BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

"Just like me, they long to be, close to you." - The Carpenters. Judaism talks a lot about closeness to God and cleaving to Torah. We spend a lot of time wondering if we are close to Him. Or judging another person's closeness to Hashem using Halachic law as a guide. But what I believe we really need to focus on is maintaining the proximity to God rather than measuring it. In this study we sought to address several limitations of previous research on attachment theory and religion God by (1) developing a multidimensional scale of attachment to God, and (2) demonstrating that these scales are predictive of measures of personality and affect after controlling for social desirability and other related dimensions of religiosity... Consistent with prior research on adult romantic attachment, two dimensions of attachment to God were identified: avoidance (vs. security) and anxiety. After statistically controlling for social desirability, intrinsic religiousness, doctrinal o...

As a "nu Jew" I still have a lot to learn and a long way to go. One of the things I continue to do is "shul shopping." Feels funny to me because as a child - we went to a certain church and that was it. At age 9 my family moved to a VERY small town and there weren't a lot of choices. I didn't meet a Jew (or so I thought) until I went to college. You were either Catholic or some flavor of Evangelical, Bible-Banging Christian. Anyway, Jews had 'horns'... I joked with friends that the first time I went to Temple I fully expected the "Goy Alarm" to go off. It didn't. I was stunned that services so closely resembled Catholic Mass in some aspects. I sat by myself in the back and tears welled up in my eyes. It was far too familiar to me at some deep level. I left in a daze. But I was newly separated and heading for divorce. Part of our separation agreement involved bringing the children up Christian until they are 18. In the inte...

By Rabbi David Aaron At first glance prayer seems to be about whining and begging G-d, "Please heal this person … please bring me my soul-mate … please help my business, etc." One could mistakenly think that G-d is holding out on us and gets pleasure watching us grovel. When we are faced with some very serious problems, it is customary to ask others to join together in our prayers. What is that all about? It seems as if we hope to move G-d through force: "G-d, if you don't respond to my prayers, then I will recruit through the e-mail thousands of others to pray." Do we think these strategies really work? What are we actually doing here? If G-d is all knowing then why am I telling Him my problems? He already knows them. If G-d is good then why am I asking for Him to change my situation? Obviously whatever happens to me is for my best and I should just trust G-d. To appreciate what we are actually doing when we pray, we have to examine what prayer really means. Fi...

NO CONVERSION FOR YOU! Remember the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld? Always someone like that wherever you go deciding who can and can't have... Where I used to live in the early 90s there was a newstand on the corner of my block. It had been there for years and was run by what I realized was an older lady. One Sunday morning I walked over to get a newspaper, she said she was all out. As I was leaving I saw one of my neighbors who had lived in that neighborhood for many, many years. He asked her for the same paper... she slid one out from under the counter and gave it to him. My blog friend, Keli Ata - had a post I found very compelling today about a man who was denied conversion. She talks about her understanding of Judiasm and debates the reasons the man was denied. Here are some excerpts: In my case these questions on my concept of G-d were readily addressed. From earliest childhood I never could accept that a merciful G-d would require a human sacrifice from anyone. Washed in th...

DAMN YOU, OLMERT! You friggin' suck! Losing my temper isn't something I do often. And when I do it doesn't last long. I almost always... (and knowing the word ALWAYS is an absolute) give someone the benefit of the doubt. No matter how bad they hurt or how angry they have made me. But there are a very few people who I just give up on. I'm really p*ssed off. And one of those I have given up on is you, Olmert. I prayed for you, Olmert and your Government as well. That you would hear your fellow Jews and answer the clue phone. But you, your Government and appeasers like Avi Dichter are two-faced slime. I may not be the most informed about Israeli politics but I know when I see vipers. You're all pieces of worthless camel dung. Get out of dodge and let's put someone like Aryeh Eldad in there. I hope you all burn in hell someday for what you are doing to your people, Israel and Jerusalem. You're a sick bunch that needs to be run out of Israel. Go live i...

EASY DAVEN - HELPING OTHER JEWS At first I wasn't sure how I felt about this, when I came across this site. I pondered for a day or so and decided - its a good thing. Any prayer or positive thought is good energy in a world that has so little. I would be a hypocrite, also, if I put this down. I spend a lot of time on the net - mostly because I can't get out often and I am having a serious flare for weeks now of barely being able to walk most days. Getting from my bed to the computer (where I can't sit up for too long) to the couch is excruciating but I force myself. My kids have become my legs in the house - running up and down stairs for me. I have a small window of energy every day and I use that to make dinner, straighten the children's rooms and get them ready for bed and the next day. Yesterday I was in Manhattan all day. Today I am paying for it. My children are old enough and tell me they are "tweens now, mom" and "can do it" themselve...

TEHILLIM REQUEST FOR RIVKA BAT CHAIM One of my dearest friend's mother needs our prayers. My friend, her mother and their families live in the United Kingdom. Jewish women tolerating an increasingly scary environment for any Jew. Let alone a female one. Both my friend and her mum (Elaine - Rivka bat Chaim) are disabled. Elaine has lipodema . But now she's been diagnosed with Stage 2 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma a form of breast cancer which has spread and is growing moderately fast. Investigative surgery was done on 6/12/07 and we await the results and Elaine's recuperation. Anyone who knows about the U.K. knows people like Elaine are medically supported by the National Health Service . A good enough service for the well. But when you are disabled already and something like this happens - you need to be seen by a specialist. Unfortunately that means scraping up money to pay for one. Being disabled means Elaine, now having breast cancer, needs a specialist. My friend has post...