Prayer as we enter Shabbat

[David  here, 

I decided to re-post this , because I think Esther did a bloody good job with this prayer.

Shabbat Shalom!]

As we begin our Shabbat, light our candles, entreat our beloveds to the Bride of Shabbat, pour wine and eat bread, eat our food ,may we all pray :

"May G-d protect those who are ill ,suffering, unsure, afraid today. May he bless those who are happy to bless others with that happiness; for those who are without bread today, may we remember and uplift those in need. May we be more Shalom in the name of the G-d of peace, show compassion in the name of the G-d of love and celebrate in the name of the G-d of life. May our actions & deeds be greater than our words, may we bring honour to faith and show by example the name of G-d, the creator of the universe. May The L-rd bless you and keep you, the L-rd make his face shine on you and be gracious to you, the L-rd  turn his face toward you and give you peace. May we say this in the name of  The L-rd our G-d. The L-rd alone."

Le us all say Amen, blessed be Adonai, now and forevermore.

Shavout Highlights

OK, so this is a thread so people can share their experiences of this year's Shavout, be it good, bad, something spiritual, a food recipe or if you are not a Jew, feel free to ask us questions about it. 

I'll kick off with my own downs & highlights- 

1) Food- excellent as ever. A great Sephardi/Ashkenazi fusion. I did the cooking,  as it is my week in the kitchen (and let us not forget one of many jobs has been to be a trained chef ).

2) Flowers- house was suitably decorated without being too garish and the smell has been very fragrant.

3) Tuesday night study- I've mentioned this before ,but I didn't stay up all night (I believe Hannah and Co did, though), in part because we've got younger members of our family, but also because our teenagers are doing 'A' level or 'GCSE' exams at the moment.  I do miss this in one way. I remember when I really got back into my Judaism at university and spent all night studying Torah with the person that was going to become my first wife, enjoying every single minute of it. And that's how I got my big black hat.

4) Family not present- Missed my eldest daughter, Natasha, who has been doing exams at university all week. Looking forward to the end of June, when it will be done. I do also miss my sister Esther, my sister Ruth  and brother Sholmo.

5)Sex - Fabulous love making with Mrs K.

6) Reading -We did read the book of Ruth and studied the 10 'Commandments', where we contrasted this with the 7 laws of Noah. Interestingly, the laws which bind all humanity don't call on people to believe in or worship G-d.

7) Leftovers -Still have cheesecake left over. 

8) Family Present -Great to see my sisters Hannah & Rachel and my brother Samuel on the second day, who were surprisingly alert, given their all night stay up.

9) Hilarious e-mail read before holiday ,began with - 'Mr Kavanagh. as tool of the international Zionist conspiracy'....

10) Favorite song - The Akdamut . This is a liturgical poem, written in Aramaic, sometimes put to music .It was composed by a person called Rabbi Meir, whose son was murdered during the 'Crusade' of 1096 (yet another reason why I cringe at Christians & some Jews, who think there should be another Crusade or think the original ones were somehow OK), and he was forced to defend the Torah and his Jewish faith in a debate with local priests, and successfully conveyed his certainty of G-d's power, His love for the Jewish people, and the excellence of Torah (perhaps stories like this might convey why Jews are extremely hostile to Christian missionary work, but also why we are steadfast in defending ourselves; if  your life depended on arguing for your faith, it becomes rather ingrained to debate well).

Well that's my brief summary.

Shabbat Shalom! 

One question

Hi All,

One of the purposes of this blog is to ask questions in a secure way, without being fearful of the consequences (i.e Internet anonymity) , be that  on any subject, but I guess religion in particular. So, what is on your heart today? If  you met G-d and could ask him anything, but it could only be one question, what would it be and why ?

I'll start off  with mine. Why did my mum and dad have to pass away? And the reason I ask this question : being an orphan I never got to know them and they me. It breaks me up, always, never being able to have that experience. Which is why, despite the bricks I have thrown at me for 'twisting the word of G-d to suit my sexuality' etc, I am a strong advocate of the family, my community and G-d . Incidentally, we sang this the Psalm -121-  on Tuesday night at the start of Shavous, which has always meant a lot to me, whenever I've needed some form of spiritual uplifting :

"Esa einai el heharim, 

me'ayin me'ayin yavo ezri

Esa einai el heharim, 

me'ayin me'ayin yavo ezri

Ezri me'im Hashem, 

Oseh shamayim va'aretz

Ezri me'im Hashem, 

Oseh shamayim va'aretz"

"I will lift up my eyes to the mountains.

From where does my help come? 

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains.

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the L-rd, 

who made heaven and earth.

My help comes from the L-rd, 

who made heaven and earth."

