Come join us to welcome Shabbat!

https://shabbat-gathering.ghost.io/shabbat-gathering-7/?ref=congregation-shaarei-shamayim-shabbat-gathering-newsletter

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What’s going on here.

https://bjohnson.substack.com/p/life-in-galut-a-blessing-on-this?s=w

Shabbat Shalom.

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Drash on Parsha Yitro, 5782

Drash on Parsha Yitro, 5782

About ten years ago, I found Shaarei Shamayim and its community embraced me as I embraced it. It has been a great blessing in my life and sustains me especially these past 18 months when I moved from the diaspora of Madison to the galut, the exile of the Ozarks to take care of my mother. One particular quality of our congregation I admire and respect is that we not only embrace people from every…

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Rabbits, by David Lynch

Rabbits, by David Lynch

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Still Sleepless in Alma

Still Sleepless in Alma

Haley Reinhart’s cover of Blind Faith’s Can’t Find My Way Home This is the second time I’ve posted this song to my newsletter because it feels oh so apt. I’m sure I heard Blind Faith’s original release in 1969. I was eleven-years-old and already listening to KISR-FM (Of course it was pronounced “kisser.”) KISR was the AOR station in Fort Smith and we all listened to it all the time. Anyway, the…

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The Third Season of Dickinson Explained

The Third Season of Dickinson Explained

www.nytimes.com/2021/11/09/arts/television/dickinson-final-season.html

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#1976Club – time from a little poetry from a prose master! #borges

I’ve written quite a bit about Borges lately, exploring books by and about him; and for the 1944 Club club I was able to read his “Ficciones”, which …#1976Club – time from a little poetry from a prose master! #borges

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Mom Fell Out Of Bed

Mom Fell Out Of Bed

Mom fell out of bed and I had to call an ambulance. Mom’s OK. She didn’t go to the hospital. It was the Tuesday of Simchat Torah and I had just finished leading a discussion group for my synagogue in Madison. I went downstairs to check on her after my event and discovered her on the floor of her bedroom. He head was wedged between the bed and the bedside table. I was able to extricate her and…

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Well, It Finally Happened...

Well, It Finally Happened…

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/44wDwMQVqCc?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0 Turn up your radioAnd let me hear the song On Thursday, July 16, I went out for a 10a grocery pick up at Walmart. I also needed to pick up some meds waiting for me. I left Mom sitting at the kitchen table: fed, caffeinated, medicated and listening to the radio. I was gone for maybe 30 minutes, tops.…

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Chess Sets Used by Jews During the Holocaust

Chess Sets Used by Jews During the Holocaust

From Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, a collection of chess sets used by Jews during the Holocaust . Some of the sets predate the war while others were made and used in camps and in hiding. Playing chess helped to alleviate the suffering of Jews and allowed them a few brief moments of relief from the hunger, the cold and the fear, temporarily easing their…

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It's Been A While...

It’s Been A While…

But I’m Back… I want to share this music video with you because it’s so good. Also, it sparks a memory for me. When the Talking Heads’ movie Stop Making Sense, was released in 1984, I was living in NYC and was engaged to be married to Abby. My fiancé and I went to a theater on the East Side of Manhattan to see the film. The unexpected thing that happened during the movie was how many people left…

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Short documentary about why championship chess sets are so expensive

Short documentary about why championship chess sets are so expensive

When the narrator says “less than 10 people are entrusted to carve the knights for world championship sets “, one’s mind may wander to the fact that chess authorities are among the most blatantly corrupt sporting bodies on Earth, so perhaps something hinky is at hand. — Read the rest Source: Short documentary about why championship chess sets are so expensive

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Drash: Balak: A Fable.

Drash: Balak: A Fable.

My name is Sylvia, but I’m better known as Balaam’s she-ass. It’s a blow to my ego to be a mere supporting character in his story, but, as my mother used to say, it is what it is. Balaam and I go way back. We were born the same year in Pethor on the banks of the Euphrates. Balaam’s father made me a gift to his son and so it was. Those were happy days way back then. The annual highlight was…

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Gramophone, 4/14/21: Creativity and friendship: Sir Tom Stoppard and André Previn

Gramophone, 4/14/21: Creativity and friendship: Sir Tom Stoppard and André Previn

On the occasion of a retrospective of Andre Previn, Gramophone has posted on Previn’s creative relationship with Stoppard. Very good and highly recommended. Nunn, Stoppard, and Previn Sir Tom Stoppard and André Previn collaborated in a daring innovation of ground-breaking originality when they created Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, which premiered at London’s Royal Festival Hall on July 1,…

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Two Jabs Accomplished!

(Sorry, no musical theme this time.) Mom and I got our second doses of the Covid vaccine and everything went smoothly just like the first time. I was impressed by the organization of the operation. And we had no side effects whatsoever. But this will have little to no effect on our lifestyle. We’re secluded and will remain this way for the foreseeable future. Mom’s dementia has increased. She…

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Chess in film: “Casablanca”

Chess in film: “Casablanca”

For more than 70 years, the 1942 film Casablanca has made lovers — and those who want to be lovers — dream. In 2002, the American Film Institute voted it the best American love story of all time and, in 2007, it was voted the third best American Film of All Time. Source: Chess in film: “Casablanca”

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