If I had wings....

היום אחד עשר ימים שהם שבוע אחד וארבעה ימים לעומר
Today is eleven days, which is one week and four days of the omer
נצח שבגבורה
A day of perseverance in a week of strength

I have to write two short bios for myself this week--one for the Hazon ride in May and one for the educator institute I will attend this summer with The Jewish Women's Archive.

It's times like this that I feel my age with a different perspective from the physicality of aging. How to boil down my almost 40 years of adult experience into three or four sentences? What do I choose to tell; what do I choose to leave out.

I haven't written the bio for JWA yet, but here's what I wrote for the Hazon ride:

Marilyn Heiss is a native New Yorker and a 26-year San Franciscan. An Emmy-award winning editor, she has been working in the TV/Video/Film industry for over 30 years. Marilyn found her way back to Jewish practice through yoga, and is a proud Torah chanting, minyan going, tefillin wearing woman. A participant in the initial meditation practice periods at Makor Or, the meditation center founded by Rabbi Alan Lew, z"l & Zoketsu Norman Fischer, she served as its program director from 2003 - 2005. In addition to her editing work, she trains b'nei mitzvah students, and teaches Torah and Jewish studies to 7th & 8th graders at Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo.

Pretty straightforward, showing pretty equally the mix of my professions as an editor and a Jewish educator. They seemed happy with it :)

Doing this has reminded me of a song that felt very close to me when I was a teenager. It's on Peter Paul and Mary's Album 1700. It still speaks to me today as it spoke to me then.

If I had wings no one would ask me should I fly
The bird sings, no one asks why.
I can see in myself wings as I feel them
If you see something else, keep your thoughts to yourself,
I'll fly free then.

Yesterday's eyes see their colors fading away
They see their sun turning to grey
You can't share in a dream, that you don't believe in
If you say that you see and pretend to be me
You won't be then.

How can you ask if I'm happy goin' my way?
You might as well ask a child at play!
There's no need to discuss or understand me
I won't ask of myself to become something else
I'll just be me!

If I had wings no one would ask me should I fly
The bird sings, and no one asks her why.
I can see in myself wings as I feel them
If you see something else, keep your thoughts to yourself,
I'll fly free then.

It's all about the food, cont...

היום ארבעה ימים לעומר

Today is four days of the omer

נצח שבחסד

A day of perseverance in a week of loving kindness

Tonight I went to the "Food Justice Passover," organized by Pursue, Hazon, and The Kitchen, three different progressive Jewish communities who came together to bring raise awareness about the sources of the food we eat. What better holiday than Pesach to have these discussions and teachings because after all, as I wrote a couple of days ago....It's all about the food.

I really like the new trend of bringing in periods of teachings into these type of events. Below I'll list the discussion group choices for tonight's "seder." Which one would you have chosen?


Passover is Justice
with Noa Kushner, founding Rabbi of the Kitchen
The rabbis never thought of justice or ethics as distinct from religion or ritual. In this session we'll look at the Haggadah as a case study for what happens when these two areas (the ethical and the religious) are integrated.

Beyond Kosher: What criteria should we use for choosing food?
with Deborah Newbrun, Hazon Bay Area Director
The Jewish People have been discussing what is "fit to eat" for 3,000 years. We will look at the ancient texts and at Hazon's "Food Audit" We will share what it is we consider when we purchase and partake in food.

Next Year in Jerusalem?
with Naomi Shiffman, Friend of New Israel Fund's New Generations
Israel's Food Justice movement faces many challenges: unsustainable land development, unequal rights to land and water, and inequality for workers. Learn and discuss case studies working to make change and share your thoughts.

Global Food Justice: The State of Global US Food Aid & The Farm Bill
with Matt Balaban, AJWS Global Circle
Take a closer look into the inefficiencies and opportunities in the international food aid system. We'll spark conversation and AJWS's new infographic "US Food Aid - Where your dollar only goes partway!"

Liberation Ecology
with Yosef Rosen, Jewish Studies Ph.D. student, UC Berkeley
Through a close reading of Jewish sources we will examine the relationship between servitude, spirituality, and our material dependencies on the environment. The texts rewrite the exodus story into an ecological drama that seems more relevant today than ever.

Eating with Intention: Jewish Spirituality & Food
with Rabbi Carla Fenves, Congregation Emanu-El
Judaism and Jews are obsessed with food iin healthy and less healthy ways. We will explore how Jewish tradition can teach us to eat with more intention and make eating a spiritual experience.