Lion of Zion

Treif Meat, Detroit, 1858

2010-01-03T02:42:00.010-05:00

"Notice to Jewish travellers who are careful not to eat treif meat:"

"And now I call to inform all those who fear the words of the Torah, when you come hither do not eat in any Jewish home until you determine from which abbatoir they purchase their meat."

Liebman Adler (1812-92), the author of this notice, is well known. He was born in Saxe-Weimar and studied under R. Aaron Fuld and R. Solomon Trier. He immigrated to America in 1854 and accepted a call to occupy the pulpit of Detroit's Temple Beth El. Adler served as preacher, teacher, cantor, shohet and mohel. Seven years later he resetled in Chicago following an invitation from the city's Kehilath Anshe Maarav. He was an early proponent of Reform Judaism in America.

But who was the shohet Meir Weiss?

Invitation to Circumcision, ca. 1905

2010-01-03T01:23:00.004-05:00

Because I am a son

It's got to be done

says Ma.

So I send this request

To please be the guest

of Pa.

Jr decided that that he wanted a sister for two reasons. First, we already have a boy. Secondly, he didn't want the baby to have a brit milah.

(For my post on circumcision invitations, click here.)

Jr's Midnight Snacks (More Naughtiness)

2009-12-31T13:58:00.006-05:00

As long as we're on the subject of Jr's naughtiness (click here) . . .

Friends have asked how Jr'ette is sleeping at night. I respond with the following story.

Two weeks ago Jr slept over with three cousins in my father's apartment. As the four of them were preparing to go to sleep together in the living room, my father's wife sat on a nearby chair and rested with her eyes closed. She overheard the following conversation:

Jr: After Sabba and L go to sleep, we can go to the kitchen and eat all the candy we want.
Cousin: What do you mean? Sabba and L won't let us.
Jr: Nah, I do it all the time at home. I get up in the middle of the night, take food from the fridge and watch television.
Cousin: But doesn't your Abba stop you?
Jr: My Abba? He sleeps through everything. He never wakes up.

A lot of mornings I wake up to find Jr in the living room, watching television and surrounded by empty potato chip bags, left over french fries, an open bottle of seltzer (or something sugary if we happen to have some), etc. It's still dark outside and this is probably why he said he does this "in the middle of the night." Unless he is doing it in the middle of the night and again in the early morning.

He likes to watch the news. He tells us what the weather is and sometimes repeats a line he heard about the troops in Iraq or something else.

(For the record before I get mussar or parenting advice: we don't like when Jr watches television. We don't have cable, Dish, BlueRay, a DVD player, TiVO, etc. Until two months ago we didn't even have a television. But hey, it keeps him from waking me up in the morning.)

Anyway, so how does Jr'ette sleep at night? Well how should I know?

(Final word: the Mrs says I've been blessed with built-in ear plugs.)

Jr's Graffiti

2009-12-30T19:40:00.010-05:00

Part of Jr’s nightly ritual when I’m home is that I give him a “shoulder ride” into the bedroom. As we pass through the doorway he kisses the mezuzah. He slides down my back firepole style onto a bed--or sometimes I just drop him there--and then we go to the bathroom to wash up, brush his teeth and take his last (hopefully) pee for the night.

As he kissed the mezuzah last night I noticed some blue marker scribbled outside the doorway.

“What the heck?” I asked as I dropped him to the floor.“I wrote what all the rooms are,” Jr proudly exclaimed.

He’s does inventive spelling in school—which by the way I think is really cool—and he decided to try out his skill at home. I ran around the apartment to see what else he marked. The bathroom . . .. . . A closet . . .
. . . and, wait, what’s this? . . .

“Remember this morning you stopped me from writing on the bookcase? I was going to write 'living room'.”

In general, the naughty side of me sometimes gets a kick out of when Jr is naughty. This particular instance was even more palatable for me since I justified it to myself as an educational exercise on his part. I gave him mild and bland scolding, all the while trying to contain a smile, and sent him off.

