LIght and Shadow in Ned Wolf Park

I just read a piece by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Israel, Hillel, and Idolotry. It is a wonderful analysis of the current events at Swarthmore College Hillel and International Hillel over Swarthmore's Hillel board declaring itself to be an "Open Hillel" in defiance of norms set down by international Hillel. Those norms define who can speak at Hillel. Waskow evaluates Hillel's policy through the lens of trying to understand what spiritual idolatry is.

Waskow writes,

What is idolatry? Worshipping any being – person, object, institution, community – as if it were Divine. “Carving it out” and “bowing down to it” as the Ten Commandments describe and forbid. (Exod. 20: 4). Not only “carving out” a physical object, a statue, but carving out from the One Great Flow of Life a piece that must not be criticized, not be questioned. A piece not only to be loved and honored for its usefulness and beauty, not only to be seen as a temporary aspect in service to that Unity — but treated as an Ultimate, Unchangeable good.

In the context of Waskow's article, I was reminded of the poem HavdallahPassages in Poetry. Each poem is set to music by Aminadav Aloni. The musical notation for each poem is included in the volume.

Here is Schulweis' poem.

Havdallah
Black into white
light into shadow
blessing into curse
doubt into belief.

Nothing comes divided
neatly severed
cut off
one half from another
trimmed polarities.

Nothing is given pure, simple, unalloyed.
Nothing is given in halves
except—idolatries.

In strange worship
halves and quarters
pretend wholeness.
A small coin held close to the eye
blocks out the world
and everything appears draped in darkness.

Simple solutions
blur distinctions
confusing blindness
with wholeness.

Light and shadow
sweet and bitter
the admixture is inseparable.

Accept it whole
fragrance and galbanum
together
elements of sanctified incense.

Accept it whole
yet not without distinction.
Ours is not theirs
day is not night.

Accept it whole
but not with cruel division
that amputates organic wholeness.

Accept it whole
without the conceit of absorption
to swallow up
the shadow side with light.

Accept it whole
not renting whole cloth
into convenient rags
sundering the universe
into segregated parts:
good and evil
week and Sabbath
them and us.

Divisions desecrate
hard disjunctives
rip apart
the underlying unity
the possibility of reconciliation.

Hallow the link between
darkness and light
mundane and festive
others and us.

Hallow the circles
which demark separate styles
but also the outer lines
that penetrate each other
without assimilation.

Creation and separation
Kiddush and Havdalah
different wines
different candles.
Shabbat shalom
shavua tov.

Boaz Chillin' in Advance of Cateract Surgery

Boaz is having cataract surgery this Tuesday. He has two cataracts. The surgery is actually going to be on the one that is less far along; there is a better prognosis on that one for a good outcome.

Boaz' anxiety has increased lately and we are hoping that being able to see better will help home.

But since he can't really know what is coming, he can't stress about it!

Yesterday, my 13-year old son and I attended the Dover 400 NASCAR race in Dover, DE.

It was my son who had initiated the outing. I had appreciated how he had pursued his interest in NASCAR for about one year. It is an interest that none of his friends share. The fact that he was willing to pursue interests outside his peer group's, I viewed as a positive that I wanted to support.

And as for me, I'm an adventurer. Shucks, I went to China to learn about Chinese culture. Going to Dover to see NASCAR was an adventure which required far less commitment. Why not?

The race was not like anything I have experienced. The sound emanating from the 43 cars was so loud that talking was pointless. I couldn't hear anyone speak. And if I had chosen to speak, no one would have been able to hear me. Ironically, the cars' sound-that-trumped-all-sound created the functional equivalent of silence. Who would have thought that going to NASCAR had a bunch of similarities with attending a meditation retreat?

I think it is important to understand Palestinian claims against Israel. It is precisely the imagining of the perspective of one's adversary that I believe is so critical in order to get beyond violence as a means for "solving" our disputes.

Apartment and Skyscraper in Manhattan: Photo by Shai Gluskin. August 12, 2008 at 7:54:32 PM, somewhere in Manhattan.Tonight begins the 9th Day of the Omer (Arpil 27-28, 2011).

May that part of me that is broken in Gevurah in Gevurah be healed on this day.

One of the meanings of Gevurah is limitation. It's one of the forces that blocks our way back to the Garden of Eden. Gevurah sets the ultimate limit, our mortality. It also supports boundaries of all kinds, including the beginning and ending of Shabbat and the distinctions between permissible behavior as against transgression.

Gevurah works diligently against all of our delusions of grandeur. It exposes the falseness of our optimistic forecasts regarding when we will arrive and when that assignment will be completed.

Today, April 22-22, is the third day of the omer (tiferet in chesed).

I'm very pleased in the course of my web development work to have helped out Congregation Mishkan Shalom create a wonderful omer counting section of their web site with a daily email with teachings from Rabbi Yael Levy. Please check out Mishkan Shalom's Omer Counting Web Site and sign up for the emails.

I just re-read my post from three years ago. There I talked about the struggle for us to really take in our successes! Indeed!

On the occasion of my 53rd birthday, I want to begin to describe my feelings about the state of the world and my role in it.

Two scenes from a broken world:

1. A new Drupal user is having a hard time figuring out how he can change the "Read more" label.
2. The Palestinian West Bank village of Awata is being subjected to collective punishment by the Israel Defense Forces in the wake of the horrendous murder of the Fogel family. Awata is just next to the settlement of Ithamar, where the Fogel killing happened.

Photoshopped Talmud by Shai Gluskin

Inspired by reading a recent interview in HEEB with Douglas Rushkoff "New Commands, Old Programs", I wanted to share ran old proposal I dug up that I thought of while reading the Rushkoff article.

My Rosh Machaneh of Machaneh Bonim (camp director at a Habonim movement leadership camp that was in Hunter, New York that I attended in 1975) and current president of Ameinu (the new name of the Labor Zionist Alliance) wrote an opinion piece for the Forward. The following is my response. I have posted it as a comment on the Forward.com last night but it appears comments might not be working there at the current time.

Ken Bob makes two points:

I have some books that I'd like to find new homes for... Let me know if you are interested in any of these books. I'm giving them away for free if you can pick them up at my house in West Mt. Airy, Philly.

Leave a comment letting me (and other readers) know which one(s) you want and I'll set it aside for you. It'll be on my front porch with your name on it. But let me know about when you think you can pick it up.

Shai