Zen Judaism

And for a Happy new year fling, I had to blatantly steal the following from Gatochy, whose blog is always a good read:


Zen Judaism

Let go of pride, ego, and opinions. Admit your errors and forgive those of others. Relinquishment will lead to calm and healing in your relationships. If that doesn't work, try small claims court.

Though only your skin, sinews, and bones remain, though your blood and flesh dry up and wither away, yet shall you meditate and not stir until you have attained full Enlightenment. But, first, a little nosh.

Accept misfortune as a blessing. Do not wish for perfect health or a life without problems. What would you talk about?

Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated?

There is no escaping karma. In a previous life, you never called, you never wrote, you never visited. And whose fault was that?

The Torah says, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." The Buddha says there is no "self." So, maybe you are off the hook.

If there is no self, whose arthritis is this?

Wherever you go, there you are. Your luggage is another story.

Do not let children play contact sports like football. These only lead to injuries and instill a violent, warlike nature. Encourage your child to play peaceful games, like "sports doctor."

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single "oy."

Baby Jesus statue stolen in Rockland, Assemblyman is outraged

Hmm, evidently these guys have quite a lot of problems with this sort of thing:

The 13th reported racial or religious bias crime in Rockland County in 16 months has Assemblyman Ryan Karben of Rockland County fuming. Yesterday he condemned the vandalism of a crèche in Nyack Monday morning, lamenting the third time in two weeks and the second year in a row in which Rockland religious symbols have been desecrated during the holiday season. A statue of baby Jesus was stolen from the holiday display.

Obviously this guy is fed up and so he lights into them pretty hard:

“When you target religious symbols, when you steal a statue of Jesus Christ, when you pull the bulbs out of a menorah, it reflects to me an incredible depravity,” he said. “They are crimes not just of property, they are crimes against all people of faith in our community, all people of good will, and particularly this time of year; it’s just beyond defensive.”

Now, not to defend the vandals by any stretch, but at least they waited until after Christmas to steal the baby. And stealing doesn't necessarily equal descecration. Perhaps they stole it in order to erect it in the corner of their own personal newly built chapel.....well, okay fine, it's probably in the trunk of their car as they do doughnuts in an abandoned Walmart parking lot. You people are so pessimistic!

Religious statue swiped from nativity, um, scene that is

A week after vandals ripped lights out of a Hanukkah menorah at Veteran's Park, a statue of a baby Jesus has been taken from a Nativity scene there. Orangetown Police Detective Lt. John McAndrew said the figure was taken between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. Monday.
"Right now we're looking at this as a larceny with a bias attitude toward it," McAndrew said. "They didn't destroy or break anything in the creche. Given the time frame, we're hoping someone was walking down the street and saw something."

Geez, who hates Christians and Jews? The Buddhist temple will be next if we don't stop these pagan hooligans, you mark my word....

PETA sues Southeast Christian Church for blocking protest

The lawsuit includes Southeast Christian, PETA members allege that Louisville police and the church conspired to move demonstrators to the side of Blankenbaker Parkway, which borders the 24,000-member church’s campus.

Now, if your mass protest is mass protested isn't getting mad and filing a lawsuit kinda just a touch hypocritical?

But then I sort of have a bias against PETA and non-denominational churches, so frankly we'll just sit back and enjoy this one.

World bodies rush to send aid to millions of tsunami victims

Even in the Bible God complains that humans do good when makes bad things happen to them and are bad when he makes good things happen to them. Sad, but true. Disasters bring out the best in us.

Y'all have heard about this and I have nothing new to add, except that you need to go donate to one of the many places taking donations for aid. Amazon.com is taking donations fo Red Cross

Go donate some. And make sure it's just a little more than you think you should.