כֶּסֶף נִבְחָר לְשׁוֹן צַדִּיק לֵב רְשָׁעִים כִּמְעָט

לָמָּה תֹאמַר יַעֲקֹב וּתְדַבֵּר יִשְׂרָאֵל נִסְתְּרָה דַרְכִּי מֵיְקֹוָק וּמֵאֱלֹהַי מִשְׁפָּטִי יַעֲבוֹר:

(כח) הֲלוֹא יָדַעְתָּ אִם לֹא שָׁמַעְתָּ אֱלֹהֵי עוֹלָם יְקֹוָק בּוֹרֵא קְצוֹת הָאָרֶץ לֹא יִיעַף וְלֹא יִיגָע אֵין חֵקֶר לִתְבוּנָתוֹ:

(כט) נֹתֵן לַיָּעֵף כֹּחַ וּלְאֵין אוֹנִים עָצְמָה יַרְבֶּה:

(ל) וְיִעֲפוּ נְעָרִים וְיִגָעוּ וּבַחוּרִים כָּשׁוֹל יִכָּשֵׁלוּ:

(לא) וְקוֹיֵ יְקֹוָק יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ יַעֲלוּ אֵבֶר כַּנְּשָׁרִים יָרוּצוּ וְלֹא יִיגָעוּ יֵלְכוּ וְלֹא יִיעָפוּ

For Example

For example, if a person buys a chocolate bar and offers some to his friend, that seems like a noble act. However, what if a random person were then to say: "Hey, may I please have some?," the owner of the chocolate bar may be like: "Who are you?" Even though he may then honor the request, not wishing to insult the person, the giver may not really want to give him. This example shows that the person who offers to share his chocolate bar, does so because he feels a level of comfort and connection with the person he is offering, and offers out of a natural desire to want to share with that person. Therefore, although it seems like a noble act on the outside, I am not sure of the extent to which we could consider that person a tzaddik. It does not show a courageous act of fighting his instincts.

This One's for You

Cheese Choker

לכבוד ראש השנה

גאולה

(יד) כִּי כֹה אָמַר יְקֹוָק צְבָאוֹת כַּאֲשֶׁר זָמַמְתִּי לְהָרַע לָכֶם בְּהַקְצִיף אֲבֹתֵיכֶם אֹתִי אָמַר יְקֹוָק צְבָאוֹת וְלֹא נִחָמְתִּי:

(טו) כֵּן שַׁבְתִּי זָמַמְתִּי בַּיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה לְהֵיטִיב אֶת יְרוּשָׁלִַם וְאֶת בֵּית יְהוּדָה אַל תִּירָאוּ:

(טז) אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר תַּעֲשׂוּ דַּבְּרוּ אֱמֶת אִישׁ אֶת רֵעֵהוּ אֱמֶת וּמִשְׁפַּט שָׁלוֹם שִׁפְטוּ בְּשַׁעֲרֵיכֶם:

(יז) וְאִישׁ אֶת רָעַת רֵעֵהוּ אַל תַּחְשְׁבוּ בִּלְבַבְכֶם וּשְׁבֻעַת שֶׁקֶר אַל תֶּאֱהָבוּ כִּי אֶת כָּל אֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר שָׂנֵאתִי נְאֻם יְקֹוָק: ס

Honorary Doctorate

The following is an email that I received yesterday.

02-Jul-2010

Dear Dr. Rapps,

Welcome to Encyclopedia of Ancient History - Manuscript Central site for online submission and review.

You are listed as a co-author for this manuscript. The online peer-review system, Manuscript Central, automatically creates a user account for you.
Thank you for your participation.

Sincerely,


Encyclopedia of Ancient History Editorial Office

Yup

As I was unloading my car from my first Mishkon gig of the season, this guy who just came back from yeshiva walked by and we were talking. At the end of the conversation I asked him: "What are you doing next year?"

"Y.U." he responded.

"Uh, my Alma Matter."

Change Versus Fixing

At graduation I had a thought which I tweeted, but this morning I had an enhancement of that thought, and being that I find myself in a pretty boring morning here on the aliyah pilot trip, I figured that I shall post about it.

