Connecting meaningfully

I haven't posted in a little while, but I was very excited when I saw that the task for the week was to connect with loved ones. This is actually something I've been thinking a lot about recently. As some of you may know, I don't currently work for Hillel. In late August, my boyfriend got a fantastic job offer in DC and we decided we would be moving there together. I luckily found something soon after and tomorrow I start work at the Israel on Campus Coalition... now moving out a few weeks before my boyfriend. The past few weeks have been a bit crazy. After a few years in Michigan, I finally found a group of friends who were not going to graduate and leave (at least in the near future) and now here I was saying goodbye. I made a point to really "be present" when I was with my friends. I know we'll all still be in touch and I know they will come and visit in DC, but it has been great connecting with them and enjoying ice cream and dinners, etc. over the past month.
Shabbat Experiment to be continued... in DC.

Week #7 Assignment

This week we are charged with the task of "connecting with loved ones".

My assignment for you is to have a family dinner (this doesn't necessarily mean blood relatives - it can mean whatever you feel it does). This may seem like an easy job, but even if we are able to align our schedules and get together with our loved ones, we aren't always "there". So I am asking you not only to have a family dinner, but to be completely present at it. Share whats been going on in your life and listen to what your loved ones have to share. Cook together, eat together, laugh together, and just be together. You never know what tomorrow will bring...

I hope that you get to enjoy at least a part of this long weekend! Have an amazing and meaningful Shabbat!

B'Yididut,

Joie

The long and winding road

This has been a rough few weeks for me. An endless stream of frustrating student drama has put a damper on my happy Hillel days. That plus the early mornings, late nights and working weekends has left me feeling worn down, overwhelmed and way behind on housework and personal errands.

I had Friday off and despite the absolutely retched weather I decided to run all of my long overdue errands. One of these tasks was to drop off a large pile of packages that needed returning (one wasn't even for me!). So, I set off with my stack of packages in the pouring rain for the local post office. After I managed to get to the counter (I dropped the pile of packages twice, I slipped and fell and had to wait in a 15 minute line) the nice gentleman working told me that 2 of my packages had to go to UPS and he could not accept them. So again I go out into the rain in hopes of finding a UPS store. When I arrived there the fellow working told me he could only take 1 of the packages and the other had to go the the state distribution center (luckily, RI is a very small state and I live right in the middle!). He gave me directions and off I went.

I wound my way through the narrow back roads, finally arriving at the UPS distribution center and dropped off my final package. As I left the parking lot I came to a fork in the road. To the right lay the road back towards my house. To the left was the Warwick animal shelter! How fortuitous! I drove excitedly to the animal shelter where I was told that while they did not need any help this weekend, I could sign up to volunteer in the future. I left with a spring in my step and a smile on my face - feeling good for the first time in weeks!

Thanks Dani for presenting this task! I look forward to the opportunity to volunteer at the animal shelter and working with the animals who spend their days there! It is something that I have always wanted to do and now I had the excuse to get myself in. (I hope that you had a very happy birthday, as well!) I also want to thank Melissa McCrea. Thanks for sending your package to the wrong address and providing me the path to the animal shelter. I hope that whoever and wherever she is, she finally gets whatever she ordered so many months ago! Sorry for the delay.

Have a terrific week everyone!

Joie

Avoid Technology

I think it's hilarious that I was assigned this Shabbat task. I am such a tech junkie. When there's a new toy, I want it. When there's an upgrade, I'm all over it. My brother is a full-time tech journalist, so he keeps me up to date on the latest and I revel in technological indulgence. That's why I tried to keep the task as simple as possible - avoid just ONE technological item that you rely on throughout the week. Just one. Here's how it went for me:

Friday afternoon: Promise myself to avoid my cell phone for 24 hours.

Friday evening: Forget to turn off cell phone

Saturday, around 9am: Wake up to find various urgent texts and phone calls. Answer them. Discover that I can't find my watch, another item I rely on all day, every day.

Saturday, around 11am: Remember that I'd made a commitment. Leave cell phone at home when I leave for the day. Also leave without the watch.

