Immortalicide

Homicide...murder, stop and think about it for a moment. All it really means is hastening the inevitable and, usually, inflicting more pain than natural death does*. It is a sin/ crime of impatience, cruelty and expropriating the role of G-d. But what if one were to kill that which was not inevitably destined to die? I'm not speaking of the oxymoronic Deicide. I'm speaking of reducing an immortal to a mortal.

TTBOMK In Jewish tradition this act was perpetrated three times in history; first when the primordial serpent seduced Khava to eat of the Tree of Union of Good and Evil , shortly thereafter when she fed her husband of same and finally when Moshe Rabenu shattered the Lukhos. While the direct cause of K'lal Yisraels diminution from immortality back to mortality was the sin of the Golden Calf the Sokhatchover ZY"A teaches that it was the shattering of the Lukhos and, paradoxically, the separation therefrom of their inseparable letters that set the metaphysics in motion that allowed for the separation of an inseparable soul from its body.

I find it striking that the Paytan in the שבעה עשר בתמוז S'leekhos , reiterating the teachings of Khazal, list the shattering of the Lukhos and the burning of the Torah as the number one and two calamities of the five that befell our people on 17 Tamuz. Nowhere is the sin of the Golden Calf that precipitated the stone-cold libricide even mentioned. Apparently, as tragic as the mass Idolatry of the Egel and attendant mass hereticide of the Egel worshipers were, when considering the qualitative paradigm shift from life without end to life interrupted by death i.e. Immortalicide, these catastrophes are not even worthy of mention.

Contrast the two libricides whose anniversaries we bewail this day: When burning a Sefer Torah Rav Khanina ben Tradyon put it best when he said אמר להן גליון נשרפין ואותיות פורחות = "The parchments are burning but the letters fly" i.e. since the ink that formed the letters is an extrinsic adhesion to the vellum that formed their background it is possible to destroy the body=the vellum while maintaining the eternity of the soul=the letters of Torah. Whereas when the Lukhos were shattered, in spite of the fact that the letters were intrinsic, מניה וביה to the Lukhos, they ceased to exist, as did that level of Torah. We are enjoined to honor an Alzheimers or Amnesia riddled TK because both the second, inscribed Lukhos AND the shards of the Tabula Rasa first Lukhos reposed in the Ark of the Covenant. IOW vis a vis "what might have been" in terms of Torah we as a People are amnesiacs.

It was an act necessitated by the supreme love that he had for his People but as we observe 17 Tamuz we ought to remember that Moshe shattering the Lukhos was not just a highly public libricide, it was a national literary suicide and, almost uniquely, an Immortalicide as well. Consider, Rosh haShana the anniversary of the first two historical immortalicides, is no fast day.
Qedusha-Havdala...have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???
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*(Yeshivisha urban legend maintains that there was a Mafiosi [Italian or Jewish??? Not sure] who helped out the work of Va'ad Hatzalha during or after the holocaust. he then asked Rav Ahron Kotler for a blessing. How does one bless a Mafiosi? Rav Aron said "May G-d grant that you die in your own bed". The Mafiosi was very pleased with this!)

A Big Yasher Koakh to Bila'am...

...for providing us with one of the most lyrical turns of phrase in the history of Havdala consciousness. הֶן-עָם לְבָדָד יִשְׁכֹּן, וּבַגּוֹיִם לֹא יִתְחַשָּׁב.
which resonates pretty musically even in English: "lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations" expresses it about as well as it's ever been said with ramifications for both the temporal and eschatological worlds.
Qedusha-Havdala...Bila'am had his...but have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

The Holy Rimanover, Dinover, The OTD Crisis and the Hechsher Tzedek

Second only to the Shidduch crisis, the Kids-at-Risk Crisis/OTD youth is the issue that roils the contemporary Frum community like no other. Ancillary to this crisis is another "issue" which is, in fact, far more widespread but neither as dramatic nor, superficially, as tragic as OTD. I refer to the problem of students of great potential who just don't pan out or that flame out young and continue with pro forma lives of Torah and Mitzvos. I'm not necessarily speaking about the Converso Orthoprax in our midst. I'm referring to the many Yeshiva and Bais Yaakov products whose scholarship, bren=ardor and yiras shomayim, while present, are best described as mediocre or stunted through arrested development.

Many TKs, professional educators, sociologists and psychologists have spilled oceans of ink analyzing the causes of this pan-societal problem and proposing solutions. As I answer to none of these descriptions I would not forward an analysis of my own. But it seems that this problem is not new (although it may never have been as acute as it is today) and that the great Reb Mendeleh Rimanover zy"a had spoken out on the issue at some point in the late 18th or early 19th century and I think we'd do well to listen to what he has to say on the topic.

I found something in Agra D'pirka 126 by the Holy Dinover (AKA the Bnei Yisoskhor) , quoting his Rebbe, that got me thinking that, perhaps, the idealistic animating idea (if one, indeed, exists) behind the Hekhsher Tzedek may have something to it. This passage connects the dots between good business ethics and seeing true Yiddisha Nachas from our children.

אמר כבוד אדמו״ר הרב הק׳ מהרמ״מ על מה שחוא מן התימא שאנחנו רואין כמה פעמים הילדים בקטנותם הולכים לבית רבם ומתמידים בלמוד תורתם ומתפללים בכוונה ועונים איש״ר ואמן ומיישרים אורחותם ואח״כ כשמתגדלים מתהפכים ח״ו במדות גרועות ומבטלים התורה והתפלה וכיוצא ומאין יתהווה זה ? הרי התורה שלמדו בקטנותם והוא הבל שאין בו חטא היה מהראוי שתעמוד למשען להם ויוסיפו אומץ בנפשותם כי מצוה גוררת מצוה. ואמר הוא ז״ל שהוא על שאבותיהם האכילו אותם ממון גזל שסיגלו ע״י מו״מ שאינו באמונה ונתפטמו באיסורים ושב להם לבשר מבשרם ועי״ז נולדים תאות ומדות גרועות. והביא ראי׳ מזפק העוף על שנהנה מן הגזל לא נתקרב לגבי המזבח כי לא לרצון יהיה והגם שהעוף לא נצטוה הנה הש״י
שונא החמס עכ״ד

My humble adaptation:

"My Teacher and Master thought it odd that although many young students show great promise in their youth, learning diligently, praying with concentration and passion responding to kaddish et al that they often grow up possessed of nasty middos=character traits and neither learning nor davening properly. How could this happen? Why doesn't the Torah that they exuded in purity and free from the taint of sin as youngsters set a benevolent cycle of ever escalating Mitzvos, Torah and Avodah in motion that would allow them to mature into holy individuals? I think the answer lies in their diet. Specifically nutrition obtained through the ill-gotten profits of shady business practices. You are what you eat and the Tumah inherent in such food engenders terrible middos in those nurtured on this diet. Note the Zefek /Moorah = crop of the Bird Olah (= holocaust/burnt offering) that is cast away before the bird is put on the altar. Why? Because we assume that, unlike bovines, sheep and goats, birds "grazed" by stealing from private property and that the stolen food lodges in the Zefek. As G-d hates theft and covetousness He rejects offerings that incorporate theft. If this is true of birds who lack free-will how much truer must it be of humans who, lacking a crop, have incorporated theft into the very fiber of their beings. These theft-obtained nutrients warp and degrade them such that they are alienated from HaShem and can no longer draw near to him."

