Never Done: Pieathon
My friend Nina Calloway just baked pies for 24 hours straight, to raise money for CancerCare. Both her parents died of cancer (as did mine) and she decided to honor them in this wonderful, creative way.
Actually, I think she baked for longer than 24 hours. She had a team of support people to help her stay focused and fed, and to help her stay in touch with the outside world, but she otherwise innovated and executed this amazing feat on her own. So why am I claiming it as a Never Done activity of my own? Because Nina was thoughtful enough to make the Pieathon interactive and participatory.
I sponsored Nina by buying a Sugar Cream pie. (I had to choose Sugar Cream, because it's the flavor I had never had before!) And then, to my delight, Nina web cast the entire bake-o-rama on UStream, and so I got to watch the action from the comfort of my own living room, and I also got to write in and interact with her and her support team and other viewers over the 24 hours. (At some point, I named the station PieTV, and then Mich named it even better: PieTube.) In a few minutes I am going over to her apartment to pick up my Sugar Cream pie, which I'll be sharing it with friends on Thanksgiving Day.
Did you catch that? One Pieathon. All that community building. I even met two people during the webcast. True, they couldn't see me (only the words I was typing) but I could see them, so when we are eventually in a room together, I will recognize them, introduce myself to them, and we will have a point of connection.
One of the 613 mitzves (mitzvot) is to respect your father and mother. Thank you Nina, for respecting yours so bountifully, and allowing us to join you. Zikhroyne livrokhe. May their memories be a blessing.
Showing posts with label 613 mitzvot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 613 mitzvot. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Thank g-d for Jeff Goldblum
Never Done: Walked 2 blocks to the movies
We had our Mussar Va'ad last night, and I was reminded of something I had forgotten. The idea behind this practice -- of doing something daily that I've never done before, and saying the Shehekhianu (which I've been remembering to say more often) is traditionally framed as a chosen mitzve practice. The mitzves are the commandments (mitzvot in Sephardic pronunciation) -- the 613 statements and principles of laws and ethics contained in the Torah. The 613 mitzves are incredibly interesting to study. Some of them are completely relevant to being a contemporary ethical person, and some of them are not any longer. Examples of ones that I find relevant -- and in some cases, incredibly moving:
Not to take revenge
Not to bear a grudge
Not to embarrass others
Not to oppress the weak
To release the mother bird if she was taken from the nest (I really love this one.)
Judges must not accept bribes
The king must not have too many horses
Not to sell her into slavery
Some of them are, to me, subjective and/or random. With these, I think it's interesting to learn/study/discover what the actual intent is behind them. Like:
Not to engage in astrology
Not to imitate them in customs and clothing
Not to go into a trance to foresee events
Some of them I disagree with. Strongly:
Men must not wear women's clothing
Women must not wear men's clothing
Not to marry non-Jews
The rapist must marry the maiden
And many I find to be better left to personal choice. These tend to be the ones which are most explicitly about religious observance:
To examine the signs of fish to determine between kosher and non-kosher
To rest on the seventh day
To put a mezuze on each door post
These are but a few examples, of course. I've given them here to help me examine my chosen daily mitzve practice -- to do something every day I've never done, and to say the Shehekhianu. This is not one of the 613 mitzves, but maybe it should replace one of the 613 that I don't think belong. The only mitzve I could find that relates to mine is this:
He who has taken a wife, built a new home, or planted a vineyard is given a year to rejoice with his possessions.
Not that a wife is a possession or anything. Still, I sort of like this one. It says to me, Go ahead. Enjoy what is new in your life, but after a while, it's not new anymore, so you should probably go out and find something else new to rejoice.
Speaking of which ... The new apartment is perfectly situated between a gym and a movie theater, two of my favorite pastimes. Walking home from Mussar Va'ad, Dana, Josh, and I came upon the marquee of the Park Slope Pavilion, lit up for the late show, and on a whim went to see if anything was just starting. It was 9:45 PM, and as luck would have it, a show was starting at 9:45. Now, I've been to this theater many times before, but not since moving 2 blocks away, and also not since the movie theater bed bug scare. For two weeks, I've put Walk to Pavilion on my Never Done list, and for two weeks, I haven't gotten over my bedbug apprehensions. Maybe it was the perfect timing, maybe it was the new street couch, but Josh and I went in (Dana went home) and had a great time watching a pretty bad movie (Morning Glory.) We would have gone in to see anything at that moment -- it really was about the timing -- but all I can say is thank g-d for Jeff Goldblum. (Is that one of the 613 mitzves? Thank g-d for the super-talented Jew who played a hot alien in my all-time favorite romantic comedy, Earth Girls are Easy?)
