יקום, קנין, קין

Note the interesting full-circle connection:

יקום being used in the sense of assets and property (as in את כל היקום אשר ברגליהם) ... which is a function of קנין ... which is fundamentally connected to קין קניתי איש את ה ... which comes back to קימה as it says ויקם קין אל הבל אחיו

Also note by the קנין מערת המכפלה the usage:

ויקם שדה עפרון, אשר במכפלה, אשר, לפני ממרא: השדה, והמערה אשר-בו, וכל-העץ אשר בשדה, אשר בכל-גבולו סביב. לאברהם למקנה, לעיני בניחת בכול באי שער-עירו. ואחרי-כן קבר אברהם את-שרה אשתו, אל-מערת שדה המכפלה על-פני ממרא--היא חברון בארץ כנען ויקם השדה והמערה אשר-בו, לאברהם--לאחוזת-קבר מאת בני-חת

מחה, Water, and שמחה

See Breishit Rabba 28:2,3 that מחה is specifically connected to water.

Consequently it would seem a more appropriate translation of מחה being that of "liquidation". Water being the ultimate liquidating solvent or solution. Leading possibly then into שמחת המים of Sukkot.

Shevatim Naming

Worthwhile to point out the various Shemot used in the context of the 12 Shevatim in Par' VaYetzei:

Reuven, Shimon, Yehuda - הויה

Dan, Naftali, Yisachar, Zevulun - אלקים

Levi, Gad, Asher, Binyamin - no mention

Yosef - Quite interesting. 2 pesukim. One with אלקים and one with הויה
ותהר ותלד בן ותאמר אסף אלוהים את-חרפתי. ותקרא את-שמו יוסף לאמור יוסף יהוה לי בן אחר

Torah & Graphology

After reading a little of some graphology and handwriting analysis books it would seem to me that the subject is intimately and intricately related to the various Torah concepts. Just to name a few:
.... צורת אותיות, קוצין, תגין, שרטוט, מוקף גויל

It behooves us to look further into the thought...

R Akiva

Thought it interesting to point out the relation of these 2 statements of R' Akiva, one in Bereishit Rabba 24:7 and one from the Mishna in Bava Kamma.

בן עזאי אומר: זה ספר תולדות אדם, זה כלל גדול בתורה. ר' עקיבא אומר: (ויקרא יט) ואהבת לרעך כמוך, זה כלל גדול בתורה, שלא תאמר הואיל ונתבזיתי יתבזה חבירי עמי, הואיל ונתקללתי יתקלל חבירי עמי. אמר רבי תנחומא: אם עשית כן, דע למי אתה מבזה, בדמות אלהים עשה אותו

מעשה באחד שפרע ראשה של אישה, ובאת לפני רבי עקיבה, וחייבו ליתן לה ארבע מאות זוז. אמר לו, רבי, תן לי זמן, ונתן לו. שימרה עומדת על פתח חצרה, ושיבר את הפך לפניה, ובו איסר שמן; וגלתה את ראשה, והייתה מטפחת ומנחת על ראשה. והעמיד לה עדים, ובא לפני רבי עקיבה; אמר לו, רבי, לזו אני נותן ארבע מאות זוז. אמר לו, לא אמרת כלום: שהחובל בעצמו--אף על פי שאינו רשאי, פטור; ואחרים שחבלו בו, חייבין. הקוצץ את נטיעותיו--אף על פי שאינו רשאי, פטור; ואחרים שקצצו את נטיעותיו, חייבין.

(it's a little unclear to me the reading of the Bereishit Rabba and it's derivation... if anything, the pasuk of ואהבת לרעך כמוך would seem to imply the exact opposite! i.e. that we would say הואיל ונתבזיתי יתבזה חבירי עמי )

ואיבה אשית בינך ובין האשה

It seems to me that this needs more analyzing. What is the איבה between woman and snake and how does it manifest itself?

I don't think it can be understood in the sense of "fear/repulsion" that many women naturally feel towards snakes for two reasons.

1) the pasuk implies it's a mutual relationship, ואיבה אשית בינך ובין האשה, so that seemingly the nachash also feels the same towards woman.

2) the word is not פחד or שקץ, it's איבה . Which really brings to the crux of the issue what does the word איבה mean? (have to remind myself to look at a Malbim) Does it have anything to do with the איבה in the תיקוני עולם that are mentioned in gemara Gittin?

Hashem's Allowance for Chaos and Free Choice

A long-standing fundamental question that I've had many a heated discussion about with people (the question is not my own. Heard both from the Rosh Yeshiva, R' Shmuel Yaakov Weinberg ,and my Rebbe Rav Matis) :

If A picks up a gun and chooses to kill B, B dies. Would B have died at that instant had A chosen not to kill B?

Essentially, the question being one of the nature of Hashgacha: is everything Hashem's desire or does He allow for chaos? (allow being the key word really which resolves alot of the conflicts people have in the discussion of this issue)

I've found what I think is a clear proof in Breishit Rabba 22:9 in reference to Kayin's killing Hevel:

אר"ש בן יוחאי: קשה הדבר לאומרו, ואי אפשר לפה לפרשו. לב' אתליטין שהיו עומדין ומתגוששים לפני המלך. אילו רצה המלך פירשן, ולא רצה המלך לפרשן. נתחזק אחד על חבירו והרגו, והיה מצווח ואמר: מאן יבעי דיני קדם מלכא? כך קול דמי אחיך צועקים אלי מן האדמה

In my opinion it implies very clearly that the bloods of Hevel are seen as crying out to Hashem k'vayachol for the injustice of His allowance of the murder. This is HUGE! This would literally change the way 90% of the frum world perceive the nature of Man's place in the world around him. See also the Rambam Hl' Teshuva 5:7 where he really is saying this same point (as R' Matis also had taught us)

ואל תתמה ותאמר היאך יהיה האדם עושה כל מה שיחפוץ, ויהיו מעשיו מסורין לו, וכי ייעשה בעולם דבר שלא ברשות קונו ובלא חפצו, והכתוב אומר "כול אשר חפץ ה', עשה: בשמיים ובארץ" דע שהכול בחפצו ייעשה, ואף על פי שמעשינו מסורין לנו.
כיצד: כשם שחפץ היוצר להיות האש והרוח עולים למעלה, והמים והארץ יורדים למטה, והגלגל סובב בעיגול, וכן שאר ברייות העולם להיות כמנהגן שחפץ בו--ככה חפץ להיות האדם רשותו בידו, וכל מעשיו מסורין לו, ולא יהיה לו לא כופה ולא מושך, אלא הוא מעצמו ובדעתו שנתן לו האל עושה כל שהאדם יכול לעשות.

Halo and Hallel

Struck me today, the hebrew word for "shine" -- הל -- as in

בְּהִלּוֹ נֵרוֹ עֲלֵי ראשִׁי לְאוֹרוֹ אֵלֶךְ חשֶׁךְ and עֲטִישׁתָיו תָּהֶל אוֹר (Iyov 29 & 41)

being the Greek/English word of Halo.

Also then a possible connection of הל in the הלל of Chanuka to it's theme of Light. Not to mention the Ancient Greek word for Greece --- Ἑλλάς, Hellas

A Moment of Self-Reflection

Bereishit Rabba 16:3

אומרים לאילני מאכל, למה אין קולכם הולך? אמרו להם: אין אנו צריכין, פירותינו מעידין עלינו. אומרים לאילני סרק, למה קולכם הולך? אמרו להם: הלואי נשמע קולינו ונראה. אמר רבי הונא: לא משום הטעם הזה, אלא אילני מאכל על ידי שהן כבדים בפירותיהם, לפיכך אין קולן הולך, אבל אילני סרק ע"י שהן קלים בפירותיהם קולן הולך, הדא הוא דכתיב (ישעיה ז): וינע לבבו ולבב עמו כנוע עצי יער מפני וגו':

See further for the full translation but for the lazy among us, the short of it:

Fruit trees, by virtue of their fruit, have neither the need nor the capability to "make noise". The non-fruit trees, by contrast, having both and hence are "noisy".

One has to wonder if the exact same wouldn't apply to someone who blogs....

Wife or Porna

Wikipedia brings down the etymology of Porn from the Greek meaning prostitute: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography

Which makes it very nicely understood then why R' Yossi HaGlili would use the word פורנה instead of ketuba in reference to his belligerently hostile wife. (See Breishit Rabba 17:3 and Yerushalmi Ketuvot 4:13)

Once the ברית between them is dysfunctional the marriage becomes a long term prostitutional arrangement and the ketuba becomes nothing more than a Contract of Sale.

[ועלתה במחשבת ירוד לצאת ממקומו ולהגיש פטפוטי לבו דהנה אותיות השוות בין אפריון לאפרסמון הן הם פורנ"א ובהעלות אות י' דהיא ברית נעשית אפריון ודי למבין]

תשרי וניסן -- אדמה וארץ

See Breishit Rabba 13:12 --

ד' שמות נקראו לארץ ... ארץ זו ניסן וכו' אדמה זו תשרי וכו' עי"ש

I thought it interesting then that in the Pesukim of Breishit 2:5-6 only those two names are used which would then fit perfectly with the issue of R' Eliezer and R' Yehoshua -- בתשרי או בניסן נברא העולם ודו"ק

וְכֹל שִׂיחַ הַשָּׂדֶה טֶרֶם יִהְיֶה בָאָרֶץ וְכָל עֵשֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶה טֶרֶם יִצְמָח כִּי לֹא הִמְטִיר יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים עַל הָאָרֶץ וְאָדָם אַיִן לַעֲבֹד אֶת הָאֲדָמָה וְאֵד יַעֲלֶה מִן הָאָרֶץ וְהִשְׁקָה אֶת כָּל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה

Also consider the opposing grammar: the living, moving ריצה of ארץ and ניסן season vs the silent, dormant דומה of אדמה  and תשרי 

"I'd like you to meet my daughter Venom"

