Put Down the Duckie (Reducks)

I guess it was about a year ago. My last semester as Rabbi at UMD was winding down, so things tended to get a bit a bit emotional for me and for all seniors. It was the end of an era –a good era – and we’d all be moving on to whatever, not knowing if we’d ever see each other again, etc. One particular Shabbat, near the end of the semester, Hillel hosted, as they occasionally did, a “theme” Shabbat on the theme of Sesame Street. The scholar-in-residence was UMD parent and Executive Vice President of the Sesame Workshop Dr. Lewis Bernstein (my father was there that Shabbat as well, but wasn’t scholar-in-residence). The whole program was wonderful. Sesame Street has been the single most successful organization to use mass media for educational purposes. Full stop. It was fantastic to hear about the inner working of the whole process, its dilemmas, etc.

I spoke to the crowd at the main (Carlebach-Orthodox) minyan that Friday night. I darshened the Sesame Street classic “Put Down the Duckie”, which I blogged about 18 months ago and recently reposted) and how it’s appropriate for those moving on to another stage of life. I'm a big fan of quality Kiddie Lit in general, and this song's really good. Nevertheless, I don’t think I ‘put down the duckie’ myself until January, when I went back for Natan’s wedding (his Kallah doesn’t have a blog, or she’d get a link, too). Seeing that others were moving on gave me a sense of closure.

There are still regrets, though. How can there not be? I’m struggling to re-invent myself here, while things were just great over there. Sitting at home sick for the past few days things begin to gnaw at you again.

So tonight, out of the blue, a good friend (comments on this blog as “c”) sent this link to a dynamite rip-roarin version of the song. It’s all there, and it’s awesome. I’ve long held that mussar ba-goyim ta’amin. I still hold that CS Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters” is perhaps the greatest mussar sefer ever written. This song is great mussar. Listen, watch, and be inspired.

(A brief warning for readers to whom this applies – there are a few short segments, each lasting a few seconds, of kol ishah in the middle part when they have celebrities joining in.)

Really Dumb Pun Quiz #2

These two are homonyms in both Hebrew and English, though pronounced slightly differently:
1) Keeper of Keys and Grounds
2) Master of the Mesorah
Like the previous quiz, the answer isn’t really hard; I just think it’s funny.

It looks like 4 posts of mine made it to the JIB finals. Yippy skippy.

In news from the alter heim, a bit of a brouhaha erupted over a UMD student proudly displaying Zionist sympathies. You would think that on a campus where a star female basketball player is Israeli you wouldn’t have to deal with this. The good news is, that whenever it happens, it provokes a sleeping giant, and there are MANY silent Zionists at UMD. An not every school newspaper would consider this interesting, but UMD is different.

Joining the Silly Quiz Epidemic

Well, Josh and DLC are doing it, so I figured I’ll try my hand:

In Jewish lore
In days of yore
I made miracles in a pinch
nary moving an inch

But should I arrive
At 4 Privet Drive
They would not deem it tragic
That I know not of magic

Who am I?

Strep Makes ADD Worse

I’ve had strep for a few days now, and my brain has felt like it’s swimming. I can barely tell the difference between asleep and awake. I’m felling a bit better today, though. A few things:

• Earlier today, I went to the local store to pick up some things. The proprietor wished me a good day, and I said I’ll try, but I have strep. The guy then pointed out that I’m wearing a kipa (he wasn’t) and so I should pray or say Tehillim and I’d get better. I answered him two-fold: a) you can pray even if you’re not wearing a kipa (he agreed, and then pulled out his own pocket Tehillim), and b) prayer usually works best when it’s in combination with antibiotics (and we won’t speculate whether antibiotics works better when in the presence of prayer – chutz mi-tzinim pachim, ve-acamo”l)
• TSTBA – the reason strikes work is because when certain groups don’t go to work, it cripples various parts of the national infrastructure, economy, etc. When students strike, it does no such thing. People in this country think that a strike is a way of saying “and we really, really mean it!”
• Am I the only one who thiks of Megillat Esther when I hear the name Carmona? If he makes a relief appearance and halts a rally, but doesn’t get a win or save, would we say “gam Carmona zakhur la-tov”?

Why I Attended Last Night’s Rally

My first instinct was to go. After reading the Winograd Report, and hearing about the plan for a protest rally in Tel Aviv, I thought it was important to go, to put pressure on Olmert to resign. Then I thought that it’s useless. I mean, the guy must know what the public thinks of him, and so who cares if there’s a rally telling him what everyone already knows – that people want him out. Furthermore, I’m in my 30s. I went to rallies as a teenager in Yeshiva; the last rally I was at in Israel was ten years ago. Aren’t I a bit old for this?

In the end, I decided to go. I feel very strongly that Olmert must step down one way or another; no CEO of any company would ever be allowed to screw up that royally and continue in office. The line of “give me a chance to fix my mistakes” is painfully stupid. “You break it, you pay for it” is a much better slogan. Furthermore, as far as the residents of the north and the families of soldiers who died in the Second Lebanon War are concerned, it is too late to fix things.

