PS. HOMAGE(S)-ESTY P.
February 24, 2016
The Idiocy and Vagaries of the So-called New and Improved WordPress have made it SUPER DIFFICULT to write, and especially, Edit, the blog post ‘HOMAGE(S)-A Healing Patchwork Quilt,#3,ESTY P.’
No option were give for editing Out two superfluous paragraphs at the end!! No options for uploading pictures were allowed or given. Even the Featured Image is NOT visible On Line… I am embedding it in the PS, with the hope that my radiant friend can be seen in all her Inner and Outer beauty.
I apologize to Esty’s family for the errors, and for the absence of pictures…
Sorry,
אבלים: אפרים, קרני, יובל, ברק, אורית, לולי, שי, מיכל, אמיר, אורי, ענת, ד ניאל וליאור.
Yehi Zichra Baruch – May she be remembered with Blessings !!
***
Here , again, is the Sung POEM ADAM BECHAYAV.
FIRST,here is the English Text of the Poem :
Yehuda Amichai quotes (showing 1-28 of 28)
A MAN DOESN’T HAVE TIME IN HIS LIFE
“A man doesn’t have time in his life
to have time for everything.
He doesn’t have seasons enough to have
a season for every purpose. Ecclesiastes
Was wrong about that.
A man needs to love and to hate at the same moment,
to laugh and cry with the same eyes,
with the same hands to throw stones and to gather them,
to make love in war and war in love.
And to hate and forgive and remember and forget,
to arrange and confuse, to eat and to digest
what history
takes years and years to do.
A man doesn’t have time.
When he loses he seeks, when he finds
he forgets, when he forgets he loves, when he loves
he begins to forget.
And his soul is seasoned, his soul
is very professional.
Only his body remains forever
an amateur. It tries and it misses,
gets muddled, doesn’t learn a thing,
drunk and blind in its pleasures
and its pains.
He will die as figs die in autumn,
Shriveled and full of himself and sweet,
the leaves growing dry on the ground,
the bare branches pointing to the place
where there’s time for everything.
”
השיר “אדם החייו” של יהודה עמיחי, תורגם לאנגלית (פונטית) ע”י חנה בלוך.
| ישוב | דליה |
| לחן | דב כרמל |
| מילים | יהודה עמיחי |
| ביצוע | מקהלת וולטי – סן-פרנסיסקו |
| עיבוד | רוברט גארי |
| תיוג | הרכבים קוליים; שירי משוררים |
מילות השיר
אדם בחייו אין לו זמן שיהיה לו
זמן לכל.
ואין לו עת שתהיה לו עת
לכל חפץ. קהלת לא צדק כשאמר כך.
אדם צריך לשנוא ולאהוב בבת אחת,
באותן עיניים לבכות ובאותן עיניים לצחוק
באותן ידיים לזרוק אבנים
ובאותן ידיים לאסוף אותן,
לעשות אהבה במלחמה ומלחמה באהבה.
ולשנוא ולסלוח ולזכור ולשכוח
ולסדר ולבלבל ולאכול ולעכל
את מה שהיסטוריה ארוכה
עושה בשנים רבות מאוד.
אדם בחייו אין לו זמן.
כשהוא מאבד הוא מחפש
כשהוא מוצא הוא שוכח,
כשהוא שוכח הוא אוהב
וכשהוא אוהב הוא מתחיל לשכוח.
ונפשו למודה,
ונפשו מקצועית מאוד
רק גופו נשאר חובב
תמיד. מנסה וטועה
לא לומד ומתבלבל
שיכור ועיוור בתענוגותיו ובמכאוביו.
מות תאנים ימות בסתיו
מצומק ומלא עצמו ומתוק,
העלים מתיבשים על האדמה,
והענפים הערומים כבר מצביעים
אל המקום שבו זמן לכל.
| השיר ב-YouTube |
HOMAGE(S)- A Healing Patchwork Quilt,#3,Esty P!
February 24, 2016
ESTY PILLERSDORF, Z’L
R.I.P.
***
A CREATOR OF BEAUTY !
***
Ecclesiastes Chapter 1 קֹהֶלֶת
| א דִּבְרֵי קֹהֶלֶת בֶּן-דָּוִד, מֶלֶךְ בִּירוּשָׁלִָם. | 1 The words of Koheleth, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. |
| ב הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים אָמַר קֹהֶלֶת, הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים הַכֹּל הָבֶל. | 2 Vanity of vanities, saith Koheleth; vanity of vanities, all is vanity. |
| ג מַה-יִּתְרוֹן, לָאָדָם: בְּכָל-עֲמָלוֹ–שֶׁיַּעֲמֹל, תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ. | 3 What profit hath man of all his labour wherein he laboureth under the sun? |
| ד דּוֹר הֹלֵךְ וְדוֹר בָּא, וְהָאָרֶץ לְעוֹלָם עֹמָדֶת. | 4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; and the earth abideth for ever. |
| ה וְזָרַח הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ, וּבָא הַשָּׁמֶשׁ; וְאֶל-מְקוֹמוֹ–שׁוֹאֵף זוֹרֵחַ הוּא, שָׁם. | 5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he ariseth. |
| ו הוֹלֵךְ, אֶל-דָּרוֹם, וְסוֹבֵב, אֶל-צָפוֹן; סוֹבֵב סֹבֵב הוֹלֵךְ הָרוּחַ, וְעַל-סְבִיבֹתָיו שָׁב הָרוּחַ. | 6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it turneth about continually in its circuit, and the wind returneth again to its circuits. |
| ז כָּל-הַנְּחָלִים הֹלְכִים אֶל-הַיָּם, וְהַיָּם אֵינֶנּוּ מָלֵא; אֶל-מְקוֹם, שֶׁהַנְּחָלִים הֹלְכִים–שָׁם הֵם שָׁבִים, לָלָכֶת. | 7 All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the place whither the rivers go, thither they go again. |
| ח כָּל-הַדְּבָרִים יְגֵעִים, לֹא-יוּכַל אִישׁ לְדַבֵּר; לֹא-תִשְׂבַּע עַיִן לִרְאוֹת, וְלֹא-תִמָּלֵא אֹזֶן מִשְּׁמֹעַ. | 8 All things toil to weariness; man cannot utter it, the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. |
***
[See http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt3101.html
***
ADD HERE THE FIRST TWO LINES OF THE MODAAT AVELIM
אסתי פילרסדורף ז”ל
אבלים: אפרים, קרני, יובל, ברק, אורית, לולי, שי, מיכל, אמיר, אורי, ענת, דניאל וליאור.
ההלוויה תתקיים ביום ד’ ה- 14.05.14, בשעה 16.30, בית עלמין הרצליה החדש.
יושבים שבעה בבית המנוחה, רחוב שטרן 13/28, קומה 7, נווה אמירים, הרצליה, בין השעות 10.00 – 14.00, 17.00 – 21.00.
***
My dear Ones Out There February 14 2016
How does one speak of a dear friend who has died, without falling into cliches, or into idealization ?
How does one speak of a woman who has left this world, without slipping into the cliches – such as ‘a wonderful mother’, ‘a doting grandmother,’ or ‘a loving wife’ ?
And when one speaks of a friendship that goes back to 1970,namely, 46 years, there is so much to praise, so much to be thankful for…. The difficulty grows into a Huge mountain …
I have written – and trashed – three attempts to speak of my beloved comerad, Esty .
And then something happened several days ago.
Almost miraculously a long search Esty and I shared –
for an On Line Hebrew Text of a Poem by Yehuda Amichai – came to a successful End.
In agonizingly Small Steps, the quest came to a completely Unexpectedly Full Completion.
So – I am making it the Core of my Homage to Esty.
I am also weaving, throughout the Blog Post, songs that I heard Esty mention over the years as ‘Favorites.’ Not surprisingly, they Hark Back to what is remembered as “Yisrael Hayafa” (The beautiful Israel). If I had a whole website, I would also post some of the classical music she loved so much…
I feel that with this completion, and with its presentation in this Homage, Esty is now resting more peacefully…..MAYBE EVEN SMILING..
Especially when the reader gets to the End of this post.
Where you find the Miraculously produced link to the Poem – in Hebrew – with an accompanying link to You Tube.
On Which the Poem is Sung, with Hebrew and English translations running on the screen…
***
שושנה דמארי – שני שושנים
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5CFC-Mh_sg
מילים: יעקב אורלנד
לחן: מרדכי זעירא
נוסטלגיה guyal11
***
OUR LETTER WRITING
What am I talking about ? ??
Esty and I had a long correspondence all through the years. But it became much more intense and – as I went through the emails – much more variegated as she was tending to Ephrayim’s increasingly growing Alzheimer.
As I was looking through the frequent, and long emails, I was surprised at how many subjects we covered… I , for my part, tried my best to share with her items that might lighten her burden.
One of the points that became the focus of many and long emails was the way Rabbi Marcelo Bronstein – of Bnai Jeshurun Synagogue in Manhattan – wove together quotes from a poem by Yehuda Amichai, and expressions used by Abraham our Father.
A Poem, by the way, whose Full Hebrew Text I did NOT have, and could Not find anywhere, since I could not – and still cannot – Google or search in Hebrew.
I did find the text After Esty’s death…First just the Hebrew; then also the English. And finally , in nothing short of miraculous intervention, I found a link to a Composed Song version…
Here, for startres, is the poem, in Hebrew (the English Text can be found further below) :
http://ma-ro-ot.blogspot.com/2011/06/blog-post.html
2011
אדם בחייו / יהודה עמיחי
אדם בחייו אין לו זמן שיהיה לו
זמן לכל.
ואין לו עת שתהיה לו עת
לכל חפץ. קהלת לא צדק כשאמר כך.
אדם צריך לשנוא ולאהוב בבת אחת,
באותן עיניים לבכות ובאותן עיניים לצחוק
באותן ידיים לזרוק אבנים
ובאותן ידיים לאסוף אותן,
לעשות אהבה במלחמה ומלחמה באהבה.
ולשנוא ולסלוח ולזכור ולשכוח
ולסדר ולבלבל ולאכול ולעכל
את מה שהיסטוריה ארוכה
עושה בשנים רבות מאוד.
אדם בחייו אין לו זמן.
כשהוא מאבד הוא מחפש
כשהוא מוצא הוא שוכח,
כשהוא שוכח הוא אוהב
וכשהוא אוהב הוא מתחיל לשכוח.
ונפשו למודה,
ונפשו מקצועית מאוד
רק גופו נשאר חובב
תמיד. מנסה וטועה
לא לומד ומתבלבל
שיכור ועיוור בתענוגותיו ובמכאוביו.
מות תאנים ימות בסתיו
מצומק ומלא עצמו ומתוק,
העלים מתיבשים על האדמה,
והענפים הערומים כבר מצביעים
אל המקום שבו זמן לכל.
מתוך “שעת החסד”
(ע.ל)
***
I Shared with Esty my excitement and pleasure at the manner Rabbi Marcelo wove the two strands :
“Here is a nugget from this Friday’s Drash by Rabbi Marcello Bronstein.
He was talking about ‘Mot Sara’ and what Abraham went through to
get a burial plot.
He played on the words Abraham says “Ger Vetoshav Anee Imachem” –
and translated this as ‘A Stranger/Foreigner and a Resident am I Among
You.’
How come, he said, quoting long Rabbinical Discussions over the centuries,
How come Abraham says ‘Stranger and Resident am I”, instead of saying
one or the other? The emphasis, he points out, in the Rabbinical discussion
is on the VE -‘and‘. instead of the more logical OR (‘OH’ in hebrew, as in
either/or).
Marcello said a GER, a stranger, is not attached to the locality, the town, the
country. Toshav, a Resident, Is very attached to these.
But we are Both Ger and Toshav – we are both attached and Unattached to
the many things reflected in the story.
So Amichai’s point from the second stanza – the stanza’s text was given to us – in really hit me:
MAN MUST LOVE AND HATE SIMULTANEOUSLY
(ADAM TZA-REECH LE-EHOV VE-LISNO BEVAT ACHAT)
THROW STONES AND COLLECT STONES IN THE SAME HANDS
MAKE LOVE IN WAR, AND MAKE WAR IN LOVE…
VE LISNO VE-LISLOACH VE-LIZKOR VE-LISHKOACH
HATE AND FORGIVE AND REMEMBER AND FORGET
Esty, maybe you can do a good job of translating all these homonyms into
English…”
****
****
To provide a short ‘rest’ from this learned discussion, above, I decided to include a song Shoashan Damari sings in Yiddish – as a Homage to Esty’s German roots…
***
שושנה דמארי שרה ביידיש ראזשינקעס מיט מאנדלען Shoshana Damari sings Rozinkes mit Mandlen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kc4hF_N9_g
Published on Jan 21, 2014
שושנה דמארי שרה ביידיש את השיר צימוקים ושקדים (ראזשינקעס מיט מאנדלען), אותו היא למדה לקראת הנסיעה שלה למחנה המעפילים בקפריסין.
Singer Shoshana Damari sing the yiddish song Rozinkes mit
Mandlen (raisins and almonds) in Yiddish
***
Here is Esty, in one of our discussions of the topic. At the end, she comments that she Has found the full Hebrew text, but does not know how to send me the url…. :
“Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011 3:01 AM
Subject: RE: Amicahi; ADAM BECHAYAV EIN LO ZEMAN; ABRAHAM: ‘GER VE TOSHAV ANI EEMACHEM
Hi Dinush,
How beautiful! It is amazing how one “discovery” or insight leads to another. How things are tied to each other. “Ger Ve – Toshav” – Leehov ve-lisnoh Bevat Achat” . That’s so true. What you or Rabbi Marcello add is the need to re-evaluate our relationship to the major things in our lives.
What I really enjoy these days is how my reading sends me on to new/old texts and discoveries. So Kohelet by Chaim Shapira sent me to the Varieties of Religious Experience by William James and that onto Walt Whitman and his sanguine, inherently positive and optimistic outlook on life and to his poem “Song of Myself”…
I did find the poem in a Blog on line, but didn’t know how to send you the link. I’ll try and find out and send it.”
Sadly, she never did find out..
But – small bit by small bit – I did manage, in preparing to write Post , to get the Full Text.
In Both English and Hebrew. Plus a ‘cherry’ on the icing. See at the end of this post…
***
***
ESTY CREATED BEAUTY IN WHATEVER SHE TOUCHED
Somehow, it doesn’t feel right Not to give you an example of how Well Rounded and Full of life Esty was – in all her roles or ‘functions.’ A woman in love, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, an Intellectual, A Housewife, a friend, A Cook, a writer, a reader….
If I were to Sum UP the Essence of Esty, I would say:
ESTY CREATED BEAUTY – In Whatever Function or Role she filled or played.
You read this long, beautiful email, and see if I am exaggerating:
Sent: Sunday, October 7, 2012 5:18 AM
Subject: Chag Sameach
Hi Dinush,
So – it’s Erev Simchat Tora, and here, at last, it does feel like autumn – intimations of winter. A cool breeze blows through the window in front of me and the water in the pool early in the morning is quite chilly – Hurrah!! All these religious holidays have a definite pagan/agricultural origin, as you know.
Dinush, I do hope your blood pressure problems are under control by now and that you are feeling well. I think of you in New York . Do you go to your synagogue on these holidays? For so many years we were there during at least part of the Chagim…
Apropo New York – Amiri, Baraki’s second son, is there now for 10 days with his lovely, sweet girl friend – Maya. Yesterday they sent me a note and a photo of the two of them under the sign of Chicago – the musical. Amiri returned from six months in South America about a month ago. To our delight he immediately picked up his relation with Maya. These days I have an additional joy in my grandchildren’s partners. Especially Amiri’s and Shai”s. Shai who studies in Jerusalem ( Hebrew University ) has moved into an apartment with Lior – a very bright lovely young woman. They have rented an apartment in Rehavia. Shai is a kind of” Talmid Chacham” – a true intellectual. Lior who, as I said, is very intelligent (plans to go into Accdademia) lightens him. Well, enough about the grandchildren. But I must say, at this stage of my life, they are a wonderful bright spot.
Now that it’s October music starts again – lecture and concerts. I do hope I can manage to attend all these and that Efraim agrees to have Danny(a Philippine guy we have known for many years who I think I wrote you about – he used to work for Becky) take him, for instance, to Yaffa Chen(Physiotherapist) in Tel Aviv. He thinks he can still get onto a bus by himself…
Just now Efraim’s friend – Ori – has come to pick him up for the breakfast at the Tel Aviv Port they have been meeting for, for years. This gives a few quiet hours on my own. A gift! At the same time, I must tell you, Efraim is mostly sweet and loving. He watches T.V. from morning to night. Sometimes he is quite intelligent about what he sees. Sometimes he also still has very good insights about people. There are of course great limitations – but in a way, as I may have told you before, he is like a very sweet, a little retarded, little boy. For now – Baruch hashem kol Yom.
Dinush – I am going to read a bit of Gawain And The Green Knight now, in preparation for my next meeting with Dicky. It’s such joy with him, he is so sensitive and perceptive. Probably – the most intelligent, interesting person around me these days.
Tomorrow we all meet at Carni’s in celebration of their new house– it’s a very lovely house and certainly closer to us than Zichron. It’s possible to get into the car and be at her place within 20-25 minutes.
You asked me some time ago about the novel Stoner, yes, that’s its name. By the way, Dicky asked me whether Absalom, Absalom was a Faulkner novel. I told him that you particularly worked on that novel and that at the time I asked you to come to talk to my class about it. Do you remember?
Be well, Dinush, and be in touch.
Chag Sameach!”
***
***
I wish I Did have a way to put here one of the family pics of Esty…
But the gods of wordpress are Not in alignment with me on that.
***
Here is the English Text of the Poem :
Yehuda Amichai quotes (showing 1-28 of 28)
A MAN DOESN’T HAVE TIME IN HIS LIFE
“A man doesn’t have time in his life
to have time for everything.
He doesn’t have seasons enough to have
a season for every purpose. Ecclesiastes
Was wrong about that.
A man needs to love and to hate at the same moment,
to laugh and cry with the same eyes,
with the same hands to throw stones and to gather them,
to make love in war and war in love.
And to hate and forgive and remember and forget,
to arrange and confuse, to eat and to digest
what history
takes years and years to do.
A man doesn’t have time.
When he loses he seeks, when he finds
he forgets, when he forgets he loves, when he loves
he begins to forget.
And his soul is seasoned, his soul
is very professional.
Only his body remains forever
an amateur. It tries and it misses,
gets muddled, doesn’t learn a thing,
drunk and blind in its pleasures
and its pains.
He will die as figs die in autumn,
Shriveled and full of himself and sweet,
the leaves growing dry on the ground,
the bare branches pointing to the place
where there’s time for everything.
”
***
And for a reminder of how much Esty loved the ‘old songs’, here is Shoshana Damari again. In KALANIOT .
שושנה דמארי – כלניות
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHq3bb4J1Ww
KALANIOTכלניות
Published on May 9, 2014
***
THE ‘LARGER’ FAMILY
I include here One of the many paragraphs in which Esty describes the importance of her Adult children and her grandchildren in coping with the heartbreak of watching the descent into alzheimer of the Love of her Life, her second husband Ephrayim.:
“As I write this I am on the phone trying to get tickets for “Cabaret”, everybody is raving about it. So, since Ef. has reluctantly agreed to go and see it, I am trying to get tickets – it’s a long wait. With me life revolves mainly around Ef. It goes up and down. At times very sad. He is still coping, but is very much aware of his “handicaps”. I live from moment to moment, grateful for every good one. In between there are books and grandchildren and children. Carni after having just returned from Rolf (who is now together with Sophie in a good frail care place which Carni managed to get for them. They are in the process of realizing that they can no longer cope on their own)is now in Stockholm and then Vienna and Zurich for work. She is very tired, but this requires using other parts of herself, so perhaps it’s not so bad for her. We talk on Skype when she is not here. Baraki too is extremely busy, but when he can he comes over for a drink and a chat sometimes over the week end. I talk to very few people about the situation with Ef. And the closeness with the children is, of course, a great help.”
***
For some reason, I am not able to add pictures – jpgs – to this blog post. But here is Esty not just seen, but also Heard. As a part of the project ”Writers Reading”
“סופרים קוראים” – אסתי פילרסדורף
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbxNQv4rwlc
Published on Dec 3, 2012
אסתי פילרסדורף – מתוך פרויקט “סופרים קוראים”
“סופרים קוראים” – ארכיון הווידאו של כלל סופרי ישראל. הארכיון הוקם ביוזמת מרכז הספר והספריות, מפעל הפיס ובית אריאלה – ספריית שער-ציון.
