I want to wish all my readers (and everyone else) a G'mar Chasima Tova. May you all be inscribed for a year of happiness, health, parnassah and chayim tovim. May it be a year in which all our requests are fulfilled for good. May you all merit to have a complete m'chila, s'licha and kapparah, and I humbly request for any and all of you m'chila for any harm or ill feelings my writings may have caused you.
The Wolf
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Being Uninformed Is Not The Same As Being Stupid...
Over in the Coffeeroom, someone opened up the whole science/Torah can of worms again. In this case, the topic came down to what happens when the empirical evidence that you can see with your own eyes contradicts traditional Jewish sources.
Charlie Hall, who sometimes comments on this blog, mentioned that the available evidence shows that the world is more than 6000 years old. A poster named Joseph, took him to task on this stating:
charlie disagrees with the Rema, the Maharal, Aruch Hashulchan, Chasam Sofer, Rabbeinu Bachyai, the Alshich, the Radvaz, and the Chida amongst others.
I choose the Rema, the Maharal, Aruch Hashulchan, Chasam Sofer, Rabbeinu Bachyai, the Alshich, the Radvaz, and the Chida over charlie.
When another commentator vouched for Charlie's intelligence, Joseph responded as follows:
Smarter than the Rema, the Maharal, Aruch Hashulchan, Chasam Sofer, Rabbeinu Bachyai, the Alshich, the Radvaz, and the Chida combined?
Smarter than any one of them.
Charlie and I both responded to that with the same point almost simultaneously -- that the aforementioned sages did not have access to the evidence and information that we have now.
Sadly, I see this from yeshiva people all the time - anytime you bring up the idea that X did not know Y, they take it to mean that you think that X is stupid (or less intelligent than modern people who do know Y). But that's not the case -- it's simply that we, today, live in a society that has the infrastructure and knowledge base to know Y while X did not.
To give a simple example: Could Rashi have constructed an airplane? The answer, very simply, is no. And that's not because Rashi was stupid -- on the contrary, Rashi was extremely intelligent. But he lived in a society and a time where it would have been impossible for *anyone* to build an airplane. Rashi did not have access to the physics and engineering that we have today. If he lived today, could he have done so? Maybe -- but we'll never know for sure. But to say that he couldn't do it is not to say that he was stupid or any less intelligent than today's engineers. It just means that today's engineers have access to better resources.
Similarly, the chachamim that Joseph mentioned did not have access to the scientific evidence that we have today regarding the age of the universe. That doesn't make them "less intelligent" than Charlie - it just means that they went with whatever information and evidence that they had at the time - just as we do so with the evidence that we have today.
The Wolf
P.S. The shocker in the thread came a bit later on. Charlie asked Joseph:
Would you eat a piece of meat that the author of one of your sources had told you was kosher, when you yourself had seen it taken from the carcass of a pig?
To which Joseph responded: Yes. Just utterly shocked.
The Wolf
Charlie Hall, who sometimes comments on this blog, mentioned that the available evidence shows that the world is more than 6000 years old. A poster named Joseph, took him to task on this stating:
charlie disagrees with the Rema, the Maharal, Aruch Hashulchan, Chasam Sofer, Rabbeinu Bachyai, the Alshich, the Radvaz, and the Chida amongst others.
I choose the Rema, the Maharal, Aruch Hashulchan, Chasam Sofer, Rabbeinu Bachyai, the Alshich, the Radvaz, and the Chida over charlie.
When another commentator vouched for Charlie's intelligence, Joseph responded as follows:
Smarter than the Rema, the Maharal, Aruch Hashulchan, Chasam Sofer, Rabbeinu Bachyai, the Alshich, the Radvaz, and the Chida combined?
Smarter than any one of them.
Charlie and I both responded to that with the same point almost simultaneously -- that the aforementioned sages did not have access to the evidence and information that we have now.
Sadly, I see this from yeshiva people all the time - anytime you bring up the idea that X did not know Y, they take it to mean that you think that X is stupid (or less intelligent than modern people who do know Y). But that's not the case -- it's simply that we, today, live in a society that has the infrastructure and knowledge base to know Y while X did not.
To give a simple example: Could Rashi have constructed an airplane? The answer, very simply, is no. And that's not because Rashi was stupid -- on the contrary, Rashi was extremely intelligent. But he lived in a society and a time where it would have been impossible for *anyone* to build an airplane. Rashi did not have access to the physics and engineering that we have today. If he lived today, could he have done so? Maybe -- but we'll never know for sure. But to say that he couldn't do it is not to say that he was stupid or any less intelligent than today's engineers. It just means that today's engineers have access to better resources.