Now I've heard analysis similar to this vis a vis the actual ritual Kashrus of foods. Khaza"l revealed to us that forbidden foods are מטמטם את הלב = " 'stuff' the heart" i.e. impede the "understanding hearts" ability to absorb Torah and refinement (IIRC when the Khalav S'tam Similac controversy began 30+ years ago the Debritziner Rov z"l quoted an Ohr haChaim HaQadosh saying that Torah scholarship had suffered in his countries torrid climate because of Tolaim infestation in their foods) but I had never seen a reliable source of note posit causality between diets purchased through financial chicanery and arrested spiritual development.

Now theft, usury, fraud, bait-and-switch, affinity schemes etc. are all forbidden by the Torah and one ought to avoid them on their own merits. Still, doing what's right because its right is, sadly, seldom a powerful motivation. Yet in an era such as ours wherein "whats-in-it-for-me?" Segulah chasing reigns supreme I post this Rimanover thinking that folks might lend an ear to "newly discovered" negative segulohs as well; i.e. not things to do or contributions to make, but things to avoid and deals to pass up. After all the author of this idea is not Solomon Schechter, A. J. Heschel, Morris Allen or Shmuel Herzfeld...it is none other than the Holy Rimanover. It has always been my fondest dream that my posts get attention and even go viral in the J-Blogosphere/ among Jewish emailers. But never so much as this one.

Addendum clarification: I'm not suggesting that all OTDs are attributable to being raised on food purchased through money earned by sub-pristine business ethics. But I think that some of the mediocrity of contemporary Jewry is attributable to this as it was in the days of the Rimanover. Furthermore this is not an appeal for promoting the Hekhsher Tzedek but a call to parents of school age children in particular to improve their business ethics for to what avail is a steak purchased from an "Ethical" meat-packer if the dollars used to purchase it were obtained through a Ponzi Scheme? This post should NOT be construed as an attack on Sholom Rubashkin who is the victim of a miscarriage of justice of Ruthian proportions. I'm convinced that a hanging tough-on-crime judge threw the book at him unjustly and hope and pray that his conviction and sentence are overturned.
Qedusha-Havdala...have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

HaMavdil bein Criminal L'Victim

Incredible how the human capacity for bias and prejudice will contort facts so as to create a moral equivalency between criminals and their victims and the families of criminals and victims.

Note this deliciously twisted and Havdala-Oblivious quote from she who spawned confessed murderer and alleged double murderer Joran van der Sloot:

"I think it is intensely sad that that businessman [Ricardo] Flores has lost his daughter -- and I my son. That's how it feels."

To read more: CLICK

Emmanuel: The Other Side of the Story

Received this in an email Motzi Shabbos from a friend living in Eretz Yisrael. I offer it to my three readers without edits and without comment:

This article was written by a member of the Slonimer community in Betar:

The story with Emanuel is a long one…

Emanuel is home to a community of Slonimers and a community of Sefardim – the majority of which are not religious.

There is only one elementary school for girls there -the Beit Yaakov in controversy. Until this law suit came into being, the school had 2 tracks – the religious track which serviced the religious girls i.e. the Slonimers and a handfull of Sefardi girls who are religious – and the non-religious track which serviced the non-religious girls – most of them Sefardim. Both tracks were quite happy with this arrangement.

Mr. Lelom, who receives funding from a extreme left anti-chareidi organization, has no personal interest in Emanuel, as he does not live there nor do his family members. His law suit is motivated by an agenda to vilify charedim as racists, and not at all to promote the interests of the Sefardim in Emanuel. 80% of the parents from the non-religious track signed a petition to stop the lawsuit because they are happy to keep their daughters ’segregated’. The teaching staff for both tracks of the Beit Yaakov consisted of Slonimer mothers – those now going to jail – and so Lelom’s victory has left the ‘vicitimized’ Sefardi girls with no teachers and has done nothing to help their education.

When this lawsuit began, the Slonimer parents consulted with the Slonimer Rebbe who advised them against mixing the tracks and bringing their daughters into contact with mixed dancing, television, treife food, etc etc. The parents sent a request to the bagatz to allow them to explain their position. This request was ignored, and until 1 1/2 months ago, all of the proceedings were based on information provided by Mr. Lelom.
In the meantime, they took their daughters out of school, and started ‘home schooling’ them.

The week before Lag B’Omer, the Slonimer parents were subpoenaed to court to deal with their ‘contempt of court’ for not integrating the classes (and for not sending their daughters to a recognized school).

In court, the parents explained that their decision to keep the classes separate was not racist – in fact there were Sefardi girls in the religious class! – it was merely a religious matter. One track preferred a sheltered religious approach to education, and the other did not. (One parent – a ZAKA volunteer – went further and said that racism is obviously not part of their lives – when he ‘cleans up’ after a bombing he cleans up dark skin with the same broken heart that he cleans up white skin.)

The court was taken aback by hearing this ‘new’ information and ordered a compromise – that they create an review/acceptance board with members agreed to by both parties, kick all the girls out of school, re-accept them and place them in an appropriate track via this review/acceptance board.

Lelom did not accept this compromise. And so the parents were again ordered to send their girls to Beit Yaakov and mix the classes.

Despite the fines and threat of jailing, the parents adhered to the Slonimer Rebbe’s advice. They were told that the court would not oppose them if they decided to send their daughters to school outside of Emanuel. However, when they arranged for their daughters to attend a chassidish Beis Yaakov in Bnei Brak – the misrad hachinuch threatened to close the school down if they accepted the girls from Emanuel. The court would not allow the Slonimers to open a private school in Emanuel either.

The rest of the Charedi world has joined the Slonimers in this because this case is setting a precedent for the bagatz (who’s wisdom comes from where? This country does not even have a constitution that they can claim to base their decisions on!) to coerce parents in issues regarding the education of their children. The protest today, and the parents’ willingness to go to jail, is meant to demonstrate that we chareidim intend to educate our children in the way we chose – under the guidance of our gedolim and NOT under the coercion of the bagatz. And that we chareidim are willing to make sacrifices to uphold our freedom of religion – freedom to practice Torah true Judaism in this country that calls itself Jewish.

The judge (the only Sefardi judge on the bagatz – hmmm… sounds kind of racist….) stated clearly that he sees no reason why a Rabbi’s opinion should have any bearing once he has made a ruling. And he compared this to the ’separate but equal’ and desegragation struggles in the US 50 years ago.

The Slonimers have stated clearly that they answer to G-d alone (not to some arrogant man who believes in judicial activism), and compared this to the sacrifice and triumph of the Chashmonaim when the Greeks tried to undermine their Judaism.

We should be zoche to see Hashem’s name sanctified, and raise our children to give Him nachas!

S

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

Praying about Miriam and Korakh

Now that my pestilential team member with anger-management issues seems to have closed up shop until next year it's time for cooler heads to prevail.

