DovBear

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

To the Editor:

David Brooks is certainly correct that there is “complexity” in the Hanukkah story. But the “battle between theologies” it entailed did not pit “angry bearded” guys against champions of “the power of reason.” It was, rather, the confrontation of an utterly human-centered, amoral worldview and the God-centered convictions of Judaism.

That the casting off of the Seleucid yoke involved violence by the oppressed Jews is a truism. But bloodshed has attended many rightly venerated stands against oppression, including the one at the birth of our own country. Ideals are not always easily defended.

Reducing the defense of the essential Jewish ideal to an “insurgency campaign,” where “the good guys did horrible things,” is the sort of simplistic revisionism that is, in these deconstructive days, as misleading as it is common.

(Rabbi) Avi Shafran
Director of Public Affairs
Agudath Israel of America
New York, Dec.12, 2009

There's nothing like a letter decrying "simplistic revisionism" in which the author is guilty of the exact same thing. In case you missed it, here's where Avi did what he denounces: "It was, rather, the confrontation of an utterly human-centered, amoral worldview and the God-centered convictions of Judaism."

PS: We are all still waiting for Avi, the letter writer, to denounce rabbinic pedophilia with anything approaching the furor he reserves for gay rabbis or sloppy Timesmen.

Search for more information about [topic] at 4torah.com.

Great moments in publishing

I'm told by E_fink, who says he saw it on XGH, that Leib Tropper wrote a book on the Laws of Yichud. I'm sure its full of fabulous advice, and only the finest, unfiltered daas torah.

In other news, Bernie Madoff will be releasing a book on business ethics. Look for it at fine bookstores everywhere.

Search for more information about pots calling kettles black at 4torah.com.
Going to Israel? Now get 2 phones for the price of 1 (and free calls too) with Talk'n'Save.

More bad news about Israel for people who love bad news about Israel

Here's some extra evidence for you RWers who wish to remain convinced that Barak Obama and his friends in the Muslim world are busily plotting to make Jerusalem a Muslim city. From Haaretz:

The United States and Egypt, along with France, are planning a joint move to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks on the basis of the June 4, 1967, borders, territorial exchanges and a complete freeze of construction beyond the Green Line, including East Jerusalem. The freeze would not be announced publicly.

No source for this scary prediction is provided, though the article's next paragraph tries badly to link it to the always reliable foreign minister of Egypt.

In other news, Obama's secret plan to give me $10 million will also "not be announced publicly."

Going to Israel? Now get 2 phones for the price of 1 (and free calls too) with Talk'n'Save.<

What are Levivot?

In 2 Samuel Amnom the rapist makes use of a traditional chanuka treat. As a pretext for getting Tamar into his room, Amnon feigns illness, and then asks the inquiring king to send in his half-sister with some hand-baked levivot.

And what are they? Pancakes, I presumed, for all the obvious reasons.

But when I checked to see how my favorite Targum had teiched the word I found not "pancakes, or even the KJV's "cakes" but something else: "heart shaped dumplings" Heart shaped dumplings? In his note, Alter provides symbolic and etymological justifications:

The verb and its object are both transparently cognate with lev “heart” The term could refer to the shape of the dumplings, or to their function of “strengthening the heart” (idiomatic in biblical Hebrew for sustaining on encouraging) In the Song of Songs the same verb is associated with the idea of sexual arousal.

The word from Shir HaShirim that Alter has in mind is L'vavtini, which means something like "you have charmed me" or "you have made my heart beat faster" [more possibilities] Interestingly enough, the word L'vavtini (and indeed the entire chapter where it appears) is directed at a "sister bride" whom the speaker is attempting to flatter or seduce. (Recall Tamar and Amnon were half-siblings) That, and the 6 instances of l v v in the Tamar story as either a noun ora verb seem to justify Alter's reading, and his view that the biblical levivot are somehow connected to the heart or its affairs.

But what exactly were these things? The Aramaic targum on the spot seems to be the source for Alter's idea that they are dumplings, and Rashi agrees: Both say Tamar's levivot were some kind of dough boiled in water. But what was their shape? As I discussed this with my wife yesterday over breakfast, she correctly pointed out that our iconic idea of a heart is something new. Ancients would not have imagined the heart as looking like something from a Valentines day card. They lived closer to nature, and were familiar with blood and gore. More likely, their idea of a heart was closer to reality, and a real heart does look something like a dumpling.

[Related: As we talked, my wife went to a computer where she found this post. A bit of digging at that interesting site revealed that the yiddish word latka is derived from a Ukrainian word for pancake, that is itself derived from a Greek word for oil. How's that for an interesting chain of coincidences?]

From Dec 23 2008

Search for more information about cool Torah vocabulary at 4torah.com.
Going to Israel? Now get 2 phones for the price of 1 (and free calls too) with Talk'n'Save.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

He who laughs last...