In English we often hear about change. In college you hear about changing the world; Barak Obama received the votes of the American nation by promising change.

However, in Judaism, we have the notion of tikun olam, fixing the world. Not everything needs to be changed. Firstly, the change that everyone hopes for does not always come, and other times the change that is brought about is not desired in the end.

An example: I have been told that at one point, coke desired to change their recipe and they spent a lot of money in advertisement, and in the end, the change was not desired and they switched it back to the original.

However, if I told you that I would like to enhance bazooka bubble gum so that the flavor lasted for twenty minutes instead of the few minutes that it does, I think that people would support me.

I love you,

Sruli

Me, and My Grandfather, and Richard Joel

Graduation Is Like Death

You know, I did not really enjoy college. I found it very difficult and often times frustrating. However, now that it is over and I am preparing to move to Israel and leave everything behind, it is a little sad thinking that I may seldom see the wonderful friends that I have made over the last three years.

In this sense, graduation is like death. This world has many difficulties and frustrations, yet we are nervous to go onto the next world even though the next world is the Garden of Eden. We are nervous to leave behind what we have created for ourselves over here.

I Beg to Differ

I do not fully agree with my previous post. Some points I believe are true and others were not spelled out clearly enough. It is a complex issue.

Rebellion

I am currently studying for a final in an English Literature class called rebellion. I am reading about rebellions in theater, Thoreau, Gahndi and the likes. What I am realizing, is that these movements have never had widespread lasting success, and I think that that is because they were individuals trying to take upon society, and that is not so practical.
If society is progressing in a particular way, i do not see how one person is going to be able to turn it around single handedly.
I think that the most successful method of expressing disobedience has been by means of the theater because that is something which society comes to see and is influenced by. However, a philosopher living by himself in the woods or even writing books, will have a limited intellectual following, many of whom may read the books without taking upon themselves the ideals.
Rav Nachman was a radical, and I guess also a rebel. With him also, he did not receive the support of the masses. However, we do see that Rabbeinu is gaining more and more followers over time. They may attest to the fact that he is a חדוש.

Qedushat Levi

Here is an excerpt from my English Literature paper about "Korach's Rebellion":

Based on the Ramban’s explanation, Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev explains the rebellion of Korach. The decree that any male over twenty would not be permitted to enter into the land of Israel negatively influenced the nation’s love toward Moses and caused them to have second thoughts about his leadership abilities. Rabbi Levi Yitzhak writes in his book Qedushat Levi, that the reason for the disruption in the relationship was because once the decree was made, there became a division in the nation of Israel between those who would be permitted to enter into the land of Israel and those who would die in the desert before reaching Israel. The Hebrew word for desert is midbar (מדבר), which is closely related to the word for speech, dibur (דבור). This corresponds to the existence of the Torah on the level of speech, to the extent that Moses had the ability to speak to God and receive the Torah from Him, and ask Him anything that he needed to know. There is another aspect of the Torah which relates to the physical influence of the Torah which are all of the laws that are done by physical people using physical things. This aspect of the Torah corresponds to the land of Israel. That is why Moses, who never made it to Israel, was able to win in battle through prayers alone (Exodus 17:12 Rashi ad loc), whereas Joshua, the Jewish leader who conquered Israel, had to fight physical battles. When Korach realized that he was not going to ever enter into the land of Israel and that he was going to die in the desert, he created a mentality for himself that the only part of the Torah is the one that is relevant to the desert, and that is the Torah of speech. That aspect of the Torah would only be relevant to Moses who had the ability to speak to God and learn the Torah from Him. However, for the rest of the people who are unable to talk directly to God and learn the Torah from Him, the Torah becomes irrelevant. That explains why Korach was killed by the ground opening up and swallowing him. The ground is representative of the physical world, and his being swallowed up by the ground was showing that the existence of the Torah in the physical world does indeed exist. All of the commands of the Torah are fulfilled by using the things found in the world, and that is why in Korach’s death he was totally consumed and swallowed in by the world.

Do you think it is too Chasidic?

