Thursday, 30 August 2012
exhibition
The opening reception will be on Thurs 13th Sept, from 6-8pm. (See the facebook event page for more details) If you are in the New York area please come by and say hello. it would be lovely to see you.
Jacqueline
(and if you are missing the daily emails from us, you can follow my new project draw yomi: drawing the talmud, a page a day. And Amichai's prepent 5773)
Saturday, 26 May 2012
week 7 of 7
Friday, 25 May 2012
day 49 of 50: Perfect Imperfection in the here and now
here's to our hearts being broken again, and again, and again...
"The angel facing south had a small bit of wing missing: nothing to speak of, yet the fact of being slightly chipped in this ways was sufficient to give it a touch of humanity, to turn it into something fragile, perishable, arousing sympathy. There are times when one needs to have one’s heart wrung by the sight of a piece of stone crumbling away."
המלאך הפגום הזה היה עומד על גגה של כנסיה ריקה בלב הגטו של לובלין, ותיארה אותו אנה לנגפוס, ניצולת שואה, בספרה שיצא לאור ב1960.
למי שטרח באותם ימים להביט למעלה - גם המלאכים היו פגומים, אולי מתוך חמלה.
בעצם היום הזה, על ראש ההר, אנחנו ניצבים עם על השבר שליקטנו ועם כל השלם ובחברתם של מלאכי עליון.
שבעה שבועות מאז עזבנו את מצרים, עבדי זמן ויאוש בורחים הביתה, אל חירות חדשה.
טיפסנו יחד את ההר הזה, ועתה אתה ואת ואני עומדים פה, קצת מתקשים לנשום, מחייכים עם קמטים, מחליפים חוויות ומורידים את המשא. עוד מעט נלבש לבן ונקבל יחדיו את המתן הלא מושלם והמדויק ביותר שהוא תורה, והיא אמת, והוא אחד, עם כל הכאבים.
כמו רסיסי אור בנברשת גדולה, ורבים הרסיסם שכבר נשרו ממנו אבל עדיין אור נמשך כמו נהירים של קשת, וזכרון ההתחברות המשותף יאיר את הסדקים כולם.
נברשת בארמון המלכות של המלכות: אור יקר וגנוז של הרגע הזה בו מאירה ההויה
והיא החסד, וגבורה, התפארת של הנצח, הוד יסוד, מלכות וכתר בראשה
הנברשת, קשורה לכנפיהם של מלאכים של אור ניידת, בדיוק כמונו, והמסע נמשך גם אחרי ההר
הוקרה לכל המטפסים בהר, על החברותא והלימוד המשותף
הודיה לג’קלין האמנית הגדולה של לב פתוח ועין רואה ויד קלה
האור דולק, הלב פתוח, המסע ממשיך והשבת בפתח ועימה החג
אשרינו שזכינו. שבת שלמה וחג מתן תורת תיקון ושמחה
Thursday, 24 May 2012
day 48 of 50 The Broken Heart of Torah
I forgot to keep it simple, and so it broke
Amichai: Sacred Jewish books, when broken and no longer useful, gain the status of human bodies, buried in graves, back in the ground.
Words for us are serious business, sacred matter. Just like the containers of the word expire, sometimes so do the words themselves, ancient content worthy of demise.
On this day, just before the journey's end and we arrive at the symbolic summit to re-receive the sacred words, I pause to gather what is broken at the very core of all these words, the broken heart of the Torah.
I think about the original set of ten commandments, coming down from Sinai to end up shattered at the feet of the golden calf. The very first time we received the Torah, it was broken upon contact. The shards have followed us on our journeys ever since.
I think about the words of Torah that are mean and broken having broken so many lives - ancient hatreds of the other, xenophobic, homophobic, on and on. These are broken shards of holiness that we can choose to carry with us - or put away,on a shelf, relics, thanked, dismissed for what they are: history.
We approach this anniversary of receiving of the Torah with this knowledge - Torah is also broken, and still holy. We get to celebrate the imperfect perfect, what is still vital and also what is not. At the root of our sacred is the memory of loss.
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
day 47 of 50 when the gate is shut
He broke my swagger, my spirit, my peace of mind.
I will be forever grateful.
Tuesday, 22 May 2012
day 46 of 50 seagulls shed like angels
day 45 of 50
there are some things that you just never, ever, not ever, want to hear ever again.
Amichai: few stimulants can be as strong as music. Why I wept today walking down a rain swept street was anybody's guess, should anybody bother, but I knew well within my headphones it was just the perfect song that made a fragile moment crash into a full on wail. Release and gratitude and the privilege, the luxury of pressing replay and pressing deep into a sorrow or whatever and let the tears and rain collide.
Spent the last week downloading hundreds of cd's onto my iTunes. Getting rid of lots of stuff: but music, there, for me, beyond the form or shape, cassette or vinyl or live show ir data: arrows into heart.
Tiferet of malchut: the heart of the matter. Dig tonight into a place of raw emotion on this journey to the mountaintop. Find one song, just one broken record you have listened to a thousand times and listen one more time, and dance, or weep, or both ior neither: thank you for the music, here comes the rain again. Again. And now.
Sunday, 20 May 2012
day 44 of 50 Of broken Eggs, and of Jerusalem
it's of no use until it's broken.
day 43 of 50 gift from the sea
should have been arrested for breaking and entering.
Saturday, 19 May 2012
week 6 of 7
Friday, 18 May 2012
day 42 of 50 lets talk about sex. six weeks of counting.
break up, break down, break apart & break away.
but just give us a break - trying my best over here
Thursday, 17 May 2012
day 41 of 50 broken branch on the tree of life
broken, fragile & beautiful. It was just lying there, look down & tread gently.
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
day 40 of 50 Cut it Out
there's no such thing as a clean break
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
day 39 of 50 How to put on lipstick
on the outside everything looks FINE
Monday, 14 May 2012
day 38 of 50 Limping, Like Jacob, with broken heel
unbalanced, uneven & unstable,
despite it all, we're still walking.
Sunday, 13 May 2012
day 37 of 50 making roses out of pencil shavings
but what can be repaired with broken tools?
Saturday, 12 May 2012
day 36 of 50 fixing friendships?
can it be fixed? can it ever be ok again?
Friday, 11 May 2012
day 35 of 50 All that hangs on humble hanger
and sometimes it all falls apart
Thursday, 10 May 2012
day 34 of 50 another empty sea shell?
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
day 33 of 50 And the Chess Game Still Goes On
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
day 32 of 50 even when the fork has broken?
is it ever good enough?
Monday, 7 May 2012
day 31 of 50 A Pearl Unclasped
as long as we aren't broken in the same place,
you can lean on me & I can lean on you.