Dunking Rachael: September 2010

Friday, September 17, 2010

Gemar Chatimah Tovah

I am wishing all Tsom Kal.....

I am truly inspired! I have been in a good space and have been able to channel kavanah....hopefully when my stomach starts to grumble and I start to feel a bit dehydrated I will be able to continue to find that higher place.

Last night we had a synagogue board meeting. Nothing unusual in that...but the Rabbi in a few moments before we got into it talked about our theme...or better yet our aspiration...."Aim Higher"

Weather in prayer or service our aspiration is clear to aim higher...I am wishing all the same...to find a place in their hearts and homes to aim higher!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Shana Tova!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Jews in Space and Other Fun Stuff

One of my favorite Web sites in my "Jew-niverise" is My Jewish learning http://www.myjewishlearning.com/ they have always had wonderful emails and learning opportunities. Recently they have started something called Jewniverise. It is an email of fun, funny or interesting factoids. I have found it immensely interesting. below is the one I found in my inbox this morning.

September 7, 2010
Rabbis in Space

Jack Dann is a brilliant science fiction writer. He's also Jewish--though in much of his writing, that’s merely a fun background fact. But Dann's classic short story "Jumping the Road," originally published in 1992, is a wonderful exception to the rule
--a story about aliens, Jews, and Jews who are aliens.

In the far future, humans discover a planet named Ulim (similar to the Hebrew word for "world") with a small population of native Jews. These alien Jews have a parallel history to Earth's Chosen People--they have the same Torah, the same rituals, the same Hebrew language, and even wear the same kind of tallit (prayer shawl) as their cousins across the galaxy. But the Ulim Jews are only three feet tall, with scaly alligator skin.

A Hasidic Master on Earth sends the fun, grumpy Isaac ibn Chabib to Ulim to investigate. Soon, he unearths a much larger (and stranger) story than simply two parallel Jewish histories. We won't give away the whole plot, but let's just say that it involves plum brandy, time-traveling talmudic rabbis, and a whole lot more.

Monday, September 6, 2010

My Personal Selichot

Our synagogue was having a very lovely program on Saturday night. First our Rabbi joined forces with the local Modern Orthodox Shull to do an educational round table, then we would walk to our synagogue at 11:00 pm for our Selichot service.....

I am sure it was great......but I wouldn't know...I fell asleep! Yup missed the entire thing sleeping on my couch!

I felt terrible about this, but what could I do! The following day my husband and I had plans to spend some time at the beach. So I decided to have my own personal Selichot moment.

I took the copy of the new conservative Mahzor to the beach and read it. Ok I feel some what like a study nerd!...but the new edition is wonderful!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Rabbi Dan

The below post came via my Facebook link to New York City's 92nd Street Y in Tribecca, the newer location for the famous NYC Jewish institution. It is a magnificent place, and if you are in the neighborhood check out their cafe it is yummy and Kosher.

Yet the reason for this post is I guess is why the Orthodox keep men and women separate at most all times..... CHECK OUT THE RABBI!

Ok, I will be 50 years old in March, and more than likely have shirts older than this guy...but it struck me he isn't hard to look at.I don't mean to be objectifying him. I am sure he is extremely learned and has a wonderful spirit. But I must say I have not met many Rabbis that look like that!

Shabbat Shalom Y'all!

Friday, September 03, 2010

Google CEO Has 92YTribeca Rabbi Dan Thinking
Dan Ain, 92YTribeca’s new Rabbi-in-Residence, is thinking about the High Holidays. Specifically, his thoughts have turned to the new technological world we live, with astonishing access to information:

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, was recently quoted in The Wall Street Journal, commenting on a society where “...everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time.” He predicts that every young person one day will be entitled automatically to change his or her name on reaching adulthood in order to disown youthful hijinks stored on their friends’ social media sites. Has technology really taken us to the point that we all need to change our names because of some careless photo posted years ago? Have we become that unforgiving?

