Words of the Wise In Years

Homebody, everybody, fun on Chanukah, parties, family and friends, included, not included, creative solitary moments, in touch with the Divine, holy purifications not needed, purer than new fallen snow, whiter than white even wearing black, Daddy's girl, doctors lawyers, protected and sheltered, well fed, free foods, watching cholesterol intake, glucose counts, counting but not money, enjoying the richest of viands at no cost, you Barren One who did not travail, dancing with women not with men, kicking up heels and participating in all--One in all, all in One. Convert and stranger, ger, meaning "sojourn," legal contract that proves my Judaism, their family rumors, untruths, a line of people with broken lineages, descendant of King David, the Anointed One. Xmas celebrations and turning baby Jesus into baby Moses, not seeing stores' Xmas decorations, spared of the hype, radio stations from Tel Aviv Israel, mysteries and myths. Women deserving human rights, women purer than the snow, tougher than nails, sweeter than candy, nicer than nice, smarter than smart. Learning everyday and teaching born Jews, Jews who know nothing, Rabbis telling me to be a Rabbi, Rabbis speaking, and I am listening, learning, guru and librarian with all the answers. Ask me 4 questions and I will give you 70 answers! But not if you don't want to know. Open books, reading same books 1000 times, learning something new each time, guided by the spirits, spirits are angels, keeping an empty glass without water at bedside, not thirsty, not demonic, protected as a orphan, ger, fatherless, widow, poor, Levite, always in a shell. But not eating shellfish. And not selfish, sharing my poetry with the world, read on and delight in creative wisdom: Cho-achma is wisdom, the language of the wise. Wiser with age and older everyday, wiser everyday. Women who are wise. Deborah the Judge, judges but not judgmental, Judge Judy--You won the case, pay up. Poetry for free because food is free. Eat up, read up and enjoy!

The Forever Blooming Flower of a Lost Love

 

If you have loved and lost, and your love was true, truer than the color blue, then you will never recover, it all depends on how true your love was. Love that was truer than the splash of a tidal wave, or a tsunami, or a bolt of lightening, or as gentle and needy as a stray cat's meow as she licked the milk you put out for her: this love will never be lost. When the wind blows and your lover walks away to see life on her own: it is a spiritual connection that you will never lose. Adonai becomes your Lover instead, and all of life afterwards is provided to you as a gift from God.

A love that quakes your inner passions like a spitting volcano, every time you wake in the morning; love that enabled you to sleep on a rock instead of a pillow and not feel the stiffness in your neck,... real love. Love that changed you into a better person, when she leaves, you will continue to be that person. When love strikes you like a quick slip on pavement and you fall! But do not break a leg. Such is the luck of a true love. When every blue sky is your heaven, and you shared your heavens with your lover, this will never change, all your skies will still be blue. Soul mates for life, and in death, buried amongst your lover's family, one love, two loves, true loves. A hearty hardy heart, with a soft open palm, will never lose its vitality. Love spreads around, once you have caught it, it never disappears, you have it and you have it forever. Such is the affair of the broken-hearted. Your heart has been struck by Cupid. She may disappear, but her love for you itself, that is within your spirit, will linger on for eternity...like a forever blooming flower.

Hot Spaghetti and the Headless Cooks

 

Roman spaghetti cooked to perfect perfection but over-dosed with a spicy hot fire of flaming red sauce, a Spanish delight hot as can be, hot sauce, hot hearts, the Romantic Languages of Spain and Italy and France, hot spaghetti and the cooks are fired in a hot kiln. Fired and now on the unemployment line, lines getting longer, no one eating spaghetti anymore, just dreaming of it on an empty stomach. Spaghetti so hot it burned our delicate tasting tongues--hot with wrathful anger but not hot enough to make a point: messing with our stomachs is no way to get a disagreement settled. Stomach linings burning, tracheas burping, and head cooks drowning in poisoned meat sauce. Spoiling foods to get a point across. The Judge sits on his bench--the judge rules them 3 strikes you are out--giving them a seat on the "out" bench. Out in the cold for a hot idea, a hot head, a hot sauce. Red meat sauce Kosher as can be, will stay Kosher, without the hot-headed cooks. Without a blemish on the sacrifice to Him, but yes, there are blemishes on the cooks. They can be warned with a yellow flag: Try it one more time and you will be eating dust. A memory on my frying pan: he does not do the cooking anymore. Headless heartless cooks replaced by good cooks at a job interview. Fiesta Kosher Fish Fillets tonight and tomorrow too. Bon appetit!

Tips On How To Join A New Shul

When leaving the old and familiar and sojourning into a new land, new ideas, new everything, do not be afraid to get your feet wet. Dip in your toes into the warm sandy beach and then into the cool blue water and feel it with all of your might, submerge more of your foot, and then more, until whallah! You are in the water and trying to swim. Keep paddling your arms, one stroke over your head and then another stroke, keep trying and keep swimming. No this is not a lesson on swimming, this is a lesson on how to deal with changes in your life: new activities, new jobs, new Shuls, new congregations, etc. It will be exciting to submerge your whole body, you will feel the extreme spiritual sensations, and the immediate chill of the new water, but as you stay in the water your body will get adjusted and it will start to feel warmer as your body temperature syncs in with the temps of the water. Find a sandbar, rest there, and all will be well.

