Tikkun Olam

When the three Israeli boys, Gil'Ad Shaar, Eyal Yifrach and Naftali Fraenkel were kidnapped, everyone went into a frenzy. They (we all) needed to "do something." This is very normal.  Most of us, far removed from the situation--even those in Israel who are not connected by family or close friends to the victims--felt helpless in the face of this atrocity.  So I can understand the call to prayer or to say Tehillim.  For people who don't have any other option, it's better than sitting and doing nothing.  I, for one, called my congressperson, in addition to saying Tehillim.  I wrote about it in a blog post and sent it out to everybody. But do I really believe that saying Tehillim or praying specific tefillot from a siddur will bring them back? Doubtful. There have been "studies" - not controlled, double-blind scientific ones however - which seem to indicate that mass prayer often helps to alleviate a situation, such as helping to heal someone. We say ...

(nablopomo day 29) I was in a rush to get my post and pictures in yesterday, so I didn't pontificate on the significance of the name "Naomi." I remember, when my first Israeli grandson was born to my younger son, Nathaniel Blumenstein, I waxed eloquent ( or rather, my son did--I just copied and pasted his stuff!) on the meaning and significance of his name, Gavriel (which is translated as "Gabriel" in English) on my post back in November '08 after his birth, here . As is Gavriel, Naomi, too, is a special name.  It is Hebrew, originating in the TaNaCH in the book of Ruth.  Naomi was the mother-in-law of Ruth.  It means "my delight," coming from the Hebrew word, no'am , which is "pleasantness" or "delightfulness." The shoresh , or root, is " na-em ," which is 'pleasant' or 'lovely.'  The infinitive, " li-n'om , " means "to be pleasant." Hebrew grammar has seven different ...