הובא בספר שופטים א' יא-טו (וגם ביהושע טו) ענין עתניאל בן קנז בקרית ספר ועכסה בת כלב ונראה דאין המקרא אומר אלא דרשני
ונ"ל לפרש בס"ד אשר יכה את קרית ספר ... ונתתי לו את עכסה בתי בבחי' עכס נחש -וברגליהם תעכסנה- שהיא בת כל"ב דעין ולב תרי סרסורי עבירה נינהו... ואשר יכה את קרית ספר בבחי' חרות על הלוחות אין לך בן חורין וכו' ובבחי' ושמתם סם תם זכה נעשית לו סם חיים כמ"ש במס' קידושין
והלאה כתיב ותצנח מעל החמו"ר... הבה לי ברכה ...ויתן לה כלב... את גלות עלית ואת גלות תחתית ופי' הגר"א מעשה מרכב' ומעש"ב בבחינת כל הלומד תורה לשמה זוכה לדברים הרבה.. מגלין לו רזי תורה... ומגדלתו ומרוממתו על כל המעשים והבן

אח"כ ראיתי לציין . עיין בספר הבהיר (ז) שארץ הנגב כוונתו עוה"ז

ז. ישב רבי אמוראי ודרש מאי דכתיב (דברים ל"ג כג) ומלא ברכת ה' ים ודרום ירשה, כך אמר משה אם תלך בחוקותיו תירש העולם הזה והעולם הבא, העולם הבא שהוא נמשל לים שנאמר (איוב י"א ט) ורחבה מני ים, והעוה"ז נמשל לדרום שנאמר (יהושע ט"ו יט) כי ארץ הנגב נתתני ומתרגמינן ארי ארעא דרומא

The Left-Handed Son of Right

Learning Sefer Shoftim.. a number of curious recurring concepts.. but this is one that particularly stands out

-- the mention of left-handed people (possibly the only 2 mentions in Tanach, haven't checked...) of both Ehud ben Gera (3:15) and of the Bnei Binyamin in (20:16)... but the more fascinating point being that both are emphasized by the pasuk as being from בנימן בן ימין . Impossible that there isn't something deeper here... but i don't know what...

וַיִּזְעֲקוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל יְהוָה וַיָּקֶם יְהוָה לָהֶם מוֹשִׁיעַ אֶת אֵהוּד בֶּן גֵּרָא בֶּן הַיְמִינִי אִישׁ אִטֵּר יַד יְמִינוֹ

וַיִּתְפָּקְדוּ בְנֵי בִנְיָמִן בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא מֵהֶעָרִים עֶשְׂרִים וְשִׁשָּׁה אֶלֶף אִישׁ, שׁלֵף חָרֶב לְבַד מִיּשְׁבֵי הַגִּבְעָה הִתְפָּקְדוּ שְׁבַע מֵאוֹת אִישׁ בָּחוּר... מִכּל הָעָם הַזֶּה שְׁבַע מֵאוֹת אִישׁ בָּחוּר אִטֵּר יַד יְמִינוֹ: כָּל זֶה, קלֵעַ בָּאֶבֶן אֶל-הַשַּׂעֲרָה וְלא יַחֲטִא

The Forming of a Thought

בראשית רבה פרק ט' ג
רבי חגי בשם רבי יצחק אמר: (ד"ה א כח): "ואתה שלמה בני, דע את אלהי אביך ועבדהו בלב שלם ובנפש חפצה, כי כל לבבות דורש ה' וכל יצר מחשבות מבין. אם תדרשנו ימצא לך ואם תעזבנו יזניחך לעד". קודם עד שלא נוצרה מחשבה בלבו של אדם, כבר היא גלויה לפניך.

Will be very interesting to know how then רבי חגי will understand the pasuk וְכָל יֵצֶר מַחְשְׁבת לִבּוֹ רַק רַע כָּל הַיּוֹם

By extension it would seem to imply the רַק רַע כָּל הַיּוֹם applies even at the initial stage of יצירת המחשבה ?! Can we say such a thing?...

[Upon further studying I feel the question is not a problem. The pasuk is referring specifically to דור המבול and hence their consequent destruction. What you do see interestingly is that through their actions and effort they were able to effect יציר מחשבה רק רע כל היום? Expressed differently we see that "wanting to want" something can effect an intrinsic change.]

שוחד לשטן

There was a girl that I had a chance meeting with once. Through the course of discussion she seemed to have taken a liking to me for whatever reason, which made things particularly problematic for me seeing as how, as I saw the situation, we weren't a good match for one another on any fundamental levels of goals or aspirations.... it left me in quite a quandary as to how to proceed... on the one hand you have a genuine gesture of attempting to establish a bond/relationship, an emotional "S.O.S call" being yelled out, requesting to be answered... and yet you know it's not a match... but on the other hand, you betray your own sense of compassion by not responding back in kind, repaying an innocent, genuine gesture of love with a painful, unwarranted (atleast from the girls frame of reference) coldness of rejection... it's really a tough situation...

so I chose to ask her out, thereby satisfying her need of a positive response and satisfying her in the knowledge that, all other things being equal, I find her attractive... and then the most interesting thing occured... she turned the offer down lol (she gave me a logical reason that I won't mention publicly, but suffice it to say I am 100% confident that my initial senses of her being interested were nonetheless correct)

and so after thinking about it some more I realized what had taken place: she never really wanted to go out with me. What was bothering her was that a boy such as me (with whatever positive qualities I had that made me admirable or significant in her eyes) didn't seem to show any real notice or interest in her. That bothered her, and it was just that which she wanted i.e. affirmation, recognition.

All that I've written so far is interesting and insightful in and of itself I think but here's the real fascinating insight that I had about this whole dynamic exchange: it was my offering to her of the date that brought to light what she really wanted. It's the offering the gluttonous guests the shmorgesboard so that the king can sit in the company of friends who are truly interested in being with him (Zohar). The שוחד לשטן.

כי מכבדי אכבד ובוזי יקלו -- Double Meaning

Just realized it today the double relationship:

כבוד וקלון כבד וקל

Also I'm interested to understand the deeper meaning of בז/בוז (especially in light of the remez by Nisuch haMayim and the pasuk of את עוץ בכורו ואת בוז אחיו ). Also, it's connection to בזה as in ובבזה לא שלחו ידם.

על עניני מים

מים וגוים... השוה
1) "יקוו המים מתחת השמים" כנגד "ונקוו אליה כל הגוים" (ירמי')ג יז
2) מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות .... בוז יבוזו לו ורמז ב'ו'ז' אצל ניסוך המים ופרי חג שהם כנגד ע' אומות

ויקם משה ויושיען ודברי המדרש שם: ישועה שייך אצל מים ודבר ערוה

שייכות מים למלת ים ויום

שייכות מים למלות קו ,תהו ,ותהום --קו תהו

לישועתך קויתי ה': מים היא היא הצד השוה שביניהם

--לולא דמסתפינא להשוות "קו תהו ואבני בהו" לעניינם של מים ושיש אצל ד' נכנסו לפרדס

Bechorim vs. Leviim

Interesting to note the change in order of לי and הויה between the two:

וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה, אֶל-מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר. וַאֲנִי הִנֵּה לָקַחְתִּי אֶת-הַלְוִיִּם, מִתּוֹךְ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, תַּחַת כָּל-בְּכוֹר פֶּטֶר רֶחֶם, מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל; וְהָיוּ לִי, הַלְוִיִּם. כִּי לִי, כָּל-בְּכוֹר--בְּיוֹם הַכֹּתִי כָל-בְּכוֹר בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם הִקְדַּשְׁתִּי לִי כָל-בְּכוֹר בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל, מֵאָדָם עַד-בְּהֵמָה: לִי יִהְיוּ, אֲנִי יְהוָה

and:

קַדֶּשׁ-לִי כָל-בְּכוֹר פֶּטֶר כָּל-רֶחֶם, בִּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל--בָּאָדָם, וּבַבְּהֵמָה: לִי הוּא
vs
במדב' ח יד וְהִבְדַּלְתָּ, אֶת-הַלְוִיִּם, מִתּוֹךְ, בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל; וְהָיוּ לִי, הַלְוִיִּם

It would also seem that there is a stress in general of לי to bechora and a stress of הויה for Leviim....

[11/29 Indeed there is without a doubt a לי-בכור connection. Consider:
מכרה כיום את בכורתך לי... ויאמר עשו... למה זה לי בכורה]

[See the Malbim in  ארץ חמדה פר במדבר ד"ה ואני הנה לקחתי את הלוים where he differentiates between קדושת בכורים which is automatically imposed versus קדושת לוים which was voluntarily accepted]

R' Yehuda ben Beteira's city-- Nusaybin, נציבין

It's already documented but just amazing to see how real it is. The gemara's mentioning (Pesach' 3a) of R' Yehuda ben Beteira's dwelling in נציבין is still an actual city in Turkey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nusaybin (Interesting that Wikipedia also notes the syriac name is soba)

In the book סבוב ר' פתחיה (which I downloaded through the gracious resource of http://www.seforimonline.org/ ) he mentions his travels there and documents a synagogue of ריב"ב and two synagogues built by Ezra HaSofer!!! That would be awesome to go to the city of Nusaybin and see it one day.

Another Levaya Thought -- הלואי

An additional point to the shiur on לויה see http://danielmokhtar.blogspot.com/2008/04/pesach-shiur-yound-israel-holliswood.html

לו ישמעאל יחיה לפניך.. בראש' יז יח ותרגומו מלש' ולוי והלואי
and Rashi there הלואי שיחיה ישמעאל איני כדאי למתן שכר כזה
seemingly related to the basic idea of הלואה where you just ask for the principle back without looking for returns of profits.

חיים של הויה

ויהיו חיי שרה

Sefer Yehoshua Thoughts

- the connection of צדק to ירושלים. The kings of ירושלים being מלכי צדק ואדני צדק. Also צדק ילין בה

- (Yeho' 13:21)- the 5 kings of midian having been originally subordinates of the kingdom of Sichon, hence, a new understanding of וירא בלק... את כל אשר עשה ישראל לאמרי

- any meaning behind the city of dvir, which is kiryat sefer, being written chaser as דבר

- why the constant mentioning of the Migrashei ha'Leviim, separate and apart from the cities themselves.. both in the original request to Yehoshua (21:2) and every single time the cities are mentioned in the list of 42..... שכם ומגרשה... גזר ומגרשה.... just include everything in one pasuk at the end .... כל אלה ומגרשיהם or something like that

Breaking New Ground

The connection of existential existence הויה with "being broken" הוה ושבר כמ"ש משלי (י' ג') וְהַוַּת רְשָׁעִים יֶהְדּף

Possibly the idea being that in true "breaking of oneself" one comes to a new existential state.