ארכיון “סופרים קוראים” באתר הספרייה
http://www.hasifria.org.il/heb/authors/authorarchive/
***
THE ‘TREASURE ‘ POSTHUMOUSLY FOUND
Here, finally , is the treasure that was found after a very long search . The ‘message in a bottle’, so to speak.
It is an an email message that for some reason was ‘hidden’ by gmail below an earlier message from the same sender. But, With No Indication at All that there Was a Later message waiting to be read…
And , two days ago, for No Apparent Reason , scrolled all the way down the original message. And Found a Whole Treasure Trove of New Links relating to the poem ADAM BECHAYAV…
One of those links took me to a website of ‘SHIRA OVEDET’ (Working Song or Working Singing).
And When I visited the site, there was ADAM BECHAYAV, THE POEM, in Hebrew!
AND – SUNG by the singers with both Hebrew and English WORDS of the song running along the screen!!
At that moment, I felt as if a divine hand has been guiding me to the email containing this link…
And I felt then that this poem, and this song sung here, should be the Heart of my Homage to Esty.
Because the Kohelet Excerpt at the top and the bottom of this Homage, and the Yehuda Amichai Poem ADAM BECHAYAV, encapsule the essence of life. A PARADOXICAL ONE….
Especially when you grow older and become more philosophical…
Here is the Link.
When you get to the page, scroll down for the Performed Song :
ADAM BECHAYAV, The SONG
Remember to Scroll Down the Page when you get there, to the actual LINK to You Tube.
You can then – right there on the page – hear the performance by the Choral Group VOLTRY , and simultaneously see the text of the ‘song’ in both Hebrew and English..
השיר “אדם החייו” של יהודה עמיחי, תורגם לאנגלית (פונטית) ע”י חנה בלוך.
מבוצע ע”י מקהלת Volti – סן-פרנסיסקו בניצוחו של רוברט גארי.
מתוך “שעת החסד” – יהודה עמיחי.
Each time I get to this page, I can FEEL Esty Smiling, up in Heaven….
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I tried to Copy some Pictures of Esty’s family here. WordPress has changed its settings, and I cannot find the link I knew…
Nope. it did not work…
Here is a link to the Announcement of Esty’s death. …On May 14 2014 . Rest In Peace, my dear friend….
אסתי פילרסדורף ז”ל
אבלים: אפרים, קרני, יובל, ברק, אורית, לולי, שי, מיכל, אמיר, אורי, ענת, ד ניאל וליאור.
ההלוויה תתקיים ביום ד’ ה- 14.05.14, בשעה 16.30, בית עלמין הרצליה החדש.
יושבים שבעה בבית המנוחה, רחוב שטרן 13/28, קומה 7, נווה אמירים, הרצליה, בין השעות 10.00 – 14.00, 17.00 – 21.00.
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| ח כָּל-הַדְּבָרִים יְגֵעִים, לֹא-יוּכַל אִישׁ לְדַבֵּר; לֹא-תִשְׂבַּע עַיִן לִרְאוֹת, וְלֹא-תִמָּלֵא אֹזֶן מִשְּׁמֹעַ. | 8 All things toil to weariness; man cannot utter it, the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. |
| ט מַה-שֶּׁהָיָה, הוּא שֶׁיִּהְיֶה, וּמַה-שֶּׁנַּעֲשָׂה, הוּא שֶׁיֵּעָשֶׂה; וְאֵין כָּל-חָדָשׁ, תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ. | 9 That which hath been is that which shall be, and that which hath been done is that which shall be done; and there is nothing new under the sun. |
| י יֵשׁ דָּבָר שֶׁיֹּאמַר רְאֵה-זֶה, חָדָשׁ הוּא: כְּבָר הָיָה לְעֹלָמִים, אֲשֶׁר הָיָה מִלְּפָנֵנוּ. | 10 Is there a thing whereof it is said: ‘See, this is new’?–it hath been already, in the ages which were before us. |
| יא אֵין זִכְרוֹן, לָרִאשֹׁנִים; וְגַם לָאַחֲרֹנִים שֶׁיִּהְיוּ, לֹא-יִהְיֶה לָהֶם זִכָּרוֹן–עִם שֶׁיִּהְיוּ, לָאַחֲרֹנָה. {פ} | 11 There is no remembrance of them of former times; neither shall there be any remembrance of them of latter times that are to come, among those that shall come after. {P} |
| יב אֲנִי קֹהֶלֶת, הָיִיתִי מֶלֶךְ עַל-יִשְׂרָאֵל–בִּירוּשָׁלִָם. | 12 I Koheleth have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. |
| יג וְנָתַתִּי אֶת-לִבִּי, לִדְרוֹשׁ וְלָתוּר בַּחָכְמָה, עַל כָּל-אֲשֶׁר נַעֲשָׂה, תַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם; הוּא עִנְיַן רָע, נָתַן אֱלֹהִים לִבְנֵי הָאָדָם–לַעֲנוֹת בּוֹ. | 13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven; it is a sore task that God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. |
| יד רָאִיתִי, אֶת-כָּל-הַמַּעֲשִׂים, שֶׁנַּעֲשׂוּ, תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ; וְהִנֵּה הַכֹּל הֶבֶל, וּרְעוּת רוּחַ. | 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. |
| טו מְעֻוָּת, לֹא-יוּכַל לִתְקֹן; וְחֶסְרוֹן, לֹא-יוּכַל לְהִמָּנוֹת. | 15 That which is crooked cannot be made straight; and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. |
| טז דִּבַּרְתִּי אֲנִי עִם-לִבִּי, לֵאמֹר–אֲנִי הִנֵּה הִגְדַּלְתִּי וְהוֹסַפְתִּי חָכְמָה, עַל כָּל-אֲשֶׁר-הָיָה לְפָנַי עַל-יְרוּשָׁלִָם; וְלִבִּי רָאָה הַרְבֵּה, חָכְמָה וָדָעַת. | 16 I spoke with my own heart, saying: ‘Lo, I have gotten great wisdom, more also than all that were before me over Jerusalem’; yea, my heart hath had great experience of wisdom and knowl |
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ACKNOWLEGMENTS
*THANK YOU to Karni Gaoni. Despite your ongoing mourning, you provided family pictures. I appreciate your taking the time to do that!
*I want to thank my friend, Rina Peleg. You took the time to search, and tirelessly find the KEFAR YONA Library. The ‘PEARL’ here is the link to WRITERS READING featuring Esty. You also provided me with the link to the library. Which made it possible to address directly the Wonderful librarian, Shiri. (See below).
*I Thank both Ms. Merri Lovinger Arian and Yoram Bitton, from the Hebrew Union College. You provided me – after my long and futile search on English Search Engines – with the The Full Hebrew Text of the elusive ‘treasure’- Yehuda Amichai’s poem, ADAM BECHAYAV.
http://ma-ro-ot.blogspot.com/2011/06/blog-post.html
*A Big Thank You to the Tireless librarian, Shiri!! You just did not stop searching for weeks. Until you found , among other new links, Yahuda Amichai’s ADAM BECHAYAV. On an unknown website of SHIRA OVEDET (related to Kibbutz Members Singing ). Which provided a version of the Poem as a SONG performed by the VOLTI choral group of San Francisco.
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HOMAGE(S): A Healing Patchwork Quilt, #2,
January 3, 2016
PROLOGUE, Pt. #2
Note: if you have Not read the First Blog Post in this Series, PLEASE scroll down to the earlier Post in HOMAGE(S), PROLOGUE #1, right below this one.
Thanks!!!
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STERN: One of the most arresting titles of your many books would be this one: God in Search of Man. Is God in search of man?
HESCHEL: It’s a paradox. In fact, if God would consult me, I would tell Him …
STERN: Does He?
HESCHEL: He doesn’t. He’s too wise to consult me.
I would say, “Why do you care about man?’ The biggest message of the Bible, and of the Prophets of Israel is that God takes man seriously.
You remember, He created Adam and Eve, and they immediately failed. He was disappointed, but lie kept them alive. Then they gave birth to two boys, very nice boys. I’m sure they got an excellent education in a private school, or in a public school, I’m not sure. But, certainly, in a good environment. They didn’t live in the slums, you know.
And you know what one brother did to the other. God should have been disgusted. He said, “No, I will keep the human species alive. I’m waiting. Maybe someday there will be a righteous generation.’
And throughout history, as seen by the Bible, there is one disappointment for God after another. But He’s still waiting, waiting, waiting for mankind which will live by justice and compassion. He’s in search of man.
1972 Interview with Carl Stern, on NBC, in “MORAL GRANDEUR AND SPIRITUAL AUDACITY”, P.398
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My Dear Ones Out There January 1-3, 2016
PROLOGUE, Pt #2
Note: if you have Not read the First Blog Post in this Series, PLEASE scroll down to the earlier Post in HOMAGE(S), PROLOGUE #1, right below this one.
Thanks!!!
FIRST FRUITS – TWO COLLAGES FOR MY BORTHER
The first Concrete Expression of my Transformation came as I was galvanized into action two and a half weeks ago: the news that my friend Dina (Amos’s widow) was traveling to Israel on December 13 energized me!
Sore throat ache and all, I was catapulted into creating the First Collage.
And, miraculously, I managed then to create not One but Two Homage Collages for Dani !
I Worked feverishly, since Dina was leaving by the weekend. And she promised to deliver the work I created to either my niece in Tel Aviv; or to Shulamit, my ex-sister-in law, who is a good friend of mine, in Haifa.
Every minute had to count!
I was working on cobbling together selected ‘stars’ from the swatches of pictures I had amassed during the long weeks of illness, and of emotional paralysis. I had been committed enough to cut them out of magazines donated by my neighbors, but I had Not had the creative energy to use them,
Till Now.
I was buoyed by the thought that a Collage in his honor might make Dani Laugh!! Even in his impaired mental and physical state…
To my great delight, I managed to make not One but Two Collages.
Even more astonishing, to me, was the fact that they emerged as Neither Mournful nor Morbid, or even Serious.
The first collage was outrightly humorous.
A Flat Out Celebration of Dani’s ‘rebirth’ as a New Grandfather !!
The second collage turned out to be more ‘sedate’, yet with some tongue-in-cheek captions! Who would have expected that?
They were both, in fact , lighter in tone than I expected. And, naturally, bereft of any ‘professional’ artistic merit…
Like the original patchwork quilts, made by blue collar women from left-over ‘Blocks and Strips’ scraps of cloth, patched in haphazard shapes, yet so , so beautiful:.
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ASSISTED, AGAIN, BY A POWER GREATER THAN MINE
The more I thought about it – AFTER the collages were done – the more an idea nagged at me…Namely, that I cannot claim total authorship to either of these collages.
To tell the truth, once more, while I was cobbling together the pictures and letters, I actually experienced the process as if a gentle guiding mind was assisting me!
NOT Pushing me – rather like a soft breeze, guiding my hands in selecting the cuttings to be included!
Furthermore, the mild, invisible presence helped or directed me as well – much like the Theater Director does, without force or pressure – aiding me in making those difficult choices :
How to position and organize these clipped pieces of paper on the small piece of cardboard.
How to combine clippings of text with copies of drawings or pictures.
How to balance one colored piece against another one of a different TINT.
I felt this ‘invisible’ cooperation or assistance even in selecting the words for the Captions I added !
Nudging me toward some words rather than others while I was cutting Headlines out of magazines. And pulling me towards certain words rather than others, as I laboriously wrote what I hoped would come out as Fun and Colorful captions!
Finally, I was really astonished at the final result, at what was / I ? Created.
I am truly sorry that I did not photograph the two collages – I was unwell; in fact, I felt the chest cold and throat constriction and pain that persistently ‘stuck with me’. So I cannot give you a visible, tangible example of what the results came out as.
But here is an image that I believe comes close to the spirit of the First Collage. In which I Celebrated the rebirth of Dani as a New Grandfather…
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“May you carry your load amongst Much Sweetness”
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The two Collages went out with my friend Dina to Israel almost three weeks ago. Unforeseen delays prevented their delivery to Shulamit, in Haifa. Needless to say, I bit my nails down to stumps…
I promise : I Will update this Blog Post as soon as I hear from Shuli that Dani has seen the first of the two. And what – if any – response came from him…
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On this side of the oceans, the Never Ending Throat Infection was Not Yet Done with Me.
And my throat kept getting inflamed, again and again. And yet Again. Day in Day Out.
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A 2-STEP HEALING PROCESS IS FINALLY !!! UNDER WAY
Despite all the delays, a process of healing was set in motion. At Long Last …
Or rather, a 2-Step Series of Healings began –
Gradually, tenderly, engendering an amelioration of the pain in my heart and the turmoil in my mind.
I call it a ‘two-step’ series of Healings because a second Inspiring and reinvigorating influence came into my life. Once more, this blessed inspiration came with no plan or choice on my part !! It arrived four or five days After my blissful rereading of the Rabbi Heschel’s 1972 Interview with Carl Stern.
The second magic healing encounter is the nucleus of Last Blog Post in this series.
In which I recount my experience of –
or rather, my regenerative reaction to –
A Native American answer to death; most notably, to A Senseless killing of ten people
These Two Acts, so to speak, in my journey of transformation, or revitalization –
From Despair and Indignation into Life and Love –
function as Two Bookends, or A Frame , for the individual posts that are going to be placed in between them.
Those ‘framed’, intermediate blog posts focus on each of the singular and extraordinary friends I lost these past two years. Each blog post giving form and voice to a separate and distinct Homage to each of these wonderful and cherished persons.
Each Post expresses my love, and indebtedness, to the beloved individuals who left this world;
And to the cherished Big Brother who still lingers, with diminished capacities and powers.
I am ashamed to admit it, but Just saying this bring tears – and rage – back into the forefront my feelings…. “Rage, Rage against the dying of the Light…”
I hope writing this Series of Blog Posts will be a Healing for me, and hopefully for the families and friends of my friends who have left us. And who know, for Dani too , Maybe ?
And also, hopefully, to my readers.
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HESCHEL: Yes, you see that is true. But, you see, one of the great sins of contemporary education is to give the impression you can solve all problems, or there are no problems.
Actually, the greatness of man is that he faces problems. I would judge a person by how many deep problems he’s concerned with.
STERN: Is not the quest of religion, though, to give one a sense of inner peace?
HESCHEL: But you have to understand the meaning of inner peace. Let me give you first an example of a person who has no problems. Let me give you a dramatic, fictitious picture. Here stands a man, and I’ll tell you, this is a man who has no problems. Do you know why? He’s an idiot!
Because a man has problems. And the more complicated, the more — the richer he is, the deeper his problems. This is our distinction, to have problems, to face problems. Life is a challenge, not just a satisfaction. And the calamity of our time is to a Jew’s life, to pleasure only. I’m not against pleasure. But the greatness of life is experience, in facing a challenge, rather than just having satisfaction.[…]
I would be frightened if I were to be ruled by a person who is satisfied and has the answers to everything.
In a very deep sense, religion has two things. First of all, it’s an answer to the ultimate problems of human existence. And it also has another side. It is a challenge to all answers. It is living in this polarity of these two points.
STERN: But there are so many religions that say come to us, and we — and you will have no problems. We will solve your problems. Here’s the word of God, He will solve your problems.
You don’t accept that.
HESCHEL: No, I don’t accept it, because it contradicts everything I’ve learned about life, from experience, from philosophy, from history, and from the Bible. If I look at the Bible, God is full of problems. Imagine, He created man! He created man and his own will, with his own freedom, and man is a problem to him. Look at the Bible: God is always wrestling with the problem of man. Even God has problems.
This is a deep ingredient of existence: problems. And the tragedy of our education today is we are giving such easy solutions: Be complacent, have peace of mind, everything is fine. No, wrestling is the issue! Facing the challenge is the issue!
* Quote from the 1972 Interview with Carl Stern on NBC, in “MORAL GRANDEUR AND SPIRITUAL AUDACITY ,edited by Susannah Heschel, p.398.
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I conclude, as always, with the Collage of Blessing Prayers.
Crossing all dividers among religions, races, ethnic groups, sexes, ages, and sexual orientations.
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For now, I send all of you the blessings I learned from my diverse teachers, guides and mentors as I progressed on my ‘Spiritual Trek’
As well as a greeting/blessing from the Muslim praying community.
PS –
I add several added blessings from all over the world, along with celebratory wishes for Kwanzaa, and the New Year:
Mahalo, Aloha, Namaskarams, Joyful Kwanzaa, and a Healthy+ Happy New Year!
Assalaamu Alaykum = Peace be with You (Muslim )
Via Con Dios = Go wit God (from my Hispanic friends +neighbors)
Walk in Beauty! (Native American Shamans)
Namaste! Aum Namah Shivaya (Buddhist Devotees)
God Bless You ( Christian Masters)
Baruch Hashem ! (Jewish Rabbis)
May the Journey by Fruitful,
and
May the Return be Joyful (my own )
Finally, here is the Tri -Partite Biblical Blessing of the Cohens (Priests)
May the LORD (YHWH) bless you and guard you –
יְבָרֶכְךָ יהוה, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
(“Yivorekhekhaw Adonai v’yishm’rekhaw …)
May the LORD make His face shed light upon you and be gracious unto you –
יָאֵר יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
(“Yo’ayr Adonai pawnawv aylekhaw vikhoonekhaw …)
May the LORD lift up His face unto you and give you peace –
יִשָּׂא יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
(“Yisaw Adonai pawnav aylekhaw v’yasaym l’khaw shalom.”)
AMEN!
C2013 Dinnah G. Pladott All Rights Preserved
FOR Educational Purposes Only
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HOMAGE(S):A Healing Patchwork Quilt, #1
December 30, 2015
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PROLOGUE, Pt. I
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“I don’t believe in a monopoly – I think God loves all men. He has given many nations- he has given all men an awareness of His greatness and of his love. And God is to be found in many hearts all over the world. Not limited to One nation or to One people or to One religion. […] What has the Hebrew Bible given us, in particular, that is not to be found anywhere else? I would the particular appreciation of the Greatness of Man, of man’s tremendous potentiality as a partner of God. […]
Do I have to tell you that we are not in the midst of an automatic progressive development of humanity? There are Ups and Downs, and at this very moment there is a Down. “(Emphasis mine)
A.J. Heschel, 1972 Interview with Carl Stern on NBC, in “MORAL GRANDEUR AND SPIRITUAL AUDACITY”, P.398
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My Dear Ones Out There Dec 23-30, 2015
PROLOGUE, Pt.1
MY INITIAL Move from DARKNESS TO LIGHTNESS, from DESPAIR TO OPTIMISM
I am writing this BLOG Entry, which turns out to be a Mere Introduction to Several Related Blog Entries, with fear and trembling.
I undertake this Huge Mission in order to Pay my respects to/for four (4) dear friends who have left this world in the last 24 months.
And to express acknowledgment and grief to my Older Brother, who is Not dead. But who has suffered a sudden Health Crisis on August 12.
It is a huge undertaking, not simply in scope but in the challenge: to do justice to the people involved.
In many ways, paying homage to you, my Big Brother, Dani, is even Harder ! For the very reason that your health crisis led Neither to recovery Nor the death!
It left you, instead, in LIMBO between Life and Death.
It left you suspended in an Incurable and Irreversible Decline…..`
Just saying that, just writing that, makes me feel my heart is splintering…
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RECAP OF the LAST FEW MONTHS
I had been struggling these past months.
On August 12 I got the news that my Older brother, Daniel (Dani) Gal,, was found unconscious, but breathing, and rushed to the hospital. The prognosis for recovery was not good. Within two and five weeks , respectively, I learned that Two Long Time, dear friends, Katherine Lindseth and Jules Frankel, have Both lost their 2-year battle with the big C .
This chain of events opened up the unhealed wound caused by the death of Esty Pillersdorf in Israel and Amos Shamir in Manhattan.
Both have been my cherished, lovely and loving friends for decades!
Both died after a short struggle with Cancer.
I became Overwhelmed by terror, anguish and grief !
And in the middle of all these heart-rending losses, you, my Big Brother, Dani (Daniel) Gal, went through this sudden and progressive health crisis.
