Before we get started here, a brief note on the Raven's MNF loss to the still undefeated Patriots. You know the feeling the Jews got when they left Egypt? I had the complete OPPOSITE feeling about 4 different times during the 4th quarter of the game. That's about all I can say on the issue. The Ravens played their hearts out, and left everything out on the field. Well, except for the penalty flag Bart Scott threw into the stands. Classy.
Women: can't live with them...can't procreate without them. No, this is not going to be my first ever post devoted entirely to fashion. Although, I am very intrigued by the "let's just wear leggings" phenomenon. Seems like it really caught on. Do they provide the same warmth as actual pants? Has anyone ever shown up to a job interview donning the long shirt-belt-leggings trio? I'd like to think that Kobe Bryant is somewhat responsible for this. In any case, I'm really here to talk more about the role of women in Judaism, or, as it seems to be in most Orthodox circles, the lack there of. Now, I'm not just writing this because the Official Blog Girl was president of the entire Orthodox community here at the U of MD for a year (and she did a fantastic job, might I add. Not that I'm biased). I truly think this is a huge issue and I'm about 78 percent sure I heard that Rabbi J.J. Schachter agrees with me. Whoever that is.
So there have been a few different programs about women and Judaism here on campus. Most recently there has been interest in having the Torah being carried back on the ladies' side of the room on Shabbat morning. Of course there is plenty of opposition, not from a Halakhic perspective, but from those who value the "tradition" of men carrying back the Torah, and those who are concerned with the overall weird feeling that many in the Minyan will feel. Personally, I think it's a great idea. There's a difference between tradition as mandated by a legitimate source and tradition of "this is how we've always done it, so this is how we should always do it." If we are doing something because of a specific reason or legitimate source, and now that reason no longer exists, it BECOMES just "something we've always done." Before anyone looks into this issue, or any issue that pertains to women in Judaism they should take a figurative step back.
There are sexist statements in all different kinds of Judaic writings. My personal favorite is roughly translated as "If you teach a woman Torah, it is as if you are teaching them nonesense". I don't blame these people for writing these things because these people actually believed these things. Women couldn't do ANYTHING back in those days. Women didn't learn trades like men did. They didn't go out in the field like men did. They raised their children, and ran the household. These are the facts. During the time that the Talmud was compiled, and then the Shulchan Aruch women were really seen as second class citizens. I am willing to bet that when the Mishna Brurah was written there was still an overwhelming number of people who really believed that women didn't have the same brain capacity as men. They couldn't vote until the 1900s. They didn't really enter the work force until WWII because all the men were off fighting.
(I made the following point in a comment, but that it was important enough to "edit" it into the actual body of the post. Enjoy.)
Until relatively recently, women didn't even GO to shul. For modesty reasons, for traditional reasons, for whatever reasons, it just didn't happen. Now they do. Interesting. So there must have been ONE shul out there that decided to start using that mechitza (partition) thing that they had for davening purposes. No doubt when they started letting women in the shul there was outrage. Now, we look back and to us it seems like it was something that "evolved". But at the time it was surely seems like something that happened in one place over night, after much thought, and then it started spreading, until now where it is looked at as common place. We can even say that "this is how its always been".
Eliezer Berkovits said in his essay entitled "Conversion and the Decline of the Oral Law" that we have become Karaites to the Shulchan Aruch. Perhaps that's a bit extreme, but he makes a good point, and it is something to be aware of. I am not calling for an overnight change in all of Orthodoxy, and I know these things take time. Change is scary, and it could be dangerous. And I know it may even lead to mixed dancing. But with something as important as feeling close to God maybe it's time to let the women out of the kitchen.
Yes, me, the same guy who once chanted "bare-foot and pregnant!" at a "Battle of the Genders" camp event (we weren't allowed to call it "Battle of the Sexes" because all the giggling could have attracted unwanted wildlife) is now advocating for women's rights in Judaism.
Fantasy Football update: The F***** O***** just barely squeaked into the playoffs after Brett Favre got hurt and provided me with less than one fantasy point. I'm hoping Ladainian rallys the troops and we beat the Tony Romo led S******* that H*
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
Locke, Rouss, and 2 Kinds of Football
I had a Political Philosophy exam the other day. And as I crammed for that one hour before the test, I couldn't help but think of how everything I was learning still rings true today in my life. And by "my life" I am of course referring to football.
