tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-208233602024-03-12T18:16:43.343-07:00Letters of ThoughtMottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.comBlogger1113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-53811802683279713462021-07-14T09:36:00.005-07:002021-07-14T09:36:53.870-07:00Letters of Thought: For a new Generation <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9-CM9ShXY7YIhkKsTceURCQxTsMa07FXPMxneuN0tAEe-PQcwiN0afJR05BwoYONvE2InvHU6-VqilM-4Yx9lNuvAq-oEjvbP6fGexNEt8p7LN_BPuXrL5LWVF_pH9Uyi4SfN/s1100/dispatch6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="1100" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9-CM9ShXY7YIhkKsTceURCQxTsMa07FXPMxneuN0tAEe-PQcwiN0afJR05BwoYONvE2InvHU6-VqilM-4Yx9lNuvAq-oEjvbP6fGexNEt8p7LN_BPuXrL5LWVF_pH9Uyi4SfN/w624-h249/dispatch6.png" width="624" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>It's been a while since I updated this blog. Even longer since I updated it consistently. <br /><br />But I'm still writing!<br /><br />Catch my weekly letters of thought in the <a href="http://mytechtribe.org" target="_blank">Tech Tribe</a> <a href="http://mytechtribe.org/dispatch" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Dispatch</span></b></a>.<br /><br /><b>It's a weekly read with thoughts, music, art, links and more! <br /><br /><br /></b></p><p><b><a href="http://mytechtribe.org/dispatch">Check it out and follow along!</a></b></p>Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-85985076159467007282014-01-09T08:33:00.001-08:002014-01-09T08:33:11.682-08:00The Woman That Saved 3000 Jews<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Last year was the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The few survivors of that revolt are, if still alive, in their 80s and 90s but today there is more interest than ever in the different aspects of the historical episode. Today the </span><a href="http://jri-poland.org/jri-jhi.htm" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">Polish Jewish Historical Institute </a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">offers tours of the site, hidden archives have been discovered and their materials published and Holocaust museums such as the </span><a href="http://www.ushmm.org/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">United States Holocaust Museum</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> and </span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/about/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">Yad Vashem</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> continue to conduct research and uncover new information about life in the ghetto, the individuals who lived in the ghetto and the uprising itself. Some of the information has come from unlikely sources. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In 1999 a group of non-Jewish schoolgirls embarked on a social studies project in which they were assigned to research the Holocaust. The girls became intrigued by a chance remark that they heard regarding a non-Jewish Polish woman, Irena Sendler, who had successfully saved over 2500 children from the ghetto. The girls began to investigate the story and were soon caught up in the saga of how Sendler smuggled hundreds of children out of the ghetto and ensured their survival. The girls' </span><a href="http://www.irenasendler.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">project</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> was published and has since become a book, a website and a performance which, over the last 10 years, has been viewed by audiences throughout the world. The project also spawned the </span><a href="http://www.lowellmilken.org/initiatives/lowell-milken-center/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">Lowell Milken Center</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> where student projects of unsung heroes are displayed.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Irena Sendler was a Polish social worker when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. When the Nazis built the Warsaw ghetto in 1940 they interned almost half a million Jews within the ghetto walls . Sendler, who had joined the Zagota Polish underground, procured papers which allowed her to enter the ghetto as an expert in infectious diseases.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">At first Sendler tried to bring food and medicines into the ghetto but as time went by she realized that she could save more lives if she concentrated to bringing people out of the ghetto. She decided to put her efforts into removing children from the ghetto because, she realized, it was easier to remove them and easier to hide them once they were on the Aryan side of the ghetto walls. Sendler began to smuggle children out of the ghetto, sedating them and hiding them under her tram seat, in a workman's toolbox or even in carts under garbage or barking dogs. Zagota members helped Sendler lead the older children out of the ghetto through the sewers that ran underneath the city or through a hidden passageway that was located in the Old Courthouse at the edge of the ghetto.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Sendler's early efforts were aimed at the street children who were left orphans after their parents died or were deported. After a few weeks she began to approach parents and ask them to allow her to take their children out of the ghetto. These were heart wrenching moments for both Sendler and the parents. The parents had to decide whether their children would have the best chance of survival in the ghetto with their families or on their own among Polish non-Jews. "I talked the mothers out of their children" Sendler later said of the scenes in which she tried to convince families to allow her to rescue their children.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The second part of the operation involved securing hiding places for the children. Sendler carefully recorded the names and hiding places of each child on pieces of tissue paper which she then hid in glass jars that were buried in her yard, hoping to reunite them with their families after the war. The children were hidden in convents and orphanages throughout Poland as well as with sympathetic Polish families.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Sendler was captured by the Gestapo in October 1943. The Germans imprisoned and tortured her but she didn't reveal any information about the children's whereabouts. The Germans signed a death decree against her but her Zagota comrades were able to secure her release and she lived out the rest of the war in hiding.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Sendler was still alive in 2003 as the Kansas schoolgirls were completing their project. They traveled to Warsaw and met with Sendler. Media outlets got wind of the story and began to publicize the story which has now reached millions of people around the world. </span>Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-74355035714509789882013-06-05T13:22:00.001-07:002013-06-05T13:22:24.017-07:00The Quest For The Ultimate Tallis Bag<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
When I first entered Yeshiva, black or blue velvet tefillin bags, with 770, Crowns or (oddly) Sheaves of Wheat were the standard for teffilin bag art. These bags were then shoved with a chitas and a pushka into a plastic vinyl bag.</div>
