Shanah tovah u-metukah! A Good and Sweet New Year to All!
Happy Rosh HaShanah everyone - make sure to check out all the cool art you can get here:
Including this card:
Equal rights for bullies!?!?!!? This is not religion!
This morning one of the first things I saw was this article:
Equal Rights for Bullies: Religious Right Comes to the Defense of "Faith-Based" Harassment
I am beyond outraged.
No religious ethos should ever defend the right to harm others as an expression of "freedom of religion".
I cannot believe that this needs to be expressed.
The right to impose one's belief system on someone else, especially by brute force or harassment, is not a right - it is an abuse of someone else's rights.
Religions in our pluralist American society must abide by the laws of that society. If your religion advises bullying as an expression of your piety, please move to a place with a state-sponsored and enforced religion, and leave us alone.
Temple Beth El's Bark Mitzvah - today!
11am-1pm
William R. Davie Park on Pineville Matthews Rd.
Location
Dog park info.
11am - Register for your Bark Mitzvah Certificate
11:20am - Animal parade
11:50am - Mi Sheh-Bark - Blessing of the animals by TBE Rabbis
Noon - Lunch
12:30pm - Games & Contests
The "fee" for participation is 3 cans of cat food/$5 per attendee -
maxing out at 6 cans of food/$10 per family.
Attendees are invited/expected to bring their own picnic lunch
OUR beneficiary is the Spay/Neuter Charlotte Clinic.
http://spayneutercharlotte.org
The Dalai Lama on Communitarianism
We are fundamentally interconnected and the Dalai Lama offers clarity on how:
Our good fortune is dependent upon the cooperation and contributions of others. Every aspect of our present well-being is due to hard work on the part of others. As we look around us at the buildings we live and work in, the roads we travel, the clothes we wear, or the food we eat, we have to acknowledge that all are provided by others. None of them would exist for us to enjoy and make use of were it not for the kindness of so many people unknown to us.
A Start to Meditation
"You are the One who fills all names but You Yourself have no specific name."
From Tikkunei Zohar and quoted by Rabbi Arthur Green in "Radical Judaism", p. 64
This is a beautiful expression of the immanence of the Divine in infinite variety.
Evolution and Religion - Use Them Both!
A great teaching from Rabbi Arthur Green's Radical Judaism: Rethinking God & Tradition (page 22):
The incredibly complex interplay of forces and the thick web of mutual dependency among beings are no less amazing than the distance traversed in this long evolutionary journey. The interrelationships between soil, plants, and insects, or those between climate, foliage, and animal life, all leave us breathless as we begin to contemplate them. It is these very intricacies and complexities that have led the religious fundamentalists to hold fast to the claim that there must be a greater intelligence behind it all, that such complexity can only reflect the planning of a supernatural Mind. But they miss the point of the religious moment here. Our task as religious persons is not to offer counter-scientific explanations for the origin of life. Our task is to notice, to pay attention to, the incredible wonder of it all, and to find God in that moment of paying attention.
Yesod in Yesod - Day 41 of the Omer
The balanced basis of the universe in itself - Yesod in Yesod - a day of looking at the fundamentals of our fundamentals.
When do our starting points lack good starting points? When must the substance of our foundation be more substantial?
Hod in Yesod - Day 40 of the Omer
Awe in the vastness of the universe, Hod, in the basic balanced foundation of all things, Yesod - sometimes merely looking at the roots of a tree, or a foundation of an idea or project, generates awe on its own.
In the same way, when starting with our foundation we aim to include humility before the wonder of being able to build at all.
[From yesterday]
Netzach in Yesod - Day 39 of the Omer
Eternity, the long view on our ego, Netzach, in Yesod, the basic foundation - we cannot build a strong base without believing in our ability to have an impact on the world.
Appropriate sense of self helps us build strong foundations.
[From Wednesday, May 16]
Tiferet in Yesod - Day 38 of the Omer
Balanced harmony, Tiferet, in solid balanced foundation, Yesod - at the heart of every building project is the vision of the height it will reach.
When starting out with balance we must hold in our minds the plan for where we might end up, and aim for a higher balance as well. While good projects start with basic ideas, balanced ideas may lead to loftier achievements too.
