Bibi vs. Obama

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Refuah sheleima

Please daven and say Tehillim for refuah sheleima of Velya bas Gold Rivka and Chaya bas Golda Rivka.

Thanks.

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Read here about implementing the Read more function. Useful for bloggers like me, who write long posts.

Torah’s view on the ideal government: a discussion

Music Video Code by Torah Cafe

The discussion on Moshiach is OK, but I was not too impressed by the content of the conversation at the beginning.

Interesting little question about the Rebbe asking Rav Moishe for halachic opinions and the possibility of Rebbe making mistakes.

Form is very nice, though. The menchlachkeit of the conversation is especially refreshing. Nobody’s banging the table, screaming out “vos hakstu chainik?!”, or getting personal. Not to mention that nobody got sprayed with mashkeh.

A month of happiness

From an e-mail by Rabbi Yehoishophot Oliver containing the Rebbe’s hora’os for the month of Kislev.

The following are some of the auspicious dates that occur in the month of Kislev:

1st of Kislev: The Rebbe returned home in 5738 (1978), having recovered from a heart attack.
2nd of Kislev: The books were returned to the Lubavitch Library following a lengthy court case in 5748 (1987).
3rd of Kislev: Marriage of the third Lubavitcher Rebbe, known as the Tzemach Tzedek, in 5564 (1803).
6th of Kislev: The Rebbe’s engagement in 5689 (1928).
9th of Kislev: Birth and yahrtzait of the second Lubavitcher Rebbe, known as the Mitteler Rebbe; he was born on the 9th of Kislev, 5534 (1773), and passed away on the same date in 5588 (1827).
10th of Kislev: Release of the Mitteler Rebbe from Czarist imprisonment in 5587 (1826).
11th of Kislev: The Rebbe was called to the Torah in preparation for his marriage in 5689 (1928).
14th of Kislev: Marriage of the Rebbe in 5689 (1928).
18th of Kislev: Completion of the annual study of Tanya.
19th of Kislev: Yahrtzait of the Magid of Mezritch in 5533 (1772).
19th-20th of Kislev: Release of the Alter Rebbe from Czarist imprisonment in 5559 (1798); this date marks the “Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus.”
20th of Kislev: The Tanya was first printed in 5557 (1796).
26th of Kislev: The Alter Rebbe received the first edition of Tanya in 5557 (1796). Bris of the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, known as the Rebbe Rashab, in 5621 (1860).
27th of Kislev: Release of the Alter Rebbe from his second imprisonment, in 5561 (1800); this coincided with the third day of Chanukah. Although he was freed, he was required to reside within the city of Petersburg.
29th of Kislev: Release of the Alter Rebbe from his second imprisonment — according to alternative accounts. The Rebbe suggested that significant developments in his release occurred on both the 27th and the 29th of Kislev.

I personally welcome this month, because, with all due respect, this Cheshvan was supposed to be very happy for me, but turned out to be one of the unhappiest months in my life (in a revealed way only — and even then, not in all areas, since there were some things which went very well, boruch Hashem… and of course, b’pnimiyus, everything was a blessing from Eibeshter).

In retrospect, actually, it makes a lot of sense. Which brings me to my main question: why so much simcha in Kislev? Why less simcha in some other months? How did it happen that we have holidays in particular days and not others? Coincidence? Random historical occurence? The following is an exerpt from a post I wrote last year, around Chanukah time.

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Some shiurim for Rosh Choidesh Kislev

Farbrengens:

Rosh Chodesh Kislev 2007 : Part I
Rosh Chodesh Kislev 2007 : Part II

Shiurim:

Why is Rosh Chodesh Connected to Women?
A Chassidishe Month — Kislev!

A recap of an old post of mine and some thoughts on Gemara to follow later tonight. Right now I am busy with the shidduch business. (For mice... :) Some breeding to set up.)

Evidence for Judaism. Links from Rabbi Gottlieb

What University education really gives
you is the knowledge how to use sources.
— Andrzej Sapkowski

A friend of mine asked me to send some evidence for Judaism. I usually recommend Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb's stuff for the start. Here's my response, which includes other links for Rabbi Gottlieb that I found useful in the past.

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Age

Sometimes someone who is twice older than you does something, and you’re sitting there, planning what to write in response, what to say, how to explain your position, blah-blah-blah.

