Notices by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (theradr@mstdn.social)

Purim's almost here! (It begins this Thursday night!) Let’s dive into some history and look at the affinity that Crypto-Jews had for Purim – which might echo even more strongly this year, as Christian nationalist state repression starts to get a little too close for comfort. (1/🧵)

This moment in history demands much from us. Which means our internal fortifications matter more than ever. The flurry of harm from the WH is a form of shock and awe deliberately meant to destabilize us. They want us too frozen and traumatized to fight back. We must try to stay grounded.

We must do what we can to stay clear, connected, and whole. (🧵)

We must find interpersonal supports and space for our inner life. That’s how we will meet today, tomorrow, and beyond with integrity and bravery. (2/🧵)

This is a time to double down on the things that help you plug into yourself, other people, the world, and your place in it, and (if – and only if – this resonates with you) the Big Bigness, the Universe, the divine, the great Everythingness of which we are a part.

https://lifeisasacredtext.com/fortify (3/🧵)

Maybe you call it "spiritual practice." Maybe you don't. If “God” isn’t your language, maybe words like creativity, intuition, love, or interconnectedness are. What matters is that you have a way to plug in.

(4/🧵)

That practice helps us be grounded in the now — in the breath in our lungs, the offering of our hearts, in the feeling in our body. Maybe it’s your meditation. Your prayer. Your morning writing pages. Your long walks. Your art. Your swimming. Your pottery. Yes, even your parenting, if you can show up in the right frame of mind every once in a while.

Doing things that fill us up can help us develop another way
of being. 

(5/🧵)

The Sfat Emet, a late 19th c. Hasidic master talks about the relationship between a cistern (a rain barrel) and a wellspring.

He says as we fill up our respective rain barrels with things that nourish us, we open up a wellspring — an endless, flowing source of love and goodness, and we can draw from it and let it pass through us. In this way, we don’t use ourselves up — we learn to draw from something bigger than us and to utilize and harness that power.

https://lifeisasacredtext.com/fortify/

(6/🧵)

Every time we do something that requires us to be here and now, we take charge of the moment. We remind our thoughts and feelings that we're in the driver's seat and that they can sit quietly in the passenger's seat if they like, but they do not have permission to grab the wheel. 

(7/🧵)

When we don’t stop to get present in our own bodies, stop to find out what’s happening in our own minds and hearts, we wind up in reactive mode—reacting unconsciously to the feelings we haven’t given ourselves permission to feel.

(8/🧵)

Hag Urim Sameach! Happy Hanukah! Happy Boxing Day! Happy (almost) Kwanzaa! (1/)

It’s that dark and oh-so-chilly time of year when so many cultures and communities look to rituals, holy times, and celebrations
to light up the night.

As Kohenet April Baskin reminds us, even the smallest amount of light - produced by even the smallest action - can transform an experience. (2/)

In a moment of darkness – in an experience we have in our mind, or in an exchange we're having – just as we can light a single match, just flick it, we can add some friction, put a little bit of effort in, and light appears.

If you're in a dark room, just simply lighting one match before you even light the candle shifts the whole dynamic. You go from largely not being able to be aware of your surroundings, if you're a seeing person, to being able to see so much more.

Kohenet April Baskin (3/)

What are your personal, family, or cultural traditions during this season?

What ways do you create light when it's darkest? (4/)

To get the full piece go to the link in my bio or to https://LifeIsASacredText.com to subscribe.

And here’s your reminder that Life is a Sacred Text subscriptions are on a special through the rest of the month!

Go ahead and gift your loved one - and/or yourself - community and learning! (5/5)

The Book of Judith is a fan favorite. After all, who doesn't love a feisty heroine, a sharp blade, a multipurpose snack bag, and a happy ending? Over the years, poets, from Old English knightly epics to feminist, queer, anticolonial celebrations and blades of precision, have retold the story of Judith. https://lifeisasacredtext.com/judithart/ (1/)

There’s a verse in Torah where Miriam and Aaron make a fuss about Moses’ "Kushite wife."

In our antiblack culture, it’s often assumed that they’re saying something about race.

But— that takes a lot of things out of context.

Like-- geography, and culture, and politics, and family relationships, and the assumptions they may have held.

So what else could be going on?

Read and share:

https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/kushite/

So. Time that a rabbi said it, so I'll be that guy:

The Divine-Authorized Conquest Of The Holy Land is a horrendous, toxic narrative that's been used to justify untold atrocities, including now.

AND it never happened.

Looking at what likely DID happen may actually be critical at this moment.

Read and share:

https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/conquest/ 🌱

I have such issues with Christians who call other Christians "not real Christians" b/c they're harmful--it's gaslighting to the victims of Christianity's brutal history.

Here's what engaging w/harmful branches of a tradition can look like, from Rabbi Dr. Haviva Ner-David. 1/x

Reminder: despite white people loving to quote the line from “I Have a Dream” abt individualistic things (judging people), most of the speech was abt systemic racism, incl things that continue to harm now—police violence, housing injustice,voter suppression, insufficient change.