The Saga of the Purple Flowers

There are so many purple flowers on the trellis this year that I decided I had to tell this story.

This story starts in July 1996 when we bought our house. We got a nice-sized (for around here) backyard with a lawn, a couple of Meyer lemon trees, an orange tree, a (topped) Redwood tree, and a patio covered with a vine of some kind.

Move the time needle forward to May 1997 when we got married in that lovely backyard. Our wedding colors were purple, ivory, and black. The plan wasn't to do anything special to the yard, but a friend of mine came over and surprised me by planting some purple annuals to add (my favorite) color to the yard. Otherwise we had the aforementined lawn, Meyer lemon trees, orange tree, green vine on the patio, and the topped Redwood tree, under which stood the chuppah.

Move the time needle forward again, this time a year, to around May 1998. Would you believe that darn vine started sprouting purple flowers?!?!! I couldn't believe it! Where the heck were they for our wedding? They are one of our wedding colors!

So now, every year, we get purple flowers on the vine in early May and they usually last into the first week of June, so we have them for our anniversary. Yay!

Pictures of this year's bloomage:

Purple Anniversary Flowers


Purple Anniversary Flowers on the Vine

Earl Grey, Chamomile, or Green Tea?

I wasn't going to write any more about the Tea Parties that occurred on April 15, however, I saw a sign at the event in Philadelphia that I found truly offensive.

I don't have a problem with people protesting the government, it's a fine American tradition. I do have a problem with the hypocrisy of some of these people. For starters, many of these people called those of us who protest the Iraq War unpatriotic and said we do not support the troops, neither of which is true, in most cases.

Some of the issues being mentioned in conjunction with the Tea Parties include:

• Bank Industry Bailouts (passed during the Bush Administration);


• Too much government spending/large deficits (President Bush ran up a large deficit after being given a budget surplus when he took over in 2001);


• Too many taxes (taxes for people making less that $250k were just cut, you should be seeing more money in your paycheck, if you don't like it, give the money back);


• Obama is a socialist/communist/fascist (where's the proof in this?);
  Obama isn't truly an American Citizen (his birth certificate from Hawaii (which was a state in 1961) should be enough, what else do you need?).

(not a comprehensive list and probably not all participants challenge all points)

Also, don't forget that many corporations don't pay their fair share in taxes, so we, average American taxpayers, make up the difference. From Keith Olbermann: "The US Public Interest Research Group has analyzed a Senate report from 2008 that showed just how much we lose each year in tax revenues hidden by corporations in places like the Cayman Islands... these opportunities grew during the Bush Adminisration...$100 Billion dollars/year! By state: Texas & NY each lose $8 Billion, Califonia $11 Billion(!), DC $713 Million; Alaska $174 Million. Where's the outrage?"

I do not agree with the position of these people, but I do support their right to freedom of speech and to peaceably assemble. However, this sign, seen at a tea party in Philadelphia is unacceptable:

"The American Taxpayers are the Jews for Obama's ovens."

Can someone who supports this movement tell me why this is okay and how it would convince people to support the movement?

I don't think I need to explain why this is offensive, but let me make this perfectly clear, the Obama Administration is not searching out specific groups of people and systematically murdering them. How in the HELL is this even comparable? These protesters are certainly entitled to their opinions, but when they start with this kind of crap, I won't even give them the time of day to hear what they have to say.

Remembering Shabbat Zachor

I presented the kavanah (literally intention) before last night's synagogue board meeting. I remembered only the day before that I had agreed to do this. I scoured my books looking for something along the lines of community, long-range planning, or other items on the agenda. I couldn't find anything that I liked, so I turned to this week's parsha. I still don't know much about this week's parsha, but I learned that it is Shabbat Zachor, one of four special Shabbatot during the year. I did some look ups on "the Google" and left my brain to noodle on it overnight. I present my final copy.

Zachor et asher-asah lecha Amalek baderech betsetchem miMitsrayim.

"Remember what Amalek did to you on your way out of Egypt.
When they encountered you on the way, and you were tired and exhausted, they cut off those lagging to your rear, and they did not fear God.
Therefore, when God gives you peace from all the enemies around you in the land that God your Lord is giving you to occupy as a heritage, you must obliterate the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. You must not forget." (Deut 25:17-19, translation from Navigating the Bible.)

Purim is next week, which means that this Shabbat is Shabbat Zachor. For those who don't know or who don't remember what Shabbat Zachor is, it is the Shabbat before Purim, literally the Shabbat of Remembering (See how I did that? Those who don't remember…)

We are told that we must remember what Amalek did to us, we must tell every generation. Apparently it is a mitzvah that will be fulfilled only when the memory and name of the Amalekites has been erased from the world. I've never written a d'var torah before, there are different ways I could go if I were:

• the idea that there is a problem with the idea of this mitzvah being fulfilled since the name Amalek is in the Torah, or


• the violence associated with the idea of obliterating the Amalekites (kind of like how we like to reconstruct the end of the Purim story because of how gruesome it gets), or


• the idea that some believe there is an Amalek in every generation.

No, let's think about what the Amalekites did, they cut off the stragglers in the rear, those who couldn't be protected. I see it as kind of a metaphor for the people who don't have a voice, whether they don't know they could have a voice, or whether some wheels are so squeaky as to drown out the quieter folks, or even the ones who are afraid to say anything.

As we work through our tasks as leaders of the community, let's remember that it's important to hear all the voices of community, loud or quiet, front-runner or straggler.