...which may explain the recent dearth of posts.
Beginning Tuesday my Ego suffered multiple deep tissue contusions from a savage beating administered by the twin thugs Apathy and Rejection. Then, on Thursday @ 3:30 PM EST, the already debilitated psyche member took a gunshot wound. Preliminary ballistic reports show a match with the firearm wielded by the being-excluded-from DovBears-5th anniversary-live interview hit-man.
The patient is thrashing about uncomfortably but has been upgraded from hypercritical to unstable. A full recovery is expected but, if past lack of interest is any indication, is not eagerly anticipated.
Qedusha Havdala...have you ignored YOURS today??? Hmmm???
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Havdala in Language and in Providence
Many a quill has been broken over the plural construct of.ז הָבָה, נֵרְדָה, וְנָבְלָה שָׁם, שְׂפָתָם--אֲשֶׁר לֹא יִשְׁמְעוּ, אִישׁ שְׂפַת רֵעֵהוּ.= “Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.'" Live and Learn. Here is something new. At least it was for me.
I had always known that Lashon Qodesh spoke to the core of Jewish Identity. Witness the liturgical stitch in the Shalosh Regalim Amidah and Kiddush אתה בחרתנו מכל העמים...ורוממתנו מכל הלשונות = "You chose us from among all nations and exalted us above all tongues”. Witness also the centrality of the renaissance of Ivrit as a living spoken language to the ambition of the Zionists to create a “new” Jew and the equally spirited polemics of the Satmar Rebbe et al to expose this ambition as a misguided, even nefarious, abuse of the Holy Tongue.
Thanks to the S’fas Emes (Mitzvah)and other Sifrei Khasidus I was also savvy to there being a connection between post-deluvian pre-Haflaga mankind and the fact that the Jewish People still retained their characteristic of unity and singularity AKA גוי אחד בארץ. But until this past Shabbos I was amharatzishly innocent of any dots connecting the oneness of the language and Direct Divine Providence absent any intermediaries. Here is my humble translation adaptation of the Abarvanel who connects these dots (first column 6 lines from the bottom beginning with והנראה לי באמיתת זה):
HaShem set up a hierarchy of providence whereby the fate of all this earthly creatures is transmitted by HaShem through a spiritual force most commonly referred to as an Angel. [This does not mean that the angel actually controls the fate of the creature. It merely connotes that HaShems control of and relationship with the creature is indirect and proceeds through a hierarchal chain-of-command]. This is best summed up by the Khazal ! אין לך עשב מלמטה שאין לו מזל ברקיע, מכה אותו ואומר גדל = "there isn't a single blade of grass that lacks an angel striking it on the head and commanding it 'GROW!'". Yet humans, by dint of their being created in the image of Elokim, ought to be led/supervised whether for good or bad, directly by G-d without intermediaries nor delegation of supervision. This, no doubt, obtained so long as mankind sought it's raison detere' . However as mankind lost it's way and strayed from the path of G-dliness, G-d reciprocally turned away from mankind such that direct involvement and supervision, sans intermediaries, ceased.
This is how we are to understand the verse כֹּל צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְנִדַּחְתָּ וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתָ לָהֶם, וַעֲבַדְתָּם--אֲשֶׁר חָלַק יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֹתָם, לְכֹל הָעַמִּים, תַּחַת כָּל-הַשָּׁמָיִם ="even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven." Obviously, this doesn't mean that He allotted them for the purpose of idolatrous worship (which is prohibited to non-Jewish Noahides as well) but that He allotted them for the purpose of providence and supervision.
Unfortunately, it became impossible for mankind to achieve the supernal success that had been it’s unique opportunity while under direct divine supervision. Absent this Divine Providence, men can only achieve something less, and only commensurate with the level of the Angelic supervisor under who's providence they fall.
Pre-haflaga mankind still benefited from direct Divine Providence and produced such greats infused with wise and brilliant G-d-Wisdom as Adam, Shem, Ever, Methuselah, Noah Lemekh and others. They all spoke Lashon HaQodesh that G-d had taught to Adam.
However when the generation of the Haflaga eschewed natural simplicity and sufficiency in favor of artificial human, technology and the pursuit of luxury this was deemed a turning away from and a rejection of direct Divine Providence. G-d decided to delegate providence to the 70 angels of His Bais Din , hence the plural in the verse הָבָה, נֵרְדָה.. IOW come "descend" with ME to supervise mankind, each of you will supervise the affairs of another family/nation and as I remove my direct Providence of them so too will I strip them of the Holy G-dly language so that they, no longer united in My Oneness and Simplicity, disintegrate into diverse languages related to and unique to the supervision of the particular angel now in charge of their supervision, JUST AS LASHON HAQODESH IS PARTICULAR TO MY DIRECT DIVINE SUPERVISION!
To this very day we Jews, the גוי אחד בארץ , bearers, students and speakers of the Holy Tongue (at least when conversing with G-d) still merit this Direct Divine Providence that, pre-Haflaga was the lot of all mankind. The "exalting of us above all tongues" is part and parcel of the choosing us from among all nations and maintaining the direct covenantal relationships with our nation alone.
It’s worth mentioning that Rav Tzadok says that אדם הראשון learned to speak Lashon HaQodesh as any child would…by listening to his “Parent” speaking the language. This insight sheds new light on those Rishonim who say that Lashon HaQodesh is so called because it is the “language of prophecy”. We are used to thinking of this as indicative some “special” or magical quality about “Lashon HaQodesh” and this follows from thinking of prophecy as a mystical , theosophic, extraordinary experience. But now, thanks to Rav Tzadok, we ought to view prophecy as a foregone conclusion. Of course G-d would speak to man. G-d, in both His revelations (Nature and Torah) reveals Himself as a speaker (albeit as an אומר in the former and as a מדבר in the latter). If G-d is a speaker then a creature made in “His form and image” will be a speaker as well, primarily, as Rav Schwabb z"l points out, to have a conversation with G-d Himself.
What would we think of a parent who kept his/her children in solitary confinement and NEVER communicated with them? Why as abusive of course! G-d is NOT kholila, abusive. He created man to parent, to converse with, to have a close and intimate relationship with. And so the Abarvanel’s contention that Lashon HaQodesh is the obverse of the coin of a close, direct Divine relationship - השגחה פרטית ללא אמצעים = Divine Providence without intermediaries, is eminently logical. It is the kind of care and concern and supervision that a parent has for his/her children if, of course, the being a parent/teacher is the core of their self-definition. Otherwise we run into nannies and governesses.
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
I had always known that Lashon Qodesh spoke to the core of Jewish Identity. Witness the liturgical stitch in the Shalosh Regalim Amidah and Kiddush אתה בחרתנו מכל העמים...ורוממתנו מכל הלשונות = "You chose us from among all nations and exalted us above all tongues”. Witness also the centrality of the renaissance of Ivrit as a living spoken language to the ambition of the Zionists to create a “new” Jew and the equally spirited polemics of the Satmar Rebbe et al to expose this ambition as a misguided, even nefarious, abuse of the Holy Tongue.
Thanks to the S’fas Emes (Mitzvah)and other Sifrei Khasidus I was also savvy to there being a connection between post-deluvian pre-Haflaga mankind and the fact that the Jewish People still retained their characteristic of unity and singularity AKA גוי אחד בארץ. But until this past Shabbos I was amharatzishly innocent of any dots connecting the oneness of the language and Direct Divine Providence absent any intermediaries. Here is my humble translation adaptation of the Abarvanel who connects these dots (first column 6 lines from the bottom beginning with והנראה לי באמיתת זה):
HaShem set up a hierarchy of providence whereby the fate of all this earthly creatures is transmitted by HaShem through a spiritual force most commonly referred to as an Angel. [This does not mean that the angel actually controls the fate of the creature. It merely connotes that HaShems control of and relationship with the creature is indirect and proceeds through a hierarchal chain-of-command]. This is best summed up by the Khazal ! אין לך עשב מלמטה שאין לו מזל ברקיע, מכה אותו ואומר גדל = "there isn't a single blade of grass that lacks an angel striking it on the head and commanding it 'GROW!'". Yet humans, by dint of their being created in the image of Elokim, ought to be led/supervised whether for good or bad, directly by G-d without intermediaries nor delegation of supervision. This, no doubt, obtained so long as mankind sought it's raison detere' . However as mankind lost it's way and strayed from the path of G-dliness, G-d reciprocally turned away from mankind such that direct involvement and supervision, sans intermediaries, ceased.
This is how we are to understand the verse כֹּל צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְנִדַּחְתָּ וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתָ לָהֶם, וַעֲבַדְתָּם--אֲשֶׁר חָלַק יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֹתָם, לְכֹל הָעַמִּים, תַּחַת כָּל-הַשָּׁמָיִם ="even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven." Obviously, this doesn't mean that He allotted them for the purpose of idolatrous worship (which is prohibited to non-Jewish Noahides as well) but that He allotted them for the purpose of providence and supervision.
Unfortunately, it became impossible for mankind to achieve the supernal success that had been it’s unique opportunity while under direct divine supervision. Absent this Divine Providence, men can only achieve something less, and only commensurate with the level of the Angelic supervisor under who's providence they fall.
