Shabbat Inspiration with Diane

  This week I had a new experience. I can’t say it was on my bucket list. As a matter of fact, it was an activity that was w-a-a-a-y-y-y outside of my comfort zone. Perhaps that is the point.   A month or so ago my favorite radio show Chagigah Radio on Sunday morning was doing a fundraiser. I was so moved by the DJ Hal Slifer’s plea for support that Sid and I donated an amount that allowed us to a “Meet and Greet” with him. This included taking a tour of the station, lunch with Hal, and to be a guest DJ on the program to introduce two songs of our choosing. At the time, in theory, it seemed like it would be fun and a good opportunity to be engaged in my Jewish community.... Read More →

  We often hear claims that God is not real. The positions range from those who may consider He was at some point during the days of our early ancestors but surely not today, to those who do not entertain the possibility at all. Some may feel He is around but doesn’t make Himself known except randomly without design. Others doubt a supernatural possibility of His existence, or if so, not one with good intentions or complete authority given the state of our world.   The variety of views of the existence of God and His abilities is endless. Yet to those of us who know He is real and are in deep relationship with Him, events such as the following are mind blowing.   Last... Read More →

  Tuesday morning I woke up and said to Sid, “I don’t have an encouragement for this week.” We had just arrived at midnight on Saturday night to our home in Maine after being gone from here since mid December since we left for Florida from my sister Wendy’s house in Massachusetts in January.  We actually spend as much if not more time at her house as we do our own! Our recent weeks there had been crammed with work including an exhausting three day trip to NYC to handle client meetings.   For the last couple days since our landing at our own home we were in the throes of finding places for the amazing amount of stuff we had shlepped to Florida, even spices! The days here have... Read More →

  I was blessed to be at the Ruach Israel Shabbaton last weekend, the climax being a very special Mother’s Day breakfast on Sunday when the men in our community treated us literally as queens for the day. I have been at many retreats over my life, and yet, this one was so special. All who attended were bathed in His Love through the interactions of the 80 plus attendees (excluding children I believe) and His Ruach which we felt especially at the services. A heartfelt thanks to Shayna Goldman and Vicky Nichol for their dedicated service to our community to create this opportunity to be together in such a special way.   On the gorgeous hike to a scenic overlook for Torah study... Read More →

  What a day it was!!! Our last day in Florida jam packed with plans. We had been spending the past several days getting ready to leave after being here for almost four months. It’s not just about getting everything out of the house. It’s also trying to figure out what to wear on the long drive home to accommodate the different weather along the way as we stop to visit family and friends, as well as leaving our home ready to be rented in our absence. Lots of work. Lots of pressure.   So we had managed to meet our goal – to be ready to leave after I finished a last dance performance for the residents of a local nursing home. All was on schedule. Yet when Sid picked me up at 4... Read More →

  I had another Shabbat encouragement ready to go when I learned of the terribly sad news of Quintina Martinez’s passing. No matter what age, or circumstance, or even place in one’s faith walk, losing a daughter, as was the case for our dear Gloria, is a heart breaking loss. We are only human.   Below is a Shabbat encouragement that I sent almost three years ago when my adult daughter went missing, presumably taking a Greyhound bus to LA and wanting to start a new life there. In my mind, however, especially since it was the first year of Covid, I have played out all the possible scenarios, including that she may no longer be alive. Loss is loss, especially when it seems... Read More →

  It is our last week in Florida before we work our way back home in just a few days visiting family and friends along the way. I have so enjoyed my jogs on the beach with our Abba, feeling Yeshua’s presence so palpably, hearing from Him, sharing my prayers and thoughts. So of course I should not be that surprised that we finish with a big “Wow”.   On Sunday while jogging I was listening to the Daily Dvar passage from Romans 14 about not judging our brothers’ and sisters’ faith and practices. Each is to be loved without looking down on the other’s walk with God. Rather than imposing our ways on others and creating stumbling blocks, we are reminded that what each of us does for... Read More →

  What a glorious day – 80 degrees, sunny, light breeze. I can share this comfortably now since most of you also are experiencing the beauty of spring. My sister recently visited and while she was here we rediscovered the joy of crocheting together, a craft our grandmother taught us as children.   This morning as I was reaching over my music speaker for my ever-growing-whatever-this-may-turn-out-to-be fuzzy crocheted creation, the song “Turn, Turn, Turn” by the Byrds, just “happened” to be playing. So here I sit in my sundress gazing at the water, drinking hot coffee, about to dive back into my crocheting, a bit of a combo of extremes.   As many of you know,... Read More →

