Problem Solved- Lend that Shovel

On Tuesday I wondered out loud (though apparently few bothered to eavesdrop) whether revenge or bearing grudges was the lesser of the two evils.

Well לשון חכמים מרפא= "The language of the sages heals" and the healing words of the Sages have cured my ignorance. There may be no balm in Gilead but there is plenty of balm(bam??? bahm??) in the Rambam 7:7-8 of Deos:

[ז] הנוקם את חברו--עובר בלא תעשה, שנאמר "לא תיקום" (ויקרא יט,יח). ואף על פי שאינו לוקה, דעה רעה היא עד מאוד; אלא ראוי לאדם להיות מעביר על כל דברי העולם--שהכול אצל המבינים דברי הבל והבאי, ואינן כדאי לנקום עליהם.

י כיצד היא הנקימה: אמר לו חברו השאילני קרדומך, אמר לו איני משאילך; למחר צרך לשאול ממנו, אמר לו השאילני קרדומך, אמר לו איני משאילך, כדרך שלא השאלתני כששאלתי ממך--הרי זה נוקם. אלא כשיבוא לשאול, ייתן בלב שלם ולא יגמול לו כאשר גמלו; וכן כל כיוצא באלו. וכן אמר דויד בדעותיו הטובות, "אם גמלתי, שולמי רע" (תהילים ז,ה).

יא [ח] וכן כל הנוטר לאחד מישראל--עובר בלא תעשה, שנאמר "ולא תיטור את בני עמך" (ויקרא יט,יח). כיצד: ראובן שאמר לשמעון שכור לי בית זה, או השאילני שור זה, ולא רצה שמעון; לימים צרך שמעון לראובן לשאול ממנו או לשכור, ואמר לו ראובן הא לך, הריני משאילך, ואיני כמותך, ולא אשלם לך כמעשיך--העושה כזה, עובר ב"לא תיטור אלא ימחה הדבר מליבו ולא ייטרנו, שכל זמן שהוא נוטר את הדבר וזוכרו, שמא יבוא לנקום. לפיכך הקפידה תורה על הנטירה, עד שימחה העוון מליבו כלל ולא יזכרנו; וזו היא הדעה הנכונה שאפשר שיתקיים בה יישוב הארץ, ומשאן ומתנן של בני אדם זה עם זה".

The theory that informs much of Rabbinic legislation (d'Rabanans) is expressed by Khazal as כדי להרחיק אדם מן העבירה חכמים עשו סייג לדבריהם.= "The sages built fences around the laws to distance a person from sin". Many d'Rabanans were instituted prohibiting activity "A" lest one, through slippery-slope-ism, come to do "B" forbidden by the Torah or lest one confuse the permitted and the prohibited due to the commonly undetected havdolos that differentiate what one may do from what one may not.

Yet we find that according to some Rishonim, in some cases the Torah itself prohibits activity "A" lest one, through slippery-slope-ism, come to do "B". E.g. the Khinukh 188 and the Rambam Isurei Biah 21:1 holds that harkhokos="distancing measures" from Arayos are not of Rabbinic origin but that, above and beyond intercourse, are themselves activities prohibited by the Torah itself ! This is what the pasuk איש איש אל-כל-שאר בשרו, לא תקרבו לגלות ערווה= No man should come close to a prohibited sexual union" means to prohibit.

Apparently the Rambam understood the prohibition of Neteerah in a similar vein. It is a D'Oraysa generated"harkhakah"= "distancing measure" mandated by the Torah itself lest the noter i.e. the one extending the favor while retaining the hatred, come to actually being nokem i.e. withhold a favor from, or perpetrate an insult/injury against, he whom he still hates. IOW both נקימה ונטירה are aveiros min HaTorah. However if this reading of the Rambam is correct neteerah, not being a truly "independent" evil but "merely"a prohibited "A" lest one come to transgress "B"would certainly be the way to go when choosing the lesser of two evils. This would be roughly equivalent to hugging a prohibited relative instead of having intercourse with said relative. Hugging is evil but less evil than the other activity.

Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

What Did I Do to Deserve This?

Perusing my recent visitor stats today I came across this:

Complete with Palestinian Flag icon. Maybe it was Divine comeuppance for this.

Sublimating a Hostile Technology

Finally a kosher use for the web... No Lashon Hara= forbidden gossipy speech, no Deos Kozvos=suspect heretical ideas, no pritzus= immodesty, no Torah without the Mesorah = non-traditional approaches. Just Miskhar=business/making a living, pure and simple!

No need to go shopping on the Avenue anymore to find out what they're selling on the Avenue. Think of all the rain forests this will save!

My personal favorites are pages 56,60,82,86.106,109,110 and 153. As someone completely tech-challenged I'm wowed by the page turning and enlargement applications.

Who is Detestable?

On the heels of yesterdays wildly popular and controversial post and to redundantly manifest the state of mind characterized by repeating the same behaviors yet expecting different results I offer my loyal, yet minuscule, modest and non-participatory readership another installment to my difficulties with the Mitzvas of נקימה ונטירה

Truth be told I have a baseline level misunderstanding of the mitzvos of נקימה ונטירה and unless I am sorely mistaken they accrue to a decent question on a girsa of the Rambam.

Khazal ponder the meaning of the word "Soinakha" in the pasuk: כי-תראה חמור שונאך, רובץ תחת משאו, וחדלת, מעזוב לו--עזוב תעזוב, עימו . After eliminating a non-Jewish enemy as a possibility

אמר רבי שמואל בר רב יצחק אמר רב מותר לשנאתו שנאמר (שמות כג) כי תראה חמור שנאך רובץ תחת משאו מאי שונא אילימא שונא <נכרי> {גוי} והא תניא שונא שאמרו שונא ישראל ולא שונא <נכרי> {גוי} אלא פשיטא שונא ישראל ומי שריא למסניה והכתיב (ויקרא יט) לא תשנא את אחיך בלבבך אלא דאיכא סהדי דעביד איסורא כולי עלמא נמי מיסני סני ליה מאי שנא האי אלא לאו כי האי גוונא דחזיא ביה איהו דבר ערוה רב נחמן בר יצחק אמר מצוה לשנאתו שנאמר (משלי ח) יראת ה' <שונאי> [שנאת] רע

the Gemara Pesakhim 113B concludes that the Jewish enemy of the pasuk refers to is one whom you, as a single witness, observed committing a sexual indiscretion. Here YOU know that the fellow is a Rasha, yet , as a single witness, it would be a sin for you to report his transgression. Yet, unlike the feelings the Torah commands that you emote towards the balance of your fellow Jews , in such a case you have either a mandate or a license to hate this other person.

As far as I can see on the page the commentaries do not address the following question: Why is this mitzvah to hate/ dispensation to hate limited to observing the transgression that is sexual in nature? Why if, e.g. as a single witness I Reuven observed Shimon worshipping an idol or oppressing a widow or orphan would I NOT be commanded or at least allowed to hate him? (This is particularly difficult in light of the fact that when, in the hava ameena, the Gemara considered the possibility that two or more witnesses were present and observing it uses the generic isura rather than the specific erva.)

