Old & New

I found this pair of posts from Jameel & DAG to be fascinating. DAG notes an article that was in the news today that's sure to make things interesting:

Remains of the Jewish second temple may have been found during work to lay pipes at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in east Jerusalem, Israeli television reported Thursday.
Israeli television broadcast footage of a mechanical digger at the site which Israeli archaeologists visited on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Jameel has a picture of an IDF soldier modeling some new hi-tech equipment:

No, he's not from StarTrek, he's an Israeli IDF soldier using top of the line equipment from ITL Optronics -- advanced infantry electro-optic systems, thermal imaging, navigation, orientations and battle management systems, as well as with laser-aiming devices and sights. (YNET)

Cool and cool.

Aliyah's Savings

via SoccerDad, this is pretty nice:

Our friends and neighbors just made Aliyah.

Here's what Andrea writes.

Grand total for tuition for all three girls including transportation............................$3428.25. This is considered an excellent school with lots of choices of "majors" to choose including film making, graphic design, eretz yisroel (where they tour and do tiyulim all over the country and learn about the Land) and physics just to name a few.

COME HOME NOW!!!!!!

Ezzie's Blog Roundup, 8/29: Back

I miss doing these. When I was catching up on all the blogs I read over the last couple of days, skimming some, reading others, I was reminded of what I really enjoy about blogging. There are so many good writers, so many good discussions... when you read every day you sometimes take it for granted or get a bit too used to it; taking a step back was nice. I probably should have kept track of the posts I really liked and linked them (a few people noted as much), but my thinking was 'oh, these are "old" posts'. Of course, most really aren't time-sensitive, but I digress...

A few that I just enjoyed:

• R' Ally discusses Crazy Is Normal in response to a student's question regarding a girl he's dating.
• Wolf mentions an article about older singles in this week's Jewish Press and takes on the stupidity of some of them.
• DryBones has a great comic, but more importantly sharp post about the soldier who was almost killed yesterday when he accidentally drove into Jenin.
• IsraellyCool notes the astounding hypocrisy of the ISM regarding the incident.
• Our(formerlyAir)Time makes me want to fly ElAl when we next go to Israel. Sweet.
• Finally, R' Gil gives his impressions on the first editions of the YU Commentator and Observer, then takes on one editorial suggesting a change in the Yeshiva's learning curricula.
  

Enjoy! Personally, I read a few pieces in both of the YU publications and enjoyed most the article I discussed earlier [see below] along with a few others; and I agree with Gil on having a Rebbe the first couple of years of undergrad [which may surprise some who know me]. I do think that a course in Tanach might be beneficial to many, though, and I don't know that people could gain as much learning it on their own as Gil suggests.

Where are your horns?

(Hat tip: PsychoToddler)

That's a question I was asked quite a few times growing up in Cleveland, and was reminded of by Perel Skier when reading her excellent piece in the YU Observer a couple of nights ago:

I assumed that at some time or other it happened to everyone.

I live in a decent but unremarkably sized city in the Midwest, where the winters are cold and the cow-to-person ratio runs high. Our Jewish community, in the heart of a crime-addled neighborhood, grows a little each year; we built a new day school building recently, and the high school I graduated from has at long last moved out of the dentist's basement. But it's still the kind of place where a yarmulke will earn you a double-take from anyone: from the gentiles, who likely have no idea what it is, and from the Jews, who are thrilled but shocked to find someone else like them among the homogenous expanses of middle-class America.

This is where I come from, and there are few of us there who haven't learned what it means to 'live in the real world,' as the argument goes.

Read the whole thing. Another excerpt that was a nice reminder:

Many of the heated debates which saturate The Observer and The Commentator have their legitimacy, but coming from the Midwest, coming from fistfuls of Jews scattered across the globe—and you will meet someone from every corner here—many of these arguments also feel surprisingly petty and near-sighted. Does YU offer the advanced sciences you could get at Harvard? Is the learning as intense as it was in Jerusalem with the rabbi of your choice? These questions are but footnotes and asterisks.

