An Instant In An Eternity

A thought crossed my mind the other day: I am nobody We are somebody I thought about how valuable it is to think in this framework to reduce ego and being self-centered. How to think beyond my personal needs and make my actions and efforts on the part of something larger, beneficial, and more powerful than myself. I can choose to give over my personal, individual needs to put my efforts towards that of the whole. I can come together with others who are like-minded to build something greater than what we can achieve as individuals. My thought process continued though that this concept is likely a central tenet, philosophy, or doctrine of gangs or terrorist groups. In this case it's a tool to break down the individual, to strip him of his identity and replace it with total subservience to the group goals and ideals. In this case the needs of the individual are erased to serve the needs of the group, which are really the needs of the leader or leaders. Herein lies the ...

There is room at the table for everyone. Last night I was at a Masorti Movement dinner celebrating, honoring, and thanking the rabbinic interns who have engaged with and supported the Masorti communities throughout Israel. There was much discussion of the challenges that Masorti Movement and pluralistic Judaism face in Israel. It is an ongoing conversation that was heightened as a result of a " Tag Machir " (price tag) attack on one of the Masorti communities in Jerusalem this week. Additionally, in the car to and from Jerusalem my companion and I had a lengthy discussion about the current state of affairs both within our community and our larger municipality vis-a-vis our newly established religious presence. Having grown up in the Reform Movement , trips to Israel heightened my sense both of individual Jewish identity and the challenge of losing that on a daily basis in American life. Therefore, I chose to incorporate more observance into my life - keeping Shabbat, pla...

That would be greed. It's out there, it's everywhere, and it's not only tempting and addictive, but highly dangerous. Right, enough hyperbole and superlative. At my core I find myself as being a bit of a socialist. I think that everyone should have what they need and not at the expense of others, and I view the socio-economic disparities that we see in the US and Israel (among other places) to be indicative of having at the expense of others. I would argue that this goes up to the level of nationhood as well (although that's for a post on politics and not economics), whereby every "people" is entitled to at least a little slice of land to call their own. I have no problem with capitalism, but rather I think it should be tempered with a dose of socialism. Or maybe vice versa. We're thinking about buying a plot of land. That in and of itself is a huge undertaking in Israel. What we're looking at is half (a quarter dunam) of a two-family p...

Stuff - we all mostly have too much...by we, I mean those reading this, those of us privileged to live in the first world, the developed world, the consumeristic and over-consumptive world. I showed the kids this video and we talked about it a little bit. We try hard to manage the stuff we acquire or are given, not just because we don't have a lot of space, or because many products these days are really just junk and wasteful, but also because we really don't need that much stuff and we don't want our kids to be so consumption focused. But some things are imbued with a value, with a memory that elevates the item above its intended purpose. Obviously family heirlooms or items of significant value are already imbued. I'm talking more about the every day items we have, that we have brought into our lives, that intentionally or unintentionally are varnished with an extra layer of meaning. So then, when we use these items in the course of our daily lives, the use of these...

It was a great summer stateside for the family, and it was a challenging one, for a variety of reasons. And then we returned to Israel to move into a new house and reconnect with all (well, most) of our worldly belongings. All of which lead to some deep thinking and personal evaluation. Western culture (I can't speak beyond that) has developed a strong tendency to hold on - to hold on to everything. To save, to keep, to horde, anything and everything. 10 for $10 is the sale at the grocery to get you to buy more; digital cameras allow for unlimited picture taking at basically zero cost; $1 for the first month will rent you a self-storage unit for everything that won't fit in your house; make payments, nothing down for big ticket items; unlimited talk/text/data. And so we do - we keep everything (well, my mom doesn't, but lots of people do) because we never know when we'll need it, or want it. And the wanting and needing continue and the consumption and consumerism gr...

You have to be courageous in life. But you have to be careful not to cross the line from courageous to stupid. The line between courage and stupidity is thin, sometimes transparent. Don't trip. I think about this a lot here in Israel and in life as a woman. I think that for women being courageous comes across differently than it does for men - girls are described as bossy and boys are leaders, for displaying the same behaviors. And in Israel you can be rude and offensive or firm and decisive about what you want - and the gender lines seem to be less black and white here, too. Being far away from the US has afforded me a certain level of perspective on the Democratic process of governance in the United States. At the same time, my level of awareness is lower because I am not 100% tuned in to the 24 hour news cycle there. And I would say I am getting about the same level of engagement and awareness here in Israel with my limited reading skills (and time) for the news. What I am s...

The whole uproar over the Women of the Wall (WoW) continues in the media as each month they gather for the Rosh Chodesh morning service at The Kotel. Recently, in The Times of Israel there was an excellent piece by Hannah Katsman on Tolerance . Her point is just outstanding and articulates well what I have not been able to articulate for years. It's important and nuanced and needs to be internalized. I recommend reading her whole piece. But I'll attempt to extrapolate from it here a bit. Asking others to meet your stricter religious observance in fact is a level of intolerance. There has to be room at the table for everyone. The problem with the protests of the WoW is that they are being told that their presence and prayer are offensive to the most religious and that we must cater to the needs of the most religious to make space for everyone at The Kotel. But that ends up ONLY making space for the most religious and not leaving room for the less religious who find spiritu...