TheTsunami, the Talmud and the Web

So life here is different than in other places that we have lived, here we do not have a television, the radio reception at best is poor, nor do two newpapers drop at our doorstep every day, we rely for the most part on the web for our source of information and of course because the community of English speakers is fairly tight we also rely on one another for the tidbits of news.

We read, alot!! I picked up a book this morning called, The Talmud and The Internet, we have had it in the library for many years but neither of us had read it . If you like the title I recommend it, it is a short little book but by no means to be taken lightly. It set me to thinking about the way in which this year started.

The Tsunami to end all, the tragic, horrific, destruction it reeked across the Indian Ocean is still being evaluated. In a tidbit of news from an online Israeli paper we read that there is an oceanographic survey underway above the epicenter to try and determine the number of sea creatures and fish that perished in the wake of this massive earthquake. One scientist said that in flying over the area in a helicopter he saw huge fish, octopus and other creatures floating on the surface in what he called "a sea of dross".

Then this past week we watched the news from home as the floods ravaged California where we once lived, and landslides, mudslides and other incidents of nature brought about destruction and loss of life to people who again didn't know that they were in harms way until it was too late.

That led me to give thought to a story that I had heard years ago about a Rabbi who protected his village with prayers and rituals whenever he heard that disaster was about to strike, and how he passed the knowledge down to his son, who only carried on the tradition partly and still was able to divert disaster and how it passed from generation to generation until at last no one really remembered the rituals or the prayers they only remembered that once those things had been and because they remembered disaster was averted!

Whether the aboves story is true or is only a 'folktale' it brings to mind that most of the world holds some sort of religious practice at it's center of being, and all of those varying practices have books which they feel are divinely inspired and from which they draw their individual rituals, beliefs and practices.

Here in Tzfat we see several rivers of tradition at work. The Orthodox,Chassid, secular Jews or the ultra religious, those who are Muslim, those who are Christian and those who are perhaps Hindu or Buddhist. Most of the rivers run peacefully enough alongside each other and share some things in common.

When one visits the open air market on Wednesdays to get fruits, vegetables and other food items as well as to have the experience of dealing with the various merchants, one sees the variety of the life of Tzfat in a closed area where all of us no matter what stream we follow are reduced to simple consumers.

We all haggle with the merchants and they in turn with us but all in all we come away feeling as if we got the best bargain and the best produce available! You never see unhappy faces at the market, everyone loves it, the colors the sounds, the smells and the haggling are all in good stead, and no one seems to notice what you are wearing, or how you speak, we all just flow with the day.

The Talmud goes back at least two thousand years, what is it? It isn't God given holy scripture, no it is the haggling of the pious men of centuries ago who argued over the meaning of certain verses of the Torah. They not only argued but they agreed and disagreed and then agreed to disagree about the things that are written there. It is a dialogue as alive now as it was centuries ago in which all the learned men discuss the sections of scripture, and the meanings of those sections which were written by the learned men who came before them. It is the web of lifelines that stretches back across the years and connects those of us who are Jews to the minds, the knowledge and the insight of our forbearer.

SO? You are saying by now, what has all this to do with the Tsunami or the Web? Well, think about this, for years we have known that all life whether it is plant, animal, marine or human is made up of five basic elements...CHOPS...Carbon, hydrogen,oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. And that all of life, including that of Giai, mother earth are interconnected and dependent upon each other.

The Tsunami may not seem connected to what has happened 18 hours away on the coast of California, nor to the volcanoes which sprung to life unexpectedly in the mountains of South America, or to the floods in the plains of the US, or the floods in countries in Europe who should be experiencing winter, or the snow slide in the mountains in Utah, but the pious men who studied and argued the scripture that became the Talmud if they were here would tell you that these events are not only connected but that no one should be surprised by the fact that they have happened. And with the modernization of today's technology a quick search of the web, (the net with which we all discuss, argue, dialogue and communicate), will reveal that although the scientific minds of the world are trying hard to make sense of all these cataclysmic events, the news media of the super powers are doing their best to make us all believe that none of it is connected so we shouldn't worry.

Sitting here on our mountain top, we scan the sky and see a tiny trace of rain, we need rain, we are in fact desperate for it. We watch the sky in the morning as the sun rises and see a moon too high, for the hour of the day and a sun bright and warm which should not come this time of year and we wonder. No Connection? Then just yesterday we caught a tiny bit of news from a scientific web site that is run by some of the worlds best scientist, and collaborates with NASA, the earth is off her axis at the pole by one inch. One inch might not seem like much but the earthquake that caused the Tsunami was responsible for the one thing that might affect all of us, the tiny tilt of our axis from it's original position. No Connection?

