Ah Frailikhen Purim

to one and all (six).

I Doubt I'll be posting again until isru khag of Shushan Purim the earliest. In the meantime remember three vital points:
1. Happy or depressed... it's always good to be frailakh.
2. Remember not to drink too little.
3. Havadala consiousness is raised on Purim as at no other time of the year. Use your yayin enhanced eyes to pierce all the layers of similarity and even equation to dig deep for the buried treasure of havdala bein borukh l'orur.
Qedusha-havdala...If you haven't had yours by sunday....have another shot!

well i hope you are happy now

that I can't post by you and have decided posting independently is an exercise in futility you have accomplished your goal of excommunicating me from the circle of J-bloggers.

All in a years work.

Confession and Confusion

Well, as we've learned מפי ספרים ומפי סופרים that
יום הכפורים=יום [כ] פורים i.e. that Yom Kippur is a day akin to Purim I suppose it's about time again for a bit of ווידוי דברים or at least ווידוי b דברי.

While it is well established in the Poskim that one ought to spend more on Matonos L'Evyonim than on Shalakh Monos I confess to not living up to the demands of this p'sak.

As I suppose is the case in most families we have a division of labor in which the Brayeena does the Shalakh Manos shopping and/or food prep and packaging and the kids and I handle the deliveries. In spite of years of beseeching her to tone down the Shalakh Manos in terms of both quality and quantity, they just seem to grow and multiply from year to year.

That my Matanos L'evyonim fall short of what Halakha demands is another particular detail caused by my generally poor money management skills and krum value system. It is also composed of equal parts of niggardly, stingy cheapness, overspending on Shalakh Manos, under-giving of Tzedaka and feeling "removed" from Matanos L'evyonim (always done through a middle-man or various organizations) while personally "involved"in Shalakh Manos. Also, as I am unlikely to raise the level of my Matanos L'evyonim any time in this gilgul, I've decided to pick other fights to shter sholom bayis! That I regret giving so many/much Shalakh Manos as opposed to too few/little Matanos L'evyonim might have less to do with remorse about not hewing to the Halakhic demands of the holiday than with my curmudgeonly anti-social personality type.

Am I alone on this?

עד כאן confession מכאן ואילך confusion : We all know that the overriding theme of Seudas Purim-נכנס יין יצא סוד , the Megillah (being Megaleh the Hester) and many other Purim Minhagim is that the geulah from גלות פרס ומדי as distinct from the geulos from גלות מצרים וגלות יון was wrought by hidden rather than open miracles. What I lack clarity on is establishing a clear Havdala between the concepts of ניסים נסתרים and השגחה פרטית (if, indeed, one needs to be established at all). Is it hashgakha for as long as we are maintained in golus but a neis nistar when we are redeemed from same? Is it that we have faith in Hashgakha but have evidence for Nisim Nistarim? Are the two terms actually synonymous but it's just that we need Nevi'im like Mordekhai HaTzadik or Rabbi Hanoch Teller (sorry, couldn't resist) to connect the dots for us? If these two terms are synonymous then are nisim nistarim related to open nisim or antithetical to them and, if it's the latter, why are both Hanhogos called Nisim?
Qedusha-Havdala...have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

The Aftermath Begins

The aftermath of the efforts to save Martin Grossman A"H from capital punishment has begun. When or how it will end is anybodies guess. Monday I received this form email form the Aleph Institute in response to the petition that I signed. My fisks appear in blue.

Dear Friend, I'm writing to you as one of over 34,000 people that signed the online petition to save Martin Grossman's life. Another thirty thousand people also signed paper petitions as well. Tens of thousands of others called the Governor's office and sent faxes and emails. In all, over one thousand people took steps to help save the life of another human being.

Huh??? A mere 1000 + generated 75,000 plus petition signatures emails and faxes? Talk about voting early and often! I'm no CPA but the numbers don't seem to crunch properly.

I personally spent four hours with Martin on the day of his execution and I can tell you that this outpouring of love and warmth from the world Jewish community gave him comfort and strength.
Nice.
Martin passed away as a true Bal Teshuva, he took responsibility for his actions, expressed his most sincere remorse for his behavior and became a very humble and caring human being.

Debatable. I'll acknowledge that he died speaking and perhaps behaving like a "true" Bal Teshuva but (and I've already made this point in a previous post) as teshuva is a mitzvah fulfilled in the heart how can any human being testify to it's successful accomplishment?. Another couple of points :

1. Why SHOULD he have taken responsibility for his actions? He had a 77 IQ and was further impaired by both prescription and recreational drugs and mental and emotional instability that were the products of growing up in a dysfunctional family. He might have regretted being G-d's tool for Ms. Parkers death שמגלגלין חוב על ידי חייב but in no way was HE the responsible party. Or at least that's what I thought we were supposed to claim in our calls and emails to the Governor and clemency board!

2. At the risk of being cold if we posit that he was a Halakhic שוטה and, as such, irresponsible for his negative deeds of what value are his positive ones? A שוטה cannot exercise בחירה חפשית = free will decision making. (S)he will get no punishment from either the terrestrial or celestial courts for their Aveiros but, similarly, will reap no rewards for their Mitzvos. For in spite of any ceremony they may have underwent at 12-13, as a שוטה they are NOT b'nei/bnos Mitzvah. Who really cares if he donned Tefillin or not or if he did Teshuva or not? All of his actions a are essentially meaningless and carry a neutral ethical/moral charge like those of a tiger or a kitten. Of course the balance of Jewish Society is commanded to "separate them from forbidden things" so I sure hope that Rabbi Katz from Aleph institute made sure that Martin's last chicken sandwich was Empire and not Purdue... but as for Martin himself? I am as unimpressed with his Mitzvos as I was supposed to be unperturbed by his Aveiros.

I think that Rav Moshe z"l may have a teshuva about khinukh in Mitzvos for Down-Syndrome kids. Can anyone provide a mareh moqom please and/or say if this is comparable?

Martin had no anxiety or fear of his imminent death because he knew about and felt the love that his brothers and sisters had for him around the world.

What kind of gobbledygook is this? Feeling love negates existential angst? There are some supernal Tzadikim who fear G-d more than death but as for the rest of us???

By signing this petition you fulfilled the greatest Mitzvah in the Torah "To Love your Fellow Jew as yourself".

OK. Perhaps so. But let's not get too caught up in self-congratulation. Sending a form email, signing an online petition or even venting in righteous indignation on a blog thread or frum news site is a pretty low-investment fulfillment of the Mitzvah. Heck, we didn't even have to make chit-chat with the tool-for-homicide A"H. Never once did any of us extend him a warm and welcoming Shholom Aleikhem, even at Qiddush Levana.

Martin requested that this show of unity and love amongst Jews from all walks of life should continue and not stop with his death.
Could a man with a 77 IQ articulate such desires? OK I'll take the letter writers word for it.

In fact the last he words he uttered in this world after Shema Yisroel were Ahavat Yisrael (Love of a fellow Jew). Martin's Death was sad and unfortunate
a redundancy. But thanks for saving us the hyperbole of such descriptions as "blood libel", "Government sponsored pogrom", "Travesty" or "miscarriage of justice".

but you can make sure that it was not in vain.
*EYE ROLL*. Here comes the sales pitch.

