Trip to Israel and Jordan

I am writing this blog on Tuesday, Dec 21, 2010. Anne and I are planning to visit Israel and Jordan starting on Jan 18 and coming back on Jan 22,2011. We are planning the trip now to see the major sites in both Israel and Jordan as well as meeting Jamie (Anne's cousin) who has been in Jordan the last five years building a film school. When I return I will write a short blog about my experiences and have many pictures to show.

Hebrew Bible

I have been asked to give the sermon at Congregation Israel in San Antonio, Texas on Friday, Dec 4, 2010. Instead of reading or speaking about the portion of the week (Torah, I have decided to talk about the Hebrew Bible and Spirituality. So, here are my thoughts:

The Hebrew Bible is composed of the following books: The first five books is called the Torah, the next section is the prophets, and the final section is called the writings. Together it makes 24 books and it is called the Tanakh. In order to understand the Hebrew Bible you need to read the Talmud. The Talmud is composed of the mishna plus the gemora. These are writings on the Torah that helps us understand it. For example think of an oil well. Can we use the oil that comes out of the ground? No! It first has to be refined to be used for practical purposes. This is like the process that the Talmud filters the teachings in the Torah so that we can understand it. Next we have codes, Responsa, kabbalah, mussar etc. Therefore we are not the people of the book, WE ARE THE PEOPLE OF THE LIBRARY!

New subject: Spirituality - Most Jews do not join synagogues because of a lot of reasons being money, polictics, etc. I believe that they do not understand religion or the meaning of being a Jew. Most Jews were taught some Hebrew and prayers for their Bar/Bat Mitsvah and a little bit of holidays and culture. This was not enough.

Everyone is looking for pleasure, happness or meaning in their life. Perhaps it would be best to define the difference between religion and spirituality.

Spirituality is about how you see the world and what matters to you the most. Spirituality is not something that comes from the outside in, but is something you already possess. In fact, it is who you are. Spirituality is internal while religion is external. Religion is based is a set of beliefs found in a bible. Spirituality is different for each individual. I like to think of it as being positive and looking for the beauty and the best in everyone and everything. I believe more Jews today are looking for swpirituality and meaning in their life and not finding it in the Temples and synagogues. In fact there are now three Spiritual Centers in the United States: one in California, Flordia, and New York City. These Spiritual Centers require solitude and silence. Spritual mentors don't lecture or scold, and do not advise or preach--they simply share their life's journey They are interested in the truth about themselves, their relationships and about their life. Spirituality is a process. It is a journey. It is about the truth that is planted deep inside you. In fact, "The twelve steps" is a spiritual program utilized to battle addiction to alcohol, drugs, food, gambling, and smoking. This is one of the best practical guides to spiritual living.

I believe that Texas can support a spiritual center.

The death of a boyhood friend

Recently I learned that my high school classmate, Ed Eglowsky died on August 26, 2010. I immediately started telephoning my former classmates and friends who knew ed to discuss his life with them. The question that they kept asking me is why am I so upset with his death. My answer is as follows:

I am upset with any person's death when I personally knew the individual. This is the way I am. Ed ws not perfect. He had a lot of faults. One being he did not keep in touch with people. However we all have faults.

I am also upset because I believe that my former school classmates both in college and elswhere as well as friends throughout my 70 years of life may be influencing this world by the way they vote and voice their opinions. What a concept! I had problems with them then and I probably still will have problems with them now.

I am also upset about the following events happening in this world:

Endless War. Not only the ones that get reported but the "hidden wars" where we got troops on "trainers" stationed in them. The U.S. Army is in 192 countries. I believe that in the future we will have to restore order in these countries. In addition the individual and corporate lust for wealth and power will continue to give us war and occupation like it is in Afganistan and Iraq.

I am upset about efforts to feed our addiction to fossil fuels. If we can ever control our addiction, we will be about to change the world for the better.

