To Jew

Tags

intention, Jew, kavanah

To Jew: Jew as a verb.

What are the dimensions of Jew? How is Jew a verb?

1. frequency
2. intensity
3. duration
4. intention

Frequency: I am a Jew on Friday night or Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur or all day every day.

Intensity: I am a Jew with fervor when I approach it or I am a quiet Jew and no one knows.

Duration: I just started or I have been this way since I was born.

Intention: I am a Jew with pure Kavanah or I try when I can.

Are these the dimension to the verb Jew? Do you agree? Watch this clip and see what Rabbi Schacter Shalomi has to say. Affirmations, Dream World, Jew is a Verb not Noun by Rabbi Shacter Shaolmi

I jew everyday, with moderate intensity, for 14 years and I try to use full intension.

Thank you for Shabbat

Tags

daughter, Friday, Shabbat

Thank you YHVH

for taking a rest

and giving us Shabbat

For the last week was rough

I needed this respite

My daughter has left

She had to make a choice

to live by our rules

or to find her own way

It was not easy

The week was long

On Friday night

I closed my eyes

and let the rhythm of Shabbat

wash over me

I prayed that you would spread

your succah of peace

over my daughter

and help her find her way

Thank you

Repent enough?

Tags

New Year, repentance, teshuva

Repent, is that the same as Teshuva? What is Teshuva?

Many times Teshuva is translated as repentance. Repentance is the acknowledgment of the wrongdoing or sin then taking the sin and performing prayer or focus to change. To repent is not enough. Teshuva requires repentance, change of behavior and return to G-d.

So how do you know when you have done to Teshuva?

• You have acknowledged the wrongdoing
• You have turned your focus away from the sin
• You have actively started to meditate and pray on the change
• You have encountered the temptation again and avoided perpetrating the wrong again
• You have returned to doing mitzvot as asked
• You continue to do the above

Do you do Teshuva? What are the things you need to work on? Call it a New Years resolution and it will be our secret.

Living Jewish within the grid

Tags

being Jewish, community, practice

I do not feel any ideological need to remove my family from the grid and go live in a trailer in the deep woods of Maine. However, at times I have the feeling that I have done so within the grid.

I live in a community that has many Jewish people. Some very active communities exist all around me. However these are assimilated Jews. Without your sleuthing skills or Jewdar you would not know most of these people are different from their neighbors in any way. As you can guess we are not talking about a tight knit orthodox community here.

My family however does practice most aspects of Judaism and we do it very openly. What this does is automatically make my children and my family different from our neighbors. It makes Jewish choices very difficult and sometimes at stark contrast to those around us. For example, I leave work at 4 so that I can get home to Shabbat dinner and get asked if I am taking a half day. My children have their friends, Jewish or not, over on Shabbat and they want to play their DS but it is not done in our house. Friends come over for a BBQ with hot dogs and hamburgers – no cheese or pork on our grill.

It is a struggle to have these differences and it is my desire to do these that keeps my family separated. We enjoy the rituals and I can see that my children appreciate the feeling of the experiences. I wonder when I read about Doc Paskowitz and Henry David Thoreau whether I am doing the same as them but rationalizing it behind my Jewish ways?