#project cranbery

[nonstandardrepertoire]

Ki Tisa

you don't have to be realistic to make portraits that people recognize. stick a stovepipe hat and a bushy beard on a teddy bear, and people will get that you mean it to be Abraham Lincoln. the right hat and pipe alone can suggest Sherlock Holmes. learning to identify these kinds of symbols can be very helpful in coming to grips with artistic traditions that make heavy use of them

if you spend a lot of time with Medieval Christian art, for example, you'll pretty quickly start to run across a figure of a guy with horns on his head. you might think that this is supposed to be Satan, but in many cases, you'd be wrong: that guy is supposed to be Mosheh

in this week's Torah portion, you see, Mosheh is said to have a face that is קָרַן/qaran after spending so much time conversing with G-d. contemporary translations will say that that means Mosheh's face "glowed", but it's a very rare word, and it looks a lot like the word קֶֽרֶן/qéren, which means "horn", and so the most influential Medieval Latin translation said that Mosheh's face had "horns" instead. (the idea underlying the Hebrew seems to be that rays of light emerge from glowing things in much the same way that horns emerge from the head of a ram or an ox)

seeing this prophet with horns tacked on can be a little unsettling, and the Biblical Israelites were certainly unsettled by Mosheh's glowing face, so much so that they were afraid to even come near Mosheh at first, and Mosheh starts wearing a veil around the camp

the Israelites' fear here has many echoes down thru the ages. in 1867, in the wake of the US Civil War and the California Gold Rush, the city of San Francisco was full of poor people and disabled veterans that the rich of the city found unappealing to look at. like the Biblical Israelites, they accepted their gut emotional reaction to those around them as fact, and came to the conclusion that their neighbors were at fault for causing these untidy emotions

rather than helping their neighbors access housing, medical care, and the necessities of dignified living, the rich of San Francisco passed the first of the so-called "ugly laws", bills that essentially made it a crime to be disabled in public, with predictable disparities in treatment along class and racial lines, de facto if not de jure. in the years that followed, similar laws were passed all around the country by cities that would rather arrest people than see to their needs. the last known arrest under one of these laws would ultimately occur in Oklahoma in 1974. today, many of them are still on the books, even if they are no longer enforced

and enforced or not, the spirit that animated these laws is still very much alive. in the US, we still very much live in a society that judges people based on how they look, a society where the powerful would rather remove some people from view than build community with them, a society where some people are given the very clear message that their presence is emphatically unwanted. those on the receiving end of this message often internalize it and start to pull away — "i won't speak up in that meeting because i don't want to take up space.", "maybe i shouldn't go to that gathering; i don't want to make people uncomfortable.", "i feel like even just quietly existing i am already taking up too much space"

even G-d isn't immune from these feelings. after the business with the golden calf, G-d says, "i'm not going to go with you, in the middle of your camp. maybe i'll be in a little tent off to the side here, but i can't be at the heart of your community anymore.". this might sound like a punishment, but G-d doesn't frame it that way in Shəmot. instead, G-d says "פֶּן אֲכֶלְךָ בַּדָּֽרֶךְ/pen akhelkha badárekh/lest i end you on the way". G-d is afraid of hurting the Israelites, and so tries to withdraw. it's a protective measure, not a punishment

it's also not a solution. haSheim cannot be the Israelites' G-d without actually being there, right there, in the thick of them. the Israelites cannot learn from Mosheh how they are to live without going up and being near him, glowing face and all. we cannot build a society together if we all pull away from one another, afraid of causing messy feelings or harm, or having messy feelings of our own in reaction to each other. we have to reach out. we have to connect

this doesn't mean we will never hurt each other. we will. the relationship between G-d, Mosheh, and the Israelites, too, continues to be full of strife, tumult, and harm. in building the world we want to live in, we will step on each other's toes, we'll butt heads forcefully, we'll commit a thousand sins small and grave. but there is no other way. there is no way to build a community without community, and there is no community without tension, friction, and discomfort, because communities are made of people, and people are too rich and varied and messy and complex to snap together perfectly and seamlessly like frictionless uniform bricks in a physics exercise

we will never be perfect. we will always be fraught. coming together to run a community, shape a society, build a better world will always require compromise and generate bruised feelings. but these efforts only fail entirely if we pull away permanently, if we fully disengage

when Mosheh's face begins to glow, he does put on a veil, but, crucially, not when he is talking to G-d or to the Israelites. to be in community with others, he has to be there as his whole, disquieting self, not a covered, tamed version modulated for others' comfort. we don't read that the Israelites ever really adjusted to this — for all we know, every time the light of Mosheh's face fell on them, they felt the same tremor they felt the first time around — but they come near all the same. we have to do so too

to build a world where we all can live and flourish, we have to show up as our full selves, and be ready for others to show up as their full selves too. this work is hard, it is messy, it is uncomfortable, but it is infinitely, irreplaceably worth doing. it is the work that is before us all

shavu'a tov

[prof-kenny]