I am upset about the endless surges of racism and homophobia. Pleasle in the media keep stirring the pots of the "scapegoat stew."

I am upset because we have become victimized by the food industry and their handmaidens the chemical industry. Everyone must see the movie "Food Inc." Look around you and see how many adults and children suffer from obesity and diabetes.

Finally I am upset that people do not realize that science does not and cannot solve ethical problems. Religion deals with ethics not science. Ethics must be taught to everyone. Again everyone needs to watch "American Greed" on CNBC.

Guess what - all the above mentioned issues are connected!!

Yes, I am upset about Ed's death. When do we get it: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Why I am a liberal Jew

I thought I would share with you my opinion why most Jews are liberal and why I am a liberal Jew.

It is an important teaching of Judaism that our money is not really ours, no matter how hard we may have worked for it. Money is a gift from God, and God has instructed us to share a portion of it with the less fortunate. We can do this directly through our own tzedaka or through the government's social programs. I believe we have to do both. The liberal Democrats in the history of the country have always voted for social programs i.e. social security, health care, etc.

According to the Book of Deuteronomy, "For the poor shall never cease out of the land; therefore, I command you to open your hand to your poor and needy brother." In other words, because there will always be poor people, society or the government has to find a way of helping people.

The conservative Republicans have voted traditionally against all social programs yet they encourage the spending of trillion of dollars on defense. Having been in the military for over 26 years I have experienced the huge dollar waste in the Department of Defense. In fact the current Secretary of Defense have spoken about the waste of funds yet the Republican members of Congress do not get it!

I believe that my goal as a Jew is to constantly try to capture the feeling of standing at Sinai and bring holiness into my life by sanctifying even ordinary moments. Helping people will achieve this goal as an individual or through government.


I hope that by reading this E-mail you will be able to understand why I and most Jews are liberal.

Comments on life

Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn't. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted. A tension of opposites, like a pull on a rubberband.

Most of us live somewhere in the middle.

So which side wins?

"Love wins. Love always wins."

My thoughts on death

Everyone knows that they are going to die but nobody believes it. If we did believe it we would do things differently.

Do what the Buddhists do. Every day, have a little bird on your shoulder that asks, "Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?" If you accept that you can die at any time - then you might not be as ambitious as you are. The things you spend so much time on - all this work you do --might not seemas important. You might have to make room for some more spiritual things. In my opinion, we are too involved in materialistic things, and they don't satisfy us. The loving relationships we have, the universe around us, we take these things for granted.

Once you learned how to die, you learn how to live.

Prayer

In biblical times, Jews worshipped God with animal sacrifices. This reflected the sense that in order for a person to take worship seriously, it had to cost him something. Therefore the fundamental religious emotion when it came to worship was not pleading but gratitude. Prayer was about what we had received without having earned it. When praying, it is not the meaning of the words that matters, it is the emotional-aesthetic, right brain experience we crave. In other words, a prayer is "answered" not when we get what we were asking for, but when we are granted a sense of God's nearness. Prayer is the verbal form of worship.

When I pray, I speak to God, when I study Torah, I let God speak to me!

Thoughts from trip to San Antonio

Anne and I just returned from a short trip to San Antonio, Texas to see my dentist, friends, and meet with people looking to franhise a take out Chinese restaurant. I believe the trip was very successful. We decided while there to rent a house near Central Market to celebrate my 70th birthday on August 22,2010. Anne will prepare the food and invite all family and friends to the party.

We ate dinner with Ronnie and Diana one night in an Italian restaurant in the Medical Center of SA called Picollo's. The red snapper in butter, egg, and garlic sauces was delicious. (See picture)

The deal with the Chinese restaurant is a long way off. It is called "Wok on Wheels." They are asking too much money for the deal in my opinion.

Dallas Arboretum

Yesterday, I visited the Dallas Arboretum to see the largest floral display in the south which showcased over 500,000 spring-blooming bulbs along with over 3,000 azaleas. What an experience!

