Miryam's Space

Light. The universe vibrates in particles which are also waves, traveling at amazing LIGHT speeds!  The part of the energy  spectrum we can see is light. Our flame, our passion and inspiration are also light. The awareness of our soul is light. When we remember a loved one we light a candle, and at Chanukah we sing: Don’t let the light go out! We leave the light on for our teen when they come home late, and light candles for Shabbat and Havdalah. We seek enlightenment and hope for a new light to dawn with each day. This week (portion Tetzaveh) the Torah speaks of the flame that is continuously lit, the ner tamid. Perhaps a symbol that God’s always there, and that our awareness can rise and rekindle like that flame.

One of my favorite songs of light is Dan Nichols’ Or Zarua. Or Zarua latzadik means light is sown for the righteous. The lyric continues: We must keep our hopes alive, we must raise our voices high , we must hold each other tight, we must stand up in the night and BE light! Listen here, and keep it light! http://www.myspace.com/dannicholseighteenmusic/music/songs/or-zarua-71716268

So how can a person BE light? Well one more thing about Light: it is the symbol of inspiration, of learning, of Torah.

I had an opportunity to find out about being light because I got to learn this week at Limmud, the NY/ London Jewish learning connection.  There I met teachers who WERE light! One of the teachers who touched me most was Arthur Kurzweil, author, publisher, musician and ….magician? Yes, I saw some of his illusions in a magic show that night. For Arthur magic is symbolic of some of life’s mysteries. The illusion is all we see, for we don’t know the whole story. In just this way we are too limited to understand all of the forces and effects of the bits of life we witness, just a small part. We miss too much due to our small slice of time and space and limits to our awareness.

Anyway, Arthur presented (in too brief a time) his twenty most important lessons from Kaballah to teach his children. He often referenced a book by Adin Steinsaltz, The Thirteen Petal Rose.  I’ll share some of his list here.

1. The key to wisdom is this paraodox:  knowing we can never understand is the first step to some measure of wisdom and understanding
2. We are not a body with a soul, we ARE a soul that happens to have a body.
3. God is constantly creating the world at each moment, (rather than a past, distant creator)
4. Perspective is not what you think: God knows each soul in the same quantity as the largest galaxy, because each is proportionally the same in relation to infinity!
5. Only imagining the infinite makes understanding the finite possible, like Desargue’s Theorem in geometry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desargues%27_:theorem
6. All actions are the same size relative to God: the movement of a finger, or the largest catastrophe, both are miracles, important in the life of the universe
7. Every descent is for the sake of ascension. Reb Nachman teaches that the greatest sin is pessimism, and R. Akiva teaches Gam zu l’tovah – “This too is for the good”
8. Every detail of the human body is for the sake of divine revelation. Job exclaimed  In my flesh I see God. Arthur then added that our bodies are the pinnacle of creation. (My own opinion: in all nature there is divine revelation, not in our bodies alone. And remember, we are a soul, not a body!)
9. The voice within you when you’re lost, that cries Ayekha? Where are you? is not your voice, but God’s, it’s a holy thing
10. I love this one: If you think you’ve arrived….., that’s when you’re lost!
11. The answer to the question Who am I? cannot be answered in relation to any other person: you are not defined as the child of… the spouse of… the parent of … any other. You are defined only in your relationship to the Infinite Eternal One. And the best in human relationships, helps you to better this ultimate relationship, to be more truly yourself
12. The sin of knowing, of eating from the Tree of Knowledge is the sin of a bad education! This type of education doesn’t answer a person’s real questions, does not respond to who they really are, is a barrier rather than an enabler. As an educator, this one’s an eye opener!
13. There is great benefit from instability: only through this risk can you be open to growth. Similarly to how your foot must be at the unstable place between rungs to climb that ladder.
14. In studying Talmud, which Arthur described as 63 volumes of doubt, studies are interrupted for to pray from the siddur, a tiny volume of faith. To be stuck in either place is to be lost. The trick is to balance, to go back and forth.

I studied with another wonderful teacher Alicia Jo Rabins http://www.aliciajo.com/  who has composed songs in a  soulful  bluegrass style about the lives of biblical women. After an inspiring chevruta (partner) study on the life of Miriam, the text where Miriam gets “leprosy” after she and Aaron criticize Moses for marrying a Cushite woman, I wrote this song:

I Am Your Sister

What has happened to my hands, my face?

So white, like death, like rice.

I only want to live, finally free

Why not Aaron, Why just me?

Help me now please, I am your sister

I guarded you in those primal waters

Guiding you to flow to life so new

Now we need to see this through, to  renew.

Moses, she’s your wife, your forgotten one,

Mother of your two sons

I meant to remind you of her needs

She’s a woman scorned, like me.

Help me now please, I am your sister

I guarded you in those primal waters

Guiding you to flow to life so new

Now we need to see this through, to renew

Bridge: Miriam, bitter waters, falling like snowflakes on my skin

   Miriam, bitter waters, like my tears, there’s no place here for me, heal for me!

