All posts by Teri

Lamentations

Observe & Ponder


I had recently returned home from a trip to Israel three weeks before the barbaric assault by Hamas against innocent people in Southern Israel on October 7, 2023, when I had a dream about writing scripture.

In my dream, reams of paper and holy words were spread before me as I assiduously read them aloud. I woke up thinking it was an odd and possibly ungodly supposition to think I would even dream such a thing.

Only when my husband left an article on my desk about Lamentations, the 25th Book of the Old Testament, did I remember the dream from months earlier.

The article was about two October 7 female survivors who each wrote a lamentation about their harrowing experience.

I immediately Googled the word “lamentation.”

Lamentation: a passionate expression of grief, sorrow, mourning, or regret—a weeping.

My Googling got me thinking that maybe I misinterpreted my dream—that perhaps I hadn’t been writing scripture at all but instead was obsessed with some other lament. But what?

The Biblical Book of Lamentations is a collection of sorrowful poems—five chapters or elegies that focus on the extreme pain and misery of the people of Judah following the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. In Lamentations, the city of Jerusalem is depicted as a grieving widow, and the imagery is incredibly and heartbreakingly powerful.

Now, I don’t propose that I know anything about anything when it comes to the Bible. I’m just trying to make sense of my dream and how it might relate to writing my own lamentation, so please feel free to contact me with any corrections regarding what I have written here today.

Theological studies of Lamentations have long been fascinated by its literary acrostic device, how and why the poems are built around the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and whether or not the author was the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah. I will leave the tenor of the structure and the presumed author(s) to the experts.

My fascination with Lamentations is in the beauty, the sorrowful ache, and the level of sophistication in every line of verse. And how it hauntingly relates to my current life situation.

While nothing can compare to the Biblical text of Lamentations, over the generations, more lamentations were later written in response to the horrors and suffering Jews experienced over time and place: The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, the massacres of the medieval Crusades, the public burning of the Talmud in the 13th century, the unspeakable Spanish massacres of 1391, the Spanish expulsion of 1492, and on and on and on.

As I grabbed my Bible and read through Lamentations, it was 2:15-16 that gave me October 7 déjà vu and chill bumps. The words took on more significant and profound meaning because since October 7, I have been horrified by the antisemitism on college campuses and elsewhere, and I would dare say seemingly everywhere these days.

The recent hissing, gnashing, and Jew-baiting by the hateful has caused me to rethink how I feel about others I once had sympathy for. Those suffering people I aligned with and protested alongside for years, have me looking at them in another light. I am now suspicious in a way I was never before. I no longer wear my Jewish Star for fear of getting punched in the face or worse. And all this hatefulness has reminded me of the hate against me from those I once loved and, in many ways, still do.

Lamentations
2:15
All who pass your way
Clap their hands at you;
They hiss and wag their head
At Fair Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
Perfect in Beauty,
Joy of All the Earth?”

2:16
All your enemies
Jeer at you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth,
And cry: “We’ve ruined her!
Ah, this is the day we hoped for;
We have lived to see it!”

So here it is:

What was my dream about? Was I supposed to write a lamentation?

After much soul-searching, I have decided that—YES—a lamentation is in my near future, so stay tuned.

Don’t Let Them Take Your Power

Women Power,

At seventy-six years old, Stevie Nicks’ latest music release, “The Lighthouse,” is a protest song in support of women’s rights in response to the Supreme Court’s 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade.

According to Stevie, she doesn’t care if the song is a hit; it’s about getting the message out—a rallying cry for women’s rights.

She has also said that she wrote the song to stand up for women, their daughters, granddaughters, and the men who love them.

And she certainly achieved her goal with her powerful and resounding reminder to women. The chorus alone sent chills up and down my spine:

“I have my scars, you have yours
Don’t let them take your power
Don’t leave it alone in the final hours
They’ll take your soul, they’ll take your power
Unless you stand up and take it back
Try to see the future and get mad
It’s slipping through your fingers, you don’t have what you had
You don’t have much time to get it back”

Her feminist anthem conveys a message of strength, power, and outrage. “This may be the most important thing I ever do,” the icon recently wrote regarding her rousing song.

I’ll let her music video speak for itself:

He Had Me at Humble

Observe & Ponder,

Rabbi Marcus’ article in the latest issue of Chabad Magazine was titled “The Humble Girls of Jerusalem,” but the word “humble” was what caught my eye, and prompted me to read his piece.

