Hanukkah poem 2011 by Russ ירחמיאל

(This is an original poem written by a fellow skating coach.  It is such a good poem, I'm passing it on!)

Hanukkah poem 2011 by Russ ירחמיאל

Twas the night before Hanukkah and we were prepared, with candles for lighting, singing, and prayers.

The menorah was placed on the table with care, a sign that the Festival of Lights was quite near.

My Zadie was dancing the Horah with glee and Bubbie fried Latkes especially for me.

The Dreidel was spinning again and again to see the letters nun, gimmel, hay, and shin.

When out in the kitchen there arose such a clatter, Oy vey, someone must have dropped the gefilte fish platter.

We laughed and we sang and we ate for 8 nights.

Happy Hanukkah to all and L’Chaim to Life.

Thoughts From a Local Rabbi

This post comes from Rabbi Mel Glazer in Colorado Springs. I think it's GREAT, so I'm passing it on!

"Do all my Christian FB friends realize that if Judah Maccabee and his family had not defeated the Syrian Greeks in 165 BCE, that there wouldn't BE a Judaism or a Christianity or an Islam?

This same battle for religious freedom, is still going on today, unfortunately. It's tough to live as a minority in a country which begins celebrating Christmas earlier and earlier every year. And, it is so tiring to be told that "unless you believe x,y and z, you're just going to Hell, and that's the end of it."

How sad, how arrogant and how unnecessary. What do you think God thinks of all this? God, who created each and every one of us in the Holy Image. Remember, Adam and Eve weren't Jewish or Christian ir Muslim or Buddhists, they were just Adam and Eve. If it was good enough for God, it should be good enough for us.

If you're Jewish, Happy Hanukkah.

If you're Christian, Merry Christmas ( I LOVE Christmas music and lights!).

May the coming secular year 2012 be blessed with shalom, God knows how much we need it!"

Rabbi Mel Glazer

Why Did G-d Not Want Us To Receive Scholarship Ice?

This is funny, but before Annabelle and Joel competed this past week, I closed my eyes and did a silent prayer asking G-d to grant scholarship ice time to the kids if they placed in the top six. I even said the Shema. I thought, "Why not?"

They were in 4th a long time and near the end, were in 5th. When we were down to the last skater, they kids were still in 6th. The competition was so close, but they finished less than a point in 7th. I said a prayer again as it got down to the wire.

In order to receive scholarship ice, they had to finish in 6th.

Why didn't G-d want us to receive scholarship ice? Is the answer to that question, God just wants us to fork out $300 a week for ice time?

How To Light the Chanukah Menorah

This video explains lighting the menorah perfectly!

My December Dilemma

I grew up in the 1960s. When I was little, my parents looked at Christmas and decided that Santa had nothing to do with Jesus, and so my siblings and I very much believed in Santa Claus.

Holiday cards were big then, and I will never forget my dad using his own printing press to print out photos of my brother, sister, and I holding skating trophies with the caption, "Greetings of the Season."

My dad explained that we were Jewish and Jewish people didn't send out cards that said Merry Christmas.

We celebrated both Christmas and Chanukah. I went to religious school and made a big deal about the holiday, so my parents made sure we did it "right."

Celebrating both holidays can be very expensive, so my parents came up with the idea that on most nights of Chanukah we would get little things like candy or comic books, but on the last night we would get one BIG present. Of course, we kids didn't care much about the rituals; we were really just interested in the presents, but did take the time to go through singing of songs and playing games and lighting the candles.

Christmas, for us, had nothing to do with religion or ceremonies: It was purely about GETTING, although as I grew older, I truly wanted to give presents to my family. My dad decided that we would each get three presents to represent that there were three children in our family. Sometimes we got a few extra things from friends or my dad's co-workers. We didn't open anything anyone gave us in advance: everything was opened on Christmas day. I remember my brother or sister saying things like, "I got more presents than you! Ha Ha!"

As we grew older, and stopped believing in Santa, we all still liked to look at the presents under the tree and decorate the tree and have a nice day together. It seemed like my parents' enthusiasm for the holiday dwindled though. They didn't have money to give us all that we really wanted and also, with no more Santa Claus, the holiday wasn't all that fun anymore.

Since we were Jewish, we also didn't make a big deal out of making it public that we even celebrated the holiday at all. To us it was like celebrating Thanksgiving with presents the primary focus rather than turkey.

