Shabbat Shalom

Shabbat shalom everyone, I am trying to have quiet, grateful, shabbat thoughts, me and my extra soul (as I am sure everyone knows, one gets a second soul on shabbat . . . ). So I will wait until after shabbat to bemoan the utter lack of stylish post-mastectomy bras anywhere in the universe. I will hold back my observation that most of these things look like they should be hanging in Nurse Ratchet's closet. I will restrain myself from asking that most obvious question of the lingerie industry: "Haven't you people ever heard of paisley?" No, none of this will I comment upon on this holy day of rest. I'm serious, I am signing off my email and I am going to go and read some midrash.

But before I go, since I have few original thoughts at this point, I wanted to quote this--it is from a book called "Seven Summits," and it is the account of Junko Tabei, the first woman to climb Mt. Everest. She organized an all-woman climbing team. This was in the early 1970's.

" . . . we asked around, "Wouldn't you like to join us in an ascent of Mount Everest?"

Most of the women exclaimed, "It's a wonderful idea to go to the Himalayas. I want to see Mount Everest once in my life!" Then they continued by saying, "I wish to go, however, I do not have the climbing skills, physical strength, or money." This was the most common response amoung the women I surveyed. Of course you need physical strength and climbing skills for Himalayan climbing, but there are other essential factors, including an extremely strong desire to keep going whatever happens and the mentality to find a way out when you get into the deepest kinds of trouble."