Indeed, when the Rambam in הלכות רוצח ושמירת נפש פרק יג cites this Halakha:

יד] ה"שונא" (ראה שמות כג,ה) שנאמר בתורה--הוא מישראל, לא מאומות העולם. והיאך יהיה לישראל שונא מישראל, והכתוב אומר "לא תשנא את אחיך, בלבבך" (ויקרא יט,יז): אמרו חכמים, כגון שראהו לבדו שעבר עבירה, והתרה בו ולא חזר--הרי זה מצווה לשונאו, עד שיעשה תשובה ויחזור מרשעו. ואף על פי שעדיין לא עשה תשובה--אם מצאו נבהל במשאו--מצוה לפרוק ולטעון עימו, ולא יניחנו נוטה למות: שמא ישתהה בשביל ממונו, ויבוא לידי סכנה; והתורה הקפידה על נפשות ישראל, בין רשעים בין צדיקים, מאחר שהם נלווים אל ה' ומאמינים בעיקר הדת, שנאמר "אמור אליהם חי אני נאום ה' אלוהים, אם אחפוץ במות הרשע, כי אם בשוב רשע מדרכו, וחיה" (ראה יחזקאל לג,יא).

changes the girsa from Erva to the far broader and inclusive Aveira ( a matter of the substitution and transposition of the letter vet for the letter vav).

Yet the very mitzvah of נטירה mitigates against the Rambams girsa. If one were commanded or at least allowed to hate another Jew once "catching him/her" in the act of any old garden variety sin then at the very least bearing a grudge in the heart while performing the khesed with the hands should be allowed. Yesterday when yenna refused you his spade when the two of you had no prior history was he not transgressing the sins of hating another Jew in his heart and omitting the Mitzvahs of Ahavas Reim and AzovTa'azov? And were you, the one who needed a spade to dig with but was unsuccessful in borrowing one from yenna, a single solitary witness to his malfeasance? Why then would you NOT be allowed to hate him/her?

This is a question only according to the Rambam. As for the girsa l'fanenu in the Gemara for reasons unknown to me and unexplained by the Meforshim on the daf (help any erudite reader???) we are only permitted to hate another Jew whom we observed In flagrante delicto in aveiros of arayos davka.

Parenthetically the Rambam seems to imply that we would not be enjoined by the Torah to help an Orthoprax Qofer with unloading or re-loading his/her fallen/falling pack animal. Whereas the girsa L'fanenu might give pause to those who wish to equate the two toeva communities of active male homosexuals and those who cheat with weights and measures. But that is grist for another post. First let's see how this one is received.
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

בחר את הרע במיעוטו

Let's try some snob appeal: (h**k...I've tried everything else to drive traffic and comments to no avail): I will NOT translate any Hebrew character terms in this post. IMO those not fluent in these terms absent translation have nothing valuable to contribute to the dialogue*SNIFF SNIFF*...so there!

In the recently read Parshas Qedoshim we find two Mitzvos commanded as a couplet and as a preface to that lodestone of interpersonal Mitzvos ; Ahavas Reim. I speak of course of לֹא-תִקֹּם וְלֹא-תִטֹּר אֶת-בְּנֵי עַמֶּךָ .

Khazal define these Mitzvos as follows: דתניא איזו היא נקימה ואיזו היא נטירה נקימה אמר לו השאילני מגלך אמר לו לאו למחר אמר לו הוא השאילני קרדומך אמר לו איני משאילך כדרך שלא השאלתני זו היא נקימה ואיזו היא נטירה א"ל השאילני קרדומך אמר ליה לא למחר א"ל השאילני חלוקך אמר לו הילך איני כמותך שלא השאלתני זו היא נטירה to which Rashi in Khumash adds: שנוטר האיבה בלבו אע"פ שאינו נוקם.

Question: When in the course of human events and emotions it becomes impossible to choose to do what is good and right and the choice is limited to the lesser of the two evils, which of these evils should one choose to do; nehkeema or nehteera?

On the one hand taking revenge externalizes the hatred (perhaps even having a cathartic effect of "OK...now we're even" cp the tzad tikun of a shover keilim on Shabbos) and lets the other party know where you stand with them (cp the Rashi on ולא יכלו, דברו לשלום). While it is an aveira in it's own right it may still contain an element of the Mitzvas of לֹא-תִשְׂנָא אֶת-אָחִיךָ, בִּלְבָבֶךָ; הוֹכֵחַ תּוֹכִיחַ אֶת-עֲמִיתֶךָ , offering Tokhakha in actions that oftentimes speak louder than words, albeit in a passive-aggressive kind of way. The wisest of men has already taught us that טוֹבָה, תּוֹכַחַת מְגֻלָּה-- מֵאַהֲבָה מְסֻתָּרֶת . The question is if it may also be said that טוֹבָה, תּוֹכַחַת מְגֻלָּה-- מֵשנאה מְסֻתָּרֶת ?

OTOH Every time one is Nokaim one is also being Noter if we understand nehteera as a lack of letting go of the hatred and anger. Some other apparent advantages of being merely noter instead of being nokeim is that
A. Since האדם נפעל כפי פעולותיו then by behaving like a nice-guy gomel khesed the theory goes that eventually you will become one and be able to lend your spade, sickle or tunic with fondness for the recipient and with the fullness of your heart, hence it's advisable to do it even now while the hatred of the others guts seethes within you
B. Obviously, yenna who failed to lend you the implement that you needed doesn't exactly have the warm fuzzies for you either. By lending him what HE needs in his hour of need (use your imagination for other nehteeradika examples of being משלם טובה תחת רעה) you set in motion a benign-sympathetic cycle of כַּמַּיִם, הַפָּנִים לַפָּנִים-- כֵּן לֵב-הָאָדָם, לָאָדָם which will prove beneficial for both your ahavas reim as well as his!

So you make the call. If you're still angry do you withold a favor or extend one?
Qedusha-Havdala...have you had YOURS today???Hmmm???

Yiddisha Nakhas

Why can't Philly or South Fallsburg get a Bokhur like this?

Full disclosure: I have no clue nor indication that Master Young is even Jewish.

Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

Caption Contest III

I have no words. Saw it here.

Supposedly this photo was snapped YESTERDAY in East Jerusalem.

Boys are From Brisk...Girls are From Ma'alot!

"I offer no solutions... merely an analysis of a problem."

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: A Practical Guide for Improving Communication and Getting What You Want in Your Relationships was, and still is, a classic of the relationship literature genre whose central thesis is nicely summed up in the title, to wit; that men and women are alien species to one another and that, absent training in decoding foreign-language messages, static invariably interferes with communications that are "garbled in translation".

More and more today, as part of the larger and multifaceted Shidduch-Crisis, we are seeing families wherein young men cannot /will not/do not court and marry women akin to their sisters and vice versa. This cannot but cause some communicative dissonance that, if not worked at to overcome, may metastasize into serious Shlom Bayis issues down the road.

