The Rice House
Macrobiotics Numerology 9 Star Ki Shiatsu Palmistry Life Coaching
Home Photo Galleries Links Feedback עברית
Study With Us Contact Us About Us
Klara Levine's Responses and Comments Regarding Jessica Porter Teachings
Email #1:
Basically cooking (recipes) is one way, one very important
way for us to play - to create our bodies thru good food so that our
energies and the energies of the universe come together to give us freedom
to play. And that in a nutshell (pun not intended but nice one) is what
Jessica came to teach us.
She described herself not as a chef, although she has cooked for many
people, but as an educator. She wants to convey to us how much impact the
food we eat has on us - and how when all energies flow freely, so much
surprising wonderful things come into our lives.
Forgive me, Friday afternoon is not a flowing time for me - while I was
cooking this morning I had many thoughts about yesterday's class - as I
finally took my own advice and realized the best way to learn was to go home
and repeat all the dishes. So I did. To those who were there, I finally got
the stoup (soup or stew) to be soup - I only put in one cup of lentils and
kept all the other proportions, came out lovely soup. It was while I was
cooking that I realized it wasn't that I now had more recipes which made her
class so valuable, but that it flowed in the kitchen. The hardest part for
me, figuring out what to make, she'd made easier. I just repeated a couple
of her dishes.
Email #2:
What an amazing eye opening class tonight with Jessica. I
thought all I really wanted were classes on macrobiotics because I love it
so and I wanted to be better at it. And now I realize I can be better at
that and anything else in my life but not by how I used to think.
What a shocker to hear that we use our conscious minds (our rational
thinking, doing problem solving, WILL POWER (not all what it's cracked up to
be, folks!!!!!) only 5% - 10% of the time, but our subconscious mind, 90% -
95% of the time - what huge huge potential lies there!!!!
And how to get to the subconscious? Jessica couldn't say this often enough -
relaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaax and once in a relaxed state to give ourselves the
positive (and in the present tense) messages so we can create the changes we
want in our lives. Also can do this through rituals (like in Judaism - and I
do so love our rituals, song, dance, daydreaming (finally I won't feel
guilty about daydreaming while driving) and using all the senses.
Isn't life grand? no? well, just use your imagination to create all those
good things you want in life - not easy changing habits, but if not now,
when???
Email #3:
When using the word play, although the accepted understanding
of having fun in this life is what first comes to mind, there is more to it.
I understand it to having more freed up energy, so one isn't bogged down
with worry, anxieties, indecision, STUCKNESS - but for whatever challenges
come to you, a solution appears because the energies are flowing freely.
This fits with her class on hypnosis, and she explained that having WHOLE
food is what helps you get to that state of flowing life.
Also it doesn't at all mean being in a constant state of hectic doing, even
if it's fun things. The goal is a gentle movement of life, so rest balances
activity, seriousness balances levity. One doesn't have to do EVERYTHING in
order to live a GREAT Life -
And most important, we've all heard it many times - it's not you compared to
others. It's you compared to your potential - this one I'm sorry is still a
bit fuzzy for me - how do you know you can (need?) to do more, and how do
you know everything you're doing is wonderful exactly as it is? Are we
following scripts given to us as kids (you can do better? you are lazy,
disorganized, bad cook, aren't smart and on and on. Are we following someone
else's scripts (husband, wife, children, boss, teacher?). Part of my goals
in macrobiotics is to find my intuition, to find what is truly my own as
opposed to that which comes from others or a reaction to the messages from
others. It's work!!!!
In the hypnosis class, Jessica stressed that whatever goal a person is
working towards, it must be because he/she wants it - and we CANNOT make
somebody else want it, no matter how much we love them. G-d gave each of us
free will - it's a challenge sometimes within a family or with friends to
see what we think is not good for another, but to let them have the freedom
to choose.
Email #4:
Jessica also stressed sometimes a person just isn't ready for
that change!!! Sometimes she tells clients who want to stop smoking they
need to go back and smoke for another six months. That you have to REALLY
REALLY want it
Now, that's tricky - how do you ever know when you are ready??? and if it
(changing) doesn't work, you can cop out and just say I'm not ready?????
And what makes you ready? Can you work on being ready?????
Very tricky and do you ALWAYS have to be desperate for a change? Is that
what being ready means?????
Some people feel immediate change when they change their diets - some (like
me) it takes a very long time - almost can't see it
But it is there - Jessica claims the same for hypnosis - some is immediate
(it was for her in stopping to smoke) and some takes more time - and it's
all ok.
