Friday, December 30, 2016

Are You In the Gutteral?

The goal of this blog is to add eightness to the Shabbat table talk ...  Please share.
Continuing to wish a speedy recovery to Tamar Adina bas Kayna Shulamis and to Ruth bat Sarah.
In honor of Tehila's seventh birthday.


Hanukkah-Chanukah-frequencyPhilosophically-speaking, why should it be eight days?

Isn't the standard number in the Torah seven?

(Try asking this at your table - ask them how many sevens they can think of in the Torah. For that matter, how many sevens can they think of in nature? Notes on a major scale, etc. I've come up with nineteen so far - email me if you want my full list.)


To answer the philosophical question, here's a little philosophy for you, followed by a brief word from Jerusalem.

Last week, I asked if it matters (and why) how you say "Channuka".

One reader, William in Brookline, sent a beautiful answer.

He notices that the difference between the two pronunciations is a single Hebrew letter - "chet" v. "hey". Numerically, the difference only 3, which could be represented by the word "av" which means father....


"Using Google Translate, הנוכה ["Hanukah"] means, "seasonally"; חנוכה [Chanukah] means,
"dedication".  We have more than a seasonal holiday here: we dedicate ourselves to אבינו שבשמים [God], so if we add the אב to the seasonal festival, we have our Dedication."


If William will permit me to riff off of him a bit.... It is interesting that Channuka is related to the word for "education" — "chinuch". Eduation isn't just dedicating a child, it's preparing the child for life.

The idea of Chanuka is to re-dedicate yourself — that is, to prepare yourself.

Maybe you thought you were prepared?

But you're not. None of us were.

We were maybe prepared on the level of seven, but not on the level of eight.


The other day I was speaking with my 12-year-old nephew in Jerusalem.

He asked me, "If there was enough oil for one day, then the miracle was only seven days. The last day it burned up, so it wasn't a miracle!"

His answer: For most of the world, it's only a miracle when oil doesn't burn. But for a Jew, it's even a miracle when it does burn. Everything in nature is miraculous.

As long as you are waiting for that miraculous success, that miraculous recovery, that divine intervention in marriage or childbirth or winning the lottery, then you are still living in the world of seven.

When you start to realize the miracle of the quotidian, you are living in the eight.

That's why it matters how you say it. Because this world matters. The here-and-now matters. Beauty matters. If you pronounce something wrong, you are marring the cosmic harmony.

So the real magic of Channuka - the real preparation - happens tomorrow night, when you light those eight candles.

Take a good gander and think about re-dedicating yourself to living in this beautiful moment.



Channukah sameach and

Shabbat Shalom



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PS - Thanks to those who responded to last week's "word from our sponsor"....

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Friday, December 23, 2016

Beauty and the Feast (Is it only skin deep?)

The goal of this blog is to beautify the Shabbat table talk ...  Please share.
Continuing to wish a speedy recovery to Tamar Adina bas Kayna Shulamis and to Ruth bat Sarah.
In honor of the yahrzeits of Bert Walker and Yeudel ben Avraham.

Yair-Emanuel-Painted-Metal-Menorah-Arches-Pomegranates-Birds_largeThe other day we were discussing Channuka preparations and I used the American pronunciation "Hannuka".

This was absolutely abrasive to the ears of our 6-year-old.

"Channuka," she instinctively said.

The obvious question for your table is: Does it really matter?

Or could I put it this way:

How is correct diction any different from all the other corrections we like to give our kids:

Say please and thank you, don't talk with your mouth full, sit up straight, don't interrupt, etc. etc. etc.???

If the word is "Chanukah", then say Chanukah. Does it really take that much effort?

Let's make it a discussion question for the table:

What does the correct pronunciation of "Channukah" have to do with Channukah?

(I.e., unlike all other holidays - by Passover - Pesach - it is not an issue in the same way).

In past years, I've sent you various ideas and themes about the holiday, such as "Chanukah Fire", "HH", and "What's Hannuka".


Please send me the ideas of your family and friends, and next week, I'll send you my opinion about why it does actually matter how you say it.

 
In the meantime,

Shabbat Shalom

and

Happy Hannukah!


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PS - Thanks to Amazon's quick shipping, it isn't too late to browse our recommended Channukah books and games including 101 Chanukah Activities.

PPS - Do you have a favorite Table Talk? Maybe it was last summer's story about the greatest Olympic champion or Satisfact or Fiction. Maybe the Sandy Hook one did it for you. Perhaps it was We of the Storm. One of the most popular of all time was Late for the Train (2006). Some still remember the musical Chinese Food on Xmas.

Please consider an end-of-the-year contribution to support this weekly Table Talk. If you had paid a buck for your favorite one, would you have said, "Money well spent"? What of the fact that it comes to your inbox for free every Friday? Does that make worthless? (or priceless?)

This blog actually costs several nickels to produce, and we rely on readers like you to keep it going. There are the costs of the 10-year-old computers and the rest of the office overhead. There is staff time.

Yet this blog is provided as a free service by JSL in order to achieve our mission of fostering a paradigm-shift in Jewish education. You have the opportunity today to enjoy being being an active partner in this mission. At any level of contribution, you will be a partner.
(If you are already a JSL partner, thank you.)
http://jsli.org/donate/

Friday, December 16, 2016

Wheel of Fortune.... How does it turn?

The goal of this blog is to not leave the Friday night table talk to chance.... Please share.
In memory of Moshe Simcha Moskowitz and wishing a speedy recovery to Tamar Adina bas Kayna Shulamis.


Dreidel RouletteA horrific accident this week.

A mother and her son drop older sister off at the airport, going to Israel to study. What a happy goodbye!

On the way back, in front of her is a disabled vehicle on the highway - she slows down, but the semi behind her does not slow down and rams her into the stalled vehicle.

