Ask about Judaism

[agricola]

May the great Name of God be exalted and sanctified, throughout the world, which he has created according to his will. May his Kingship be established in your lifetime and in your days, and in the lifetime of the entire household of Israel, swiftly and in the near future; and say, Amen.

('and say Amen' is a command to the listeners, who respond 'amen' - let it be done)

May his great name be blessed, forever and ever.
Blessed, praised, glorified, exalted, extolled, honored elevated and lauded be the Name of the holy one, Blessed is he- above and beyond any blessings and hymns, praises and consolations which are uttered in the world; and say Amen.

May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and life, upon us and upon all Israel; and say, Amen.

He who makes peace in his high holy places, may he bring peace upon us, and upon all Israel; and say Amen.

Note there is no mention of death. The basic prayer here is 'kaddish' (sanctification) and this short prayer is recited at the end of every major portion of the daily prayers. There are additions for specific purposes. This version - the 'mourner's kaddish' is about the shortest.

[agricola]

on a lighter note - this is a kid's song really:
Chag Ha Shavuot is 'the Festival of Weeks' which is the traditional holy day celebrating the Giving of the Torah at Mt Sinai:

THE 613 COMMANDMENTS

Music and lyrics by Debbie Friedman

Well there were 613 commandments that Moses handed to us
As we stood at the foot of the mountain of Sinai
Our dear Moses started to fuss
He threw two tablets onto the ground
And much to our surprise
The ten commandments broke into pieces
And we couldn't believe our eyes.

Because the Torah was much too long to describe to all the Jews
Our God decided to write ten commandments that said the don'ts and do's
Every commandment talked about the way we have to live
When we work or play, cook or clean, borrow, take or give
(chorus)
Cause there were 613 commandments that Moses handed to us
As we stood at the foot of the mountain of Sinai
Our dear Moses started to fuss
He threw two tablets onto the ground
And much to our surprise
The ten commandments broke into pieces
And we couldn't believe our eyes.


As we stood at the bottom of the mountain and listened to Moshe
He asked how many wanted the Torah and a bunch of us said, "Yes";
We thought about the way life was and the way life ought to be
Without the Torah we would have been lost and stuck with idolatry
(chorus)
Cause there were 613 commandments that Moses handed to us
As we stood at the foot of the mountain of Sinai
Our dear Moses started to fuss
He threw two tablets onto the ground
And much to our surprise
The ten commandments broke into pieces
And we couldn't believe our eyes....

So when it's time to celebrate Chag HaShavuot
We all rejoice 'cause the Torah's ours to study, teach and quote
Had we not made a promise to be chosen and to choose
Remember that there wouldn't be a people called the Jews
(chorus)
Cause there were 613 commandments that Moses handed to us
As we stood at the foot of the mountain of Sinai
Our dear Moses started to fuss
He threw two tablets onto the ground
And much to our surprise
The ten commandments broke into pieces
And we couldn't believe our eyes



The idea is that the broken pieces flew out into 613 individual commandments from the tablets.

[agricola]

Shabbas

Working so hard, I keep on wondering
If there is a chance I will ever be through
Coming so far, but just as I'm finishing
It seems there is always some more work to do

I need a day to collect my thoughts
To spend some time with you

Shabbas, Shabbas, Shabbas

Come Friday Eve, the beggar and the billionaire
Will each have a feast that will last through the night
Who could believe that families everywhere
Are singing the songs by the same candlelight

Taking the time to appreciate
The wonderful things you do

Shabbas, Shabbas, Shabbas

When it gets darker on Saturday
I feel so sad as it goes away
I try to bring a little Shabbat in my shavua tov

Shabbat, Shabbat, Shabbat, Shabbat shalom

L'hadlik neir shel Shabbas
Shabbat shalom u'mevorach, Shabbat shalom u'mevorach
Shabbas, Shabbas, Shabbas

[agricola]

CHAZAK CHAZAK

Music and lyrics by Julie A.Silver

Candles burn in the window on this Friday night.
Listen close and look within; be part of our light.
We�re singing together joyfully, passing love along.
Shabbos keeps our family; week by week we�re going strong.

