knitternun

Friday, April 20, 2012

Pentecost

Pentecost by Rabbi David Zaslow Passover and Easter: two moon linked sisters who long ago stopped speaking to one another: linked to the fullness of our hearts, and the fullness of God's grace. The moon of Sister Miriam desires freedom - the rescue her people from the cruelty of Pharaoh, by the outstretched, mighty hand of the Lord: a hand of salvation reaching down from heaven, and passing through my nation, and down through yours, and then to each and every one of us - so may it be! The moon of Mother Mary desires to give her light so that each man and woman may know the power of the resurrection, and the soil of death that holds the seeds rebirth within: a resurrection reaching upward, passing through all nations and up to God Almighty! Two celebrations: two women: Miriam and Mary, who don't even know they have the same name - one in Hebrew and one in Greek - yet inexorably linked to a single full moon. And then we each begin to count: we both count to fifty - beyond the forty days of Moses on Mt. Sinai and Jesus in the wilderness. We go beyond, one cycle further: to fifty, Shavuot, the Pentecost. Ours to the revelation of Torah at Sinai. Yours to the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Freedom and resurrection. Revelation and revelation. Twelve tribes and twelve disciples. One moon, two traditions. Two covenants, One God Shavuot and Pentecost: two cousins who have just begun to speak. And King David is singing to us from his tomb today: "Teach us to count our days that we may open our hearts to Your Wisdom." Some of us, thank God, are listening!Pentecost by Rabbi David Zaslow Passover and Easter: two moon linked sisters who long ago stopped speaking to one another: linked to the fullness of our hearts, and the fullness of God's grace. The moon of Sister Miriam desires freedom - the rescue her people from the cruelty of Pharaoh, by the outstretched, mighty hand of the Lord: a hand of salvation reaching down from heaven, and passing through my nation, and down through yours, and then to each and every one of us - so may it be! The moon of Mother Mary desires to give her light so that each man and woman may know the power of the resurrection, and the soil of death that holds the seeds rebirth within: a resurrection reaching upward, passing through all nations and up to God Almighty! Two celebrations: two women: Miriam and Mary, who don't even know they have the same name - one in Hebrew and one in Greek - yet inexorably linked to a single full moon. And then we each begin to count: we both count to fifty - beyond the forty days of Moses on Mt. Sinai and Jesus in the wilderness. We go beyond, one cycle further: to fifty, Shavuot, the Pentecost. Ours to the revelation of Torah at Sinai. Yours to the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Freedom and resurrection. Revelation and revelation. Twelve tribes and twelve disciples. One moon, two traditions. Two covenants, One God Shavuot and Pentecost: two cousins who have just begun to speak. And King David is singing to us from his tomb today: "Teach us to count our days that we may open our hearts to Your Wisdom." Some of us, thank God, are listening!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Book of Lost Fragrances by MJ Rose

This is a review of the Book of Lost Fragrances by MJ Rose. The review will be published on Amazon and on my blog at http://knitternun.blogspot.com/.

Rarely has the book blurb been so far off the track as it is for this book. It makes it sound like an interesting fun book when in reality is a book that makes no sense. I am surprised that Simojn and Schuster would stoop so low.



For one thing, it is not formated properly for the Kindle. Rules of grammar are ignored. Paragraphing is all over the place. I would not recommend anyone spend any money for the knindle edition of this book as the publisher has made it quite clear it can't invest its time, money and effort to make the Kindle edition readable.

The second maion problem with this book is that it has a least 6 different story lines of which only 2 are resolved. The writing is sloppy, the editing worse. The main idea is that the hero and heroine, brother and sister, are trying to recreate a lost but famous fragrance.

In reality, who cares? The reader won't care because the author doesn't care. I feel like this is a first draft that has been published when in reality it needs extensive editing and rewriting to be worth money. I am glad i got it for free on netgalley.com