Help me now please, I am your sister

I guarded you in those primal waters

Guiding you to flow to life so new

Now we need to see this through, to renew

Finally, I studied with an amazing Brit named Clive Lawton who is the executive director of Limmud, chair of development charity Tzedek and a former head teacher of King David high school in Liverpool. He has become the accidental world expert on intercultural calendars after organizing an 18 culture calendar for the Brittish public schools. His presentation It’s about time was on the impact on our lives. Just a couple of points – the Jewish calendar is the only one which marks the start of time with the beginning of the universe, not our particular people. The Muslim calendar is the only one not tied to the solar year, because it’s not tied to any one place or to the seasons: it’s just as valid in Argentina as Alaska.  The Chinese New Year is impossible to predict more than a year in advance, most calendars are luni-solar, and that calendars organize how we think about time. One favorite quote: what were you doing on this day two years ago? Nothing, this day has never existed before, and never will again.

These teachers were a light in my life, as I pray I can bring some light to others’ lives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limmud

I’ve just made a batch of hamentashen, thanks, Grandma!
This is a dairy recipe, and kids like it a lot.
Cream two sticks of butter with a cup of sugar and a tsp of vanilla.
Beat in three eggs.
In a separate bowl mix four cups of flour with four tsps. baking powder.
Add the flour mix a bit at a time until it’s all mixed in to the butter mixture.
Beat until smooth. Refrigerate dough for two hours.
Flour a board, and dip a glass into flour.
Roll to 1/8 inch thickness and cut out circles with the flour.
I use plum prune filling for half of my hamentashen, and mix strawberry jam with lots of chocolate chips for the rest.
Fill each circle with about half a tsp of filling, and pinch three corners to make the triangle.
I bake at 350 for about 18 (chai!) minutes.

The Torah portion this Shabbat is Terumah: Gifts. It is among my favorites, and was the subject of my first drash (1994!).

We have just come down from Sinai, and are still trembling from the encounter. We have fallen in love and now need to feel God’s presence in the wilderness. But we have to come down off that mountain and go to work, and deal with the nitty gritty details of life.  What to do with that transformative inspiration? The answer given here: We give gifts of our heart, and take gather pure materials, and make something of beauty: a portable sanctuary for God to dwell in our midst, the Mishkan. So our help can come in these material details, but be careful, herein lies a trap too! (more later)

In the Hebrew translation, God commands us to build a place for God to dwell “within us”. And that box, built for our pact with God is to be plated with gold within and on the outside, and guarded with “k’ruvim” Golden creatures. What’s up with that? How can God dwell in that Miskkan? What’s with all the gold? and aren’t those golden K’ruvim some of the gravenst images you’ve seen? And what does that have to do with God dwelling within us? Maybe a story can help explain!
Many years ago, in a shtetl in Eastern Europe lived a son, the eldest in his family named Dovid. Now Dovid was tired of mundane chores, he was hungry for ultimate truths, and so wanted to find God.  So he packed his few belongings, and explained to his tearful parents, and said he’d return one day.  Dovid had heard of a wonderful wise Rebbe in a town further down the road and thought,  surely he can show me where to find God.  And so he walked many days until he came to Reb Yitzhak’s home. He explained to the Rebbe his quest: Please Rebbe, help me to find God, can you teach me the secret? The Rebbe replied, Of course, but first, do you have a place to live. You must not be a stranger here. Acquire for yourself a home, and then return to me!
Well, Dovid had little money, so he went to the clearing and gathered some wood, and sought a carpenter to borrow tools. The carpenter lent him tools, and advice, and in a short time they became friends. He hammered and sawed and soon had a frame. Several townspeople came to help him raise it, and soon Dovid not only had a crude shelter, but several friends as well. So he returned to the Rebbe.  I have done as you asked and built my home, said Dovid.Please, Rebbe, tell me the secret, where can I find God. The Rebbi smiled: Wonderful, he said,  but you still are not ready. Go out and find a job, earn your keep, and then return to me and I will tell you this secret. Well, Dovid was frustrated, but what could he do?  He went into town, where he’d seen a sign for a baker’s assistant, and asked for the job. Another worker in the shop recognized him from the roof raising, and vouching for him, the baker hired Dovid. He worked hard, long hours, but became adept at making all kinds of breads and confections that he was very proud of. He also came to know many of the customers in the shop and was able to save a few coins. At this point, Dovid returned to Reb YItzhak. I have done as you asked and earned my keep. Now, Rebbe, can you tell me where to find God? The Rebbe smiled, You have done well, my son. Still, you are not quite ready. Dovid grew flustered: What more must I do to be ready, he exclaimed! Ah!, said the Rebbe, you must get married.  What!? cried the young man. Where am I going to find a wife?  But Dovid, not knowing what else to do, told the Rebbe he would try.

Well, he had noticed a lovely young lady shopping in the bakery each Thursday, and so he bought her flowers, and asked if they could walk in the park together one day. She blushed and said she would like that very much. And so they began to see one another, and tell each other of their hopes and dreams. They fell in love. Dovid did not know such happiness was possible, that another soul could touch his so deeply. So after awhile they married, and lived in happiness in the little home he had built. Dovid lived each day as if it had been created just for the two of them, and after awhile returned to the Rebbe.   Rebbe, I have done as you asked and found a wife, now can you tell me the secret? he pleaded. The Rebbe replied with a smile and shake of his head that Dovid was still not ready. This time Dovid also smiled, and sighed as he asked what more he had to do. You must have children! Replied the Rebbe. So Dovid returned to his home and wife, and very soon the Rebbe’s request would, of itself, become reality.  Dovid’s wife gave birth to twins – a boy and a girl! And as he held these tiny souls in his arms, he felt depths of love rise that he didn’t know he had inside. He vowed to care for them and protect them, and soon his life became filled with the details of that care. Before he knew it they were toddling around his happy home, and another child was born. You’d think there was no more love to share, but magically it simply multiplied.