From XGH:

A while after my blog opened, I got sick and I was petrified that maybe it was because I was rude about the Gedolim (it's not rational, I know) during the early days of the Science and Torah ban, and I was in for it. I vividly remember in Yeshivah hearing all sorts of stories about people who crossed rabbis and ended up dead. (Part of the reason I closed down some blogs). Anyways I turned out to be ok, but meanwhile the two biggest players in the Science and Torah ban on the pro-ban side have now been thoroughly disgraced - one is in jail and the other is the new Chareidi Tiger Woods. Pretty freaky, no?

Though I was never as rude as XGH or his alter egos, I was a Slifkin man from the beginning, and the recipient of piles of nasty threats. Kishke and Ed and other functionally illiterate morons from Lakewood promised me I'd suffer all sorts of misfortune for daring to state a point of view that coincided with Rishonim and Achronim but not with R. Matisyahu Solomon and R. Elya Wachtofogel and other boldfaced names. Five years later, we know the Rabbis were either manipulated by zealot scumbags, or making rulings that were intended only for sequestered Haredi enclaves and not for Torah Judaism at large. Two of the leading zealot scumbags, as XGH says, are finished, while Slifkin and his supporters stand tall. What superstitious explanation can we offer for this turn of events? In January 2005, one especially obnoxious critic warned me that "God repays sinners" To this I can now only reply "yehi shem Hashem mivorach."

Holiday Music 6

My Chanukka Bush

The image at left comes from the invitation to George W. Bush's 2008 Chanuka party. Note the tree? See any menorah? Now, of course this was written off as simple little mistake and like Bush's calls for a Palestinian state, and the pressure he put on Israel to freeze construction, this funny little fo-pah (sp?) has been excused and forgotten.

Another great Bush Chanukka moment came in 2005. Unwilling to re-arrange his precious vacation, the panderer in chief staged a mock Chanuka celebration at the White House two weeks ahead of time. Some poor unwitting Jew even had to light the candles (8 of them for some reason) for the president's amusement and say the blessings. If Bush cared about Chanuka, and not the photo-op, he'd have had some Jews over to his vacation mansion on the actual holiday. But that's not what he did.

Though I didn't collect Bushisms - those funny lapses of syntax, grammar and sense, for which he was famous - I remain amused at the stupid thing he said on Chanukka 2001. “I couldn’t imagine someone like Osama Bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah.” This fails on two counts: First, "understanding the joy of XXX" sounds like something from a Christmas special. I expect Bush, like most moron gentiles, simply presumes that Chanuka and Christmas are interchangeable, so the tropes of one holiday can be farily applied to another. Second, Osama Bin Ladin, the guerrilla fighter at war with a superpower to establish a narrow theocracy, might be the one person on earth who BEST understands Chanuka. Politics and personal preferences aside, who is more of a modern Maccabee than he?

Lets hope for a conflagration

וְהָיָה֩ בֵית־ יַעֲקֹ֨ב אֵ֜שׁ וּבֵ֧ית יֹוסֵ֣ף לֶהָבָ֗ה וּבֵ֤ית עֵשָׂו֙ לְקַ֔שׁ וְדָלְק֥וּ בָהֶ֖ם וַאֲכָל֑וּם וְלֹֽא־ יִֽהְיֶ֤ה שָׂרִיד֙ לְבֵ֣ית עֵשָׂ֔ו כִּ֥י יְהוָ֖ה דִּבֵּֽר׃

I'm not going to name names because nothing is verified yet and nothing has been published by a reliable source, but one of the big names in obnoxious Orthodox Jewish zealotry is about to go down hard. Let the Chanukka pyre which is going to consume his reputation become a raging uncontrolled burning that devours obnoxious Orthodox Jewish zealots everywhere.

Monday, December 14, 2009

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

A Guest Post By E. Fink

I have nothing to add to this gem.

Search for more information about ham recipes for Chanukah at 4torah.com.

Holiday Music 5

Ghosts of Chanukah Past

Where did the miracle of the oil come from? A 2006 guest post by ExtraTorah

Were you aware Pesikta Rabbati says we keep Chanuka for 8 days "because when the sons of the Hasmoneans, the High Priest, defeated the Hellenists, they entered the Temple and found there eight iron spears. They stuck candles on them and lit them." See more of same at this summary of the different Torah views of the Chanuka miracle and (in the comments) a discussion about why we should, or should not believe it

Holy holiday irony Batman! "...the "pure" cruse of oil, enough to last only for a day, but which burned for 8, had been certified kosher by none other than Menalus, the Kohen Godol and the same rasha who caused the whole mess to begin with!"

Lurker on the origins of Chanuka

"...the facts of history are almost irrelevant, once emotions have come into play." A short post on the significance of Chanukka

"I couldn't imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah." — President George W. Bush, Dec. 10, 2001

If you're new to the blog you might not know why Chanukah has 8 days. If so, you can find out here. [Though this is where it began, and here is where it continued this year]

Hungry for more of same? See: Oy Chanuka

And because no trip down memory lane would be complete without an undressing of Cross Currents check out this discussion of Toby Katz's mistaken view of Chanuka, too

Also: Never forget that "Chanukah would probably have gone the way of Shavuot, a more significant Jewish holiday which few Jews celebrate because there is no popular Christian holiday surrounding it."

