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magidThe War Memorial building construction is really close to done now. The gym/pool facility opened in January, but the sidewalk in front was only unbarricaded two weeks ago. It's been a couple of years since I didn't have to cross the street heading to Harvard Square, and it feels great to have options (especially so I can choose sides based on shadiness, once it gets warm again). Not sure why the parking spaces along that stretch aren't available yet, though.
I heard "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" on the radio the other day, and the lyrics, as always, annoyed me in one particular place:
"I resolve to call her up a thousand times a day
And ask her if she'll marry me in some old fashioned way"
It's all about subordinate clauses. I hear this and wonder: is he resolving a thousand times a day, or resolving to call a thousand times a day? 'Cause if it's the latter, it sounds like a sure-fire way to piss her off (and how to come across as a control freak who may just get worse). And is the asking in an old fashioned way (on one knee?), or is the wedding? In both cases, the presumption is the former, but as written, technically leans more towards the latter. And then there's the option of mix'n'matching.
I went to Harvard Hillel Shabbat morning, and I'm very glad I did, since kiddush was in honor of Caroline B., an older lady who's been in the minyan for 47 years. She looks just about the same to me as when I first started attending, not hugely frailer, but she's decided it's time to move to an assisted living facility, a new place built in Dedham, with a range of living options. It's so odd to think of her not being at shul at all; she's always sat in the second row, a steady presence in quietly-beautiful clothing.
This week someone gave a (not very inspiring, unfortunately) dvar Torah just before musaf, and I couldn't help but think of Abe, who was of the opinion that the dvar Torah should always be at a time when people could choose whether to attend, rather than it being a captive audience. When the dvar Torah was at the end of services, he'd walk out in protest (though he always attended if it were at the end of kiddush).
The parasha this week was a double one, Behar-Behukotai (double so that in leap years, each week of the leap month has a whole parasha). The beginning of Behar is about how every seven years, the land should lie fallow in a shmitta year, and every fiftieth year was a jubilee year, when not only did the land lie fallow, but debts were forgiven, land returned to its original owners, and slaves were freed. The parallels to counting the days and weeks of the omer as we get to Shavuot (next week, eek!) is clear, and it gave a bit more weight to the Karaite (I think it was Karaite; might be some other disagreeing group) opinion that the counting should always start on a Sunday, so weeks ended with Shabbat (yes, there's textual support for this, counting seven "shabatot"). It makes each Shabbat a mini-shmitta of a week complete, and Shavuot the shmitta-into-yovel of Shabbat-into-yom tov.
Sunday evening was a town meeting for Minyan Tehillah. The big issue of the night was about the policy of waiting to start shacharit (or whatever service a minyan is needed for) until 10 men and 10 women are present. The issue came up, I believe, not because of the wait times on Shabbat (which happen semi-regularly, but are generally short), but because of Rosh Hashana, when we waited 45 minutes. This was problematic, to say the least. The ritual committee had made a proposal about having given wait times, after which davening would continue, and the only vote was on whether or not to adopt that proposal, a straight up or down vote. There was time for perhaps half the people who wanted to speak on the topic to voice their opinions, and in the end it was a strong majority vote against. It was interesting to hear all the opinions, including a number of alternate suggestions.
I did another crochet doodle during the meeting, this one with a sort of loop-the-loop eyelet edging. Not sure why that, but I like the way it looks.
I heard "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" on the radio the other day, and the lyrics, as always, annoyed me in one particular place:
"I resolve to call her up a thousand times a day
And ask her if she'll marry me in some old fashioned way"
It's all about subordinate clauses. I hear this and wonder: is he resolving a thousand times a day, or resolving to call a thousand times a day? 'Cause if it's the latter, it sounds like a sure-fire way to piss her off (and how to come across as a control freak who may just get worse). And is the asking in an old fashioned way (on one knee?), or is the wedding? In both cases, the presumption is the former, but as written, technically leans more towards the latter. And then there's the option of mix'n'matching.