Compare and contrast the episodes of Miriam and Korakh. Both criticized Moshe and essentially claimed that he "made something up" , that he was motivated to do so by Ga'avah and that there ought to be equal treatment for equal prophets. But here all similarities end. Whereas with Miriam G-d immediately sprang to Moshe's defense and Moshe prayed to heal her, by Korakh G-d did not intervene on Moshe's behalf until he prayed for Him to kill Korakh.

Ultimately Miriam dies the sweetest death that a human being could hope for while, alone among all humans save Eliyahu Hanavee, Korakh never dies. Is it nobler to die by "The Kiss" or to live forever in hell?
Qedusha-Havdala...have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

What's Up With the Spelling?

I thought only Stalinist Jews in bygone Birobidzhan tried to eradicate all vestiges of Lashon Qodesh spelling from Yiddish.

Is this so that no one should, heaven forfend, accuse them of pronouncing the word "Shabbat" instead of "Shabbos"? I can understand. I wouldn't want my kids in the same school as those Zionist Roaders who *SHUDDER* substitute Shabbat Shalom for Git Shabbos. I mean ממה נפשך..if you are so non-Hebraized/ Israelified then it ought to be "Tatteh" not "Abba".

To wax a bit pedantic; once one is writing "Yiddish for Comrades" I believe the correct spelling out to be שאבעס not שאבס

History has Been Unkind to Me!

Guest post by Korakh the Blogger

(read this first)

I suppose that being incinerated, swallowed by the earth and roasted alive in hell might be interpreted in several ways but, for the most part, the historical jury has spoken and my name is mud.

I have become the icon of scoffing, skeptical heresy , branded a Qofer B'Iqar and am the Patron Sinner-Saint of every Breakaway Minyan. Shamai...every bit as severe, contrarian, defeated and caustic as I ever was , nevertheless, is revered as having waged his dispute for the sake of Heaven. Why is everyone so suspicious of my motivations?

We need a little more nuance here. Though the record shows that his hand turned white as snow for badmouthing his People, it's not like Amramowitz the Younger is as pure as the driven snow. On the contrary...he drifted. Or do you think that it's a coincidence that 250 wise men versed in עבור חדשים ושנים = the arcane minutiae of solar lunar intercalation all warned their wives not to go into seclusion with the allegedly celibate 24/7-on-call-for-prophecy holy man? Like most corrupt cult-leaders with limitless power, the mans a predator.

Rabenuists are always claiming that I, Korakh Yitzhorowitz Levine the Blogger, am motivated by impure anti-Rabenuism animus and aim to undercut his authority in everything. Sorry folks, but the Amramowitz brothers lost their authority via their own behavior. It's really time for the historical record to stop shooting the messenger.

As this is most likely my last post for the year I want to take a few moments to express my gratitude to those who would historically rehabilitate me. To RebeeYehuda ben Besaira for implying that my 100% holy congregation has a share in the coming world. To Rebitzen On ben Peles for paying my 100% holy congregation the highest compliment by realizing that they would never gaze at a married woman's unfurled hair. To Rebee Yokhonon for denying that I was either incinerated or swallowed. To the Zohar for stating that at the time of my full-body shave, when i earned my nasty "Baldy" nickname that I also became בדוגמא של מעלה . To the AriZa"l for pointing out the Sofei Tevos allusion to moi : צַדִּיק, כַּתָּמָר יִפְרָח. To the AriZa"l again for pointing to a future world where Kohanim are Levi'im and vice versa, where Kayin and I are vindicated and where I get equal billing with Shamai for a world run על פי גבורות . To the Izhbitzer zy"a for saying that, while confused and conflicted, I was way ahead of my time.

So don't go believing that twaddle about my bleating משה ותורתו אמת והן בדאין from my perch in hell. More revisionist history written by the victors. Next thing you'll know they'll be airbrushing my picture out of the images of the נושאי הארון ! Viva la Revolucion! Viva la Korakh!

Qedusha-Havdala...the root of all Evil. Avoid it like you'd flee from an open pit to hell.

Loosely based on a variety of Khazal Chiefly, Sanhedrin 109B+110A, Margoliyas haYam ibid and Mei HaShiloakh

A Heinous Libricide

Click

Described in a fine article. My only quibble is that this line: "and Rav Yechiel of Paris, father of the author of the Tur" seems ahistorical as the Turs father was the Rosh.

בצאתי ממצרים...ולא כצאתי מירושלים

While not weighing in on the Emanuel, Shomron dispute itself I'm impressed by the jailbirds going to do their time in Bigdei Shabbos as if it's a simkha shel mitzva. It shows the courage of their convictions. it is reminiscent of the p'sak of the Spanish Hahamim to let musical bands play on 9 Av 1492 as a sign of pride that they would accept expulsion before conversion.

The Financial Times nailed it when they wrote:

Defying the summer heat as well as the dress code of Israel’s prison system, a few dozen men from the settlement of Emmanuel decided to go to jail yesterday, clad in their finest Sabbath wear, including fur hats and black robes. Normally worn by ultra-Orthodox Jewish men on feast days, the choice of outfit carried a clear message: they were looking forward to their two-week prison term, imposed for contempt of court, as a religious duty.

Some Havdolos are NOT Mavdil

Yesterday intrepid commenter Ladybird expressed total disgust at my apparent inability to distinguish between actual Levites/Kohenim and Kollelniks.

Here are some differences that I do note:

Levi'im/Kohanim lived mostly in a bronze age agrarian economy -Kollelniks live mostly in post-industrial Hi-Tech service economies.

Levi'im/Kohanim studied and prayed exclusively for all but two weeks a year -Kollelniks study and prayed exclusively for all but three weeks a year.

Levi'im sang, played instruments and were gatekeepers. Kohanim offered sacrifices, examined Negaim and tried Sotahs. Kollelniks study and pray exclusively though many moonlight/ go on to become a variety of Qlei Qodesh including Rabbonim, Roshei Yeshiva, Morei Horoah, High and Elementary School Rebbeim, Mohalim, Sofrim, Kiruv/outreach professionals, Camp Directors, Shokhtim and tutors.

Levi'im/Kohanim inhabited Refuge Cities and, rarely, actually had to provide refuge for those who committed manslaughter. Kollelniks inhabit Lakewood, Brooklyn, Monsey, Bnei Braq, Jerusalem and sundry out-of-town communities and invariably provide refuge to those seeking shelter from assimilation and ahm ha'aretzus by consistently raising the educational standards and scrupulous attention to Mitzvah detail in every community lucky enough to host them.

The support for the Levi'im/Kohanim was transmitted directly from donor to recipient and from one individual to another. The support for Kollelniks is transmitted indirectly from individuals to/through institutions.

Levi'im/Kohanim were elected by G-d and become club members through patrilineal descent. The vast majority of Kollelniks self-select and stay club members for as long as their financial means and/or drive for full-time learning endures. While neither institution require aptitude, entrance, achievement or matriculation exams and while neither requires publishing or peer review in the academic sense nor bears the slightest resemblance to a meritocracy at least some elite and exclusive Kollelim DO require a reputation for certain talents, social skills, attitudes and achievements that precede the Avreikhs admission.

