Bereshit

I hope everyone's holidays were merry. I took a small sabbatical. So I am going to attempt to get back into the swing of things with the ol' blog.

One of my new years resolutions is to start again reading Torah from beginning to end every night. I am not Jewish. I love reading the insights and studying the commentary.

I am using the Guenther Plaut edition. It is a liberal version. I appreciate that viewpoint although I am a very conservative type of guy.

What follows is the information I have learned and opinions that I have formed from this study. I am starting with the Hebrew Book of Bereshit which we refer to as Genesis. Bereshit literally means Beginning and is taken from the first word of the Hebrew text.

Before there was a written Torah, there was the tradition of Oral Torah. Generations upon generations handed down the spoken word and the traditions to their progeny.

Stories of creation abound through differing cultures. Many are similar. Some differ. We consider them to be myths. But what about Genesis? Could we be Christians and accept the account of creation to by myth?

What makes Genesis stand apart is although the creation story could be a myth, there is no mythology. We have only mention of God creating Heaven and Earth, the beasts and man and woman. We no hierarchy of heavenly beings or demi gods or fantastic stories of their lives, triumphs and romances that are pervasive in other cultures. We have a simplistic story of our God, Adonai, creating the Heavens,the light and the darkness, the waters, the Earth and it's inhabitants. I find it interesting that after God created the waters, He created the sky. This would make sense as clouds are made up of water vapor.

When God creates man and woman His Name is then Elohim or Lord. This reflects His status over man. We read that He created the Earth in 6 days and rests on the 7th. After each creation, He states "That is Good." On the day of rest He looks at his work and says, "That is very Good."

This was a story that ancient man could not only understand, but pass on future generations.

Ever since Darwin published his findings, men of faith have stood righteously to defend their God against science. Even Darwin wrestled with his own conscious whether to announce his theories or keep silent. His father was a pastor. His wife voiced her fervant fear for his soul. In Darwins time, just shy of one hundred years ago, it was believed the world was less than five thousand years old. Darwin's explanations was considered blasphemy. Creationists have rallied ever since the Scopes "Monkey Trial". To make their viewpoint sound more scientific Creationist have now relabeled their views as Intelligent Design.

It has to be true that truths beget truth. Many of the stories of creation have similar points. Can we modern believers say that the account of creation was a myth that enabled the ancient Hebrews to offer an explanation to their contemporaries and still maintain our faith in the One God, blessed be He?

I have no problem. My faith is not rocked.

Boo's Birthday Card

Inside of Boo's Birthday card


I cannot remember which birthday it was when my sweet daughter sent me this card that she had made. The drawing if from a picture that was taken of Boo (Elizabeth) and her Daddy laying in bed when she was just about a month old. The photo was taken by Mommy. I think she must have been about 10 years old when she made the card. Both my girls were quite the artist. Her sister's nickname was Rachie the Pooh. I'm not sure why she wrote Phooh.

The card is one of my personal treasures.

Back of Boo's Birthday Card 

Boo's Birthday Card 

Some blessings this past week

1. My Son-in-laws father had a bad heart attack on October 9th. He had angioplasty, but was in a delirious state for much of last week. He finally responded to the medication on Thursday October the 13th and was released a couple of days later.

This is pretty amazing. I was an orderly at Jewish Hospital during 1972-73 and often saw patients on the cardiac floor that were non responsive for weeks. The average stay was at least two to three weeks. Angioplasty was in it's infancy.

2. New doggie at our house. Mikey the poodle is so attached to Linny and he cries all the time when she leaves the house. So we got him a buddy. This is Luke the poodle. Mikey is black and Lukie is white. Doggie diversity!

3. I have a four day weekend coming up.

Vocations Club A Poem I though my Wife would enjoy

by Paula Sergei

We met on Tuesdays after school
with Sister Mary Agnes,
the two Mary Lous, Julie, Kay and me
to learn about being nuns.
The convent sounded good;
a room of my own, a single bed,
time to think and pray, no fighting
over what we'd watch-Bonanza versus Dragnet,
or who would get the couch.
I dug those crazy nun outfits,
and hated hand-me-downswith too long sleeves and too tight waists.
I'd take the smell of polished wood and incense
over burnt grilled cheese and sour milk.
I'd have a good job, teaching kids
and all the chalk I'd want,long,
unbroken pieces that echoed off the board,
all eyes on me as I'd tap directions,conducting my classroom all day.
People, I'd begin, today we're talking about...whatever I want to !
Nuns got great rosaries with fancy beads
and lots of gifts at Christmas.
And the solitude of celibacy sounded pretty good,
better than worrying about French kissing
like my sister, better than pining for men,
like mom, whose men left anyway.

Visiting Brookville Indiana

My grandmother, Dandy, grew up in Carrollton Kentucky, which is near Brookville Kentucky. But this days post is regarding a town of a similar name that is 200 miles or so to the north and west, Brookville Indiana. My wife, Linny, has befriended a dear girl, named Naomi that lives in this quaint town along the lake with her hubby, Kyle and three sons.

'sweet people that were so kind to invite us to their family's campsite for an outing and dinner. We met the nicest folks. Kyle's parents Tom and Joanne, his sis Kara and BIL Bruce and their kids. Aunt Mimi, neighbors Flo and Fred (anyone ever read the Bobbsie Twins. I think the younger set was Fred and Flo(ssie). But I digress).

The campers there were so impressive with all the comforts of home only perhaps better. We are not talking tents and campfires, but big aluminum formed structures with all the conveniences including a nice indoor loo. Linny, Mikey and I had a great time. Well Mikey (the attack poodle) was a little shy and nervous and extremely cold.

The funniest thing was sitting in Naomi's living room and waiting for Kyle to come home from work. She has a large picture window that is more entertaining than most network TV shows.

There was this little boy, all of about 8 years old that was riding his bicycle up and down the street. We were not certain if he was dressed as a vampire or the scarlet pimpernel. The young fellow was wearing a black cape with a collar, a scarlet vest and a ruffled blouse with large sleeves. He also had a white cloth string tie, black slacks and flip flops. We were thinking he was pobably Count Floppula since every so often he would put his thumb to his upper teeth. This was a cute kid.

Seeing this made me think back to my childhood when I savaged the areas of Sherman and Sheridan in my homemade cape and mask saving the imaginary peasants from the overbearing imaginary governors greed. My, my those were the days.