This Is Not Only A Test

Looking through my stuff I came across this test and answer key. I'm pleased with it.

R Fleischmann Torat Chaim Test Oct 28, 2019

1. Give 2 examples of something Chava changed from what Hashem actually said. What did we say about me (Rabbi Fleischman) hearing knishes talk, and how does this relate to what Chava heard the nachash say? What did Adam and Chava not get that people have with G-d that animals don’t. (See if you can use one 5 letter word in your answer to the previous sentence’s question.) Tie in the story of the teenager and the party. Write a true example of how this lesson has applied in your life with parents, teachers, friends, etc.

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She left out that G-d said "Eat, eat from all the trees of the garden, she added that the one tree they couldn't eat was right in the middle of the garden, she added that they were told not to even touch it, and she said that G-d would get them back and kill them, rather than saying how G-d said it - that it was like the tree was booby trapped and He was warning them that if they ate from it they would die.

Based on the Abarbanel, R Yitzchak Twersky says that the nachash didn't really talk but that Chava projected her thoughts onto the nachash and "heard" it telling her to eat from the tree. it's kind of the way I sometimes hear knishes and other foods talking to me, calling me, telling me to eat more food.

The five letter word is trust. Adam and Chava did not understand that people have a special bond of trust with G-d that animals don't have. G-d gave them one rule to keep as a sign of trust. She saw the snake rubbing against the tree and projected onto him the thought that was really hers - if he can enjoy the tree then so can I, G-d was just giving me advice to not eat from the tree because it may be dangerous, but I see from the snake that it's not dangerous.

A teenager tells her parents she wants to go to a party. They say no. She sneaks out and goes. It's a frum, safe, positive, healthy, pure, holy party. She comes home. parents are mad. She says nothing happened. They say something happened - she broke their trust.

My eg. When I live up to my religious and spiritual and moral duties I am keeping the deal I have with G-d, what he entrusted me with when he gave me and re-gives me life. Sometimes I pursue material comforts, distractions, etc, I convince myself that they are all OK. But the more I strengthen my trust and belief in G-d the more I avoid other things and do spiritual things. So my example is with G-d himself. But it applies with people too - when someone asks me to send them an email, write them a recommendation, call them back, they trust that I do it - and even if it doesn't seem like a big deal to not do that thing, it is a big deal to keep the bond of trust that we humans have with each other. Additionally we need to keep trust with ourselves, to stick to what we commit to. To err is human, but it is also uniquely human to do the right thing.

2. What question did we ask about the order in which Avraham is told to go? What answer did we give to this question? Use some of Morah Nechama Leibowitz’ words in your answer from page 113 of her essay). Give the Malbim’s translation in Hebrew and English of what Lech Lechah really means. Compare the answer we learned about Avraham’s going to the layers of an onion, if you can. Apply this lesson to what we are expected to do in serving G-d in our lives. If you can tie in an example we gave from a TV show of someone leaving NYC, her apartment, and someone in her building she would miss.

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It seems backwards, as he's told to leave his land, his town of birth, and hi father's house. once you leave your country you're in another country and can't physically leave town or home, it should be home then town then country. But the answer is that it's talking about a spiritual journey and for that one has to remove the influences and "leave" first country as that's the most outer and easiest to leave, then influences of town/community, and then remove even influence that need to be removed from home/family - the most core and hardest to leave. Nechama Leibowitz cites this explanation from HaKetav VeHaKabalah, explaining that, "the withdrawal from one's birthplace is not such a cruel wrench as the cutting of connection with one's family" and that this is a "withdrawal beginning with the periphery and ending with the inner core."

וע"כ אמר לך לך שילך אל עצמו נפרד בטבעו מכל אלה,

And therefore it says lech lechah, meaning he was told to go to himself, to his true nature, separated from all these (country, town, home). - Malbim

It's like an onion's layer's first you peel off the outer,then more inner till you get to the core. So too Avraham wasn't leaving his country but peeling off it's effects, which were most outer and therefore came first.

We are meant to be, i am meant to be, my true self and connect with G-d as such, and to do this I have to try to be as real as possible and remove influences, in order, that can get in the way from country, town, home. Spiritually I need to follow G-d and his Torah and be as pure as possible from influences that can get in the way of this. On a TV show a woman leaves NY with her young daughter and tells the doorman who's kind of like a father to her that her kid will miss the city (most geneneral/superficial), the building (more specific) and him (the thing she'll most be missing, the core.)