And so Dovid returned to the Rebbe. He was still surprised when the Rebbe said he wasn’t ready, because he didn’t know what else he could do. Go home and wait, there is yet one more thing you must do. You will know it when it comes. So Dovid went home to his family and his work. After some months a messenger arrived in town with difficult words for Dovid. His father was very ill, and requested his son to be near. With tears in his eyes, he made the journey back and found his parents. As he sat by his father’s side and told him of his life, his home and job and family – grandchildren!, his father smiled deep in his eyes.  I can be gathered to my kin in peace and happiness, now. sighed the old man. And when his father passed away, Dovid did not know the depths his sorrow could find. And yet after time, what remained were the lessons, and the memories, and some peace replaced the sorrow.

After this he again returned to the Rebbe.  Yes, my son, now you are ready. You have already found the secret along your way. You find God in the connections you make to other people that fill your life. In their love and support, in the depths of your soul, in caring, there is God!  Dovid at first was annoyed at this answer, but slowly he began to understand the Rebbe’s words. He smiled as he remembered his wife and children, his friends and his father, and he knew the Rebbe was right!   And now, said the Rebbe, I grow old and tired. I wish to travel to be with my grandchildren, and will leave this town. Dovid was appalled! No, Rebbe, you can’t leave! Who will help people? Who will show them where to find God? The Rebbe smiled again, I was hoping you’d ask! Dovid you now know the secret. You have lived your life building loving connections to people in this town. It is you who can now take my place.  Dovid did not know if he could, but he pledged to the Rebbe that he would try. And now when young men and women wander into town and find Dovid and ask him for help to find God, he asks them Tell me, do you have a place to live?           (I first read this wonderful story of our tradition in a telling by R. Ed Feinstein.)

So back in the wilderness, following Sinai, the children of Israel need to hold on to inspiration. So they build a home. It takes a community to do that and gifts of their heart, and purifying metals and colors from the wilderness around them. In those connections between them, God can dwell within them. The pure gold lines the aron, the ark of the pact, inside and out, just as purity can line our hearts inside and out. And it is in our hearts that our pacts to one another and to God can live. It is a good thing to long for God and spiritual connections, but watch out. In purifying gold and other metals, and in building to make the Mishkan, we can forget what we were after. It’s the connections between us, not the material things, we just might build a calf of gold!  Our heart are where God must live, – BE the mishkan, the dwelling-place of God!

Mel Brooks in the 2000 year old man was asked by Carl Reiner if he remembers a time before religion. And he replies that before religion there was Phil. Phil was the biggest and strongest guy, everyone was afraid of Phil, until one day Phil was struck by lightening, and we realized there was something more powerful than Phil! listen here http://www.amazon.com/Phil/dp/B002WUOI9A  . Is God just a power bigger than Phil? Perhaps just the opposite, God is what happens when we reject the search for power!

It may be in our human nature to use our power to control others, and this leads to terrible abuses, including the worst that humanity has to offer. From the bully in the playground to the Holocaust to the Janjaweed, a torturous military group in Sudan that puts guns in the hands of boys and turns them into destroyers. Both the abused and the abusers are degraded. Humans have been gifted tremendous power, never more than today, and famously power corrupts. The Torah portion for this week, Mishpatim, which means Laws, has a ton of rules dealing with abuses of power, from slaves that are beaten, to pregnant women (who are beaten) to kidnappers, to elder abuse (the adult child that curses his parent)  And in the midst of all of these rules reigning in power abuses is a startling scene, seemingly misplaced: Moses,  Aaron, 2 of Aaron’s sons and 70 elders climb a mountain and behold God and eat and drink!  Ex. 24:9  Seeing the Eternal, Creative force of the universe? Beautiful, otherworldly but not very Jewish, and how is that even possible?  Perhaps its placement here is meant to give insights into rejecting the power race of the world: rejecting war, and slavery and abuse of women, children, elders, even animals. And that if we reject power, our reward is spiritual fulfillment.

A story which begins with a kidnapping, moves to more violence and ends with liberation is told of a Rabbi and a Gladiator (retold from R. Ed Feinstein’s Capturing the Moon)  On a Bridge in Northern Israel, a long time ago, around the second century, two very different men met. One man, named Simon, was a gladiator. Born of a Jewish family, orphaned, and then kidnapped by Rome to be a fighter in the arena, he was the strongest, fiercest and most feared of all the gladiators. As he hurried across the bridge in full armor on his way to another contest, he met the second man, a very different kind of champion. Rabbi Yochanan was a slight man with kind eyes, a leader in his community renowned for the depth of his learning and love of Torah. He carried no weapons, just his scrolls. As the men met, Simon demanded that the rabbi move to let him pass, but Yochanan would not budge. Simon shouted, and threatened him: I’ll cut you into little pieces and feed you to the fish!, but still the rabbi would not move. Simon raised his sword, poised to strike the rabbi down, but then something amazing happened. Simon’s eyes met the calm eyes of his victim. Accustomed to seeing fear in the eyes of his rivals, and using terror as his weapon, he saw in the rabbi’s eyes only the calm strength of a man fully at peace with God and his place in the world. Simon had never seen this in anyone’s eyes, let alone one threatened by violence, and the power  and kindness in Yochanan’s face shook him to the core!  He stood there for several minutes staring, and then dropped his sword, fully captured by the gentle face of the great rabbi.

