Disconnect to connect

The following is an email I received from the Jewish woman's project for Ahavas Yisrael. The first suggestion on the list is to disconnect from our cell phones, particularly apt as Rabbi Wallerstein has designated today as a day to disconnect.

The Aseres Ymei Tshuva is a special time for closeness with Hashem and truly focusing on connecting to our Creator. We all know the good feeling we have when we experience a powerful davening or have moments when we feel a deep connection with Hashem through a life's challenge, an impactful hashgacha moment or just plain emuna pshuta. We are most open to this experience when our eyes are open and we are looking for the connection. When we are distracted and too busy to see Hashem in our lives, we are more challenged in seeing how He plays a part in the framework of our lives's and often end up frustrated and confused. When we can stop ourselves before davening and remember that we are about to have a conversation with Hashem and need to block out distraction, our focus and kavana is taken to a new level and we reap true closeness and satisfaction from the relationship. The same is true with our relationships with others. When we focus on the fact that in order to establish connection and respect with others, we need to pay attention. To be able to pick up on cues and notice facial expressions such as pain, fear, or relief, we must work on eye contact which gives others the feeling that you have time for them. This is a message which conveys true caring. This week, as we focus on teshuva, let's try to disconnect from the distractions in our lives which will allow us to have better connections with Hashem and those around us.

1. Disconnect to Connect – let’s shut our cell phones for an hour and spend uninterrupted quality time with family members or friends.
2. Let’s shut our cell phone when walking in public streets and entering stores to heighten our awareness of those around us. We can now greet each other whole heartedly. We can also give our full attention and respect to cashiers and others.
3. Let’s look up from our book/newspaper/computer/blackberry/cell phone to acknowledge HUMANITY BEFORE TECHNOLOGY! Smile and greet.
4. Be the FIRST to say hello and genuinely ask that person about their well being. Patiently with sincere interest wait for their reply.
5. Introduce yourself to someone you do not know in shul, at meetings and at social gatherings. Make introductions among friends by asking “do you know each other”.
6. When you are in a conversation with someone in a public area- shul, social gatherings or Central Avenue and another acquaintance walks by- look up, acknowledge them and invite them to join your conversation and say: for example, we were just talking about….
7. Smile, greet and start a friendly conversation with a person from a different background. You will be pleasantly surprised by how much you have in common.

"The" thief

In May of 2010, it was reported that, "six Torah scrolls were stolen Friday night from a synagogue in Antwerp, Belgium."
On June 17th 2010, it was reported that the Torah scrolls were on their way back, with reports of a partial ranson being paid.
Today, Chadrei Chadarim reports that one of the scrolls was sent for repairs after it had been stolen. It was returned to the synagogue recently and the shul members were planning to read from the sefer Torah during the High Holidays. In preparation, the Torah was sent to be proofread and one letter in the Torah was found to be missing.
The site reports that the letter missing in the Torah was the letter "heh" from the word "the thief".
האות החסרה בחומש שמות פרק כב' פסוק ו': "אם לא ימצא הגנב".. האות ה' במילה הגנב, לא נכתבה מעולם
A comment posted pointed out that
פסוק ו : אם יימצא הגנב ישלם שניים
The verse that was quoted in the article is actually verse 7.
Regardless, it makes for a fascinating story. I'll try to get an update of which verse it was.
UPDATE: It seems that the verse was verse 7 - "אם לא ימצא הגנב" If the thief is not found - which turned out to be the case in this story.