Persian Etymology -- mah, moon

The direct connection of the word for moon in persian, mah, with מ"ה. i.e. מלכות

Also note: Mommy = מ"ה מ"י

מלך ועני

A thought that came regarding the interrelationship of the two...
In assessing any large system or structure one must know the extent and status of it's bottom. The bottom level literally defines the scope and extent of the entire structure (the melech's malchut). A structure can be gauged as being fundamentally valuable only when the lowest common denominator can be gauged and assessed, as in ויתן המלך את-הכסף בירושלם כאבנים ואת הארזים נתן כשקמים אשר בשפלה לרב (Melachim I 10:27) and in וירח את ריח בגדיו.

The situation of the עני is the ultimate gauge by which the melech's melucha is defined. Hence the prayer of the עני uniquely having direct access to Hashem and the behavior of a Dovid Hamelech in ידי מלוכלכות בדם ובשפיר ובשליא כדי לטהר אשה לבעלה . It's the bottom which is most important to the top: וידע כל פעול כי אתה פעלתו ויבין כל יצור כי אתה וכו

"You're only as strong as your weakest link"

[afterwards, I found that this is a concept that I had already heard in my Rebbe, R' Matis Weinberg's shiur on chesed sheb'malchut]

Aleph Beit Thoughts

I thought it interesting to note some peculiarities:

1. the letters ק and ל , being the only letters to extend below or above the sentence lines of writing. Cf. קול , בלק, עמלק

See also the Targum of פר' נחש נחשת בחקת -- on the word שרפים

וְגָרֵי יְיָ בְּעַמָּא, יָת חִיוָוָן קָלַן, וְנַכִּיתוּ, יָת עַמָּא and notice then how the punishment is directly connected to their sin of לחם הקלקל.

(Also, is there any connection to the קערת כסף אחת שלשים ומאה משקלה or the 130 years that Adam was separated from Chava?)

2. the מ in מנצפך being the only one that actually becomes סתומה in being at the end. The others all becoming פתוחות ופשוטות. And the usage of the Mem Setumah even in the middle of words as in Yeshayahu לםרבה המשרה. The letters ס and מ then being the only "closed" letters in the alphabet and flanking the 'נ' from both sides.

Parasha Questions - v'Zot haBeracha

הָאמֵר לְאָבִיו וּלְאִמּוֹ, לא רְאִיתִיו, וְאֶת-אֶחָיו לא הִכִּיר, וְאֶת-בָּנָו לא יָדָע: כִּי שָׁמְרוּ אִמְרָתֶךָ, וּבְרִיתְךָ יִנְצרוּ

1 & 2 . ראיתיו ראיתים ותוספת י"ו למרות חסרון י' בכתיב של בניו

3. שינוי לשון נצירה אצל ברית ולא שמירה

4. קטורה קטורת

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Birkat Yosef

1. Interesting to note the Yosef-Gad connections: both mentioning קדקד and the emphasis of the word מגד מ-גד. (I'm further interested by the ג and ק exchange between גד and קדקד as well as קדקד being of the א"ת ב"ש series.)

2. Cf. here תָּבוֹאתָה לְרֹאשׁ יוֹסֵף to Vayechi תִּהְיֶיןָ לְרֹאשׁ יוֹסֵף

3. the Yosef/Bava Kamma connections בְּכוֹר שׁוֹרוֹ הָדָר לוֹ, וְקַרְנֵי רְאֵם קַרְנָיו--בָּהֶם עַמִּים יְנַגַּח יַחְדָּו and בור בפרשת וישב (which in themselves have a fascinating connection of the parasha of בור being sandwiched between the two parshiot of שור in Mishpatim). Also possibly נזיר אחיו נזיר נזיק נזק.

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the petuchot and setumot of the parasha needing explanation, particularly the lack of any setuma uniquely by Dan-Naftali and the lack of any setuma between Asher and the following remaining parsha of מענה אלהי קדם

Nice Song - Frank Sinatra - My Way

Knew the song for a long time but never listened to the whole thing with all lyrics until today. Truly, what a beautiful song.

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/frank+sinatra/my+way_20056378.html

And now, the end is near; And so I face the final curtain. My friend, Ill say it clear, Ill state my case, of which Im certain. I've lived a life thats full. Ive traveled each and evry highway; And more, much more than this, I did it my way. Regrets, Ive had a few; But then again, too few to mention. I did what I had to do And saw it through without exemption. I planned each charted course; Each careful step along the byway, But more, much more than this, I did it my way. Yes, there were times, Im sure you knew When I bit off more than I could chew. But through it all, when there was doubt, I ate it up and spit it out. I faced it all and I stood tall; And did it my way. Ive loved, Ive laughed and cried. Ive had my fill; my share of losing. And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing. To think I did all that; And may I say - not in a shy way, No, oh no not me, I did it my way. For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has naught. To say the things he truly feels; And not the words of one who kneels. The record shows I took the blows - And did it my way!

There are numerous gemaras related to the concept. One coming to mind is
ואמר לו חזור בך ואני ואתה ובן ישי נטייל בגן עדן אמר לו מי בראש בן ישי בראש אי הכי לא בעינא Sanhedrin 102a
Also, related to the various "coercion parshiot" in Pr' Ki Teitzei and the subordination vs. independent stress in teshuva.

Math, Pi, Kav, Infinity, Limits, and more....

After browsing a bit on the web and seeing the impressive material that's been written on the subjects (a few links of note I placed below) I'm humbly reminded that I really don't know much of Torah or l'havdil Mathematics. That being said, my thoughts:

First, the full passage of Yam shel Shlomo from Melachim I Ch 7 with my added bold highlights:

א ז,כג וַיַּעַשׂ אֶת-הַיָּם, מוּצָק: עֶשֶׂר בָּאַמָּה מִשְּׂפָתוֹ עַד-שְׂפָתוֹ עָגל סָבִיב, וְחָמֵשׁ בָּאַמָּה קוֹמָתוֹ, וקוה (וְקָו) שְׁלשִׁים בָּאַמָּה, יָסב אתוֹ סָבִיב.וּפְקָעִים מִתַּחַת לִשְׂפָתוֹ סָבִיב, סֹבְבִים אתוֹ--עֶשֶׂר בָּאַמָּה, מַקִּפִים אֶת-הַיָּם סָבִיב; שְׁנֵי טוּרִים הַפְּקָעִים, יְצֻקִים בִּיצֻקָתוֹ. עמֵד עַל-שְׁנֵי עָשָׂר בָּקָר, שְׁלֹשָׁה פֹנִים צָפוֹנָה וּשְׁלשָׁה פנִים יָמָּה וּשְׁלֹשָׁה פּנִים נֶגְבָּה וּשְׁלשָׁה פּנִים מִזְרָחָה, וְהַיָּם עֲלֵיהֶם, מִלְמָעְלָה; וְכָל-אֲחרֵיהֶם, בָּיְתָה. וְעָבְיוֹ טֶפַח, וּשְׂפָתוֹ כְּמַעֲשֵׂה שְׂפַת-כּוֹס פֶּרַח שׁוֹשָׁן; אַלְפַּיִם בַּת, יָכִיל

I find the whole thing astonishing ... not sure where to begin even... here goes.... the famous remez to Pi in the kri and ketiv of קו קוה .. the ratio of 111/105 x 3... the common symbolism of Male in 'line' and Female in 'circle'.... kav being finite and defined, a circle (by virtue of pi) being infinitely irrational... the references at the end to בת וכל... malchut infinity... י"ם של שלמה,,. ... the relation of yaakov (kav) to Rachel (and maybe Leah, not sure)....

and on a somewhat related point: what made the problem of solving areas of curves in mathematical history so difficult, so complex? it's that same infinite nature of the curves....and how ultimately does the 'limit technique' of Calculus make that infinity approachable to us? by finding a way of converting/compartmentalizing the "infinite" component into "nothing" i.e. the fragmenting of the nth term into the denominators of the equations so that they become neglible and allow us to deal in real terms with what's left of the equation.... a conversion of אין סוף into an אין to allow for יש. .. the double meaning of kol כל וכל שהוא...

see also:

http://www.truthofland.co.il/english/Sea%20of%20Solomon.htm 

[Note the following: pi = פא"י which = צ"א i.e. זו"נ...]

Ma'asei Breishit and Science

Was reading the dialogue of a controversy regarding evolutionary creation and Torah between R' Nosson Slifkin and a R' Coffer. It's not pretty in my opinion, brace yourselves:

http://www.toriah.com/wiki/index.php?title=Slifkin_-_Coffer_Debate

Here's my two cents though: while everyone's arguing about the Rambam in the Moreh and the opinions of Rishonim in their writings and the like, why doesn't anyone mention the possibility that this is bordering on the heels of kabbalistic realms and as such needs to be discussed in the context of kabbalistic works. Couldn't this presumably be some of the very issues of Ma'aseh Breishit/Merkava? What good then is arguing (ad nauseam I might add) solely about Rambams?

A good place to start I think would be the usage of Elokim throughout Ma'asei Breishit, אלהים  being the same gematria as הטבע. That and a discussion of ה' הוא האלקים as per R' Yosef Gikatlia in his גנת אגוז would seem to be a relevant point to discuss and work out. 

גר ומסתעפיו

Was wondering about the connection of the various points:

1. Ger גר as in convert
2. Ger as in settler גר ותושב
3. גרה as in גרה לא יגר - regurgitation
4. גרה as in עשרים גרה יהיה השקל
5. הגר שפחת שרה
6. גרמא וגרם ??
7. לשון משנה גרגיר ענבים
8. גירוי - instigation and conflict [note the french "guerre" = war/conflict , as well]

Was thinking along the lines of movement/change/wandering... but not completely satisfied by it's usage in #1 i.e. a regular Ger. His conversion to Judaism is pretty final so how would that justify a word that connotes constant change and movement.
I don't have #4 worked out exactly either but was thinking to connect it to the Gm' Bechorot 50a in the drashot of מוסיפין על השקל ואין פוחתין---
דתניא עשרים גרה השקל למדנו לשקל שהוא עשרים גרה ומנין שאם רצה להוסיף יוסיף ת"ל (ויקרא כז) יהיה יכול יפחות ת"ל במדבר יח) הוא
Problem is though that over there it's really the shekel that is changing not the unit of gera itself..... וצע"ע
Also interesting to note that the word is one of the א"ת ב"ש ג"ר.