I went to Harvard Hillel Shabbat morning, and I'm very glad I did, since kiddush was in honor of Caroline B., an older lady who's been in the minyan for 47 years. She looks just about the same to me as when I first started attending, not hugely frailer, but she's decided it's time to move to an assisted living facility, a new place built in Dedham, with a range of living options. It's so odd to think of her not being at shul at all; she's always sat in the second row, a steady presence in quietly-beautiful clothing.
This week someone gave a (not very inspiring, unfortunately) dvar Torah just before musaf, and I couldn't help but think of Abe, who was of the opinion that the dvar Torah should always be at a time when people could choose whether to attend, rather than it being a captive audience. When the dvar Torah was at the end of services, he'd walk out in protest (though he always attended if it were at the end of kiddush).
The parasha this week was a double one, Behar-Behukotai (double so that in leap years, each week of the leap month has a whole parasha). The beginning of Behar is about how every seven years, the land should lie fallow in a shmitta year, and every fiftieth year was a jubilee year, when not only did the land lie fallow, but debts were forgiven, land returned to its original owners, and slaves were freed. The parallels to counting the days and weeks of the omer as we get to Shavuot (next week, eek!) is clear, and it gave a bit more weight to the Karaite (I think it was Karaite; might be some other disagreeing group) opinion that the counting should always start on a Sunday, so weeks ended with Shabbat (yes, there's textual support for this, counting seven "shabatot"). It makes each Shabbat a mini-shmitta of a week complete, and Shavuot the shmitta-into-yovel of Shabbat-into-yom tov.
Sunday evening was a town meeting for Minyan Tehillah. The big issue of the night was about the policy of waiting to start shacharit (or whatever service a minyan is needed for) until 10 men and 10 women are present. The issue came up, I believe, not because of the wait times on Shabbat (which happen semi-regularly, but are generally short), but because of Rosh Hashana, when we waited 45 minutes. This was problematic, to say the least. The ritual committee had made a proposal about having given wait times, after which davening would continue, and the only vote was on whether or not to adopt that proposal, a straight up or down vote. There was time for perhaps half the people who wanted to speak on the topic to voice their opinions, and in the end it was a strong majority vote against. It was interesting to hear all the opinions, including a number of alternate suggestions.
I did another crochet doodle during the meeting, this one with a sort of loop-the-loop eyelet edging. Not sure why that, but I like the way it looks.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-19 05:18 pm (UTC)Were there more than ten men and ten women present at the meeting? It seems to me that if you vote against this proposal, then you're making the implicit promise to show up on time.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-19 05:18 pm (UTC)That yarn doodle is amazing.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-19 05:26 pm (UTC)Personally, I'm enough of a medakdek sort of person that if davening is called for time X, I expect davening to start at time X, not X + 5 or X + 10. Sure, every so often, things happen, but it never starts on time, and it feels like it's dissing the people who do bother to get there on time in favor of the people running late. Which to me, encourages greater lateness.
Rather like this meeting, in fact, which started 15 minutes late, but they kept to the same end time (which meant fewer people could talk).
no subject
Date: 2009-05-19 05:29 pm (UTC)And thanks. I use DMC8 thread for these doodles, which is how I can make them so small (and portable :-). Of course, it means using a small metal crochet hook that I'm often surprised is allowed on airplanes, since I've punctured myself with it once or twice.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-20 03:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-20 03:40 am (UTC)I even asked the person running the meeting about why they were so particular about the end time, rather than adding those 15-20 minutes at the end, and was told that there was unhappiness with how late it ran last year. Which to me says, start on time. And if there are still people coming in at the start, well, they'll learn to be earlier. It's not like there wasn't other stuff before the main event, anyway.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-20 03:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-20 11:13 am (UTC)The main idea is to increase in the round too much, to get a rippled surface. The cilia and eyelet bits aren't particularly complex, just taking time.
And htank you.