Fighting Giants With a Pen and Ink

 

Not playing by their rules, rules that are broken as we ride against the wind as cowboys on stronger horses, more horses, numbers win, giants fall as did Goliath, and it was my great great great Grandfather King David who slew the Goliath, he did it as a small man, with an Almighty God guiding his pebble. Their rules are not my rules, there is strength in learning and greater strength in teaching, teaching to change the world, to provide tikkun olam.

She teaches to do tikkun olam too. She has 500 hungry mouths who want to learn from Her, mouths that are not hungry for food, but for knowledge, for Her wisdom. I was hungry for food, but I was the only one who was. I was a student with a backpack on my back and carrying heavy books, now the books condensed into a small paperback with the entire contents of my learning material all there, ready for the reading.

Martin Luther King Day is next Monday, he was said to be a man who sought peace, and he marched through White neighborhoods without throwing rocks. In Israel the Palestinians throw rocks at windows of buses filled with school children. Moses struck the rock twice to bring water to the Israelites after his sister Miriam passed away and the water disappeared, but God did not approve of Mose's violence as a means to provide nutrients to the people as Miriam provided it; instead what God did was He put Moses to death and forbid him to enter or see the Promised Land. There are those who want to put Moses's descendants to death for the same reason; but the Torah says that the children of a parent are not to be punished for a parent's crime. There are women descendants of Moses who are targeted and children who are innocent who are also targeted, and this is unethical. There is no crime greater than thinking one is God himself, and killing as God had killed. We must re-think our intentions and realize there is only One God and that if you are arrogant enough to think you are God, then you are the one who is to be punished.

Waking Up With Wisdom: A Morning With a Sigh of Relief. Selah...

 

Hatzi Kaddish with billions in a minyan over Cyberspace, everyone in the world counts. Counting my lucky stars on the Havdalot, 3 stars in the sky, 6-pointed stars: Stars of Bathshebah, David's wife. She glows in every star in the sky, but all we need is 3: My mother and sister and me=3. Sisters all over the world, literate sisters, brain-active sisters, strong heart-pumping sisters, tefillin-donning sisters. Every morning w/o fail, waking up, "Modeh Ani. Shema Y'israel, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Ehad." Tallit Katan over head and shoulders, breathing deeply in gasps of strength as a result.

Freezing temps here in Chicago today, fingertips wrapped in tefillin leather cold, but heart is warm. Warm heart, good life. Golden tallit wrapped over shoulders with maroon bands, tzitzit in perfect shape, no tangling of tassles, no muss no fuss. Shining golden sitting on a throne, Moses was the leader: leading means fearing only God, and not fearing Moses. Awe coming in gentle breezes, escalating my heartbeat, heart throbbing in rhythm with the wind as it bends tall and brown as skeletal grass sways dormant out my window in the winter. Not fearing the wind, a blast of wind is a gentle gust when I am in sync with Wisdom, when I am in sync with Her. Cho-achma teaches me and I teach Her cho-achma. We are cho-achma together. Together every morning wearing tefillin tightly. Sigh of relief. Selah...

A True Leader Fears Only God

Gobs of packed hard icy snow, much too cold to call it moisture: flakes are frozen. Tefillin removed till tomorrow, not understanding why they say "Girlz just wanna have fun." The colors pink and blue have undergone a metamorphic change into dark shades of dark navy and deep earth tone browns. Solid, sure footing, no threats, bomb shelters empty, rockets not flying into my backyard. Tefillin rested securely on my upper hairline all morning long--sustaining me as a memory of feeling skies and heavens and ascending into higher thoughts, higher ethics, higher motives, higher goals: living north and north is upwards. Going up for Aliyah as a weekly endeavor.

Lighter blue and whiter skies, reaching higher heavens and attending meetings with angels: angels watching, keeping a close eye on things.  Eyebrows curling upwards and meeting in the middle, brow slanting downwards but not observing the ground, now knowing where to step.

Deep seas, deep thinking, wondering why flowers become weeds? What is it all worth? It is worth Her motivations, Her progress, Her beginnings and middles, Her future: Her sparks were already there and She just needed some fuel and a match.

Teaching survival of the fittest. Defending one's status, not taking back seat, no complaints: taking it to the top does not count when you on are the top. She is not a spy, not in disguise, She came out as Esther with truthfulness and honesty, not cunning. King means Melekh and Melekh means King--no confusion: Deborah was a Judge, before there were such things as Kings.

In the marketplace, a positive attitude means having no attitude at all: therefore no reform, no change, no one has to work harder than they can or want to. Getting used to the mud, no one shoveling it out, forming holes of quicksand, watching where I step. On a higher plane away from the confusion, the noise, the stuff. Not hearing loud noises, no scary impact and no nervous effect: a true Leader only fears God.