Similarly, the chachamim that Joseph mentioned did not have access to the scientific evidence that we have today regarding the age of the universe. That doesn't make them "less intelligent" than Charlie - it just means that they went with whatever information and evidence that they had at the time - just as we do so with the evidence that we have today.
The Wolf
P.S. The shocker in the thread came a bit later on. Charlie asked Joseph:
Would you eat a piece of meat that the author of one of your sources had told you was kosher, when you yourself had seen it taken from the carcass of a pig?
To which Joseph responded: Yes. Just utterly shocked.
The Wolf
Friday, September 18, 2009
K'siva V'Chasima Tova
I just want to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a K'siva V'Chasima Tova. May we all be inscribed in the books of Life, Health and Parnassah Tova. May we see a year in which there is more Kiddush HaShem than Chillul HaShem and a year in which there is more Shalom between man and his fellow man and between the various communities of K'lal Yisroel.
The Wolf
The Wolf
Thursday, September 17, 2009
What's The Ideal Message To Send To Kids?
George's school held a start-of-year function for parents so that we could meet the rabbeim, teachers, etc. Personally, I think these are good things... they give parents a chance to put a face with a name, get acquainted with other parents and, most importantly, to become familiar with the curriculum and what the educators expect of the kids.
Before we broke up into individual classes, the Menahel addressed the parent body. In his remarks, he tried to make the point that we should be instilling in our children the desire to learn and to achieve in Torah. We should be willing to show our children that learning and Yiddishkeit come first and that they should be the priority of one's life. In that respect, I agree 100%. However, he used a very curious example to make the point.
He noted that there were a group of parents that made such sacrifices for the school that, should they ask for a favor, he said, he would be unable to refuse them. These parents were to be commended for their actions and the demonstration that they made to their kids in showing how important school is.
What was this great act of sacrifice, you ask? What was this noble deed that the parents did that deserved such high praise?
Apparently, these parents had scheduled family vacations during school period. They were going to pull their kids out of school for four or five days or longer so that they could go to Florida or wherever. And yet, once they became aware of how important yeshiva was, they changed their tickets (at extra cost to them) so as to send the message to their kids that going to yeshiva was more important than vacation.
I don't want to undermine what the parents did -- indeed, by spending the extra money to change their plans, they did demonstrate a commitment. But I'm kind of curious as to why that is the "ultimate" act that got such high praise. To tell the truth, as a parent who wouldn't even think of pulling a kid out of school for a vacation in the first place, I was kind of peeved. I would think that our policy on this (which the kids are well aware of) would be even more praiseworthy... but apparently not. I guess to send my kid the right message, I have to first arrange to pull them out of school for a vacation and then reschedule.
Yeah, I know it's petty on my part... but that's the feeling I had last night.
The Wolf
Before we broke up into individual classes, the Menahel addressed the parent body. In his remarks, he tried to make the point that we should be instilling in our children the desire to learn and to achieve in Torah. We should be willing to show our children that learning and Yiddishkeit come first and that they should be the priority of one's life. In that respect, I agree 100%. However, he used a very curious example to make the point.
He noted that there were a group of parents that made such sacrifices for the school that, should they ask for a favor, he said, he would be unable to refuse them. These parents were to be commended for their actions and the demonstration that they made to their kids in showing how important school is.
What was this great act of sacrifice, you ask? What was this noble deed that the parents did that deserved such high praise?
Apparently, these parents had scheduled family vacations during school period. They were going to pull their kids out of school for four or five days or longer so that they could go to Florida or wherever. And yet, once they became aware of how important yeshiva was, they changed their tickets (at extra cost to them) so as to send the message to their kids that going to yeshiva was more important than vacation.
I don't want to undermine what the parents did -- indeed, by spending the extra money to change their plans, they did demonstrate a commitment. But I'm kind of curious as to why that is the "ultimate" act that got such high praise. To tell the truth, as a parent who wouldn't even think of pulling a kid out of school for a vacation in the first place, I was kind of peeved. I would think that our policy on this (which the kids are well aware of) would be even more praiseworthy... but apparently not. I guess to send my kid the right message, I have to first arrange to pull them out of school for a vacation and then reschedule.
Yeah, I know it's petty on my part... but that's the feeling I had last night.
The Wolf
Biting My Tongue
I've tried to make a commitment for the Yomim Noraim to be less knee-jerk reactionary and to try to become more even-tempered and fair in my postings.
Yet, sometimes you run across something that is just so appalling, foul and disgusting that your mind screams out that you have to react.
