Thursday, October 31, 2024

Hot day in the Big Apple

Today's high temperature in New York City was 82 degrees Fahrenheit (27.7778 Celcius). I can't remember ever having experienced an 82-degree day in NYC on October 31. I honestly can't understand how anyone can doubt that global climate change is real.

Saturday, October 26, 2024

What’s the Truth about… “Mar Cheshvan” ?

Since we made the blessing for the new month this morning, this question came up:
What’s the Truth about… “Mar Cheshvan” ?
 (To read the footnotes, see the original article:  https://jewishaction.com/religion/whats-truth-mar-cheshvan/
"By Rabbi Ari Z. Zivotofsky, Ph.D.
Misconception: The complete and correct name for the month following Tishrei is Cheshvan, and it is a quaint tradition to call it Mar Cheshvan because it is bitter (Hebrew: mar) due to its lack of holidays.
Fact: The correct name for this fall month is the one word Marcheshvan/M’rachsh’van1 (Aruch Hashulchan, Even Ha’ezer 126:17).
Background: The Bible usually refers to the months by their ordinal numbers, although occasional ancient Israelite names are also used.2 The currently used Jewish names for the months were imported from Bavel (Babylonia),3 and many of them appear in post-exilic books of the Bible.4 Some of these are derived from the names of ancient gods, such as Tammuz which is thought to come from the Assyrian Du-mu-zu, an Egyptian god, and is mentioned as the name of an idol in Ezekiel (8:14).5
Marcheshvan is probably derived from its location in the calendar. In Akkadian (Babylonian/Assyrian), “w” (vav) and “m” (mem) sounds can interchange. As a result, Marcheshvan which is from the two words “m’rach” and “shvan,” would have been “warh” and “shman,” in Akkadian, corresponding to the Hebrew “yerech shmini,” thus “eighth month.”6 In the Yemenite tradition, the name of the month is pronounced Marach-sha’wan, not Mar-cheshvan as in the Ashkenazic tradition, and this would seem to preserve a greater fidelity to the original.7
Older sources attest to the name as being the longer name Marcheshvan/M’rachshwan (as opposed to just Cheshvan). When the eighth month is mentioned in the Mishnah and Talmud, it is referred to as Marcheshvan. A few examples include: Taanit 1:3,4; Pesachim 94b; and Rosh Hashanah 7a; 11b. Throughout all of Rashi’s Biblical and Talmudic commentary, he also refers to the month as Marcheshvan. A few examples are: Rosh Hashanah 11b, s.v. v’azda l’tamahu; 16a s.v. D’miz’daran; Beitzah 40a, s.v. bir’vi’ah. The Rambam8 and Ibn Ezra (commentary to Leviticus 25:9) also use the complete name.
This misconception has halachic implications. Since the mistaken practice of simply calling the month Cheshvan is so widespread, either Cheshvan or the two word Mar Cheshvan is now acceptable, post-facto, if erroneously used in a legal document such as a get (Aruch Hashulchan, Even Ha’ezer 127:17). The Ramah (Even Ha’ezer 127:7) lists only Marcheshvan as the month’s name and does not give the halachah if one wrote either just Cheshvan or the two word Mar Cheshvan. Others even accept post-facto the Biblical name of the month, “Bul,” if it was used in a document. The Aruch Hashulchan states that the halachah is the same for the imprecise “Menachem Av” (Even Ha’ezer 127:16).9
Surprisingly, there are even customs that developed around the error. The assumption is that it is called Mar Cheshvan (the bitter Cheshvan) either due to its lack of holidays or because it is when Sarah the Matriarch died.10 Because of those negative associations, there are those who refrain from getting married in Marcheshvan (Shut Lev Chaim 2:26). The Sdei Chemed (Ma’arechet Chason v’Kallah:23) claims that this was the minhag in Jerusalem. Shulchan Ha’ezer (4:5:8) writes that in his locale people are not concerned with this and get married in Cheshvan [sic!]11
The Pri Chadash (Even Ha’ezer 126:7) offers the only explanation that I have found for calling this month by the two-word name Mar Cheshvan. He suggests that the name Mar Cheshvan is based on the fact that it is the beginning of the rainy season. The Targum translated mar as tipah, a drop, in the verse “Hen goyim k’mar midli — Behold, the nations are as a drop of [water from] a bucket” (Isaiah 40:15). As such, the name means the “rainy Cheshvan,” and far from mar meaning bitter, it connotes a month of blessed rain.12
The Bnei Yissaschar (2:56-57) relates a beautiful midrash about the future of Marcheshvan indicating that the dedication of the Third Temple will occur in Marcheshvan, removing any doubt about it being a bitter month."

