Does Jerusalem Exist?

The purpose of this blog is to build a city of peace at the Friday night dinner table.... Please forward / like / tweet....
Happy birthday shoutouts to Joan (turning 80!) and Kyle. And wishing EF a speedy recovery.
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This may be a first.

Imagine you found out that you had poison ivy.

How would you react?

Not too thrilled?

This morning, a friend told me just that - that he has poison ivy.

And this news made him happy.


So this week's first question for your table is a riddle:

When would a person be happy to learn he has poison ivy?

The answer (of course) is: when he had thought that he had had something even worse.

You see, for several days, he had thought that the itchy pain keeping him up half the night was shingles.

Shingles is a painful rash caused by the varicella-zoster (chicken pox) virus.

Everyone knows that if you had chicken pox, you're now immune for life, because your blood now has anti-varicella-zosters.

But some of those varicella-zosters stick around in nerve tissue near your spinal cord and brain. If your immune system should ever weaken, the virus can wake up....

So that's one secret to being happy even while in pain: knowing that it could be a lot worse.

But Question #2 for your table: Can this wisdom apply to any situation? Could it ever be so bad that a normal person could not be happy?

And here's a real douzy - Could an increase in pain ever make someone happier? (hint)

Our confusion about pain reminds me of our confusion about "peace".

Peace is not the end of war. That's a truce, but that's not shalom.

Shalom is harmony.

So it's ironic that the world's most-contested real estate is called Jerusalem - if you know what the word means.

Hint: in Hebrew, it's Yeru-shalayim.

Now that you know what it means, you can ask this question at your table: Does it exist?


Shabbat Shalom
and Happy Shavuot

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Ruthfully Jewish

The purpose of this blog is to get the kids talking at the table. Please print and share.

This week's question for your table:

Who was the most famous convert to Judaism ever?

Answer: Ruth the Moabitess (i.e., she was from Moab).

It is an interesting fact that the numerical value (gematria) of her name is 200 (resh) + 6 (vav) + 400 (tav) = 606.

So what you ask?

Since a Gentile has 7 mitzvoth (the 7 Noahide Laws) and a Jew has 613, her name alludes to the 606 additional mitzvoth she received when she became a Jew.

(Source: Talmud Yevamot 47b)

Question #2 - Can you name the 7 Noahide Laws? (try to guess)

Question #3 for your table - The Torah says that there are about 10^18 stars in the universe. The question is, Why is this significant?

(Here is my answer to the question, and I'd love to hear yours too.)


Shabbat Shalom and Happy Shavuot


PS - What amazing smartphone/tablet app has this fact about Ruth?

Here's the answer if you have an iphone or ipad.
Here's the answer if you have an Android device.
Here's the answer if you have a Kindle.


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Jew, Jewish, Hebrew, Yid?

Bar and Bat Mitzvah gift suggestions at bestjewishkidsbooks.com (a service of JSL).



This week's Table Talk comes in 3 parts, beginning and ending with a question for your table.

Question: Did you ever know someone uncomfortable identifying as "Jewish"?

I remember my first day in Mississippi, where I accepted a high school teaching job right out of college, at a rural school.

That first day, in late June, the air was so heavy that walking outside felt like you'd feel if you took a bath with your clothes on.

My boss, the inimitable Billy Joe Ferguson, took me on a tour of my new home-away-from-home, the blistery-hot, plastery-white Vaiden High School.

We bumped into the gym teacher, Coach Gant.

James Gant was a tall, muscular 30-something man, graying early but handsomely. He seemed friendly enough, but suddenly asked me a question that made my heart beat a bit faster.

Looking down on me, he drawled, real slow, "Seinfeld? What sort of name is that?"

Looking up at him, trying to discern whether there was anything remotely threatening in his voice, I piped, "German?"

"Oh. Ah din know if it was German or Jewish or what."

(I wasn't wearing a yarmulke at the time.)

I haven't thought much about this encounter with my self-ID but a conversation yesterday brought it rushing back.

