“Can’t find my way home"
~Steve
Winwood
I love to take walks.
It used to be that I was happy to meander, and perhaps lose my way and
spend time trying to figure out my way back.
Something happened as I aged, and my sense of direction has gotten
progressively worse. I often find myself
“ferblunged” to use the term my Dad used to say. I believe that is Yiddish for mixed up or
lost.
I am happy about the invention of the GPS. It can be a very helpful tool. It is a device that compensates me for a
deficiency that I readily acknowledge I possess. Sometimes all I need is a
little support and guidance, and sometimes I require more - step by step instructions spelled out clearly
and precisely.
Last week, while enjoying a stay at the beautiful Barrack Retreat Center in Bryn Mawr,
Pennsylvania for the annual summer board retreat of the Jewish Educators
Assembly, I set out on a walk through a local neighborhood adjacent to the
grounds. Past experience in the very
same neighborhood (I took the same walk last year) provided the inspiration for
my proactive preparations for my inevitable “ferblungedness.” I was prepared! I had my Smartphone, which was a new addition
from the previous year. I was going to
use the tools it provided me to assist and support me.
I began my walk. Each
time I took a left or a right at a street sign, I took a picture of that sign
with the camera on my phone. So resourceful! So proactive!
Soon enough I realized that the sun was shining in the wrong direction so
the photos were too dark.
I then used the next tool provided for me in my
ibag-of-tricks. The voice recorder! Each time I turned a corner, I spoke clearly
into the recorder narrating my turns.
All I needed to do, the logic in my mind told me, was to play it back as
I was reversing direction to return to the retreat center. My own logic did not take into account
exactly how directionally challenged I was.
Somehow, I could not even find the street that I had dictated into the
recorder.
Thanks to my technological moreh derech (tour guide), I still had at my disposal yet another more
advanced tool to assist me in my short but now much longer than planned
journey. My map app! With but a touch of my finger, there I was as
a small blue dot moving on a map right in my hand travelling… east? North? No matter.
I was able to see my route right on my phone as I wended my way out of
this dratted neighborhood (really it was
quite nice and well kept) back to the retreat center.
As I reflected on my personal experience, I began to realize
that we all have resources at our disposal to assist us in the various meanderings
of our lives. Sometimes we just don’t
know how or where to access them. And in our Jewish journeys, there is support
available to us to help us navigate and find our way when we need it. The resources can span the spectrum in terms
of level of support. Sometimes all we
need may be a little suggestion, a creative answer to a query, or sometimes the
answers require more in-depth action or education:
·
How can I create a
meaningful Shabbat with a special dinner and appropriate blessings when I work
full time and have no time to cook?
·
How do I read and
understand the Hebrew in my prayer book when I go to synagogue? I don’t even understand the structure of the
service.
·
I am looking for some
ongoing discussions about prayer and its meaning.
·
What does it mean to be a
Jew in the 21st century as we navigate a technological world that
did not exist in this form when we were growing up and forming our identities
as Jews?
I can be your morah derech - your tour guide - as you
meander your way through the streets of an uncharted Jewish course. I will
get a sense of your needs, and ultimately assist you in finding your way, with
as little or as much support as you require or desire.
Allow me to offer support and guidance. And help you determine your course.
You can find me at www.yourjewishlife.com. For more information or to set up a free
consultation, please email Nancy at yourjewishlife@gmail.com
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