Sunday on the Blog with Neil

I saw CCL last night. They are talented. It was a very small crowd. And - oddly enough - it was mostly frum people. The audience was shy and sat in the back the way students do in class if you don't make them move up close (or move your desk up to them, as I do). Because the others were sitting further back and more ambivalent I ended up giving a lot of the suggestions. For their Grand Finale of Torture the Actor I threw out the phrase, "Don't eat the noodles before the fish." They also did Jeopardy, in which the audience had to give occupations for the contestants, categories, and answers to questions. They made a musical about a recent incident in an audience member's life. The opened with The Blues on the word "leaves." They did ding in a Starbucks setting. And they did a conducted story called The Quiet Room (my title, inspired by the other audience members). I like watching improv and I so itch to do it while I watch.

I'm still processing Vayishlach and I'm looking forward, thinking about Vayeishev too:

They plot in Dotan

Say, "Here comes that dream-master"

Before he draws near

They plan to put him to death

And see what comes of his dreams...

Yosef's dreams actually came true through the way that they tried to undo them. A lesson to be learned. Rabot machshavot...

This fits with what R. Chaim Schmuelewitz says is the true meaning of the story of Yosef Mokir Shabbat. The king tried to protect his money from a Jew (of whom he was told in a dream that he'd get all the king's wealth) by putting it all into one jewel. He puts the jewel on a turban, the turban on his head. The wind blows the head covering off a bridge. A fish eats the jewel. Yosef buys the fish for Shabbos. The way the king tried to fight fate enabled it to play out right. Rabot machshavot...

I never know what to write. That line sometimes precedes something I shouldn't write. Mom used to lovingly chastise me about not getting why I shared on the blog (and then she'd wonder why I had hadn't written for a while...)

Leo Buscaglia was once approached by a single woman. She told him she was depressed, sad, lonely, angry. Did he know anyone for her? He told her that as soon as he found a guy looking for someone with those characteristics, he'd send her his way.

Of late I think of love - and early too. Sigh.

The following are each an anagram for an animated Disney movie. Can you name them?

iconic hop

as if a tan

a nacho spot

auto tallier

a pony primps

The following are all anagrams for the same thing. What's the answer?

China Fell Men Sin

Fallen Chin Mines

Channel Mini Self

Enhance Films Nil

Clean Self Him Inn

Some out of the box things to do for Chanukkah; suitable for classes and parties and blogs. (via various sources, originally brought to my attention via lookjed).

1. Look up the process of how olive oils is made. That information appears toward the end of this Wikipedia article (I wonder when I'll break and finally read the message from the creator of the site).

2. Break a party or class into two groups and have the two sides partake in a formal debate. One side argues for lighting candles the Beit Shamai way. The other side is all about Beit Hillel. Each side should be presented with sources in print or a pre-debate shiur.

3. Have a group or class each write a poem or essay or story on a Chanukah theme (Light/darkness, freedom/opression, tradition/assimilation, etc.) Have people read their pieces aloud. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO START THIS NOW AND SHARE YOUR RESULTS WITH ME .

4. Come up with a word (or sentence) - in alphabetical order - relating to Chanukah. My on the spot attempt:

Applesauce

Blessings

Culture

Defeat

Emergence

Food

Greece

Holiness

Intent

Jews

Killings

Light

Money

Nightfall

Overcoming

Purity

Quest

Rest

Singing

Truth

Understanding

Victory

Winning

Xmas

Yeshuah

Zoroastrianism

5. Research and present about the heroes of Chanukah. Make it a double and pick someone else in Jewish history is a hero due to overcoming odds. Use the under-read Book of the Macabees.

6. Divide into two or three groups (Hellenist Jews, Traditional Jews, optional: Syrian-Greeks). Debate the wisdom of each ideology.

7. Dreidel/chanukiah collector: Invite a dreidel or chanukiah collector from your area to tell you about their collection. (I should call Phil and Shelley Stein).

8. Invite the physics teacher to elaborate on dreidel spinning.

9. Invite firefighters from your local station to teach about fire safety in general and about menorah safety in specific.

10. Menorah history: Research the history of the menorah using the Internet. What does it symbolize? When has the menorah used in history (i.e. hint: Bar Kokhba revolt, State of Israel)? (This has potential as an English, Jewish History, Limudei Kodesh, and Art Project (collage?) - and probably more.

11. Extra learning program (since learning Torah is a backbone of the holiday).

12. The Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning is launching a web-based project called Burning Questions - daily Hanukkah emails with Jewish wisdom about the holiday and its many meanings, and "burning questions" for reflection and discussion. To see a list of the questions go here, and to sign up to get them in your email go here.

13. Chanukah Freedom Discussion: The Maccabees revolted to fight for religious freedom. When have there been similar rebellions/revolutions? What happened? Is there religious freedom in the world now? Where? Where is there little/no religious freedom?

14. The Light of Chanukah: Chanukah is a holiday celebrating the end of religious oppression. To bring this lesson home to the students, research a case of current religious oppression (sadly, many instances exist) and organize a campaign to educate about it and fight it (e.g. letters to congressmen, editorials).

15. My quiz on basics of Chanukah:

1. In what year (BCE) did the Macabeees rededicate the Great Temple of Jerusalem (Beit HaMikdash)?
2. What does the word Chanukah literally mean?
3. Which people did the Macabees reclaim the Beit HaMikdash from?
4. a. In the time of Alexander the Great, Israel was considered part of what country? b. Israel was considered a province of what empire?
5. What was the job of the provincial governors?
6. What name is given to Greek culture?
7. What type of god or gods did the Greeks worship?
8. Where were Greek laws written and how were these laws decided?
9. a. How did Alexander force people to accept his beliefs? b. How did his immediate successors do this?
10. What was Theos Epiphanes’ real name and what does this chosen name mean?
11. What policy did he introduce ?
12. Who was worshipped in the Beit HaMikdash under the rein of Antiochus IV?
13. What two things served as tests of political loyalty?
14. Give four examples of things that were prohibited and punishable by death?
15. In what town did the rebellion against Antiochus begin?
16. a. Where was this town? b. Near what modern town?
17. What event sparked the revolution?

I've been writing this throughout the day on Sunday and now I'm ending with a free write. I have so much I want to spill out, but I am choosing to keep it inside, to some extent.

I've been booked to write an essay on Vayikra. I want it to be about the meaning of Korbanot - how they correct the mistake of the first man and woman, and how this is clear from the text.

Soon, to sleep.

Always, I am thinking - rarely if ever relaxing, fun is a foreigner.
Building ever stronger is what I hope for, easier not done than done - short term.
Cash is nice, but in G-d we trust.
Don't make yourself, or anything, or anyone god, but G-d.
Each micro-second counts.
Forgetting little is a hard way to live - trust me.
Great moments can be quite quiet and private.
How to accept G-d in hard times, start by accepting him in the easy times.
I know that there is much for me to learn, but hopefully I've learned something.
Judaism is my religion and I'm down with that.
Know others.
Love others.
Movies replicate life, reversing that is silly.
Nice is a luke-warm word, like luke-warm.
Or - there's always that or to consider.
Please is nice partner to thank you - when they exist in the realm of the real.
Quick G-d, the redemption!
Running is all we ever do, even if it doesn't feel that way, we're all running out.
Serendipidy exists.
Truth is key.
Universal truths/connections abound.
Versions will always differ, trust yours.
Why not?
Xes may appear, but you need to take the test.
YOU should be bigger than I in I love you.
Zen like peace, is it at all a Jewish concept, attainable by Jews?

GNAGB
Initials we should all learn
Good night and G-d Bless