Thursday, May 29, 2008
So...I'm Hoping I Overreacted...
...since there are those, like some folks on the Pine Ridge Reservation, who support Hillary and give her the benefit of a doubt.
I would rather make peace--but not at all costs. Just hope everyone has learned a lesson. Boy, that sounds pretty naive. Even so..."I regret that...referencing that moment...was in any way offensive." And let's hope that Maureen can see the future;)
Meanwhile, Mt. Rushmore is pretty cool (I visited in third grade and got a mini knife, complete w/compass in the hilt and leather-fringed, gold-letter-embossed sheath...made in China). Still it's important to remember that it was blasted on sacred ground to the Lakota--the Black Hills. So...let's not forget.
Isn't there a Crazy Horse monument, too? He was also known as Tashunca-uitco.
I'm going back to bed; I hope to dream.
I DIDN'T say I'd vote for her!
I would rather make peace--but not at all costs. Just hope everyone has learned a lesson. Boy, that sounds pretty naive. Even so..."I regret that...referencing that moment...was in any way offensive." And let's hope that Maureen can see the future;)
Meanwhile, Mt. Rushmore is pretty cool (I visited in third grade and got a mini knife, complete w/compass in the hilt and leather-fringed, gold-letter-embossed sheath...made in China). Still it's important to remember that it was blasted on sacred ground to the Lakota--the Black Hills. So...let's not forget.
Isn't there a Crazy Horse monument, too? He was also known as Tashunca-uitco.
I'm going back to bed; I hope to dream.
I DIDN'T say I'd vote for her!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Who Can Blame Them?
Wow. People who have lost it all are unafraid to protest--in China! Parents, whose children were smashed to death in poorly manufactured school buildings, are marching to the government centers to demand an accounting. Good for them. Perhaps something positive will come from so much suffering.
The photographs are particularly powerful...
The photographs are particularly powerful...
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
We Are One
Wow. The time IS "always now."
Barack Obama was adopted by the Crow nation yesterday; he was given the name “One Who Helps People Throughout the Land.” His adopted/ee parents' family name is Black Eagle...so if they pass it along to the next generation in their tradition, he gets to be Barack Black Eagle. :)
In reading Jamie Sams' The Sacred Path Cards and Medicine Cards (co-written with David Carson), one observes that "Eagle medicine is the power of the Great Spirit, the connection to the Divine. It is the ability to live in the realm of spirit, and yet stay connected and balanced within the realm of Earth...."
I first found her books in the early '90s. They are wonderful links to Native American wisdom that speak to all humanity. The concepts of the sacred path, the whirling-rainbow-of-peace and others are transcendent. There's much to appreciate. (And other books like Black Elk Speaks and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, and Daughters of Copper Woman are also powerful in gaining perspective.)
As a little girl when playing cowboys and indians, I always chose to be an "indian." My brother and I were raised to have respect for all people, and as the daughter of an open-minded convert to Judaism, I easily connected with those considered "others." When my third grade class read "Little House on the Prairie," I imagined finding colorful beads with Laura around a deserted campfire, watching in awe as the Native people followed their stoic leader single file to their future, leaving their homeland and the settlers in peace.
I remember her seeing a child about her age riding a pony; I wanted to be the nearly naked, sun-browned child on horseback. Years later talking with Grandpa Paul, I learned that I am connected to Native Americans by blood.
But "blood" isn't the important thing; spirit and action are. One doesn't have to be born into a tribe to be part of it. There is a belief that "the people's" spirits are reborn into bodies of all "colors" and it's up to all of us to remember the next Seven Generations in our actions.
This connects with the teachings of my childhood's rabbi, Jossef J. Kratzenstein, Ph.D. A student of Martin Buber's and a survivor of Europe's Holocaust, Rabbi K often spoke of a time when people would work to make the world a better place...that this "messianic era" was up to us all to create. It wasn't about worshiping a leader as divine; it was acknowledging and acting upon the truth that we are co-creators of our reality and can act to make a better world.
Rabbi K stressed this point often and more than once left me questioning whether he believed in "God." He wasn't certain...his being open about this seemed honest and bold to a 10-year-old. How could we fathom the unfathomable?
It is in that questioning that reminds us not to be bystanders, not be content to wait but to pursue what is right..."justice, justice, you shall pursue."