And ended few weeks later in a ‘Geriatric Nursing Home’ , crippled both in body and in mind.
My Heart twists in pain every time I think of ‘Big Brother,’ My Older brother.
The young man who fought not only in the 1956 Sinai Campaign against Egypt, but in every subsequent war between Israel and Arabs (1967, 1973).
And who, I learned now, belatedly, came back from each Battle scarred in Mind and Brain, as well as in body!!!
It was just too awful ! Too Painful! Too Unjust !!
I became irritable and jumpy and churning inside. And that is just the tip of it….
I gradually – very slowly – recognized that I was walking around carrying a terrible rage! Rage against the injustice of it!
I kept reading and re-reading the poem that put my feelings in a form I could never even approximate…
DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THE GOOD NIGHT
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
*http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/
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My anger, louder than other emotions, was all –consuming…
I made Angry retorts to people in the street who stepped in front of me so suddenly that I clashed into them.
I cursed –not under my breath – when pedestrians walked listening to their head-phones, or chatting on their mobiles, totally oblivious to other pedestrians. Or to cars that barely managed to miss them.
I went to my synagogue, Bnai Jeshurun, with rage surging in my veins whenever the Rabbis spoke of God as loving or merciful…
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Leonard Cohen’s Bittersweet ‘Halleluja’ put the stormy emotions I was struggling with into a nutshell…
(click on the link, if you want to hear it…again.)
Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah Hallelujah
Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah
You say I took the name in vain
I don’t even know the name
But if I did, well really, what’s it to you?
There’s a blaze of light In every word
It doesn’t matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah
I did my best, it wasn’t much
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch
I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
‘ll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah
Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah (live 1985)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6KLK_8Tg6Y
Uploaded on Dec 14, 2009
A great performance of Hallelujah live in Montreux, 1985
(click on the link, if you want to hear it…again.)
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SEEDS OF IMPROVEMENT AND AMELIORATION
Aside from the fury and misery and sorrow that consumed me, I was paralyzed as well.
When several discussions with my new, very patient , extremely compassionate, and gentle new ‘shrink’ brought out of me the notion or idea of creating ‘Memorial’ or ‘Celebratory’ Collages to Honor the memory of my departed friends, I did get excited.
They were to be Concrete Homages…
In the form of small Cardboard Bases, on which one pastes cuttings of pictures and prints .
Or draws in colored pencils, or glues diverse light objects – with the final result being a Visual mixture that presents a Visual emotional story.
Telling a Tangible, colorful tale, much like the PATCHWORK QUILTS I love so much.
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I was really moved and inspired by this idea of Creating palpable forms of Honoring my beloved, departed friend; and my poor brother stuck in No Man’s Land.
But – I got no further than going out, excitedly, and buying the cardboard pages (for bases), the numerous kinds of colored pencils, pens, and other materials that go into Collage Making.
Ah, yes, I also asked my neighbors to leave any Magazines with glossy pictures at my door, so I can cut them up and use them for ‘Memorial Collages’
But that was as far as I went. Completely Stopped from taking the real action.
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When my son, Udi, suggested that I might think of making a Collage to honor the brother who was, and is, still living, I Loved the idea!
I even blurted out the word that became Key: Homage! As opposed to the MEMORIAL word I associated with the other four planned collages.
Again, I was inspired and thrilled enough to go in search for a Smaller-size cardboard page – one that could carry a small enough collage to Mail to Haifa, where Dani was, by now, hospitalize in a ‘Geriatric Nursing Home.’
One from which you do Not get discharged ‘when you get better’, because you just do not improve your mental and physical state…
But again, I was unable to take the first step towards the actual collage making…
To make matters Worse, I became ill with a Throat Infection in late November – a nasty illness that Has Been Holding On to me for more than Six weeks.
I would ‘feel better ‘ for a few days, only to be snared again by throat pain, runny nose, continuous coughing , and total inability to focus on even the simplest task.
Create a Collage, even a small, simple one ? Forget about
***
***
“THERE IS NO COINCIDENCE – THERE IS ONLY A MEANINGFUL CONJUNCTION OF EVENTS “ – C.G. JUNG
Then, Out of the Blue, Literally, a Miracle Occurred.
The steps that took me to the ‘instrument of my delivery ‘ – Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s 1972 Interview with Carl Stern – come definitely under Carl Gustaf Jung’s term, Synchronicity, Or Meaningful Conjunction of Event.
Or, as I often feel, I was Guided to/by the One person,
To re-read the One Piece of Speaking and Writing ,
that had the power to generate in me a Healing and Revitalizing shift.
Rabbi A.J. Heschel !
There is a reason, a Big Reason, that this Blog Post, the First In a Planned Series of Blog post, OPENS and CLOSES with Quotations from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Interview with Carl Stern. In 1972.
The quotes I chose for this Blog Post – out of Many I wanted to quote – are here because this Interview provided a Wake Up call for me.
A Wake Up Call in my hour of need….
***
***
SYNCHRONICTY
I believe it is Significant that I was wrenched out of my deep sorrow and enervating rage –
NOT by a Heschel Book; Not even a Collection of Heschel Essays .
But by A Transcript of an Interview that I had read in the past, liked very much, yet had Not planned to Reread…
Moreover, This Interview is NOT on the Reading List !!!
A Reading List for the Year-Long Study of Rabbi A.J. Heschell Essays, organized by MY Congregation, Bnai Jeshurun, to be studied by BJ Members from September 2015 to September 2016. The course focused on MORAL GRANDEUR AND SPIRITUAL AUDACITY, a collection of Heschel Essays Edited by his daughter, Susannah Heschel.
The fact that I DID leaf through the Assigned Book of Essays to its end, found the Interview Transcript, and began to Reread it, is what Jung points to, in the caption a few paragraph above:
A MEANINGFUL CONJUNCTION OF EVENTS.
Which Jung eventually gave a name to : SYNCHRONICITY.
For Jung, one of my Main and Great teachers, Synchronicity is not merely meaningful –
it points to the facet of life in which Highly Meaningful things happen and affect us, without the aid of any plan or volition of our own.
Due to such felicitous Synchronicity, I did leaf through the book as far as s the Interview at the book’s end. Once I arrived at the Interview, I did read it! And Reread it…
And I did become Inspired and transformed by it! I
As it happens, I experienced – and am still experiencing this sequence of events – not as Just a Simple or Small Synchronicity.
I am living it as a dramatic, life-saving Miracle.
A Personal Miracle, !!!
Looking back, I really feel as if Rabbi Heschel reached his hand out, and touched me, to get my attention.
To ensure that I would Reread his words in the wonderful Interview with Carl Stern.
And to make Absolutely Certain that his words would put out the fire of RAGE , Fury , and Anguish, that have been consuming me for the past months.
***
***
RABBI HESCHEL- AN IMMENSE CAPACITY TO HEAL + TO LOVE
There were actually Two Items in the collection of essays, MORAL GRANDEUR AND SPIRITUAL AUDACITY , that I found myself suddenly, Inexplicably, drawn to, Three weeks (plus) ago.
First,the Introduction by Susannah Heschel, Abraham Joshua Heschel’s daughter, who edited the collection.
Where I re-connected with the terrible – the awful – losses Rabbi Heschel had experienced when he lost a major part of his family in the Holocaust.
When years of fervent attempt to get visas for his Mother and Two Sisters, and their families, to come to the US from Poland, FAILED. When the Nazis who had been marching toward their Poland did reach it.
And when None of these loved family members managed to survive the Nazis’ murderous actions.
Reading the Introduction made me Palpably Aware how much Continuous Anguish, Sorrow and Mourning Rabbi Heschel has experienced During and After the Holocaust.
When all of his efforts to SAVE his family were frustrated by both the German Laws and the US government’s rigid stand regarding Visa Issue….
***
***
***
Then, as if in a Sleep-Walk Scene, I leafed to the End of the volume.
To the Transcript of the 1972 Interview with Carl Stern.
As I had said, it was as if a loving hand touched my head, and in that touch DISSOLVED – almost completely – the Pain and RAGE that have been eating me up for so many months…
As if in that meeting with Rabbi Heschel in his simplest speaking voice, he injected into me some of his own Unfailing Love for Man and God .
Despite of – in the face of – his Enormous family Bereavement and Losses.
The words on the page sounded like a wise and gentle man’s voice speaking directly to me.
Spurring me, urging me, to embrace some of his own Constant Optimism and Consistent Embrace of people and God –
Despite of all his own sorrows and heart-breaking losses.
I cannot give you a specific line quote here – although I underlined almost every line in the Interview as I was reading and rereading it. Especially reading the first Seven or Eight pages of the Transcript.
And then I Underlined some more lines in the rest of the interview.
My experience of the transformation of Despair and Fury into Love and Appreciation happened, so to speak, In Between the Lines;
All Around the Words uttered and printed on the page.
And they – Rabbi Heschel’s words – found their mark, in my heart and my on my brain.
I have never before had the privilege to experience such a Direct Inner Transformation, or Revolution.
And I am deeply, immensely GRATEFUL, Rabbi Heschel.
Immensely Grateful.
***
***
AN INVISIBLE +INAUDIBLE WISDOM THAT AFFIRMS LIFE
This reviving effect was Sudden, it was Unexpected. it was a totally unfamiliar experience!!
It was almost as if you – A.J. Heschel – reached Out from the pages to lay a hand on my head !!! An Invisible Hand touching me, and an Inaudible voice softly transmitting what the ancients might have called ‘an Elixir of Life.’
And in an instant – or so it felt – completely sudden and unexpected, a Change or Transformation took place.
***
***
The deep-felt and heavy agony was not gradually but suddenly dispelled, and replaced by a sense of lightness.
I am sorry to say, Rabbi Heschel, your magic healing balm worked wonders ! But the weight of despair was such, an additional ‘lightning strike’, from a completely different source, was needed to complete the Completions of the process.
I had to receive one more unexpected surge of redemptive power from a second source, to complete the transmutation and mitigation of the agony and the rage, which had been corroding my senses and my emotions.
This does NOT diminish or devalue the WONDER of what Your words did bring about.
Even before I completed my Re-reading of the Interview, underlining almost Every Line, on almost Every Page, a shift occurred – a radical shift!!!
The despair was nudged out and replaced with a desire to pay Homage to the dear friends who departed from my life. AND to Honor as well the Big Brother who, within two or three weeks of hospitalization, has experienced ‘medical setbacks’ that reduced both his mental and his physical functioning.
Rabbi Heschel, I owe You, Big Time !!!
***
***
***
Yes, I Owe You!!
Your words, Rabbi Heschel, made it possible for me to write this Prologue, which will have two parts. And to envision the Prologue as merely A First Installment in a Blog Posts Series.
A Series of Blog Posts titled HOMAGE(S) – A HEALING Patchwork Quilt.
Rabbi Heschel , I am not just filled with Gratitude for this Catalyzing and Healing effect you brought into my heart and mind..
I KNOW also that I have been given a Huge Gift.
The process your life-affirming and life-giving words set in motion – a process of Reviving and Re-energizing me – is on-going.
I am being spurred (yes, Being ‘Catalyzed and Spurred’ in the Present Tense) – Toward recovery and re-entry into full living.
Step by step .
Because , Rabbi Heschel, without your inspiring and inspired discussion in that Interview – I might probably still be mired in Anger+Despair+Pain.
I Owe You, A.J. !! A Huge debt.
***
***
***
STERN: Where is holiness? Is it what’s in the Bible? Is that where one finds holiness?
HESCHEL: I don’t believe in monopoly. I think God loves all men, and has given many nations, has given ALL men an awareness of His greatness and of His love. And God is to be found in many hearts all over the world, not limited to One nation, or to One people, to One religion.
But you have to understand, again, to come back to the problem of Uniqueness. What has the Hebrew Bible given us, in particular, that is not to be found anywhere else ? I would say the particular appreciation of the Greatness of Man, of man’s Tremendous Potentiality as a partner of God. This idea, to me, is Not to be found anywhere else.
STERN: In one of your earlier writings, you said ‘No philosophy can be the same after Auschwitz and Hiroshima.’ Is that what you mean? What change did it make in your philosophy ?
HESCHEL: I think I indicated to you completely the unreliability of our cultural securities, of our cultural foundations. If Germany, which developed such a High Culture, such marvelous music, so many beautiful Cathedrals, so many scientists, if the German people is capable of doing what they did, how can I rely on Humanity?
There is a drive for cruel deeds in All men, as there is a drive for Goodness in All men. But you need more than the drive for goodness to overcome the drive for Evil. You need some greater help. And that greater help, I believe, is a little fear and trembling, and Love of God.
A.J. Heschel, 1972 Interview with Carl Stern on NBC, in “MORAL GRANDEUR AND SPIRITUAL AUDACITY”
***
***
HERE ENDS PROLOGUE, Pt I
***
***
REFERENCES
*MORAL GRANDEUR AND SPIRITUAL AUDACITY, Essays Edited by Susannah Heshel, Farrar Strauss and Giroux, New York, 1996.
*A Transcript of the 1972 Carl Stern’s Interview with A.J. Heschel is available here:
http://www.philosophy-religion.org/religion_links/aj_heschel.htm
***
***
For now, I send all of you the blessings I learned from my diverse teachers, guides and mentors as I progressed on my ‘Spiritual Trek’
As well as a greeting/blessing from the Muslim praying community
PS –
I add several added blessings from all over the world, along with celebratory wishes for Kwanzaa, and the New Year:
Mahalo, Aloha, Namaskarams, Joyful Kwanzaa, and a Healthy+ Happy New Year!
Assalaamu Alaykum = Peace be with You (Muslim )
Via Con Dios = Go wit God (from my Hispanic friends +neighbors)
Walk in Beauty! (Native American Shamans)
Namaste! Aum Namah Shivaya (Buddhist Devotees)
God Bless You ( Christian Masters)
Baruch Hashem ! (Jewish Rabbis)
May the Journey by Fruitful,
and
May the Return be Joyful (my own )
Finally, here is the Tri -Partite Biblical Blessing of the Cohens (Priests)
May the LORD (YHWH) bless you and guard you –
יְבָרֶכְךָ יהוה, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
(“Yivorekhekhaw Adonai v’yishm’rekhaw …)
May the LORD make His face shed light upon you and be gracious unto you
יָאֵר יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
(“Yo’ayr Adonai pawnawv aylekhaw vikhoonekhaw …)
May the LORD lift up His face unto you and give you peace –
יִשָּׂא יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
(“Yisaw Adonai pawnav aylekhaw v’yasaym l’khaw shalom.”)
AMEN!
C2013 Dinnah G. Pladott All Rights Preserved
FOR Educational Purposes Only
* * *
ON TOLERANCE, Pt 1
March 21, 2014
CHOOSE the OPEN Mind !!!
* * * *
“All knowledge, all information that passes between human beings, can be exchanged only within what we might call ‘a play of tolerance.’ whether in science, literature, politics or religion”
Dr. Jacob Bronowski, in Simon Critchley, “The Dangers of Certainty: A Lesson From Auschwitz”
Full Essay HERE.
* * *
The Bold Definitive summation of What Freedom of Speech Really IS:
“I do not agree with what you have to say
but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”VOLTAIRE
* * *
“[26] He who commits a major sin may repent and be forgiven. But he who offends a person publicly will have no share in the life to come.
[27] It is not within the power of God to forgive the sins committed toward men. We must first ask for forgiveness of those […] wronged before asking for the forgiveness of God.”
– Abraham Joshua Heschel, “Religion and Race,” Speech Text 1965
* * *
My Dear Ones Out There March 2014
I ask for your patience and forgiveness.
For the incredibly long time during which I did not post. At All.
There were reasons. Some of them strong ones.
But I shall do my best Not to repeat such a long silence.
And now I find myself moved to write on a subject that I did Not expect to post anything on :
The subject of Tolerance. TOLERANCE. With Billboard-Sized Letters.
* * *
FIRST, Self Disclosure:
I myself had to learn to stop being impatient with some people, when they did not see things in the way I saw them. And I mean literally, we did Not SEE eye to eye.
I had to be shown that EVERYTHING and ANYTHING could be SEEN or HEARD or Understood in More than ONE Way (E.G.,MINE).
Even something that seems, to me,’simple’ or ‘clear-cut’, or – even better – Obvious.Such as the use of a term like “The Hippie Rabbi” to describe Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach.
I thought it was selected to slyly detract from Rabbi Shlomo stature as a crafter of songs that heal the soul
I was astounded to discover that even this simple epithet could be SEEN or HEARD or Understood in More than ONE Way – mine.I was, in addition urged to recognize that even my “mere impatience”- unaccompanied by derogatory adjectives describing the Other Person’s interpretation, or reading, of the term “The Hippie Rabbi” – was an expression of Intolerance.
Worse, Far Worse:
I slowly – too slowly – understood that my Impatience, too, grew from a subconscious/unrecognized belief that ‘something is wrong’ (with them?) if they could not See things Just the Way I Saw Them !!And I owe my friend Miriam for calling this failing to my attention.
* * *
WHAT IS TOLERANCE ? WHY IS IT IMPORTANT ?
To drive Voltaire’s point home, here is a song – ONE, by CREED – for your pleasure; To Listen, CLICK HERE :
One – Creed (Lyrics on Screen)
Here is an Excerpt from the Lyrics :
”Society, blind by color
Why hold down one to raise another?
Discrimination, now on both sides
Seeds of hate blossom further
The world is headed for mutiny
When all we want is unity
We may rise and fall
But in the end, we’ll meet our fate again, oh
One, oh, one, the only way is one
One, oh, one, the only way is one.”
For Full Lyrics, go HERE.
* *
“
“We are closer to God when we are asking Questions;
than when we think We have the Answers”
A.J.Heschel
* * *
A CLARION CALL for TOLERANCE, FROM THE PAST, IN THE PRESENT
“THE DANGERS OF CERTAINTY: A LESSON FROM AUSCHWITZ”
My Dear Ones Out There
Not long ago – on February 2nd 2014 – I was ‘guided’, or ‘led,’ to an Incredible Essay, which informs everything I EXPRESS or WRITE in this Blog Post.
Its Title is “THE DANGERS of CERTAINTY: A LESSON From AUSCHWITZ.”
You Can read the FULL text HERE,
I do want to share a few short, and one LONG, excerpts from this Mind-Opening Heart-Twisting essay, which gives us fresh and unexpected lessons derived from Science, regarding the FOLLY and the Fallacy of presuming that “I AM Right,” and “You ARE WRONG” !
BACKGROUND – BBC 1973 TV SERIES, “THE ASCENT OF MAN”
The writer, Simon Critchley, describes his experience in 1973, when as a child he watched a TV series he could not and would not forget:
“the BBC aired an extraordinary documentary series called “The Ascent of Man,” hosted by one Dr. Jacob Bronowski in 13 hour-long episodes. Each episode was what he called an “essay” ”
Critchley explains, in his introductory remarks:
“The Ascent of Man” (admittedly [the Title is] a little sexist now – great men abound, but there are apparently few great women), deliberately inverted the title of Darwin’s 1871 book. It was not an account of human biological evolution, but cultural evolution.”
And Critchely adds a brief note about the Man behind and in front of this remarkable series:
“Dr. Bronowski (he was always referred to as “Dr.” and I can’t think of him with any other, more familiar, moniker) died 40 years ago this year, at the relatively young age of 66. He was a Polish-born British mathematician who wrote a number of highly-regarded books on science, but who was equally at home in the world of literature. “
These Introductory remarks are essential for us – if we are to understand the conclusion Dr. Bronowski presents; AND the thrust of Critchley’s assertion in the title of his essay – “The Dangers of Certainty: A Lesson from Auschwitz.”
*
TOLERANCE Equals
COMPASSION !
*
THE ELEVENTH EPISODE, “KNOWLEDGE OR CERTAINTY”
CRITCHELY introduces us to a DRAMATIC 11th segment of the 13 hour-long segments as follows:
“For most of the series, Dr. Bronowski’s account of human development was a relentlessly optimistic one. Then, in the 11th episode, called “Knowledge or Certainty,” the mood changed to something more somber. […]
He began the show with the words, “One aim of the physical sciences has been to give an actual picture of the material world. One achievement of physics in the 20th century has been to show that such an aim is unattainable.”
For Dr. Bronowski, there was No Absolute knowledge and anyone who claims it — whether a scientist, a politician or a religious believer — opens the door to tragedy.