His article was adapted from Likkutei Sichot, Volume 24, page 57.

Likkutei Sichos is a series of 39 volumes that contain the teachings of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, also known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The Hebrew title, Likkutei Sichos, translates to “Collected Talks” in English.

According to Rabbi Marcus, this particular teaching by the Lubavitcher Rebbe about humble girls explains that we all come from different lifestyles, families, religions, and socio-economic backgrounds but that “…fundamentally, it boils down to two types of people.”

“The first type takes credit for their genes, good looks, family heritage, and parents’ wealth.”

“The second type, the poor, unattractive girl, can’t boast family or wealth. Instead, she demonstrates that she’s self-made, knowledgeable, capable, and, most importantly, understands what it means to struggle. This poor G-d-fearing, ‘daughter of Jerusalem,’ is not ugly, and she knows you’ll see her beauty once she can afford a decent haircut, a new dress, and some essential jewelry.”

I found the words of both Rabbis to be incredibly stirring, and having been brought up in humble beginnings, I related to the poor, unattractive, God-fearing girl.

I honestly never heard of Likkutei Sichos before, but the Rebbe’s teaching about the humbleness of one’s importance touched and uplifted me.

The article also brilliantly connected Chasidic teachings with the moon.

I don’t know about you, but I’m obsessed with the moon and spend an abundance of time gazing at and adoring it in stupefied wonder.

Speaking of the moon, Jews primarily use it as the basis for their calendar because Jewish tradition dictates that their calendar should be lunar-based.

Dating back to ancient times, the Jewish calendar follows the moon’s cycles—with the new moon marking the start of a new month. As stated in the Talmud: “Israel counts by the moon,” while other nations count by the sun, which is why the Jewish holidays begin at sundown.

But I digress.

According to Rabbi Marcus, in Chasidic teachings, the moon serves as the perfect example of humility and humbleness. The words he used to describe the moon’s connection to these selfless qualities were beautiful and incredibly inspiring:

“…the moon…gracefully lets everyone know it’s just a reflection of the sun’s light…the moon shows us how to be a graceful receiver, shining a beautiful light that’s not its own.”

Rabbi Marcus’ words about God, humility, humbleness, and the moon touched my religious senses in a way I had never before been moved.

And I can’t imagine I will ever look at the moon the same way again.

Rabbi Marcus ended with: “You could be rich, beautiful, and from a great family, but your true power comes when you lift your eyes and see where it all comes from.”

Amen to that.

Tarot For Beginners

Marketing & Publishing, ,

When I need a distraction, I mostly turn to writing. Except during Covid, I had a massive case of writer’s block, so I inexplicably drummed up two hobbies: Dollhouses and Tarot Cards.

Long story short, beginning in March 2020, while Covid was infecting and killing, I refurbished an old family dollhouse and then built three more while simultaneously learning and practicing tarot card readings.

I happen to love playing board games, so why not try my hand at tarot cards?

In reading up on Tarot, I discovered that people used the cards as far back as the 1400s as a parlor game, and since I had a sh*tload of time on my hands, I thought it would be a playful way to spice things up socially.

Or I should say antisocially since I wasn’t socializing with anyone except my husband for way too many months during Covid when I decided the best strategy for staying alive was staying inside.

And since my husband called tarot cards “hogwash,” I was stuck practicing tarot solo.

In between hiding from Covid and dollhousing, I would pull one tarot card daily and read up on their meanings. But most of the time, the cards spoke for themselves with their stunning imagery and allegorical symbols. Plus, it became a fun diversion at a time when fun was not in my vocabulary.

Four years later, I feel I can finally read the cards reasonably well, but I still refer to my notes—now my latest book—for guidance.

One of the best things that came out of Covid for me was writing my most recent release—a 96-pager that I had no idea I was even going to write!

Tarot for Beginners is a helpful guide for interpreting the Rider-Waite®Tarot Deck and an enjoyable pastime to share with friends. I also threw in a touch of numerology and astrology to make it more interesting.

And to set the record straight, Tarot For Beginners is NOT a book about the occult, witchcraft, or fortune-telling. That would be giving me way too much extra-terrestrial credit.

Plain and simple, my book is a unique and quirky way to add some amusing entertainment to a social gathering.

I hope you give it a try!

Click here to order Tarot For Beginners, or for more information about my latest release.