While she's using this in the context of being a student at Yeshiva University, I think it's something that's true in general in large cities with large frum populations. We often get caught up in stupid inanities that really don't - or at least shouldn't - matter. I think that's part of what frustrates us "out-of-towners" so much about New York City: We see what people care about and focus on, and think "Are you KIDDING me?! Who cares!? Why is that important?" Meanwhile, the longer we're here, the more we get caught up in some of it ourselves, which is saddening. On the other hand, while we're used to explaining ourselves, Judaism, our practices, and the like all the time to strangers who ask, Jews from larger cities don't understand why they're constantly being asked questioned as to why the products in stores (clothes, food, whatever) aren't 'good enough' for them. More importantly, they don't see why they should have to waste their time dealing with such things that take away from whatever else they want to accomplish.

I can't say whether this is a good thing or bad thing - it's more like a statement of "this is how it is", so which lifestyle would you prefer. Would it be nice to not have to explain what I'm doing riding the Metro in Cleveland? Sure. But there's something to be said for constant reminders to be a "light unto the nations", too.

What does the Holy Hyrax do all day?

From today's Yediot Achronot: Who is shooting at Israeli's legs in Los Angeles?

Makes you wonder.

Every time I call the Holy Hyrax, his usual lame excuse for not talking is he's "busy" "watching" the Twighlight Zone. OK, I can understand if he doesn't want to talk to me on the phone because he's going to a foam party, or if he needs to download movies, but the Twighlight Zone excuse?

Could he be part of the Israeli mafia mentioned...behind the LA area shootings?

Has Facebook Killed Blogging?

Many bloggers have become addicted to Facebook these days. The site offers a visible network of friends, "walls" to post on, free gifts and drinks members can send each other, and even games such as Scrabble and Sudoku to play with your friends. It's quickly becoming one of the most popular sites on the Internet, with tons (that's my non-technical term meaning I'm too lazy to find out the actual number) of people signing up every day. Members can re-connect with old friends, forgotten classmates, co-workers and those friends that they actually see every day. It's the best.

However, since it has become so popular, several bloggers have expressed a growing lack of enthusiasm for their blogs. Could this be due to Facebook? Could wall postings have taken the place of blog postings? Have Facebook groups substituted for group blogs? And has the fact that we can now interact one-on-one, albeit still anonymously if desired, taken away the desire to write thoughtful posts on the topics of the day? Are there other contributing factors?

What do you think?

Ezzie's Pool Year XI

Despite some glitches with CBS that are still being worked out, I will once again be hosting my annual NFL pools. The pool works on a "1-16" system, which essentially means picking the winner of every game each week and weighting them from most to least confident (16 on the one you're most confident, say Colts over Texans, while putting 1 on the least confident, like a Steelers' upset victory in Cleveland ;) ). There are winners each week and at the end of the season.

To avoid incurring the losses I did the past couple of years, the costs are the following: $100 for the season if the money is received before the season starts on September 6th; $125 if it's postmarked by September 10th. $150 if sent after that date, or $10 each week if a person does not wish to be in for the entire season.

If there's enough interest, I will also run a suicide or survivor pool as I did last year ($50/entry).

If you're interested in either, email me at serandez at gmail.com.

Occupational therapy

Posted by Soccer Dad

Interesting caption here:

Journalists working and living in and around the Israeli occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem ...

Bethlehem hasn't been "occupied" since 1995. Someone's living in the past.

Or perhaps it makes them feel better to pin something on Israel because those journalists are protesting a new law

Hamas said on Monday it planned to enforce a 12-year-old Palestinian press law designed to silence dissident journalists, amid a crackdown that has raised fierce protests from the local media.

I guess it wouldn't do to simply publish news critical of Hamas without getting in a dig at Israel.

Related thoughts here.

Showtime

Our friend Esty sent me this wonderful piece from the Jewish Press by Jennifer Clay which she felt (and I agree) was quite on the money. Her (and my) favorites lines:

We live in a never-ending movie of acting and being judged or questioned. If we show our true selves, the critics jump on us. You cry and someone wonders why – why are you breaking the steady stream of happiness with despair? You yell and someone asks what the matter is. You exhale deeply and someone demands an explanation: Why are you sighing? What’s wrong?

