Just Wandering

Dedicated to the memory In memory of Haym elazar Rohollah Babazadeh ben Shalom and Heshmat Babazadeh, whose 8th yahrzeit is this week. May his memory be for a blessing.
To dedicate a future Table Talk, send an email.


Do you remember Andy Shulman?

That’s Chaplain Andy Shulman.

That’s Captain Chaplain Andy Shulman.

He’s the chaplain I’ve mentioned a few times in the past year or so, serving the Jewish troops in Iraq.

He used to send us photos of Jewish programs in Sadaam Hussein’s palaces. At no time did he forget that he was in the land where one of the greatest Jewish communities in history flourished for 1,000 years, where the Talmud was created.

We would like to officially welcome Andy back to the states, where he returned this week after a long tour of duty. We are grateful that he made it back safely.

Transit from Iraq to the States isn’t easy. Andy spent the past Shabbat in a tent in Kuwait. The temperature outside was in the low 20s, and for his Shabbat menu, he had decided to load up on carbs – grape juice and matza. Stuck inside, all the matza you can eat, a copy of The Art of Amazement – what else does a guy need?

I doubt he's sorry to see his wife and two daughters again.

If you would like to send a personal note of appreciation to the Chaplain for his service to the country and the Jewish people, please let me know and I'll send you his email address.

I would also like to welcome back my father’s sister Deanne who decided she was going to see the Promised Land while she was still fit enough to enjoy it. She went with several of her family members and a group from their Portland synagogue and, like everyone else I know on their first tour of Israel, came back inspired.

So what about the Jewish soldiers still serving in Iraq and the Gulf? I will try to get an updated list for those who would like to send Rosh Hashana care packages. Let me know if you’re interested.


Shabbat Shalom



PS – Here’s a couple for you, Chaplain:




Speaking schedule:
Aug 4 – Baltimore – A Jewish View of Hinduism & Buddhism
August 11-12 - Vermont (CAJE Conference) - 2 sessions


For details, send an email.

School of Art Knocks

For Kids:

I have a list of some 40 or 50 Jewish soldiers on active duty in the Middle East. Most are serving far from any Jewish community and they long for a Jewish connection.

If you would like to “adopt” a soldier and send him or her a Purim card (coming up next weekend) or a Passover card (only a month away), please send me an email and I’ll send you a name. Nothing is more uplifting than a piece of artwork done by a young person!


For Adults:

There is such an overwhelming urge to write something about almost-former Governor Spitzer. The hubris. The irony. The salaciousness. The Hollywood-perfect justice.

How do I avoid this urge? The temptation is so strong....

Here’s the thing. In case you didn’t get this detail... Spitzer was evidently caught by the very investigative tactics that he himself had promoted. On the one hand, the word hypocrisy comes to mind. On the other hand, who do you know who always lives 100% according to their own standards? Who never ever slips? My personal tendency is not to jump on the justice bandwagon, especially since he and his family have been so thoroughly raked over the coals by now.

But some are wondering: “How could he have been so stupid to fall for the very trap that he himself created as Attorney General?”

There are many things you could call Elliot Spitzer, but stupid is not one of them. I have not seen his IQ scores, but everyone who knows him, including his Harvard law professors, considers him highly intelligent.

So we’re left with a mystery. How could a highly intelligent man do something that should be so obviously and avoidably risky?

The answer must be, it seems to me, that he was suffering the most pernicious malady known to humanity: confusion.

He was utterly confused into thinking that he is a body and did not know, or forgot, that he is really a soul that is temporarily fused to a body.

This confusion is the heart of every “evil”. His bodily desire overwhelmed his spiritual knowledge.

This never happens to you, right?

Happens to me all the time. Whenever you find yourself thinking, “I know I should do X but I really feel like doing Y” - watch out!

Whenever you find yourself thinking, “I know Y is wrong, but it feels so good” - watch out!

Sometimes it helps deal with a problem when we can name it. The name for this confusion is yetzer hara.

And here’s the real secret: the yetzer hara is – according to Jewish thought – what makes life meaningful. It’s like the weights that you have to lift if you want to build muscle. No pain, no gain. Only by having the pain of that choice between bodily desires and what your brain tells you is right, can you become a great person.

This wisdom is the foundation for making your life into a true work of art.

Speaking of art, someone sent me these amazing photos that are uplifting even if you don’t drink coffee. I don't know which café produced them, but if you know, please tell me and I'll give due credit.















Amazing Coffee Art - Click here for the most popular videos

Shabbat Shalom.

Travel/speaking schedule:
April 1-2 – San Francisco and Los Angeles
April 3 - St. Louis
April 7 - Baltimore

For details, send an email!

In Action

In memory of Albert Bitton (Amichai ben Eliyahu), an army medic killed in Baghdad Tuesday by an IED. He graduated from the Ida Crown Jewish Academy (West Rogers Park, Chicago) in 2005 and was looking forward to attending medical school when he completed his duty. Heartfelt condolences to his wife, parents and sisters, and the Jewish community of Chicago. (Incidentally, he is the second graduate from Ida Crown to be killed in Iraq.) Please read more about this exceptional young man here and here is one blogger’s personal memory of Albert.


What’s going on in Iraq?

Have you ever noticed that, by and large, the news media don’t tell us much about Iraqi casualties? Occasionally you hear a personal spotlight about an individual soldier or two, but most of the time the casualties are merely numbers. Here is one site that tries to personalize the fallen.

In contrast, the Israeli news during any kind of attack immediately puts a name and face on each casualty.

Question for your table: What difference does it make for a society whether or not we account for people as numbers or as names?