Email #5:
The very first mb cookbook I received when I started was
Kristina Turner's The Self-Healing Cookbook. It was the favorite of the
person who gave it to me and I was thrilled to have a macrobiotic cookbook.
But I didn't really get it.
It's one of those books one needs to keep going back to and understanding
from a newer perspective.
I'm not great with cookbooks - I try out a couple of recipes and if they
don't work, I give up on the cookbook. Afraid I did that with hers.
Yet on p. 60, she has what she calls The Carrot Experiment, trying different
ways of creating a carrot dish and having the reader experience what the
differences are, in senses, in feeling, in energetic level.
But what Jessica did was take it a huge step further. She had NO other
ingredients in almost all the variations. So we could really experience the
differences in the carrot. OK, when she did add oil or shoyu or made the
nabe dish with the shiitake and kombu, they did influence the dish - but
what Jessica taught us tonight was the very basics of macrobiotics, the yin
& yang way of looking at it all - the cut, the cooking, the kind of pot -
and that to really GET macrobiotics, to use this in the way we want the
outcome of the dish, in the way we want to be effected, or effect those we
are cooking for. To get excited or to get calmed, to feel grounded or to
feel spirited up, to dance or to just curl up with a good book.
But even better than the basics of the yin & yang, we started first with a
little bit of rice to chew and chew and chew - so that we could all be on
the same energetic place - and it was wonderful. Even though I've seen her
video over and over on chewinghttp://www.hipchicksmacrobiotics.com/blog/converting-to-chew-daism/
I can never get enough of being reminded to do this. She spoke a lot about
how important it is for digestion and to change an acidic condition to be
more alkaline, simply by the miracle of the saliva we have been gifted with
- so next time you're not feeling so great 1) CHEW everything till liquid
(or chew as much as you can - she says she often chews at least 1/3 of her
meal) and 2) figure out what kind of energy you are needing to make you feel
better and cook your food accordingly.
Email #6:
One of my personal goals in life is to
be more focused - it's one of the reasons I keep practicing macrobiotics
because I truly believe the food can help with that.
And besides the food, I feel one can't try to juggle too many balls in the
air - with practice I guess one can become better at it.
Jessica spoke often about how the food increases one's intuition - so though
she's involved in her wonderful talking and even more wonderful dramatic
examples, she was still able to hone in that something smelled like it was
burning - fortunately it wasn't burning, just the wonderful scent of nuts
being roasted.
As I had assisted in the two classes yesterday, my focus was on the food in
the kitchen and what we needed to prepare for her. But I did make an amazing
observation, which in hindsight seems so obvious. I wondered why when I cook
at home it flows so much easier. Then I realized I was nervous as an
assistant, a bit worried I wouldn't do it all right. And her teachings from
the hypnosis class is so clear now - if you relax, much more can be
accomplished. That was the point btw about daydreaming when driving. I spoke
to someone who was a bit disturbed by that comment and I explained: if you
are daydreaming, it means you are relaxed. And Jessica couldn't stress
enough how important in life to overcome challenges, to accomplish, to enjoy
being relaxed does. But if you for example have just experienced a near
accident, or a fight, or anything else tension producing, you are probably
driving with your heart beating fast, hands tight on the steering wheel,
mind not open to whatever may happen quickly on the road because of the
tenseness. Jessica explained how in so many births she has helped with, how
once tension is gone and the person is relaxed, things can flow easier. I
hope I explained it clearly, not sure I did as good a job as she did.
So because I was a bit tense (horrible horrible traffic making me an hour
late can definitely do that!!!!) I couldn't take in all that she said during
the class. But with the bits and pieces I realized she was again
demonstrating how the yin and yang principles work very clearly in the
male/female relationships in the first class, and I think in the way the
body is structured in relationship to the environment in the second class -
but there I heard even less.
But what I did get from the classes is still worthy of sharing - the lessons
Jessica gave over I would love if anyone else can share.
1) A huge appreciation for what goes on in the background of these classes.
From the menu planning, to the food lists, to getting all the food, to the
equipment lists, to all the packing, repacking, unpacking and carrying in a
crowded car, to the coordination of all the people involved, to driving
places not familiar, to being on time!!!!!, and on top of all that, to being
so cordial and laid back with all the guests. Huge Kudos to Sheldon & Ginat
for all the background work (and that's not even including all the work I
don't know about leading up to the classes), huge appreciations to all the
hosts who open their homes, their kitchens, their wonderful bathrooms
(Oran!!), who move furniture around before and after and clean up before and
after and of course, who take phone calls and help spread the word with all
their friends and clients, the biggest hug and love to Jessica for spreading
her love of this beautiful way of life, to being dedicated enough to go so
far from home so we can enjoy it, to having a background in acting so we can
laugh along with her as she says and does the most amazing things, to having
stuck with it for 20 years and seen the difference it made in her life, so
we can be encouraged to get better with our own practice and stick with it.
