BeyondBT.com was kind enough to post the following: Are we too obsessed with Integration?
I usually use the machzorim for at least on davening during any given Yom Tov.
Once in a while I’ll open the siddur and daven from it. When I do use the siddur or the machzorim I admit, I feel some kind of connecting to something. Maybe it’s just because they have been in my family for a long period of time. Maybe it’s because I am looking for some connection on any level.
On April 15 of this year my son came home with his first Chumash and the homework that came along with it. After I listened to him say and translate the first pasuk in Breishis I opened up to the same pasuk in my grandfather’s Mikros Gedolos and let my son read from it. It was an incredible feeling to listen to him read in a sefer that was 118 years old.
I am proud and thankful to have these seforim in my collection and it is a constant reminder that Limud HaTorah spans the generations.
My thanks to A Simple Jew who suggested I write about this topic.
I ponder is question on Psychotoddler’s blog today. Please take a look.
Thanks, Psychotoddler!
This isn’t a cheap attempt to post. It’s just that after taking a break from blogging and getting back into the groove I found a few posts that I really liked:
Psychotoddler’s great Father’s Day video was awesome
Rabbi Avi Sharfan’s message to graduates. This was published from Am Echad Resources and also posted on Cross-Currents (Torah Judaism’s proverbial Algonquin Round Table)
A Simple Jew tells a personal story about how a simple act can have a powerful effect
Rabbi Harry Maryles discusses the term Torah True Jews
Rabbi Without A Cause reflects on blogging and identity
RabbI Yonason Goldson writes a superb article posted on BeyondBT
Dixie Yid has translated a Kuntres by Rav Itchie Mayer Morgenstern that deals with Chochma and Bina. Feel free to follow is links in the six part series
Rafi G has an amazing thought on Parshas Chukas
Happy reading!
(Make slick signs here)
He’s right, we do crave the familiar. At least, I do.
I remember hearing a tape by Rabbi Akiva Tatz (the Chicago Community Kollel brough him in to speak in 1998 and I purchased a tape) discuss the idea that ones’ neshama naturally gravitates toward mitzvos. That’s why, he said, when someone becoming observant learns a concept or a certain halacha dealing with Shabbos or Kashrus, for example, it clicks or makes sense to him or her. We feel as if we ‘knew it’ already.
It could also be why lighting the menorah and having some sort of a Pesach seder are the most common Jewish ‘rituals’ celebrated by our not-yet-Observant brothers and sisters (see this post). On a neshama level we connect with these actions.
There are time in life when I hear, see, or am reminded of something and a wave of happiness, content, or excitement comes over me.
Example: Several years ago I was able to hear Rav Shmuel Brazil daven Hallel on Simchas Torah in Yeshva Shor Yoshuv. Whenever I hear certain niggunim I am transported back to an incredible 45 minutes of intense davening and simcha.
Example: After about a year of living in Indianapolis I stumbled upon a 7-11 store. Ahhh…Slurpees! A favorite drink of mine anytime of the year. Just seeing those familar numbers “7” and “11” gave me a weird feeling of comfort. It’s the same way when we drive to New York and start seeing signs for different expressways, bridges, and tunnels.
The neshama (and in the case of Slurpees, the guf) craves what it knows…Torah and Mitzvos. It’s interesting what things we hold dear from childhood through adulthood.
So, coming back to sequels (yes, I intended to make the pun…ha-ha), this is trend of the “summer of sequels” might just be an echo of something much more deep. Thanks for reading!
Parshas Korach
Have a great Shabbos.
Firstly, thanks to those who check daily for a new post. Sorry it’s been a while.
While I do have several posting that are, like, 85% complete sitting as drafts in my Blogger Dashboard. I’ve been waiting for just the right topic to grab me and say, “This would be a great post.”
In truth, it was just an excuse not to write. I’m not really motivated to write, but I need to. For now this will have to do.
I had planned on posting something pre-Shavuos, but had a family situation that made any postings pretty much meaningless.
I’ve spent over 30 hours during the past two weeks on highways looking at the following printed word emblazoned on the back of semi-trucks: IF YOU CAN’T SEE MY MIRRORS I CAN’T SEE YOU.
As much as I tell myself that what others think about me doesn’t really matter, it’s only a 1/2 truth. To quote an influential hardcore punk icon, “Others matter, but only in the proper perspective. What really matters are the ones who love you”.
Certain aspects of who we are and what we do, say or write about are meant to be seen by others. If someone looking in a mirror can’t see you driving behind them, it’s as if you don’t exist. It does not mean that your existence is based only on being seen by everyone.
I’m a bit mixed up, I admit. I blog under my own name. I don’t hide the fact that I blog, but I don’t really advertise it either. I’ve let some friends know that I blog, others have no clue. I know of someone who would have really shepped nachas from what I’ve written. I, sadly, never shared this aspect of my life with that person.
If you think someone outside of the blogosphere might enjoy what you have to say take a moment and share before the moment is gone.
