A good word is like a tree whose root is firmly fixed in the sky.
Shabbos was lovely, i mean how else could you describe 15 hours of sleep, family time, awesome food and uninterrupted reading? This week is Mama and Dad's 25th anniversary. Ma actually wore her vort dress (some very 1980 purple silk number) to celebrate.... unbelievable. only my ma can fit into the dress she wore 25 years and four children ago. now, those are the genes i want to inherit. As i get older, it amazes me how much i am becoming like my parents, and in the strangest ways. i have an uncanny ability to memorize lyrics just like my mom, got her exact eyelashes, and say the same corny things.. and remarkably still managed to inherit a love for old dusty records, solo traveling, and moments of quiet from my dad. ha! for all the attempts to assert your own, you really just end up as a strange hybrid of mom-dad and you. guess Gestalt psychology has a point: we are just a sum of the many parts.
The women in this household always love throwing a great party. that's a rational explanation why everyday here is a party. except tonight there's actually a real party. moo's in the midst of hosting a couple friends for her girlfriend's sweet 16. I'm hiding out and trying not to be the overly involved spinster sister, besides i get free homemade pizza (my sister is a wild culinary talent) and i got an excuse to make my infamous pudding ice cream cake (which is simply instant pudding and a box of vanilla ice cream- i am not so much a culinary wonder). i'm debating if i should go find an activity for people my age of sorts.... or not.
activity and food. how appropriate. shvat is the month of producing food. no seriously, besides for the fruit motif its the month of "correct eating" (each month has an action in addition to a letter etc.). the letter that represent this month is tzadik 'righteousness'. who is a righteous man? not the closeted spiritualist, not the Walden recluse, but the wo(man) who sows deep into the earth and reeps from that which the land has to offer. Nothing exists without a reason. There is nothing removed from the shadow of spirituality. Everything in this world exists for a purpose, the approach in which we communicate with it is simply a matter of method. The spiritual life can be categorized as a quest of methodology. How do you interact with the world? Do you engage in a dialogue with everything that Gd has created? Does the world enrich you? Strengthen you, in the same way food does? Is your body and soul so attune they simple reflect and enhance each other, feeding on what is the food of your soul?
The idea of this month is to learn how to eat correctly, i.e. righteously. meaning that the true test of our spirituality is whether we make eating (and all our mundane activities) a spiritual experience, or simply surrender to sensual gratification. By purifying our attitudes towards materiality, we become conduits for distributing Gd's beneficience to the world. We become planter, harvester and ultimately the tree itself. Aquarius, the great purifier...the great water distributor. In Tanya it discusses the element of water (and food for that matter). Notorious for its ability to nourish the far corners of the barren earth and somehow still desire to get carried away, to be lost in the superficiality of materialism... Its a good month to ask yourself if your life has depth or is simply an attempt to drown out your own potent potential for the fruition of great spirituality....So who and what is inspiring you to pour your bucket of water into the earth?? We are happiest when we utilize our potential. Ask anybody, we are always the happiest when we are doing The Thing, that which we were put on this earth to accomplish, that which only we could sow. Also the reason that this month belongs to Asher, the tribe that is noted and blessed for producing an abundance of food. That's when the Jewish people are happiest, (Asher means 'happy'), when they are well fed and actualizing their potential.
so do something proactive.
i learnt from my Dad that in order to grow a fruit tree (we got an apple orchard upstate) you need to understand that planting is mostly persistent patience, lucky weather and a lot of blessing...
so if you're going to eat an apple, eat the whole thing, and eat it right.
if you're going to live in this world, go... and live in it all the way, your way, and do it right.
The women in this household always love throwing a great party. that's a rational explanation why everyday here is a party. except tonight there's actually a real party. moo's in the midst of hosting a couple friends for her girlfriend's sweet 16. I'm hiding out and trying not to be the overly involved spinster sister, besides i get free homemade pizza (my sister is a wild culinary talent) and i got an excuse to make my infamous pudding ice cream cake (which is simply instant pudding and a box of vanilla ice cream- i am not so much a culinary wonder). i'm debating if i should go find an activity for people my age of sorts.... or not.
activity and food. how appropriate. shvat is the month of producing food. no seriously, besides for the fruit motif its the month of "correct eating" (each month has an action in addition to a letter etc.). the letter that represent this month is tzadik 'righteousness'. who is a righteous man? not the closeted spiritualist, not the Walden recluse, but the wo(man) who sows deep into the earth and reeps from that which the land has to offer. Nothing exists without a reason. There is nothing removed from the shadow of spirituality. Everything in this world exists for a purpose, the approach in which we communicate with it is simply a matter of method. The spiritual life can be categorized as a quest of methodology. How do you interact with the world? Do you engage in a dialogue with everything that Gd has created? Does the world enrich you? Strengthen you, in the same way food does? Is your body and soul so attune they simple reflect and enhance each other, feeding on what is the food of your soul?
The idea of this month is to learn how to eat correctly, i.e. righteously. meaning that the true test of our spirituality is whether we make eating (and all our mundane activities) a spiritual experience, or simply surrender to sensual gratification. By purifying our attitudes towards materiality, we become conduits for distributing Gd's beneficience to the world. We become planter, harvester and ultimately the tree itself. Aquarius, the great purifier...the great water distributor. In Tanya it discusses the element of water (and food for that matter). Notorious for its ability to nourish the far corners of the barren earth and somehow still desire to get carried away, to be lost in the superficiality of materialism... Its a good month to ask yourself if your life has depth or is simply an attempt to drown out your own potent potential for the fruition of great spirituality....So who and what is inspiring you to pour your bucket of water into the earth?? We are happiest when we utilize our potential. Ask anybody, we are always the happiest when we are doing The Thing, that which we were put on this earth to accomplish, that which only we could sow. Also the reason that this month belongs to Asher, the tribe that is noted and blessed for producing an abundance of food. That's when the Jewish people are happiest, (Asher means 'happy'), when they are well fed and actualizing their potential.
so do something proactive.
i learnt from my Dad that in order to grow a fruit tree (we got an apple orchard upstate) you need to understand that planting is mostly persistent patience, lucky weather and a lot of blessing...
so if you're going to eat an apple, eat the whole thing, and eat it right.
if you're going to live in this world, go... and live in it all the way, your way, and do it right.
posted by HindiK at 11:08 PM
3 Comments:
happy chinese new year
Shabbes wel defined, lots of sleep and nothing to distract from picking up a book (unlike weekdays where the computer and Tv are so much easier)
nice qoute from the Koran-
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