Other than JG, the best, very best, really great part about seeing Morning Glory at the Pavilion was that it took less than 5 minutes to walk home. Shehekhianu!
**A word to readers. Thank you so much for your notes telling me you are reading and enjoying this blog. Would you mind becoming a Follower? All it takes is clicking the Follow button on the right. Thank you.
We had our Mussar Va'ad last night, and I was reminded of something I had forgotten. The idea behind this practice -- of doing something daily that I've never done before, and saying the Shehekhianu (which I've been remembering to say more often) is traditionally framed as a chosen mitzve practice. The mitzves are the commandments (mitzvot in Sephardic pronunciation) -- the 613 statements and principles of laws and ethics contained in the Torah. The 613 mitzves are incredibly interesting to study. Some of them are completely relevant to being a contemporary ethical person, and some of them are not any longer. Examples of ones that I find relevant -- and in some cases, incredibly moving:
Not to take revenge
Not to bear a grudge
Not to embarrass others
Not to oppress the weak
To release the mother bird if she was taken from the nest (I really love this one.)
Judges must not accept bribes
The king must not have too many horses
Not to sell her into slavery
Some of them are, to me, subjective and/or random. With these, I think it's interesting to learn/study/discover what the actual intent is behind them. Like:
Not to engage in astrology
Not to imitate them in customs and clothing
Not to go into a trance to foresee events
Some of them I disagree with. Strongly:
Men must not wear women's clothing
Women must not wear men's clothing
Not to marry non-Jews
The rapist must marry the maiden
And many I find to be better left to personal choice. These tend to be the ones which are most explicitly about religious observance:
To examine the signs of fish to determine between kosher and non-kosher
To rest on the seventh day
To put a mezuze on each door post
These are but a few examples, of course. I've given them here to help me examine my chosen daily mitzve practice -- to do something every day I've never done, and to say the Shehekhianu. This is not one of the 613 mitzves, but maybe it should replace one of the 613 that I don't think belong. The only mitzve I could find that relates to mine is this:
He who has taken a wife, built a new home, or planted a vineyard is given a year to rejoice with his possessions.
Not that a wife is a possession or anything. Still, I sort of like this one. It says to me, Go ahead. Enjoy what is new in your life, but after a while, it's not new anymore, so you should probably go out and find something else new to rejoice.
Speaking of which ... The new apartment is perfectly situated between a gym and a movie theater, two of my favorite pastimes. Walking home from Mussar Va'ad, Dana, Josh, and I came upon the marquee of the Park Slope Pavilion, lit up for the late show, and on a whim went to see if anything was just starting. It was 9:45 PM, and as luck would have it, a show was starting at 9:45. Now, I've been to this theater many times before, but not since moving 2 blocks away, and also not since the movie theater bed bug scare. For two weeks, I've put Walk to Pavilion on my Never Done list, and for two weeks, I haven't gotten over my bedbug apprehensions. Maybe it was the perfect timing, maybe it was the new street couch, but Josh and I went in (Dana went home) and had a great time watching a pretty bad movie (Morning Glory.) We would have gone in to see anything at that moment -- it really was about the timing -- but all I can say is thank g-d for Jeff Goldblum. (Is that one of the 613 mitzves? Thank g-d for the super-talented Jew who played a hot alien in my all-time favorite romantic comedy, Earth Girls are Easy?)
Other than JG, the best, very best, really great part about seeing Morning Glory at the Pavilion was that it took less than 5 minutes to walk home. Shehekhianu!
**A word to readers. Thank you so much for your notes telling me you are reading and enjoying this blog. Would you mind becoming a Follower? All it takes is clicking the Follow button on the right. Thank you.
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