All scientific information is imperfect and we have to treat it with humility.
Such, for him, was the human condition.
There is no God’s eye view, Dr. Bronowski insisted, and the people who claim that there is and that they possess it are not just wrong, they are morally pernicious.
Errors are inextricably bound up with pursuit of human knowledge, which requires not just mathematical calculation but insight, interpretation and a personal act of judgment for which we are responsible.
The emphasis on the moral responsibility of knowledge was essential for all of Dr. Bronowski’s work.
The acquisition of knowledge entails a responsibility for the integrity of what we are as ethical creatures.”
Critcheley adds, quoting Dr. Bronowski:
“All knowledge, all information that passes between human beings, can be exchanged only within what we might call ‘a play of tolerance.’“
Critcheley sums the issue up as follows:
“For Dr. Bronowski, the moral consequence of knowledge is that we must never judge others on the basis of some absolute, God-like conception of certainty.
All knowledge, all information that passes between human beings, can be exchanged only within what we might call “a play of tolerance,” whether in science, literature, politics or religion.
As he eloquently put it, “Human knowledge is personal and responsible, an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty.”
The relationship between humans and nature and humans and other humans can take place only within a certain play of tolerance.
Insisting on certainty, by contrast, leads ineluctably to arrogance and dogma based on ignorance.”
*
My Dear Ones, Out There,
Hearing THE SPOKEN WORD is More Powerful than Reading the WRITTEN Word.
Dr. Jacob Bronowski’s argument against certainty, made at Auschwitz for his 1973 TV Series, “The Ascent of Man.”
LISTEN TO DR. BRONOWSKI SPEAKING TO YOU DIRECTLY :
* * *
* * *
Intolerance Betrays
want of Faith in
One’s Cause
– Mohandas K. Gandhi
*
Once one assumes an attitude of intolerance, there is no knowing where it will take one.
Intolerance, someone has said, is violence to the intellect and hatred is violence to the heart.
* * *
The COPPERHEAD SAY IT IN A SONG :
CANT WE GET ALONG by COPPERHEAD at CC
Published on Mar 2, 2012
LYRICS
reach out your hand
extend it to another
let’s make a stand
let’s band like brothers
Why can’t we all just get along
get it together and right the wrongs
let’s make tomorrow a better day
bring out the sunshine
turn out the grey
like family
blood is thicker than water
all over me
brothers sons and daughters
we going start a new world order
turn up the peace, turn out the slaughter
already, let’s help my friends
let’s get together and make amends
when will you get it right (repeat)
chuck your hands in the air
* * *
The Secret Ingredient for True Tolerance is R E S P E C T!
Here is a Lesson in Respect, RESPECT RAP just for YOU :
Respect Rapping: Complete
Uploaded on Apr 26, 2011
Song Available on Itunes – “It’s called respect” by the Fearless Lions.
* * *
* * *
What Is Tolerance, in UNESCO’s Definition ?
The UNESCO DESCRIPTION OF TOLERANCE is quoted HERE:
“Consistent with respect for human rights, the practice of tolerance does not mean toleration of social injustice or the abandonment or weakening of one’s convictions.
It means that one is free to adhere to one’s own convictions and accepts that others adhere to theirs.
It means accepting the fact that human beings, naturally diverse in their appearance, situation, speech, behavior and values, have the right to live in peace and to be as they are.
It also means that one’s views are not to be imposed on others.”
* * *
* * *
For the Finale, since echoes of it were in the background of previous videos.
And since I cannot resist the connection between them…
Here is ‘lighter,’ Earlier Version of R E S E P C T.
ARETHA FRANKLIN, in a 1 9 6 7 VERSION OF THE SONG R E S E P C T:
*
Aretha Franklin – Respect (1967) HD 0815007
*
Uploaded on Jan 13, 2011
HQ-Video. Aretha Franklin – Respect , ein Hit 1967
Aretha Franklin’s LYRICS:
“Respect”
(oo) What you want
(oo) Baby, I got
(oo) What you need
(oo) Do you know I got it?
(oo) All I’m askin’
(oo) Is for a little respect when you come home (just a little bit)
Hey baby (just a little bit) when you get home
(just a little bit) mister (just a little bit)
[…]
All I’m askin’ (oo)
Is for a little respect when you come home (just a little bit)
Baby (just a little bit) when you get home (just a little bit)
Yeah (just a little bit)
[…]
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take care, TCB
Oh (sock it to me, sock it to me,
sock it to me, sock it to me)
A little respect (sock it to me, sock it to me,
sock it to me, sock it to me)
Whoa, babe (just a little bit)
A little respect (just a little bit)
[…]
*
For the Complete LYRICS, go HERE .
* * *
* * *
Tolerance Protects
The
American
Bill of Rights !
* * *
* * *
NOTES
• We are closer to God when we are asking questions than when we think we have the answers.
ABRAHM JOSHUA HESCHE;, QUOTED in
SQ: Connecting With Our Spiritual Intelligence
Danah Zohar and Dr. Ian Marshall, Bloomsbury, 2000
**
=============================================
For now, I send all of you the blessings I learned from my diverse teachers, guides and mentors as I progressed on my ‘Spiritual Trek’
As well as a greeting/blessing from the Muslim praying community.
PS –
I add several added blessings from all over the world, along with celebratory wishes for Kwanzaa, and the New Year:
Mahalo, Aloha, Namaskarams, Joyful Kwanzaa, and a Healthy+ Happy New Year!
Assalaamu Alaykum = Peace be with You (Muslim )
Via Con Dios = Go wit God (from my Hispanic friends +neighbors)
Walk in Beauty! (Native American Shamans)
Namaste! Aum Namah Shivaya (Buddhist Devotees)
God Bless You ( Christian Masters)
Baruch Hashem ! (Jewish Rabbis)
May the Journey by Fruitful,
and
May the Return be Joyful (my own )
Finally, here is the Tri -Partite Biblical Blessing of the Cohens (Priests)
May the LORD (YHWH) bless you and guard you –
יְבָרֶכְךָ יהוה, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
(“Yivorekhekhaw Adonai v’yishm’rekhaw …)
May the LORD make His face shed light upon you and be gracious unto you –
יָאֵר יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
(“Yo’ayr Adonai pawnawv aylekhaw vikhoonekhaw …)
May the LORD lift up His face unto you and give you peace –
יִשָּׂא יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
(“Yisaw Adonai pawnav aylekhaw v’yasaym l’khaw shalom.”)
AMEN!
C2013 Dinnah G. Pladott All Rights Preserved
FOR Educational Purposes Only
A Homage to Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach
September 23, 2013
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach
+Guitar
* * * *
My Meeting with Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, R.I.P
My Dear Ones Out There,
SOMETIMES, A SINGLE ENCOUNTER WITH A PERSON AFFECTS YOUR WHOLE LIFE !
Sometime, just a Single Encounter with Remarkable Individual sets in motion a chain of events in our life; one which radically restructures our personality and our development.
Has ANYTHING Like That Happen To YOU ?
And – sometimes this happens, but You – or I – do Not recognize it .
We do NOT grasp the whole depth and the full significance of the event-
OR the effect that this Single Meeting has had on us.
I certainly did not.
I only recently began to fully see what a Chain of Events has been unleashed in My Life by my Single encounter with One Person.
I am writing this Homage to Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, R.I.P., also known as ‘The Singing Rabbi’, because I have, finally, realized :
Many years ago, Reb Shlomo taught me and my friends much more than just ‘songs;’ Or singing.
He in fact opened a gate for me, and a curiosity about Spiritual ‘stuff.’
But that it took me many years to begin using that gate, and take steps on that path.
It is a new recognition that a direct line –
no, Not a Direct Line, but a Single Zig Zag line,
connects a single evening of singing with Shlomo Carlebach tens of years ago;
to my gradual and multi-layered progress into Spiritual Seeking and Spiritual discoveries.
Can one do it simply by teaching a group of Non-Religious people ‘some songs’ ?
You be the Judge.
I want to give you now a taste of Reb shlomo’s ‘singing’ as a younger man, as young as he was when I met him.
Here is Rabbi Carlebach in a 1972 video, singing “OD AVINU CHAI’ – OUR FATHER STILL LIVES *.’
The Refrain is ‘AM ISRAEL CHAI’ – The Nation of Israel Lives.’.
Listen HERE :
הרב שלמה קרליבך / “עוד אבינו חי” 1972-1973
parasitext•116 videos
Uploaded on Apr 1, 2008
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach from the archives of Israel Television in the early Seventies.
*
Singing as Prayer. Prayer as Singing
There is also, FOR ME, a fresh appreciation that Reb Shlmo, in fact, introduced me to the whole concept of Singing as Prayer, and Prayer as Singing
(AND possibly, to Prayer as Dancing, Dancing as Prayer).
That in that one evening long ago, he laid down for me a ‘trail of breadcrumbs,’ so to speak; which led me to the Native American Shamans and Healing; and to the Native American Medicine Path.
And thus, to a Heart-Centered Spiritual Practice.
Which then led me back to Judaism.
Judaism as it is practiced at Bnai Jeshurun Congregation, NYC-
And in General, to the Heart Centered Virtues of Social Justice and Mutual Support – which I believe are firmly rooted in the famous ”LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF.”
THANK YOU and BLESS YOU, Reb Shlomo!!REST IN PEACE!
*
MAY YOU HEAR
BEAUTIFUL MUSIC
*
My Dear Ones Out There,
I wish to share the another Video with you, at this point.
A YOUNG Reb Shlomo singing ‘Le’ma’an Achay Ve’re’ay’ (For My Brothers and Friends) in 1970, Live in France.
An young Reb Shlomo sings – but it still tugs at the heart strings.
This is One of the ‘songs’ we learned at that Long Ago LONG night. It Moves me, as it did so many years ago.
LE’MA’AN ACCAHI VE’RE’AY
LISTEN HERE :
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach – Le’ma’an Achay Ve’re’ay – live in France 1970 – video 2
Israelchanel·268 videos
Published on Mar 4, 2013
A Transliteration + Translation:
lemaan achai vereai
Adabra na, adabra na,
shalom bach
Lemaan achai vereai, lemaan achai vereai
Adabra na, adabra na, shalom bach
Lemaan bait Hashem Elokainu
avaksha tov lach
Lemaan bait Hashem Elokainu
avaksha tov lach
Because of my brothers and friends
Because of my sisters and friends
Please let me ask, please let me sing –
Peace to you.
This is the heart, the heart of the road.
I wish the best to you.
* * *
A LONG NIGHT JOURNEY INTO THE LIGHT
How he – introduced to us merely as ‘Shlomo Carlebach’ – came into my life ? In the most UN-Prepossessing manner.
There was No Mention of ‘Rabbi’ when I met him for one long evening, Decades ago. (OUCH…)
The meeting took place on a Kibbutz in Northern Israel, where myself and the rest of my Youth Movement Cadre spent six months of our military service.
I do not remember who invited him, or how the evening was scheduled or organized.
I am pretty sure it was either Friday or Saturday evening.
And all we knew was that someone was coming to lead us in ‘SHIRA BE-TZIBUR’ – SING-ALONG – Which is often done in Israel.
Similarly, there was also no reference to anything than ‘songs’ – as ‘here is the next song I want to teach you.’
We began to sing together around 7 or 8 PM.
And we did not stop, could not stop, singing with this bearded man with the smiling eyes and the warm, heartfelt emotion in his singing voice, as well as in his speech.
HE Stopped, finally, reluctantly, around 4 or 5 AM.
Old and Young, my friends and I, and the whole Kibbutz community was swept ‘off its feet’ into a energizing , uplifting, singing ‘marathon.’
Not a ‘run of the mill’ event to people working hard daily in various agricultural tasks. Not even on the weekend…
Not a ‘puny thing’ for people who, I believe, ranged in age from 18 to 60 years old…
We sat with a young, bearded man, a Yarmulke covering his head and a guitar in his hands; and learned from him one ‘song’ after another.
We learned and sang these ‘songs’ — with no thought to ‘meanings’, or to ‘religious message’, or to spirituality.
It was an emotional, Not an Ideological or Intellectual, dialogue –
a dialogue without words; only ‘songs’ created the bridge or communication channel between us.
As far as I can recall, we did not even realize that many – if not – of the texts came from the Bible.
What we Did Know and Experience was a Great Joy in singing these ;songs.’
And A DEEPER emotion while singing them.
And for me, that these songs and the singing somehow made my heart open up in an unfamiliar way; and ‘sing’, too.
Have YOU Ever had Such A Nonverbal, HEART-CATCHING Communication ? WHERE? WHO WITH ?
* * *
Rabbi Shlomo
Carlebach
1962
ALBUM COVER PICTURE, “Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach Sings Live 1962”
* * *
I was not the only one TOUCHED and TRANSPORTED by Shlomo’s ‘songs’ and singing.
You cannot get ‘farmers’ who work, hard, daily, in agriculture, to stay up that late, and to STAY INVOLVED in the ‘singing’.
Unless you generate or catalyze them to EXPERIENCE something special.
Something that is Below consciousness, or Above it.
Something that does not get spelled out in words.
Does that RING Any Bell for YOU ?
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All I knew at the time is that for many hours, till 4 or 5 AM, we youngsters, along with the rest of the much older Kibbutz members, sat spell-bound.
And learned to sing one ‘song’ after the other.
I had No idea then – or for many years later – what it was that so engrossed me, or us; what kept us learning and singing, song after song.
We got moved, and excited, and amused, and prompted to Joy and Laughter, simply by ‘Shlomo’s songs.’ …..
What Makes One Synagogue Different than Others ?
Over the years, I have not made – till these days – any connection between that magic night, and my different – No, disparate – experiences while being in synagogues in whatever country I visited; or live(d) in.
In some synagogues that I set foot in, I felt totally ‘out of place,’ not belonging.
They could be Reform, Conservative or Orthodox in Jewish orientation – I felt uninspired, unmoved, unrelated.
Whereas in other synagogues – be they Conservative or Orthodox – I immediately felt ‘at home.’ regardless of the country they were in.
Has Athing Like that Ever Happened to YOU in Your ‘House(s) of Worship?
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WHEREVER He Went, He TOUCHED and INSPIRED
To give you another ‘First Hand’ experience of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, as young people experienced him when He was young, too, I have a Real Treat!
I came across an early – 1970 – Video of Reb Shlomo.
In it, he is singing – for French Young People, as the video documents it – in a private home.
The two ‘chants’ Reb Shlomo sings are Esah Einai El He-Harim (I Sift My Eyes To The Mountains); and Ha-Neshama Shel-Cah (The Soul is Yours).
NOTE The Difference in Tone and Emotions between the UpBeat ‘Esah Einai’ and the DownBeat ‘Haneshama Shelcha’.
See also how Young Carlebach looks.
And remember:
1970 is TWO years AFTER the French Youth Revolted!
Just like the Hippies in the US during the Sixties, many of these were drifting, rather than searching.
For that very reason, Rabbi Shlomo reached out to them; and as you can see, touched and moved them.
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RABBI SHLOMO CARLEBACH, 2 HEBREW SONGS, LIVE IN FREANCE 1970-VIDEO 3 –
Published on Mar 4, 2013
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach with 2 Hebrew songs – live in France 1970 – video 3
LISTEN HERE :
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Does that remind YOU of anything that you have experienced, ever ?
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An Open Hearted Rabbi, Chazzan, Singer, Praying Master
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My Dear Ones Out There
I have a real ‘gift’ for you.
It waits for you, with patience , at the Carlebach Legacy Trust
The opening page of the Carlebach Foundation, or Carlebach Legacy Trust, contains two wonderful early items.
One is a Video – do not please view it now. I placed near the very concluding paragraph of this Post, where you will get the Most out of it.
The second is a Featured Audio Link.
There is a Blue Link there, which I refer to below, which will take you to the actual Audio.
Here is a heart opening example of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach as he Sings and Teaches in One and the Same Time.
And this Three Part lesson, which I just found by chance (there is No Chance or Coincidence….), will touch you and Heal you.
And the TEACHING comes directly from Rabbi Nachman (from BRESlOV).
Both the Content (the story) and Reb Shlomo’s Delivery, are important here.
The precious ‘wine’ he pours for us comes in a Unique ‘goblet.’ Himself.
This TEACHING – in a double sense – will also give you a shot in the arm , a shot of Faith and Trust.
So , after you read the descriptive paragraph, below, go back to the PAGE, and LISTEN.
Featured Audio
“The audio we are honored to share with you is from the middle of a concert in the mid 1980’s which took place in Atlanta. It is a crucial teaching from Reb Nachman which R’ Shlomo would sing out from the deepest depths.
Rebbe Nachman – Three lessons”
Listen !
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A Cantor (Hazzan) with a Soul that Embraces Us
My Dear Ones Out There,
For your information :
I have finished writing my ‘autobiographical story’ fully.
Then, I began to look for available examples of Rabbi Carlebach’s ‘singing.’
Now I feel the need to weave the unfolding personal ‘tale’ with an unfolding of the many facets of the Jewel Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach has been throughout his life.
Also: I have been spending long years at Bnai Jeshurun Congregation.
Where I had gained familiarity with Reb Shlomo’s rich musical creative contribution to Jewish prayer chants.
But when I started Google searches, I discovered Rabbi Carlebach giving voice to ‘traditional’ prayers.
I was Astounded and Deeply Affected by the power of this unique man to touch me to the core in his rendering of these old ‘tunes’ (Niggunim).
I therefore want to share one of these with you at this point.
To familiarize you with the many facets that Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach had in that seemingly simple arena:
Giving Voice to the community’s yearnings and devotions on the most traditional subjects.
YOM KIPPUR Eve is the Most Hallowed among these occurrences.
Kol Nidrei, the prayer we give voice to on that evening, is one so sacred that Jews over the centuries preferred to die on the stake rather than renounce it.
This is Not about Joy.
It is a piercing prayer.
It is about Self Cleansing and Self Awakening, in order to face the Judgment:
Who will Live, and Who will Die.
Here is Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s KOL NIDREI.
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Carlebach Kol Nidrei
israelyeshivaguy
Uploaded on Sep 23, 2009
Carlebach’s Kol Nidrei.
Found this in my iTunes library. No clue where it came from originally. Enjoy, and be misragesh!
jyration 2 years ago
The translation approximately is as follows:
In the first part we ask the Heavenly Court and the Earthly Court to permit us to pray together with the sinners.
This represents a moment of solidarity with all of mankind, however fallen, however damaged.
On this holy night of Yom Kippur, when the mitigating factors of our sins are being considered, we cannot exclude any of our brethren.If God is to overlook our flaws, we cannot be peering too closely into the shortcomings of others.
* * * *
We Are ALL
God’s Children
* * * * *
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach – a Spiritual Teacher In Prose or in Song Making
Shlomo Carlebach – praying Rosh Hashanah ראש השנה
Uploaded on Aug 15, 2010
http://shlomo-carlebach.com/
Reb Shlomo Carlebach on how to pray on Rosh Hashanah and how to
welcome the new year שלמה קרליבך ראש השנה
* *
Anyone who tries to Separate The Rabbi (the Spiritual Teacher) from the Song Maker misses the mark.
Always, and wherever he set his feet, he was both.
Lisa Alcalay Klug underscores this fact when she describes the incredible ‘staying Spiritual Power’ of Reb Shlomo Carlebach’s original melodies, set to liturgical or Biblical texts.
To me, the key factor in her description is the ‘Ecumenical’ influence Rabbi Carlebach and his ‘songs’ have.
It consists of breaking down divisions among people – be they Ideological demarcations, sex-orientation distinctions, or ‘simple’ age and gender differences:
Carlebach tunes have spread to all types of shuls – Orthodox, Renewal, Reform, Reconstructionist, gay, Conservative and Chabad.
But Carlebach minyanim vary widely.Some groups pray in private homes once a month.
Others meet in synagogues, as a supplement or alternative to traditional prayers.One popular Carlebach minyan in Jerusalem is run out of a bomb shelter in the neighborhood of Nachlaot.
[A very poor neighborhood, if memory serves.]
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I believe Reb Shlomo, who made it a point to reach out to the people of all strata of life, is Beaming down with full approval on what is being done and Sung in his name.
