GNAGB

6:51 PM - Not home from Shul long.  Shabbos is still ebbing away.  Have to leave in an hour-ish to my school's dinner.  Tomorrow, off to YU Model UN. At some point want to write up some Torah from Shabbos.  Maybe I'll dip my toe in the water now.

Last night, at the YU-Carlebach minyan, Rav Dovid Miller spoke briefly.  He noted that the seemingly same line appears twice, almost in a row: They crossed the sea, while on dry land.  He cited a Chassidic approach (I didn't catch the name) that the first line is describing the historical occurrence; they walked through the dry land in the middle of the parted sea.  The second line is telling us that when they continued their lives and walked on the regular earth, they carried with them the experience of Kriat Yam Suf, and part of them continued to walk through the sea even as they were living on dry land.

To me a wow.

7:55 PM - Two weeks ago, January 22, 2012 was a big day for me.  I watched the first football game of my life.  It was not bad.  The N.Y. (N.J?) Giants won because they they had a great calm quarterback (little bro Eli), a bunch of good players (particularly a guy named Cruz who played with Eli at his special training camp when there was a strike and not everyone would come out) and the other team made two big mistakes - one that seemed like a total, unavoidable fluke, the other a regrettable fumble that probably won't easily be lived down by the guy who made it.  Both mistakes were made by the same guy.  In a nice follow up story, he seemed to keep his head held high, and his team stood behind him as a team should (despite death threats from fans). I'll be at YU Model UN (YUNMUN) tomorrow where about 900 people will watch the game.  Maybe I'll watch.  It won't be the same as two weeks ago for a lot of reasons. For me what was most special about that game was that I watched it with my dad (HSLABW).

11:59 plus - At the dinner a wonderful couple were the main honorees.

The principal said a nice vort based on Gemorah.  The Gemorah seems to say that Avraham insisted that the brachah in Shmoneh Esrei that addresses the forefathers end with just his name.  The deeper meaning - according to Rabbi Norman Lamm - may be that Avraham wanted his midah, the midah of chesed to be the key thread of character for the Jewish people. Gevurah and Emet are important but always must be colorized by chesed. He said that while the honored teacher is known for his emet and gevurah, it is his Torat chesed that reigns in the classroom.

I'm falling asleep, which doesn't mean I'll go to sleep. I will finish up this post.  "Just one more thing..."

One of my classes is greeted by a haiku of the day on the board when they walk in.  The other day two students beat me to it and wrote one before I could:

What a mystery
What a thrilling life of ours
Always a surprise

- By Daphna and Caroline

GNAGB