My Sefirah Challenge (side of AC/DC Bag and Big Cypress)

As mentioned not far from here, I learned that the "plague" was lack of v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha, and I don't know about you, but not listening to music doesn't teach me to be good to people; not cutting my hair (or any of the other usual mourning 'cause people died stuff) doesn't remind me to be nice to people; and everyone mourns differently, so this is my way of "mourning."

Time to put the spiritual money where the mouth is. Ha yom yom challenge -- for every day of sefirah, I am making an extra effort to do something to the tune of VLK. There are myriad things one can do (of course, everyone is always good to everyone because they're so darn respectful, right? Right.); it should be easy.

All of this came together over the past few days, so I will double up to complete it in time for Shavuos (still shouldn't be hard). Did yesterday; did today. Un, deux, trois - cha, cha, cha!

Lyrical accompaniment: excerpted from AC/DC Bag (Phish)

... Time to put your money where your mouth is
Put 'em in a field and let 'em fight it out
I'm running so fast my feet don't touch the ground
I'm a stranger here I'm going down

Let's get down to the nitty gritty
Let's get this show on the road
I'll show you mine if you show me yours
I'm breathing hard - open the door ...

I was at this show; it was awesome. Note: Live music footage of song excerpted above contained in video below. There are many longer versions of this tune on youtube.


The other super-memorable AC/DC Bag that comes to mind was at Big Cypress, in the middle of the night, 1/1/2000. I went to get a sandwich shortly after midnight and couldn't find the folks I was with afterward. So I wandered.

I was at my car, feeling alone in the world, figuring that was appropriate (born alone, die alone, year has three zeroes alone, why not?). I heard them go into AC/DC Bag, and remembered why I was there, and headed back to the concert field, and everything in the world was fine. I didn't see anyone I knew until after sunrise.

Now that I think about it, it might have been David Bowie; let me check the set list. It was very powerful. And I was wrong! It was David Bowie. lol Here it is, anyway (all of Big Cypress).

Tale of Block 24

This is a long one, but it's well worth reading, imo. Disclaimer: content includes concentration camp "brothels." ThanBook linked to it. I've enjoyed his blog for a long time, now.

Hot for Caro

Not hot like sexual attraction, I just want to read some stuff my him. I've seen lots of his stuff quoted. Next stop:
http://www.kabbalaonline.org/Safedteachings/otherkab/Yosef_Caro_Selections.asp
I know a bit about angelic mentors. He may have had what I have, just without medication. There is a long history of correlations between the two. Please don't think I'm sticking my nose in kabbalah without a seatbelt on. I was looking up even haezer, and I wound up there. But when I was here and I read this:

Maggid Meisharim: Rabbi Caro's only overtly kabbalistic work, comprising teachings that he learned from a heavenly maggid, an angel that privately taught him. It was published in two parts: the first part, covering Bereishit to Metzora, was published in Lublin in 5405; the second part, completing the Torah and on Prophets and Writings, was published in Venice in 5414. Rabbi Chaim David Azulai (the Chida) notes that only about one fiftieth of the manuscript was ever published.

The work covers an astonishing variety of subjects, including ethical exhortations, explanations of the ten sefirot, secrets of Creation, the Divine Names, levels of the soul, treatises on the revelation of Elijah the Prophet, reincarnation and resurrection of the dead, miracles, Divine Providence and free choice, dream interpretation, the mystical intentions of eating, the mystical intentions of some of the mitzvot, the nature of sin and the harm it causes, and mystical interpretations of passages in the Torah.

my TLE radar went off, so to speak, and I knew I wanted to read more. But I doubt I'll find a copy of it easily. It's on my to-read list.

re: women's stuff and boards

I like this site: http://www.yoatzot.org/
It may not necessarily be stuff that applies to my everyday life, but it's got a ton of information on women's-type things if you're running in any sort of ortho scene. I'm throwing it in my links, but I wanted to draw some attention to it, as well.

