New Blog

[One of the editors says...]

I started a new blog.

Please come check it out at mechaneches.blogspot.com .

Thanks!

Scattered Thoughts on the Footage from the Knessiah Gedolah

I.

Last night I lamented in writing that (at least in my limited experience – I could be totally wrong about this) while it is possible to seek out stories about the talmidim of, say, the mussar yeshivos, it is a little harder to find stories about the talmidim of the Aruch laNer, to give a real tzura of what a gadol from Frankfurt was like.

This was the last thing I wrote before I went to sleep.

Then I woke up and pretty much the first thing I saw in the morning was this (thank you Prof. Weingrad):

http://rygb.blogspot.ca/2015/02/the-fuller-first-knessia-gedola-video.html

(I'm linking to Rabbi Bechhofer's because he posted the list of who's who)

Hazorim bdima brina yiktzoru, it is the footage from the first Knessia Gedola (I guess – it says Vienna, not Katowice); it is footage of Moreinu Rosenheim, and one R' Ehrmann (but he can't be the one I'm thinking of, right?), and some others whose names are not as familiar to me; and – R' Chaim Ozer, and – R' Elchanan - Wasserman, and – the Chofetz Chaim.

For this video the Internet was created.

(Let me just translate that a minute:

I had been lamenting that I don't know how to get a clear idea of what the great Torah scholars of Germany were like; but this film has a few of them in it, along with some from eastern Europe who have been a household name for the past 70 years but whom nobody has ever seen on film.)

II.

Nevertheless, thank G-d there was no movie camera at Sinai, or in the sukkah of Pachad Yitzchak, or at any other event in between.

I say this because in watching a film it is hard not to confuse the event itself with the film of it.

Still, it is hard not to be disappointed when a man in the film puts his hand over the camera.

III.

The Torah world gets its learning from texts and conversation. This is the only time I have seen it converge around a film.

IV.

I hope that teachers and parents will continue to allow their children many years of Chofetz Chaim stories before they show this film. I want my daughter to know the Chofetz Chaim as the Chofetz Chaim of the sefarim he authored and of the stories before she ever sees the Chofetz Chaim as a figure on a screen.

Lehavdil elef alfei havdalos, my mother did not let me see Fantasia until I was twelve. Once you have seen Fantasia, whenever you hear one of the pieces in it you have to try hard to think of the music as music, rather than as an accompaniment to the film you are not watching.

V.

It is an immense gift to the generation that this film has come to its attention.

To be able to see how a person carries himself – is a most extraordinary thing.

VI.

I imagine the good folks at the University of South Carolina trying to fathom what just happened.

How would I explain what it means to us to see the Chofetz Chaim on film – or what the Chofetz Chaim means to us?

I cast about for analogies – analogies fail me.

VII.

If the Chofetz Chaim is on Youtube, then anything is possible.

Excuse me a moment while I go fill up my oil lamp with vinegar.

I feel like this changes the nature of the Internet entirely.

Plus ca change

Scrambling to find primary sources for a course on medieval Jewish history, I came across a piece of Karaite poetry.

It sounds exactly like a disgruntled blogger, but in rhyme.

Pretty funny.

The more I read about it, the more I suspect people in the days of the Gaonim became Karaites for the same reasons that people today become bloggers: the desire to air imagined or unexamined grievances by innovating in public.

Search Terms Leading to This Blog

Some of them tickle my fancy.

orthodox jewish teddy bear
I, too, would like to meet a teddy bear that expresses an interest in mitzvah observance.

why do orthodox jews not like green
For the same reasons anyone else does or doesn't, I'm afraid.

name of jewish spoons
??

freezer sounds like bagpipes
Anyone who types a simile into a search engine is someone I wish I knew better.

Thanks, folks, for the entertainment. I hope you all found what you wanted.

Life upon the Wicked Stage

We're famous! We're famous!
A modified version of the post Back to the Wilderness! was published in Oregon Humanities Magazine, here:
On Not Moving from Israel

Their editor made two changes to the draft I sent: altered the line breaks, and de-capitalized the word "Boss," thereby removing all reference to the Divine. Probably thought it was a typo.