And Rabbi Yochanan saw something remarkable in Simon’s face. Beyond all the fury, the violence and arrogance, the rabbi saw a passionate desire to love and be loved. Beyond the armor of a gladiator was a soft heart, and a soul waiting to be touched. My brother, where are you going in such a hurry, began the rabbi, to kill or be killed in the service of the Empire? Replied the Gladiator: There is no greater service than the glory of Rome! I have sworn allegiance to Caesar!   Rabbi Yochanan slowly replied: One day Rome will be gone, her arenas reduced to Rubble, Caesar long gone and forgotten. Only God’s glory is eternal. You are created in this Eternal image, and carry God’s light within you. This is Torah: only this power should you put above yourself and serve, not Caesar’s! Come join me in this greater quest, my friend – the quest to master God’s teachings.
But Simon shook his head I know only how to fight and kill, I don’t even know how to read or write, how can I study?  The Rabbi replied Your heart is stronger than your sward, and that is all God requires of you. Come, my brother.  Perhaps it was the Rabbi’s kind voice or eyes, or perhaps the fact that no person had yet called him brother, but Simon began to cry. Tears streamed down his face, and his cries echoed across the bridge. He dropped his sword, and unbuckled his armor, wiped his face and followed the Rabbi. Simon became Rabbi Yochanan’s best student, and in time became a Rabbi himself, the great Reish Lakish. He also became Yochanan’s brother in law when he married the Rabbi’s sister. They wrestled over Torah for rest of their days, bringing the love of learning to all.

And of course the musical link to all this, Debbie Friedman’s Not by Might here at three minutes in to the video

I share an office with two other teachers. The young woman in my office the other day was trying to stay calm, but urgently looking for her prof. to see if he’d picked up the phone she had left behind. It’s got a ton of important stuff on it, she explained. So I lent her my desk phone and then my cell phone, and she called her own number. At first it went to message, and then it didn’t.  She sighed, and explained: they turned it off. Why would they do that? It’s not just that her life would be turned a bit upside down, it’s the disillusionment, lack of empathy showed by them.

Don’t steal. It’s the eighth of the Ten Utterances that are the revealed in this week’s Torah portion.  Yes, stealing is mean,  but what about that piece of bubble gum when I stole was 6?  And what about Jean Valjean who stole bread to feed a starving nephew? What about Robin Hood?  Why does the Creator care if we steal anyway, isn’t it our own business? And what happens if we break the rules?

Our tradition teaches There is no person who doesn’t have his moment Pirke Avot 4:3  A story about a thief and his moment:

Now, in Jewish tradition, Satan (Sah-tan accent on second syllable) is not a devil, but an angel who is God’s adversary, arguing against humanity like a prosecuting attorney.  A story, adapted from Capture the Moon by R. Ed Feinstein. In a Jewish Village of Eastern Europe there lived a notorious thief named Yonni. Though the villagers were very poor, Yonni managed to steal from them. Sometimes a purse of coins left on the store counter, sometimes a pair of boots left to dry on the porch. On a rare occasion even something valuable, a pair of candlesticks or a horse went missing. And every Friday he stole challah and a bottle of wine so his family could enjoy a Shabbat meal.  Yonni was reviled. But somehow, in their loving tradition, Yonni was grudgingly accepted in the Jewish community. Thievery was simply his way of making a living, perhaps not much more sinful than other occupations. For example the town butcher was known to have scales that were not that accurate. The thief was skilled, but worked according to a strict ethic: he never stole from the very poor, and never stole items essential to the owner’s livelihood. He never took anyone’s last coin, and only took enough to support his family.  When the Yonni’s days were done, his soul rose to heaven to stand in Judgement. Heaven was reluctant to take him, not because his crimes were so awful, but because the residents were worried about having their pockets pinched. So he was sent to Hell, where the thief was welcomed as a celebrity.

No mere clerk, but the Adversary himself, Master of hell would handle his case. And so the thief was shown to the Adversary’s office, where he had to wait. Running hell is a big task, and there was pressing business. When the Satan was finished, he turned and warmly greeted his new guest. We have followed your exploits on earth and are honored to have you among us! he said. During their conversation, the Adversary revealed to the thief his pride and joy: a giant book, which sat upon his desk. For generations I have been carefully building a case against the children of Israel. I have carefully recorded every sin committed by every Jew. Every broken promise, betrayal, curses uttered, every Shabbat desecrated, charity coin pocketed has been meticulously inscribed in my book. I have an airtight case! he bragged. With the Jews gone, Hell would have much less opposition on earth, it will be so much easier to fill the earth with evil! My dream is about to be realized, he revealed with glee. The evidence is ready for presentation!  But, just as the Adversary was finishing his speech, a messenger interrupted with pressing business.  The Master was distracted for just a moment as he turned to the messenger. Yonni looked at the huge volume on the master”s desk. It would soon be presented, and misery would rain down on the people of the earth. The thief realized it was for this moment he was created. With sudden insight he realized what he must do. With fingers trained by a lifetime of pickpocketing, he lifted the book silently and in one smooth motion carried it to the window overlooking the raging fires of Hell. In a split second he opened the window and cast the book down. The book was consumed instantly!