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Suddenly, though, double bags - like mini-tallis bags that could hold both Rashis and Rabeinu Tams - came on to the scene. At first they were velvet, but soon leather bags became the standard.</div>
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I <i>desperately </i>wanted one - but for whatever reason, it never came to be.</div>
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Flash forward to the time before my wedding. Now, at last, I could get real double bag. This one would be for my tallis of course . . .<br />
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At first my shiny, black new bag was very exciting. Soon, however, I began to notice various flaws in its design. As anyone who followed me on Twitter may recall, the shoulder strap for the bag was attached by a snap. One wrong turn or the like, and the snap would come undone - leaving the tallis bag to fall to the ground. What was more, the leather was of poor quality. It felt stiff and the suede on the side quickly tore.<br />
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When Chana surprised me with a new Tallis bag as an anniversary present last year, I was more than ready to switch.<br />
The bag, designed by <a href="http://www.facebook.com/aliza.judaicacreations?fref=ts">Aliza Judaica Creations</a>, was worlds beyond the previous one.<br />
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The shoulder strap attaches to the side with swivel snap hooks - so no worries about it falling.<br />
As to the bag itself, made with soft <a href="http://youtu.be/vIL3fbGbU2o">Corinthian leather</a>, it still looks remarkable after a year of use. The custom embroidering on the bag still looks sharp as well. While this bag doesn't fall, thanks to an actual working shoulder strap, it still gets considerable millage between all the trips to shul, in the car and on the plane. The fact that it's held up so well is truly a testament to its remarkable craftsmanship.<br />
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This is the second product we've gotten from Aliza (the first being the gorgeous challah cover I gave Chana for her birthday) and we can't recommend her work more highly.Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-26248598678300127112012-08-20T12:48:00.001-07:002012-08-20T12:48:54.006-07:00On Generations<div style="line-height: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px;">
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I wonder some times about the passing of time. At times it feels like a never-ending continuous loop, day in day out, a winter's night and a summers day . . . and suddenly - moments there are clarifying moments . . . When the house is silent, and I sit by my computer, awake as I procrastinate on some random assignment . . . I wonder when things came to this moment.</div>
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When did the baby that was born yesterday learn to walk and (begin to)talk? When did Poland suddenly become 6 years ago - or my first day in Yeshivah a decade ago? </div>
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When a gigabyte go from an awe inspiring amount of storage capacity on the computer I got for my Bar Mitzvah become virtually negligible space on a storage card the size of a coffee bean? </div>
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I look at the cars from my youth, and they look like shoe boxes . . . <br />
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And I realize this is all only a blip. Suddenly the Sixties went from being in the past . . . to an era closer to my own birth than to the present.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My father on the set of Echoes of a Summer. This photo was taken 10 years before I was born. My father is younger than I am now in this photo.</td></tr>
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I think to the youth of my parents.<br />
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I think back to my grandfathers - the world they were born in and the questions I never asked. My paternal grandfather fought in WWII. My maternal, stationed on a US base as a dental technician during the Korean War.<br />
So many questions I never asked.<br />
How the different the world was then . . .<br />
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My maternal grandfather was born in Williamsburg, before anyone outside the working class would ever call it home. He grew up in the Village where his fathers sold Yiddish Newspapers near Washington square. Here he grew up in the greatest city in the world . . . and we never spoke about it. Did he root for the Yankees or the Dodgers? (My guess? The Bronx Bombers) What is it like to visit Cooney Island when it was <i>the </i>place to visit on a hot summers day?<br />
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What will my children think of me? Of my writings and experiences? Will my grandchildren look at my birth at the turn of the century with the same wonder that has always made 1895 seem so much further back in our past than 1902?<br />
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My only solace is the eternity of Torah. When nothing else is a constant . . . when culture changes by the hour and looks so foreign by the end of the day . . .Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-79724989524870460452012-05-31T20:05:00.002-07:002012-05-31T20:05:28.281-07:00A Day At the Beach - Playa Balandra and La Paz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Continuing on our Mexican Pesach, we journeyed to La Paz from <a href="http://mordechai7215.blogspot.com/2012/05/todos-santos-magical-city.html">Todos Santos</a>.</div>
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After spending an evening at the lovely <a href="http://en.clubelmoro.com.mx/">Club El Moro</a>, we set off for Playa Balandra. A narrow bay, the water is perfectly clear, calm and current-less. Through out most of the bay it was only knee deep - and hip deep at its deepest points.</div>
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Click on the link to enjoy the photos! </div>
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Back at La Paz, we walked down the <span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Malecón boardwalk.</span><br />
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</span>Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com0Baja California Sur La Paz-El Tecolote, Baja California Sur, Mexico24.25992358967385 -110.3138923645019524.245447089673849 -110.33363336450195 24.274400089673851 -110.29415136450196tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-69066085201675567502012-05-05T23:18:00.002-07:002012-05-08T21:42:56.969-07:00Todos Santos: The Magical City<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As our time in Baja drew to a close, Chana and I decided to travel to neighboring cities Todos los Santos on the Pacific coast, and La Paz on the Sea of Cortes.<br />
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Click on the link to enjoy Todos Santos - the magical city . . .<br />
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While Cabo has become something of a massive tourist sink-hole, catering more to Americans more interested in Corona and golf, Todos Santos retains much of its original charm.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The murals seem to be dated to the 1930s</td></tr>
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Next up? La Paz, the city of John Steinbeck.
