On Thanksgiving weekend, in 1980, I went to the Weavers Reunion concert at Carnegie Hall. It was a memorable evening. The original four members of the Weavers—Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays, and Fred Hellerman–hadn’t appeared together in concert in about a quarter century. For people from left-wing (a euphemism for communist) households, like myself, having grown up listening to the Weavers since my nonage, it was an irresistible opportunity and an unforgettable evening. The concert took place a few weeks after Reagan was elected, and there weren’t a lot of Reagan voters in the crowd. Lee Hays, a few months before he died, his gravelly baritone now reduced to a whisper, told the crowd “this too will pass, like a kidney stone.” I think that gets it about right, with a glance towards the future, and a recognition of the coming of hard, immediate pain.
I Choose to be a Tree by Jan Conte
During times of challenge I choose to be like a tree in a windstorm, with its roots buried deep within the soil. Swaying from side to side, its branches stretched outward embracing whatever comes. Its leaves jingling like bells, sweetly saying “I am okay, I am okay.”
During times of challenge I choose not to be like a piece of debris in a windstorm, being whipped up into a vortex, spinning wildly with no direction or tossed from here to there with no roots, no safe place.
I choose to be a tree.
Thoughts on the Catastrophe by Peter Eisenstadt
Oh my poor country, my poor stupid, gullible, country, my needy country, my ignorant country, what have you done?
As I look at the results this morning, Hillary has about a 200,000 vote lead in the popular vote, and the Times is predicting (as if we should ever again take any election prediction seriously) that it will hold. But of course, winning the popular vote in a presidential election is meaningless, and Trump, like George W. Bush, will operate as if he had an overwhelming mandate. But it only shows how utterly divided we are, and how Donald Trump is the last person in the world to bind up our nation’s wounds, and show charity to all and malice to none.
Making History With Susan B. Anthony by Ayala Emmett
Nov. 8 2016
As I mark my vote for a woman for president of the United States and without making a sound I recite the traditional Jewish blessing of Shehecheyanu.
I recite the blessing for doing something for the first time, “Our praise to You, Sovereign of all for giving us life, sustaining us, and enabling us to reach this event.”
I cast my vote for the first woman for president of these United States and I feel the presence of millions of women my age who are filled with gratitude that we have lived long enough to “reach this event.” I think of all the women who for centuries fought for women’s equality and for human rights. And today Susan B. Anthony is at the center of my immense gratitude for reaching this event.
Walking for Hillary with Elderly Jews by Deborah L.R. Kornfeld
for Hillary
I am down in North Miami Beach with a cohort of alte yidden, elderly Jews walking for Hillary Clinton.
My cohorts have bad backs, aching feet, hearing loss and my own contribution of visual impairment. We are getting out the vote for Hillary.
We are staying at a lovely home and going over every poll from sunrise to sunset and beyond. We have been walking around in mostly African American neighborhoods where almost everyone is pro Hillary. Will they vote? Polls are not so encouraging and my people are tense. It is hot.
Trump the Queen of Hearts by Ayala Emmett
in Lewis Carroll’s
Alice in Wonderland
After the first Democratic Presidential Debate on October 13, 2015 we went to sleep in America and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was a book of fiction. A year later we find ourselves in the thick of the book’s madness with the Queen of Hearts/Trump screaming, “Off with their heads.”
We recognize in our midst Lewis Carroll’s central character the Queen/Trump that the author describes as a “blind fury,” a foul-mouthed, ill-tempered, irrational monarch in which the King/Paul Ryan is attempting to mitigate the awful decrees.
The Death of Shimon Peres by Peter Eisenstadt and Ayala Emmett
The death of Shimon Peres last week has been the occasion of any number of fulsome eulogies and overwrought comparisons. But the person who keeps coming to mind for us is Moses.
It’s not that we think that Peres was a prophet, ordained by God, or on some kind of a holy mission. But there are similarities. If Peres did not quite reach Moses’ 120 years, he came about as close as people come these days. And like Moses he has been around forever, in a preternaturally busy political career of some seven decades. And like Moses shaping an Israelite people to enter the land, Peres was one the Founders of a Jewish state on that land. And both men were men of war and men of peace; ruthless and generous; conniving and ingenuous; narrow pragmatists and expansive idealists. And in the end both men were able to transcend their many contradictions.
SHANAH TOVAH
THE JEWISH PLURALIST WISHES YOU
SHANAH TOVAH
A YEAR FILLED WITH BLESSINGS, WISDOM, AND PEACE
SHEHECHEYANU A BLESSING FOR THE FIRST TIME by Ayala Emmett
It is customary in Jewish tradition to offer a Shehecheyanu, שהחיינו a blessing to thank God for enabling us to experience a new or special occasion.
The custom of the blessing is mentioned in the Talmud and has been part of Jewish customary blessings for centuries. Shehecheyanu covers a wide range of offering thanks for new or special occasions from blessing the start of holidays, hearing the sound of the Shofar, lighting Hanukkah candles to eating the new fruit of the season. Shehechenyanu is recited by reading the blessing, or singing the verse using one of the many musical melodies.
Uncle Jack Confronts Donald Trump by Ayala Emmett
It is not easy to confront Donald Trump, but my uncle Jack has never shied away from bullies. Trump has defeated the Republican candidates, heaping insults on them to diminish their manhood. My uncle Jack trained as a boxer, which gives him the well-known gloves-on, ready to throw a punch posture.
Even if you don’t know my uncle or not fond of the sport, you realize that boxing the fighting with fists is about super confronting. It has a long history going back to the Greeks with ups and downs in popularity throughout the centuries. Boxing gained prestige in the west to become an official sport when it got included in the Olympic Games in 1904. Uncle Jack’s training is an essential qualification to challenge Trump if you consider that boxing requires enormous courage and focused determination.