הבדל ברית נח וברית בין הבתרים

ראיתי להעיר על פרשת ברית נח דהינו ברית בין אלקים ובין כל בשר אשר על הארץ למרות בבריתו של ירור עם אברהם בברית בין הבתרים וגדול הוא לענ"ד.
ומתוך דקדוק זה ראוי לעיין ולהבן היטב בשימוש שם אלקים בפרשת מילתו וכוונת הענין שמה

יז,ז וַהֲקִמֹתִי אֶת-בְּרִיתִי בֵּינִי וּבֵינֶךָ, וּבֵין זַרְעֲךָ אַחֲרֶיךָ לְדֹרֹתָם--לִבְרִית עוֹלָם: לִהְיוֹת לְךָ לֵאלֹהִים, וּלְזַרְעֲךָ אַחֲרֶיךָ

יז,כב וַיְכַל, לְדַבֵּר אִתּוֹ; וַיַּעַל אֱלֹהִים, מֵעַל אַבְרָהָם

Etymology: Stamen, Stamina

Thought it interesting that Stamen is the male reproductive organ in plants and our word of 'Stamina' -- to me it it seems simply like a crossover much the same way the word 'virility' came from the latin of 'vir' - man.

Found this blog on the word stamina as well http://www.languagehat.com/archives/003141.php.
Didn't understand alot of it, but thought it interesting the association of 'stamen'-- 'stamina' --'sta'--'standing'-- and שת as in שתי וערב. Quite possibly showing a direct link between standing and עלמא דדכורא


blog excerpt mentioned above:

STAMINA.
Another bout of idle wondering led me to look up the etymology of stamina; I suddenly realized it looked like the plural of stamen, but thought "that can't be right." As it turns out, it is, in an unexpected way. Before stamen meant "The male or fertilizing organ of a flowering plant," it meant 'the warp in an upright loom' (the Latin word stāmen is from the Proto-Indo-European root *stā- 'stand'), and from there it came to mean (in the OED's words) "The thread spun by the Fates at a person's birth, on the length of which the duration of his life was suppose[d] to depend. Hence, in popular physiology, the measure of vital impulse or capacity which it was supposed that each person possessed at birth, and on which the length of his life, unless cut short by violence or disease, was supposed to depend." (1709 Tatler No. 15.1 "All, who enter into human life, have a certain date or Stamen given to their being, which they only who die of age may be said to have arrived at"; 1753 L. M. Accompl. Woman I. 246 "Bad example hath not less influence upon education than a bad stamen upon the constitution.") Hence the plural stamina meant "The congenital vital capacities of a person or animal, on which (other things being equal) the duration of life was supposed to depend; natural constitution as affecting the duration of life or the power of resisting debilitating influences" (1701 C. WOLLEY Jrnl. New York 60 "Such as have the natural Stamina of a consumptive propagation in them"; 1823 GILLIES Aristotle's Rhet. I. v. 180 "If the stamina are not sound, disease will soon ensue"), and finally the modern sense "Vigour of bodily constitution; power of sustaining fatigue or privation, of recovery from illness, and of resistance to debilitating influences; staying power" (1726 SWIFT Let. Sheridan 27 July Wks. 1841 II. 588/1, "I indeed think her stamina could not last much longer when I saw she could take no nourishment").

Male/Female 5th Avenue Observation

I find it a fascinating peculiarity that women will turn their heads to see a handsome man walking on the street accompanied by another woman but not if that same man is alone. Check it and see for yourself. (I think it even applies to a man accompanied with a child or two but I haven't tried it enough to know for sure).

This being in direct contrast to male behavior i.e. turning their heads at pretty women on the street universally, alone or accompanied. I think there's a fundamental insight here.

ונ"ל לפרשו מענין התייחסות זו"נ לת"ת ומלכות... כל מין הולך אחר מינו... ויש להתיישב בדבר עוד.... ולכל הפחות קל להבין התייחסות הזכר להת"ת שבזוגו

in your eyes.... the light the heat ....I am complete... I see the doorway to a thousand churches..... the resolution of all the fruitless searches...... I see the light and the heat..... oh, I want to be that complete...... I want to touch the light the heat I see in your eyes -- Peter Gabriel

Etymology: Corn and גורן

Was reading a book ("This is not a Weasel") about differences between the word "corn" and (what we americans call corn) which is really "maize". Google the word "corn" further and you'll see it is used really more so in reference to grains.
Which then just got me wondering... corn... grain... goren... גרן.... coincidence?, I think not

Nice Quotes

“With the power of conviction, there is no sacrifice.” -- Pat Benatar
ויהיו בעיניו כימים אחדים באהבתו אותה


"Everyone is dished out their plate and everyone has to eat it!" -- Unknown but related to Yerushalmi Pe'ah 3b
אמר ר' מנא יאות אילין טחונייא אמרין כל בר נש ובר נש זכותיה גו קופתיה

Bechorot Thoughts

בכורות נח. -- תניא אמר בן עזאי הואיל והללו אומרים כך והללו אומרים כך האלולין מתעשרין לעצמן וליחזי טעמיה דמאן מסתבר וכי תימא לא מצי קאי אטעמייהו והתניא בן עזאי אומר כל חכמי ישראל דומין עלי כקליפת השום חוץ מן הקרח הזה א"ר יוחנן מפי השמועה אמרוה מפי חגי זכריה ומלאכי

You see from this Gemara that a Talmid Chacham is expected whenever he can to make a definitive choice for himself in regards to issues of machloket haDinim. Should he feel he has fully comprehended the depths and arguments of the two sides מצי קאי אטעמייהו he has every right and should make a choice as to which side sounds more cogent to him. A "yotzei kol haDeot" being then a b'dieved.

First Try and Then I'll Tell You...

I think it's an amazing Sifrei:

כי אם אל המקום אשר יבחר ה' א-להיכם מכל שבטיכם (דרוש) על פי נביא.
יכול תמתין עד שיאמר לך נביא, ת"ל לשכנו תדרשו ובאת שמה , דרוש ומצא ואח"כ יאמר לך נביא.
וכן אתה מוצא בדוד (תהלים קלב) זכור ה' לדוד את כל ענותו אשר נשבע לה' נדר לאביר יעקב אם אבא באהל ביתי אם אתן שנת לעיני עד אמצא מקום לה' משכנות לאביר יעקב
מנין שלא (תעשה) [עשה] אלא ע"פ נביא, שנא' (ש"ב כד) ויבא גד אל דוד ביום ההוא ויאמר לו עלה הקם לה' מזבח בגורן ארונה היבוסי ואומר ויחל שלמה לבנות את בית ה' בירושלים בהר המוריה אשר נראה לדוד אביהו

Just an amazing exchange: Search out what you think is the right choice, without direction, without any Divine communication, and after you think you've found it then Hashem will give you confirmation through prophecy. Fascinating.

You additionally see btw that it's a given to the Sifrei that the only way to know "what Hashem chooses" המקום אשר יבחר ה' א-להיכם is by way of Nevua. Nothing else, no matter how compelling an argument, will suffice.

Bechor--Ma'aser Beheima Connections בכור ומעשר בהמה

A very clear linkage created:

• identical avodat dam -- מתנת אחת
• same mesechta
• (most intriguing i feel) -- see Bechorot 55b- 56b -- amazing. TWO places the Torah writes a halacha of מעשר בהמה in the parsha of בכור to be learned via אם אינו ענין תנהו ענין

So while it certainly requires a fuller understanding... perhaps a beginning I thought.. the tenth ( עשר ) makka was מכת בכורות

צדוקים ובייתוסין

Generally explained as people who did not accept תורה שבעל פה, only תורה שבכתב

But I found in אדר"נ פרק ה :


אנטיגנוס איש סוכו היו לו שני תלמידים שהיו שונין בדבריו, והיו שונים לתלמידים, ותלמידים לתלמידיהם. עמדו ודקדקו אחריהן, ואמרו: מה ראו אבותינו לומר דבר זה, אפשר שיעשה פועל מלאכה כל היום ולא יטול שכרו ערבית? אלא, אילו היו יודעין אבותינו שיש עולם אחר, ויש תחיית המתים, לא היו אומרים כך. עמדו ופירשו מן התורה, ונפרצו מהם שתי פרצות: צדוקין וביתוסין. צדוקים על שום צדוק, ביתוסין על שום ביתוס. והיו משתמשין בכלי כסף וכלי זהב כל ימיהם, שהיתה דעתן גסה עליהם. אלא צדוקים אומרים: מסורת הוא ביד פרושים שהן מצערין עצמן בעולם הזה, ובעולם הבא אין להם כלום:

sounds like the main issue is on עוה"ב. Also, the last part, if i'm reading it correctly, sounds similar להבדיל to Nietzsche's beef with the Church and religion of his times i.e. the heaven and hell of religion created as an opiate for the masses and a control created by the priests.

With this new understanding of צדוקים it fits nicely that Bruria specifically mentioned the "שלא ילדה בנים לגיהנם כותייכו " when arguing with the צדוקי in Brachot (10a).

However, I later found רבינו בחיי על פרקי אבות --at (25/148)-- explains and bridges the two descriptions... see below


והחכם הזה אנטיגנוס כשהיה דורש ברבים המאמר הזה היו בכלל תלמידיו שני תלמידים ששמם צדוק וביתוס והבינו מתוך דבריו שדעתו היתה, שאין שם פרס, ואמרו אפשר פועל עושה מלאכה כל היום וטורח ואינו נוטל שכרו לערב, ואז נתפקרו ויצאו למינות, וכל אחד היה מקבץ כתות והיו נמשכות אחר דעתו של כל אהד ואחד מהם והם הם שנקראו צדוקיו וביתוסין ובודאי היו כופרין גם בתורה שבכתב אלא שהיו מתפחדין מן חחכמים שהיו הורגין אותן ולכן רצו לעמוד על אמונת תורה שבכתב ופקרו וכפרו בתורה שבעל פה ועדיין יש בעולם מן הכתות האילו בארצות ישמעאל והם הם ששמן קראין שאינן מאמינים כלל בקבלת הכמים תורה שבעל פה אלא בתורה שבכתב בלבד והם בעצמם שינו את שמם קראין כי לא רצו להקרא צדוקין וביתוסין שהוא השם שהחכמים קראום בו על שם המינין הראשונים.]