Another Chever Torah Study Session

Today, I went to Saturday morning Torah Study at the Temple with Rabbi Berman. He came to Temple with the message about "Classical Reform Judaism" as opposed to traditional reform Judaism that was started in Germany. As you know the classicl reform Judaism advocates worship services in English, the importance of the American experience in our Jewish identity, music in our services, and welcome and support for interfaith families.

In addition, Rabbi Berman talked about the Book of Numbers for the parsha this week. The Book of Numbers deals with God telling Moses and Aaron to take a census of the people in the wilderness. There were approximately 615,000 males and two million people entered the wilderness from Egypt based on the census. One of the spiritual values of taking a census is that there is strength in numbers and people exists not only as an individual but also as a member of a tribe.

Rabbi Berman ended the study with talking about Jewish symbols in the Temple today. He discussed the memorah (7 branches with candles), priestly vestments on the Torah, gold, blue and crimson in the temple, the dome at the top to depict the top of the Tent of Meetings, at well as the decoration around the ark.

Finally, I would like to discussed the importance of numbers as a way of remembering bible stories. The significance of numbers 1 through 5 as follows: One is God, two are the tables, three is the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, four is the matriarchs, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah, and five is the five books of the bible.

After life, what do we leave behind?

The question is what does a person leave behind when they die? One answer is the following: It has been said that a person should do three things in his or her life: have a child, plant a tree, and write a book." That is, we strive to defeat death by investing ourselves in things that will outlast us. Very interesting!

Relationships between people

In 70 years of living and talking to hundreds of people, I have come to the conclusion that most people feel cheated by life or unhappy is because of two related causes: either somewhere along the way, somebody - a parent, a teacher, a religious leader - gave them the message that they were not good enough, and they believed it. Or else they came to expect and need more from the people around them - their parents, children, husband, or wives - than people could realistically deliver. It is this notion that we were supposed to be perfect and that we could expect others to be perfect because we need them to be that leaves us feeling constantly guilty and perpetually disappointed. If everyone was perfect than there would be no need for religion. Religion helps a person deal with the dysfunctional world. It helps a person deal with imperfect people.

Talmud -Introduction

Today I went to the Temple to study Talmud. Now I would like to discuss something about the Talmud. Moses received the "Tablets of stone" or ten commandents on Mt Sinai which is called in the Talmud, the Mishna. The rest of the 613 commandants are contained in the Prophets and Writings. The Talmud is concerned with the oral law given to Moses. So you have in the Talmud the Mishna (the laws) and the Gemara or the commentary on those laws. To state this in another way, the Talmud is actually a series of books approximately (70 books) that compiles two diffent type of writings - the Mishna, or the primary body of Jewish civil and religious law, and the rabbinic disucssion which are known as the Gemara. The Talmud or Oral Law, tells Jews how to live and pray as Jews.

The Talmud is arranged according to Tractate which begin on page 2 of each book. It should be noted that there are two versions of the Talmud: Bablonian Talmud and the lessor used Jersulam Talmud.

According to tradition, when Moses died, he left behind a complete body of law. Nothing could be added to the teaching of Moses, nor could anything be subtracted from it.

Purpose of religion

The following is my opinion on the purpose of religion in today's world.

1) The purpose of religion is not to try and explain God.

2) The purpose of religion is not to please God.

3) The purpose of religion is to teach humans how to deal with life!

The following are comments from Rabbi Harold S. Kushner's book, "To Life."

Judaism stresses ethics and community, the effort to become fully human as you relate to the people around you, more than it stresses the nature of God.

Theology plans a minor role in Judasim. This is true because mostly the statements made about God are not really so much about God as they are about us.

Statements about God, then, do not describe God. They describe how we and our world are different because of God.

Jews say that they believe in God, it is not His existence but His reliability that we are affirming.