Google

This is really confusing

Meeting in the Elevator

The elevator often tends to be a quiet situation until you are let out. recently i have been breaking the silence and introducing myself. makes it a little more interesting. I just reintroduced myself to someone I went to a bungalow colony with many years ago. Of course he did not recognize me. Then I had to exit.

Yiddish

A month or two ago i gave dvar Torah for my yiddish class. At the time there was interest in it being posted on the blog. However, it was neither typed up or recorded. However, as one final
use of his power over us, my teacher assigned that we type up our dvar Torahs. So here is:
דבר תורה
אין סדרה פקודי שטייט אין פסוק: "ויביאו את המשכן אל משה." און אן אנדער פסוק שטייט: "ויקם משה את המשכן." רבי נחמן פון ברסלב האט געטייטשט די פסוקים אזוי אז מען קען זיי פארשטיין ביים דאווענען. ער האט געשריבן אין ליקוטי מוהר"ן תורה ב' אז אין תפילה, דארף מען מכוון צו פארבינדען די תפילות וואס מען דאוונט מיט די צדיקים פון דעם דור. דאס איז וייל די אלע תפילות זיינען אן אבר פון דער שכינה, און אויך אברים פון דעם משכן. ווען מען האט געבויט דעם משכן האט בצלאל געבוינט דעם משכן מיט די אלע כלים. אבער בצלאל האט געדארפט ברענגען די כלים צו משהן צו בויעם דעם משכן. משה האט גענומען די אלע חלקים און כלים פונעם משכן און האט געשטעלט יעדער חלק צו זאמען. און דאס איזו ואס שטייט אין דער תורה "ויביאו את המשכן אל משה... ויקם משה את המשכן." און וייל אונדזערע תפילות זיינען די אברים פון דער שכינה און די אברים פון דעם משכן, דארפ מע ברענגען די תפילות צו משה רבינו. משה רבינו שטעלט די תפילות אין זייערע ריכטיקע פלאץ. און מיר וייסן פון דער גמרא אין שבת קא: אז די צדיקים רופן איינער דעם אנדערער ביים דעם נאמען משה. מיר זעען פון דער גמרא אז די אלע צדיקים זיינען בחינת משה רבינו. בכן, מיר דארפן פארבינדן אונדזערע תפילות צו די צדיקים, און די צדיקים שטעלן אלע תפילות אין זייער ריכטיקן פלאץ. דאס איז "ויביאו את המשכן אל משה... ויקם משה את המשכן."
רבי נחמן איז ממשיך און זאגט אז ווען מיר זיינען אין גלות אויף צו לאנג און מיר זענען דער לענג פון דער גלות זיינען דא יידין וואס זיינען מתיאש פון דער גאולה. זיי זעען אז מיר דאוונען יעדער טאג און שרייען צו גאט צו ברענגען דער גאולה און מיר זיינען נאך אין גלות. די דאזיקע יידין מיינען אז אלע תפילות זיינען גורנישט. אבער רבי נחמן זאגט אז דער אמת איז אז די צדיקים שטעלן יעדער תפילה אין איר פלאץ כמו שכתוב: "ויקם משה את המשכן." און ווען אלע תפילות, וואס זיינען די אברים פון דער שכינה, זיינען אין זייערע ריכטיק פלאץ און די שכינה איז גאנץ, ברענגט הקב"ה משיח צדקינו במהרה בימינו. אמן.

So Flowery

I was just reading one of those Jewish magazines. It was a frustrating experience; one that made me value my college education. Everything is so flowery and dramatized it makes you want to puke. And everything is good as long as it fits into their agenda.

Get a Job

משא ומתן

שאו זמרה ותנו תוןף

I Can't Figure Out...

I just saw a brother in the stairwell of the library. He mentioned to me that there is a lot of work now. I said, as I always do: "It's almost over."
"It's just the beginning," he responded.
"It's just the beginning but it's almost over."