* * *

Did I mention how cool I think it is that he does inventive spelling? (Actually, the Mrs doesn't think they do enough of it, especially when compared to the role it plays in the public school where she works.) Here are two pictures I snapped from the wall outside his classroom.

My two jobs are basically as different as two jobs can be, but a common denominator is that both require good handwriting recognition skills. Who would have thought that this would come in handy with Jr?

Can you tell what he wrote?

Disappearing Survivors

2009-12-28T01:45:00.009-05:00

(Haveil Haveilim is hosted this week by Baila here.)

When I was in second grade a girl named Naomi--I can actually remember her last name as well--had a birthday party in school and her grandparents came to celebrate it with the class. That's the first time I remember seeing concentration camp numbers tatooed on an arm. Growing up I saw them in other places too. In shul, in stores and around Brooklyn in general.

One shabbat afternoon last summer the Mrs and I were sitting at a picnic table in Vacation Village when an elderly woman sat down. I felt like I was in second grade again as I stared at her numbers. It was as if I had never seen such a site before. Well at least not in a very long time. I couldn't even remember the last time I had seen numbers.*

For many years I've attended the annual Yom Hashoah commemoration hosted by the Yeshiva of Flatbush. The program opens with a guest speaker, generally a survivor. In recent years the pool of speakers has expanded to include children of survivors and even a German convert to Judaism.

Little signs that the Holocaust generation--certainly those who were adults in those years--is fast disappearing. I wonder how Jr and his generation will relate to the שואה when it becomes just one more distant tragic blip on our lachrymose timeline.

_______________

* Rafi G., the ever perceptive expert on popular culture, recently noted a trend "to tattoo holocaust numbers on arms" (here).

Asarah be-Tevet Primer (Also Holocaust Memorial Day)

2009-12-27T10:54:00.005-05:00

Today is the fast of Asarah be-Tevet (the tenth day of the lunar month Tevet). This day of mourning commemorates the day in 586 BC that the Babylonian armies of Nebuchadnezzar laid their siege on Jerusalem. Six months later his armies breached the city walls (Shiv'ah Asar be- Tammuz) and three weeks after that they burned the First Temple to the ground (click here for my Tish'ah be-Av Primer). The first Jewish commonwealth was no more. Two months later yet, Gedaliah, the Babylonian-appointed Jewish governoner, was murdered and the tiny Jewish population that had remained in the land fled to Egypt (click here for my Tzom Gedaliah primer).

Asarah be-Tevet was established by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel as a general day of remembrance for the martyrs of the Holocaust whose exact day of death remains a mystery. On this day one lights a memorial candle, recites kaddish and learns Mishnah in their memory.

I always wondered why the Chief Rabbinate chose Asarah be-Tevet to serve this secondary purpose. Would not Tish’ah be-Av have been more appropriate, considering that it is the most important of the public fast days. Or perhaps Yom Kippur, which is the holiday that attracts the most Jews to the synagogue.

Concerning the connection between the Holocaust and Asarah be-Tevet, former Israeli Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau writes:

There is great symbolism in the juxtaposition of these two tragic events—the beginning of the destruction of the First Temple and the attempt to destroy the entire Jewish people in our generation—in one day of remembrance: in the coupling of these two events there is an expression of hope, that the European Holocaust brought to an end the cycle of suffering of the Jewish people. With this association with Asarah be-Tevet, and as with the other public fast days, there is nothing left for us but to hope and to pray for the realization of the words of Zechariah the Prophet, who lived during era of the Return to Zion*: “Thus saith the LORD of hosts: The fast of the fourth month [Shiv’ah Asar be-Tamuz], and the fast of the fifth [Tish’ah be-Av], and the fast of the seventh [Tzom Gedaliah], and the fast of the tenth [Asarah be-Tevet], shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful seasons; therefore love ye truth and peace [Zechariah 8:19].” [Translated from Israel Meir Lau and Saul Meisels (ed.), Yehadut halakhah le-ma'aseh (Givataim and Ramat Gan, 1978), p. 244.]

