Candlelighters
a place for women who cherish the TorahAuthor Archive
Power
by eshetkayil
Too often, I think we downplay the power of prayer. Prayer, in my experience, comes as more of an afterthought. In preparation for this Israel trip, for instance, people always ask if I have someone traveling with me, but it’s only a few who have added, toward the end of the conversation, that they’ll be praying for me. Do you see how they put the importance of having a flesh-and-blood companion above the importance of asking G-d to keep me safe? Of course it’s not intentional – all good believers know that G-d comes first. I think it’s more subconscious than anything else.
As I’ve been thinking a lot about this trip, I have come to really embrace the importance of power of prayer. My father would die for me. He would do anything to protect me – I know that for sure! But he cannot possibly be with me at every second of every hour of every day. That’s not how it works. However, my Heavenly Father can be. That’s the cool thing about being omnipresent. G-d can protect me, G-d can keep me safe, and He will if we ask Him to do so.
One of the things I think is important is making prayer personal. I love reading the prayers from the siddur – and that’s what I do, 98% of the time. But sometimes (like, for instance, as I’m preparing for a huge life change and traveling halfway around the world), I like to personalize the prayers, to help them reach my soul and pour forth from my innermost being. Here’s what I’ve been praying:
10 Plagues: Update 3
by eshetkayil
I don’t know if any of you have noticed, but summer is almost completely gone. I love that crisp, cool, autumn breeze, which is just now starting to ruffle the multicolored leaves in our backyard.
At the beginning of the summer, I had these huge and ambitious plans for keeping myself busy. Idle hands are the devil’s playground, let’s remember.
It was only about a month into the summer, however, that G-d dropped an incredible opportunity in my lap. All of the sudden, I started planning a trip to Israel to learn Hebrew – I wasn’t expecting that at all!
Passport to Fluency?
by eshetkayil
I’m going to Israel! I am going…to Israel! I’m traveling over 5,000 miles to live in The Land this fall! =
I have to keep saying it, because I can’t really believe it.
Foodlessness
by eshetkayil
Yesterday, the 17th of Tammuz, was a public fast day. It’s not commanded in the Bible – it’s purely traditional. It commemorates five sad things that historically and traditionally happened that day:
- Moses broke the first set of Ten Commandments tablets at Mount Sinai, in response to the sin of the golden calf.
- The daily offerings at the First Temple were suspended during the siege of Jerusalem, when the priests could not obtain any animals.
- The walls of Jerusalem were breached, heralding the destruction of the Second Temple three weeks later (on Tisha B’Av).
- Apostamos, a Roman General, burned a Torah scroll, setting a precedent for the burning of Jewish books for centuries.
- An idolatrous image was placed in the sanctuary of the Temple.
There is Nothing New Under the Sun
by eshetkayil
I hope the title of this post is familiar to you. It should ring a bell. I’ll wait while you think about it.
Ok, done waiting. It’s from the book of Ecclesiastes. “That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So, there is nothing new under the sun,” King Solomon laments in verse 9 of chapter 1. “Is there anything of which one might say, ‘See this, it is new’? Already it has existed for ages which were before us.” [I'll just take this opportunity to rabbit-trail for a second and tell you that Rick Spurlock's week-long study on Ecclesiastes, written to be done during the week of Sukkot, is absolutely excellent. You can find that at www.bereansonline.org.]
As my sisters and I – and I don’t know how many more of you – have been reading through the Bible this summer, we have found time and again that King Solomon was absolutely right! There is nothing new under the sun! The books of I & II Samuel, I & II Kings, and I & II Chronicles are replete with stories I’ve heard before.
The Waiting Place
by eshetkayil
I was recently honored to be asked to speak at a friend’s graduation. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to say – graduations, in my mind, are similar to weddings. It has to be *perfect*. Anyway, I decided to talk about waiting.
Countdown: The Finale
by eshetkayil
One of the things I love most about our G-d is that He encourages our creativity. Very often, He will give a generic command, and allow us to shape and define what it will look like in our own lives. Let me give you an example: Shabbat. G-d gave us parameters for Shabbat. He told us not to light fires, not to work, not to transact business – just rest. What does Shabbat look like in the life of a believer? It depends on the believer. And the community. And the location. Do you see my point?
10 Plagues: Update 2
by eshetkayil
I don’t know if you’re involved in the 10 Plague Project, but I am getting excited about scheduling my time and applying for different volunteer positions in our area. Here’s what I’ve done so far – let me know what you’re doing!
You Have Heard it Said
by eshetkayil
This week, we get a double portion (did you catch the remez there? the words “double portion” should make you think of the manna given the day before Shabbat in the wilderness!). We read both Acharei Mot and Kedoshim. I didn’t know it before yesterday, but Kedoshim is definitely one of my favorite portions. Guess who else really liked it, too?
10 Plagues: Update I
by eshetkayil
As I mentioned in a previous post, I am using the 50 days of the omer count to work on breaking some bad habits (plague #3 – gnats).
We Are Witnesses
by eshetkayil
I’m almost finished – I promise! April 12, Yom HaShoah, is coming up soon. I have finished another Holocaust book – We Are Witnesses: Five Diaries of Teenagers Who Died in the Holocaust. I will probably have time to read (or at least start) one more, in this last week. Then the tragic book reviews will stop – at least for this year! 