So we train ourselves, like any good performers, to hide our feelings.

And it’s not just feelings – it’s appearances too. We can’t ever look correct to everyone. Yet we try to. Why?

So we live on stage, obeying other’s commands – sometimes opposite from the ones made before. And we smile and laugh to avoid questions, soon forgetting who we really are and what we really feel, finally convincing ourselves we like ourselves until someone comes along and tells us that we shouldn’t. So up and down and around and around we go.

Up. Down. Round and round. Until one day it just breaks; it doesn’t go in circles and it doesn’t bounce. That’s when the show ends. The ride is over. The critics hush. And you’ve lived your whole life obeying them.

And the sad part is, it’s never going to change.

Never.

My only qualm might be the ending, but she's right: It never will. Not on a societal level... certainly not in the world we live in. It's up to us as individuals to be ourselves - not because someone told us to be ourselves, or because it's at the top of someone's blog, but because we want to be. Not just to be contrary to the critics or the establishment, or it's a never-ending cycle of being "different". It's just being ourselves, period.

Just. Being. Ourselves.

Ezzie in his office

...is at all-day training... all week long. Ugh. Expect another very slow week here. Perhaps the guests can pick up the slack...? (COUGHCOUGHCOUGH)

Also, if anyone wants to submit a good post, they are more than welcome to via e-mail (this blog's name at gmail.com).

Elianna in her office

"Get me 50,000 shares of NYX, sell off some of the Apple stock, and get as many Euronext and AT&T options as you can."

Wired

(Hat tips: Mom) Oh man, do I know this feeling...

“Do you mind,” one in-law asked, as I rounded up bedding and fretted over having enough milk in the fridge to fill 12 cereal bowls in the morning, “if I just pop onto the computer and check my e-mail?”

“Oh, yeah,” remarked another. “Maybe I could just track my son’s flight from D.C.”

“Ooh, perhaps you could print something out for me ...”

That was my first inkling of how the vastly expanded electronic and informational needs of houseguests would flavor our time together. Soon guests were positioning themselves to get dibs on one of the three computers in our Long Island house the way they would otherwise line up to jump in the shower.

By the next morning, “I wonder if you could do me a favor?” was a question I fielded every few minutes as I tried to peck away at work in my home office before everyone in the house had awakened.

Of course, I'm usually on the other end of this. :) There's also an interesting article about the battle over a Hebrew charter school in Florida.

Sorry

Too busy to blog. Sure to return in a flurry sometime in the near future.

I May Be A Nerd, But At Least I'm Lazy

I just got excited that I (finally!) created a successful formula on Excel after spending about 15 hours on it... which will help me cut out many, many more hours of work in the long run. Ahhh...

Quote of the Day

I'm one of those "change my GChat status on occasion" people, and earlier today noted that I need a vacation. Later, I saw a bunch of statii (it's a word, ask Stam) noting that people were 'getting ready to fly back for school' 'sitting in the library all day' 'celebrating their birthday and first day of med school' - etc. So I changed my status to the following:

I may hate work, but seeing that everyone else is going back to school sure makes me happy that at least I'm done with that...!

A couple of minutes later, AlanLaz sent me the following from the library:

F you

Nice. :)

Talent

People often ask what my favorite types of music are, who my favorite performers are, TV shows... etc. While I do have some favorites, my general answer is always the same: Talent. I like really talented people; I enjoy watching them perform. Some people enjoy the first few episodes of shows like American Idol; I enjoy the last few, when the really good singers are around. The same has applied to America's Got Talent (and Britian's Got Talent) - for AGT, I waited until very recently, saw who the last 10 or so were, and went back and watched a number of their performances. AGT had their finale last week, and while Cas Haley was amazing, Butterscotch was very good, and Julienne Irwin okay, I couldn't help but be amazed by Terry Fator. He's a ventriloquist (don't yawn yet) who does impressions (not yet either) of singers. Now think about that for a moment: He has to be an accomplished ventriloquist; an incredible impressionist; a good comedian; and a fantastic singer to pull that off. He is all of the above. It's worthwhile to check out his first few appearances first, but here's his final performance which is so impressive because it's such an incredibly hard song (Rey Orbison - Crying) to sing in addition to the other difficulties. It's followed by 14-year old Julienne Irwin's Somewhere Over the Rainbow, which I thought was gorgeous. Enjoy!