To all of the above I say: so what? These are חילוקים שאינם מחלקים = differences that do NOT make a difference, that do not differentiate. Part and parcel of healthy Havdala Consciousness is not only to discern differences but to assimilate similarities. As Khaza'l taught us: בלי דעת הבדלה מנין = "absent the intellectual faculty for assimilating/uniting... whence Havdala???"

The Kolleleit are the spiritual heirs of the Levi'im/Kohanim of old. To reiterate the salient points of the Rambam:

Maimonides Laws of Sabbatical and Jubilee years Chapter 13 paragraphs 12-13

Why weren’t the Levites in the homesteading ( allocation) of the Land of Israel and in the spoils of war like the other tribes of Israel? ... nor do they attain things for themselves through their physical prowess. Rather, they are the army of the Lord as it says… and He blessed be He, attains things on their behalf as it says…This does not apply exclusively to the Levites. Rather any person among all the earths inhabitants inspired by a spirit of volunteerism and whose wisdom has endowed him with the understanding required to disengage himself from the lifestyle pursued by the mainstream of humanity to stand before the Lord, ..., such a person becomes sanctified with the holiest of holiness .

IMO much of this anti-Kollel animus stems from yet another thing that they share in common with the ancient Kohanim. Living and learning as they do in a rarefied all-Torah-all-the-time atmosphere endows them with the capacity and vision to recognize Negaim Temeim= impure defects apparent on societies collective epidermis that those afflicted cannot. It's hard to love those who living examples point out the blemishes on our personal pictures of Dorian Gray.

Rafi G. Nails it

CLICK.

Again, a Shonda fahr der velt that the Jewish people won't sustain contemporary Levi'im. My only beef with Rafi is that Kharedi activists ought not sue to end inequality. Instead, they should raise consciousness that inequality is a fact. That there MUST be Havdala Consciousness that sets Qodesh on a higher plain than Khol. It may be a far off miracle but I dream of a society in the Holy Land where superiority in every way defines the relationship between Kollelim and Universities...not parity.

Then again anyone who doesn't believe in miracles there is just not being a realist.
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

PSA-Save Matt Fenster

Click and Click.

I don't often agree with Conservative Clergyman but it's hard to dispute what is said at 1:55-2:00 and 5:05-5:20 on the clip.

Unfortunate color choice for the T-Shirts (6:30). the last mass movement organized under that color didn't turn out very well.

Of Red Heifers and White Lies

A GOOD LIKENESS OF ANOTHER OF MY GILGULIM

Guest post by Korakh the Blogger

(read this first)

Consider this an example of "dead blogging".

So I mount my protest rally against Rabenu and his kool-aid drinking sheeple. So what's his response? " בקר = in the light of morning/ tomorrow." A mere stalling tactic? Not to me. I'm adept at reading between his lines. What he really was saying was "G-d separated between light and darkness and called one בקר and another ערב . Differences are innate. ערב cannot become בקר . Just as G-d separated night from day absolutely so did He separate my eldest brother from the rest of us to be the Kohen Gadol. A leopard cannot change his spots and Leviim cannot become Kohanim". For once my personality-cult-leader cousin seems to be talking the talk of a rationalist instead of an obscurantist. There's only one problem. He is full of it. When it's advantageous to him these supposedly "immutable" changes can change on a dime, "innate" differences cease to differentiate and absolute values become relativistic, situational ethics.

Consider the laws in his Torah: The ashes of the Red heifer can both defile and purify. Meat and milk may not be combined but udders are an organ that is permissible to eat. Wool linen combinations are verboten...unless of course they are meant to adorn my cousins the Aaronic Priests. Graven images are very grave and idolatrous, yet graven Cherubim surmount the Ark of the Covenant that I carry. Hindquarter fats are forbidden, fats surrounding the heart permitted. Sisters-in-law are incestuous but they're the only ones to take to the yibum ball. Married women are adulterous, unless they happen to be Shiksas captured in battle. A baheres as small as a gris defiles with the ultimate impurity but if it spreads like wildfires until no healthy patch of epidermis remains it purifies. Uncles Esav and Reuven were born Bekhorim. But Zaidy Yaakov (oops..his will has a codicil against involving him in this) and Uncle Yoseph taught us that bekhora is NOT an innate trait...that Bekhorim are made and not born. Bekhorim were supposed to fill the roles of Kohanim and Leviim..that changed. Cousin Moshe himself was first choice for being the patriarch of all Kohanim...that changed. First cousin twice removed Pinkhos missed being anointed...but was promoted to the Kehuna by "Divine edict" (ya...right!). Even the legislation he dedicated to me only prohibits singing Levi'i'm from manning the gates on penalty of Divinely-dealt-death, and vice versa..but a Kohen who sings OR mans the gates gets off Scott free. With all this hedging of bets is it any wonder he installed a Mitzva that commands the sheeples obedience even when he tells them that right is left? And finally, remember that all this is from a Rabenu who, when he smoked-and-mirrored us out of Mitzrayim, had light shining strong amidst the plague of darkness. So much for absolute divisions between Erev and Boqer.

So forgive me for being a little skeptical when me and my band of 250 eminently qualified men make a modest request of promotion to "the Big Kehuna" and get turned down flat with the "innate differences" claim. The problem with "Amramowitz the Younger", whom absolute power has corrupted absolutely, is that there is no transparency nor accountability to his leadership. Who's REALLY making these schizophrenic bipolar decisions? And who's installing these glass ceilings keeping good men down? Am I to posit a theology of a wishy-washy Deity that legislates by the seat of His pants, makes it up as He goes along and can never seem to make His mind up about anything? No my friends. As I always say "Where there's a Rabenu will there's a Torah-Mitzva way" Well actually it was a twentieth century Orthodox Jewish Feminist whom I'm paraphrasing...but I had the idea first. She did put it very eloquently and I have this relative who is in the prophecy business. Did I mention that Shmuel HaNavee is my great grandson?

Qedusha-Havdala...the root of all Evil. Avoid it like you'd flee from an open pit to hell.

Very loosely based on a variety of Khazal Chiefly BeMidbar Rabbah , Minkhas Khinukh and the Piyut "Ein LeSokheyakh" from Yotzros for Parshas Parah

Anti Havdala Manifesto

A GOOD LIKENESS OF ONE OF MY GILGULIM

Guest post by Korakh the Blogger
(read this first)

It's really kind of odd that The Bray of Fundie asked me to join his team because I really hate everything about Havdala. I'm all for egalitarianism and breaking down artificial barriers that separate people. What is so corrupt and corrupting about the Amramowitz boys is the hierarchical structure that their "Heavenly Torah" makes The Law of our people. Every where I look I see a hierarchical elitist structure and new boys trying to launch and 'ol boys network. Divisions between men and women, between various tribes, between firstborns and other siblings, between young and old. And, of course, at the very pinnacle of this hierarchical structure stand (surprise surprise) the very selfless and self-abnegating "King" Moshe and "High-Priest" Aaron Amramowitz. How convenient!