</span>Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com1Todos los Santos, Baja California Sur, Mexico23.4463619 -110.226510123.4317944 -110.2462511 23.460929399999998 -110.2067691tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-61290475141351287722012-04-25T00:05:00.000-07:002012-04-25T00:05:04.088-07:00An Estuary With A View<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I1UTRwHEAAs/T5V_JRV9WNI/AAAAAAAASdY/hs7Fzk5w0FU/s1600/L1060384.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I1UTRwHEAAs/T5V_JRV9WNI/AAAAAAAASdY/hs7Fzk5w0FU/s640/L1060384.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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The other day we went for a family trip to S. Jose del Cabo and it's amazing estuary. Enjoy the photos!</div>
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</span>Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com1Paseo Malecon San Jose, Club de Golf Fonatur, San José del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico23.046722090375976 -109.6921348571777323.032111090375977 -109.71187585717773 23.061333090375975 -109.67239385717774tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-78783348957385763462012-04-12T09:30:00.000-07:002012-04-12T09:50:25.143-07:00Camping in Cabo: A Photo Essay<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This year for Passover we're spending our holiday with my good friend Rabbi <a href="http://lubavitch.com/news/article/2029287/The-eighth-note.html">Benny</a> and his wife Sonya Hershcovich - the Chabad <a href="http://lubavitch.com/news/article/2028012/A-Jewish-Community-Grows-In-Cabo-San-Lucas.html">Shluchim to Los Cabos</a>, Mexico on the tip of Baja California. (You can give 'em a tip and help their amazing work <a href="https://jewishcabocom.clhosting.org/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/843201/jewish/Donate/lang/en">here</a> - tell them I sent you!)</div>
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Our gracious hosts suggested camping on at the tip of the peninsula - where the Sea of Cortes and the Pacific Ocean meet.</div>
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Though I'm dreadfully behind on sharing photos - pictures of New Orleans, Israel and even Mendel's Bris(!) idle away on my hard-drive, the photos of our boat ride to Land's End and the Cabo Arch at the tip of the peninsula, and of our early morning walk after spending the night camping on the shore, are too good to pass up. </div>
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That night we camped on the beach - and had a Passover style <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Kumzitz">Kumzitz</a>. The waves on Lovers Beach, named for the calm waters of the Sea of Cortes, lulled us to sleep.</div>
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In the morning Chana and I went for a walk with the children on the two beaches.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buenos Días Mexico!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boo leaving the camp site - you can see where the tides came up to the night before</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boo on Lovers Beach</td></tr>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aM0y2G77svA/T4Wyw4KdziI/AAAAAAAASGE/LVYVNnTG_pg/s1600/L1060205.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aM0y2G77svA/T4Wyw4KdziI/AAAAAAAASGE/LVYVNnTG_pg/s640/L1060205.JPG" width="640" /></a>
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The Eponymous pelicans of <a href="https://foursquare.com/v/playa-pelicanos/4e77ad861838f9188acff8c3">Playa Pelicanos</a> - We went snorkeling by that rock.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The path to the Pacific</td></tr>
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The others side of the peninsula is the Pacific side. The tumultuous waters and strong rip current make swimming very dangerous. The Pacific-side beach, then, is aptly named Divorce Beach. <div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boo crossing from the Sea of Cortes to the Pacific</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The powerful waves of the Pacific beat against the beach</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mendel is a real camper!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A local water-taxi comes up to the shore to take us home</td></tr>
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</span>Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com1Lovers Beach, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico22.8764889 -109.896794622.861859399999997 -109.9165356 22.8911184 -109.87705360000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-35910333965376818992012-03-15T21:16:00.002-07:002012-03-15T21:18:18.091-07:00Blue Cheese NachosLast night I was somewhat hungry - so I threw together this midnight snack .. .<br />
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<ul>
<li>Corn chips</li>
<li>Danablu Cheese</li>
<li>Chèvre</li>
<li>Mozzarella</li>
<li>Oregano</li>
<li>Freshly ground pepper</li>
<li>Pickled Hot Peppers - sliced</li>
<li>Paprika</li>
<li>Rosemary</li>
</ul>
Paired with a 2010 Old Foghorn Barleywine.<br />
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<br />Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com1Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY, USA40.6681032 -73.944799440.656059199999994 -73.96454039999999 40.6801472 -73.9250584tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-32378983936722950302012-03-13T22:03:00.000-07:002012-03-13T22:03:21.572-07:00Tefillin @ the Foursquare Court - a Chabad moment at SXSW<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com0318 E 5th St, Austin, TX 78701, USA30.266653 -97.73998630.264938500000003 -97.7424535 30.2683675 -97.737518500000007tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-1522493795483380232012-02-16T23:43:00.000-08:002012-02-16T23:43:54.582-08:00Thoughts at 2:43amHere I sit.<br />
2:38 am.<br />
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My wife is sleeping.<br />
My older son is sleeping.<br />
And now my younger son is sleeping.<br />
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Wow.<br />
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A husband with a wife form a couple.<br />
