi Avital said: “We have seen a tremendous growth in the community and participation in our events over last year and we believe this is the right time for this extraordinary development.”
The building contains two ritual baths and three bathrooms and will be officially opened next month by U.S. Ambassador Jeff Bleich, who was active with the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee before he took up his post in Australia in 2009.
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JINSA leads Hispanic group to Israel
The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs is sending 16 U.S. Hispanic leaders to Israel.
The group, leaving this Saturday, will meet “with police and military personnel, business leaders, religious figures and government officials, including President Shimon Peres,” according to a JINSA release.
The group includes business executives, community leaders, state lawmakers, a police chief and a judge.
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‘The Bay’ drops Ahava, but not because of boycott
Jewish groups are satisfied that a decision by Canada’s best-known department store chain to drop an Israeli beauty line is unrelated to boycott calls.
A joint statement Thursday by The Bay stores, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and the Canada Israel Committee said The Bay was dropping AHAVA beauty products “primarily because of sales results which had been declining for several years.”
The announcement came days after a pro-Palestinian coalition, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, launched a boycott campaign against The Bay for selling the popular AHAVA line of Dead Sea beauty products.
In a counter move, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto send out an email blast on Jan. 11 calling on consumers to “visit your local Bay store, request AHAVA products and purchase them, if available, within the next 48 hours.” If unavailable, consumers were urged to ask why.
Two days later, the joint statement from The Bay (known as HBC) and the Jewish groups said the AHAVA line was dropped “after a regularly
scheduled review” of the products showed declining sales.
The statement noted that HBC’s decision, though it occurred at the same time as the boycott was launched, was made “solely for commercial reasons,” and that “at no point did political considerations enter into” the decision.
“HBC neither subscribes to nor endorses politically motivated boycotts of merchandise from countries with which Canada has open and established trading relationships, including Israel,” it said.
The announcement added that AHAVA products will soon be reformulated and redesigned as “a totally changed brand,” to be available by mid-spring at HBC stores across Canada.
The international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel claimed victory in Britain this week when the leading British retailer John Lewis announced it would no longer sell AHAVA products.
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A Prayer for Tucson
On this Shabbat Shira, the Sabbath of Song,
We sing to God a song of grief
For innocent victims
Cut down too soon.
May their memories be a blessing,
May their lights shine brightly upon us.
Gather them into Your eternal shelter, God,
Your shelter of peace.
We sing to God a song of mourning
For the broken hearts,
The senseless loss, the shock, the emptiness.
Send comfort, God, to the grieving families,
Hear their cries.
Fill them with the courage
To carry on in the face of loss.
We sing to God a song of healing
For the wounded.
Lift them up God,
Ease their pain,
Restore them to strength, to hope, to life.
We sing to God a song of peace
For our nation.
Teach us how to rise above hatred
And cruelty and indifference.
Show us how to live up to the beauty You’ve planted within us.
Let us rise up from this tragedy,
Let us walk together hand in hand
United in hope
On a path of peace, Amen.
Rabbi Naomi Levy is the founder and spiritual leader of Nashuva and author of To Begin Again (Knopf), Talking to God (Knopf) and Hope Will Find You (Doubleday).
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Kosher Sutra: Be the Tiger (Parsha Beshallach)
Kosher Sutra: “with the blast of your nostrils…you exhaled with your wind” (Ex 15: 8-10)
Soul Solution: Find strength in times of challenge
Posture: Bhastrika/Bellows Breathing
Body Benefit: Unleash energy and generate inner heat
Some times we all need to go to war. Once more unto the breach, dear friends. It may be an internal war ‘gainst our own emotions. It may be for good reasons, to prevent ourselves from doing something we’ll regret.
Our Kosher Sutra features the powerful exhalation from God’s ‘nostrils’. This anthropomorphism describes the sea waters piling up so that the Hebrew slaves can escape Egypt, and the Divine breath paves the way for freedom. In the 12th Century, Rashi confirmed the translation that this was indeed an exhalation while Ramban connected it with a verse from Isaiah (40:24); ‘Even if He were to blow on them, they would wither’. A powerful, connected breath achieves great things.
We can generate inner strength through this powerful breath, focused through the nostrils. Pranayama is the yogic science of energy control through the breath, and today’s focus is ‘Bhastrika’ breathing where you have a succession of quick exhales by ‘pumping’ the abdomen.