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3. What words of the text (in Hebrew and English) does the Ran use to explain what Noach did, that some criticized him for, that made him uniquely righteous? What did we say about how this applies to Noach before and after the flood. Explain how R. Yitzchak Twersky relates this “fascinating perspective” to the well known Medrash about Noach being good “in his generation.” (page 2 of his article, work some of his words into your answer)What life lesson did we learn from Noach before and after the mabul? Tie in the gorilla story we learned. Give an example from your own life that relates to this idea about dealing with different situations we find ourselves in.

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The Torah says that Noach was an ish tzadik, tamim, and then adds that et ha'elokim hithalech Noach. The Ran says that this was Noachs way of being righteous, the fact that he stuck only to Hashem, and separated from the people of his time, because they were so bad that he had to.

We said that separating from others worked well for Noach before the Mabul, but not well for him after it, because beforehand he needed to disconnect from people, but after he was now supposed to connect with others and build a better new world.

R Twersky explains that "it is in the very same place that one may find Noach's praise and criticism." I'm not sure how many of my students got this: R Twersky is saying that the medrash can be taken metaphorically when it says that the word bedorotav can be good or bad. it represents how in the same trait of Noach, his separating, one can see it being a good thing and see the same thing being a bad thing (before and after the mabul).

The lesson is that we have to adapt, to realize that what works n one situation for us may not work in another. People develop defense mechanisms to survive their childhood family situations, that can save their lives, but then get in the way later of them moving forward with their life in the world... A gorilla can get an almost hole in one with it's first shot, but it's not helped getting in the hole on the second shot when it's an inch from the hole, but all it knows how to do is hit it hundreds of feet. For myself the original example is very close to home. I am quiet, cautious, hold on to things, all things I felt protected me (some did, some didn't) when i was a little kid, and I find them hard to shake now, and they get in my way...

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4. What big question did we learn about Hashem consulting with Avraham before destroying Sedom? What is G-d teaching us by setting Avraham to protest what he’s doing? What similar case from the Torah did we discuss (it’s on page 38 of the R. Shai Held article) and how did that person act differently than Avraham? Use some of Rabbi Held’s words in your answer. Discuss what new lesson we brought out from the story of Sedom and how it applies to you life in a specific way.

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Why? Hashem can do what he wants. Is he seeking permission? G-d wants us to stand up for what's right, even to/against him, and he sets up Avraham to model this. Moshe. He doesn't get it when Hashem tells him about the eigel. Hashem follows up this news saying something along the lines of, "Don't try and talk me out of it," wanting Moshe to get the hint and try to talk Him out of it, to stand up for what he believes is just. "G-d continues, detailing the treachery the Israelites have committed against G-d,. But then something strange - and extremely subtle - happens. G-d goes on speaking, but the text first inserts the words, "The Lord said. Apparently G-d pauses, seemingly waiting for a response from Moshe, but Moshe remains silent..." we brought out the lesson of how even though in a way it doesn't make sense Hashem wants us to argue with him as if we're teaching him about what's just. We need to talk with G-d about what we believe in. I talk to G-d about anxiety and depression, and question him about why these things exist.

2 Related Poems By Yehuda Amichai

Poem Without an End

Inside the brand-new museum

there's an old synagogue.

Inside the synagogue

is me.

Inside me

my heart.

Inside my heart

a museum.

Inside the museum

a synagogue,

inside it

me,

inside me

my heart,

inside my heart

a museum

Concrete Poem

After the still small voice

a noise

And after the noise,

a still small voice.

And after it, a noise.

And after it, a still small voice

And after the still small voice,

a noise.

Discard the rest.

 Thoughts on Three Poems

Was just struck by this piece of a piece of Yehoshua November's poem, Two Worlds Exist:

When I was younger,
I believed that the mystical teachings
could erase sorrow. The mystical teachings
do not erase sorrow.
They say, here is your life.
What will you do with it?

It brought to mind this excerpt from a Mary Oliver Poem:

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

I'm not sure what more we can ask from a poet than to prompt us to answer what we will do with our life which is, or can be, so many things, including sorrowful, wild, and precious.

And that reminds me of another quotable piece from a longer poem:

“It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there”

-William Carlos Williams

Getting Home

By Neil Fleischmann

When we
remove the
facades of
our garments
and call down
our final curtain

We will return to
our first clothing;
G-d's light
and our
original drapes;
the Heavens

On Surprising Statements of Hillel and Shamai

 Human beings are always more than the one thing that they are pigeonholed them to be.

