History (and future) of computing

(Trillions from MAYAnMAYA on Vimeo.)

The essence of the video is: recently we had very few computers. Now we have a lot. In very near future, we will have so many that what we have right now will feel like a kindergarten child’s mid-afternoon fantasy.

So, how are we going to handle this? Trillion(s) of sources of information connected and communicating in a complex, chaotic way? Right now we have no tools to handle this and no idea how to get those tools. But we can ask for advice from Hashem. Or from Nature, whatever view you prefer.

Because if you look at our body, it has trillions of cells (each designed in a much more complicated way and handling much more information than a single computer) communicating with each other and doing so successfully to allow our bodies to live (in fact, so successfully that you go through your day not giving it much thought how much information exchange needs to happen in order for you to do your basic tasks for a minute — forget something as complicated as playing a violin, or giving a lecture, or… I don’t know… fencing).

I mean, we don’t think about it much, and we take it for granted, but that thing between our ears, the human brain, is the most complicated structure in the whole known Universe. And female human brain is probably the most complicated structure in both known and unknown Universe. Think about it… Next time you want to ride a motorcycle, think twice. If not out of respect to yourself, then at least out of respect to your Creator.

P.S. Although, there is something I am probably not getting. How will we have trillions of computers? Right now we have, what, seven, eight billion people on this planet? Let’s say, in the nearest future we will have 10 billion people. So, if we have a trillion computers, that’s 100,000 computers per person?

If so, kinda cool…

Why yes?

In parshas Vayeira (yes, I know, I am a week late), Avraham tells Sara (translation from Chabad.org):

Behold now I know that you are a woman of fair appearance.

And it will come to pass when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’, and they will slay me and let you live.

Please say [that] you are my sister, in order that it go well with me because of you, and that my soul may live because of you.

A Midrash asks: what does this mean that “now he knew” that Sara was a beautiful woman? He hadn’t known it before? It answers: when they were crossing Nile to go to Egypt, Sara dropped something (I think a scarf) in the water. Avraham bent down to pick it up and saw Sara’s reflection in the water. Then he realized that she was a beautiful woman. Before that, apparently, he had not looked at her to see if she was beautiful or not.

My rabbi asked the question: there are so many requirements and prohibitions in Torah, and a Jew has to keep them all. Let the man look at his wife. Why not?

And the answer is that Avraham did not live his life like everybody else. Before doing something in life, he didn’t ask “why not?”, he asked “why yes?” If he was able to achieve his purpose in any area (e.g., having a loving marriage) without something (e.g., focusing on physical attraction), he didn’t need this something in his life.

This lesson is directly applicable to us. OK, we are on a completely different level from Avraham, and in order to have normal marriage, we cannot be like him. In fact, Jews were already on a different level in Egypt, and that is why Jewish women’s mirrors (with which they beautified themselves) were accepted as a donation for building of the mishkan.

But in our lives in general, before doing something, we have to ask a question: why yes? Not desire to do something and do it, unless it is prohibited by Halacha (and if it is, find a loophole out of the prohibition, ask three, five, ten rabbis, until one gives you a heter), but do the opposite. Ask yourself: in what way does this connect me to Hashem? And if it doesn’t, why am I doing it?

This is the standard shpil, you can hear it from many Chabad rabbis, in many a Chabad House.

But there is something more. There is a difference between Avraham and us. He lived before Mattan Torah, and we live after. We live after the time when it became possible to make mundane holy.

Furthermore, we live after the revelation of Chassidus. After revelation of Chassidus in a form that can be internalized: through Chassidus Chabad. And learning Chassidus Chabad allows you to answer the question “why yes”. It allows you to find a way “how yes”. Not so that you can do already whatever you wanted to do and not feel guilty about it (even on the most Chassidish, most eidel level).

But so that you can bring G-dliness into one more aspect of this world’s reality. Make holy one more thing that was mundane.

An incredibly amazing shiur

Besides the fact that it talks about amazing topics (how does gilui, revelation, happen vis-á-vis soveiv and memaleh kol almin? where in Seider Hishtalshelus can you say that Soivev Kol Almin “starts”?), this shiur is full of something wonderful: Rabbi Paltiel going off the tangent many times to explain crucial concepts to annoying bochrim. Just absolutely incredible.

