I'm The Face (Click For Song)

My grades are in. The students were told them. I taught. We discussed the circles people have to go through - the lech lechah of life. And in Gemorah we discussed the way witnesses can bring additional proof even after questioning and sentencing are done. I ended that class with the story about the 2 guys who were late for an exam and said it was due to a flat tire. The teacher put them in separate rooms and gave them a one question test: "Which one?"

I sat with one student today and talked about things I can write in her Israel recommendation. it's been three years since I taught her. The deadline is coming up and the requests are piling on. I had four Torah guidance meetings today. People feel so many emotions and need to share and be heard.

__________________________________________

According to John Cleese, in his series "The Human Face," we can create 7,000 facial expressions, as opposed to crocodiles who only can exhibit one expression. The face consists of 44 muscles and two bones (skull & jaw). Unlike other body muscles those in the face are not connected to the bone and thus have great mobility.

I'm watching/listening to this program as I decompress through writing. My ear hurts. Hard to tell if it hurts less. An ear infection and its pain is kind of like being pregnant in that there really isn't such a thing as a little bit.

Cleese just did a feature about an arguing couple and how their facial expressions play into their relationshipo. They're flown to an institute in Seatle, where a Dr. named John Gottman - wearing a colorful kippah - hooks them up to machines, tells them when they argue their heart rates go through the roof and that her expression toward him is one of contempt and disgust. I looked up Gottman and according to Wikipedia he "was born in the Dominican Republic to Orthodox Jewish parents. His father was a rabbi in pre-WWII Vienna. John was educated in a Lubavitch yeshiva elementary school in Brooklyn, and currently identifies with Conservative Judaism."

The show (first episode of four) also includes a young man with Asperger's, who doesn't sense with him brain what the expressions of others mean - the way most people do. He trains himself to memorize the clues. It's touching to hear Cleese say that he respects this fellow's efforts. Also featured is a young girl who can't move her face, and is stuck with one plain expression. Her parents decide to get her an operation to allow her to smile. The operation is a success and the young girl becomes more integrated, being able to smile like most everyone else (including those who can but opt not to).

Cleese discusses the true smile of enjoyment versus fake smiles. The true one is very hard to force. He shows pictures of three women and asks the viewer to guess which one was happiest 40 years later. Dacher Keltner speaks about this study which claimed to predict happiness based on one photo (such as a college grad's yearbook shot). Of three photos they focus on, one person exhibited movement in two muscles - one around the eyes, the other nearby the lips. She exuded happiness and was happy 40 years later. The other two lack the eye muscle movement and are less happy (this claim is supported by one being divorced and the other not yet married).

Dr. Paul Ekman speaks about how people try to use their faces to hide their lies, and how faces don't cooperate. He is the basis for the key character of Lie to Me. On his website he tracks each episode and explains that they get right and what they get wrong. He tested people like judges and cops and found that it's just a matter of chance if they get who's lying. Only secret service agents scored high, catching the liars. Ekman claims that in a half hour he can teach how to spot micro expressions that give away the liars.

_______________________________

I'd love to write more, but it's time for bed, time to rest my head, to go to my pillow, and float away, till it's a new day.

Imagination

Our fantastic fantasies

Keep us afloat

Teenagers Write the Darndest Things

A Song of Thanks

bbk
By Yael Palgon
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Praise it be
The Creator of it all
The One who lets there be a sun
Let it be known to all
His infinite glory

Praise it be the way
The sun seeps inside of me
Gently kissing my face
I gaze upon her red golden sunset
On a hot summer’s afternoon

Praise it be the way
The air smells
When the flowers bloom
Tickling all my senses
Making me drunk with glee
On a sunny spring morning

Praise it be the way
The wind whispers
Lolling me to sleep
I find my inner peace
On a winter’s night

Praise it be the way
The trees look
As their coats change colors
Opening their arms
To welcome the new year
On a breezy fall day

Praise it be
The Creator of it all
That there are seasons
A rhythm to it all
Let it be known to all
His infinite glory

