Couldn't get a hold of any of his books save for "Big Democracy".
Paul Appleby quotes that I particularly liked:
"I have been only a small part of the Department of Agriculture, but the Department of Agriculture has been a great part of me."
"The newspapers give us daily snapshots of government, not panoramas. Nor do the snapshots run together present a panorama. They are chosen for dramatic or spot interest, not for completeness and perspective. Correspondents at the Dumbarton Oaks conference told State Department officials: "We are not interested when you agree; we want to know when you disagree." That approach and its limitations are implicit in newspaper conventions. Press competition for advance news leads to such a high percentage of speculative news that at times I suspect the people of knowing more about what their government did not do than they know about what it did."
[consider Don Henley's Dirty Laundry]
Monday, April 18, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Rav Dr. Michael Avraham - רב ד"ר מיכאל אברהם
Was very comforted to find his shiurim and writings on the various issues like מדרשי הלכה and the dynamic/changing/ processing nature of תורה שבעל פה.
http://www.mgl.org.il/he/torah/Results.asp?psearch=&cat1=-9&subcat1=-9&ignoreSub=yes&file_rav=142&task=search
http://www.mgl.org.il/he/torah/Results.asp?psearch=&cat1=-9&subcat1=-9&ignoreSub=yes&file_rav=142&task=search
Friday, April 1, 2011
Etymology: פלוני אלמוני
I was just struck by the usage of the Latin plenus "full, complete" in many languages (English plenty, plenary/ French plein/ Russian полный polniye ) and was thinking if it had any connection to the hebrew aramaic usage for the generic - פלוני...
I also looked up alimony in Latin and it apparently means sustenance, support.
So that put together פלוני אלמוני would mean "full support".. quite an odd connotation given the context in מגילת רות ... I think R' Matis has talked about that in his shiurim on רות.. will have to look into that further...
p.s. Note the אותיות בומ"ף connection of ploni with the word "baloney" and the phrase "full of baloney". Is that why it's called baloney? because it's filled up with things? Maybe then we can understand פלוני אלמוני i.e. he's "full of it".
I also looked up alimony in Latin and it apparently means sustenance, support.
So that put together פלוני אלמוני would mean "full support".. quite an odd connotation given the context in מגילת רות ... I think R' Matis has talked about that in his shiurim on רות.. will have to look into that further...
p.s. Note the אותיות בומ"ף connection of ploni with the word "baloney" and the phrase "full of baloney". Is that why it's called baloney? because it's filled up with things? Maybe then we can understand פלוני אלמוני i.e. he's "full of it".
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"?
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 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
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.
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]
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]
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