Join us for our end of season "Under the Bridge" - Shabbat celebration in Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 1. 6:30pm BYOPicnic.
Today would have been my Imma's birthday. "Imma" means "mom" in Hebrew and what she loved to be called. I loved calling her "Mamma". Judith Ann Phillips would have turned 78. "Happy Birthday Imma/Mamma!"
Today's Torah is a tribute to her. In this season of preparing for the High HOLY Days, I am confronted with my own personal reflection around the past year, who I am and who I want to be in this coming year. This is a powerful time to get back in touch with my true self. It takes effort and honesty. I am able to do this (some years better than others) because of my mom.
I am grateful beyond measure for having been her daughter and extremely blessed to have known her. She was always honest, always present and always supportive (even when she didn't agree with my decision). She was also always late and always searching for the "thing" she was looking for. She didn't bake cookies. In fact she told me when I was very young that at school when the class starts planning a party I could only volunteer to bring napkins (sometimes plates but only if necessary). My mom was the smartest person I have ever known and she always lived in accordance with her values, no matter what. She had this incredibly ability to not care if speaking the truth would make others uncomfortable or make her unpopular. This made me very uncomfortable when I was younger. As an adult, I try hard to emulate this quality. My mom always helped the "other" and most of the time she didn't say anything. She was incredibly competitive. When we played Monopoly, she used to tell my younger brother that Baltic (dark purple) was better than Park Place (dark blue). He believed her for a while. She was ruthless at Scrabble and crossword puzzles. My mom didn't have to be right, but she pretty much always was. She loved her family, antiquing and flea markets, travel, puzzles and dogs.
She continues to be present and inspires me to be my best. I love you Imma/Mamma.
Who inspires you to be your best? Who enables you to be present in this season of reflection? If they are alive, tell them. If they aren't, tell someone about them.
We are a People of people. Our connections to the other enable tremendous capacity for growth and accomplishment.
What will we do together in the coming year? How will use this time and the changes we make as tools for bringing us closer to one another and closer to achieving our goals?
Shabbat shalom u'mevorach -
May Shabbat be filled with rest and blessing.
Laurie
9.9.16 Are you ready?
Are you coming to dinner? Let's celebrate Shabbat together with great people, rich melody and delicious food! Details below.
How is your ELUL check-in going? Are you taking time to reflect? Are you breathing into the narrow places? Are you getting ready for the Holy Days?
Love is powerful. It can elevate us to great heights. It can provide meaning and depth. In order to fully love, we must first love ourselves. The month of ELUL gives us four weeks to engage in the intentional practice loving ourselves. This can bring us closer to being able to fully love the other.
A poem by Leonard Nimoy. This poem is part of a longer work that was published in 1973 that included a blend of poetry and black and white photography.
I am not immortal.
Whatever I put off for later
May never be.
Whoever doesn't know now
That I love them
May never know.
I have killed time.
I have squandered it.
I have lost days...weeks...
As a man of unlimited wealth
Might drop coins on the street
And never look back.
I know now, that there will be an end,
A limit.
But there is time
Valuable and precious time
To walk,
talk,
breathe.
Time to touch,
taste,
care.
To warm the child
Who is cold and lonely.
There is time to love
I promise myself...
I will.
I am
I am ready
I am ready to give
I am ready to give and to receive
I am ready to give and to receive love
Whatever I put off for later
May never be.
Whoever doesn't know now
That I love them
May never know.
I have killed time.
I have squandered it.
I have lost days...weeks...
As a man of unlimited wealth
Might drop coins on the street
And never look back.
I know now, that there will be an end,
A limit.
But there is time
Valuable and precious time
To walk,
talk,
breathe.
Time to touch,
taste,
care.
To warm the child
Who is cold and lonely.
There is time to love
I promise myself...
I will.
I am
I am ready
I am ready to give
I am ready to give and to receive
I am ready to give and to receive love
Shabbat shalom u'mevorach. Wishing you and yours a Shabbat filled with rest and blessing.
Laurie
9.1.16 Welcome Back and Welcome To...
Welcome Back SHABBAT BEINEINU! Remember? Fantastic musical, everybody welcome, everybody friendly services followed by a fantastically yummy dinner? It's back! Friday, September 9th. All Angels' Church - details below. Register now. Yes! Right now!