Ozen Shoma'at - 15 Minutes, No Edits

Home sick. Those words can be read different ways. Feel free (in general). You probably think this song is about you. What is a blog? Don't ask for whom the blogger writes. My ear is buzzing, hurting, infected. A specialist lanced it and drained it today. Antibiotics, drops. And the pain, and stuffiness and the humming and the drumming of the ear ear ear. It's the one in the middle that hurts; it's a middle ear infection. Why do I like blogging? Why do I like it much more that Facebook. Why do I not even want to consider tweeting? Why isn't Neil Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon" better known? It's brought to me by Pandora as I blog. Shall we blog? Let's hope so. Hope is the thing with feathers. That Emily was something. My ear is buzzing - is buzzing, izzzzzzz buzzzzzing. Time to return my soul to the shop for the night if the ringing and the tingling of my ear ear ear allows. I'm short on staff tonight; it's just me and G-d. How are you? Who are you? Who am I? Are any of us anybody? Once you think your somebody does trouble begin? Can you argue that once you realize you're somebody the good times can start? Is this writing or just typing? Did Truman Capote actually say that a book he critiqued was just typing, not writing? Does Billy Joel have a sadder song than "And So It Goes?" Pandora's playing that now. I'm tempted to skip it. It once was that I had to skip that song. When that song is a couple's "song" they should know it's not a great sign from the start. Mom (OBM) used to say I write things here that I shouldn't. Why would she or any one say that? Good night and G-d bless.

My Walk To The Young Israel of Windsor Park on Thanksgiving Morning

call it family

hectic cross currents

energies push and pull us

quite far from alone

Speechless

shavua tov

Maybe?

if a seed is held just

in your warm grasp

it will never thrive

it needs to be thrown

into the dark earth

to truly grow alive

I wrote the above poem yesterday while virtually speaking with a friend. It's not easy for the farmer of the seed. The whole dynamic fascinates me, people creating other people. There's bound to be serious attachment between creator and progeny. And yet...

My family has a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend. I am thankful to be typing this post with one of my nephews uploading his new Mac book pro and his brother working on his old Mac book pro across the table from me. Dad's watching football in the next room. My niece and her parents are upstairs. Thank G-d for this scene.

I have an ear infection. it's always interesting to write/experience/process life when feeling sick. I'm on antibiotic, and praying for that moment when the pain passes. It's especially awkward being sick while my dear dad is recuperating from more serious stuff.

I have work to do, big time. I have a book to publish. I have social obligations. Mostly I just want to be - to live. Please G-d, help me to truly live.

A bit hungry.

A bit in pain.

A bit worried.

Baring blame.

I just received this email from a member of the Macabeats about their latest video. The song and video are not to my taste. Still, it was worth it for me to see my (former) student, the amazing, accomplished Josh Jay in action.

Yonatan Shefa to me

Hey just wanted to say your blog is great. You should check out this video and share it with your audience! They're sure to love it.

-Yonatan

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LaTorah VeLaMoadim - Vayeishev - Essay 1, Part 1

What does it mean to be at home somewhere, to belong in a place? Does it mean that it’s where you are most of the time? Rav Shlomo Yosef Zevin argues that when we identify with a place, we need not be there all that often in order to call it home. “Ashrei yoshvei veitechah” – “Happy are those who sit in Your house;” this line does not refer to people who sit exclusively in synagogue. Rather it speaks of someone for whom their place of prayer and torah study is their pivotal place. It could be that they work 8 hours a day and spend two hours in Shul, and yet Shul is their set place and their job does not define who they are. It is similar to someone who travels a lot for work, and yet their main place is home with their family.

Rav Zevin applies this idea to the fact that – as the mishnah puts it – this world is a temporary corridor leading to the main room of the world to come. He laments the fact that not everyone sees it this way and cites Yishayahu, who referred to people who “yoshvei teivel” – those who view themselves as permanent residents of this world, as opposed to “shochnei aretz,” those who feel like temporary dwellers on this earth.

The Kli Yakar says that not only was Yaakov wrong for asking to settle in peace, but he made a big mistake in that he wished to feel set in the same country that his father said made him feel like a stranger. Rav Zevin notes – via Rashi - that right after Yaakov wishes to be sit in peace where his father felt uncomfortable the problems of Yosef fell upon him.

Rav Zevin takes a close look at the trajectory of Yosef’s relationship to dreams: At first he has big dreams for himself, then he helps others with their dreams, and in the end the recipient of Yosef’s assistance with dream fulfillment forgets all about Yosef. Rav Zevin applies this to modern Jews in exile: We exchange our dreams for the dreams of others all because we started feeling comfortable in a place which made our fathers feel unsettled. The sad end is that those we assist forget we exist.