The final word

Moron YWN comment of the day

YaakovKuperman:

Yeah… I sure miss Bush’s two-state solution politics and support for disengagement, not to mention the pressure he put on us to pull out of even more territory…. Oh wait…

SOME SMALL REMINDERS
(1) Bush's Road Map: Here's the salient detail from Wikipedia: The principles of the [Road Map] originally drafted by U.S. Foreign Service Officer Donald Bloome, were first outlined by U.S. President George W. Bush in a speech on June 24, 2002, in which he called for an independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace: "The Roadmap represents a starting point toward achieving the vision of two states, a secure State of Israel and a viable, peaceful, democratic Palestine. It is the framework for progress towards lasting peace and security in the Middle East..."

(2) "The United States sees the establishment of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution as absolutely essential for the future, not just of Palestinians and Israelis but also for the Middle East and indeed to American interests" - Condi Rice, speaking for her president, October 15, 2007

(3) Regarding Bush's pressure on Israel, from November 26, 2007 "As one senior [Israeli] officer directly involved in the negotiations with the Palestinians and the Americans said, "As bad as it might look from the outside, the truth is ten times worse. This is a nightmare. The Americans have never been so hostile."

(4) Rice calls Hamas a resistance movement

That's from two seconds of searching. If I thought moron YaakovKuperman was a reader of this blog, I'd go to more trouble to demolish his stupid statement. Troubles me deeply that Orthodox Jews are such unreflective parrots of demonstrably untrue Republican propaganda.

Obama's Hanukka greetings

From here.

משרד הדובר

לפרסום מידי 11 דצמבר 2009

הצהרת הנשיא אובאמה לרגל חג החנוכה

מישל ואנוכי שולחים את מיטב איחולינו לכל מי שחוגג בימים אלה את חג החנוכה ברחבי העולם. סיפור חנוכה של המכבים ושל הנסים שהם חוו מזכירים לנו שאמונה והתמדה הן כוחות עצומים המסוגל ים לקיים אותנו בתקופות קשות ולעזור לנו לגבור על מכשולים כנגד כל הסיכויים.

חנוכה הוא העת לא רק לחגוג את אמונת העם היהודי ואת מנהגיו, אלא להעלות על נס את השאיפות המשותפות של בני כל הדתות. בשעה שבני משפחה, חברים ושכנים נאספים יחדיו כדי להדליק את הנרות, מי יתן והלקחים של חנוכה ישמשו השראה לכולנו להודות על החסד שנפל בחלקינו, למצוא מקור אור בתקופות אופל ולפעול יחדיו למען עתיד יותר מלא אורה ותקווה.

Michelle and I send our warmest wishes to all who are celebrating Hanukkah around the world. The Hanukkah story of the Maccabees and the miracles they witnessed reminds us that faith and perseverance are powerful forces that can sustain us in difficult times and help us overcome even the greatest odds.

Hanukkah is not only a time to celebrate the faith and customs of the Jewish people, but for people of all faiths to celebrate the common aspirations we share. As families, friends and neighbors gather together to kindle the lights, may Hanukkah's lessons inspire us all to give thanks for the blessings we enjoy, to find light in times of darkness, and to work together for a brighter, more hopeful tomorrow.

My two cents:

(1) I suppose some of you will think the Hebrew was a nice touch - certainly its a satisfying expression of Obama's values and his often expressed desire to reach out to people, in this case, Hebrew speaking Isrealis - but I didn't need it. Seems like a little too much of a pander. (Aside: Was the translation any good?)

(2) I give the president (or his writers) credit for avoiding the "religious freedom" trap.

(3) Over on the most awful blog in the world (YWN) the moron editor has posted Bush's Chanukah message from 2007. Supposedly what Bush said that year was loads better then what Obama said last week (though I don't see it) I wonder why the moron editor didn't post Bush's 2005 greeting (which contained more praise for the US military than any good wish for the Jews) or his famous Chanukka party invitation from 2008, which had a Christmas tree on it. I also wonder why there was no mention of the time in 2005 when the pandering president pretended to celebrate Chanuka two weeks ahead of time

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Hanuka Greetings from Paris Hilton

Criminals Advertising on VIN

A Guest Post By E. Fink

The following 2 ads are running on a constant basis over at VIN. The top ad is to raise money for the teens imprisoned in Japan for smuggling thousands of dollars of ecstasy. The bottom ad is a flash ad for Spinka with 2 lines of text (I have included both). Now that they are no longer laundering money, Spinka needs money too.

Both of these ads are asking for your money to help support Jewish "frum" criminals.

Pidyon Shvuyim is clearly a halachic requirement. It is not so clear what the halacha is when the captive is a victim of his or her own crime.

Tzedaka is a clearly a mitzva. It is not clear if it is a mitzva to save a Chasidic dynasty that got itself in trouble with the law by laundering millions of dollars.