Good Vuch Again

West Wing was a good show, art that imitated and gloriously exaggerated life; take this straight from the headlines example. Five years and a month ago - or so - a mention of West Wing here created a big in-blog discussion. I miss my blog community of yesteryear. Check out that golden oldie, Tangents- They're Not Just For Math Class Anymore (co-starring, in order of appearance: Rabbi Neil Fleischmann, Bob, Social Worker/Frustrated Mom, Anonymous, Shoshana, and Maayan).

I have been quite affected by my foot injury. It happened on 17 Tamuz, 11 days ago. One of the lessons I learned is that often we look at one thing as the main event and in fact we're looking at the distraction and missing what really matters. When someone faints the issue can really be what happened when they hit the ground, not why they fainted. If someone says their foot hurts from the collapse it may be a good idea to pursue that fact in your line of questioning.

I misspoke in my previous post. It's not the Ramban who says (on Parshat Matos/Matot) that the half tribe of Menashe were chosen by Moshe as emissaries of Torah, to live in the hinterlands as a good influence on Reuvein and Gad. The Ramban does say (in contrast to Ibn Ezra) that Moshe gave it to them, that they never asked for it (Ibn Ezra says that they asked but aren't mentioned at first since they were only part of a tribe). However, Ramban doesn't suggest any lofty reason why they were chosen, rather he says maybe it was because they had a lot of sheep. It's the Netziv who (as he often does) takes a bold leap and says the creative idea of Moshe planning their residing there as the first kiruv project in history (his comment is on Devarim 3:16).

Rav Hirsch has a cool comment on Masei, about how the phrasing flips around the wording of 33:2 - "And Moshe wrote their goings forth, stage by stage, by the commandment of G-d; and these are their stages at their goings forth - וַיִּכְתֹּב מֹשֶׁה אֶת-מוֹצָאֵיהֶם, לְמַסְעֵיהֶם--עַל-פִּי יְהוָה; וְאֵלֶּה מַסְעֵיהֶם, לְמוֹצָאֵיהֶם. He says that G-d wanted them to go because he knew that the next destination was key, on the other had they only went to the next destination because they were always unhappy where they were. Three years ago a dear friend of mine riffed on these words and Rav Hirsch's thought. My friend reflected about how human it is to always want to get out of one situation and into another, and then once we reach the other place we feel the need to move on to somewhere else. He aptly applied the concept to his own situation, after 9 months of planning for a baby the shift switched almost immediately to caring for the baby, and the bris celebration allowed a moment to pause and appreciate getting to one place for a moment, even while moving forward.

Random Question: A friend of mine recently started a discussion by asking people what they think of the terms sir or ma'am. No-one but me and him thought that there was any thing wrong with these phrases. I feel strongly that these are loaded terms that usually connote a sense of other-ness, often a sense of resentment - most often the resentment is that the person feels that you are over them, you're the customer or boss and they the lowly servant, or you're the old outdated person and they the sprightly one. What do you think?

It's time to say good night and may G-d bless. I hope that everyone had a good Shabbos. I hope everyone is as healthy as can be and is taking care of your health as best as possible. My recent injury was/is humbling. In a second from out of no place, something happened. Could I have prevented it? Not sure. It's not helpful to assume I didn't drink enough the night before - I drank a ton. And don't assume I overdid anything because I don't think I did. I'm hugely sensitive to the heat (and cold and noise and what people say about me and what I eat and and and and and) and need to remember that.

What is important in life? How do/should we rank what we put our energy into? Feel free to rank these privately or publicly but for G-d's sake and ours we need to think about what rates high and what doesn't: G-d, Family, Work, Leisure, Money, Friends, Spouse, Children, Parents, Siblings, Health, Weight, Beauty, Honor, Love, Exercise, Food, Prayer, Torah Study, Kindness.