And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said: ‘Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.’

We all have or had dreams, especially as children and teenagers. Yet sometimes, as we grow older, we tend to look at our former dreams with benevolent nostalgia while we are convinced that realism dictates that we put them aside.

Whenever we are tempted to surrender youthful dreams and only see them as impractical hopes, we should remember Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s words:

The fact of the matter is that a person can dream when he’s asleep and can dream when he’s awake. But only the dreams that one dreams when he/she is awake can become transformed into the visions which change reality.

In this week’s parshah, when Yaakov wakes up from his dream, he realizes that God is everywhere around us, not just in our dreams and prayers – the most common interpretation of Yaakov’s dream is that it is an allegory of prayer.

May we be persuaded that we can move from dreams to visions and from visions to reality as long as we keep in mind that God is “everywhere around us”.

Last year’s parshah post: Emotion-Packed Parshah

Window Views: window, and now doors, from all over the world can be found on Mary’s blog.

A few weeks ago, Deborah Rey was kind enough to send me a copy of her book – I dare not call it a novel – Rachel Sarai’s Vineyard. I read it and was so moved by this reading that I wished to let some time pass before writing about it.

As an adult, Rachel Sarai visits the person she has called “mother” for years while the latter is dying. She tries and confronts the old woman to understand the pain and the abuse she had to endure from her during her childhood. She needs to have answers and she is intent on getting them.

As you read the book, you experience the pain Rachel Sarah suffered as a little girl. Like her, you need to probe into the past so as to interpret what the child remembers. You follow her as she questions her life story and hovers between past and present.

Rachel Sarai’s Vineyard is a very intense and emotional book which deals with child abuse, the Shoah, motherhood and coming to terms with a painful childhood.

- We have a face-to-face meeting with parents tonight and I am still wondering how I will find words that they might relay and that will have an impact on the students and improve the way they learn English.

- I have 30 papers to mark on a sales meeting between an American and three Japanese that turned sour for lack of understanding and sensitivity; wish me luck. The full article is here.

- It’s high time I booked my February flight to Hong Kong to visit my brother and his family but I can’t decide whether to fly with Cathay Pacific or Air France. Has anyone in the blogosphere ever traveled with Cathay Pacific?

- After two months as the proud and fascinated user of an Iphone I still marvel at all the things I now do on my phone. However it seems that some countries are far ahead of France when it comes to performing everyday tasks on their cell phones. Mobile payment is one of them. Are there things you wish you could do from your phone?

I was away for the weekend and have a very busy day ahead, hence my belated participation in Today’s Flowers and early one in Ruby Tuesday.

For more flowers from around the globe, visit Today’s Flowers.

On Tuesdays, just post any photo you like (it must be one of your own) that contains the color RED and then link to this blog.

On My Blog

Memes:
- Last Flowers for Today’s Flowers
- Simple But Lovely for Ruby Tuesday
- Remembering Through Little Things for Think(ing) Green Thursday

Today’s Jewish Thinkers

Weekly Recipe: Lentil Stew

New Bathroom

Elsewhere in the JBlogosphere

Last Sunday’s edition of Haveil Havalim is up at ImaBima

Go To The Ant, Sluggard, See Her Ways And Become Wise (Proverbs 6:6), a post by Rabbi Fink

Lessons from Twenty Years Ago, a post by Shimshonit

Mother in Israel reviews The Girl Who Played with Fire. She will be hosting the next edition of Haveil Havalim

Leora shares beautiful photos of seasonal changes in NJ, Autumn Leaves and her daughter reading to Bell the dog

Shabbat Shalom!

Being in a job where a lot of paper is used – books, handouts, lesson preparations, photocopies – I often felt that too much of it was wasted.

Some colleagues suggested having a special waste basket for paper so that it coud be recycled. For years this was deemed impossible since it would mean more work for the school cleaners. Then the school got guidelines from the Ministry of Education and had to comply.

It still seemed that a lot of the paper going into the waste had hardly been used and it bothered me, until I came across this website. I visited this site for a reason that had nothing to do with environmental issues – I had just finished a book by Blu Greenberg – but I read a eulogy and a memory page that helped me with this issue.

J.J. was a man who loved life. He showed constant reverence for life. He was a vegetarian, at his own initiative, since the age of 14. He was a Machmir (very strict observer) of the command bal tashchit – “not to waste.” He was a friendly but relentless recycler. Under his watchful eye at Jewish Life Network, not a single piece of paper went into a wastebin without being used on both sides.

I now make sure to write on both sides of a paper, I keep unused photocopies and give them to the students for scrap paper and encourage them to do the same. It is not a big deed but I feel that every little thing helps.

In Judaism we believe that we live on after our death in the good works that we have done and in the good name we have made for ourselves. I hope that J.J. Greenberg’s relatives and friends find comfort in the fact that J.J. still inspires people – even strangers – in their commitments and everyday life.

More Think(ing) Green Posts at Ramblingwoodsgreen.

We’ve just had the bathroom remodeled, which took almost five weeks. We are now thinking about paint(s) so suggestions are welcome. I hope you will excuse the poor quality of the photos but they were taken with my phone as I was eager to send them to my parents.

1.5 cup green lentils
1 small can chopped or diced tomatoes
1 cup vegetable stock
2 onions
1 garlic clove
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
chopped cilantro or parsley
oive oil
salt and pepper

Saute the onion until softened but brown. When softened add the garlic. Once the aroma rises, add the spices and the lentils. Stir in the tomatoes. Cook for five minutes before adding the vegetable stock to cover the lentils. Check the lentils after 15 minutes and add more stock if necessary. Cook until the lentils are done. Salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with cilantro or parsley before serving. Nice with rice.

Serves 3 to 4 people

For a lentil soup, click here.

If you keep kosher, eating out – here in Sweden – can be a bit of a problem, unless you enjoy cold dishes or know people whom you can trust with food. The first photo features herring on brown bread with tomatoes and red onions. The second shows a redcurrant cake made by a colleague who has worked in Israel.

On Tuesdays, just post any photo you like (it must be one of your own) that contains the color RED and then link to this blog.