On Shavuot and on Tu Be Av - the Jewish "Valentine's" Day

Shavuot

I am a devout non Torah Jew. What do I mean by that? Let me explain (listen carefully children.) I believe in G?d. I believe in the G?d of Adon Olam. I believe in a G?d who reveals Himself to Herself endlessly, and Herself to Himself, and Itself to Itself endlessly, over and over again without beginning or end. I believe in G-d the letter writer and letter deliverer, who makes many and infinitely varied cameos in Whalt Whitman's leaves of grass.

I neither believe or disbelieve in revelation at Sinai. Revelation at Sinai is three words. It is a thought. It is an idea. And all words, all thoughts, all ideas require a knower, a Knower, to be known. That which is the Knower precedes anything known. It is the screen upon which the known appears and dissapears, rises and falls. It seems to me to be far more urgent to investigate that which knows of Sinai than that which is known (Sinai). Without "me" , without that which is aware of ideas, there is no Sinai. The idea of Sinia stands or falls with me. To explore Sinai without exploring the explorer seems to me to be madness, stuntedness, a waste of "time". Judaism, like any ism, is a story, and stories have huge power, especialy when they have been told and retold, but to turn and face the loneliness that existed before the tale and after the tale....is that not a deeper, better place to rest? It seems to me that Hillel might have been referring to this when he says - in Meshechet Sukkot - "If I am here then everything is here, and if I am not here, then nothing is here."

(to be continued, when time and tide and G?d permit)

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On Tu B' Av

Things I love about my partner

The clever way she leaves tops off bottles so that they absorb the flavours of the room (or fridge) and gain interesting new tastes

The money we save from not having to buy new bath plugs because the hairs that have gathered there stop the water from going out.

The way she’ll take the bike rack off the car leaving a metal hook behind in the chassis that then falls off who-knows-where rendering the 200$ thing useless, thus preventing any further mountain bike expeditions to distant locations , and saving us time money and lots of effort. I mean who needs recreation when you can have frustration.

Things she loves about me.

The way I artfully decorate our bedroom with my bits of dental floss

The way I skilfully draw her attention over and over again to four grapes or the remainder of the boys breakfast cereal that she threw away when they were, in my opinion, still edible.