“Just see your servant’s suffering and misery. Just see his soul, a vulture in a trap.”

This self- description by Ibn Gabriel, one of the ancestors of Hebrew poetry, fits not just himself but really all the disenfranchised people I can think of. Just see your neighbor’s suffering and misery, your refugee’s, your homeless person’s. They might not appeal to a higher power, as Ibn Gabriel did, for enlightenment. They might just long for safety, a place to be, a meal to share to escape their cage. The Jewish poet, by the way, living a short and arduous life, with anger issues and a love for the grotesque, derived his quest for knowledge and philosophy from the Arab world that he lived in.

 “The large-scale absorption of cosmopolitan ideas and intellectual pursuits by Jewish intellectuals and religious leaders was one of the developments in Jewish culture that was made possible by the spread of Islam throughout the Mediterranean world. By the mid-tenth century, most of world Jewry lived in Islamic domains and spoke Arabic as their native language. Through Arabic, Jews had access to the high culture of the age, including, on the one hand, the metaphysics, medicine, astronomy, logic, and mathematics inherited from the Greeks.”

Or so I learn from an introduction to his works here: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/219518/vulture-in-a-cage?utm_source=tabletmagazinelist&utm_campaign=db7edbd121-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_01_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c308bf8edb-db7edbd121-207667521

Vulture in a Cage

I strongly believe that art sets that vulture free from his cage, and never more so when done in solidarity and with a shared mission. Below is the perfect example. Why the title talks about vulnerability is a mystery to me. All I learned from that short clip was about the strength of a community whose soul did soar.

https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/511085/when-art-becomes-an-exercise-in-vulnerability/

(Photographs from the Austin Tx Kite Festival)

Read it and laugh – or weep, as you please. The collection of quotes in the link below is priceless.

Weekend Words: Gift

Priceless like the best gifts, which depend on truly knowing each other.

My beloved sister sends me a calendar each year that celebrates the spirit of the season. It is published by a progressive group of German Christians and includes art, poetry, and teachings from a variety of religions. Mostly it is really about how to be a decent, thoughtful, committed and just person – all the things we try to be.

This week it taught me about something in this country, namely in Pittsburgh PA. For years now a restaurant named Conflict Kitchen has served food that is entirely devoted to nations with whom we are at conflict. So for several months each you get to eat food from Afghanistan, or Iran, or Cuba, or Venezuela, or North Korea, etc. Tied to the choice of national food are events that teach about the country, cooking courses for school children, and community outreach.

I think this is such a clever idea, using the psychological insight that we need to get to know each other to feel able to connect.  It is also a good sign that people who work for this kitchen get to attend free courses at Carnegie Mellon!  The kitchen’s website is a fount of information.

http://conflictkitchen.org

So this week I’ll delve into cultural differences, or the meeting of cultures, or culture as a tool of teaching and learning. At least that is the plan. We’ll see what I can find…..

Below are some perfect examples of Baumkuchen a German specialty that has been baked for special occasions for over 500 years now. Royalty around Europe orders from this shop in Salzwedel, a town in Eastern Germany.

http://www.baumkuchen-salzwedel.de/Ueber_uns.html

And for local fare from lands we are at peace with: https://www.pdxmonthly.com/features/2015/11/20/a-picture-perfect-meal-from-the-land-of-ice-and-snow    Try Broder Söder on Olsen Rd!