Teaching is the Guide

היום שני ימים בעמר
Today is two days of the omer
גבורה שבחסד
A day of strength in a week of loving kindness

The seders are over, fulfilling the mitzvah of teaching the story and its meaning to our children, which is what the haggadah, the telling, is all about. We've made the point that we were slaves, and now we're free. We've escaped from Egypt, from Mitzrayim, from the narrow place. The sea was parted for us, allowing us to walk on solid, dry ground. But the story does not end there. The journey has just begun.

We know the journey our ancestors will take--at least, we know what is chronicled in the Torah and the other biblical writings. What lies ahead for each of us is unknown. But we need to continually teach our children--as we say each day in the Shema, when we are home and when we are away; when we lie down, and when we rise. Because it is the teachings and the act of teaching with strength and loving kindness, that will guide us all on our way.

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.

The Great Mandala

היום ששה ימים לעומר
Today is six days of the omer
יסוד שבחסד
A day of foundation in a week of loving kindness

For the past couple of years I've been teaching myself how to play guitar, simply for my own enjoyment. My favorite book to play from is the classic Rise Up Singing, a compilation of mostly folk but other popular songs thrown in. There's nothing in there written later that the mid-1980s, but that suites me just fine. A lot of my favorite songs from the 60s & 70s are included, and I get much joy revisiting them.

As I sing what was then categorized as "protest songs," I feel the lyrics still have much meaning for the present generation--songs of peace and freedom that still need to be heard today. And maybe, with help of people like Matthew Vaughn, these songs will be heard into the next generation.

For now, I'm going to post the song I put on Facebook yesterday to mark the omer day. It's not in Rise Up Singing, but a great song none the less. I have the Peter, Paul and Mary recording from Album 1700 - in my opinion, their best. But this is a great version, sung by Paul Yarrow, who wrote the song, and Richie Havens.

Enjoy!

Fighters for Freedom

היום שמונה עשר יום שהם שני שבועות וארבעה ימים לעמר

Today is eighteen days, which is two weeks and four days, of the omer

נצח שבתפארת

A day of perseverance in a week of compassion

Today is the "chai," the life, of the count, converging with Shabbat.
On this day I honor those who gave of their lives so others could live in freedom.

Eric Anderson wrote this song to honor the Freedom Riders, who set off 50 years ago this month to work towards righting something very wrong. And whatever problems we still have today, I have to say--updating the last words of these lyrics--"Their song, it did not fail"

On this day of perseverance and compassion, thanks to all of those who continually walked, rode, and fought to make a difference.

One Day ...

היום שבעה עשר יום שהם שני שבועות ושלשה ימים לעמר
Today is seventeen days, which is two weeks and three days, of the omer
תפראת שבתפארת
A day of compassion in a week of compassion


With all that's happened in the world this week, this month, this year,
On this day of compassion holding compassion
I share this prayer...





Shabbat Shalom

Mad World

היום ששה ושלשים יומים שהם חמשה שבועות ויומ אחד לעמר
Today is the thirty-sixth day of the omer - five weeks and one day
חסד שביסוד
A day of loving kindness in a week of foundation


The words are not coming to me today. Instead, I'll share my favorite Adam Lambert of the competition--he will win this week....

Want more American Idol videos? Click here.

היום אכד ושלשים יומים שהם ארבעה שבועות ושלשה יומים לעמר
Today is the thirty-first day of the omer - four weeks and three days
תפרת שבהוד
A day of compassion in a week of humility




The creative juices are just not flowing, so instead of subjecting any of you to incoherant babblings, I give you The Moshav Band with a great rendition of Eliyahu HaNavi---enjoy..

American Idol in Hebrew

היום ששה ועשרים יומים שהם שלשה שבועות חמשה יומים לעמר
Today is the twenty-sixth day of the omer - three weeks and five days
הוד שבנצח
A day of humility in a week of endurance



I will admit it---I do follow American Idol, especially in the last couple months of each series. And in my opinion, this year's group is the most talented I've heard. My favorite, like so many, is Adam Lambert. The week he performed "Mad World" was the clincher for me. You can hear his rendition here.

