With every breath,
with every taste,
with all my senses,
gratitude I have and give thanks
as I discover miracles
waiting for me this morning.
I laugh with glee
as I find Your babies
in Your magical garden that I tend.
Your treasures are strange:
firm, shiny, smooth, thick-shelled purple
Passion Fruits!
Their ripened, wrinkled, rumpled rinds, deflating
from the dense leafy tendrilled vines
thirty-six feet wide and my height,
fallen to the ground!
I bend, praise You, lower my knees,
drop to the earth
to gather the precious, egg-shaped bounty, protecting
intensely tart tasting, succulent,
transparent, glowing golden sacs, placentas.
Each envelops a small, crunchy black seed.
Hundreds matured, concealed
and encased in a cavity.
Each attached to tissue-thin white membrane.
With care, drops of juice should not spill,
I quickly cut open one rounded passion fruit
revealed for my pleasure.
I make the bracha / blessing,
I ingest Your blessings,
Giver of Life,
this summer season.
My body and soul are nourished and replenished.
Delighted with all, I rejoice,
savor the delicious beauty of Divinity,
G*d's glory and goodness,
exquisite fragrant fruit of Your healthy vines and trees.
Clustered all the way from Gan Eden
beneath giant green leaves,
Figs, when plucked,
exude irritating white sap.
Tender, large, luscious, plump, purple, fresh figs,
symbol of Torah
birthed to enjoy through and through.
In bliss, I lift each sweet sensuous one
up to You.
Figs on the tree, I bequeath
for G*d's other creatures,
as Boaz did for Ruth, the Moabitess,
to glean and feast in joy.
We taste the mysterious, mystical treasure,
delicate, dry skin and moist flesh,
ripe, bursting forth magenta insides,
awesome to behold, satisfied
I release from the fruit
Holy sparks of life.
I can feel them twinkle
in my mouth and travel within me.
Welcome back to Lev Eisha services, which begin on Saturday September 6!
Please note the dates of our services on the calendar. We also
have scheduled three special Breakfast & Brucha events---before the
November, March and May services. We have a new program this year in which
you can make a donation that will be applied to sponsorship of all of
the learning at breakfasts and kiddushes. This is beneficial if you are
unable to sponsor the hospitality at a breakfast or kiddush. Your participation
will be acknowledged. If you want to be a Breakfast Teachings sponsor, just check it off on your membership form and add the $36 to your total.
We know that many of you are members of Adat Shalom or other synagogues.
However, for a relatively small membership fee, you can help support Lev
Eisha so that we can continue to worship with Rabbi August, Cindy Paley,
Mollie Wine, and our talented musicians, in a beautiful and comfortable
sanctuary. If you have not signed up for membership yet, please do so,
as the new Lev Eisha membership year starts with our next service.
Nevertheless, please know that all worshipers are welcome at
our unique and fulfilling services.
Please feel free to contact any Board member throughout the year to let
us know how we can better serve you.
Olivia
We know how you love Lev Eisha, so please make a commitment and show your support by becoming a member. A $48 membership helps us sustain our monthly services, a $96 membership gives you the choice of one of our gift premiums, a $136 membership gives you the choice of two gift premiums and a $360 membership gives you the choice of three gift premiums. The gifts for this year are a book chosen by our own Rabbi August, a custom Lev Eisha heart keychain, the Lev Eisha CD: Shabbat Songs from a Women's Heart, the Lev Eisha Haggadah: Journey of the Heart and the Lev Eisha Pesach Cookbook: Passover Recipes from the Heart. (Premiums will be given out at the service starting in December. Other arrangements can be made if necessary.) Complete the membership form you recently received in the mail or you can submit your membership online at leveisha.org. Membership forms are always on the table just outside the sanctuary.
How do we live with disappointment and what do we do when we feel our prayers have not been answered?
Watching the Olympics as I write this column, I wonder about the thousands of athletes who are not winning medals and whose dreams may have been crushed! How are they coping with their losses?
I find an answer to these questions, in the summer Torah readings, as we hear Moses lament that he too is disappointed and his prayerful request to enter the promised land was denied!
Our tradition teaches that most of us have at least half of our prayers answered before we die. Moses asked God to "go to the land" and "to see it." God answered half of Moses' prayer. Though he never entered the land, he did have the opportunity to "see" the land from the top of the mountain.
And that had to be enough. This is our lesson. Sometimes just having half of our prayers answered is enough.
For the Olympic athletes, being there and representing their countries, is enough, an experience of a lifetime. Only a few win the medals, but look how many get to compete!
I pray we remember this lesson for the New Year. Our prayers are answered, often not in the ways we think we need, or even what we ask for. Our true prayer is to open our eyes to the "half." We must feel, know and appreciate, what we do have.
Shana Tovah U'Metukah. A sweet and healthy New Year to all!
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Mazal Tov to Cena and Yakov Abergel on the wedding of their daughter, Rakefet Helene to Mary Ashley on June 18, 2008 in West Hollywood, California.
Mazal Tov as well to to Andie Hecht on the marriage of her daughter Jessica to Mathew Carpenter.
Mazal Tov to Myrna Gayle on her daughter Robin Conlin (and husband John) giving birth to Kimberly Michelle on 7/30. She joins big brother Scott.
Another Mazal Tov to Myrna Gayle on her daughter Stephanie Fishman (and husband David) welcoming twins Samuel Isaac and Jessica Shira in April.
We are so happy about everyone!
If you have a milestone to share please send it to: editor@leveisha.org. Our newsletter gets printed about a week before each service. Please send the info ASAP.
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