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

"Conservatives’ latest attack on mifepristone is a constitutional cover for eugenics"

Got this in my email--it's shocking, but not surprising.  Read it and weep (and/or freak out).

Tuesday, October 22, 2024

The "Penitential Psalm" (Psalm 27) really hit home for me this year

It starts, "For/By David (depending on your translation), HaShem ori v'yish'i, HaShem is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?"  But the third verse from the end says, "Do not abandon me to the will of my foes, for false witnesses have risen against me, breathing violence."  (This is Rabbi Jonathan Sacks' translation).  It seems to me as if everyone and their cousin is accusing Israel of genocide and hoping Israel will just lay down its arms and die.

The "Israeli cut-out": An exception that kills Israelis

Copied from Facebook:

I think it's worth thinking about something in relation to the international community's treatment of Israel. It's something that could be called the "Israeli cut-out" and it relates solely to Israel. What that means is that in all norms there is a cut-out that relates solely to Israel, an exception that is made for any group that attacks Israel.
Let's take a look.
On October 21 the IDF intercepted five UAVs over the Mediterranean. These could be considered a danger to air travel. But because the groups that launch them are against Israel, the international community has a cut-out. There is no investigation, no UN meeting, nothing.
Ships are attacked in the Red Sea. This would normally be a huge issue. Imagine commercial ships being blown up off the coast of South America by armed groups. However, because the Houthis say they are doing it against Israel, even though they target random ships and endanger the crews from all over the world, there is a cut-out and it's basically ignored. No international investigation. Nothing.
Hezbollah takes over Lebanon and stockpiles 150,000 rockets and fires thousands into Israel. However, because it is attacking Israel, it's considered completely normal. No other country is expected to live with a group like Hezbollah on its border where the terror group has more rockets than most countries. Only Israel, because of the cut-out. The cut-out even means UNIFIL is there and it does nothing to stop Hezbollah or even find even one rocket out of 150,000.
Hamas attacks Israel and kills 1,000 people and kidnaps 250. This is an unprecedented genocidal act. One of the worst single day massacres in the entirety of human history. Yet there is no real outcry, no real international condemnation. In fact many countries like Russia, China, Qatar, Turkey, Iran, South Africa, openly back Hamas. Two western allies host Hamas leaders. Again, the Israeli cut-out appears. No one would accept a similar terror attack anywhere else.
Iran attacks Israel with 180 ballistic missiles and Israel is told not to respond. 180 missiles. But there is the Israeli cut-out. No other country should be forced to have 180 missiles fall on them. Only Israel. Iran knows this and so it feels it can do this. Iran takes over half the Middle East and destroys countries while claiming to fight Israel, and because it is against Israel, the cut-out enables this. If it did this against other countries then it would be unacceptable.

Monday, October 07, 2024

From heaven to hell in less than 24 hours

We had a wonderful Rosh HaShanah and Shabbat at Adamah's Pearlstone Campus, with leaders and teachers from Hadar and its Jewish-music affiliate, the Rising Song Institute.  We prayed and sang our hearts out, and got well fed, too.  😀

And now, here we are, one day after leaving Pearlstone, commemorating the mass murders, rapes, and kidnappings of October 7, 2023.  😢

Honestly, I just don't understand it.  If the world considers bombings, which can kill civilians as well as militants, a war crime, and also considers assassinations that target terrorists specifically and minimize civilian casualties (as in the pager and walkie-talkie attacks against known Hezbollah members) a war crime, what do they mean when they say that Israel is allowed to defend itself?

A Mitzvah to Eat: for those who can't fast

Here are prayers (and, for those seeking a traditional perspective, halachic guidance) for those who can't fast.

 Prayers and Rituals for Those Who Need to Eat on Yom Kippur.

