How Does a Frum Girl Gain Fame and Fortune...

with no education, no marketable skills, no supportive family and no husband?

Easy. She ceases being Frum.
also click here and here.
בא המבדיל והעמידן על אחת
"Those who cannot tolerate Havdala cannot appreciate Qedusha"

Clever and Wholesome

With the economies continued sluggishness competition for philanthropic dollars has grown fiercer than ever. Much fund-raising material that one sees today is extremely off-putting with apparent manipulation of Gedolei Yisroel and snake-oil-merchant guarantees for refuos and yeshuos . But this ad that I received by email yesterday came as a breath of fresh air.

I give it a two thumbs up! here are some of the things that I liked about it:

1. The cause is a great one. In-vitro and other cutting edge reproductive technologies cost a fortune and are rarely fully covered by medical insurance. I'd hazard that bringing about a new Jewish life is at least on par with saving and existing one. The agmas nefesh that infertile couples experience is horrible. Additionally we all know what Khaza"l teach us about the walking-dead existence of those who are childless. This is a Hashqafa that is reinforced in so many ways in contemporary frum society. So when a healthy baby is born to a formerly childless couple three lives are being saved. Talk about leveraging your Tzedaka dollars!

2. The clever tie-in to T"u B'Shavt. Someone there knows from marketing! It's wonderful to see some pastoral imagery depicted for a change.Most tzedaka ads today depict either suffering or sufferers, Khasidic singing stars and/ or chafing dishes at buffet tables. Our society is very urban(without being urbane) and concrete jungle-like so it's nice to pause occasionally to admire the verdant beauty of trees, even if they don't grow in Brooklyn and even if they are a mere image on ones computer screen. There is much that we can learn in our own avodah from botanic life...but that's a topic for another post... if at all.

3. The explicit and implicit message that virtue is it's own reward. No promises of cancer cures, shidduchim for the older single or beating your IRS audit. No promises or guarantees of anything at all. The ad concludes with a blessing and a T'u B'Shvat appropriate wish, that the saplings grow to be like the parent tree. Give Tzedaka because its the right thing to do. What a concept!

I'm so impressed I might, repeat might, even contribute $5! DISCLAIMER: The above sentence is not to be construed as a neder or a pledge.
בא המבדיל והעמידן על אחת
"Those who cannot tolerate Havdala cannot appreciate Qedusha"

Hoof and Mouth Disease

CLICK.

On three different occasions during Super Bowl 46 NY Football Giants punter Steve Weatherford swung his mighty and accurate hoof to pin the Patriots inside their own 10 yard line. The first of these led to an immediate safety and, arguably, set the tone for a Gigantic Giant victory.

After the game his mouth roared in a remark of exquisite snark.

I suppose that it's human nature to gloat. As the wise T-Shirt says: "living well is the best revenge." Once you've won it all you can talk trash. So I do not deny Steve Weatherfords comments. I merely resent them.

Someone's Parading on My Reign

Same Old, Same Old- Been There Done That

Halevai oif inz Gezugt

Mazal Tov to the New York Football Giants and ShliMazal Tough to the New York Jets. Together the two tri-state metropolitan area NFL franchises have once again validated the wisdom of the wisest of men who wrote: מה-שהיה, הוא שיהיה, ומה-שנעשה, הוא שיעשה; ואין כל-חדש, תחת השמש = That which hath been is that which shall be, and that which hath been done is that which shall be done; and there is nothing new under the sun. Same classy, classic, gritty, resilient Giants and same 'ol Jets.

Again the Jets have lived up to their team colors as they must be truly green with envy. But for a porous O-Line, a rancorous locker room and a few bounces of the football this way and that they might have been on the pedestal now being occupied by the current Titans of New York football. No doubt many on Gang Green are thinking "That coulda' shoulda' woulda' been us!" . Per Coach Ryan the logical progression of two consecutive AFC Championship Game appearances was supposed to have been a Super-Bowl victory. The first of many! I pity the team trainers who must now deal with an orthopedic condition that has nothing to do with fractures, sprains or hyper-extensions to wit; ורקב עצמות קנאה = but envy is the rottenness of the bones.

My advise to them is simple: Do not be over Lo Lakhmod = transgress "Thou shalt not covet"on the Giants Lombardi Trophy. Go out and get one or three of your own! Stop talking and start walking.
'Tis a Super Day of teeth-gnashing, wailing and lamentation
for every citizen of the Jet nation

Don'tcha Make my Green Eyes Blue

A Jets Fans elegy for Super Sunday.

While the weather is always balmy inside a domed stadium we are forecasting the Perfect JetStorm for the Big Game.

No matter who wins today's Super Bowl (I forget the Roman Numeral) the Jets come out on the short end of the stick. Loud-mouthed, foot-fancying, profanity spewing and tattoo enhanced HC of the NYJ Rex Ryan famously vowed that he did not come to New York "to kiss Bill Belichicks Super Bowl Rings" . While the vow may or may not be subject to התרה = retroactive annulment (if I knew then what I know now etc.) the ever-more-lovable Belichick may have yet another ring ripe for the kissing by the time the clock runs down to three zeros.

Even if the Hoody cloaked genius' pinky finger stays naked Ryan will still have to deal with the indubitable reality that he and the team that he sort of head-coaches (though if you ask me, he has ceded control of the offense to OCs most offensive and foul) are the little brothers of the team that dwells just across the locker-room at the New Giants...errr MetLife Stadium over in the Meadowlands. A Tuesday victory parade down the "Canyon of Heroes", something that he's been promising to deliver for three years now, will be awash in Giant Blue. Truth be told , win, lose or draw tonight the Giants have already eclipsed the Jets accomplishments of the previous two years by merely going to the Super Bowl. The NY football Giants are already first in the NFC, first among Manning-helmed teams and first in the hearts of New York Football fans.

So for every little-engine-that-couldn't in the Jet nation the only relevant question remaining is this: Once the Lombardi Trophy is hoisted tonight will our eyes be Green with Patriot Envy or Big Blue with a Giant Depression. It's a New York sad-sack exchange!

To give the Yankee fans out there some frame of reference: think Mets BoSox World Series.
Poll question for commenter(s) : Which teams Super Bowl victory is a greater disaster for Jet fans?

'Tis a Super Day of teeth-gnashing, wailing and lamentation
for every citizen of the Jet nation

The Second Falling of Humpty-Dumpty

part I

Another week of blogging and another precipitous fall. A kind of שבר תחת שבר:

I know full well that the tremendous (for me) traffic of Wednesday last had little to do with the quality of my last post. (Which, incidentally, was among my best work ever. At least in terms of thesis if not in terms of writing). I begged for, and got, cross posts and links from DovBear, R' Harry, Rafi and Tzig. A big Shkoyakh to them all. Additionally I'm a Mother and some guy on Facebook picked up Rise of the Mega-Yeshivos- the Coup de Grâce of Chasidification . And therein lies the problem.

After all these years of blogging I am still a Red-Tenter with nary a visitor unless outed to the J-Blogosphere by one of the successful blogs.

This infuriates me as I feel that the quality of my posts merit more of a readership. Perhaps if I had capitalized on my spike in readership of last week by posting once or twice daily since then i could actually have built a base. But, alas, real life has encroached and made daily posting impossible. O well. Chalk it up as yet another blown opportunity in an utterly misspent life. Being an unread blogger should be the greatest of my regrets. Snagville, if you're out there somewhere reading this, some words of support would be most timely and appreciated.
בא המבדיל והעמידן על אחת
"Those who cannot tolerate Havdala cannot appreciate Qedusha"