Reflections of Sorts

Thought for RH and the Yamim Noraim

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:14:06 GMT

Surround yourself with moral exemplars -- it will encourage you to try to improve your own behavior.

I started thinking about this based on a series of events that happened over the past few weeks.

Two weeks ago, I had an interaction with a certain person, Ploni.* I thought he seemed slightly odd, but not exceedingly so. I mentioned to my father that I dealt with him, and my father asked, "Did he give you a hard time?" When I told my father that no, he hadn't, my father expressed relief, saying the Ploni could be quite a difficult to deal with at times. And that was the end of that conversation.

I was curious about Ploni, since, as I mentioned, some of the things he said seemed strange. But talking with my father inspired me to leave it be and respect Ploni's privacy.

Why did my father inspire me thus? My father runs a tzedaka (charity) fund in our area, a grassroots organization he started on his own about 20 years ago. It provides monthly assistance, either in with rent or utilities or with coupons good at local kosher grocery stores. He also provides small interest-free loans (his fund is the only institutional gemach in the area that we know about). There is no overhead for the fund, meaning 100% of donations go directly to aiding the poor. This is because my father does nearly everything for the fund and takes no salary for it. He has help from volunteers, and his brother donates all of the paper goods necessary for mailings and coupons and such. He is widely regarded as one of the genuinely good people running around this world of ours. When asked about my father, many of his acquaintances will answer, "He is a tzadik (a very righteous person)." My mom sometimes calls him a lamed vav-nik.** My father is also extremely sensitive to the non-financial needs of the people whom he helps, many of whom are in emotional straights due to needing financial aid, some of whom do not have a job because they are exceedingly difficult characters. He also maintains their privacy in the utmost.

Inspired by my father's example, I decided to leave Ploni's personal story alone. Then, this past Tuesday, I was part of a conversation where Ploni came up, and I did happen to learn more about his situation and why he seemed so odd (seems my dad was understating when he called him difficult). And I was upset that people were spreading this story around. Now, those of you who know me well know that there are many things that concern me, but lashon hara, or spreading of tales (even true ones), is not even one of my pet peeves, much less a major moral concern. But this upset me. And I could not understand why. Why would lashon hara disturb me in this particular case, but not in others?

The conclusion I reached was that it bothered me because I had made a conscious decision not to engage in it, and found myself doing so anyway. I was annoyed because my decision was overturned without my consent. I was also angry with myself for not immediately speaking up and demanding that the tale-telling end. So it was mostly about me. But then I realized that this would not have even been an issue for me had I not had this conversation specifically with my father. And that is when I thought that I should maximize my contact with good people, to inspire me to try to do better myself.

I think the whole incident was worth it, if only to learn this lesson. And should I run into Ploni again, which is unlikely, I shall continue to treat him with respect and kindness.

Shana tova everyone.

*Note: Ploni is the traditional Jewish placeholder name, like John Doe in America.

**Lamed vav means 36, and it generally refers to the legend that G-d refrains from destroying the world based on the presence of 36 truly righteous people in the world whose deeds balance the wickedness performed by everyone else.

Isn't this kind of self-defeating

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:11:27 GMT

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/03/prweb737384.htm

If everyone knows the brand name, won't they recognize it, thus removing all benefits?

Baruch Dayan Emet

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:48:07 GMT

I guess this is what it feels like to mourn with a nation. For all the famous personalities who have passed away within my lifetime, this one affects me like no other has. I will be 24 on Friday, and I cannot remember a time when Senator Ted Kennedy was not my senator. In fact, he served for nearly twice as long as I have been alive. My world just changed.

Watching all the memorials for him on television, my mind goes to the healthcare bill. This has been one of his causes for, again, as long as I can remember. I am not sure what his death means for the bill. Will it fail because he is not there to push it? Because we don't have his vote? Or will his death renew enthusiasm for the cause, so that even in death he works for it? I really hope G-d has this one all figured out, taking him right now.

May peace be upon him.

Attention HR departments: THIS is how you do it

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:03:41 GMT

Say what you will about the Reform movement, there are some things they get right. I'm not just talking about the way the URJ website could eat the USCJ website for breakfast and still be hungry. In this case, it's their HR department.