Have an easy fast.

(For Holocaust Memorial readings, see the end of this post.

_____________

* “Return to Zion” refers to the movement initiated during the reign of Cyrus of Persia, who ca. 538 BC permitted the Jews to return to the Land of Israel. (The Persians had conquered the Babylonians in the interim.) This paved the way for the construction of the Second Temple (dedicated in 516 BC, seventy years after Asarah be-Tevet) and the eventual establishment of the second Jewish commonwealth.

The Pope and (le-Havdil) the Bishop: A Lesson in Moral Courage

2009-12-24T00:57:00.006-05:00

On the one hand I don't understand all the consternation in the face of the impending beatification of Pope Pius XII, the so-called "Holocaust Pope." Newsflash: Roman Catholicism does not hold Judaism in high regard and many Roman Catholics themselves don't like Jews. (Please don't lecture me about the rightious Catholics who saved Jewish lives during the war, as they were vastly outnumbered by the Catholics who slaughtered Jews.)

For many of Pius's supporters, his silence as six million Jews were murdered is an irrelevant historical footnote on his biographical record.

* * *

On the other hand, all Pius had to do was say "no." This is exactly what Bishop Chrysostomos did when the German tried to deport the Jewish community of Zakynthos, a Greek island. To read more about this amazing story, click here (hattip: Dr. S.).

Perhaps Jews should start a movement to have Chrysostomos beatified (or whatever the Greek Orthodox equivalent is).

UPDATE: Commenter "s" remarked, "I wonder if Chrysostomos was a tiqqun for his early medieval namesake" (click here for more information).

I Hate Flatbush

2009-12-22T23:37:00.005-05:00

I'm not a big fan of bloggers who make a habit out of inveighing again their neighborhood and neighbors. If it/they bother(s) you that much that you dedicate a blog to it/them, then it's time to move. Period.

But a number of things happened to me very recently that truly tested my tolerance to Flatbush (or rather Brooklyn/NYC in general).

1) I just had a baby girl. I really hesitated to mention this here because I don't want to seem that I am anything but utterly grateful for this magnificent gift. But the prospect of raising her in Brooklyn is not something I look forward to.

2) A few weeks ago Jr was sick on a Friday night. Ironically we didn't have any ibuprofen in the house for him and I had to go out in search of a bottle. I ended up walking to Lakewood Falling Down, who gave me his. While walking home it just blew my mind that on the three long avenue blocks between our two homes live a few hundreds Jewish families, many of which include children. We've been living here for almost ten years now, and in all that time I never became friendly enough with even one family that I would feel comfortable knocking on a door to borrow medication. Instead I had to walk all the way to LFD.

3) On the way to the bus stop with Jr this morning one of neighbors asked what school he attends. When I told her she shook her head and "warned" me that many of its graduates become not religious. This bothered me on two levels. First of all, it's simply not true and I doubt the OTD rate in Jr's school is significantly different that in her own son's RW school. But it just goes to show that no matter how hard the pseudo-MO schools try to ingratiate themselves with the RW public, it really has no effect. (To the contrary, I think it can damage the schools and, as I've commented before, Shulamith is getting exactly what it deserves in this respect.) Secondly, without getting into all the details, who does this woman think she is to give me mussar about my educational choices?

4) According to 311, alternate-side-of-the-street parking regulations are back in effect tomorrow after being suspended for two days because of the snow. What a thief Bloomberg is. There is still too much snow and ice on the ground for the street sweepers to do their job--not that I think they do much in any case--, but Bloomberg can't pass an opportunity to take a swipe at my wallet. As I've mentioned before, I will vote for any mayoral candidate--even Al Sharpton!--whose platform includes rescinding these regulations.

Jewish iPhone Apps

2009-12-21T12:05:00.010-05:00

I'm not a big app user, but I'm always on the lookout for free (or very nominally priced) Jewish apps. I've found that most Jewish apps (as with most apps in general) are redundant or completely useless (at least for me).

In particular I'd love to find apps that make Jewish texts available for free.