Minimum knowledge of Hebrew and general concepts in Chassidus Chabad preferable, but not too much required. Anything you don’t understand — ignore and keep listening. Trust me: even if you understand 10% of what’s said in a general sense, it’s worth it.

For me, the most interesting question is at the end. We say “Chochma starts here” (above Bina, in the world of Atzilus). What about “above” that level? Does above that level Hashem have no chochma? Is He, chv"sh, a non-intelligent Hashem? If not, and if He does have Chochma, in what sense does He?

Another interesting question is: we learn so much Chassidus, and in the end, we learn that we can know nothing about Hashem. A Jew who doesn’t learn Chassidus knows the same thing. Why learn Chassidus?

Then we learn all the Kabbala and learn about all the levels in the Infinite Light, Oir Ein Soif, Lux perpetia. And then we learn that all the real action is here, in this finite, dark, physical world, in doing a single mitzva, in learning Halacha, as it is revealed to us, as it talks about the physical concepts. So, a Jew who learned only Gemara all his life knew all that too — except he didn’t waste his time learning Chassidus; he relied on emunas tzaddikim. So, why learn Kabbala?

The last question is only briefly touched in the shiur, but it also helps to use one’s own head to think. Listen on.

USSR through the eyes of an American photographer

From 1950s and ’60s.

Here.

Click on most images to enlarge:

(Boris Pasternak, author of Dr. Zhivago — besides other works)

(going to a collective farm for some Obama-style community effort)

(in a Moscow shull)

(quick foto)

(skiing in a Petersburg suburb)

(buying books)

(soccer match)

(“Wazzup, comrade?”)

(Ukrainians. ’nuff said…)

(some peasant father–son bonding)

(at a hippodrome)

More here.

A hand

Doing your best

This Shabbos I heard an interesting dvar Torah from my rabbi.

In parshas Veyeira, Avraham did four things (amongst many others): he showed hospitality to strangers, he argued with G-d regarding destruction of the two cities, he kicked out his concubine and Sara's servant Hagar and her son Yishmoel, and finally, he participated in akeidas Yitzchok — an almost-sacrifice of his son.

This sequence of events is interesting in that it tests the main trait of Avraham's character — his kindness. Now, the first act, showing hospitality to guests, was not really much of a test. It was a natural thing for Avraham, who was a man of kindness (to the point that it says in one Midrash that during Avraham's lifetime Hashem's attribute of Chesed, kindness, complained that it's been replaced by Avraham). The second act was more difficult, since it involved arguing with G-d, but it was also quite a natural thing to do: Avraham had to argue in favor of people who were going to be destroyed, trying to find even one righteous person in their midst.

With the third act, however, we are already finding Avraham doing that which is not natural to him. And I am not only talking about arguing with his wife (it's not clear what took more guts: arguing with her or with G-d). Avraham had to send to possible death his son and the concubine who gave him birth. And sure, Sara's reasons were perfectly valid: she was looking at the bigger picture of transmitting her's and Avraham's message and purpose in life and creating a Jewish nation. When it became obvious that Hagar and her sone were not the right medium for it (and in fact would be counterproductive to this effort), Sara had to "let them go". Nevertheless, it took pursuasion from G-d for Avraham to do that which was completely against his essence: to apply gevurah, strictness.

The fourth act, however, was a paradigm shift in difficulty, and it was the one that made Avraham into a Jew. Avraham had to go against his character completely, against everything that felt right to him, for no obvious reason except G-d's word. One lesson in that was that G-d's word was enough. A Jew cannot determine himself what his service to G-d is going to look like; he has to listen to what G-d demands. The other lesson was that a Jew may have to go completely against his nature and change his nature in order to serve G-d. The third lesson, which was the essence of my rabbi's dvar Torah, is that sometimes you have to do something that feels wrong. If you know objectively, rationally, that it is right, but subjectively, intuitively, it feels wrong — well, you have to go with the truth. Truth is not sentimental. Especially when we are talking about eternal truth, about connection to Hashem. (And presumably, in a Jew's life, everything is, one way or another, about connection to Hashem.)

