Not a bad week but I'm ready for Shabbat.
Purim was wonderful this week. I had enough to drink to get through both services. The little ones had a great time and only a few were terrified by my "Yoda" costume. The full reading had a nice turnout - a dozen more than previous years and the reading itself was very good. It was really enjoyable to just relax, tell the story, and celebrate in face of all the tzurus this year ... being alive, relatively healthy, and being able to enjoy a happy day.
Action in Mongtomery had a good 550 people meeting Tuesday night with the County Exec. We've come a long way in 9 years. We were given a lot of respect by Ike Leggett, an agreement to work with us on Affordable Housing, saving Social Services in this hard time, and working toward availability of college monies and programs so all eligible HS graduates in our county could attend Montogomery Community College or the Maryland State System. The last is a long way off - but would really be the kind of Social Justice investment that Congregation Based Community Organizing is fundamentally about. I feel out of the loop with AIM and we had an abysmall turnout for Kehilat Shalom - but my energies are much more directed to Pastoral needs and CE 21 at this time.
I was really saddened by the death of Hazzan Komrad's father this week. He had joined us many times for High Holiday meals and on occasion for Passover Seder. I'll miss his warmth, his wit, his poney-tail, and even his jokes and stories.
Spend over half an hour on the phone last night with my sisters. They take of our aunt, my father's older sister, Shirley. She's in the hospital temporarily, from the S.A.G. Nursing home in New Jersey where she's lived for a number of years. They're treating an infection and have done all kinds of tests. Sadly my aunt's mind has been pretty much gone for a number of years and looking through her legal documents (Living Will and Health Care Proxy) - we see that she 's receiving treatment she would not have desired. We pretty much decided to implement following her wishes. Stop the invasive tests and let's get her back where she's comfortable and at home - and put in place (we hope) a system to guarantee that she's comfortable and without pain and stress. It's not easy to do even though we know it's what she wants and what's right for her. When the next infection hits - we all know what this means. We also know that this will not be good for my father, he already misses visiting his sister and the loss to him will be exceedingly painful if and when it happens.
Finally it's been nice having Tali around this week ... he'll be home May, June, July and part of August - so we miss him for two months and enjoy his company soon.
Shabbat Shalom,
Purim was wonderful this week. I had enough to drink to get through both services. The little ones had a great time and only a few were terrified by my "Yoda" costume. The full reading had a nice turnout - a dozen more than previous years and the reading itself was very good. It was really enjoyable to just relax, tell the story, and celebrate in face of all the tzurus this year ... being alive, relatively healthy, and being able to enjoy a happy day.
Action in Mongtomery had a good 550 people meeting Tuesday night with the County Exec. We've come a long way in 9 years. We were given a lot of respect by Ike Leggett, an agreement to work with us on Affordable Housing, saving Social Services in this hard time, and working toward availability of college monies and programs so all eligible HS graduates in our county could attend Montogomery Community College or the Maryland State System. The last is a long way off - but would really be the kind of Social Justice investment that Congregation Based Community Organizing is fundamentally about. I feel out of the loop with AIM and we had an abysmall turnout for Kehilat Shalom - but my energies are much more directed to Pastoral needs and CE 21 at this time.
I was really saddened by the death of Hazzan Komrad's father this week. He had joined us many times for High Holiday meals and on occasion for Passover Seder. I'll miss his warmth, his wit, his poney-tail, and even his jokes and stories.
Spend over half an hour on the phone last night with my sisters. They take of our aunt, my father's older sister, Shirley. She's in the hospital temporarily, from the S.A.G. Nursing home in New Jersey where she's lived for a number of years. They're treating an infection and have done all kinds of tests. Sadly my aunt's mind has been pretty much gone for a number of years and looking through her legal documents (Living Will and Health Care Proxy) - we see that she 's receiving treatment she would not have desired. We pretty much decided to implement following her wishes. Stop the invasive tests and let's get her back where she's comfortable and at home - and put in place (we hope) a system to guarantee that she's comfortable and without pain and stress. It's not easy to do even though we know it's what she wants and what's right for her. When the next infection hits - we all know what this means. We also know that this will not be good for my father, he already misses visiting his sister and the loss to him will be exceedingly painful if and when it happens.
Finally it's been nice having Tali around this week ... he'll be home May, June, July and part of August - so we miss him for two months and enjoy his company soon.
Shabbat Shalom,
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