An atheist is a person who denies the ethical significance of human beings, saying, "People are just animals obeying instincts; it makes no moral differece what they do.

If we can not understand God's decisions, the limitations are ours, not His.

I would remind the reader of Maimonides' warning that when we use terms of human discourse to describe God, the words don't fit God the way they fit us.

We cannot understand God's ways because we cannot see things from God's point of view.

Shavurot- year 2010

The following are my thoughts and comments about the Jewish holiday of Shavuot that comes after Passover. This holiday commemorates the giving of the Torah. We celebrate this holiday 49 days after Passover. Unlike other festivals, Shavuot has few rituals other than Temple services in which we stay up all night to study and read various partions of the Torah and other biblical books. I use the following three words to describle the holiday of Shavuat: Youth, Truth, and Ruth. I use the term youth because this is when confirmation class graduates. I use the word Truth because this is when we read from the Torah and I use the word Ruth because this is the time that we read from the book of Ruth.

Finally I would like to mention the tradition of decorating with greenery and flowers because Mount Sinai was covered with green vegetation at the time of Revelation. Some people think it was filled with roses. Therefore, I like to plant roses at this time of the year.

Chever Torah Class 1

Today is Saturday and I went to Chever Torah Class this morning in which we studied the weekly Parsha (Torah portion). This week it dealt with the end of the Book of Leviticus. In summary the portion dealt with the principles of land tenure. The land belongs to God not man. He gives it to man on a long-term lease. However the land must be rested in the 7th year. Six days you shall work but on the 7th day you shall rest. Every 7th year you shall remission of debt. The stranger can eat on the fallow land. On the 7th year times 7 or the 50 th year is the Jubilee year. Question: What is the spiritual benefits of resting? How do you use the space for benefit? 7th year of rest "Sabbath of the Lord"

Exodus and Revolution

I have been reading and studing the book, "Exodus and Revolution" by Michael Walzer. I would like to share with you some of what he wrote that I think is very profound.

The return to Egypt is part of the story, though it exists in the text only as a possiblility: that is why the story can be retold so often.

The story is more important than the events, and the story has grown more and more imortant as it has been repeated and reflected upon.

The Israelities are not magically transported to the promised land; they must march to get there and the march is full of difficulties, crises, struggles, all realisticlly presented as if to invite human as well as divine resolution. The story is a classic narrative, with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Exodus is a journey forward--not only in time and space.

The book of Genesis is a collection of stories about individual men and women, they are mostly members of one family, a family, moveover, with a singular destiny, but we are focused on individuals. Exodus is the story of a people, hence not a story simply but a history.

Moses, is not a messiah, he is a political leader who succeeds in bringing the Israelites out of Egypt but is unable to bring them into the promised land. Moses needs Aaron to speak and Miriam to sing on his behalf.

Canaan is a promised land because Egypt is a house of bondage.

"But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew" Exod. 1:12

The Israelite slaves could become free only insofar as they accepted thediscipline of freedom, the obligation to live up to a common standard and to take responsibility for their own actions.

The deliverance brings Israel into the wilderness where the conditions of further advance are revealed. Hence we begin "Liberation theology"

In the Haggadah: In every generation let each man look upon himself as if he came forth out of Egypt.

God said, I will bring you into a land flowing with milk and honey, and Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

Joy and gladness are common descriptions of life in the promised land. A life free from the fear of being encslaved by others. The elimination of misery and exploitation. They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid. Mic. 4:4

In God's kingdom, all the Israelites will be priests; the nation as a whole will be holy.

Joel had a vision of the messianic age.

Everyone was holy who had shared the Sinai experience, and so there was no need fora leader or a priesthood.

Today it looks like a case of a people living in the promised land but sliding back into Egyptian practices -exactly like the first Israel.

The ethical high point of the Exodus is the march across the desert. More exactly it is the beginning of the march.

Jewish messianic thought, and so all messianic thought, has its origins in the idea of a second Exodus. To make the goal of the second Exodus not Canaan but Eden.