I recently added two great apps for learning shnayim mikra ve-echad targum/rashi called "Chumash & Rashi" and "Chumash & Targum" (from Jewishcontent.org). The apps present each pasuk followed by the Rashi or Targum for that pasuk. The apps are linked to the calendar, so when you launch one it automatically opens to the present week's parsha and to the aliyah for that day. "Chumash & Rashi" is available with or without the JPS English translation. Both the Rashi and Targum apps have text searching capabilities and the ability to adjust the font type and size. Best of all . . . they're free!

One criticism is that the apps feel somewhat crude and less than elegant. Also funtionality could be greatly improved if Rashi and the Targum were be combined in one app. Finally, sometimes I wish I could collapse the Rashi/Targum in order to read continuous mikra. But hey, the apps are free, so who am I to complain? Enjoy!

(I'm still looking for a good file manager/transfer app so I can store PDFs and other files on the phone. If there's one you like, please let me know. Again, free is always best.)

R. Eliezer Galinsky in Flatbush this Shabbat

2009-12-17T12:35:00.003-05:00

The Yavneh Minyan of Flatbush presents:

SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE

Rabbi Eliezer Galinsky

Friday night and Shabbat - December 18-19

Parshat Mikeitz - Eighth Day of Chanukah

At the Yavneh Minyan - 1277 East 14th Street (Shulamith Campus)

Join us for a program of Chanukah- and Parsha- related shiurim.

* Friday Night Oneg: 7:30 PM (Rabbi Galinsky will speak at 8:00 PM) - "Shabbat and the History of Chanukah" (sponsored by Mr. & Mrs. LOZ in honor of new daughter)
* Shabbat Morning Drasha - "Pharoh’s dream and its impact on the Jewish world view."
* Shabbat Shiur after Kiddush: approximately 11:30 AM - "The uniqueness of Jewish History and our view of the future."
* Mincha: 4:00 pm, followed by Seudah Shelishit -"Can You Identify a Man By His Voice?: Perspectives from the Halakha and the Parasha."

Rabbi Galinsky teaches at Jerusalem College of Technology and has published Talmudic articles in various seforim. He is also a founder and leader of a Shabbat minyan in Ramot, Jerusalem.

This program is free to the community (sposonships welcome).

Curbside Mikvah in Boro Park

2009-12-16T00:02:00.004-05:00

In-store mikva'ot are commonplace in Boro Park, but until last night I never noticed the one on 39th St. that provides curb-side service (double parkers barred).

Jr'ette is Here

2009-12-14T13:51:00.009-05:00

After nine long months (and a few even longer weeks) Jrette is here!

One of my favorite children's songs is את הילדה הכי יפה בגן ("You're the Most Beautiful Girl in the Kindergarten"; sung by Ninet Tayeb at 1 min:15 sec in the video above), and now I have a ילדה to sing it to.

Translation from Hebrew Songs (here):

The prettiest girl in the kindergarten
Has the prettiest eyes in the kindergarten
and the prettiest braids in the kindergarten,
the prettiest in the kindergarten.
The more you look
You realize there's nothing more to say
She's the prettiest girl in the kindergarten.
When she smiles, I smile
When she's sad, I don't understand
how it's possible to be sad
when you are the prettiest girl in the kindergarten.

(There is also a version of this song by Shiri Maimon [in a duet with Ninet?]. If you know where to view it, please let me know.)

Montana Dog Bests Yeshivah Graduates (or Montana Rabbis Erode Church-State Wall)

2009-12-08T08:08:00.005-05:00

The New York Times (click here) has an interesting human-interest story about the Jewish community of Montana, which is currently served by three rabbis (hattip: ProfK).

The cutsie part of the article relates how the local police force was unable to communicate with one of its canine members because it was trained in Israel and only understands Hebrew. Deus ex machina, one of the rabbis intervenes as an interpreter and trains the dog's handler in proper Hebrew pronounciation.

Isn't it amazing? Out in Montana is a dog that understands more Hebrew than the average day school graduate here in New York!

