Posts Tagged Pesach
Posting Hiatus
Posted by Talmudist in Scatterbrained Posts on April 21st, 2009
Yes, I know, I have not posted nor commented on the blogs of others in a while. I think that this is due to a perfect storm of reasons, which I will call the ‘Funk.’
Elaboration of said Funk:
A. Pesach got in the way, y’know?
B. I got really sick on the last day of Pesach – at a hotel, no less. I’m still recouping.
C. I think I have reached something of a crossroads w/r/t what this blog is all about. I have finished a couple stories that I am allowed to keep up -of the unfinished ones, one is in indefinitive limbo, and the other (The Kollel Guy) is, well, it’s at the end of Season One so to say (Season Two will soon arrive, with a couple twists on its horizon). But my first nonfiction serial posting (In a Previous Life) really does display to me that the blog is heading in more of a direction that I’m going to be more comfortable with on the whole (assuming that I can keep blogging).
On Conservatives and Liberals (Part 2); Acharon Shel Pesach
Posted by Talmudist in D'var Torah, Politics, Scatterbrained Posts, Thought on April 14th, 2009
When a more conservative government is in power, government tends to grow smaller, squeezing the populous into a position where they must answer for themselves to a greater degree. This pressure promotes a counter force in the ‘individual’ to strive for personal greatness. Such an attitude is contagious, causing families to stick together, strengthening their values (important to note: Some form of religious devotion often runs concurrently with this), and tends to harbor a nourishing incubatory atmosphere in the home for the appreciation of education.
To be baldly (and quite probably badly) reductionistic about it: There is an inverse relationship between the size of government and improvement in the infrastructure of our nation’s educational and academic paradigm.
Passover Redemption
Posted by Talmudist in D'var Torah, Thought on April 12th, 2009
Being that this is a particularly spiritually auspicious time of year and all, I’m currently putting up a higher ratio of ‘vertlech’ up relative to the normal output of such fare here.
So my friend Dov told me something nice and poignant in the name of R’ M.W. (Sometimes you have to [if you must] attack the messenger, and yet embrace the message; ha-mayvin yavin).
When a nation is freed, nothing much has really been achieved. What in the world are the populous of such a people supposed to do upon emancipation, fresh out of their weltenschung of (in some cases hundreds [or even thousands of] years of) bondage? That old man who got out of jail after x-many years in The Shawshank Redemption didn’t go off to Hawaii…he did himself in. He may not have liked prison that much, but it was still his way of life – his default setting – the glasses that he had been completely been behaviorized into being ‘comfortable’ with. Being ‘freed’ was the worst thing that could have been done for him.
The Limbo of it all *
Posted by Talmudist in D'var Torah, Scatterbrained Posts, Sports, Uncategorized on April 11th, 2009
So I’m supposed to be working on an article for a more ‘choshuv‘ publication than the ones that I have already been featured in, but it’s an uphill climb – for me. There are so many ways to view just what it is that I’m (supposed to be?) writing about w/r/t the particular subject matter at hand - so many seemingly conflicting ambiguities are involved (just how is it possible to have a truly objective POV on just about, well, just about anything…that is, at least when writing a piece of investigative journalism?), and seemingly unending fact-checking responsibilities float around the project’s background…
The calender has not been much of a friend in my endeavors either, what with ‘no-work’ Pesach days cramming up prime workweek real estate. But there’s nothing one can do but keep pushing.
The option of throwing in the towel does not exist. ‘Shevah yee’pol tzaddik v’kom;’ my friend. (”Get busy living or get busy dying,” etc.).
I heard an interview recently between Terry Gross and the comedian Russell Brand which is, I think, pretty ‘on point’ (no intention for punnery was latent there, seriously).
Thoughts To Go Into Pesach With
Posted by Talmudist in D'var Torah on April 7th, 2009
I’m going to be all over the place this Pesach, first days will be spent by Chuck, last days with other dear members of the family, and chol hamo’ed…well, that’s still a little TBD…
A vort:
Motzei Shabbos Disjointed Vent
Posted by Talmudist in Scatterbrained Posts on April 4th, 2009
This year has been my ‘double-bar-mitzvah’ anniversary (meaning that I’m twenty-six, at least for a little while longer [1]). I’d love to talk about the ‘may’chayil lih’chayil’ leaps I have made as I make a sorta cheshbon hanefesh, but there is unfortunately not too much on that to report, especially when the Talmudic maxim of “Hakol holchin achar ha-sof” is taken into account.
I don’t often look back at my bar mitzvah, but when I do, I feel mighty embarrassed about my failure to live up to the possible ‘flash of greatness’ that was on display back then.
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