The image for this: successful tall trees have deeply developed roots.
Gevurah in Yesod - Day 37 of the Omer
Gevurah, strong structure, in Yesod, a balanced foundation - this seems obvious since we usually imagine good support in terms of strength and structure.
The key may be in not relying only on rigor when building. An excess of rigor hurts the base of the structure as much as its absence.
Chesed in Yesod - Day 36 of the Omer
Chesed, loving kindness, in Yesod, a balanced foundation - when building we can begin with kindness.
This may not seem intuitive. Still, a building, a structure, a project, all begin better when we start them with generosity in mind.
Malchut in Hod - Day 35 of the Omer
This is for yesterday's...
Malchut, where theory hits practice, in Hod, humble smallness - the doing of modesty requires care.
How can we follow a path of humility without making others feel guilty? How can we inspire without being immodest? These form some practical questions about humble aims.
Let's try to be humble without assumptions, modest without judgements.
Yesod in Hod - Day 34 of the Omer
Yesod, a solid foundation, in Hod, humility in the face of grandeur - finding that solid place allows us to see what's around us, what gives us perspective and humility.
We must ground ourselves in order to appreciate the wonder of the world.
Hod in Hod - Happy 33rd of the Omer! (from yesterday)
Awesome grace, Hod, in itself - a day on which we recognize that even humility requires stepping back from pride - we aim for humility for its own sale not for any reward in reputation.
And today is LaG b'Omer - the 33rd day of the Omer counting, on which restrictions ease and celebrations take place.
The Omer Counting marks the time between Passover and Shavuot - two important agricultural holidays that also became two important theological holidays in the Jewish calendar.
On the agricultural front, we mark this time as when winter planted grain ripens on the stalk, and is thus vulnerable to being destroyed by heat waves. In an attempt to not disrupt this fragile natural balance, some Jews observe a minor mourning period for the first 33 days of the Omer - from the Second Night of Passover until May 10 this year - and refrain from trimming hair or shaving, as well as abstaining from celebrations. There are multiple traditions about when this period ends, either the 33rd day as the last day, or merely a respite before the true end of the period, on the holiday of Shavuot, or weeks, which is the 49th day of the Omer, 7 weeks after we began, when the grain harvest is in and we can make an offering.
On the theological aspect, these days mark the movement from Passover, when the Israelites were freed from slavery, to Shavuot, when we received the Torah on Mount Sinai - freedom leads to revelation. In that spirit, recognizing that we must prepare ourselves for revelation, the Kabbalaists used the 7 by 7 structure - 7 days of 7 weeks to incorporate the lower seven sefirot of the Tree of Life. This model lays out important pricniples, many of which are paired with their complementary ideas (Chesed, loving kindness, with Gevurah, rigor, for example), and others are their balanced resolutions (like Tiferet, balanced beauty, and Yesod, balanced foundation). Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah) identifies these principles as elements essential to living, thinking, and feeling in a way that leads to inspiration and creativity in appreciation of the gift of existence.
So for 16 more days I will continue to count and reflect - questions?
Netzach in Hod - Day 32 of the Omer
Eternity and ego, Netzach, in humility and awe, Hod - so as not to lose ourselves in awe we must hold on to a sense of self.
Even in the face of eternity, we can only find meaning when we hold onto the "we".
Tiferet in Hod - Day 31 of the Omer
Tiferet, balanced harmonious beauty, in Hod, awe-inspired humility - to appreciate one's smallness takes balance.
Looking up and out into the vastness of the universe may lead us to topple backwards, disturbing our moment of awe. Laying on our backs for the view may allow us to slip into slumber.
Noting our relationship to infinity and appreciating it takes presence, and presence requires balance.
Gevurah in Hod - Day 30 of the Omer
Gevurah, power and structure, in Hod, humility and awe for grandeur - the greatness of the universe, a grand structure indeed, offers us plenty of reason to have awe and be humble.
Chesed in Hod - Day 29 of the Omer
Chesed, kindness, in Hod, humble grace - our week exploring smallness informed by awe starts with merciful compassion.
Accepting our powerlessness creates grace, and we must be kind to ourselves to avoid self-negation.