Good Night and Gut Vuch

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More On Eikev

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Gladden us for as long as the days You afflicted us,
the years we have suffered misfortune
- Tehilim 90:15

“He afflicted you and let you hunger, then He fed you the manna
that you did not know nor did your forefathers know…”
- Devarim 8:3 (first half)

Rabbi Eliezer (Sanhedrin 99a) says that the process of Mashiach, which precedes everlasting redemption (see Rambam, Hilchot Melachim – chapter 11), during which the exiles will be ingathered, Jewish sovereignty restored , and the Temple rebuilt, takes forty years.

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He bases this on the fact that we survived the desert for forty years. And David HaMalech prays for the redemption saying that it should parallel those years, which the Torah calls the years of affliction.

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Eikev 3: By Bread

“…In order to make you know that not by bread alone does man live,
rather by everything that emanates from the mouth of G-d does man live”
– Devarim 8:3 (second half)

The body is sustained by food, and somehow so is the soul. While at first it seems odd at a deeper look it makes sense that the soul is sustained by food. Before G-d created something from nothing the natural state was one of nothingness. Anything that exists only exists because G-d initially created it and continues to sustain it. Everything that exists has a spiritual nucleus and without that G-dliness inside it - it would seize to be.

When we eat our souls benefit from the spiritual DNA of the food. Just as physical nutrients get to us by processing food in a way that we'll receive the proper benefits, so too the spiritual vitamins get to us via spiritual preparation. This preparation is what we call a bracha, through which we acknowledge G-d as the source of all, and thank him for meeting our needs.

This is the deeper meaning of this verse. Man doesn't survive only by bread but needs the word of G-d that accompanies the eating through which we spiritually survive and thrive.

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Everything I Know About Life I Learned At A Shabbos Meal

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Last night and today I ate by two different couples. Both husbands graduated from my school in 2002. Words elude me on the topic of age, emotions don't.

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Last night's meal went to 1:00 AM. It was just me and them and the food and the Torah and the Zemirot and the conversation and the Shabbos Queen. The conversation went so smoothly t was an absolute pleasure. Lunch was a bit shorter, but just as much a pleasure.

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One of my hosts asked what I thought about people, particularly young students, being praised for being smart. Isn't it like praising someone for being tall? - he asked. He told me that he and his wife, not long ago bumped into an old teacher of hers. He said to the teacher that his wife is really diligent, and the teacher told him, "That's what we we say about the non bright ones, just tell it like it is - your wife is smart." When did being hard working become worthless other than as a euphemism for stupid? How sad is that?

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My heart was warmed and my hope lifted when I recently met someone who bucked the trend. This master-teacher agreed to run an enrichment program in a school (often a code for more attention for academic over achievers of a certain type) if it would be a program that found strengths of every student one way or another. And the school agreed!

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Forgetting Me Remember Me

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I think and write a lot about memory and recently new thoughts were sparked by a recent Curious Jew post. Chana wrote that she doesn't recall things, rather she relives them, and that resonates for me.

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I get my news from radio daily, newspapers occasionally, and TV once every bunch of years. It can get monotonous but be that as it may I listen to CBS News Radios reports over and over. Usually the sports is like white noise, but tonight there's a major human interest angle. Hank Aaron's record has been tied. Immediately, each time I hear that, I go back to the Melbourne hotel in Ellenville.

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I was hanging out down below with the kids and the pinball machines and heading up to the crowded lobby when I heard a roar and then one of those running little kids that seems to morph into existence at such moments. The kid was screaming, "He broke the record - he broke the record!" Off hand I can't tell you the year, not my thing.

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I don't remember dates, until I figure them out through experiences. Recently some friends and I started playing a game where we challenged each other to name the year a movie came out in. I did well in the game, not because I remembered the years but because I was able to recall what was happening in my life when that movie played, and then getting to the year from there.

I don't much feel like doing the math at the moment regarding Hank Aaron. But I will tell you that most people that were my age at the time and heard someone shout "he broke the record" knew what it meant. I don't believe that it was a low IQ that caused me to think that some kid broke a record in the juke box downstairs. I think it's an example of my being out of the box.

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Headlines

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WCBS Headlines: Story #1 - Barry Bonds finally ties Aaron. Story #2 - A-Rod, hits 500th at 32. Story #3 - Bush visits tragic scene in Minneapolis. Five dead, eight missing. Story #5 - Bergen County needs to boil water; a woman in Weehawken is taking it well. Story #7 - Soldier gets sentence of 100 yrs plus for in case of Iraqi girl's rape; no elaboration provided. Story #8 - Wire tapping being voted on. Story #9 - Oil under political discussion. Story #10 - Mother and daughters stabbed together. Story #11 - Phoenix Lander Mission being prepared for Mars. Story #12 - Traffic and weather. It's 76 in Newark. High for Sunday: 86.

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Wishing eveyone a Gut Vuch and May G-d Bless.