And for a different perspective, there are the message boards at calm kallahs (it's a wedding planning site).

I really like imamother forums, which I don't read often enough. It's got a TON of topics and forums, and the women are pretty neat. It's not often I set foot in such territory, but it's nice to catch a written glimpse.

Sefirah Soundtrack / Theme Songs

I wrote something here about Lennon and my ride home tonight. I'll add to this list.

John Lennon: Instant Karma
(actually, you could probably do an entire sefira just with beatles songs, if you wanted to ... I'm tired, and will sleep now, but I will come back to this tomorrow or later this week.)
Put It There - Paul McCartney
Let Me Roll It - Paul McCartney (that has nothing to do with sefirah, I just like it)

... further development on the sefirah theme ...

Time to put the spiritual money where the mouth is. Engaging in extra acts of VLK during sefirah. One a day. (two, now, 'cause sefirah's been going for a while) I'm up for the challenge.

Liquid Funk Jug is Delicious

Musical content (not live). It's a podcast. Rockin' my socks off.

If you liked that, try this: The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show
Three delicious hours every week!

re: fitness (jcontent)

Copied and pasted from something I put together a while ago:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=261533&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

Torah with treadmills By Tamar Rotem Sports has gradually breached the modesty barrier and become a legitimate leisure pursuit among the ultra-Orthodox. Sixth article in a series.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/821829.html

Diet is a dirty word By Tsafi Sa'ar

http://www.chicagojewishnews.com/forums/showthread.php?p=148

Rabbi Matanky – physical fitness is a basic Jewish value.

More from rav kook

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Shokel/870901_Olympic.html

http://members.aol.com/Sauromalus/jewishveg.htm

lots of great stuff here

and here

http://members.aol.com/Sauromalus/index.html

exercise and t’shuvah

http://israelnationalnews.com/english/newspaper/torah/ask-rabbi-14-Aug-02.htm

http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/parsha/review/archives/behaloscha63.htm

EXERCISE by Prof. Chaim Lifschitz

Oh, yeah! http://www.mesora.org/exercise.htm

Little maimo

http://thenewmedicine.org/timeline/maimonides

maimo

http://www.parkridgecenter.org/Page18.html

ask the rabbi @ ohr sameyach: http://ohr.edu/yhiy/article.php/1028

straight rambam: http://www.jewishhealing.com/rambamchap4.html

more from ohr: http://ohr.edu/ask/ask102.htm

the medical legacy of maimonides

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4004/is_200107/ai_n8979163

http://mytorah.blogspot.com/2006/09/rambam-on-exercise-dieting-and-lashon.html

maimonides

http://www.koshertorah.com/health-exercise.html

http://www.jbuff.com/c050604.htm

by a doctor: http://www.dermanities.com/detail.asp?article=115

did our sages exercise: http://www.asktherabbi.org/DisplayQuestion.asp?ID=360

Inspiration, move me brightly,

Light the song with sense of color
Hold away despair ...*

This inspired me:

I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining.
I believe in love even when I don’t feel it.
I believe in God even when He is silent.
-scratched into a wall at Auschwitz

The website linked above has some good, not-too-graphic resistance information on WWII from an historical perspective and is worth poking around.

* (by Robert Hunter) Unrelated, but awesome: If you've never read Robert Hunter's "Terrapin Station Suite" in its entirety, I highly recommend giving it a read, some time. Here it is.

My sephardic streak

runs up my maternal grandfather's (z"l/RIP) side. Here's a related article. They came to America from Monastir (Macedonia), but can be traced back to Holland, Spain, and ultimately, Yemen, where they inbred as they wandered, creating genetic mutations. Thanks, folks!

Far Out : Portland Gets Acupuncture Tx (treatment)

Check this out. I think it's pretty neat how the artist related stuff in the city to TCM and treatment. I have so much to learn.

