Wednesday, March 30, 2011

The Crisis - Raising the Torah Bar

What superior value is there in a dvar Torah when you can find essentially the same lessons of wisdom in the outside world at large? How perfectionally beautiful can a dvar Torah be relative to a math equation that captures the cosmos? Secrets of genetic biology that run the gamut of wonders to be created? Sociological and psychological truths that show themselves across the swath of humanity? What awe is there to be given to a daf yomi that pales in comparison to the moving drama to be seen in a movie or even a reality tv show?


I see these advancements of the world as a blessing to the study of Torah, but admittedly a painful one. It'll really be a simple evolutionary pressure as I see it: either you raise the bar of the "fundamentality", or as I like to say the "existential dimension of Torah", or you're doomed to extinction, if not in your own life then in your further generations. Either you begin to approach every parasha, every mesechta, every detail of Torah study as a piece of an existential, universal, collective puzzle that ultimately is one (כל דבריך אחד הם ואין אנו יודעים לדורשם) or watching an episode of Seinfeld will be more enriching (intellectually and spiritually even!) than sitting in a shiur (and unfortunately this is often the case). 


For so long, the jewish world prided itself on a Torah that taught about "everything": pi in Ms' Sukka, torts and civil law in the Bava's, biology in Bechorot & Nida, and let's not forget the all consuming thrust of modern-day teachings of judaism that poke up in just about any study these days-- lessons of psychology and social interaction; while it's not my intention to discredit these achievements, my arguement is that in today's century it simply doesn't cut it anymore. We're beyond that. Life's beyond that. The world is beyond that [I mean beyond in the sense of "having advanced further", not in the sense of "having discarded and left behind"] 


What now, truthfully, does the average Torah study have to pride itself on that can't be found ultimately somewhere secularly? [For the record, I firmly hold that the Torah does have realms of knowledge far deeper  to offer than any of the wide spectrum of modern sciences have uncovered, just that it's not sufficiently manifest]

It's simply unacceptable (from the point of view of someone who sees Torah as ultimate perfection) that the farthest reaches of the wisdom of a "torah scholar" nowadays should be, after adjusting for the difference in jargon and contexts of educational and social background, all-in-all basically the same with that of an educated man of science. It's unacceptable that a social worker or marriage counselor should be, even neck and neck although often further advanced than a "torah scholar" in marital interaction and dynamic. How do we not bury our heads in shame when not only do we not know how to derive from the Torah the birth gestation of a snake, we don't even consider it relevant or pertinent to ourselves as "Torah Scholars"?


בראשית רבה פרק כ סימן ד

פילוסופוס אחד בקש לידע לכמה הנחש מוליד?  כיון שראה אותם מתעסקין זה עם זה, נטלן ונתנן בחבית והיה מספיק להם מזונות עד שילדו, כיון שעלו הזקנים לרומי שאלו את רבן גמליאל. 
אמר ליה: לכמה הנחש מוליד? ולא יכול להשיבו ונתכרכמו פניו. 
פגע בו רבי יהושע ופניו חולנית, אמר לו: למה פניך חולנית? 
אמר לו: שאלה אחת נשאלתי ולא יכולתי להשיבו. 
אמר לו: מה היא? 

אמר: לכמה נחש מוליד? 

אמר לו: לשבע שנים. 

אמר לו: מנא לך? 
אמר לו: הכלב חיה טמאה ומוליד לחמשים יום, ובהמה טמאה יולדת לי"ב חודש. וכתיב: ארור אתה מכל הבהמה ומכל חית השדה, וכשם שהבהמה ארורה מן החיה שבעה, כך נחש ארור מהבהמה שבעה. 
כמפני רמשא סלק ואמר ליה. התחיל מטיח ראשו לכותל.  אמר: כל מה שעמלתי שבע שנים, בא זה והושיטו לי בקנה אחד:

I ask you, can you even imagine a story like this occuring with some Torah leaders of today?! Not only would they not be upset at their inability to answer a question of advanced biology of the times (as רבן גמליאל was, to the point of blatant facial expression) but I'd bet they'd laugh off even the suggestion, at even the mere expectation, that that's something they're supposed to know about!! THAT'S how sad our approach to Torah is today...

Maybe we don't know how, we don't see how to raise the bar. Fine I can accept that. But atleast let's recognize that we have a problem. אם ריק הוא מכם הוא. Recognizing the problem is half the solution and unfortunately the Torah world hasn't even come to that point yet...

...and yes, I'm an old grumpy man in a young body, bitter with my own personal life failures and self-loathing who chooses to direct hatred and anger towards the global and/or Torah world... but that doesn't mean there isn't truth in my words...an angry young man, nevertheless though sadly...