The Be'er Click

a quasi-thought on the various instances of מי באר עולים לקראת צדיק . A striking metaphor i find to a sensed phenomenon. Sometimes a person engages in an endeavor or system which just "clicks" for him. He senses as if literally outside phenomena are "working with him, for him" i.e. the water coming to greet you. Only understood by those who have once sensed it i guess... a certain harmonious integration of man and the reality outside of him... being "on" as some would say.... וה' עמו...

with that in mind, the fascinating chiddush then of מציאת אשה בבאר , ( i have to find the midrash.. but essentially it points out that many wives were found by wells)

[Noteworthy to mention that the phenomenon also exists for the bad -- (Br"Rb 38:8) 

ותהי להם הלבנה לאבן והחמר היה להם לחומר 
רבי הונא אמר: הוות מצלחת בידן, אתי למבני חדא הוא בני תרתין, אתי למישויע תרתין והוא מישויע ארבע. 

]

World Websites of Interest

Just wanted to mention the great work that's being done at Google Earth. Amazing hi-res images of the entire world with integrated snapshots and sources. A must see: http://earth.google.com/

Also, came across this website about world animals. Beautiful!!
http://www.arkive.org/

And another, great educational innovative talks for those who never could go to the Ivy Leaguers http://www.ted.com/index.php/

Scientific Publications: www.plosone.com

Teshuva Thoughts

There can come a point in a man's life where he realizes he's written more checks than his soul can repay... That no amount of judgment can justify his existence.... nothing can be done that can justify his valuing of himself even existentially.... מן העץ אכלתי ואוכל (see Breishit Rabba on the pasuk) ... and so there is nothing but silence... and all that is left for him to do is sit and cry... until he dies...

...but i guess the only next step to make is the recognition that nothing in this world can truly justify it's existence.... ושמים לא זכו בעיניו .... and so his evil is everything and nothing all at the same time...

I don't know how this fits exactly with R' Elazar ben Durdaya...

Interesting-- Sleeping North-South

See Brachot 5b v'dok

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080826/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_magnetism_mammals;_ylt=Aq2oysA02JYVbu.PgSokL23tiBIF

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Grazing cattle and sleeping deer tend to align their bodies along the North-South axis of the Earth's magnetic field, European researchers said on Monday, giving new meaning to the phrase animal magnetism.

Herdsmen and hunters have long known that cattle and sheep tend to face the same direction when grazing, but had believed they were simply positioning themselves according to prevailing winds or the sun's rays.

Sabine Begall of the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany and colleagues had a different idea. The researchers studied 8,510 satellite images of cattle and deer herds derived from Google Earth from around the globe, including 308 pastures and plains.
They also looked at deer beds -- impressions left in the snow by resting deer -- from nearly 3,000 deer in more than 225 locations in the Czech Republic.

They found that whether grazing or resting, these animals face either magnetic North or South. And since the direction of the wind and sun varied widely where the images were taken, the researchers believe the Earth's magnetic field to be the polarizing factor.Although not seen before in large mammals, birds, turtles and salmon are known to use the Earth's magnetic field to guide their migrations, while rodents and one bat species have been found to possess an internal magnetic compass.

The researchers noted that humans and even whales are suspected of having an innate magnetic compass.Some studies suggest humans who sleep in an East-West position have far shorter rapid eye movement or REM sleep cycles, in which dreams occur, compared with North-South sleepers who got more REM sleep.

"Our results call for an in-depth study of this phenomenon and challenge neuroscientists, biochemists and physicists to study the proximate mechanisms and biological significance of magnetic alignment," Begall and colleagues wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

(Editing by Andrew Stern and Todd Eastham)

[3/17/2009 additional article]

WASHINGTON – High-voltage power lines mess with animal magnetism. Researchers, who reported last year that most cows and deer tend to orient themselves in a north-south alignment, have now found that power lines can disorient the animals.

When the power lines run east-west, that's the way grazing cattle tend to line up, researchers led by Hynek Burda and Sabine Begall of the faculty of biology at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

They also found that cows and deer grazing under northeast-southwest or northwest-southeast power lines faced in random directions.

Mental Masturbation

I'd like to coin a new term called Mental Masturbation.
[I saw afterwards it's already out there. See below]

Mental Masturbation is the engaging in the pleasure of one's own solipsistic ideologies and self-projections with little or no corroboration with any empirical or factual data externally. The pleasuring of oneself mentally and intellectually, with one's own internal self-thoughts, even when their truth is completely unsubstantiated and ultimately conjecture.

An example I could think of would be a "scientific" discussion of the moon 1000 years ago. A man will come and "offer his thoughts" that the moon is made of cheese. That's why it has it's white color and dark spots and crevices, etc. Another man may come along and claim that the moon is it's own material (an ether of sorts), with other various characteristics and properties all uniquely specific unto itself, etc. Yet a third man could come along and suggest the moon is (as we know it to be true today) made of rock, and all of the accompanying features that come with that, etc

All these thoughts being offered mind you, without any substantive proof of logic or specific nuance making it evident that, yes, that is The Answer, the only answer. No calculations or experimentations. No broad canvassing of other heavenly bodies or phenomena to try and get a sense of patterns or unifying shared concepts. Just ad hoc: The moon is white and cheese is white so let it be cheese...or rock... or whatever is white. In other words, answers that "fit into" the question but not "fitting" the question.

Consequently they're all "wrong" here-- even the third man, insofar as everything that everyone said was just conjecture with no real proof of corroboration to facts. Everyone's just saying that which "speaks to them" or "feels right". Without having some kind of benchmark measure of data to "work within" or "verify against" it's all just conjecture and the "rock theory" is no better than the "cheese theory" even if generations later it's discovered (through scientific investigation i.e. drisha) that the moon is in fact composed of rock.

And so I come to my point: the hopeless state of Mental Masturbation among Torah Jewry (vis-a-vis the empirical truth of Torah) at even the highest levels of leadership and scholarship. The Rabbi's "Shabbos Morning" sermon where he conveniently "fits in" to the Parasha his agenda pertaining to current events, or the "cute vortlich" among Rebeiim and Roshei Yeshiva (which 75% of the time even the speaker himself knows that the vort is probably not the true intent of the Torah). The "Kabbala Centre" self-help ideas which have been just retrofitted to work within the "jewish framework" of Ten Sefirot or the yeshiva bochur, with his "bag full of ideologies" that he's picked up from yeshiva, with absolutely no cognizance as to how those same ideologies can be traced back to a Sinai and to a Torah she'Bichtav.

And so we live in a world that is totally oblivious to a "scientific methodology of Torah Study" (Drisha) but instead finds its particular circle of mental masturbators that matches best and just "joins in" as it were. A world oblivious to a Shimon haAmsuni (Pesachim 22b) , that will have one את to say a cute vort on and a thousand אתים in direct contradiction to, and still unashamedly make that one את their personal platform and podium for spouting whatever personal agenda they may want to say, all the while justifying it under protection of a שבעים פנים לתורה. A world that has completely abandoned a י"ג מדות שהתורה נדרשת בהם and practically doesn't even know that Midrashei Halacha like Sifra and Sifrei exist. A world of readers reading this blog and saying to themselves "I don't get it. How else can you learn Torah then???"

And so if I could just give over one message to the Torah world out there it would have to be:
Just Say NO to Mental Masturbation!


[יחזקאל טז יז- ותקחי כלי תפארתך מזהבי ומכספי אשר נתתי לך ותעשי לך צלמי זכר ותזני בם]


ספרא נגעים פרק יג משנה ב -- "אמר לו הרי אתה אומר לכתוב שתוק עד שאדרוש" עיי"ש

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down

[Post Script: After Googling I see that the phrase Mental Masturbation is already around but fascinatingly enough with a slightly but fundamentally different meaning. The common usage seems to be "mental thought that is unproductive" i.e. just as masturbation is a non-productive activity... but i think that's wrong. The problem with masturbation is not that it's "non-productive", to the contrary it's very productive in giving a person pleasure. The problem with masturbation is that it's an act of fantasizing an external reality and engaging with that fantasy i.e. a denial of reality and an escape into one's own solipsistic world. It is with that understanding of masturbation that i use my term mental masturbation]

[Very happy to just discover shiurim of Rav Michael Avraham on the subject of Midrashei Halacha. Starting to listen to them now...]

My Grandfather - Rabbi Dr. Soleyman Dayan z"l

Googled my grandfather for the first time last night since he passed away about 7/8 years ago (and amazingly my cousin zvi thought to do the same the night before, some sort of parapsychological communication i guess) and found this article. He was a good man I feel.
טוב שם משמן טוב.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE3DB1131F93AA35754C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

For Emigres, A New Land Of Sorrows
By DONATELLA LORCH
Published: July 9, 1991


Yahya Azizi, an Iranian Jew, finally joined his wife and children in America in November 1988, sick and exhausted after three months of torture in one of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's prisons.
Ten days later, on a cold night, two men in jeans and sneakers knocked loudly at the door of the Azizis' apartment in Forest Hills, Queens. They were Secret Service agents, they said, and they wanted to talk to Mr. Azizi's 21-year-old son, Michael.

The next few minutes were all shouting, fighting and confusion. And when it was over, Mr. Azizi, his wife, Ketayaf, his daughter, Mitra, and Michael Azizi were handcuffed and placed under arrest. Mr. Azizi had made it out of Iran, but his family's newest sorrow was only beginning.
There is a simple reason why a routine call about a check-theft charge ended so badly for the Azizis: both agents were injured in the melee, and even Michael does not deny that he struck them. To the Azizis and their friends and supporters among New York's Iranian Jews, though, the story is far more tangled and far harder to understand: an extreme case of the trials of strangers in a strange land. Fear Molded by Persecution

More than anything, they say, the fight was a matter of self-defense. They could not believe that such casually dressed men were actually Federal agents. A mother was protecting her son. The son was protecting his mother. Captives of their misunderstanding and fear -- fear molded by years of religious persecution in Iran -- they did not know what was happening to them.
"I couldn't understand," Mr. Azizi said. "I was worried that it was happening just like in Iran. They just take you. No questions."

Now, two and a half years later, after a trial and an appeal, Michael Azizi is serving a 24-month sentence in a medium-security Federal prison in Danbury, Conn., for assaulting Federal officers. Miss Azizi and her parents were acquitted of similar charges. Charges of check theft or fraud were dropped by the United States Attorney's office. The Azizis are bewildered and lost. They say they have lost face and self-respect in their new country. And for a time, they have lost their only son. He was the reason the Azizis came to America, they say, and, as the only one in the family who could speak English, their guide to the new world.

