Animals

This was sent to me by a friend..

Why I am vegan.

Henry Beston, The Outermost House, 1928

"We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals.
Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice,
man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge
and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion.
We patronize them for their incompleteness,
for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves.
And therein we err, and greatly err.
For the animal shall not be measured by man.
In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete,
gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained,
living by voices we shall never hear.
They are not brethren,
they are not underlings;
they are other nations,
caught with ourselves in the net of life and time,
fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth."

siddur sim shalom

Torah will be a closed book

if you don't read it with an open heart.

rap- Humble

It humbles me to my knees
You giving me all these things
Sweet memories

You are my King
The song I sing
The bell ring-ring-ring-a-ling

In my heart
Its a start
You and I will never part

The trees
The leaves
The bees
They are all just fantasies

I rejoice in what You've made
It hasn't stayed the same
Its changed
Like me
But I'm more than a memory

You lead me to pleasant pastures
To still waters
Where the river runs
And my soul's relieved

Mischief
Look at all the pain I caused
The dead and lost
And I found place among em

But I cried out to You and You picked me up
You are my Rock
My high Tower
My Deliverer

And even when my mouth is slurred and I can't find the words, You hear
me still
You are the pill
The fire drill
The water to my soul

So with words unheard, heart unuttered, You know me deep
No secrets I could keep
Your Presence's all around
Like a prayer shawl
On the head of a man at the Western Wall

When my heart is cracked
And my brain is whacked
You remain the same
You never change
You love me still

And so I sing,
Ayts khayeem hee' lamakhazeekeem bah v'tomkheha m'ooshar
[A tree of life it (is) to those who take hold of it and happy are those who support it]

The pains I hear
The fullness of fear
The feelings of void and loneliness
If only they tasted Your goodness
Your lovingkindness
Your warm embrace

They would fall on their face
And turn around
Have fulfillment found

For Your Love is life planted in our midst
Complete goodness
Everlasting
And You say, You will never leave us nor forsake us

Oh, my strong Rock
My Sar Shalom
G-d, You are so beautiful
I want to know You more

Not what's in store but just Your Name
Your great Fame
But you bless me still

I'm pouring out tears as I write
Because of your blessings

I ask You, please stop
Don't bless me
I can't handle anymore
I'm already filled to overflow

I'm overwhelmed by Your love
It's too much for my weak heart
When did this start

When I fell for You
But I remember You are the G-d of my youth
You've loved me from the womb

And now I love You back
I am fulfilled
You are the reason that I live
For we must all call into question the reason that we breathe

All You have for me are plans of good
Songs to sing
Your Torah of Love

It's enough to make Gilad Shalit sing
The prisoners' hearts ring
The victims in joy scream

Little boy, you have no idea what's in store
For one day you'll be a man
And the people will clap their hands and rejoice
Like the trees of the field in the last days

For you will be a king
The shofar's tune will ring
And your people will be saved from evil's hand
Justice will stand
And its roots will spread
It will reign in your head

And you'll rejoice
You'll sing for joy
For You will be judged and win
You'll be saved from your sin

Praise the King
The Holy One of Israel
The Bread of Life
Crushing man's pride

And so we sing,
D'rakheha darkhay no-am v'khol n'teevoteha shalom
Hasheevaynoo Adonai elekha v'nashoovah khadesh yamaynoo k'kedem
[Its ways (are) ways of pleasantness and all its paths are peace
Turn us L-rd to you and let us return renew our days as of old]
Ahmeyn.

Got No Water

Hashem rules the world and Israel is his wife

Love you yes my G-d with all my heart my soul and my might
When I feel you by my side yes I'm flying like a kite

When I feel you by my side yes I'm soaring like a kite
You open up my eyes and give me sight
Super energized and everyday you give me life

Nananana
I seen the ways of the world intoxifying on pride
Young man don't you know drugs impurify your mind
When Israel left mitzrayim four fifths got left behind
If you got no water how you gonna survive

Roots lead you to the well springs so you could stay alive

-Matisyahu

Some lyrics from one of my favorite songs of his, Got No Water.

Below are some photos I took when experiencing him perform live in Brooklyn on December 19, 2009 (a GOOD day).

sounds

It sounds true.

Sounds.

Sounds.

True.

Truth.

What is true.

Travel Reflections

I learn the most when I travel.

When pilgrimage is my home.

When my ankles are cold and weak.

When the bottoms of my boots are cracked.

When my calves are bruised.

When my outfit is alternated by a different jacket.

When bars nuts and fruit are my stomach's closest friends.

When my eyes find no rest.

When I wander more than I hold still.

How my heart melts when I travel.

How I find refuge in my pilgrimage.

Manhattan

Right after leaving the Metropolitan Museum of Art, going out in the New York snow after 13 years post-childhood dwellings in which snow became my purest memory of what it meant to be a child in Brooklyn and the unsurpassed symbol of purity, the snowflakes were falling on my head, and I looked up, and I reached my gloved hand out, and time held still, and I, in my romanticism, wanted to bring down my hand and stare at my glove in a place of reflection on the beauty of the season of winter, and not surprisingly so, there was such a sweet surprise that embraced my finger, manifesting in that stillness an intricacy and beauty of this planet, and perhaps these thousands words are not all captured in this picture, but that is what it means to me.