And then your sense of humor kicks in (usually when it’s really late… coffee also helps). And you want to write only: “How old are you? Which perek of Tehillim do your read every day? Are you fourty five? Fifty five? Fifteen?”

And then you sit back, and ask yourself: “If he does this, what can you expect from … ? From yourself? From … ?”

And suddenly it is so easy to be non-judgmental. And forgiving.

Too good

Same place. Too tired to translate. Cats.

Вопроса, в кого у нас такие дети, у меня не возникает.

На только что прошедший Пурим Муся наряжалась кошкой. Надо сказать, наряд кошки - гораздо более экономная вещь, нежели наряд принцессы, которым мы щеголяли в прошлом году (впрочем, это и логично - принцессам много чего надо, а у мудрых кошек всё своё). Ушки, хвост, манжеты, мой любимый меховой шарф (от сердца оторвала, но уж больно к костюму подошел) и старательное рисование по ребёнку.

Мы даже провели тренировочное гримирование, за день до праздника - чтобы юная кошка могла оценить, нравится ли ей орнамент на лице, и если что - у нас было бы время его переделать. С утра надели костюм, разрисовали морду, напугали шипением и мяуканьем кота Васю и отправились в детский сад. По дороге к саду нас встречают Коллега с Котяней ("когда Джордж кончит жизнь на виселице, худшим упаковщиком в мире останется Гаррис" - только они приходят в садик еще позже нас).

Девушки парой идут впереди, мы с Коллегой - за ними. Киваю на роскошный мех, обвивающий Мусины плечи:
- Узнаёшь?
Непроснувшаяся Коллега, с сонным ужасом:
- Вася?!?

The dichotomy of chessed and snagkeit

I was reading recently a book (unfortunately I forgot the title), in which the author talked about the idea of chessed. He was giving examples of chessed and explaining why it was important for Eliezer to make sure Rivka would offer him to drink (in parshas Chayei Sara), etc., etc.

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Interesting blog

Bringing Advil to one Jew may result in another Jew (who is also interested in Kabbala) reading your blog. That’s what happens.

Anyway, I already like a man who puts most of a posts in footnotes.

A little fan fiction

A very nice story about crossing of the Yam Suf, unfortunately in Russian only. I am considering translating it.

From the same blog:

I come home rather late, and Musya misses me. That is why at home I am in a mode of a kengaroo: whatever I do, she is hanging on me.

— Musya, — I tell her, — wouldn’t it be good if you had eight moms?
— Eight moms? — she says, excited. — What for?
— Well, you know, — I explain. — Out of eight at least one would always be home. And you wouldn’t be bored.
— No, — eagerly protests Musya. — I don’t want eight moms. Because even if one were always home, I would still miss the remaining seven all the time.


Anyway, she has an interesting value system, which I am in no hurry to correct. For example, I am explaining to her the meaning of the [Russian] saying: “not all is gold that shines”.

— You see, — I say, — there are things that look very valuable; they “shine”, literally or figuratively. And in reality, they are not golden; meaning, not of real value.
— I see, — she says. Thinks somewhat and adds: — I know such a thing.
— Mmm?
— A gem! It is shiny, right? And looks terribly beautiful. But there isn’t much to do with this beauty. You know, you can insert it into a ring, put it on yourself... and that’s it.

And really. That’s it.

Good stuff.

Seeing beyond the broken pieces

An amazing article by a friend of mine, a former fellow attendee of a local Chabad House, now studying at Mayanot in Eretz Yisroel. Very good stuff. An excerpt:

I had made up my mind. I grabbed the discarded pieces out of the garbage can, and I began to reconstruct my new puzzle, gluing piece by piece. By the end of the class, I had a new masterpiece. A well-loved, painfully delicate, perfectly imperfect masterpiece. It wasn't a mistake anymore. It was art. It was whole.

Most of us tend to miss the forest for the trees. What we observe, we see as isolated and disconnected. Instead of hearing a song in the noise around us, we hear a series of clangs and screams and vibrations. Instead of seeing a dance, we see a kick, a turn of the head, and a raised arm. The thing is, a kick is just a kick, and a clang is just a clang. A hand doesn't do much good if there's no arm to extend it, and the arm is useless if there are no legs to walk it. Nothing in this world can function on its own. Alone, every single thing in existence is nothing. And yet, if any one morsel of this universe were missing, our world, too, would be nothing.

