November 25, 2012 | 9:00 am

This Village IS Helping

Posted by Emily Stern

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Rabbi Shim'on ben Pazi noted a contradiction: [B'reshis 1:16] says, "God made the two big luminaries" and "the big luminary… and the small luminary".

God made the two great lights: the great light for ruling the day and the small light for ruling the night, as well as the stars." (Gen. 1:16)

 

He told her: "Go diminish yourself."

She told him: "Master of the world, because I said something proper to you I have to diminish myself?"

He told her: "Go and rule [=shine] by day and night. But

what is the value of this?" cried the moon." The Talmud Bavli, Chulin 60:2

 

MY CONTRIBUTION:

Don't Think the Sun didn't complain saying, "ONLY TWO? ONLY TWO SHARING THE CROWN? THERE SHOULD BE MANY, MAYBE ALL!"

The truth is, we need space to build a well, a space to wish and think from. Please look into this community and what they are doing. I am particularly interested in the building of a body of water in Israel modeled after that in Tamera, Portegal. 

 

http://timeforpeace2012.tumblr.com

http://www.prv-association.org

 

Our vision
The vision of the Peace Research Village in the Middle East (PRV-ME) is to develop a model of living together that acts as a research tool for the study of peace. This model is carried by a committed core group of Israelis, Palestinians and internationals who put their lives in service of the idea that sustainable peace can be achieved only when it touches all aspects of life. The PRV-ME is part of an international network of peace communities that model cooperation between humans and nature to support the transformation towards a sustainable and peaceful world.

History of the project
The Peace Research Village project began focusing on Israel-Palestine as a direct response to the beginning of the second Intifada in 2000. Since then many peace camps and workshops have been held in Tamera (Portugal) in which Israelis and Palestinians gained knowledge and experience in outer and inner peace work and in the issue of building community. Two powerful pilgrimages took place through the land of Israel-Palestine. A core group of peace activists has been established for studying and working towards the manifestation of the PRV-ME vision and the circles of support are expanding rapidly.

Where we are now
After some years of peace education in Tamera we are happy to be back in the holy land for a time of service and manifestation. During this time we will work on various projects: introducing and modeling the vision of water retention landscapes in the Middle East, publishing books and study materials in Hebrew and Arabic, and being in service for the uprising of a new culture. The high point of this time will be in April 2012 - a month of intensive community experience and education time about the connection of inner and outer peace work, which will serve as an opportunity to connect with a healed picture of the holy land.

October 15, 2012 | 6:34 am

Hovering

Posted by Emily Stern

Greatness is not what tells you to be more Great. Is there a simple resting place in this world? They say the point of it all is to create a world for Gd to dwell. There is no stillness here.

 

In The Sforno's commentary on The second sentance of the Torah, I just read, he speaks of "Gd HOVERING over the face of the waters"  as the creation of Fire. That Indeed, The Hovering was so Active that it creates sparks out of breath Like Lovers.

 

There are those nowadays who use their bodies as if they were always free falling. I see them dancing and riding one another's waves, making sense of something so mysterious by stepping in,

 

and sometimes thoughts seem denser, or like steering wheels, and sometimes like seeds in waters of Evaporation.

 

 

 

See:

http://www.gabrielleroth.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5Rhythms

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October 6, 2012 | 5:40 pm

Sukkot#3

Posted by Emily Stern

I had met this man who said to me, "I bet if it came down to it, everyone would be running after their own lot. They may think they want something else."

Yes this is for you. you are not alone. That we are created in the image. the image isn't our own. So there's nothing that can happen that itsn't part of some scheme. Ever the need for alone time- ever a theme. Invited in.

invite Gd in, and no one is written out of the Book of Life. No one in the world. And in the sukkah, this prayer is heard.

So when it's time for Purim which means lots, or Yom Ki-ppur (a day Like Purim) we go after our own lot. Pray for what we have, even our safety nets, prayers for the world . . . Jealousy is insignificant.  

Invited in. We have invited Gd in, everyone is in the book of life. Every one in the world. In the sukkah, this prayer is heard.

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October 2, 2012 | 10:35 pm

Through Out The World: Sukkot #2

Posted by Emily Stern

They say the gates of Forgiveness have closed on Yom Kippur,

but walk through any gate you want-- the sukah has no doors.

AND I've learned that every sukkah inside is connected, each sukkah is

completely one  throughout the world, so you see it really is growing.

Don't get too attached to the gate you're standing in

ARE you using this moment to cover yourself

or to really reveal? Turn the world inside out, and we're splitting at the seams. Turn the sukkah inside out, and the world is built of peace.

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September 28, 2012 | 12:19 pm

Sukkah #1

Posted by Emily Stern

The moment that we made it here
to the sukkah of his I don't need to feel anything
I don't want to do anything except build
I do in peace.
I don't need this to be a sexual metaphore, or one of comfort. You don't need to have a face
for me to love you. It doesn't need to even be covered by being
Yours and others'. I don't need to see you with
your banner, 
I just need You. I need You. I do.