A baby with a couple is a couple with a baby.<br />
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But two kids? That's a family. That and another .6 of a kid a dog and two gold fish and we're set as Classic American family unit.<br />
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How does love spread itself over so many people? When you marry someone, and love them with all your heart and soul - how does that love expand to include a little baby?<br />
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And when that baby grows older, when he can speak and understand, how does it grow to include yet another?<br />
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Does my older son think I love him any less?<br /><br />
And yet it turns.<br />
And yet it grows.Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-50350664847312541342012-01-24T06:32:00.000-08:002012-01-24T06:32:08.411-08:00What’s Bothering Boteach?<br />
<div>
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The following thoughts were previously published on <a href="http://crownheights.info/">CrownHeights.info</a></span></span></i></span></div>
<div>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.5424913309980184"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In recent weeks, the pages of various Crown Heights community blogs, the Algemeiner Journal and the Huffington post have hosted a series of </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-shmuley-boteach/religious-incitement-over-kosher-jesus-book_b_1199521.html" style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">op-eds</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-shmuley-boteach/kosher-jesus-and-the-reli_b_1207820.html" style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">responses</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-shmuley-boteach/post_2875_b_1216383.html" style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rejoinders</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> about Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s new book, “Kosher Jesus.”</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Taking a step back from the criticism over an (as of yet) unpublished book, </span><a href="http://www.algemeiner.com/2011/12/26/book-review-kosher-jesus/" style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">noted</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> more for its “</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fun romp” than its pinpoint historical accuracy or groundbreaking scholarship, one must question the motivation for Boteach’s stream of op-eds. </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The </span><a href="http://collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=18084&hl=wolf" style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">initial response</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, written by Rabbi Yitzchok Wolf, while strong in its condemnation of Boteach’s choice of subject, was hardly brilliant prose and rambling in nature. When Boteach’s response was pulled from the sites, he felt it necessary to bring the discussion to the Huffington post in a series of articles, making claims of ‘Religious Incitement,’ allegorical (one hopes) ‘Crucifixion,’ and a ‘Global Ban’ on his book.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He quotes, at length from anonymous comments left on these community blogs, and notes that “the more incendiary ones... hav[e] been scrubbed under my threat of legal action for incitement.”</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At this point, the reader must take pause. Why is Shmuley so upset by anonymous comments on a community blog? I understand his personal response to the comments. They were rude, vicious and cruel - but that, for better or for worse - is the nature of the Internet. Anyone who is offended by anonymous, trollish, comments on ANY website - be it Youtube, Huffington Post, Reddit or a series of community blogs - has either never been on the Internet before or is so naive as to not know that these comments are as baseless as writing on a gas station’s bathroom stall.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don’t think Rabbi Boteach can be accused of either of these traits. </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Had Boteach let the matter go, the issue would have died out within a day. The nature of these blogs is to bring in a constant flow of new stories to drive in hits and with them, ad revenue. What is more, the Crown Heights, and even global Chabad, community is hardly Boteach’s target audience. We’re speaking about a few thousand readers, many of them hostile to Boteach’s legacy after his acrimonious split with Chabad’s leadership in the UK well over a decade ago. Given Boteach’s long-term association with the movement, there may very well be an issue of pride at hand. Nevertheless, these sites, and the communities they represent, are hardly a major demographic for his book. As such, the question remains, what was the motivating the force behind his response? </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In truth, despite claims of a global ban against his book, Boteach would only be so lucky for such a response. Had a real ecclesiastical ban been acted against the book, it would have been quite the sensation. Boteach has already tried to draw parallels between the Internet trolls and the current religious tension in Israel. With heightened media attention to Beit Shemesh, news of a ban against Boteach would be written up in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other periodicals of note. It would become an instant best-seller. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Though the rabbinic and communal response hasn’t succeeded to this degree, by keeping the issue alive, Boteach has been able to create controversy around the book and with it . . . the potential for sales.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Boteach has said as much himself. In a tweet Friday, he </span><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/RabbiShmuley/statuses/160458596428165120" style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">wrote</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “controversy over #kosherjesus seems 2 have made it a best-seller. climbing publishing charts everywhere. but prefer people read it” and his </span><a href="http://www.shmuley.com/news/details/The_West_Coast_Launch_of_Rabbi_Shmuleys_Blockbuster_and_Controversial_/" style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">website</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> currently announces the “West Coast Launch of Rabbi Shmuley’s Blockbuster and Controversial book...”</span></span></div>Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-77552733093995757692011-12-13T10:09:00.000-08:002011-12-13T10:09:30.626-08:00A Few Thoughts On Matisyahu's (Lack of a) Beard<br />
