15/02/2019
Transcript of what I wrote at the Yahrzeit event, in honor of the commemoration of the first anniversary of the completion of earthy life of my mom, Sandy Rublin, zichrona livracha, of blessed memory on Feb 14, 9 Adar 1. I wrote it in a Facebook chat on Wednesday night in Chicago and posted a video of it on the Savta Bird page after participating by video in the visit to the cemetary in Israel, and my my niece Chana Rublin Rothman read it for me at the family gathering in Israel. Thank you, Chana.
Last year at the Azkara I made in her memory I did a siyum for Perek Shira which I chose to learn in her zechut because of her love of nature. I announced that I would be developing a Perek Shira Project ~Singing Nature's Song online and I am happy to say that after her yahrzeit had already begun in Israel and as the day waned and it became her yahrzeit in Chicago, Rozie joined me and a friend online to officially begin the Perek Shira Project which will bli neder be both on Facebook and Mikdash Mi'aht Magazine. The following is a basic transcript of the event which also continued with more friends after Rozie understandably went to sleep.Thank you, Rozie very much for staying awake to participate. And thank you as well to whomever is ultimately reading this now to the family. Thank you, family for listening. Thank you, Mommy, for the inspiration and the love and thank you, Hashem, Creator of the Universe.. בורא העולם.In memory of my mom, Sandy Rublin, Shana bat Reuven and Rachel, zichrona livracha, may her memory be for a blessing, please look out your window right now or close your eyes and remember your latest look at the sky. See the colors. Was it... sunrise or sunset...? Dawn or dusk? High noon or late morning? Early evening or midnight? What colors were there? What shades of colors? What shapes do you see.. . Or remember? Are there clouds visible? Was it clear sky? Stars? Sparkles? Sun? Moon? Planets? How did you feel looking at the sky or remembering it? Can you imagine and pretend to draw it, paint it, build it with blocks, legos or crayons... Please lift your arm and create strokes of the blues and the grays and the purples and the oranges and the yellows and the blacks.
Imagine lying in the grass and looking way up at the sky. What floats by? What do you see? What do you want to see more of? If you crane your neck just a bit what could you catch a glimpse of? Does it remind you of another time you saw the sky in such a way? If you lie still and if you focus on one cloud or cloud formation or the sun or the moon or one star... Do you feel like you are moving rather than they???? Enjoy that sensation for a moment. Describe in your head what your view right now is... or what you imagine it is...
Imagine if you could safely ride in a hot air balloon all around the world and experience all the glorious colors of the entire spectrum of the day and night as one blends into the other... Think about that for a couple of minutes and then illustrate it artisticly with whatever materials you have handy nearby... whether physical or imaginary...
Birds begin to appear in the sky. What kinds of birds do you see? What sounds are they making? What colors do they have? When I am able to take a photograph of a close up of a bird I see the very most amazing details in the faces and cute little twiggy feet of the birds. What details do you see in the birds? Do they have names? Where are they going?
Ducks. Let's talk about ducks. Ducks are cute cute cute cute. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack. Ducks say Wuack quack in English. And in Hebrew they say Ga Ga. Ga ga ga ga ga ga ga. Let's go... "Here a quack, there a quack. Here a quack. There a quack."
Think about their cute little webbed feet. Imagine plodding around with those cute little webbed feet. In the pond. In the grass. In the rain. In the mud. Lift up. Put down. Plop
Plop plop plop plop plop
Plop.
Swooooooosh.
Twirl.
Have more fun.
Robins Robins Robins.
Here in Chicago they are a sign of spring. Lol. I was just recently reading about red being a power color. Empowering inner people children. Imagine those cute little Robin's plodding around with their cute little proud empowerment red fronts enveloped in black, poking their cute little heads in and out bobbing in and out and looking for worms, finding them and bringing them home to their families like Savta Bird did. "Yay, it's spring," they say. "Savta Bird brought healthy nourishment for us." And when a bird adult or adult bird feeds the youngins she does not just give it to them whole - she prepares it for them in small pieces. She kindly chews it up first herself and puts it in their mouths which are wide wide wide wide open and have been so the whole entire time that they have been waiting for her to return from her worm finding mission expedition. I have seen nest after nest of teeny tiny itty bitty little birdies waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting with their mouths outstretched to the fullest extent possible waiting for the mama bird to return. They are trusting, secure, and fully anticipating her returning to care for them and nurture them and raise them and teach them whatthey need to know to be fully capable self-sufficient birds, adult birds in their own right at the right time. And they cooperate with each other and wait patiently for her return. And whilst she is feeding each one of them, the others wait quietly and patiently for their own turn.
I want to tell you about an eagle I observed but first let me tell you about a morning dove who faithfully and happily built her nest in our window sill with just a few twigs on a very narrow ledge but she was content and happy and it was just right for her. And when her eggs hatched, she raised her sweet scrawny little birds as they became fuzzy and then hairy and then oh so feathery. And she pruned them and preened them and told them lots of stuff they needed to know as she prepared them for their flying lessons and she patiently guided them as they practiced and then tentatively took their first little jumps onto the air and they flew away and the nest was
empty but she was full of pride and the next year either she or a friend or relative or community member came back and built another nest... and now we finally get to
the story of the eagle who had clearly also been watching the progress in our windowsill and one day he came in from the sky and swooped towards our window and knocked on it with a jolt and grabbed the egg in his mouth which filled his whole mouth. The egg looked like a ping pong ball. He looked at me with his beady eyes and his mouth filled with his prize dinner that he had grabbed, as if to say, "This is mine now."
Speaking of... think of all the parakeets you have known.
In someone's home.. in cages..
Flying
about... in the Butterfly Museum.
Let's pause for a moment to draw some birds...the colors, the feathers, the flights.Imagine visiting Savta Bird's orange tree and enjoying her chocolate chip cookies and freshly squeezed orange juice after eating your dinner and listening to her tell stories of the adventures of Savta Bird and Candyland. Imagine and always remember to have fun.
