17 Comments

Happy belated birthday, Susie. I particularly loved this post because it felt like it was stream of consciousness writing, and that I could hear you speaking it or imagine that I could get inside your head and watch it go by. I especially liked your definition of the written, and oral Torah, thank you so much for your writing. I find it exquisite.

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Thank you, Rachael. It seems to me that stream of consciousness and Torah go hand in hand. What do you think? Torah speaks to us in the language of our dreams...in befuddlement, as I wrote. It's a relief to be liberated from the logical mind.

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I also found Sehgal's essay thought-provoking. And I very much like your response to it--the idea of story changing through the conversations related to Torah. As you point out, we humans are storytellers, a truth that also makes us vulnerable to the manipulative use of story by politicians and capitalist hucksters. Story lovers beware. Thanks for another post worth a few days of reflection, and Happy birthday!

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Thanks, Betsy. I began my birthday by posting on Substack and ended it at an ice cream parlor. I appreciate your use of the word vulnerable. It's a full-time job.....getting some sense of the facts of a situation and then observing how they are being manipulated. Calls for ice cream.

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Everything calls for ice cream.

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Happy Birthday! Awesome writing.....as usual👍🏻🎂🎉

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Thanks, Patty. Yesterday was a great day that ended at an ice cream parlor! Feeling tired but blessed.

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Happy birthday, Susie Kaufman, and thank you for sharing always thoughtful, sometimes wistful, always meaningful "stories."

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It's hard to get away from stories. Maybe if we're conscious of the stories we're telling that's sufficient.

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Happy birthday, Susie! 🌷

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Thanks, Jan. It was memorable to be here in Minnesota in the summer with the family.

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Happiest of birthdays. All stories are not created equal but I also believe, like great books, there is something for everyone and we don’t all need to partake of the same stories. We need to recognize them for what they are if they are if they are intending harm….but everyone’s story is a bit different.

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Recognizing them for what they are is key. My stories are like organs of the body. I want to maintain them in good health.

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Happy birthday! What a good birthday message you sent out today. I've felt the same about all the storification of products and experiences, forcing a false way to reflect how life works. But something in us seems to require a bit of causal ordering, some way to match feeling with facts in chaos - we just have to dare and dive deep enough into the discomfort of the story to find it. I don't think this is psychological.

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Now you've got me thinking. What do you mean by not psychological? How would you identify this need for order?

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happy birthday! this line here was nice to read this morning , “Like Scripture, it is filled with contradiction, ambiguity and befuddlement. It is living and breathing until it’s not.”

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Thank you, Jasmin. I was especially delighted with "befuddlement," which is so often where I'm living.

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