Happy Anniversary Dear Reader

Things are a bit hectic here at the blog. I neglected to mention this on November 21, and it would feel wrong to not say something now that I've remembered. We've passed the six year mark, six years of rabbifleischmann.blogspot.com! Thank you for making me more than a diary keeper.

In looking through the years quickly in the middle of last night, I began to find some interesting stuff in November, 2005. The following 7 posts are each from this month of that year.

This exclusive interview.

Two nuggets of wisdom absorbed in vivo. anniversary

A post filled with a whole bunch of edgy things that barely seem to appear any more.

Here's a description of an accomplishment I achieved for a bunch of years in a row. I am proud of this Jewish, professional, human thing I did.

One of my favorite book dedications ever; can you name where it's from?

A post about a play I performed in in the past, and a touching story about a life saved (all this and comments too).

Five years later, I just re-read this post about the struggles in singledom. I don't write 'em like this anymore.

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It's a few moments before Shab (as my nephew likes to abbreviate it). Perhaps what I miss most about the golden days of this blog are my long Friday red carpet rolls into Shabbos.

Shabbat Shalom

The sun is almost set,

the bride almost here,

the sick almost well,

the dead almost alive.

Time for our dividend

of the world to come.

They plot in Dotan

Say, "Here comes that dream-master"

Before he draws near

They plan to put him to death

And see what comes of his dreams...

Click here for three of my past thoughts on Vayeishev - posted on my parsha blog - parshapost.

Click here for last year's Vayeishev thought regarding Peretz.

Thanksgiving 5771

May we all be blessed to appreciate our miracles on this day of thanks.

Everyday is Thanksgiving

In G-d's world

In my mind

Every day is Thanksgiving

If we thank Him

all the time

Every day is Thanksgiving

Click here for five years worth of posts that mention Thanksgiving on this blog, including a rare New York's Funniest Rabbi Exclusive photo of Jeff Korbman.

I will write as openly yet cryptically as I can in this post. It's kind of my credo.

I am thankful today for restored health; miracles upon miracles in the process. I am thankful for family. I am thankful for love. I am thankful for receiving respect from the source from which it means the most to me.

Mon Nov 29, 359 PM - A Poem Prayer

The word connotes confession.

Here, now, it means thanks.

Actually Todah is rich word

Never meaning just one thing

Knowing is a big part of thanking

So when you thank truly, you know

Saint Frances

Long hospital day

Filled with the weight of waiting

Filled with awkward air

Sunday on the Blog with Neil

I saw CCL last night. They are talented. It was a very small crowd. And - oddly enough - it was mostly frum people. The audience was shy and sat in the back the way students do in class if you don't make them move up close (or move your desk up to them, as I do). Because the others were sitting further back and more ambivalent I ended up giving a lot of the suggestions. For their Grand Finale of Torture the Actor I threw out the phrase, "Don't eat the noodles before the fish." They also did Jeopardy, in which the audience had to give occupations for the contestants, categories, and answers to questions. They made a musical about a recent incident in an audience member's life. The opened with The Blues on the word "leaves." They did ding in a Starbucks setting. And they did a conducted story called The Quiet Room (my title, inspired by the other audience members). I like watching improv and I so itch to do it while I watch.

I'm still processing Vayishlach and I'm looking forward, thinking about Vayeishev too:

They plot in Dotan

Say, "Here comes that dream-master"

Before he draws near

They plan to put him to death

And see what comes of his dreams...

Yosef's dreams actually came true through the way that they tried to undo them. A lesson to be learned. Rabot machshavot...

This fits with what R. Chaim Schmuelewitz says is the true meaning of the story of Yosef Mokir Shabbat. The king tried to protect his money from a Jew (of whom he was told in a dream that he'd get all the king's wealth) by putting it all into one jewel. He puts the jewel on a turban, the turban on his head. The wind blows the head covering off a bridge. A fish eats the jewel. Yosef buys the fish for Shabbos. The way the king tried to fight fate enabled it to play out right. Rabot machshavot...

I never know what to write. That line sometimes precedes something I shouldn't write. Mom used to lovingly chastise me about not getting why I shared on the blog (and then she'd wonder why I had hadn't written for a while...)

Leo Buscaglia was once approached by a single woman. She told him she was depressed, sad, lonely, angry. Did he know anyone for her? He told her that as soon as he found a guy looking for someone with those characteristics, he'd send her his way.

Of late I think of love - and early too. Sigh.

The following are each an anagram for an animated Disney movie. Can you name them?

iconic hop

as if a tan

a nacho spot

auto tallier

a pony primps

The following are all anagrams for the same thing. What's the answer?