About last night: The Jammy Awards

It was moving. I have thoughts, but no time to articulate them right now. Here is a link to an article about the awards show that includes the text of Trey's speech (Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio).
I did some qigong practice during a few of the performances. It was really, really moving and awesome to see the members of Phish back on the same stage together. Talk about verklempt moments. Yeah.

I like good bags

http://www.blackhawk.com/product1.asp?P=61BC01&C=C1184
It's not sexy, but it sure looks rugged and functional.

I have realized I'll be doing myself a favor if I start making tags for these. I'll have to go back and do some of that next time it rains, or something.

Kaizen, Meet Mussar

More fun with concepts from Japan: Kaizen

Article on Toyota that inspired me to look up the word
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2008/05/12/080512ta_talk_surowiecki

very brief backgrounder, corporate angle
http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_kaizen.html

personal kaizen
http://lifehacker.com/software/kaizen/practice-your-personal-kaizen-207029.php

east meets west, kaizen to mussar
http://www.mussarinstitute.org/yoga_journal_article-p1.htm

what is mussar? (no one's born knowing everything)
http://www.mussarinstitute.org/wisdom-way.htm

re: emotional homicide and embarrassing people on purpose

Thanks to Hesh for writing something that reminded me I've been meaning to look up the source of this concept. Sources.
That works.

The wedding was perfect/in other news

Bride and groom looking excitedly at each other the whole time, good times with family, dancing, dancing, more dancing, and the perfect balance between the religious and the secular, imo. And microfiber tights totally don't suck. And my cousin's wife is the coolest, and so is when everyone (all the parents who are exes) play so nicely together because they remember it's about their kid. Any tension left over from recent stuff related to my immediate family was also addressed and dissipated, and my father did a nice job as mesader kedushin and gave a great speech. Kedoshim lends itself to good speeches. It's one of my favorite parshas (parshiot?).

In other news, I've discovered that when faced with the possibility of hashkafic compatibility, I lose power of speech. It's ridiculous. I have to get over that. People are human. If I can't hold a conversation, there's no way I'll ever be able to do more than that. I did get to see some great music, though. ((consolation prize))

Aidel like Whom?

So, I earned my yellow belt (judo) and started some dental work yesterday (surprise root canal that needs to be finished and hurts like a #@%&*). I've realized there's so much I could write, but I don't want this to be full of my random thoughts. I need to keep a journal for my medical qigong class, too, so I figure I ought to be writing some stuff there.

I'm looking forward to seeing my dad's side of the family at my cousin's wedding on Sunday. Bummed to have missed a road trip for shabbos away, but shabbos is every week, so hopefully I'll be able to do that another time. Life is good, I just want my tooth to stop hurting. God bless Tylenol with codeine. It makes me sleepy, but it makes the pain stop (yay!).

Better days ahead. I want to post some links to some more blogs. I've been reading them for years, now, and there are lots of great ones. For example, and I don't agree with everything on any blog, but I am a bit of a psych nerd and this blog is chock full of Captain Obvious, which certainly has its applications: http://spiritize.blogspot.com/ I'm not saying it's great. I had some other blogs in mind when I wrote that. (no offense to whoever's behind spiritize)

I resized the text in several of my posts. I'll get to the rest at some point soon. Have a beautiful weekend, all.

sb

re: orthofronting (paging heimish, among others)

In your non-rabbinic opinion, what's "better" -- to do one thing sincerely or to do lots of things mindlessly and without soul, kavanah (or meaning)?

Some would say mitzvah gorreret mitzvah ([performing] one commandment leads to performing another). These same folks might follow the na'aseh v'nishmah (do and follow) school of thought, when it comes to ritual observance.

And then there's the Janis Joplin school of thought that says if you've got one day, make that day love, 'cause that's all you've got (and some define love as ritual, and some don't, and to each his own).