For myself, there is another lesson yet. Sometimes when dealing with those who are dear to us, with our friends, with our relatives, with our parents, with our loved ones, with G-d Himself, we tend to do what feels right to us. What we are accustomed to, in a way that makes sense to us. Sometimes, however, it is not the right thing to do. Sometimes (or maybe always), the right thing to do is to find out what makes sense to and what is right for the other person — and do it that way, even if makes no sense to you, even if it "feels" wrong, even if you would not want this done this way to you. Because, if you're doing something for the other person, you have to do it for that person, not for you.

So, don't say "this is the best I can do". Because what you're really saying is: "This is what I do; this is my modus operandi, and here is my best effort at it". You have to stop doing what "you do" and start doing what the other person needs. If you truly love and care about the person.

Of course, as our Sages say, the biggest distance is between a person's mind and heart, and sometimes one's neck is quite narrow. Sometimes it takes time between knowing what is right and starting to do it. But even knowing what is right is already a good start.

I think.

Romance

I can’t not post this. The fourth movement from Sviridov’s Blizzard (see last post for context). Starts with a grave introduction, but wait for it…



All Russia is in these sounds. Russian culture may be not shiny, but it has depth and sharp focus. I am not just talking about gashmius — mostly about ruchnius.

After all, where did Chabad movement start? :) Sure, it is rooted deeply in Yiddishkeit and its sources, but it used the sparks of a certain land.

P.S. The other advantage of Russian culture is that Russian language allows double negatives.

More troika

For those of you who found the musical accompaniment in the last post boring, here’s another piece, a much more exciting one. It is also called “Troika” and it is the first movement of Sviridov’s “Blizzard” based on the famous short story (a Wikipedia article with plot) by Alexander Pushkin. Besides the music, enjoy some troika- and winter-related images.



The famous waltz. Just listening to this brings images of St. Petersburg to my mind.



Sviridov is a very famous Soviet composer. His most famous piece was a theme for evening news. It is called “Vremya vperyod” (“Time forward”). Although the piece above is more gentle, it’s easy to recognize similar handwriting. The evening news theme starts around 1:00.

Troika

The word troika can mean different things in Russian language (see Wikipedia entry), but in this case it means a carriage with three horses. It can be small, like in the above picture, or bigger. For some reason, in Russian mentality, it’s a very romantic image, symbolizing life moving forward, a country (usually Russia) going through changes, or a person’s destiny.

Some balalaika music on the topic (at the beginning you can hear the bells which were usually attached to troikas):

Abusive rabbis

An interesting article: “What to Do with Abusive Rabbis: Halachic Considerations”. A quote (all comments except the first one are the author’s):

{Rambam,} Hil. Sanhedrin 2:7:

“[Choose] wise and understanding men, [known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you]” (Deut. 1:13) refers to those with wisdom; “known to the tribes” refers to those who are well regarded by others. How is it that they are well regarded? In that they are magnanimous, humble, and friendly, and their speech and dealings are pleasant.

When it also says, “[And you shall choose out of all the people] men of valor, [such as fear G-d, men of truth, hating unjust gain]” (Ex. 18:21), this refers to those who excel in [the observance of] the commandments, who set high personal standards [of behavior] and who control their evil inclinations, such that there is nothing about them that is objectionable, that they do not have bad reputations or unsavory histories.

Included in [the requirement of] “men of valor” are those who have the courage to save the oppressed from the hands of the oppressor, as it says, “And Moses arose and saved them” (Ex. 2:17). In addition, just as Moses was humble, so every judge must be humble; “G-d fearing,” as it implies; “hating unjust gain,” hastening after riches, even their own, and they do not run to amass wealth…; “men of truth” that they are personally motivated to pursue justice, love truth and hate violence, and flee from all kinds of immorality.

The main question of the article: is it possible to separate the content from the source? Should we listen to a smoking doctor? Should rabbis be held to higher standards than average (frum) people? What about frum people in general?

P.S. A riddle from Mottel with a nice video.

Some quotes

… from my favorite writer, Andrszei Sapkowski.

You never get a second chance to make the first impression.

There are presents one should not accept, without being able to repay with something equally valuable.

Betting people can be of two types: fools and scoundrels. The first one bets, but doesn’t know. The second knows, but bets.

If you decide to commit suicide, don’t involve other people. Just hang yourself quietly in the stables.

To love is not just to take, but also to sacrifice.

To be neutral doesn’t mean to be uncaring or lacking empathy. One doesn’t need to kill one’s emotions. It’s enough to kill hatred.