* * * * *
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach in the EARLY STAGES
A YOUNG RABBI SHLOMO Carlebach @ Village Gate, NYC
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SOME HISTORICAL BACKGROUND – To Give Us SOME Perspective On Reb Shlomo’s Innovation + Impact
Here is an illuminating Historical look back, revisiting a reality Only the Ancient among us remember:
When Rav Shlomo released his first record in the late 1950s, the Jewish world, still reeling from the horrors of the Holocaust, was preoccupied with the survival of the new State of Israel.
Assimilation and intermarriage figures rose as Jews began leaving the fold in record numbers.
Jewish education was dominated by obsolete methods and had little impact on the escalating assimilation.
In fact, for many of this generation, who were educated in a superficial Judaism, the Bar or Bat Mitzvah marked the end of their Jewish education and commitment, instead of the beginning.
By the 1960s and 1970s, these trends reached such alarming proportions that it brought the very survival of Diaspora Jewry into question.
Rabbi Avraham Arieh Trugman, in Probing The Carlebach Phenomenon, p.1.
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[Note: Bar Mitzvah Marks the ‘coming of age’ of Jewish males at 13, and means ‘Able to Keep/Obey the religious commandments.’ Bat Mitzvah is a modern invention, extending to the girl at age twelve the same celebration…or nearly the same.]
*
This historical ‘background story’ may be the reason Reb Shlomo had spent so much time not merely serving a synagogue in one place; nor simply singing with audiences.
He traveled far and further, as we saw earlier; not only to the West Coast, or across the US.
But also across the ocean to both Israel and Europe.
Similarly, he seems to have spent equal time Telling them Stories of Hebrew, Jewish and Yiddish folklore.
And he also took the time to remind audiences of the Holocaust and its horrors.
Here is Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach telling his listeners a difficult, challenging story about what Jews went through during
Hitler’s rein.
This one takes place in Warsaw Ghetto hours before it Fell, with all its inhabitants doomed.
NOTE:
This is Not a Light Weight entertainer, but a courageous Spiritual Teacher.
RABBI SHLOMO CARLEBACH TELLS ‘THE LAST SEDER (PASSOVER MEAL)IN THE WARSAW GHETTO’
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Reb Shlomo Carlebach -The Last Seder In The Warsaw Ghetto- שלמה קארליבאך
RashbanZtl•9 videos
Uploaded on Apr 12, 2009
A heart wrenching story about a Jewish boy who asks his father “Ma Nishtanah”
[the ‘FOUR QUESTIONS’,recited during the Passover SEDER ritual; each opening with ‘MA NISHTANA’-‘What Makes This Night Different’ from all nights]
at The Last seder in the Warsaw ghetto,
by
our holy tzadik R’ shlomo Carlebach Zt’l.[Our Holy Saintly man, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, R.I.P. ]
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THE DEAF BLIND AND MISTAKEN REVIEWS
Just a Side Note here:
I want to criticize Here, in this context, the shallow treatment by reviewers of the play “SOUL DOCTOR” – currently on Broadway – which traces Rabbi Carlebach’s history in songs.
These deaf, blind and misguided nincompoops dismissively both panned the play, and Diminished Reb Shlomo by tagging him as “the Hippie Rabbi.”
Question:
Would these Know it ALLs call John Lennon or Leonard Cohen ‘a Hippie Singer’ ?
FYI –
I have not yet seen “Soul Doctor”.
But Several friends – with discerning tastes – who saw the play, separately, testify that its only flaw is that it is a bit long;
but that it grips and holds the audience….
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A PAST STUDENT OF REB SHLOMO SPEAKS OF WHAT AND WHO RABBI SHLOMO CARLEBACH WAS
To illustrate how richly complex was the Singer, Rabbi, and Teacher, here is a different take – from a past student of Reb Shlomo.
It illuminates from a different perspective the Depth and Breadth of his knowledge, and the multi-ponged nature
of his ‘method’ when interacting with people.
Male or female.
Young or Old.
Rich or Poor.
Orthodox in their Jewish affiliation (like him), Conservative, Reform – or ‘secular’.
A ‘Hippie Rabbi’ ? Eat your hearts out, ye who do not know a diamond from a Cubic Zirconia!
The following quote is from Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, by Yael Levine Katz, in the JEWISH VIRTUAL library .
Micha Odenheimer quoted from Shlomo’s teachings in two Divrei Torah that appeared in “The People and the Book.”
In a Dvar Torah on the portion of Nitzavim, he referred to an interpretation by Shlomo of the notion of worshiping strange gods, which signified “falling apart, the…flip-side of continuity.”
“The late great hasidic teacher and songwriter, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, explained it as follows: “The closer you are to a person, the more you believe he cares about everything you do. If you bump into someone whom you are not close to, whom you haven’t seen for six months, and he asks you ‘What’s new?,’ you might not have anything to tell him. The closer you are, the more there is to tell. A really close friend even wants to hear what you ate for breakfast. A strange god is one who you don’t believe cares about who you are and what you do — he’s a stranger to you. The more you believe God cares about your every movement, the less you are worshiping a strange god.”18
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REB SHLOMO CARLEBACH AT THE 1966 BERKELEY, CALIF. FOLK FESTIVAL
For all of you out there, here is another illustration of the many Facets this Great Man had.
And How many approaches, or modes, Reb Shlomo had,
Which – as the Gifted Teacher he Was – he selected with care, to be meticulously fitted to the specific audience he was addressing.
Once again, we have gone back in history to early days. 1966. The Height of the so- called Flower Children revolt.
The 1966 Berkeley, Calif Folk Festival was attended by young, non-religious, rebellious individuals, Fed Up with the Status Quo.
That is where Reb Shlomo went.
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Shlomo Carlebach – the 1966 Berkeley California Folk Festival in 1/2
Uploaded on Jun 23, 2010
http://shlomo-carlebach.com/ this is Reb Shlomo telling about his appearance at the
Berkeley California Folk Festival in 1966.
FYI, Berkeley California was a hippie town in the 60s, located in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay area. 2/2 – stories more……
* * * *
Lighting Chanuka Candle
Jerusalem, 1990’s
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Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach in the Middle Years
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BRIDGING THE CHASMS Between Polarities
Here is Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach on another Yom Kippur Eve. 1971-2.
But this is early – he is not yet in synagogue.
He is actually in an Open Air ‘concert’ in Jerusalem.
The city where division between the Very Observant Jews (Haredeem) and the Non Observant Jews is Dramatically deep.
In this concert, on the hours before the Most Serious Day of Atonement – Reb Shlomo is building bridges.
To span the DIVIDE.
Close to the Old City of Jerusalem, says the info related to the video.
Rabbi Shlomo is building bridges of song between the Old Jerusalem and the New (Modern) Jerusalem.
Between the Highly Religious and the ‘non religious’ Jews.
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Shlomo Carlebach 1971-2 Erev Yom Kippur special concert near the old city Jerusalem.
שלמה קרליבך ערב יום כיפור 1971-2 בהופעה מיוחדת ליד העיר העתיקה
Shlomo Carlebach 1971-2 Erev Yom Kippur
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RABBI SHLOMO CARLEBACH SPEAK TO YOU IN HIS OWN WORDS
Once again, the ‘transmitter’ is Micha Oldenheimer
Micha Odenheimer, “The Charisma of the Good,” The Jerusalem Report, December 6, 1999, p. 41
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He [Micha Oldenheimer] pondered the power of spiritual charisma in “The Charisma of the Good,” bringing down in the name of his “teacher Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach” the idea that “the reason Isaac had intended to bless Esau, rather than Jacob…was that Esau was a more exciting, charismatic figure than Jacob; and thus better able to reach more people and change the world with the Abrahamic message.”19
*
Yael Levine Katz concludes her article, RABBI SHLOMO CARLEBACH, with the following illuminating comment:
*
Shlomo Carlebach ranked eighty-eight in the Report’s Readers Poll of the one-hundred Greatest Jews of the Millenium, and was defined as “Hasidic Minstrel.”20
* * * *
SEVET ACHIM GAM
YACHAD
Brothers Sitting
Together
* * * *
* * * *
SUMMING UP
*
It seems fitting to draw this Homage to conclusion on a Positive Note.
Because the essence of his spiritual teaching is ‘despite all the darkness, light triumphs!’.
The Song ‘Od AVINU CHAI’ (Our Father Does Live’) is a celebration of the Divine Father, and the presence faith in that Divine Paternal Force.
OD AVINU CCHAI – OUR FATHER LIVES!
הרב שלמה קרליבך / “עוד אבינו חי” 1972-1973
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Compare that Musical Hymn to a discussion Rabbi Shlomo carries out in a 1989 Interview he gave in Leningrad/St. Petersburg:
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach ztz’l – Why Are You So Happy.mov
Published on Nov 4, 2012 Leningrad (St. Petersburg) September, 1989
Shlomo Legacy,32 videos
wwww.carlebachlegacy.com
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach – Reasons for Being Happy Now!
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The 2012 ANNUAL TRIBUTE CONCERT for Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach
You can also experience Reb Shlomo via an audio and a Pod Cast in the above, annual event.
Video & Podcast: Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach Tribute Concert, 2012
Find out how Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach inspired people to connect to their roots and connect to each other through music and Judaism.
The annual tribute concert for Rabbi Shlomo Carelebach took place Saturday night at the Binaynei HaUmah international convention center in Jerusalem. Performing were Yehudah Katz, Ben Zion Solomon and sons, Chaim David, Chizki Sofer, Shlomo Katz, and Aaron Razel.
And Then compare these two to the ongoing celebration of Rabbi Carlebach’s Teachings (in prose, song, prayer and discussions).
They take place in the ANNUAL TRIBUTE CONCERT FOR RABBI SHLOMO CARLEBACH.
Video & Podcast: Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach Annual Tribute Concert
By Ben Bresky
First Publish: 11/14/2012, 7:37 AM
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The WORD is OUT !
It is also important to hear what contemporary ‘Heavy Weights’ are saying about Reb Shlomo Carlebach.
‘
As Lisa Alcalay Klug notes in her comprehensive article, even the affectionate appellation,”The Singing Rabbi,” takes on a New and Respectful meaning:
But perhaps most notable is the extent to which Carlebach’s melodies have permeated synagogue services across the world.
“I’m always amazed by how much Shlomo lives and how much his music affected his time and our time,”
said Ari Goldman, a journalism professor at Columbia University who wrote Carlebach’s obituary for The New York Times.
“It is very much ingrained in our liturgical life, our celebratory life and our musical life.”
* * *
A FILM IS AVAILABLE, TOO !
You Never Know !
Watch it :
לעולם אינך יודע – הסרט המלא – You Never Know – Full Movie
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AND HERE IS ANOTHER FULL LENGTH FILM
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A 1980 film made in 1989 – when Rabbi Carlebach came back from a visit to Poland.
Which has just been made public April 2013.
This is another opportunity to watch Reb Shlomo LIVE.
And get to know the Spiritual Leader and Teacher , not just the Song Maker and Rabbi and Cantor….
*
WATCH IT :
Rabbi Shlomo in a Live Performance
הרב שלמה קרליבך בהופעה חיה
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Live January 24, 1989 Performance at Bnai Brith Hillel, Minnesota,
Following a trip to Polland
Published on Apr 30, 2013
סרטון נדיר של הרב שלמה קרליבך בהופעה חיה במשך קרוב לשעה.
הופעה בבני ברית הלל במינסוטה ב-24 בינואר, 1989 אחרי שחזר מביקור מרגש בפולין (1-10 בינואר).
* * * *
* * * *
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach
R.I.P
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach during a visit to the Kotel [Western Wall] in Jerusalem, early 1990s.
* * * *
THANK YOU, REB SHLOMO CARLEBACH
You sowed a seed in my heart, long time ago.
The seed did sprout, slowly but surely, and over many years, it flowered in my heart.
It directed me – without a word being said – back to Judaism.
Judaism as it is practiced at Bnai Jeshurun Congregation –
Judaism that is committed to Inclusiveness rather than to Division and Exclusion
To Gender Equality rather than a devaluation of women and the Feminine;
To Freedom of choice in Sexual Orientation, rather than to Homophobia.
And to an Embracing of continuous cooperation with other religions, rather than to Insulation.
Rest In Peace, beloved Teacher.
I am only one among many whose lives you touched and invigorated.
In Song, in Story Telling, and in straight Teaching.
You Blessed us all – in quiet as well as in Loudly Singing ways.
Yours has been A Mysterious but Vtalizing Influence.
You Will Be Remembered!!
* * *
LE’MA’AN ACHAI VE’RE’AY – FOR MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS
For conclusion, Here is the Older Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach.
In a song I believe sums up his whole life and his ultimate commitment.
Reb Shlomo is singing the same song he sang earlier in this blog (and in his life)-
but differently .
It is an older Reb Shlomo.
But he still tugs at my – and your heart strings.
LE’MA’AN ACHAI VE’RE’AY – FOR MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS
LISTEN HERE :
Shlomo Carlebach – Leman Achai Vereai למען אחי
Uploaded on Oct 23, 2010
Transliteration + Translation
lemaan achai vereai
Adabra na, adabra na,
shalom bach
Lemaan achai vereai, lemaan achai vereai
Adabra na, adabra na, shalom bach
Lemaan bait Hashem Elokainu
avaksha tov lach
Lemaan bait Hashem Elokainu
avaksha tov lach
Because of my brothers and friends
Because of my sisters and friends
Please let me ask, please let me sing –
Peace to you.
This is the heart, the heart of the road.
I wish the best to you.
http://shlomo-carlebach.com/
reb Shlomo Carlebach – Leman Achai Vereai למען אחי
* * * *
* * * *
Associated Links
* To know RABBI SHLOMO CARLEBACH – A Spiritual Teacher, listen to his own words.
See what you learn or discover from them..
“CARLEBACH LEGACY” in a Multiple Videos Grouping named SHLMO’S LEGACY,
* READ ! With a Broadway Show and New CDs, Shlomo Carlebach’s Tunes Resound Worldwide.
* WATCH 2012 Video & Podcast: Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach Tribute Concert.
“Find out how Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach inspired people to connect to their roots and connect to each other through music and Judaism.
Several of the performers spoke to Arutz Sheva – Israel National Radio – telling stories about the man who inspired countless people. ”
For Interviews and classic Carlebach songs click here.
* READ: RABBI SHLOMO CARLEBACH,, by Yael Levine Katz, in Jewish Virtual Library, HERE.
* Read PROBING THE CARLEBACH PHENOMENON, WINTER,2002, by AVRAHAM ARIEH TRUGMAN.
NOTE:
Rabbi Trugman was a close student of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach for 20 years.
He is a founding member of Moshav Modiim, and served as the NCSY regional director in Denver from 1988-95.He is currently the director of Ohr Chadash:New Horizons in Jewish Experience, an educational organization in Israel.
His articles and poetry have appeared in many magazines and journals, and he has assisted in writing a number of books on kabbalah and Chassidut
* 2012 A7 Radio’s “J-Jam” with Adam Mallerman .
“It’s a Carlebach Special J-JAM! Celebrating the music of Reb Shlomo Carlebach z”l, whose yahrtzeit was last week.”
“Tonight I’m honoring Reb Shlomo’s contribution to Jewish music, with music from some of Judaism’s musical stars as they cover his huge catalogue of song […];+ others + Shlomo Katz debut’s his new single “Leshana Haba”, written, but never recorded by Reb Shlomo for his own Sheva Brachot in 1972, and of course, we’ll hear from Reb Shlomo himself!”
* To download the mp3 click the down arrow or right-click here.
* For podcast archives click the right arrow or click here.
* To email the show host click here.
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*
Carlebach Legacy Trust
Featured Video
LISTEN AND VIEW to the video on this page :
“Please take a few minutes to learn more about Reb Shlomo and what the Legacy Trust is doing to digitize, archive and publish his life’s work.”
You Also Get To See and Hear Reb Shlomo in a Kaleidoscope through the decades.
* * * *
* * * *
I conclude, as always, with the Collage of Blessing Prayers.
Crossing all dividers among religions, races, ethnic groups, sexes, ages, and sexual orientations.
=============================================
For now, I send all of you the blessings I learned from my diverse teachers, guides and mentors as I progressed on my ‘Spiritual Trek’
As well as a greeting/blessing from the Muslim praying community.
PS –
I add several added blessings from all over the world, along with celebratory wishes for Kwanzaa, and the New Year:
Mahalo, Aloha, Namaskarams, Joyful Kwanzaa, and a Healthy+ Happy New Year!
Assalaamu Alaykum = Peace be with You (Muslim )
Via Con Dios = Go wit God (from my Hispanic friends +neighbors)
Walk in Beauty! (Native American Shamans)
Namaste! Aum Namah Shivaya (Buddhist Devotees)
God Bless You ( Christian Masters)
Baruch Hashem ! (Jewish Rabbis)
May the Journey by Fruitful,
and
May the Return be Joyful (my own )
Finally, here is the Tri -Partite Biblical Blessing of the Cohens (Priests)
May the LORD (YHWH) bless you and guard you –
יְבָרֶכְךָ יהוה, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
(“Yivorekhekhaw Adonai v’yishm’rekhaw …)
May the LORD make His face shed light upon you and be gracious unto you –
יָאֵר יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
(“Yo’ayr Adonai pawnawv aylekhaw vikhoonekhaw …)
May the LORD lift up His face unto you and give you peace –
יִשָּׂא יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
(“Yisaw Adonai pawnav aylekhaw v’yasaym l’khaw shalom.”)
AMEN!
C2013 Dinnah G. Pladott All Rights Preserved
FOR Educational Purposes Only
–
How Do We Pray? What do We Pray For ?
August 19, 2013
Buddhist Monks, in
Yi Peng
Celebrating
The Lantern Festival
* * * * *
“The idea of prayer is based upon the assumption of man’s ability to accost God, to lay our hopes, sorrows, and wishes before Him.
But this assumption is not an awareness of a particular ability with which we are endowed.
We do not feel that we possess a magic power of speaking to the Infinite;
we merely witness the wonder of prayer, the wonder of man addressing himself to the Eternal.
Excerpts from Man’s Quest for God, by Abraham Joshua Heschel
* * * * *
My Dear Ones Our There August 4, 2003
I had a very moving – even heart-breaking – encounter with an unfamiliar young woman just two days ago.
She was sitting in an alcove/doorway just a few steps from my synagogue. And she seemed incredibly troubled.
For some reason, I felt an inner ‘push’ to stop and ask if she was ‘all right’s. If she needed anything.
And as a consequence, we spent the next ninety minutes or so in deep conversation.
Seated haphazardly on a bench, on or in the Center Island of Broadway.
This young woman has been in two short years through several severe challenges – an illness, an accident, and a loss of a job.
And she was desperate to connect to God; yet felt keenly that she has unable to reach the Divine.
“What’s wrong with me,” she asked me, in tears, “that God Does Not Answer My Prayers?”
“What do you Pray For?” I asked her.
“I Pray for Guidance” she replied.
Our conversation’s details may be posted later on.
What is burning in my guts Now- and maybe, in yours, too ?
are the Questions it Raised for me.
These are Questions you, too, may have struggled with.
How Do We Pray ? What Do we Pray for ?
I have never considered these questions Head On.
And so, in consequence of my chance encounter with a heart-broken and heart-breaking lovely young woman, I Released the Need to write my promised Third Part to the April 2013 discussions of inter-sectarian bloodshed and mayhem.
That topic – I realized – was sufficiently handled in my posts ”Why/When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Pts 1 and 2″.
As always, in discussing facets of Prayer, I go back to my Rabbi,’my Guru, my Inspiration, Abraham Joshua Heschel.
And – again as always – I did find among the Excerpts from Heschel’s Man’s Quest for God, one – as you can see above – that addresses most explicitly the issue – or Double Issue – that my conversation with this lovely woman highlighted.
Namely, How – in what Form and Format – do we pray?
And What is it that we Pray For when we engage in the act of Prayer ?
* * * * *
‘Halleluya’ vs. ‘Mimaamakim Keraticha Ya’ –
‘Praise the Lord’ vs. ‘Hear My Pleas for Mercy, Lord’
*
PSALM #130
*
The Joyous Celebration vs. the Tortured Entreaty
As days passed between the last writing, and this return to the blog, something became clear to me.
There is a Big difference between the energy of Prayer as Thanksgiving; when we sing – often, literaaly – the Praise of the Lord.
And the energy – or rather,the lack of IT – in Prayer as ‘Tahanoon‘; that is, Prayer as a plea for Diving Assistance, succor, guidance or Recovery from illness..
