Shabbat Inspiration with Diane

  It was the Nova festival in Israel, the date October 7, 2023. She heard gunfire and took refuge in a concrete bomb shelter at the side of a road with 50 or more people crammed in, lying on top of each other. There was no escape as she heard uncountable gunshots being fired into the mass of bodies, then the hand grenades following.   She called her dad in tears as she pleaded for him to call the police. She was being crushed by the weight of the dead bodies. “Be quiet, my daughter. . . breathe deep. . . hide. . .  Play dead,”  he advised. “Bye”, she said as she assumed she would die.   This is the story of Yuval Raphael who was one of only 11 people to survive from that... Read More →

  I have been grateful over the last several years to have developed a wonderful working relationship with Hal Slifer, host of Chagigah on WERS every Sunday morning. This is a show dedicated to three hours of playing Jewish American, Israeli, and Yiddish music, Jewish humor, and sharing fascinating backstories about many of the songs played on the program. Since WERS is also a downloadable app and can be heard nationwide the show has an average listening Jewish audience of 5000 each week so its reach is significant.   With that as background, Sid and I have been blessed to schmooze with Hal over meals, go to events with other Chagigah listeners, and even be guest DJs on the... Read More →

  I know illness, suffering, and death are real.  That is the reality of life in this realm. Yet within this realm we are also given the opportunity to witness and experience the healing power of God’s Love. I capitalize the word “Love” for it is of a divine nature that is beyond our comprehension to understand but not beyond our ability to know.   So many examples. . .   Love powers our individual acts of selfless sacrifice seemingly beyond our ability to know how we can do it, taking care of another through their hardship, not even noticing hours have passed without our eating or noticing the sacrifice on our own part. This intense sacrificial love is fueled by our... Read More →

  We’ve been noodling the holiness of these days, the beauty of the “synchronicity” of Holy Week for Christians with the 8 days of Passover for Jews this year, the unmistakable multitude of examples of God’s Presence. These have been days of sorrow – adversity, illness, global disequilibrium, death of Pope Francis  – as well as days of joy – reconciliations, inexplicable good doctor reports, signs of hope. For me these days culminated in Monday’s Bible study group gathering complete with special Passover food (including my matzah ball soup!)   We started with a review of the Passover story as told through the Maxwell House Haggadah and then showed where these sections were... Read More →

  Last fall during the High Holy Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the time felt more special than usual. It seemed that spiritually uplifting experiences happened daily, even unusual dreams. These days of Passover are turning into a similar experience. Perhaps these are the times when our Creator is really trying to keep our attention on Him.   Last week I shared with you that my Seder plans this year were not as I had planned. Rather than spending first night Seder with my 97 year old uncle and his children (my first cousins) we were at Disneyworld for the week with Sid’s two daughters, their spouses/significant others, and our two grandsons ages 4 and 4... Read More →

  “Passover” – the word brings to mind the amazing saving of our people as the Angel of Death passed over the first born of the Israelites, not sparing those of the Egyptians. It was a seminal moment for our people, so defining, that we are to relive it annually, viscerally, as we recite the Haggadah at our seders.   But passing over is not always a good thing, such as being passed over for a promotion. Or Sid will joke that the chocolate chips in that ice cream were passed over at 1000 feet, like hardly any were there.   Perhaps a more serious passing over occurs when we fail to dig into life. One of my dearest friends lives life in that space, not digging in too deeply.... Read More →

  Oh how God uses our mistakes . . .   Last September Sid’s daughter and I were on the phone discussing her recent pre-natal doctor visit. Although now we know that our youngest grandson is fine, back then in the sixth month of her pregnancy there was an issue that was causing concern. I wanted to do something to take her mind off of the worry and give her something to look forward to so I booked a trip in April to Disneyworld. We would be in Florida then, she and her husband and other son live in Florida, so we picked a date there to celebrate “big brother’s” 4th birthday.   Only in the last couple weeks did I realize that I had scheduled the week in Orlando over the... Read More →

  This past weekend and the days leading up to it were so much fun. This community has a Spring Festival in which I participate through various singing, line dancing, and clogging opportunities. The days are filled with pie eating contests, crab races, Singo (musical version of Bingo), corn hole tournaments, kayak golf (retrieving “golf” balls from the Grand Canal in which this year even the manatees participated!), and four evenings of dancing to great live band music. Then the week started again which for me on Monday morning is quiet time with God and Scripture first thing in the morning, then line dancing class taught by my cousin Sandy (whose near death experience is a... Read More →