Appreciation sent out to those brilliant teachers who taught and influenced
Jessica, appreciation to the food that can make such an impact on our lives
and most of all, Baruch Hashem (Jessica learned this!!), thanks to G-d who
created this wonderful food, who put wonderful people in our lives to learn
from, who gave us free will to choose LIFE, and now it's up to us to keep
practicing and sharing with those willing to hear (not everyone is ready to
hear :<( )
2. Cooking with another person is like being married for a short while. Who
is more yin or yang, who likes to control and take lead and who listens, who
likes their vegetables cleaned this way, who follows a recipe that way, who
knows how to communicate so we're on the same wavelength!!! Bracha, it was
an honor to be assisting together with you and be married to you for a short
while :>)
3. It was just four recipes and still I got confused!!! I realize there's
only so much learned in the cooking classes - alot gets learned in the hands
on - I was so grateful to have people working together - so many things,
questions came up and it was SO WONDERFUL to have quick help, people
responding. When we cook alone in the kitchen it's a different experience
all together. It flowed so well
and I'm still thinking how can I bring that which I did as an assistant to
my own kitchen when I am working alone!!
Email #7:
Jessica has two lines that has entered my soul - the first,
as the subject says, "does this make sense?" and the second when asked a
question, she'll say "I'll give you the macrobiotic dogma version, then I'll tell you
my experience."
Those two sentences are deeply connected and the true foundation of
macrobiotics. And
also connected to another title I wrote: the recipe is important, the recipe
is not important.
She told us yesterday, the most important part of her classes is for us to
understand how the food effects us. So she does a marvelous job of
explaining yin and yang and all the examples (I wouldn't even dare to try to
recap that but it's in most of the macrobiotic books and in lots of other places.
Here's just one: http://macrobiotics.co.uk/yin.htm)
And how the point of it all is to rise high enough so we can connect to the
Creator - and isn't that also what Judaism teaches?? only without the
marvelous tools of what foods to prepare and eat.
But "does it make sense" speaks to our intellect, while what she is trying
to convey is that this practice hits our guts!!!! but we can't do it with
just listening to the classes and nodding our heads in agreement and
laughing at all the wonderful insights she's shared. We can ONLY do it by
practicing - and practicing - and practicing. So no, I'm afraid dear Jessica
it doesn't make sense - until we've been there, done it, and keep doing
it!!!!
And that's what she hopes she's inspiring all to do - but caveat everyone,
it doesn't come easy, it doesn't come fast. Believe me. And that's why I
keep going to the classes. The last question I asked her was about
overeating, as she had overcome a serious eating disorder - as she
explained, food was everything, the center of her life, even as she's
finishing one meal, she's thinking of what she'll have for her next meal.
Wow, doesn't that sound familiar??!!! But now she concentrates on the effect
the food has, on where she wants to get to in her life - but that took many
years of cooking and eating the foods which would create that condition of
health for her to go beyond thinking about food.
I'm not there.
I was inspired by her words.
But then I fell for the food!!!! I loved all that Gil created for us http://www.abagil.com/organic/?page_id=65
- you fortunate people in Tel Aviv!! But sadly Jessica's words went out the
window - I went back for seconds!!!!!!!! Not something I needed to do - I
wasn't hungry, I wasn't eating because my body needed more food. I was
eating because I loved how it tasted.
So, does it make sense??? only when I (or you) start really applying it all,
practicing at whatever level we're at and practicing, and practicing and
practicing.
And then after all that practicing we can get to the second part, the part
of KNOWING from experience, the part of NON-CREDO, not just listening to
others from our brains, but listening to ourselves from our own experience.
But yes I did take copious notes from her Cooking for Romance class. Before
discussing the topic, I do want to say again how wonderful it is to work
with others in the kitchen. I have a set of plates that have written on the
edge: "back in the kitchen I had a ready supply of willing hands it was the
easiest lunch..." so it was wonderful to work together with Jessica, Ginat
and Navah because it went easily and I was fortunate this time to be able to
sit in the audience and hear of a topic close to my heart.