For the rest of the day, I make myself crazy frantically checking my wrist and then digging through my purse for my cell phone, forgetting that I'd left it at home on purpose. By "avoiding" technology, I was so preoccupied with its absence that I couldn't focus on anything else!

Lesson learned: Approach Shabbat tasks with real intention and a sense of purpose. Realize that on Shabbat, my time is my own, and I can choose to appreciate that, or I can run around in circles waiting for the moment when I can get back to the work week.

Oh, and while I'm at it - an apology: I didn't post anything for the "Get Outside" task. This is because I was staffing a Taglit-Birthright Israel trip and I didn't have my laptop for the week. But I promise I went outside...and you can see as many pictures as you'd like if you want to add me on Facebook :-)

Avoiding technology in baby steps

This task proved trickier than the last two. This was a very busy weekend for me between students beginning to move back to campus, open houses and First Night, I had to work all weekend. While at work I needed to be answering the phone, responding to text messages, reading email and other computer related tasks so "unplugging" wasn't really an option. Plus, with the threat of Hurricane Earl, it wasn't a good decision to avoid my weather updates online and on tv or the phone calls of worried family members.

Since I went into the weekend knowing I couldn't really avoid technology I decided to use Monday for my Shabbat (since I had it off). Powering down was difficult to do, since I am so accustomed to being connected all the time, but it was a nice change of pace. I turned off my phone so I wasn't assaulted by a constant barrage of text messages. I left my computer in another room, knowing that my email and facebook could go a day without me looking at them. I didn't completely avoid technology - I watched tv. Let's not get crazy, a whole day without tv? Why would I even get up in the morning?

I did have to consciously make the decision over and over again not to go online or answer the phone, but it was very calming to just spend some time around the house in the sunlight and summer breeze and enjoy the day.

Since I am sure there will be a while until we all get another serene day, please take a little time for yourselves every day. I know it won't be easy, but we should still try!

L'Shanah Tovah! A sweet and healthy to you all!!!

-Joie

Mysterious indeed

For me, there is nothing more relaxing and rejuvenating then spending the day at the beach. Laying out in the sun, listening to the waves and walking along the shoreline brings me a sense of calm that I can find no where else. It is very strange then, that my line between ultimate serenity and complete panic lay just a few feet apart.
I am terrified of the water. I do not come from "water" folk; we never had a pool, never went to the town lake and certainly never went on a beach vacation. I don't know how to swim - never learned because why should I? I was never near the water. My ocean experiences did not come until much later in my life and now I am constantly afriad of being dragged under and swept out to sea (where, should I survive the drowning, I just know terror is waiting for me - I watch shark week!). Despite my total fear of all that the ocean entails I am drawn to the beach. Quite mysterious, no?
So this weekend, I packed up my towel and sunscreen, put on my cutest bathing suit and headed to the beach. I did go out in the water (with someone holding each arm) and enjoyed the waves for a little while. I won't lie to you, tears were shed. Salt water was swallowed and sand scrapes were received. Despite all of this, I had a wonderful weekend in the outdoors.

My magnificent and mysterious love affair with the ocean continues...

Have a great week everyone!

Joie
Proud resident of the Ocean State

Get Outside?!

Oh the irony. Yes, I hike, and yes I like the outdoors… but not that much. Most of my outdoor experiences take place when I am staffing an immersion experience of some sort so this week when I had to pick the task for “Get Outside” I spent a lot of time thinking about it. Originally, I had planned out what my “magnificent, mysterious” natural wonder was going to be… I’d watch a sunset, or get out and look at the stars, but of course this weekend, there was no glorious sunset and I didn’t get a chance to walk at night and look at the stars. I did, however, finally make it outside for a bit today and while looking around among the U-Hauls that are starting to line the streets here, I looked up and saw something very cool. The sun was covered by a thin cloud, which allowed these shadow-y rays to surround the cloud. It wasn’t the normal rays you see shining through the clouds, it was like a shadowed outline. I wish I had a camera, but didn't follow my own guidelines and didn't have one. It was something I hadn’t seen before and something I considered both magnificent and mysterious.

