Elul Musings

Photo:  http://www.ritualwell.org/

Two years ago at this season, I wrote this: “with each Elul, each Simchat Torah "Bereshit" and each seder-concluding "L'shana ha-ba-ah b'Yerushalayim," our tradition graciously offers us an opportunity to seize a new beginning, a fresh start, a reason to look forward.” You can read the entire post here

This year, it is difficult for me to seize the opportunity offered by Elul and more than a bit challenging to set my mind to the spiritual housekeeping and moral accounting that go along with the late summer season. As I peer into the first year of our family’s life without my mother, it doesn’t look fresh, promising or hopeful. Instead, I know (even without seeing the specifics) that at each holiday, each celebration, each family event, it will be harder than ever to “shake it off and step up.” And so I’m especially interested in what others have to say during this annual ritual of spiritual preparation.

Come along with me and check out these Elul musings:

Ima on (and off) the Bima is blogging daily during Elul here.

Inspired by his colleague and friend, the Rhythm Guitar Rabbi also has committed to blog daily (starting on 2 Elul). You can find his musings here.

Sign up for Jewels of Elul and each day during the month you’ll receive a thought-provoking reflection from a different writer on this year's theme of "beginning again."   (Although I usually find these contemplations to be thoughtful and meaningful—I’ve been receiving them for a few years now—I must admit that today’s words from Lady Gaga didn’t do it for me. Perhaps I’m just too old or too out of touch with pop culture to appreciate what she had to say?…)

Know of other Elul musings? Come on, share them with the rest of us.

Freelance Editor for Hire

I know that in this economy, I'm lucky to have a job.  And, I'm even luckier that it's one that includes medical and dental insurance, a retirement plan, and generous holiday and vacation time, as well as compassionate co-workers (most of them, anyway) in a comfortable and collegial work environment (on most days, thank goodness). 

To be perfectly honest, however, from my perspective, my job does not include financial compensation that allows me to contribute to my personal savings on a regular basis, to be as generous as I would like with my tzedakah or to splurge every once in a while on a Broadway show, a vacation (even a short one that's not too far away) or an "I'll-pick-up-this-one-just-because" dinner with a friend or two.  And, while my modest lifestyle and carefully watched pennies help ensure that I am able to meet my expenses each month (despite my very deliberate decision to live in outrageously-expensive Manhattan), the chasm between my take-home income and my monthly outgo grows wider and wider and wider with each passing year.

Therefore, I recently decided to go in search of some paid freelance editing opportunities.  I’ve been doing it (the unpaid variety) for years, informally and successfully editing friends’ resumes, business correspondence, including cover letters, web content, blog posts, funding proposals, training materials and the like.  Using existing material (and the Track Changes function in Microsoft Word), I gently and carefully smooth out the bumps, retaining the original voice and message, while making the prose cleaner, sharper, easier to read and more powerful.  Now, I’m hoping to parlay that expertise and experience into something a bit more formal (aka the paid variety).

By way of testimonials, I can offer you these:

From the blog roll on The DCC:  “JanetheWriter Writes -- She is Good, You Should Read This One Too”

From a friend whose document I edited last week:  “I LOVE how you edit!! I had torn that letter apart, but you were way better than me!! :)"

And lastly, this from me (I know, that’s not a credible testimonial, but this is a start-up business and it's the most I can offer at the moment):  When it comes to the edits themselves, I always urge my friends to “take ‘em or leave ‘em.”  More often than not, though, they “take ‘em.” 

Want to know more?  You can read lots of my other work elsewhere on this blog, as well as here and here.

And so, my loyal blog readers and Facebook friends, I turn to you.  Should you or someone you know need a freelance editor, I’d be extremely grateful if you’d play matchmaker and help make a shidduch.  Just drop me an email with all the relevant details, and I’ll take it from there.

Thanks, friends, for helping me set things "write."

Summer Reading…and Summer Movies

For a variety of reasons, this hasn’t exactly turned out to be the summer I envisioned. No, there haven’t been a lot of lazy days suitable for plopping tired feet in cool grass and getting lost in a page-turner, no time for digging toes aimlessly in sand packed hard by endless laps of white-green, bubbly-soft ocean foam that occasionally sprays the pages of a book, not even an afternoon sipping green tea and flipping pages amidst the traffic and noise of a sidewalk café. No matter, though. I have managed to find two books that—if this was a different summer—would make cameo appearances in each of these scenes.

The first, lent to me by a friend, tells the story of the Nazi occupation of the Channel Island of Guernsey during World War II. (Yes, I’m behind in my reading and just discovered this treasure that so many others enjoyed years ago, many in book groups.) Filled with colorful characters and a riveting story in a simpler time, when letter-writing was still an art (and a primary means of communication), the end of the page turning came all too quickly for me. If only there were more letters (and more time to read them) from Juliet, Sidney, Sophie, Amelia, Dawsey and the rest, I think I’d have kept turning pages indefinitely. Perhaps a movie will be forthcoming? I hope so…

I’ve written about the second book before (once here, and once here), but never actually read it. And, even though I’ve finished only 20-some of its 460+ pages (excluding the notes and the index), it, too, is already riveting, filled with colorful characters and, perhaps best of all, is a true-crime murder mystery. In this case, though, the mystery isn’t as much a whodunit as a how’d-they-solve-it, much of which remains to be revealed in the unread pages. And, although I find that the movie often isn’t nearly as good as the book, a fictionalized account of this story was made into a 1959 flick starring Orson Welles and E.G. Marshall. Hello, Netflix…

Is this "Punny"...or Does it Suck?