* * *

Another element in the article is the rabbis' participation in a menorah-lighting ceremonry in the state capitol. This is something I've never understood. When did Orthodox rabbis start advocating that the menorah be depicted as a secular symbol, and moreover that the act of lighting it--blessing and all!--is devoid of any religious meaning?

I wonder if these three rabbis will be so understanding and accomodating the next time their neighbors in this overwhelmingly majority Christian state try to push the envelope on church-state relations.

Protests Against Bene Brak Pharmacy

2009-12-07T23:08:00.002-05:00

Click here. (And I thought my customers were difficult.)

Artscroll Takes Israel

2009-12-03T23:49:00.002-05:00

I know many American tourists and students visit the kotel, but I was still surprised to see shevles of Artscroll siddurim there.

(On haskamot for the Artscroll shas, see On the Mainline.)

Israeli Shadchan Directory

2009-12-02T23:37:00.017-05:00

For the second part of our vacation we stayed in a beautiful mansion in the German Colony. Most of time I davened down the block in a Turkish shul called Netzach Yisrael.

Hanging on a bulletin board in the small lobby was an unusual and fascinating alon containing a directory of shadchanim arranged by region. Following the name of each shadchan is a contact phone number, hours of operation and the type of clientelle.

Note the clientelle groups that different shadchanim specialize in:

Yeshiva bochrim
Haredim
Mizrahi (Sephardim)
Breslov
Torah observant and physically limited
Baale teshuvah
Torah observant
Second marriage
Hasidim
Yerushalmi litvak
Medical complications
Yeshivah bochrim under 25
Habad
Yeshivah bochrim and seminary girls
Ethiopian
Torah observant of any sector
Handicapped
בעיות מוגבלות (handicapped?)
All circles
Foreigners

For more Israel vacation posts, click here.

Tefilla Paradise of a Car Mechanic

2009-12-01T10:23:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I brought my car early one moring to the mechanic for an oil change. As I watched him empty the oil pan I heard multitudes of little girls in the school across the street davening to Hashem. It was so beautiful and I became envious of the mechanic. How lucky is he that every morning he starts off his day listening to these sweet voices serenade Hashem.

(Of course I could comment about how these girls were butchering the Hebrew and that they likely had little comprehension of what they were saying, but hey, not every post has to be a rant.)

Just Make America Socialist Already

2009-11-30T23:59:00.004-05:00

This morning I read a scary article in the New York Times (here) that detailed the growing dependency of Americans on food stamps, recently relabled by the government euphimistically as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. One in eight Americans participates in the program. One in four children. In some parts of the country participation rates are as high as sixty percent.

Every day another twenty thousand Americans enroll in the program. The government thinks this is not enough and is actually engaged in promoting food stamps and encouraging even more people to sign up.

I personally favor small government in general and pertaining to assistance programs in specific. But it gets to the point where so many Americans are benefitting from an assitance program--including many under dubious circumstances--that it simply isn't fair to the rest of the country. (Anyone see a parallel to yeshivah tuition?)

Sometimes people fall on hard times and need help. But sixty percent?!

The government should either crack down or otherwise make all Americans elligible for assistance programs.

Jr's Sukkah Decoations

2009-11-30T23:56:00.001-05:00

Jr missed two days of school leading up to Sukkot because he was sick. The Mrs tried to make arrangements for another mother to bring home all the sukkah decorations that Jr had made, but it didn't work out. Jr was so upset that he wouldn't be able to hang up the decorations he had work on. We felt bad for him.

The next day we got a call from his teacher. She had taken his decorations home with her in case we wanted to get them. Of course we did and Jr was so happy to see them hanging on the walls of our sukkah. It was so sweet of the teacher to think of taking the decorations home with her.

Ninet Sings "Foolish Games"

2009-11-25T01:00:00.005-05:00

I can't stand it when Israeli musicians perform in English. As much as I like listening to Israeli music--Israeli radio plays all day long on my computer at home and at work and on my phone when on the move--, most musicians just aren't that good and there isn't any reason to listen to them singing in foreign languages.