Allow me to explicate: Qlei Qodesh, Career Mechanchim and "Lifer"-Kollelniks tend, disproportionately, to raise children inculcated with the values of "Torah for life" and "Secular studies are bad and bad for you". The boys growing up in these homes see learning in Brisk as the culmination of their dreams of sophisticated lomdus studied among like-minded and high-power-brain-endowed individuals in an ambiance of snarky kishron and being Mehavel Olam HaZeh and petit bourgeoisie Jewish society values. (See, in particular quote from Dante Alighieri) The girls raised in such homes view marrying such boys and being their helpmeets as a goal, nay THE goal, to be strived for. Both genders tend to grow up in families that are, if not absolutely impoverished, struggling, frugal and "uncomfortable" because money was always tight.

And here's where the dissonance begins. Both explicitly and implicitly, parents of such boys instruct them to seek "rich shidduchim" not (necessarily) because they are "gold-diggers" or seek "trophy" makhatonim or DILs but simply because, having struggled financially themselves, they'd prefer for their sons not to repeat their own history and to be able to learn ad infinitum with מנוחת הנפש= "tranquility of spirit". More often than not this means the boys, and/or their parents, pursuing PhDs="Poppa has Dough" shidduchim rather than young ladies with advanced degrees and/or lucrative careers, for these girls have been through the "contaminating" halls of academia and, as wives and mothers, might fail to inform the future Bayis Ne'eman with the necessary sanctity and purity.

OTOH these boys sisters MUST go to Ma'alot or to Raizel Wright (did I spell that wright or rong?) because, wanting Brisker Khasanim but lacking PHDs they must present shadkhanim with an alterantive "plan" for life support. A few of the more daring ones might venture into the hashqafically compromised classrooms of Touro, but none would dare go to Stern or, בר מינן an actual "Goyisha" college/university. And even if they might actually gaze favorably, yet wistfully, upon the superior education and wider career choices that these latter might offer, they/their parents could never afford the relatively high tuition of such Colleges.

Still, the "type" of person the girls "becomes" as a result of even this diminished form of higher secular education begins to vary from that of a mere female clone of her brother(s). Such sisters tend to become more organized, more professional, more oifgeklert and less sheltered than their brothers. In the course of their studies they will invariably become familiar in the ways and mores of surfing the web. If they are on "the market" for a few years they graduate and take jobs where they will grow more accomplished and successful in the more conventional (albeit in the more petit bourgeoisie Jewish society values ) sense of success and accomplishment than their brothers/prospective suitors. They will gain skills in dealing with a wider gamut of people from many different backgrounds in ways that their brothers/ prospective suitors will not and, more importantly, will not desire to.

In a word, the pragmatic, facts-on-the-ground realities and socioeconomic pressures inherent in preparing for a life of long-time/forever learning produces a disproportionate amount of girls whom boys like their brothers would never court and marry as "a first choice". The same families will have sons "going after" the daughters of successful, comfortable "groba" Flatbush, Boro Park and Five-Towns Baalei Batim while their own daughters will "only", nebikh, snag dates with boys from families who either "didn't make it (the cut) into Brisk" or boys from families and Yeshivas that have a less antagonistic attitude towards professionalism and their prerequisite higher secular education, i.e. less "Yeshivisha" families, than their own.

In my humble analysis this is one among the myriad of factors contributing to the "ground zero" of the shidduch crisis being the daughters of Kollenicks, Mekhankhim and sundry hardly-making-it Klei Qodesh. If lives of relative obscurity and poverty were not suffering enough they must now endure the heart wrenching spectacles of seeing their precious and beloved female offspring becoming dehydrated spinsters. I offer no solutions merely an analysis of a problem.
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had yours today??? Hmmm???

Fish Tales

Posted something confused about it here. But clarity at last... a Daas Makhria!

Jewish Holocaust Revisionism Redux

The last of the creative juices in the old bean-cum-raisin seem to be drying up. And so I present to you a year old post (give or take a day) that is topical in the wake of Yom HaShoah. the first time around it actually garnered a bit of attention. Of course that was back in the old halcyon, pre-Red-Tent days. let's see if I can get 10% as many comments here in my personal lepers colony. First appearance
But Where's The Motive?

In the wake of Yom HaShoah (2009)Rafi G. ran a very fascinating and disturbing post questioning the historicity of the episode of a mass suicide of 93 Bais Yaakov girls to avoid rape by anti-Semites(and being consigned to a brothel). [NY Times Article here.]

Refer to that post and to Mississippi Fred's to see the pros and cons of the issue of historical veracity of the event and its "Holocaust Revisionism" implications.

But what I want to know is; what could the alleged forgers motivation have been? After all, no one questions the existence of the letter sent to New York Rabbonim reporting the episode...only it's authenticity. And so the one who penned the letter is being charged with the crime/sin of forgery, fraud and falsifying history. What incentive did he/she have for committing such a sin/crime?

Hershey quoted an Israeli article purporting to answer the question. Here's my translation:

"It's not that hard to believe that during a historical period more terrifying than we could possibly imagine that the Jewish mind needed to fabricate a fantastic(al) tale of heroism by 93 Jewish girls who chose a martyrs death over dishonor. Among other things the myth intended to address the deep theological crisis that the Holocaust had caused Judaism . The martyrdom of 93 Jewish Women and girls provided a "winning" answer to those who doubted the Jewish faith". (You'll notice that the articles author never provides us with what other motivations are "among other things" )

To which my response is HUH??? How do these 93 martyrs prove or resolve anything? Where's the "winning answer? "What they did was their business, what G-d did or failed to do in the greatest episode of Theodicy ever, is His. Besides, there were/are many cases of DOCUMENTED spiritual resistance and martyrdom during the Holocaust if such cases are needed and/or sufficient to resolve the theological crisis. What's one story more or less going to accomplish? Also what's up with the number 93?

Remember, this letter was penned before the era when one could parlay ones 15 minutes of fame into lucrative "book and movie deals". If the letters writer was, indeed, one of the 93 martyrs, what fame, glory or money could she possibly hope to accrue posthumously?

To sum it up; while many are troubled by the thin historical evidence that seems to argue against this event having actually occurred, I am more troubled by what could have possibly motivated the criminal/sinner to commit such a sin/crime? To me this is a strong argument in favor of saying that the letter is authentic and that the martyrdom did occur.
Qedusha-Havdala...have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

The G-d of the Mount Eyjafjallajökull

The volcanic eruption is Iceland is a relatively benign (has it caused any loss of human life or limb???) reminder that דער אייבישטער פירט דער וועלט=HaShem runs the world.

It has disrupted air travel for millions across the globe and even as flights resume, due to the backlog it has caused, it will continue to do so for weeks to come. The puny human mind boggles when considering the myriad calculations of Hasgakha Pratis=Divine providence of the minutest of details that has made some lose lucrative business deals, some miss weddings or other joyous occasions, some miss out on vacations and some miss homecomings or returns to school. No doubt among these lurk many favors masquerading as setbacks e.g. air traffic disasters, terrorist attacks, robberies or murders on the ground, debilitating or fatal MVAs, family feuds avoided, business meetings gone awry et al.