I Don't Fully Understand

I went today to pray minchah in 101 and I saw there a source sheet from what seems to have been a lecture delivered on the topic of the neshama yeseira.
What I did not, and to this very time still do not, understand is that all of the twelve or so sources were from gemara and halacha mainly about the detail of whether or not we make a blessing on spices after Yom Tov. It struck me how many of the members of the communities of Torah learning that we are part of, are so deeply rooted in halacha that even a lecture with a name that implied spiritual involvement, was in the end a halacha shiur just like any other, if not more technical.
I would have thought that if the topic was dealing with the neshama yeseira there should have been at least one source from the zohar or from a book of chasidus.

How Come?

How come I feel like whenever I'm in class, the guy next to me is having five simultaneous conversations on gchat, while whenever I go on the computer there is never anyone to talk to?

This Reminds Me

This reminds me of the time that we were learning in the Beis Medrash on friday in Reishit. there were like five guys in the whole place and then some guy, not from reishit, comes and sits down right next to Shwartzbaum. There were like 100 other seats that he could have taken, i mean the place was empty.
I feel sort of like that right now. The entire 5A is empty. i am not sure why this dude had to come and take the computer right next to me.

Yes

I am currently browsing JStor for an article, and I just came accross an article titled: "Are Columbian Street Children Neglected?"
I have not read this artcile, but I would think that the answer is: "Yes"

The End of Six Semesters

Amazingly enough, I came to YU early today, Sunday, in order to get a full day of work in.

The security guards were late to open up the library today and I found myself among the group of 10 or so people waiting to get in. Included in these people was Rabbi J.J. Schacter, not bad.

When I got to 5A, I was the first one on the floor, even before Moster and the guy who sits next to him.

So, I guess that as I enter into my last weeks of school I really have become pretty studious.

Twitter

Tonight on twitter i saw these two great videos. one of them is really funny and the other is great.

Elevator Pt. 2

Anyhow, today once again, I was in the elevator going down to the lobby from the 5A floor of the library. And once again, as in the first story, our elevator personality entered on the fourth floor. If I recall correctly, although it was several hours ago now, when he entered he immediately pushed the button to close the door.
Then, the elevator stopped on 2A, and before the door even opened the "door open" button had been pushed several times by this individual. It so happened, that nobody entered from 2A, and when this person noticed that, he began to press both the button for the lobby as well as the "door closed" button. Now I have seen people press the door closed button before, or the button of the floor that they need to go to, but I think that this is the first time that i have seen both at once.
Now did anyone ever notice that pressing those buttons does absolutely nothing?
We are not yet done. When we reached the lobby and the doors cracked open, he essentially put on this act as if he were trying to squeeze sideways through the smallest opening between the doors. I mean come on, that is just completely pointless. By the time he put on the act the doors were already wide open. It doesn't exactly take an hour for elevator doors to go from barely open to completely open.
okay.

What Is This?

What is with the headphones that go behind your head as opposed to on top or just in the ears? They are so uncomfortable. You have to keep your head totally straight, otherwise the back of the headphones get stuck in your shirt. It makes for a slightly frustrating experience.

I Don't Really Understand

Today I was in the elevator in the library going from 5A down to the lobby. The elevator stopped on the 4th floor and a woman entered into the elevator in a big rush. She then pressed the button for 3A and was extremeluy impatient to get out of the elevator. I was simply wondering, that if she was in such a trmendous rush, why didn't she just take the stairs down that one flight? She probably would have gotten there faster and would have saved me the two extra stops on the way down.

A Chabadnik With Peyos?

or maybe it's just Gaby

Oy!

I already made a tweet about this but I think that it warrants a post as well...

Earlier today I was in my apartment and I heard a dog barking like crazy. I had never heard this dog before, but it did not bother me that much since I was in my apartment and I could not see it [and it could not see me.]

But then, when I was exiting the building at around 3:00, this guy was coming into the building with his dog that was barking like crazy and was fighting to break through the leesh and charge right at me. I mean the guy was struggling to keep control of the dog. My goodness!

Of course, as is usual for dog owners, he tried to convince me in vein that the dog was just excited about the mirror in the entrance way. Well I had heard the dog earlier and I knew better.

All I have to say is that I hope that this individual enjoys following his dog around town cleaning up his ****.

