Election Day...Again.

It has been too long since writing. The goal here is to bring people together on the blog-o-sphere to share ideas, debate, learn, and encounter others and where they come from. If you want to be added as an author, email David Basior.

Election day is a funny thing.

Election Day brings out some crazy things. Why is it that polling stations are close to house yet many of us spend most of our time at work? Does voting make a difference? Does anyone else feel put off by the whole thing? I don't know...just a rant, but I can drown in the sorrow of how insignificant it feels. Someone prove me wrong! Please! :)

And now, your moment of Zen...

COMMENTS WELCOME. PUMP IT UP.

Another bit of learning: forget something?

So, yesterday it was "lost something?" and today, in the totally different setting of the Kavana Seattle sukkah, what grabbed me was "forgot something." We were reading a Yehuda Amichai poem within a context of how we view the Torah, you know, with Simchat Torah coming up and all.

To paraphrase the poem (which I can't seem to find on google), it says that G-d left the world and forgot the Torah "down here." As Jews, we call out to G-d to tell G-d of G-d's forgetfulness...others call this "prayer." We call "you forgot something!" and we chose to ignore that in that which was forgoten (i.e. the Torah) we fail to look for the hints of where to actually find G-d.

This line where Yehuda says we tell G-d "you forgot something," struck my interest, as I don't necessarily think that G-d forgot the Torah down here...I think G-d may have forgotten us down here!

If anyone can find this poem and post it, I would be grateful. What are you thinking about this week?

House Party this Saturday

I am going to act like people are reading this right now and put in a plug for a seattlejews house party this Saturday, Oct 14 at 9pm. Be there. We will, ya know...party.

3015 & 3017 E Howell St
Seattle, WA 98122

Late.

Loose Something?

So, I was learning Talmud tonight at the Jewish Learning Initiative at Hillel. We were learning the second chapter of Talmud in Baba Metziah. We were learning what the Rabbis had to say about what our responsibilies are when we find something that has been lost, misplaced, or dropped. It made me think about Judaism. I saw a parallel to the fact that here is this "Judaism" and from what I can tell, it has been lost, misplaced, and dropped. Here we are finding it and picking it up...what are we going to do with it?

Now Rashi (10th cent commentator) says that one can legally keep what they find only if the person who lost it has given up hope that they will find it. Going along the parallel, I wonder if that means that we, the "next generation" (Irit told me they are calling us Generation Aleph in some circles), can only actually take ownership of Judaism once he/she who once owned it gives up all hope of finding it again.

To me it rings true of a passing on the reigns. A sense of letting us, the youth, run away with Judaism. Now that we have found it, let us take ownership.

Nu?

Is Being a Professional Jew Hazardous to Your Health?

I'm going to say yes. At least, during the High Holidays.