2010-04-14

Your Input is Valuable

As you may know, we’re preparing to meet on May 8th in W.L.A for a kind of ‘de-brief’ after our wonderful Passover experience in the desert, and to set our intentions and Kavanah for Passover Village next year.

We're seeking any input you’d like to offer about your personal Passover in the Desert experience and / or your suggestions about future Passover events together. Please post your comments here oln the BLOG!

2010-04-09

Speaking from the Heart, Listening from the Heart

There have been calls from the community for a discussion of the way we use the Council process to build community, as well as a request for the poem I read in our closing circle.  Here is the poem, as a way of starting the discussion of Council.


A Ritual To Read To Each Other  

 If you don't know the kind of person I am

and I don't know the kind of person you are

a pattern that others made may prevail in the world

and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.

 

For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,

a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break

sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood

storming out to play through the broken dyke.

 

And as elephants parade holding each elephant's tail,

but if one wanders the circus won't find the park,

I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty

to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.

 

And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,

a remote important region in all who talk:

though we could fool each other, we should consider--

lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.

 

For it is important that awake people be awake,

or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;

the signals we give--yes or no, or maybe--

should be clear: the darkness around us is deep. 


by William Stafford

2010-04-07

Dayenu 2010

Devorah miriaam sends this message about her experience at the 2010 Passover Village:
 
4/5/10 Going home, caravaning with others, we stopped to eat lunch at a great Mexican place. It started with Andy saying that if all we did was put up the tent, that alone had a lot of value. 
 
     So I say, 
 
If all we did was put up the tent together , it would have been enough. DAYENU!
 
If all we did was our Mayim ritual, it would have been enough. DAYENU!
 
If all we did was our Moror, Matzah and Pesach groups, it would have been enough. DAYENU!
 
If all we did was sit at the fire and gaze at the stars, it would have been enough. DAYENU!
If all we did was the blessing and transferance to Jenna and Johnny and Blueberry, it would have been enough. DAYENU!

Please go on, add more, there was so much! and I am so grateful to have experienced even just one thing at the Village! DAYENU!
 
Michael C. adds:

If all we did was sit in council, DAYENU!

If all we did was see the quail, ravens, tortoise, and snake, DAYENU!

If all we did was hear our living Torah, DAYENU!

If all we did was discover that each of us is a sacred teacher, DAYENU!
 
Marc W. adds:
If all we did was look into the Soul of an infant through her intensely gazing eyes, DAYENU!

If all we did was see the ancient essences of Priestesses, Warriors, Prophets, Kings, and Queens among us, DAYENU!

If all we did was realized what it means to awaken to the call of the Shofar, DAYENU!

If all we did was tap stone to stick, and listen . . . DAYENU!

Sandra G. adds...

If all we did was put up the tent together and gather inside, Dayenu!

If all we did was listen to the sound of quail calling in the distance, Dayenu!

If all we did was wander through the desert under the bright sun, looking for, and finding our narrow places of stuckness, Dayenu!

If all we did was watch the vast dark sky and all its lights, Dayneu!

If all we did was eat Charoset, Dayenu!

If all we did was to enjoy sitting in friendship around the campfire and listening to the wind, Dayenu!

If all we did was hear the sound of the Ba'al "Tequilla", Dayenu!
PLEASE SEND YOUR DAYENU'S

Bringing The Desert Home With Me

As usual, I've brought more than a sun tan and some sand home with me from Joshua Tree. My heart is filled with joy. Freedom from bondage is never taken lightly, and so I rejoice AGAIN as I shed the shackles of bondage. Thank you to all my fellow Passover Villagers for sharing in this blessing together.