We know very little about love. It’s like a pear. Sweet and of a certain shape. But try to define the shape of a pear!

Don’t confuse the night sky with stars reflected in a puddle.

Life is different from banking in that it knows debts, which can be repaid only by making new debts.

You can’t pay for something priceless. There are those who say that everything has a price. They are mistaken. Some things don’t. It’s easy to recognize such a thing: once you lose it, you can’t get it back.

Every moment has eternity in it. And eternity is made up of such moments.

Love is like pain from kidney stones. Before you experience it, you have no idea what it’s like. And when others tell you, you don’t believe them.

Love laughs at rationality. That is why it’s so attractive.

Progress is like a swine herd. Pigs are good for agriculture. There is salted meat, bones, holodetz with horseradish. In other words, benefit. So, don’t turn up your nose and complain that there is shit everywhere.

We can cause hale, but we can’t stop death. Although, seemingly, the second should be easier than the first.

I don’t want to be sorry for doing nothing, for hesitation and doubts. If I am going to be sorry for something, let it be decisions and actions.

That the world will be renewed I believe. That it will become better — not so much.

The real king is one that has a queen. Who has a queen has a kingdom.

If you’re being hanged, ask for a glass of water. While they’re bringing it, who knows what will happen?

With time comes a point when you either need to do your business or abandon the restroom.

If Evil is trying to hurt you, hurt it first. Preferably when it expects it least.

You know what University education gives somebody? Knowledge how to use sources.

Everyone can predict future. A lot of people do it all the time. It’s not a big deal to predict future. A big deal is to do it accurately.

I’ve seen war. I’ve seen many marshalls, generals, officers, get’mans, knights, strategists. I’ve seen them standing over maps with red arrows and little pins. This, they explained, is war machine. It’s all about organization. Order. Without organization, no war can happen. This makes it even more ironic that the real war — and I’ve had a chance to witness several real wars — in terms of order and organization resembles a brothel on fire.

There are things you understand immediately, without words. Or never.

Ignorance does not excuse thoughtless acts. If there is something you don’t know, ask for advice.

Wisdom is ability to ignore stupid advice.

Do you know how to recognize historic times? When a lot of stuff happens very quickly.

All troubles of the world are from thinking. When people completely incapable of it try their hand at it.

The most hated people are snitches who do their job for little pay.

The question is not what we will be accused of, but what we will acknowledge.

People believe in stupidity that is repeated often enough.

We did something good, so we need to pay for it. Every foolishness needs to be paid for.

Everything can be accomplished. The only question is: how?

Source

Court singer

Some courts have court jesters (think Joe Biden). Some courts have court singers.



In case it’s not clear, the court singer is on the right. On the left is the court jest… I mean, the President of Russian Federation.

By the way, in Russia there used to be an expression: pridvornyj yevrey, a court Jew. In our times, it’s people like Richard Goldstone. Times have changed. Back in the day, lowlives like this fellow ratted out other Jews to KGB. In our times, they slander Israel to the United Nations. Choosing between KGB and UN, I’ll pick UN anytime. Don’t get me wrong, they are both pretty evil, but at least KGB accomplished what it set out to do and had some… chutzpa.

P.S. Can an immigrant from South Africa to the US (or a child of two such immigrants) call himself an African American?

Alle brider

And another klezmer song (previously featured).

French way

… of dealing with flu.



If you’re not entertained by the accent alone, just keep watching.

News from the frum world

(What is fish doing in what looks like a picture from a physics book, you ask? I honestly have no idea.)

A certain news portal (and a blog) reports regarding a recent development in the halachic view of Shabbos elevators (translation and comments mine):

For decades, religious denizens of Israel and the rest of the Jewish world [meaning, I guess, planet Earth minus Alabama] used special elevators on Shabbos that stopped by themselves on every floor. It was considered to be not a violation of Shabbos, because one did not have to press a button. Now, however, certain halachic authorities declared that last they heard, nobody canceled the force of gravitation [sic]; as a result, when a person enters an elevator, the load increases, and with it, required electrical energy to keep the elevator up — which is equivalent to work [it’s not clear if “work” here means work from physics point of view or a malacha].

I guess Chabad fanatics are not so stupid after all, huh?

Speaking of elevators, some grizzly stuff (warning: disturbing descriptions).