Last night my most enlightened friend asked me to go to his synagogue to hear a lecturer --well marketed as "See Seinfeld Perform." No --not THAT Seinfeld, but a very bright rabbi named Alexander Seinfeld, originally from the Pacific Northwest but now out of Baltimore. Rabbi Seinfeld talks about bringing spirituality and holiness into everyday life.
Bright guy. He has an Anthropology degree from Stanford, studied in Israel, and lived among Evangelical Christians in Mississippi. Talk about exotics! He touched upon Einstein's theories, and their interconnect with his Judaism's teachings about the Beginning of Time, and related that to the concept of our connectedness to the infinite.
He also used an analysis of the roots of words like "finite" and the Hebrew counterparts. The gist of his message was the need to savor EVERYTHING, to gracefully accept all of the gifts from the "infinite Oversoul" (reform guys seem creeped out by referring to God in the traditional sense).
Some of the audience showed, once again, why I dislike people more and more as I age. One lady, whom Wifey and I know, who is 60 never married, and without kids, asked repeatedly about the "paternalistic and misogynistic basis of Judaism...blah, blah, blah..." In other words --"Rabbi --what about MY agenda --stuff significant to ME????!!!!"
Seinfeld deftly put off the question, like his namesake TV star would have handled a question from Kramer, and the evening continued.
I guess I've always been blessed to, like the old commercial for International Coffees used to urge..celebrate the moments of my life.
Just this morning, I saluted the singing birds, and the giggling of D1 as I encountered her out for a run/walk. Alas, I eschew the "run" part --the better to keep intact my ample belly --my badge of financial success!
Indeed, I savored last night's talk. The ability to think a bit more deeply about things is a pleasure. Wow --it IS all connected.
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