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Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Felinity & Felicity

                                          Herd of cats?
                         -- "Sure, I've heard of cats! Hasn't everyone?"


     Breakfast time for my gaggle of kitties, above. ~ In the past twenty years, we have had somewhere between 50-75 cats on our property. Many have come and gone; all have been outdoor dwellers. Some tame and some wild. A few of the tame kittens we allowed in the house on occasion to play and receive treats. We gave them names, such as Midianite, Woolybear, Yoda, Ashta and Zana. My favorite was one that showed up on our back deck one night. It was gray and white, skinny, with matted fur and a gash under its chin. We fed it and gave it attention and it got healthier and thrived. I wanted to call it Felix, but my daughter Adrienne, a Star Wars fan, wanted to call it Han. We went back and forth: "Han!" "Felix!" "Han!" "Felix!" Then one day Han/Felix had kittens and became Hannah. She stayed with us for a number of years, had multiple litters, and became the grande dame of the place, riding herd on all the other cats. We lost her a few years ago and have missed her much.

     Having outdoor cats has been very beneficial for us. We hardly ever see a mouse, and when we do, it's usually a dead one. We've enjoyed watching our cats go springing into the air after grasshoppers, or play soccer with a ping pong ball. One late spring day we were entertained by kittens using the slanted metal door of the storm cellar as a slide. When they reached the bottom, they'd scramble back to the top and go sliding down again. Wish I'd made a video; it really made us laugh.

     Speaking of laughter (and happiness), here's a verse:

                          אַֽשְׁרֵי הָעָם שֶׁיֲהוָה אֱלֹהָֽיו
               ashrei ha'am she'Yahweh elohav
          ...happy is the people whose God is the LORD.
                                            ~Psalm 144:15


     The word ashrei comes from the root ashar, which means "happy". It's where the biblical name Asher comes from. Am  is "people" (ha'am, "the people"), YHVH (Yahweh) is what is translated as "the LORD", and Elohav means "their God".

     Ashrei is also the first word of the book of Psalms (ashrei ha'ish, "happy [blessed] is the man...", Ps. 1:1) 

      Another form of the word appears in Proverbs 31:28, kamu baneyha vay'ashruha, "her children arise and call her happy (blessed)" - speaking of the woman of virtue.

Happy, blessed, is the people whose God is he LORD.
Happy, blessed, is the man who[se]...delight is in the law of YHVH (the LORD).
Happy, blessed, is the woman of valor, whose children and husband proclaim her to be.


Our Messiah Yeshua/Jesus also made some proclamations about who is happy and blessed. Check out Matthew 5:3-12.


Have a happy day!

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