But I'm holding my tongue. Even though it was totally outrageous and inexcusable, I'm biting my tongue. I'm teaching myself patience. I will not react in a knee-jerk fashion. I will improve over the Yomim Noraim.
The Wolf
(Sorry... I know it's cryptic. It's really more for me than my readers)
Yet, sometimes you run across something that is just so appalling, foul and disgusting that your mind screams out that you have to react.
But I'm holding my tongue. Even though it was totally outrageous and inexcusable, I'm biting my tongue. I'm teaching myself patience. I will not react in a knee-jerk fashion. I will improve over the Yomim Noraim.
The Wolf
(Sorry... I know it's cryptic. It's really more for me than my readers)
Friday, September 11, 2009
Photos: September 11
I took this picture last September 11. Yes, I know it's a rerun (I put it up last year too).
The Wolf
The Wolf
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The Story of Revital Avraham - Fact? Fiction?
For a while now, the letter of Revital Avraham has been making the rounds of the internet and shuls. However, it seems that the story finally found someone who can give it major publicity -- Rebbetzin Jungries. As she writes in her weekly Jewish Press column:
Special Note: A young girl, struggling with the Angel of Death, wrote the following letter. At her request, the letter was sent to many rabbis and rebbetzinsin a position to disseminate her message among our people. Tragically, she is no longer here to see her letter published, but as we approach Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, her neshamahwill surely have an aliyahin the knowledge that her request has been fulfilled and her message read and taken to heart by many.
She then reprints her letter in full. I'm not going to reprint it, but I will provide a summary. The letter can be seen in English and the original Hebrew here.
In short, the letter from Revital Avraham says that she is nineteen years old and is dying. She was a young girl blessed with physical beauty from an early age. She attracted attention from others around her and grew her hair long. She was told by her teachers to keep her beauty for that someone special in her life, but she did not listen and continued to flaunt her looks.
When she was sixteen, she received a warning when her hair caught fire while frying an omlette. She was terribly upset that her hair was gone. Her father tried to console her saying:
Revital, Hashem has made a miracle. You could have been entirely burnt! You now have an opportunity to change and leave your foolish attitude behind you."
However, she was sixteen and probably had an attitude like many teenagers. Her hair grew back over the next two years. She began wearing tight clothes and even "got involved in some trouble." (Her words -- we have no way of knowing what that entails.)
When she was 17, her beloved grandmother died. Her grandmother had tried to help her on her mend her ways, but could not do so. After her death, Revital changed her behavior for the better for a while, but then fell back into her old habits.
A while later, Revital had a dream. Her grandmother was sitting on a stone crying. When asked why she was crying, she wordlessly pointed to her head. However, Revital ignored that warning as well.
A short while later, after complaining about headaches, she went to see a doctor where she was given the bad news that she was dying.
Now dying, Revital is writing this letter to warn young girls of the dangers of dressing immodestly and being overly beautiful.
The letter ends with the postscript that Revital died shortly after composing the letter and asked in her will that it be distributed.
Let me state up front that I have no idea whether or not the story is true. In fact, that's a part of the purpose of this post -- to ask if any of my readers knew Revital (even second-handedly) or any of her relatives.
To me the language of the letter in no way sounds like it came from a nineteen year old -- nineteen year olds simply don't speak that way -- it's just idiomatically wrong. But then again, that's because I read the translation. I read the original Hebrew, but I'm not familiar enough with modern conversational Hebrew to know if it's more in line with the way an actual nineteen year old would write.
Another problem that I have with this is that in all my searches on the web (and I've done a few already), I could never find any other details to corroborate the story. No place of residence, no date of death, no name of school -- nothing. A lack of detail in a story is one of the first signs that it's an urban legend.
The last concern I have about this letter is the implication that it makes -- i.e. be sure to keep the mitzvah of tznius properly or else be subject to terrible life-threatening illnesses. Assuming for a moment that the story is true - how does Revital know that her illness is due to her lack of adherence to the mitzvah of tznius? There are, unfortunately, people who are very stringent in tznius who get sick and there are those who are lax and live long, healthy lives. Is it because she had a dream where her grandmother pointed at her head? That's quite a leap to come to that conclusion. And it's also quite a leap to apply it universally as a warning -- especially when we see that there are plenty of people who are lax in the mitzvah of tznius and don't end up with brain tumors.
So, does anyone know of any corroborating evidence for the story? Does anyone know if the whole thing is a hoax or urban legend?
The Wolf
Special Note: A young girl, struggling with the Angel of Death, wrote the following letter. At her request, the letter was sent to many rabbis and rebbetzinsin a position to disseminate her message among our people. Tragically, she is no longer here to see her letter published, but as we approach Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, her neshamahwill surely have an aliyahin the knowledge that her request has been fulfilled and her message read and taken to heart by many.
