Another Saturday Night 3

It's an honor just to be nominated.

A colleague of mine asked me on Friday if I had any source relating to the conflict between passion and commitment - between the idea of excitement on one hand and consistency on the other. Non of my ideas fit for my colleague's style or vision for the talk. But here are some of the ideas that came to my mind while they're still fresh.:

The words we say in the Shir of Sunday - Mi Yaaleh Behar Hashem Umi yakum BiMekom Kodsho. On the one hand is the idea of climbing up in excitement, but then comes the harder part - staying up, standing firm on the mountain. And we say this on Sunday perhaps, because on Shabbos we have the fervor spurt and then as the week begins we commit to staying strong.

Then there's the idea of the words that are commanded by G-d to us Hayom - today, and the comment that every day Torah must be like new in our eyes. There's that initial excitement and then keeping it fresh.

There's the story about Rachel, in the medrash saying to G-d that she beseeches Him for her children with her merit for a - having given her sister the wedding night signs and - not being jealous over all the years. And the explanation of the need for a second reason may be that the first act could have been a one time deal, a burst of adrenaline - but not being jealous over years shows consistency in righteousness.

Also, I mentioned, there's the mishna in Avot that says that you must serve G-d like one serving not for reward - but rather out of love. And then the author of the mishna, Akavia ben Mehalalel adds that you should have fear of Heaven upon you. The idea her is that as great as it is to serve G-d out of love, that must be tempered with respect, lest you cut corners.

I also mentioned the fact that after the Akeida, Avraham is told - now I know that you are a fearer of G-d. Of course this wasn't in question really. The Netziv explains that Avraham's pivot in his relationship with G-d was love and being in that position one would expect Avraham to wiggle out of accepting an order to kill his own son - but Avraham proved that fear was as paramount as love is his connection to G-d.

And these last two ideas fit with the idea that the words AHAVA and YIRAH link, as illustrated by the fact that they share the first two letters. (if you write the Hebrew word YIRAH over the Hebrew word AHAVA and then make a plus sign dividing the words into 4 quadrants - each with two letters in it you'll see that the words are spelled not only across but also going down in the right and left half).

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Shabbos was great. Heard Rabbi Herschel Scachter on Avot and give a shmooze. At a meal someone said that Rabbi JD Bleich says that going to Bodies is asur (or at least he feels it should be asur, and in a recent Tradition article article he grapples with the issue). I went months ago and found it to be interesting in a scientific way and not offensive (he feels it's disrespectful, I think).

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Nathan Englander is reading from his new novel as I type. His key character is named Kaddish.
It sounds well crafted. " And it was in his cupped hands, as if he was looking at the stars." That's the last line he reads and then Vin Scelsa says that it's beautiful. And Nathan says, "you're a kind man."

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I am torn about culture and the frum party line approach and how valuable I find it to be. Away From Her was incredible, still has me reeling days after I saw it. There's a sophistication of sensitivity that comes through reading of or watching portrayals of the lives of others. Rav Aron Lichtenstein has said many times that through literature one gains a deeper understanding for people. And yet his biggest quoters seem to hate literature. Sigh.

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Everyone enjoy your holy Motzai Shabbos. If you feel like it drop a line in the comments. I'd love for this to be a place where you feel welcome to write.