Here are my thoughts on We Are Witnesses:
Outwitting the Gestapo
by eshetkayil
For those of you who have forgotten, I’m currently reading through Holocaust books. I made a list to read between January 27 and April 12 (you can read my initial post here). That list included five great books, and I added a sixth, per my mother’s suggestion (Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl). After finishing The Book Thief, I found myself out of Holocaust reading material! So I looked up a few more, and started Outwitting the Gestapo, by Lucie Aubrac. Here are my thoughts on her story:
Waste Time, Live for Yourself, and Daydream
by eshetkayil
For the past few months, I have been working on my plan for the summer. I am a major planner. I premeditate everything. It came to me, several weeks ago, that my summer is one big, empty, black hole. I don’t teach during the summer (my students need the break just as much as I do), and social opportunities are more frequent, as my school-entrenched circle is free of the rigors of education during the summer. I began to think about what I should do with all that time, and came up with this idea. It uses the ten plagues of Egypt, so I thought it would be apropos to “unveil” it, so to speak, around Passover. 
Just as an Aside
by eshetkayil
I got two emails back-to-back yesterday, and I found them pretty humorous. I thought I’d share with you.
The Book Thief
by eshetkayil
Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief was an interesting read. Written from the odd (but very fresh) perspective of Death, it is sometimes gritty, sometimes endearing, and always rather stark.
Something Feminine [to think about]
by eshetkayil
As I was listening to the Torah portion(s) being read this past Shabbat at our congregational meeting, I happened to notice this beautiful little piece of commentary from the sages. Brace yourself for a rabbinic thought, and trust me – the rabbis and sages are very, very wise. I thought this was really neat.
Let Your “Yes” be “Yes, and Your “No”, “Maybe”
by eshetkayil
I have a question of ethics for you, as well as a situation about which to tell you. Are you ready? Remember – I want your opinion. Don’t be afraid to share, or to tell me that I’m -gasp- wrong.
It all started a few years ago, toward the beginning of our Torah walk…
Number the Stars
by eshetkayil
I know I just wrote a post on Anne Frank, but believe it or not, I’ve now finished the *next* book on my Holocaust reading list – Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
by eshetkayil
Believe it or not, I had never read Anne Frank before. It surprised me…but not in a good way.
The Hiding Place
by eshetkayil
Corrie Ten Boom’s The Hiding Place was a surprisingly quick read. I’d read it before, probably as a part of our homeschool curriculum, when I was much younger. This time through was completely different – I’m old enough to understand what I’m reading – and a much deeper experience.
Life Imitates Art. Or…vice versa?
by eshetkayil
I have a question for you. I’m sure there’s a right or wrong answer, but at this point, I think it’s also purely a matter of opinion. And I want to know yours! Are you ready? Ok:
More Joys of Being Single
by eshetkayil
Remember that Valentine’s event WLTC hosted? Well, I entered it in a Valentine’s contest going on at Fashionably Modest Patterns (www.fashionablymodestpatterns.blogspot.com), and I am now one of the finalists! I am so excited about this – take a look at the other two contestants, and vote here: http://fashionablymodestpatterns.blogspot.com/2010/02/vote-for-your-favorite-finalist.html. The polls close Monday morning, so hurry up!
Night
by eshetkayil
Now I have finished Night, by Elie Wiesel. My hat is off to Mr. Wiesel – his writing style is superlative. This book drew me in and would not let me put it down! It mirrors the Holocaust: a deceptively peaceful beginning, a dreamlike, horrific story, followed by an abrupt and unexpected end. It is no wonder that this period in history is called HaShoah in Hebrew. It truly was a “whirlwind”. My favorite quote was in the first few pages:
“…every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer…man comes closer to G-d through the questions he asks Him…”
I will be adding more books by Mr. Wiesel to my general reading list.
The Sunflower
by eshetkayil
I have just finished Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower. It was an amazing read! Very deep, very thought-provoking. I would definitely recommend it. My complete thoughts on the book are available on this site, in the orange box on the home page. Far too long to include in a post. However, reading it did bring a question to my mind.
The Joys of Being Single
by eshetkayil
We Light The Candles sponsored my Valentine’s Day luncheon this year. This is the third year in a row I’ve hosted this event. For the past two years, I have hosted a special luncheon for single young ladies between the ages of 13 and 30. I want to use this time of romance and love to encourage my generation to continue to keep themselves pure, to prepare themselves for their future homes and husbands, and to be shining examples to others.
The Holocaust: A Comprehensive Reading Guide
by eshetkayil
We just passed International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, 2010. Those who knew about it and cared about what happened so many years ago to so many people, stopped to remember it. Israeli Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah: Day of the Whirlwind – Holocaust Day) falls on Nissan 27, commemorated on April 12 this year.
So here is my plan: between the two dates, I am going to focus my reading on Holocaust themed literature, especially true stories. I want to bring the Holocaust home to my heart and mind, so that I can truly remember when Yom HaShoah arrives. I can’t pretend I’ll know what it was like to be a Jewish prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp, but at least I will have caught a brief glimpse. Just as we speak of the bondage in and exodus from Egypt as if we ourselves were there, I want to build a bridge in my mind to the Holocaust and it’s horrors.
Category Mistake
In last week’s portion, Bo (Come), the Torah tells us about the last few plagues G-d brought upon the land of Egypt. In reading it this year, I found myself intrigued by the plague of darkness:
“Then the L-rd said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even a darkness which may be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings.” – Exodus 10:21-23
Even a darkness which may be felt? What does that mean?
The Mystery of the Wells
“When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came to draw water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.” – Exodus 2:15-16.
When I read this passage from the portion this week (Shemot – Names), I was struck by the similarity to a few other situations in the Bible. What other men are meeting women by wells? <wink>
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