#BlogExodus 4: Grow

"Said Rabbi Simon: 'Every single blade of grass has a corresponding mazal (star) in the sky which strikes it and tells it to grow." Midrash Rabba, Bereshit 10:6

Usually this quote appears with a sweeter tone, something like "every blade of grass has an angel leaning over and whispering 'grow!'"

Sometimes we need something sweet to help us grow.

But more often we need a good solid smack. 

Growth can be painful, difficult, hard. 

It often seems like it would be easier just to stay the same.

But growth is inevitable, right? We have to grow or we'll fade away....

So sometimes it takes an extra bonk on the head.

Want to join in? We're sharing #BlogExodus for the 2 weeks leading up to Passover. All you have to do is use the hashtag and there are suggested prompts on the graphic above (feel free to grab it). Maybe you just want to post on your Facebook or Twitter about these topics...or maybe you want to try #Exodusgram, posting photos related to these themes? I'll be posting my #blogExodus posts here, at this blog, my #Exodusgram pictures on my Instagram and also my tumblr site, imabima.tumblr.com, and who knows what else!? It's going to be a busy fortnight!

#BlogExodus: Purify

At the Seder we wash our hands twice.

It's not about a overly- developed sense of cleanliness, although that does seem to pervade the Pesach holiday. 

But it's about a kind of holiness that comes in a ritual purification. What does it take to make ourselves holy? Is it truly a physical act? I don't necessarily think that I need something physical to remind me to be holy. And yet....there's something powerful about ritually washing the hands, about pouring the water and thinking, considering, remembering, and yes, knowing, that there's something special, something unique, something different, and even something holy about THIS moment, this hand washing. 

So we wash our hands to purify them, to make them holy, and to set this moment apart from all others.

Want to join in? We're sharing #BlogExodus for the 2 weeks leading up to Passover. All you have to do is use the hashtag and there are suggested prompts on the graphic above (feel free to grab it). Maybe you just want to post on your Facebook or Twitter about these topics...or maybe you want to try #Exodusgram, posting photos related to these themes? I'll be posting my #blogExodus posts here, at this blog, my #Exodusgram pictures on my Instagram and also my tumblr site, imabima.tumblr.com, and who knows what else!? It's going to be a busy fortnight!

#blogExodus: Honor

There are so many ways to celebrate Passover. More, perhaps, than any other of our holidays. It is more subject to personal traditions and preferences, it is more subject to different cultures and customs.

We read in Pirke Avot: "Hold the honor of another as dear as your own."

And so a gentle reminder to honor the customs of each Jew as we observe in our own ways this year.

Want to join in? We're sharing #BlogExodus for the 2 weeks leading up to Passover. All you have to do is use the hashtag and there are suggested prompts on the graphic above (feel free to grab it). Maybe you just want to post on your Facebook or Twitter about these topics...or maybe you want to try #Exodusgram, posting photos related to these themes? I'll be posting my #blogExodus posts here, at this blog, my #Exodusgram pictures on my Instagram and also my tumblr site, imabima.tumblr.com, and who knows what else!? It's going to be a busy fortnight!

#BlogExodus: Start

Dawn
Kickoff
Onset
Inception
Inauguration
Takeoff

Start...

Ready, get set, go!

We're so good at the beginning, aren't we?
Good intentions, ready to get started.

This is the year that I'm going to clean all the crevices.
This is the year that I'm going to write the fabulous new haggadah.
This is the year that I'm going to create stellar menus for every night of Pesach.
This is the year that I'm going to write beautiful, thoughtful, erudite #blogexodus posts every day.
This is the year that every child will fully immerse him/herself into the story of the Exodus.

And then reality hits, doesn't it?

I'm so good at the beginning.

So I'd better get started...

Want to join in? We're sharing #BlogExodus for the 2 weeks leading up to Passover. All you have to do is use the hashtag and there are suggested prompts on the graphic above (feel free to grab it). Maybe you just want to post on your Facebook or Twitter about these topics...or maybe you want to try #Exodusgram, posting photos related to these themes? I'll be posting my #blogExodus posts here, at this blog, my #Exodusgram pictures on my Instagram and also my tumblr site, imabima.tumblr.com, and who knows what else!? It's going to be a busy fortnight!