If anyone is still reading this, I apologize for not updating it for...*counts fingers* six months!
There is a lot of "real life" that has been getting in the way. None of it unpleasant, just busybusybusy.
I still have a few plans for this blog, when I get the chance to do some in-depth writing. I would still like to follow through with my announced project of annotating some of the differences between the Western and Eastern Sephardic siddurim, but I would also like to explore the rich cultural differences that exist between Iberian Jews, Western European Sephardim, Sephardim from North Africa and Sephardim from the Middle East.
These are not differences in the sense that they divide us; rather, each of us has a square or two of a wonderful, rich, colorful quilt. When we bring these individual squares together, they form a majestic whole the sum of which is far greater than the individual parts.
It's something to preserve, cherish, and not get lost in the steamroller of homogeny.
11 September 2008
10 March 2008
New Blog Added To My Blogroll
In the wake of the shooting at Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav, I stumbled upon an Israeli news/editorial blog called Israellycool. Despite its optimistic name, it seems to be focused on Palestinian attacks on Israelis. It has many contributors, all with insights from being in Israel, often nearby, so I added it to my blogroll. I'm mentioning it on the main page in case anyone is interested in perusing it.
I was going to call it "Blogitorial", but a quick Google search shows I'm nowhere near the first person to think of that word... :)
I was going to call it "Blogitorial", but a quick Google search shows I'm nowhere near the first person to think of that word... :)
06 March 2008
Yeshiva Shooting Outside Jerusalem, R"L
I don't normally consider this a news blog, but reports are just coming in for this. Two gunmen infiltrated a yeshiva in Kiryat Moshe and opened fire in a dining hall. At least seven people were killed; reports of wounded vary from 10 to 20 according to both AP and CNN.
Associated Press, via The Chicago TribuneCNN report
Jerusalem Post article
Ha'aretz story
BBC News
YNET News
Al-Jazeera which is reporting that one of the gunmen had an explosives belt. That has been discounted now; the gunman was wearing an ammunition belt.
Arutz Sheva has a very detailed report
21 February 2008
Albert (Amichai) Bitton zichrono liveracha
Our neighborhood is still reeling from the death of one of our own.
Albert Bitton, Amichai ben Eliyahu*, was killed yesterday morning while serving in Iraq. He graduated from Ida Crown Jewish Academy in 2005; while I only know the family periphrally, my daughter (who is an Academy student) and his younger sister have been friends from their elementary school days at Sephardic Hebrew Day School.
Needless to say, the Academy is in mourning with all classes cancelled yesterday, and with social workers, counselors and probably psychologists offering whatever support and assistance they could to students and faculty.
I offer two links to two different pieces on the web.
The first one is a news story from Yeshiva World News.
The second is a blog post from The Curious Jew.
And, somewhat bittersweet, there is a Facebook group that was set up to monitor his status while serving in the Army. The group is rapidly filling up with hespeidim.
Baruch Dayan HaEmet.
*Sephardic practice is to say the person's name followed by ben- or bat- the mother's name in the case of one who is ill or deceased; however, I do not know his mother's name so I have opted to use his father's instead.
Albert Bitton, Amichai ben Eliyahu*, was killed yesterday morning while serving in Iraq. He graduated from Ida Crown Jewish Academy in 2005; while I only know the family periphrally, my daughter (who is an Academy student) and his younger sister have been friends from their elementary school days at Sephardic Hebrew Day School.
Needless to say, the Academy is in mourning with all classes cancelled yesterday, and with social workers, counselors and probably psychologists offering whatever support and assistance they could to students and faculty.
I offer two links to two different pieces on the web.
The first one is a news story from Yeshiva World News.
The second is a blog post from The Curious Jew.
And, somewhat bittersweet, there is a Facebook group that was set up to monitor his status while serving in the Army. The group is rapidly filling up with hespeidim.
Baruch Dayan HaEmet.
*Sephardic practice is to say the person's name followed by ben- or bat- the mother's name in the case of one who is ill or deceased; however, I do not know his mother's name so I have opted to use his father's instead.
19 February 2008
In Honor of Purim Katan
I apologize for my negligence the past almost two weeks; I have four topics milling about in my brain that I just have not had time to sit down and iron out on the keyboard. I will get to them soon, be'ezrat Hashem.