China Fell Men Sin

Fallen Chin Mines

Channel Mini Self

Enhance Films Nil

Clean Self Him Inn

Some out of the box things to do for Chanukkah; suitable for classes and parties and blogs. (via various sources, originally brought to my attention via lookjed).

1. Look up the process of how olive oils is made. That information appears toward the end of this Wikipedia article (I wonder when I'll break and finally read the message from the creator of the site).

2. Break a party or class into two groups and have the two sides partake in a formal debate. One side argues for lighting candles the Beit Shamai way. The other side is all about Beit Hillel. Each side should be presented with sources in print or a pre-debate shiur.

3. Have a group or class each write a poem or essay or story on a Chanukah theme (Light/darkness, freedom/opression, tradition/assimilation, etc.) Have people read their pieces aloud. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO START THIS NOW AND SHARE YOUR RESULTS WITH ME .

4. Come up with a word (or sentence) - in alphabetical order - relating to Chanukah. My on the spot attempt:

Applesauce

Blessings

Culture

Defeat

Emergence

Food

Greece

Holiness

Intent

Jews

Killings

Light

Money

Nightfall

Overcoming

Purity

Quest

Rest

Singing

Truth

Understanding

Victory

Winning

Xmas

Yeshuah

Zoroastrianism

5. Research and present about the heroes of Chanukah. Make it a double and pick someone else in Jewish history is a hero due to overcoming odds. Use the under-read Book of the Macabees.

6. Divide into two or three groups (Hellenist Jews, Traditional Jews, optional: Syrian-Greeks). Debate the wisdom of each ideology.

7. Dreidel/chanukiah collector: Invite a dreidel or chanukiah collector from your area to tell you about their collection. (I should call Phil and Shelley Stein).

8. Invite the physics teacher to elaborate on dreidel spinning.

9. Invite firefighters from your local station to teach about fire safety in general and about menorah safety in specific.

10. Menorah history: Research the history of the menorah using the Internet. What does it symbolize? When has the menorah used in history (i.e. hint: Bar Kokhba revolt, State of Israel)? (This has potential as an English, Jewish History, Limudei Kodesh, and Art Project (collage?) - and probably more.

11. Extra learning program (since learning Torah is a backbone of the holiday).

12. The Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning is launching a web-based project called Burning Questions - daily Hanukkah emails with Jewish wisdom about the holiday and its many meanings, and "burning questions" for reflection and discussion. To see a list of the questions go here, and to sign up to get them in your email go here.

13. Chanukah Freedom Discussion: The Maccabees revolted to fight for religious freedom. When have there been similar rebellions/revolutions? What happened? Is there religious freedom in the world now? Where? Where is there little/no religious freedom?

14. The Light of Chanukah: Chanukah is a holiday celebrating the end of religious oppression. To bring this lesson home to the students, research a case of current religious oppression (sadly, many instances exist) and organize a campaign to educate about it and fight it (e.g. letters to congressmen, editorials).

15. My quiz on basics of Chanukah:

1. In what year (BCE) did the Macabeees rededicate the Great Temple of Jerusalem (Beit HaMikdash)?
2. What does the word Chanukah literally mean?
3. Which people did the Macabees reclaim the Beit HaMikdash from?
4. a. In the time of Alexander the Great, Israel was considered part of what country? b. Israel was considered a province of what empire?
5. What was the job of the provincial governors?
6. What name is given to Greek culture?
7. What type of god or gods did the Greeks worship?
8. Where were Greek laws written and how were these laws decided?
9. a. How did Alexander force people to accept his beliefs? b. How did his immediate successors do this?
10. What was Theos Epiphanes’ real name and what does this chosen name mean?
11. What policy did he introduce ?
12. Who was worshipped in the Beit HaMikdash under the rein of Antiochus IV?
13. What two things served as tests of political loyalty?
14. Give four examples of things that were prohibited and punishable by death?
15. In what town did the rebellion against Antiochus begin?
16. a. Where was this town? b. Near what modern town?
17. What event sparked the revolution?

I've been writing this throughout the day on Sunday and now I'm ending with a free write. I have so much I want to spill out, but I am choosing to keep it inside, to some extent.

I've been booked to write an essay on Vayikra. I want it to be about the meaning of Korbanot - how they correct the mistake of the first man and woman, and how this is clear from the text.

Soon, to sleep.

