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