Rav Desller famously wrote that the expression “I’ve left nothing to chance” is just another iteration of the ancient hymn to hubris כֹּחִי וְעֹצֶם יָדִי, עָשָׂה לִי אֶת-הַחַיִל הַזֶּה. ="My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth." Imagine all those travelers heading to their respective airports “photo I.D….check, passport…check, laptop…check, noise cancelling headphones…check, itinerary…check, Rolodex…check, camcorder check, blackberry …check, e-ticket….check”. In short, everything was covered to make this an enjoyable, efficient and/or profitable trip. Nothing was left to chance. Then Mount Eyjafjallajokull blew its top.

I was ranting quite a bit during the Sefira week of Gevurah about personal courage and the lack thereof. In theological terms however Gevurah is related to the מדת הדין=trait of rigorous judgment and the Divine Name identified with this conduct is Elokim. As is well known the gimatriya of this Divine name equals that of הטבע= (the) Nature. The Icelandic volcano erupted just following the week of Gevurah. For a believing Jew when a rare but natural phenomenon occurs it serves as a reminder that we are not in charge. That all our competitiveness, alacrity and exertions are mirages א מענטש טראכט...און דער אייבירשטער לאכט= that "While man plans G-d laughs/mocks"(In Yiddish it actually rhymes!) and G-d is still running the cosmos.

אכן אתה קל מסתתר

Qedusha-Havdala…have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

Scare Tactics

At the OU Kashrus seminar this past Sunday night much of the first segment was devoted to staking out the kashrus supervisory agencies position regarding the kashrus of fish with parasite infestation.

I understand that what I heard was not a debate but the exposition of one of the positions in a Makhlokes. As for the actual kashrus of fish that are not farm raised the דרכי הוראה of מלחמתה של תורה will have there "due process" and, if no unanimity is ever reached (sadly, an unlikely scenario), Jews with Halakhic integrity will do as they have always done and follow the ruling of their own Moreh Horoah.

What I found most compelling in Rav Belsky Shlit"a's presentation was not his / the OU's Halakhic position per se (to wit; that all kosher species of fish are permitted whether wild or farm raised) but his critique of how such shailos are processed. He spoke about the Emunas Khakhomim and Yiras Shomayim of the average Jew in the street and how the combination of the two makes Srulik susceptible to fear and terror whenever Halakhic aspersions are cast on items or practices previously held to be permitted. He said that it is forbidden to scare and alarm Jews unnecessarily. He cited the Mishna in Yuma that speaks about the Kohen Gadol uttering a short prayer in the outer sanctum after his sacrificial/incense services were concluded and that the reason for the brevity of the prayer was ומתפלל תפילה קצרה בבית החיצון; לא היה מאריך, שלא להבעית את ישראל.= "not to frighten the Jewish People"

Without citing specific examples he said that in his dealings with Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky z"l and Rav Moshe Feinstein z"l there were similar instances of revelations of "new facts on the ground" that might point to a newly forbidden practice/item but that those Geonim z"l "sat" on the data and waited to publicize it until they had thoroughly gone through the shaila and determined that there was an issur or at least a reasonable khshash issur.

Finally, in the kind of stab usually reserved for Bloggers or Pashkivil posters, he spoke about the awesome responsibility for terrorizing K'lal Yisrael that falls on the shoulders of those who, with the push of an email or fax button, disseminate disturbing news throughout the halakha observant world without first thoroughly vetting it .

All in all Rav Belsky came across not as someone compromised or compromising but rather as a "passionate moderate" (IIRC a term first coined by *SHUDDER* Rabbi Dr. "Stormin" Norman Lamm) who pursues moderation and measured progress towards judgement as a matter of principle.

This is only the second time that I was privileged to hear the Torah V'Da'as Rosh Yeshiva speak and all this came as somewhat of a revelation to me as I would've thought that if there was one silver lining to the Internet, faxing, emails et al it would've been in the rapidity with which לאפרושי מאיסורא = "separating others from forbidden thins/practices" can be achieved when there is a kh'shash that we have been doing something wrong. e.g Imagine how much sooner Shatnez consciousness would have been raised if Mr. Rosenberger could have mass emailed his famous חזיר ניט...און שעטנז יא?!?= "You wouldn't eat pork...and you WOULD wear Sha'atnez ?!?"ads in the early 60s. Just goes to show you another example of דעת בעלי בתים הוא היפך דעת תורה="Householders attitudes and consciousness is antithetical to Da'as Torah".
Qedusha-Havdala. have you had YOURS today??? Hmm???

Traif Schedule

What's with Mondays off? I thought that was only for barbershops or do all chic traif (forgive the pun) restaurants close on Mondays? Also...no bacon and eggs for breakfast?

אויף צו לא'כיס

At this moment in Jewish History, more than two centuries after the Haskala began driving Jews away from faith as well as observance, it's hard to find a true hard-boiled Rasha of his/her own volition. The vast majority of non-believing Jews in the world today are תינוקות שנשבו. Still, occasionally there pops up the twisted soul who seems to derive some kind of perverse pleasure from, as it were, spitting in the face of Jewish tradition or of G-d Himself.

Jason Marcus seems to be just such a twisted להכעיס'ניק . Jason, a Jew, recently opened a restaurant specializing in Pork and Shellfish, quintessentially non-kosher fare. This would not have troubled me. What I do find offensive is that he chose hipster Williamsburg, situated cheek-by-hog-jowl next to New York City's most densely populated Khasidic enclave. Furthermore he named his eatery "Traif" (the restaurants logo appears above). A New York tabloid covered this testimony to one mans identity issues in it's Sunday edition and Jason came across as very smug and proud of himself.

What manner of perverse rebelliousness drives one to do this? Is there a Dr. Freud in the house? Here's a link to the L'hakhisniks Blog.

There was once a bagel shop in another Brooklyn neighborhood, owned IIRC by Russian Jews, called "Shiksa Bagels". It had since changed hands and names and closed altogether. Restaurants are notoriously risky business ventures, especially those that must rely on shtick, gimmicks and /or food fads rather than on the actually quality of there victuals, ambiance and service. It is hoped for the sake of Mr. Marcus soul and vestigial self-respect that this monument to his stupidity and self-loathing suffers a swift and obscure demise. Remember Jason it is די גויים וואס לעבען א חזיריש'ן טאג not us! Not in this world anyway.

Qedusha-Havdala...have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

In Which I am Apparently Untrue to Myself...

AKA Craven Pussilanimous Cowards Part IV
Parts I , II and III

Caveat: This post may be read by some as a departure from the basic informative principal of this blog-HAVDALA. As you (singular) who have been reading this weeks post know I am frustrated by a dearth of courage in myself, in my society and in it's sacred literature. And so in this post I plan on sharing some pithy epigrams from some non-Jews on the topic. Does this mean I am blurring the distinctions between Qodesh and Khol? Between Yisrael and Ahmim? You be the judge. It may merely mean that, as I concluded in yesterdays post , that Bravery seems not to be a particularly Torah-dikeh subject that I am illustrating that only והידים ידי עשו warriors had much to say on the topic.

Disclaimer: I don't know who many of the quoted people are. But to each of them I extend a hearty גוט געזאגט.