 

It's so nice of you to show us how much you love
surrounding you and everything.
This wing, this embrace, this skylight above the holy arc,
this well, this chuppah open to the sky, 

we can think of it as protection, as our fragility,

a truest home to come down to,

as a place for joy. 

 

The way we connect shaking the lulav through the air
and make a straight line that we can remember
We can see you in every way,  
jumping in the worlds
and how you rest inside with your whole heart-- (etrog)

We have to cuddle, and keep our distance
to come together
and still, seeing you in the face
looking at me, I can hardly believe it.
and when we close the togetherness
there is always more, come and build your sukkah here
walk trough any gate you want.
cleanse yourself again and again, 

I need you. I need you. I do.

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September 25, 2012 | 8:58 am

Land Flowing With Milk

Posted by Emily Stern

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September 13, 2012 | 2:14 pm

A Rosh Hashana Invite

Posted by Emily Stern

part 1

 

I am planning a birthday party for all of us-- the one big person that we are. I am buying balloons and a banner and a birthday cake (maybe a honey one) and we are having a picnic in my apartment. I will not hang a sign saying, "the party's here" because the party's everywhere, our tremendous party. This is what the party will be.

 

Every moment of Rosh Hashana, a Breslover told me once, is a microcosm, a very concentrated, consecrated microcosm of the year. Some say this about the whole month of Elul leading up to the holiday. The whole of life, the pores that infiltrate the endless moments, These momentary moments like spokespeople for the central point of each molecular structure. When your body changes shape in the night . . .

 

A great friend said once that if we all make up Adam, the first man, the head of the human race, a large large person that we all comprise, she said that if we all make up adam, that she is the part of the hand that took the fruits from Eve. I love her. She will eat honey cake and laugh at my party at the stories being told and the blessings being given. We will eat LETTUCE and I will bless us, "Let us . . . " and when we are eating strawberries I will say, "may all your coarseness (straw) turn to berries."

 

I feel the waves of changing lasting in my head a little longer than usual, and I raise myself to this level remembering all those whirling Breslov men-- dancing, b'simcha because today is the day, if ever there are to be days again because the days have blessed them. and this same friend will laugh at the list of "funny things children say" that I printed off the internet. I wonder what else will happen as we propel ourselves into these next moments, these next memories, These collisions of NOW and nows and Then and experiences.

 

 

 

part 2.

 

and we reach the birthday that is the individual's that maybe you share with one other person you know, the once in a year birthday for you that you come into after we have tasted the wholeness of heaven on rosh hashana, when we are one.  I would hope to have a birthday. When is your birthday?

 

and this day . . . this day . . .This this rosh Hashaa, we will stand over the stars. Shooting stars, the light like lightning, the ones who teach, the one who twinkle and remind us who we are. "The funny things grandchildren say." Are you laughing today, Avraham, Sarah? Rivka? Rachel? Leah? are you laughing at the way we twinkle and

 

light the candles and blow the bugles

and joke around in the seriousness

as the King's whatever we ares.

Having built a temple we can't yet see.

Have you noticed your torah, the way you see it, is getting sweeter? It's because Moshiach is in our heads, living, but not in the imaginative way.

In the way we crown the kind king

like how some sages said the soul rests in the head.

 

yes, that close.

 

in joy,

 

Sweet New Year, Happy Birthday, Mazal Tov, Shalom

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July 10, 2012 | 9:12 pm

Begging To Give

Posted by Emily Stern

The mother and the baby are coming through
asking for some money.

He said, “I sleep in the subway.”

It feels good to give. Don’t you feel it bubbling up?
I feel it bursting through.

I took him out to pizza and he started to sell umbrellas.
“Sorry” he says, “if it’s embarrassing.”
Yes, it was when I’m the one to bring you here, but I loved him, “You got to try” I said.

“MY DEAR FRIEND, we will be begging to give each other gifts,” I say, “someday very soon—you’ll see.”
The sign, ‘I’m hungry’
before it can open my heart, it is delivered.

“They don’t even see me” he said.

“It’s a gift that I can see you this way so I can give.  Oh, I sense it,” I said, “that very soon, I will be the beggar—begging to give to the blind.”

We walked like good friends on top of the world.

we sing the rhythms of the city together.

He said, “sleep one night in the subway. Just one night. Just see.”

The rhythm of the traffic. I hear the women with their strollers, I know he speaks in tongues.

He says,

“the subway workers let me use their showers when they’re not using them.  The people who don’t have showers sometimes give me their clothes to wash them. ”

“there’s something to put on the resume,” i say.

How lucky I am that you would take me home, give me a first class tour,
Someday, the whole world will be, or maybe we already are,
begging to give one another gifts.

He says,
“the song you sing’s about love.”

“Yes, it’s a blessing from a long time ago.” I thought he’d follow me all night.

“I’ve gotta go,” he says “I have umbrellas to sell—got ‘em wholesale from the vender on the street.”

“someday very soon
we will be begging to give each other gifts,” I say.

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