my vibrations and waves test really permeated my mind
as I stood arm in arm with a circle singing shalom alechem
I immediately envisioned the swaying of all the armlocked souls
as coupled oscillations
the superposition of infinite normal modes
describable and derivable,
yet only by an infinite sum.
It was at first disturbing to fuse visions of masses and springs with prayer circles
but the vision came without invitation
and I could not see it any other way

The Tikkun conference inspired all sorts of important reflections: what can I do with my little life to help heal this world? the question had never presented itself to me with such urgency and clarity. other questions, too...should political action movements have more concrete arms of their efforts? should protesters be beating their pickets into plowshares and then back into pickets again every other week? or are those who do more concrete social justice work more effective staying away from political action, and those who protest better to stay away from humanitarian projects? I think that, especially with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there is so much talk and political action, so much protest and punditry, and yet so little attention paid to projects that could actually directly improve the lives of suffering Palestinians and Israelis...wouldn't it be powerful if political lobby organizations started putting themselves into such projects, channeling all this passionate energy into rebuilding lives on a grassroots level? Or is there a fundamental divide between grassroots groups and "higher-level" political action?

Will I ever be able to make love to words like Cornell West? Every word dances wildly on his tongue before he throws it deliberately into his hands, which roll and spin it and throw it out into the audience....you can tell he knows his words are holy.
Benj, Fatima, and I organized a Muslim-Jewish service to kick off the weekend, which was less a prayer service than a celebration and exploration of common paths and intents. If you would like a copy of the packet we put together, send me an email.