In the meantime, since Purim Katan comes tomorrow, and since President's Day was yesterday, I will ask you all if you remembered to insert the special President's Day beracha in your amida and your birkat hamazon.
Oh, come on. You know the special President's Day beracha.
Al HaNesi'im.
In the meantime, since Purim Katan comes tomorrow, and since President's Day was yesterday, I will ask you all if you remembered to insert the special President's Day beracha in your amida and your birkat hamazon.
Oh, come on. You know the special President's Day beracha.
Al HaNesi'im.
04 February 2008
Al Tikrei "Banayich", Elah "Bonayich": Derech Eretz Revisited
This is a fourth generation post. I got it from Live from Israel. She got it from Orthonomics, who got it from Yated. It concerns a social situation in the Yeshiva world that may be violating more lo ta'aseh's than the positive mitzvot that can be generated to counterbalance it. (I will refer you to Orthonomics for the original terminology, but please also read Live from Israel because Miriam has some excellent points. )
As I first encountered it on Miriam's blog, I started to respond to it there, but realized that as I was going on and on atop a soapbox, perhaps it is better to just open up here on my own blog. I didn't intend for this to be, to use a non-Sephardi term, ah ganze Mussar shmuss, but it's going to be one anyway.
It may be that FFBs, especially from the Chareidi world, are so used to being self-insular that they cannot understand what it means to accept without judgment someone who is really trying.
Miriam's blog, in two different separate posts, has actually pointed up a real dichotomy in Frum Society - the Kiruv movement on one hand, encouraging those who aren't as religious to become more observant, and on the other hand an insular environment that looks upon such efforts with disdain, apparently considering such chozrim as untouchable riff-raff.
Considering that we preach a Torah that states that every human being is descended from a single ancestor so that one person cannot say to another "I am better than you", this is deplorable.
We have a mitzvah to love another Jew, for no other reason than he or she is a Jew. We have a mitzvah to lead others by example - the initial example being greeting another person with a smile.
We have a mitzvah not to oppress another Jew, and especially not to engage in behavior or speak words that would cause that Jew distress, or chas v'shalom embarassment.
It is unfortunately too easy to follow one's yetzer hara and join a crowd of those who would mock a "harry", rather than to remember that we do not follow a majority to do evil. We forget our noble heritage and become debased. And the result? For every "harry" who toughs it out, tries to take social cues, and attempts against great odds to integrate into yeshivish society...how many will we lose? How many will decide "Hey, if this is what religious people are like, to blank with them and their religion" and leave the derech entirely? Not just how many Jews will we lose, but how many generations of Jews? How many worlds will we lose?
Here's an introspective question I would love to ask those who create and propogate this exclusionary, elitist environment: Let's say, for the sake of argument, that you're part of an elite yeshiva. Let's say that you get someone in your yeshiva who is mamash an ignoramus. He's middle-aged, too, which makes it even worse. He's illiterate, has to be taught aleph-beit, and probably needs a bit of social help in order to dress the part and pronounce his words correctly.
Do you accept this person? Do you love him, encourage him, give him a solid grounding even though he is decades behind where he "should be"?
Or do you cast him aside, make fun of him, denigrate his aspirations, and spread the word that he's a pariah?
Because if your yeshiva chooses the latter....mazel tov. You've just robbed the world of Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva who entered the Yeshiva world at the age of 40 with no prior knowledge, and who had to be educated literally in kindergarten classes. And yet, look what he became.
How can we let another potential precious jewel to all Jewry be trampled into the ground because of our need to feel that somehow our torah, our mesorah, our minhag is better than someone else's? Instead of sending home a "harry" who is so depressed he won't even try...why not elevate him? Why not a kind word, a suggestion, a "here, let me show you the way we do it". Give the person something with which to grow. Nurture this person's spirit. CREATE worlds, rather than destroying them.
Isn't that our mission anyway, as Jews?
As I first encountered it on Miriam's blog, I started to respond to it there, but realized that as I was going on and on atop a soapbox, perhaps it is better to just open up here on my own blog. I didn't intend for this to be, to use a non-Sephardi term, ah ganze Mussar shmuss, but it's going to be one anyway.
It may be that FFBs, especially from the Chareidi world, are so used to being self-insular that they cannot understand what it means to accept without judgment someone who is really trying.