With the sudden gust of heat, the master turned to see what was happening: No! he screamed, but it was too late. You have robbed me of my victory! he cried in anguish. The master reached his hands around the thief”s neck to snuff his life out. You fool, do you know whom you have robbed tonight? he screamed to the fading soul of the thief.

Suddenly the office filled with light. Two messengers from Heaven appeared. Cease! they commanded. We have a warrant for the thief, his soul is ours. Give him up!  For a moment the Master hesitated, then sighed Very well, I will just have to begin my book again.  Soon enough I will find sins to fill another book. The messengers carried the surprised thief to Heaven where he was granted eternal rest there as reward for saving Israel and the world from the clutches of the Adversary.  But every once in awhile, just to stay in practice, the thief sneaks out of Heaven, stealing a soul or two from the master and bringing them back to Heaven with him.

Do not steal is revealed at Sinai. The scene: it’s the third day of preparation at the foot of that mountain, and we are all gathered ’round. The mountain is smoking and trembling, there is thunder and the blast of the shofar. Boundaries have been set up (don’t get too close!), expectations are soaring, fear is thick. The Creator is about to reveal an essence here, God will take a chance on making a connection to us all. It starts with an introduction, a “you know Me already, we met at freedom’s shore, that was Me!” Then the revelations, in a world that worships power, God cares most how we treat one another: that we must set boundaries of honor around one another as God set boundaries ’round that mountain! That’s fascinating: the only way for us or God to make serious connections is to set boundaries of awe.  Only treating each other with honor and love creates a holy community – connections that make us more than the sum of individuals. It’s so inspiring that for a brief moment we can even see the sound of the thunder (how cool is that?) before the fear makes us pull back, sending Moses up alone.  We need to take the inspiration of the encounter, of Sinai with us. It’s not in the two pieces  of stone engraved, it’s in each other. Here’s a crazy thought: we can be a piece of Sinai: made of earth, with boundaries of awe, a potential place of connection to the divine.

I chose Yonni for my thief’s name because Yonatan means gift from God. We are  gifts from God, the Giver, in partnership with our parents. Stealing is taking, somehow tipping the scale the other way.  God cares if we steal. To give, is to be God’s partner, to make the world more full and rich. We are sometimes takers too, but there is always the chance for redemption, by GIVING. Yonni takes to give to his family and ultimately uses his nature to give so much back, as does Robin Hood and Jean Valjean.  Bernie Madoff stole for sport and aggrandizement. I don’t know the rest of the story behind the cell phone thief, but I know there will be chances for redemption

We should not steal, but give, because we ARE gifts! Lead in to: L’dor Vador by Josh Nelson  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzV0Y4MkIBQ

I give you these fifteen, oops, Ten…

I love trees, freedom and music, and they’re all coming together this week!

This coming Saturday, Jan 26th is Shabbat Shirah, the Sabbath of Song. It’s named after the song chanted in Torah this week. After plagues and terrible fear, the Israelites flee to the sea of Reeds.  They turn to look behind them only to find Pharoah’s army and his best charioteers in hot pursuit, their hearts strengthened by God just for this chase. Miraculously a cloud of darkness stops the pursuers, and all night an east wind blows the water off the sand, you know the story. Egyptians die, we are born into freedom. What would be your first reaction to the release of your fear into freedom? Well, Miriam and Moses lead singing and dancing and playing musical instruments, and the Torah records this raw, emotion rich song. Midrash credits the first man with faith enough to jump into the waves as Nachshon, son of Aminadav (Aaron’s son in law), and says that because of his faith the sea is able to split. My favorite Nachshon song is by R. Joe Black, here’s a taste of the song: When Nachshon cried out from the depths of his soul, the Red Sea Started to Rock and roll! Well it split down the middle like it was shifting gears, and the children of Israel started to cheer!

Last year I had the privilege of singing Peri Smilow’s Nachshon with the Freedom Music Project, which celebrates the Jewish/ African American shared connection to freedom from slavery in music http://freedommusicproject.com/ Our synagogue in sang with the fine folks of New Light Baptist Church as we do to honor the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King each year. This year we celebrate Martin Luther King weekend on the same week we read of freedom at the Sea in the Bible: coincidence? I think not! Freedom and Music are natural companions! This year I also part of a huge unity choir singing amazing music, songs of Freedom and peace from both traditions, in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center.

It is  also Tub’shevat on Jan 26th, our celebration of trees. So it got me thinking, how many connections must there be between music and trees? First thing that comes to mind is the whistling of the breeze through the leaves, that beautiful song, with the birdsong as a descant above. I love the movie “August Rush”, and in the beginning, August is conducting a field of grain rustling in the wind, and if you just LISTEN nature sings! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNStHL3g6cg

Another of my favorite connections is Benjie Ellen Schiller’s Go Out in Joy (available at oysongs.com) a musical rendition of Isaiah 55,

For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace,

the mountains and hills shall break forth into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands!