Welcome back "a little Torah". It's been some time since we last engaged. I hope your summer has been filled with relaxation, refreshment and joy. For those of you who are making a face because your summer was filled with everything but R&R, you are in luck!
Welcome to ELUL. In the Torah it is simply referenced as the sixth month in the calendar. It is the last month in the Jewish calendar and is thought to originally come from the Akadian word "harvest". Some commentators say it comes from the Akadian root which means "search". "Thank You!" Wikipedia. This will make sense in a moment. This is a very special month in the Jewish calendar (Shhh! Don't tell the other months.) Elul is our kick off into the season of our High and Holy Days. This evening, marks the start of our formal countdown, actually more like a "countUP". We have 29 days to get ourselves ready for the start of 5777. We have 29 days to reflect and refresh.
ELUL is also an acronym. In Hebrew it is spelled aleph - lamed - vav - lamed; אֱלוּל.
Aleph = ani = I am
Lamed = l'dodi = to my beloved
Vav = v'dodi = and my beloved [is]
Lamed = li = to me
Perhaps the "countUP" is a path to our beloved and will then lead our beloved to us. If we engage in a process of reflection and refreshment we will come that much closer to encountering our beloved. But how? It's easy to say "reflect"! "Refresh!" But how do we go through a meaningful process? According to tradition there are a few ways; we are supposed to listen to the shofar blasts every morning, recite Psalm 27, give tzedakah and engage the process of repentance. Too much to do to wait until Yom Kippur to start. This last one is truly transformative. If you haven't ever formally repented, I highly recommend trying it out. The first step is the hardest; identifying the "sin". That's a pretty harsh word because this is about pretty harsh actions. We aren't talking about that one time when we might have judged someone's outfit harshly or arrived 20 minutes late for lunch with a friend. We are talking about heavy duty sinning. We all have 'em. And now it's time to come clean, first with ourself and then with the one we harmed. We need to name, regret, acknowledge the damage and resolve never to repeat the sin in the future. This takes guts and this takes time. I believe that seeing ourselves as beloved (to ourselves and to others) enables us to take on this challenge.
Rosh Hashanah will come whether we choose to move through the month of Elul with intentionality or not. The High Holy Days are coming regardless of our practice of reflection and refreshment. But, imagine how much more meaningful and how much richer our journey will be if it begins now.
Mekor Ha'Chayiim, Source of Strength, as we enter the month of Elul and move through Shabbat, may we see ourselves as beloved. May we have the courage we need to begin our process of repentance with intentionality.
Shabbat shalom u'mevorach. Wishing everyone a peaceful and blessed Shabbat,
Laurie
Welcome back "a little Torah". It's been some time since we last engaged. I hope your summer has been filled with relaxation, refreshment and joy. For those of you who are making a face because your summer was filled with everything but R&R, you are in luck!
Welcome to ELUL. In the Torah it is simply referenced as the sixth month in the calendar. It is the last month in the Jewish calendar and is thought to originally come from the Akadian word "harvest". Some commentators say it comes from the Akadian root which means "search". "Thank You!" Wikipedia. This will make sense in a moment. This is a very special month in the Jewish calendar (Shhh! Don't tell the other months.) Elul is our kick off into the season of our High and Holy Days. This evening, marks the start of our formal countdown, actually more like a "countUP". We have 29 days to get ourselves ready for the start of 5777. We have 29 days to reflect and refresh.
ELUL is also an acronym. In Hebrew it is spelled aleph - lamed - vav - lamed; אֱלוּל.
Aleph = ani = I am
Lamed = l'dodi = to my beloved
Vav = v'dodi = and my beloved [is]
Lamed = li = to me
Perhaps the "countUP" is a path to our beloved and will then lead our beloved to us. If we engage in a process of reflection and refreshment we will come that much closer to encountering our beloved. But how? It's easy to say "reflect"! "Refresh!" But how do we go through a meaningful process? According to tradition there are a few ways; we are supposed to listen to the shofar blasts every morning, recite Psalm 27, give tzedakah and engage the process of repentance. Too much to do to wait until Yom Kippur to start. This last one is truly transformative. If you haven't ever formally repented, I highly recommend trying it out. The first step is the hardest; identifying the "sin". That's a pretty harsh word because this is about pretty harsh actions. We aren't talking about that one time when we might have judged someone's outfit harshly or arrived 20 minutes late for lunch with a friend. We are talking about heavy duty sinning. We all have 'em. And now it's time to come clean, first with ourself and then with the one we harmed. We need to name, regret, acknowledge the damage and resolve never to repeat the sin in the future. This takes guts and this takes time. I believe that seeing ourselves as beloved (to ourselves and to others) enables us to take on this challenge.