In the first case, we are mostly filled with the energy of having experienced Divine Providence, Divine delivery from evil, or Diving Munificence.
We are brimming with the power that comes from Knowing, without any Doubt, that ‘God is on Our Side.’
In the second case, we feel helpless, powerless, floundering in a morass; with no hint of any rescue or deliverance arriving any time soon.
In the ‘Halleluya‘ prayer, we are mostly ‘High’
In the ‘Tahanoon‘ prayer, we are mostly ‘‘down in the dump’ s.’
Maybe that is why it is so easy for people – like my young woman friend a week ago – to doubt. To Despair.
To actually lose all hope that Divine Light will dissipate the darkness any time soon.
Like her, we are only able at these Low Moments to utter a Cry for Help, from a sorely aching heart and soul’.
Of the kind you find in PSALM #130 –
SUNG HERE in a Sephardic Niggun, (tune) and in a moving manner by Chaim Israel.
*
Mima´amakim – Out of the depths – Psalm 130 – Chaim Israel
The Hebrew Text is printed on the video This English Translation is printed below the video:
Out of the depths I cry to You, YHWH
O Lord, hear my voice; let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy
If you should mark iniquities,Yah, O Lord, who could stand?
But with You there is forgiveness, that You may be feared
* * * *
Native American Folk Chants as ‘Hear My Pleas’ Prayers
RED MOON
*
Across cultural divides and ethnic origin, we recognize the same very ‘low key’ of supplication and entreaty.
It finds expression in a NATIVE AMERICAN HEALING CHANT:
Lakota Peyote ~ HEALING SONG ~
Uploaded on Apr 5, 2011
* * *
In musical terms, this is a ‘Minor,’ or low-key tonality.
This understated stance – in both music, tempo, timbre and tone – is illustrated, even more clearly, in the “VOICES OF THE WIND.”
So often, when we are in the position of the Supplicant, we just cannot find the words…Weeping, groaning, often remains the only way to plead our case with the Divine.
Listen to the haunting melody of the NATIVE AMERICAN Chant, VOICES of the WIND:
Voices of the Wind
Uploaded on Mar 16, 2011
[See, in Associated Links, below. Native American Wisdom, notes]..
* * *
GOSPEL SINGERS
* * *
PAUL ROBESON
R.I.P.
*
African American Folk Songs as ‘Hear My Entreaty, Lord’ Prayers
We can hear similarly ‘low spirits’ in so many of the African American old folk songs, which I first heard – and sang –
during my teens.
They were called, aptly ‘Spirituals.’ Or as Wikipedia refers to them, NEGRO SPIRITUALS.
They are indeed a form of Prayer.
One of my favorites has been The Old Folks at Home.
Known also as Way Down on the Swanee River .
Listen to PAUL ROBSON’s Heartfelt Rendering.
Read as well the words written by Steven Foster, rendering poignantly as the speech of a poor, illiterate individual.
Whose feelings of helplessness and isolation are as universal as the David’s words in the Psalms.
*
My Old Kentucky Home – Paul Robeson
LYRICS
“Old Folks at Home”, by Stephen Foster, 1851[4]
Way down upon de Swanee Ribber,
Far, far away,
Dere’s wha my heart is turning ebber,
Dere’s wha de old folks stay.
All up and down de whole creation
Sadly I roam,
Still longing for de old plantation,
And for de old folks at home.
Chorus
All de world am sad and dreary,
Eb-rywhere I roam;
Oh, darkeys, how my heart grows weary,
Far from de old folks at home!
*
The rest of the lyrics can be found in WIKIPEDIA .
* * * *
Laying LOW, and Riding HIGH, in One Performance of One Prayer
The previous samples of Tahanoon, or supplication for Divine generosity or attention, demonstrate pains and fears erupting from the depth of human hearts burdened with sorrows.
They are marked by an experience of the Divine as a Remote – even indifferent – being.
Placed Far Away, Up High!
This Divine Being is distant from our human affairs, and even ‘deaf’ to human requests, such as ‘Save Me, Heal Me, Set Me Free, Revive Me,’ etc.
The dissimilarity between the ‘Halleluya’ and the ‘Tahanoon’ prayers – between ‘Praise to the Lord’ and ‘Hear My Entreaty, Lord’Appeal- is dramatically woven into their very Tune, Tempo, Timbre, and Tone.
That distinction between these Disparate ‘genres’ of prayer is dramatically underscored in One Performance – the performance by Yossi Azoulay of the Hebrew prayer, or Hymn, to the Diving; who is addressed as ‘ADON OLAM’ – ‘LORD of this WORLD’.
(On the You Tube Video, the quirky translation of the Title is ‘Lord of Eternity.)
Adon Olam (Hebrew: אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם; “Eternal Lord” or “Lord of the Universe”)
Azulay’s inspired singing starts from the Low Low, typical of Tahanoon, which he renders in the first phrase or two.
And then Azulay moves to a Swingy, fast rhythm, that invites us to dance as we sing this paean to the ‘ADON OLAM’, ‘Lord of the World’ and of all Time and Eternity’.
It illustrates in a dramatic and musical fashion how in Prayers for Deliverance or succor, we are in the depth of hopelessness.
Whereas in prayers of Praise, we are Riding High on exultation, on a sense having received a Miraculous Aid coming to us from a loving yet powerful divinity.
And because it provides us with two Distinct and Contrasting musical tempos and emphases, it is easy to see the two ‘genres’ at work :
‘Tahanoon’ or Pleas for Succor;
and then
a Celebration of Divine Might and Divine Loving Alliance with human kind.
Here is this dramatically ‘Two Toned’ rendering of ADON OLAM .
Adon Olam – Yossi Azulay – Tho Lord of Eternity
The WORDS OF ‘ADON OLAM’
Published on Nov 24, 2012
sang by Yossi Azulay, from the album “Tfilot” (Prayers)
**********************************
Adon olam, asher malach
Beterem kol yetzir nivra
L’et na’asah vecheftzo kol
Azai melech shemo nikra
V’acharey kichlot hakol
levado yimloch nora
Vehu haya, vehu hoveh
vehu yih’yeh betifara
Vehu echad, ve´ein sheni
lehamshil lo, lehachbira
Beli reishit, beli tachlit
velo ha’oz vehamisrah
Vehu Eli, vechai go’ali
vetzur chevli beyom tzarah
Vehu nisi umanos li
menat kosi beyom ekra
—————————————
The Lord of Eternity (Universe), who reigned
Before anything was created
When all was made by his will
Mighty King His name was called
And when all should cease to be
The Awesome One alone would reign
And He was, and He is
And He shall be in glory
And He is one, and there is no other
To compare to Him, or be equal to Him
Without beginning, without end
And to Him is the power and the sovereignty
And He is my God, and He is my living Redeemer
And the rock of my affliction on the day of trouble
And He is my banner and my refuge
Who fills my cup on the day I call
*
For a beautiful Three – Part rendering of the Hebrew, the English, and the Transliteration of the poetic language of this prayer, check out WIKIPEDIA.
* * *
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach
R.I.P
* * *
Conclusion
My Dear Ones, Out There, August 19, 2013
Once again, the writing of this Blog Post took on a life of its own.
Once again, it became much wider in focus, and extensive in length, than I anticipatged.
Rather than call it ‘Part 1’, and relegate the remaining part of the discussion to a ‘Part 2’, I am taking a new tack.
This is IT for this Blog Post.
The rest of the material will come in its own individual Post.
I will just give a glimmer of what it will focus on.
As Abraham Joshua Heschel observes, in the Opening Quote, above, “We do not feel that we possess a magic power of speaking to the Infinite.
In the Psalms, David often gives poignant expression to this sense that ‘God is Not listening to, and Not Hearing, my fervent Prayer’.
Consider, for example, Psalm 22 – which is a central block in both Jewish and Christian Prayers.
And here it is in both Hebrew and English:
אֵלִי אֵלִי, לָמָה עֲזַבְתָּנִי
Psalms Chapter 22 תְּהִלִּים
ב אֵלִי אֵלִי, לָמָה עֲזַבְתָּנִי; רָחוֹק מִישׁוּעָתִי, דִּבְרֵי שַׁאֲגָתִי. 2
My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me, and art far from my help at the words of my cry?
* * * * *
Abraham Joshua Heschel reminds us:
Contact with Him is not our achievement.
It is a gift, coming down to us from on high like a meteor, rather than rising up like a rocket.
Before the words of prayer come to the lips, the mind must believe in God’s willingness to draw near to us,
and in our ability to clear the path for His approach.Such belief is the idea that leads us toward prayer.”
Excerpts from Man’s Quest for God, by Abraham Joshua Heschel
* * * * *
PRAYER VISION
* * * * *
ADDITIONAL RELATED LINKS
*Why Doesn’t God Hear or Answer Me? Why Do I Have Unanswered Prayers ?
A discussion of Paul’s experience, and response to, God’s silence in reply to his prayers for deliverance.
NATIVE AMERICAN WISDOM
* ADON OLAM
For a beautiful Three – Part rendering of the Hebrew, the English, and the Transliteration of the poetic language of this prayer, check out WIKIPEDIA. .
* Notes to the Voices of the Wind provide us with some verbal dimension to the sound.
The sounds you hear on the wind are the voices of our ancestors still telling us how to sing and make the music that was given to us by the bird nation.
The songs of our people will never be lost as long as we sit and listen to the wind.
When we need a medicine song we only have to offer tobacco and listen.
Soon the wind will whisper the song we need for healing or for helping the people.
Later from the grouse and the woodpecker, we learned to make the drum, and from the woodpecker we also were given the flute.
Rattlesnake gave us the medicine of his rattle to scare away the bad Tokas (spirits).
From many animals and creatures, we were given all the things we now take for granted.
* ‘Why/When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Pt.1’ .
* NEGRO SPIRITUALS were primarily expressions of religious faith. Some may also have served as socio-political protests veiled as assimilation to white American culture. They originated among enslaved Africans in the United States. Slavery was introduced to the British colonies in the early 17th century, and enslaved people largely replaced indentured servants as an economic labor force during the 17th century. In the United States, these people would remain in bondage for the entire 18th century and much of the 19th century. Most were not fully emancipated until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1865.
* ‘Why/When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Pt.2’
* * * *
I conclude, as always, with the Collage of Blessing Prayers.
Crossing all dividers among religions, races, ethnic groups, sexes, ages, and sexual orientations.
=============================================
For now, I send all of you the blessings I learned from my diverse teachers, guides and mentors as I progressed on my ‘Spiritual Trek’
As well as a greeting/blessing from the Muslim praying community.
PS –
I add several added blessings from all over the world, along with celebratory wishes for Kwanzaa, and the New Year:
Mahalo, Aloha, Namaskarams, Joyful Kwanzaa, and a Healthy+ Happy New Year!
Assalaamu Alaykum = Peace be with You (Muslim )
Via Con Dios = Go wit God (from my Hispanic friends +neighbors)
Walk in Beauty! (Native American Shamans)
Namaste! Aum Namah Shivaya (Buddhist Devotees)
God Bless You ( Christian Masters)
Baruch Hashem ! (Jewish Rabbis)
May the Journey by Fruitful,
and
May the Return be Joyful (my own )
Finally, here is the Tri -Partite Biblical Blessing of the Cohens (Priests)
May the LORD (YHWH) bless you and guard you –
יְבָרֶכְךָ יהוה, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
(“Yivorekhekhaw Adonai v’yishm’rekhaw …)
May the LORD make His face shed light upon you and be gracious unto you –
יָאֵר יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
(“Yo’ayr Adonai pawnawv aylekhaw vikhoonekhaw …)
May the LORD lift up His face unto you and give you peace –
יִשָּׂא יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
(“Yisaw Adonai pawnav aylekhaw v’yasaym l’khaw shalom.”)
AMEN!
C2013 Dinnah G. Pladott All Rights Preserved
FOR Educational Purposes Only
Halleluya – Give Praise to the Lord
July 20, 2013
Pray !
My Dear Ones Out there July 19-20 , 2013
I never imagined that I would end my previous post in May, and fail to return
to this blog – and to you – for seven long weeks…
I apologize – Life and Work just turned into a whirlwind of activity.
And, like the Windsurfer – and unlike the Sailor of Sailboats – I could only navigate
and move with the winds.
Stopping – in order to write in my blog – simply was not an option.
So what I am doing now is merely taking a ‘breather’ from sailing with the winds.
And carrying out what I had in mind at the end of Intermezzo – The Labyrinth , Pt. 2
I want to dedicate this post to ‘Giving Praise to the Divine‘ – despite of, and maybe
In The Face Of – all the bloodshed and natural disasters that have been going on . In every part of our Globe.
Since I have already devoted a blog and more to Leonard Cohen’s Halleluja, this time
I am focusing – Not Exclusively – on Hebrew Versions of the ‘Praise to the Lord’.
I am Grateful to You Tube, which so generously posts these Videos, making this wonderful
Prayers of Thanks – in its Many Variations and languages – available for all of us to enjoy!
Just CLICK on the Blue Link for each video!
* First in this Personal ‘HIT PARADE’ IS:
The ‘MESSIAH’ in Hebrew – Hallelujah Chorus
Uploaded on Apr 7, 2007
This is the reprise of the Hallelujah Chorus performed in JERUSALEM
with the conductor ecstatically including the audience as well.
This rendition of Handel’s Messiah was performed in Hebrew for the first time ever,
April 4th and 5th, 2007
*
COEXIST , EARTH RELIGION SYMBOL
*
* Second (Not in Hebrew!) in this Personal ‘Hit Parade’ Is:
Jotta .A –
Agnus Dei ♫ Hallelujah – aleluya♪!) [HQ]
Published on Aug 21, 2011
Jotta A. Is the greatest revelation of Brazilian gospel music.
[…] This is the new generation of worshipers who have risen in Brazil…
Enjoy it, for the honor and glory of God!
God bless u all!
(You are Holy, Holy)
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, For our Lord God Almighty Reign
Hallelujah, Holy, HolyAre you Lord God Almighty
Worthy is the Lamb
Worthy is the Lamb
Amen(You are Holy, Holy)
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, For our Lord God Almighty Reign
Hallelujah, Holy, HolyAre you Lord God Almighty
Worthy is the Lamb
Worthy is the Lamb
You are Holy, HolyAre you Lord God Almighty
Worthy is the Lamb
Worthy is the Lamb
Amen…♪Holy, Holy
Are you Lord God Almighty
Worthy is the Lamb
Worthy is the Lamb
Worthy is the Lamb
Worthy is the Lamb
Amen…♪
* Third in my Personal ‘Hit Parade’ is :
Israel 1979 Eurovision – Hallelujah + lyrics = Winning Song
Uploaded on Mar 29, 2007
This song is the Israeli entry to the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) that taked place in Jerusalem, Israel.
Won the First Place!
Gali Atari +’MILK +HONEY’
Singers of ‘Helleluja’
Milk and Honey – “Hallelujah”
————————————-
lyrics: (Hebrew)
הללויה לעולם,
הללויה ישירו כולם
במילה אחת בודדה
הלב מלא בהמון תודה
והולם גם הוא – איזה עולם נפלא.הללויה עם השיר,
הללויה על יום שמאיר,
הללויה על מה שהיה,
ומה שעוד לא היה –
הללויה.הללויה לעולם
הללויה ישירו כולם
והענבלים הגדולים
יהדהדו בהמון צלילים
ואתנו הם יאמרו, הללויה.הללויה עם השיר…
הללויה על הכל
הללו על מחר ואתמול
הללויה, ותנו יד ביד
ושירו מלב אחד –
הללויה.
* Fourth in my Personal ‘Hit Parade’:
Halleluya – Israel Defense Army’s Singing Team, Lahakat Hanahal
להקת הנח”ל – הללויה
Uploaded on Jul 5, 2011
מילים ולחן: יאיר רוזנבלום
מתוך הסרט “הנחלאים חוזרים”
נוסטלגיה guyal11
LA-HAKAT HANAHAL
in
Record Covers
* * * *
But, my dear ones out there – there is a Second Contender for this Fourth Place.
Sung in Hebrew by the same group of young Israeli Soldiers, LAHAKAT HANAHAL.
I could Not resist both the singing and the song.
I know in my heart that as You listen to them singing Shir Lashalom (Song to Peace),
you, too, will hear both The Prayer for Peace (Shalom), and the Celebration of Peace!
Lahakat Hanachal – Shir La Shalom להקת הנחל – שיר לשלום
Uploaded on Dec 21, 2010
Lahakat Hanachal
Lyrics: Yaakov Rotblit
Music: Yair Roseblum
Singer: Miri Aloni and Lehakat Hanachal
CD: Golden Hits Of The Nahal
Year: 1969
History:
This song has a controversial history.
Performed for the first time in ’69 with the powerful voice of a solo singing group the military,
was challenged as unpatriotic.
Which later became the anthem of the peace, was sung by Rabin on the podium, the day of his assassination.
Meanings! the form containing the very words of this song, stained with blood, was found in his jacket pocket.
Lyric (in several languages):
SONG OF SHALOM
Let the sun rise in the east,
and light the morning sky
The finest prayers will not revive
the ones who had to die.
And those whose flames have been put out,
lie buried in the earth,
Bitter wails won’t wake them up,
cannot give them rebirth.
No one can restore us now,
return us from the grave.
And here there is no use for songs of victory
and praises for the brave.
Chorus:
So go and sing a song of Shalom –
don’t whisper timid prayers.
Go out and shout a song of Shalom –
so everyone can hear.
Let the sunshine weave its way
through rainbow blooms of flowers.
Don’t look back towards the past –
the dead no longer ours.
Lift your eyes with hope of life,
not sighting through a gun.
Sing a song of love and joy
and not of battles won.
Don’t just say “A day will come”;
go out and bring that day!
It’s not a dream. In all the city streets and squares,
sing “Peace is
on its way!”
Chorus
Letra:
CANCIÓN DE LA PAZ
Deja el sol salir
la mañana da su luz
El más puro de los rezos
no nos volverá
Aquel cuya vela se ha apagado
y fue enterrado en el polvo
el grito amargo no le despertará
y no lo traerá de vuelta
Nadie no nos sacará
de un foso muerto y oscuro
aqui, ni la alegria de la victoria
ni las canciones de alabanza ayudarán.
Tan solo canta una cancion por la Paz
no susurres una plegaria
Solo canta una cancion por la Paz
con un grito fuerte
Deja el sol entrar
a través de las flores
no mires para atrás
deja ir a esos que salieron
Alza tus ojos con esperanza
no a través de las miras de los rifles
Canta una cancion por el amor
y no por la guerras
No digas que el día vendrá
traelo a ese día
porque no es un sueño y en todas las plazas
de la ciudad alienta
por la PAZ
* * *
* Fifth in my Personal ‘Hit Parade’ :
Change of Language – Johny Cash, How Great Thou Art…
Johnny Cash sings “How Great Thou Art”
Uploaded on Dec 2, 2009
From the August 30, 1969 episode of “The Johnny Cash Show,” Cash delivers a knock-out
performance of the classic hymn, “How Great Thou Art” backed up as usual by the Carter
Family and the Statler Brothers.
* Sixth in my Personal ‘Hit Parade’ :
Again, a change of pace, to Steel Band Music.
How Great Thou Art – Steel Pan Music
Uploaded on Mar 30, 2010
How Great Thou Art – Steel pan music played by the Neal and
Massy Trinidad AllStars Steel Orchestra
* Seventh in my Personal Hit Parade :
How Great Thou Art O store Gud Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Uploaded on Dec 8, 2011
Mormon Tabernacle
Choir 2013
* Eighth + Ninth in my Personal ‘Hit Parade’ :
Joshua Nelson – Let My People Go – Heska Amuna
Uploaded on Sep 17, 2008
Go Down Moses by Joshua Nelson performed at Heska Amuna Synagogue
in Knoville, TN
And
Joshua Nelson – Elijah Rock
Published on Jul 2, 2012
Performance of ‘Elijah Rock’ by Joshua Nelson on
the Oprah Winfrey Show.
GOSPEL SINGER
Joshua Nelson
* * *
AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT of+to My NATIVE AMERICAN ELDERS and TEACHERS
* * * *
My Dear Ones out there July 21
I felt incomplete, after posting this Blog Entry last night.
I began my spiritual journey by spending several years being trained by Native American Shamans.