Perhaps this is where Rogers and Hammerstein got their idea for Sound of Music! As Grover (Sesame Street) said: the hills are alive, and it’s very frightening A-a-a-ah!
Still another musical/tree connection, is Reb Nachman’s Prayer, set to song by Debbie Friedman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eqGWvSu58g
You are the One, for this I pray, that I may have the strength to be alone, and stand among the trees, and all the living things, ..and I’ll sing my soul to You and give you all that’s in my heart. May all the foliage of the field, all grasses, trees and plants, awaken at my coming this I pray, and send their lives into my words of prayer..so that my speech, my thoughts and my prayer will be made whole, through the spirit of all growing things…
A cool nickname for Torah is Tree of LIfe, with the image of a Tree reaching with its roots through Time, its fruits being beautiful acts, or perhaps each new child born to perform these acts of loving kindness. Dan NIchols Roots, is my favorite Eitz Chayim Hi http://www.myspace.com/dannicholsandeighteen/music/songs/eitz-chayim-hi-74163715
And the roots of that tree reach deep into the ground, cradling the truths our ancestors found, and the tree is connected to every living soul, and that peace is made real when we are made whole: SHALOM!
Trees are in serious trouble in this world, which means that we are too. Perhaps music and tub’shevat can be an way to reach folks, to connect trees to their souls.

I love music, trees and freedom, and they’re all coming together this week.

Rachel Barenblat’s Velveteen Rabbi blog is a favorite, and she’s asked for bloggers to answer five questions. http://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/

It’s my last day of  winter break, and she’ll nominate those who try for some small blogger award, so I’m giving it a try. But maybe answering these questions will answer a little about me and why I write.

To answer the first question honestly,  my favorite book is the Bible, which explains why I blog about it. To be less boring I’ll link it to another favorite, The LIttle Prince by Saint Exupery, which I’ve just reread.  I love Biblical text because of its mystery, its time machine element, its mix of profound ideals and details, its history of grappling, its passages that are beautiful and I love, and those I hate and scream out for wrestling with: its richness. It is  God-inspired ideals shared throughout the world and through the ages, with levels of meaning from the simple to the metaphorical to the mysterious. And because it’s grows richer as it’s shared, I share my thoughts. As its reread through my life’s times, it takes on different meanings each year.  For more on the strengthening power of Torah check out Dan Nichols’ Chazak   midway through this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3RUKmvD0bc

When I first read The LIttle Prince in my late teens it spoke to me about holding on to childhood wisdom and rejecting the busyness of grownups pursuing important matters, losing their insights that love and stars and beauty and “pressing your nose against the glass” to see outside the train window are the most important. Childhood should not be ephemeral, but eternal as the LIttle Prince is.  That the water the Prince and the narrator/pilot seek is spiritual nourishment is hinted at by the linking of the well to the pilot’s childhood Christmas memory. So the Little Prince is a book of spiritual and timeless ideals – how Biblical is that? The pilot meets the Prince, and their love is forged in the crucible of the desert:  just as Abraham journeys and the Israelite nation is born there. The wilderness is our place of spiritual encounter and forging our love affair with the Eternal.

From an adult rereading, I am convinced that the book is about parenthood. The star/asteroids are the places from which children’s souls originate and then return when they die. I think the Prince is the pilot’s child who was born, blazing this loving relationship  into his dad’s heart, leaving him heartbroken when his child died, and teaching his dad about love and eternal truths. What counts is what the fox teaches the Prince, who teaches the pilot: that which is invisible, what you waste time on, love itself gives the stars their meaning.  So this book for me is like Torah, taking on new meanings with rereading at different stages in my life, with various levels of meaning, mysterious and begging to be grappled with, beautiful. I wish I could know if others feel the same way, so please chime in! This link to the Little Prince http://home.pacific.net.hk/~rebylee/text/prince/contents.html

The second question asks about a fictional character I most identify with, so I’m totally going to go with the pilot from The Little Prince. Flying along, looking at the stars with wonder, hearing their laughter each time they twinkle -knowing there’s so much craziness holding them together and making them shine.  Like the pilot, I have learned to love most by falling in love with my children. They reached me from whatever asteroid they came from in the desert I didn’t even know I was isolated in and taught me about the roses from their particular star. They tamed me. But you have to let them go to find their own planet to tend in the end, they grow up and leave you, richer but sadder.

The third question is kind of fun, asking which five people, living or dead, fictional or real I’d invite to dinner. The first guest’s a gimme, Albert Einstein, of course: Einstein knew that feelings of wonder and awe was part of the fabric of the soul just as space and time are the fabric of the universe. He also struggled with his Judaism, but also famously said God doesn’t play dice with the universe in railing against the uncertainty of quantum theory, and sought a unifying field theory because of a deep attraction to unity in the universe – Adonai Echad!
What incredible conversations! What insights I’d leave the table with.

Next I’d totally invite Dr. Jane Goodall, whose forays into the wilderness have forged a connection to our closest relatives in the animal kingdom. Chimpanzees grieve, war, stand in awe before natural wonders, use tools, and are endangered by human activities. Jane has dedicated her life now to conservation. She’s a heroine of mine and also a fabulous story teller.

My  next two guests are who I’m named for. My Hebrew name’s Miriam, after my Grandma Bertie’s mom, a Russian immigrant who opened a grocery store in Jersey city, where chickens had to be plucked! I’d love for her to tell me of what life used to be in the old country, and gain insights to the person who partly raised me. Great Grandma  and I are namesakes of Miriam from the Bible, you know, the one who watched brother Moses in the Nile, was a prophetess and led the Israelites in music across the waters to freedom. I’d ask her about the music and the timbrels, about freedom, about sibling rivalry, about prophecy: what an opportunity. Maybe she’s where I get my passion for music.