That's why I organized a protest march against this galloping Havdala. The uniform of my egalitarian army were pure Tekheles serapes. One color, no salient fringes. Equal comrades in equivalent monochromatic uniforms. The medium was the message. We are all equal. There are no innate differences (heck... there's barely an http://innate-differences.blogspot.com/) . Is one part of the Torah holier than another? Does a Torah warehouse need an ostentatious display of one outsatnding component part on the doorpost to provide protection? At Sinai we were all prophets and heard the voice of G-d as one man with one heart.

Moshe and Aaron would have some of us holier than others. He who would submit to Rabenuism hierarchy should harbor no childish illusions but bravely renounce his or her human potential because they must realize that they will always remain LESS holy than some. Yet the Amramowitz' claim to be building a G-d centric society! Well they may be OK at sophistry but their grasp of basic geometry is wanting. I say that in a circle all points are equidistant from the "center". If G-d sits at the center of our holiness then NONE of us are closer or further from Him. So you be the judge; who's really building a G-d centric society? The Amramowitz elitists...or me and my egalitarian comrades?

Some have called me a schismatic, a malcontent, a rabble-rouser, a subverter of the Exodus or even, worst of all, a J-Blogger. But if we are not all equal then the Exodus was for nothing. I say: “If there be a human being who is freer than I, then I shall necessarily become his slave. If I am freer than any other, then he will become my slave. Therefore equality is an absolutely necessary condition of freedom.” Well actually it was a 19th century Russian Anarchist who said it but I had the idea first. He did put it very eloquently and I have this relative who is in the prophecy business. Did I mention that Shmuel HaNavee is my great grandson?
Qedusha-Havdala...the root of all Evil. Avoid it like you'd flee from an open pit to hell.
Very loosely based on a variety of Khazal and Sefforim HaQedoshim. Chiefly BeMidbar Rabbah 18:4 and Mei haShiloakh

Personality Cults

Guest post by Korakh the Blogger
(read this first)

Call me an overly concerned parent but the whole wilderness education system stinks and needs to be trashed and completely reformed. All of this theoretical and metaphysical stuff will be useless to my kids when we get to, what my good friends Dasan and Aviram call "The land flowing with milk and honey" (well actually they're not my friends at all but politics make strange bedfellows and we needed to build a coalition to oppose the Amramowitz gang's dictatorship) . They need to be taught basic farming and ranching and instead what do they get? Tztzis, mezuzos and other superstitious magical thinking gobbledygook. How are they supposed to learn these basics with those cheap Manna and Selav parlor tricks keeping everyone well fed and stupid? What'll they do when the old mans trust fund dries up? I'd home school them but Miriam the Matchmaker told me it would really hurt their shiddukh chances. (I kinda like her, she showed me some real moxie when she put down her full-of-himself kid brother)

FCOL they aren't getting an education at all...just an indoctrination into the Moshe personality cult. They call it "Rabenu"ism and I call it Avodah Zarah. Once a leader presumes to be an intermediary between G-d and the people how long can it take before they start forgetting G-d and deifying "The Leader"? When the rabble worshiped the calf and the rumors were flying that Moshe had kicked the bucket I actually heard some of his more ardent groupies screaming ניין-ניין. א רבנו שטארבט ניט. ער איז נאר פארהוילט און באהאלטען ="No. NO! The Rabenu CAN'T die. He is merely concealed...hiding somewhere" as if he were some kind of immortal instead of a flesh and blood human being. I guess that miracle working and accurate prognostication will sway impressionable young minds more than rational arguments ever will. My Prophet relative (Did I mention that Shmuel HaNavee is my great grandson?) tells me that the pan-national Yeshiva that Moshe is running here is just like the Islamist Madrasas of the 21st century.

But the absolute worst part of this dogmatic-brainwashing-in-lieu-of-an-education is that it breaks down basic relationships and supplants GENUINE fathers with father ""figures".

Take my three boys (please) . The other day my cousin "The Rabenu" pays me a visit and I actually overhear my sons, staring at the ground (it's no wonder they couldn't look me in the eye) mumbling among themselves "What are we gonna do NOW??? If we stand up as a sign of respect for Rabenu we'll humiliate Dad. But if we don't... well The Torah (AKA Rabenu's manifesto) commands us מפני שיבה תקום = 'Rise before the aged' What should we do????"

Well whaddya think they did? They rose on their feet to pay homage to their OWN fathers enemy. It's sick I tell you. I can really empathize with this 20th/21st century mobster whose son turned on him. (Did I mention that Shmuel HaNavee is my great grandson?)

And after all I've done for them. Raised them in the lap of luxury, key-holder of Pharaohs treasury and owner of 300 white treasure-bearing-mules. Then gained them prestige in society as the sons of one of the bearers of the Ark of the Covenant...And this is what I get? It's sick I tell you... the way he plays these manipulative games with their most basic emotions and turns sons against fathers! (Though on Moshes orders, I myself had no problem slaying my half brothers for worshiping the calf...maybe I too, was too smitten with "Rabenu" at the time...But ever since that farcical Levite Purification ritual as the hairs departed my bald head the scales fell away from my star-struck eyes. My boys got the full body shave then as well. I wonder why THEY"RE still so enamored of Amramowitz Rabenuism?!? Did I mention that Shmuel HaNavee is my great grandson?).

When push comes to shove and I have my final showdown with Moshe I just don't know if I'll be able to count on them...
Based VERY loosely on a variety of Khazal. Mainly Yalqut Shimoni Korakh 752, Pesakhim 119A , Sanhedrin 109B, BeMidbar Rabbahi 18:15

The End of Civilization As We Know It

Though this is a mostly left-handed compliment Havdala Consciousness acknowledges that there are some things which the Goyei Ha'Aretz excel at which Jews do not. Historically, at least superficially, Kibud Av= honoring ones parents was among these. We know about Uncle Esav's exemplary honor for Yitzkhak Avinu. When the Gemara wants to plumb the outer limits of Kibud Av it turns to the honor a non-Jew דמה בן נתינא of Ashqelon dealt his sleeping far. The message of the Decalogue first began resonating with the balance of humanity when the dibrah of Kibud Av v'Em was enunciated. And the only ones who seem to venerate their ancestors more than Rebbisha kinder are the Japanese.

Then I read this. Apparently there is no longer any honor among thieves nor any respect for fathers from their sons. It's the end of civilization as we know it.
Qedusha-Havdala, Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

PSA- Iyun Goes Digital

What "See you On Shabbos" has done for hospitality this new Blog may yet do for Talmud students without access to actual Batei Midrash.

Great potential and arguably redeeming the Blog medium from the Omek HaQlippos. Talk about turning lemons into lemonade!