  For the past several weeks these Shabbat encouragements have been dancing around a very sensitive topic, our world view differences that if we are not careful can destroy relationships and inhibit our own spiritual growth. Perhaps it is in these most basic differences that the evil one gets his strongest foothold to lead us away from the light.   Religion and politics – two topics that we are cautioned to avoid at family gatherings in order to keep the peace. Such a sad commentary on our actual inability to live in the higher reality of God’s love lived out in this realm. Just as spiritual maturity takes daily discipline to study the Bible, pray, and prioritize God in our... Read More →

  Some of you know that Sid and I have enjoyed “glamping” in our Winnebago View for almost 20 years now. We originally bought it partly because it was a dream of mine since high school to travel the U.S. in one, but also, so we wouldn’t have to leave behind our precious three pugs, hence the name the Pugabego. Now years later with no more pugs but a shaggy petite rescue terrier named Sofie, we travel to be with kids and grandbabies, attend Messianic Jewish conferences, and Camp Or L’Dor in our Sofibego a/k/a the Mitzvah Mobile.   When not actually camping but needing overnight parking we “boondock”. Last weekend when visiting our kids and grandkids we boondocked at the local... Read More →

  This is not intended as a political writing. It is our extreme political opinions that inhibit our, and America’s, abilities to see past those perspectives and so often prevent us from being able to keep learning how to follow Yeshua’s teachings. Let’s read this with this latter goal in mind. . .   I watched on YouTube the entire Oval Office interchange between President Trump and President Zelenskyy that took place last Friday. I did so in order to base my knowledge on first hand observation rather than rely on mass media reported summaries or selected snippets of video on social media. I was grateful in this case that I could watch the entire event. Doing so gave me better... Read More →

  We have often noodled the both/and – the cognitive dissonance we feel when we must process difficult experiences in the same moments as joyful ones. Examples are feeling happy about something in our personal life while hearing news of a terrible situation occurring elsewhere in the world. The examples lately are endless as we learn each day of horrific world news, and yet, interact with our loved ones over pleasant meals and enjoy the simple pleasures of daily life. Sometimes the extreme feelings can both relate to the same personal situation. How can we do that?   We have pondered this challenge and know that only with unwavering faith in God through Yeshua’s intimacy who... Read More →

  These are hard times. No matter your age, race, religion, or politics, each day’s events sometimes on all levels are beyond challenging. Simply getting out of bed or being able to stay warm or even being able to get to work on a  non-slippery road cannot be taken for granted, let alone being able to process the alarming headlines, each day more unpredictable than the day before. So when I opened my eyes this morning and mindlessly looked at the small silver butterfly charm on my bracelet, perhaps what happened next was our Abba sending me some soothing love.   I love to think of all the subliminal ways our Creator may sprinkle His Presence around us and provide us the “... Read More →

  Last Shabbat I experienced so many emotions in such a short time frame that it gave me pause, prompting me to reflect on how this is even possible. As I did so I deeply understood the impact of prioritizing our relationship with God and the need to seek Him with intention, to choose l’chaim.   I awoke with time to take a jog before services. Jogging is definitely not work, nor recreation, for it is for me a time of deep conversation and prayer with our Creator. These are holy times often transformative bringing new thoughts and insights, moments to listen deeply and very often receive the inspiration for these Shabbat encouragements.   This Shabbat morning, however, I... Read More →

  I had written the Shabbat encouragement below before the passing of our incredibly beautiful Jacob Halzel yesterday. With the permission of his parents, I want to preface this week’s message with a few personal thoughts:   I remember Jacob as a small child in a stroller attending services at Ruach Israel so many years ago. From those times to when he was a much bigger child and youth I would see in his demeanor an appreciation for God’s Presence that cannot be put into words. He would make unbridled sounds of joy at times as if he could see and hear what we cannot. He seemed to be so close to our Creator, as if they were communicating on a different wave length.   I... Read More →

  Sid and I are settling into our Florida routines. We’ll be here for the next several months as we see what each day brings.   It was never on my plan to spend winters in Florida, but it was on Sid’s. The irony is that where we live when here is actually in the community where my relatives live. Looking back to 2015 when we just stopped by to visit them on our way back from Key West, I now see how our presence here was part of a much bigger plan, His, not Sid’s or mine.   Over the recent years here an inter-generational schism with my Florida family has healed. Sid and I were here to assist my elderly uncle after the death of my aunt. We were here to support my cousin’s... Read More →