I see this in the first perek of Avot in the statements of Hillel and Shamai.

Hillel who's known to be a softie has not one but four harsh sounding statements in a row.*

Shamai, who's know to be gruff, says to receive all people with a pleasant countenance.

*He used to say: one who makes his name great causes his name to be destroyed; one who does not add to his knowledge causes it to cease; one who does not study the Torah deserves death; one who makes use of the crown of learning shall pass away.

On James Robison's (And My) Whale Eyes

 When I was about 13 I was finally able to articulate something that I sensed but didn't previously have words for. I confronted my parents and my eye Dr. and the doctor conceded that there was an issue with my eyes called Strabismus. I couldn't (still can't) use my eyes in sync with each other. I asked about surgery (knowing that my down the block friend had had such surgery). Dr. B. told me and my parents that there was surgery, but that if it was his kid he wouldn't do it and that was the end of that for many years.

When I was living in Israel in my twenties I went to a top strabismus surgeon there and was told that surgery was a safe and viable option. I went to America and convinced my parents to get on board. I had the surgery (by the same specialist who had done the procedure on my down the block friend back when he was a kid). The surgery works best on infants and did not fully work on twenty something me.

The operation helped aesthetically, making it look more like I'm looking at you with both eyes (even though I'm not). But the enticing promise of using both eyes in sync, the way it's supposed to be, was not fulfilled. I still don't have depth perception, and it's hard to read, play sports, and since the surgery from certain angles I see double.

One of the hardest thing about strabismus is that it's not well known. So when you tell people about it they try to trump your delicate truth with their arrogant confidence. I've experienced that my whole like, being told "politely" that what I'm describing is hard to believe (like I'd lie about it), or more bluntly that it can't be true.

In July of 2021 I was speaking to a dear friend and mentioned something about how I focus with one eye at a time while my brain tunes out what the other is is watching off to the side. I was surprised when he had heard of it. He said it had just recently been written about, and that it was called Whale Eyes.

I had never heard strabismus (which is not the same as Lazy Eye, which is a terrible name, implying that the eye or the eye's owner should just try harder) referred to as Whale Eyes. The reason I'd never heard of this name was because it had just been created by the author of the article (and director of the video) that my friend had seen. As the author of the newspaper piece writes in this new book, "If the term you're looking for doesn't exist, invent it" (-Whale Eyes, James Robinson,pg. 228).

I am grateful to James Robinson for sharing his story, my story, our story with the world. This new book is more than a book for me it's a prized possession, a validation. May it educate and bring greater understanding and connection to many people.

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Whale Eyes

How amazing is it that James Robinson coined the perfect colloquial synonym for strabismus? it is a condition that I was born with. It was my honor to correspond a bit with the author of this book when he premiered his video on the subject online a bunch of years ago. I look forward to reading the book.

 Avot 2025 Installment 1

So after a year of going through several mesechtot of Mishnayot my chavrusa asked if I'd mind doing Pirkei Avot next. "Mind?" - I responded.

Some highlights. thoughts, processing:

Intro -

Kol Yisrael may be like Kneset Yisrael a name for the whole entity of the JP. This could mean that Jewish People as a whole have a share in etertinity, but not that every individual has that share.

This intro is taken from Sanhedrin where it follows this up by listing people who don't have a share in Olam Habah.

Everyone's cheilek in Olam Habah is different and uniquely tailored to and created by them (like our shares in Olam Hazeh). Also, it's a share, meaning some amount, but not necessarily a large amount. And it could be a share at first that eventually gets lost completely.

Pesukim in Avot are cited sometimes as proofs, but it's hard (and not so common that people take the time) to figure out the connection. The line cited here from Yishayahu that says that G-d's nation are all Tzadikim is speaking about Mesianic times when that will be true. It seems to be used here in a loose homiletical way. (The pasuk following this one is well known saying regarding Messianic times that it will happen be'ito - in its time and/or achishenah - G-d will make it come quickly.)

Using this pasuk as a proof reminds me of Rabbi Sherman/Yeshaya Siff's reaction to the Ramban that says that only tzadikim have hashgacha pratis: "We all strive to be tzadikim, so we're all included in that.")

Part of the cited pasuk says that we are the creation of G-d's planting. Irving Bunim used this opportunity to share the difference between a tree (referenced here) and a plant and to explain why we are compared to a tree (here and elsewhere): For a vegetable to grow the vegetable that produces it rots away in it's creation of the new crop. For a fruit to grow on a tree the tree must be healthy and continue to flourish. He references the original Young Turks as an example of wanting out with the old and in with the new as a contrast to the Jewish way of nurturing the young by preserving, nurturing, and respecting the old.