Pre-haflaga mankind still benefited from direct Divine Providence and produced such greats infused with wise and brilliant G-d-Wisdom as Adam, Shem, Ever, Methuselah, Noah Lemekh and others. They all spoke Lashon HaQodesh that G-d had taught to Adam.
However when the generation of the Haflaga eschewed natural simplicity and sufficiency in favor of artificial human, technology and the pursuit of luxury this was deemed a turning away from and a rejection of direct Divine Providence. G-d decided to delegate providence to the 70 angels of His Bais Din , hence the plural in the verse הָבָה, נֵרְדָה.. IOW come "descend" with ME to supervise mankind, each of you will supervise the affairs of another family/nation and as I remove my direct Providence of them so too will I strip them of the Holy G-dly language so that they, no longer united in My Oneness and Simplicity, disintegrate into diverse languages related to and unique to the supervision of the particular angel now in charge of their supervision, JUST AS LASHON HAQODESH IS PARTICULAR TO MY DIRECT DIVINE SUPERVISION!
To this very day we Jews, the גוי אחד בארץ , bearers, students and speakers of the Holy Tongue (at least when conversing with G-d) still merit this Direct Divine Providence that, pre-Haflaga was the lot of all mankind. The "exalting of us above all tongues" is part and parcel of the choosing us from among all nations and maintaining the direct covenantal relationships with our nation alone.
It’s worth mentioning that Rav Tzadok says that אדם הראשון learned to speak Lashon HaQodesh as any child would…by listening to his “Parent” speaking the language. This insight sheds new light on those Rishonim who say that Lashon HaQodesh is so called because it is the “language of prophecy”. We are used to thinking of this as indicative some “special” or magical quality about “Lashon HaQodesh” and this follows from thinking of prophecy as a mystical , theosophic, extraordinary experience. But now, thanks to Rav Tzadok, we ought to view prophecy as a foregone conclusion. Of course G-d would speak to man. G-d, in both His revelations (Nature and Torah) reveals Himself as a speaker (albeit as an אומר in the former and as a מדבר in the latter). If G-d is a speaker then a creature made in “His form and image” will be a speaker as well, primarily, as Rav Schwabb z"l points out, to have a conversation with G-d Himself.
What would we think of a parent who kept his/her children in solitary confinement and NEVER communicated with them? Why as abusive of course! G-d is NOT kholila, abusive. He created man to parent, to converse with, to have a close and intimate relationship with. And so the Abarvanel’s contention that Lashon HaQodesh is the obverse of the coin of a close, direct Divine relationship - השגחה פרטית ללא אמצעים = Divine Providence without intermediaries, is eminently logical. It is the kind of care and concern and supervision that a parent has for his/her children if, of course, the being a parent/teacher is the core of their self-definition. Otherwise we run into nannies and governesses.
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
Monday, October 26, 2009
Adam & Jack..Weep and Weep Louder
Blee neder within the next 72 hours I will give this the proper fisking that it deserves. But in the meantime click on the link, read it and weep. Unless of course you are Moabite Apikores, in which case then read it and rejoice that you finally have an eloquent spokesman in a major (???) Jewish Weekly publication.
All in Good Fun
A while back I pointed out the Woody Allen Effect. If the grooms surname is to be trusted I saw reports today of yet another high-profile intermarriage.
Then hunting and scavenging for post-worthy material I came across this abomination.
Very funny. So funny I think that I'll die laughing. Gag me with a spoon.
Have you had YOUR Qedusha-Havdala today??? Hmmm???
Then hunting and scavenging for post-worthy material I came across this abomination.
Very funny. So funny I think that I'll die laughing. Gag me with a spoon.
Have you had YOUR Qedusha-Havdala today??? Hmmm???
Friday, October 23, 2009
City-Slickers: Atone for the Sins of Urbanity and Civilization
Sources: Nakhshoni ( Hagot B'Parshiyot Hatorah) and Abarbanel
The Dor Haflaga- the "Generation of the Dispersion" or for the EFL among you , the Tower of Babel narrative, is simultaneously one of the most significant and most mysterious epochs in human history.
There is a wide range of opinions within Khazal and the classic Meforshim as to what their sin(s ) was/were. All are worthy and , thanks to the enigmatic formula of אלו ואלו דברי אלוקים חיים , all are true despite some of them being mutually exclusive. But in particular I find several streams of thought truly eye-opening inasmuch as they fly in the face of conventional wisdom and secular ani maamins.
For example; conventional wisdom holds that concentrating large numbers of human beings into relatively small tracts of real estate , AKA cities, has historically been the source of many boons for humanity. Cities feature fine architecture and public works, complex transportation systems and hubs, great hospitals, universities and museums, fine arts, Major league sports, top restaurants and the best high-end retailers. By this reckoning suburbs, as the words etymology indicates, are sub-urbane and are the enclaves of the dull, the retired and the bored. Rural and farming areas are reserved for the positively backwards and evoke mental images of rednecks, yahoos, drug-addled Hippies and/or barefoot Appalachians.
But Rabenu Bakhya, the Qli Yaqar, the Ramban and Ibn Ezra opine that it wasn't that the Dor HaFlaga concentrated in the valley/plain with evil on their minds but that concentrating the entire human population into one place was, in and of itself, an evil plan that ran counters to HaShem's mandate of פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, וְכִבְשֻׁהָ . They were smart-Alec's thinking that their plan was "better and smarter" than HaShem's . They thought it would foster world peace and unity but in fact posed a great existential threat to humanity. Let's not forget that modern (I mean the last 500 years at least) cities have also featured some of mankind's greatest banes; epidemics, cramped housing , pollution and negative environmental impact, labor exploitation, gangs and drug wars, increased exposure to asbestos and other carcinogens... to name a few.
Good Republican Kharedi that I am I find some of the Abarbenels insights most fascinating of all. He posits a post-Deluvian, pre-Haflaga society that was both low-tech and , by any fair definition, communist/socialist. He learns that וַיְהִי כָל-הָאָרֶץ, ..., וּדְבָרִים, אֲחָדִים. does not mean common words/ a common plan but "united in things/possessions". IOW public ownership not just of the means of production but of everything! (Perhaps this was, l'shitoso, a [over?] reaction to the gezel and khomos= thievery and strong-arming of the generation of the flood that was a major component of their undoing). Also, that part of their crime was eschewing the natural, G-d-made and sufficient in favor of the artificial, ( מלאכותי ) man-made and superfluous (מותרות ) e.g. kiln-fired bricks instead of quarried stone as the primary building material.
Bottom line moral of the story...maybe we're all too urbane and sophisticated for our own good. Maybe their is something to be said for the salt-of-the-earth simplicity of the farmer and the country bumpkin.
Qedusha Havdala...have you had YOURS today??? Hmm???
The Dor Haflaga- the "Generation of the Dispersion" or for the EFL among you , the Tower of Babel narrative, is simultaneously one of the most significant and most mysterious epochs in human history.
There is a wide range of opinions within Khazal and the classic Meforshim as to what their sin(s ) was/were. All are worthy and , thanks to the enigmatic formula of אלו ואלו דברי אלוקים חיים , all are true despite some of them being mutually exclusive. But in particular I find several streams of thought truly eye-opening inasmuch as they fly in the face of conventional wisdom and secular ani maamins.
For example; conventional wisdom holds that concentrating large numbers of human beings into relatively small tracts of real estate , AKA cities, has historically been the source of many boons for humanity. Cities feature fine architecture and public works, complex transportation systems and hubs, great hospitals, universities and museums, fine arts, Major league sports, top restaurants and the best high-end retailers. By this reckoning suburbs, as the words etymology indicates, are sub-urbane and are the enclaves of the dull, the retired and the bored. Rural and farming areas are reserved for the positively backwards and evoke mental images of rednecks, yahoos, drug-addled Hippies and/or barefoot Appalachians.
But Rabenu Bakhya, the Qli Yaqar, the Ramban and Ibn Ezra opine that it wasn't that the Dor HaFlaga concentrated in the valley/plain with evil on their minds but that concentrating the entire human population into one place was, in and of itself, an evil plan that ran counters to HaShem's mandate of פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, וְכִבְשֻׁהָ . They were smart-Alec's thinking that their plan was "better and smarter" than HaShem's . They thought it would foster world peace and unity but in fact posed a great existential threat to humanity. Let's not forget that modern (I mean the last 500 years at least) cities have also featured some of mankind's greatest banes; epidemics, cramped housing , pollution and negative environmental impact, labor exploitation, gangs and drug wars, increased exposure to asbestos and other carcinogens... to name a few.
Good Republican Kharedi that I am I find some of the Abarbenels insights most fascinating of all. He posits a post-Deluvian, pre-Haflaga society that was both low-tech and , by any fair definition, communist/socialist. He learns that וַיְהִי כָל-הָאָרֶץ, ..., וּדְבָרִים, אֲחָדִים. does not mean common words/ a common plan but "united in things/possessions". IOW public ownership not just of the means of production but of everything! (Perhaps this was, l'shitoso, a [over?] reaction to the gezel and khomos= thievery and strong-arming of the generation of the flood that was a major component of their undoing). Also, that part of their crime was eschewing the natural, G-d-made and sufficient in favor of the artificial, ( מלאכותי ) man-made and superfluous (מותרות ) e.g. kiln-fired bricks instead of quarried stone as the primary building material.
