How mighty are the righteous....

I was raised in an observant Jewish home, in a small town in Pennsylvania. The Jews of my town all had to "play nice" because there were so few of us. The day school, (there was only one) was an orthodox institution, with children mainly from non-observant homes. When you reached the end of elementary school, you either went to public school, or went out of town to a yeshiva. I did both. I spent eight grade in public school, which for me, was a terrible experience, then went on to a very "right wing" yeshiva in upstate Pennsylvania, which was an even worse experience. Maybe one day I will write about those, but this is not the focus of today's rantings.
I grew up in a religious "no man's land." Not really relating to what I was learnng in yeshiva, but also pressured, (mostly internally) to adopt a "frum" lifestyle. Even more than the Lifestyle, was the religious philosophy. I went to yeshiva with boys from Boro Park and Williamsburg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borough_Park with whom I had little in common. The trouble was, that in order to fit in, at the least, I had to listen to them, and at worst, maybe even agree with them. This was to become a source of frustration to me for many years to come.
As I moved out into the world, and got married, i slowly began to observe the Jewish World around me. For the first ten years or so, i remained pretty steadfast to all that I absorbed in yeshiva. As Jewish life disappointed me, (a much, much longer post) and I began to experience diversity in Judaism, my views moderated a bit. As time went on, and the people I have experienced and my own life experience have moderated my views, i was very distressed by the post I read recently on Yeshiva World News (http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/).
There was a reference to an article in Yated Ne'eman, (http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/?p=5269#more-5269) about how Yeshivat Chovevei Torah is not an Orthodox institution, but in fact, a threat to Halachic Judaism. It turns out, that over the last few years, for one reason or another, I have had reason to be involved with Chovevei. It is a wonderful place, producing, get ready for this..... Orthodox Rabbis who think!!! Imagine that. Instead of toeing the party line, here we have individuals who might actually have some original thoughts and try to make observant Judaism dynamic and responsive, the very nature of the objections raised in the Yated article.

Several years ago, I evolved a position of "It might not be for me, but that does not mean it is not valid." Which is to say that there is a world of opinion and diversity in Judaism, and while I might not be comfortable doing something, it does not mean it is WRONG or bad. All we need do is go back in our history a few hundred years, and we find the very Rabbis whom we point to as infallible, were roundly rejected by their peers and the organized Jewish community. We need look no further than Rambam or the Ba'al Shem Tov.

I say we need Chovevei. We need Rabbis who care about the women who are agunot, not the husbands who happen to have money and prestige. We need Rabbis who understand that there are problems in society that call for new options, just like the Rambam did with those "forced converts" and stuck to his guns in the face of might protest from those around him.

And in the end, it doesn't have to fit for us all, in each and every situation, but there is reason to have the opinions, and they deserve, rather, demand a voice.

Hebrew National and the World of Hashgacha

For those of you, kind readers, (of whom there are none) I apologize for having been away so long. I might actually try to keep up on things here, but we'll see. Every once in a while, I take a look at the blogoshphere, and wonder 1) How is that the entire world feels compelled to post religiously, and 2) Once you have started, does blogging become a responsibility?
Today, i spent some time on two issues: One was the hashgacha known as Triangle K, (http://www.trianglek.org/) and the other was whether or not one is required to salt Liver when they are kashering it, or whether broiling is enough.(http://www.star-k.org/kashrus/kk-beef-liver.htm) I know these are esoteric issues, but they are what concerned me today.
The Triangle K issue is interesting indeed. I used to work in the kosher meat business on the production end, and am one of the few people who actually understand what Glatt Kosher is, and what actually happens to make Kosher meat kosher, and how Hashgacha works, since I also spent some of my youth working for Kashrut organizations. At the end of the day, it is clear that no one trusts the Triangle K, but no one has a reason for not trusting them. They all point to the fact that the Ralbags, who head the organization, are very pious indeed, and can point to no specific instance that would indicate that they, or by extension, their agency is not trustworthy. It leaves me in a quandary. No one eats it, but no one has a good reason not to. I once had a Rov who said that if there is no evidence to the contrary, and you know that the Rabbi is observant, you WERE NOT PERMITTED to question his supervision. I guess that does not hold true for the masses. So as for me, until one of you (invisible) people tell me otherwise, i will say that we can eat Hebrew National. (but of course not me..... see below)
As for liver, you will be happy to know that broiling does suffice, but there are those that salt the liver as well. Love that phrase "there are those that......" It allows for diverse opinions that have little basis in reality. (and hence..."we apparently don't eat Hebrew National")