There are four thousand Jewish inmates just in the United States. There are thousands of Jewish inmates in Israel and in other countries around the world. Martin created an awareness in the Jewish community of the plight of Jewish inmates in the penal system. To lift up the spirits of a Jew in prison is fulfilling "Love your fellow Jew as yourself" on the highest level.
a bold and unsubstantiated assertion. I know that Pidyon Shevuyim is the highest form of Tzedaka but is this truly the highest level of "Love your fellow Jew as yourself"? מהיכא תיתי?Is lifting the spirits of a depressed Jew who find himself outside the penal system worth any less? Is such a Jew LESS worthy of our love by dint of being innocent of crimes that would land them behind bars? Or is the letter writer painting with a broad brush and saying that NO Jew on the outside has a legitimate cause for having a broken spirit? Either way its a preposterous assertion.

In one aspect, there is no worse situation that a human being can be in than prison. When one loses his or her freedom it is even worse than being sick because in prison you lose all control of your own life.

OK. But perhaps not in other aspects. I think most terminal children being serviced by Chai Lifeline are in worse situations than all but perhaps the death row inmates. With this exception. They are innocent of any crimes much less capital offenses.

A person may be in prison for committing a crime and may deserve to be there but we still have to help him or her and show them love and help them to mend their ways and return to society as law abiding and contributing members of society. The Aleph Institute has been working with and assisting Jewish prisoners for close to thirty years all over the United States.
Does the Aleph institute teach/preach more pristine Business Ethics to white-collar criminals or does it work exclusively with violent criminals like Martin A'H?

We want to invite you to become a partner with us in this important Mitzvah. Please visit our website www.alephinstitute.org to learn more about what we do and how you can get involved. You may want to start visiting Jewish prisoners or become a pen pal or donate used or new books. How many of you have Jewish books at home that you no longer have any use for? Why should those books go to the garbage or be buried? There are many other ways that you can help and get involved. Some may just want to donate money to help Aleph fund the correspondence courses we offer or the printing of the books we publish and provide free of charge to Jewish prisoners.
Admirable.

The one thing we should not do is to do nothing at all.
Debatable. At a time of scarce resources of time, money and mentschlikah kokhos who really knows the proper way of triage-ing and allocation? The fact is that before Martins sakonas Nefoshos came to the fore few of us had ever heard of the Aleph institute. While it is no doubt worthy of support maybe for some of us who should be cutting checks to Kollelim, Yeshivos, Tomkhei Shabbos, Chush, Just-One Life, Chai Lifeline etc. first maybe the eitzah vis a vis this appeal is, precisely , to "do nothing at all."? Ask your local moreh horoah.

Thank you again for standing up and making your voice heard. The world needs more people like you who care and are willing to do something about it.
Your welcome, but it really wasn't much and sadly proved to be an exercise in futility at the very least and quite possibly an exercise in counter-productivity.

Rabbi Menachem Katz
The Aleph Institute
9540 Collins Ave
Surfside, FL 33154
mmk@alephinstitute.org
Phone: 305-864-5553
Fax: 305-864-5675
www.alephinstitute.org
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

Now that it is over

and as you know me I'd like to know you. There was plenty of תוכחה גלוי-ה was it concealing אהבה מוסתרת or שנאה כבושה ? Have I ever done you an avla other than blogging? Should I be asking your mekheela for something?

Although you once left an email adress I doubt that you ever check it. You know how to get in touch with me by conventional means but I'd most prefer if you emailed me @ Chaimg613@gmail.com.

A Disturbing Superficial Similarity

While I compulsively obsess over Havdolos, this is the season of ונהפוך הוא turnarounds and, as Purim approaches, I suppose it's in the holiday spirit to (sans spirits?) assume a(n un) consciousness of "not being able to distinguish between the cursed and the blessed".

Within the general category of black (perpetrated) crime there is a disproportionate incidence of black on black crime. This has been well documented. Although interpreting the data in order to discern root causes and/or arrive at solutions are all subjects of raging debates among sociologists, anthropologists, community activists and politicians.

While my evidence is anecdotal at best it seems to me that when it comes to financial chicanery and white collar crime when not jobbing the government more often than not Jews tend to prey on other Jews.

It's sad but true that the greater the victims trust in the perp, the riper are the opportunities for geneiva. We are trained from childhood to view one another as brothers and sisters and, thankfully, in the hours of our need that is precisely how many of our coreligionists behave. But it's the same attitude that allows for affinity Ponzi schemes, Frum neighborhood real-estate swindles and charlatan con-men to flourish.

I'm sure that just below the surface the many qualitative and quantitative differences between Black on Black vs. Jew on Jew crime abound. But on the surface of things the differences are hardly black and white.
Qedusha-Havdala...Can't get yours today here. Look elsewhere.

No Respect For ANYONE! Period

Or...Removing the Fig Leaf

Although I am a Blogger of the Mosaic persuasion and in spite of the fact that one topic/affair has animated and fueled the J-Blogosphere like no other I have studiously recused myself from (almost) all threads dealing with La' A'ffair de' Slifkin. Why? Because I know when I’m REALLY out of my depth. And I’m not referring to molecular or evolutionary Biology. I’m talking about the unplumable mysteries of Divine Creativity. About which our tradition teaches כבוד אלקים הסתר דבר= "It is the honor of Elokim to conceal a matter” and בהדי כבשא דרחמנא למה לך= "What business have you with that which the merciful One concealed?"

I would, however, like to weigh in on one peripheral matter. While rooting for Team Fundie from the sidelines I’ve noticed that Team Oifgeklert's sop to tradition, their fig leaf concealing any unmentionable Qefira, is the claim that it isn’t that they lack, kholila , Emunas Khakhomim, but that the Khakhomim are not in unanimous agreement on these matters and that they, the Oifgeklerta, place their faith in those חכמי הדורות manifesting a more rationalist, less obscurantist bent. They like to hang their Mesorah hat on the likes of the Rambam, the Ralbag, the Yakhin U’Boaz and Rav Samson Rafael Hirsch et al.

Suffice it to say that I was always skeptical of this claim and that I believed, and continue to believe that for the vast majority of those hearting Rabbi Slifkin whatever faith they have, if it can properly be called faith at all, is in modern and post-modern science. If they were able to find Rabbis ancient or contemporary who happened to concur, swell. But even if no such Rabbis could be , their thinking goes that found evolution and an old earth were incontrovertible facts.

Recently the Baal HaBlog that banned me reconfirmed my suspicion. Here are two money quotes still veritably hot off the presses:

From the Some speculation resulting from an odd Onkelos translation Thread
Hirsh is drush because what he said isn't based on anything solid about the actual etymologies of the words. Alter is pshat because he is. (Not hirsh's fault: he didn't know about Ugaritic and the rest)

DB Friday 1:35

From the A Death Penalty Question for RW Jews thread

After I wrote:
Can't link it on Hebrew books.org so I'll do the best I can transcribing:
the Rambam in his Pirush HaMishnayot states:
וזה שזכר ממיעוט המיתה ראוי שיכוונו סנהדרין זה בהתבוננות ומתון בדינין. ואם אינן יכולין, ונתקיימה העדות על מי שחייב מיתה, יש להם להמית אפילו אלף איש ביום אחד כשיזדמן זה שיהיה ראוי על פי תורה.
Wednesday 1:11:33

DovBear responded:
Yeah, the Rambam lived in Muslim Egypt and worked in a harem. We thank him for his opinion, though.
Wednesday 1:28:49.

