Take a deep breath

For all the masses out there waiting with baited breath for my next post, not to worry. It's just been hectic in the office.

Ok, fine. I also don't have anything to write, but fear not, I'll be back.

A Story

Treppenwitz posts a really good story putting things in perspective.

Raising kids

A parent is always (or least should be) worrying that they are doing their best to shelter their child from the evils of the world. The question is where is the line drawn? What some people would consider inappropriate for a child, some would say is ok.

One area we are careful with is language. To the point that while the children are still young, “stupid” is a no-no. I realize that it’s not that bad a word but why have these little impressionable kids having it in their vocabulary? No reason for it. It’'s almost funny when my wife or me inadvertently utter one of the ‘bad’ words in a regular sentence. My kids are Word Cops and if someone happens to say something they’'re told is a ‘bad word’, be prepared to be called to account by them. I’'m just not sure at what age it will become an ok word. I mean ‘stupid’ is really not a bad word and they'’re just going to hear it more and more. At some point I'’ll have to tell them that while the word is not actually soooo bad, using it in context like: “"You'’re stupid"” should still be avoided.

Anywhoooooo, yesterday my son comes home and tells my wife that a boy in his class said a really, really bad word. My wife naturally assumed the worst and quietly took my son aside to speak to him and find out what the word was. His first response was “maybe I shouldn’t say it. Isn'’t it lashon hara? (this is my 7-year old. I know I wasn’t like that!) My wife explained that when you tell your mother, it’s a whole different stor; she needs to know for a good reason. So my little boy, with a real serious and pained expression on his face, whispered into her ear,

"“He said ‘'shut up'’"”

My wife, already having assumed the worst, breathed a noticeable sigh of relief.

My son, still whispering into her ear: "“No, you don't understand. He said '‘shut up, BUTTHEAD'"’”

These are not time for parents to crack up laughing but I don’t think he noticed.

I guess we’re doing ok.

Aishes Chayil

Behind every frum man, is the woman who keeps him that way...

I find myself trying to formulate semi-intelligent posts ad the oddest times. The shower seems to works great on the literary mind. Problem is, by the time I dry off & get a chance to actually post, my mental masterpiece is gone.

Last night my wife was in the room with me as I surfed some of the blogs that I keep track of and I tried to explain to her the vast underworld of blogging and how fascinating it can be. At the time I happened to be catching up on “A Hassid & A Heretic”- a blog I enjoy reading. It is by a chassidishe guy who lives in Williamsburg with his wife and children and while his community looks up to him as an erliche yid and a talmid chacham (I think he even gives some local shiurim), he believes in none of it. He’s a fascinating read and maybe one day I’ll actually post or write him.

His current post summarizes the people he has discovered in the blogging world coping with similar issues:

“We can divide them in a few categories.

1. The ones who believe in god yet don’t believe in everything that they were taught. They won’t eat meat and milk together not even cold but won’t wait the six hours required by the Halacha. These people would just change the rules a little to be more consistent with the original Judaism. If only they stood a chance.

2. People who fully believe, yet like to sin. Those people would refrain from doing their usual amount of sins from Elul (before the high holy days) until after Sukkos, or at times when their guilty feelings creep up on them like guilt tends to do so often. Personally I don’t understand how people who believe in Schar Ve’oinesh (award and punishment) could bring themselves to sin so gravely while believing that they will regret it.

3. Non-believers. They don’t believe, don’t follow the commands and don’t care much about the religion altogether. Those can be subdivided into two categories too. A) People like me who are still Chassidim on the outside for what ever reason. B) People who have severed all ties to Orthodox Judaism.”

My wife then asked me which category I thought I fell in.

Generally, my wife thinks that I’m on the verge of apikorsis. This is because while she is content with observing and following without needing to understand, I am always making sarcastic comments. We both believe, but which is better? Now don’t get me wrong. I believe Yiddishkeit is authentic. I think that if Ezra or one of the tannaim came to NY in the year 2005 and walked into a shteeble, they’d walk out scratching their heads. But hey, it’s what’s kept the Jewish people unique and true to God for a long time now so who am I to argue? It’s the small stuff that bugs me. Sometimes my kids come home from school with the wildest stories that I could swear the rebbe made up. That’s fine for chinuch, but the kids grow up with these stories being what’s important and not what the point originally was.

I think women are generally more faithful to God than us men. They just feel it in their hearts while the men need to work on it and search for God. Aishes Chayil Mi Yimtzah?

So back to the question. Which do I think I fall in? I would say maybe #1, but #1 is a little vague and can include so many people. Also, I don’t think I’d chuck observances as freely as #1 calls for. The area’s I fall short in are more due to my laziness than anything else.

She then asked me if I have a blog. I lied and said no. That sucks but if I’m going to write anything, she can’t know about this. Like I said, trusting.

Girlie Men

I've been using the Mozilla Firefox browser for a while now. It's a cool browser. I especially like the tabs since I can have 9 sessions open at work and it only looks like one ;-)

Next was Thunderbird...Not too shabby.

Firefox. Thunderbird. If you're going to give Mozilla credit for one thing, its giving their products names with a little ooomph of testosterone.

Explorer? Outlook? You're going down Gates.

Archaeological Dig Uncovers Ancient Race Of Skeleton People

Breaking News

The bags are packed...

I remember how after 9-11, everyone suddenly had proof where it was written somewhere how right before moshiach arrives, the 'two towers' will come down. Cute, and it had me going for a while. Being right before Rosh Hashanah didn't hurt either. There were more that freaked me out at the time, but I can't remember them just now.

In the 4+ years since, I've gotten a little more cynical. Really. So when this world calamity happened in the far-east last week, I knew that it was only a matter of time till the stories start. I didn't have to wait too long. My wife gets off the phone this evening and tells me that Rav______, one of the more prominant gedolei hador, said that this is a sign form God that klal yisroel is doing something right since he chose to direct this disaster in an area light in jews. Nevermind that, statistically, just about any spot on the planet earth is light in jews; unless he chose to send the tsunami to Boro Park (so much room here, but I wont go there) or Israel.

Then I remembered reading just the opposite the other day. How we are in the birth-pangs of mashiach ( I sure hope so) and that God chose this location to show his displeasure "where many of our compatriots went to look for this-worldly lusts." So which is it?

Either way, there is no doubt in my mind that a message is being sent. According to Rva Kaduri, we are in the 4th year of the 7-year cycle of mashiach's arrival. In fact, he's in Eretz Yiroel as we speak. (if you're reading this, we're waiting!!!)

All this aside, we should definately respond to the call to increase acts of kindness. Spooky or not, that can never hurt.