If the web means the “end of forgetting” as outlined by a recent New York Times Magazine cover story, then we truly have all begun to see our lives through a technological lens.

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur provide us with the opportunity to get back to using our own eyes, our own senses, so that we can reconnect with the person we want to be, as opposed to what our technology needs us to be. Maybe then we can remember how to forgive each other and forgive ourselves, without having to resort to changing our names.

Celebrate the High Holidays with Rabbi Dan when he leads Rosh Hashanah services on September 8th and 9th, and Yom Kippur services on September 17th and 18th.

Beit Din test Question #22 "If you were to join the Jewish people......."

22) If you were to join the Jewish people, what considerations would guide you to that decision? How did your course help you to recognize some meaningful ideas to Judaism? Are there some things you have learned in the course that you find difficult to accept into your life?

I have been a thinker and a seeker for most of my life. I have explored many faiths, been involved in and have a keen interest in philosophy and psychology. I was raised in an Irish/Italian Catholic home. I lived as a Buddhist/Unitarian Universalist for most of my adult life and previously was married for 20 years to a Jewish man who did not practice his faith of origin. At the birth of my child, now 19, I sought to learn as much as I could about Judaism in order to expose this child to the faith of part of her ancestors. So I come to this new point in my life with all my experiences, knowledge and aspirations.

But the question remains how did I come to consider conversion? It is though love that the door of conversion was opened. I fell in love with a Jewish man who participates in his religion, yet he did not require me to convert, pressure me, or in any way attempt to persuade or force me. This exploration of faith was of my choosing, my volition, nurtured by love.

Clearly I am not dogmatically tied to my faith of origin, seeing that the religious expressions which dominated my adult life have been mostly non-theistic. The major change/challenge for me is in the consideration/acceptance of a theistic understanding of existence. Through explorations with my sponsoring Rabbi, reading, (lots of reading!) and the Hillel class I have come to an understanding of the divine, a place of relationship with a theistic point of view that resonates within me.

To help to articulate this I refer to the work of existentialist thinker and Jewish educator Franz Rosenzweig.

“The function of religion, according to Rosenzweig, is not to erect theological systems or establish universal truths, but to lead to experience of God, starting from one's own personal existence. He "commends 'the Pharisees of the Talmud and the saints of the Church' for knowing that 'man's understanding extends only so far as his doing.' Religious observance is, in effect, the doing of one's religious convictions; the two cannot be separated."
“(Time Magizine Monday, Jan. 01, 1951 , http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814185,00.html)

For Rosenzweig the written word was to be less important than the living exchange, for it is in the doing that the relationship to God will manifest. This idea blends well with my own mindfulness practices. These practices express that it is in the awareness of the moment, the only moment we truly have, where peace and divinity can be experienced.
Through my answers on this exam, my participation in the class and my meetings with my sponsoring Rabbi, I believe I clearly present that I am coming to know, and hopefully I am beginning to understand the meaningful ideas in relationship to Judaism. Clearly there is so much to learn, and experience.

I am most taken by the direct experience of the divine associated with taking on the laws and practices of this ancient faith. I have aspirations to practice in this tradition, but once again they can be best articulated through Rosenzweig:
“Rosenzweig’s approach was subjective also in connection with the mitzvot, Jewish observances. He did think that he would one day become a fully observant Jew, but believed in the gradual approach in which the observances slowly made their impact by “ringing a bell” for him. Typical of this approach is Rosenzweig’s answer to someone who asked him whether he wore tefillin [phylacteries]: “Not yet,” he replied.”
(My Jewish Learning.com http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history_community/Modern/IntellectualTO/Rosenzweig.htm)

Like the bell of mindfulness practice, the mitzvot, the mindfulness practice of Judaism, will take time to incorporated and to resonate within. Like the ringing of the mindfulness bell, or the sounding of the Shofar, the act of doing Judaic practices pierces the daily, the mundane and hopefully will help to awaken me to an even richer and more connective relationship with the Jewish people and the divine.