I’m afraid the fig leaf is off. Concurring Rabbis are a mere marriage of convenience. In DBs opinion the Rabbis were and are, without exception, primitive men who are historically, scientifically and ontologically challenged and their opinions can never be used as arguments from authority.

I rest my case.
Qedusha-havdala. have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

my email adress is

ChaimG613@gmail.com

Attention Trolls

Instead of wasting time attacking 'lil 'ol me before an audience of two... why not join forces and make common cause against a REAL bloggish threat?

I could have used your help here today. It was me against the world.

Tikun Olam Qatan

Today, everyone is getting in on the Tikun Olam act. There's a Tikkun magazine. There's a Tikkun Olam Blog. There's even a blog by Tikun Olam. And while this is an elastic term that means many different things to many different people, even we magical-thinking knuckle-draggers with the narrowest (re: truest) of all interpretations = "to repair the world with the Kingdom of Shakai (Heaven)" think of Tikun Olam in BIG Macro terms. We want a repaired WORLD, or maybe even cosmos, not just a repaired neighborhood or country.

But sages stretching from Khaza"l to the Ibn Ezra (on this weeks Parsha scroll to the end of pasuk Me"m) to Rav Chaim Volozhiner and beyond have taught us that man is a microcosm of the macrocosm, an Olam Qatan. And sometimes it's best to start with immediate and do-able challenges. Maybe all those heaven-bent on Tikun Olam ought to concentrate their efforts on repairing the microcosm.

I say this by way of addendum to yesterday’s first post. To my mind the Midrash examined in that post leaves just one loose end, one unanswered question that might unravel the whole approach: What point would there be in reversing hatred and supplanting it with love if the righteous cause of the hatred was left un-repaired? Are we to believe that after all the favors, after all the shared food and drink that the avaryon = transgressor has not even begun the repair process of the havoc his sin wrecked within both his personal microcosm and the macrocosm? I think not.

The way I figure it the act of altruism that Ruven rendered the "sonei" Shimon effects a Tikun of Shimon's Olam Qatan at least two ways:

1. It begins the munificent cycle of escalating love and admiration. If Shimon truly loves and admire the sinless Ruven then he may begin practicing the sincerest form of flattery and praise...imitation. But even if he falls short of modifying his behavior to become more Ruven-like, the admiration itself means he has effected a tikun and is a changed man. As Rabenu Yonah teaches in Sha'arei Teshuva..,ואיש לפי מהללו the measure of a man is taken by that which he finds praiseworthy.

2.The Avos D'Reb Noson fleshes out Ahron haKohens technique (scroll to Mishna 12) for being mekarev people to Torah. He was friendly and warm to all manner of sinners . The sinner would say "If Ahron understood what I was really all about would he still be so friendly with me? I feel awful and treacherous not validating the faith and confidence this good man has invested in me. I better do Teshuva and clean up my act."

We can all be among Ahrons students this way . By warm towards, and doing favors for others we inspire them to reorder their value system, maybe even do Teshuva and do an major internal Tikun Olam Qatan. The preeka encounter leaves both parties changed men. Ruven will have supplanted his hatred with love. Shimon will too and , additionally , will, on some level, let go of the sin that engendered the hatred in the first place.
Qeduhsa-Havdala...have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

On Second Thought

Earlier this week I opined that I'd rather do without eulogies for Martin "Eddie" Grossman A"H. Today, I'd like to modify my stance.

The clip above is fragmentary and as near as I can decipher the Maspid he is not praising the deceased but bewailing the fractured state of Jewry. I surmise that prior to the segment recorded in the clip he was admiring how the CAUSE of saving Martin Grossman from the death penalty, as distinct from the person of Martin Grossman, brought about a remarkable pan-Jewish unity. Over the last several weeks he had become a larger-than-death symbol of Jewish Unity. Satmar, Lubavitch, Yeshivas, Aguda, NCYI and even far left Jews of the ACLU (albeit for diverse reasons) all said Tehilim and/or contacted the Florida governor and clemency board in a united effort to save him. The Maspid was crying because he'd like something ephemeral and fleeting to be solid and permanent. And IMO this is all well and good.

It's just too bad that we can't put aside our differences and unite when it comes to other more do-able projects.

Again, without (yet) really retracting what I posted earlier, it is also all well and good that Martin seems to have attracted a VERY respectable crowd to his funeral.

But even if a full recording of the hesped or Levaya would show mourners heaping exaggerated praise and honor on the deceased perhaps that too is a good thing and I may have erred , or at least overstated the case,in my earlier post. Maybe there is a unique Jewish genius and Torah sensibility at work here.

Isn't it striking that so many of the Torahs מצוות בין אדם לחבירו are directed towards the most despicable of Jews? Hashovas avaida speaks about returning the אויב 's donkey, preeeka is to the שונא 's donkey, (both of whom are enemies based on their sinning , per Khazal), we learn the prohibition of physical assaults from the sinner who was receiving corporal punishment/ flogging from a court officer, we learn the Mitzvah of honoring human remains by not delaying burial from the corpse of a criminal/sinner guilty of the most heinous of Torah crimes (skeela-כל הנסקלין נתלין ).

The chizuk I get from Martin Grossman's A'H over the top kovod akhron is the same that I derive from my Shabbos Lechem Mishna. I.e. a "kal v'khomer" inspiration. If the Torah wants me to be sensitive to the "bruised feelings" of the inanimate Challahs made to feel useless during Qiddush , instructing me to cover them so that they not "witness" their humiliation, how much more sensitive must I be to save a sentient being from humiliation.

If thousands of Jews were able to wail over the redeeming qualities of a borderline mental incompetent and brutal murderer how much more should we bewail the loss of every average person who לכאורה has many more admirable qualities and untapped potential than Martin had. More to the point, how much more ought we to appreciate and celebrate the lives and qualities of those around us and make sure that none of their potential is squandered while they are still alive, free and functioning!

Pas de Touché דיין ומוכיח

In recent weeks my personal Mashgiakh דיין ומוכיח ויודע upbraided me for breaking bread with a perceived heretic. I also posed a (rhetorical) question wondering whether the Mitzvahs in Mishpatim of being friendly to non-friends were meant to keep the enmity alive or to reduce/eliminate it.

Well Shkoyakh to the the great Shabbos handout Alim LiTerufah (produced by Belz of Antwerp) for bringing this Khazal (A Tankhuma Yoshon and Shemos Rabbah brought in Yalkut Shimoni) to my attention in the Midrash Khakhomom section last Shabbos.

I don't have access to a Tankhuma Yoshon and where the Tankhuma Yoshon text cited in the the Alim LiTerufah differs from that of the way it is cited in the Yalkut I've indicated so in blue letters. Where the Medrash Rabbah text cited in the the Alim LiTerufah differs from that of the way it is cited in the Yalkut I've indicated so in Purple letters.