Tzom Gedaliah

Tzom Gedaliah (Fast of Gedaliah) is an annual fast day instituted by the Jewish Sages to commemorate the assassination of Gedaliah Ben Achikam, the Governor of Israel during the days of Nebuchadnetzar King of Babylonia. As a result of Gedaliah's death the final vestiges of Judean autonomy after the Babylonian conquest were destroyed, many thousands of Jews were slain, and the remaining Jews were driven into final exile.
The fast is observed on the day immediately following Rosh Hashanah, the third of Tishrei. In the Prophetic Writings this fast is called 'The Fast of the Seventh' in allusion to Tishrei, the seventh month.
Read full article: http://www.ou.org/chagim/tzomgedaliah/Default.htm

Times two

Dear New York Times editors,
I have a confession to make. I have been blogging for a couple of years and I have to admit that the financial renmuneration hasn't been good, to say the least. I would, therefore, like to apply for a postiton as a columnist at your paper. With columnists such as Thomas Friedman, Roger Cohen and Nicholas Kristof in your employ, it really behooves you to employ a Devorah, lest you be accused of being an unequal opportunity employer. If you hire me, I know the drill down pat. I would write a weekly column lamenting the deteriorating Middle East peace process, blame Israel and Netanyahu, and throw in a suitable quote from Haaretz. Of couse, I would also throw in an equivalence regarding the extremists on both sides - those who paint and those who shoot. An example would be one Thomas Friedman used in his latest editorial where he wrote about the "many unstable characters roaming around — like extremist Israeli settlers given to occasionally daubing “Muhammad is a Pig” on Muslim buildings in the West Bank and extremist Palestinians from groups like Islamic Jihad given to shooting Israeli civilians or lobbing mortars from Gaza onto Israeli towns."
On second thought, I would prefer to quote from INN and not draw equivalence between both sides of extremists. If you allow me to do so, and wish to contact me, just leave a comment on my blog.
Thank you for your kind attention.

Speaking of the New York Times, an article titled Obama Turns to Biden to Reassure Jewish Voters, and Get Them to Contribute, Too describes an incident in which a rabbi asked Vice President Joe Biden why Jonathan Pollard was still in prison.
“President Obama was considering clemency, but I told him, ‘Over my dead body are we going to let him out before his time,’ ” Mr. Biden said. “If it were up to me, he would stay in jail for life.”
What is it about Mr. Pollard that stirs up such strong feelings?

Gut Yom Tov

Just a reminder to make an eiruv tavshilin.

Rav Tzvi Meir tells a story that goes something like this. A person meets his friend after Rosh Hashana and asks him "Nu, so how did your Rosh Hashana go?" He replies "It was beautiful. The baal tefila didn't leave a dry eye in the shul. The meals were full of divrei torah and zemiros. The afternoons we learned straight without dozing or schmoozing for a minute. The kids behaved like angels" "Wow! Gevaldig. Sounds like it was perfect" his friend replies. "Well almost perfect. The kid next to me in Shul couldn't stop making noise during Musaf and the father the "Groisse Tzaddik" was so busy shukling away that he didn't do anything besides keep shuckling. I had to shissss the kid half of Mussaf, besides that it was perfect.
To this Rav Tzvi Meir says, "Fool! That was your whole test of Rosh Hashana. Maybe your whole year depended on your reaction to the kid. The rest of Yom Tov was not your Nisayon!" This Rosh Hashana don't decide for yourself what Rosh Hashana is all about. Submit yourself to what the King of all Kings decides is your particular avodah. Hatzlacha Rabba and Gut Yom Tov!
http://www.revach.net/moadim/elultishrei/Rav-Tzvi-Meir-Zilberberg-No-That-Was-Your-Whole-Rosh-HaShana/1021

Describing Jerusalem

Googling the words "1100 housing units in Jerusalem," I came up with a number of articles about the decision of the Israeli government to approve new housing units in Gilo. As you can see from the image below, an AP article begins, "Israel's government on Tuesday granted the final go-ahead for the construction of 1100 new housing units in occupied east Jerusalem."
However, if you click on the link to the article, you can see that the word "occupied" has disappeared from the article. It still does appear in the caption underneath the picture on the right of the article.

Some sites which used the article still contain the word "occupied."

Another site prefaces east Jerusalem with the words "illegally occupied."
Israel's government has granted the go-ahead for construction of 1,100 new housing units in illegally occupied east Jerusalem, raising already heightened tensions fuelled by last week's Palestinian move to seek full UN membership.

Foxnews refers to the area as "occupied east Jerusalem."