Shavua Tov everyone!

Oddly Mysterious

This weeks task was to find something mysterious and magnificent in nature. I went about halfway with this task. I was in nature but I created something wonderful. I had a relaxing moment this weekend, sitting in the beautiful weather, listening to some great music and smoking my hookah.

At one point while I was blowing smoke rings, there was one that just seemed to hang in the air for what seemed like forever. It was sitting in the air, rolling in on itself and then, poof, it was gone. I don't know why I found it so interesting, maybe it was the combination of having some control over something natural (smoke) and then losing control just as quickly as I had brought it around, but it was a great random moment. I wish I had a picture to share but this snapshot is going to stay in my head.

Group Daled Week 2 Task

Task #2: Get Outside

For this weeks task, Get Outside this weekend. While outside find something in nature that you consider both mysterious and magnificent. Share with everyone what you saw and take pictures if possible to share.

Enjoy the fresh air! and Shabbat Shalom.

My Bitch

The start of this project could not have come at a more hectic time. We had our welcome weekend and it was one of those where it felt like I was just moving from one program to the next.

When I got the assignment, I went to the liquor store near campus and asked the guy for an Australian bottle (being that I have not been there and I love the wine from there). He went through the racks and pulled out this bottle, a southern Australian Grenache, called Bitch (only $14). My immediate thought was this is going to be one bitch of a weekend so it must be some divine inspiration for me to find this bottle!

To make a long story short, I don't think I would have taken the time this weekend to think about shabbat at all because of everything we had going on. I decided that at noon I was going to take a half hour to make Kiddush and relax for a few minutes and just appreciate the moment. I appreciated the fact that I would not have done much else to celebrate the sabbath this weekend if not for this small task, and I would not have found this awesome bottle if not for this little project.

Shavua Tov, friends! This is such a cool project!

My husband and I don't drink alcohol of any kind, so we decided to find a poem that somehow relates to wine from a country we've never visited. Neither of us have ever been to Chile, and we were drawn to a poem by Pablo Neruda, which compares writing poetry to feeling drunk. Those of us who are true "word nerds" understand the sensation of drunkenness that comes from writing or even reading truly excellent literature. While it may not be wine, great literature is definitely something we can savor and enjoy.

Poetry by Pablo Neruda

And it was at that age... Poetry arrived
in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don't know how or when,
no, they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others,
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me.

I did not know what to say, my mouth
had no way
with names
my eyes were blind,
and something started in my soul,
fever or forgotten wings,
and I made my own way,
deciphering
that fire
and I wrote the first faint line,
faint, without substance, pure
nonsense,
pure wisdom
of someone who knows nothing,
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open,
planets,
palpitating planations,
shadow perforated,
riddled
with arrows, fire and flowers,
the winding night, the universe.

And I, infinitesimal being,
drunk with the great starry
void,
likeness, image of
mystery,
I felt myself a pure part
of the abyss,
I wheeled with the stars,
my heart broke free on the open sky.

And here is Neruda's Ode to Wine:

Ode to Wine by Pablo Neruda

Day-colored wine,
night-colored wine,
wine with purple feet
or wine with topaz blood,
wine,
starry child
of earth,
wine, smooth
as a golden sword,
soft
as lascivious velvet,
wine, spiral-seashelled
and full of wonder,
amorous,
marine;
never has one goblet contained you,
one song, one man,
you are choral, gregarious,
at the least, you must be shared.
At times
you feed on mortal
memories;
your wave carries us
from tomb to tomb,
stonecutter of icy sepulchers,
and we weep
transitory tears;
your
glorious
spring dress
is different,
blood rises through the shoots,
wind incites the day,
nothing is left
of your immutable soul.
Wine
stirs the spring, happiness
bursts through the earth like a plant,
walls crumble,
and rocky cliffs,
chasms close,
as song is born.
A jug of wine, and thou beside me
in the wilderness,
sang the ancient poet.
Let the wine pitcher
add to the kiss of love its own.