CHORUS
:

Chazak, chazak v�nitchazeik (2x),
Be strong, be strong and we will be strengthened.
Chazak, chazak v�nitchazeik.

As we�re teaching our children they�ll be teaching us too.
Book by book from the Torah; each one reads like new.
The tree of life is growing; it started from a seed.
We give it love and caring; it gives us the strength we need.

CHORUS

Grass grows through the sidewalk between the tiny cracks.
Sun pokes through on the grayest day and shines upon our backs.
Strength comes not from power; strength is being whole.
Fall asleep feeling empty; wake up with a brand new soul.

CHORUS

Life may offer you hurdles; stumble, bruise your pride.
Pick yourself up; now you know the strength you need comes from inside.

CHORUS

[agricola]

It is almost Shabbat and I have had some not so great news (our beloved foster daughter is declining rapidly now) and I guess I am feeling blue. So I'm listening to some songs that make me feel better.

[margin overa]

It is almost Shabbat and I have had some not so great news (our beloved foster daughter is declining rapidly now) and I guess I am feeling blue. So I'm listening to some songs that make me feel better.

I am very sorry to hear that. I didn't know you had a foster daughter.

May I also say that your posts on Judaism are some of the most interesting things on the board?

[agricola]

Well thank you -


She's an 'informal' foster daughter.

From the time we moved into this house - 22 years ago - until pretty recently (about 6 years ago) we had a nice LDS family across the street, with (eventually) eight kids.

That's two boys and six girls (plus parents) in a 3 BR house with 1 bath. I have no idea how they did it.

We had three girls, and they pretty much slotted in like this:

boy 1
girl 1
boy 2
my oldest girl
girl 2
my middle girl
girl 3
my youngest girl
girl 4
girl 5
girl 6

would it be safe to say, they spent a lot of time together? Plus they were just great neighbors and extremely good friends. Their girls 2 and 3 spent a lot of time at our house, too. In fact, girls 2 and 3 knew the Shabbat blessings and Grace after Meals about as well as our girls did! Girl 1 and Boy 2, and Girl 4 and younger were over a lot also, but not quite as much. Boy 1 was 'too big' (and also very much into many other activities).

my oldest and girl 2 became BFF's.

Then they moved away, and it was during girl 2 and my middle daughter's senior year in high school - so girl 2 came to live with us for a year, and at graduation time I had actually THREE graduates in the house, because my DH got his AA degree that same time.

Girl 2 is Kate. She is terrific. She also - at age 20 - developed brain cancer. (now she is 23, almost 24).

I posted a lot of this on the old old board. Kate was midway through college, and she got a bad headache over the weekend, and on Monday her mom took her to the doctor, and on Tuesday she was having brain surgery (top Houston hospital, best brain surgeon in the US). They got about 99 percent of it, but it is glioblastoma and it was stage 4. The mean survival rate after fourteen months is 4%. Glioblastoma is aggressive and durable and it tends to recur. Often.

So far, Kate has beat the odds. She has lived two years plus with this. She has had surgery, radiation, chemo (five days a week for six weeks at a time) and experimental stuff.

This was before the Affordable Care Act, so her insurance dropped her the day after surgery the first time. She's on Medicaid but the uncovered bills pile up fast. Her dad is a bailiff and her mom is a stay-at-home mom, so with eight kids, there is never a lot of 'extra'.

The surgery left her partially paralyzed. The chemo and other treatments destroyed her thyroid, and her short term memory is shot. She keeps talking about going back to school (she did go back after surgery the first time, and successfully completed her sophomore year). She was an artist, a talented performer, an excellent cartoonist, funny, pretty and smart ....

Now she can't remember she already ate, so she eats again. She can't remember she just asked for water so when you give her some she is surprised. She was doing fairly well for the first year and there was hope she'd be one of the few who beat this, but improvement stalled and for the past few months she has definitely been getting worse. She's having trouble managing daily care tasks (like going to the bathroom) and her short term memory is worse too.