I remember Rabbi K explaining the Hebrew words above the entrance to the sanctuary..."know before whom you are standing." Awareness is important; self-awareness is key. We discussed the concept of God being neither male nor female; I questioned the disconnect using male pronouns in the prayer book. Rabbi K said that the kabbalists identified a feminine side of God, the Shekinah, but that one had to be very careful in studying Kabbalah. I took that to mean there were dangers in following the wrong path...one had to be aware.
I had a problem with the concept some had of identifying this female aspect of the divine as subservient to the male. If God is neither male nor female--not a body--then it didn't make sense for either to be dominant. There could be a balance, a unity, a one. (For me that did't contradict the idea of nothingness/everythingness or of the eternal..."ain sof." Without end. Spiral of continuity.)
Why wasn't this discussed more? I wondered. It wasn't in the prayer book we used on Friday nights, and I hadn't heard about this concept in the Torah portions--although I hadn't been to Temple on all those Saturday mornings to know if it was missing.
Rabbi K explained life's path as a circle; he drew one in the air with his hand; I saw it like a corkscrew...we are born, we live and when our body dies we return to that place quite possibly to await being reborn again. It's a cycle. It seemed very "Eastern" to me. Now I think of it as universal.
When I was older while visiting Rabbi and Mrs. K, he encouraged me to read Plato's Republic. Specifically, the story of the cave. Socrates teaching via parables and asking questions was important. And it was this style of discourse that Rabbi K preferred. He asked, like Socrates, if it was better for those in the cave, who had always known darkness, to live without ever seeing the light or to have the opportunity to see it, knowing that they would have to once again live without it. We debated the issue but agreed that it was better to have seen the light, however briefly, than to have never had that experience. I thought it must be even more painful to have and lose something than to never have had it, but that the knowledge and insight would be worth the anguish.
And that's where we are as a country now, as ever. Leaders like Barack Obama are a blessing because they are not about ego, but about what we can do--each of us--to make this a better world. It's up to us.
We should not be afraid of the light and of losing it. We carry it inside us. All.
Barack Obama was adopted by the Crow nation yesterday; he was given the name “One Who Helps People Throughout the Land.” His adopted/ee parents' family name is Black Eagle...so if they pass it along to the next generation in their tradition, he gets to be Barack Black Eagle. :)
In reading Jamie Sams' The Sacred Path Cards and Medicine Cards (co-written with David Carson), one observes that "Eagle medicine is the power of the Great Spirit, the connection to the Divine. It is the ability to live in the realm of spirit, and yet stay connected and balanced within the realm of Earth...."
I first found her books in the early '90s. They are wonderful links to Native American wisdom that speak to all humanity. The concepts of the sacred path, the whirling-rainbow-of-peace and others are transcendent. There's much to appreciate. (And other books like Black Elk Speaks and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, and Daughters of Copper Woman are also powerful in gaining perspective.)
As a little girl when playing cowboys and indians, I always chose to be an "indian." My brother and I were raised to have respect for all people, and as the daughter of an open-minded convert to Judaism, I easily connected with those considered "others." When my third grade class read "Little House on the Prairie," I imagined finding colorful beads with Laura around a deserted campfire, watching in awe as the Native people followed their stoic leader single file to their future, leaving their homeland and the settlers in peace.
I remember her seeing a child about her age riding a pony; I wanted to be the nearly naked, sun-browned child on horseback. Years later talking with Grandpa Paul, I learned that I am connected to Native Americans by blood.
But "blood" isn't the important thing; spirit and action are. One doesn't have to be born into a tribe to be part of it. There is a belief that "the people's" spirits are reborn into bodies of all "colors" and it's up to all of us to remember the next Seven Generations in our actions.
This connects with the teachings of my childhood's rabbi, Jossef J. Kratzenstein, Ph.D. A student of Martin Buber's and a survivor of Europe's Holocaust, Rabbi K often spoke of a time when people would work to make the world a better place...that this "messianic era" was up to us all to create. It wasn't about worshiping a leader as divine; it was acknowledging and acting upon the truth that we are co-creators of our reality and can act to make a better world.
Rabbi K stressed this point often and more than once left me questioning whether he believed in "God." He wasn't certain...his being open about this seemed honest and bold to a 10-year-old. How could we fathom the unfathomable?
It is in that questioning that reminds us not to be bystanders, not be content to wait but to pursue what is right..."justice, justice, you shall pursue."
I remember Rabbi K explaining the Hebrew words above the entrance to the sanctuary..."know before whom you are standing." Awareness is important; self-awareness is key. We discussed the concept of God being neither male nor female; I questioned the disconnect using male pronouns in the prayer book. Rabbi K said that the kabbalists identified a feminine side of God, the Shekinah, but that one had to be very careful in studying Kabbalah. I took that to mean there were dangers in following the wrong path...one had to be aware.