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If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may recall my friend Chaplain Captain Andy Shulman, who was the only Jewish chaplain in Iraq (and now has one or two colleagues there).


Andy sends updates and photos every day. Jewish soldiers are coming out of the proverbial woodworks – when they find out that he has a Shabbat program, for example, they want to get involved. The photo on the left is a Havdala ceremony in one of Sadaam's palaces. Knowing that Iraq was the center of Jewish life for centuries (that's where the Talmud was created), makes this scene particularly interesting.

He also has seen his share of hardship. Recently, he was contacted by a Jewish Iraqi woman who is living with her children in fear for her life. Her husband was kidnapped in December of 2006 and she hasn’t heard from him since. All she received was a single phone call saying that “they will slaughter him, and they cursed the Jews.”

No idea if he is dead or alive. She never came forward until now because of fear for her children. But she has asked for the worldwide community to pray for her husband.

If you would like to do so, or to give a nickel of tzedakka in his merit, please have in mind Yaakov Na’eem Eliyahu Sharabani ben Sadiya Avraham.

If you would like to send a care package of kosher food, books or anything else to the Jewish soldiers in Iraq, here is the address:

CHAPLAIN SHULMAN
3rd AVIATION BRIGADE - 3rd ID
4/3 HHC CAB 43408
APO, AE 09322-3408


Our media culture seems to measure greatness by how well someone does – who can run the fastest, make the most money, do the hardest math problems.

What if we measured greatness by how well a person deals with their hurdles and errors? According to that measure, who would be great in your book?

Shabbat Shalom



Travel/speaking schedule:
March 4-6 - California
April 3 - St. Louis
April 7 - Baltimore

For details, send an email.

Bunk History

In memory of Hayem Elazer Roullah ben Shalom (Babazadeh) whose yarzeit was this week.
To dedicate a future Table Talk, send an email.

2,500 years ago, the awesome army of Baghdad (then called Babylon) pacified central Israel and hammered Jerusalem until the walls came down, the city was in ruins and the Temple burned to the ground. The cruelty and carnage was unbelievable. Most of the Jews who survived the war were taken in a death march down to Iraq (what it’s called today).

Those who survived the trek were welcomed by a decade-old Jewish community. This influx of immigrants created a Jewish presence along the Euphrates that not only survived but flourished for about 1,000 years, producing many of the greatest scholars in Jewish history and one of our most precious intellectual heirlooms, the Babylonian Talmud.

Even after the Islamification of Iraq, Jewish life continued there for centuries, and like everywhere Jews have lived, they contributed mightily to the prosperity of the society.

Eventually, like nearly everywhere Jews have lived, we became non-grata.

It would be interesting to tell a history of the Jewish people based on places we’ve gone and how those places have affected all of Jewry. For example:

Babylon – Talmud (among other great works)
France – Rashi and the Tosofists
Poland – Hasidism
USA - ???

Should we also mention material contributions?

The USA and Persia (Iran) are two countries where Jews have never been officially kicked out. Uncomfortable at times, but prosperous. I am presently in Los Angeles, where I have met many Persian Jews. They tell me that they are much more comfortable here! But one consequence of their comfort is that the long-term continuity of their community is no longer taken for granted.

Now, remember my friend Shlomo Shulman who is the only Jewish chaplain serving in Iraq? He was recently promoted to Captain. Here is a website with some moving photos of Jewish life in Iraq today – I encourage you to scan through some of these photos.

BAGHDAD MINYAN

25 centuries after Nebuchadnezzar, here are Jews who have returned to Babylon to try to help make the country free and peaceful again.

As my grandmother would have said, How do you like that?

Question for your table: What are three mkomas you’ve been that had the biggest impact on your life?

Shabbat Shalom.


PS – here is a meditational reading for Monday night.


Speaking schedule:

July 24 – Tacoma, Wash.
August 7-8 – St. Louis (CAJE):
"You Can Teach the Talmud!"
"Combating Missionaries: The 'Why be Jewish?' Defense"
"Two Plus Five: How to Teach Spirituality"

(For details, send an email)


Yiddish of the week:
Mkohm — place (pl. mkohmas)

Yiddish review - how many do you know?
anee — poor person
koptsen — panhandler
ballaboss — homeowner; layman
nu — various meanings (see archives)
mishpocha — family
mameh — mother
tateh — father
mazal – (MAH-z’l) luck or fortune, as in, “It was good mazal that....”
beshert – (b’shairt) - meant to be, as in “It was beshert that...”
mine eltern – my parents
mine lair-er – my teacher
hamantashen – Haman-pockets
zeigezunt – all the best (said upon parting)
kesher - connection
Ikh volt veln a kave, zayt azoy gut. - I'd like a coffee, please.
...kave mit shmant. – ...a coffee with cream.
...kave mit milkh. – ...a coffee with milk.
...kave mit tsuker. - ...a coffee with sugar.
Di Fir Kashes - The Four Questions
Oy vey! - Good grief!
mensch — a decent person
rachmanos — mercy
neshoma (neh-SHOH-ma) — soul
minig — custom, as in, "Why do you do that?" "It's my minig!"
Gavaltig — wonderful
Oy gavalt — how wonderful (sarcastic)
Azoy gait es! — That’s how it goes!
Shabbos — Cessation; stopping; day of stopping; weekly sabbatical experience
"Gut Shabbos" — "Enjoy your weekly sabbatical experience"
Neshoma — Soul
meshugass — insanity
meshuganeh — insane
kyna hara — no evil eye
shvitz — sweat
shanda — shame
Lechayim! — Cheers!
Pinteleh Yid — the Jewish feeling in the heart of every Jew
Zreezus — zeal