She then reprints her letter in full. I'm not going to reprint it, but I will provide a summary. The letter can be seen in English and the original Hebrew here.
In short, the letter from Revital Avraham says that she is nineteen years old and is dying. She was a young girl blessed with physical beauty from an early age. She attracted attention from others around her and grew her hair long. She was told by her teachers to keep her beauty for that someone special in her life, but she did not listen and continued to flaunt her looks.
When she was sixteen, she received a warning when her hair caught fire while frying an omlette. She was terribly upset that her hair was gone. Her father tried to console her saying:
Revital, Hashem has made a miracle. You could have been entirely burnt! You now have an opportunity to change and leave your foolish attitude behind you."
However, she was sixteen and probably had an attitude like many teenagers. Her hair grew back over the next two years. She began wearing tight clothes and even "got involved in some trouble." (Her words -- we have no way of knowing what that entails.)
When she was 17, her beloved grandmother died. Her grandmother had tried to help her on her mend her ways, but could not do so. After her death, Revital changed her behavior for the better for a while, but then fell back into her old habits.
A while later, Revital had a dream. Her grandmother was sitting on a stone crying. When asked why she was crying, she wordlessly pointed to her head. However, Revital ignored that warning as well.
A short while later, after complaining about headaches, she went to see a doctor where she was given the bad news that she was dying.
Now dying, Revital is writing this letter to warn young girls of the dangers of dressing immodestly and being overly beautiful.
The letter ends with the postscript that Revital died shortly after composing the letter and asked in her will that it be distributed.
Let me state up front that I have no idea whether or not the story is true. In fact, that's a part of the purpose of this post -- to ask if any of my readers knew Revital (even second-handedly) or any of her relatives.
To me the language of the letter in no way sounds like it came from a nineteen year old -- nineteen year olds simply don't speak that way -- it's just idiomatically wrong. But then again, that's because I read the translation. I read the original Hebrew, but I'm not familiar enough with modern conversational Hebrew to know if it's more in line with the way an actual nineteen year old would write.
Another problem that I have with this is that in all my searches on the web (and I've done a few already), I could never find any other details to corroborate the story. No place of residence, no date of death, no name of school -- nothing. A lack of detail in a story is one of the first signs that it's an urban legend.
The last concern I have about this letter is the implication that it makes -- i.e. be sure to keep the mitzvah of tznius properly or else be subject to terrible life-threatening illnesses. Assuming for a moment that the story is true - how does Revital know that her illness is due to her lack of adherence to the mitzvah of tznius? There are, unfortunately, people who are very stringent in tznius who get sick and there are those who are lax and live long, healthy lives. Is it because she had a dream where her grandmother pointed at her head? That's quite a leap to come to that conclusion. And it's also quite a leap to apply it universally as a warning -- especially when we see that there are plenty of people who are lax in the mitzvah of tznius and don't end up with brain tumors.
So, does anyone know of any corroborating evidence for the story? Does anyone know if the whole thing is a hoax or urban legend?
The Wolf
Stupid Comment Of The Day
Sometimes, you just have to wonder if people ever think before they type or speak. Case in point from the comments thread of this VIN post. One commentator (#6) actually said:
A characteristic of goyim is that they fight among themselves. Their lack of achdus is a hallmark trait.
Mr. Kettle, I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Pot. He has a lovely word for you.
The Wolf
Friday, September 04, 2009
Is Lying About One's Age Grounds For Breaking A Shidduch?
Matzav.com brings a question that was asked to the author of the Chelkas Ya'akov, R' Mordechai Yaakov ben R' Chaim Breisch of Zurich. The question was whether or not a shidduch could be broken because the bride lied about her age. In the specific case at hand, she said at the time of engagement that she was 28, yet when it came time for the wedding three years later (three years??!!), it turned out that she was 36 at the time.
The Chelkas Ya'akov answers that the only time one can break a shidduch because of age is if the woman is over forty (because of childbearing concerns). Otherwise, a lie about one's age is not grounds for breaking a shidduch.
With all due respect to the Chelkas Ya'akov, I find this answer a bit difficult. Rather than focusing on the fact that the number of years was inaccurate, how about focusing on the fact that if she's willing to lie about this, it reveals a serious character flaw about the person. I know that I would not want to start a relationship with someone who lies about their age.