The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority. Ralph W. Sockman


If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it. John Irving


Genius is talent set on fire by courage. Henry Van Dyke


One man with courage is a majority. Thomas Jefferson


Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. Winston Churchill


Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities... because it is the quality which guarantees all others. Winston Churchill


How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them. Benjamin Franklin


I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. Nelson Mandela


It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare. Mark Twain


Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. C. S. Lewis


Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy. Dale Carnegie


Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed. Dale Carnegie


We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot. Eleanor Roosevelt


Courage is fear holding on a minute longer. George S. Patton


It requires more courage to suffer than to die. Napoleon Bonaparte


Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. Theodore Roosevelt

I'd rather give my life than be afraid to give it. Lyndon B. Johnson

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. Lao Tzu


Courage is knowing what not to fear. Plato


Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons. Ralph Waldo Emerson


In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance. Joseph Stalin


Why should we honour those that die upon the field of battle? A man may show as reckless a courage in entering into the abyss of himself. William Butler Yeats


One man with courage makes a majority. Andrew Jackson


God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Reinhold Niebuhr



(In praise of cowardice)

Just as courage imperils life, fear protects it. Leonardo da Vinci


Those who lack the courage will always find a philosophy to justify it. Albert Camus


Sometimes even to live is an act of courage. Lucius Annaeus Seneca


Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air. John Quincy Adams


Many a man will have the courage to die gallantly, but will not have the courage to say, or even to think, that the cause for which he is asked to die is an unworthy one. Bertrand Russell


The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable. Paul Tillich


It is only necessary to have courage, for strength without self-confidence is useless. Giacomo Casanova


A man of great common sense and good taste - meaning thereby a man without originality or moral courage. George Bernard Shaw


Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die. Gilbert K. Chesterton

The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies. Napoleon Bonaparte

Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others. Robert Louis Stevenson

People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest. Hermann Hesse

Courage enlarges, cowardice diminishes resources. In desperate straits the fears of the timid aggravate the dangers that imperil the brave. Christian Nestell Bovee


You will find as you grow older that courage is the rarest of all qualities to be found in public life. Benjamin Disraeli


Creativity takes courage. Henri Matisse


It is a blessed thing that in every age some one has had the individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his own convictions. Robert Green Ingersoll


We need men with moral courage to speak and write their real thoughts, and to stand by their convictions, even to the very death. Robert Green Ingersoll


The courage of the poet is to keep ajar the door that leads into madness. Christopher Morley
(Ben Zoma????)


The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity. Rollo May


One man scorned and covered with scars still strove with his last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable stars; and the world will be better for this. Miguel de Cervantes


He who loses wealth loses much; he who loses a friend loses more; but he that loses his courage loses all. Miguel de Cervantes


The last thing a woman will consent to discover in a man whom she loves, or on whom she simply depends, is want of courage. Joseph Conrad
(Echo of the Tomer Devorah???)


Clear thinking requires courage rather than intelligence. Thomas Szasz


The amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of the time. John Stuart Mill


Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore. Lord Chesterfield


Often the difference between a successful man and a failure is not one's better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on his ideas, to take a calculated risk, and to act. Maxwell Maltz


(In praise of cowardice)

Courage is often lack of insight, whereas cowardice in many cases is based on good information. Peter Ustinov



Despair gives courage to a coward. Thomas Fuller



The more wit the less courage. Thomas Fuller

Courage can't see around corners but goes around them anyway. Mignon McLaughlin



It is easy enough to praise men for the courage of their convictions. I wish I could teach the sad young of this mealy generation the courage of their confusions. John Ciardi


No ph**lic hero, no matter what he does to himself or to another to prove his courage, ever matches the solitary, existential courage of the woman who gives birth. Andrea Dworkin
(Echo of the Tomer Devorah???)


A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort. Sydney Smith
ולא הביישן למד

Have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of everything. Sydney Smith



ON COWARDICE:
Falsehood is cowardice, the truth courage. Hosea Ballou


Fear has its use but cowardice has none. Mohandas Gandhi


Fear has nothing to do with cowardice. A fellow is only yellow when he lets his fear make him quit. Jerome Cady

God did not give you the spirit of cowardice. Joseph Barber Lightfoot


I hate liberality - nine times out of ten it is cowardice, and the tenth time lack of principle. Henry Addington

If pessimism is despair, optimism is cowardice and stupidity. Is there any need to choose between them? Francis Parker Yockey


Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. Margaret Chase Smith

Suicide sometimes proceeds from cowardice, but not always; for cowardice sometimes prevents it; since as many live because they are afraid to die, as die because they are afraid to live. Charles Caleb Colton


The opposite for courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow. Jim Hightower


There is a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist: the fashionable non-conformist. Ayn Rand


When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred. Niccolo Machiavelli

It is the coward who fawns upon those above him. It is the coward who is insolent whenever he dares be so. Junius

It is better to be the widow of a hero than the wife of a coward. Dolores Ibarruri

It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees. Dolores Ibarruri

The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know. Napoleon Bonaparte

Qedusha-Havdala...Apparently I've forgotten MINE today...

Fighting Yetzer HaRa with Yetzer HaRa?!?

AKA Craven Pussilanimous Cowards Part III
Parts I and II

Over the last couple of days I feel as though I’ve really “arrived” as a blogger. No, it’s not that I’ve gotten 500 page views a day. It’s that I’ve opined, pontificated, fulminated and generally been האק'ן a very loud טשיינעק about topics and matters that I am utterly unqualified to think, much less speak, write and publish about. Ben Sira had it right when he advised במופלא ממך אל תדרוש ובמכוסה ממך אל תחקור במה שהורשית התבונן אין לך עסק בנסתרות .

I refer of course to the topic of Gevurah... a Lashon Qodesh term for which, over the past several days, I have been using "courage" and "bravery" as working definitions. But a quick perusal of Tomer Devorah, a work by the RaMaK predicated on the concept of imitatio dei seems to point to a completely different, unknown (and probably unknowable by me) definition. The relevant passage of Tomer Devorah only deepens my muddled discombobulation as to how the Creator could lead His creation utilizing such a trait such that His "choicest of creatures" would /could even discern a Divine "trait" that they’d find capable or worthy of emulating.

The data beyond my ken that I can glean from the linked passage of Tomer Devorah follows: (if link is inaccurate click on pages 55 and 56)

1. That every human exercise of Gevurah is a utilization of ones inclination to evil . This seems odd inasmuch as the famous Mishna in Avos איזה הוא גיבור--הכובש את יצרו, שנאמר "טוב ארך אפיים, מגיבור" (משלי טז,לב seems to indicate that the ultimate expression of Gevurah, whatever that nebulous term may actually mean, is in the conquest of ones inclination to evil. Hence this posts title.

2. That Gevurah is associated with “left” and femininity (odd indeed for those who translate Gevurah as “strength” as many Ma’amorei Khazal indicate that females are relatively “weak” and are not “warriors”) in contradistinction to Khesed associated with “right”, masculinity and the inclination to good. (This again subverts the concept of Gevurah=courage inasmuch as Netzakh another “righty” emanating downward on the side of Khesed antithetical to Gevurah is translated by Rav Aryeh Kaplan z"l as “victory” rather than as "eternity")

3. That the sex-drive, material avarice and anger are all associated with Gevurah but none more so than anger... which makes anger particularly odious.

