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