זשאה"כ "ועז מלך משפט אהב אתה כוננת מישרים משפט וצדקה ביעקב אתה עשית"מהו אתה כוננת מישרים? אמר רבי אלכסנדרי שני חמרים היו מהלכין בדרך והיו שונאין זה לזה, רבץ לו חמרו של אחד מהן . ראה אותו חברו ועבר אצלו. משעבר אמר "כתיב בתורה 'וכי תראה חמור שונאך' " . מיד חזר וטען עמו. התחיל חברו לשוח בלבו אמר "כך היה פלוני אוהבי ולא הייתי יודע אני הייתי סבור שהוא שונאי, ראה איך ריחם עלי כשראה אותי ואת חמורי בדוחק ".
נכנסו לפונדק ואכלו ושתו ביחד ונתאהבו זה לזה. מי גרם להם שעשו שלום ביניהם? על ידי שהבי[ט](נו) זה בתורה הוי "אתה כוננת מישרים" אתה כוננת ישרות לאוהביך, שע"י המשפטים שנתת להם [אפילו] הם עושים מריבה זה עם זה , באין לידי משפט וצדקה והם עושין שלום. הוי " ואלו המשפטים

My humble translation/ adaptation follows:

What is meant by the phrase : "Thou hast established equity" in the pasuk : " The strength also of the king who loveth justice-- Thou hast established equity, Thou hast executed justice and righteousness in Jacob."? Rebee Alexanderi said [it refers to the power of the Torahs laws and Mitzvos to foster peace, and the straightening of "crooked" emotions and relationships. A prime example is] the Mitzvah of preeka (i.e. helping n enemy unload his pack animal collapsing under its load). Imagine this scene: Two donkey drivers who hated one another [presumably because Ruven had caught Shimon doing an Aveira=transgression, and then Shimon reciprocates and the hatred escalates] are traveling the same road. One mans donkey begins to squat under its burden and the other donkey driver passes them by. Shimon calls after Ruven: "Hey... the Torah commands you to help your enemy when you see his donkey collapsing!" Ruven immediately returns down the road and helps Shimon reload the donkey. This gets Shimon thinking " Here I'd thought that Ruven hated me [for my sin] but now I see how much he likes me! I never knew! There he was...Johnny-on-the-spot, a friend in need when my donkey and I were in a tight squeeze!" [Continuing together on their journey] the two of them went into a roadside inn and ate and drank a meal together and they became friendly [lit: beloved to one another]! Who/what caused them to make peace and regain friendship? The Torah they both studied and actualized. This , then, is the meaning of the phrase: "Thou hast established equity"You , HaShem, established equity for those who love You. Through the Mishpatim= statutes that you legislated for them even when they quarrel with one another they arrive at a place of justice and charity/altruism and , lovingly make peace with one another!

The takeaways from this Khazal are heartwarming and manifold:

1. The Divine legislator, desiring Yashrus=equity or, as דיין ומוכיח likes to say, Glattkeit legislated the Mitzvas of preeka u'te'eena (and , presumably, Hashovas Aveidaas well), i.e. of helping enemies in order to break the cycle of hatred and re-establish love. The idea was NOT to help the enemy and then continue considering him your enemy!

2. As per Rav Dessler in Kunteres haKhesed giving engenders love.

3. As Tosafos teaches that even holy/ righteous hatred can metastasize into a toxic mixture of the holy and the petty and as such hate is reciprocal מדה טובה מרובה would dictate that even less- than holy love, but at the very least a holy mitzvah mandated giving/helping love, has the power to create a munificent cycle of escalating friendliness and love.

4. The deal is sealed with sharing food and drink

So in conclusion..דיין ומוכיח, Pas de Touché !
Qedusha-havdala...have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

A Nuanced Article

click.
Pleasantly surprising.

One Picture is Worth 1,000 Chills Up my Spine

I saw this picture of a soldier being deployed in frigid Afghanistan here yesterday. I had a visceral reaction of terror and disgust the moment it met my eyes. Call me a neurotic G2 (a charge that is very easy to make stick) but it immediately evoked images in my mind of the insignia of the Totenkopfverbände, the
"Death Head corps" of the dreaded SS.

It was in Operation Desert Storm during the Presidency of Bush the first that I first caught sight of US Soldiers sporting helmets shaped remarkably like those worn by the Wehrmacht in WW II and German soldiers in WW I. [Leave it to those Germans and their superior engineering!] Since then the Nazi-like design seems to have become de rigueur headgear among a large segment of "biker" motorcyclists. As much as all this gives me the nilly-willys at least I can attribute those helmet designs to superior safety in preventing bullet penetration and/or head/neck injury rather than "imitation being the sincerest form of flattery." This OTOH would seem to serve NO practical purpose other than to afford it's wearer that punishing, death-dealing SS mindset.

Now I don't mean to be Pollyanish. As my anonymous blogging suggests I am a major coward. I've never served in the military, never handled a gun, never had my life threatened and never even been in a fistfight. I understand that, stripped to it's core and shorn of it's bureaucratic Orwellianisms, ALL military action against any enemy whatsoever is about dealing death as widely, efficiently and quickly as possible. As General Patton put it "No bast**d ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bast**d die for his country. " Still as a citizen of the מדינה של חסד (Although, as we all heard yesterday, at times it can be the מדינה של דינים קשים as well!) trying to root for "the good guys" or "our boys" it is, to say the least, disconcerting to see them sporting gear that would have made Goebbels and Himmler smile.
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

Please...spare us the הספדים

It is now 5:50 PM EST. Zero hour for Martin Grossman minus 10 minutes. If an absolute נס נסתר occurs and he is still alive an hour from now I will bl"n delete this post. But, if as I predicted, he is gone I'd like to ask the Kharedi Press, J-Bloggers and s'tam cofee room or Mikva schmoozers; PLEASE spare us the posthumous encomiums.

If you want to continue debating death penalties or insanity pleas be my guest. If you'd like to praise or critique the frum and/or civil liberties communities for their actions or inactions...shkoyakh. But for the love of G-d don't fall into the trap of אחרי מות....קדושים-אמור. Please save praise and admiration for those who've earned it. To do otherwise devalues it when applied to the truly deserving.

It's hard enough to read fluff piece hagiographies that invariably make מלאכי עליון קדושים מרחם אמם out of rambunctious Jewish kids who grew up to, takkeh, be Gedolim and Tzadikim. But it's ekelhoftig to read the same about dysfunctional violent messed up Jewish kids who grew up to be ganovim and Rotzkhim.

The Nascence of a New Frum Reformation???

beginning indigenously in the educational system? Or... just another manipulative megalomaniac hellbent on starting yet another cult?

My Bloggish Buddie Tzig has done a fascinating post on one Rabbi Yoel Roth who, like the prophets of old (and the provocateurs of our era) seems to be giving succor and hope to the disenfranchised while making things uncomfortable for the comfortable.

But is he good for the Jews or bad for the Jews? Probably a bit of both. Only time will tell.

What Suffix Will you Add to Martin Grossmans Name Tomorrow?

I am a pessimist by nature. Despite the best efforts and prayers of thousands of people from frumeh Yidden to civil libertarians opposed to all capital punishment I believe that by 6 PM tonight Martin Grossman will be strapped to the gurney and executed by lethal injection by the state of Florida.

I hope and pray that I am wrong and that the question posed in this posts title turns out to be purely theoretical. Either way, I think it is an intriguing question.

While some have pointed out that many death-rowers with longer rap-sheets and more heinous homicides than Martin have escaped execution I am not so paranoid about justice in the USA, or even in the deep south, as to believe that this is a state-sponsored pogrom-of-one. For whatever reasons Martin could not avoid execution I do not believe that he was executed because of being Jewish. So הקדוש Martin Grossman השם ינקום דמו= "The holy martyr", Martin Grossman, "may G-d avenge his blood" is out of the question.