As Ari Harow, Executive Director of Likud Anglo Division put it to me at the rally, “This is not about the last war; it’s about the next one”. Do we really believe that Olmert can restore the IDF to what it was? Do we think that our neighbors will be afraid to start up with him like they were afraid to start up with Begin, Shamir, Bibi, Rabin, Barak, or Sharon? Even Peres knew when and how to flex muscles. Olmert and Peretz? Please.

The Prime Minister of Israel is an elected position. He rules by public mandate. If he can screw up that bad, and still remain in power, what does that means for Israeli democracy? Is he not accountable for the deaths of hundreds and displacement of hundreds of thousands? Can you run a war by the seat of your pants and then not have to pay for your mistakes, with yor job at the very least?

So I went to the rally because I thought it’s important for there to be a strong, diverse (young and old, left and right, religious and secular), and large attendance. If I didn’t go, then I couldn’t complain that there weren’t enough people there to make a difference. At first I was nervous – the bus was mostly empty, and when it started to fill up, it was with Bnei Akiva kids. Am I going to a rally with a bunch of right-wing kids? But when I got there, the picture was completely different. There were young and old, religious and secular, right-wing and left-wing. I even saw some Druze there. The message and tone of the rally were surprisingly apolitical. The speakers were bereft parents and reservists, musicians and poets. The message was “Olmert, resign”. You had your chance; you messed up, now step down. It’s the responsible thing to do.

I know that I left there thinking that the people of this country – the whole people – really want to get rid of this guy. I know that 120,000 – 200,000 others feel that way, too. I think a message was sent loud and clear, if not to Olmert, then to those elected leaders who have the power and responsibility to remove him from his job.

A few other points:

• It barely takes 10 minutes to WALK from Kikar Rabin to Ichilov Hospital. That it took Rabin’s limo 22 minutes to DRIVE there is indeed very, very fishy
• I’m amazed that Nasrallah complimented Israel’s ability to be sefl-critical

'ki shem' and 'semikhat ge'ula le-tefilla'

Gil writes about a chiddush he came up with a while ago, then saw in a commentary on the Shuchan Arukh. I'm glad to hear it, because I always assumed that to be the case - we only say 'ki shem Hashem ekra' when there's no problem of 'Semikhat Ge'ula le-Tefilla'.

There are a few ramifications to this:
When it comes to Ma'ariv, the requirement of 'semichat ge'ula le-tefilla' is superseded by 'tefilla be-tzibbur'. Thus if one shows up to ma'ariv as the minyan is starting shemoneh esrei, he should start with them, and say the first part - Shema and its brachot - only afterwards. Since there's no 'ge'ulah le-tefilla' here, he should say 'ki shem' at maariv as well, no?
There are a few ohter scenarios like this (e.g., tefillat tashlumin) - would this be the proper course of action?

Truthfully, as Gil pointed out, this is a relatively late custom anyway and is not an integral part of tefilla. So if you don't say it at mincha even, no biggie. I just wanted to point out certain conceptual ramifications of a prevalent custom.

TSTBA

Every blogger knows the feeling: you read or here about something which is getting a lot of attention, but think that the whole thing is just stupid and a waste of time and energy. A good recent example might be the kosher-certified gas station in New Jersey. Everybody wants to talk about it, but it’s really just not worth it. You feel like you should mention it in the blog, but, on the other hand, you think it demeans your blog to even mention it.

Allow me to unsheathe the way to address these annoying topics: the TSTBA link. TSTBA stands for “too stupid to blog about”. When you run across s/t which is just SO stupid but you just HAVE to blog about it, you put up a one word post: TSTBA – with a link to the offending news item. Like so: TSTBA

Minor Holidays and Chamar Medina

Like happened earlier this year, there are a bunch of minor holidays which just happen to fall all in a row about now. Today (and tomorrow) is/are Pesach Sheni, celebrated basically by skipping tachanun and eating a bit of matzah. I’ll observe both.

As is well known, this Saturday night/ Sunday is Lag B’Omer. Bonfires, archery, whatever. If you’re a detached piece of wood somewhere in Israel, you will be found and incinerated by a budding pyromaniac. For the more tame, you can read my series on R’ Shimon bar Yochai (and then vote for it), whose yahrzeit is traditionally observed then.

Moving to the Gregorian calendar, there are two other holidays that are observed these days (probably more, but these two were observed to at least a degree where I’ve been, so I’m generally conscious of them). The first is May Day, largely observed as a socialist/communist holiday.

The second is Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican-American holiday celebrated, as its name indicates, on May 5. In honor of this holiday, I will be making Kiddush this Shabbat day on Corona. Since I also made Kiddush on Guiness on St. Patrick’s Day, it looks like this is turning into a bit of a thing for me. I kind of like it. I like recognizing the chamar medina of different medinot in times that are special for that culture. I’m sure I can think of more, though I don’t want to go overboard with this, and I want to stick with drinks I enjoy, like beer.