Miriam's blog, in two different separate posts, has actually pointed up a real dichotomy in Frum Society - the Kiruv movement on one hand, encouraging those who aren't as religious to become more observant, and on the other hand an insular environment that looks upon such efforts with disdain, apparently considering such chozrim as untouchable riff-raff.
Considering that we preach a Torah that states that every human being is descended from a single ancestor so that one person cannot say to another "I am better than you", this is deplorable.
We have a mitzvah to love another Jew, for no other reason than he or she is a Jew. We have a mitzvah to lead others by example - the initial example being greeting another person with a smile.
We have a mitzvah not to oppress another Jew, and especially not to engage in behavior or speak words that would cause that Jew distress, or chas v'shalom embarassment.
It is unfortunately too easy to follow one's yetzer hara and join a crowd of those who would mock a "harry", rather than to remember that we do not follow a majority to do evil. We forget our noble heritage and become debased. And the result? For every "harry" who toughs it out, tries to take social cues, and attempts against great odds to integrate into yeshivish society...how many will we lose? How many will decide "Hey, if this is what religious people are like, to blank with them and their religion" and leave the derech entirely? Not just how many Jews will we lose, but how many generations of Jews? How many worlds will we lose?
Here's an introspective question I would love to ask those who create and propogate this exclusionary, elitist environment: Let's say, for the sake of argument, that you're part of an elite yeshiva. Let's say that you get someone in your yeshiva who is mamash an ignoramus. He's middle-aged, too, which makes it even worse. He's illiterate, has to be taught aleph-beit, and probably needs a bit of social help in order to dress the part and pronounce his words correctly.
Do you accept this person? Do you love him, encourage him, give him a solid grounding even though he is decades behind where he "should be"?
Or do you cast him aside, make fun of him, denigrate his aspirations, and spread the word that he's a pariah?
Because if your yeshiva chooses the latter....mazel tov. You've just robbed the world of Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva who entered the Yeshiva world at the age of 40 with no prior knowledge, and who had to be educated literally in kindergarten classes. And yet, look what he became.
How can we let another potential precious jewel to all Jewry be trampled into the ground because of our need to feel that somehow our torah, our mesorah, our minhag is better than someone else's? Instead of sending home a "harry" who is so depressed he won't even try...why not elevate him? Why not a kind word, a suggestion, a "here, let me show you the way we do it". Give the person something with which to grow. Nurture this person's spirit. CREATE worlds, rather than destroying them.
Isn't that our mission anyway, as Jews?
01 February 2008
Mashiv HaRuach U'Morid HaSheleg
A few pictures from this morning. The snow is still falling!
Down my block, at 7:30 this morning.
The front of my house this morning when I came back from shul. I'm glad I daven around the corner :-) (BTW...yes, I have shoveled since then!)
The backyard. Snow to your waist. School was cancelled today, so don't think the kids aren't getting ideas.
30 January 2008
Moderation
From the "Wow, That Was Fast" Department:
I have decided to moderate comments. I received a comment to a post today from someone who is obviously a personal friend, and who made a comment that is a private joke concerning the behavior of a specific person. The comment might tend to confuse readers or even be misconstrued by them, which is not my goal.
Within reason, comments should clear within an hour or so after having been posted, so please don't shy away from saying something. If it's something that will be obtuse to the general public, however, I may choose not to print it just to avoid confusion.
I have decided to moderate comments. I received a comment to a post today from someone who is obviously a personal friend, and who made a comment that is a private joke concerning the behavior of a specific person. The comment might tend to confuse readers or even be misconstrued by them, which is not my goal.
Within reason, comments should clear within an hour or so after having been posted, so please don't shy away from saying something. If it's something that will be obtuse to the general public, however, I may choose not to print it just to avoid confusion.
29 January 2008
Minhag Chicago: It Snows In The Winter
Chicago went from the low 50s Fahrenheit this afternoon to, as of this writing (11:00 PM), 3 degrees Fahrenheit. Yikes. We were promised a snowstorm, and we were not disappointed; but this being Chicago, it is the wind-blown drifting snow that's causing all the problems. All the snow has actually fallen.
Behold, Devon Avenue looking eastward toward Sacramento Avenue, approximately 9:30 this evening. Normally Devon is extremely busy. Tonight?.....nothin'. Few cars, and only carless fools like myself to take pictures and document the snowy paralysis.