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

A bit of light amid the darkness of recent times (music video)


 

Thursday, September 12, 2024

BOATLIFT - An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience (HD Version)


These are the people who saved my sister's life. She was living in Battery Park City, which is literally across the street from the World Trade Center, at the time, and was watching the tragedy unfold when the first tower collapsed and she ran for her life. She was rescued by a construction barge, and was in the middle of the Hudson River when the second tower collapsed. I am forever grateful to this navy of volunteers.

Thursday, September 05, 2024

Shocking, but, I think, necessary to say:

"Republicans are the party of child murder

Make them explicitly defend it.

Welcome to a Wednesday edition of Progress Report.

[I'm generally not inclined to share anything this blunt, especially since there have been calls for less divisiveness, but what else can I say about a party that prioritizes gun rights over human lives? Does the right to life apply only to zygotes?]

I’m writing this newsletter during our flight back to New York, sitting in the back row next to my toddler son, who will be two years old in a few weeks but has a head start on all the astonishing, delightful, and not-so-delightful things that come with the age. Right now he’s displaying the third option: yelling, kicking, performing loose approximations of hand stands, smacking my computer, rejecting the copious snacks we packed, and definitely losing his toys, all while 35,000 feet in the air.

He’s an adorable maniac.

Admittedly, this kind of all-action display in such a suboptimal environment might eventually sap my deep reservoir of patience, but right now, all I can think about tonight is the text message that a 16-year-old girl sent to her mother during an active school shooting today in Georgia: “I'm sorry I haven't been a perfect daughter. I love you.”

Thankfully, the girl who sent the text survived the attack, but two other students at the school were killed today by their 14-year-old classmate. My brain won’t even let me try to contemplate the depths of despair that their parents must feel. Survival mechanism, I guess.

Classmates have told reporters that they weren’t surprised that the 14-year-old shooter opened fire, and samples from what appear to be his social media accounts suggest that he’d fallen down some pretty dark rabbit holes online. But young Colt Gray’s browsing habits wouldn’t be more than topics for a therapy session or three if he hadn’t had such easy access to the assault weapon that he used to kill two classmates and two teachers at Apalachee High School today.

The shooting was followed by the usual calls for gun control from Democratic lawmakers, including from Vice President Kamala Harris, but they’ve become rote by now, because we’ve all but given up the hope of actually passing the kind of policy that more than 60% of Americans vehemently support. We’re beyond even symbolic votes and posturing for campaign purposes. Republicans will rush to pass law after law to bully queer kids and feed students far-right bile, but keeping them from being blown apart in their classrooms is beyond discussion.

This was the 45th school shooting of 2024, and with classes starting back up across the country, it is a grim reality that it will be far from the last. The right-wing War on Children continues to rage unabated, and it’s long since past the time that it’s become central to political campaigns. For decades, Democrats were terrified to run on abortion, and now it’s central to their message. They ought to do the same thing with gun control, forcing every single parent to contemplate the unthinkable before the cast their votes.

If Republicans want to fear-monger over it, they can explain to Americans why they continue to enable the massacre of innocent schoolchildren."

See also my Tuesday, August 06, 2019 post, American Akeidah and the linked Sunday, August 04, 2019 post, "Rituals of Childhood," by Kieran Healy.

Sunday, September 01, 2024

Hersh is dead. I have no words. :(

"With broken hearts, the Goldberg-Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their beloved son and brother, Hersh. The family thanks you all for your love and support and asks for privacy at this time."

How many more hostages will die before this nightmare is over? 

Update, with the names of all of those murdered with Hersch:

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23
Eden Yerushalmi, 24
Carmel Gat, 40
Almog Sarusi, 27
Alex Lubnov, 32
Ori Danino, 25

Thursday, August 08, 2024

Picking my poison, literally :(

I always said that I wouldn't take medication for osteoporosis unless I slipped below five feet tall, because just about every medication for osteoporosis comes with really bad side effects, such as necrosis of the jaw.   Unfortunately, I slipped below my five-feet height minimum about a year ago.  I know I'm a little old lady, but there's such a thing as *too* little.  :)  So off I went to an endocrinologist, who recommended either Forteo or Prolia.  It's just my luck that I've had problems with balance and dizziness for over a decade, and the Forteo made it worse--every day, without fail, I would get a dizziness spell within about five minutes of injecting myself.  So I decided to try Prolia instead.  It turns out that, once I start, I won't be able to get so much as a tooth filled until at least three months after my Prolia injection, which I'll have to get every six months, because I'd be prone to necrosis of the jaw.  Some choice.  :(