I had a problem with the concept some had of identifying this female aspect of the divine as subservient to the male. If God is neither male nor female--not a body--then it didn't make sense for either to be dominant. There could be a balance, a unity, a one. (For me that did't contradict the idea of nothingness/everythingness or of the eternal..."ain sof." Without end. Spiral of continuity.)
Why wasn't this discussed more? I wondered. It wasn't in the prayer book we used on Friday nights, and I hadn't heard about this concept in the Torah portions--although I hadn't been to Temple on all those Saturday mornings to know if it was missing.
Rabbi K explained life's path as a circle; he drew one in the air with his hand; I saw it like a corkscrew...we are born, we live and when our body dies we return to that place quite possibly to await being reborn again. It's a cycle. It seemed very "Eastern" to me. Now I think of it as universal.
When I was older while visiting Rabbi and Mrs. K, he encouraged me to read Plato's Republic. Specifically, the story of the cave. Socrates teaching via parables and asking questions was important. And it was this style of discourse that Rabbi K preferred. He asked, like Socrates, if it was better for those in the cave, who had always known darkness, to live without ever seeing the light or to have the opportunity to see it, knowing that they would have to once again live without it. We debated the issue but agreed that it was better to have seen the light, however briefly, than to have never had that experience. I thought it must be even more painful to have and lose something than to never have had it, but that the knowledge and insight would be worth the anguish.
And that's where we are as a country now, as ever. Leaders like Barack Obama are a blessing because they are not about ego, but about what we can do--each of us--to make this a better world. It's up to us.
We should not be afraid of the light and of losing it. We carry it inside us. All.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Strange Clouds in Sky Just Before Recent Earthquake
This video is VERY interesting regarding the recent Chinese earthquake.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
What a week
So much has happened and I haven't kept up...cyclones and earthquakes, people suffering from Burma to China...John Edwards endorsed Barack Obama, and George W. Bush attacked Obama in Israel's Knesset. Lots of exaggeration and fearmongering. You can read on.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
...and David...
David Brooks has nailed it as I see it.
That Hillary took this route lumps her in with the conquering oppressors of the past and doesn't include the basic decency of those supposedly "conquered," among them some of her Native American relatives. She could have learned and projected the fact that this world includes all of us, that we can learn from each other, that everyone has a purpose in society and so, let's strengthen the whole...not by going to war but by leading by example.
That Hillary took this route lumps her in with the conquering oppressors of the past and doesn't include the basic decency of those supposedly "conquered," among them some of her Native American relatives. She could have learned and projected the fact that this world includes all of us, that we can learn from each other, that everyone has a purpose in society and so, let's strengthen the whole...not by going to war but by leading by example.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
That's Rich...
Frank Rich told it like it is today in the New York Times.
It's about time.
As a "mostly" white woman, I have witnessed disturbing sermons by "white" preachers in church. At least Wright had the guts to try and reconcile those things/people that bother him. And spoke of forgiveness.
Whereas, those who condemn him--and others who aren't just like themselves--aren't being very Christian now, are they? McCain should have to explain Hagee and Falwell and cozying up to Bush after W's 2000 campaign smeared him AND his family.
Don't do unto others what you don't want done unto you.
— jillo, westchester
233.
May 4th, 2008 11:45 am
The hate-filled misgoynistic anti-Catholic spewage from a person in power--Hagee and the like--in that area of the country, so near to where many Mexican women have gone missing, plays into the conquistador/colonial exploiter bias that some people have.
Who wants to stand with the racists? I'd much rather stand with my sisters of all colors...for we are the parents of the future and the children of the One.
— jillo, westchester
You don't have to be a hater to be pro-Israel. Keeping company with fundamentalists does no one any good. The future depends on people getting along. We've got to make inroads in this area.
-----
295.
May 4th, 2008 12:10 pm
Link
Most people in this country are of more than one "race" if you look back far enough--even if they don't know/acknowledge this.
It's time we embrace each person as a member of the one race...human.
— jillo, westchester
-----
May 4th, 2008 4:04 pm
Link
Anyone who clings to the superiority of a single race (i.e. "white"), especially one that's dominant in a country is misguided. Many "white" people have Native American, Asian, Polynesian and African roots--among other aboriginal distinctions. Very few people are just one race or "pure" with all those implications--unless you want to consider the truth, that there is just one race for us all, human.
