tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post6987381084806912574..comments2023-06-08T18:12:39.596-04:00Comments on Water Over Rocks: Where?Andy Bachmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12793260246107995501noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-13174563271845087332009-11-19T17:41:06.126-05:002009-11-19T17:41:06.126-05:00Hi, I changed my settings so now you can e-mail th...Hi, I changed my settings so now you can e-mail the posts from parkslopesketch.blogspot.com<br /><br />-JamesPermitadvisorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16128637179017044394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-52855703875962588582009-11-16T23:22:34.727-05:002009-11-16T23:22:34.727-05:00Thanks for writing all--Marco, you raise some real...Thanks for writing all--Marco, you raise some really important points about the tension between the communal and the individual expressions, as well as the role that ritual plays in each situation, opening up for us or accessing a relationship with the Divine. Though the Rabbis mandated the minyan, they also acknowledged that God was present in less populated encounters as well. It seems we are left with a paradox, best enjoyed when we can!Andy Bachmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12793260246107995501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-88751928566327471052009-11-15T19:28:08.629-05:002009-11-15T19:28:08.629-05:00Andy, your post resonates with this nominal ex-Cat...Andy, your post resonates with this nominal ex-Catholic; essentially my parents put me in parochial elementary school to spare me from the abysmal public educational system (and rough schoolyards) of a crumbling 60s/70s South Bronx. I did go to public high school (Bronx Science), and somewhere between Carl Sagan and a steady diet of some pretty heady science fiction, I became an unrepentant agnostic (a dose of quiet adolescent rebellion played its part here too, of course). But I never lost my love of churches: the emptier the better. The cool, dark interior, the flashes of stained glass, the flickering candles, incense... the intimacy of these vast spaces preserved my innate spiritual space until college, where art and Jung took over. Now that I am converting to Judaism, this once solitary science nerd finds its emphasis on the communal to be deeply gratifying: I love learning with a group (my Derekh Torah classmates) and sanctifying the family meal (Shabbat dinner) but I must admit to missing the ability to just drop in on an empty sanctuary to commune alone with God between services. It's apparently just not done. The upside, though, is my new impulse to create personal space for me and God at home. And as per Heschel, I'm finding that space in moments of time rather than physical space. While I'm not of an Orhtodox inclination, I find that adopting certain berakhah such as Netilat Yadayim, ritually washing my hands upon awakening, is a way of dipping into a parallel time stream to "charge" my day in a simple way. For a few minutes it's just me, dawn light, the roughness/smoothness of a handmade clay pitcher. The trickle of cool water. Thoughts of the Sinai desert. The words of the blessing. And somewhere within those sensations, is God, or his possibility.Marconoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-12250464008330099572009-11-15T11:40:19.665-05:002009-11-15T11:40:19.665-05:00Thought you might enjoy seeing this: http://parksl...Thought you might enjoy seeing this: http://parkslopesketch.blogspot.com/2009/11/congregation-beth-elohim.html<br /><br />but there was no place to email.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16971095106798654363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-480763369736326403.post-41836748242501743492009-11-14T19:00:35.049-05:002009-11-14T19:00:35.049-05:00Another resonating post.
But if one was at home i...Another resonating post.<br /><br /><i>But if one was at home intellectually in liberal Judaism but not necessarily at home spiritually in liberal Judaism--what was one to do?</i><br /><br />One goes to Kehillat Hadar, apparently, if one lives in NYC. Or so the intellectually liberal Jewish bloggers say.<br /><br />It's harder for those of us not in ir hakodesh though. My strategy: sublimate my own spiritual needs communally, and take much spiritual succor from the beauty of the place where I live, much like a fellow resident of my city expresses here:<br />http://www.lamesapresbyabq.org/Diary.htm<br /><br />That, and read blogs like this one.Randinoreply@blogger.com