Bottom line moral of the story...maybe we're all too urbane and sophisticated for our own good. Maybe their is something to be said for the salt-of-the-earth simplicity of the farmer and the country bumpkin.
Qedusha Havdala...have you had YOURS today??? Hmm???
Thursday, October 22, 2009
A Serious Test of my Faith in the Wise
CLICKShrai GEVALT! My missing link has gone missing! Ida, last seen in a TV documentary narrated by David Attenborough and starring in the book The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestors is now to be found only on the side of milk cartons.
It's another case of mistaken yikhus. You see dear Bubbe Ida, once thought to be the common ancestress of both monkeys, apes and Homo Sapiens is actually kind of a demure lemur. "as far removed from monkey-ape-human ancestry as a primate can be". So says Professor Erik Seiffert in today's issue of the journal Nature.
Say it aint' so Colin Tudge! I had such Emunas Khakhomim- faith in you and yours! What with all the peer review, scientific method, empiricism and, above all, personal integrity, how could you have gotten something this big and basic wrong??? After all, I had thought that bad science and bad history were the exclusive province of the Jewish Talmudic sages and their Rabbinic disciples up to and including our contemporary Rabbis. At least that's what Rabbi Slifkin seems to hold...
No it seems the only missing link is the one that would associate you with Richard Heene. Another impostor foisting hoaxes on a credulous public who's story turned out to be full of hot air.
Qedusha-Havdala....have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
a Tale of Two Roshei Yeshiva??? OR of two YESHIVOS???
The author of Kol Brisk, the latest incarnation of Rav Yoshe Ber Soloveitchik, reports a fundamental pedagogical argument between two Titans of the previous generation.
When founding and running a yeshiva and screening prospective students for admission Rav Yitzchok Hutner was of the opinion that preference be given to those possessing the greatest intellectual acumen because it was from their ranks that the future leaders of Israel would emanate. OTOH Rav Ahron Soloveitchik opined that intellectual excellence ought not to be a consideration at all. Instead, preference ought to be given to those prospective students who were G-d fearing, conscientious in their studies and possessed of refined character traits.
Far be it from me to stick my head between such giants. When midgets do so they tend to get their heads crushed. However like the bet-hedgers who wear both Rashi and Rabenu Tam’s T’filin I say: “Why can’t we have it both ways? Why not go for massive Kheder/Yeshiva reform and create a two-tiered system?”
Every major community/neighborhood ought to run the equivalent of public education khadorim/ yeshivas funded primarily by the landed gentry (Brays and Brayeenas excluded) where the masses could receive a quality, albeit more basic, Torah education from grades 1-12 or even for (the bokhrim) for 2-4 years post high school. In terms of curricula and teaching style these schools should be designed to address the intellect and personality of the fair-to middling student and to produce learned laymen possessing all the tools required to lead a wholesome Torah life.
Additionally every major community/neighborhood ought to run the equivalent of Ivy League/ tony prep school elitist khadorim/ yeshivas funded more privately as all yeshivas are today. These schools would cater to the truly intellectually gifted and have a curriculum and staff to match. But in order to serve either population properly the havdala between the two school populations must be informed by objective criteria and integrity. Legend has it that in its hey-day the entrance exam to Rav Meir Shapiro’s Yeshivas Khakhmei Lublin was 400 blatt Gemara verbatim ba’al peh. No pull. No protection. No admissions in consideration of daddy warbucks magnanimous contributions.
How to establish objective criteria for aptitude admission tests for 5 and six year olds I leave to the expert pedagogues.
Qedusha-Havdala…have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
When founding and running a yeshiva and screening prospective students for admission Rav Yitzchok Hutner was of the opinion that preference be given to those possessing the greatest intellectual acumen because it was from their ranks that the future leaders of Israel would emanate. OTOH Rav Ahron Soloveitchik opined that intellectual excellence ought not to be a consideration at all. Instead, preference ought to be given to those prospective students who were G-d fearing, conscientious in their studies and possessed of refined character traits.
Far be it from me to stick my head between such giants. When midgets do so they tend to get their heads crushed. However like the bet-hedgers who wear both Rashi and Rabenu Tam’s T’filin I say: “Why can’t we have it both ways? Why not go for massive Kheder/Yeshiva reform and create a two-tiered system?”
Every major community/neighborhood ought to run the equivalent of public education khadorim/ yeshivas funded primarily by the landed gentry (Brays and Brayeenas excluded) where the masses could receive a quality, albeit more basic, Torah education from grades 1-12 or even for (the bokhrim) for 2-4 years post high school. In terms of curricula and teaching style these schools should be designed to address the intellect and personality of the fair-to middling student and to produce learned laymen possessing all the tools required to lead a wholesome Torah life.
Additionally every major community/neighborhood ought to run the equivalent of Ivy League/ tony prep school elitist khadorim/ yeshivas funded more privately as all yeshivas are today. These schools would cater to the truly intellectually gifted and have a curriculum and staff to match. But in order to serve either population properly the havdala between the two school populations must be informed by objective criteria and integrity. Legend has it that in its hey-day the entrance exam to Rav Meir Shapiro’s Yeshivas Khakhmei Lublin was 400 blatt Gemara verbatim ba’al peh. No pull. No protection. No admissions in consideration of daddy warbucks magnanimous contributions.
How to establish objective criteria for aptitude admission tests for 5 and six year olds I leave to the expert pedagogues.
Qedusha-Havdala…have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
A VERY important post.
click.
But not necessarily for the reason that the Ba’al HaBlog opines. There are much bigger fish to fry here than an internecine rivalry amount the nightingales. See follow up post within the hour.
But not necessarily for the reason that the Ba’al HaBlog opines. There are much bigger fish to fry here than an internecine rivalry amount the nightingales. See follow up post within the hour.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
In Which Failure Pays Homage to Success
Back at the old award winning blog I used to troll on all manner of celebration are being readied as the mega-blogs fifth anniversary looms. There will be prizes, dances, overnight kugel, retrospectives, encomiums galore, and (live) interviews. And deservedly so.
DovBear is indubitably, a high quality blog. The writing, especially that of the Ba'al HaBlog himself is consitently crisp and erudite without being hi-falutin'. The snark is sweet and pungent. I've expanded my vocabulary, both verbal and cultural, by reading DovBear. The large and ever changing team and the cacophony of voices heard in the comment threads bring a wide spectrum of POVs to bear on any given subject. The dizzying array of topics of interest, from politics to sports to religion to society to Biblical exegesis to liturgy assure that there is something on the menu for everyone. And, in my experience, the fast and furious real time conversations, the virtual sense of actually having a conversation, those come-hither little golden bands at the bottom of haloscan are found no where else on the J-Blogosphere.
The existence of this middle-school science project, Red-Tent blog is testimony not only to the qualitative disparity of the two blogs but to the irreconcilable differences between DovBear and me. I wore out my welcome there and was kicked off the contributing poster team and then banned from commenting. Still I had years of "good-times" there and lest anyone think that this post is insincere witness the sincerest form of flattery...imitation:
I switch masthead slogans frequently Ala DovBear. As is the case in the present one, I title quite a few posts with the "In Which etc." lead-in a la DovBear. I'm sure there are a host of subconscious ways that I imitate him albeit in my talent-challenged ham-handed way. And so even though I basically feel that he is abusing his prodigious talent, that he is pursuing a path of, in the words of the prophet: חכמים היו להרע...להטיב לא ידעו (see item #11 in this post) I still am not such a צר עין ...so niggardly of spirit as to not offer up a burly bear-hug to the Man-in-the-Golden-Bear-Suit on his big day.
Happy anniversary DovBear! Cubbies of all lands...unite and rejoice! May you blog until the white-collar ganovim and pedophiles are all gone or rehabbed, if that's even possible.
DovBear is indubitably, a high quality blog. The writing, especially that of the Ba'al HaBlog himself is consitently crisp and erudite without being hi-falutin'. The snark is sweet and pungent. I've expanded my vocabulary, both verbal and cultural, by reading DovBear. The large and ever changing team and the cacophony of voices heard in the comment threads bring a wide spectrum of POVs to bear on any given subject. The dizzying array of topics of interest, from politics to sports to religion to society to Biblical exegesis to liturgy assure that there is something on the menu for everyone. And, in my experience, the fast and furious real time conversations, the virtual sense of actually having a conversation, those come-hither little golden bands at the bottom of haloscan are found no where else on the J-Blogosphere.
The existence of this middle-school science project, Red-Tent blog is testimony not only to the qualitative disparity of the two blogs but to the irreconcilable differences between DovBear and me. I wore out my welcome there and was kicked off the contributing poster team and then banned from commenting. Still I had years of "good-times" there and lest anyone think that this post is insincere witness the sincerest form of flattery...imitation:
I switch masthead slogans frequently Ala DovBear. As is the case in the present one, I title quite a few posts with the "In Which etc." lead-in a la DovBear. I'm sure there are a host of subconscious ways that I imitate him albeit in my talent-challenged ham-handed way. And so even though I basically feel that he is abusing his prodigious talent, that he is pursuing a path of, in the words of the prophet: חכמים היו להרע...להטיב לא ידעו (see item #11 in this post) I still am not such a צר עין ...so niggardly of spirit as to not offer up a burly bear-hug to the Man-in-the-Golden-Bear-Suit on his big day.
Happy anniversary DovBear! Cubbies of all lands...unite and rejoice! May you blog until the white-collar ganovim and pedophiles are all gone or rehabbed, if that's even possible.
Qedusha-Havdala...have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
Diaspora Jew
The days of Awe and Joy are over but I still have a confession to make: With the passage of time I have become more and more a Diaspora Jew. I’m not referring to any particular stereotype ancient or contemporary. No doubt I do answer to many of them. What I mean is that I feel a cold disconnection from all things Israeli. Even from Israeli Kharedi society.
When I was younger I actually grappled seriously and frequently with the idea of aliyah. Whatever my reasons were all those decades ago I can’t say that I’ve seriously reconsidered my decision to stay in Golus in many years.
If I didn’t have a few very dear friends and a BIL living in Eretz Yisrael I don’t know if I’d have any real knowledge of or interest in day to day life there at all. O sure I’d read about Katyushas being lobbed into Sderot, Ahmadinejads to saber rattling and the unremitting J-Blogosphere critiques of Kharedi society and culture. But I read these articles and postings with a detached, dispassionate academic interest. I feel no visceral connection to what I am reading about. Their lives and problems are not my own.
What will all the media, especially English language media, available today I could just as easily spend time every morning reading the online edition of the Jerusalem Post instead of the inky edition of the NY Post. I could make Arutz Sheva my home page instead of AOL. I could obsess over Jameel’s, and Rafi’s blog instead of Circus Tent and Not Brisk. Point is I don’t. And to be candid I have little interest in changing my ways in this department.
Is it simply a matter of the passage of time and the maintenance of distance? (I am not made of money and have only visited the Holy Land 4 times in the last 25 years one of which hardly counts as it was to aid my parents alehem hasholom in a medical emergency). Is it that absent Mussar and “working-on-myself” my narcissistic self-absorption has increased with age along with all my other midos nishkhasos? Is it the increasing pressures and vicissitudes of life that have narrowed ALL my interests while eliminating others altogether? Is it a sense of alienation from the Israeli brand of Kharedism and a sense of relative comfort with the American brand? Who knows? Your guess is as good as mine though it’s probably a combination of all of the above and more.
In any event I’d be interested to find out if my fellow Diaspora Jews feel this way and if my Israeli blogging brethren resent the he*l out of it.
Qedusha-Havdala…have you had YOURS today?
When I was younger I actually grappled seriously and frequently with the idea of aliyah. Whatever my reasons were all those decades ago I can’t say that I’ve seriously reconsidered my decision to stay in Golus in many years.
If I didn’t have a few very dear friends and a BIL living in Eretz Yisrael I don’t know if I’d have any real knowledge of or interest in day to day life there at all. O sure I’d read about Katyushas being lobbed into Sderot, Ahmadinejads to saber rattling and the unremitting J-Blogosphere critiques of Kharedi society and culture. But I read these articles and postings with a detached, dispassionate academic interest. I feel no visceral connection to what I am reading about. Their lives and problems are not my own.
What will all the media, especially English language media, available today I could just as easily spend time every morning reading the online edition of the Jerusalem Post instead of the inky edition of the NY Post. I could make Arutz Sheva my home page instead of AOL. I could obsess over Jameel’s, and Rafi’s blog instead of Circus Tent and Not Brisk. Point is I don’t. And to be candid I have little interest in changing my ways in this department.
Is it simply a matter of the passage of time and the maintenance of distance? (I am not made of money and have only visited the Holy Land 4 times in the last 25 years one of which hardly counts as it was to aid my parents alehem hasholom in a medical emergency). Is it that absent Mussar and “working-on-myself” my narcissistic self-absorption has increased with age along with all my other midos nishkhasos? Is it the increasing pressures and vicissitudes of life that have narrowed ALL my interests while eliminating others altogether? Is it a sense of alienation from the Israeli brand of Kharedism and a sense of relative comfort with the American brand? Who knows? Your guess is as good as mine though it’s probably a combination of all of the above and more.
In any event I’d be interested to find out if my fellow Diaspora Jews feel this way and if my Israeli blogging brethren resent the he*l out of it.
Qedusha-Havdala…have you had YOURS today?
Monday, October 19, 2009
Stressed Out
As all four of the avid readers here know all too well, for me blogging is, essentially, an illness.
Two months ago I would not have thought myself capable of surviving without at least reading the blog that banned me 15-20 times a day but lo and behold in the past 5 weeks I've taken nary a glance at that mega-blog. So I seem to be on the road to recovery at least from that element of the illness. This lends me new found confidence to make more resolutions and further modify my behavior until such time as I rid myself of the blogging bug altogether.
As the stresses of life encroach, job, family, bills, parnusseh, health et al I'm really feeling how the inordinate amount of time I spend blogging is negatively impacting so many other areas. So I think my next best step is to post something at a minute or two past midnight EST and then resolve not to check the blog and/or comments until at least 3 PM EST.
For posts like this that go up midday I should not check them before 9 PM.
Blee Neder...here goes. Qedusha-Havdala...have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
Two months ago I would not have thought myself capable of surviving without at least reading the blog that banned me 15-20 times a day but lo and behold in the past 5 weeks I've taken nary a glance at that mega-blog. So I seem to be on the road to recovery at least from that element of the illness. This lends me new found confidence to make more resolutions and further modify my behavior until such time as I rid myself of the blogging bug altogether.
As the stresses of life encroach, job, family, bills, parnusseh, health et al I'm really feeling how the inordinate amount of time I spend blogging is negatively impacting so many other areas. So I think my next best step is to post something at a minute or two past midnight EST and then resolve not to check the blog and/or comments until at least 3 PM EST.
For posts like this that go up midday I should not check them before 9 PM.
Blee Neder...here goes. Qedusha-Havdala...have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
Friday, October 16, 2009
A Leap of Faith... in MAN
It is (forgive the expression) an "Article of Faith" among contemporary Kiruv Clowns that the tenets of Judaism are 100% rational and require no element of faith much less great leaps of faith. This is, of course, preposterous.
Not only do we often lack airtight philosophical arguments and/or incontrovertible empirical evidence for that which Jews believe about, G-d. revelation, prophecy and unseen worlds but OTC, the evidence at times runs counter to these beliefs. Most skeptics out there would probably term my last sentence the understatement of the millennium. In any event faith in and reliance upon G-d is a challenge and the לפום צערא אגרא= "The reward commensurate with the pain suffered" has never been greater than it is today.
I was recently tagged by BeeZee over at Izgad to present a list of my Ani Maamins. He was probably expecting a rehashing of the Maimonedean 13 principals. Those principles have been discussed and deliberated upon in many great scholarly works both in Lashon Qodesh and in the vernacular. So anything I could cogitate, say, or write about them would be superfluous כיהודה ועוד לקרא
But as a Jew with a Havdala-Qedusha obsession I am intrigued by a great number of post-Maimonidean Emunos that deal with things that I believe about humanity in general and Jews in particular. Some of these are sourced מפי ספרים ומפי סופרים in classic Jewish sources while others I sort of intuit to be what a Jew ought to believe. As is the case with the Maimonidean variety many lack airtight philosophical arguments and/or incontrovertible empirical evidence and OTC, the evidence at times runs counter to these beliefs. As we will be reading פרשת בראשית tomorrow and as this Parsha celebrates the creation of both the macrocosm and the Microcosm known as אדם הראשון I hereby present my imperfect articles of imperfect faith in Humanity and Jewry. They are not listed in any logical or chronological sequence and are numbered only for the convenience of the hundreds of commenters (*EYE ROLL*) who will no doubt be commenting on them. Where I remember a source (or even mild hint of an allusion that I can hang my hat on) I will indicate it at the end of the article of faith:
1. I believe with imperfect faith that…..HaShem created the first humans endowed with free-will but that evil was completely external to them
2. I believe with imperfect faith that…..pre-sin humans enjoyed gender equality and that all gender inequities, including prohibitions against female polygamy, are among the punishments for/ fallout from the original sin (Meshekh Khokhma)
3. I believe with imperfect faith that…..pre-sin humans were immortal and as such structurally different even on a physical level from current and all post-sin human (Ramkhal)
4. I believe with imperfect faith that…..the qualitative gulf separating even post-sin humans from animals far exceeds the one separating animals from plants or plants from minerals.
5. I believe with imperfect faith that…..humanity as a whole blew several opportunities to regain the pre-sin state and that ultimately this privilege fell exclusively to the nation built by the three Patriarchs and four matriarchs (Ramkhal)
6. I believe with imperfect faith that…..there are innate differences separating Jews from gentiles
7. I believe with imperfect faith that…..among these differences are the fact that Jewish souls derive from a higher spiritual hierarchical rank
8. I believe with imperfect faith that…..among these differences are the fact that the thoughts words and deeds of Jews have tremendous constructive or destructive impact on worlds seen and unseen and that even the most unsuccessful, marginal Jewish Schlepper or lo yutzlakh is impacting things "behind the scenes" in ways that major gentile world-political leaders do not (Nefesh HaKhayim) . Also that even among Jews success influence and/or impactfulness in this world are NOT indicia of rank and impactfulness in unseen worlds or the world to come and that, in fact, in terms of true metaphysical influence and impactfullness, things are often 180 degrees different than they appear here
9. I believe with imperfect faith that…..when Jews are altruistic they REALLY mean to be altruistic whereas when gentiles are altruistic they are being self-serving or have other ulterior motives (Talmud)
10. I believe with imperfect faith that…..A Jew is intrinsically good and that sin never expresses his/her true inner desire, that vis a vis a Jew we view the Yetzer HaRa even in our post-sin world, as an external force imposing HIS will upon Jews and coercing them to sin under duress (Rambam Hilkhos Gittin, Rav Tzadok nearly everywhere)
11. I believe with imperfect faith that….. Because Jews have a greater capacity for good that they also have a greater capacity for evil, that the higher they come the lower and harder they fall.
12. I believe with imperfect faith that..... humans are first and foremost communicators and that being unable to speak so that others listen or to listen so that others speak is dehumanizing. So is any impoverishment of language that robs it of subtlety, nuance, abstraction and shir/poetry. As Rav Schwab z"l pointed out the human capacity for speech preceded the arrival of the second human being, hence the primary capacity for speech communication is with one's Creator. (late addendum)
That is all for now. I tag Evanston Jew,JS, Conservative Apikores, BOTH and Tikun Olam
Havdala -Qedusha...Have tou had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
Not only do we often lack airtight philosophical arguments and/or incontrovertible empirical evidence for that which Jews believe about, G-d. revelation, prophecy and unseen worlds but OTC, the evidence at times runs counter to these beliefs. Most skeptics out there would probably term my last sentence the understatement of the millennium. In any event faith in and reliance upon G-d is a challenge and the לפום צערא אגרא= "The reward commensurate with the pain suffered" has never been greater than it is today.
I was recently tagged by BeeZee over at Izgad to present a list of my Ani Maamins. He was probably expecting a rehashing of the Maimonedean 13 principals. Those principles have been discussed and deliberated upon in many great scholarly works both in Lashon Qodesh and in the vernacular. So anything I could cogitate, say, or write about them would be superfluous כיהודה ועוד לקרא
But as a Jew with a Havdala-Qedusha obsession I am intrigued by a great number of post-Maimonidean Emunos that deal with things that I believe about humanity in general and Jews in particular. Some of these are sourced מפי ספרים ומפי סופרים in classic Jewish sources while others I sort of intuit to be what a Jew ought to believe. As is the case with the Maimonidean variety many lack airtight philosophical arguments and/or incontrovertible empirical evidence and OTC, the evidence at times runs counter to these beliefs. As we will be reading פרשת בראשית tomorrow and as this Parsha celebrates the creation of both the macrocosm and the Microcosm known as אדם הראשון I hereby present my imperfect articles of imperfect faith in Humanity and Jewry. They are not listed in any logical or chronological sequence and are numbered only for the convenience of the hundreds of commenters (*EYE ROLL*) who will no doubt be commenting on them. Where I remember a source (or even mild hint of an allusion that I can hang my hat on) I will indicate it at the end of the article of faith:
1. I believe with imperfect faith that…..HaShem created the first humans endowed with free-will but that evil was completely external to them
2. I believe with imperfect faith that…..pre-sin humans enjoyed gender equality and that all gender inequities, including prohibitions against female polygamy, are among the punishments for/ fallout from the original sin (Meshekh Khokhma)
3. I believe with imperfect faith that…..pre-sin humans were immortal and as such structurally different even on a physical level from current and all post-sin human (Ramkhal)
4. I believe with imperfect faith that…..the qualitative gulf separating even post-sin humans from animals far exceeds the one separating animals from plants or plants from minerals.
5. I believe with imperfect faith that…..humanity as a whole blew several opportunities to regain the pre-sin state and that ultimately this privilege fell exclusively to the nation built by the three Patriarchs and four matriarchs (Ramkhal)
6. I believe with imperfect faith that…..there are innate differences separating Jews from gentiles
7. I believe with imperfect faith that…..among these differences are the fact that Jewish souls derive from a higher spiritual hierarchical rank
8. I believe with imperfect faith that…..among these differences are the fact that the thoughts words and deeds of Jews have tremendous constructive or destructive impact on worlds seen and unseen and that even the most unsuccessful, marginal Jewish Schlepper or lo yutzlakh is impacting things "behind the scenes" in ways that major gentile world-political leaders do not (Nefesh HaKhayim) . Also that even among Jews success influence and/or impactfulness in this world are NOT indicia of rank and impactfulness in unseen worlds or the world to come and that, in fact, in terms of true metaphysical influence and impactfullness, things are often 180 degrees different than they appear here
9. I believe with imperfect faith that…..when Jews are altruistic they REALLY mean to be altruistic whereas when gentiles are altruistic they are being self-serving or have other ulterior motives (Talmud)
10. I believe with imperfect faith that…..A Jew is intrinsically good and that sin never expresses his/her true inner desire, that vis a vis a Jew we view the Yetzer HaRa even in our post-sin world, as an external force imposing HIS will upon Jews and coercing them to sin under duress (Rambam Hilkhos Gittin, Rav Tzadok nearly everywhere)
11. I believe with imperfect faith that….. Because Jews have a greater capacity for good that they also have a greater capacity for evil, that the higher they come the lower and harder they fall.
12. I believe with imperfect faith that..... humans are first and foremost communicators and that being unable to speak so that others listen or to listen so that others speak is dehumanizing. So is any impoverishment of language that robs it of subtlety, nuance, abstraction and shir/poetry. As Rav Schwab z"l pointed out the human capacity for speech preceded the arrival of the second human being, hence the primary capacity for speech communication is with one's Creator. (late addendum)
That is all for now. I tag Evanston Jew,JS, Conservative Apikores, BOTH and Tikun Olam
Havdala -Qedusha...Have tou had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
Thursday, October 15, 2009
The Genesis of Kosher Evolution
DISCLAIMER: For those of you awaiting my humble opinion on the stale and radio-carbon-dated Slifkin controversy turn back now.
In this post I will share a commentary of the Mahral in Khidushei Aggados with you that came to me as an eye-opening revelation. I first discovered it before Rosh Hashanah while reviewing the season-appropriate sugya of the Creation of אדם הראשון =the first human(s )1. Still, as I was not yet ready to post about it then and as this IS שבת בראשית coming up I feel it is appropriate to post it now. I hope that it will enhance your upcoming Shabbos, especially the laining.
Here (Sanhedrin 38B) is the Gemara the Mahral elucidates:
Rav Yokhanan bar Kahnina said; The days length is 12 hours ; during hour 1 Adams dust was gathered. During hour 2 he was made into a גולם = a "raw" material mass lacking form. Hour 3 his limbs emerged/ extruded. Hour 4 a soul was cast into him. Hour 5 he stood upon his feet. Hour 6 he named names...
The balance of the Gemara is equally fascinating but not relevant to the Mahral's novellae.
Qabalists posit a four tiered pecking order in G-d' s creation they are: דומם=Domem= inert/mineral, literally silent; צומח =Tzome-yakh= botanic life, literally sprouting/growing; חי =Khai =animate/ living/animal life; מדבר =Medaber= human, literally speaker/speech-endowed.
With that short factoid provided, my humble adaptation of the Mahral's commentary here and here follows:
In the third hour his limbs extruded. For after the "mixing of materials" the next level of being is that of the Tzomeyakh i.e. that of expansion and growth. Adams limbs extruded from his undifferentiated mass of a trunk because of his "botanic" capacity to branch out and grow 2. During the fourth hour when a soul was cast into him he incorporated the animate/animal (moving) capacity of all higher-than-rooted/immobile/botanic living things3. But in the fifth hour when he stood up erect on his feet he finally achieved a uniquely human developmental level.
For the first level of "Golem" is that of the mineral, the level of limb extrusion is that of the plant and the level of soul is shared by the animals. However walking with an erect posture is uniquely human. For all the other בעלי חיים = animals walk with their faces downcast towards the ground. Whereas a human being walks upright. For he is the King of all the "takhtonim"=creatures of the material/lower world. It behooves a King to move about upright and, in this world, nothing surpasses (lords over) human beings. This is why all the animals walk with a horizontal/bent posture for they are as slaves exhibiting subservience (by lowering their heads) to their master/king. This (walking upright) is the level of man created "in the image of Elokim".
I had always known that the human being was a microcosm and that the cryptic words נעשה אדם = "let US make man" were HaShem's invitation to the macrocosm to inject their "input", their essence, into the microcosm known as man so that, in turn, mans thoughts, words and deeds would determine the fate of the macrocosm. This is, more or less, the lesson of Sha'ar 1 Perek 3 of Nefesh HaKhayim
Yet I still found this Mahral to be eye opening. I also call this approach, as distinct from the Nefesh HaKhayim, "kosher" evolution. Why? because this is the first time that I learned of the Divine creative process growing man from lower forms to higher forms and incorporating their characteristics along the way as a pre-planned necessary part of the creative growth process. HaShem did not enunciate a phrase and cause a full-blown/grown human being to appear as was the case with e.g. light. He moved man along He, pardon the expression, evolved man, from lower forms to higher forms. Very interesting!
Qedusha Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
_____________________
1. Per tradition according to our liturgy that includes the phrase היום הרת עולם = "Today is the birth/conception of the Cosmos" the first of the days of Creation (i.e. "let there be light!") was on 25 Elul. Making the sixth day, the day of human creation 1 Tishrei AKA Rosh Hashanah.
2. I wonder if this branching out includes the human head? Or is the head the subterranean (in this case sub-heavenly) "root" from which the main trunk grows? I dunno. Ask your LOQ=Local Orthodox Qabalist.
3. Parenthetically, the verbiage if Khazal "casting a soul" differs from that of the Torah itself that speaks of "breathing / exhaling a soul". This lack of agreement requires (at least by me ) further study. Moreover the moment of Divine respiration kavayakhol is identified by the Targum Onkelos as the moment of Adam achieving uniquely human speech and not as achieving a level that man shares in common with lower animals. Whether the Mahral and the Onkelos are arguing or speaking of two different junctures in the creation of Adam I do not know.
In this post I will share a commentary of the Mahral in Khidushei Aggados with you that came to me as an eye-opening revelation. I first discovered it before Rosh Hashanah while reviewing the season-appropriate sugya of the Creation of אדם הראשון =the first human(s )1. Still, as I was not yet ready to post about it then and as this IS שבת בראשית coming up I feel it is appropriate to post it now. I hope that it will enhance your upcoming Shabbos, especially the laining.
Here (Sanhedrin 38B) is the Gemara the Mahral elucidates:
Rav Yokhanan bar Kahnina said; The days length is 12 hours ; during hour 1 Adams dust was gathered. During hour 2 he was made into a גולם = a "raw" material mass lacking form. Hour 3 his limbs emerged/ extruded. Hour 4 a soul was cast into him. Hour 5 he stood upon his feet. Hour 6 he named names...
The balance of the Gemara is equally fascinating but not relevant to the Mahral's novellae.
Qabalists posit a four tiered pecking order in G-d' s creation they are: דומם=Domem= inert/mineral, literally silent; צומח =Tzome-yakh= botanic life, literally sprouting/growing; חי =Khai =animate/ living/animal life; מדבר =Medaber= human, literally speaker/speech-endowed.
With that short factoid provided, my humble adaptation of the Mahral's commentary here and here follows:
In the third hour his limbs extruded. For after the "mixing of materials" the next level of being is that of the Tzomeyakh i.e. that of expansion and growth. Adams limbs extruded from his undifferentiated mass of a trunk because of his "botanic" capacity to branch out and grow 2. During the fourth hour when a soul was cast into him he incorporated the animate/animal (moving) capacity of all higher-than-rooted/immobile/botanic living things3. But in the fifth hour when he stood up erect on his feet he finally achieved a uniquely human developmental level.
For the first level of "Golem" is that of the mineral, the level of limb extrusion is that of the plant and the level of soul is shared by the animals. However walking with an erect posture is uniquely human. For all the other בעלי חיים = animals walk with their faces downcast towards the ground. Whereas a human being walks upright. For he is the King of all the "takhtonim"=creatures of the material/lower world. It behooves a King to move about upright and, in this world, nothing surpasses (lords over) human beings. This is why all the animals walk with a horizontal/bent posture for they are as slaves exhibiting subservience (by lowering their heads) to their master/king. This (walking upright) is the level of man created "in the image of Elokim".
I had always known that the human being was a microcosm and that the cryptic words נעשה אדם = "let US make man" were HaShem's invitation to the macrocosm to inject their "input", their essence, into the microcosm known as man so that, in turn, mans thoughts, words and deeds would determine the fate of the macrocosm. This is, more or less, the lesson of Sha'ar 1 Perek 3 of Nefesh HaKhayim
Yet I still found this Mahral to be eye opening. I also call this approach, as distinct from the Nefesh HaKhayim, "kosher" evolution. Why? because this is the first time that I learned of the Divine creative process growing man from lower forms to higher forms and incorporating their characteristics along the way as a pre-planned necessary part of the creative growth process. HaShem did not enunciate a phrase and cause a full-blown/grown human being to appear as was the case with e.g. light. He moved man along He, pardon the expression, evolved man, from lower forms to higher forms. Very interesting!
Qedusha Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
_____________________
1. Per tradition according to our liturgy that includes the phrase היום הרת עולם = "Today is the birth/conception of the Cosmos" the first of the days of Creation (i.e. "let there be light!") was on 25 Elul. Making the sixth day, the day of human creation 1 Tishrei AKA Rosh Hashanah.
2. I wonder if this branching out includes the human head? Or is the head the subterranean (in this case sub-heavenly) "root" from which the main trunk grows? I dunno. Ask your LOQ=Local Orthodox Qabalist.
3. Parenthetically, the verbiage if Khazal "casting a soul" differs from that of the Torah itself that speaks of "breathing / exhaling a soul". This lack of agreement requires (at least by me ) further study. Moreover the moment of Divine respiration kavayakhol is identified by the Targum Onkelos as the moment of Adam achieving uniquely human speech and not as achieving a level that man shares in common with lower animals. Whether the Mahral and the Onkelos are arguing or speaking of two different junctures in the creation of Adam I do not know.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Lost in this Masquerade
I don't know whether to laugh or cry about this one.
A recent issue of the Forward reports that a Toronto based Chabad affiliated fashion designer, one Mendy Sacho, is bringing joy to the hearts of scores of customers expressing their suppressed individuality through his custom Kapotas. You see Mendys Kapotas differ from traditional, off-the-rack models. Whereas the standard issue Kapotas are monochromatic black Mendy's feature colored, and in some radical cases (be still my heart) logo-ed linings. Yep...nothing says "I'm unique....just like everyone else" like a black Kapota with a red lining.
For those still short-in-the-tooth there's also a "mini" model available which presumably has the hem of the Kapota falling to mid-thigh rather than to the traditional knee-length. (Mendy ...I hate to break this to you but some Kharedi designer back in Oberland beat you to this one by I guesstimate...about a century. In Williamsburg and Boro Park this look is known as the "drai-fertel"). Who knows? Maybe as this fashionista continues to push the envelope the sky 's the limit and hemlines may rise to heights of traditional non-Kapota suits or sports jackets or (SHUDDER) even HIGHER to the rarefied מתחת אין עוד altitudes!
I'm sorry but I've rarely heard of anything so juvenile, nay, infantile, vapid and sorry in all my days. Are my fellow black and white Kharedim so insecure in their own individuality that they need to be color-coded to validate it? And if the answer is yes are you so much part of the herd mentality that you fear showing your "true-colors" in public? Are you testifying that your culture is so tyrannical that you'd be persecuted for the crime of clothing yourself in attire that is neither black or white so that , like some 15th century converso, you must keep it hidden from Kharedi inquisitors? One thing is certain; this two-faced attire will not produce any TKs. As our sages teach us: כל תלמיד חכם שאין תוכו כברו אינו תלמיד חכם= "Any one who's interior is inconsistent with his exterior is no true Talmid Khakham!"
At this point the phenomenon seems to be limited to Lubavitcher Khasidim. I leave speculation to others with more passionate opinions about Chabad-Lubavitch pro and con than my own as to how, if in any way, this inward tinting derives from a civilization that has yet to achieve closure over the more than decade old death of it's towering, colorful-in-black-and-white, charismatic leader.
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Chol HaMoed Purgatory
For well over a generation now, Jewish children have been trained to extort tribute from their parents and/or grandparents. As surely as the X-tian Child expects his/her stocking stuffed or tree foot-hilled with gifts the Jewish Child expects, nay demands, Chol HaMoed outings. Owing to my spinelessness and fatigue I acquiesce to this Chol HaMoed outing madness. As is the case with so much else I’m uncomfortable with in Kharedi society, I go along to get along.
Yet there are two small ways in which I passive-aggressively register my protest. My kids young and old alike know that my idea of a perfect Chol HaMoed outing is one that is both free of charge and Judenrein. I mean- why travel 50 plus miles and spend oodles of cash to get the same claustrophobic feeling and gaze at the same overly familiar countenances as you would at your local minyan factory? In my organization of reality travel and trips are supposed to be broadening and about achieving some “otherness”… some change-of-pace.
I am happy to report that during the tiresome FIVE DAY Chol HaMoed just past I was able to avoid trips altogether the final two days (Hoshanna Rabbah is never a trip day in any event) and of the three days that we did schlep out; two of them met my criteria. Although admittedly, one was a flop (unpopular Judenrein places generally get to be that way for a reason). I only had to fight off the madding crowds on "Day One" of Chol HaMoed. So score it Bray 2 Braylings/ Kharedi convention 1.
Mrs. Bray has an aunt with the not-so-nice habit of leaving out one vital ingredient whenever she shares one of her sought after recipes, the better to retain her unique status as the supreme cook/baker with. To honor her spirit I will not divulge WHERE I took the family on day two of Chol HaMoed as I value my solitude and plan on revisiting the venue on future occasions. Who knows? With my Schlimazel if I to divulged it here I'd probably garner 10.000 hits on this post and have to fend off marauding crowds of my coreligionists with a Bedikas Khometz spoon come Chol HaMoed Pesakh.
Yet there are two small ways in which I passive-aggressively register my protest. My kids young and old alike know that my idea of a perfect Chol HaMoed outing is one that is both free of charge and Judenrein. I mean- why travel 50 plus miles and spend oodles of cash to get the same claustrophobic feeling and gaze at the same overly familiar countenances as you would at your local minyan factory? In my organization of reality travel and trips are supposed to be broadening and about achieving some “otherness”… some change-of-pace.
I am happy to report that during the tiresome FIVE DAY Chol HaMoed just past I was able to avoid trips altogether the final two days (Hoshanna Rabbah is never a trip day in any event) and of the three days that we did schlep out; two of them met my criteria. Although admittedly, one was a flop (unpopular Judenrein places generally get to be that way for a reason). I only had to fight off the madding crowds on "Day One" of Chol HaMoed. So score it Bray 2 Braylings/ Kharedi convention 1.
Mrs. Bray has an aunt with the not-so-nice habit of leaving out one vital ingredient whenever she shares one of her sought after recipes, the better to retain her unique status as the supreme cook/baker with. To honor her spirit I will not divulge WHERE I took the family on day two of Chol HaMoed as I value my solitude and plan on revisiting the venue on future occasions. Who knows? With my Schlimazel if I to divulged it here I'd probably garner 10.000 hits on this post and have to fend off marauding crowds of my coreligionists with a Bedikas Khometz spoon come Chol HaMoed Pesakh.
Have you had YOUR Qedusha -Havdala today??? Hmmm???
Friday, October 2, 2009
A Happy Happy Time
Enjoy Z'man Simkahsenu everyone. Just remember any joy that doesn't enhance your sense of Qedusha -Havdala is sad indeed.
This will be the last post until on or before October 13th blee neder.
This will be the last post until on or before October 13th blee neder.
Some Heartbreaks Transcend Havdala
In what for this lonely blog constitutes a deluge of condemnation (2 or 3 critical comments) I was savaged by my readers for my insensitive treatment of the national attention grabbing homicide of Annie Le, perhaps deservedly so. But by way of the spirit of the season I offer this post as a partial penance, assuming that such is called for, and to illustrate that as calcified and calloused as my heart is it is yet capable of breaking over the tragedies of even non-Jewish human beings.
I have been ois mentch = disturbed to the point of distraction, since several days after Rosh Hashanah. Before I relate why let me give you some background.
Mrs. Brays OB-GYN is Dr. Clarel Antoine who specializes in High-Risk pregnancies and works out of NYU medical Center one of NYC leading teaching University Hospitals. He is considered a top man in the field. Additionally he is a gentleman of the first order, treats his patients with sensitivity and respect and has a bedside manner that hearkens to a bygone, unhurried and courtly era. He is aware of and sensitive to Taharas haMishpakha Halakhic issues and I’d guesstimate that upwards of 65% of his practice are Kharedi women. Anecdotally whenever I’ve accompanied the Mrs. there, his waiting room was packed with husbands and wives that looked like they were from central casting call seeking Williamsburg and Lakewood types. Many of his patients were challenged with multiple miscarriages and/or fetal demises, placenta privaea and a host of other conditions that prevented live-healthy births. Through his education and skill Dr. Antoine has served as the aibershter’s gitte shliakh to deliver hundreds of babies who might otherwise never have been born. My personal debt of gratitude to him is indescribable and infinite. As I am a havdala conscious "racist" I feel it necessary to mention that the good Doctor is an immigrant from "the Islands".
A few days after Rosh HaShanah The Mrs. returned from a routine appointment with her OB-GYN bearing the following tragic news: In the post appointment conference the Doctor inquired after the welfare of our kids, three of whom he had delivered. Mrs. Bray, ever the mentch, reciprocated and asked the Doctor how his son and daughter were doing. “What…you didn’t hear? I thought the community was aware”. “I don’t live in Williamsburg Doctor, why is something wrong?” “Our son never showed up at home for the X-mas holiday. He was found dead in his apartment in Cambridge”. Among other things the Doctor intimated that he suspected foul play and that he had harbored a secret dream that his only son, Clarel Antoine II might change his major from music to biology and one day take over his practice.
While it's אסור להרהר אחר מדותיו יתברך = "forbidden to brood over divine justice" I couldn’t help but wonder at the apparent, and I repeat superficial and apparent poetic injustice of it all. Here was a man who had been הזכאי שמגלגלין זכות על ידו = "the good one who is chosen by Providence as a conduit to deliver good", a man through whose agency hundreds of yiddisher kinder who might otherwise have perished in uteri were brought into this world, many to descendants of Holocaust survivors. And his reward? The loss of his one and only son. A gifted musician who was attending the countries finest university.
ברוך דיין האמת= Blessed is the just and true judge, but it tears at my heart still.
I have been ois mentch = disturbed to the point of distraction, since several days after Rosh Hashanah. Before I relate why let me give you some background.
Mrs. Brays OB-GYN is Dr. Clarel Antoine who specializes in High-Risk pregnancies and works out of NYU medical Center one of NYC leading teaching University Hospitals. He is considered a top man in the field. Additionally he is a gentleman of the first order, treats his patients with sensitivity and respect and has a bedside manner that hearkens to a bygone, unhurried and courtly era. He is aware of and sensitive to Taharas haMishpakha Halakhic issues and I’d guesstimate that upwards of 65% of his practice are Kharedi women. Anecdotally whenever I’ve accompanied the Mrs. there, his waiting room was packed with husbands and wives that looked like they were from central casting call seeking Williamsburg and Lakewood types. Many of his patients were challenged with multiple miscarriages and/or fetal demises, placenta privaea and a host of other conditions that prevented live-healthy births. Through his education and skill Dr. Antoine has served as the aibershter’s gitte shliakh to deliver hundreds of babies who might otherwise never have been born. My personal debt of gratitude to him is indescribable and infinite. As I am a havdala conscious "racist" I feel it necessary to mention that the good Doctor is an immigrant from "the Islands".
A few days after Rosh HaShanah The Mrs. returned from a routine appointment with her OB-GYN bearing the following tragic news: In the post appointment conference the Doctor inquired after the welfare of our kids, three of whom he had delivered. Mrs. Bray, ever the mentch, reciprocated and asked the Doctor how his son and daughter were doing. “What…you didn’t hear? I thought the community was aware”. “I don’t live in Williamsburg Doctor, why is something wrong?” “Our son never showed up at home for the X-mas holiday. He was found dead in his apartment in Cambridge”. Among other things the Doctor intimated that he suspected foul play and that he had harbored a secret dream that his only son, Clarel Antoine II might change his major from music to biology and one day take over his practice.
While it's אסור להרהר אחר מדותיו יתברך = "forbidden to brood over divine justice" I couldn’t help but wonder at the apparent, and I repeat superficial and apparent poetic injustice of it all. Here was a man who had been הזכאי שמגלגלין זכות על ידו = "the good one who is chosen by Providence as a conduit to deliver good", a man through whose agency hundreds of yiddisher kinder who might otherwise have perished in uteri were brought into this world, many to descendants of Holocaust survivors. And his reward? The loss of his one and only son. A gifted musician who was attending the countries finest university.
ברוך דיין האמת= Blessed is the just and true judge, but it tears at my heart still.
May HaShem comfort Dr. Antoine among the many mourners for Zion and Jerusalem whom he has brought the joy and comfort of live-childbirth to.
Qedusha-Havdala...have you recalibrated Yours today??? Hmmm???
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Recalibrating Havdala Consciousness Part II
Continued as overheard in the Shabbos Shuva Drasha:
I received a kunteres in the mail recently about Rav Kanarek z"l the Rosh Yeshiva of Peakskill Yeshiva. He was a Kaminetzer talmid and the kunteres relates many amazing anecdotes about Rav Boruch Ber Lebowitz. Each one is interesting in it's own right but they are even more fascinating and enlightening when considered together because they illustrate how acute Rav Boruch Ber's sense of אתה בחרתנו מכל העמים was.
Story #1: As is the case in many communities Kaminetz had it's share of mentally unstable Jews who roamed the streets and were not institutionalized. One such Jew, the type who never has a problem finding a seat in a crowded Shul because, owing to his infrequent bathing, people always give him a very wide berth, lived in Kaminetz. Besides being malodorous he was repulsively unkempt and invariably dressed in filthy off-putting rags. Still, whenever this Jew would come to Bais Medrash, Rav Boruch Ber made a bee-line over to him, put his arm around him, conversed with him and led him to a comfortable spot near the wood burning oven that was the sole source of heat.
Story#2. Rav Kanarek was privileged to be among the 2 bokhurim who would escort Rav Boruch Ber from his home to his Yeshiva daily. They would loop their arms into his and lead him through the streets of Kaminetz. Not because he was too old and infirm to get there under his own power but because he kept his eyes tightly shut whenever out on the street lest he behold a non-Jew. He said that seeing a non-Jew affected his Qedusha in a way that made Torah study difficult for him the entire balance of the day. One day as he was leaving his home he was accosted by his new non-Jewish letter carrier who extended his hand in greeting to the Rosh Yeshiva. Nu, דרך ארץ trumps all so Rav Boruch Ber clasped his hand. But for the rest of that day Rav Boruch Ber interrupted his study every few minutes to go lave his hands.
Story #3: Rav Boruch Ber was not known for his worldliness and lived in the era when the great World War II leaders were coming into their own. In particular FDR enjoyed almost Messianic status among much of the US electorate. As American Jews of the time put it: " א איד לייבט אין דריי וועלטען: דער וועלט, יענע ועלט און
רוזע-וועלט "= A Jew must live in three worlds, this world, the world -to-come and Roose-VELT! Yet one November in twenties (thirties???) he asked some bokhurim "Who won the US election, Hoover or Roosevelt?" The bokhurim were perplexed as to why, all of a sudden, their Rebbe had taken so keen an interest in current events. He answered: "I make a brakha every morning thanking HaShem שלא עשני גוי = 'for not having created me a gentile'. Do you think that when I pronounce that brakha I'm thinking about a drunken Ivan wallowing in the gutter? No! I want to have a mental picture of the most esteemed non-Jew in the world. The supreme powerful leader of the Western world...the president of the USA! And about HIM I want to thank the Aibershter שלא עשני גוי !"
The same hand that was not repulsed by the most repulsive Jew was "shaken" for having shaken the hand of a benign non-Jew. The same heart that somehow saw through the schizophrenia and grime of the local Meshugerner to be smitten by the Jewishness lurking beneath was not beguiled by the wealth , popularity and power of the Roose-VELT!
Our sense of Qedusha-Havdala ought not to lead us to revile non-Jews. We must first learn to appreciate humanity in all its beauty, pathos and genius and only then take the quantum leap of appreciating the ineffable greatness of the ben u'bas yisrael. as Rebee Aqiva put it:
חביב אדם שנברא בצלם; חיבה יתרה נודעת לו שנברא בצלם, שנאמר "כי בצלם אלוהים, עשה את האדם" (בראשית ט,ו). חביבין ישראל שנקראו בנים למקום; חיבה יתרה נודעת להם שנקראו בנים למקום, שנאמר "בנים אתם, לה' אלוהיכם" (דברים יד,א). חביבין ישראל, שניתן להם כלי שבו נברא העולם; חיבה יתרה נודעת להם שניתן להם כדי שבו נברא העולם, שנאמר "כי לקח טוב, נתתי לכם; תורתי, אל תעזובו" (משלי ד,ב).
After the drasha, while klopping ahl khets on Yom haQodosh something occurred to me. Maybe this corruption of Havdala consciousness is yet another iteration of the serious sin of Khlul haShem. After all, the passage of our liturgy that begins with אתה בחרתנו מכל העמים culminates with ושמך הגדול והקדוש עלינו קראת in other words identifying HaShem's Name with Bnei Yisrael is the logical conclusion of Jewish chosenness and uniqueness. All who would void Jews of any innate difference or holiness vis a vis the nations of the earth altogether or even partially void them of same by underestimating the great and exalted worth of the balance of humanity has, in essence, not just failed a Havdala Concsiousness litmus test but has desecrated THE Name.
Qedusha-Havdala have you recalibrated YOURS today...hmmm???
I received a kunteres in the mail recently about Rav Kanarek z"l the Rosh Yeshiva of Peakskill Yeshiva. He was a Kaminetzer talmid and the kunteres relates many amazing anecdotes about Rav Boruch Ber Lebowitz. Each one is interesting in it's own right but they are even more fascinating and enlightening when considered together because they illustrate how acute Rav Boruch Ber's sense of אתה בחרתנו מכל העמים was.
Story #1: As is the case in many communities Kaminetz had it's share of mentally unstable Jews who roamed the streets and were not institutionalized. One such Jew, the type who never has a problem finding a seat in a crowded Shul because, owing to his infrequent bathing, people always give him a very wide berth, lived in Kaminetz. Besides being malodorous he was repulsively unkempt and invariably dressed in filthy off-putting rags. Still, whenever this Jew would come to Bais Medrash, Rav Boruch Ber made a bee-line over to him, put his arm around him, conversed with him and led him to a comfortable spot near the wood burning oven that was the sole source of heat.
Story#2. Rav Kanarek was privileged to be among the 2 bokhurim who would escort Rav Boruch Ber from his home to his Yeshiva daily. They would loop their arms into his and lead him through the streets of Kaminetz. Not because he was too old and infirm to get there under his own power but because he kept his eyes tightly shut whenever out on the street lest he behold a non-Jew. He said that seeing a non-Jew affected his Qedusha in a way that made Torah study difficult for him the entire balance of the day. One day as he was leaving his home he was accosted by his new non-Jewish letter carrier who extended his hand in greeting to the Rosh Yeshiva. Nu, דרך ארץ trumps all so Rav Boruch Ber clasped his hand. But for the rest of that day Rav Boruch Ber interrupted his study every few minutes to go lave his hands.
Story #3: Rav Boruch Ber was not known for his worldliness and lived in the era when the great World War II leaders were coming into their own. In particular FDR enjoyed almost Messianic status among much of the US electorate. As American Jews of the time put it: " א איד לייבט אין דריי וועלטען: דער וועלט, יענע ועלט און
רוזע-וועלט "= A Jew must live in three worlds, this world, the world -to-come and Roose-VELT! Yet one November in twenties (thirties???) he asked some bokhurim "Who won the US election, Hoover or Roosevelt?" The bokhurim were perplexed as to why, all of a sudden, their Rebbe had taken so keen an interest in current events. He answered: "I make a brakha every morning thanking HaShem שלא עשני גוי = 'for not having created me a gentile'. Do you think that when I pronounce that brakha I'm thinking about a drunken Ivan wallowing in the gutter? No! I want to have a mental picture of the most esteemed non-Jew in the world. The supreme powerful leader of the Western world...the president of the USA! And about HIM I want to thank the Aibershter שלא עשני גוי !"
The same hand that was not repulsed by the most repulsive Jew was "shaken" for having shaken the hand of a benign non-Jew. The same heart that somehow saw through the schizophrenia and grime of the local Meshugerner to be smitten by the Jewishness lurking beneath was not beguiled by the wealth , popularity and power of the Roose-VELT!
Our sense of Qedusha-Havdala ought not to lead us to revile non-Jews. We must first learn to appreciate humanity in all its beauty, pathos and genius and only then take the quantum leap of appreciating the ineffable greatness of the ben u'bas yisrael. as Rebee Aqiva put it:
חביב אדם שנברא בצלם; חיבה יתרה נודעת לו שנברא בצלם, שנאמר "כי בצלם אלוהים, עשה את האדם" (בראשית ט,ו). חביבין ישראל שנקראו בנים למקום; חיבה יתרה נודעת להם שנקראו בנים למקום, שנאמר "בנים אתם, לה' אלוהיכם" (דברים יד,א). חביבין ישראל, שניתן להם כלי שבו נברא העולם; חיבה יתרה נודעת להם שניתן להם כדי שבו נברא העולם, שנאמר "כי לקח טוב, נתתי לכם; תורתי, אל תעזובו" (משלי ד,ב).
After the drasha, while klopping ahl khets on Yom haQodosh something occurred to me. Maybe this corruption of Havdala consciousness is yet another iteration of the serious sin of Khlul haShem. After all, the passage of our liturgy that begins with אתה בחרתנו מכל העמים culminates with ושמך הגדול והקדוש עלינו קראת in other words identifying HaShem's Name with Bnei Yisrael is the logical conclusion of Jewish chosenness and uniqueness. All who would void Jews of any innate difference or holiness vis a vis the nations of the earth altogether or even partially void them of same by underestimating the great and exalted worth of the balance of humanity has, in essence, not just failed a Havdala Concsiousness litmus test but has desecrated THE Name.
Qedusha-Havdala have you recalibrated YOURS today...hmmm???
Recalibrating Havdala Consciousness
Overheard at the recent Shabbos Shuva Drasha of a prominent Rav:
I want you to know that while I am fully aware of both the Mishna and the Rav Chaim Vital I have a much sharper awareness of the gulf that divides Jew from gentile than those silly people who consider non-Jews Behaimos, Vildeh Khayos.
Qedusha-Havdala....Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
Part II to follow.
I get around the country quite a bit and I can tell you that the number one Hashqafic problem afflicting American Jews today is the issue of אתה בחרתנו מכל העמים : for out of town Jews who work, study and generally interact with non-Jews far more than Jews in the Northeast do the problem is most acute as they sense little or no difference between themselves and gentiles. But there is a great אתה בחרתנו מכל העמים problem for Jews in Lakewood, Monsey and Brooklyn as well. Many of them only seem to be able to "feel" their own Jewishness by dehumanizing non-Jews. They will say "the Goyim are Behaimos, Vildeh Khayos" or other pejoratives. I don't understand them. Are they unaware of the Mishna in Avos that says חביב האדם שנברא בצלם =fortunate is man who was created in the Divine image? As a matter of fact Rav Chaim Vital writes that it is a Mitzvah to love EVERY human being so long as they are not reshoim.
I want you to know that while I am fully aware of both the Mishna and the Rav Chaim Vital I have a much sharper awareness of the gulf that divides Jew from gentile than those silly people who consider non-Jews Behaimos, Vildeh Khayos.
Qedusha-Havdala....Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
Part II to follow.
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