That's the spirit! Doesn't hurt anybody AND it promotes something good.

Now how long will it take to investigate those outcast scum and vile misleaders, the Baha'is?

Will THEY ever be offered solace and understanding? Or will we continue to scorn them, and pretend that Muhammad and Jesus and Isaiah ALL chose the wrong words when they promised that the Holy One would come in the year (1260AH) 1844?

But, hey! They've put that Universal House of Justice atop Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel... maybe when the Palestinians get into killing Jews, they can take some of those wild-eyed "Christ has returned! Jesus told the TRUTH!" idiots with them, eh?

Paris, France

Beautiful sunny day in Paris today, with temperatures expected to reach the upper 70s.

This augurs well as tonight Paris celebrates that wonderful annual tradition, the "Fête de la Musique", held each year on the Summer solstice. The entire city is tranformed into a massive street festival with outdoor concerts, corner groups and solo acts of every musical stripe and political persuasion - even the Communist Party has its own ball! From the most famous to the most humble, there is room for everyone, and Parisians spend the night out dancing and partying.

Among the many participants will be the three kings of modern Rai music Khaled, Faudel and Rachid Taha. For those who have not heard it, Rai is a fascinating music genre that blends Arabic, Egyptian and North African themes with rythym and blues, rock and flamenco. Rai is one of the most original trends on the current "world music" scene (oh, how I hate that term!). The undisputed superstar is Khaled, with "Abdelkader" (blows you away), "Didi", and the famous love song "Aicha" (in French and Arabic), written for Khaled by the renowned and oh-so-talented French songwriter/performer Jean-Jacques Goldman, who will also be performing this evening. Another great Rai song is Rachid Taja's Arabo-Andalusion masterpiece "Ya Rayah".

Should be fun.

Sundown Friday to sundown is "God's Sabbath", established long before there were any people called "Jews". Praise God for his holy rest (-)

Good Shabbos all.

Good happy Shabbos news is that I've completed the last class of my undergrad career!

happydance

Greetings from the triple-digit-temperature haven of Austin, TX. Everyone take it easy, and, if you're so inclined (and have extended cable), there's an "I, Claudius" marathon on Trio.

And, if anyone's in the area, we're going to have a kick-ass 3-day music festival in September sponsored by Austin City Limits. That is, unless you don't like REM, Al Green, Dwight Yoakam, Los Lobos and the Staple Singers.

(http://www.aclfestival.com/schedule.html)

There is a story about a man who went to a dictionary-compiler and asked him why he was interested in money. The lexicographer was quite surprised and said, 'Wherever did you get that idea?'
'From your own writings,' said the visitor.
'But I have only written that one dictionary — that is my writings,' said the author. 'I know, and that is the book that I have read,' said the other man.
'But the book contains a hundred thousand words! And out of those, I don't suppose that more than twenty or thirty are about money.'
'What are you talking about all the other words for,' said the visitor, 'when I was asking you about the words for money?'
(From: Idries Shah 'The Magic Monastery')

blink

Am I going crazy, or are these last week's comments?

I mean... I've been stressed lately, but I didn't think I was that stressed...

oh wait...

looks more closely at the dates

::sigh:: I'm not gonna try to figure this out tonight. Just ignore me.

falls over

Since the comments tend to be happy, I leave them in and just "time shift" my Shabbat welcome forward each week. That way, we can step in and be reminded of the happiness.

Gotcha. Ok. Makes sense. falls over again

If you honor the sabbith for those of jewish faith, and only publish good news on that day,
you should also honor those of us of christian faith, and only publish good news on sunday as well.
To do otherwize, is discrimatory, and breeds contempt. there are other "religions" that would like their day honored as well.

No, Justin, what I choose to do on my blog is up to me alone. It started when Winds was a solo effort, and the tradition has continued. If you wish to do the same on Sunday at your blog, more power to you. Similarly, you could also choose to just read this section of our blog on Sunday.

I might also suggest a less contentious approach, especially when the common sense solutions are so simple and obvious. I considered deleting that comment, but upon reflection there's a fair question in there, and so it receives a fair answer.

Its a wonderful custom of yours, Joe. I wouldn't have answered with as much decorum, to your great credit.

Well done.

Sharpshooter

I have always appreciated this segment of Winds but am shocked at the disrespectful and unnecessary post aimed at the Baha'is in Haifa who live in peace and harmony with their neighbors of all religions all around the world. Is this in the spirit of Shabbat?

JFarr, I took Sharpshooter's post to be ironic and written in defense of the Baha'is, lampooning people who scorn them.

On second reading, that meaning is less clear. I'll drop Sharpshooter a line and find out.

Thank you for the kind welcome you posted to my new blog.

Thank you even more for simultaneously introducing me to your own blog. I love Winds of Change.net and have included it in my favorites list. Your and your colleagues set a superior example of civil debate conducted with liveliness, intelligence and character, something still too rare on the Net.

I happen to be acquainted (virtually) with 'Sharpshooter', and I assure you that the comment was both deeply ironic and in defense of the Baha'is.

Thanks Kathy, I just didn't get it. With the world the way it is today I guess I have gotten a tad too sensitive.

Sorry Sharpshooter.

Justin, perhaps you should consider moving your Christian sabbath back to Saturday. Or didn't you realize that the only reason Christians (originally Jews!) observe it on Sunday is because they wanted to be perceived as followers of a completely new religion? Why else is the Spanish word for Saturday "Sabado"? Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word for seven, Sheva because it's the seventh day of the week.