I don't know. I'd rather have kavanah in the moment than perform mitzvot by rote. I don't like to plow through benching. I like to take my time and sing the whole thing out loud. Why? 'Cause it's fun to sing. 'Cause it's probably shabbos, so I'm not in a rush.

'Cause singing brings people together in ways doing other stuff together doesn't. I'm sure if I really needed to nap, I might want to do it faster/more quietly. That day hasn't come yet, but I haven't benched out loud with others since the sedarim (since Passover).

Now is one of those moments when I need sleep, but I want to say I love benching. I think gratitude is at the heart of Judaism, and eating is a very conscious process for me in relation to emotions like compassion and remembering to have it and stuff (like by not mixing meat and dairy foods together, for example).

Hey: If you don't know what any of the italicized words mean, please let me know, and I'll start sticking a glossary at the end of each entry. I have no idea who exactly is reading this thing. Thanks. Good night.

Tefillin and Acupuncture

This wouldn't be my blog without a link to this article:
http://www.drstevenschram.com/tefillin.pdf

I'm still working on figuring out a preferred font for my posts. Looking at the blog in full-screen on my home computer for the first time, I notice I don't like how Arial looks. Is any particular font more easy on your eyes? All feedback appreciated.

re: TCM & autistic behavior

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KWZ/is_6_3/ai_113301725

How to stick me in a little box (not my car)

Disclaimer: I don't need no steenkin' boxes. But sometimes people like to refer to them to help them understand things on terms with which they're already familiar, I suppose.

In the comments section of this entry, Jewish Skeptic asked me if I'm a baal teshuvah.
I answered him then, but the question was one worthy of taking a quiz, imo.
So I took the one linked below, and my results are below that.
BUT
I had to look up what words meant in about 35% of the questions, so I'd shave some % points off of the right wing ones, 'cause if I were really right wing, I wouldn't have had to look anything up to take that quiz.

http://www.nerdtests.com/mq/take.php?id=200
Left Wing Modern Orthodox: 55%
Right Wing Modern Orthodox: 68%
Left Wing Yeshivish/Chareidi: 47%
Right Wing Yeshivish/Chareidi: 19%

Okay, today is 5/12/08, and I just took it again, this time without looking anything up. My new results:

Left Wing Modern Orthodox: 55%
Right Wing Modern Orthodox: 79%
Left Wing Yeshivish/Chareidi: 47%
Right Wing Yeshivish/Chareidi: 18%

The Orthodoxy Test
says that I'm Modern Orthodox

lol

What I've been learning: http://www.kolel.org/torahstory/module4/page1.html
I wound up at that page when I looked up pshat to take that quiz.
For people who don't know me: I went to yeshiva from preK to grade 2; grades 3-7 were at a prep school, and I had a Hebrew (studies, not language) tutor in grades 3 and 4, maybe grade 5, too (I always learned with my dad); in 7th grade - the end of high school, I went to my local public school (and lost most interest in orthodoxy after I was sent upstairs to sit with the women when I turned 12; add my mom being sick to that, and I didn't believe in much of anything). I went to New College at Hofstra (U.) for five years (got a degree, felt awkward at Hillel, but the rabbi was cool; I just wasn't used to community Judaism [I grew up in the woods of western Jersey and although there was a shul, my home life wasn't functional enough to get me anywhere but school on a regular basis]. Parents try their best. And they did.).

When I was in high school, a wise rav pointed out that my dad didn't own Judaism, and regardless of issues I had with him due to the double-life-leading that having only one observant parent can lead to, Judaism is for me to form a relationship with, if I wish. So I've just learned (pretty much independently and reading online) a little, since then.

Religion isn't logical, and it's very human. I'm willing to accept both of those ideas and keep what I think is good for myself and wrestle/agree to disagree with the parts I don't like. Religion is something I find to be deeply personal.

Yes, it can be rather communal, at times. I get shy, sometimes, too. I'm happy to be here, happy to be alive and evolving. Gratitude is a large foundation, for me.