Again, the magic spectacles of yin and yang were presented, this time
focusing on the male/female attributes - how silly of us to think we can
change the basics - the way our bodies perform, the way they are built,
won't change. BUT, balancing it with foods, with behavior, with
understanding can have an effect.
So knowing how important focus is, I will try harder not to interrupt when
my husband speaks or start a conversation when he is busy doing something.
Knowing he wants the bottom line, I will try harder to think what it is I
want to say before I speak to him (something he's been telling me for
years!!!!)
BUT
that doesn't mean I want my energies to be more masculine, more yang. No,
when I went to me-pat-pet מפטפט (Jessica's newest addition to her Hebrew
vocabulary), a very feminine, yin thing to do, I will call a female friend.
Now my head is not in a yang mode - as I've mentioned before, making order
out of my notes & passing on all the info we learned reminds me too much of
school - and that was a challenge for me.
female energy - space inside that allows others to be/grow
like fertilizer for the human soul
extreme foods - not in touch with our best self
no one is all yin or all yang - everyone different combinations
but generally, when male too extreme/yang energy
from lots of saturated fats in the diet
men's bodies - shielded (from days of hunting)
hard
lose sensitivity
only chakra that they relate to is the hara (sexual)
when women too extreme/yin
endless talking
hysteria
never gets to the point
no center - sucks energy out of other people
neediness, emptyness - just pulls and pulls
frigidity - too much cooling foods/energy
Need charged mineralized blood - to concentrate - all it takes is a thought
and everything changes (like passion in sex)
depressed, dependent
hard core - from eggs, cheese leads to anger
yin self - centeredness, leads to arrogance
women sensitive on almost any area of the body
if tight, governed by liver energy
the male and female energies can be reversed
when men too yin (from processed foods, ice cream),
men governed by kidney energy - needs heat!!! if dampened, loses sexuality -
need heat for sexual passon
I didn't write down about the physical process of sex tho she spoke about
that alot - but what I did write down was her joking: I can see someone
saying oh, we learned about penis clamps :>)
men who are too yin, very sensitive
more feelings
but if sex doesn't work, goes into feedback loop, gets too tense
women too yang - dominates, gets right to the point, stubborn
something has to be happening;
too much emphasis on orgasm
Good quality female energy:
Receptivity - empty vessel
relaxed
heart chakra opened
women sets tone energetically (I think that was because she does the cooking
but I didn't write it down), supports her husband (again, food??)
ooof, now can't read my writing - wrote "not why, ??? stop"
Anyone else take notes???? know what I meant??
Yang craves yin!!!! she mentioned a book called Power of Nothingness
women all the space let go!!
Aduki - good for the kidneys, good for men
well, if my notes were helpful, good. If it can create a discussion here,
even better!!! And if anyone else would like to add, please do.
Email #8:
At the Cooking for Romance class last Tuesday, we had special
guests - a camera man and an interviewer from the IBA broadcasting.
Unfortunately they were a bit vague when the program would appear on TV -
they said perhaps Saturday night.
Email #9:
Saturday night's advanced class was on the Seven Levels of
Judgment - I've learned about that several times but still couldn't remember
quite the order. During the class she asked if anyone knew 1st level, 2nd
level, etc - IT WAS THERE ON THE HANDOUTS!!!!!!
Sometimes it's all there right in front of us and we can't see it!!!! Wow,
what a lesson!!!
Email #10:
How is it, 12 of us (sometimes 13 or 14
when the owners of the home would tell us where things were, or how the
stove worked) could manage to flow so easily as we embarked upon cooking an
enticing gourmet dinner - under Jessica's lovely calm watchful eyes? Nothing
burnt, nothing exploded, no fireworks
well, take that back, but will get to that later
This was our treat to the organizer's - to cook and eat together. Under
Jessica's guidance.
At first Jessica had the idea that we would all brainstorm together to
create a menu - but she said after being in Israel for a week, she decided
that might take too long and we'd never get around to eating :>) So she
created the menu. At one of the classes she'd said about the gift of sharing
recipes - "I have benefitted so much from other people's recipes, so if
others benefit from mine, G-d bless them." So I asked if it's ok to share
her recipes and her answer was affirmative - so am sharing with all of you
our very special dinner recipes. (if you are on digest or reading from the
site, you may not see an attachment - in that case, write me and I'll send
it to you)
So what did I learn?
One, that there isn't enough work to share amongst 11 people (the 12th was
Jessica flitting (such a word??) softly from one dish to another. The pace
was calm.
