St. John's in the Wilderness Church, Memorial to Lost Love

Harriman State Park, January, 2013

"Even now, the church of Saint John's in the Wilderness stands in thickly wooded seclusion - a remnant of the countryside that first attracted Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth Zimmerman to build this memorial to her late husband... In 1879 Mrs. Zimmerman purchased the land for the church from John A. Conklin also of New York. Margaret Zimmerman had originally intended to build a sturdy wooden church made of native timber. However Ralph Townsend, a New York architect suggested that the plentiful fieldstone of the area be utilized. Once the decision to use the native "hornblend" granite was made, Mrs. Zimmerman selected a design to compliment the feeling of such stone. The architecture was typical of Northern England. It had a decidedly "up-country" look reflective of Mrs. Zimmerman's English heritage and youthful travels."

- Bridget Leahy Ward

Canis latrans, Roaring dog, trickster par excellence

Coyote tracks in C.F.'s backyard

I saw the coyote in the afternoon snooping around for critters, he looked pretty scraggly and desperate so I didn't have the heart to go out and take a picture.

Winter Hike

View of the north end of Lake Nawahunta from the Menomine Trail

 Downed pines on the Menomine  Trail

Tefillin and Unio Mystica

From Leonard Nimoy's Shekhina                           

 בענין מצות תפילין 

 הנה ידוע שמצות הנחת תפילין שקולה כנגד כל מצוות התורה כולן, ועוד שאמרו חז"ל גדול המצווה ועושה משאינו מצווה ועושה (קידושין לא.) . ותימה, אם מתשוקת הנפש ורצון היחיד עולה איזה תאווה להתקרב להקב"ה ולהידבק בו ית' מאי גרעא בכך נגד המצווה ועושה? ועוד, ידוע לכל, שיש כמה מצוות שהן שקולות כנגד כל התורה, ולמה אמרו שתפילין גם מיוחד למדרגה זו? והנה התשובות לאותן שאלות הן תשובה אחת.

ודע שמילת 'מצוה' ששגורה בפפיות כל העולם כלו אין ביאורתו ידוע לכל, אבל פשוט ששורש 'מצוה' הוא בלשון ארמית, במילת 'צוות' שמשמעותה חיבור, קשר, והתאחדות. ואז במשמעות לשון מצוה, שהיא מבחינת קשר, נתגלה הסוד של המעלה שנמצא במצווה ועושה. שעשיית המצווה מביאה ממילא דביקות עם הקב"ה שעשיית איזה מעשה משום חיוב מבטא מאליו קשר בין המחייב ובין הגברא שעליו חל החיוב. ומצוות הנחת תפילין מביאה לפעולה כוונת המצוות בכלל, ומושג הקשר עם האלוהות בפעולת קשר התפילין נגד הראש והלב, ואמירת "וארשתיך לי." וזה לשון השל"ה בפ' ואתחנן: "מצות אחדות השם, ואהבת השם, ותפילין של יד ושל ראש, ומצות מזוזה... כלם הם סוד דביקותינו בהשם יתברך... שנהיה דביקים ממש בשם ה' אלוקינו ומקשרים בו  

The Light Flared and was Hidden Away

The Eighth night of Chanukkah at our home, 3 Teves, 5773

The Mystical Straight and Narrow

Zvi Hirsch Koidanover's, Kav Hayashar (Polna'ah 1816 ed.)

Most of us know of the Hasidic "revolution" in Eastern Europe and the Hasidic movement's success in popularizing Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah. But just how exactly did Kabbalah burst onto the scene and make it's way into the backwaters of Galicia?

According to Moshe Idel:

    Of special importance for understanding the dissemination of Kabbalah in Eastern Europe in the early eighteenth century is Tsevi Hirsh Koidanover’s Kav ha-yashar. An ethical-kabbalistic collection of stories, moral guidance, and customs, it reflects a deliberate effort to popularize Safedian Kabbalah by adopting a much more understandable style in Hebrew; a Yiddish translation by the author reflects a similar approach. Together with kitsurim (condensations) of Shene luḥot ha-berit, popularizing works such as Shevet musar, and pamphlets offering guidance for daily conduct in light of kabbalistic practice (hanhagot), Kav ha-yashar anticipated the popularization of Kabbalah by Hasidic masters in the vernacular, which started a generation later.

I don't know much about the history and nature of the translation of Jewish texts into Yiddish or whether this was one of the earlier tranlations of Jewish esotericism into Yiddish.  But I have to imagine that a bilingual Kav Hayashar was as significant and integral to the spread of Kabballah in a post-Sabbatean world as Artscroll's Talmud is to the spread to the Daf Hayomi in our generation.

On a personal note, this was the only Jewish text, aside from the usual Hebrew Bibles and Siddurim that I found in my grandparents' house when they were moving. Our version was the Romm (Vilna) 1911 edition.
It belonged, according to my Grandmother, to my great, great-grandfather, Moshe Mordechai Hendler.

The book contains many references to the Zohar and some colorful passages on magic, witchcraft and demons. Ever wonder what happened to Bilaam's body after he was killed?  Koidanover tells us (based on the Zohar):
"His bones decomposed and from the flesh and body of Bilaam were made snakes, evil serpents..."
And this, Koidanover warns his readers, is the fate of all sorcerers and practitioners of the dark arts.

From the Garden

Tomatoes from the backyard garden at C.F.'s, photo by N.