Biblioclasm by Exclusion

There is a far more effective and enduring way to perpetrate Biblioclasm than by fiery Libricide and that is dismissive exclusion. Libricide almost uniformly impugns insecurity and fear of the burned books to those setting the fires. Whereas exclusion and ignoring implies a kind of arrogant, ultra-confident dismissivness on the part of those doing the excluding. When a book is excluded from a canon or left off a reading list (or a bloggers comments are ignored in a thread or their sites left off a blogroll) the implicit message sent is "this is junk and/or the work of a crackpot. It is beneath contempt and there is no need to read it and certainly no need to react or respond to it". As I heard in the name of a bygone YFL-ESL Gadol (RYBS Z'L if memory serves) coin the translation of the Sinaiatic Bas-Qol אוי להם לבריות מעלבנה של תורה as "Woe to people for their insulting 'ignoration' of the Torah"

In this vein I'd like to accept, albeit in a decidedly anecdotal unscientific way, the challenge lodged by Shilton HaSechel in a recent thread that Kharedi Yeshivos practice Biblioclasm by exclusion in leaving such Oifgeklerteh works of Rishonim as Moreh Nevukhim, Ralba"g and, specifically, Abarvenel off their shelves. One commenter, Yehupitz, attributed this exclusionary libricide to Rav Ruderman z"l. Absent any NIRC talmidim or alumni chiming in I will, FTTB, take him at his word.

Shiltons challenge piqued my interest and I did an informal survey of the Otzrei HeSefarim of two impeccably "black Ivy League" Yeshivos of the genus Litvish designated here as #1 and #2 and these were my findings: #1 stocked Moreh Nevuchim and Abarvenel on their shelves. Number 2 stocked these plus Ralba"g. Both had Rav Shulkhan Arukh, Sefas Emes on both Shas and Khumash-Moadim and Sifrei Rav Tzadok while neither had Tanya, Mei Hashiloakh or Sod Yesharim although, again, both stocked Sidrei Taharos from the same author. #2 had B'nei Yissoskhor, Siduro shel Shabbos and Divrie Khayim on Moadim as well. I didn't check to see if #1 stocked these.

I'll own to this being unscientific as the sampling size is too small. Still, owing to the homogeneous conformity of the Yeshiva world as presently constituted I think that it is, indeed, representative. And while many of these works appeared to be either relics from a bygone location that might crumble to dust if touched or in mint condition as if the Mokher Sefarim had just delivered them, no one can make the charge stick that the Hanholas HaYeshivos are denying their students access to certain "dangerous" Rishonim or even Khasidic thinkers and authors. I'd guess that the precise composition of a given Yeshivas library and indexed "reading list" depends at least as much on the tastes of the sefarim donors as on the Hashqofos of the Rosh Yeshiva.

While I won't vouch for its historicity an urban legend current in my youth claimed that on the shelves of the old Belzer yeshiva on Rekhov Agripas they stocked one copy of Likutei Mohra"n from Rav Nachman Breslover....bound, and thus gagged, on the open/front end. IOW , "This is a holy work but it's NOT meant for human consumption". That is more than hedging your literary bets. That's having your books and burning them too!
Qedusha-Havdala, Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

If G-d is Good Why are His Prophets so Bad?!?

Guest post by Korakh the Blogger
(read this first)

Well those profiteering "prophets", the Amramowitz brothers, are at it again. Playing on the pieties of the credulous for their own personal gain. Check out this latest collaborative larceny of theirs:

The meager estate of a widow in my neighborhood consisted of the one field, ox and donkey that her hubby left her. As she hitched her team to the plow Moshe the Profit suddenly appears and admonishes her to cut it out. לֹא-תַחֲרֹשׁ בְּשׁוֹר-וּבַחֲמֹר, יַחְדָּו . = "Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together" he thundered at the poor husband-less practitioner of husbandry. She found another way. At harvest time Moshe reappears like a stubborn weed demanding that she fork over Terumah, Maaser Rishon and Ma'aser Sheni. Making peace with what was, after all, "decreed by G-d" (ya... right) she complies once more but now sees her margin is so narrow that she is forced to sell off her field.

She then buys two sheep figuring she can spin and weave the wool for clothes and milk them for food and drinks. She's overjoyed when both ewes give birth. But her joy is short lived as the big brother comes a' callin'. "Those newborn b'khors are mine!" Making peace with what was, after all, "decreed by G-d" (ya... right) the good woman complies once more and parts with the cute and cuddly snow-white newborns. At shearing time Aharon reappears like a persistent cough demanding that she fork over Reshis haGez.

Her endurance begins to crack and realizing that as long as her sheep live Ahron will be snatching the best that they produce she has them slaughtered, from the throat, of course (as if slaughtering them from the neck would be any different *EYE ROLL*). Getting ready to dig in to her fresh mutton who should crash the party but the " 'ol peacemaker in pishtim" himself (again) "So happy to come. I LOVE mutton. Especially the zroa, lekhoyayim and keyva. Buffalo cheeks..yee haaa!". Her Irish up she yells "Villain ! Knave! Thief! I've had it with you guys. If even after slaughtering my sheep I can't keep them for myself and my orphans then to he*l with you. I pronounce a Herem on my sheep." "Ah" smiled Ahron "the better to exploit you with my Dear. As G-d has decreed (ya...right) כָּל-חֵרֶם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל, לְךָ יִהְיֶה. =' Every thing devoted(i.e. made into a Herem)in Israel shall be thine.' in other words...MINE!"

Now I happen to have an honest relative, a man of real integrity, in the prophet business, Shmuel HaNavee, who tells me that at some point in the distant future there will be some notorious brothers like the James, the Capones and the Castros who rip off others of the fruits of their labors and wombs, but these Amramowitz boys take the cake. How dare they blame G-d for their greed? After getting this scoop anyone who still believes that Torah Min HaShamayim (TMS) malarkey ought to be asking themselves the question "If G-d is Good Why are His Prophets so Bad?!?" (Did I mention that Shmuel HaNavee is my great grandson?)
Based on a variety of Khazal. Mainly Midrash Shokhar Tov 1:15

A Word about Korakh (the Blogger)

A word of caution as I know that two of my three regular readers tend towards the hyper-literal and humorless.

It goes without saying that Korakh the Blogger is a fictional chameleonymous character. He was crafted in the spirit of אמר רב נחמן כל ליצנותא אסירא בר מליצנותא דעבודה זרה= "all mockery is forbidden save the mockery that pokes fun at idolatry." His posts are intended as a lampoon of contemporary J-Bloggers who are both schismatic and disrespectful of Rabbinic authority. The ensuing satiric exaggerations will be meant to illustrate how "there is nothing really new under the sun" and, as far as folks being skeptical of Rabbinic Leaders, 'twas ever thus. Any resemblance between Korakh the Blogger and many oifgeklerter and impudent J-Bloggers polluting the J-Blogosphere is purely intentional.

And while in posting this I may have taken all the wind out of what little humor, shock of recognition and chuckles his posts might actually evince, I believe that in issuing this preemptive caveat I will be heading off much trouble at the pass.
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

Wish they Could Develop Takhrikhim Like These

Click.

Welcoming Another Team Member

Today must be my bloggish lucky day. A post has actually garnered more than four non-Bray comments and two new members have joined the team. I've just received word that pending some Blogger.com "paperwork" Mississippi Sam McDowell AKA "S." erudite Ba'al HaBlog of On the Main Line" will soon be joining HaMavdil. All three of you here will, no doubt, be amazed by the mans Tcikahvah posts and all-around erudition.