Matisyahu released his statement: http://matisyahuworld.com/news/detail/note_from_matisyahu/<br />
<br />
A few thoughts:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>I wish Matisyahu, all the best in his personal journey - no matter where it takes him, if I agree with him or not.</li>
<li>I make no judgments as to his motivations or other personal actions he takes in his life.</li>
<li>I think Matisyahu's action, whatever the motivation, failed to take into account the ramification on his own life, that of his family, and those who look up to him - like it or not, he came to represent something beyond whatever he assumes himself to be.</li>
</ol>
<br />Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-25334440928588930702011-11-15T08:23:00.001-08:002011-11-15T08:29:16.303-08:00Being a Brand Ambassador - My Talk at #BrandsconfLast week I was honored to speak at #Brandsconf.<br />
<br />
Skip the the 48 minute mark to hear my talk!<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="368" scrolling="no" src="http://www.ustream.tv/embed/recorded/18411747/highlight/215781" style="border: 0px none transparent;" width="608"></iframe><br />
<br />Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-16000215521142178122011-11-07T05:31:00.001-08:002011-11-07T10:30:26.056-08:00Weird Sign .... Monday<div>
While they may be referring to a family sending their twins in, I doubt it's what they meant by meeting "Your babies needs"<br />
<br />
<img height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcsxoRyMOlm7eDQcNTPhiduKmxszwQ2lk7MYbKRoqK3bWoHsnhWya9BjU2HNogoYHtrLTuXDt8Iw9EboOWiCmy_tmaNJ7w0tpbLzLz3pn_Wtuw1r7XPF7WVnXeSRBlsNHGXhG3/" width="640" /></div>Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-13725239613800642022011-09-11T21:37:00.000-07:002012-09-11T07:48:50.568-07:00September 11, 2001: A moment in Elul, A moment in time. Social - but without MediaIn a conversation with a friend the other day, we began to speculate what September 11, 2001 would have been like had the social platforms we used today been available. Think of the tweets, the images, the chunks of data that would flow in . . .<br />
I live with social media. Save for the 24-72 hours of shabbos and yom tov, I stop checking up and checking in only when I'm asleep.<br />
<br />
Platforms like Twitter shine during these international moments of trauma: <a href="http://mordechai7215.blogspot.com/2008/11/black-tornado-black-friday-black-hats.html">Mumbai</a>, Haiti, Japan, the Arab Spring . . . They've brought us closer. The world has shrunk, our horizons have broadened, and the stream of media has compounded and multiplied beyond what anyone could ever hope to process. Experiences are shared across national boundaries with friends colleagues. And yet . . .<br />
<br />
And yet I'm glad there was no Twitter or Facebook during the attacks on September 11.<br />
<br />
It was <a href="http://delicious.com/mottel/elul">Elul</a> - the preparatory month before the High Holidays - and not any Elul mind you, but an Elul in Yeshivah, an Elul in Lubavitch. Elul marks the start of the new year of studies. It's the time of year when everything is fresh. The excitement over the approach of the High Holidays is tangible in the air: It's so thick that the air can be cut, and spread like thick globs of sweet honey on a tart apple slice. There are farbrengins - chasidic gatherings - at night, the zal - the study hall - is a hive of activity. Then, just days before Rosh Hashana, we began slichus - the customary prayers of penitence said early in the morning.<br />
<br />
It was on that day, as I stood undressed in the mikva for ritual immersion before prayer - exposed to all as I prepared to immerse myself in penitent waters - that a friend came rushing in to tell us what he had heard on the radio. A plane had struck the Twin Towers. A freak accident? A Cessna gone out of control? Someone else came in - he had heard that the empire states-building had been struck . . . Something was amiss.<br />
<br />
There was no TV in yeshivah. Far off in Los Angeles, we couldn't look out the windows like our peers in Brooklyn and see the disaster unfolding. The cooks kept the radio playing in the kitchen at full blast that day. Information spread through word of mouth - updates from families in New York, rumors spread by the guy who, despite with the perennial mustard stain on his jacket, seemed to know (or at least think he knew) everything. The president was in hiding, all planes had been grounded, the Mosad has been called in to assist, they caught a dozen more planes with terrorists on them . . . the stories grew ever wilder.<br />
<br />
After breakfast we had a better idea of what was going on . . . The details had come in. "Just the facts, ma'am." Despite the information though, no one had seen any pictures.<br />
<br />
That evening I went to visit my friend Z.<br />
"How are you?" I asked his father.<br />
"Horrible!" He answered.<br />
<br />
The television was playing in their den. It was only then, the evening of September 11, that I saw the endless loop of the planes flying into the towers. Over and over again - cinematic in its scope. So utterly terrifying.<br />
<br />
I printed out pictures of the devistation on Z's computer and brought them back to yeshivah.<br />
<br />
Back on campus everyone was still up. One rabbi called us all in to tell us that this was a sure sign that Moshiach was coming. A Zohar had been found that spoke of falling towers...<br />
<br />