That leaves me only one choice left for the dinner party, which is unfortunate. My top three candidates are: Jefferson Smith: Jimmy Stewart from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Anne McCaffrey, author of Dragonriders of Pern, and George Gershwin, who died so young, with so much music in him. I think I have to go with Anne McCaffrey,  because she’s the only one I actually did invite to dinner. She lived in Scotland, but in the fan letter I emailed her many years back, I said if she were ever in New Jersey….  I lived many a day in my dreams on the planet Pern, in the musician’s guild with Menolly, making friends with tiny fire breathing dragons while composing melodies. It would be an honor. Their memories are for blessing.

My favorite place to pray is either a synagogue filled with inspired music or my back deck. I know it’s not a mountaintop or anything, but it faces east, I can hear both natural and man made sounds and feel the breeze, and it’s so accessible!

The final question asks something I hope for in 2013. I’m not so young that I think change can happen overnight, but I also know what Margaret Mead said is true, not to doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it’s the only thing that ever has!  So I’m hoping for gun control legislation, and the start of serious change in conservation and climate change laws. If we will it it’s no dream? So why not dream big, it sets the stage. If not now, When? Now listen to the first song in the Dan Nichols link, because miracles do happen every now and then!

Write back, what are some of your hopes, your dinner invitees, your favorites? I’d love to hear!

Today, Shevat 4th in the Hebrew calendar, is the Yahrtzeit of Deborah Lynn Friedman, whose heartfelt approach to spiritual music has made so much wisdom and prayer accessible to our souls. She suffered much from illness in her life, yet her melodies emerge soaring and hopeful, and they helped birth spiritual awareness in many. A few words about Torah linked and dedicated to Debbie today, and then a song.

We read this week of awakening, the spiritual birth of a nation from the darkness of enslavement and inhumanity to the light of hope and freedom. We read of the last three of the plagues – three types of darkness. In the first, locusts darken the earth, hiding it from our view. I notice that today many of us live day to day nourished by the fruits of the earth, yet without awareness, or even the feel of the earth beneath our feet – and we don’t even have locusts to hide it,  just our routines! Next a thick darkness envelopes Egypt, a darkness that can be touched, in which a person cannot see their brother. Yet light existed in the dwellings of the Israelites, so this is no ordinary darkness, but an ethical and spiritual place. Finally the ultimate darkness, death of the firstborn of Egypt. Part of me knows that this is payback for the killing of the Israelite baby boys. Another part of me suspects that this is an assassination of the leadership (i.e. firstborn) of Egypt in a war for freedom, with credit given to God. But part of me cries. These Egyptian families were our friends, our neighbors. They freely gave us gifts, treasures for our journey into freedom. It is true that battles for liberation are bloody and sad. We are birthed as a nation through a womb marked with blood, symbolized perhaps by the markings on our doorposts. But in spite of the pain, and through it, we are birthed into light of  hope and freedom.
Debbie Friedman’s “Sow in Tears” is perfectly expresses this transformation from tragedy to joy.
Those who sow, who sow in tears, shall reap in joy!
It’s the song of the dreamer from the dark place it grows,

Like a flower in the desert, the oasis of the soul,

Come back, come back where we belong, You who hear our longing sighs,
Our lips our mouths are filled with song, you can see my tear filled eyes!

Hazorim, b’dimah, b’rinah yiktzoru

from Psalm 126
Here is a video of Debbie singing her Mi Sheberach, and then into Sow in Tears
May her memory be for blessing!

We need a hero today, as in the days of Moses. After snowstorm Athena dumped on us a week after Hurricane Sandy, one of my students joked if there are locusts next week, I give up!
But climate change and storms of this magnitude are no joke.

In the saga of Egyptian slavery we read of ancient plagues. These are no ordinary plagues, they are karma. Egypt does not honor laws of kindness and decency, does not choose life. An edict that newborn Hebrew boys shall be slaughtered is supported by arousing anxiety that these boys will grow to be soldiers and defeat Egypt. The midwives and moms know better, they fear God and disobey the man/god Pharaoh. In the first plague, the Nile. that life giving blast of fresh water, turns to blood: it is the blood of the baby boys.  The Hebrews are described as “swarming” and “multiplying”as if they were annoying insects rather than humans, and several plagues involve swarming: lice, locusts and frogs. I love it, nature is called to rebel against the inhumanity. The plague of darkness is described in next week’s reading as a thick darkness. Now if I were describing it, I might say it was so thick I couldn’t see my hand before my face. But this is no ordinary darkness,  rather it’s a blindness/ darkness of spirit, a darkness so thick that a person could not see their brother!  Egypt turned Hebrews into “others” rather than “brothers”.

What does this have to do with snowstorms and hurricanes, you ask? Well the climate is changing due to increases carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere, global temperature has already increased. The temperature in the Atlantic that fueled Sandy was 4-5 degrees warmer than normal. It’s hard to wrap our heads around the magnitude of harm we are bringing upon ourselves,  so we don’t try, and we live as though nothing’s wrong. For a brief tutorial on climate change try this Ted lecture http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7ktYbVwr90

It’s scary. But as in ancient times, we ignore the danger, we grow used to it. Torah says that God “strengthens” Pharaoh’s heart  – the Hebrew y’chazek means to strengthen (not harden) and I believe God is the power which can strengthen our hearts – but that’s not always good! Sometimes we need a more vulnerable heart, which can fear and feel, perhaps that’s the heart of a hero – or some balance of the two. That’s why midwives Shifra and Puah, mom Yoheved, and sister Miriam are heroines, they act with a feeling heart. They are also subversive, defiantly choosing life, so that yet another hero, Moses can live. I met a hero this spring, Reb. Arthur Waskow, founder of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia http://theshalomcenter.org/  He, with his wife R. Phyllis Berman, works to subvert the status quo in support of what is decent and good and right in many ways. Reb. Arthur speaks of the changes happening in society and on this beautiful planet of ours as an “earthquake”. He says there are many ways people respond: by apathy because “there’s nothing I can do”; or by retreating, blindly clinging to ancient ways. Arthur proposes an alternative, to respond, to dance in this earthquake! Reb Arthur told of a Tub’shevat observance several years ago in the remnant of a forest in which  a company had clear cut old growth giant redwood stands. In defiance of local edicts, Arthur and others carried redwood saplings onto the muddy ground of the ruined forest. He danced in the earthquake! I was inspired to write a song, at the suggestion of Cantor Leon Sher, much of which is below. I changed the first verse written here after Sandy.

Dancing in the Earthquake, for Arthur

A perfect super storm bears down on New York City,

Charged up seas stretch out an angry hand.

Hearts will tear as images reveal  homes and lives swept to the raging tide.

Heroes rise; hear our anguished cries,

Kol han’shama t’hallel Yah, all souls with breath shall praise the breath of life,

Praying with our legs* we learn to dance!

Kol han’shama t’hallel Yah, all souls with breath shall praise the breath of life,

Dancing in the earthquake, what will be our dance?

Teeth of metal gash the ancient bark, mighty redwood you will fall.

Trembling earth receives your body’s every branch, broken hearted.

Eytz chayim hee, our Tree of Life!

Bridge:

Eyts chayim hee, we are your letters, each soul bound with ev’ry other ‘neath majestic boughs

Oh, Arthur stands upon scarred ground, cradles a seedling in his hands

Teaching us: this can be our dance!

Kol han’shama t’hallel Yah, all souls with breath shall praise the breath of life,

Praying with our legs* we learn to dance!

Kol han’shama t’hallel Yah, all souls with breath shall praise the breath of life,

Dancing in the earthquake, this will be our dance, this will be our dance!

* Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said this about marching with Dr. Martin Luther King: “I felt as though my legs were praying”

Names matter: I had a teacher that called me Frodo all term, because of a Hobbit shirt I wore on the first day. My name’s not Frodo, but at least it was a name.

I just saw Les Miserable, and I noticed that Jean Valjean is the only character with both a first and last name. His, pursuer, Javert, tries always to call him by his number (24601, I think), and is the only character with only a last name . This numbering may remind you of someone else too: there is a man at the market where I shop, with a number tattooed on his arm.

I’ll meet 130 new people in classes in a couple of weeks. To look them each in the eye and learn their names will be my mission, it shows them each cavod, honor, that there is the depth of history, identity to them, an acknowledgement that who I see before me is just the tip of an iceberg in time, space and soul.

The new book and portion of the Torah read this week means names in Hebrew, (shemot), and there’s an iceburg in here.  Running strongly through this drama are words of births and families, and the names of women who honor those tiny, beautiful lives, and so save us all. under circumstances where babies and adults were reduced by blindness of fear and prejudice to expendables, to numbers.

In this drama names are withheld from a baby, (and his mother, father and sister)  until the moment the princess withdraws him from the river and names him Mosheh, Moses. An unnamed man will beat a slave (named brother)  Moses will flee, and marry and name his son stranger there, Gershom.  And then it is God who chooses a new name, at the place where an ordinary bush is burning without being consumed by the fire: Ehye asher ehye – I will be what I will be.

A brief side note about opposites: this fire will inspire the birth of a nation through water.  birth happens in the midst of  death, emancipation from the crucible of slavery, guided by pillars of fire and vapor, led by the son of a slave who emerges from the king’s palace, saved by water which drowns. A male hero emerges entirely fashioned by the strength of wonderfully subversive women who, in their courage choose life.

Names describe, identify, limit and constrict our reality, but they’re crucial.

We are the Namers, it was Adam’s job in the Garden to name animals. We name our children, and name ourselves by our actions. and we are our Names. or we are much more than our names, or sometimes much less than our names. We are named after loved ones … A poem:

Each of Us Has A Name

Each of us has a name
given by God
and given by our parents

Each of us has a name
given by our stature and our smile
and given by what we wear

Each of us has a name
given by the mountains
and given by our walls

Each of us has a name
given by the stars
and given by our neighbors

Each of us has a name
given by our sins
and given by our longing

Each of us has a name
given by our enemies
and given by our love

Each of us has a name
given by our celebrations
and given by our work

Each of us has a name
given by the seasons
and given by our blindness

Each of us has a name
given by the sea
and given by
our death.

~ Zelda ~

This poem honors those names who perished in the Holocaust.

I have a favorite song linked to this Torah portion: Holy Ground by Craig Taubman. It’s not about names, but it’s pretty cool anyhow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpVqLEzvt6Q