[HANASHIR:11646] sharing music, hava nashira, nudity (just kidding)

[Rick Lupert <Rick...>]

Hi,

Thank God Wendy only shared Billy Jonas' "God" song with the 
Christians...since it mentions all of these other religions in it, it 
should serve to throw them off the trail a bit and we shouldn't have 
to worry too much about them using it to convert our babies.  I 
suggest we only sing Irish folk tunes when we encounter "THE OTHER 
SIDE" so that way we'll keep the guessing.  Furthermore, it might be 
a good idea to make our ritual objects out of less obvious things in 
case one of 'them' is over at the house...you know, maybe a menorah 
out of an upside-down chair which can be quickly righted up, and then 
even a Mogen David out of a stick of butter which can be easily 
reshaped into a stick of butter when emergencies arise.  I'd be 
willing to sit on a committee.

Thanks to everyone in the ever-growing Hava Nashira family for making 
this past week's experience yet another one of the most extraordinary 
experiences for me.  Y'all who weren't there were missed...it's 
strange that you can have such a powerful and beautiful experience 
when pieces of the family are missing...but it is possible, though 
the memory of your presence was ever-present.

Highlight for me...besides the obvious...being confronted with the 
most simple and beautiful concept in Debbie's new melody "Those who 
sow in tears, reap in joy."  She has such a power to create the most 
simple melody which has the power to open my wider than the 
night-time prairie sky.

I also didn't notice how long t'filot went on Friday night and 
Saturday morning which I guess points to the idea that less time 
isn't necessarily automatically better for the masses...of course we 
weren't so much the masses in that room...we were the 'choir' as it 
were.

The faculty implemented a beautiful curriculum which definitely 
exceeded last years in meeting the needs of the participants with its 
focus on repertoire in the core curriculum, moving the different 
kinds of specialty skills such as "how to songlead in the dining 
hall"  etc... to electives so people could make their own choices.

Thanks especially to the faculty who, although incomplete in the 
family sense, shared their music and passion for this essential and 
beautiful work with such love and neshama.

The OSRUI staff was wonderful too...again huge kudos for having a 
Susan Alexander in the mix who has the lofty title of Associate 
Director of OSRUI but still manages to pass out food in the dining 
hall.  Nice 'sim-sum' as Merri L.A. put it to me.  Incidentally OSRUI 
staff, if you had anything to do with the weather this weekend, nice 
job...it was the best ever in my 7 years at Hava Nashira.

I look forward to next year when all of you will come back because 
you need to be there and keep your connection with the family alive. 
I look forward to the challenge of living up to who I am at Hava 
Nashira during the lengthy time until the next one...and to sharing 
even the slightest spark of the music with the communities I work in.

By the way, please go to my website and order everything I've ever written.

With love,

Rick Lupert
-- 

Lupert: It's The Website - & - Poetry Super Highway
           http://PoetrySuperHighway.com/

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