Mary Woten

First Miriam 1:1-16

Listen, O Israel,
Hear, O People of the Book.
Are you as a Child,
Never to Grow to Adulthood?
Are you as One who Studies,
Never to Learn?

When your Forefathers Wandered
They needed a Mark to Remind them
To Whom they Belonged.
As Wayward Children need a Punishment
When they Stray,
So Israel needed a Mark.
But have you not Learned,
O Israel?
Have you not Matured,
O People of the Book?
The Creation I have made
Is Good,
All that I have made
Is Pure.
Why then do you continue
To Damage my Creation?
Why do you Cut Off
That which I have Made?
What Use have I for your Foreskins?
What Pride have I in a People
That Mutilates its Young?


David brought Two Hundred Foreskins
To Saul as a Brideprice for Michal--
Did I show My Blessing
Upon that Union?
Am I Impressed by
Blind Following of Old Law?
Will you Gain Favor
By Wielding a Knife?

Spare your Young:
Shield and Protect them
As a Loving Mother would.
Spare your Young:
Teach and Inform them
As a Responsible Father would.
Do not Hand them Over
To Old Men,
Do not Hand them Over
As Lambs to the Slaughter.
Love them.
Suffer them Not.
Spare them.
Honor them.

Be a Mature People,
O Israel.
Grow into Adulthood,
O People of the Book.

Gail Weinstein

The prophecy of Gail Ellen Weinstein as revealed at YESOD…..

1) You will die one day. The rest is ancillary commentary.

• Cultivate joy. Practice noticing things that move you, things that please you. This is IT. Okay, kvetch a little. But then get over it and get on with loving life. Every little thing.
• Practice gratitude. As you walk by, talk to gardeners, janitors, garbage men, and other workers. Thank them for making your neighborhood or workplace beautiful. You can just say, “It’s beautiful. Thank you for your work”.
• Notice light- on water, on trees, through clouds, on skin, at dawn, at dusk, at mid-day. Experience wonder. Love brightness and darkness and every mysterious mix of light, including the awe of its absence in the thickest part of night.
• Acknowledge pain and fear, and then get off your tush and do stuff anyway.
• Err on the side of generosity. Give stuff away. Make time.
• Eat broccoli, yes, but do not forsake entirely cookies or chocolate.
• Make amends to people rather than to G_d. In the end, it’s the same thing, and a more direct route.
• Celebrate connection, accept occasional loneliness.
• Imagine that you may not have enough time. Do what matters most. Hurry!
• Make outrageous leaps of faith; work toward the impossible. Like, seek peace among Jews and Palestinians or any other people you love or have trouble loving.
• Do not be afraid to lose face. Show up even when you haven’t done your YESOD homework.
• Rise to each day, keep going; make many jokes, even stupid ones sometimes.
• Consider how others have imagined G_d, learn about your place as a Jew in the march of generations. Then imagine G_d as revealed specifically to you.
• Get quiet and listen for instructions. This, in my view, is prayer.
• Disregard my prophesy. Listen for instructions (that is, pray). Make your own prophecy. Then live by it. Time is short. Let’s go! And please pass the chocolate.