Always, I am thinking - rarely if ever relaxing, fun is a foreigner.
Building ever stronger is what I hope for, easier not done than done - short term.
Cash is nice, but in G-d we trust.
Don't make yourself, or anything, or anyone god, but G-d.
Each micro-second counts.
Forgetting little is a hard way to live - trust me.
Great moments can be quite quiet and private.
How to accept G-d in hard times, start by accepting him in the easy times.
I know that there is much for me to learn, but hopefully I've learned something.
Judaism is my religion and I'm down with that.
Know others.
Love others.
Movies replicate life, reversing that is silly.
Nice is a luke-warm word, like luke-warm.
Or - there's always that or to consider.
Please is nice partner to thank you - when they exist in the realm of the real.
Quick G-d, the redemption!
Running is all we ever do, even if it doesn't feel that way, we're all running out.
Serendipidy exists.
Truth is key.
Universal truths/connections abound.
Versions will always differ, trust yours.
Why not?
Xes may appear, but you need to take the test.
YOU should be bigger than I in I love you.
Zen like peace, is it at all a Jewish concept, attainable by Jews?

GNAGB
Initials we should all learn
Good night and G-d Bless

Story of the Day

There was a man who meets a homeless fellow and takes him to a restaurant and offers him anything he wants. The poor man requests a baked apple and eats it with excitement to the last drop, immensely grateful. The other man has a long business drive ahead of him that night. It's raining hard. His car skids. The next thing he knows he re-awakens in the home of kind strangers who are nursing him back to health after his accident. He's OK, his life has been spared. They bring him something to eat. The lady of the house shows what she's brought on the tray, "I hope you like baked apple." FROM SMALL MIRACLES

I was reminded by this story by this post by Susan/Shoshana on We Will Be Like Dreamers.

Yeshiva on Wheels

Rabbi David Samson was a madrich in BMT in the eighties. I remember a sichah he gave about watching history (i.e. living in Israel) from the sidelines or being part of it. I remember him explaining to me that he crocheted as a stress reliever. Here's an Israeli news story (in Hebrew) about his program for teens at risk.

Mo"Sh"K

5:47 PM - I just - this second - received this email from a friend, here's a piece:

hi neil- i just found this poem that you wrote... i really love it, and needed to read it today.

The words "this poem" refer to this poem, written by me close to nine months ago.

6:53 PM - I feel like I'm running late, but feelings are relative (and relatives stir feelings). I'm off to meet a friend and want to be on time (friends sometimes find me off). Shabbos was restful, while I rested, but it seemed short. I took in for the first time that Yaakov's advisors (in Vayishlach) make the split between Eisav being both a brother and an Eisav, before Yaakov himself does so, in his prayer to G-d.

"You'll Never Get It, If You Don't Slow Down My Friend"

I Will Miss This Place

Barnes & Noble to Shutter Lincoln Center Store

By JULIE BOSMAN (NY Times, August 2010)

The immense Barnes & Noble store that straddles Broadway and 66th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan will close at the end of January, driven out by high rents, the company announced on Monday.

Just Kidding Haiku

There are more combinations I could do. Thoughts?

A man and his joke

like a man and his shadow

His jest is his truth

A man and his jokes

like a dog and his shadow

Our jokes are our truth

A man and his jokes

like a dog and his shadow

Our jests are our truth

A man and his jokes

like a dog and his shadow

Our jest is our truth

Esa Einai - Yosef Karduner

There's music and then there's Music. These are the ultimate words of prayer. This is The Desert Island Song. Maybe the greatest tune and rendition of this entire perek:

The Prettiest Rolling Stones Song

3 Snapshot Haiku

A jewel in our crown

that's what every moment is

each with it's own shine

A jewel in our crown

that's what every moment is

each with great value

A jewel in our crown

that's what every moment is

shining with value

Close To Home

The author wrote this poem at a moment when he was not feeling much faith in himself, he says. I believe him. I think it's a hopeful poem in the end. Reminds me of the various traditions about the meaning of the moon and why the sanctifying of the month via the newly announced moon sliver is the first command given to the Jewish People.

CLOSE TO HOME
by David Whyte

I want to write about faith:
About the way the moon
Rises over cold snow
Night after night
Faithful
Even in its fading from fullness
Slowly becoming
That last curling and impossible
Sliver of light
Before the final darkness.
But I have no faith myself.
I do not give it the smallest entry.
Let this, then, my small poem
Like a new moon
Slender and barely open
Be the first prayer
That opens me to faith.