Her long term memory is okay. She remembers us just fine. We saw her last summer - she was having trouble getting around (it is a joy to see how well all her sisters take care of her) but she was happy to be 'home' in the town she grew up in. She knew everybody (because she had known them all before) and we did familiar things.

So she was our best good friends and neighbors kid for almost her whole life, and our own Kate for a year, and we call her our 'foster daughter' because she's at least that. Sorry, but I am tearing up now.

[Moogy]

God bless you, your foster daughter, and both of her families.

[agricola]

DH is visiting Israel (and DD1 who lives there) and is currently floating in the Dead Sea (according to the video he posted on facebook). But later this week is the yahrzeit of his mother, my beloved MIL (I truly loved her) who died in 2007. In Israel, close family will be gathering around her gravesite and reciting kaddish (I quoted that somewhere above in this thread) and, my husband said, some readings from the Zohar (major work of the kabbalah). I've asked him to send me the exact reference, because I want to read it also. Before they leave, I expect everyone there will place a small stone on the gravestone - it is a tradition.
(Kaddish is a public response prayer, and is only recited if there is an official 'congregation' aka ten adult Jews (male, in traditional practice, male and female in liberal practice)).

Here at home we will light a 'yahrzeit candle', a special candle that burns for at least 24 hours.

'Yahrzeit' is yiddish, meaning anniversary (literally 'year-time') and the anniversary of the death of a parent is observed by this small light, and by the reciting of kaddish by the eldest son or sons (or sons and daughters). (That's if you can get together a minyan - a 'congregation' of at least ten adults). Usually during synagogue Shabbat morning services, mourners (both recent and those observing yahrzeit in the previous week) are asked to stand and recite kaddish, and the congregation responds 'amen' at the end of each statement. Personally, I find it very comforting.

In Reform congregations, often everyone stands and recites together - I think partly as solidarity and partly perhaps for all the dead of the Shoah (holocaust in WW2) who left no descendents to recite kaddish for them.

Sometimes I think Reform goes a bit too far in trying to universalize everything.

In very traditional circles, only sons recite kaddish (although if there are no sons, daughters CAN recite). Anyway, in that kind of community, occasionally when a son is born (especially a son born after several daughters), a man may call that son 'my kaddish', because now he has someone who will live on after him, and recite kaddish for him.

You can also, if you are so inclined, send a donation to one of several organizations, who will recite kaddish for you or for your loved one, at the Kotel (Western Wall) in Jerusalem, in perpetuity. There is no special merit in reciting there versus anywhere else, but it is something a bit 'special'.

[agricola]

Passover is coming soon!

Which means we are eating up the foods we won't own during Passover, like bread, pasta, crackers, cookies....


And starting to stock up on the 'special' holiday foods (and other stuff) that we DO eat during Passover, like kosher for Passover matzo (which is not the same as REGULAR matzo) and personally I am buying (online, today) some items that I don't usually worry much about year-round but like to have for the holiday - like kosher wine.

Wine is a kind of gray area. Some people will only ever have kosher wine. Others don't bother one way or the other. Many - like me - don't worry one way or the other MOSTLY, but go out of their way (like me) to get kosher wine for special occasions/holy days.

So I just ordered a case of kosher wine, online.
We aren't big drinkers in the first place, and wine is not a regular visitor to the table, so a dozen bottles would probably keep us stocked for a year, but we'll take about four bottles to the community seder we will be having soon. Passover is a holiday that lasts a week (well, eight days really) and involves a special diet for the week, plus at least two seders, or the special holiday observance.

The seder (the word means 'order' because there is a special order to the whole event) takes place on the first and second evenings, and there is a whole choreographed system to the evening, and somewhere in there is Dinner.

Also during the course of the seder, each participant drinks four ceremonial cups of wine. So generally we allot about a bottle per every two people, just for THAT (plus extra for dinner).

It's a good thing we also eat a lot, or I'd be worried about driving home!