I'm Visiting My Aunt In Nashville And I Got To Go Through Her Vintage Shop/burlesque Studio

Sweet baby Josie

defunct catholic church pt. 2

Terri

fuck i accidentally deleted the post about the people at my synagogue and i'm mad cause i don't get to go this week, so here you all get to see it again:

my rabbi who will take every chance to tell you how shephardic jews Are Right and curses

the lady with the leopard print bag who dances the whole time

the lady who crochets yarmulkes

the little girl who runs around with her yarmulke on her face and her infinite dolls

my rabbi's wife who introduced doing a conga line during Yom Kippur because "you're all being to depressing, we're getting our souls cleaned today, lighten up."

all the weird old men, except when they eat all the good stuff off the lunch buffet

the very stressed and very tired starbucks manager

the All Powerful Linda

Hannah and her sister who are planning the garden we're going to put by the playground

the other rabbi with the sparkly tallit

this isn't a person, but in case we ever run out of extra yarmulkes, there's a doilie and if you get stuck with the doilie we all get to laugh at you, not to be mean, just, it's funny

pictures, pt. 3

"Welcome to the year 5780.

I have a cool computer program that does Gematria for me. Gematria is Hebrew numerology. In ancient Hebrew, numbers were written with letters, each letter having a specific value. Why do we give money in multiples of 18? Because the word for life is Chai - Het, which equals 8, and Yud which equals 10…8+10 = 18.

When I was seeking inspiration for my High Holy Day blessing to you, I decided to use this nifty program and see what Biblical words or phrases equaled 5780.

If there are any complete biblical verses, the program lists them first. There was one, it’s from Isaiah.

וַיֹּ֣סֶף יְהוָ֔ה דַּבֵּ֥ר אֵלַ֛י ע֖וֹד לֵאמֹֽר׃

Again God spoke to me, thus:

Ah, I thought to myself…God’s telling us something that we need to focus on for this coming year. What could it be? I continued down the list of results. The next hit was a partial verse, a phrase from Genesis:

וּמִלְא֥וּ אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ

Fill all the earth.

Fill all the earth!!! With what I asked?

The next thing that popped up was a single word…תופש

Tofess generally means to grab on to something. And that could work. May this be a year where we really and truly engage, grabbing onto life with all we have. I like that.

But in the context of the verse my handy dandy program found, the word tofess means something else. In describing Yuval, a great grandchild to Adam and Eve, the Torah says:

ה֣וּא הָיָ֔ה אֲבִ֕י כָּל־תֹּפֵ֥שׂ כִּנּ֖וֹר וְעוּגָֽב׃

He was the forerunner of all who play the harp and the pipe.

Tofess is to make music.

All three together, “Again, God spoke to me thus, fill all the earth with music making.” That’s our charge for 5780.

One of the greatest music makers in our tradition was Miriam, Moshe and Aaron’s sister. The Torah tells us that when the Children of Israel finally escaped Egypt and made it to other side of the Red Sea, when the Egyptians could not, Miriam the prophetess took out her drums and tambourines and led the people in song and dance.

There’s a Midrash, a rabbinic musing, that imagines something else in that scene. Moses goes up to his sister and asks, “Miriam, we had to leave in such great haste. We could only bring what we needed to survive. We didn’t even have time to let our bread rise. What were you thinking bringing drums and tambourines?”

To which Miriam replied, “Moses my brother, you never know when Israel will need to sing.”

My friends, if ever there was a time we needed to sing together, it’s now. It’s been a rough year. We’ve seen an unprecedented rise in hatred and attacks against us in Europe and Israel, and here in America. And why? Because we have audacity to proclaim the Oneness of God, and the courage to imagine a world built on justice, lovingkindness, and hope.

But we’re an ancient people who cannot be silenced. And music has the power to renew.

Over the next few days, we’ll sing together, we’ll pray for wisdom, understanding and clarity, and we’ll here the music of the shofar as a call to action.

May the New Year be one of Promise and Hope.

May it bring us Joy and Peace.

May it help us grow and bring us closer to one another.

May it bring us Healing and Health.

And may we have the strength to go out and fill the earth with the music of life." -Rabbi M