This lengthy Initiation into the Native American Medicine Path included becoming a
certified Pipe Carrier.
The Very First thing each of my teachers trained me in was BEING GRATEFUL.
As I looked and listened to this blog post, I kept asking myself :
How could this Blog Post, devoted to HALLELU-YA – Literally, Praise the Divine –
not express my gratitude to my Native American teachers ?
So Here is a Tribute to the Native American Men and Women.
They have reminded me – and are continuously reminding All of Us – that
Dancing AND Singing
are
Sacred and Ancient Forms of Prayer.
Native American
Drummers
* * *
* TENTH on my Personal ‘Hit Parade’ is therefore:
Native American Hoop Dance by World Champion Brian Hammill
Uploaded on Aug 19, 2010
Brian Hammill 2009, 2011 and 2012 World Champion Hoop Dancer. Pigeon Forge, TN
This was a great show with a great cast of Dancers. Rocked the house.
I included the monologue because that truly tells the story of the dance.
* ELEVENTH – I could Not Resist it ! – on my Personal ‘Hit Parade‘ :
Shawnee Sioux War Dance
►Shawnee Sioux (snake) War Dance
Uploaded on Jan 24, 2011
A remake of an original song that I found and had on my first channel.
People liked it enough I then made a video for it.
Images are of multiple different tribes.
Again, the song is a modern remake of an original song.
The song is the title, Shawnee Sioux War Dance.
* * *
* I end this Homage to my Native American Medicine Path Teachers ,
with the following Haunting Chant, accompanied by ancient photos of ‘the People’:
Buffalo Warrior
Uploaded on Mar 23, 2011
The buffalo people have always stood among our Indian people, from the beginning of time.
They clothed us, they fed us. And they gave us inner strength.
They’ve supported us in many ways. And the people have always respected the sacred buffalo people.
Georgia Fox
I was taught respect.
Respect for yourself, respect for your siblings, for your brother and sisters, your clan,
and that includes animals.
I was taught that when the first Creator made the animals- he made the earth first of all,
and put the animals on it- that he put some of his spirit in the animals .
Gerard Baker
They’re created with this energy force, that life that keeps us existing.
They have that same energy force. And people talk about a “sixth” sense.
I believe that the animal world live in it.
Dean Fox
* * *
Native American
Dancers in Full Regalia
* * *
So, My Dear Ones Out There, we have come to the end of my Personal ‘Hit Parade’ centering on
Give Praise to the Lord.
I hope we all will have Lots and Lots of things to be Grateful for, and Many Occasions to raise our voices !
In Dancing And in Singing:
Halleluya – Praise Be to the Lord!
***
God’s Patchwork Quilt – Fields
* * * *
* * * *
I conclude, as always, with the Collage of Blessing Prayers.
Crossing all dividers among religions, races, ethnic groups, sexes, ages, and sexual orientations.
=============================================
For now, I send all of you the blessings I learned from my diverse teachers, guides and mentors as I progressed on my ‘Spiritual Trek’
As well as a greeting/blessing from the Muslim praying community.
PS –
I add several added blessings from all over the world, along with celebratory wishes for Kwanzaa, and the New Year:
Mahalo, Aloha, Namaskarams, Joyful Kwanzaa, and a Healthy+ Happy New Year!
Assalaamu Alaykum = Peace be with You (Muslim )
Via Con Dios = Go wit God (from my Hispanic friends +neighbors)
Walk in Beauty! (Native American Shamans)
Namaste! Aum Namah Shivaya (Buddhist Devotees)
God Bless You ( Christian Masters)
Baruch Hashem ! (Jewish Rabbis)
May the Journey by Fruitful,
and
May the Return be Joyful (my own )
Finally, here is the Tri -Partite Biblical Blessing of the Cohens (Priests)
May the LORD (YHWH) bless you and guard you –
יְבָרֶכְךָ יהוה, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
(“Yivorekhekhaw Adonai v’yishm’rekhaw …)
May the LORD make His face shed light upon you and be gracious unto you –
יָאֵר יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
(“Yo’ayr Adonai pawnawv aylekhaw vikhoonekhaw …)
May the LORD lift up His face unto you and give you peace –
יִשָּׂא יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
(“Yisaw Adonai pawnav aylekhaw v’yasaym l’khaw shalom.”)
AMEN!
C2013 Dinnah G. Pladott All Rights Preserved
FOR Educational Purposes Only
Intermezzo – The Labyrinth, Pt. 2
May 24, 2013
*
WALKING LABYRINTH, MARBLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH, NYC
*
Labyrinths have been used as a spiritual tool in cultures around the world for thousands of years. They began to appear on church walls and floors around 1000 C.E., an archetype of a divine imprint.
*
My Dear Ones out there, May 21- May 24, 25 2013.
DISCLAIMER May 30:
I have had readers respond to this Post that
“You are sharing your wisdom with the world.”
I want and need to emphasize that whatever I wrote in both Part 1 and Part 2 of the series “Intermezzo – The Labyrinth” were NOT my
own ‘wisdom’.
I am merely a Conduit or a Conveyor from the Source to you.
Please Read the Rest of the Disclaimer at the End of the Post.
NAMASTE
Back to the Post, May 21- May 24, 25 2013.
My Dear Ones,
I want to begin with the opening paragraphs of Intermezzo – The Labyrinth, Pt. 1:
“On the First Sunday of the month, from 1-3 PM, Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan opens its “Walkable Labyrinth” for visits.
*
The Church, in its generosity, not only invites Everyone to come and enjoy this unique ‘environment.’ It invites all of us to come as well on Wednesdays, between 5-6PM and between 7:30-8:30PM.
I am grateful, and awed, by the Marble Collegiate Church’s loving invitation to One and All. And dedicate to the Church both parts of “Intermezzo – The Labyrinth.”
*My Dear Ones, out there,
As usual, I expected to be back with you much, much earlier, for this Part 2 of “Intermezzo – The Labyrinth“.
But late or not, here I am.
Remember, I last left you almost Mid-sentence, sharing the notes I wrote down between my First and my Second Walk around The Labyrinth.
Notes put down hastily on Church’s paper, sitting beside the Labyrinth, in order Not to Forget the thoughts and feelings the Labyrinth was bringing up for me.
I left you at the end of Part 1, My Dear Ones out there, after briefly talking about the potentially FRUITFUL potency of Mistakes.
MISTAKES AS A SOURCE OF CORRECTION, DEVELOPMENT AND PERSONAL GROWTH
I will add merely one sentence. Or two.
*Mistakes have this rarely noticed generative effect: they force us to pause – Halt – in the midst of our headlong rush forward.
Which is often automatic, habitual, and devoid of what Psychology and Spiritual Disciplines call “Being Present.”
* * *
* * *
*When we make a mistake, and REALIZE It, it often interrupts this mechanical rush forward.
Therefore, it occasionally leads us to pause, reflect, and even take a step back from a robot-like behavior, or from a pattern of thinking , feeling, or acting. Even from highly cherished OPINIONS.
And in that, a gap is opened for us to shift, amend or develop our behavior, feeling or thinking pattern(s).
And a new opening for Growth and Development is handed to us – by the very mistake we hate so much….
*Watch this VIDEO of John Lennon, R.I.P., as he pauses again and again in the taping – with George Harrison (1971) of Ah Love. Listen to him retracing his steps, repeatedly. slowly. Trying different approaches.
Coming out, finally, with a longer musical sequence that sounds just so so tender…
His Voluntary choice to explore diverse formats is what making mistakes often causes US to do, involuntarily. But still, with positive outcome.
Watch Lennon HERE.
*Finally, Mistakes can be a source of laughter – at ourselves, at our own humanity and fallibility.
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
DISAGREEMENT MAY BE A CATALYST FOR CREATIVE + PRODUCTIVE DISCOURSE
*In a completely associative process – one of skipping ‘aimlessly’ from One Point to the Other, I remembered suddenly the Many Pages, in fact , Many Books, of Rabbinical discourses written over many centuries.
Discourses in which very wise and knowledgeable ‘professors’ of Jewish Biblical and Talmudic Lore constantly and repeatedly Comment On, and openly Disagree With, previous Explications, Discussions, and Readings of certain passages, sentences, or rulings by other past or present Learned Scholars.
* * * *
* * * *
*With a surprised start, I realized that far from berating the person being commented on, or disparaging the person being the writer DISAGREES with, the arguments were presented with a calm, learned manner, that conveyed the message ‘there are Other Ways of reading this passage, or ruling, or interpretation.’ I could see them writing in the way I have heard adults discussing things as I was growing up. First pointing their thumb in One Direction, and then pointing with the Other Thumb in the Opposite direction:
‘ON THE ONE HAND, xyz…. But ON THE OTHER HAND, stu …’.
With the basic understanding that Americans express in a very graphic Folk Adage:
THERE IS MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A CAT!
*MOREOVER, this ‘pluralistic’ approach gave rise to long and fertile Discussions and Dialogues among/with other scholars.
It did not matter whether they were responding to one of their own learned contemporaries, or were debating a point with an Eminent Scholar who wrote opinion and assertions many centuries earlier.
To illustrate this point – that an OPEN MINDED discussion and disagreement can be fertile in the extreme – I give you a passage from the online Free Encyclopedia. Which I checked just ‘on a lark,’ so to speak.
LIST OF BIBLICAL COMMENTARIES
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). “Commentaries on the Bible”. Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
This is an outline of commentaries and commentators. Discussed are the salient points of Jewish, patristic, medieval, and modern commentaries on the Bible.
The article includes discussion of the Targums, Mishna, and Talmuds, which are not regarded as Bible commentaries in the modern sense of the word, but which provide the foundation for later commentary.
With the exception of these classical Jewish works, this article focuses on Christian Biblical commentaries; for more on Jewish Biblical commentaries, see Jewish commentaries on the Bible.
You will find this Mine of Information HERE/.
* * * *
* * *
I DO miss this ‘classic’ mode of challenging and disagreeing with another person’s point of view, another person’s interpretation of political reality, or another person’s statement, ruling, regulation, pronouncement, proclamation, or phrasing.
With NO hint of disparagement of scorn for their integrity or their opinion or their approach to the matter under discussion!!
MY PRIVATE ‘SPARKS OF LIGHT or ILLUMINATION
In a similar haphazard or random sequence, a number of personal illuminating points just seem to pop-up as I was slowly traversing the Labyrinth during the First Round.
I want to share some of them with you, as well.
* * *
*
This what the Lord says, “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” – Jeremiah 6:16
* * *
DIVINE GUIDANCE IS PRESENT – CONTINUOUSLY – IN MY LIFE
*One of the most dramatic ‘Aha’ moments – as experiences of ‘discovery’ are described in psychology; or ‘spark of light,’ came suddenly, out of nowhere.
It came as a whisper inside of me, giving shape to a realization which inverted many of my self-concepts. I will try to put it in words.
It goes something like :
*I have Not been aware, up to that moment, that ‘DIVINE GUIDANCE‘ is Not an abstract term, for me in my life.
Nor is it active merely on Certain Occasions.
In the past I might – and did, wrongly – experience the myriad twists and turns in the ‘Road of Life’ I am traveling on as just aimless and pointless convolutions,
Yet at various moments, something suddenly shifts. Internally.
Just as it did right there, during my Walking the Labyrinth.
And in a flash, a wholly different perception of past weeks, past months, and even past years, literally emerges into view.
A New view.
Giving rise to a divergent interpretation of ‘what happened’.
*Most importantly, I suddenly perceive Order and Progression where before I experienced only purposeless meanderings,
* I likewise all of a sudden may recognize a ‘seed + Tree’ effect in past events, choices, and responding actions, where before I saw nothing more that aimless drifting.
* In the Labyrinth, in a nearly shocking manner, I saw all of a sudden that some acts or choices I had believed to be ‘mistakes’ are nothing of the sort!
That they represent rather the SEEDS of a pretty amazing Flower Bush:-))
* And since my own Volition had NOT been a part of the equation, I had to say, with great GRATITUDE:
*I am really thankful for the Higher Power or Divine Guidance that did stir my steps in this seemingly circuitous pattern.!
*
*
From the Depths We Call the Divine
*
*Then several Sparks of Light actually came on the heels of the previous one; as if the first one opened an Entry Point for the following ones..
The first came almost as an inner trumpeting voice calling me to Pay Attention:
Accept SET BACKS, ‘MISTAKES’, ‘BLOCKS’, and ‘REVERSALS’ as Friends rather than Foes.
*Be willing to trust that while going through the many “Intrruptions of Progress,” I HAVE been developing, growing, maturing, and deepening.
*Recognize that these ‘bad’ events or actions are actually a part of a LARGER WHOLE.
And RE-NAME them REDIRECTIONS; events which are Not Obstacles but experiences of Assistance or Boon coming to me.
*Be WILLING TO TRUST – even when the Labyrinth of my life shifts form not once, but numerous times!
See it as the athletes experience the Triathlon cross-training: as a simple One Race that “Shifts its Modality” from running to cycling, or to swimming, or to boating.
Yet the diverse forms my Labyrinth of Life takes are simply productive, fruitful, growth-promoting stages in what I may call
The Labyrinth of Life Trek.
.
*LET ME mention in this context two names, for now:
ERIK ERIKSON in many books.
And GAIL SHEEHY in her pioneering book, Passages.
* * * *
*I need therefore to avoid Judging or Dismissing – or scorning – ANY of the stages of this Labyrinth of Life Trek.
And this following point came as a blow of a sledge-hammer from Inside my head:
*The ONLY ‘Mistake’ is to GIVE UP on living, on loving, and on our ability to Create Value in our life – for ourselves, as well as for others.
*I especially need to KEEP REMINDING MYSELF of this Last Point when I think of my two sons; and APPLY it to them again and again.
In the face of all ‘evidence’ to the contrary.
* * * *
ABOVE ALL – BE WILLING TO LAUGH AT YOUR OWN STEPS AND MISSTEPS
“Peace is an awareness of reserves from beyond ourselves, so that our power is not so much in us as through us.
Peace is the gift, not of volitional struggle, but of spiritual hospitality.”
~ Harry Emerson Fosdick ~
*PEACE is indeed available when we are willing to accept our ‘backward and forward’ moves, or our sideways looping, as a natural part of our daily life.
And once more, John Lennon came to my heart.
So do listen to John Lennon singing IMAGINE.
HERE.
Find the Lyrics to IMAGINE HERE.
I am posting only a small portion of them.
IMAGINE
(John Lennon)
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
…
It is almost time for the Conclusion.
But before you read it, read the balance of the
DISCLAIMER
My Dear Ones Out There,
I began this post with a part of a Disclaimer. I want to complete it.
I am Not the Source of any Wisdom, Truth, or Justice you may
find in either
Part 1 or Part 2 of “Intermezzo- The Labyrinth.”
As briefly as I can describe it, here is the process I went through.
As I walked the Labyrinth, a very visceral process began.
Where I felt or sensed in my GUTS twinges or flicks of sensory fragments of non-visual illumination or comprehension.
It was a totally New Experience for me.
When I sat down after a First Walk through the Labyrinth, to put these tangible forms of ‘flickers of light’ into words, I felt as if these moved from my gut to my heart.
Whether the ideas, points or comprehensions were such that I had been in agreement with them before, or not, the experience was MOVING and earth-shaking to me.
The head or mind came into play much later.
Hours later, and especially during numerous and long days after that ; when I slowly wrote and rewrote the impressions and experiences the Labyrinth Walk engendered in me.
I describe what I had been through; and what I experienced and realized.
Only in that stage did the process move from my heart to my head.
In other words, this has been NOT a Mental, but a sequential
Visceral-Emotional-Cogitative experience and process.
Said another way, I can take NO Credit for the Wisdom of what I merely transcribed, an Experience authored and Coordinated by a Power much Wiser than I.
Please consider, therefore, the contents of Both Part 1 and Part 2 as a ”string of messages” which I, Dinnah, have received – by Divine Grace- as a part of my experience of Walking the Labyrinth.
AND as a part of my Spiritual Journey.
The Wisdom or the Justice of what I transcribe below, and in Part 2,
come from a much Higher Source than my puny mind, or my heart or my gut.
That is why I have been so awed and so moved as the walk unfolded.
And why I still am touched to the core, each time I re-read what I
wrote, and re-live what I experienced.
For You , the readers, it is an Offering – such as I would give if I
invited you to a meal.
You and only you have the power to decide how to use (or misuse) it.
Consume it, convey it, converse about it, construct what conclusions you wish about it, can it (as we can vegetables for future use), or corrupt it.
It is Up to You to utilize or to trash it, in any way you wish, and in any way you desire.
My Role has ONLY been that of a Bearer of Gifts, a Post-Woman.
NAMASTE!
* * * *
*
CONCLUSION
HERE ENDS Pt.2 of “Intermezzo – The Labyrinth.”
And my account of my Walking the Labyrinth.
But Not Yet.
I feel a HUGE debt of GRATITUDE for the EXPERIENCE of The Walking LABYRINTH, Pts.1 + 2, to Marble Collegiate Church and its pastors, who have opened this magic place to ALL Comers.
It is therefore fitting that in concluding Part 2 of this “Intermezzo – The Labyrinth” Post Series, I quote what they say about it. Here.
All Emphases are mine.
“A Labyrinth is a personal walking meditation, a body prayer traversed on a single path for personal, psychological and spiritual transformation. The winding path becomes a mirror for where we are in our lives; it touches our sorrows, releases our joys, and guides us into the experience of the presence of God.
Labyrinths have been used as a spiritual tool in cultures around the world for thousands of years. They began to appear on church walls and floors around 1000 C.E., an archetype of a divine imprint. There are even examples from churches in the Roman Empire and are found in various forms in many religions and cultural traditions around the world.
A labyrinth is not a maze, as a maze has many paths and dead ends; in a labyrinth there is only one path leading to a central point. One follows the same path in as you do on the way out. In a maze you lose yourself; in a labyrinth you find yourself.”
This is what the Lord says, “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” – Jeremiah 6:16
This is the “all Women/Men are welcome” spirit at its BEST.
* * *
* * *
ADDITIONAL LINKS
*MARBLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH, Manhattan, which offers – with great benevolence – the Walking Labyrinth to all seekers .
*”Intermezzo – The Labyrinth, Pt. 1″, May 11, 2013. MY WAY TO PRAYER
*Martin Luther King, Jr. , the Man, Baptist Pastor, Nobel Laureate.
*Gail Sheehy, whose pioneering book, Passages, was a formative link in my development as a woman and as an individual.
SEE HERE
*JEWISH COMMENTARIES ON THE BIBLE. HERE ; and List of Biblical Commentaries HERE.
*SYNCHRONICITY, C.G. JUNG, “Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle,” 1952. See HERE; and also HERE; and HERE.
*“Why/When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Pt.1”, My Way to Prayer Post, April 18.
*”Why/When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Pt.2,“, My Way to Prayer Post, April 30.
*”PRAYER-A Source of Humor and Laughter”, My Way to Prayer Post, September 30, 2012.
* “MY Sudden Wake Up Call, February 18, 2011 ,” My Way to Prayer Post, February 18, 2011.
INTER-DENOMINATION +INTER-RELIGION PARTNERSHIPS
*The Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, is a “progressive, welcoming congregation.” Located two blocks away from Bnai Jeshurun Congregation, it has demonstrated for years that a Church and a Synagogue CAN forge ties of cooperation and Neighborly solidarity.
*
CHURCH and SYNAGOUGE Plus a JEWISH KOSHER SOUP KITCHEN PARTNER to FEED SANDY’S VICTIMS in FAR ROCKAWAY:
*MASBIA, A Non-Profit KOSHER Soup Kitchen .
* Community CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE, Far Rochaway, NYC.
*BNAI JESHURUN CONGREGATION” .
*Bnai Jeshurun Congregation, Community Church of the Nazarene in Far Rockaway, and MASBIA – a kosher nonprofit soup kitchen network and food pantry in Brooklyn – Came together in Partnership to Feed nearly Four Thousands of Sandy’s Far Rockaway’s hungry resident, November 19, 2012.
B’NAI JESHURUN CONGREGATION, NYC
* Bnai Jeshurun is a Manhattan congregation, which has been ‘My Way to Prayer’ , for nearly fifteen years.
*I am indebted to BJ’s three Rabbis – who follow Abraham Joshua Heschel’s teachings with great devotion.
