Soon Shabbos

Sometimes you just have to get on the bus. That time is going to come for me soon. There's endless work to do, but I have to sign out and move on toward home. As I write this a bouncy song called Horchata is playing. It's by Vampire Weekend and available as a simple and free download on their website.

I just mentioned to my brother that I have a gift for him from my Israel trip this summer. I told him that it's a framed piece of klaf with the words "Hinei mah tov umanayim shevet achim gam yachad" ("How good and nice it is when brothers dwell together in unity") " wrtten on it in large, beautiful Torah print. He asked why I chose that pasuk so I asked if he'd prefer the one I got for myself: "Mah ahavti torahtechah kol hayom hee sichati" (How much I love Your Torah, it is my topic of convesation all day/every day.") He then asked if I was kidding and I said I wasn't. It turns out that that's his pasuk, the pasuk for the name Mordechai, which he recites after Shmoneh Esrei!

Apparently, a person's pasuk starts with the first letter and ends with the last letter of their name. I never paid much attention to how that worked because my name is not on the list in any siddur I've ever seen. I once looked up my name in a concordance and found that in one place in Tanach it appears as a noun and not a verb. That's the pasuk I consider mine. But maybe I should find one that starts with a nun and end with an ayin.

I've posted a totally new essay on the parsha. It's about time.

Rabbi Pesach Oratz, ZT"L, told me about when he had a heart attack. As they wheeled him in to the hospital the doctors were most concerned about his medical information. He said that he wanted them to attend to his life first and that they'd get the information later. They listened.

He was advised to have bypass surgery immediately. He didn't know what to do. It entered his mind that there's a tradition that considering the name of Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berdichov is known to be a segulah for health, and so he thought about that name. Then he decided to have the operation and met with the doctor. The surgeon told him that he was Jewish but it was not meaningful to him. He added that another doctor told him that it might be of interest to Rabbi Oratz if he shared his lineage with him. So he told him, "I am a descendant of a man I'm told was a great rabbi. His name was Levi Yitzchak ben Sarah Sascha." This helped Rabbi Oratz relax.

Last Thursday I had an extraction of a shard of a tooth that was embedded in my palate. My insurance and signing of releases was of great interest to the doctor and staff. The assistant (and the doctor) were also quite interested in her retrieving her glasses which she had forgotten to wear that day and couldn't see without. If you ever want to know where not to go for oral surgery ask me.

Soon the bus. Soon Shabbos. A date once told me that the Shulchan Aruch says that it's assur to travel on Friday. Okaaay. One has to be careful. I don't know anyone who holds practically today that you may not travel on Erev Shabbos.

Soon Shabbos.