3 Haiku. 1 Purple Poem

At the end of a meal

imaginary Basho

sits with me and writes

The waiter cleans up

He crumples the table cloth

The crowd talks loudly

At the end of the meal

imaginary Basho

holds my hand, we write

Perhaps all colors are not created equal.

Unfair as it may sound, I like one color best.

Right now I'm feeling a bit blue.

Putting my mood aside, I think of purple.

Life feels better when I wear purple.

Every color has its time, but purple is for always.

Nagel Vasser

6:327 AM - When I woke up this morning I recalled something a colleague told me yesterday: His first cousin once had a meeting with a prominent rabbi/philosopher. He asked the wise man what he thought was the most important mitzvah. The rabbi said, "Nagel vasser - washing of hands upon waking in morning." He believed that what seems like a minor action is a major mitzvah because it represents how important purity is in our lives, how we need to start our day with an act of preparation. And and and.

We Make Choices

6:21 PM - Just got a ride home, followed by a shorter walk than some rides lead me to (3 blocks versus the usual 15). I'm sitting, eating salmon, listening to the news report about Charles Rangel being found guilty on 11 counts. It's an interesting case. His side of the story (as explained by an NPR reporter) is that he broke rules in the context of being overzealous rather than corrupt. He plans to run again for a high profile position and not to go down without a fight.

6:41 PM - Finished my Chop Chop dinner. Very good. Thinking about my day. One student told me he's a deist - thinks G-d created the world and then stopped existing. Another student hung out and started to become comfortable enough to talk a bit more than before. I had to send out a few progress reports. Sigh. I wrote a massive review sheet for my 12X Gemorah class. I davened ma'ariv at work. I remembered to forget to say kaddish. Tonight I have to write the test. I discussed Noach in my 3 Chumash classes today. One class has a hard time getting the ideas, another class gets them in time, and the third class guesses and asks about all the next logical steps before I can say them.

10:12 PM - Yesterday I found out last minute that I didn't have a ride to work. It was my last day of saying kaddish, I was to have the amud the whole time. It was too late to get another ride. I cabbed it. I got there in time to say kaddish but didn't get my tefillin on till right before Baruch Sh'Amar. So I took over at Yishtabach.

As I was writing the above I got a call back about a ride for tomorrow. This ride provider sometimes tells me five minutes later than the planned time.

I'm still working on that test for tomorrow. I'm still processing today , and yesterday, and...

10:53 PM - Here's a thought on Parshat VaYishlach. I'm taken by this idea of being aloneness.

Now it's time to turn toward sleep.

We make choices

We breathe and time passes

We become ourselves

Zeh HaYom

I don't know where to start or end, wish I wasn't compelled to rhyme like friends, wish I could write in a linear way, knowing what I want to say, today, any day.

Today. Sigh. I finished 11 months of saying kaddish. And on my last day I was frustrated, as on many other days, about the lack of mindfulness all around - including me and my mind. I feel like I just got used to not zoning out and missing my cue. Now I'm worried that I'm going to say it tomorrow.

On Sunday I was trumped by an actual aveil in Shiva who came to Shul for minyan. Of course I wanted him to lead. Of course, also, I wanted several people to not go up to him and tell him he was going too slowly. Giant sigh.

Several students shared with me today.

I heard an interesting lecture tonight.

I gave an exam today, which included these questions:בעשרה מאמרות נברא העולם

ומה תלמוד לומר, והלוא במאמר אחד יכול להיבראו a. How can the question asked above be answered by using the theme we noticed in the first chapter of Breishit? b. How did we illustrate this idea based on how we paired up the days of creation? c. What is true about each pair of days as compared to the pair before it?

2. "There's no freedom in freedom. There's only freedom in structure." - Wynton Marsalis a. What 2 commands did G-d give man about eating from the trees of the garden? b. Connect the need for these two rules to the quote – from a great jazz musician – cited above. Explain.

Testing : 2 Haiku

They test my patience

I test their - I'm not sure what

We all act testy

---------------------------

They test my patience

I test their - I'm not sure what

We each have our tests

Here's a question from the test that's kind of a brain teaser. Think about it:

4. a. What is the snake’s question to Chavah? b. How could what he said be understood to be true?