The kingdom of prients is replaced here by a kingdom of rabbis - scholars and sages --and the form of participation is study.

Revolutionary politics is the book of Exodus and Numbers.

Thou shalt not oppress a stranger; for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were stranges in the land of Egypt.

Stocks - wall street plunge

There was panic and fear on Wall Street yesterday as the Dow Jones plunged 1,000 points in 16 minutes. I watched this whole event on TV while I was working out at the YMCA -White Rock in Dallas, Texas. What a ride! At least part of the sell-off appered to be linked to trader error, perhaps an incorrect order rounted through one of the ntion's exchanges. What a story. How could this happen? Help!!!

Religion - China

On my recent trip to China, I learned about Dao that I would like to share with my readers:

The word Dao means "the Way" in Chinese and refers to the way of the universe, the order behind nature, and the power within nature. While Confucianism is more of a social philosophy and Buddhism came from outside China, Daoism can claim to be the only really indigenous Chinese "religion." It is all about man finding his place in the great cosmic balance of things. In contrast to the monotheistic religions, with their emphasis on good fighting evil, in Daoism there is what's known as a unity of opposites. Good and evil, light and dark, stron and weak, empty and full are all part of the same whole, and each is necessary to the other.

While Confucius stressed order and duties and finding one's place in society, Daoism focused more on metapysical questions, finding one's place in the universe. It had connections with folk religions. It was linked to alchemy and magic and meditation and dietary control.

The absence of a monotheistic faith claiming to be revealed as divine truth is no doubt one of the reasons Chinese people claim they have never fought a war in the name of religion.

The Dao in Daoism, the Way itself, is by its nature unknowable. I always feel this single line has had more impact on the Chinese psyche than almost any other. "There is no absolute spiritual truth. Truth, if it even exists, is unknowable." Contrast this with Judasism, Christianity, and Islam, which claim to be revelations of divine truth.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

I was thinking about the recent trip to China that Anne and I were on and decided to put some words on my blog. Anne and I took a 12-day trip from Beijing to Shanghai, China trip from March 27th to April 7th, 2010 (over the Passover Holiday). Some of the highlights of visiting this once in a lifetime trip was as follows: Visiting Beijing to include Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, and Summer Palace. In addition while in Beijing we visited the great wall of china as well as a Hutong. We left Beijing and flew to Xian and saw the Terra Cotta Army. We then traveled to Shibaozhai and got on a cruise ship to Shanghai. While on the ship we saw and visited the three gorges dam, Jingzhous, and Wuhan. We ended the tour with several days in Shanghai and having a Passover Seder with friends. It was a fabulous trip.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Today is another beautiful day in Dallas, Texas. I was thinking about the following sayings this morning: "A sin is a missed opportunity to act humanly." What a powerful statement.

If I had some advice for young people I would say: 1) Do not worry about your grades. 2) Aim high in life and 3) Do the right thing.

Random Thoughts - May 5th

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.5. How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?6. Was learning cursive really necessary?7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the Person died.9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.10. Bad decisions make good stories.11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paperthat I swear I did not make any changes to.14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this - ever.15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dang it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.19. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.20. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option. 21. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.22. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.23. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.
24. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger. 25. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said? 26. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters! 27. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever. 28. Is it just me or do high school kids get dumber & dumber every year? 29. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far. 30. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists. 31. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is. 32. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my butt everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time

Introduction to Joel's Blog

Hello, my name is Joel Batalsky and this is my blog. My question is who would want to read this blog or anything else about me? I can not answer this question. The reason that I am writing this blog is because it gives me pleasure to record events in my life. I believe that "Life is short, so you should drink the wine first."

I will try and address topics and things that affect me on a day to day basis in this blog. I am particularly interested in relationships with people, relationships with God, and knowing myself. However I will discuss current topics in the news and events in my life. Please let me have your comments.