I believe that all of these experiences etched in my mind - the doubt, the isolation, the horror and the humanity - would not have been possible with social media. Not in my world, and not - I believe - in anyone else's. Had the tweets come in, we would have lost the forest for the trees. We would have been unable to grasp the unadulterated enormity of the situation - unable to step back and experience the tragedy in its totality.<br />
<br />
On September 11, there was a sense of community shared not based on constant updates, but rather one based on shared emotions and experiences.<br />
<br />
.....<br />
<br />
May those murdered on this day be remembered for the good that they lived for and serve as guiding lights for us all . . .<br />
זכור, אל תשכחMottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com2Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY, USA40.6681032 -73.944799440.656059199999994 -73.96454039999999 40.6801472 -73.9250584tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-58895141883299438282011-09-08T22:54:00.000-07:002011-09-08T23:06:40.372-07:00From the Archives: Brooklyn Jewish Center welcomes Rabbi Schneiersohn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.brooklynjewishcenter.org/photos/beforeafter/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="467" src="http://www.brooklynjewishcenter.org/photos/beforeafter/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
From a periodical released by the Brooklyn Jewish Center- Spring 1940:<br />
(Text courtesy of the folks of the <a href="http://www.brooklynjewishcenter.org/">Brooklyn Jewish Center</a>)<br />
<table style="width: auto;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jIONDb2tQZJiQRe1biX6Dw?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="800" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-W-4ABFf_FvE/TmmsZpRMgKI/AAAAAAAAQws/Dm81mdDXde0/s800/viewer.jpg" width="618" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><blockquote>
</blockquote>
Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com0Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY, USA40.6681032 -73.944799440.656059199999994 -73.96454039999999 40.6801472 -73.9250584tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-89110285674461863482011-09-01T08:46:00.000-07:002011-09-01T08:46:12.437-07:00Weird Sign Wednesday: From the mouths of babes<div>
From the mouths of babes - what marriage really is...<br />
<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqNN_Og31teyhVceVh7lL-3AfVoMHAdkoN-1GchCWCTB7mbltwFg8RZUNC0-eLsRal3nPiB62SCmtnNdgJsZxlySUK5DX1HynaXfjlahKu4fkfc9lyJZaMWBoC1a_U7L6VYmo8/" /></div>
Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-48295794154873493432011-08-17T07:26:00.001-07:002011-08-17T21:00:51.560-07:00Weird Sign Wednesday - it's also kind of cool edition<div>Say what?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DiByIAOLXYc/TkyNt352zAI/AAAAAAAAQog/5ZO7JFiJX7U/s1600/11+-+1" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DiByIAOLXYc/TkyNt352zAI/AAAAAAAAQog/5ZO7JFiJX7U/s1600/11+-+1" /></a></div><br />
</div>Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com8Agudas Chasidei Chabad, 770 Eastern Parkway, New York, NY, United States40.669021 -73.94287tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-6738620223219602392011-08-11T17:06:00.000-07:002011-09-23T08:01:55.880-07:00NEW RESTAURANT OPENING IN CROWN HEIGHTSNEW RESTAURANT OPENING IN CROWN HEIGHTS: Prime Sandwich<br />
<br />
I can see the conversation behind its name right now:<br />
"Nu, Mendel, what should we call this new restaurant?"<br />
"Something classy - what's a fancy restaurant?"<br />
"Prime Grill is real classy."<br />
"Yah, I like the name - but steak is too expensive. What's cheap?"<br />
"Sandwiches are cheap..."<br />
"Perfect - so Prime Sandwich it is!" <br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://j.mp/rdLlBL">More Details</a><br />
<br />
A side not to those coming via Google Search - I went to Prime Sandwich and must say, the food is very good.Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com2Crown Heights, NY, USA40.6681032 -73.94479939999996540.6626767 -73.967431899999966 40.673529699999996 -73.922166899999965tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-77710611194103132202011-06-30T23:36:00.000-07:002011-07-04T18:01:44.317-07:00Picture of the Week - Back From Israel<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfY7EC04SulRf-cLYwkcp1r4M5Fi1zKzUgbhNnoN2vIY-HGnG7yWH8rqHmZpA-J57MB4vP1V0DrrUmp4CQddxxXS4Tq7YEWw7j5sBjTe_BTdJL5r2kw5CTfA7Ya32bHhKh4e2_/s1600/L1050845.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfY7EC04SulRf-cLYwkcp1r4M5Fi1zKzUgbhNnoN2vIY-HGnG7yWH8rqHmZpA-J57MB4vP1V0DrrUmp4CQddxxXS4Tq7YEWw7j5sBjTe_BTdJL5r2kw5CTfA7Ya32bHhKh4e2_/s640/L1050845.JPG" style="clear: both; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px;" width="640" /></a><br />
<div style="clear: both; text-align: LEFT;"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img align="middle" alt="Posted by Picasa" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" style="-moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; border: 0px none; padding: 0px;" /></a></div>Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-38458448931332856902011-05-04T14:32:00.001-07:002011-05-04T14:32:24.781-07:00Weird Sign Wednesday<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZeKGmCtxErAiISsvaX4IzEiSZ0-VGDFiGa9qbFn7B3Kj2cBZkQdpmF5J4TWhggesOCkQNN8fVZTn_aZppKJbWMSuWTJgurLaiK8uJz45HBgoAQQFlHgsn_4wr9TNstaK6KbzE/s1600/IMAG0195-744782.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZeKGmCtxErAiISsvaX4IzEiSZ0-VGDFiGa9qbFn7B3Kj2cBZkQdpmF5J4TWhggesOCkQNN8fVZTn_aZppKJbWMSuWTJgurLaiK8uJz45HBgoAQQFlHgsn_4wr9TNstaK6KbzE/s400/IMAG0195-744782.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602977019616748194" /></a></p><p>Get the best kosher pitza at this heimish pizzarie!</p> Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-83062773462627781462011-04-08T08:29:00.000-07:002011-04-08T08:31:13.241-07:00Pictures of the Week 111 - A Walk in the Park<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/HzxQMAei6tUYcUfMAiagQQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="800" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_TTgr2o6J23Q/TZ6v-zRm2zI/AAAAAAAAQcc/PVoCTPWa22Y/s800/L1050684.JPG" width="450" /></a><br />
<br />