My darling, suddenly
the line of your hip
becomes the brimming curve
of the wine goblet,
your breast is the grape cluster,
your nipples are the grapes,
the gleam of spirits lights your hair,
and your navel is a chaste seal
stamped on the vessel of your belly,
your love an inexhaustible
cascade of wine,
light that illuminates my senses,
the earthly splendor of life.

But you are more than love,
the fiery kiss,
the heat of fire,
more than the wine of life;
you are
the community of man,
translucency,
chorus of discipline,
abundance of flowers.
I like on the table,
when we're speaking,
the light of a bottle
of intelligent wine.
Drink it,
and remember in every
drop of gold,
in every topaz glass,
in every purple ladle,
that autumn labored
to fill the vessel with wine;
and in the ritual of his office,
let the simple man remember
to think of the soil and of his duty,
to propagate the canticle of the wine.

Week 1 task

Excited by this idea and Hillel Institute, the first thing I did when I got home was tell my non-Jewish boyfriend about this great Shabbat experiment. We often discuss Shabbat, what it means, different interpretations and how we can make time in our own lives to celebrate Shabbat "our way" so we've decided to do this together. Our wine came from New Zealand. While wondering around the store looking for a country neither of us had been to, we picked up a bottle of wine that had a rating of 88 from some wine rating system. We stared at it for a few moments and discussed if this was the bottle we wanted when a woman behind us said, "oh yes, it tastes great, pick that one." I pondered telling her about the Shabbat Experiment but decided it would be weird however we did end up selecting that bottle.

We looked up images from New Zealand. For me, pictures are worth 1000 words and New Zealand is beautiful. We also figured since we were having this "special" bottle of wine, we would cook and eat dinner (tofu and asparagus in a lemongrass rub! Amazing!) at the actual table (instead of on the couch in the living room).

Here's a picture of New Zealand. Thanks for the task David!

And Shabbat Shalom and Shavua Tov.

I spent the last few days on vacation on Block Island and was very disappointed to be coming home yesterday. It was wonderful to get this task and be able to buy a nice bottle of wine from Australia, look at some pictures and keep the vacation going a little bit, even though we were home.

Here is a poem I found about the sunrise in Australia. Even though we were only in Rhode Island, our sunrise here looked just as beautiful!

The Australian Sunrise

by James L Cuthbertson

The Morning Star paled slowly, the Cross hung low to the sea
And down the shadowy reaches the tide came swirling free.
The lustrous purple blackness of the soft Australian night
Waned in the grey awakening that heralded the light;
Still in the dying darkness, still in the forest dim
The pearly dew of the dawning clung to each giant limb,
Till the sun came up from ocean, red with the cold sea mist,
And smote on the limestone ridges, and the shining tree-tops kissed;
Then the fiery Scorpion vanished, the magpie's note was heard,
And the wind in the sheoak wavered and the honeysuckles stirred;
The airy golden vapour rose from the river breast,
The kingfisher came darting out of his crannied nest,
And the bulrushes and reed-beds put off their sallow grey
And burnt with cloudy crimson at the dawning of the day.

Shabbat Shalom everyone!

-Joie

Group Daled's First Task

Below is the task that was just e-mailed to Group Daled as we embark on this 10 week journey! Hope everyone enjoys.

Task #1 Drink Wine

For this week, buy a bottle of wine from a country you have never been to before. Do some research on the country and find an interesting fact, literary story, poem, artwork, anything fun and funky. Enjoy the wine and what you researched sometime over the course of Shabbat, or the weekend, and report back to the group about your country and what you learned. Please feel free to attach the picture, story, poem, whatever it is you came up with so that we can learn from it as well!

Shabbat Shalom,

David

Group Daled

Heather Paul
Joie Schwartz
Dani Shulman
Courtney Spalding
Erez Cohen
Allison Sheren
Maya Chard-Yaron
Richard Verber
David Katz
Abbii Cook
Beverley Shimansky