I think sometimes about Rav Kook's thought about Tefilat HaDerech.  he says it's not just about robbers or wild animals.  On a deeper level Tefilat HaDerech is about moving from one space into another. this can be a turbulent time for our soul and thus we pray for extra divine supervision.

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It struck me this year that we start the Pesach Seder by listing the fifteen steps we hope to ascend during the night. At the end we say Yishtabach (the same one we said this morning and every morning), which has 15 words of praise for G-d (some say to say it all in one breath) and fifteen words following Baruch Atah Hashem at its conclusion.

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Today was my first day back to my regular work, following my break time work.A colleague/dear friend asked me to find for him the source of the words -

"Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be."

It is by Robert Browning, the opening lines of his poem, Rabbi Ben Ezra.  It's funny this came up because I just mentioned this poem in a talk over Pesach about Jewish/Torah poetry.  The opening stanza of that poem was the inspiration for a John Lennon song called "Grow old With Me."

After I supplies the background my friend told me why he asked. The rabbi who married him and his wife many years ago quoted that line at the chupah.  He plans to get it put on a plaque.

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Over Pesach i taught a large improv workshop and was joined by a colleague i invited to run it with me:

We started with Name The Object, where there's something in the middle of the circle and people go in to that area and take the object and say and act out what they imagine it to be. The rule is that it can be anything other than what it actually is. We used a red and white striped (like peppermint or like a straw) twisty thing for a plastic bag (from my dry cleaning). At the end I had the wired object bend and take a bow.

Then we did Fortune Cookie - we went around the circle with each person adding one word to a deep saying till a deep statement was complete and we all said ahhhhh as we took in the profound aphorism. Then we repeated this several times.

We had two people playing one person and explaining to the teacher why they/he/she didn't do the homework.  This is often done with a worker explaining why he was late to work.  As the director points to each person they have to finish the sentence, word, or even the syllable of the other person.

We did a guessing game in which someone went out and while they were out the group chose a physical position for them to make. They had to make different position in trying to guess the pose we chose.  When they got closer we applauded more, when they were far off we were silent.

Then we did a guessing game in which someone went out - they were the servant.  While they were out we chose something that they had done wrong.  When they reentered hey kept confessing different things they messed up on and their master said that they were wrong but dropped hints as to what it was that he was actually in trouble for, what the master was upset about.

Then we did Blind Date in which two people leave the room separately   They are each told the identity of the other person.  Then they are on a date or at some kind of meeting in which they know the identity of the other one and make references/drop hints as to who that person is, and the person has to guess who they themselves are (kind of like life).

We did Radio, in which 4 people are each a station on the dial and another person changes from one station to another, back and forth.

Then we did ABC in which a conversation is held with each successive line beginning with the next letter in the alphabet. When you mess up you are Xed out by the audience and someone else takes over.

We ended with Questions, in which a conversation is held with every statement and response being made in the form of a question.  Isn't that so Jewish?

The key to much of improv (and life) is to say and do "yes and," to always build on rather than reject what you receive and hear from someone else.  Also relationships, settings, and physical realities need to be established as clearly as possible.

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No sunshine

I miss the day

G-d,forgive us

He will

There is hope