Which leaves us with two possibilities: Martin Grossman שם רשעים ירקב = "May the name of the wicked rot" or Martin Grossman עליו השלום = "peace be upon him". Allow me to advance arguments for both choices:

Whether one posits a moral non-equivalency between garden variety homicide and Jew-on-Gentile homicide or one merely opposes capital punishment under any and all circumstances one would have to be morally blind and ethically retarded NOT to understand that the murder of Margaret (Peggy) Park was wicked , evil, violent and morally repugnant. We KNOW that the 19 year old Martin committed an act of rishus=evil. His attorneys, handlers and clergyman TELL US that he is full of remorse, repented of his deeds and is a changed man. To which I say:
A. the burden of proof is upon you and
B. As Teshuva is a mitzvah fulfilled in the heart and כִּי לֹא, אֲשֶׁר יִרְאֶה הָאָדָם--כִּי הָאָדָם יִרְאֶה לַעֵינַיִם, וַיהוָה יִרְאֶה לַלֵּבָב. = for it is not as man seeth: for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.' how can any flesh and blood human ever testify beyond a shadow of a doubt that Teshuva was complete, sincere and efficacious?

OTOH while the murder was indubitably an act of pure rishus=evil, if, as some have argued, the perpetrator was within the Halakhic category of a Shoteh= a mental incompetent, irresponsible for their actions then it would not render it's perpetrator a רשע= wicked person. Even if he was/is not a Shoteh perhaps being drug addled or frightened witless about his parole violation at the time could serve as mitigating or even exonerating factors and limudei Z'khus.

But even if all this is false and merely the "less-than-the-whole-truth" stratagems of a good defense attorney and Martin Grossman was, indeed, a רשע , he may no longer be one... posthumously that is.

We believe that there are four categories of sins of ascending severity/ heinousness . The worst category is Khilul HaShem = desecration of the Divine name. Neither Teshuva, Yom Kippur nor suffering can atone for crimes/sins of Khilul HaShem, only the day of death can. That Martin Grossman has suffered and experienced many a Yom Kippur since his crime is a fact. If he really did Teshuva then it follows that his death atoned for his sin and that we may mention his name with the עליו השלום reserved for all "kosher" Jews and not tack the dreaded שם רשעים ירקב on to the name of the deceased.

There is only one question remaining in my mind. Per Torah tradition is there seems to be difference between the spiritually rehabilitative power of corporal and capital punishments. The Mishnah in Makkos 23 A state
כל חייבי כריתות שלקו נפטרו ידי כריתתם שנאמר ונקלה אחיך לעיניך כשלקה הרי הוא כאחיך דברי רבי חנניה בן גמליאל = All those who committed sins punishable by kareis are exempted once they've received corporal punishment (i.e. flogging) as the verse states: "then thy brother should be dishonored before thine eyes. " Once he's been whipped he is (once again like) your brother. IOW any different standard for sentiment or treatment that the Torah allowed towards the sinner prior to the flogging has now been rescinded. His punishment rehabbed him completely. (S)He is, once again, your brother/sister.

But when it comes to capital punishment even posthumously Halakha doesn't allow for burial in a cemetery of "kosher" non-criminal Jews, and we even distinguish among the four levels of capital punishment. e.g. those executed by "stoning" are NOT to be buried together with those executed through "strangulation". It seems that, unlike corporal punishment, capital punishment leaves some taint of the sin/crime in it's wake and that the atonement and rehabilitation is incomplete.

Tonight sometime around 6:30 PM there will be a major דין תורה in בית דין של מעלה . The litigants will be Margaret (Peggy) Park and Martin Grossman. More than 25 years ago, Martin robbed Peggy of her life on December 13, 1984. Tonight, on February 16th 2010, the state of Florida acting on Peggy's behalf, will take away Martins. Who the plaintiff and who the defendant will be in this דין תורה is anybodies guess.
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today...Hmmm???

PSA-Save Martin Grossman!

click

Homicide Havdala

The velt is tummeling about the Jewish murderer slated for capital punishment tomorrow, Martin Grossman.

מכאן ואילך אכתוב בלה"ק. וכל הרוצה להבין יבוא ויבין. הגם שרציחת אינו- יהודי אסורה מ"מ קיל"ן שישראל שהרג גוי אינו חייב מיתה. וזהו מן היסודות הבסיסיות המבדילים בין ישראל לעמים, דהיינו שיש"ערך" יותר גבוה לחייו של כל ישראל-יהיה מי שיהיה העולה על גבי ערך חייו של כל אינו-יהודי יהיה מי שיהיה ובדיני נפשות אין לנו חשבונות של"דינא דמלכותא דינא" וא"כ היתכן שלא נשתדל להציל נפשו של מרטין גרוסמאן מרדת שחת? אין כל ספק שייך אלא בלב המהסס על ההבדלה בין ישראל לעמים או במי שתופס את עצם זהותו יותר כאמירקאי מיהודי

Qedusha-Havdala...Have you has YOURS today? Well if you haven't get some quick. Martin Grossmans life depends on it!

Being Friendly to non-Friends

Two consecutive Mitzvos governing our interpersonal relationships with wicked Jews appear in yesterday’s parsha.

כִּי תִפְגַּע שׁוֹר אֹיִבְךָ, אוֹ חֲמֹרוֹ--תֹּעֶה: הָשֵׁב תְּשִׁיבֶנּוּ, לוֹ=If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.

כִּי-תִרְאֶה חֲמוֹר שֹׂנַאֲךָ, רֹבֵץ תַּחַת מַשָּׂאוֹ, וְחָדַלְתָּ, מֵעֲזֹב לוֹ--עָזֹב תַּעֲזֹב, עִמּוֹ. =If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under its burden, thou shalt forbear to pass by him; thou shalt surely release it with him.
Khazal explain that the Sonei is one whom you, as a single witness, observed committing a sin/sexual indiscretion. The Targum Yonoson describes the Oyev the same way.
Questions:
1. What is the Lashon Qodesh difference between a Sonei and a Oyev ?

2. Are these mitzvahs designed to leave the relationship unchanged? i.e. Do we say that these people were confirmed transgressors before I interacted withthem. Now, although I did them a good turn by returning their lost animals or unloading their collapsing animal I’ve no evidence that they’ve repented of their sins and so, they are still enemies/ haters…or do I say that the goal of the mitzvah is to reduce/eliminate the hatred and enmity?
Qedusha-Havdala…Have you had YOURS today??? Hmm???

Stepping Out of the Red Tent

The Ba'al HaBlog of the Blog that Banned me has, remarkably/ predictably lifted my ban. I await clarification of a recent IM he sent me. I assume he means to allow me to rejoin the team and guest post on his mega-blog. As for commenting there I have already been reinstated ever since he updated his format about two months ago.

I wish I was tech savvy enough to create a survey...but I'm not. And so I put it to the loyal readership of three that I've developed in my 7-8 months of independent blogging: Should or shouldn't I rejoin the DovBear blog as a team member? As an un-rehabilitated attention seeking Narcissist the temptation is great.

Be forewarned: if I rejoin and begin guest posting there again it will mean less activity here as many minutes, days and hours will be consumed in virtual verbal jousting on his inimitable blog where the comments come fast and furious in real time.