As I am sure all of you know by now, I have been looking for a job for about 2 months. For all of the applications I have sent, only 2 have garnered me any sort of response.

Anyway, I just applied to a job through the URJ and got an automated response. Now some people would feel this is cold and impersonal. Well, perhaps it is, but it is way better than getting no response whatsoever. Most applications just go out into the void and the applicant has no idea whether or not it actually went anywhere. After all that work, nothing.

So here's a note to all other HR departments: it doesn't take that much time to set up an auto-response. Write one up and stick it on your HR/jobs@yourinsitutionhere.com address. To the applicants, it will make a difference.

Jewish snarkiness

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 01:50:55 GMT

I finally came up with the perfect way to describe the Slim Shalom "translation:"

Even Neusner could do better.

Well Said!!!

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:04:42 GMT

I have somewhat mixed feelings towards Jimmy Carter, but he hits the nail on the head this time.

Losing My Religion for Equality
Carter discusses his decision to leave the Baptist Church based on their discrimination against women, and decries it throughout society and religion in the Western World.

Lettering geekery ahead

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:36:33 GMT

Article on how awful the Arial font is

I want to fact-check this article, but I don't have time at the moment. Still, a first glance is quite interesting, and I have always hated the Arial font. Its spacing bothers me, the height-to-width ratio is off, and I almost always prefer serifed letters to those without.

Sefirot, anyone?

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:09:03 GMT

So, chesed and din are a pair.

Which others come as pairs?

P.S. I have a tag for religion; should I tag this one kefira?

The next generation of corporate stupidity

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:45:04 GMT

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/al-lewis-wells-fargo-bank-sues/

Because everything we have seen until now is not enough.

End of a phase

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:31:29 GMT

I've been rewatching some old "Gilmore Girls" and "Veronica Mars" episodes lately. To my surprise, rather than finding them entertaining, I found them irritating. The characters were engaging, the dialogue witty, and the premises interesting, as always, but the interpersonal relations appalled me. I know that the nature of television dictates that one should always go for a clever exit line rather than stay and work something out, but I no longer find that amusing. I find it to be painful and immature. Not only do I not want to act like that, I don't want it in my life. I do not enjoy associating with people like that, and I do not find pleasure in watching others screw up their lives by acting stupid. So I guess this is it for me and television aimed at young women and teens.

Glove request

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:48:15 GMT

Can anyone bring 2 pairs of latex or nitrile gloves to masteraleph and levana_b's wedding? Archival cloth gloves will also work. I want to make the עדים wear them when they sign the כתובה, just to make sure they don't smudge anything with their sweaty, sweaty hands. A pair for the מסדר קדושין would not go amiss, either.

Times like these, I really miss my job. Constant access to nitrile and archival gloves.

When math and utuerus jokes collide.

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:45:13 GMT

Oy vey.

Ketubah woes

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:25:40 GMT

I'll post more about the return later, but for now I need to whine.

First off, why doesn't any place near me stock coated paper? I was not about to bring it back with me via Madrid -- it would have gotten hopelessly damaged on the way. But seriously, this is hippie/indy/arty-person central here. Why no coated paper? And Pearl has stopped stocking pen cartridges, the unprintables!

Current beef of the evening: quick dry gilding size takes 1.5 hours to achieve tack? Really? I suppose that's faster than the 10-12 necessary for slow-dry, but seriously. Do they think I have nothing better to do than sit around and watch size dry? Oh, yeah . . .

On the up side, scratch knives really are a girl's best friend. I thought I was going to have to redo the whole thing for a moment there, but a quick trip to Utrecht fixed that.

Semi-random thought brought on while taking my aliya this Shabbat so I could bentsch gomel*: do sofrim have to hold their pens at a 90 degree angle to the horizontal? That must suck!

*Normally when I am in front of a scroll, I am concentrating on reading it, or on not reading it as it is rolled, so I can't make it pasul. Beyond noticing whether the letters are well-formed, I don't usually have the spare brainpower to think of the mechanics of sofrut while reading. Hence not noticing until now.