Today on Facebook my friend Rebekah posted this link from Haaretz with a duet Adam sang with the Cantor of Temple of the Arts in LA. I then did some of my own clicking around and found this video from a Tribute to Rabin concert held at University of Judaism on November 29, 2005.

There's some discussion on this Haaretz page of whether or not he's Jewish---but there's no doubt he can sing.....

A Musical Interlude

In Hanukkah seasons past I have posted some photos, games, and videos as presents to any readers who come to this blog. Click "hanukkah" in the categories list in the sidebar to see any of those.

Here's something new for this year. It's an updated version of the Dreidle Song arranged by Erran Baron Cohen, the brother of Sasha Baron Cohen of Ali G and Borat fame. You can read and hear about him in this NPR piece from this past Saturday's Weekend Edition.

Enjoy!!

Happy Hanukkah

Nothing like Hanukkah to give me a kick-start on my writing. It's not like I haven't had any thoughts to share--I just haven't gotten out of my head to the screen. But writing each day, sending you little virtual "gifts" for the holiday will hopefully give me the momentum I need.

To start the holiday off right, there's nothing like Adam Sandler's "Hanukkah Song." I found lots of versions online, but opted for what I think is the original airing of the song. It is destined to become a classic. Enjoy!!

Musical Star-bucks?

Joni Mitchell, an artist who has been dear to my heart for more than thirty years, has signed a deal with Starbucks.

From the AP story off her website:

NEW YORK: Joni Mitchell is following the lead of Paul McCartney in joining with the coffee giant Starbucks to release her comeback album.

Hear Music, a record label formed in partnership with Starbucks Corp. and the Concord Music Group, said Wednesday that Mitchell is its second signing. "Shine," her first album of new compositions since 1998, will be released on Sept. 25.

McCartney's album "Memory Almost Full" came out last month and was played relentlessly at Starbucks franchises, where listeners could purchase it with their coffee. The disc has sold 447,000 copies, 45 percent of them in Starbucks stores, the company said.

The new venture has attracted interest from veteran artists both because the music business is collapsing around them, and their fans are much more likely to be spending time in Starbucks these days than in music stores.

Mitchell worked with Hear Music two years ago as it released a disc of favorite Mitchell songs selected by various artists. She had essentially retired from making music and said this project was one of the things that rekindled her interest, said Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment.

I have mixed feelings about this. I understand the reasoning and I know that Joni would never give up the most important thing--creative control of her work. And as I pointed out earlier this month, this is a coffee culture generation, so this signing represents a huge opportunity for her music to be heard. But the fact that she's aligned with Starbucks just strikes a bitter chord within me.

I'm not rabidly anti-Starbucks, but I hate the way they have become the McDonalds/Burger King of coffee shops. They are everywhere, peddling their (in my opinion) sub-par coffee and all-too-sickly sweet faux coffee drinks to a nation already overfilled with bad food and sugar. There's a one-block stretch on 7th Avenue in Manhattan that has three Starbucks--one on each corner and one in the middle of the block--all on the same side of the street! And like the other fast food venues, they're infiltrating the rest of the world. I've seen Starbucks in Wellington, New Zealand and Sydney, Australia.

It's hard to imagine Joni Mitchell associating with Starbucks. I think of her as such an independent artist, always going her own way. Starbucks represents the worst of globalization to me, an example of the mass cloning of culture, a forerunner of a Fahrenheit 451 kind of world. Yes, I exaggerate somewhat, but the echos are there.

All this said, I'm sure I will buy the cd, just as I occasionally find myself getting coffee at Starbucks. They are not the evil empire, and I know they do give support to many good causes, both local and global. The times are changing, and I must move with the times or get left behind.

I'll end this with a clip from a 1970 Joni Mitchell performance of "Big Yellow Taxi"and ask a question I've seen in other blogs -- does this mean it's okay to pave paradise and put up a coffee shop?

(For a recent performance of this song by Joni Mitchell which includes a Bob Dylan impersonation, click here.)