When Dan and I first met 33 years ago, I was shocked when I first took part in my husband's family's rituals. There seemed to be unlimited presents, decorations, food, family being together, and joy. There wasn't much religion associated with the holiday. I felt that maybe I was now seeing a "Brady Bunch Type Christmas."

Then, when my children were young, we also saw no reason to not give our children a holiday with all that Santa could bring to it.

The problem I face, now that they are older, is that all I associate with this holiday is GREED. It's all about getting for my kids. So is Chanukah. It doesn't really matter to them that there is any religious significance to either holiday, although they think of Chanukah as THEIR holiday. I don't like it one bit that I am under pressure to spend money I really don't have on giving my children things just because everyone else is doing so.

That's "My December Dilemma."

Reconciliation

Part of this week's Parsha Vayishlach is about the reunion between Jacob and Esau.

One can only picture what it must have been like for the two twin brothers to embrace one another after so many years.

Time does heal differences and that is what Jacob was hoping for.

When I first read that passage years ago, I was leading a cause. The cause was about people that had been hurt by a religious organization I once worked for.

I truly believed God had called me to lead that cause. The personal pain each person felt after leaving that organization became my personal pain. I cried as I heard their stories and felt like I had been through each of the horrors they described.

My dream was reconciliation for everyone involved. I dreamed of a day when those who had been hurt would reunite with the people they believed had hurt them and that everyone would hug.

I wanted so much for what happened to Jacob and Esau to happen to the people involved! That story had a huge impact on what motivated my reason for leading that cause. Reconciliation was my goal for the group. I truly believed that would happen and I also truly believed that God had called me to lead the group towards that goal.

Something sort of like Jacob's and Esau's reconciliation happened to me, when the leader of that religious organization called me. I felt that his contact was making that move, but then was told by others that is was all a trick. I was confused, but as time has passed, I do believe that I personally have made some sort of peace with that group and also with certain individuals in that group.

Jacob and Esau went their separate ways. They did not come back together or live as a family really.

I realize now, I can never be part of the organization that I believed hurt me and others again, but if I saw someone in that group again, I could possibly hug them. We don't have to dwell together, but we can at least make peace.

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Note: Yesterday, I finally realized that those who are a part of the group that my cause was about hurting or exposing will never completely accept me back into their lives, but also, I realized I don't really want to be a part of that group again. I thought something was wrong because of this, but the way things are now is really the right place to be.

One other note: The information on the website I am now linking to was NOT created by me. In fact, I have no idea who maintains that website now, but it does look a lot like what was once online and what I had been a part of. The name of the website is slightly changed. I actually haven't decided one way or the other if I like seeing what I once was a part of still online. Even if I wanted the things I wrote off, I have no idea who maintains that website, so I can't ask such a question, so for now, what is online remains and there must be a reason for the information to remain available ...

What I Believe (12-7-2011)

I spent yesterday and today thinking about what I believe. Here's what I've come up with:

I believe in G-d. When I look at how complex life is, I know it was created by something or someone.

I believe that what is written in the Torah, the Tanach, and the Midrash could possibly have happened. (I also LOVE reading the Midrash even though I've been told that the stories have been changed and distorted.)

I believe that Jesus may have lived and died.

I believe that Jesus may have risen from the dead (since so many people believe he did and also because I believe in miracles).

However....

I believe that there is more than one way to God.

I also am not sure I agree that one can mix being Jewish with believing in Jesus even though some people I know say that you can.

My search for how to follow God continues, and my love of Judaism continues to grow. I have such a desire to learn all I can about G-d.

Twas the night before Hanukah

I love this!

Chanukah Jewish Rock of Ages Video

I think this may be the best Chanukah video I've seen yet!

Bubbe's Chanukah

I love puppet and this Chanukah puppet show is a Schneider-Farris family favorite!

Temple Beit Torah Kids Sing "Not By Might and Not By Power" - 12-2-2011

I love Debbie Friedman songs and to see my daughter and other Jewish kids singing together is so special!

Jesus Toast - A Very Funny Video!

This is so funny!



Now...my comments:

This is funny because one guy insists that he sees Jesus on his toast, while the other guy sees nothing, but a piece of toast.

The first guy says, "Well, you have to look at it from a different angle." Then, he shows his friend that Jesus is actually really sitting on the piece of toast. His friend still sees nothing.

That's what it's like when one person says the bible's prophecies clearly point to Jesus and the other person sees nothing but words that he believes talk about something else altogether.

Funny Chanukah Video!

I love this video!