If this keeps up I may have to change the sidebar from About Me...It's always about me, isn't it? to "Team members"

רַב-לָכֶם, בְּנֵי לֵוִי. Defending Todays Levi'im

A while back a commenter voiced strong opposition to the Kollel system and Kollel Yungeleit. The comment was none too brief and contained many classic anti-Kollel bromides. I feel that it is post-worthy and fisk-worthy. I've been meaning to fisk it for a while but have gotten sidetracked in the interim with Libricide Palooza and sundry other topics. At long last here goes:

The kollelniks arrogantly self select.
Why "arrogantly"? When someone, recognizing there own talents and ambitions, decides to apply to medical school would you characterize that decision as arrogant? Humility is not-identical to low self-esteem and there is much more that goes into the mix of being a successful Kollel-yungerman than a high IQ. Among other things it requires stubborn perseverance, good social skills, and a nose for efficient research, just to name a few. Nothing arrogant about it.

They were not chosen by a higher Being to serve any purpose for klal yisroel.
Not in the sense that the Levi'im were. But in a Bekhira (exercising their own free will to make choices) , rather than in a Yedeeah (G-d's foreknowledge-destiny) sense...absolutely.

You(r) metaphor doesn't hold.
It will in a minute

They are not a "class." They are a self selected sect.
True. But this difference does not differentiate. Per Maimonides (scroll to Halakhos 12 and 13) they ARE among the latter-day Levi'im. My humble adaptation follows:

Maimonides Laws of Sabbatical and Jubilee years Chapter 13 paragraphs 12-13

Why weren’t the Levites in the homesteading ( allocation) of the Land of Israel and in the spoils of war like the other tribes of Israel? Because they were separated from the other tribes to labor for the Lord full-time, to serve Him and to guide the public in His upright ways and just laws. As it says…. So they were removed from the mundane ways of the world in that they do not wage war as does the rest of Israel, nor do they inherit the land nor do they attain things for themselves through their physical prowess. Rather, they are the army of the Lord as it says… and He blessed be He, attains things on their behalf as it says…

This does not apply exclusively to the Levites. Rather any person among all the earths inhabitants inspired by a spirit of volunteerism and whose wisdom has endowed him with the understanding required to disengage himself from the lifestyle pursued by the mainstream of humanity to stand before the Lord, to serve and labor for Him, to know the Lord and to walk straightly, as the Lord created him to be, and who casts from off his shoulders the yoke of “the many schemes and stratagems” shouldered by humanity at large, such a person becomes sanctified with the holiest of holiness and the Lord shall be his portion and inheritance forever and ever. In this world, such a person will merit that which suffices for his needs as did the Kohanim and the Levites of old. Behold David said…

Oh and BTW the Levi'im were both a tribe and a class.

What do they add to this klal yisroel who is so lacking in spirituality and torah? Are they making a difference?
Everything. And not just to K'lal Yisroel but to the whole world. They set in motion a variety of spiritual and metaphysical dynamics that bring every imaginable Tikun HaOlam to the world both short and long term. In the pithy words of Rav Yisroel Salanter (parenthetically, one of the earliest practitioners of Torah Outreach/ Kiruv as he left the insular Yeshiva world of Der Litteh to spend his last years being mekarev University youth in France,) "If a bokhur battels= doesn't learn his Torah diligently, in Eisheshok some Jew in Paris will shmad= get baptized in the Catholic Church". And as מדה טובה מרובה= the characteristic of good exceeds that of evil, we may presume the converse to be doubly true. To wit; if a Yungermahn learns B'hasmada = with great concentration and diligence in Mir or Lakewood then Aish, NCSY, Lev L'Achim and Chabad Houses will be mekarev another Ba'al T'shuva. Or do you think that the renaissance of Yeshivas and Kollelim and the birth of the Teshuva movement are purely coincidental?

Is any even tiny percent using their free ride to learn to then do something to improve the problem you observe?
In a word...absolutely. Whom else do you think is staffing and/or volunteering for so many of the Kiruv and educational institutions if not current and former Kolleleit?

If not, and it seems not, the money will go to support causes deemed more worthy.
Although much is made of the "disproportionate" amount of Kollel "parasites" today the truth is that the two mega-Kolelim of Mir and BMG rolled into one would not have the student population of a community college in a big city.

Further the total cost per student, even those married with a few kids, is probably less than that of a community college. It is a busha for K'lal Yisrael ,that even in these "hard" economic times, has never been better off financially, that the Yeshivas and Kollelim have to come begging and that so many of the yungeleits Kollel careers have to be privately funded by parents and in-laws. I'd hazard a guess that the money spent on 10 of the higher end Pesach Hotel programs could probably fund Mirs entire budget for at least a month or two. But, again, the main point is not that the frum Baalei Batim aren't giving enough Tzedaka...perhaps they are. The main point is that there are far too few Tzedaka givers to support dedicated Torah-Learning in K'lal Yisrael. The flight to the suburbs of assimilation and misguided philanthropic causes has, as it were, eroded the "tax base". Much of the painful pan-frum-societal shidduch crisis could also be alleviated if Kollel careers were publicly rather than privately funded.

And if you think kollelniks need support, we are no longer farmers tilling soil.
Economies have undergone massive changes since Biblical times. Why should that make a difference? Bottom line is that just as it was for the Levi'im in days of yore, the economy is structured to strip the Kollel man of independent means of self-sustenance and self-sufficiency. In the old days one needed soil to till. Today, עמלות בתורה "toil to sell" will not do the trick. Today, one needs a University Degree. But pursuing one will knock Kollelelit off course from becoming TKs and Yirei Shomayim.

We are academics, just like them, developing scholarship and professional know how of the same world that your kollelniks are.
I beg your pardom. You (We) and they do NOT inhabit the same world(s). You've got two feet firmly planted in this world while they have one in this world and one in Olam haBah. And besides, not all academics end up contributing practically to the commonweal especially in the Liberal Arts and the soft sciences. Yet I don't see anyone calling for the heads of Dickinsonians or Anthropologists. Face it. When it comes to the Ivory Tower some academics are utilitarian while others are merely decorative.

Except the rest of us support our own families, give something to the world even if it is just to keep the economy going, and give the tzedakah.
A minority of Koleleit do support their own families without outside assistance. I.e. when the Kollel wives have lucrative careers/businesses. I'd guess that ALL give tzedaka and that some may even contribute a higher proportion of their income than you do. Who knows. I haven't checked their tax returns and neither have you.

Taking and taking is what the kollelniks do.
We all both give and take. See Rav Desslers Kunteres HaKhesed. As previously argued the things that Kolelleit give are mainly metaphysical and intangible but in that regard they are, again, no different than the Kohanim and Levi'im of old.

They are no kohanim.
Here you are right. The Kohanim are/ were after all and 'ol boys network patrilineal aristocracy. Whereas Kolelleit consist of a sweat-equity, equal opportunity meritocracy. I'd have thought that an egalitarian such as yourself would shout "advantage kolleleit" on this one!

Just a bunch of people who decided they are somehow the deserving group of other people's money by virtue of the fact that they decided to not get a job.
Allow me to correct your spelling errors; "Just a bunch of people who decided they would dedicate their lives to Divine Service, chiefly through intense and advances Torah Study and are therefor the deserving group of Divine sustenance at bare minimum levels by virtue of the fact that they decided to love G-d more than this-worldly pursuits and pleasures".
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

Welcoming A New/Old Team Member

It gets awful lonely here on the Red-Tent Blog. It's also hard to keep the creative juices flowing sufficiently to keep up with those group blogs. So I'm both gratified and relieved to announce that at long last someone has finally agreed to accept my invitation to join the blog and post here on HaMavdil.

