A few worthwhile reads out there today:
- Nephtuli's baby son's surgery went well, b'H, but he's still got more to go. Please keep davening for Tinok ben Shifra Yocheved.
- NoyG is running a fantasy football league for J-bloggers; about half the slots are already filled, so if you're interested, sign up fast. It's free and for pure J-blogging bragging rights.
- An impressive result: Bad4Shidduchim is still raising money for her Chai Lifeline marathon run, but her plans have already inspired David Linn and his wife to run as well (and they supported Bad4 - kudos to them). Support them all!
- DryBones always expresses the feelings of many so well. This one is what I thought of when seeing "Palestine" in the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.
- Dave notes the new way Israel is dispersing crowds of rock-throwers and the like: A "skunk" hose. Interesting.
- Very interesting find by Kankan Chadash of a lecture Mortimer Adler gave to Catholic educators; Matt applies it to Jewish ones and it is quite apropos. Excerpt on expand:
I am told that Jewish education must give its college graduates a fundamental body of truths for the guidance of their lives. I am told that this necessitates the covering of much ground. You can guess my response. I simply ask what is the point of covering ground, if the students’ feet never touch it, if they never learn through independent exercise to walk by themselves, with head erect and unafraid of all intellectual opposition and difficulty. What is the point of memorizing truths, if they can really guide us only when they are genuinely possessed, if they can protect us from falsehood only to the extent that we understand them as fully refuting errors—real, live errors, not dummy ones concocted for the purposes of an easy victory. I would feel happier about the graduates of yeshivot if they really understood a few truths well—understood them as solving problems which vigorously challenge the mind and perplex it— rather than be able to recite, from merely verbal memory, a whole catechism of philosophical answers to problems they did not really understand or take seriously.- Josh Waxman discusses an excerpt from R' Falk's Oz V'Hadar Levusha on tznius. Pravda and Wolf also discuss it. Here's the excerpt, feel free to form your own opinion:
I counted nine troubling things in that paragraph.
EIGHT months on bedrest?!???! Oooh that's gotta be good for at LEAST 40 or so years of guilt!!! Happy Birthday Mom!
ReplyDeleteRegarding Rav Falk: There is something very disturbing about a MAN staring *that* closely at women's necklines and hemlines.....!!!
Happy birthday, Ezzie's mom!
ReplyDeleteHappy B-day, Mom Goldish!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday!
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't 8 months of bed rest. It was 5 months of intravenous feeding. I stayed in bed because I felt lousy. Other than that, thanks for the birthday wishes!
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should get a whole team of bloggers to run. Ezzie, you up to it? :)
ReplyDeleteWhatever. Same thing. :P (really, only 5 months of that? I thought more)
ReplyDeleteDavid - I've been thinking about it, but don't count on it. Likelihood: 1%.
I don't know whether to thank, or throw things at the woman responsible for you:)
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday Mommy Goldish
Happy Birthday Mrs. Goldish! Today's our baby's first birthday too!
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday Ezzie's Mommy!
ReplyDelete"Palestine" in the opening ceremonies of the Olympics
ReplyDeleteI saw that and simply didn't understand that. I wondered whether that meant that Gaza was now considered "Palestine," but when I looked it up online I saw that they have been competing as such a delegation for a dozen years.
This doesn't make sense to me. How does a group that is not a country compete as one? I mean, we didn't get to compete as Zion prior to modern statehood, even though we not only were a nation as we had been for centuries but also were at the time actively trying to have a country. The Native Americans don't get to compete as their own country.
I am so sick of the "Palestinian" politics. They have Gaza now, and have they made it into anything for themselves? They want a country under their own rule, so what is stopping them from doing that in Gaza? Sure, Gaza is not all that they want, but they have it now, so why do I hear stuff on the news about working towards an independent country? If the situation were reversed and we had nothing and then had a tiny portion of land under our own control, we would declare it an independent country and start building infrastructure and government -- much like we did.
We know they want more, but it still doesn't make any sense to me to hear the news talk of them wanting a peace deal that includes statehood -- what is stopping them from having statehood, albeit in much less land than they want? It's like crying for $5 when you have in your hand the $5 you were given that very morning.
If they want independence, then they should stop relying on Israel. Their Olympians complain about not being allowed into Israel to train. Well, build your own infrastructure in Gaza! Or go to Jordan. There is all this business about Israel shutting off Gaza's water and electricity; why don't they have their own utilities? It makes no sense to me. They should stop relying on the enemy they have made for themselves to provide for them and now that they have some land of their own they should establish their independence. What are they, teenagers who complain that their parents boss them around too much and they can't wait to turn eighteen so they can move out only
to then refuse to set up a home of their own when their parents not only let them but actually buy them a house? All the while complaining more about how their parents treat them while trashing the parents' home?
This is more than a bit of a rant, but these are the questions I truly do have, exacerbated by my anger and confusion about the whole thing.
Also, there were reprisals for the "Black Power" protest by Olympians at the '68 Olympics, so why is Iran not banned for having a delegation policy to refuse to compete against Israelis?
Happy bday Ezzie's mommy. 5 months of intravenous feeding is a long time. But obviously worth it. Have a wonderful year.
ReplyDeleteMazal Tov, Mazal Tov!
ReplyDelete