 A Galilean taught, while standing above Rav Ḥisda: Blessed is the all-Merciful One, Who gave the threefold Torah: Torah, Prophets, and Writings, to the three-fold nation: Priests, Levites, and Israelites, by means of a third-born: Moses, who followed Aaron and Miriam in birth order, on the third day of the separation of men and women, in the third month: Sivan. Shabbat 88a (Sefaria translation)

Winter Yahrtzeits (which my parents both have)

Winter Yahrtzeits
take you by ambush
at a 4:30 sunset one day
and then they suddenly end
at around the same time the next day.

This not being ready at the beginning
and taken by surprise at the end
is fitting for a Yahrtzeit
as it's so similar
to life itself.

Giving Thanks on Chanukah Part I

– Adapted By Rabbi Neil Fleischmann

From Hegyonei Halachah By Rabbi Yitzchak Mirsky

In recognition of the miracles G-d does for us daily Klal Yisrael recite Modim thanking Hashem for what he does for us constantly. Our appreciation goes so far that we also have a blessing that we recite when we pass a place where a miracle was done for our ancestors: “Baruch she’asah nissim la’avoteinu bemakom hazeh (Shulchan Aruch, Ohr HaChayim 218:61).

This relates to the halachah regarding one who sees someone else’s neirot. Someone who passes by someone else’s Chanukah candles and has not lit candles himself says “she’asah nissim…” (Shulchan Aruch, Ohr HaChayim 676:2). The saying of the brachah, even though he didn’t light the candles himself seems based on saying “she’asah nisim la’avoteinu bemakom hazeh,” which is also said only due to the seeing of a place where a miracle occurred.

Avudraham says that the obligation to say a brachah when you pass a place where a miracle occurred is derived in the Gemorah (Brachot 54a) from Yitro. When Yitro saw the Jews in the midbar he said, “Baruch Hashem asher hitzil etchem… (Shmot 18:10). (There are several people who said Baruch Hashem in the Torah, can you name them and the surprising common denominator they share?)

The Avudraham cites Rabeinu Gershom, who notes that Yitro did not actually see the place (Yam Suf) where the miracle happened. Nevertheless, we learn about this blessing from Yitro. It seems that since Yitro saw the Jews who were saved at the sea it’s as if he saw the sea itself. The same can be said about Chanukah that when you see someone celebrating the miracle it is enough to say the brachah of she’asah nissim yourself. (Although the Rogochover and others say we don’t go this way today.)

Chanukah was basically established as a holiday just to express appreciation for the miracle. Therefore, The Rabbis composed a specific prayer telling about the miraculous events of Chanukah. They included this prayer in Shmoneh Esrei and Birkat HaMazon.

It was more obvious to The Rabbis that it is obligatory to say Al HaNissim in Shmoneh Esrei than it was regarding Birkat HaMazon (Shabbat 24a). This can be understood two ways. There is the approach of Rashi and the approach of Tosafot.

Rashi says that since the days of Chanukah are all about giving thanks to Hashem it makes sense that we must do this in our regular main prayer: Shmoneh Esrei. On the other hand Birkat HaMazon is not a set basic daily prayer, but one that you only say if you happened to eat bread. This is why Chazal were less sure about obligating saying Al HaNissim in bentching than in Shmoneh Esrei.

Tosafot has a different theory as to why the Rabbis were sure that you must say Al HaNissim in Shmoneh Esrei, but less sure about obligating its recital in Birkat HaMazon. He says that the point of Chanukah is not simply to thank G-d but to publicly show our appreciation and spread the news of the miracle. This is why in davening which is done in Shul with a tzibur, you must say Al HaNissim. However, eating is done privately, usually at home, and therefore when you bentch is it optional to say Al HaNissim because you are saying it in private and not really publicizing the miracle.

The Shulchan Aruch rules based on the Gemorah that you have the option to say Al HaNissim in Birkat HaMazon. The Gemorah, however did not offer this option for Al HaMichyah (unlike other holidays) and so we do not mention Chanukah in Al HaMichyah.