Rosh Hashanah will come whether we choose to move through the month of Elul with intentionality or not. The High Holy Days are coming regardless of our practice of reflection and refreshment. But, imagine how much more meaningful and how much richer our journey will be if it begins now.
Mekor Ha'Chayiim, Source of Strength, as we enter the month of Elul and move through Shabbat, may we see ourselves as beloved. May we have the courage we need to begin our process of repentance with intentionality.
Shabbat shalom u'mevorach. Wishing everyone a peaceful and blessed Shabbat,
Laurie
7.28.16 A little break
A little Torah will return in September.
In the meantime, be kind, be patient and be present.
In blessing and friendship. Shabbat shalom,
Laurie
In the meantime, be kind, be patient and be present.
In blessing and friendship. Shabbat shalom,
Laurie
7.22.16 A little Poetry
Written by my friend Jen Fecu on July 4, 2016.
Jen is a mom of two adult daughters, studying towards her Bachelor's degree. She is smart, beautiful, warm, thoughtful and curious. Jen is currently an inmate at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility serving "25 to Life".
"Positive"
How can I counter
the maladaptive culture
I am Immersed in
The very nature of the beast
That incarcerated me
Is to divide and conquer.
---------
Education
and sharing
and understanding
and using it wisely
to up-lift self and others is
the only weapon
we have to use
against the oppression.
----------
Education OPENS my eyes
to what is and why.
I can CREATE real growth.
Cultivated, it is developed from
within me. Immersed
IN a culture that IS violent,
HOW CAN IT NOT BE
Internalized.
----------
I brace myself
with Honesty and Integrity
to build myself up and
to lead by example, My Daughters.
---------
Can there be a greater
Purpose in this life than
to become a conscious
driving Force in the Fight
for equality amongst this human race.
Jen is a mom of two adult daughters, studying towards her Bachelor's degree. She is smart, beautiful, warm, thoughtful and curious. Jen is currently an inmate at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility serving "25 to Life".
"Positive"
How can I counter
the maladaptive culture
I am Immersed in
The very nature of the beast
That incarcerated me
Is to divide and conquer.
---------
Education
and sharing
and understanding
and using it wisely
to up-lift self and others is
the only weapon
we have to use
against the oppression.
----------
Education OPENS my eyes
to what is and why.
I can CREATE real growth.
Cultivated, it is developed from
within me. Immersed
IN a culture that IS violent,
HOW CAN IT NOT BE
Internalized.
----------
I brace myself
with Honesty and Integrity
to build myself up and
to lead by example, My Daughters.
---------
Can there be a greater
Purpose in this life than
to become a conscious
driving Force in the Fight
for equality amongst this human race.
7.15.16 BE KIND! The rest is commentary.
It seems we have reached a new understanding of normal. Terrorist attacks are happening daily and we only know about the ones that are carried out. There are may more attempts, I am sure.
We are saddened and shocked (but perhaps not as much as before) by the news of yet another terrorist attack in France. On July 14th, at least 84 people were killed and more than 100 injured when terrorists drove a motor vehicle into a crowd in Nice, France, that was celebrating Bastille Day.
We have a responsibility to speak out against this evil, and to stand against the hateful ideology that fuels it. As we move into Shabbat, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the people of France and all of those around the world who are victims of terror.
Let's start by being kind to one another and to the other. Let this not simply be thoughts in our minds or words we utter. Kindness is possible. We can all be kind - IF we choose. Let's choose to intentionally and actively show kindness throughout our day. Who knows what is possible?
Makor Ha'Chayiim, Source of Life, may we commit to action that helps ensure safety and dignity to everyone.
We are saddened and shocked (but perhaps not as much as before) by the news of yet another terrorist attack in France. On July 14th, at least 84 people were killed and more than 100 injured when terrorists drove a motor vehicle into a crowd in Nice, France, that was celebrating Bastille Day.