זוהר בהעלותך קנ"ב א
 אמר ר' שמעון: ווי לההוא בר נש דאמר דהא אורייתא, אתא לאחזאה ספורין בעלמא ומלין דהדיוטי, דאי הכי אפילו בזמנא דא, אנן יכלין למעבד באורייתא מלין דהדיוטי ובשבחא יתיר מכלהו. אי לאחזאה מלה דעלמא אפילו אינון קפסירי דעלמא אית בינייהו מלין עלאין יתיר, אי הכי נזיל אבתרייהו ונעביד מנייהו אורייתא כהאי גוונא, אלא כל מלין דאורייתא מלין עלאין ורזין עילאין. .....



תא חזי אית לבושא דאתחזי לכלא ואינון טפשין כד חמאן לבר נש בלבושא דאיתחזי לון שפירא לא מסתכלין יתיר, חשיבו דהאי לבושא גופא, חשיבותא דגופא נשמתא. כהאי גוונא אורייתא אית לה גופא ואינון פקודי אורייתא דאקרון גופי תורה. האי גופא מתלבשא בלבושין דאינון ספורין דהאי עלמא, טפשין דעלמא לא מסתכלי אלא בהאי לבושא דאיהו סיפור דאורייתא, ולא ידעי יתיר ולא מסתכלי במה דאיהו תחות האי לבושא, אינון דידעין יתיר לא מסתכלין בלבושא אלא בגופא דאיהו תחות האי לבושא, חכימין עבדי דמלכא עלאה אינון דקיימו בטורא דסיני לא מסתכלי אלא בנשמתא דאיהו עיקרא דכלא אורייתא ממש (ולעלמא) ולזמנא דאתי זמינין לאסתכלא בנשמתא דנשמתא דאורייתא....


 ווי לאינון חייביא דאמרי דאורייתא לאו איהי אלא ספורא דעלמא ואינון מסתכלי בלבושא דא ולא יתיר זכאין אינון צדיקייא דמסתכלי באורייתא כדקא יאות חמרא לא יתיב אלא בקנקן כך אורייתא לא יתיב אלא בלבושא דא. וע"ד לא בעי לאסתכלא אלא במה דאית תחות לבושא ועל דא כל אינון מילין וכל אינון ספורין לבושין אינון. 

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Know Thine Enemy

One of the best ways in my humble opinion to deal with an overheated sex drive and sexual flights of fancy is to watch videos of the following : surgery of breast augmentation, the various "breast tricks" of push-up bras and adhesive breast lifts, used tampons, before and after make-up pictures, childbirth.  I've found nothing centers a man back to reality better. It's a fascinating thing really, female "process-characteristics" being a natural repugnance to a male. Further fascinating that women are keenly aware of it on an intuitive level.

בראשית רבה  17:7

מטרונה אחת שאלה את רבי יוסי אמרה לו  למה בגניבה 
אמר לה: משל אם הפקיד אדם לידך אונקיא של כסף בחשאי, וחזרת ליה ליטרא של זהב בפרהסיא, זו גניבה 
אמרה לו: למה במטמוניות 
ואמר לה: בתחלה בראה לו, וראה אותה מלאה רירין ודם הפליגה ממנו, חזר ובראה לו פעם שניה. 
אמרה לו: מוספת אני על דבריך. אמורה הייתי להנשא לאחי אמי, ועל ידי שגדלתי עמו בבית התכערתי בעיניו, והלך ונשא לו אשה אחרת, ואינה נאה כמוני.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

World Dimensions II - משפחה חורגת

Subtitle: Talking to people in the 'world' in which they're located

There's an israeli reality-tv show called משפחה חורגת. They take troubled families/spouses who aren't getting along and try to help them sort things out. The thing I noticed that has been a remarkable insight for me is that when the the shows counselor/social worker, אלון גל, comes to understand an emotional hurdle or problem on the part of one of the family members he chooses to instruct and affect them through physical exercises and assignments, not verbally.

For instance, a couple who's expenses are far beyond their incomes, quickly driving themselves to being broke while the wife spends heavily on pregnancy fetilization treatment... instead of just telling them verbally how their current modus operandi is not viable he gives them an actual physical assignment-- he sends them with a shopping list of basic baby supplies for a month and has them go out to stores and find out first hand how much each item costs and what the total monthly cost for caring for a baby is (which leads the wife to understand that even were she to become pregnant and have a baby she'd then be in no financial position to care of it given her current financial spending habits). Or a couple who's wife puts down her husband and doesn't give him encouragement and warmth,אלון goes with her inside a freezer room and talks to her about it as she can physically "sense" the sensation of how she is freezing her husband all the time.

and what I was thinking to learn from this is that different people have their central 'I', their primary core of self-identity and self-consciousness, in different 'worlds'. Many of us (myself included) are so dead, dulled, and jaded (ונתמטם בם) that even verbal words and instruction don't really, truly penetrate our existential consciousness-- because our existential consciousness is not in the world of words or thought, but in the world of physical action. Hence only physical touchable objects can get through. Reading a book (מחשבה) instructing perfectly on the exact problem that they are going through doesn't help!! "Talking about it" verbally (דיבור) and going over all the ins and out of their faulty logic doesn't help!! all this for the simple reason that they're not really 'there' in that 'world'. They're in the world of pure physical touch (עשיה) and as such only a physical lesson will penetrate them to really internalize the wisdom and thereby change.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

עד חצי המלכות וינתן לך

Note that half of the 127 מדינות of מלכות אחשורוש would be 63 & 1/2 or 63 if rounded. I have no interpretation just the הערה alone.

