Packing for the Red Sea

Off to Eilat, for some deep sea snorkling in the Red Sea. Funny, packing so effortfully, imagining wardrobes, picturing myself in this bathing suit coverup, these sandals, this sunhat, just when Lil Blume has invited Jewish writers worldwide to submit to a collection of "Letters and Pictures from the Old Suitcase". This, for a conference in Hamilton, where I grew up. So many suitcases since Hamilton. Off on a midnight bus to the Red Sea tonight, with a small suitcase. But what did Miriam, sister of Moses, carry to the Red Sea? What did she carry through the Red Sea, crossing on dry land, crossing in faith, wonder, joy? While waiting for my bus tonight, I hope to vision Miriam's packing. Backpack? Skin of a lamb, dried and and wrapped around a few precious items? What did a slave girl own? One item I know Miriam carried: her tambourine. The necessities of life: a rhythm instrument to stir the women to wonder and rejoice, at the miraculous arrival, feet dry, safe and sound, on the other side of the Red Sea, the sea where I will go snorkling, in my bright yellow bathingsuit with the turquoise, yellow and pink coverup, and turquoise goggles, carefully packed in preparation for wonder. Oh, and a tambourine.

Living Between the Lines

To my merely not non-entry, "I'm here",
Susan Boron responded, "I'm here too. Nice chatting with you. Sometimes words aren't necessary. Love, S"

The soul is always praying,
even when we're too busy to listen.
The heart is always singing
even when we forget the words.
And sisters are always
holding hands.

It was not my wordy stories, my sunlit photoes, that brought my big sister Susie to reach out loud to me.
It was everything she read between the lines when all I could say was, "Here I am". My heart thanks you for here-ing me, Susie.
The little prince asked the pilot, "Draw me a sheep". The pilot, a grown-up, tried and tried, but no sheep he drew was just right. Finally the pilot drew a box, with small holes. "There's my sheep. Look, he's gone to asleep"

I'm here

plain, wordless, but here. I tell myself to show up on the blog, even when I don't have words to say.

We Are the Children of Israel

I just discovered a very beautiful beginning I made, a while back, to this project of bringing a taste of Israel to kids who are planning a trip here. Please look at the righthand column and click on "view my complete profile". In the list of all my blogs, click on "We are the children of Israel". I must have written it back at Rosh Hashana, and I like it. More in a sec.

Eretz

The picture shows the dividing at the creation of the world, of "Mayim", water, from dry land. And that dividing line shifts and sways where I live, by the shores of the "Yam", the sea, that forms one long and dancing border of Eretz Yisrael, the land of Israel.

"Eretz", the land.

"Ba-Aretz" means "In the land".

In the Torah, this land is promised to Abraham until the end of time, and his children and grandchildren will thrive there and become as many as the stars in the sky and as many as the sands beside the sea.

"Eretz zavat chalav u dvash" it is called in the Torah, a Land of Milk and Honey.

People here talk of the whole world as two places. You are either: "Ba-Aretz", here in the Land, or "chutz la-Aretz", outside of the Land (and this implies a "not yet" - you have not yet arrived in the Land")

Eretz Yisrael, the land of Israel.

Shalom

For Tala and Jayda, in preparation for your visit to Israel, let's explore a Hebrew word each day. We begin with the word "Shalom". The same word is used for "Goodbye" and "Hello", because beginnings and endings are one and the same, birth and death being passages that share more similarities than differences. The central meaning of "Shalom" is Peace. Peace in a positive sense, not just a lack of division or trouble, but a palpable, created substance. The Arabic word for this is "Salam", the same word. To ask someone, "How are you?", you ask "Ma Shlomcha?", "How is your Peace?" From the same root as Shalom, we have "Shalem" which means "Whole". So "Ma Shlomcha?" could mean, "How whole are you? Are there broken places? Cracks in your sense of completeness? Inconsistencies? How is your wholeness? What needs mending?" Let each of us mend our broken parts, create wholeness in ourselves. Broken, we use people to fill our broken places. Whole and wholesome, we reach out with logic and love. And create peace. Shalom. And let us be there for one another, for it is from our brokenness that we connect. Shalom. Hello, Goodbye, and Peace.