Please note: Survey results are in no way binding on this intrepid red-tent blogger. Especially if fewer than three people respond.
Qedusha-Havdala. Apparently I haven't had MINE today!!!

Is it Cruel to be Kind?

I caught an article in the current Forward that got me thinking, again, about what I consider to be an ethically complex issue: Cross-cultural adoption, especially by frum-Jews of non-Jewish children and especially adopting children from biological roots whose ethnicity proclaims their adoptions and conversions like foghorns. And while celebrity serial- adoptive parents like Madonna, Mia Farrow and the Pitts have made this a trendy thing to do, I think that frum Jews really ought to think the ramifications through and not act out of despair and/or misguided kindness.

The heartbreak faced by infertile couples (adoption by singles is a-whole-nother ball of wax) is something that, thank G-d, I can only imagine. The stress for the man about whether or not he'll fulfill the basic mitzvah of פריה ורביה and/or leave any heirs and the woman's angst at not being able to actualize her maternal, nurturing drives must be indescribably painful. Add to the mix the extreme societal pressures emanating from a culture where moderate to large families have become the norm and where almost no one is childless-by-choice-forever and you've got an intoxicating (toxic?) brew of motivations to adopt.

There are many altruistic reasons to adopt as well. Children being put up for adoption by their biological parent(s) almost invariably were born to disadvantaged circumstances ranging from being orphaned or born out of wedlock to dysfunctional parents. From parents mired in extreme poverty to (in the case of adoption of children from the third world) being born into cultures where infant mortality rates are high, basic medical care and rudimentary education is scarce and civil wars, drug-warlords, famines and infectious diseases ravage whole populations.

So why NOT adopt? What could be wrong? (that is, above and beyond whatever problems arise from same-culture/religion/ethnicity adoptions)

By adopting gentiles you are sentencing these children to an onerous lifestyle as members of a despised nation. Conversion to Judaism ought to be a conscious choice made out of deep conviction by a well informed adult. I am aware of the Halakah of הגדילו יכולים למחות = the right of refusal for a minor Ger when (s)he comes of age (though I'll admit ignorance about how/when it is implemented in contemporary Halakha L'Ma'aseh) but I still think that an adoptive Ger's decision in adolescence will be heavily tilted by their desire to please the only parents they've ever known. In some cases I'd surmise that the adoptive parents exert some not-so-subtle guilt-tripping and pressure on these kids to make "the right choice" so that all of the parents love, time, money and efforts will not have been in vein. But it's "all right" for non-Jews to observe only the seven Noahide Mitzvahs. What right have we to "force" them to observe Tarya"g?

There is also the societal issue to consider. Despite the Torahs many admonitions to love Gerim and not to oppress orphans only the naive would say that Frum society today does not discriminate against gerim in a myriad of ways. The problem is exacerbated further when the child is obviously converted, e.g. biologically Asian, Hispanic or African. Such children will be exposed to overt and covert discrimination in school admissions, merciless taunts from their classmates and, when they come of age in this milieu of shidduch crisis, an even tougher row to hoe than the born Jews do, especially the girls.

I both empathize with and have great respect for parents who adopt. They are motivated by the most deeply seated of human needs and desires, by a yearning to do Tikun Olam in their corner of the world in a very meaningful way. These parents hew to the Desslerian paradigm of giving engendering loving rather than loving engendering giving. Moreover Khazal heap great praise on a מגדל יתום בתוך ביתו= "One who raise and orphan in their home". But given the facts on the ground, in the larger scheme of things, is this manner of kindness, cruel?
Qedusha-Havdala...have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

Breaking Bread With the "Enemy"

Dedicated to friends..both near and far

Thank G-d for small favors. Some people are zokhe to personal chefs or trainers while others are zokhe to personal Mashgikhim.

Although my readership is tiny and by any fair reckoning this blog is an abysmal failure Heaven has nevertheless granted me my very own troll whom I have dubbed דין ומוכיח = "Judge and Chastiser". He is ever vigilant, constantly scrutinizing both Hamavdil and other blogs for any hint that I might be diluting my ideological purity especially insofar as all things Satmar are concerned.

Recently he has demanded that I bash and disavow Rabbi E. Fink on account of his guest post on the Blog-that-banned me that, I’ll admit, does not necessarily convey an approach that I’d embrace or even feel fully comfortable with. But I will NOT bash or skewer the man. I like him. On a personal level. Not so my sentiments for דין ומוכיח.

Based on prior experience and wisdom gleaned from Jewish law and lore I’d say that the prime factor explaining my diverse feelings for these two individuals, neither of whom are my Hashqafistic clones, is that I’ve broken bread on two occasions with the good Rabbi but have never met or even exchanged emails with דין ומוכיח . (Though I suspect that he knows who I am) . [edit: Who knows? Perhaps I have. As he has yet to email me during his troll career and I don't know who he is it's hard for me to be sure about this]

Prejudices and preconceived notions rarely survive real life encounters, especially when food and drink lubricate the gears of social interaction. There’s just something about schmoozing with someone over a meal that warms the heart as it fills the digestive tract. This is even truer if the meal has some extra-sensory dimension to it like a simkha or a seudas Shabbos /yom tov.
This is what Khazal meant when they taught. גדולה לגימה שמקרבת את הבריות = "a swallow* is great in that it brings people close to one another" . Khazal were on to something in prohibiting סתם יינם אטו בנותיהם = "Their (the gentiles) generic (non-idolatrous libation) wine because of (it will lead to consorting with) their daughters. " Aware of how powerful drink can be in destroying barriers and in building bridges of friendship and commonality the whole body of Jewish law governing kosher wine was promulgated by Khazal in order to maintain an element of the Havdala בין ישראל לעמים .

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that THE paradigm for baseless hatred, the continuing cause of our bitter exile, was the episode Kamtza and Bar Kamtza- davka , where even the ameliorating power of a seduas mitzvah/ simkha was not ALLOWED to overcome the hatred.

In our times the great Rav Shlomo Freifeld z"l left orders (a tzava'ah?) that his casket was to be constructed from the lumber of his dining room table. “You want to know why my table and not my Seforim shonks? Because it was with this (here, he knocked on his table) that I was mekarev Yidden to their Father in heaven. This is what I want escorting me to the Bais Din shel Ma'alah!”

As a homo-sapiens of the genus RW Yeshivish I know that I’m supposed to hate the all the usual suspects; YU, Lubavitch, Chofetz Chaim , Ner Yisroel, Modern Orthodox et al. And while in the abstract my hating credentials remain impeccable, on a personal level I have many friends or certainly good acquaintances about which I hold good impressions, who answer to all these categories.

And so, in conclusion to דין ומוכיח I say: YOU have lunch or dinner a couple of times with Rabbi Fink. Then let’s talk.
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* the act of ingesting, NOT the small songbird

Snow Day

Here in the Northeast it's snowing cats and dogs. All three of my Northeastern fans should be home from work today and as such ought to have no compunctions or moral dilemmas about surfing the web and beaching themselves upon the shores of innate-differences.blogspot.com.

Today is the day to appreciate my undiscovered prowess by browsing the archives. I expect quadruple my normal traffic and the rapid resurrection of many a post and thread slumbering in the dust.

Hey...a guys allowed to dream aint he?
Qedusha-Havdala. Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

Is Our Hatred Pure and Unadulterated?