I can understand that the woman was scared -- she was 36 and single and probably figured that if she didn't find a husband soon, then she would never find one. I really do understand that. However, the fact that she was willing to fib about her age shows that she understood that the guy didn't want an older wife -- a fact that was borne out by the fact that he asked the question about breaking the shidduch when he did discover her true age. And even if the age issue isn't truly worth breaking a shidduch (suppose, for example, she truly beleived that she was 28 and only later discovered the truth), I would think that the dishonesty and deception that she displayed would be valid reasons to break the shidduch.
The Wolf
The Chelkas Ya'akov answers that the only time one can break a shidduch because of age is if the woman is over forty (because of childbearing concerns). Otherwise, a lie about one's age is not grounds for breaking a shidduch.
With all due respect to the Chelkas Ya'akov, I find this answer a bit difficult. Rather than focusing on the fact that the number of years was inaccurate, how about focusing on the fact that if she's willing to lie about this, it reveals a serious character flaw about the person. I know that I would not want to start a relationship with someone who lies about their age.
I can understand that the woman was scared -- she was 36 and single and probably figured that if she didn't find a husband soon, then she would never find one. I really do understand that. However, the fact that she was willing to fib about her age shows that she understood that the guy didn't want an older wife -- a fact that was borne out by the fact that he asked the question about breaking the shidduch when he did discover her true age. And even if the age issue isn't truly worth breaking a shidduch (suppose, for example, she truly beleived that she was 28 and only later discovered the truth), I would think that the dishonesty and deception that she displayed would be valid reasons to break the shidduch.
The Wolf
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Ain't Gonna Do It
A "rabbi" (he may actually be one, but I don't know) puts up a blog espousing very fundamentalist views.
His blog is full of completely fundamentalist Jewish viewpoints and (as is typical on such blogs) blasting anyone who has a different opinion than he does, calling people who disagree with him animals, heretics and idiots. He believes that women should rarely, if ever, be allowed out of the house. He maintains that going to any institution (such as a museum or the like) that is not run by his interpretation of the Torah should be avoided. He, like others, maintain that Zionists are evil. He favors ad hominem attacks over reasoned argument. In short, his blog is just about everything that I stand against in my blog. His blog has been around for at least a few months, if not longer, but doesn't seem to draw much traffic (at least judging by the comments).
He then emails *me* to tout his blog. He says that my blog should be of interest to him. He says that he hopes that I am strong enough to "rise above the mediocre thinking based on a materialistic world outlook and consider adopting" his viewpoint.
So, I'm left with one of three conclusions:
1. He's too stupid to see that I completely disagree with just about everything he says.
2. He's too lazy to read my blog and simply sent me an email without considering my opinion
3. He wanted to provoke me into an outrage post in order to drive traffic to him.
My money's on the last one.
Sorry... ain't gonna happen. In fact, I'm not even allowing comments on this post (a highly unusual move on my part) since I don't want people pointing to his blog even in the comments.
Feel free to email me if there are any questions. That includes you too Rabbi blogger.
The Wolf
Yeah, I know what you're saying: "He succeeded -- you put up this post." True, but it's not going to generate any traffic to him. And the info I did provide was generic enough that it shouldn't come up in a simple Google search.
His blog is full of completely fundamentalist Jewish viewpoints and (as is typical on such blogs) blasting anyone who has a different opinion than he does, calling people who disagree with him animals, heretics and idiots. He believes that women should rarely, if ever, be allowed out of the house. He maintains that going to any institution (such as a museum or the like) that is not run by his interpretation of the Torah should be avoided. He, like others, maintain that Zionists are evil. He favors ad hominem attacks over reasoned argument. In short, his blog is just about everything that I stand against in my blog. His blog has been around for at least a few months, if not longer, but doesn't seem to draw much traffic (at least judging by the comments).
He then emails *me* to tout his blog. He says that my blog should be of interest to him. He says that he hopes that I am strong enough to "rise above the mediocre thinking based on a materialistic world outlook and consider adopting" his viewpoint.
So, I'm left with one of three conclusions:
1. He's too stupid to see that I completely disagree with just about everything he says.
2. He's too lazy to read my blog and simply sent me an email without considering my opinion
3. He wanted to provoke me into an outrage post in order to drive traffic to him.
My money's on the last one.
Sorry... ain't gonna happen. In fact, I'm not even allowing comments on this post (a highly unusual move on my part) since I don't want people pointing to his blog even in the comments.
Feel free to email me if there are any questions. That includes you too Rabbi blogger.
The Wolf
Yeah, I know what you're saying: "He succeeded -- you put up this post." True, but it's not going to generate any traffic to him. And the info I did provide was generic enough that it shouldn't come up in a simple Google search.
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