Sunday, July 28, 2024

These, too, were the children of Israel, now lost to terrorists :(

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

October 7 Survivors Will Not Be Silenced

The fate of the female observer soldiers on Oct. 7, 2023

Karov L’Shavateinu (a capella version)


 Copied from Facebook and YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuXKvN2OefY

 


Today marks the beginning of the Three Weeks, the period from the 17th of Tammuz through the 9th of Av where all are invited into a process of mourning that which has been destroyed, yearning for what has yet to be, and public customs that allow us to mark this period in caring, connective community.
This voices-only rendition of Karov L’Shavateinu - a powerful nigun recorded together by musicians who set aside their instruments as they raised their voices - creatively sets the traditional liturgy for fast days, offering an opportunity for deepened personal prayer and heightened communal yearning throughout the Three Weeks, and any time we seek connection and comfort amid difficulty and distress.
הֱיֵה נָא קָרוֹב לְשַׁוְעָתֵנוּ
יְהִי־נָא חַסְדְּךָ לְנַחֲמֵנוּ
𝐻𝑒’𝑦𝑒𝑖ℎ 𝑛𝑎 𝑘𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑣 𝑙’𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑢
𝑌𝑒ℎ𝑖-𝑛𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑠’𝑑𝑒𝑘ℎ𝑎 𝑙’𝑛𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑎’𝑚𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑢
“Please be near to our cry
Let Your loving kindness console us”
Stream, purchase, or download this track on Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz's new album Yetzira, anywhere you get your music.
*******************************
Vocals by Deborah Sacks Mintz, Chava Mirel, Ilusha Tsinadze, Michael Winograd, Yoshie Fruchter, and Sam Weisenberg
Audio and video by Don Godwin and UPPERDECK_Film
Recorded and filmed at B'nai Jeshurun NYC
Composed and produced by R. Deborah Sacks Mintz for Hadar's Rising Song Records

A Prayer for Seeing a Soldier (by Hanna Yerushalmi)

Copied from The Times of Israel https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-prayer-for-seeing-a-soldier/

At the corner of Kaplan and Ibn Gvirol, 
you stand next to me waiting to cross, 
a tower of olive with dust on your boots, 
and I barely subdue a primal urge 
to wrap my arms around you.

 

Soldier, 
what can I say to you?
For centuries, we had no defenders,
just amulets and allies, 
and now your body is but one brick 
in a massive wall of protection.

 

There is a prayer for seeing a rainbow, 
but what is the prayer for seeing a soldier?

A poem for a Fast Day (by Rachel Danziger) 😢

 Copied from Facebook:

 
Broken walls
are no longer something
I must work hard
to imagine.
Nor do I have to struggle to envision
what it's like to have
that which was supposed to be
inviolate
impenetrable
unbreakable
break down.
Our ancestors believed that the Temple meant they were invincible.
We had our own set
of similar beliefs.
Our walls fell down.
Like theirs.
With a similar devastating thunder.
Our sense of self fell down like theirs, as well.
My ancestors,
on this fast day,
and for the first time in my life,
I truly see you.
I understand you.
I mourn with you
and for you
and I mourn also
for ourselves.

Sunday, July 14, 2024

Re the attempted assassination of Donald Trump

Copied from Facebook

if this isn’t an ‘I told you so’ moment to the folks who insist the 2nd amendment is a blank check with no need of controls or regulation… I don’t know what is.
 

This is not the American way

In the United States, we choose our leaders using ballots, not bullets.

No would-be assassin is going to keep me away from the voting booth.  I wish Donald Trump a speedy and complete recovery, and hope that he'll be defeated in the November election.