Finally, Rabbi Lau describes Jerusalem in the hope of "Yerushalayim Habenuyah."

Something other than peace

Shoshana Bryen has written an article about the peace process where she opines, "if 'peace' is the goal of the 'peace talks,' the parties are doomed to fail."
She further summarizes the main issues of both parties.

"For Israel, there are three:

•Recognition of the Third Jewish Commonwealth -- the State of Israel -- as a permanent and legitimate part of the region and the community of nations (also known as "end of conflict, end of claims");
•"Secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force" -- the promise of U.N. Resolution 242 -- and
•The capital of Israel in a united Jerusalem.
For the Palestinians, there are also three:

•International recognition of an independent Palestinian State without recognizing borders for the Third Jewish Commonwealth;
•Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state; and
•The right of refugees of 1948/49 and their descendants to live in places from which they -- or their antecedents -- claim to have originated inside the boundaries of pre-'67 Israel.
Israel's interest in a united Jerusalem is practical as much as anything else. The U.N. had promised Jewish access to Jewish holy places within the city in 1948 but failed to a) deliver access and b) prevent the wholesale destruction of Jewish patrimony on the eastern side after the expulsion of the Jewish community. Israel is unlikely to substitute future promises of access for its current ability to operate an open city for Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike."

She concludes, "to understand the requirements of both parties is to understand that something other than "peace" is at issue. And that would be a starting place for realistic goals and limitations on the Quartet and on the American government."

Another article that caught my eye this morning.
Three Palestinians were pronounced dead on Tuesday morning after Egyptian authorities pumped sewage inside a smuggling tunnel under the Gaza border on Sunday.

Wishes

In the Shaar HaKavonos of the Arizal it says that when the Chazzan lingers on the word "Ayei" Mikom Kivodo in Kedusha of Musaf you can have in mind one of three wishes that will be granted. Either you can ask for Ruach HaKodesh, great wealth, or children who are tzaddikim.
The Arizal cautions that you can only ask for one and not all three so you must choose carefully. Rav Shimshon Pincus gives advice to those who are stumped by the dilemma. First of all he says do not spend you precious request asking for Ruach HaKodesh. Even if you were granted Ruach HaKodesh, since we are not worthy enough it would not settle on us, much like if someone were to pour a gallon of Cola into a 5 ounce cup. It is pointless.
Children or Money? That is up to you. What did Rav Pincus choose? He used to tell his kids, "Please be good, I gave up a great fortune for you!"
http://www.revach.net/moadim/elultishrei/Rav-Shimshon-Pincus-Go-For-The-Other-Goodies-Not-The-Ruach-HaKodesh/1015

The return

For those of you who missed thie article by David Solway titled The Return of the Prodigal Son-A reluctant Jew finally sees the light, click here for a must read.
Mr. Solway, I thank you for your enlightening, honest and superbly written article. I wish you a happy and healthy new year.

Tav Shin Ayin Bet

My husband came home from shul last night with an acronym forming the letters of the coming Jewish new year that he had seen posted on the walls.
The year should begin with its blessings. תחל שנה עם ברכותיה

Searching the internet, I found other thoughts here, here, here and here.

These are a few I picked out with a loose English translation.

This year should be one of laboring in Torah. תהא שנת עמלינו בתורה
This should be a year of the world in redemption. תהא שנת עולם בגאולה

Your divine Presence should fill us quickly. תשרה שכינתך עלינו במהרה

This should be a year loaded with weddings. תחל שנה עמוסה בחתונות

תהא שנת עין בעין ע"ש הכתוב כי עין בעין יראו בשוב ה' וכו' בב"א

ישעיהו פרק נב ח
כִּי עַיִן בְּעַיִן יִרְאוּ, בְּשׁוּב יְהוָה צִיּוֹן
For eye to eye they will see Hashem’s return of Tzion

Click here for a Torah thought on the above verse.

J.B. - I'm impressed with the video below which you produced. Just wish you would have consulted me first for the editing. - Outstanding. May you be blessed with a year of health and happiness.