Great Reggae Chazzan

Booby (Newby/Boo-Boo): A Little Miracle

A deaf, declawed cat was dumped, showed up at a guy named Rich's house; a woman named Victoria posted about him; a month later, he was neutered and became a holiday miracle. He's a good boy. Is he really a miracle? That's debatable, but I picked up that cat without knowing where he'd be homed, figuring if I do the right thing, things will work out okay. Little did I know, my mom would fall in love with him. (As much as that fact isn't a surprise to anyone who knows her, I totally hadn't planned on her winding up taking him in. My grandmother, who lives with my mom, was totally understanding re: a declawed, deaf cat doesn't belong outdoors. I really thought his stay at their house would be temporary.) Here are some pictures.

Music and Adoption

This Year's Chanukah Theme

Is Cleaning. Taking care of the home, tcb, etc. I brought my car in to be fixed; they washed it and cleaned part of the inside. It looks great!! The rest of it looks awful. I need to remove all of the cat hair and dust from my life. The Fall 2009 Judo season ended the other day. It was great. We start again in 8-10 weeks. I can't wait. The kids are awesome.

Here's some Phish to go with this year's theme (below).

Jazz, Blues, Jews

Hentoff on Jazz: The Jewish Soul of Willie "The Lion" Smith
It's beautiful. Just beautifully written. And gorgeous. Comments, too.

Cake Shop, 11/18/09

No, not really, but I made a cameo as Patrick's fake ponytail on heeb'n'vegan (above). Photo credit to heeb'n'vegan (if I'm wrong, please correct me and I'll fix it). Also pictured are Heshy and Matthue. Fine company for a great night of music, including CAN!!CAN and Golem.

I started a drawing (right) during Golem's set which included the traced hands of most of the folks mentioned above and Jacob of JDub Records. It went home with CAN!!CAN, as it was on the reverse of a show poster.

CAN!!CAN delivered a relentlessly Manilow-esque set of Carpenters covers. (I'm being completely facetious, check them out). It was my first time seeing Golem, and they rocked! I'm looking forward too seeing them again, as well.

A bunch of links re: interfaith kids/inclusivist J

on my blog
Because
I don't
need
to have
tons of
tabs
open
ortho
Each blue line is a different link. This is primarily for my own reference. Agree, disagree -- I don't need to debate content that I've yet to read. I love some people whose spouses aren't Jewish, and I love their kids, too. So, yeah, I want to read stuff like this, 'cause it matters, to me.

Resources for Sexual Abuse Survivors

Here are two Jewish community-related message boards for survivors of sexual abuse. If you know of more, please post them as comments. Thank you.

For men

For women

Sexual Abuse is a Crime, Period.

This deserves a re-post:

As a victim of abuse at the hands of a priest I can tell you that some 40 years after being molested I struggled with taking my own life. If it not for being a father an not wanting to leave a legacy of suicide i probably would have followed through.Today the laws are such most victims of abuse will never have a chance to confront their abusers or seek justice. these predators are protected by statue of limitaion laws.There is a bill before NY legislature to change this so childood victims have an opportu ity to seek justice. Both the catholic church and the majority of the Jewish communities leadership have fought to strike down this bill.

Posted by: Kevin Harrington

---------------------------------

I'm borrowing (I edited it a bit) some wording from here.

All incidents of sexual abuse of a minor by anyone must be reported to civil authorities.

Sexual abuse is a crime and should always be reported to police before notifying the organization where the crime occurred.

Organization leaders will be notified at the appropriate time by investigating authorities.

One reason the Catholic Church has a sex abuse crisis is because it handled these matters internally without notifying civil authorities. Sadly, many church leaders were more interested in the reputation of the church than the welfare of victims. (Sound familiar?)

"Until the diocese adopts a policy of public transparency, the loss of trust in the church will be hard to rebuild. Crimes involving the abuse of children are of the highest priority, and these matters must be handled promptly, professionally and in the light of day by public agencies designed to do so."

-JERRY MATYSIK Chief, Eau Claire Police Department

Yes! Replace diocese with Judaism and church with shul or yeshiva or (name of Jewish youth organization). The same point is applicable.

Chazzanos Lovers

Koussevitsky streamage here. Enjoy.

Re: Child Abuse, from Frum Follies

A Confession of Being Abused and Abusing.
Then there's this, too, also by him.

A.A. Milne Quote

"If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together, there is something you must always remember: you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart... I'll always be with you."

- Winnie the Pooh

re: UK jschool thing

I have no problem with non-orthodox conversions. Or with patrilineal descent, for that matter.

Who is Rich? (music content)

Pirkei Avot says he who's happy with his portion. And I agree. Having music handy doesn't hurt, either. These folks are rolling in it. Cheers to the music makers. Disclaimers: some not-work/grandma/toddler-friendly language and kol isha.

Guess what?

OTD is just another box. If you let your anger control your behavior, the people you are rebelling against are still controlling your behavior. It's all the same f'n' derech; OTD is a myth perpetuated by people who can't deal with people asking questions and thinking differently than they do.

I was raised that if you're not asking questions, you're doing it (being Jewish) wrong. Not that I didn't go through a ton of anger and stuff, anyway... eventually I realized that some folks are blind. And further down the road, I became able to approach them with compassion, as I would any other disabled person, because the use of religion to divide, and thinking that's okay, that's a severe handicap. It's not easy. It took years to reach that point.

I hold my tongue on a lot of blogs, 'cause who am I to say anything? OTD (the blogger), my going off isn't directed at you specifically, just the concept. You seem nice enough. My heart overflows with compassion for all the people who are hurting, and I hope everyone who needs some peace finds it soon.

My opinion is just my opinion. I'm not looking to fight. If you disagree, that's okay. I'm not smarter than anyone else. If I'm smarter than I was yesterday, I figure that's great. :)

Right On

Be vewy quiet, I'm hunting nusach*. Anyway, I found the below here:

Interestingly, the Italian Jews say in their nusach, Nusach Italki, she-asani Yisrael [(bless the One ) who made me a Jew] instead of shelo asani goy [(bless the One) who did not make me a non-Jew], they also say she-asani ben-chorin (free man) instead of shelo asani eved [who did not make me a slave] and they said she-asani gaver [who made me a man] instead of shelo asani isha [who did not make me a woman].
So basically same thing but different way of saying or looking at it.”

I can dig it. And I see a huge difference. And I am very happy to have recently made an online pal who also digs chazzanos**.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nusach#Meaning_of_term (basically, style of text in j-liturgy)
**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chazan (what the cantors sing; cantors are the dudes who lead the prayers at communal services; they usually have some sort of musical training)

Some Einstein Quotes

On religion and stuff. I haven't verified the sources.

L'shana Tova!

Wishing everyone the best of what life has to offer. I just realized the chocolate rugelach are still in my car. If I were less tired, I'd have brought them to chulent, but I decided to lay low tonight and just went home, afterward. SO nice to be back at judo again! The kids are great. The little ones will gain coordination quickly. :)

Teshuvah (Turn, Turn, Turn)

Dealing with a friend and some teshuvah-related issues; did some research. I like this article from the CCAR Journal. It's a .pdf titled "Teshuvah and Mentoring." You can start the download here.

I found a bunch of other stuff on chabad sites and stuff. I love the folk tales. Hope all is well with you. Things are coming along well, here.

Sarah

Taj Mahal - Lovin' In My Baby's Eyes