Sunday, July 07, 2024

I find many Korach commentaries annoying

Let me put this bluntly--there was no such thing as cloning in biblical times, so Korach could not have been swallowed up by the earth around his tent because he was at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting at the time.  A lot of commentary annoys me because it supports the tradition that Korach was swallowed up by the earth when the text does not necessarily support that interpretation.  As far as I'm concerned, Korach was killed at the Tent of Meeting along with all the other rebellious Levites.  That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

See my Tuesday, June 27, 2017 post, Parshat Korach, 5777/2017 thoughts, a bit belated, which is the long version of this post.

Tuesday, June 04, 2024

Subway scenes

~ I'm angry at the New York City Transit Authority

You folks spent months renovating the 67th Avenue subway station, but you *didn't* install an elevator??!  Explain!!!


~ My first-ever subway-poster photo


Turtle Island Connections
by Dennis RedMoon Darkeem
a fine Native American artist
(I apologize for my poor skills as a photographer--
there was the head of another Native American
on the top left.)

~ He wouldn't let anything stop him

The man we saw in the subway using crutches had not only a prosthetic leg--he was moving his crutches with two prosthetic hands.  Never give up!

Sunday, June 02, 2024

A major issue in the 2024 election: Sex and power

I refuse to pull my punches--I think that laws prohibiting abortion, and the rumored-to-come laws prohibiting birth control, are attempts by governmental authorities to use their power to punish women for having sex.  Yes, men are also affected by pregnancy, but it doesn’t endanger (cis-gender) men’s lives.

Tunnel vision 😡

There are so many tunnels in Gaza that they might as well call it a subway system, though this is certainly the first subway system for which one needs a passport. I wish this were funny.  😡

Copied from Facebook:

[sharing from a friend]
The IDF had already discovered 700 (not a typo, seven hundred) tunnels in Rafah, 50 of which leading directly to Egypt and some big enough for a lorry to drive through - Gaza has an equestrian federation, after all. And now the IDF have discovered 20 tunnels with 82 shafts on the Philadelphia Corridor alone (the area between Gaza and Egypt). The entire Corridor is now in the hands of Israel and several long-range rockets were found 10-40 m from the Egyptian border. Gaza attacked Central Israel recently with dozens of long-range rockets, while Lebanon fired over a 100 rockets at civilians up North. 90.000 Israelis have been displaced for 8 months.

No other war . . . was under such an international microscope. Welcome to antisemitism

Copied from Facebook:

 
[sent to me by a friend. No idea who wrote it]
No other war in the history of all wars was under such an international microscope, no other army had to behave so politely towards its worst enemies, no other nation had to feed the criminals who murdered and kidnapped its own, no other soldier had to be so lenient with the savages that raped their women and burned their children and parents alive. No other country was ever more hated and questioned for defending itself, no other people, of any country in the world, were more harassed, insulted, punished, sanctioned, lied to, dehumanized by supporters of online terrorism and attacked and bombed daily by bloody sick terrorists. No other country had more UN resolutions, no other country attacked by terrorists of all kinds and coming from all parts of its borders was ever called a “terrorist state” when defending its citizens. No other body of military evidence about terrorist war crimes was more ignored by the WHO and other official bodies. No other truly occupied territory - like northern Cyprus, by Turkey or Crimea, by Russia... - ever flooded the streets or university campuses with such absurd and pathetic "activism" for a country that never cared about them before October . No other woman, of any nation or religion, was more doubted or less supported than Israeli women. No other hostage, from any terrorist attack, was more ignored by public opinion, no other BABY in the world was kidnapped for 6 months, during which time neither UNICEF, nor RED CROSS, nor AMNESTY..., no one was even tweeted once about it or questioned his captivity…
Welcome to antisemitism."
 
My Facebook comments: 

 

Shira Salamone
 
Shira Salamone
Does anyone have anything to say about *this?* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_civil_war
Syrian civil war - Wikipedia
EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG
Syrian civil war - Wikipedia
Syrian civil war - Wikipedia
 
Yemeni civil war (2014–present) - Wikipedia
EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG
Yemeni civil war (2014–present) - Wikipedia
Yemeni civil war (2014–present) - Wikipedia
 
What caused the civil war in Sudan and how has it become one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises?
THEGUARDIAN.COM
What caused the civil war in Sudan and how has it become one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises?
What caused the civil war in Sudan and how has it become one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises?
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