4. That Gevurah should never be exercised to attain selfish needs but only selflessly to address the needs of ones wife.

5. That in so doing one "sweetens" Gevurah with the “rightness” of Khesed.

This last , although offered as an interpretation of the pasuk in Shir HaShirim שְׂמֹאלוֹ תַּחַת רֹאשִׁי, וִימִינוֹ תְּחַבְּקֵנִי seems to run counter to the Khazal of יצר תינוק ואשה תהא שמאל דוחה וימין מקרבת .

The upshot is that perhaps the reason I’ve heard so few schmuessen abut courage and bravery is because in Toras HaQabalah that undergirds the classic Sifrei Mussar courage is not even on the menu of Sephiros or of Middos Tovos.

Having now thoroughly illustrated my total ignorance of gevurah and many other matters I turn to my erudite reader(s) to offer some insight. Tamir, SoMeHoW Frum, Midwest, Rabbi Fink, Tzig , Mississippi Fred even Dayon U’Mokhiakh I invite any and all of you to weigh in. Alternatively I think maybe I'll have my copy of Tomer Devorah gagged and bound from the wrong side.
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today?

Craven, Pussilanimous Cowards Part II

Part I

From my bokhruish days until the present I’ve heard a variety of mashpi’im extol the virtues of many middos nekhonos. I was exhorted to be humble, not to lose my temper, to be satisfied with little, to discuss concepts not people, to pursue acts of altruism, not to procrastinate, to rise early and study diligently and never to question Divine Justice. But I can’t recall a single schmuess (selective memory???) that urged me to overcome phobias and /or to be brave.

In terms of “Do as I do…not as I say” I also have scant personal role models for overcoming fears. The episodes of observing others speaking truth to power, confronting bullies directly or exposing themselves to personal risk are, to my admittedly faulty recollection, few and far between. While I’ve been blessed with observing the actualization of many of the beautiful middos described by the Mussar literature by quite a few Khakhomim, Tzadikim and לעבעדיג'ע מוסר ספרים both famous and obscure, this has not been the case with bravery and courage. I’ve read in Seforim HaQedoshim that those possessed of true Yiras Shomayim fear G-d and nothing else and that they are bold, brave and resolute in facing challenges and confronting danger….but I’ve seldom witnessed it with my own eyes.

Why is it that a society that takes its name from “trembling on account of the word of G-d” seems to promote an atmosphere of fear about so many other things? Fear of dogs. Fear of blacks. Fear of Arabs. Fear of nonconformity and its consequences. L-rd knows that we could use more courage as a society and as individuals. How many of us would’ve been equal to the task of pulling the Rosh Kollel of Montréal out of his smoking car that was about to explode, thus saving his life, as an Afghani Muslim recently did? With more courage we might better be able to address a host of personal problems and crisis (plural) plaguing us.

Maybe it’s because after 2000 years of golus we feel abandoned by G-d kholila. Maybe it’s because non-confrontation and maintaining a low profile is just a pragmatic survival technique for a Diaspora people. Maybe it’s because it’s the one midah tova embraced by heretical movements within Judaism that have jettisoned all the other middos tovos and consequently, "we" associate bravery and courage with “them”.

Last Shabbos when we bentched Rosh Khodesh we asked for חיים שיש בהם יראת שמים ויראת חטא. I think that subliminally this is also a request for חיים שאין בהם יראת בשר ודם. We mustn’t forget that

לו וְהַנִּשְׁאָרִים בָּכֶם--וְהֵבֵאתִי מֹרֶךְ בִּלְבָבָם, בְּאַרְצֹת אֹיְבֵיהֶם; וְרָדַף אֹתָם, קוֹל עָלֶה נִדָּף, וְנָסוּ מְנֻסַת-חֶרֶב וְנָפְלוּ, וְאֵין רֹדֵף.
36 And as for them that are left of you, I will send a faintness into their heart in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a driven leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as one fleeth from the sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.

סו וְהָיוּ חַיֶּיךָ, תְּלֻאִים לְךָ מִנֶּגֶד; וּפָחַדְתָּ לַיְלָה וְיוֹמָם, וְלֹא תַאֲמִין בְּחַיֶּיךָ.
66 And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear night and day, and shalt have no assurance of thy life.
סז בַּבֹּקֶר תֹּאמַר מִי-יִתֵּן עֶרֶב, וּבָעֶרֶב תֹּאמַר מִי-יִתֵּן בֹּקֶר--מִפַּחַד לְבָבְךָ אֲשֶׁר תִּפְחָד, וּמִמַּרְאֵה עֵינֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר תִּרְאֶה.
67 In the morning thou shalt say: 'Would it were even!' and at even thou shalt say: 'Would it were morning!' for the fear of thy heart which thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
are among the curses of the Tokhakha.

I once heard that when the NKVD interrogator placed a revolver on the table intervening between him and the Frierdiker Rebbe z”l the latter responded; “You can put that toy away. It might frighten those believing in one material world and many gods or no G-d. But it can’t scare those who believe in two worlds and One G-d. ”. Words to live boldly by indeed. It can’t possibly be a Qidush HaShem to pay lip service to G-d’s limitless might while our actions, often distrustful of His ability to protect us from those who might do us harm, seem to belie the very praises we offer up to Him in Shul.

As Peretz's fictional but plausible wood-chopping Rebbe put it to the over-worried invalid widow: “Foolish one. See you are a poor sick Jewess and I am ready to trust you with a little wood. I am SURE you’ll pay. While you, you who have such a great and mighty G-d…and you don’t trust Him for six cents?”
Qedusha Havdala…have you had YOURS today hmmm???

Craven, Pussilanimous Cowards

First appearance 4.13 10. edits for todays posting in red.

Tonight we continue counting the second week of Sefiras HaOmer. For those of us saying the l'Shem Yikhud before (and the Ribono shel Olam after) the actual sefira count we know that this means we're engaged in being "mesaken" the trait / Sefira/ emanation of Gevurah.

This is a week that always drives me crazy. Why? Because I am a craven, pusillanimous coward am deeply ashamed of the fact and see no ways and means to change it. Witness the fact that I blog and comment anonymously and live in constant terror of being "outed" and actually having to take responsibility for my own opinions and modes of expressing same. Could anything be more gutless? It's rare that I agree with Reb Harry but I have to confess that yesterday he basically nailed it when he blasted anonymous blogging.

The only thing that I have by way of defense or rationalization is that I live in a society that values and pursues every midah nekhona, every noble trait except for bravery. I can't recall a single mussaar sefer that contains a chapter on Gevurah in its table of contents (OK...Tomer Devorah...I'll get to that bl"n in part II). Oftentimes the baalei Musaar will define and extol a particular noble trait but then kind of leave the student dangling as to how to acquire it. But when it comes to Gevurah I've never really even seen it defined. I could be wrong but to me it does not mean mere strength, even will power. It comes closer to what English speakers call personal courage but contains elements of guile, cunning and a cool head under pressure, in particular under the pressure of existential threats.