Jean-Jauques Rousseau, in "The Social Contract", discusses man in his natural state as completely free. He is free both physically, from the constraints of a repressive state or his fellow man, and psychologically, as he is not enslaved to artificial needs. Human society is formed artificially by a social contract. (Brief aside: my first encounter with any sort of social contract came in Yeshiva. One of the reasons discussed why I am not liable if my ox eats someone else's vegetables in a public thoroughfare, "shein b'rishut harabim patur", is because under the social contract it is known that oxen go through that area, and it is known that they eat. Therefore, you should know not to leave your fresh corn laying around. Wow, who would've thought that would come in handy. Rav Mordechai, you may have shaved your mustache, but you still know how to leave lasting impressions.) Under the contract, man agrees to sacrifice the "do what you want" freedom and instead gain the ability to deliberate rationally, restrained only by laws that they themselves make. In the ideal society, individuals will put aside their own personal interests, and vote based on what will best serve the general will.
Football, more than any other sport, requires team work. In basketball, individual efforts can win games. Lebron James single handedly carried the Cavs to the finals last year. In 2004, Brian Ne**** carried the Rambam Redstorm to the Wilner Tournament Championship (Ok, that's not entirely true. But it surely wasn't because of the guy on the bench in the sling and stylish tie. Told you I'd talk fashion.). In football, the blocking needs to provide enough protection so that the QB can throw a perfectly timed pass to his route-running reciever. If the blocking breaks down, the QB is forced to rush his throw, or gets sacked. If the blocking is there, but the QB throws high, the ball will fall incomplete (Welcome to the 2007 Baltimore Ravens...may I take your coat?). The better teams in the league always have players who "buy into the system". Like in Rousseau's ideal society, players are willing to put their own personal interests aside and focus on the general will of the team: winning.
When it came to sports, I was never the most talented. I did win a sportsmanship award or two, but I think that resulted more from my overall huskiness than anything else. Lucky for me, the only real competitive sport I take part in with any regularity requires no physical activity: Fantasy Football.
Fantasy Football is John Locke's response to real football. Locke, in "The Second Treatise of Civil Government" focuses primarily on the concept of property. Ownership of property, on the most basic level, is of one's self. My body is mine, and the land I work become mine, and the product it produces becomes mine. In fantasy football, there is no team work. Fantasy teams, in my case The F***** O*****, gain points based on statistics of individual athletes, independent whether or not the team wins. Much like in Locke's world, the individual is what is important.
There is no question in my mind that in today's America there are more people playing fantasy football than actual football. I am not just saying that because of the excessive obesity, but also because of the "me-first" philosophy that most abide by. The rich vote for tax cuts. The poor vote for social programs. Jews vote for politicians based on their policy towards Israel, or what they will do for day schools. Obviously we can't sacrifice ourselves completely, like Rousseau suggests. I guess Hillel put it best: If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I?
In order to sustain the drive that is our society, we can all afford to buy into the system a little more.
And just to clarify, I love fantasy football as much as the next guy. The F***** O***** is currently residing in 5th place, and just one game out of first place. I'm more excited about LT and Favre than Gus Johnson at the end of the Gonzaga-UCLA game. And that's Gus Johnson reference #2.
Jean-Jauques Rousseau, in "The Social Contract", discusses man in his natural state as completely free. He is free both physically, from the constraints of a repressive state or his fellow man, and psychologically, as he is not enslaved to artificial needs. Human society is formed artificially by a social contract. (Brief aside: my first encounter with any sort of social contract came in Yeshiva. One of the reasons discussed why I am not liable if my ox eats someone else's vegetables in a public thoroughfare, "shein b'rishut harabim patur", is because under the social contract it is known that oxen go through that area, and it is known that they eat. Therefore, you should know not to leave your fresh corn laying around. Wow, who would've thought that would come in handy. Rav Mordechai, you may have shaved your mustache, but you still know how to leave lasting impressions.) Under the contract, man agrees to sacrifice the "do what you want" freedom and instead gain the ability to deliberate rationally, restrained only by laws that they themselves make. In the ideal society, individuals will put aside their own personal interests, and vote based on what will best serve the general will.