I cut my teeth in the J-Blogosphere as a kanous-dika troll calling out a variety of oifgekelerta J-Bloggers, primarily the mega-popular DovBear , for a variety of heretical posts and comments, both real and imagined. While I sometimes veer off and take my eyes off the ball, anyone viewing my profile will see that my stated Raison d'être is to combat Qofrim.

One thing that unites a broad spectrum of Kanoim, both virtual and real, is the conviction that their indignation is righteous, their anger well-earned by those against whom it is directed and their thirst for vengeance as pure and spiritual as the holy fires that stoked it. Ours is not a personal war. It's all business. It's another page in the glorious history of kanous founded by Pinkhos who was not engaged in a personal vendetta but undertook to defend the honor of his Creator.
פִּינְחָס בֶּן-אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן-אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן, הֵשִׁיב אֶת-חֲמָתִי מֵעַל בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, בְּקַנְאוֹ אֶת-קִנְאָתִי, בְּתוֹכָם
Pinkhos, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, turned My wrath away from the children of Israel, in his avenging my jealousy for My sake among them!

I have had some introspective misgivings about the spiritual-psychopathology of some particular instances of kanous in the past but recently I came across a gem of a Tosafos that has now given me pause about the entire enterprise.

Here's the background:

The Talmud in Tractate Pesakhim 113B says that G-d hates three kinds of people. Among others G-d hates a single witness who beheld another Jew committing a transgression/sexual indiscretion who comes forward to testify. Why is such a person hated by G-d? Because his testimony will accomplish nothing ( as two witnesses are the minimum in Halakhic jurisprudence) and all that he's done is sully another Jews reputation and transgressed the Mitzvah of לֹא-יָקוּם עֵד אֶחָד בְּאִישׁ, לְכָל-עָו‍ֹן וּלְכָל-חַטָּאת, בְּכָל-חֵטְא, אֲשֶׁר יֶחֱטָא = One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he commits. This is Lashon Hara 101.

Nevertheless, the Talmud continues, it is Halakhically permissible for the lone witness to hate the sinner, as long as he keeps the reason for his hatred to himself and does not verbally share it with others. In fact, this is the only scenario where it is legally sanctioned for one INDIVIDUAL Jew to hate another and how the phrase "YOUR hated one/ enemy" crept into the Torah. (An unrepentant sinner whose crime was witnessed and reported by two or more witnesses may be hated by all of Israel, i.e. (s)he is a public enemy, as it were.)

The Talmud in Tractate Bava Metzee'ah 32B says that if one must choose between the two Mitzvos of helping ones friend unload a donkey or his (personal enemy) load a donkey the latter mitzva takes precedence. Why? Because it involves a greater suppression of "the inclination to evil." It is "harder" psychologically to help an enemy than a friend and the rule in prioritizing Mitzvos is to go for the one that is harder to accomplish first.

Here is the gem of a Tosafos (Pesakhim 113 B first one on the page שראה בו heading): Why would it be the Yetzer Hara / evil inclination that would be the "force" dissuading a person from helping an enemy? The Mitzva commanding us to help an "enemy" refers to a Jew that I hate because I , as a single witness, observed him committing a sin/crime. The law is on ones side to hate him! As such it must be the Yetzer Tov=inclination to GOOD whispering "hate that despicable sinner" in our ear. How then would helping the legally hated individual constitute a suppression of the Yetzer Hara?

Tosafos answers: It's true that the initial hatred the helper directs towards the enemy donkey owner is pure, good and Torah-sanctioned. However the reciprocal hatred that the donkey owner feels for the single witness who caught him in flagrante delicto , on account of the immutable rule governing human relationships כַּמַּיִם, הַפָּנִים לַפָּנִים-- כֵּן לֵב-הָאָדָם, לָאָדָם =As in [a reflecting pools] waters, face answereth [i.e. reflects every move] to face, so the heart of man [resonds] to man, is neither pure, holy nor sanctioned by the Torah. It's just the way that human emotions operate. This sets a vicious cycle in motion in which the helper now begins hating the donkey owner in response to the donkey owners hatred and not merely on account of his original sin/crime. This, concludes Tosafos, snowballs into "complete hatred" i.e. hatred of the impure illegal kind, the product of the blandishments of the Yetzer haRa, which must be fought and suppressed in order to fulfill the Mitzva of helping ones personal enemy load his donkey.

In other words; every righteous hatred that a kanoi feels for a sinner or heretic snowballs into an admixture of holy and hideous hatred. I can see no difference in the psycho-dynamic that Tosafos describes between a public and private enemy. The sinner(s) begin(s) hating those lovers of G-d who hate him/her and they, in turn now begin adding layers of unsanctioned, re: evil, hatred upon their foundations of holy hatred.

This ought to give some pause to all Kanoim with a modicum of self-awareness. While it is essential that Kanoim not paralyze, muzzle or self-censor themselves before acting or speaking it is well within the spirit of רב פנחס בן יאיר'ס ladder of spiritual progress to make sure that their zehirus precedes and governs their zerizus/kanous. Kanoim really need to do some quantitative analysis about what percentage of their fiery hatred is pure and what percentage is mundane, unholy and evil in it's own right. While this should lead to fewer kanous-dika responses those that survive this internal audit ought to be more effective . Think surgical smart-bomb strikes instead of saturation carpet bombing. After all, as G-d's greater glory has nothing to do with those parts of our hatred motivations that are mundane, personal and a result of כַּמַּיִם, הַפָּנִים לַפָּנִים-- כֵּן לֵב-הָאָדָם, לָאָדָם . Why then should we expect any Siyata di'Shmaya to add efficacy to such efforts or for any Qiddush Shem Shomayim to ensue from them?

Just because the ignorant, misguided, evil, and/or heretical trample on havdolos bein Qodesh L'Khol is no excuse for Kanoim to erase havdolos bein ra l'tov uvein tamei l'tahor. Kanoim, keep your motivations as pure and unadulterated as humanly possible. Do NOT descend to the level of HaShems enemies.
Qedusha/ havdala. Have you had YOURS toiday??? Hmmm???
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I would be much obliged to any of my erudite readers especially Midwest, Evanston Jew, Tzig and Not Brisk, along with, of course, the anonymous troll whom I've named Dayon U'Mokhiakh, if they'd be kind enough to cite any Baalei Mussar or Sifrei Khasidus/ Makhshava that speak on the Tosafos that I examined in this post. If I've committed an egregious misreading please comment and let me and the few other readers know about it ASAP.

Rabbi Dr. Bernard Lander BDE

The man built and educational empire. I leave the precise implications of his legacy to the professional historians and sociologists.

As for me I'll just say this. Some people are destined to be small and do little while others are destined to be big and accomplish much. The niftar was BIG.

Well... I Sure Fell Off of a Cliff

Once again I allowed a false sense of hope to get the better of me.

Here I thought that perhaps I had finally "arrived" as a J-Blogger. Through the great generosity of spirit of one Rafi G. of the, apparently, famous "Life in Israel" Blog I actually began getting some respectable (by my standards) traffic through the middle of last week. this even fueled the curious into some extra heavy carry-over weekend traffic. But as of 4:30 PM EST today you can see that I had only 14 unique page views... weak even by weekend standards.