Just in time for his weekly Parsha and in spite of his incessantly trying to start up his own, Korakh the Blogger has graciously agreed to join my team.

Alternative History is a real growth industry. A game played less frequently is imagining historical figures in different settings. Ever wonder what Korakh might have been like had he lived in the present age of the J-Blogosphere? Well you're about to find out in the coming weeks.
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

James Joyce was Wrong

kinda. He sardonically noted that "Ireland has the honor of being the only country that never persecuted the Jews- because she never let them in."

Consider the fact that the another ship heading for Gaza scheduled to arrive today, after this weeks freedom flotilla fiasco apparently spoiling for another fight and ensuing universal condemnation of Israel is the likely-self-fulfilling-prophetically named "Rachel Corrie". (Rachel, the person, is a kind of Palestinian Hannah Senesh)

This ship ship sails not under a Turkish Flag but under an Irish one. So to put new teeth on Joyce's old saw I'd say that "Ireland has the honor of being the only country that never let Jews in to persecute the Jews- only because they never let arms shipments to their genocidal sworn enemies in."

ברוך מתיר אסורים

Thanks to the Freedom Flotilla Fiasco and some particularly ill-timed khitutei d'shikhvei protests an item that should have been of great interest to the J-Blogosphere has flown under the radar.

An internationally infamous Jewish convict, one who is, arguably, a real piece of work possessing many reprehensible character traits that confirm many an antisemitic stereotype and whose misdeeds have caused widespread Khilul HaShem and a spike in antisemitism, was recently released from prison.

All three of you who actually read this are no doubt wondering "Of whom does the Bray speak? I haven't heard anything about Rubashkin or Madoff being set free and it would be too morbid even for Chaim G. to refer to Martin Grossmans execution as his ' release from prison'". Well wonder no longer. I refer to none other than Lori Berenson.

Based on everything that I've read Lori is a Tinokes Shenishbah two times over. First in the figurative symbolic sense and then in a very practical nuts and bolts sense.

In her youth she was indoctrinated in hard-left, red-diaper baby politics favored by Upper West Side and Marin County Jews whose Jewish hearts still beat with the yearning for the fulfillment of the Jewish Historical mission of Tikun Olam but who have lost their Torah-based compass as to how to go about repairing this broken world. As a kid Lori volunteered for soup kitchens and blood banks and also worked as a mother's helper. While an undergraduate at MIT, she volunteered with the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES). Before graduating, she left MIT, no doubt chucking a good to spectacular career in the process, to work with CISPES. Following her radical ani ma'amins to their logical conclusions she then traveled to Peru to join the struggles of Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement against the Peruvian Government, that would culminate in her incarceration for fifteen years robbing her of the very best years of her life.

While her trials, especially the first one with the hooded judge, certainly didn't conform to US standards and notions of due process, I have little doubt that she was guilty of almost all charges brought against her. Guilty... but not responsible. She was a young , idealistic naive soul suckered in by heady revolutionary rhetoric. One does not have to be borderline retarded to commit stupid, irresponsible acts. As Lori has proven, one can be brilliant and stupid as well.

Everything about Lori is tragic. The chucking of her education. Her self-destructive intoxication with the siren call of Marxism, the methadone of the masses. Her joining forces with violent and merciless revolutionaries, like so many Jews in golus before her, in a fight not hers. Her incarceration in high altitude hell-hole prisons. Her jailhouse parody of marriage that has resulted in a son that, though halakhikly Jewish, will grow up fatherless and despised as a mischling / mestizo by both Jews and Latinos. Her loss of liberty during what should have been the prime of her life. Saddest of all, her apparently having learned nothing and repented for nothing despite having had 15 years behind bars to rethink things as she is still spouting the same hackneyed bromides of leftist drivel as she did when she scoped the Peruvian Congress out for her revolutionary friends.

I know of a frum askan who worked hard behind the scenes through diplomatic channels for her release and /or to arrange a prisoner exchange to get her back to the states. As these sort of things generally don't become safe to publicize until many years after the fact I don't know if I'll/ we'll ever know if he had a hand in this or FTM if US government pressure or Human-Rights organizations had anything to do with it. But seeing a Jewish soul liberated from captivity ought to bring a ברוך מתיר אסורים to all our lips, albeit without shem u'malkhus.

TTBOMK Frum organizations never agitated on Lori Berensons behalf on an overt public level. There have been no email or letter writing campaigns, petitions and/ or Tehillim rallies as there have been for Sholom Rubaskhkin, The Bokhurim incarcerated in Japan and זאהל זיין וייט אפגעשיידט (spelling corrections welcome) Martin Grossman ע"ה . OTOH there have been such efforts for Lorie mounted by leftists and human rights organizations.

The apparent take-away is that a constant rule of human nature is that וְעַל כָּל-פְּשָׁעִים, תְּכַסֶּה אַהֲבָה. = "but love covereth all transgressions". I.e. we tend to minimize or entirely whitewash the crimes of those we are simpatico with. We see grave and obvious injustices, monstrous prejudices made flesh and the scuttling of due process and legal professionalism where disinterested parties see none of the above.

Maybe the disinterested are not looking hard enough.
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???

An Evergreen Classic

May not be one of Dylans greatest melodies but the lyrics still resonate with the exception of the lines in red.

Neighborhood Bully

Well, the neighborhood bully, he’s just one man
His enemies say he’s on their land
They got him outnumbered about a million to one
He got no place to escape to, no place to run
He’s the neighborhood bully

The neighborhood bully just lives to survive
He’s criticized and condemned for being alive
He’s not supposed to fight back, he’s supposed to have thick skin
He’s supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in
He’s the neighborhood bully

The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land
He’s wandered the earth an exiled man
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn
He’s always on trial for just being born
He’s the neighborhood bully

Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad
The bombs were meant for him. He was supposed to feel bad
He’s the neighborhood bully

Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he’ll live by the rules that the world makes for him
’Cause there’s a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac
He’s the neighborhood bully

He got no allies to really speak of
What he gets he must pay for, he don’t get it out of love
He buys obsolete weapons and he won’t be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side
He’s the neighborhood bully

Well, he’s surrounded by pacifists who all want peace
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease
Now, they wouldn’t hurt a fly. To hurt one they would weep
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep
He’s the neighborhood bully

Every empire that’s enslaved him is gone
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon
He’s made a garden of paradise in the desert sand
In bed with nobody, under no one’s command
He’s the neighborhood bully

Now his holiest books have been trampled upon
No contract he signed was worth what it was written on
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health
He’s the neighborhood bully

What’s anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin’, they say. He just likes to cause war
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed
He’s the neighborhood bully

What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers? Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill
Running out the clock, time standing still
Neighborhood bully

Funny how the more things change the more they stay the same.
Qedusha-Havdala...Have you had YOURS today??? Hmmm???