Also, מלכות = 496. So חצי המלכות is 248=רמ"ח.
עד חצי המלכות ותעש 
[Of course I have my doubts of this one because the word is actually המלכות = 501]

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

גוי, עם , לאום ע"פ המלבי"ם

In step with the last post about deviated hebrew words I thought it fitting to dedicate a separate entry for the deviation of the words גוי, עם, ולאום since there seems to be an isaeli academic debate of mass proportions as to these issues.

I'm not aiming here to write all the various proofs and textual analysis just want to mention to the blogosphere the insights of the Malbim and those interested will search further. (I'm paraphrasing from יאיר אור [on the entry of גוי] but admittedly I really should be looking deeper at the Malbim's writings in Pr' Noach itself on the pesukim there in פרק ט' ופרק י , but for that I don't have access to them)

The Malbim explains that גוי comes from the word גוה (body,back) and is used specifically to connote a  gathering of physical bodies per se. Given that fact we have an interesting pasuk to deal with:
י,ה מאלה נפרדו איי הגוים, בארצתם, איש, ללשנו--למשפחתם, בגויהם

The pasuk is then saying that further sub-division (הפרדה) of גויים is possible along 3-4 paths:
1. Territorial borders ארצתם
2. Language (and I would add culture) לשון
3. Ancestral/Genetic bonds - משפחה
4. Voluntary ad hoc choice to gather together into sub-groups, clubs, organizations, etc בגויהם

עם the Malbim explains as any body of גויים that comes under a structure of authority i.e. מלכות. He points out that עם and מלך go often along with each other (as in אין מלך בלא עם my addition).

לאום: In contrast to the common israeli usage as "nationality", the Malbim defines it as any group that shares a common ideology/belief system.

[It is interesting to note that the apperance of the term לאום in the Torah is nowhere to be found in the desription of the 70 עמים of נח but then spontaneously becomes frequently used repeatedly in Bereishit 25, in regard to בני קטורה, בני ישמעאל, and of course יעקב ועשו...and yet Chazal say "ע' אומות".. also note Bereishit Rabba 38:10 that 30 of the original 70 were lost in מגדל בבל and were substituted by 12, 16, and 2 new אומות from בני ישמעל בני קטורה ובני רבקה, respectively.]

Absent any analysis I would note that a word like אומה/לאום related to the word אם/mother should logically have a more fundamental, existential connotation as opposed to עם...

The interesting implications to note from this then is that לאום is not necessarily territorial in nature. It then in fact has nothing to do with being a citizen (אזרח in modern hebrew, also a deviation of true meaning) of a sovereign state. Accordingly, American Jews and Israeli Jews are part of one לאום, even if they're not part of one עם. Amazingly enough as per this understanding Israeli Jews and Arab-Israelis are in fact one עם (since they are both under one authority) while American Jews and Israeli Jews are not one עם, only one לאום.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Kennedy's Inaugural Speech

I really, really, really like this.  And I really like Ted Sorenson z"l who was involved in its writing.



Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens:

We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom -- symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning -- signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago.
The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe -- the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.
We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans -- born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
This much we pledge -- and more.

To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do -- for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.
To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom -- and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.
To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required -- not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge: to convert our good words into good deeds, in a new alliance for progress, to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power know that this hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.
To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support -- to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective, to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak, and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.

Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.

We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.
But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course -- both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war.

So let us begin anew -- remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.
Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.

Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms, and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations.

Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.

Let both sides unite to heed, in all corners of the earth, the command of Isaiah -- to "undo the heavy burdens, and [to] let the oppressed go free."¹

And, if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor -- not a new balance of power, but a new world of law -- where the strong are just, and the weak secure, and the peace preserved.

All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days; nor in the life of this Administration; nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.

In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.

Now the trumpet summons us again -- not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need -- not as a call to battle, though embattled we are -- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation,"² a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.
Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility -- I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Ontology

Learned a new word today Ontology and Ontological. I'm still a little fuzzy as to how it's used exactly but it seems to be a word that I could have sorely used throughout the writing of my blog instead of always using the word Existential (although admittedly Ontology seems more like a disease than a description of Being and Existence).

Don't I feel stupid. Live and Learn. :-)

I always stayed away from study of the Philosophy field because I had read that some claim  it a waste of time but maybe I should look into it more since I seem to gravitate to the issues of Being so much these days...