The Jewish View of the Afterlife

This point came up recently in a class, and it is worth sharing:

While there are people who find their jobs fulfilling, many conceive of work as a way to earn a paycheck, which is cashed into a number of options, from which they can then choose. The reward of the work hasn't much to do with the content of the work itself: you design programs for Intel; you don't get to keep them.

People tend to assume that the Jewish view of the afterlife is similar: you do good in this world, which racks up brownie points with God, and then you cash them in in the Next World for some spiritual-bliss commodity.
Not so. In this world, you strive to perfect yourself. And at the end of the day, when the job is over -- that is what you keep: what you've made of yourself.

In proportion to how much one has become a more divine person, one will find the next world, a place of closeness to the ultimate Good, a great pleasure.

Beyond Infinity's Threshold

(Dedicated in memory of מרדכי בן אליהו הכהן ע״ה)

Q: What is the reason that the Divine name “Sha-dai” is inscribed on the outside of a mezuzah scroll?

A: The Torah refers to G-d by a number of names. One ought to ask the more basic question: Why does G-d have so many names?

We cannot know the essence of G-d. As mere mortals, we cannot fathom His Infinity. However, we do experience the Almighty inasmuch as we are aware of His actions. The “names” of G-d function as labels for particular types of G-d’s interactions with the world

The Gaon of Vilna, in his commentary to the Book of Ruth (1:1), cites the teaching of our Sages that the name “Sha-dai” refers, in abbreviation, to “the One Who said, ‘Enough’” (“She-Amar Dai”). This name describes G-d inasmuch as He sets boundaries and limitations in the world, “laws” of nature, as it were. The Hebrew word “din,” meaning “law,” is based on the word “dai.” The laws of physics and the entire naturalistic system that guides our physical world emanate from this name.

Conversely, the four-letter Name, or Tetragrammaton, comprised of the letters “yud,” “heh,” “vav” and “heh,” which form the words “hayah” (“was”), “hoveh” (“is”), and “yihyeh” (will be), indicates G-d’s infinity and unlimited capacity, as One Who transcends even the bounds of eternity. G-d’s abundant will and capacity to give emanates from this name. This name appears within the sections of text inscribed on the inside of the mezuzah scroll.

Every human being has a dual capacity — that of the spirit and that of the body. One’s spiritual wealth derives from one’s relationship to G-d, through one’s fulfillment and study of the Torah. One’s physical wealth resides in one’s worldly assets and indulgences. One’s spiritual self is one’s “inner” being while one’s physical identity forms one’s “outer” being.

In elevating man above the animals, G-d’s plan calls for man to curtail his animal component, the body, and develop his G-dly component, the soul; he should limit his outer being and expand his inner being. Therefore, explains the Gaon, as a sign to mankind to follow this Divine directive, G-d commands that we install the mezuzah upon our doorways and gateways, the threshold between inside and outside. The inside of the mezuzah contains the four-letter Name, indicating our obligation to develop and expand our inner self in an unlimited fashion, forming as strong a bond to our Creator as possible. The outside of the mezuzah bears the name “Sha-dai,” reminding us to place limitations on our physical indulgences in order to elevate ourselves above the natural world. In combination, these two strategies lead to spiritual success and fulfillment of the human mission.

May we merit to internalize the message of the mezuzah’s design, crossing the threshold between outer and inner realms to realize the infinite potential within.

How Vashti Hosted a Party

Esther opens with a description of the king's party, including all the drinking going on in the courtyard, and then it says (1:9):
Queen Vashti also made a party for women, in the palace of King Achashverosh.


What were they doing there?


The Midrash (the Yalkut Shimoni) explains that women like to know everything, so Vashti gave a tour of the palace, pointing out where the king slept, ate and drank, leading her guests though the painted rooms...

 "for as Rabbi Avin said, a woman would rather look at pretty things than eat fatted calves."

