Nachamu

Comfort the planet for its slow death from climate change.

Comfort humanity for the deaths of hundreds, perhaps thousands, and for the many deaths yet to come, due to disasters caused directly or indirectly by climate change.

Comfort humanity for the deaths of millions from COVID-19 and other illnesses, accidents, or violence.

Comfort humanity for the resurgence of prejudice, discrimination, and/or hatred of all kinds, be it racism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, or any other form of prejudice, hatred or discrimination.

Comfort Israel for the mess they’re in, both in terms of parliamentary politics and in terms of the challenge of trying to figure out how to live with the Palestinians without getting pushed into the sea. 

Comfort world Jewry for the resurgence of anti-Semitism, even among Jews.  ☹

Comfort the US for having survived one near-dictatorship only to fall prey to another near-dictatorship—at this point, the entire US government policy is being determined by Mitch McConnell, Joe Manchin, and Kyrsten Sinema, with the Supreme Court stepping in to *prevent* any corrective measures.  The Democrats have somehow managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  American democracy may die before I do.    ☹

A little something to cheer you up a little: Rabbi Joe Black's "V'Haer Eyneynu"

This is such a nice song, and it's written for us normal mortals--you don't have to be an opera singer (or a Chazanut specialist) to sing this. I particular enjoy Rabbi Joe Black's guitar-playing, but we could probably sing this in our a cappella synagogue.

 

The Uninhabitable Earth (from New York Magazine)

This article is one of the scariest things I've ever read.  Climate change isn't coming--it's here.  And if we don't do something about it, it's going to kill us.

Shiru L'Adonai Shir Chadash, by Emily Groff

 

Here's a music video that I saved for after the Nine Days and Tisha B'Av. Thanks to Jewish Rock Radio for posting this. Emily Groff Music, this is cool!

 

Music and Lyrics by Emily Groff

Produced by Josh Goldberg of Kosher Style Records

Video by Continuous Motion Productions

Horn Parts by Nick Heilborn

Vocals and Acoustic Guitar: Emily Groff

Keyboards: Josh Goldberg

Drums: Marian Lipino

Bass: Genna Projansky

Electric Guitar: Devon Eisenbarger

Alto Saxophone: Andrew Gaffey

Trumpet: Ethan Adams

Trombone: Robert Wake

 

LYRICS: Raise your voice let it be heard cause there’s a reason

for us to be in this space together today;

I can sing, but it’s better when it’s a chorus

so let’s explore this moment of joyous harmony today.

Open up, let the music take us away.

Join as one, let us all say... 

 

Shiru ladonai shir chadash;

Shiru ladonai kol ha'aretz.

Shiru ladonai barechu shemo

Shiru ladonai

Sing with me until the day is done!

 

Let this sound crash against the mountains and into the motion ,the waves of the ocean, as all of earth sings this song. Let the wind carry this feeling through the trees and all the leaves as all of earth sings along. Open up, let the music take us away. Join as one, let us all say. 

 

Shiru ladonai shir chadash; Shiru ladonai kol ha'aretz. Shiru ladonai barechu shemo Shiru ladonai Sing with me until the day is done!

If Only Facebook Had Existed During The Polio Vaccine Rollout (😢)

 Eek! Please watch this parody regarding the dangers of disinformation. 😢

Money talks, even in matters of life and death :(

My oldest friend:  "If they can built a gas pipeline through tribal lands, where it isn't even wanted, they can build a pipeline to carry excess rainwater from the east coast to the west."

Our son:  "Not as long as this is a capitalist country--there's no profit in it."

Delta variant of COVID-19 infects vaccinated people

From a Facebook post:

Delta variant infects 11-year-old, then her entire vaccinated family. The dad says that, without the vaccine, it would have been much worse. Maybe we should think twice about going back to in-person services. We're still wearing masks when indoors in a public space for more than 2-3 minutes or in tight spaces such as elevators.  In plain English, that means that we don't wear masks when taking the garbage or recycling to the compactor room down the hall or when walking down or up the stairs to or from our building's entrance door, but we wear masks in the laundry room, all elevators, and all other public indoor spaces.

 

Here's a copy of the Facebook post:

July 5 at 5:31 PM

OUR COVID NEWS:

Hello Friends.

Two weeks ago, we took a family trip.

Three-quarters of us had been fully vaccinated, with the exception being our 11-year old. We'd been super diligent for a year and half and were hopeful we could finally begin doing some normal things, and left for our first family vacation since lockdown began. We were being as careful as we could, but as vaccinated adults it's easy to let your guard down and to generally be less attentive than you had been regarding masks and sanitizing and distancing.

A few days into the trip our daughter started complaining about headaches, which we attributed to the heat. The next day, she began to get congestion and said her throat was sore. We took her to the local clinic and received her positive results. We immediately began lockdown.

A couple of days later, my wife started feeling sick and we were stunned to get a positive test for her, as she's been vaccinated since April.

I had two negative tests earlier in the week but began feeling much worse over the weekend, and today both me and our son tested positive. Thankfully, he is asymptomatic so far.

So, amazingly we are four for four with COVID here in the Pavlovitz house, with three fully vaccinated people testing positive for the virus... insane.

The doctor who gave me my results said that this Delta variant is frightening and unpredictable. She has been alarmed by how quickly it has spread, and also by how many people are still avoiding the vaccine.

I'm hopefully in the worst of it now: congestion, headache, body aches, cough, fatigue, etc. Lost my sense of taste and smell, but overall it feels like a bad case of bronchitis. I shudder to think how bad it might have been had we not been vaccinated.

Friends, please get vaccinated if you haven't. It's the only way we're going to get the edge on these dangerous variants and it will keep you from the worst symptoms and very likely save your life.

And please consider still masking after getting your vaccine. We're simply not out of this yet, and we need to take care of ourselves and one another.

I'll be down for a few days, so feel free to read some old blog posts or order something from the shop. I'll write and post here as I feel well enough.

Thanks everyone!

You are loved.

John

 

Here's the link to the original July 6, 2021 blog post by John Pavlovitz, "Our Family Got Vaccinated. Then We all Got COVID."

Black holes (financial version)

I just love going to the dentist (quoth she sarcastically).  First they poke me in the gum, then they "drill for oil," :), then they empty out my wallet.  Though we consider ourselves fortunate to be among the few who  have dental insurance, there's often a difference of hundreds of dollars between the fees that we pay and the amount that the insurance covers.  This is particularly true for those like me who have delusions of royalty and are constantly in need of a crown.  :)

Then there's the joy of belonging a synagogue with fewer than 40 dues-paying members.  Long gone is our big building, which accommodated hundreds, but our current much-smaller building was built because we then had a congregation at least four times our current size.  Now, when the roof springs a leak, the synagogue's bank account hemorrhages, and we simply don't have enough bandages to stanch the bleeding.  :(