Im Tirtzu

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What does it mean to be tired? Is it physical? Mental? Mixture? Did you ever feel that you're the tiredest man/woman in the world? Ever feel guilty, if you've had the above mentioned experience? What tires you out?

What does it mean to be hungry? Is it about food? Is it about stomachs? Minds? Do you monitor your hunger? Is spiritual hunger a metaphor? What about spiritual anorexia? A day will come, the prophet tells us, when there will be a famine in the land - a famine for Torah? Is this positive or negative?

Have you ever felt quick results from any medicine? Aquafor is a miracle cream for me. I don't know what it is. But from the cold my knuckles get all cracked. Over Yom Tov I held back from putting the ointment on and it got pretty unpleasant looking. But the Aquafor works magic. It's almost like it simply erases the cuts and sores. Any thoughts on this? (Try to answer without using the word eczema).

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Did you ever go somewhere for a brief time and find that it's its own world. Pesach for me is that way. I present about 20 times. I meet many people of many varieties. It is as rich as rich can be. Exhausting yet fulfilling. And then ...

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For some reason an old Monty Python scene comes to mind. A man's in front of a firing squad about to be shot. Then the screen gets fuzzy and he's on a hammock being served lemonade by his grandmother. He gazes into her countenance and says "Thank G-d it was all a dream." And she says, "No. This is the dream." Then he's back in front of the firing squad.

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There's a Twilight Zone episode in which a washed up boxer wins because a little boy wishes for him to win. When the boy tells the boxer that he willed him to win via his dream for him the boxer says that it's impossible. And then he's back on the ground, down for the count.

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How powerful do you think dreams are? Was Herzl right? How do you define real and dream? Have you held on to your dreams? Some? All? None? Have you seen a dream become real. Have you lived through what seemed real fading into a dream?

Richard Wright - Winter Edition

Entering my town

In a heavy fall of snow,

I feel a stranger.

Just enough of snow

To make you look carefully

At familiar streets.

The arriving train

All decorated with snow

From another town.

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Some artists peak young. Some become less popular but their work stays up high. Paul Simon has still got it. To me - this song, with it's simple story, and precise details, can rip your heart out any day. (If you find it in youtube let me know).