We have a responsibility to speak out against this evil, and to stand against the hateful ideology that fuels it. As we move into Shabbat, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the people of France and all of those around the world who are victims of terror.
Let's start by being kind to one another and to the other. Let this not simply be thoughts in our minds or words we utter. Kindness is possible. We can all be kind - IF we choose. Let's choose to intentionally and actively show kindness throughout our day. Who knows what is possible?
Makor Ha'Chayiim, Source of Life, may we commit to action that helps ensure safety and dignity to everyone.
7.8.16 A little Israel
Hello from Israel. I hope everyone is well and able to enjoy a little R&R during these summer months.
I am writing from Israel where I am attending a 10 day study seminar at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. Close to 200 rabbis from North America and Israel, are exploring the topic of Jewish identity. We are blessed to learn from a wide array of great scholars. I am looking forward to sharing my learning with all of you.
My first trip to Israel was with my family in 1978. I was ten years old. My father was a volunteer dentist on Kibbutz Nachshonim for two months. It was an incredible summer. Coming from life in suburbia, I tasted my first layer of independence. I was sleeping in the "10 yr old house", taking buses into the city of Petach Tikveh with my friends (and without any adults) and speaking Hebrew. It was heaven. I have returned over 25 times and am grateful for all of the incredible opportunities I have experienced.
I have often said that my soul was born in Israel and my body in America. I love America and I love living in New York (Go Harlem!). But, there is a part of me that feels I breathe more fully when I am here. How can it be that the place I love so deeply can also break my heart?
This past week I learned about the extensive work of "Leket Israel", Israel's largest food bank providing surplus food to hundreds of thousands of people and visited Palestinian villages in the southernmost West Bank, where most residents are poor, living in temporary structures and subsisting on farming and grazing of flocks.
To say Israel is a complex country is insufficient and simplistic. Israel experiences tremendous successes and challenges, overcomes many hardships and makes decisions that do not always demonstrate respect for all people. Successes include the invention of INTEL, Natafim - drip irrigation enabling millions to have food through developing a way to have agriculture in desert areas, and the PillCam (aka capsule endoscopy). The religious, economic and political challenges are vast and permeate all facets of society. There are many who wonder if they can ever be resolved.
My hope is that we will each find ways to be engaged and involved in Israel. My prayer is that Israel will be a place where equality and justice are available to everyone. Our commitment to be involved plays a critical role in bringing the prayer to fruition. I look forward to exploring possibilities together..
Shabbat Shalom,
Laurie
I am writing from Israel where I am attending a 10 day study seminar at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. Close to 200 rabbis from North America and Israel, are exploring the topic of Jewish identity. We are blessed to learn from a wide array of great scholars. I am looking forward to sharing my learning with all of you.
My first trip to Israel was with my family in 1978. I was ten years old. My father was a volunteer dentist on Kibbutz Nachshonim for two months. It was an incredible summer. Coming from life in suburbia, I tasted my first layer of independence. I was sleeping in the "10 yr old house", taking buses into the city of Petach Tikveh with my friends (and without any adults) and speaking Hebrew. It was heaven. I have returned over 25 times and am grateful for all of the incredible opportunities I have experienced.
I have often said that my soul was born in Israel and my body in America. I love America and I love living in New York (Go Harlem!). But, there is a part of me that feels I breathe more fully when I am here. How can it be that the place I love so deeply can also break my heart?
This past week I learned about the extensive work of "Leket Israel", Israel's largest food bank providing surplus food to hundreds of thousands of people and visited Palestinian villages in the southernmost West Bank, where most residents are poor, living in temporary structures and subsisting on farming and grazing of flocks.
To say Israel is a complex country is insufficient and simplistic. Israel experiences tremendous successes and challenges, overcomes many hardships and makes decisions that do not always demonstrate respect for all people. Successes include the invention of INTEL, Natafim - drip irrigation enabling millions to have food through developing a way to have agriculture in desert areas, and the PillCam (aka capsule endoscopy). The religious, economic and political challenges are vast and permeate all facets of society. There are many who wonder if they can ever be resolved.
My hope is that we will each find ways to be engaged and involved in Israel. My prayer is that Israel will be a place where equality and justice are available to everyone. Our commitment to be involved plays a critical role in bringing the prayer to fruition. I look forward to exploring possibilities together..
Shabbat Shalom,
Laurie
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