How long it took first responders to arrive, who knows and who wants to know. Both mother and son were airlifted to separate hospitals in DC.

The mother is presently in ICU, fighting for her life.

The son - a 13-year-old in our son's school - did not make it.

The funeral was yesterday.

It looked like the entire Jewish community was there. Not only were all 600 seats filled in the huge sanctuary, so was every foot of the standing room, so was the overflow room, spilling out into the hallways and the foyer.

First question for your table: Was it because the parents are well known and loved?

But speaker after speaker told of how special this boy was. His name was Moshe Simcha - and he was always happy (simcha means happiness). He wasn't an extroverted, joking kid. He was mild-mannered, soft-spoken, but extremely friendly and even more than friendly, he was helpful.

His seventh-grade teacher said, "You know those days when you come in to school and you really need a coffee but you don't have time because you have to go copy your handout? Moshe would make sure you had a coffee on your desk and the copies made before you even had a chance to ask him for help."

His father said, "At home, he was always asking, 'What can I do to help?'"

It seems that he had perfected the
mitzvah of honoring your parents.
 
Other kids loved him, because he was super nice to everyone, of all ages.

Our son called him "really nice". (That is a very rare compliment.)

He was a fighter - he didn't let diabetes stop him from training for and completing a 120-mile bike-a-thon to raise money to help disabled kids go to camp.

He was a learner - he recently asked his father if they could spend five minutes a day learning together the laws of lashon hara. Why? "Because it's really important and I don't think I know it well enough."

His father, a beloved first-grade teacher, said, "Moshe taught us all something. He was a teacher - a rebbe - to all of us."

Even those of us who never met him.

(Even those of us who merely read about him in an email?)

His family ask:

• In his memory, that we aspire to emulate him;
• As a collective "prayer" for his mother, that we light Shabbat candles five minutes early today.

Hence I share the story with you, and ask you to
forward it to everyone you love.

Second question for your table: What's a greater tragedy - a meaningful life cut short at 13, or a long, healthy life without meaning or mission?



Shabbat Shalom


PS - After 2,500 years, there is finally a new way to play dreidel. Click on the image above.

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Friday, December 09, 2016

Flies Like an Arrow?

The goal of this blog is to make the Friday night dinner seem to slow down / speed up (circle one).... Please share.
Mazal tov to Marc & Zeke on their father-son bar mitzvah this week.

time-flies-like-an-arrow-fruit-flies-like-a-banana17
Or like a banana?

For your table talk tonight, a story followed by a simple question.

The story:

On Wednesday, I showed our six-year-old a video of the amazing Emily Bear.

My daughter's reaction: "I want to be able to play like that!"

And for the next two days (and counting?) she has been super motivated to practice.

The potential glitch occurred on the second day when she found a new phrase difficult to master. In a brief moment of frustration, she said, "I just want to be able to play like Emily!"

She doesn't think Emily ever had to practice? What's with the haste?

So here's the simple question for your table talk:

Have you ever been anticipating something - a trip, or a party, or some great event, or an Amazon package arriving, or mastering a song on the piano, and it seemed to take forever?

Happens all the time, right?

The question is: is the opposite possible? Is it possible to anticipate a great event that is in the distant future - let's say seven years - and yet the time seems to pass very quickly?

For example:

He had to wait seven years to marry her, but it only seemed like a few days because he loved her so much.


Is this plausible? He loved her so much, so the time seemed to speed up? Shouldn't it have seemed to take forever?

Could it ever happen? How is it possible to anticipate something great - marrying your soul mate - and seven years could seem like a few days?

To answer this question, consider:

1. When does time seem to slow down?
2. When does time seem to speed up?

It seems to me that time seems to slow down when we're anticipating achieving or getting something, whereas time seems to speed up when we are preparing for some kind of test or trial.

If it seems strange that his love for her could make seven years pass quickly, that comes from an attitude of marriage = achieving or getting.

But if love and marriage (and kids?) is a great test and you're shooting for an A+, then the seven years might pass quickly indeed.



Shabbat Shalom


PS - I'm sure you already know how many days to Channuka.... but have you seen what's new in Goldy's list?
PPS - Yes, once again this week's post has an easter egg - can you find it?
When you forgive, you in no way change the past - but you sure do change the future.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_forgiveness.html
When you forgive, you in no way change the past - but you sure do change the future.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_forgivene

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Friday, December 02, 2016

Teaming With Rivals

Does this ever happen to you?
rivalsSo you come home to find that they're at each other's throats. Again.

This time the older one is livid:

"I'm not sharing a room with her any... more!" (she breaks the word "anymore" into two words). "I... refuse!"

"Why, what happened?"

"She's being so mean to me!"

"Tell me what happened."

And so on. The details don't matter. What matters is the following dilemma for your table:

Do you try to make shalom, or do you go for truce?

Or refuse to get involved?

Similarly, yesterday I had a very uncomfortable phone call.

I found myself speaking with someone who has been working on a project that is remarkably similar to one of our projects.

Neither theirs nor ours has been launched yet. Neither of us wanted to tell the other many details about what we are doing.

Question #2 for your table: Would you call us rivals? If so, what next?

And Question #3 — In such a situation, would you yourself rather be the "first to market" (not knowing what the other side is cooking), or be second (allowing you to respond better to what they are doing)?

And Question #4 — Is life like chess in this way?


Shabbat Shalom


PS - Now it's really time to pay attention to the number of days to Channuka.... and then see our recommended Jewish books & gifts.
PPS - Did you find this week's easter egg?
When you forgive, you in no way change the past - but you sure do change the future.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_forgiveness.html
When you forgive, you in no way change the past - but you sure do change the future.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_forgivene

dfdfd

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