Conservative Wangst

Mon, 18 May 2009 18:01:54 GMT

wotyfree and I have decided that Rabbi Roth's senior rabbinical school class on Halachic process ought to be called "Conservative Wangst LeMaaseh."

Fangirl SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Sun, 10 May 2009 13:27:47 GMT

Rabbi Roth is awesome!!!!

[does the squirmy happy puppy dance]

Attention Female Talit Shoppers

Tue, 05 May 2009 11:40:33 GMT

(And male talit shoppers who wish to patronize egal-friendly businesses)

Mishkan HaT'chelet at 109 Rehov Rabbi Akiva has at least one very friendly and helpful clerk (can't speak for all of them). He showed me a bunch of talitot and when I was considering one for size, he suggested I try it on, just go on to the back of the store to avoid a commotion.

Patronize non-insane businesses!

Quotes

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 04:24:18 GMT

"Wanna do some gratuitous gemara" after [we finish this mishna]?" -wotyfree

"Mishna is a gateway drug." -wotyfree

"I realize I'm sounding kinda Ziegler saying this, but you have to take the feelings of your congregants into account." -Me

Israel Doar Fail -- is anyone surprised?

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 08:51:18 GMT

Looking for a postal code for an address. One would think the post office website is the place to go, right? WRONG!

Try looking for Shalom Aleichem street here:
http://www.israelpost.co.il/zipcode.nsf/demozip?OpenForm

If you type it in, it claims you haven't properly filled out the "street" field.

So you go to the drop-down menu version:
http://www.israelpost.co.il/zipcode.nsf/getzip?OpenForm&locid=0&streetid=0

It lists Shalom Aleichem alright, but when you click on it, it resets.

I recently asked the director of CY if there is a word in Hebrew for efficiency. He told me that there is, but it seems that it is not well-known.

Where Talitot go to purgatory

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:30:21 GMT

Oh look, someone made a classic frummie talit into a really unflattering dress.

My agony of shopping for a groomsmaid dress continues. When do I get to the ecstasy part?

This would be so much easier at home, where I could just make it myself.

Linux: 40, Windows: 2

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:31:04 GMT

The external HD is now working in Kubuntu. When I am sure that my iPod will work with it, I might very well ditch Windows entirely. It has been nothing but a pain lately.

You'll never guess with whom I ate Shabbat dinner

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 12:51:29 GMT

No, I didn't kill him. No, he did not kill me. There was no profuse outpouring of virulent hatred of Conservative siddurim or machzorim on my part.

I asked him about the process of creating a siddur and he told me a bit about it. I then explained a bit about what I had in mind for my siddur, and he told me that it sounded like I have good ideas. When dinner ended he told me, "This conversation is to be continued."

I'm calling it a definite win.

Quotes from the Yeshiva

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 07:04:53 GMT

AS: [Schottenstein] is sexy!
Me: I am genetically indisposed to find Artscroll sexy.

wotyfree: Artscroll is, but it has a terrible STD.
Me: I don't think Artscroll gets around that much.
wotyfree: YES IT DOES.

"Stop talking about sexy Artscroll and get to evil!" -SR, my Medieval Jewish Thought teacher, who had us studying Rambam on the concept of evil that day.

"You colored in a book without pictures!" -spin0za1

spin0za1: [singing "Pierre"] Now as the night began to fall
A hungry lion paid a call
He looked Pierre right in the eye
And asked him if he'd like to get out of giving a get."
Me: I don't remember that version.

Quote of the Evening

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:07:44 GMT

giraffeluv3: I want to make the spoon suffer!
DF: giraffeluv3, that's ridiculous.
giraffeluv3: [incoherent whining]
DF: It's a growing experience.

Quotes from Reb M

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:24:40 GMT

"Come and get it folks, hot off the presses: frogs!"

"It's Frog Day in Midrash class."

Quote of Breakfast

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 07:03:59 GMT

spin0za1: Who is getting out of whose head now?
Me: I think we both need to go back to our own sides of the brain, hands to ourselves.
spin0za1: Moooooom, cynara_linnaea is poking my medulla oblongata!
Me: That came out far racier than you intended.