LOST IN LOS ANGELES

The Super Bowl has come and gone. I enjoyed the struggle of the teams, tho I was not emotionally involved with either of them. There were a few good commercials but not as many as usual. Am I too jaded? Usually I love this event. This year I had a quiet Super Bowl as I decided to not throw a big party. I love people but didn't know when I would get my place back, plus my roommate is a stick in the mud. I think I made the right decision tho I missed the friendly get together. My kids, even my girls love football parties. The girls aren't as much into the football as they are into the food, LOL. Super Bowl, any bowl game, shoot - any sport - are days that I fix junk food. I try to keep most food healthy as a routine but sport parties are a splurge. Today was scaled way down. I had little cheese dip, fudge brownies, chocolate rice krispies, chips, crackers, the usual stuff. I did not make my yummy chili because someone, not me for once, forgot to get chili powder...

written for newsletter at work: The command to build the tabernacle (the precursor to the Holy temple in Jerusalem) is given in a slightly strange way: “Make for me a Sanctuary and I will dwell within you.” It would seem to make more sense to say, “Make for me a Sanctuary and I will dwell within it.” This small distinction draws our attention to an important issue. The Sages explain: the temple is not a glorified granny flat. It is not a home away from home for G-d. Obviously so. G-d does not need us to build Him a place to reside in this world; He already resides everywhere. On a deeper level, though, the Torah is saying that the Temple is not somewhere we can put G-d out of the way. It would be all too easy to build a temple, in order that g-d can reside within it. It would be very convenient to compartmentalize G-d. Let me put Him in the Temple and there I will worship Him, speak to Him, and have a relationship with Him. But in the rest of my life, I will not. I am always amazed ...

We woke up my last day in Alaska to find that Gary the fish had disappeared!