daf bit: Bava Batra 75

During the six days of creation God created Leviathan, the giant sea-monster. (Two of them, according to the rabbis, because everything was created male and female. This thread is then dropped.) Leviathan is such a foul creature that when it is hungry it emits a fiery breath that makes the waters boil, and the sea does not recover for 70 years. Rabbi Yochanan says that in the time to come God will make a banquet for the righteous from the flesh of Leviathan, and make tabernacles for the righteous from the skin of Leviathan, and what is left over He will spread upon the walls of Yerushalayim and its splendor will shine from one end of the world to the other. (75a)

(Today's daf is 76, but we're in the middle of a fairly technical discussion of purchases -- of ships, in case you're wondering how we got to Leviathan -- so I went back a bit.)

Shabbat

All three of our rabbis and our cantorial soloist are off at the URJ biennial conference this weekend. (It's in Toronto, which is pretty convenient as these things go, so lots of congregants are going too. I, though, am not so keen on 5000-person conventions, so I didn't go.) So I'll be leading services this Shabbat, and hoping for critical mass. :-)

Tomorrow night is our monthly "mostly musical shabbat", which is (as the name implies) more music than reading. (We have a band, even.) Our cantorial soloist arranged for a sub rather than giving the job to a congregant; I get to fill the "rabbi" role. I don't know the sub, but we met briefly tonight and agreed to show up early enough tomorrow to sort out cues and who does what for the ambiguous parts. I expect it'll all be fine, and it's a chance for me to be on the bimah in a meaningful way so I'm happy.

Shabbat morning I'll lead the informal minyan up to the torah service, when the person who signed up to read this week will take over. This was announced last Shabbat; on Sunday I got a call from a member of the minyan asking if she could play guitar on a couple of the songs. (My rabbi leads on guitar; when I lead I do it a-capella and count on the strength of my voice to carry things.) I said sure, and let's show up a little early to check things like pacing and keys. It should be an interesting experience in a safe environment.

FlashForward

I've been enjoying FlashForward, a new TV show this season. The premise: one day in October everyone in the world blacks out for two minutes and change. (Lots of people die during this time in accidents.) During the blackout people saw visions of the future -- the same specific date in April for everyone. Some of those futures were disturbing, leaving people with the question "what do I do now?". The show follows a core group of characters, including several FBI agents who are investigating the phenomenon because one of them had a vision of him doing so, raising questions of causality that I hope will be taken up as the show progresses.

Not everyone saw flashes, and the common belief is that those people didn't see their futures because they would be dead before that date in April. One of our POV characters is in this situation. Another saw something that "could not be true" -- he saw someone known to be dead. Another claims to have seen someone who didn't have a flash (so presumed to be dead).

I had my suspicions, and tonight's episode backs me up. ( spoilers )