28 January 2008
Beruchim Haba'im, Welcome to The Sephardi Safari
I decided to make a blog after having read several interesting blogs, and having commented on at least two, one of which is written right here in my adopted hometown (since 1990) of Chicago.
I'm a Sephardic Jew, but one whose traditions are of the Western Sephardim rather than the Eastern. Mention "Sephardi" to many people and they immediately think of the Edot HaMizrah, the Sephardim who came from the Arabic Middle East, from Yemen, Iraq, Egypt, Persia, and Syria. My heritage is from the other end of the Sephardic spectrum, the Sephardim of Italy, Western Europe, North Africa, and the Spanish and Portuguese who escaped to the Netherlands, and wound up not only in England but in the Western Hemisphere where they set up the very first organized Jewish communities in North America.
Differences are small; the liturgy has a few differences from the Eastern version. Occasionally an entire prayer is different (the fourth beracha in Musaf for Shabbat, for example), and some prayers have slight textual changes (one word) while other prayers are a completely different version from their Eastern counterparts (The "long version" of Baruch She'amar).
Some external practices are also different, as the Western Sephardim differed in varying degrees with the adoption of Kabbalistic practices that were taken on wholesale in the East; the Spanish and Portuguese tradition rejected them entirely after the Shabbatai Tsvi debacle, while most Moroccan Jews pray from siddurim that include Kabbalistic kavvanot, the Tetragrammaton with an elongated "heh" containing the letters aleph, daledh, nun, and yod.
In this blog I hope to delve into some of the history of Sephardic Jewry, in both practices and nusach tefillah. I have a great interest in the anusim, the descendants of forced converts of five centuries ago, many of whom are halachically Jewish and follow certain distinct Jewish rituals - often not knowing why. (An interesting argument for the concept of mesorah and Torah Sheb'al Peh, by the way.)
And of course, I hope to find time to address issues affecting Jews and the Jewish community in general, without regard to ancestry or tradition. After all, no matter whence we or our ancestors hail, Jews are Jews. I am of the firm belief that the differences in our various customs make what could be a boringly uniform community into a patchwork quilt, a smorgasbord of mesorah. Our customs of dress, the way we wave our lulavim, whether we sit or stand for kiddush or kaddish or havdallah, these are all different spices that make our Jewish stew so interesting. And to me, that is to be celebrated.
I'm a Sephardic Jew, but one whose traditions are of the Western Sephardim rather than the Eastern. Mention "Sephardi" to many people and they immediately think of the Edot HaMizrah, the Sephardim who came from the Arabic Middle East, from Yemen, Iraq, Egypt, Persia, and Syria. My heritage is from the other end of the Sephardic spectrum, the Sephardim of Italy, Western Europe, North Africa, and the Spanish and Portuguese who escaped to the Netherlands, and wound up not only in England but in the Western Hemisphere where they set up the very first organized Jewish communities in North America.
Differences are small; the liturgy has a few differences from the Eastern version. Occasionally an entire prayer is different (the fourth beracha in Musaf for Shabbat, for example), and some prayers have slight textual changes (one word) while other prayers are a completely different version from their Eastern counterparts (The "long version" of Baruch She'amar).
Some external practices are also different, as the Western Sephardim differed in varying degrees with the adoption of Kabbalistic practices that were taken on wholesale in the East; the Spanish and Portuguese tradition rejected them entirely after the Shabbatai Tsvi debacle, while most Moroccan Jews pray from siddurim that include Kabbalistic kavvanot, the Tetragrammaton with an elongated "heh" containing the letters aleph, daledh, nun, and yod.
In this blog I hope to delve into some of the history of Sephardic Jewry, in both practices and nusach tefillah. I have a great interest in the anusim, the descendants of forced converts of five centuries ago, many of whom are halachically Jewish and follow certain distinct Jewish rituals - often not knowing why. (An interesting argument for the concept of mesorah and Torah Sheb'al Peh, by the way.)
And of course, I hope to find time to address issues affecting Jews and the Jewish community in general, without regard to ancestry or tradition. After all, no matter whence we or our ancestors hail, Jews are Jews. I am of the firm belief that the differences in our various customs make what could be a boringly uniform community into a patchwork quilt, a smorgasbord of mesorah. Our customs of dress, the way we wave our lulavim, whether we sit or stand for kiddush or kaddish or havdallah, these are all different spices that make our Jewish stew so interesting. And to me, that is to be celebrated.
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