Busy Busy

I'm quite busy these days (and it's not even "busy season" - ugh!), but I was asked to and agreed to guest post elsewhere, and felt that for a number of reasons, it would be a good thing to do. Check out the post I put up over there, and feel free to chime in.

The Shidduch Non-Crisis

Shoshana details why she thinks the Shidduch crisis, of which there has been much talk of recently (as always), and pretty much concludes (as I have in the past) that it's an exaggerated crisis of its own making:

...I understand the stress of a woman in her late 30's and older, with her "biological clock" ticking and worrying about whether she will be able to have a child. But for someone in her late 20's, it's not that much of an issue. And to have rude people make comments like, "Aren't you old to not be married" (yes, I have received this one) is ridiculous. I have lots I want to do in my life. One of those things is getting married, but it is not the only thing. And honestly, I am very happy that I was not married at 19 because I like the fact that I have had the opportunity to do things other than just have kids. I want a family, but I want more than that also. And there's nothing wrong with that.

So basically, I think the crisis is in thinking that everyone needs to get married off super young. There are other things in life, and every person should be encouraged to explore his or her interests and passions. A person should not solely be steered by communal pressure dictating what one "should" be doing in life. I think if more people accept that, then they will be able to view those who are single much differently. Let people get married in their own time. Let them lives their own lives. Maybe that would also alleviate the skyrocketing divorce rate. Just a thought.

Read the whole thing.

Bigotry Update

It appears that the stories by Mr. Schwach in The Wave discussed earlier this week were either made up, exaggerated, or interpreted in the worst possible light by Mr. Schwach. Orthomom links and discusses the Jewish Star piece - check it out.

"Secular Temptations Lure Orthodox Youth"

That's the title of today's article in the Times-Record Herald, which discusses the long-growing phenomenon of frum kids in the Catskills drinking, smoking marijuana, and in general doing reckless and dangerous activity.

"Inside the pool hall and spilling out into the street were hundreds of frum (religious) boys and girls hanging out, cavorting, drinking, and snorting drugs," Halpert wrote in a letter that has become the hottest topic on Orthodox Jewish Web sites and blogs.

In a phone interview, Halpert said, "I could clearly see that there was drug paraphernalia changing hands. I've seen a lot of things in my community, but I've never seen anything like this."

Most say the drug use was limited to marijuana.

Boys and girls were making out; girls had taken off long, traditional skirts to reveal shorter ones and most had been drinking alcohol, eyewitnesses said.

"This sort of stuff is unheard of in our society until recently," said Judah Eckstein, founder of the Jewish news Web site Yeshiva World. "It's against Jewish law."

A shoving match broke out between some Jewish elders and bouncers when the elders tried to enter the pool hall's dance club. Monticello police came to the scene around 1:30 a.m., but most of the kids had already been taken away, Halpert said. Police did not charge or arrest anyone. Police Chief Doug Solomon said no evidence of drinking or drug use was found.

I think that one of the most comforting lines in the article is how the "Jewish elders" (gotta love that term, which makes them sound archaic and closed-minded - just see the second comment on the piece) handled the issue:

Jewish community leaders had an emergency meeting with Village of Monticello officials the following week because they were unsure as to how to handle the situation.

This is a far cry from days past when problems were always "handled internally" - this is precisely the type of situation (drugs, heavy underage drinking) that requires the authorities. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

One final note: While the article discusses both the reckless and the religious issues, it seems that they are addressing the two as separate items, even as they address them simultaneously. That's another good and important step, as there is a marked difference between wearing short skirts or kissing a girl and drinking heavily or smoking up. One may be wrong, but the other is dangerous.