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