Think about it, try to look into your own religious writings, whatever your tradition, search out the bits and pieces of what has happened over the past month and see what you think. We like the Rabbi's of the Talmud should be discussing, agreeing, disagreeing and agreeing to disagree, but what we should not be doing in these hours of our dear planets travail is to sit idle, and believe what the news media tells us. We should all be actively searching the sacred texts of our own faiths and trying to put together some sense of all of it. We should be calling upon our God, whatever the name might be to give us insight and foresight and most of all to aide us in this time when so many are finding their faith so stretched and torn by the tragedies which have befallen them.

Even When the Storms Rage

This past week brought a great storm to our area, all of Israel is in need of rain so we welcome it whenever it comes. The usual trip to Carmiel which takes about twenty five minutes dragged into almost an hour as the ride home was hampered by dense fog and sheets of rain so heavy that the roads literally were awash.
It reminded us that Hashem is both a mother and a father. The good mother was providing the earth with the most important element of life...water. Then when we tuned into the news on the computer we saw that in the ravaged areas of the Indian ocean, where they had seemingly already had all the water they could possibly stand, it was also raining in torrents and hampering the relief efforts. I am sure that the people there didn't thank Hashem for the rain, in fact I wonder if their faith hasn't been tested almost to the breaking point.
Long years ago, when enduring a personal trial that challenged every belief that I had formed over my life, I remember screaming at Hashem over the conditions of my life. There was a very good friend of mine standing by my side at the time and she whispered to me, " He is present, even when the Storms Rage about us! Even when the darkness of evil in the world is almost more than we can bear, even in the most unexpected and unbelievable conditions, He is present."
The storm was fierce, the clouds dumped so much rain in such a short period of time that the steps leading down to our courtyard entry became a waterfall, rushing over the stone steps so fast that one could hardly stand up while trying to get down them, coming home we expected a dry warm house, and found that indeed it was pretty warm but the water had invaded our bedroom and living room, so today Theo is busy refitting the window seals and putting in splash guards to prevent a recurrence of this situation.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could put in a system that warned the world of any impending storms, like those suffered in the East Indian Ocean this past week? What if God had fitted the world with such a system that we would be warned ahead of time if destructive storms of nature or disease or disaster or evil was coming and all we had to do was stop and pray and that would take care of us?
Sitting here in this very spiritual place, we often talk about how evil has gotten such a strong foothold here on earth. The other evening during one of these talks, we remembered that once there was a Swami who believed that if he could get all the people on earth to sit still and meditate all at the same time for one solid hour we would call down Nervana!
We admit that this was at best, one man's idea, but...what if all of us stopped at the same time all over the world and just thought good thoughts, or prayed or chanted or read something spiritual for one hour...don't you wonder what would happen if we could accomplish that?
Even when the Storms Rage...the One who created all of this earth is present, he/she is in the thunder, the rain and Yes,even the sunami...hard to believe as it may seem, it is true.

Please feel free to comment, refer to the guidelines of our first post/

Letters on Peace from Tzfat, Israel

We live on a hill facing the world, off course not literally the whole world, but the sights that we can see from our windows are amazing. We never cease to be amazed by the clouds drifting past, the birds who at first do not see the windows and at the last minute turn to avoid crashing into them. We see weather here which is fantastic, we can watch the storms come over the mountain on the opposite side of the valley of Jezreel and make their way to us bringing rain or wind or both, or sun and wispy clouds that hold no water!
We meditate a lot, looking out these windows. We pray here too, and sometimes we merely sit, a captive audience to whatever spendid multi faceted show God decides to put on today.
Where are we? In Tzfat, Israel. Our tiny little home hangs off the edge of the cliff above other homes. It's walls are ancient rock, formed in the beginning of time and carved out of the edges of the mountain over two thousand years ago. This is a place of heroic stands, of battles for existence, of wonderful historic value, but the spiritual worth of the place is beyond comprehension.
We came here two months ago to live out the rest of our earthly lives, we chose this place from a host of others because we felt a presence here of something beyond us, not a religious sort of thing, not Christian or Jewish or Muslim or Buddhist, but a Shechinah presence, a presence as if God walked here.
We have always worked all of our lives for Peace, in the neighborhoods where we made our home in America within our work place, in our homes and families, and now we want to continue that work here in Tzfat!
Well, you might say, if this is already a spiritual place what need is there of Peace makers?
Over the next few months we hope to be able to answer that and other questions that you may have about why our world is not at Peace, and what all of us as individuals might do to change that!
Please, feel free to comment on our postings, stay within the perameters of civility, and high moral standards when doing so. Postings will be monitored for content and the authors of this site take no responsiblity for any comments other than their own postings.
Thank You;
Leah & Theo PettePiece