Two, it's possible to cook in a kitchen that's not one's own - possible to
chop when the area is higher than one's used to
Three - differences in our ways
I'm quite into ecology - always have a bowl in the sink when washing
veggies, and use that water in my plants. Always save all peels to go into
my compost or wormbox. I was shocked when somebody washed vegetables with
filtered water, as I understand filtered water uses much more water - for
every one cup of filtered water, two cups go down the drain - perhaps others
don't know this.
Then there was the coconut caper!!!! One of the recipes (carrot soup) called
for coconut milk (something I never use, considered coconut too tropical).
Only one can was bought. We needed more as we were increasing the recipe
amounts. Naturally the only place open at that hour was just a regular
supermarket, and naturally, the coconut milk they had was not natural, in
that it had some E's and other stuff - so ensued a discussion to use or not
to use. Truthfully, I don't believe any of us are perfect - and again the
principle food we eat every day is what matters the most. But after being so
conscious of trying to eat the best food, this shocked the system of some of
the people. I think in the end it wasn't used - but I realized, for me on a
personal level, it didn't matter that much. Btw, I also make a very similar
soup, and sometimes use either soy or rice milk. One of the arguments used
was is there any of us who haven't gone out to a restaurant - G-d only knows
what goes on in the restaurant's kitchen!!!! (which kind of reminds me why I
don't really like going out to eat)
Four - a lot of the recipes were already familiar ones to me - ones I make
often, like the soup, or the mocha mousse - part of me felt proud, guess I
really am a good cook. Part of me felt disappointed - wanted all new
recipes. But the recipe I made, the hiziki & arugula is a keeper - came out
lovely and I realize how much I need to put more sea vegetables into my diet
- well, Jessica made me realize.
Five - Non Credo - I was shocked that Jessica included white rice in our
menu - I eat white rice ONLY if there's nothing else to eat - but she
explained as this was a social evening, having a wider meal is conducive to
more socializing, gabbing, laughing, etc.
I didn't see that at all - it was a lovely calm peaceful quiet very much
enjoyable meal -
and Six - this wasn't reality - someone else came in to clean up all our
mess -
Thank you Jessica for our special meal together. Thank you Jessica for
stepping out of your book and coming into our real lives.
That was last Thursday night, 16th December.
Email #11:
We're talking about sugar, folks!!!! You get so used to
something, you don't realize at all how pernicious it really can be. But if
you were listening to Jessica this morning, your mouth would drop at the
realization of how drugged up this society is.
And the ONLY way to get off a drug is to completely abstain from it!!!
Completely. You get just a little and you only want more, that's how a drug
works. Here's more to help you: http://www.vernevarona.com/pdf/eliminate-sugar-cravings.pdf
and this might make it more dramatic for you http://macrobiotics.co.uk/sugar.htm
When Jessica presented the yin/yang continuum, sugar was way off the
charts!!! so by substituting a sweet that's closer to the middle, fruit,
fruit juice, sweet vegetables, more healthy sweet options such as rice
syrup, maple syrup you can slowly wean yourself off - but not one morsel of
the drug is to enter your body!!!!
This morning's class was a full house, and when asked who knew nothing about
macrobiotics, most all the hands went up. Jessica did an amazing job of totally
painting the yin/yang picture - explaining first how there is One - and then
there is duality from the One. I don't think she spoke about how trying to
reconnect to the One is spirituality - but that is a topic that is often
also included when discussing yin/yang. Then she did a thorough job of
covering yin/yang energies, as earth's and heaven's forces, as the seasons,
as body parts and last but certainly not least as the different foods we
eat.
She was very very thorough - yet at the end she simplified it for those not
quite ready - just turn all whites into brown (whole grains) and ditch the
sugar - that's all!!! Oh yes, big nix on all things dairy - that too shocked
the women - but to me it's so obvious - we are the only species to drink the
milk that was meant for a different animal's baby - and the only species
that drink it beyond baby-hood. Very animatedly Jessica let everyone in on
the not so secret secret - it's money!!!!! the huge money that the dairy
industry gets by pushing the dairy - so they can continue to feed us the
lies - which for years has worked - and for the most part still seems to -
and in turn, creates so many of today's modern diseases.
There were loads of questions, loads of topics covered - and Jessica
did a terrific job covering them all with good down to earth common sense.
