Moving to Live Journal

So, for a few different reasons, I'm moving this blog to livejournal. Please follow along at the new site.(it will be linked on my site http://www.geocities.com/gimbeljeremy/ soon.)

Dave Matthews Interview

I recently read an interview from Rolling Stone with Dave Matthews. There are a few lines from it which I would like to share:
"I was thinking the other day if I could write a nice song about the word fuck. It's such a great word, and such an ancient word. Ryan Adams and Liz Phair are good at putting fuck into songs. It's so beautiful and conversational. You need a certain kind of confidence. I don't think I have the cool."
"I think that we're all equally good and, for that reason, equally bad and have the potential for both. Kindness and love and all those things, without exception, are the most important. And I don't care how weak it sounds. If peace doesn't wear a leather coat, if it doesn't have studs or a nice haircut, if it's uncool, I don't care. Fuck it."

And that is Dave Matthews.

Pictures from Camp NFTY

You can check out my Camp NFTY pictures!

Dave Matthews Concert

What can I say? Every time I see Dave play(this was the second time, first being with the band right before "where are you going" was released, which was before "busted stuff" was released...so it had been a while), it is as if he want's to put the best set list ever in. You can check it out at this site. For the first time, I saw Tim Reynolds perform. I was in complete awe. I didn't know that both hands could work so well and so fast with eachother while producing sound that is incredibly unique. Our seats were high up on the left side of the stage, but with large LCD screens, we could see everything that happened relatively clearly. The songs they played were so incredible, both in their selection and quality of performance, it is nearly indescribeble(thats why I have this blog. so i can describe it). I also learned something very interesting about Tim's playing style. He uses a slide a lot, which wasn't what I would have expected. Nonetheless, a great set. Then the friends came on.
Each of the musicians that came on were amazingly talented in their own right, yet bringing them together was awesome. They almost played everything on Some Devil. But they played awesome covers, such as "Tell Me Something Good". And that was just the concert.:-) The encore was amazing(im running out of adjectives here). It was just dave and trey(from phish) to start out. Their reditions of Three little birds, everyday, and bathtub gin were nothing completely special, but everyone in the crowd was singing with them, making them what they were. One of the greater moments of the concert was when Dave played the intro for Everyday and the crowd was singing "Honey honey, come and dance with me..." He could have just played that riff for hours and I'm sure we all would have been content singing along with the solo guitar. Then the band came back on and did a post-Lillywhite version of "Sweet Up And Down" which was actually quite good. Props to Stephen Harris on that, but Steve: you got nothin on Butch Taylor when it comes to the keys.
The part of the concert that was the most interesting for me was how every person there came with their own baggage, for their own reasons, with their own friends(if they were with people). For example, I was with my friend Ben. We've been dave fans for about 7 years now, and so for us this was intense. It was his first Dave concert. The guy across the row from us smoked 4 joints through-out the concert, wasnt with anyone, but was throughly enjoying the music in his condition. A few rows down, a group of four guys were sharing joints, just having a good time out with a good reason to get high. Yet, not everyone smoked up. The woman next to us was alone, and was clapping along to nearly every song. The unfortunate thing is that she had a horrible sense of rhythm. But to her, it didnt matter. She was enjoying herself and the music. It's amazing to me that one artist can pull such a range of emotions and crowds. While everyone came with their own pasts, the music was universal. And that is why I had an amazing time at the Dave Matthews Concert.

New Rabbi

Okay, so it's been a while since I last posted, however things in my life have been quite hectic. Monday night, I experienced something I had not before seen: an interview by my Temple's Board of directors and the Rabbinic search committee of the newest candidate for Senior Rabbi at Beth Israel. It really was a first chance to see a part of the process first hand, which was great. I realized, however, just how political my congregation has become and how it has moved away from much of the Judaic customs, even among its leaders. When Becky(my sister) was in Israel, she bought me a really cool yalmuke that I now wear anytime I leave the house for some Judaic event. The unfortunate thing is that of the 30 or so Jewish adults there, my Cantor and I were the only two in the room that were wearing a yalmuke. I was not overly surprised to see that none of the board were wearing yalmukes, however, I was surprised to see that neither the Associate Rabbi nor the Rabbi who was interviewed was wearing one. I do understand that yalmukes are usually associated with prayer, and this was a far cry from it, but if someone such as a Rabbi makes their Judaism so much of their life, I would assume they would wear this symbolic gartment to a Temple function. On the other hand, there was careful attention to make the food Kosher style, and Reform Judaism does believe in "Choice through knowledge," so I'm really not one to judge anyone's personal decision, I just found this interesting.
Anyway, I found the prospective Rabbi very good. His involvement in youth activity is very encouraging for our program. His philosophies in working with the board are ones which I highly respect and honor. I liked how he characterized himself as "main stream" in his Rabbinic theories and his stance on inter-marriage was very good and worthy of respect. As a person, I found him very outgoing and personable. I think he would be a great addition to our congregation and can maintain stability with the board and the congregants.

Nothing

What can I write about when nothing comes to mind? Nothing. I'm using this blog as a stage for reflections about life in general, not necessarily personal experiences. Today, I'm turning a new page and doing something different. Please click this sentence to see my first picture for this blog. It is titled "Guilty".
Story of the picture: I was at the beach with BITY(Beth Israel Temple Youth), my TYG(Temple Youth Group). We were walking along and I noticed there were a number of seagulls pecking at a trashcan. One of the bags fell out and this bird took claim to it, which I found unusual. Most of the time, seagulls just go for whatever they can. Anyway, this bird was very protective of it so I waited from about 20 feet away untill he looked up and I grabbed the shot. I titled it "Guilty" because the shot is more evidence than showing the bird's emotion. Thus, this would cause the bird to be guilty; it is not meant to portray the bird as feeling guilty. Hope you enjoy!

What will people say at my funeral?

People often consider, "what will people say at my funeral?" My response to that question has always been, and may always be, "why does it matter? Hopefully, that's a long time from now, and I won't even be conscious enough to understand what ya'll are saying. So, why spend time dwelling on it?" The original question, however, was brought to my attention again today. Not from a friend asking me, but my thought process today led me to it.
Today, I went to the funeral service for Ben Zoloto, father of a family friend, Bonnie Graff. I was an acquaitence with Ben a number of years ago, but in his later years, our paths just never crossed. The sad thing is that people who knew him his entire life, friends and his children, were giving the standard cliche eulogy. This is not because Ben didn't "light up the room he was in;" it's true, this did happen. The things they said could have been about nearly anyone, unless they were rather dull, to be blunt. (bad pun. . . I know) It's unfortunate to me that here was this amazing person, and what they were saying was completely impersonal. With the exception of a few, namely Bonnie and Cantor Berstein, there was nothing incredibly specific and unique that would separate this funeral from some other random person's. But Ben was special. Ben deserved more Bonnies and Cantor Bersteins.
And that is what I want people to say at my funeral. I don't want the words "lit up a room whenever he entered it" to appear in anyone's eulogy, even if it is true. I'd like to think that the people I am closest with are more creative and have more adjectives and descriptive phrases about me than the cliches. At a time of greaving and heavy-heartedness, the last thing people want is more heaviness in their life. Cliches are jokes. To everything there is a time. Jokes are okay in their time. A eulogy is not oft one of those times. Keep the cliches for another occasion, and speak from your heart. Your loved ones in heaven and earth will thank you for it.