Technical Difficulties

Ou keyboad is boken.
Amazing hau the lack of only too lettes can inhibit you ability to expess youself.... hau had it is to think clealy hen you kno you iting looks this funny.
The Kotzke ebbe 9among othes0 is quoted as saying, 'I am hat I think you think I am';  people live up o don to hau they believe othes peceive them.

e'll be back soon, iy'H... eithe because the laptop ill dy out, o because e'll have found a ay to live ithout the lettes  and .
Have a good eek.

Facebook

The reason that Facebook is popular, I think, is that when one longs to see one of one's friends, it offers immediate gratification: your friend is here, and talking; come visit.
This is, of course, an illusion. Your friend is not there, and he is not talking. If you pay him a call, he will not recognize that you visited. You will not even have left footprints in his yard, or a card with the butler. You have, in fact, not interacted at all.
You would do better to think of a reason to telephone.

I, I, I, I, I, I, cont.

Ran into this the other day in one of Emerson's letters:
"...forgive the egotism of all this letter. Say they not 'The more love the more egotism'?"

...which (if it is so - I am not convinced) I suppose is because one of the nicest things you can do for a person is to share your thoughts with him.

If I ever close this blog, I suspect it will be because I will suddenly come to a nasty realization that nothing - not even the opportunity to affect several million people - can justify the display of loving egotism where several million people can see it.

I, I, I, I, I, I

...so what I was going to say in the previous post, before Rav Hirsch distracted me, was that over Shabbos I was reading Rav Hirsch
Yay! Rav Hirsch
and he mentioned in passing -- since he was compelled to make an exception -- that it was his habit not to speak of himself in the monthly journal he edited.

And I began thinking about blogs... and how the whole attraction of the medium is that they are intensely personal. I, I, I, I, I, I. Books, too: in modern reference works, authors natter on about themselves shamelessly.
Facebook has become a great deal more popular than newspapers.
To me, all this says that people would rather get their information or news from friends than from an unknown third party.

My seventh-grade teacher taught us never to say "I think..." or "I believe..." when making an argument, because it weakens the argument.
But it adds interest. Now there is a person there, not just an argument.

A gentleman on the radio once observed that exhibits of dinosaur bones in the early 1900's were meant to awe with power; in the 50's, they were kitchy; in the 80's, the velociraptor replaced T-rex as the center of attention because it was like a sleek businessman, the hero of the era -- and nowadays, dinosaur exhibits are (as he put it) "green". The dinosaurs are grouped in cozy home settings; Mama dinosaur is minding the eggs and watching her young play. It's all about friends and family, dinosaur relationships, relating to the dinosaurs.

Is it that people never used to be particular - information was information whether or not we endeavored to relate to its source? Or is the generation is trying to make up for something?

Frogs and Spoons and Orthodox Jews

I do not want to write a blog. I think it is demeaning for an adult to spout the details of her everyday life to an invisible audience of millions of strangers.
But, I sometimes suspect that there is no one addressing the general public to make the point that "Orthodox" Judaism is
1. not necessarily urban, but organic, green, skookum, alive, warm, familial, and comfy
2. not small-minded, but deep and profound
3. not Establishment, but personal
...in sum, poetic.
4. unlike any other "organized religion" you've ever heard of.

It is a bit contradictory to create a blog to make this point, because the medium itself is inherently impersonal - I do not believe that blogs have the power to change their readers in the same way as books, let alone conversation with real people. If you have a choice, and if you do not find it too daunting, stop reading here and go to http://www.shabbat.com/ and sign up to meet real people.
Otherwise, keep reading, because you probably will not find any other Orthodox women spouting the details of their everyday lives to millions of strangers.
I have asked several people to contribute to the blog - so there will be many different voices behind the word "I".

The decision to try writing a blog came when I read a newspaper article interviewing an Orthodox rav. He said something about how we should all do what G-d wants us to.
An observant Jew reading this paper will see what the rav said, and understand that although the thought was not expressed poetically, there are mountains and rivers under that idea, and births and deaths, and frogs and spoons, and nostalgia and parties, and if you just add water to those words and stir, they will burst into flame like potassium.
The average person reading this particular paper sees sees the word "G-d" and turns the page. Next.

Too bad. Someone has to demonstrate that Torah is poetic.
Stay tuned.