Football, more than any other sport, requires team work. In basketball, individual efforts can win games. Lebron James single handedly carried the Cavs to the finals last year. In 2004, Brian Ne**** carried the Rambam Redstorm to the Wilner Tournament Championship (Ok, that's not entirely true. But it surely wasn't because of the guy on the bench in the sling and stylish tie. Told you I'd talk fashion.). In football, the blocking needs to provide enough protection so that the QB can throw a perfectly timed pass to his route-running reciever. If the blocking breaks down, the QB is forced to rush his throw, or gets sacked. If the blocking is there, but the QB throws high, the ball will fall incomplete (Welcome to the 2007 Baltimore Ravens...may I take your coat?). The better teams in the league always have players who "buy into the system". Like in Rousseau's ideal society, players are willing to put their own personal interests aside and focus on the general will of the team: winning.
When it came to sports, I was never the most talented. I did win a sportsmanship award or two, but I think that resulted more from my overall huskiness than anything else. Lucky for me, the only real competitive sport I take part in with any regularity requires no physical activity: Fantasy Football.
Fantasy Football is John Locke's response to real football. Locke, in "The Second Treatise of Civil Government" focuses primarily on the concept of property. Ownership of property, on the most basic level, is of one's self. My body is mine, and the land I work become mine, and the product it produces becomes mine. In fantasy football, there is no team work. Fantasy teams, in my case The F***** O*****, gain points based on statistics of individual athletes, independent whether or not the team wins. Much like in Locke's world, the individual is what is important.
There is no question in my mind that in today's America there are more people playing fantasy football than actual football. I am not just saying that because of the excessive obesity, but also because of the "me-first" philosophy that most abide by. The rich vote for tax cuts. The poor vote for social programs. Jews vote for politicians based on their policy towards Israel, or what they will do for day schools. Obviously we can't sacrifice ourselves completely, like Rousseau suggests. I guess Hillel put it best: If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I?
In order to sustain the drive that is our society, we can all afford to buy into the system a little more.
And just to clarify, I love fantasy football as much as the next guy. The F***** O***** is currently residing in 5th place, and just one game out of first place. I'm more excited about LT and Favre than Gus Johnson at the end of the Gonzaga-UCLA game. And that's Gus Johnson reference #2.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Throwing the Flag
Yesterday evening, while my first post was still nothing but a draft, I took a brief break for afternoon and evening services. Following services, and my brief announcements, I attended a short shiur (class) on this weeks Parsha (Torah portion). Sidenote: when I say "brief announcements" in this blog, it's kind of like when a character in a movie says its title during a pivotal scene. Sean Connery in "Entrapment" does this best. I SWEAR he pauses and looks at the camera before he says "entrapment". Pure comedy. Anyways, I try to make it to the shiur every week. Surely I am motivated by the free pizza, which allows me to save my defrosting salmon for a mid-night snack, but I am also interested in what God has to say. Usually, I regret to say, I leave the shiur disappointed. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised because the Hebrew word "shiur" comes from the same root as the word for "painful eye gauging". OK, that's a lie. In any case, this week was different. Why? Because the Rabbi did something that I rarely see. And I'm not referring to the fact that he shook a woman's hand, though that was a refreshing surprise. What struck me about this Shiur and this Rabbi was not the actual content. Rather, it was his approach that surprised me. Most shiurs or sermons I have listened to recently, and for most of my life, have consisted of the same basic formula: brief reading of some lines from the Parsha, then discussing what various Rishonim ("early Rabbis") have to say on the matter, most notably the man made famous by Shlock Rock, Rashi. Lather, rinse, repeat. In the end, everyone is left without any real conclusions and with many different answers to a single question, and somehow everyone is happy. Rather than follow this flawless model, this Rabbi talked about something...new. No Rishonim. He did bring a source from the Talmud, but it was not to provide direct commentary on the verses quoted. I know he's not the only rabbi who says new things. I know there are many Rabbis out there who do this, but that doesn't mean that it's not rare. Well, maybe it's not rare, but I am focusing really only on my personal experiences. This is my blog, I can do that.