The famous aphorism from Pirkei Avos בן זומא אומר,... איזה הוא גיבור--הכובש את יצרו, שנאמר "טוב ארך אפיים, מגיבור ומושל ברוחו, מלוכד עיר" (משלי טז,לב does not mean that one who conquers his evil inclination is merely "stronger" than he who captures the city but braver. Look at the simile. The Loked Ir was not the one who could bench-press the most at the local gym but the one who came up with the bold strategy and tactics to capture the city. He had the smarts to conceive and execute the battle plan and the boldness plus steely nerves to either stick to or modify his plans in the heat and danger to life and limb of hand to hand combat.

How many of us even think of milkhemes haYetzer this way? OTC, it is, at best, like sticking to a diet. A matter of mere will strength/power. Can I or can't I bludgeon my Yetzer Hara into submission. The notion that a battle plan is required and that this is a kill or be killed situation, that the enemy is trying to terrorize me ...first into "ceding territory" i. e. fleeing and avoiding a confrontation altogether, then into submission (but will have no mercy upon me if/when I submit), escapes us entirely. The concept that it takes courage to first conquer our fears of losing the confrontation and then look the Yetzer HaRa in the eye and then proceed to spit in any of his hundreds of eyes to conquer him/it is TTBOMK never articulated.

OTOH what does Gevurah even mean? Can it actually possibly mean courage? We praise HaShem as kavayakhol being a Gibor! Whom does He have to fear? What existential angst could the One and only מחויב המציאות possibly suffer. So I'm probably way off the mark.

More later/next few days. or probably not
Qedusha-Havdala...have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

Tamir Hit's a Grand Slam

Good things come to those who wait and while the following comment took a while to post it was well worth the wait. I knew that there had to be some erudite explanation for such an apparent non-sequitur.

R. Chaim Lieberman( ר' חיים ליברמן) in Ohel RaCHaL( אהל רח"ל) wrote an article, על הג"ה דר"ע, in which he dicusses the Liqutim of R. Shemu'el DeLugatch( ר' שמואל דלוגאטש), in a book called Agudat Shemu'el( אגודת שמואל), that made their way into certain versions of perush Rashi on the TaNaCH, with some of his(i.e. R. Shemu'el's) own addenda( he is the Ma'atik Brays quote refers to).

On p. 319 he brings the addendum Bray quotes, preceded by one taken from Hagahot deRA( הגה' דר"ע)( which is the actual subject of the article), but on pp. 328-9(after an introduction on p. 327) he brings two more. The last one is most pertinent to our quote.It is

גבי עגל כתיב: 'ויצר אותו
בחרט'. לקח אהרן ר' משקר ונתנה בין אותיות ח"ט ונעשה חר"ט ונשאר ש"ק ומסר להם סימן, על ידי ח"ט עגל שצרתי בחר"ט ילבשו ש"ק, שזה גרם לחורבן הבית, שנאמר:'חט חטאה ירושלים', על כן הפך ישעיהו אותיות ח"ט ואמר: ט"ח עיניהם מראות, כדי שיתהפך אח"כ מאותיות חר"ט חט"ר. ובשביל שעשה אהרון העגל נתקרבה אות א"ה משמו לגבי ח"ט וזה שאמר משה:' חטא"ה גדולה', וכן ירמיהו אמר:' חטא חטא"ה ירושלים', כלומר, שזה גרם לחורבן הבית וירושלים, ונשארו מאותיות אהר"ן ר"ן. שזה גרמה לו שקמו ר"ן איש עדת קרח לחלוק עליו. ולקח ישעיה ר' מחר"ט וקרבה לאותיות ח"ט ואמר: ויצא חט"ר, כלומר, שעון העגל לא יכופר עד ביאת המשיח. ועוד, שלכך נתן ר' בסוף התיבה אחרי ט',משום שהאותיות שבין ט' לרי"ש הם: קצ"ץ סע"ף ספע"ן נ"ם מל"ך מלכ"י, כלומר, שיבואו על ישראל צרות, שיקצף ויסעף ויפסע אותן הקב"ה עד לעתיד שיאמרו מלך הקב"ה מלכי. ועוד יו"ד קרובה לטי"ת, ק' קרובה לרי"ש ואותיות מנצפ"ך בינהם, כלומר, חט"י אותיות טח"י, קר"ש אותיות שק"ר ע"ש טח"י תפל ושק"ר ועברו על כל מה שאמרו הצופים.( סוד משרים).

And, because this addendum deals with Chet( חט) as part of Choter( חטר), R. Shemu'el decided to ad an addendum of his own, on a Qushiya and Terutz he gave, also mentioning the word Chet( חט) - the one that Bray quoted. Like a lot of these addenda, in various places, at some point the others for this Pasuq got left out, leaving the Ma'atiq's as an orphan, without the context in which it was originally written( or, at least, so says R. Chaim Lieberman).

National Decapitation

The above was scrawled by a Qodosh in his own blood on a door in the Kovno Ghetto (AKA Slabodkeh) just prior to exhaling his Neshoma.

It translates as : JEWS! REVENGE!

Caveat: For those of you who feel that bloodlust and/or a desire for revenge are unseemly in the makeup of a Jews character please turn away now. What follows is the rhetorical equivalent of our Muslim Arab cousins shooting their Kalashnikovs into the air at the news of SCUDS landing in Tel Aviv or distributing candies to the children of Nablus to celebrate the successful 9.11 attacks on the "enemies" twin towers.

I'm feeling the glee of Schadenfreude this morning! I cannot shed a tear over the national tragedy of the country of Poland. In one fell swoop of the jet the anus mundi suffered national decapitation. In an era when Poland was a more coveted prize in geopolitics such an event would no doubt have occasioned invasion by Russia, Lithuania, Estonia, Sweden or a host of other Baltic expansionist predators. But for now it probably just means another giant leap backwards for a nation stuck permanently in reverse since annihilating the Jews it hosted for, according to some historians, a millennium.

Let those occupying a more rarefied moral station wring their hands and invoke the Khazal of מעשי ידי טובעים בים ואתם אומרים שירה? I, in the meantime, rejoice in whatever misfortune, better yet , catastrophe befalls the nation that both hosted and impoverished, oppressed, tortured, killed and burned generations of my ancestors.

Sure, I realize I'm taking a page out of the X-tians insistence on collective and trans-generational guilt. But as a country that has perfected antisemitism without Jews contemporary Poland is hardly guiltless and would relish the opportunity to host yet another more efficient and complete Holocaust. These people are אוחזים מעשי אבותיהם בידיהם and, per my understanding of Divine Justice, I can discern no reason why the sins of the grandfathers ought not to be visited upon their descendants until the end of time.

While I generally try to limit my processing of מדה כנגד מדה to my own life, I sense a certain Divine poetic justice at work here.

It is common knowledge that the standard MO of the Nazis when occupying a Jewish community was to immediately imprison, deport and/or kill the Rabbinic and lay leadership thus decapitating, demoralizing and incapacitating the rudderless ship of community they left behind the better to manipulate them towards their own complete destruction and annihilation. As awful and collaborationist as many of the Judenrats were the fact that these men often represented the second or third tiers of pre-war leadership is a slight limud z'khus for their often treacherous and craven behavior and policies. In any event, short of the longed for utter annihilation of Germany and all the nations that provided so many of Hitlers willing executioners during the War, seeing them robbed of their leadership provides some slaking of my dry-as-dust, burning thirst for revenge.