Over to you guys now, 

Love, H :)

Don't forget the Cheesecake....

We will be off writing the blog from tomorrow night to at least Thursday night, as it will soon be Shavuot. Please  use this thread to put your thoughts on if you so wish  and   may you be Blessed that you that you Should Receive The Torah with JOY , and in an a fashion that speaks to your innermost being.

PS- don't forget the cheesecake !

PPS- if  you've missed what Shavuot is about, check out this brief video -

Dr Who, Part II

Hi All,

As Dr Who is back in August, with a new incarnation .The Doctor, the hero of the show,  is a rebel  Time Lord- a race of beings who have mastered space-time travel,  but are forbidden to interfere in the affairs of the universe,  from the planet Gallifrey.The Doctor describes it here :

                                                                        And here :

The Doctor, like all Time Lords can 'regenerate' into a new body when he dies or is ill and he of course totally rejects the idea of not combating the evil in the universe (having been put on trial twice by his own people for this offence); his biggest enemies are the Daleks (genocidal fascists), Cybermen (Borg get lost) and fellow Time Lord, but opposite , 'the Master' .The Doctor has regenerated  many times so far. Herein is the full list -

And the ones only revealed after last year's 50th anniversary special :

I. The eighth doctor regenerates  into 'the war Doctor' -

II . The War Doctor regenerates  :

 here is the latest regeneration after to introduce the New Who,  as per the winter special :

'A universe without The Doctor Scarcely bears thinking about'

Thank you all : some heart, some theology

Hi all,

I've updated, edited and redrafted some of this  post, which I wrote in haste last night...

Me and my housemates  & other friends are just having a summer BBQ , with Kosher Sausages and Beef burgers.  I just wanted to say on behalf of me and my girlfriend Sarah, THANK YOU for being so lovely and kind to us as we have admitted our feeling for each other & made our relationship public; yes it is an intimate and close one and that is all we want to say about that. Neither of us can tell you what it means to have this support and this love. I've been, for a couple of years,  in a deep black hole for a while, a depressive, suicidal, horrible place where I've struggled with my religion, observance, belief  & sexuality: I've flipped and I've flopped, I've been uncertain, inconsistent, unsure, I've tried to tow the party line & above all I've been afraid of my true feelings and needs.

Should I be a Jew? Or a Christian ? Does Hashem love me? Am I allowed to express my love? Have a companion? A soulmate?

And the answer is, after 10 years of difficulty,  yes ! yes and yes! I am a Jew, proud of my heritage, loving every Jew, every Synagogue, loving our homeland of Israel with a passion that I cannot express. Loving & loyal, but not necessarily, understanding of our G-d and  the Torah. But yet,  I am LOVED by Hashem; as child of the G-d of   Abraham Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, as child of Israel, made in his image, created by him.

I've known great joy, but great sadness and a deep, deep, longing to be loved by someone and to love in return. But, bit, by bit I've been able to understand these issues, thank Hashem. But thanks to YOU guys, my FAMILY AND MY FRIENDS, who have always been there for me, who have loved me and supported me through all the pain and all the difficulties. 

I love you all lots,  THANK YOU !! XXXXXXX

I also know that not everyone is happy at present, that people do struggle, strive and don't get everything about religion and sexuality, or just life :  the pain, the love, the tears, the difficulties, the cultural pressures & how one has to deal with fundamentalist attitudes as the bee all and end all of Orthodoxy. Well, we are here for you .As is G-d. G-d loves all of humanity. You don't need to be a Jew to know him and to love him or to walk in his ways. You don't need to dress up or wear a black hat to worship him, you just need to hear his voice. He LOVES you and all of humanity. 

This is my personal view and passions. But how does this stack up against Judaism and current Rabbinical thought?

Dominicans in feathers ...

Hi All, 

Last year, I had the pleasure of visiting the City of Birmingham. It is really a cool place, quite multi-cultural and of course the people - the Brummies- have that wonderfully soft spoken, laid back accent and of course their notorious deadpan sense of humour (I should know as I live with one). One of the highlights was to visit the Museum and Art Gallery. On of my favorite paintings is this one, called 'Dominicans in feathers' by Henry Marks . I like all things penguin, but I did wonder about  about the religious illusions in the title . 

Looking this up, apparently (via the Birmingham M& AG site)  :

"The title compares the black and white plumage of the penguins to the black and white robes of Dominican monks. It was intended to be both gently comic and more bitingly satirical. Marks was noted for both his humourous subjects and his paintings of birds. In his autobiography he notes that birds made better models that humans, since they were less conceited, less greedy and less boring."

But what is it about penguins and 'dominicans' (whom I believe are an order of Monks?), which makes this satire. 

Or am I just not arty enough to get the satire ? 

Can anyone help?