In prison, Michael Azizi, who constantly worries about his family, has lost weight and says he fears for himself and for his family's survival. Mr. Azizi, 55, and Mrs. Azizi, 45, speak only stumbling English and shuttle between their jewelry store in Jackson Heights and their home in Forest Hills.

"I can't believe this happened to us," said Michael's 25-year-old sister, Mitra, who keeps a Persian-English dictionary under the store counter to help translate for her parents and herself. "It was just like a movie. A dream. Now when we see a policeman, even one with a uniform, my parents' face, it turns white."

Small and frail, Mrs. Azizi, speaking in Persian, interrupted her daughter. "We came just for Michael, for his happiness," she said. "He wanted to study to be a doctor." Fled From Iran in 1986

Michael (Merhdad) Azizi fled Iran in 1986 by horse and camel to Pakistan. Like many other Iranian Jews, he was escaping anti-Semitic decrees under the Ayatollah Khomeini's regime that did not allow Jews to attend a university and that subjected them to summary arrests. He also fled the country to avoid being drafted into the army as many Iranians are. Once in New York, he enrolled in Queens Community College and worked as a busboy in a restaurant at night, Mitra Azizi said.

Mitra Azizi, his mother and his then 10-year-old sister, Sharhzad, joined him in early 1988, settling first in a tiny apartment in Rego Park then moving to Forest Hills.
In March 1988, Yahya Azizi also tried to flee Iran. He was not as lucky. The Iranian police caught him as he was about to cross the border into Pakistan. They stole family jewelry and stamp collections -- the little wealth he could carry with him to help start a new life in the United States -- and threw him in jail.

"They blindfolded him and they put him on a rack and they shot blank bullets at him," Mitra Azizi said. "They took a thick cable and hit him on his hands and back."
He was freed after three months and made his way to New York by December.
The Secret Service agents went to the Azizi home on Dec. 12. They were investigating charges that Michael Azizi had cashed two Social Security checks totaling $700 that belonged to another Iranian, but had never sent the other Iranian the money. Confused by the agents' attire, Mr. Azizi asked his son to call 911 so that they could confirm that the men were in fact law-enforcement officers.

Mr. Azizi said he asked his son to block the door. The family said a fight broke out, Mrs. Azizi grabbed an agent's gun, then Michael jumped on the agent who had begun hitting his mother. Among other injuries, Michael Azizi broke an agent's nose. The other agent needed stitches inside his mouth. In 911 recordings presented during the trial, Sharhzad and neighbors screamed for help.

"It was intentional and deliberate," Jonathan Polkes, the assistant United States Attorney at the trial, said of Michael Azizi's aggression. "This is how life happens."
In a recent telephone interview from prison, Michael Azizi said he had done nothing wrong.
"I see him choking my mother to death," he said. "The fight happened, but I've never been sorry."

Within the 15,000 Iranian Jews in New York City, many say they believe that the fight was the culmination of a series of cultural misunderstandings. Dr. Soleyman Dayan, a rabbi and the president of the Rabbinical Sephardic Community in Queens, did not know the family in 1988. Yet he put up the $50,000 bail and said he signed a statement that said he would go to jail in Michael Azizi's place if the youth disappeared.
"Where are they going to run away to?" Rabbi Dayan asked. "Iran? Without Michael the family is lost. He was the doer. The father is destroyed. He never knew what was going on. He thought it was all a joke."

In the cramped family store, named Mike's Jewelry at 37-67 Street off Roosevelt Avenue, it is as if life has stopped. The Azizi family seems to live on automatic pilot. Customers say Mrs. Azizi often breaks down and cries. Mr. Azizi, his face etched with lines of a man 10 years his elder, rarely speaks.

Michael Azizi opened the store for his family in 1989 before he went to jail. The day before it opened, the previous store was burglarized for $100,000 worth of jewelry. The family had no insurance, Mitra Azizi said. To pay debts they keep the store open seven days a week. Before he turned himself in, Michael Azizi taught his sister Mitra how to do basic repair work, where to order jewlry and how to balance the accounts. Miss Azizi still has trouble with English and at times does not understand her bills.

Jackson Heights is mostly a Hispanic neighborhood, and Miss Azizi has learned to bargain in Spanish. As in shops in Iran, the Azizis offer their customers candy and black-sugared tea served in a glass.
Mitra Azizi plans to marry in August and dreams that her brother might make the wedding. She will not live with her husband in Washington but stay and run the store until her brother is released.

Michael Azizi calls home every day and Mrs. Azizi cries. His day is spent washing floors, mowing lawns and avoiding his fellow inmates whom he describes as a "rough group."
"I didn't come to America to kill somebody," he said. "All my dreams were always to come to America. I feel scared. But the U.S. is my last stop. I still believe in this country."
While Miss Azizi is angry at the system that punished her brother, her parents are resigned. Mr. Azizi, like his son, still loves the country he came to.

"When you say 'America' in Iran, you think freedom," the father said. "I came here so that Michael could have his freedom, his education. I had everything I needed there. But my life is here now and I like America."

Talmud Bavli Manuscripts -- Hebrew University

Just came across the Hebrew University's webste http://jnul.huji.ac.il/eng/ejudaica.html --- amazing!! overwhelming!! There's is SOOO much there.

But one thing in particular i came across was a section of online manuscripts of Gemara -- http://jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/talmud/

you can pick any gemara from among three versions of manuscripts (1) Fireze, Italy (2) Munich, Germany (3) Paris, France

anyway, it's really something that would and should take a lifetime to process... but just one interesting thing i saw when looking at the French Manuscript on Berachot:

where the gemara wants to know on the pasuk ובא השמש וטהר ... how do we know וטהר is on the day and not the man... our version has because it should have said ויטהר but the version in the French manuscript is לכתוב קרא וכבוא השמש וטהר and I really like the logic of that version actually.

שבעה דברים בחכם וכו' -- אבות דרבי נתן

See Avot D'Rebbi Natan on that Mishna (Perek ??):

אינו נכנם לתוך דברי חבירו -- Usually this is understood from a prudent point of view i.e. let a person finish their words before you assume you know what they are going to say, you may be wrong.
... I'd like to suggest differently. See the proof the אבות דרבי נתן brings is from Hashem's allowing Avraham to go through the whole "bargaining the # of Tzadikim" in Sdom and the other 4 cities.
...if so, it's not an issue of prudence on the part of the chacham...

Rather, Hashem knew there weren't even 10 Tzadikim but he went through the whole drawn out process with Avraham for Avraham i.e. Avraham needs to be allowed to finish his thought process and work through his misperceptions and mistakes himself. He needs to be allowed to "work it out himself, for himself" and even if Hashem Himself is the Chacham on the other side, knowing his friend is completely off the mark, restraint and patience has to be given to allow the other party to realize the truth themselves. The objective "Right and Wrong" of the matter is irrelevant vis-a-vis the individual who has yet to discover the truth for himself.

Crowning Glory

There's a song by Julie Andrews and Raven-- Your Crowning Glory. Google the lyrics for the whole thing http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=crowning+glory+lyrics

But just the piece i thought interesting:

Dear little girl/ you are terribly blessed/ But it's your heart of gold/ I love the best/ And that will be your crowning glory/ your whole life through/ It'll always be your crowning glory/ The most glorious part of you

The "Crowning Glory" of Hod being associated with the Heart/Lev.
Lev Aharon.

Human Beings

Interesting that we use that phrase -- Human Being -- the reference to the existential havaya.

Falun Dafa/Gong

The beautiful thing about investing in stocks actually (and working in general) is your interacting and interconnecting with the world outside. Had a stock that suffered from a chinese government deal-back-out, rumored to be because of some of the political unrest out there.

(see: http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Smart_Ideas/Outdoor/G9U8P7G6 )

Which led me into reading about Falun Gong or Falun Dafa (the group the Chinese Govt is against, and I really hope all the horrible accounts I read about the persecution are exaggerations.. terrible). Found their website http://www.falundafa.org/eng/intro.html and some promotional videos of the practice on youtube.

anyways, just the piece I thought to put down: the 3 tenets of the system --- Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forebearance ... sounds alot like (l'havdil) Hesed, Gevura, & Tiferet to me.

שתי תורות הברית

Unfortunately, this is a piece that's part of a much larger idea and shiur that i never got the gumpgo to organize and write down. But all roads lead to Truth, and if it is the Truth then I'm sure someone else traveling along the road will discover the same and find use.

The commitment of ברית allowing for the peaceful integration of נעשה ונשמע , Heart and Mind, Loyal Subordination and Independent Intellectual Opposition, עבודה and תורה, gאהרן ומשה , Sefaradim and Ashkenazim .... and today's realized addition:

כתב-לך את-הדברים האלה כי על-פי הדברים האלה כרתי אתך ברית ואת-ישראל

Torah Sh'bichtav and Torah sheB'alPeh functioning in the same way. The structured framework of Torah Sh'bichtav with the open, independent, challenging of b'alPeh. == Brit.

Initiating an Initiator -- Receptivity

We're accustomed to thinking that in male-female courtship the man is always the initiator e.g. the one to approach the girl, to ask her out, her phone number, etc. But actually I think that's only half true.
It's often the female who will first show signs of receptivity beforehand. It's the expression of receptivity that is the true initiator of the initiate so that ultimately what you have is two separate initiators --- one b'itgalya and one b'itkasya.
That I think is part of the dysfunction in your standard shidduch set-up. The man is attempting to court someone who has no real initial interest in him. In live settings, we men can make use of certain tricks to help induce that receptivity ;-)

The idea came to me when reading about the mating procedures of dolphins. There's alot we can take from dolphins in understanding our own selves i think (Bechoros 8A)

As I mentioned though, there are forms of courtship which are completely initiated by the male with no initial female interest whatsoever. It then becomes a responsibility on the male part to "spark her interest" i.e. to create a need, a want, receptivity.