I think what I am trying to say is this: being a Rabbi just isn't what it used to be. Nowadays, no one has anything NEW to say. No one is giving me a chidush. And I mean no disrespect. But the problem is not just within the Rabbinic world. We, the global congregation, have lowered our collective expectations. People are fine going to shul every week, listening to/sleeping through the sermon, picking up on a few obvious points that the Rabbi made, and going home to lunch with the family..."v'ein kol hadash tahat hashemesh" (Ecclesiastes 1:9. Look it up. I'm doing my first book review on Ecclesiastes one day. I'm half kidding.).
In today's society, no one is out there challenging authority. Except on the football field where coaches have the ability to throw the red flag (or my ridiculous group of friends who adopted the same custom, carrying around red flags in order to challenge every day situations. I'm not lying. These exist.). But that's a whole different kind of challenging. People have become so apathetic in their opinions towards everything from the War in Iraq to local elections to religion as a whole. These are the facts. We don't challenge our Rabbis to make their shiurs worthwhile, and they, in turn, don't challenge anything from past generations.
I'm not calling for rampant disrespect. Please, I'm a gentleman. But a little conversation never hurt anyone. So before they bring in the kicking unit for the extra point, throw the flag.
It doesn't help when it's stuck in your sock.
I think what I am trying to say is this: being a Rabbi just isn't what it used to be. Nowadays, no one has anything NEW to say. No one is giving me a chidush. And I mean no disrespect. But the problem is not just within the Rabbinic world. We, the global congregation, have lowered our collective expectations. People are fine going to shul every week, listening to/sleeping through the sermon, picking up on a few obvious points that the Rabbi made, and going home to lunch with the family..."v'ein kol hadash tahat hashemesh" (Ecclesiastes 1:9. Look it up. I'm doing my first book review on Ecclesiastes one day. I'm half kidding.).
In today's society, no one is out there challenging authority. Except on the football field where coaches have the ability to throw the red flag (or my ridiculous group of friends who adopted the same custom, carrying around red flags in order to challenge every day situations. I'm not lying. These exist.). But that's a whole different kind of challenging. People have become so apathetic in their opinions towards everything from the War in Iraq to local elections to religion as a whole. These are the facts. We don't challenge our Rabbis to make their shiurs worthwhile, and they, in turn, don't challenge anything from past generations.
I'm not calling for rampant disrespect. Please, I'm a gentleman. But a little conversation never hurt anyone. So before they bring in the kicking unit for the extra point, throw the flag.
It doesn't help when it's stuck in your sock.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Honoring my Father
I have inherited many things from my Dad: his apparent lack of chin and the resulting facial hair, the Lefko**** double knee, his fear of having our full last name floating around the internet, his cynicism towards todays Judaism (I prefer "Kofer", by the way, never "Apikores") and, of course, Psoriasis (which I still think can be treated by a Cohain as described somewhere in Leviticus). This is my way of giving back. Dad, you suggest I start a blog, and within hours, I'm bloggin' like it's my job.
Before we get started, I would like to explain both the title of this blog and my blogger identity.
So "A few brief announcements" is probably very familiar for any current UMD hillel goers. As official Gabbai 1, my main job, besides yelling page numbers louder than Gus Johnson (that's Gus Johnson reference number 1), is to make announcements immediately following services. I begin these announcements, as past Gabbais have before me, with stating that I have a few brief announcements. Clearly, after day 3, maybe 4, the general congregation knows that I am getting up to speak after praying for one reason and one reason only. To make brief announcements. Yet, I continue to tell everyone that I will be making a few brief announcements just moments before those very announcements are made. Why don't I just make the announcements without the pregame speech? Unclear.