Don't Get Upset

Today it was raining and a boy from the Post Pesach Program said to me, that it is great that in America you can get upset about the weather because in Israel rain is a good thing. So I said to him:

"Why would you want to get upset?"

לא תקם ולא תטר

My Place

Now that it is nice outside, I may be spotted outside this location on 186 street. most recently, i was priveledged to have an encounter with gaby and we learned some of rav Nachman's teachings.

Although I do like the area outside the building, I currently have no plans of ever entering into it.

Still Empty

For Best Results

After prayers today I was blessed with an interesting solution to the age old problem.

The most efficient way to find a needle in a hay stack may be to play in the hay stack for a few minutes until you get poked with the needle. Then you will know where it is.

Politics

I just saw this really funny thing in the Jewish Voice

"America's President Barack Hussein Obama has worn out the knees of his pants crawling to appease.... his bowing, crawling and genuflecting has delighted his pants suppliers."

It Begins

People have been mentioning to me since the announcements of bein hazmanim for the other blogs in the circuit, that they are happy that this blog has continued to funtioned. From this moment onward, this blog shall do the same. But hey, noone really goes on the computer during these days anyhow, right? Certainly not me. And as per the header to this blog: "so that everyone will have what to be entertained with while they are doing work for school," when school is out, blog is out.

So, I wish everyone here a peaceful holiday, and I hope to see everyone very soon in Jerusalem.

Me and the Skratchiner

This is a picture of me chillin' with the Skratchiner Rebbe. I have been very fortunate this year to have the priveledge of sharing an apartment with the leader of the Skratchiner Hassidim (different than the neo-chassidim). I spend time with him almost every day and I have experienced first hand his greatness.

(Yes, mschachar, he did join me this past year for my annual overnight visit to your home.)

The End of the Age of Superheros

Today, Friday, as I was walking home from shul (after pleasantly bumping into Rav Mo), I noticed that there was an egg on the grass near the sidewalk. I contemplated picking it up and taking it home and giving it to my mother to cook with. then I realized that there would be no way that she would use an egg that i found near the sidewalk.

Then I thought to myself, maybe in this egg there is some special type of power or something that I can get by eating it.

I realized then, that because nowadays we are so scared to eat things that we are uncertain about, that is why we will not have any more superheroes.

i am by all means no expert when it comes to superheroes, I am actually fairly ignorant. However, for some reason i have a feeling that superheroes get their amazing powers by eating something that totally changes them.

Anyhow...

Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

Today, as I entered the Library, the heights Lounge was blocked off with the iron door that they close it off with. There was a meeting going on with Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who will be speaking tonight in Lamport Auditorium and receiving the Norman Lamm Prize. I went up to the fourth floor to do my work and when I went back down to the lobby the meeting was over, and when I looked up I saw him. The Chief Rabbi was there and he looked pretty cool. It was pretty cool to see somebody who's books I have seen (but not read) for several years and who I have heard so much about.

A Man of My Word

I was yesterday at a birthday for my grandfather, and at that gathering I overheard one of my cousins say that She is expecting to see a post about this event on my blog.
So, to be a man of my word, here is the post.
It was a good party.
The drive to there was pretty crazy. fallen trees everywhere in teaneck and Englewood.
Anyhow, stay tuned till next time.

Burns Security

Crazy situation with the Belfer hall security. They asked for my ID and I did not have my wallet with me. The guy took me over to the desk and started making phone calls. Meanwhile tons of people were entering the building. Then he called another security guard to take over for him so that he could escort me to my mother's office. My mother was not there, and he would not ket me get what i needed, so I had to walk back to my apartment and get my wallet and go back to belfer to get the package. The whole thing took a half hour.

I thought it was kinda funny.

THen, that same night the guy by the old main bais medrash gave me beef too.

What is the קשר?

I just got to the computer lab where I have statistics class. When I got there the air conditioner made an interesting noise. One guy said to another: "Wow, did you hear the air conditioner?"
"I thought that was a computer."
"No, it was the air conditioner."
"That's YU for you."
What is the connection?

