Using Shakespeare's original accent

Watch the 10-minute video in the article, below.  Quite amazing to hear it on the tongue; it really does make a difference!

Performing Shakespeare’s plays with their original English accent

SEPTEMBER 5, 2013 | 49 COMMENTS

In this short documentary, linguist David Crystal and his son, actor Ben Crystal look at the differences between English pronunciation now and how it was spoken 400 years ago. They answer the most basic question you probably have right now — How do you know what it sounded like back then? — and they discuss the value of performing Shakespeare’s plays in the original accent…

Living in a world of compartmentalization and labels

As of today, Ari is now in underwear full-time.  So last night we took him to Target to pick out his very own pairs.  What patterns did he choose?

Elmo.

Cars.

My Little Pony.

The only problem is, he can't figure out why the Elmo and Cars pairs have that hole in the front that make it so easy, and he has to pull down the My Little Pony ones all the way.  Gendered clothing has always annoyed me, but who knew that even at this level it would prove so practically difficult?!

Spiderboy perfecting his eight-ball

 Xander SOOO super-excited about his new-to-him Spiderman shirt, a hand-me-down from a temple friend.  Not only was it SPIDERMAN, but as he told us, "It has a HOOD!  So now if it rains, I don't need an umbrella!"

Jonathan and the boys were at one point all playing baseball in the backyard.  Later that day, Xander still wanted to play with the bat but it was too hot for us adults to go outside.  So we told them about the game of golf.  When that got boring, Jonathan gave a verbal description of how to play pool.  This is Xander's re-creation, that he came up with all by himself, with Ari watching from the sidelines.

Practice for the big leagues.

Joy

I get back from services, and what do I see in my email?  A beautiful picture of Ari from a few days ago, starting his New Year off with a bang. :)

A Shabbat to remember: pinatas, praying mantises, planes, and deep theology (yep, you read that right)

Friday night was Shabbat in the park, right across from temple.

Saturday morning was a birthday party at, coincidentally, that same park.

There was pizza and cake (the standards) but also a pinata.

 Ari doing his best.

Xander was the hit of the town; he decapitated the pinata!  After his second swing, the horse head flew right off and the body (with all the candy intact) flew right up into the air.  This is the moment post-beheading where he's looking at the upper right to see if any candy would fall.  Alas, it did not.  That was good though, as it meant all the kids got an extra turn at bat.

Also at this party, Jonathan became the Pied Piper when for some reason, a praying mantis decided to perch itself on his wrist.  I wish I had gotten a picture, he had about 8 kids surrounding him while he gave them a lesson on the anatomy and feeding habits of praying mantises.  The best was overhearing another parent talking to their son, "Kai, go run and see Xander's Daddy!  He captured a bug!!"

Later that evening the younger set stayed with Jonathan while I went to temple.  First we had Havdallah, the ceremony closing out Shabbat.  It officially begins when one can see three stars in the sky... and I was highly amused when two out of our three initial stars turned out to be planes.  The senior rabbi helped everyone out by explaining something crucial to the congregation: we only count stars if they aren't moving!

Following Havdallah, I taught the study session for 60+ people preceding the S'lichot service, the penitential service kicking off the High Holiday season.  S'lichot is all about praying to God for forgiveness for what one has done in the past year, and the prayer book is very specific in its conception of God... but very often, the God of the prayer book is NOT what people relate to.  So my lesson was titled, "What Does God Mean to You?" and it was an interactive, pick-from-over-45 statements (with the pieces of paper pinned in envelopes to the wall) of what you believed God was.  All the statements came from seven different Jewish theologies, from Biblical to pantheism to religious existentialism to mysticism, and once everyone had created their own theology, we talked about where everyone was on the spectrum.  Some people were shocked by where they fell, others felt good just putting a label to their beliefs.  The session went very well, and I felt honored that so many people shared so much of themselves with such a large group.

It was a very full two days, to say the least.  And now we prepare for Rosh Hashanah tonight... shana tovah, Happy New Year, to everyone who celebrates!*


*Addendum:  We decided that full-on preparation was just too much, but we set a beautiful table with all our finery, got yummy dinner food from Boston Market (brisket! chicken! dill potatoes!  green beans! etc!), round honey and raisin challah from a local bakery, apple crisp for dessert, and said all the appropriate blessings... the kids fell deeply asleep soon after dinner, and I waddled my way to services stuffed to the gills.  Ah, the New Year. :)

Have I mentioned how much I love getting our haircuts at home?

All hail our stylist, who does cuts and color for the pregnant woman's family at the house!  I know it will change back in three months, but for now, I'm milking it for all it's worth.

 Post-haircut, being handed a mirror and not quite registering what to do with it.

 Oh wow, I can see myself in here!

 Mommy, Daddy, woah!  I have so much less hair!

 I think I like it.

 If I make funny faces, maybe I won't notice I'm getting my hair cut.

Happy with the end results.

Zichrono livracha, may his memory be a blessing

I'm a little bit in shock... a friend and former congregant, Scott Hinkley, passed away on Saturday from cancer.  He was only diagnosed last month.  This was the guy who Jonathan would hang out with whenever we went to my student pulpit in Richmond, IL - they would talk World of Warcraft, role-playing, and other aspects of geekdom.  I created a home-based Judaica curriculum for his now nine year-old daughter, Lilly.  I can't even imagine what his family is going through.

Scott's eulogy is here - he will be much missed.