Other Blog titles that didn't make the cut:
1. In Gad we Trust, Oh my Gad!: I decided against making the obvious "Gad"-"God" connection.
2. This is me Blogging
3. Running Diary: that's a tribute to the Sports Guy.
4. Gadi's Blog: I can be simplistic. But I chose not to be.
A name like Gedalia can be hard to pronounce for those non-Chosen people. Luckily, my parents decided to give me a mobster nickname to help me out a little. Needless to say, Gedalia stayed on all the official forms. So on the first day of school every year, or in any other situation where a poor non-Hebrew speaking individual was forced to say my name outloud, they went with the "soft g" option, or: Jedalya. Great. After wiping away the tears, my voice would tremble from the back of the class room "Call me Gadi!". At which point I would have to spell that, and we could get on to Yanky Lemberger.
Other potential Blogger names:
1. GAL: Yup. Those are my initials. Gedalia A**** Lefko****, named for my late Great-Grandfather Rabbi Gedalia A**** S********, or "Papa S********". I've always thought there should be a club for people with embarrassing initials. I know for a fact there are bunch of ASSs around. I guess Papa would've been in it too.
2. HaBen shel David: That's a tribute to my Dad, the inspiration of this blog, as well as to my bro who introduced me to the song with that title. I decided it was too Messianic to be a good blogger name
3. Cousin Freddy: So, I was always second-in-command when I would chill with my neighbor friends. When the occassion was right for an afternoon game of Berenstein Bears, I wasn't quite worthy of Brother Bear, but I was definitely more important than Too Tall. And no, there was no Sister Bear. We abided strictly by the "No Girls Allowed Club". We had no qualms with double daring either.
So that's what I got for today. I think I am gonna focus on one or more of the following subjects: God, Judaism, sports, politics, and fashion. And no, I'm not kidding about the fashion thing.
You'd be surprised.
Before we get started, I would like to explain both the title of this blog and my blogger identity.
So "A few brief announcements" is probably very familiar for any current UMD hillel goers. As official Gabbai 1, my main job, besides yelling page numbers louder than Gus Johnson (that's Gus Johnson reference number 1), is to make announcements immediately following services. I begin these announcements, as past Gabbais have before me, with stating that I have a few brief announcements. Clearly, after day 3, maybe 4, the general congregation knows that I am getting up to speak after praying for one reason and one reason only. To make brief announcements. Yet, I continue to tell everyone that I will be making a few brief announcements just moments before those very announcements are made. Why don't I just make the announcements without the pregame speech? Unclear.
Other Blog titles that didn't make the cut:
1. In Gad we Trust, Oh my Gad!: I decided against making the obvious "Gad"-"God" connection.
2. This is me Blogging
3. Running Diary: that's a tribute to the Sports Guy.
4. Gadi's Blog: I can be simplistic. But I chose not to be.
A name like Gedalia can be hard to pronounce for those non-Chosen people. Luckily, my parents decided to give me a mobster nickname to help me out a little. Needless to say, Gedalia stayed on all the official forms. So on the first day of school every year, or in any other situation where a poor non-Hebrew speaking individual was forced to say my name outloud, they went with the "soft g" option, or: Jedalya. Great. After wiping away the tears, my voice would tremble from the back of the class room "Call me Gadi!". At which point I would have to spell that, and we could get on to Yanky Lemberger.
Other potential Blogger names:
1. GAL: Yup. Those are my initials. Gedalia A**** Lefko****, named for my late Great-Grandfather Rabbi Gedalia A**** S********, or "Papa S********". I've always thought there should be a club for people with embarrassing initials. I know for a fact there are bunch of ASSs around. I guess Papa would've been in it too.
2. HaBen shel David: That's a tribute to my Dad, the inspiration of this blog, as well as to my bro who introduced me to the song with that title. I decided it was too Messianic to be a good blogger name
3. Cousin Freddy: So, I was always second-in-command when I would chill with my neighbor friends. When the occassion was right for an afternoon game of Berenstein Bears, I wasn't quite worthy of Brother Bear, but I was definitely more important than Too Tall. And no, there was no Sister Bear. We abided strictly by the "No Girls Allowed Club". We had no qualms with double daring either.
So that's what I got for today. I think I am gonna focus on one or more of the following subjects: God, Judaism, sports, politics, and fashion. And no, I'm not kidding about the fashion thing.
You'd be surprised.
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