Once in a while an exception presents itself. For example, I very much enjoyed Maya Buskila's duet performace with Eyal Golan of דמעות (click here).

Even rarer is the exception where an Israeli singer outperforms a foreigner. The best example of this is Ninet Tayeb's moving cover performance of Jewel's popular "Foolish Games" (click on video above).

This is Jewel's original:

I don't think Jewel even sounds decent to begin with and Ninet clearly blows her away.

(For Ninet's very moving acoustic version of היא יודעת, click here. For the record, I don't what she's done with herself of late.)

How Not to Instill Fear in Israel's Enemies

2009-11-25T00:46:00.003-05:00

Last year the Israeli air force opened Nevatim, a new based in the Negev. It is the largest base in the country and it contains the longest runway in the Middle East. It should have been the pride of the Israeli military and a source of fear for Israel's enemnies. Instead the base has become a military mockery.

Shortly after the base opened local Arabs started harassing the soldiers stationed there, primarily by stoning cars as they passed on the road en route to the base (click here). Rather than crack down, Israel has adopted a garrison mentality even for domestic stations:

The IDF has closed the main entrance to the Nevatim Air Force at night and instructed IAF soldiers not to use the section of Route 31 leading to the Negev base during those hours for fear of attacks by local Beduin, Channel 1 reported on Tuesday. (Click here.)

Free H1N1 Vaccine in Flatbush

2009-11-22T12:34:00.000-05:00

No cost. No wait. Today. At Cunningham Jr High School on Ave S and East 17th St.

Jr Spells Hummus

2009-11-18T14:43:00.003-05:00

Jr is learning is to "site read" in English. It's so cool! It's simply amazing to watch the overnight intellectual transformation of a child from illiterate to (very semi-) literate.

His Hebrew is coming along slower. He has known his aleph bet since nursery, but this year they are learning nekudot. He is struggling with them. I can't say that it has nothing to do with him, but I also think that the whole approach to teaching Hebrew is wrong, compounding his difficulties.

Anyway, the other day I listened as the Mrs helped him spell out hummus.

Mrs: HHHHHu . . .
Jr: Het!
Mrs: MMMMMu . . .
Jr: Mem!
Mrs:
uSSSSSS . . .
Jr: Suf!
Lion: Agh!

My stomach turned upside down.

Not that there haven't been preludes to this. Last year he suddenly started translating "fish" as dug rather than dag. And then in keriat shema he started saying be-shivtekha be-vesekah. And so forth.

The truth is that I'm not as interested whether he learns ashkenazis or sefaradit (although the latter what is how I was taught), but it bothers me that he is not learning Hebrew naturally or grammatically. (My preference for the natural method requires another post. As far as grammar: I can get over be-vesekha, but it bothers me that he now says ve-aHAVta rather than ve-ahavTA.)

MO Schools and Sex Abuse

2009-11-16T15:08:00.007-05:00

Dov Bear posted a sad, sad story here. In short, a newlyed groom who had been sexually abused as a student lept to his death from a hotel balcony while his bride was asleep.

Among the comments throwing around the blame (not just here, but after other revelations of abuse as well), some have honed in on the rabbinic establishment and schools for hiding abuse or otherwise not doing enough to prevent it from happening in the first place.

But before the MO criticize the "frummies" for being particulary guilty of enabling this type of abuse, I suggest that said MOers inquire in their own schools regarding what policies are in place to prevent it.

You think just because it's an MO school this mean that employees are fingerprinted and there is a mandatory reporting policy? Take a minute tomorrow to phone the principal and ask him. You just might be (unpleasantly) surprised.*

________

* This was question no. 5 on my list of 10 questions to ask when yeshivah shopping (click here).

Kosher Gas Station in Boro Park

2009-11-10T23:37:00.005-05:00

(Hattip: Dr. Stern)

Also see the Post here.

The only thing this gas station is missing is a giant תפילת הדרך sign like they have in Teaneck (click here).