They are outstanding human beings, Who I first introduced to you in “My Sudden Wake Up Call, February 18, 2011” in My Way to Prayer, June 06, 2012.
I owe them – AND The BJ Hazzan – gratitude and adoration, for their unique combination of traditional (“Conservtive’) prayer services, which they weave into/with communal singing and dancing,
Singing and Dancing that are constantly powered by new melodies,
old/new songs, AND the casting of familiar prayers and songs into unfamiliar tunes.
Demonstrating in these acts the need of all religious worship to keep Renewing and Revitalizing their expressions.
I also owe the three RABBIS daily acknowledgement For their emphasis on Social Justice activism and; and on Humanistic celebration of all genders, sexual orientations, races, and ethnic groups.
They teach us how to truly walk path outlined by Abraham Joshua Heschel, which seeks to BRIDGE differences of race, sex, age, class,creed, religion, denomination, and sexual orientation.
I Salute our three rabbis every day, too, for their Open Hearted approach to the complicated War and Peace issues Israel – and the Middle East as a whole – are grappling with.
See HERE for more details.
*BJ SINGS is a group of Bnai Jeshurun members, who meet once a month to sing together.
And give my heart a Monthly ‘shot in the arm.’
See HERE for more about Music at BJ.
* * * *
* * * *
I conclude, as always, with the Collage of Blessing Prayers.
Crossing all dividers among religions, races, ethnic groups, sexes, ages, and sexual orientations.
=============================================
For now, I send all of you the blessings I learned from my diverse teachers, guides and mentors as I progressed on my ‘Spiritual Trek’
As well as a greeting/blessing from the Muslim praying community.
PS –
I add several added blessings from all over the world, along with celebratory wishes for Kwanzaa, and the New Year:
Mahalo, Aloha, Namaskarams, Joyful Kwanzaa, and a Healthy+ Happy New Year!
Assalaamu Alaykum = Peace be with You (Muslim )
Via Con Dios = Go wit God (from my Hispanic friends +neighbors)
Walk in Beauty! (Native American Shamans)
Namaste! Aum Namah Shivaya (Buddhist Devotees)
God Bless You ( Christian Masters)
Baruch Hashem ! (Jewish Rabbis)
May the Journey by Fruitful,
and
May the Return be Joyful (my own )
Finally, here is the Tri -Partite Biblical Blessing of the Cohens (Priests)
May the LORD (YHWH) bless you and guard you –
יְבָרֶכְךָ יהוה, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
(“Yivorekhekhaw Adonai v’yishm’rekhaw …)
May the LORD make His face shed light upon you and be gracious unto you –
יָאֵר יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
(“Yo’ayr Adonai pawnawv aylekhaw vikhoonekhaw …)
May the LORD lift up His face unto you and give you peace –
יִשָּׂא יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
(“Yisaw Adonai pawnav aylekhaw v’yasaym l’khaw shalom.”)
AMEN!
C2013 Dinnah G. Pladott All Rights Preserved
FOR Educational Purposes Only
Intermezzo – The Labyrinth, Pt.1
May 11, 2013
WALKING LABYRINTH, MARBLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH, NYC
* * * * *
My Dear Ones out there May 11, 2013
DISCLAIMER May 30:
I have had readers respond to this Post that
“You are sharing your wisdom with the world.”
I want and need to emphasize that whatever I wrote in both Part 1 and Part 2 of the series “Intermezzo – The Labyrinth” were NOT my
own ‘wisdom’.
I am merely a Conduit or a Conveyor from the Source to you.
Please Read the Rest of the Disclaimer at the End of the Post.
NAMASTE
Back to the Post, May 11
Sunday, May 5th, was Universal Laughter Day.
I really wanted to take part in that celebration, out on Riverside Park in Manhattan.
But on the First Sunday of the month, from 1-3 PM, Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan opens its “Walkable Labyrinth” for visits.
*
The Church, in its generosity, not only invites Everyone to come and enjoy this unique ‘environment.’ It invites all of us to come as well on Wednesdays, between 5-6 PM and between 7:30-8:30 PM.
Yet I have not been able to come on any Wednesday since I first found out about the “Walkable Labyrinth” a few months ago; By a complete ‘chance’, ‘hazard,’ or ‘Serendipity’, through an item in the Local Upper West Side Spirit.
Although I wrote about it to several of my clients.
And May 5th was the First Sunday in which I had time Mid-day.
What I experienced went beyond any of the celebratory adjectives contained in the descriptions offered by the church.
It had, however, to wait till after I completed – with Five Revisions, over almost ten days – the Previous Post, Why/When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Pt. 2 –
Only now do I feel that it is supremely Right to take time for an Intermezzo of Light, before I tackle Pt.3 of the darker, somber Series “Why/When Bad things Happen to Good People.”.
*
*
ANGELS MOON PRAYER IMAGE
First, because I feel it is important to share it with you, and to do so Not Too Long After the experience.
Second, because the events and Song(s) in Section B of Why/When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Pt. 2 not ‘merely allowed’ me to see, and weave, the Light and the Dark threads of Life, in the face of the Horrifying Boston bloodshed.
They also allowed me to sense that there is a Serendipity – or Synchronicity, in Carl G. Jung’s term – in the way these opportunities came to me.
In case you wonder, Jung said Synchronicity is the MEANINGFUL CONJUNCTION OF EVENTS. Whereas Serendipity can be described as a lucky or bountiful concurrence of events.
I saw that this conjunction or concurrence of events was significant- a demand to allow Light its Proper Place in the writing of my blog as a whole.
Something that I had been vaguely aware of, but never so dramatically conscious that it is, for me, an Imperative.
For Me, and possibly for all of us.
The Word Intermezzo presented itself very quickly after this awareness of ‘being Guided,’ which I expressed at the end of Why/When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Pt.2.
I knew why it came when I looked it up, to be sure I remembered it right.
Here is the dictionary definition of Intermezzo:
in·ter·mez·zo
noun \ˌin-tər-ˈmet-(ˌ)sō, -ˈmed-(ˌ)zō\
plural in·ter·mez·zi or in·ter·mez·zos
Definition of INTERMEZZO
1
: a short light entr’acte
2
a : a movement coming between the major sections of an extended musical work (as an opera)
b : a short independent instrumental composition
3
: a usually brief interlude or diversion
MAY YOU FIND YOUR UNIQUENESS….
Can you see why I want to give my enriching, rewarding and fortunate experience its due, in the present, rather than later?
Now, in the middle of the series of posts Why/When Bad things Happen to Good People?
So that we can all see the wonder of the Light and the Dark strands of life mingling in a dance,, right here in the middle of it all.
The Walking Labyrinth
WALKING LABYRINTH, CLOSE UP
* * * *
A VERY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
My Dear Ones out there,
I want to share with you first my personal experience.
When I began to walk through the labyrinth, I did not know what to expect. But the first thing I noticed was that this was not similar to other labyrinths I walked in Europe.
There were many more sharp twists and turns – as opposed simply a long line looping around in concentric circles leading you to the center.
Almost from the first twist to the left, which came quickly, I began, spontaneously, to pray with my palms alternately brought together in front of my heart or in front of my face.
I asked for direction as to what I may be taught, or request to be or to have.
In the next twist, I asked to be shown the way I need to grow and develop in the coming years.
But as i was pausing in the alternate, multiple twists and turns, a flow began to come from the outside into me.
I began to listen, rather than speak.
And the following section is a list of the points I managed to recall when I stepped off the First Run of the Labyrinth, since I did two. I then asked for paper to write down my impressions and details of my encounter with this Teacher/Labyrinth.
*
MY INSIGHTS
COEXIST – ALL COLORS OF RACE RELIGION SEX AGE NATIONALITY
I began by by noting my so-called Observations:
* TOLERANCE is the KEY!
Few people were walking – or sitting out – the Walking Labyrinth; in several different ways.
Yet NO One Way is The Way to walk the Labyrinth. No way is RIGHT and No way is WRONG….
*INTOLERANCE is the KILLER of RELATIONSHIPS
I then thought about my latest meeting with my younger son, a day before, May 4.
And about the heated political ‘discussion’ we had about some of his opinions/belief.
As well as about his loud contempt for the divergent political (and religious) stands of his brother, or his father.
And also his scorn for my priority – arresting the erosion of Equal rights for women in Israel.
instead of embracing his Emphasis priority: caring for the plight of arrested women and children in the West Bank Palestinian territories.
And then the LIGHT Hit Me:
*’RIGHT CHOICE’+ WRONG CHOICE’ do NOT EXIST in ABSTRACTION!
*There are No Rights and Wrongs, in terms of the way we choose our stand, Politically, Religiously, and so on.
People find different IDEOLOGICAL, RELIGIOUS or POLITICAL Paths just as they find different ways to walk the Labyrinth.
They are all ‘right’ in choosing their OWN way.
And NEITHER /NONE of us is entitled to claim ‘My Way is the Right Way!’.
Even less do we have the right to impose/enforce their choices on others.
*It is NOT permissible to DEMONIZE someone who does not make the same choice as you.
A rational debate is acceptable. But a casting of your ‘different way’ adversary as the Anti-Christ or the ‘Devil’s Spawn’ is without any justification.
Those who claim “My Way or the Highway” are simply misusing whatever Credo or religious doctrine, or any systems of beliefs they have adopted as their own.
It is a destructive Stance, not only to the ones being Demonized, but also to the person practicing these dictatorial powers.
*
For a GREAT Video of this point, watch this fascinating and Hilarious discussion on Being WRONG with KATHRYN SCHULTZ, filmed in 2011.
Talks
Kathryn Schulz: On being wrong
Filmed Mar 2011 • Posted Apr 2011 • TED2011
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.:
* * * * * * *
CELTIC PRAYER SYMBOL
* * * *
My Dear Ones Out there
I was astonished when the next point came up:
*CONFLICT IS NOT ALL BAD
Especially since I have vowed, the night before, to RETURN to the PRACTICE I have followed with my younger Son before May 4th:
DO NOT Discuss Politics with the son I love!!!.
This ‘Light Bulb Coming ON was:
Conflict is NOT always Unproductive.
See how generative are the results – albeit, catalyzed by my walking the Labyrinth – which came out of what I thought was a version of ”a dialogue of the deaf.” That is, a “useless and pointless discussion”!
Simply because it was steeped in conflict.
Yet for CONFLICT or DISAGREEMENT to be fruitful, the ‘partners’ to the CONFLICT or DISPUTE need to be committed to tolerance, and objectivity or patience.
I am talking about the very stance or perspective embraced by disputants in a Debating Club, where you are often asked to argue BOTH sides of the issue:
Namely, “This is a Theoretical Debate.”
Therefore, there is no RIGHT and WRONG side.
CONSIDER ALSO this comic interchange regarding the virulence of arguing from the absolute positions of Right/Wrong:
“Plane Doctor”: Excuse me. You’re not supposed to be on your phone. It’s bad for the plane.
Patty: Oh, excuse me? Are you a plane doctor? No? So shut the fuck up!
* * * * *
*MISTAKES CAN BE FRUITFULL
*Next, I saw that the popular attitude “I don’t want to get it WRONG’ is quite limiting.
That in fact, Mistakes Can Be Very Fruitful.
Watch and Listen Here to VIDEO:
OUT HERE GRINDING (akon, dj khaled, lil wayne)
And enjoy some of the Lyrics:
DJ KHALED LYRICS
“Out Here Grindin”
[Lil Wayne:]
Hahhhaha
And we are the best
And weezy be the shhh
Like two H’s after S
I got these niggas on shhh
Like I gon deaf
And I’m right right
And your wrong left
Hahahahaha
Check out this bizarre
I am regularly irregular
Khaled best DJ
Weezy best rapper
If Khaled say
It’s a movie
Then weezy best actor
* * * * *
My Dear Ones Out There
I have been writing for nearly six hours straight.
And have only got to the third of my points. Six or so remain.
So I regretfully have to sign off for now.
* * * *
FIRST, Read the balance of my Disclaimer :
My Dear Ones Out There,
I began this post with a part of a Disclaimer.
I am Not the Source of any Wisdom, Truth, or Justice you may
find in either
Part 1 or Part 2 of “Intermezzo- The Labyrinth.”
As briefly as I can describe it, here is the process I went through.
As I walked the Labyrinth, a very visceral process began.
Where I felt or sensed in my GUTS twinges or flicks of sensory fragments of non-visual illumination or comprehension.
It was a totally New Experience for me.
When I sat down after a First Walk through the Labyrinth, to put these tangible forms of ‘flickers of light’ into words, I felt as if these moved from my gut to my heart.
Whether the ideas, points or comprehensions were such that I had been in agreement with them before, or not, the experience was MOVING and earth-shaking to me.
The head or mind came into play much later.
Hours later, and especially during numerous and long days after that ; when I slowly wrote and rewrote the impressions and experiences the Labyrinth Walk engendered in me.
I describe what I had been through; and what I experienced and realized.
Only in that stage did the process move from my heart to my head.
In other words, this has been NOT a Mental, but a sequential
Visceral-Emotional-Cogitative experience and process.
Said another way, I can take NO Credit for the Wisdom of what I merely transcribed, an Experience authored and Coordinated by a Power much Wiser than I.
Please consider, therefore, the contents of Both Part 1 and Part 2 as a ”string of messages” which I, Dinnah, have received – by Divine Grace- as a part of my experience of Walking the Labyrinth.
AND as a part of my Spiritual Journey.
The Wisdom or the Justice of what I transcribe below, and in Part 2,
come from a much Higher Source than my puny mind, or my heart or my gut.
That is why I have been so awed and so moved as the walk unfolded.
And why I still am touched to the core, each time I re-read what I
wrote, and re-live what I experienced.
For You , the readers, it is an Offering – such as I would give if I
invited you to a meal.
You and only you have the power to decide how to use (or misuse) it.
Consume it, convey it, converse about it, construct what conclusions you wish about it, can it (as we can vegetables for future use), or corrupt it.
It is Up to You to utilize or to trash it, in any way you wish, and in any way you desire.
My Role has ONLY been that of a Bearer of Gifts, a Post-Woman.
NAMASTE!
* * * *
Now, as a fitting conclusion, please
Be entertained – for now – with the following video.
Talks
Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are
Filmed Jun 2012 • Posted Oct 2012 • TEDGlobal 2012
Watch this Amy Cuddy Video HERE.
Watch and enjoy!
* * * * *
Here ends Part 1. Of my account of my Walking the Labyrinth.
But Not Yet.
I feel a HUGE debt of GRATITUDE for the EXPERIENCE of The Walking LABYRINTH, Pt.1, to Marble Collegiate Church and its pastors, who have opened this magic place to ALL comers.
It is therefore fitting that in concluding Part 1 of this “Intermezzo- The Labyrinth” post series, I quote what they say about it. Here.
All Emphases are mine.
“A Labyrinth is a personal walking meditation, a body prayer traversed on a single path for personal, psychological and spiritual transformation. The winding path becomes a mirror for where we are in our lives; it touches our sorrows, releases our joys, and guides us into the experience of the presence of God.
Labyrinths have been used as a spiritual tool in cultures around the world for thousands of years. They began to appear on church walls and floors around 1000 C.E., an archetype of a divine imprint. There are even examples from churches in the Roman Empire and are found in various forms in many religions and cultural traditions around the world.
A labyrinth is not a maze, as a maze has many paths and dead ends; in a labyrinth there is only one path leading to a central point. One follows the same path in as you do on the way out. In a maze you lose yourself; in a labyrinth you find yourself.”
This is what the Lord says, “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” – Jeremiah 6:16
This is the “all Women/Men are welcome” spirit at its BEST.
* * *
ADDITIONAL LINKS
*MARBLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH, Manhattan, which offers – with great benevolence – the Walking Labyrinth to all seekers.
*Martin Luther King, Jr. , the Man, Baptist Pastor, Nobel Laureate.
*“Why/When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Pt.1”, My Way to Prayer Post, April 18.
*SYNCHRONICITY, C.G. JUNG, “Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle,” 1952. See HERE; and also HERE; and HERE.
*”Why/When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Pt.2,“, My Way to Prayer Post, April 30.
*”PRAYER-A Source of Humor and Laughter”, My Way to Prayer Post, September 30, 2012.
* “MY Sudden Wake Up Call, February 18, 2011 ,” My Way to Prayer Post, February 18, 2011.
INTER-DENOMINATION +INTER-RELIGION PARTNERSHIPS
*The Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, is a “progressive, welcoming congregation.” Located two blocks away from Bnai Jeshurun Congregation, it has demonstrated for years that a Church and a Synagogue CAN forge ties of cooperation and Neighborly solidarity.
*
CHURCH and SYNAGUGE Plus a JEWISH KOSHER SOUP KITCHEN PARTNER to FEED SANDY’S VICTIMS in FAR ROCKAWAY:
*MASBIA, A Non-Profit KOSHER Soup Kitchen .
* Community CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE, Far Rochaway, NYC.
*BNAI JESHURUN CONGREGATION” .
*Bnai Jeshurun Congregation, Community Church of the Nazarene in Far Rockaway, and MASBIA – a kosher nonprofit soup kitchen network and food pantry in Brooklyn – Came together in Partnership to Feed nearly Four Thousands of Sandy’s Far Rockaway’s hungry resident, November 19, 2012.
B’NAI JESHURUN CONGREGATION, NYC
* Bnai Jeshurun is a Manhattan congregation, which has been ‘My Way to Prayer’ , for nearly fifteen years.
*I am indebted to BJ’s three Rabbis – who follow Abraham Joshua Heschel’s teachings with great devotion.
They are outstanding human beings, Who I first introduced to you in “My Sudden Wake Up Call, February 18, 2011” in My Way to Prayer, June 06, 2012.
I owe them – AND The BJ Hazzan – gratitude and adoration, for their unique combination of traditional (“Conservtive’) prayer services, which they weave into/with communal singing and dancing,
Singing and Dancing that are constantly powered by new melodies,
old/new songs, AND the casting of familiar prayers and songs into unfamiliar tunes.
Demonstrating in these acts the need of all religious worship to keep Renewing and Revitalizing their expressions.
I also owe the three RABBIS daily acknowledgement For their emphasis on Social Justice activism and; and on Humanistic celebration of all genders, sexual orientations, races, and ethnic groups.
They teach us how to truly walk path outlined by Abraham Joshua Heschel, which seeks to BRIDGE differences of race, sex, age, class,creed, religion, denomination, and sexual orientation.
I Salute our three rabbis every day, too, for their Open Hearted approach to the complicated War and Peace issues Israel – and the Middle East as a whole – are grappling with.
See HERE for more details.
*BJ SINGS is a group of Bnai Jeshurun members, who meet once a month to sing together.
And give my heart a Monthly ‘shot in the arm.’
See HERE for more about Music at BJ.
* * * *
I conclude, as always, with the Collage of Blessing Prayers.
Crossing all dividers among religions, races, ethnic groups, sexes, ages, and sexual orientations.
=============================================
For now, I send all of you the blessings I learned from my diverse teachers, guides and mentors as I progressed on my ‘Spiritual Trek’
As well as a greeting/blessing from the Muslim praying community.
PS –
I add several added blessings from all over the world, along with celebratory wishes for Kwanzaa, and the New Year:
Mahalo, Aloha, Namaskarams, Joyful Kwanzaa, and a Healthy+ Happy New Year!
Assalaamu Alaykum = Peace be with You (Muslim )
Via Con Dios = Go wit God (from my Hispanic friends +neighbors)
Walk in Beauty! (Native American Shamans)
Namaste! Aum Namah Shivaya (Buddhist Devotees)
God Bless You ( Christian Masters)
Baruch Hashem ! (Jewish Rabbis)
May the Journey by Fruitful,
and
May the Return be Joyful (my own )
Finally, here is the Tri -Partite Biblical Blessing of the Cohens (Priests)
May the LORD (YHWH) bless you and guard you –
יְבָרֶכְךָ יהוה, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
(“Yivorekhekhaw Adonai v’yishm’rekhaw …)
May the LORD make His face shed light upon you and be gracious unto you –
יָאֵר יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
(“Yo’ayr Adonai pawnawv aylekhaw vikhoonekhaw …)
May the LORD lift up His face unto you and give you peace –
יִשָּׂא יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
(“Yisaw Adonai pawnav aylekhaw v’yasaym l’khaw shalom.”)
AMEN!
C2013 Dinnah G. Pladott All Rights Preserved
FOR Educational Purposes Only
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