Although I’m certainly not ready to pick up my tuba and go marching in The Schmuck Parade anytime soon, I recently was inspired (OK, maybe I was just seeking an escape from “sad”) by two friends’ Facebook exchange to draft this personal ad:

Are you dating in a vacuum?!

Youthful 40-something DJF with a wide, varied and growing circle of family, friends and interests seeks S/DJM for a “meet and greet” that doesn't suck as much as a Bissell. If we’re lucky, intellectual, emotional and physical sparks (but no dust, dirt or dander) will fly and we’ll get swept up in a meaningful long-term relationship that's built slowly on trust, shared values, honesty and a gut reaction that "this is a good thing."

Desire quiet, upright, bagless (relatively little baggage) and age-appropriate Jewish guy (45-55) with attachments to family, friends and other things money can't buy. Bonus points if you know a bisel from a Hoover and retain ties to your religious upbringing that you'd be willing to share if, in fact, we find we're bashert.

To describe the exceedingly small number of replies as “dismal” would be an understatement…especially this one, which--perhaps inspired by this week’s celebration of Tu B’Av?--appears to be a particularly bad fit:

Hi:
I saw your CL post. I am on my way to work. So I will be brief.
Here is my info:
55
5'6

220

divorced dad of 5 kids (2 are married and living far away) - at home - 19b 16b 15g - 24x7

orthodox - shabbos - minyan 3x/day (usually)

mostly right wing with some deviations into the left

live in Brooklyn

Am I eligible?

What, pray tell, on God's green earth makes this guy think he's "eligible?!?" I responded with this:

Thanks, but no...you're not eligible. I'm a liberal Reform Jew and although I attend a Shabbat minyan, the chasm is just too wide.

Thanks for being in touch...good luck to you.

To which he responded:

Good Luck to You.

If you chance across an orthodox woman, mention me. Thanks.

Sure. Will do, buddy…

Trekking Up the River: The Next Step

Photo by Naomi Abelson

In one of the papers I wrote last semester for my Public and Non-Profit Management course, a requirement in the MPA curriculum at Baruch, I was asked to answer this question:

What are your ultimate career goals?

Part of my make-it-up-as-you-go-along answer read as follows:

As a veteran of 20+ years of professional life in the non-profit sector (more than half of which has been spent in Jewish organizations), I am at the midpoint in my career. In the remaining years, it is my goal to transition from the administrative side of the non-profit world (with its focus on human resources, fund raising, finance, communications, lay and professional relations, and governance) to a position rooted in the pursuit of justice, an overriding mandate within Jewish tradition. Whether its focus is social, economic or environmental justice, it is my hope to find a meaningful and appropriate position at the intersection of religious life and public policy from where I will be able to devote my skills, talents, energy and experience to promoting and strengthening the presence of justice within institutions and among individuals for whom it currently is lacking.

Yesterday, I got a firsthand feel for what all those words really mean, and wrote about it here.

With refreshed awareness of the complex issues and challenges that poverty, homelessness and economic injustice present, I am more motivated than ever to move forward in my graduate studies. With parchment in hand, I hope to walk off the stage and keep trekking up the river.

Hello, Shabbat!

Last week at this time, a friend posted this message on Facebook:  "Hayom yom shishi!  Machar Shabbat!" which means:  "Today is Friday (the sixth day)!  Tomorrow is Shabbat!"

Indeed, tomorrow is Shabbat, and I am ready.

Shabbat shalom!

So I Guess I'll Have to Do It While I'm Here: Komen Race for the Cure

Among the most fundamental values in Jewish tradition are good deeds and acts of loving kindness.

Lyrics in Phil Ochs’ ballad, “When I’m Gone,” reflect this central concept well. He tells us:

Won't be asked to do my share when I'm gone
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here

And a few stanzas later, this:

Can't add my name into the fight while I'm gone
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here

And so it is that I will be walking in this year’s New York City Komen Race for the Cure in Central Park on Sunday, September, 12.

In doing so, I will support Komen for the Cure, which funds national peer-reviewed breast cancer research, breast health screenings and treatment services, and educational programming for a disease that in 2008—the same year that my mom was diagnosed–took the lives of more than 40,000 individuals. I’m also doing this because I believe it is a most fitting way to honor my mother's memory and her exceedingly well lived life.

For these reasons and so many others, I’d be grateful for your support.

The easiest and fastest way to donate is online here.

If you’d prefer to donate by check:

1. Make your check payable to: Komen Greater NYC
2. Write my name in the memo line.
3. Mail to: PO Box 9223, New York, NY 10087

Many thanks for helping me do this while I'm here!