Note To Self

Dear Self,
Yes, I know you were out in the sun a lot today. I know you didn't sleep well last night because of the weird interruptions in your sleep cycle due to the malfunctioning fire alarm system, I know you were in various moving vehicles and nicely stayed awake in all of them, I know you're sort of spacey right now. However, that still doesn't mean that you should be trying to put on your dance shoes to go to ma'ariv- that wouldn't do you or the shoes so much good. Also, do take your Tanakh with you so you can sit somewhere other than your room to reread at least a reasonable chunk of Kings after your daven, so that you actually focus and then go to sleep at some sort of vaguely reasonable hour, since you have an interview of sorts, no matter how low-key Steve says it will be, tomorrow morning, for some work for the month you're in NYC before camp starts...

Note To Self

Dear Self,
Yes, I know you were out in the sun a lot today. I know you didn't sleep well last night because of the weird interruptions in your sleep cycle due to the malfunctioning fire alarm system, I know you were in various moving vehicles and nicely stayed awake in all of them, I know you're sort of spacey right now. However, that still doesn't mean that you should be trying to put on your dance shoes to go to ma'ariv- that wouldn't do you or the shoes so much good. Also, do take your Tanakh with you so you can sit somewhere other than your room to reread at least a reasonable chunk of Kings after your daven, so that you actually focus and then go to sleep at some sort of vaguely reasonable hour, since you have an interview of sorts, no matter how low-key Steve says it will be, tomorrow morning, for some work for the month you're in NYC before camp starts...

Continuing Thoughts On Inclusive Liturgy: The Imahot

I've been very slowly pondering the whole issue of the inclusion of the imahot (the matriarches) in the Amidah. The lines of reasoning that hotshot2000, hatam_soferet and shirei_shibolim have shared with me over the last semester have been rather persuasive. Between them, it is hard to argue that the benefit that making that change would have/has is more powerful than the combination of the halakhic arguments against making the addition and the lesser tradition that we have regarding the matriarchs' relationships with G-d. I'm still not sure that I quite stomach the second argument, no matter how clear it may be from the actual text: much like my classmates who still don't quite like to believe that the story of Abraham smashing his father's idols isn't in Tanakh, I still have this very egalitarian image of G-d's relationships with the Avot and Imahot based on the way I originally learned those stories, even now that I know the real text. But that in combination with the myriad halakhic concerns- well, I've mostly given up the practice in that context. I tried out the short piyyut that Rabbi Golinkin suggests, and it somehow does not carry very much liturgical power for me. Somehow the idea of entering into the matriarchs' tent is less relevant and less powerful than invoking G-d as the G-d of someone. The former is still very human-based: it's emulation-based, while the latter is theocentric, at least in the way that I've always seen it- at the very least, it's about the explicit connection between our people and G-d. Maybe there could be a more effective short piyyut waiting to be written, I don't know. I still feel like there's a little bit of a hole in my liturgy, but I'm adjusting.

On the other hand, I'm quite happily keeping my matriarchs in bentshing whenever I do the full text. I looked at the words that are paired with the matriarchs there and the words paired with the patriarchs, and those for the matriarchs seem just as fitting and no more of a stretch to select than those used for the patriarchs. And well, there are fewer concerns in that piece of text. So I guess if I want more chances to use women in liturgy, I just need to eat more bread/say All of birkat hamazon more often rather than stopping after the mandatory section. Somehow I have a feeling that this combination of practices will probably get me some funny looks someday, but oh well.

Continuing Thoughts On Inclusive Liturgy: The Imahot

I've been very slowly pondering the whole issue of the inclusion of the imahot (the matriarches) in the Amidah. The lines of reasoning that hotshot2000, hatam_soferet and shirei_shibolim have shared with me over the last semester have been rather persuasive. Between them, it is hard to argue that the benefit that making that change would have/has is more powerful than the combination of the halakhic arguments against making the addition and the lesser tradition that we have regarding the matriarchs' relationships with G-d. I'm still not sure that I quite stomach the second argument, no matter how clear it may be from the actual text: much like my classmates who still don't quite like to believe that the story of Abraham smashing his father's idols isn't in Tanakh, I still have this very egalitarian image of G-d's relationships with the Avot and Imahot based on the way I originally learned those stories, even now that I know the real text. But that in combination with the myriad halakhic concerns- well, I've mostly given up the practice in that context. I tried out the short piyyut that Rabbi Golinkin suggests, and it somehow does not carry very much liturgical power for me. Somehow the idea of entering into the matriarchs' tent is less relevant and less powerful than invoking G-d as the G-d of someone. The former is still very human-based: it's emulation-based, while the latter is theocentric, at least in the way that I've always seen it- at the very least, it's about the explicit connection between our people and G-d. Maybe there could be a more effective short piyyut waiting to be written, I don't know. I still feel like there's a little bit of a hole in my liturgy, but I'm adjusting.

On the other hand, I'm quite happily keeping my matriarchs in bentshing whenever I do the full text. I looked at the words that are paired with the matriarchs there and the words paired with the patriarchs, and those for the matriarchs seem just as fitting and no more of a stretch to select than those used for the patriarchs. And well, there are fewer concerns in that piece of text. So I guess if I want more chances to use women in liturgy, I just need to eat more bread/say All of birkat hamazon more often rather than stopping after the mandatory section. Somehow I have a feeling that this combination of practices will probably get me some funny looks someday, but oh well.