Be that as it may though, either path you take, at some point in the process a need of, and receptivity to, must be formed for any true "click" of a male-female energy to work. Only empty spaces can be filled.

http://67.55.50.201/lilly/dolsex.html - strange website though. Dr. Lily experimented with LSD while examing the dolphins so who knows if the info is credible....

http://www.zoophile.net/dolphin.php -- we have what to learn from the man regardless of his being an עבריין

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070403224451.htm

[Afterwards, I saw it's מדוייק in Avot D'Rebbi Natan (פרק א) :
עשר קללות נתקללה חוה באותה שעה ..... והוא ימשל בך שהאיש תובע בפה והאישה תובעת בלב. ]

2 Thoughts-- Yaveish Gilad and Crying

-- the strange relationship of אנשי יבש גלעד and שבט בנימין. They are destoyed at the end of Sefer Shoftim for not coming to fight against Binyamin. They are saved by Shaul Hamelech (Binyamin) and then later save his body and his sons at the end of Shmuel...

was wondering if the fact that Binyamin was the only shevet not involved in the Brit of Gal Ed גל עד has anything to do with it.... יבש גלעד דייקא

[See Bereishit Rabba 71:9 and Divrei HaYamim I 8--> the remez of אליהו הגלעדי in the context of פרשת משפחת בנימין]

-- interesting material of Dane Cook on YouTube about crying... weight of the world on one's shoulders... wondering if there's any בכה בכ"ה connection ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4nsI02gnUk

Interesting Peculiarities

• This one is not my own. Realized it from reading the writings of R' Yosef Gikatilia. Throughout the "debate perakim" in sefer Iyov the predominant mention of either שדי, אל, אלוה check and see. More intriguing is the name of Havaya being used completely (i think) at beginning and end of sefer and once (and this is the most interesting i think) in the middle of the sefer 12:9 מי לא ידע בכל אלה כי יד ה' עשתה זאת

• I could be wrong but i don't think you ever find the usage of שבועה לה'1 whereas by nedarim you find it quite often. [P.S. See R' Bachya Beginning Pr' Matot -- ולא הבנתי]

Fixation of A"Z and Beauty/ Tiferet

Interesting the pshat and drash in the seforim on the pasuk:

אל תפנו אל האלילים ואלהי מסכה לא תעשו לכם
The relation of A'"Z ( מסכה ) to gazing at beauty (אלהי סכייה, as the Zohar learns) -- both a form of fixation on the physical as a means of accessing something higher. Note that only by the Sun of Yaa'kov was there a fear of deification, not the other Avot.

(I think also by Moshe actually there was that fear, would be interesting to explore the Moshe-- A"Z-- Ba'al Pe'or -- Shma Yisrael connection as well)

Pretty-- Jasmine Flower

thought it interesting and pretty


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDP7etvX6MI

Various Good Questions

בענין י"ג מדות --
הנה ידוע מאמרם ז"ל על ה' ה' אני הוא קודם שיחטא אני הוא לאחר שיחטא וישוב
הנה מצינו בכמה מקומות בש"ס וספרים ששם ושרש 'הויה' מורה על קיום הדבר באופן תמידי מחוץ לגבולות הזמן והחיים
לכן לשון הויה מורה עיכוב ותמידות בלי השתנות בכמה פרשיות שונים עי' שם בסוגיית מנחות
ומה גם עצם המעלה של שם הויה על שאר שמות קדושים הוא בזה שהוא עצם ולא מדה . כן הבנתי בדל השגתי.
ואם ח"ו שגיתי ה' הטוב יכפר

ולכן קשה לי להבין כפילות השם פה ומאמרם ז"ל ומה גם ענין הפסיק שביניהם
ועי' בר' בחיי בפר' כי תשא ועדיין לא הבנתי


בענין דום ודומה--
לשון דומ הבנתי מכמה מקומות שהוא מורה ענין של ביטול ו"מיתת" האדם ורגשיו רצונו וחפצו

• וידום אהרן
• אמרו בלבבכם על משכבכם ודומו סלה ומאמרם ז"ל (and with this i understood why it's placed only as the final alternative. Withdrawal and "shutting down" is always a last option versus living and "overcoming")
• דומה ממונה על המתים . לא המתים יהללו י-ה ולא כל יורדי דומה

וא"כ קל"ל הענין אצל הפסוק "ישב בדד וידום כי נטל עליו" ומאמרם ז"ל שנדרש על הלומד תורה יחידי

Nartik, Dan, Persian Etymology

Just a quick language connection.

R' Davidi mentioned today the persian word for quiver is teerdan, the dan part meaning holder and the teer meaning arrow. If so it's beautiful with the gm' in Sanhedrin on the Pasuk "Lo Yadon Ruchi Ba'Adam l'Olam, B'Shagam Hu Basar". v'dok.


Also in persian, one of the terms for the sun is chorshi which is coming from the hebrew cheres חרס --
האומר לחרס לא תזרח (איוב) ט

The Thrill of the Challenge-- Tonight's Epiphany

Always knew it i guess but just crystallized for me tonight--

I like girls with strong self-confidence, it makes it that much more enjoyable when you break them and subordinate them under you :-)

Funny but also true, so i thought i'd post it on the blog for eternal posterity.

And i figure once we're talking about the "what are you looking for in a girl" paragraph (which i'd love to fill in now if Frumster hadn't already rejected my profile for mentioning i was bored and wanted to date) why not mention my other thoughts on the subject:

"A Girl with Good Heart and a Good Head. Forgiving a Must. Slight Psychological Instability a Plus."

I coined that a few years ago. I like it. It's succint, truthful, and has a nice rhyme to it.

Amen.

Swallowing A Swallow and Nevelat Of Tahor

came across this man's blog... interesting. I've got one comment --
נבלת עוף טהור מטמא בבית הבליעה

http://toshuo.com/2006/whats-the-airspeed-velocity-of-an-unladen-chinese-swallow/
What’s the Airspeed Velocity of an Unladen Chinese Swallow?September 1st, 2006 by Mark

Last night, while looking up some words I didn’t understand in a Chinese kids’ book, I found something really interesting, or at least really interesting if you’re a language geek. Unless there’s some reason to say something in a certain way, the Chinese way of saying it and the English way are often completely different. Here’s a case in which the similarity is so strong it seems like it couldn’t possibly be a coincidence.

In English, the word “swallow” can be a verb which means to gulp something down your throat. It can also be a noun which means a certain kind of bird.

The Chinese character 燕 means a swallow (the bird). Just by adding a mouth radical on the left side to make it 嚥[1], the meaning can be changed to swallow (i.e. gulp). In Mandarin at least, both words even have the same pronunciation - yàn.
Swallows swallow mosquitoes燕子嚥下蚊子

Greek Beauty -- יפיופיתו של יפת באהלי שם

The Gm' in Kiddushin has always been hard to understand. How to justify the "extra" 'yud' of וזרע אין לה because of מאן יבמי and מאן בלעם ... what does the shoresh of מאן having anything to do with the shoresh of אין??

Then i found this in wikipedia:
The word "meiosis" comes from the Greek verb meioun, meaning "to make small", since it results in a reduction in chromosome number in the gamete cell.

Doesn't necessarily answer all questions but what it does show is a direct connection between mi'un, ayin, reduction, and nothingness.... v'dok.

[ועיין במלבי"ם על וזרע אין לה]


ALSO, the greek word for woman (gyne) being related to garden/Gan. See Shir HaShirim Rabbah on "גן נעול אחותי כלה" and also on the pasuk "באתי לגני אחותי כלה"

Eggs and the Value of Completed Systems

I've heard that due to the spherical nature of an egg shell, were equal amounts of pressure to be applied simultaneously to it (by grasping it with the fingers from both top and bottom) it would never break, regardless of the amount of pressure exerted-->> The value of something whole and complete.

Similarly you see in science the stability of the noble elements (elements whose valence shells have a completed set of electrons) over their counterparts, even those elements who are "greater" by being further down the chart. Nevertheless, the completeness of the nobles makes them infinitely stronger than the others.

And so i come to my point. The existential paradox of "יש לי כל", man's drive for the "all", the "whole", the klall/kol; when he is tragically fundamentally merely a פרט . How? Through כלה, ( kol ) the infinitely valuable state of a completed system or organism. In that noble state of kol one does not covet nor lack or want even of the elements that are greater than he, for he is complete and in that completion he shares and accesses the ultimate "kol". Thereby displaying the beauty of Tiferet.

Death or Ru Ru?

Could just be that i'm in a pessimistic mood these days but saw this joke in Dan Stone's book on Drexel Burnham "April Fools" and really captured the thought. Namely, that with some choices in life you've lost before you've even begun, you just don't know it yet:

Two professors were captured by a tribe of natives deep in the Amazon. The tribal chief turns to the first professor and asks "will you choose death or ru-ru?".

The first professor figuring to take his chances with the curious ru ru is thereupon taken by the tribal men, beaten to point of unconsciousness and thrown to a pit of savage tigers who quickly tear him apart limb from limb and kill him. His remaining body is raised up from the pit and thrown onto the floor to the horror of his colleague.

The chief then turns to the other professor and asks the same: "Death or Ru Ru?" to which he quickly and emphatically replied "Death. Absolutely Death".

"Fine", said the chief, "death it is."

"But first.... a little Ru-Ru. "

:-)

Pesach Shiur- Yound Israel Holliswood 5768 - Levaya

I לויית המתים, לויית אורחים, ולויית חבר

- סוטה מו: -- עגלה ערופה, "ידינו לא שפכו... לא ראינוהו ופטרנוהו בלא לויה וכו'"
-- חיוב מרחק לויית תלמידו חבירו ורבו
-- כל המלוה חבירו אפי' ד' אמות בעיר אינו ניזוק
-- מצות לויה אפי' בד' אמות
-- תניא היה ר"מ אומר כופין ללויה ששכר הלויה אין לה שיעור שנאמר (שופטים א) ויראו השומרים איש יוצא מן העיר ויאמרו לו הראנו נא את מבוא העיר ועשינו עמך חסד וכתיב ויראם את מבוא העיר ומה חסד עשו עמו שכל אותה העיר הרגו לפי חרב ואותו האיש ומשפחתו שלחו וילך האיש ארץ החתים ויבן עיר ויקרא שמה לוז היא שמה עד היום הזה תניא היא לוז שצובעין בה תכלת היא לוז שבא סנחריב ולא בלבלה נבוכדנצר ולא החריבה ואף מלאך המות אין לו רשות לעבור בה אלא זקנים שבה בזמן שדעתן קצה עליהן יוצאין חוץ לחומה והן מתים והלא דברים ק"ו ומה כנעני זה שלא דיבר בפיו ולא הלך ברגליו גרם הצלה לו ולזרעו עד סוף כל הדורות מי שעושה לויה ברגליו על אחת כמה וכמה

-- מה היא הענין ומה הן הסבר הדברים?