This past Sunday we spent the day in Central Park.<br />
Click on the link to see the pics!<br />
<br />
<span id="fullpost"><br />
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</span>Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-8916334082997615512011-04-05T09:26:00.000-07:002011-04-05T21:50:57.209-07:00A Rainy Tuesday Morning Thought - On Gwenyth Paltrow and assimilation<object height="288" width="512"><param name="movie" value="http://www.hulu.com/embed/ValaOJZHjEPD9CFAX7eLOQ"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.hulu.com/embed/ValaOJZHjEPD9CFAX7eLOQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="512" height="288" allowFullScreen="true"></embed></object><br />
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I saw this clip last night and found it to be unbelievably sad. Seeing the palpable effects of assimilation and intermarriage is tragic.<br />
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I'm sure Ms. Paltrow is a lovely person. But to think what became of her forbearer's hopes dreams and prayers . ..<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUbqQs6qMiyVfiG-CpERsvqndC0e1fIZzywCZQoAtKXEKvWAFzrDQpX1EVtTm-mWqJxi6mvR93YqQ7VVFJ2kP1Na89qv2GgB7gCarY7RUs8WGAATboR3d9hBkQvohPTUeIGZN7/s320/Gwyneth+Paltrow+cries+as+she+reveals+hidden+family+tragedy+on+U.S.+version+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUbqQs6qMiyVfiG-CpERsvqndC0e1fIZzywCZQoAtKXEKvWAFzrDQpX1EVtTm-mWqJxi6mvR93YqQ7VVFJ2kP1Na89qv2GgB7gCarY7RUs8WGAATboR3d9hBkQvohPTUeIGZN7/s400/Gwyneth+Paltrow+cries+as+she+reveals+hidden+family+tragedy+on+U.S.+version+4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(<a href="http://dailypicfwd.blogspot.com/2011/04/gwyneth-paltrow-cries-as-she-reveals.html"><i>image source</i></a>)</span>Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20823360.post-81448334035030450882011-03-08T21:57:00.000-08:002011-03-08T21:57:15.847-08:00Mikvah Excavation Confirms Observance of Ritual Among Early Jews in AmericaI wrote this article for <a href="http://lubavitch.com/news/article/2030507/Mikvah-Excavation-Confirms-Observance-of-Ritual-Among-Early-Jews-in-America.html">Lubavitch.com</a><br />
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I like it so much, though, that I'm putting here as well:<br />
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<h1 class="title" style="color: #153152; font-family: Georgia, serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 7px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Mikvah Excavation Confirms Observance of Ritual Among Early Jews in America</span></h1><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px;"><br />
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<center style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www4.lubavitch.com/files.html/8602507/image%7Cjpeg/Mikvahmain.jpg?scale_max=597" title="" /></center><br />
<div class="imageCredit" style="color: #999999; font-family: arial; font-size: 0.65em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">Photo © Laura Leibman, 2008</div><div class="caption" style="color: #666666; font-family: arial; font-size: 0.75em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The cisterns for rain water that fed the Neve Shalom Mikveh in Suriname.</div><br />
<div class="author" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.75em; margin-bottom: 1.2em;">by <strong>Mordechai Lightstone</strong></div><div class="storyContent" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px;"><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;">Excavations in Baltimore’s historic Lloyd Street Synagogue, the third oldest synagogue standing in America, have uncovered the oldest mikvah in the country to-date. The mikvah complex is located in the basement of a row-house adjacent to the Greek revival style synagogue. It was first detected in 2001 when archaeologists found part of a five-foot-deep wooden tub. Fears that the wooden structure would be damaged prevented further excavation. This winter, however, archaeologists were able to uncover about a fourth of the mikvah.</div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;">The mikvah complex, most likely built by the German Jewish immigrants who built the nearby synagogue, offers insight into early Jewish observance in America. The mikvah, a body of water connected to a natural source, is used for immersion at various periods in Jewish life. Mikvah observance and the laws of Family Sanctity are the cornerstone of Jewish family life and a key component of the Jewish community. It was not until this past decade, however, that archaeological findings have shed light on early mikvah observance in America.</div><div id="extras" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 0px; width: 277px;"><div id="galleryLink" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 1em; position: relative;"><img src="http://www1.lubavitch.com/files.html/8602508/image%7Cjpeg/slide1.jpg?cropscale=276,168" /><a class="link" href="http://lubavitch.com/news/article/2030507/Mikvah-Excavation-Confirms-Observance-of-Ritual-Among-Early-Jews-in-America.html#toppage" style="bottom: 0.8em; color: #3072c2; position: absolute; right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img height="22" src="http://www2.lubavitch.com/images/article/viewSlideshow.gif" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px;" width="109" /></a></div></div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;"><br />
