Wherever Your Treasure Is
For wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be too.
Matthew 6:21
Bob Schwartz
Category: Uncategorized
December 25, 2016
November 8, 2016
Presidents Are Like Weather
Presidents are like weather. They are atmospheric conditions that don’t necessarily change the details of how our days, or even our lives, go. But they are a presence, and something we have to live with, or learn to live with.
I’ve lived in different places with very different weather. I’ve lived with a number of Presidents, each of whom brought their own particular atmosphere. I like some of the weather more than others, I liked some of the Presidents more than others, including the different ways they affected the environment.
People ask and people discuss the effect of choosing one candidate over another. Some say: whichever one wins, we will survive. That may be true. But also true is that there may well be a different atmosphere, a different environment with one or the other.
Some also say: I can isolate my life from whoever is chosen. That may be true too. If you’re in a rainy place, you can carry an umbrella. If you’re in a cold place, you can bundle up. If you’re in a cloudy place, you can live (or think you can) without very much sun. Still, the question remains: if you have a choice, is that what you prefer?
October 29, 2016
Beresheet: The Beginning
Today the annual Torah reading cycle begins again with the portion Beresheet (also transliterated as Bereshit, Genesis 1:1-6:8).
It is a big Torah, a bigger Jewish Bible (Tanakh), and an even bigger Christian Bible. In all that expanse, nothing compares to the way it begins.
Bereshit: “When God Created …” This first word of the first book of the Bible serves both as the Hebrew name for the book Genesis and as an idiom for “Creation.” Because of its pride of position at the “start” of creation, as well as its uniqueness (the word never appears again in Scriptures), the word is subjected to intensive and varied exegetical analysis. Many, many meanings are derived from this one six-letter word….Jewish tradition has also held the six letters contain secrets that the wise will understand. (The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism, Geoffrey W. Dennis)
In English, it goes like this:
When God began to create heaven and earth—the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water—God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. God. (New Jewish Publication Society translation)
Or this:
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. (New Revised Standard Version translation)
Or this:
When God began to create heaven and earth, and the earth then was welter and waste and darkness over the deep and God’s breath hovering over the waters, God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. (Robert Alter translation)
Unformed. Void. Darkness. Wind. Welter. Waste. Light. When God began to create.
Maybe you once read or studied the Bible, in any of its versions. Maybe you still do. Maybe you don’t anymore or maybe you never did. Maybe you had deep discussions about God, about creation, and about whether there was something out of which creation was made or whether there was nothing and then there was something (ex nihilo). Then again, maybe not.
No matter your beliefs, consider this first portion, the first words, and the very first of the first words consisting of six Hebrew letters. Are there “secrets the wise will understand”? Are you that wise one?
June 28, 2016
Istanbul
Above is a photo of a street in Istanbul. It is one of hundreds I’ve taken of the city.
Today’s news, a bombing at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport, might discourage visits to this city—a city that depends on its fully-deserved tourism.
Istanbul is possibly the most fascinating city in the West. Or the East. Or in the East and West, since Istanbul is literally the historic and cultural bridge between two worlds. The Christians came. The Muslims came. And then as the Muslim world tried to find its ways in the 20th century, Kemal Ataturk formed a new kind of modern Muslim nation—one that was more Western, one that had its own language instead of Arabic. Rooted in its history, reaching for the future, it has stood apart.
There’s not a lot to say right now. It can be hard for people to ignore the possibility of random terror just to experience this urban treasure. Which is a shame. Because as many special cities as there are, there is only one Istanbul.
May 24, 2016
Meeting of the Great Ones to Consider a Request
The great ones met to consider a request. God, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, the Buddha. These were the ones who had been in his thoughts, prayers and wishes, to some degree, in recent days.
The agenda seemed simple enough, but was, as with most similar matters, far from it. A request like this had so many layers and dimensions.
There was the question of what could actually be done in answer to the request. Intervention may not be possible, and even then, the type may be limited.
Then there is availability and suitability. Maybe the circumstances indicate something should be done, maybe not. There is the size and nature of the request, the context of the request, and maybe above all, the form of the request and the faith and character of the asker.
He was unclear about all of this. He had more than one idea on form, some ideas about his faith, and a world and lifetime of questions about his character, especially as a worthy supplicant.
Intervention and decisions, his and theirs. Those already made, those from now on. Change and chance. There would be time, some time, to assess probabilities, to act and be acted upon, or for happenings to happen.
He did not address the meeting, and was not invited to. He sent formless thoughts, deep enough from heart and mind, he hoped, to make the request clear. He did not send a message, maybe except this one.
He did have one understanding that transcended the meeting, the circumstances, the request. It might be too vague, but in the moment the thought seemed as complete as any. The offer was love, the request was for love. If it went out sadly imperfectly, and came back seemingly incomplete, it had to be done. It was all that could be done. And was more than enough, and all.
April 16, 2016
Bernie Sanders and Pope Francis
This kind-of-cute headline from Politico sort of says it all.
Bernie’s fanboy moment: A meeting with Pope Francis
As you may know, Bernie Sanders was invited to a conference at the Vatican on issues related to economic justice. He interrupted his New York campaign to attend, gave an excellent speech that frequently cited the Pope’s own writings, but was told that the Pope would not be able to meet with him and others at the conference.
Then, at the last minute, the Pope was able to meet for five minutes with Bernie and his wife Jane. It was thrilling to hear that. It is unimaginable to conceive what it must have been like for Bernie, who as the headline suggests, is a huge fan of the Pope and his thinking on economic issues.
In case you think this is all about electoral politics, think again.
A major American politician has met with the Pope, based on a shared vision of economic justice. That vision comes from a background of Jewish fairness and compassion in one case and from the deepest, most Jesus-based tenets of the Catholic Church in the other. This doesn’t happen every day, or month, or year.
It is a unique and sweet moment for those who care about the future of America and the world. If that sounds a little grandiose, maybe believing big is exactly what we need.
April 9, 2016
Unicorn Island
Unicorn Island
What difference does it make
Where the sun rises
What the time zone?
The earth and sun
Don’t care.
The bag man
Leisurely strolls
Past the French watch store.
The restaurants
Are ready from last night
White tablecloths
White napkins rolled.
Past an apartment courtyard
The smell of breakfast.
The time and place
The names and lives
No place
This morning
Is an island.
Note: The title requires an explanation. This is a scene in Westwood in Los Angeles. I love L.A.: sometime resident, recent visitor. Walking down Wilshire, I saw a billboard for a new YouTube movie called Unicorn Island. I decided that this was the perfect new name for the city. Filled with unicorns, a bit of an island. It might not catch on, but for me, from now on, L.A. is always Unicorn Island.