If I cannot live to see the coming of Moshiakh speedily and in our days then I pray: Please G-d may this be the start of many more calamities for the enemies of our People and the enemies of G-d who perpetrated the greatest crime against us and, consequently, Him since the Khurban Bais Hamiqdash .

ויקוים לעיננו משאה"כ

יט מצריים, לשממה תהיה, ואדום, למדבר שממה תהיה; מחמס בני יהודה, אשר-שפכו דם-נקיא בארצם. כ ויהודה, לעולם תשב; וירושלים, לדור ודור. כא וניקיתי, דמם לא-ניקיתי; ויהוה, שוכן בציון.

Qedusha-Havdala. Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

אל-גינת אגוז ירדתי לראות במאמר המוסגר

As an alumnus of the American Yeshiva system I am, of course, innocent of any knowledge of NaK"H. Still there are times when, in spite of myself, I am moved by a particularly, well, moving passage of the Jewish prophetic tradition to actually crack a Mikraos Gedolos and try to gain some understanding of what the prophets of HaShem were communicating.

The lyrical Messianic Haftorah of akhron shel Pesach occasioned just such a curious book-spine cracking on my part. I didn't get very far as a glaring apparent arbis in vahnt non-sequitur met my eyes as a parenthetical insertion into Rashi. It can be found on this page in Rashi to Yeshaya 11:1 , I will try and copy and paste it here but lack the gedult for spelling corrections so my feeble translation/ adaptation shall follow.
(אמר המעתיק בימי חזרפי הקשיתי לשאול לכמה נאוניס על שכתבא״מ זקנימהרמ״א בהנה״ה
בהלכות ר״ה שאגוז בגי׳ ח״ט יהלא היא גסניממריא טו"ב. ותרצתי על פי הזוהר מה שהקשה רבי אלעזר את אביו רשב״י על שאמרו חז״ל ולא קס נביא בישראל אבל באומ׳׳ה קם ומנו בלעם וכי׳ והשיב לו מפסיק גס זה לעומת זה וכוי.שאפילו שיש קדושה בטומאה אסיר ללמוד אותה שנאמר ומע הדעת טו"ב ור"ע לא תאכל.ויובן אף שאגוז גי׳ טו"ב הואיל ויש בה קליפה גי׳ ח״ט אין אוכלי[ אותה בר״ה ונענעו לי ראשיהם הגאונים ההס

Saith the transcriber: "In the sharpness of my youth I put this question to several Geonim. 'I question the Remu'h's reasoning in Hilkhos Rosh HaShana where he writes that it would be a breach of custom to consume filberts on Rosh HaSahanah owing to the identical numerical values of the words Egoz (Filbert) and Khet(sin) since the word Tov shares the same numerical value (17) as well?'.

I went on to answer my own question: 'the Remuh's ruling is based on Rashbi's in the Zohar on the question put to him by his son Rebeee Elazar as to how our sages could maintain that Bilaams prophetic powers equaled those of Moshe Rabenu? To which Rashbi replied : 'It is based on the verse גַּם אֶת-זֶה לְעֻמַּת-זֶה, עָשָׂה הָאֱלֹהִים,='G-d hath made even the one as well as the opposite other ' In other words everything that exists in good -Qedusha has its equally powerful counterpart on the 'other side' of evil and impurity. Such that despite the fact that holiness animates unholiness and impurity it is still forbidden to learn from, and ,as it were, nourish oneself, from the latter. As Adam was admonished 'and from the tree of UNION of good and evil do not eat!' Such that it would be forbidden for us to study the prophecies of Bilamm.'

Similarly, despite the fact that egoz equals 'good' it is also surrounded by a husk of 'sin'. Such an edible, adulterated as it is by a Qedusha/Tumah admixture, may not be eaten on Rosh HaShanah. '

The Geonim nodded their heads to me in satisfied assent! ' "

While this is indeed a fascinating question and answer it's connection to the Rashi and verse at hand utterly eluded me. I ask my erudite readers (such as they are) for help on this one.

Now I know that I am out of my depth here and am addressing material better dealt with by such Bloggish luminaries as Mississippi Fred, Dan Rabinowitz or Menachem Butler but FWIW here's my theory:

The Ma'atik was warning the reader against learning this qapitehl of Yeshaya by comparing it to the Egoz on Rosh HaShanah. Since the missionaries had combed this passage for Christological references and used it to great effect in their proselytizing work it was, in effect, no longer the pure unadulterated prophecy of Yeshaya but had become something akin to the prophecies of Bilaam or, using a more physical model, like New Years Egoz consumption.

Learning these kernels of Qedusha, covered as they were by multiple Qlippos , heavy husks of idolatry and sundry impurity, would be tantamount of repeating the original sin of eating the fruits of the Tree of UNION of good and evil. There must be absolute birur and havdala of Qedusha away from any surrounding or interpenetrating Tumah before it is fit for our spiritual consumption.

If I'm wrong please offer something better.
Qedusha-havdala. Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm??? Don't eat your Qedusha without making Havdala first!

Post-Partum Depression

No...I'm not about to "out" myself as a female of child-bearing age. The title refers to the post-Pesach Blues.

Pesach is, after all, the birth of our nation. As our sages interpret the verse:
לד אוֹ הֲנִסָּה אֱלֹהִים, לָבוֹא לָקַחַת לוֹ גוֹי מִקֶּרֶב גּוֹי, בְּמַסֹּת בְּאֹתֹת וּבְמוֹפְתִים וּבְמִלְחָמָה וּבְיָד חֲזָקָה וּבִזְרוֹעַ נְטוּיָה, וּבְמוֹרָאִים גְּדֹלִים: כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר-עָשָׂה לָכֶם יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, בְּמִצְרַיִם--לְעֵינֶיךָ. 34

Or hath God assayed to go and take Him a nation from the midst [re; innards] of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before thine eyes?

to mean that HaShem, kavayakhol acted as a shepherd birthing a calf by schlepping it out of the mother cows birth canal would have. (of course with this major difference between allegory and symbolized: in the case of the actual Cow and calf the biological relationship continues and mother continues to nurse and sustain the newborn. Wheres the Exodus from Egypt, as the ultimate act if Divine Havdala, utterly disconnected the newborn entity from it's incubator/"mother". The birth of Israel necessitated the death of their relationship to/with Egypt!). Such that Pesach and the seder in particular is the Jewish Feast of the Nativity.

In any event now that it's over I'm depressed. What with being surrounded by friends and family, enjoying stimulating non-mundane conversation and delectable food and wine, really fine weather (from the third day forward), really gishmacka davening and particularly uplifting Hallels it was a grand rarefied time. I'm especially bummed about the return to the humdrum yet stressful workaday toils, worries and unshikinish'n. Last week my major concerns were answering some peculiarity in the Haggadah text, elucidating an unclear point in the Rov's drasha or figuring out what a particular commentary really meant when addressing a difficulty in the daily laining or about a general Pesach topic. This week it's back to the coal mines, tax preparation juggling bills and fending off bankruptcy for a while longer.

I much prefer liberty to slavery.