I wish I could take a survey of how all those new to these ideas do with the
info - will they just let it sit like a seed and wait for some future time
for it to sprout, will they take to heart her simple but important strategy
for the first steps to better health, or will some of them who are already
familiar with brown rice maybe even take it further and do much more grains
and vegetables, beans and sea vegetables. Will they now go to the health
food store and buy all those new products which were so strange to them?
On Saturday night we had a class for those already counseling and teaching
others. One of them asked a very important question - what to do when a
student comes the first time all excited, but by the second class has
already lost the enthusiasm.
The path to change is different for everyone - but for many it is slow and
arduous. It is not easy to change habits, especially habits practiced over
many years. But eating - and chewing well - this food helps us get there.
I may or may not get back to more info on the advanced class - here's one link that shows up when you google the seven levels of
judgment: http://www.willmountain.com/v/Clinic/6.pdf - go to the 2nd page.
There are other links as well.
One last very important thought - Jessica gave me the gift that was beyond
all the classes. We were talking about consultations and I mentioned how if
we change, how do we know what to keep or not from the consultationss, and then do
we need to go back for another consultation to see what changes we need to
make - and she quoted to me from Ohsawa - that if we are healthy, one
consultation in one's lifetime is enough. If one is healthy, one can be free
from fear and just play, enjoy one's life, not worry whether to eat this or
that. That sort of takes us back to our first class where she defined health
according to Ohsawa, the grandfather of macrobiotics - here in a nutshell:
http://macrobioticmama.blogspot.com/2009/10/true-health-according-to-philosopher.html
But I would make it much simpler - I don't need to reach perfection to
consider myself healthy, I know not suffering pain is not completely
healthy, but it is an excellent start - I do feel energy, I do enjoy all
foods. I am not perfect (there is a curse, I think from the Chinese, may all
your dreams come true - after all if you have no dreams, what do you have to
look forward to?) and glad to keep on this mb adventure to see how I can
change.
Would love to hear from others who were at any of the classes what you
gleaned from them - and of course, always to hear from all your responses.
Email #12:
Last night was Jessica's last cooking class and tonight she
leaves Israel. For all those who want to follow her adventures, stay in
touch with her, learn more from her, you can do it all on her site http://www.hipchicksmacrobiotics.com/author.html
Don't be angry with me Jessica, but honestly you guys can get the specifics
of yin & yang, the Seven Levels of Judgment, The Five Transformations of
Energy in books and on the computer - just google any of them and plenty of
links show up. Here's a lovely simplified version of the information she
shared with us last night:
http://macrobiotics.co.uk/five.htm (btw, The Macrobiotic Guide is one of my
absolutely favorites in having lots of good articles as well as many
different points of views expressed)
Now that's much easier than me trying to make heads or tails of my notes -
this info is usually presented as a circle - if you have Christina Pirello's
Cook Your Way to the Life You Want, you'll see it from p. 14 - 51 (I think I
already mentioned that somewhere??) - you'll see what each season
represents, as far as energy (upward, downward, spreading, collecting),
internal organs, emotions, food, taste, color, very detailed - and needed to
be read lots and lots of times.
Jessica said how this was the most important lessons she'd learned - and she
didn't expect us to get it after one time. Actually, what's so nice about
macrobiotics
is as you eat better (and she too has said this many times, the grains will
help bring you to the understanding), all the philosophies will make more
and more sense. Kind of like Judaism - learning without practice doesn't
wash, and practice without understanding isn't as deep - as Jessica mentions
in her book, it isn't really crucial how you go about getting all this,
experiencing the food first, or hearing the philosophy - but in the end, it
needs to all come together to make it the full .... looking through her book
now so I can find how she put it and what I really want is to quote every
single word!!!! For those who were lucky enough to get her book, just
re-read it and take it all in.
For those who don't (yet) have it, and you live in Jerusalem and you're VERY
GOOD at returning books, I"ll share mine with you.
The thing that makes the difference - well a couple things - is we learn
with all our senses - and reading is only through your eyes (unless you read
out loud - don't laugh - it's a good idea!!! then you have your sense of
hearing also) but having gone to Jessica's classes I got to learn thru her
making it more real, her sincerity in passing it on to us, the drama, both
the humor and the serious parts, and of course, tasting the delicious food.
I've often asked how do we change? Each person has to find their own way.
It's an up and down road - and it means so much when we have fellow
travelers who can help us along the road - not do it for us, no one can -
but be examples, hold our hands, share their stories and give big hugs - I
feel privileged to have shared some of the road with you, Jessica, to enjoy
my hugs with you - and look forward to "stopping by when I'm in your area" -
have a safe trip home. Go in Peace