‘New Jews’ stake claim to faith, culture – CNN.com http://bit.ly/1WfP8z
‘New Jews’ stake claim to faith, culture – CNN.com http://bit.ly/1WfP8z very awesome article. go read it. #Jewish
You know, my husband is a tattoo artist. Not exactly Jewy, right? But he has a lot of Jewish clients. Many of them getting things on their bodies that declare their Judaism.
A friend of mine forever ago was entertaining getting a KforP on his hip, just inside the line of his briefs. I love the idea and have entertained it myself.
I don’t have any Jewish artwork on my body. No star of David’s. No chamsa’s. No nothing. In a way, I’ve violated “shall not mark your body for the dead” as my entire arm is “for the dead.” Oops.
On the flip side, Judaism is one of the only (is the only? I have no idea) that encourages you to ask questions. The Torah is being interpreted. Agai. Over and over, students and teachers debate over what it means, and what it can mean in the future. I love that Judaism itself requires you to question God and your faith and what it means.
I have weeks, months, years at a time that I am at odds with God. God dealt me a pretty poor hand, but in the same breath, the Universe provides, and always has. Thou Art God. I have a pretty jumbled mess that is my spirituality floating around in my brain. It’s a mess of Judaism, Paganism and bits and pieces that Heinlein gave words to but existed long before I read him.
I think… Judaism has always served it’s people, it’s people have not served it. And I think that is how it should be.
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“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain
Read MoreDeath
I think I have a pretty healthy attitude towards death. I really do. It happens, let’s move on, right? I’d rather suddenly lose a loved one than watch them dwindle away, months (if not years) on end, a shell of who they once were.
So why do I always feel so guilty when I hear people tell me it was “only two months” from discovery of whatever to death, when all I want to say is, I am sorry for your loss, but how fortunate you did not have to watch them die slowly and in pain. You should be happy their time left wasn’t spent wishing for death to come quickly, quicker than it was.
When my time comes, I hope it’s sudden. Maybe not as sudden as being squished under a bus, but sudden enough to not cause undue grief to my loved ones and not cause undue pain to me.
Read MoreSo much misery, so little time | Salon Books
So much misery, so little time | Salon Books.
“Suffering,” he writes, “is as common as death, and like death, it resists all attempts to explain it.”
Peter Trachtenberg took a tour around the world in his quest to understand why some people are crushed by suffering and others are transformed by it.
I know a thing or two about suffering. Maybe not as much as some, but don’t we all suffer equally, regardless of ther reason? No, my losses aren’t as great as the losses of the man who lived through Auschwitz, or the people who lost everything in Katrina (or Andrew or any severe weather or reason), or the twins with the skin disease. Are they any less though?
I’ve had a life of loss, but if I try very hard and flip it around, I’ve been given some powerful gifts as well. I’m compassionate, I’m thoughtful of others, I don’t see differences between people… often. I’m sure there is more. I am a better person for my suffering. I am stronger. I am smarter. I am a lot of things.
I also have less. I am missing important people, things, accomplishments, milestones and events. Much like our Holocaust survivors, I watched members of my family waste away in sickness and die. I’ve buried my mother and my sister. I’ve stepped up to fill in her place, as best I can.
Suffering… what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger? One foot in front of the other. I live my life by that mantra. I always have, and I suspect, always will. Disaster will always strike, but good times are always just around the corner.
I want to pick up this book. It fascinates me. Maybe I just need to know that everyone else is just as miserable as I am. Maybe my Zaide is right, if we all hung our troubles up at the end of the day, and could pick new ones to take home, we’d still take our own. We know them, we understand them, and we have learned what to do with them. Someone else’s troubles frighten us because they are foreign. I’ll keep my troubles, my suffering, because I know what to do with it, and I know good times are coming.
Read Morefood for thought
Lately this has become a reoccurring theme in my life (or at least a reoccurring bit of advice I’ve given and applies to myself a lot too), so I am sharing it:
What’s done is done and I can’t go back and change it now. You can only do what you feel is best at the next opportunity you have.
I am not saying don’t own your mistakes, but don’t wallow in them either.
Read MoreChanges… feel free to skip
I am far from religious… or even what I would call spiritual. That said, I am going to try to make an effort to have a more wholesome household. What does that have to do with religion? I have had a lot of exposure to Orthodox Judaism, and they seem so happy, it spills over to their families. I am not saying the mothers don’t have the same stresses non-religious mothers have, but in my mind, that happiness, that… Je ne sais quoi, tends to go hand-in-hand with God. Being as I am at odds with God, god, and that guy over there right now, I am not interested in bringing religion into the picture, not in the daily sense.
I want to stop yelling. I want to stop losing control of myself, and by virtue of that, my family. I want to have my day planned out the night before. I want my home to be “company ready” all the time. I want to de-clutter. I am going to start scaling back, minimizing, zen, if you will. I want to be free of our possessions… to the extent we can be. I like having certain things, so to be able to pack into a bag is unrealistic. I want to pare down our clothing to fit in our drawers. I want to not be overwhelmed so very often. I want to pare down. In that vein, I’ve started two lists for every month. Stuff I want to buy, and stuff I bought. Stuff I want to buy will be kept for the month and re-evaluated the following month. Stuff I bought will be re-evaluated and see if it was something I needed or a useless impulse buy. I am trying to work on my spending.
This could go on and on, but it wont. I am just making a declaration for myself. I’ve done very well on my raw food diet. I have one meal that isn’t raw a day, the rest is raw goodness. Some days I don’t have a non-raw meal. I am pleased with my progress. I have to say, I notice I feel different on days I backslide and eat too much in the way of cooked foods. My stomach hurts and I just feel bad. It could be in my head, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not.
On the subject, I am also going to try very hard to stop “I can do it/start tomorrow” and turn tomorrow into today. I always put things off, thinking there is time tomorrow.
Tomorrow (because it’s 8PM and my kids are in bed… or should be) I am going to go bike riding with my kids. And we’re going to play in the pool outside (just a little wading pool) and I am going to measure for my raised planting beds. I can’t buy the lumber until next weekend, but a little planning can’t hurt, right?
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