Part 2:

Yesterday someone asked me, "When did the term 'Jew' become au currant? It's not in the Torah is it?"

Once upon a time, a Jew was an "Hebrew" (Ivri) or an "Israelite".

But by the 5th Century BCE, Judah was the only landed Israelite tribe left standing. So "Juda-ite" or "Judean" or "Jew" won the test of time.

Jerusalem was in Judea, so "Judean" or "Jew" persisted.

But something interesting happened in the eary history of the USA.

According to this recent article in the Atlantic, post-Civil War Jewish immigrants to the USA thought that if they could get a new ethnic name, they'd be able to diffuse the antisemitic prejudice that seems to follow us everywhere.

So they called themselves "Hebrews" or "Israelites" for a few decades, until resurgent ethnic pride made it cool - or at least cooler - to be a Jew.




Part 3:

Last week, someone I know was visiting a certain Jew who is living the good life, retired, healthy, and married to a somewhat religious Christian woman. Needless to say, this man's Jewish identity is not outwardly very strong. In fact, it would appear to be non-existent. Moreover, he is not a Jewish person who has discarded his Judaism or Jewish identity. He was raised that way, with zero Jewish education or affiliation.

In the course of this visit, the conversation turned to politics and the president's declaration about gay marriage.

Listen to what this disconnected, completely assimilated Jewish man said:

"When they want to talk about special treatment of the Jews, then we can talk about special treatment of the gays."

Question for your table: Where did that come from?


Shabbat Shalom

and Happy Feast of Weeks (what's that?)


(don't eat too much cheesecake)


  

Two Feets

What I'm about to relate may sound a little trite.

This week I did something that I've never done before, but some people I know have done it many times. (I wonder, now that I've done this, am I in the majority or the minority?)

Let's call it the peat-feat.

In addition, I managed to do something else that I haven't been able to do since I was about ten. Let's call it the feet-feat.

In this, I know for sure that I am now in the minority.

The first for me this week, the peat-feat... Believe it or not, I planted a vegetable garden.

Hard to believe, I know (that I'd never done this before).

Well, it always seemed such a chore, especially compared to going to the supermarket.

Inspired in part by our friend Marc in California (who could sell tickets to visit his garden) and in part by a need to give the kids something to do on Sunday afternoon, we trekked over to The Home Depot to pack the minivan with soil, manure and lumber to build a planting box.

Now, here's the best part of the story. Devorah (5 years old) has had her eye on a packet of flower seeds that has been sitting on a counter for who-knows-how-long. She asked me, "Can I plant these flowers too?"

"Sure, that's a great idea! Now let's go to Home Depot to get the soil."

So we get into the car and head down the alley when Devorah suddenly gets very agitated... "Oh no!!! Abba!!! We have to go back! I forgot something very important!"

She's practically in tears.

(Well, she's at that age where she's often practically in tears.)

"What did you forget?"

"I forgot the flower seeds!!!!"

And that's why it was so important that we plant a garden.

Question for your table: How important is it for kids to plant a garden? How about adults?

(Remember that kids' riddle - what's the first thing you plant in a garden? A: your foot... How does that go if you are using a raised bed?)

Achievement of the Week #2: The Feet-Feat

For the first time in at least 30 years, probably more, drum-roll please.....

I touched my toes.

Yes, that's what I mean - feet together, legs straight.

I've been working on this only three times a week for 5 months. If you want to know my technique, pop me an email.

Question #2 for your Table -

A. On a scale of 1-10, rate the importance of:

- a healthy, fit body
- a healthy, fit mind
- a healthy, fit soul

B. Then ask each person to rate themselves on their own fitness in these 3 areas.

C. Are you living according to your values?

Next week is Shavuot, which is the holiday that celebrates the idea that Jewish wisdom can teach us about all three. Best way to celebrate? Print out the Jewish book of wisdom and read it on Tuesday night.

(Email me your favorite quote from the above download and a reason why, and I'll send you a gift.)

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach.

PS - if you haven't seen this recently, take 2 minutes and be uplifted: