[img_assist|nid=212|title="Scream" Roller Coaster at Magic Mountain|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=500|height=374]

Shabbat was the 6th day of the Omer (Arpil 25-26, 2008).

May that part of me that is broken in Yesod in Chesed be healed.

On Wednesday I took my kids to Six Flags Magic Mountain outside Los Angeles. We are visiting family in LA, on vacation, why not?

My kids love roller coasters. I had no illusion that I would go on all the rides with them. But I had not expected to become sick from riding one. Indeed I thought I was taking precautions by only going on coasters that my kids had already ridden, and even then, only after querying them, "What's the nausea factor on that one?". It turns out that "nausea factor" is not a universal and/or cross-generational unit of measure. I managed to avoid having to bow down to the porcelain goddess, but I was not a happy camper.

[img_assist|nid=210|title=Shai at Play and Work|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500|height=409]

Tonight begins the 5th Day of the Omer (Arpil 24-25, 2008).

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

Everyday we see things that are broken and every day there are opportunities to fix things. I think that people have an innate desire to fix things. The Internet has shown how people are willing to staff bulletin boards, to help others, whether its learning how to parent, use a power-drill, or navigate software, folks gain pleasure in helping.

These informal settings have shown the power and productivity of informal exchanges of information. Our institutions, business, government, not-for-profit all could learn a lot from this revolution in information exchange.

But institutions are often about the control of information and not its flow.

Hod in Chesed. Reverberating, loving, commitment. Don't wait for an institution to create the opportunity to fix what is broken. Share knowledge with someone who seeks it. Find partners to create new solutions. Encourage institutions to become more open. The tools of participation are everywhere. Don't wait to be asked.

[img_assist|nid=208|title=Grandparents and Bat Mitzvah|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=476|height=323]

Tonight begins the 4th Day of the Omer (Arpil 23-24, 2008).

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

Netzach means enduring, forever, eternity, and even victory. In the context of this first week, chesed, lovingkindness, love-in-commitment, is calling us to experience the joy that can come out of commitment, particularly long-term commitments. It's the opposite of ambivalence. It's the opposite of:

• I wish I had a better job
• I wish I had better friends
• I wish I had a better partner

So often our culture frames long-term commitments/relationships as confining. Netzach in Chesed is asking us to see such commitments and relationships as expansive, freeing, joyful, and nourishing.

The following micro-practices have helped me try to develop the ability to ward off ambivalence and embrace long-term connection:

• Follow through on appointments, only reschedule for true emergencies.
• Turn off or ignore my cell phone when I'm in a conversation.
• Be on time.
• Not second-guess myself after I've made decisions.
• Embrace fulfilling of obligations, even when I know the decision to make that obligation was a poor one.

Just because I'm writing this doesn't mean I'm successful at the items on this list... especially being on time.

Galapagos Perspective

Tonight begins the 3rd Day of the Omer (Arpil 22-23, 2008).

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

Tiferet is the peek of sefira mountain.

Tiferet helps with perspective. In combination with Chesed, committed love, it's about getting a clear vision of one's own successes, about feeling the love that others have for you.

I definitely have my struggles taking in my successes. I'm quick to add a "but" when friends congratulate me.

So I thought I'd take a moment to create a short list of recent experiences I've had when I was able to take in the love or accomplishment.

• Giggling moments with my kids as we teach each other a faux Italian, invented in our house.
• The love and generosity from Sarah in making me a 50th birthday party, and the love I felt from my friends who attended.
• Early successes in my new business

My we find the mountaintop, that place of clarity, close to our hearts so we can fully take in the love directed toward us. May we feel the gravity of our daily successes.

[img_assist|nid=204|title=Cactus in the Galapagos by Shai Gluskin|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500|height=376]

Monday night April 21, 2008 - to Tuesday April 22, is the second day of the omer.

"Projection" is that project of the psyche which creates reality based on one's own experiences, fears, longings, assumptions, values, perspective while under the illusion that external sources supply the datum for what one sees.

Congregants hold projections about the piety or the belief systems of their religious leaders. Parents hold projections about who their children are, spouses about their partners.

Ceremony and symbolism in part gain their power from projection. The High Priest atoning for the community of Israel in the Holy of Holies requires projection from the people.

Albatross Flying
Albatross Face Shot
Blue-footed Booby and Babe
Marine Iguana Looking at Ocean View

Sunday night April 20, 2008 - to Monday April 21, the 16th Day of the month of Nisan, is the first day of the omer.

And Adonay God created... and it was good.

Last summer I travelled to the Galapogos Islands with my in-laws, Richard and Barbara Braun and extended family. The Brauns initiated the trip and recruited all their children and grandchildren. It was a long time dream for them to see this amazing archipelago together with those closest to them.

[img_assist|nid=198|title=Omer Counting Sefirot Scheme|desc=|link=url|url=/image/view/198/_original|align=left|width=500|height=146]

I'm launching my journal again for 5768/2008.

In this omer journal, I take a Jewish-mythic point-of-view which presumes that I, personally, together with all Jews past, present and future, left Egypt and stood at Mt. Sinai together. This perspective challenges each Jew to join the Jewish experience and not be limited by the actual historical time period in which one lives. This perspective places human imagination at the center of religious engagement.

Our leaving Egypt is only the beginning of our path to liberation. Free from the bonds of Pharaoh, we seek a better, more human life. We begin this journey by the shores of the Nile. We look back in awe at a sea now appearing normal after having miraculously parted. But what now?

What law will replace Pharoah's law? What kind of society will replace one founded on slavery?

Boaz Searches for Chametz

[You can listen to an audio version of this post.]

The night before the first Passover seder, or in this case two nights before the seder, because the Passover starts on a Saturday night), it is a traditional Jewish custom to search for chametz (Yiddish pronunciation—chometz.) Chametz is all the stuff you can't eat on Passover, bread being the most famous food in that category.

After clearing one's house of the offending foods in advance of Pesach, there is a formal chametz clearing ceremony in which one actually places chametz onto areas one has just cleaned. You then turn out the lights, and by the light of a candle, and with the help of a spoon and feather (some save the lulav palm frond from the Sukkot holiday), the young, or young at heart, sweep up the violating materials that have just been put out.

Lunar Eclipse in Process. 9:57 P.M. EST - 10:16 P.M. EST

Total Lunar Eclipse, from Outside the Henry School, West Mt. Airy PA. 10:14 P.M. EST

Sarah remembers
there is an eclipse tonight.
We all go outside.

Earth in front of Moon.
Sarah, Gabriel, Sophia.
Boaz is not with us.

Earth in front of moon.
My camera mediates.
Cold air stings my hands.

See Dave Bonta's wonderful pics and description of the eclipse.

I've uploaded the the set of photos to Flickr if you want to look at them in a slideshow or closer up.