Growing up with a blue-eyed/blonde mom and a darker dad, I thought everyone thought it great that opposites attract...that a lot of difference is skin deep. Through DNA genealogical testing I've learned that my "old America, Protestant roots, white" mom has Native American and Asian ancestry. I can only imagine what's on my dad's side! How exciting.
— jillo, westchester
It's about time.
As a "mostly" white woman, I have witnessed disturbing sermons by "white" preachers in church. At least Wright had the guts to try and reconcile those things/people that bother him. And spoke of forgiveness.
Whereas, those who condemn him--and others who aren't just like themselves--aren't being very Christian now, are they? McCain should have to explain Hagee and Falwell and cozying up to Bush after W's 2000 campaign smeared him AND his family.
Don't do unto others what you don't want done unto you.
— jillo, westchester
233.
May 4th, 2008 11:45 am
The hate-filled misgoynistic anti-Catholic spewage from a person in power--Hagee and the like--in that area of the country, so near to where many Mexican women have gone missing, plays into the conquistador/colonial exploiter bias that some people have.
Who wants to stand with the racists? I'd much rather stand with my sisters of all colors...for we are the parents of the future and the children of the One.
— jillo, westchester
You don't have to be a hater to be pro-Israel. Keeping company with fundamentalists does no one any good. The future depends on people getting along. We've got to make inroads in this area.
-----
295.
May 4th, 2008 12:10 pm
Link
Most people in this country are of more than one "race" if you look back far enough--even if they don't know/acknowledge this.
It's time we embrace each person as a member of the one race...human.
— jillo, westchester
-----
May 4th, 2008 4:04 pm
Link
Anyone who clings to the superiority of a single race (i.e. "white"), especially one that's dominant in a country is misguided. Many "white" people have Native American, Asian, Polynesian and African roots--among other aboriginal distinctions. Very few people are just one race or "pure" with all those implications--unless you want to consider the truth, that there is just one race for us all, human.
Growing up with a blue-eyed/blonde mom and a darker dad, I thought everyone thought it great that opposites attract...that a lot of difference is skin deep. Through DNA genealogical testing I've learned that my "old America, Protestant roots, white" mom has Native American and Asian ancestry. I can only imagine what's on my dad's side! How exciting.
— jillo, westchester
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Amen
It's like Rashi's Daughters but in the present...
If people have a healthy outlook on their sex lives, maybe they won't leave the sacred path...
If people have a healthy outlook on their sex lives, maybe they won't leave the sacred path...
Friday, May 2, 2008
How Not to Woo Your Infatuation...
I can see how Uma Thurman got stressed when she received missives from Jack Jordan.
He says he "meant no harm."
Wow. That's sad.
He says he "meant no harm."
A cartoon of him walking on a razor, while she stood next to a grave, he said, was meant “to amuse her, to endear myself to her.”
Wow. That's sad.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Iran's Protests and Others' Comments
New York Times
May 1, 2008, 5:47 pm
Iran Protests to U.N. About Clinton Comments
By Nazila Fathi
TEHRAN — Iran has lodged a formal protest at the United Nations about comments by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton that the United States would “totally obliterate” Iran if it attacked Israel with nuclear weapons, the state-run news agency, IRNA, reported Thursday.
Iran’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi, sent a letter of protest on Wednesday to the United Nations secretary general and the United Nations Security Council denouncing the remarks, according to IRNA.
Mrs. Clinton made the comments in an interview on ABC last week. “I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran,” she said when she was asked what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons. “In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them,” she added.
-------------------
May 1st, 2008
8:28 pm
i’m an Obama supporter, but as a Jew just let me defend HRC a little. She said this (albeit theatrically and a little over the top) in response to a nuclear attack on Israel. Face it a nuclear attack on that tiny strip of a country would annihilate EVERYONE. So, she was pulling a cold-war deterrent (sp?). It’s a bit macho but what do you expect when people are talking going nuclear?
now, as i see it (and what do i know)…we’ve all got to get on the same page and realize that the israelis have not invaded the middle east but have RETURNED home…some from countries like Syria, Lebanon, Eqypt, Yemen and Iraq. let’s everyone (i’m talking to you, mr. ahmadinijad) welcome them back home…so they can de-stress and live in peace with their neighbors and long-suffering cousins, the Palestinians.
wouldn’t it be better if there were two side-by-side countries living in peace with a metaphysical third meeting ground where everyone can just BE…in peace. Imagine. Yes, we can!