  What a glorious Passover/Easter season this has been, one beautifully showing me the intertwining of our Jewish and Christian cultures, a time of healing and bridge building.   On Sunday morning as I was listening to Chagigah radio, one of the rabbi guests shared his reflections of Passover as the foretaste of the upcoming lushness of spring, as so beautifully represented by the sensuality of the words of the Song of Songs customarily read during these days. Dave Nichol’s reading from these passages last Shabbat was just that, beautiful, bringing us to a spiritually uplifting intimacy reflecting our Abba’s magnificent love of us.   As the Chagigah radio show continued,... Read More →

  As I’ve shared with you previously, I’m a fan of the series “The Chosen”, a production of Angel Studios. I understand that some artistic liberties would need to be taken as a series about Yeshua and the apostles, and yet, the show’s ability to help us see them as real people living in those times, in my mind, far outweighs presumed dialogues. The way the story is told is surely bringing multitudes into a deeper understanding of the humanity of His apostles, and perhaps for some, first into faith. What a great example of God meeting so many where they are.   The quality of this program has caused me to check out other Angel productions, and so, Sid and I saw “His Only Son” at... Read More →

  Could this week’s headlines be any more disturbing? Another week of “atmospheric river” weather patterns setting records in California for devastating flooding, mudslides, snow, sweeping across the country as epic tornados destroying thousands of homes, killing so many, ultimately hitting the east coast with record snowfall and often torrential rain. Political unrest, this week Israel in the spotlight. Ecological concerns over drinking water even in major cities. I can hardly say the words, another school shooting. . .   Sometimes I feel like just screaming, “Wake up!” “Wake up!” When will we as a society really get that we need God??!! That we need to live our lives with... Read More →

  We live in such a disposable society. That concept is great when referring to mindfully using biodegradable products and recycling. It bothers me, however, in the context of how we tend to keep buying and replacing our things rather than recognizing the beauty of reusing and sharing with the next user, or generation, the less than perfect, yet to be treasured, items of the past.   I still have my 1967 Camaro from high school. It was my first and only car until 1980 when fitting two baby car seats in a two door sports car was impractical. So “Betsy” was garaged and has been taken out as needed or for special occasions for the last 43 years. I’ve had so many suggestions to... Read More →

  Though I have been a Messianic Jew for over 20 years, I still remember my many decades as a mainstream Jewish woman. Feeling the wounding of millennia of anti-Semitism and marginalization is still part of my DNA, helping me to empathize with my Jewish brothers and sisters as we discuss Yeshua and Christianity. I can easily empathize with their difficulty with these topics.   It literally took a miraculous encounter for me to be able to go emotionally, viscerally, from a place of fear due to memories and stories of personal experiences of anti-Semitism, to emotionally, viscerally, knowing the truth that Yeshua is the Messiah. That barrier of fear must be broken before we Jews... Read More →

  All of us have suffered grief, and will continue to do so in this realm. It is the human condition. Measuring our grief against that of another always seems so pointless, for it is such a personal experience. When I think of my husband Sid’s loss of his young daughter to leukemia at the tender age of seven, I do say those typical words, “I can’t even imagine.” We do instinctively tend to put ourselves in the other’s shoes, especially if we have children, thinking how it would feel if, God forbid, that would have happened to us. Yet no one else can fully understand another’s grief, really, other than HaShem, who through Yeshua comforts us at these times.   I know for some who... Read More →

  In the last several years a thought that often crosses my mind when I’m not sure of what path to take is, “Follow the Ruach”. Needless to say, this one directive is not the only thought, for of course, much prayer, conversation with others, and other analysis enter into the decision. And yet, very often I will just pray, and think follow the Ruach in my head. Doing so has not yet let me down. Even when I’ve had to give up something I thought I’d rather do by following the Ruach, the result has turned out, often in retrospect, that I made a very good decision. For when I follow the Ruach, I’ve found that path has always led me to more service for Him, more sharing of love and... Read More →

  One of the activities here in Florida that I most treasure is weekly Bible study. The group is like no other that I have been blessed to be in over the many years I’ve done so. As you know typically a Bible study group or Havurah is formed by those within faith communities who share the same religious beliefs. This group’s genesis, however, was quite unique.   For some of you new members of this distribution list, a little background:   A couple years ago my cousin who lives about five minutes away and is a big part of my presence here almost died from complications of the stem cell transplant procedure she had just undergone for treatment of multiple myeloma. On the... Read More →

  I’m watching a Great Blue Heron swoop across the canal behind our home and land inside a drainage pipe on the other side about 30 feet away. Such a majestic creature, a beautiful vision to the eyes. And yet it stands on the edge of the opening peering into the water, unseen from above, hoping to find a tasty fish for breakfast. Happily (for me and the local fish) after awhile it gracefully departs looking for a better place to prey.   I’m actually writing this from my backyard where at a little further distance I have a “birds-eye” view of an old piling post that is the favorite resting spot for many birds. Lately a local osprey has been very lucky there catching fish. I... Read More →