[drmilliesays]

3 Healthiest Cold Breakfast Cereals

Someone posted on their facebook feed recently asking for recommendations for the healthiest cold breakfast cereals he could buy. He received many answers including the usual health wares; muesli, homemade granola, grapenuts. Many people showed their SAD chops and suggested fake health food such as Cheerios, Kashi GoLean (GMO), Special K Fiber, etc. I’m showing my snootiness. He also received some interesting ideas like using a protein shake intead of milk. Plenty of joke responses were given, such as Saturday Night Live’s Colon Blow, Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms. Several caring individuals told him flat out not to waste his time, that there are no healthy cold cereals. Ahem! I took this as a challenge as I AM aware of some healthy cold breakfast cereals. And I went in for the prize. Scroll down for my list of the 3 Healthiest Cold Breakfast Cereals.

But let’s get serious. Breakfast could be one of the most important meals of the day. Studies show that kids and teens who eat a bad breakfast perform worse and have worse mental health than teens who don’t eat breakfast at all. Teens who ate a good breakfast with a variety of cereal, dairy and fruit performed the best though and reported the best mental health.

3) Nature's Path Organic Qia™ Superfood Chia-Buckwheat & Hemp Cereal. A very healthy breakfast fix. The company says: “Qi'a (pronounced Kee-ah) is the NEW Superfood Cereal made with Chia, Hemp and Buckwheat. This power trio of seeds is full of plant-based Protein, Fiber and ALA Omegas. Boost your nutrition with only 2 tbsp. of cereal and feel the energy from these powerful, functional, and nutritious super seeds. Enjoy as a breakfast cereal, hot or cold; or add to yogurt, smoothies, oatmeal, or salads for an added nutritional boost..USDA organic and non-GMO verified, this vegan omega 3 whole grain cereal provides sustained energy to supercharge your day.“

No Artificial Ingredients

Dairy Free

Gluten Free

Yeast Free

Comes in or vanilla/cranbery. Available in most organic grocery stores in the US.

Besides the nutritional content, they list the ingredients as Other ingredients (funny): Chia seeds*, buckwheat groats*, hemp seeds*, cranberries* (coated with sunflower oil*), almonds*, natural vanilla flavor. *Organic. Contains tree nuts. Produced in a facility that uses soy, peanuts and dairy.

This product is VERY HEALTHY - but still might not be what you’re looking for.

2 T or 30g per serving

13 g carbohydrates

4 g fiber

0 g sugar (original and 3 g in cranberry vanilla)

6 g protein

7 g fat

2) Holy Crap: a Canadian company advertises this as the world’s most amazing breakfast cereal, and as far as packaged cold cereals go. I couldn’t agree more. The company says: “Delicious, gluten-free, high-fiber, organic, non-GMO, energizing breakfast cereals, made only with real unprocessed ingredients in Gibsons, BC. Holy Crap is the perfect breakfast food. This slow-burning protein-rich rocket 13fuel leaves you satisfied until lunch. Mix with water, juice, nut milk or yogurt.” Comes in 12 flavors, and you can try out each one in the variety pack. Plus, it’s easier on your US dollar if you purchase it direct from Canada.

gluten-free + organic + kosher + plant-based + non-gmo project verified

Organic Ingredients: organic chia, organic buckwheat, organic hulled hemp seeds, organic raisins, organic dried cranberries (organic sugar, organic sunflower oil), organic apple bits, organic cinnamon.

VERY HEALTHY - and a bit tastier

2T or 28g per serving

13 g Carbohydrate

5 g fiber

3 g sugar (because it has fruit)

5 g protein

6 g fat

3) Could you make a heathier breakfast cereal yourself? I challenge you. Here’s my version

1/3 cup chia seeds

1/3 cup hulled hemp hearts

1/3 cup buckwheat groats

1 T flax seeds

1 T wheat germ

Toast in a 300 F oven for 5 minutes. Let cool and add Extras of your choice

Extras:

1/4 cup of organic coconut flakes

1/4 cup organic raisins, cherries, cranberries, currants, blueberries

1/4 cup raw cacao nibs

1/4 cup almond slivers

1/4 cup pepitas/pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup broken walnuts

In any case, short of giving him my recipe, I offered both cereal cold cereal options, and won the competition!!! He ordered the Holy Crap variety pack. I prefer my own, which I change up as I have ingredients available. I also make my own granola. So despite all the garbage breakfast cereals out there, there are truly a few that will amaze you!

Want more? Tune into Health and Wellness Coach Allie Might’s Demo Video on how to create healthy Snacks, including her very own healthy granola recipe. or read her healthy snacking-on-the-go blog.

[prof-kenny]