Appreciate the historical background, Demo. But nobody needs to move anything, and there's no point getting all exercised over Justin. A true Sabbath is all about letting stuff like that go. Let's.

My dad told me that we celebrate the Sabbath (more likely that it's a "day of rest") on Sunday because that's the day Christians believe Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Just a thought.

Thanks, Joe. I enjoy the Sufi Wisdom posts every weekend.

thanks for sending us really peaceful wishes and thoughts in a turbulant time

I'm one Christian who is not only distinctly unoffended by Winds of Change celebrating the Sabbath of its host's faith, but see the tradition as an invitation to bloggers - who are of other religions - to celebrate their own Sabbath with good news on their own sites. If Christians and Muslims can involve themselves, heck, we'll have ourselves a three-day weekend of glad tidings.

Well done, Joe, and many happy returns.

A link for New Yorkers:

Lishmah

Oh, and some happy stuff for Shabbos... I've made a new friend. I've been on jury duty since Thursday and I ended up sitting next to a 68-year-old Jewish man who turned out to be very talkative and very friendly and (most significantly) very smart and also not only interested in talking but in listening as well. For the past two days we've been talking about politics and mathematics and quantum mechanics and Jewish Theology and Buddhism and all the connections between them... it's been a long time since I had someone to talk to like this. I've already caused him to completely reasses his entire theological outlook... a 68-year-old! Now that's gratifying for a couple of reasons: 1. it feels good to be told that what you have to say is significant enough to change someone's mind, and 2. it gives us hope that as we get older we do not have to become slow and set in our ways.

Anyway, that's my happiness for the week. :)

Michael Ubaldi is absolutely right - and wouldn't a three-day glad tidings weekend be nice. As the number of participating bloggers grows, we'd also be able to link to each other's stuff and set a virtuous cycle in motion of less work and more reinforcement for participants.

That sounds like a great idea, Joe. I'll put it in the old hopper for a bit and see what comes out.

In the spirit of Shabbat-connected subjects, I disagree that Christians were all originally Jews; many were pagans, especially of the Greek and Roman variety - lots of Christian tradition comes from there; don't forget they had a different calendar as well.

The world needs a global ""Fête de la Musique"", an earth party and everyone in the entire world is invited. Viva la France.

shabbat shalom.

yes. early christians, once the disciplines left israel, were mostly not jews.

today is gloriously lovely. tis a bright beautiful 80 degs F here... not a cloud anywhere in the sky, contrary to weather predictions this morning's tv, my idiot neighbors are gone and making noise elsewhere... i've spent time in my garden, praying and laughing with my mutts.

lovely, lovely, lovely.... may the peace of sabath bless each and every one of us, ... no matter which day we choose to celebrate it.

More good news: Chief Wiggles reports the Iraqi generals have been freed.

"I laugh at the fish in the water who says he is thirsty." Rumi

My favorite quote

Beaujolais Nouveau!!!!

The nouveau is a lightly fermented "first wine" - it is typically released on the third Thursday of November and drunk by the New Year. It is released with fetes, wine and food fesitivals, and my favorite, fireworks. From what I have had, this year will be as important as the 1929, 1947 and 1976 vintages. The wines are full bodied, rich and complex. In the US, you should be able to buy a bottle for around $9.

A piece of Sufi wisdom for the day.

"The chicken had his wish, and was magically transformed into a fox.
Then he found he could not digest grain."

— The Magic Monastery by Idries Shah

France won its second Fed Cup (tennis) over the weekend; the score was France 4, US 1.

Hey, nice idea Joe.

Here's a bit of good news for you.

Let's hear it for Moammar Quadaffi.

Madman on the mend? I certainly hope so.

I notice that his "serious, secret talks" with Blair's & Bush's representatives began 9 months ago. What was it that happened 9 months ago? Oh yeah, that's right. We started the ambitious project of bringing liberty to the middle east, using WMD as our rationale (perhaps as a pretext) for knocking of secular, socialist tyrants in Islamic lands. Moammar can still turn out quite bad, but for a day or two, I'm willing to accept that maybe he's turned over a new leaf. We Catholics are taught that God forgives those who repent, so if a rogue nation repents, it seems to me that the rest of us should do the same.

This is good news in the larger sense, too; maybe a strong, determined nation can in fact strike out at the real root causes of terrorism - oppression, injustice, and tyranny.

On Friday, I interviewed for a position with a firm. After graciously refusing a further interview, I had a phone message at home effectively saying that they low-balled the salary and hadn't been exactly up-front about the future of the position (they plan on moving me up into a higher position within weeks, with a higher salary - just wanted to check me out).

But the hand they dealt in their poker game (the interview) was a pair of dueces. Ya gotta know when to fold 'em, and I didn't like the way the cards were coming up, so I did.

Like the Frisco rabbi said: "Hey, man, don't compromise yourself."

A new interview with the higher-ups has been arranged, and I'll be dealing the hands. Yes, Friday was good.

Saturday, I rest... Good Shabbat to you!

Good Shabbos all.

Good happy Shabbos news is that I've had a baby!

happydance

Hey, MB -

What wonderful news!!

Personally, I'll never do anything nearly as much fun or as tiring or as meaningful as raising my sons...hope and wish it's the same for you.

A.L.