I kept telling myself "All the bloggish oilem needs is a quick taste to see how appealing my posts are בבחינת טעמו וראו כי טוב ... to keep on coming back for more". Apparently I was wrong, as once again, the readers voted with their feet, stampeded as far away from here as their virtual legs would carry them and left me isolated and forlorn. A banned blogger occupying a room for one in the Red Tent Blog.

Maybe I should save lots of time and effort and just take up the hobby of talking to myself? Maybe into a mirror?

Peer Review Infallibility?

I've often locked horns with those who say that Torah Academia (AKA The Yeshivisha Velt) is inherently inferior to it's secular counterpart because it lacks peer review.

Truth be told this whole presumed dichotomy is a canard. It ignores scholarly Torah Journals where submissions are reviewed by editorial boards composed of bona fide TKs. It is unconscious of the process whereby young Torah authors obtain Haskomos prior to publication of their early seforim (until their own bona fides have been well established). It is unaware of the fact that, hewing to the general tenor of Torah Academia, peer review takes place mostly Ba'al Peh, in Batei Midrsah, Shiur rooms and Khaburah rooms. It is in these sacred venues where, vetted by juries of ones peers, the profound and nuanced lamdanim are threshed away from the boikh sevara fantasizers and the thorough and G-d -Fearing morei hora'ah are exalted while the kalei hada'as are marginalized at a very young age. But for a moment let's play the devils advocate, concede the spurious point and posit secular academia as a place of peer review and Yeshivas as peer-review-free-zones. Does this make the former superior to the latter? Is peer review such a blessing and the lack thereof such a curse?

We openly mock papal infallibility and often grow weak in our Emunas Khakhomim by mistakenly conflating the two concepts. Why then have we all bought into peer review infallibility? An egregious abuse of the process by unscrupulous scientists on the take and wanting to make a big name for themselves that caused the death of innocents is reported here.

Drummond Rennie remarks, "There seems to be no study too fragmented, no hypothesis too trivial, no literature too biased or too egotistical, no design too warped, no methodology too bungled, no presentation of results too inaccurate, too obscure, and too contradictory, no analysis too self-serving, no argument too circular, no conclusions too trifling or too unjustified, and no grammar and syntax too offensive for a paper to end up in print."

Richard Horton, has said that "The mistake, of course, is to have thought that peer review was any more than a crude means of discovering the acceptability — not the validity — of a new finding. Editors and scientists alike insist on the pivotal importance of peer review. We portray peer review to the public as a quasi-sacred process that helps to make science our most objective truth teller. But we know that the system of peer review is biased, unjust, unaccountable, incomplete, easily fixed, often insulting, usually ignorant, occasionally foolish, and frequently wrong."

And yet skeptics of the J-Blogosphere go on worshiping at this idols altar while maintaining its quasi-sacred processes.

Reminds me of a line I once heard at a lecture from professor Adin Steinsaltz. (I paraphrase): "Jews are מאמינם בני מאמינים if not in Abayeh V'Rava or in the Tur and Rebee Akiva Eiger then in the New York Times Editorial page."

No one put it better that the Navee Yirmiya:
יג כִּי-שְׁתַּיִם רָעוֹת, עָשָׂה עַמִּי: אֹתִי עָזְבוּ מְקוֹר מַיִם חַיִּים, לַחְצֹב לָהֶם בֹּארוֹת--בֹּארֹת נִשְׁבָּרִים, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יָכִלוּ הַמָּיִם.
13 For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

PSA from the Former Chief Rabbi

Rabbi Israel Meir Lau.

For us G2s and G3s it's not too labor intensive and the least that we can do.

Scoring Ideological Points Trumps Pragmatic Needs

mined from a comment made in response to this guest post by the kind Rafi G. over on the Blog-that banned-me:

The last time the Brayeena and I were in Israel (3 years ago *SIGH*) a "spitting contest" ensued on a bus we were riding between the driver and two alleged fare-beating passengers in which the driver had pulled to the side of the road and refused to budge while the non-paying pair of passengers stubbornly refused to pay.

I don't quite remember their kheshbon and/or הוראת היתר and I don't want to condemn them too strongly because A. They might have been right and B. they might be enduring poverty that is hard for me to imagine. For all I know for them a single bus fare was a substantial sum of money.

This was one of those double length buses connected by an accordion middle coupling. It happened on a winter Erev Shabbos and the bus was returning from the Kosel making a maslul through all the Frum neighborhoods. I don't think that there was a single passenger on this particular bus who was not stressing about making Shabbos.

After about 3 minutes of shouting between the irresistible force, the immovable objects and sundry "eitzah gebers" among the frustrated passengers I could take it no longer. I marched from the back of the bus (where I was sitting *SHUDDER* next to the Brayeena) and, extending my fare card, told the driver to punch it פעמיים paying the fares of the two fare-beaters and getting the loaded bus moving again.

And while I expected no thanks from the fare-beaters themselves, as they probably felt that I had assailed their honor, I was a bit taken aback by the reaction of all the other riders. Not a single one thanked me, quite a few greeted my retreat to my seat at the rear of the bus with eye-rolls and one sneered at me "Amerikayee Meturaf"= Crazy American.

Whence Kharedi Antipathy for Blacks?

In the wake of the Haiti earthquake I've heard and seen an outpouring of sympathy and the desire to help from a wide variety of sources not least of which is the "Tikun Olam" crowd in the more liberal branches of Judaism. Whereas in my own Kharedi enclaves the cataclysm has been met with an indifferent, stone-cold stone silence. And while, thankfully, I haven't heard any X-tian evangelical-like pronouncements connecting the dots from Voodoo to Divine retribution nor any coarse, juvenile "shvartza" jokes about it either I wonder why an event that has the whole world "tummeling" is getting the full Ostrich treatment among us fruma.

The apparent answer is that the deafening silence is yet another manifestation of Kharedi antipathy for Blacks. So, the thinking must go, If you've nothing good to say then just keep quiet. And whileTTBOMK the earthquake has not been met with glee or discreet celebration, as a natural disaster hitting Germany, Iran or Saudi Arabia might, the utter lack of caring or empathy still bespeak a contempt and hatred that makes little sense to me and that is historically myopic.

Why do we hate them? Could it be for the curse of Kham? This ought to be nonsense as כבר עלה סנחריב מלך אשור ובלבל את כל האומות and as such all racial laws of the Torah are passe. The only other explanation is a reciprocal hatred and contempt based on antisemitism and כַּמַּיִם, הַפָּנִים לַפָּנִים-- כֵּן לֵב-הָאָדָם, לָאָדָם and while contemporary Jew hatred among many American Blacks is undeniable why should this relate in any way to Haitians? Do we despise Irishman because they, like the German Nazis, are also white?

TTBOMK there is no history of Haitian antisemitism whatsoever and even insofar as American Black antisemitism, in the great sweep of Jewish history we are talking about an antisemitism that is shallow and a relative blip on the historical screen. I mean how can one compare a small historical sampling of Landlord-tenant tension, Management -labor disputes, blockbusting and a few scattered incidences at violence (that are most often anti-white rather than anti-Jew in nature) to centuries of institutionalized genocidal antisemitic violence and oppression that was the norm in Eastern Europe before WW II?

I just don't get it. Imagine if a single Haitian Black ger/giyores Tzedek was buried amidst the rubble. Wouldn't we overturn worlds to see if he/she was still alive?
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???