Motzai Shavuos

Right after I horse and buggy'ed it home tonight I got a call from an old friend. He needed stories/jokes for a dinner speech. His vort was going to be that besides whatever else a Shul dinner may be (fundraiser, social event, fundraiser, way to honor members, fundraiser) it also connects every individual to the klal, reminding them that they are an important cog in the community. I gave him several on the spot. It made me feel a bit less uncomfortable with the public welcome from the bimah that I received in one of the Shuls I was in over YT. Another one of the Shul rabbis told me that he used a joke that a mutual friend had passed on to him from me.

Shavuos night was a taste of heaven. I learned with student after student, some whom I knew, others new to me. There was studying from Avot, for tomorrow's Chumash test, reading from Do Unto Others, general sharing of vorts and stories and more. Next door public shiurim were given, including one on Yichud by my dear colleague Rabbi Shelly Morris, in which his hook was the true story of a frum single woman who jumped off a 25 foot high ski lift (see here, and here for the story).

I want to tell you all about the holiday but sleep calls, so headlines will have to suffice: ate pretty healthily/reasonably, am amazed by Dani Shapiro's Devotion, love the premise of Seriously Funny, got chizuk from Rabbi Gavriel Zinner's sefer on Shavuot, enjoyed Rabbi Duvie Weiss' vort on the deeper meaning of why night precedes day in Judaism, met Rebetzin Peshi Neuberger and found out her married offspring lives across the street from me, was welcomed from the bimah by Rabbi Yaakov Neuberger thanks to a well meaning congregant, enjoyed his vort impromptu speech which he used instead of his prepared speech because it came to him during Hallel and he felt it and decided to go with it: it was in part inspired by the fact that someone had trouble figuring out how to open the Aron and then Rabbi Elchonon Doolitz called out, reach behind the curtain and you'll see the strings are there - the idea being that we believe in hashgacha - as we said in Hallel that Hashem will remember and bless us because we trust in Him...