  How does one even begin to conceptualize almost 20,000 dead, most likely more given that the recovery work in Turkey and Syria is really just at its beginning. The photos of what transpired didn’t even seem real, almost looking like stage sets with the concrete crumbling like clay. How could a newborn even survive the trauma of such a birth, one that killed her mother while giving birth? How do the workers have the endurance to continue seeking life, celebrating hope as one more is found despite the odds? How does one comfort those with unthinkable losses of loved ones, feeling the guilt of the survivor?   I have no answers, but just recognize the only way anyone can even... Read More →

  Free will? Really? Do we have it and what does it really mean?   Through our recent Daily Dvar readings and as exquisitely expanded upon by last Shabbat’s sermon, we have been hearing of Pharaoh’s choices when it came to letting our people leave Egypt. And we’ve seen the consequences of the delay of his decision to finally do so. Pharaoh had the choice to free the slaves and avoid the dire results, and yet he chose not to over and over again.   At our virtual oneg we discussed the possible reasons Pharaoh exercised his free will in this way. A possibility we explored was that he didn’t have the mental or emotional capacity to do otherwise. So Pharaoh had free will but... Read More →

  Recently we mused on the subject of integrity. The question we were struggling with was whether it’s okay to ever lie, even if motivated by good intent – not wanting to hurt the feelings of another, not to make another feel like he or she is imposing, not wanting another to worry about one’s health. Despite the motivation, the underlying issue we were discussing was integrity, the ability to be honest with oneself and others when under pressure to compromise, even if the pressure derives from a good place in ourselves, and the challenge of being honest about something if we think no one but ourself will know.   Even more challenging are the situations where remaining true to... Read More →

  I woke up this morning with memories of Janet Nichol’s shiva on my mind. It was such an amazing experience. Gathered via Zoom were 30-plus members of our greater Messianic Jewish community from all over the country. So many caring faces.   Other than Rabbi Rich’s family I’m pretty sure none of the rest of us knew his sister. We were there to support Rabbi Rich and his family. Yet what I experienced was so much more.   As Rabbi Rich, and then his brother Jerry, shared the story of Janet, we began to feel as if we really knew her. We saw pictures of her, learned of her childhood, her successes and challenges, the interactions in the family, her sacrificing mother, her... Read More →

  Last week I was in several conversations on the topic of integrity. It came up in the context of relationships and how we converse with each other. Especially with close family and friends, sometimes we are challenged in our ability to say how we really feel about something. “You look good in that dress.” “It’s really no trouble.” “I feel fine.” We sometimes are in positions where stretching the truth may motivate us to tell “ a little white lie”.   The question we were struggling with was whether it’s okay to ever lie, even if motivated by good intent – not wanting to hurt the feelings of another, not to make another feel like he or she is imposing, not wanting another to... Read More →

But the Pentatonix are not about solos. Their true beauty is that even though each of them has a soloist’s caliber voice, when they sing together, the perfect harmonies are as a single full chord. No one person is heard above the others. Each singer’s gift amplifies the beautiful voice of the other to create as perfect a whole as mere humans can accomplish. Each retains his or her identity – soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, alto, bass, percussion – to produce a new sound of powerful beauty that can move the listener to tears by its force.   When we believe in Yeshua, our tendency toward self-aggrandizement is replaced by knowledge of the grace our Abba showers... Read More →

  There is magic to the Hanukkah candle lights. The first night, the single flame standing so alone, the soft flicker, helped to bring forth its beauty by the shamash, the helper candle, suggestive to me of Yeshua. Just as with each candle, He is our helper in the deepest sense in all things, like the first light, bringing to us His strength when we are weak but when we are trying to do our best, when we are alone, when we may feel we have so much to say yet perhaps few, if any, may be around who listen. Still He fills us with His fire, His intensity, fueling our one-on-one relationship with him.   As your eyes absorb the beauty of each night’s light, I encourage you to... Read More →

  What a busy time of year!! I don’t need to remind you of the non-seasonal stressors, let alone the additional time consuming, even if kind and worthy, tasks, activities, and expectations that are part of our lives, especially this month.   Awhile back when I was asked to be in a couple plays and do some nursing home and tree lighting gigs of course I said yes. I love making music! As the days of the performances approached, and involved travel not only in my usual two states (Maine and Massachusetts) but also Vermont, I began to doubt my decisions. All good, however, at that point, since I had made some reasonable accommodations. Instead of five gigs, I would only be... Read More →