A Big Wind Blows

It occurs to me, that we people living inland, or on the upper part of the east coast never really have to deal with hurricanes. They are something that happens to other people, not to us. So hard as i try, it is hard to "feel" something that is so far out of my realm of experience. I have never lived through a flood, never experienced a hurricane. I think I once came face to face with a tornado, but it was short lived. Did some pretty nasty things to the houses and trees in the neighborhood, but was ove in ten minutes.
So I see the news that Hurricane Rita is now a category four hurricane, chasing after all those people that Katrina missed the first time. http://www.weather.com/newscenter/tropical/
It kind makes you wonder, why? Why do people live there in the first place? Why do they stay? The bigger question is why would they ever return? Though of course they will. People live in California with earthquakes, Florida, and the Gulf Coast, lots of places where nature can wreak havoc with their lives. So why do they do it? I imagine that most of these places are beautiful, and amazing to live in 95% of the time. So i guess it must be the 95% principle. Of course, you only have to die one percent of the time for it not to work.
By the way, I could have told you Rita was going to be a real pain. She has the office down the hall from me.

Why can't a woman be more like a man? Or... Whose kiddush is it anyway?

My girlfriend reminds me (often) that we guys just don't get it. That the rules are not the same for men and women. We are entitled to share an opinion, as long as it theirs. And while I love and respect her, I wish that women could be more like men, at least once in a while. Or at least think the same thing that I do.

While I know that this is not a strictly man/woman issue, that is how it sometimes seems to me. And if some of you are offended by my title, it is a song from My Fair Lady, so don't get angry with me. Be angry with Frederic Loewe, or Alan Jay Lerner who were the creators of the book and song, based of course, on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. In any event, I digress.

This morning was full of spirited discussion (read: argument) between my girlfried and I over
Kiddush. ( http://www.or-atid.org/What%20_is_Kiddush.htm). Of course, everyone has an opinion on a kiddush. It is too big, too small, not good enough, or, Heaven forbid, D A I R Y!!!! Enough to send the most seasoned kiddush goer screaming from the auditorium.

So today's discussion centered around whether or not one has an "obligation" to host a kiddush for an ocassion. Her contention was that we, (meaning "me") partake of (meaning "sponge off of") others' kiddushes every week, so when it is your turn, you have to return the favor. I thought (how silly of me, male that I am) that when you sponsored a kiddush, you did it because you wanted to celebrate a personal event, and celebrate publicly. I didn't understand (silly me again) that the real reason for a kiddush was to pay back everyone you "stole food" from all year long. Or if you are lucky, and your kids are small, you can sponge off of people for years before having to "pay" them back.

I have a little more than a year before I have to formalize the decision, since my son will not have his bar-mitzvah until next December. Plenty of time for more spirited discussion. Unless, of course, the birth of my grandchild, G-d willing, at the end of October necessitates an early arrival of the Kiddush obligation. In that case, we will have to continue the spirited discussion much earlier.

What my teachers never taught me

When I was a kid, like everyone else, I went to school. I spent a lot of time there. Sometimes, I even learned something. I remember some of those days fondly, and others, were a nightmare. But that is not the topic of today's ruminations. I am a novice at this, and this is my first post.
Today, my schooling (formal at least) is long gone. But I re-live it with my son on a nightly basis. What strikes me, is that he is learning what the books say, but no effort to think is being asked of him. I went through the same thing, and suffer the effects to this day. We were taught "this is what is says, this is what it means, and this is how you do it." Why were the questions "what do you think about that" or "what does that mean to you" never asked?
He knows the story, and can even translate some of the Hebrew, but does he know what the relevance of the story is to his daily life?
It is sad indeed that teachers can't, or won't make children think. It handicaps them forever. I know.