The New Year is here and approaching

For all you fellow music-loving fans, NYE means only one thing:  a great show of live music.  Just seeing those three letters together in allcaps gets the salivating glands working.  Before I got into the scene, New Year's Eve was nothing special.  I'd watch the ball drop or go to a party.  But when it turned into NYE I was hooked.

No video does it justice but if you want a glimmer of a glimpse, see if you can gain some experience here:





Most music shows would end it right there.. But after that huge display of fun and festivity there is a whole.other.set.of.music that gets played.

What can I say?  Phish is just beyond beyond beyond amazeballs.  I love them.

But it's actually a New Year's right now!

It is the Hebrew date of the 20th of Kislev, and just yesterday was what was called Yud Tes Kislev (Yud tet), or the 19th of Kislev.  It is marked as the New Year or birth of...

Chassidus.

Chassidic thought is said to been born on this date - released to the world that is -- in 1772.  I might be confusing some things here, so I immediately direct you to read more about it at Chabad.org  On that date is when the Baal Shem Tov (the founder of Chassidus...he went out and sang about being Jewish from a soulful place and was joyful and also travelled from town to town at a time when there was great poverty in the shtetls.  He taught that just being Jewish is the essence and you need not be scholarly to be relavent and valid and make a difference in the world) 's disciple the Maggid of Mezritch (Rabbi DovBer) was, as they say "returned to his maker."  26 years later it is the same date when the founder of Chabad Chassidus, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, was freed from his imprisonment in Russia.

So glad this is not a term paper.  My writing needs some buffing and brushing.  But you guys get my drift?  It's a really big day.  A holiday.  A yomtov.  My friend said she dressed her children up today in their fancy yomtov clothes.  How fun.

I went to a Fabrengen tonight for women.  I learned that the time in between the 19th and 20th of Kislev is exactly when the most recent Lubavitcher Rebbe also did his fabrengen.

Part of the connectivity here on a personal level is my birthday is at the end of Kislev as well as my wedding anniversary.  It's a time when we are able to give each other blessings that hold lots of power and strength.

So I bless you all that you should get everything you need in life.

Kislev is the month of light.  At a time when the month is darkest.

Go to 9:27 here and you will see a great performance of the song Light.  It is just so so so beautiful.  I know you think if you're not a Phish person you don't get it.  But this is just a gorgeous song.  It's a teaching in and of itself.  Who needs this blog when you have Phish lyrics?








Obstacles are stepping-stones
That guide us to our goals
Fences are filters
That purify our souls





It is Chanukah soon after all!!