EZ Reads 7/28/09

I was at a business meeting yesterday morning at a (quite fancy) law office with a few other people, all with different interests. We quickly realized that all six of us were Jewish. Near the end of the meeting, we expressed an interest in having the presenter meet with our boss, and while trying to figure out what day, the presenter noted that he would be uncomfortable meeting Thursday: "Though I'm in no way religious, I just don't feel that meeting on Tisha B'av is a good idea." I noted to my friend that our boss also had said no meetings on Thursday, and the others commented "Good for him!"

Meanwhile...

• R' Gil with a fantastic post, drawing from his own recent experiences and conversations at a reunion for his Solomon Schechter day school class.
• I liked this Orthonomics post, culling from this past week's haftorah:

  "Hear the word of Hashem, O chiefs of Sodom; give ear to the Torah of or G-d, O people of Gemorrah. [...] You shall not continue to bring a worthless meal-offering--incense of abomination is it unto Me; [New] Moon and Sabbath, calling of convocation, I cannot abide mendacity with assemblage. Your [New] Moons and your appointed festivals, My soul hates; they have become a burden upon Me [that] I am weary of bearing. And when you spread your hands [in prayer], I will hide My eyes from you; even if you were to increase prayer, I do not hear; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, purify yourselves, remove the evil of your doings from before My eyes; desist from doing evil. Learn to do good, seek justice, strengthen the victim, do justice for the orphan, take up the cause of the widow."
  
  "Your princes are wayward and associates of thieves; the whole of them loves bribery and pursue [illegal] payments; for the orphan they do not do justice, the cause of the widow does not come unto them."

• Chana blasts the idea of "performing" gender in her Sex & Gender Roles class. Nice.
• Bad4 notes the silliness of the shidduch world in having someone random "set it up" when two people meet and there's an interest in dating.
• Finally! Someone bottles tap water and sells it. I love this.
• The Daas Torah blog notes an interesting piece in the NYTimes on how soldiers' hunches save their lives, and how they're trying to study it.
• He also has a very interesting piece on informing on others to a just government.
  
• WBM on another Times' piece (clearly accepting Peace Now data) on 'settlements'.
• ProfK laments that "Off the Derech" is the term used by some to denote "switching off my derech".
• After reading this piece from CBS, I can't help but wonder if people feel more betrayed by an informant or by leaders who do horrible things. (Related)
  

May this week bear better news...