Dear friends,
This will be the last post -- at least for the foreseeable future -- on this blog.
I have dearly enjoyed it, but have a clear sense that it is time to move on. Other creative pursuits are waiting!
What I have posted here was ultimately not about teaching; it was a about grappling with myself as a human being. The work goes on...
Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Women of the Wall
"You forget that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence; and the kingdom of heaven is like a woman."
-James Joyce
-James Joyce
Sunday, April 3, 2011
 |
| my neighborhood |
Joshu asked Nansen: `What is the path?'
Nansen said: `Everyday life is the path.'
-a zen koan
Saturday, April 2, 2011
הִנֵּה מַה טוֹב
הִנֵּה מַה טוֹב וּמַה נָּעִים שֶׁבֶת אָחִים גַּם יַחַד
Hineh ma tov u’ma-nayim
Shevet akh-im gam ya-chad.
The Shabbat afternoon prayer service, called the minha, often ends with the song "Hineh ma tov," a song about humans doing the impossible.
It is usually translated in the following way:
How good and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in Unity.
Here's a translation that is closer to the literal meaning:
How good and pleasant it is for brothers to be sitting as One.
Tov, meaning good, is masculine, while maynaim, meaning pleasant, is feminine; achim, meaning brothers, is masculine plural (women are included). Yachad is the closest concept to a Jewish definition of God: perfect Unity.
The song is about transformations: the many become One, the human become the divine. None of it is actually possible... or is it?
The singing of Hineh Ma Tov fulfils its own hope: it is the closest anyone ever comes to Yachid. Singing the song serves as a reminder that we can only reach the eternal in the fleeting present moment. And in the Jewish worldview, we can only do so together.
I recorded a version today -- here.
Hineh ma tov u’ma-nayim
Shevet akh-im gam ya-chad.
The Shabbat afternoon prayer service, called the minha, often ends with the song "Hineh ma tov," a song about humans doing the impossible.
It is usually translated in the following way:
How good and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in Unity.
Here's a translation that is closer to the literal meaning:
How good and pleasant it is for brothers to be sitting as One.
Tov, meaning good, is masculine, while maynaim, meaning pleasant, is feminine; achim, meaning brothers, is masculine plural (women are included). Yachad is the closest concept to a Jewish definition of God: perfect Unity.
The song is about transformations: the many become One, the human become the divine. None of it is actually possible... or is it?
The singing of Hineh Ma Tov fulfils its own hope: it is the closest anyone ever comes to Yachid. Singing the song serves as a reminder that we can only reach the eternal in the fleeting present moment. And in the Jewish worldview, we can only do so together.
I recorded a version today -- here.
Friday, April 1, 2011
BOMB, Bomb, Bomb Goes the Gong
O piece of heaven which gives
both mountain and anthill a sun
I am standing before your fantastic lily door
-Gregory Corso
I'm going to be writing an article on the subject of the nuclear bomb in theological imagination for the next issue of WREN Magazine.
If you have any resources you would like to share, I would appreciate them. :)
both mountain and anthill a sun
I am standing before your fantastic lily door
-Gregory Corso
I'm going to be writing an article on the subject of the nuclear bomb in theological imagination for the next issue of WREN Magazine.
If you have any resources you would like to share, I would appreciate them. :)
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