Everything, be it a ceramic shard, a bang on a drum, the palm of a hand, or a human being, is one part of a whole. Sometimes, it takes first being broken to realize what the whole entity is. For the hamsa plate to become complete, it had to first crack into pieces. It hurts when you scrape your knee; suddenly, you're missing a part of it. The heart aches and yearns for years before you find the other half of your soul it previously thought to be its own entity.

Read on.



(source)

Kinos ha’shluchim

Watch live here.

(starts at 6 pm)

Cuano el rey Nimrod

Some more good stuff from Bahaltener Pinkos. Two versions of Cuano el rey Nimrod, a song about Nimrod and, lehavdil, Avraham Avinu, in Ladino:

קואנדו אל ריי נמרוד (Cuando el rey Nimrod) (by Abraham Ferera)
One more version קואנדו אל ריי נמרוד (by Yehoram Gaon)

To see full lyrics in Ladino, with English translation, visit the original post.

Although I’ve obviously heard of Ladino before, I never heard it spoken and sung. It has what I like in languages: the hardness resembling that of Spanish or Russian with some softness in between. Like a crunchy eclair with gooey filling.

Polite indifference

I overheard a conversation on Shabbos (about philosophy of language), in which someone was saying: “When I am walking on campus, and I see someone I know, I say: ‘Hi, how are you?’ If this is a foreign person, he may start actually telling me how he is, because he doesn’t know that in American culture, saying ‘Hi, how are you?’ is just saying ‘Hello’, and answering ‘Fine’ is saying ‘Hello’ back”.

Of course, I’ve known this for all ten-eleven years I’ve been in this country, and it even makes some sense. But as I was listening to the conversation, I caught myself thinking that I would never get used to this feature of American culture — polite indifference.

(This has nothing to do with forms of greeting, by the way.)

Jewish life in Poland

(am I the only one to whom this Galicianer Yid looks like a Jewish version of, lehavdil, Viggo Montersen?)

To see many beautiful photographs of Polish Jews, visit a photo collage by Bahaltener Pinkos.

By the way, although the official version is that my family came to Ukraine from Poland (settling in Shpola), my grandmother and her sisters speak in Galicianer accent of Yiddish (and so did my great-grandmother). My grandmother is very annoyed at my Lithuanian Yiddish, which I picked up from Lubavitchers (mixed with the influence of German I took in college).


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Dorks...

Going back to this post...



I hate attempts to popularize science. I mean, some of them are quite good, but most are uber-lame.

Gutt voch

Dedicated to old people, musicians, and couples of all ages. People say love fades with time. Not always... (This couple has been together for 62 years, and this year, the man will be 90 years old.)

Here is to moving on:



Here’s to getting where you’re headed:

You should’ve sighed before you sinned

A story I heard from my rabbi, who may have heard it from Rabbi Altie Bukiet, the shliach of Lexington, MA (not sure).

When Frierdiker Rebbe and his chassidim were in Warsaw, there was a rich Jew, who wanted to provide them with hospitality and therefore built a big sukkah for them. One night they were sitting in it, farbrenging, when the Jew walked in, looked at them and sighed. Frierdiker Rebbe lifted up his head, looked at him and said: “You should have sighed before you sinned.” The Jew, shocked, asked: “What?” and walked out.

It turns out that earlier that evening, he had visited a theater (of sorts), and when he came back, he saw the contrast between the Rebbe sitting together with his chassidim, talking about Hashem, and the place where he had just been. So, he sighed. To which the Rebbe replied: “You should have sighed before you sinned.”

This story is of a similar character to the saying attributed to Rebbe Maharash, Frierdiker Rebbe’s grandfather (whom F"R is said to have resembled physically): Lehatchilo ariber (“higher a priori”). Some people, when something negative happens in their lives, or when they themselves do something wrong, make a decision to live on a higher level, to repent, to improve. Or, when they see an obstacle in their lives, they decide they have to elevate themselves, improve their character or way of life to climb over it.

While this is a proper thing to do b’dieved (post factum), Rebbe Maharash says you can do even better: live on a higher level to begin with. Don’t wait for something negative or troublesome to happen in your life to urge you to improve. Improve without it.