Before the classic Battle of Agincourt in Henry V, the king is rousing the English troops before they have the French enemy running to save their baguettes;
“In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour’d rage;
… **Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height**. On, on, you noblest English.”
Henry V, Act III
Our mind and body can be controlled and rallied through the breath of our nostrils. The Hebrew word for exhalation is ‘Nashaf’ and these three letters N-Sh-F rearrange to form ‘Nefesh’, which is a Hebrew name for our soul.
Godspeed to you, be strong in body and soul.
B’Shalom
Marcus
To practice Bhastrika/bellows breathing, take several sharp, explosive exhalations through your nostrils, ‘pumping’ abdomen. Just exhale in quick succession, and the eventual effect is to calm the mind’s movements and generate more energy. Try 15 quick exhalations, take a deep breath and hold it for as long as you can, before relaxing and repeating the process.
Marcus J Freed is the creator of” title=”http://yogaandkabbalah.eventbrite.com/” target=”_blank”>http://yogaandkabbalah.eventbrite.com/
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In the culture Jewish women rule the News Cycle
Aside from the blogosphere and the public affairs news cycle, Hollywood has not dealt with yet this weeks’ heroics of two Jewish women: Debbie Friedman and Gabby Gifford. Debbie Friedman was buried this week after a December appearance for Limmud UK. Her songs are seminal in Jewish music especially the song “For Miriam,” which is particularly timely as it ties in with this weeks Torah portion – Miriam leading the women celebrating in song with their timbrels at the Red Sea. A cultural force, Debbie was hailed in many circles and her influence has been felt in music in general for the last few decades, and not just Jewish music. I knew her personally and she was as gracious and vibrant as her music.
I had also the pleasure of meeting Gabrielle Gifford at a few Hollywood fundraisers for Hilary Clinton a few years ago. As we can all see by her example, she exemplifies the true Jewish woman as a warrior. She is a lifelong member of Hadassah, and we at the Morningstar Commission, founded by Hadassah, particularly take her journey personally and as an example of “grace under pressure.” With the rest of the world, we wish her a speedy recovery and look forward to her presence again on the international scene. She is truly a Woman of Valor. Have a good Shabbos.
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In Iraq, Sunnis and Shiites Spar over Halal Chicken
In Iraq, when it comes to chicken, Shiites and Sunnis disagree over what is or isn’t halal. Shiites eat Khafeel. Sunnis eat Sadia. Both brands are produced in Brazil.
Anyone familiar with the question of whose kosher designation is trustworthy could probably relate to this morning’s story about the way sectarian divides in Iraq are playing out in the choices of halal chicken brands that Iraqis are making:
At a wholesale market in east Baghdad, the first thing you see in the chicken section is a big poster with the fatwa, or religious ruling, that sanctions Khafeel chicken.
But many people say the religious institution that issued the fatwa is also profiting from the boost in sales of Khafeel chicken. Shop owner Abu Zuhair says that’s wrong.
“This should not be a money issue,” he says in Arabic. “It should be a way for the religious establishment to help poor people.”
See the rest of Kelly McEvers’s story at NPR.org.
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Vatican to beatify John Paul II
Pope John Paul II, who made bettering relations with the Jewish world a cornerstone of his papacy, will be beatified on May 1, placing the Polish-born pontiff one step closer to sainthood.
The Vatican announced Friday that Pope Benedict XVI will preside at the Vatican ceremony.
John Paul died in 2005 and was put on a fast track to be made a saint.
“His cause began before the end of the five-year period which the current norms stipulate must pass following the death of a Servant of God,” a statement from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints said. “This provision was solicited by the great fame of sanctity which Pope John Paul II enjoyed during his life, in his death and after his death.”
It said that the decision to beatify him came after the church recognized a miracle attributed to his intervention.
John Paul was elected pope in 1978. He had Jewish friends in his childhood and witnessed the Holocaust in Poland as young priest.
Throughout his papacy he reached out to Jews in unprecedented ways. In 1986 he visited the Great Synagogue in Rome, becoming the first pope to visit a synagogue. He embraced the Rome chief rabbi and described Jews as Christianity’s “older brothers.”
He met frequently with Jewish groups and representatives, promoted memory of the Holocaust and spoke out against anti-Semitism, including issueing an apologiy for the persecution of Jews by Catholics.
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