Mazel Tov

It seems that I have already graduated college. I have just received my first email from the Yeshiva University Alumni Office. I must be out.

Next stop... Israel!

By the way, you can thank my attendance in English class to the existence of this post.

ונהפוך הוא

Thanks mom for the link

פרשת תרומה

Did anyone else catch this?

In last weeks parsha, chapter 27, verse 9:

"מאה באמה ארך לפאה האחת"

"One hundred amos for one peah"

- I am trying, but I still have a long way to go.

(Interestingly enough, when I mentioned this to my mother she said that she noticed it as well.)

An Episode

My Brother just came back with his friend from a day of snowboarding. When they walked into the house through the kitchen, my brother was holding some things and his friend was holding the snowboard. My, grandfather, who was sitting in the kitchen, saw them and asked: two people on one skateboard?

Bumper Shticker

This morning, as I was walking to my car in the parking lot of Bnei Yeshurun in Teaneck, I noticed a certain bumper sticker on a van which said: "School is open, drive carefully."

Now, does he remove that sticker in June?

Funny Enough

The other week I got a ride to Teaneck with a friend of mine and I noticed on the highway that he was driving very fast. He was in the left lane and everyone would move to the middle lane as he crept up on them.
Today I saw him on the computer and I asked him: "You doing work?"
"No, I have to register for a defensive driving course."
"You got like a ticket or something?"
"I got three. I've got to take this course or pay five hundred bones. There's no way that I'm doing that."
So, there you have it. I guess I am not the only one who thinks that he drives too fast.

Ink Jet Cartridges

I have noticed before and did so today as well, that there is a recycling initiative to recycle ink jet cartridges. Today, when i noticed the green box I looked inside to see if anyone actually put anything in the box; it was empty.

Who has ink jet cartridges? Out of all things to recycle, why choose ink jet cartridges?

Rabbi Danielli

Does everybody know that Gaby Danielli is now teaching a class in IBC?

Yeah, that's funny.

The class has one person in it and they meet in the Morg lounge.

Pretty funny.

This One's for You

Shmad, this post is for you.

Why are you known as HaAdmor?

Feel free to answer my question in a comment.

Thanks

Sruli

A Support for the Stollel

I was just in my apartment and I saw a large shofar. I realized that the shofar belongs to the stollel. Then I was reminded of the blessing that we say in prayers: תקע בשופר גדול לחרותנו. It will be a large shofar that we blow into during at the time of redemption. Maybe the holy blowers will be stollelnicks.

Don't Miss Out

Don't kick yourself afterwards. There is an unbelievable opportunity this coming Motzei Shabbos to see The Otzar/ Shirei Haleviim play live at the YU SOY TAC Seforim sale. This is a free show. this opportunity does not happen often. The last time it happened was on yom Haatzmaut and it was a great success. Do not wait for the next chance. Be there to show your support for your friends. We are looking for crazy fans.

Good Shabbos.

And I'm Back

Back to the fifth floor of the library, that is. Some statistics.

Looks Kinda Like Me

My parents got back from Israel yesterday. I was hoping that Moshiach was going to come before they returned. Anyhow, my parents are looking into an "apt" in Israel and I think that it was my father who said that there were pictures of the apt on my mother's cell phone. There were no pictures of the apt on the phone, but there was a picture of someone who I thought looked like me. And he was standing with my father. But I realized that his beared was longer than mine. Also, I didn't think that my Peyos were that wild.

The story goes that my father was on בן יהודה street and so were the na nachs. My father thought that one of them looked like me so he asked to take a picture. They exchanged info. His name is Avi Praber (or something like that) and he is originally from Staten Island. My father told this na nach that he is from Teaneck and he responded that he learned for a year at the Yeshiva Gedola of Teaneck. Pretty cool.

P.S. Alicht, thanks for the reminder that Feb 1st is today.

So It's been a While

Wow. Just now when I went to my own blog, I typed in the wrong address and ended up by that "simple Jew" who conveniently took Sruli.blogspot.com (without the extra "i").

He still has not put up a post.

Feb 1

Perhaps check again Feb 1st