According to Dr. <strong>Jonathan Sarna</strong>, Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University, “the more we know, the clearer it becomes that the mikvah was important to early Jews [in America].” Though in the United States, mikvahs older than the Baltimore mikvah built in the 1840s have yet to be discovered, “there is not a scintilla of a doubt” that older mikvahs did exist. Sarna notes synagogue minutes in the communities of Philadelphia and New York that record the upkeep of local mikvahs, as part of a “astonishing reminder that religion [along with mikvah observance] was central [to Jewish life].”The paucity of information until now led many to assume that early Jewish settlers in the New World, largely composed of Iberian Jewish refugees, were not careful in mikvah observance. <strong>Max I. Dimont</strong>, a historian and author of several popular works on Jewish History, was of the opinion that the early settlers “had simply rejected the entire institution [of mikvah].” Recent discoveries of mikvahs in the early Jewish communities of Recife, Brazil and on the islands of St. Eustatius and Barbados in the Caribbean, have refuted this notion.</div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;">Detailed research into the mikvahs of the early colonists by Dr. <strong>Laura Leibman</strong>, Professor of English and Humanities at Reed College has shown that rather than rejecting the observance of mikvah, early Jewish settlers held it in great esteem. </div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;">Many of the early settlers in the New World were either Spanish Conversos or their descendants. To these Jews, resettled initially in Amsterdam, and from there in various New World colonies, the mikvah took on a new level of meaning.</div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;">The mikvah is used in transitional periods in Jewish life -- such as after the conclusion of the menstrual cycle, after the birth of a child and as part of the Jewish conversion process. To the early Sephardic colonists -- previously estranged from their heritage and living in what was then the edge of the known world -- the mikvah became a symbol of hope and return.</div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;">Thus, according to Leibman, “for women . . . the physical ceremony marking their personal reconnection to the divine [by going to mikvah each month] paralleled the larger movement of the scattered ‘remnant’ of Iberian Jews back to God and was inherently tied to the ritual bath.”</div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;">Moreover, the physical design of the mikvahs was important to the colonists. Unlike the dark and ‘cave-like’ appearance of medieval mikvahs in Central and Eastern Europe, the early colonists chose to build what could only considered luxurious mikvahs by the prevailing standards. During the 17th century, spa culture was popular among the European elite. Co-opting the imagery of the spa, Sephardic Jews began to build heated mikvahs, opting to tile them in the manner of a spa. These features created a more elegant effect than the far simpler plaster-lined mikvahs of previous generations. <span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> </div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;">Mikvahs discovered in Curaçao, Suriname and Barbados all included such features. Even the poorer colonial outpost of S. Eustatius featured a “spacious and well decorated” mikvah -- built adjacent to the synagogue in 1738.</div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;">Mikvah observance remained important to Jewish life into the nineteenth century. Changes in the Jewish community, however, brought a decline in mikvah use. By the 1840s, however, many communities only had a few mikvahs despite their growing populations. An influx of Central European Jews, hailing from Germany, Austria and Bohemia in the 1820s and Eastern European Jews in the 1880s, helped reinvigorate mikvah use. But a lack of education and changing standards of religious observance often meant that the practice did not continue past the first generation.</div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;">By the 1920s, mikvah observance had reached a dismal low in America. Even the mikvahs themselves were in poor condition. At the turn of the 20th century, the New York Board of Health shut down many of the city’s mikvahs, declaring them a health menace. Despite their reopening shortly thereafter, the image of mikvah as unclean -- and a relic of a previous era -- remained. </div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;">Jewish leaders realized that the situation was dire. Rabbi <strong>Leo Jung</strong>, a leader of Jewish Orthodoxy in America, began a campaign to reinvigorate mikvah observance. Writing to the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, <strong>Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn</strong>, he went as far as to claim that Jewish women ought to “refuse to get married before the community establishes decent mikvahs.” Jung ultimately built 15 mikvahs in communities across the country.</div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;">In 1975, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, <strong>Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson</strong>, launched a new campaign to reinvigorate mikvah observance in America. While a growing Orthodox community was careful to observe the laws of Family Purity, the subject was hardly discussed outside the community. </div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;">According to Leibman, the Rebbe has been “a huge influence” on increased mikvah observance. Crediting the Rebbe’s initiative as the “most influential in terms of dissemination of information” about mikvahs in America -- Leibman also notes his push for “spa-like mikvahs” as a factor in their rising popularity.</div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;">Mrs. <strong>Rivkah Slonim</strong>, who serves as a Chabad-Lubavitch Emissary to Binghamton, NY and a prominent author and lecturer on mikvah observance, has also seen changes since she began speaking about the subject.</div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;">“When I first became active in talking about the mikvah,” Slonim recalls, “even members of the Orthodox establishment were silent on the matter.”</div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;">At the time, the subject of the mikvah was kept cloistered behind doors. The laws of family sanctity were taught “only to the observant, and only to those who were engaged to be married.” Since that time, however, “the doors” of mikvah discussion “have been thrust open.”</div><div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.5em;">“The mikvah is no longer viewed as being just a women’s issue,” says Slonim. “With increased education, people are increasingly recognizing it as a Jewish issue.”</div></div>Mottelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00582397390892396507noreply@blogger.com4