  As an Ohio State Buckeye I celebrated Monday night the victory of OSU winning the college football national championship. I was moved by the Ohio State players who thanked God for the victory. I was also moved by the interview with the coach of the defeated Notre Dame team who spoke of the focus on God his team exhibited, in his words, and the amazing love and sacrifice exhibited by his team members.   Acknowledgment of God in these ways was not just surprising and wonderful, but it also reminded us viewers of God’s Presence. In so doing, it made the game not just a game, but also an opportunity to acknowledge gratitude to have God in our lives regardless of the outcome of... Read More →

  We recently noodled the idea of how to serve others and in so doing serve our Creator. We looked at the inspiring lives of Jimmy Carter and Christopher Reeve and saw how their triumphs and hardships served others without intention by either of these men at the time. We so often think we know what we are to do, not just regarding service but just generally, only to find out that was not His plan for us at all.   Very personally, I had given up this chapter of “service” of writing Shabbat encouragements as I became overwhelmed by the technological barriers for my continuing to do so. For over a decade, somehow, without intent, they just happened to come to mind regularly and I... Read More →

  In reading about the very full life of President Jimmy Carter who died this week at the age of 100 I was reminded of an important irony. We so often in our desire to serve presume we know how to do so. The beautiful enigma of our relationship with God is living the mystery of His plan for us instead of ours.   A man of deep faith, one of President Carter’s major motivations to run for president was to bring morality and ethics to the office of presidency following the scandal of Watergate. Interestingly, rather than being known for success in this area President Carter’s term in office was rife with major international and domestic issues. These situations drew national and... Read More →

  How many times have we done something and wished we had another chance to try it again? Or if presented with the same set of facts or opportunity, we wish we would have made a different decision, or taken a different path than the one we first chose?   Looking back at my decades of living I’m grateful for the life I have. Yet sometimes I wonder what it would have looked like if at the various junctures, the choices, great and small, each of which impacts the future, I had made different decisions of which way to go, how to respond. Undoubtedly there would have been small consequences, but also, large, even having had different children if I had chosen a different spouse.... Read More →

  As my fifth grandchild is hours old 😊 I once again am reflecting with wonder the arrival of another precious life.   Babies are a gift from God. There is no doubt. However, what HaShem is teaching us through those little bundles of joy is much more than just that simple truth.   New babies are adorable, at least to their parents and close family even if they’re a little scrunchy at first. Adorable or not, being objective about their behavior, it’s quite self centered. Typically they are non-stop milk drinking machines who live to have their every need served by their sleep deprived parents. When service is not fast enough, the request is often conveyed by... Read More →

  So many insights seem to occur in the shower for many of us. Today was no exception.   As I immersed in the flowing water from above I was reminded of our ability to be reborn each morning, anew, a fresh start to try again to be more in His likeness. As I had this thought, His teachings, and admonitions, flowed as did the water.   Just the night before I had suffered from a very painful medical situation which was totally the result of choices I had made that I know aggravate my condition. I was reminded of the result of overeating and resolved to try harder to eat small meals despite how delicious is my sister-in-law’s cooking! What a powerful reminder to be a better... Read More →

to feel stressed! Yes, it’s unavoidable. No matter how much we pray, study Scripture, talk with God, we are only human, and in those alone times when we think about all that there is to do, we can feel overwhelmed. I awoke this morning  after having spent just one day in our home in Maine. We’ve been away for over ten days celebrating Thanksgiving with family in MA but came back home for a medical appointment. Today we are packing again for VT to perform in a community play there (three performances at that!). I know. Why do I do these things? The answer is simple. I totally enjoy life and all the  possibilities. Sid teases me that my motto should be, “Why live one... Read More →

  Last week we wrestled with the reality of our living in a predominantly secular world. We took note of the blessing of being part of a faith filled community and cherished even more deeply our relationship with God through the intimacy, the closeness of Yeshua in our lives.   At the same time we are so aware of the hard times in which we live. We are blessed to experience His Truth, and yet unless we choose to hide from the news, we emotionally grapple with tragic headlines, lives lost, suffering. I am so encouraged by the truce in Israel’s north, yet saddened by the lives lost in the south. I am heartened by the survivors of devastating illnesses yet heartbroken at those... Read More →

  In these days it’s not easy having conversations with others for a variety of reasons. Of course we avoid politics, sometimes even with those who are like minded on other topics, since we can feel frustrated. Such is the lot of a divided society where we can feel powerless. This is so unless we deliberately strive to remind ourselves that there still is so much hope and good in this world. Yet sometimes we’re just tired and want to have a relaxing conversation, easier to do with those in our spiritual and political bubbles, but often difficult with those we don’t know as well or even with loved ones.   Recently I was having what I thought would be a relaxing conversation... Read More →