ON THE BUS LAST NIGHT

Out of little Ipod buds

his music explodes

the guy next to me

WORRYING ABOUT A RIDE: 6:43 AM

I'm a hitchhiker

to my colleagues and friends

damn you strabismus

Recently I linked to five good blogs. Time to do that again, but I don't have time, so I'll link to just one: Here are thoughts on introversion from some guy in Cleveland.

4 AM

All This and Six Haiku Too

11:42 AM - I just got back to my apartment. So much to do, so little time. I wish I could reverse that. (Can you name the movie line that inspired that thought?) I'm doing some test marking, some administrating, some housekeeping, and and and.

My ands have ands

My and ands have and and ands

You know what I mean?

What does normal mean?

Normal are those we don't know

Normal is our life

Do I amuse you?

I wonder of my muses

All the way home

12:10 PM - I found a light-bulb that has to get put in, I put a letter that has to get mailed into an envelope, I had one brief phone conversation, had an exchange on Facebook about saying something in the name of the one who said it (how can you prove that this brings redemption even if it's not Torah?), answered some emails, put slices of pizza in the oven and and and.

Last week I watched the first half of a movie about Harry Nilsson. It got right up to the point when the bottom fell out. I'm tempted but really don't want to watch the second half...

6:42 PM - Spent a few hours with a friend while his daughter took a course in the city. Got some walking in. Cleaned up for the cleaning person. Miles to go, so much to know, for me and you, endless work to do, while things are good is when we should strengthen our belief so in hard times we can feel relief, I don't know if this makes sense, but writing makes me less tense. as I quietly breath out, without a scream or shout...

I bought the complete works of Basho today. I'd settle to either translate like Jane Reichhold or write like Basho, either would do.

Here's some Basho translated by Reichhold:

autumn night

dashed to bits

in conversation

the sun covered

by clouds for a while

migrating birds

today indeed

people grow older

first wintry shower

This book, How Does a Poem Mean? was recommended to me yesterday. The woman at Barnes and Noble was excited just to hear the name of this book which meant so much to her. She recommended I go to Strand. Sigh? Yeah.

7:22 PM - Going to close up windows, including this one that are not work related. A test to write, lessons to prepare, and and and.

I Contradict Myself: Four Early A.M. Haiku

after someone dies
it feels like a lifetime passed
since that day it did

somewhat insecure
a bit unsure and broken
you and i can talk

it is hard to talk
from different constellations
even when you shout

jane wagner says that
we are all in this alone
despite what "they" say

Good Vuch Again

10:49 PM - I just got an email alert that I got a comment on a post about personality types of bloggers. Interesting, considering the post is five years old.

10:56 PM - I just became aware of an Internet juggling phenomenon named Chris Bliss. I read about him performing at a John Lennon memorial concert. I was thinking of linking to him, but when I saw his juggling I wasn't blown away. Then I saw he does stand-up, and his routines were pretty good. He said that there's a new vehicle where you tell it where you want to go and it takes you there - it reminds him of an old vehicle...the bus. He read that a 96 year old man just married a 95 year old woman. He gives it five years tops.

10:59 PM - Going to go surf TV with dad.

11:59 plus - Till the day my mother passed away she was 21 plus. In a similar vein I feel that however deep into the morning it goes on Saturday night - it's Saturday night plus...

Recently I heard the Director of Operations of an Orthodox organization talking about how after rabbinic meetings he has a secretary clean up the stuff left over from the food the rabbis ate and drank. He said that the secretary too umbrage with this chore, but he felt it was appropriate for her to clean up. he added that if they were great tzadikim the rabbis would clean up after themselves - but that's just not human nature. That made me sad. I contrasted it in my head with a school principal who always reminds his students to clean up after themselves, adding that it's no-one's job but their own. Here here. Sadly, this is another example of there only being people issues, but adults like to make things into kid/student issues. Rabbi Abraham Twerski uses the example of monitoring/blocking TV for kids and asks why are those things that aren't OK for kids OK for adults? And why should they accept that it's not OK for them if they see that you find it fine for you?

I feel like Vayeitzei has slipped away. I reread but didn't link to my favorite old DT of mine (till now) - about how for Yaakov the leaving and going were both important. I saw a YCQ newsletter tonight in which a Rabbi Landsman cited this thought from the Beis HaLevi. His take was that we should try in every decision we make to let go of one thing and choose something else to think it through thoroughly. We should always ask if the letting go is really what we want and are ready to do; likewise regarding the new choice. If we aren't at peace with both we may shake off the new place we went to and run back to the old one.