Collections of Thoughts and Poetry

#whattomorrowbrings #ayeargoesby #finalkaddish #wordshavewings #sayingkaddish The part of this blog where I write mostly about my mom is coming to an end. I do have another post that I will write in a few weeks, but I write this tonight because tomorrow evening begins the final kaddish for the year. Although mom died at the end of January, the date of her death on the lunar calendar begins tomorrow evening and ends on Friday before Shabbat. I want to mark this anniversary w

#ontheotherside #sayingkaddish #listening #listeninginsteadofspeaking #prayer #morningminyan #thememoryroom #achange #atransition #transitions An Observation For ten months I stood alone in my living room with my contemporaries and said the kaddish prayer in the Memory Room. I stood looking out of the window or gazing at a photo of mom, or looking down at the floor or at the computer monitor but mostly I concentrated on remembering the words of the kaddish, on saying the w

#ontheotherside #sayingkaddish #thememoryroom #housekeeping #wordshavewings An Update Housekeeping me? Nope, it is a strength that I do not possess, but there is a little housekeeping that I need to do today because of a transition in this little blog. You may have noticed when you opened the page today that although the name of this blog will remain the same, the photograph of mom and me is gone from the top of the page. The eleven months has come to an end, and this blog

#ablessingfortheeightnights #unity #tolerance #eyesopen #gratitude #creativity #innovation #resilience #family #generosity #community #shamash #wordshavewings #sayingkaddish A Blessing for the first night: Unity Please keep our minds and our hearts open. To hear ideas of others even when their message is different from our own. To open our minds and our ears to other's messages To find a place of common ground A Blessing for the second night: Tolerance Please help

#somethingnew #davening #shacharit #sayingkaddish #conqueringfears #wordshavewings A Reflection On Tuesday I led Shacharit for the first time! All these years I could have led it but never did. Being at an orthodox synagogue was an easy excuse, and there were always opportunities to lead at Shaarei's women's minyan or at another conservative minyan in town. But I never did it! I don't know; maybe it wasn't on the front burner, maybe it just wasn't important enough for me to

#thememoryroom #sayingkaddish #congki #remembering #zoomroom #zoom #community Suddenly it's almost here. In less than three weeks I will complete the eleven months of kaddish for my beautiful mom, Irma G. I began to write this blog a few weeks after my brothers and I got up from saying the kaddish and a few weeks before the lockdown. My husband and I have been fortunate to be a part of the amazing Sephardic synagogue in the town where I live but when the synagogue closed d

#post101 #wordshavewings #sayingkaddish #covid19 #pandemic #whathappened #adiary #awaytoremember #thememoryroom #zoomroom Here we are at Post 101 which I am writing on Thanksgiving, a day of gratitude. It's been a life changing nine months since I began writing this blog. So much has changed, but here we are at Thanksgiving, another milestone day of the year, a day about gratitude. I try to express gratitude frequently and to be mindful about what we have. I have been feel

#yizkor #elmaleirachamim #yitgadal #kaddish #sayingkaddish #eighthdaysukkot #sukkot #remembering #shoah #mygrandmother #holocaust #endings #wenevermet #remembering #rememberingfamily #memories #nomemories #dads #fathersanddaughters #generations #yadvashem #neshama #grandmother As I write this piece in your memory I am not sure what to call you. You probably would have been bubby, but would we have pronounced it bobbeh instead? You were my grandmother, my father's mother, Lea

#papa #papasaul #atthecenter #familyresponsibility #keepingfamiliestogether #fathers #fathersandchildren #sayingkaddish #kaddish #roomofmemories #thememoryroom #youaretheglue #theglue #holdfamiliestogether Today is the anniversary of my dad's death. Saul Gershkowitz died six years ago as the holiday of Rosh Hashannah was ending with the setting sun. His long and eventful life ended with his loved ones surrounding him. We sang to him, we held his hand and helped him make the

#achapterintenwords #morningminyan #sayingkaddish #kaddish #remembering #memories #retrievingmemories #voicingmemories #selectedmemories #memorytriggers #whatiremember #whatyouremember #thingsaboutus What can you say about a person in ten words? Every morning at minyan we spend a few precious moments remembering, reflecting on the people for whom we say kaddish. We have been involved with this "practice" now for about two months. Sometimes people say something about their l