— Posted by jill oserowsky
------------------------
May 1st, 2008
8:54 pm
“It’s a bit macho but what do you expect when people are talking going nuclear?” jill oserowsky
Hi Jill,
you sound like a nice person, and I’m very glad that you are supporting Senator Obama.
I have to tell you though that Iran is not, I repeat not, “talking going nuclear.” All the weapons experts have said they are nowhere near any stage of being able to develop a weapon, and have said repeatedly that they have no intentions of doing so. That said, remember, it was Israel who attacked Iraq’s nuclear facilites at Osirak in 1981. They would do the same thing if indeed, confronted by a nuclear threat in Iran. Israel has not threatened to “obliterate Iran,” however. Maybe Mrs Clinton should speak to some responsible people in Israel before scaring the rest of the people in the world with her reckless speech. Oh, I forgot, maybe it was “just words.”
Thanks for supporting Senator Obama, but Mrs. Clinton must simply get a hold on reality. Talking tough, sometimes is not tough, it is often just stupid.
— Posted by Luke
------------------
May 1st, 2008
9:23 pm
Jill & Luke:
Very thoughtful comments indeed….
I think the American Jewish community can make a constructive contribution to this debate and now that the Neocons are on their way out, encourage the US government (the new Administration & the Congress) to engage Iran with “positive diplomacy”.
We would all be pleasantly surprised how the Iranians would respond/react and pave the way for “real sustainable peace” in the Middle East.
— Posted by Hassan Azarm
May 1, 2008, 5:47 pm
Iran Protests to U.N. About Clinton Comments
By Nazila Fathi
TEHRAN — Iran has lodged a formal protest at the United Nations about comments by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton that the United States would “totally obliterate” Iran if it attacked Israel with nuclear weapons, the state-run news agency, IRNA, reported Thursday.
Iran’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi, sent a letter of protest on Wednesday to the United Nations secretary general and the United Nations Security Council denouncing the remarks, according to IRNA.
Mrs. Clinton made the comments in an interview on ABC last week. “I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran,” she said when she was asked what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons. “In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them,” she added.
-------------------
May 1st, 2008
8:28 pm
i’m an Obama supporter, but as a Jew just let me defend HRC a little. She said this (albeit theatrically and a little over the top) in response to a nuclear attack on Israel. Face it a nuclear attack on that tiny strip of a country would annihilate EVERYONE. So, she was pulling a cold-war deterrent (sp?). It’s a bit macho but what do you expect when people are talking going nuclear?
now, as i see it (and what do i know)…we’ve all got to get on the same page and realize that the israelis have not invaded the middle east but have RETURNED home…some from countries like Syria, Lebanon, Eqypt, Yemen and Iraq. let’s everyone (i’m talking to you, mr. ahmadinijad) welcome them back home…so they can de-stress and live in peace with their neighbors and long-suffering cousins, the Palestinians.
wouldn’t it be better if there were two side-by-side countries living in peace with a metaphysical third meeting ground where everyone can just BE…in peace. Imagine. Yes, we can!
— Posted by jill oserowsky
------------------------
May 1st, 2008
8:54 pm
“It’s a bit macho but what do you expect when people are talking going nuclear?” jill oserowsky
Hi Jill,
you sound like a nice person, and I’m very glad that you are supporting Senator Obama.
I have to tell you though that Iran is not, I repeat not, “talking going nuclear.” All the weapons experts have said they are nowhere near any stage of being able to develop a weapon, and have said repeatedly that they have no intentions of doing so. That said, remember, it was Israel who attacked Iraq’s nuclear facilites at Osirak in 1981. They would do the same thing if indeed, confronted by a nuclear threat in Iran. Israel has not threatened to “obliterate Iran,” however. Maybe Mrs Clinton should speak to some responsible people in Israel before scaring the rest of the people in the world with her reckless speech. Oh, I forgot, maybe it was “just words.”
Thanks for supporting Senator Obama, but Mrs. Clinton must simply get a hold on reality. Talking tough, sometimes is not tough, it is often just stupid.
— Posted by Luke
------------------
May 1st, 2008
9:23 pm
Jill & Luke:
Very thoughtful comments indeed….
I think the American Jewish community can make a constructive contribution to this debate and now that the Neocons are on their way out, encourage the US government (the new Administration & the Congress) to engage Iran with “positive diplomacy”.
We would all be pleasantly surprised how the Iranians would respond/react and pave the way for “real sustainable peace” in the Middle East.
— Posted by Hassan Azarm
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