II לוי בן יעקב וחיבור

-- הופעה ראשונה של לויה בתורה--> "עתה הפעם ילוה אישי אלי וגו'" ותרגום שם
-- ענין של חיבור, bonding, connection
--"כי לוית חן הם לראשך" --> necklace

-- חיבור אפילו באופן אינטימי --> "כמער איש ולויות (מלכים א ז) וסוגיית כשנכנסו עכו"ם להיכל (יומא נד')
--גם בלשון חול מצינו מלת לויה (escort) משתמש באופן אינטימי

-- וכמו כן מצינו בגמ' התייחסות לויה לענין הלואה --> מלוה ה' חונן דל ... אל תקרי מלוה אלא מלוה וכו'

III מלוה ולווה, מרבית ונשך

-- הנה ענין מצות הלואה מצינו הנהגה שהיא נגד סברא ונימוסי פרקמטיא
-- עד כדי כך שמצינו איסור ב"קרוב לשכר ורחוק מהפסד" (ב"מ סד')
-- מה היא ההסבר?

-- משנת וסוגיית אין נותנין לחנוני מעות למחצית שכר ובירור הבדל מונח הלואה לבין מונח עסקת פרקמטיא --> נקודה של חיוב אחריות ו Guarantee
-- וכן מצינו בעיסקא --> forward looking statements, no guarantee

essentially it is prohibited to profit from future guarantees (in contrast to the realm of mecher) without taking upon oneself some form of risk to one’s initial investment

Guarantees of future profits are fundamentally antithetical to escorting and levaya

to be mitlaveh, to truly be a part of a relationship of mutuality demands “jumping in” with no guarantees of future gain on profit. Anything less is self-serving. The moment you wish to demand a profit for yourself at the end can only be done in the context of mecher i.e. business, proposition, prostitution

George Bernard Shaw--> “Sleep with me for a million dollars… sleep with me for a hundred dollars… we’ve already established what you are, now we’re just haggling over the price”

-- רמב"ם הלכות תשובה י' ג' -- העובד מאהבה, עוסק בתורה ובמצוות והולך בנתיבות החכמה--לא מפני דבר בעולם, לא מפני יראת הרעה, ולא כדי לירש הטובה: אלא עושה האמת, מפני שהוא אמת; וסוף הטובה לבוא בכלל.
--Rocky IV --> Drago --> “I don’t fight for you. I fight for me. I win for me.”

-- לויה מחייב "מה שיהיה יהיה" --> Que Sera Sera… the future’s not ours to see

-- כמה מאושרים אותם שמתיחסים בבחינת לויה ולא בבחינת מכר --> מיתת עוה"ז ונצחיות עוה"ב ועיר של לוז
-- כמער איש ולויות


IV סוד פתרון לויתן לספר איוב

-- עי' בבא בתרא בסוגיות לויתן
-- [ See מדרש פליאה )עד( לא נתקררה דעתו של איוב עד שראה בסכת בסכת בסוכות שלשה פעמים... maybe it has to do with the fact that סוכות is the "end of the process"...]

-- מעשה ר' אלעזר בן פדת (מס' תענית)


It doesn’t make a difference if we make it or not, we’ve got each other, and that’s alot, for love, let’s give it a shot …. (Bon Jovi)

My Rebbe - Rav Matis Weinberg

Just wanted to take a moment in the face of all the craziness to say:

Rav Matis Weinberg I consider to be my Rebbe Muvhak and Teacher. Without him I would have been lost, truly. A man whose ma'asim merubim me'chachmato, he opened up my eyes to the Torah, the World, and to Life. To you Rebbe (if you ever should read this) I give my deepest thanks and respects. I owe you my very life. Thank You

http://www.thelivingtree.org/

כי מלאך ה' צבאות הוא... אם דומה הרב וכו
- Doniel

Nida Thoughts

Nida Notes

מס' נדה- a ולד is seen as being equivalent to דם נדה . One is just another form of the other. Consider:
1)כל אשה שדמיה מרובין, בניה מרובין (סוף פרק ט') - more blood, more children. less blood, less children
2) a יולדת is literally equated in the פסוק to be like a נדה . Even when sitting 14 days for a girl the פסוק still says כנדתה, whereas by the 7 days of a מצורע מוסגר that comparison is never made (even though the דיני טומאה are the same, as far as I know). So in a sense it comes out almost parallel: you sit 7 days of טומאה for a ולד, 7 days for דם
3) (this “proof” is a little bit complicated but follow me here.)-- both a ולד and נדה דם have value on an existential level ( בבחינת הויה) i.e. their very existing in this world makes them significant regardless of how little impact we see them having on their external environment (בחינת חיים).
First let’s show this by ולד and then by דם נדה.(See נדה 5:2? ) I ask you what difference is there between a fully formed baby one second before it sticks out its head [which is the halachic threshhold for defining a לידה] and the second after it sticks out its head. Yet the Torah sees one as killing an object and one as killing a בן קיימא .
Furthermore, the Torah says you should do ייבום for a man who has died and בן אין לו, yet if a man had a son born to him for even a second and then that son dies (where he dies as a result of something external killing him בר קיימא vs. לאו בר קיימא) there is no longer any mitzva to do yibum! This is called “בן יש לו”.
Life is meaningful because it exists .
מאי חזית דדמך דידך סומק טפי דילמא דמא דההוא גברא סומק טפי
Who says your existence is worth more than hers. Who says your blood [דם] is worth more than hers?
See Sotah by Amram and Miriam where it implies that the birth of a child by definition allows for an עוה"ב whereas he wouldn’t if he were never born So we see that a ולד’s value is existential in nature.

Now דם נדה.(עיין מס' נדה ריש פרק ז') With exception of דם נדה ( including דם זבה ויולדת see Rambam perek 3 Hl’ mishkav u’moshav ) and בשר מת all other טומאות are only מטמא as long as they are moist. Once they’ve dried up to “the point of no return” (see גמ' שם) they are no longerטמא . This includes שרץ, נבלה, ש"ז, וכו' . Yet דם נדה is מטמא even then. Why, says the גמ'? because it exists and the פסוק says דם יהיה זובה בבשרה , so long as it exists it is טמא even where it lacks any moistness allowing it to impact on things around it. (although I should be honest and point out, as mentioned above, that this halacha isn’t only by דם נדה but by dam zava and yoledet also. Maybe that ruins what I’m saying, maybe not, I’m not sure).

[Maybe that’s also the reason for בשר מת being מטמא when it’s dried up, although the source in the torah that the גמ' brings doesn’t harp on any הויה language. Keep in mind also that there are other connections of נדה to טומאת אדם including it’s purification process of הזאת מי נדה.]
4)(מס' סוטה) אדם - אפר דם מרה אדם-


--the relationship of לידה to death and burial, both being a transition of worlds or “states of existence” if you will. The “seeding” of the woman and her giving forth those seeds [תזריע] similar to the seeding of the body in the ground and its coming up for תחית המתים. Note the גמ' (Sanhedrin Perek Chelek I vaguely remember) learning that people will get up from תחית המתים clothed similar to grain, and the קל וחומר of תחית המתים because מה ולד שנכנס בחשאי יוצא בקולי קולות זה שנכנס בקולי קולות כל שכן שיצא בקולי קולות . [1]

The גמ' (ל:) also connects these two events in the pasuk (ישיעיהו מה') כי לי תכרע כל ברך תשבע כל לשון .כל ברך- זה יום המיתה זה יום הלידה- תשבע כל לשון

Don’t forget the famous משל (I don’t know where the source is though) of the twin babies in their mother’s stomach and the one baby “mourning” over his brother who just “died” by being born.

[1] I’m a little bothered though about a גמ' (ע:) towards the end of the מס'. The גמ' says that the אנשי אלכסנדריא asked R’ Yehoshua ben Chananya 3 foolish questions. One of them was “Would people who got up for תחית המתים require sprinkling to purify their tumah?” to which he answered them “we’ll find out when mashiach comes”. Yet the גמ' earlier in the מס' mentioned this concept by showing the amazing quality of hashem to bring something tahor ( a child) of something tameh (the דם נדה and sperm). We note there the paradox so why is it so foolish to ask whether the same paradox will occur in the future for תחית המתים?

Another Great Passage from Nietzsche

""As regards a woman, for instance, the control over her body and her sexual gratification serves as an amply sufficient sign of ownership and possession to the more modest man; another with a more suspicious and ambitious thirst for possession, sees the "questionableness", the mere apparentness of such ownership, and wishes to have finer tests in order to know especially whether the woman not only gives herself to him, but also gives up for his sake what she has or would like to have-- only then does he look upon her as "possessed". A third, however, has not even here got to the limit of his distrust and his desire f0r possession: he asks himself whether the woman, when she gives up everything for him, does not perhaps do so for a phantom of him; he wishes first to be thoroughly, indeed, profoundly well known; in order to be loved at all he ventures to let himself be found out. Only then does he feel the beloved one fully in his possession, when she no longer deceives herself about him, when she loves him just as much f0r the sake of his devilry and concealed insatiability, as for his goodness, patience, and spirituality. ""

If only Nietzche were around that I could kiss him :-)

שפתים ישק משיב דברים נכוחים

Nice Lines -- Nietzsche -- Beyond Good and Evil

Couldn't possibly quote all the lines that i liked from the book-- but just a few short ones:

--Where there is neither love nor hatred in the game, woman's play is mediocre

--A sign of strong character, when once the resolution has been taken, to shut the ear even to the best counter-arguments. Occasionally, therefore, a will to stupidity

-- He who despises himself, nevertheless esteems himself thereby, as a despiser.

..and finally, a longy but a goody:

-- "It is the business of the very few to be independent; it is a privilege of the strong. .... He enters into a labrynth, he multiplies a thousandfold the dangers which life in itself already brings with it; not the least of which is that no one can see how and where he loses his way, becomes isolated, and is torn piecemeal by some minotaur of conscience. Supposing such a one comes to grief, it is so far from the comprehension of men that they neither feel it, nor sympathize with it. And he cannot any longer go back! He cannot even go back again to the sympathy of men!"

you gotta love it! :-)