#Kiteitzeh #parshatkiteitzeh #mercy #showingmercy #empathy #showingempathy #training #trainingforthemarathon #spiritualtraining #beitsasson #elul #shofarblowing #sayingkaddish #kehillatisraelbrookline #prayer #beitsasson #selichot #sephardicprayer #Roshhashannah #yomkippur #lookinginward This was a D'var Torah presented this week at Kehillat Israel's morning minyan. The Boston Marathon won't be coming to Boston this year. It didn't come in April and it won't be coming in Sep

#roshchodesh #av #roshchodeshav #hallel #morningminyan #sayingkaddish #mothersanddaughters #kaddish #music #listening #listeningtomusic #musiciseverywhere #orchestra #violin #drums #blessings #blessthemusic #ablessingformusic #giftofmusic #musicmakesmyheartsing Yesterday was Rosh Chodesh (the new month) Av. The beginning of Av marks the beginning of nine days of mourning leading toward the commemoration of the ninth of Av, a day of solemn remembrances of tragic events in Jew

#zoom #zoomroom #sayingkaddish #mothersanddaughters #covid19 #morningminyan #mournerskaddish #peopleandstories #storieshelp This week we begin the book of Deuteronomy/Devarim. This year we have read, sometimes in the synagogue and sometimes from a Tanach about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, their long journey through the desert, with a thousand travails, complaints and sometimes violent transitions to the land they were promised. We are beginning the final book of

#paintatreered #thepaintedtree #redtree #talkingtalmud #hadran #dafyomi #whenbadthingshappen #talkingtalmudpodcast #talkingtalmud #mercy #prayers #incantations #mothersanddaughters #sayingkaddish #wordshavewings In the Talmud, in Masechet Shabbat, daf 67A, the rabbis discuss a number of incantations to heal illnesses. They speak about monsters that inhabit the outhouse and what to say when you enter that scary place. They speak about fevers and healing wounds, about dog's hai

#gomel #covid19 #sayingkaddish #kaddish #wordshavewings #mothersanddaughters #gomelblessing #reinventing #followinganillness #creativity #rabbis #communityleaders #minyan #creativeapproaches #livingjudaism #reinventingjudaism For those of you who have been generously following this series of little stories, these little slices of life during this time, this week marked a milestone. My husband has recovered from Covid-19 and wished to make the special blessing for people who

#Covid19 #whenIplayalone #apoemforgrandchildren #childrenstory #shortstory #playingalone #lookingoutmywindow #sayingkaddish #mothersanddaughters #wordshavewings #imagination This story is inspired by my grandchildren. When I play alone I imagine castles in the air, with swirling clouds all around. I can pretend to fly on the wings of a bird to the tippity-top, balance there and gaze down at the clouds below. When I play alone sometimes I build a fort between my couch and the

#modeh #modehani #modehanilfanecha #iwakeup #iwakeupinthemorning #whoreturnsmybreath #deepbreath #breathdeeply #covid19 #mothersanddaughters #sayingkaddish #getoutofbed #gladtobealive #livingandbreathing #onebreath #breath #breathingexercises Today is May 22, 2020. The twenty third day of counting. Do you know the prayer called Modeh Ani? It's prayer that happens early. You may not hear it if you are like me and come JFK, "just for kiddush." You may not hear even if you arr

#greenplant #traderjoes #shabbatshalom #wordshavewings #covid19 #buyplants #lifeisbeautiful #breath #fieryredcarriages #shopping #supermarket #organizedchaos #shoppingseniorhours #greenroundleaves #whiteclaypot #emeraldgreen #mothersanddaughters #sayingkaddish Today I bought a green plant. Its leaves are round and shiny Buffed like emerald shined shoes It's in a white clay pot With ridges It looked beautiful on the shelves of Trader Joe's So I bought it For the beauty For th

#oneis #twois #countone #counttwo #covid19 #livingduringcorona #sayingkaddish #mothersanddaughters #quarantine #counting #6feetapart #quarantine #pandemic #fever #xoygen #heartbeats #pulse #covidpoetry #ourpresident #pressconferences #wordshavewings #daysofquarantine #takingyourtemperature #oximeter Days of quarantine Weeks of quarantine Months of quarantine Years of quarantine Record the numbers for the historical record Remember these numbers in the history books 2020 1918

#masekhetbrakhot #brakhot #dafyomi #apageaday #whendowesayshema #blessingourfood #theshmonehesrei #drbanan #doreita #blessingsoverfood #whendowebless #birkhathamazon #mezuman #talkingtalmud #inmemoryofmom #mothersanddaughters #wordshavewings #sayingkaddish #kaddish Imagine a group of dedicated rabbis whose job it is to create a new way of life after a people is decimated and scattered away from their land and their way of life. Judaism, such an ancient religion, was built o