 I write here much less often than I once did, but just now I "accidentally" set up to write on this blog instead of on Facebook, and am going to stay the course.  The other day I tested positive for COVID after having felt sick for awhile.  Now I'm back to being negative, have been for a few days. Went to a wonderful wedding last night.  Sometimes I go to affairs where I know just the parents of the bride or groom, or just the bride or groom themselves.  During those weddings I can get lonely even when (or sometimes especially when) I end up engaging with the strangers around me.

Last night I knew almost everyone at my table and I like them a great deal, dear friends - many.  It was a Washington Heights reunion, the wedding of a girl I know since before she was born, and I'm close with her brother, parents, grandmother.  I was surrounded by the bride's aunts and uncles, all of whom I know through the warm patriarchal Shabbos table of her grandparents.  What a wonderful thing - to dance, to walk and talk, to truly connect in celebration.

I have a 3 o'clock chavrusa.  He's never late.  So any second I expect to be caught off guard (sic) by his distinctive bell ring as we go back to going through Tehillim.  One of the things I've learned in looking at Tehillim is that the lines are almost always doubled, something like this: The lines of Tehillim are doubled / Psalms sentences come in two halves.

Wishing you well whomever and wherever you are!

Autumn seen through a leaf. Photo: Mustafa Güral

From An Interview With The Author of The Incredible Book The Butterfly Lampshade

NY Times: Describe your ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how).

Aimee Bender: Post-nap so that I won’t fall asleep, on a couch, window open, breeze, beverage.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/books/review/aimee-bender-by-the-book-interview.html

I have no existence
without the lightning and thunder
that I heard at Sinai.

- Zelda Mishkovsky

A Vayigash Thought - Our Father Is Still Alive - Le'Ilui Nishmat Binyamin Ben Mordechai Dov / Werner Fleischmann

 Everyone talks about why when Yosef finally reveals himself to his brothers he asks, "Is my father still alive?" There are many answers. But I'm thinking that whatever we want to say about that specific question in that moment there's a broader context to consider. In the big picture Yaakov is always split between being Yosef's father and being the father of his other sons. This is true in terms of how they saw him as their father and how he related to them as his children.

Yaakov clearly treated Yosef in one way (special clothing, spending time just with him, sending him to check on the brothers/others) and the brothers another way. I don't think that Yosef ever refers to Yosef as "our father" or that the brothers ever refer to his as father of all of them, they just speak of father of them ("we are 10 sons") and also - by the way - of a brother who's now gone.

So when Yosef asks - if just his father is still alive, it's not such big news. They were talking about their father, and it's true that he was just one living body and soul, but in essence Yosef's father and the brother's father were quite different, like two fathers. So it makes sense to stress this point, putting it out there that his father is special to him, that through this whole story Yaakov as a split father is key (spiritually keeping Yosef strong, sensing spiritually - if not consciously - that Yosef was still alive, and on the other hand being deceived by the brothers and having tension with them over the fact that Yosef died under their watch.) (It's ironic that Yosef died under the brothers' watch, even though he was sent to watch them).

I always thought it odd that we speak only of the story of Yosef and his brothers, why not speak of the story of Yosef's sons. I think calling these brothers sons would highlight their unity, that they were born to the same father. Speaking of Yosef and his brothers highlights the division between them, the fact that as independent humans these sons split into groups of brothers, a group of 10 and a group of one (plus his dad). (This fits with the brothers' saying we are ten sons, and then there's one who is not here. He was never with them, in their group.

In hard times we sing Am Yisrael Chai + Od Avinu Chai. I think this harkens back to Yosef asking, "Is my father still alive?" We say that Our Father in Heaven is still alive and connected to us. What helps this to be so? The fact that are sing TOGETHER and say OUR father, rather than singing alone about MY father. When is it true that Am Yisrael Chai? When we embrace each other - correcting the mistakes made by all involved in dividing sons and brothers in this story.

May we be blessed to be living embodiments of Hineh mah tov u'mah na'im shevet achim gam yachad. May our Father in Heaven be proud of each one of us, and also of all of us together. And may our father - the father of Barry and Neil - be proud of each of us and of both of us, his two sons, two dear brothers, together.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

While Tehillim 100 would see the most salient for Thanksgiving (as it starts with "A Song of Todah - Thanks) I'd like to look at Psalm 95. This one is immediately associated with Shabbos, as it's the first one of Kabbalat Shabbat. For many years it was not part of our Shabbos prayers, as that is a relatively new, though completely accepted part of our traditional prayers.

Tehillim 95 starts with the words, "Let's go sing to Hashem our G-d and call out to The Rock of Our Salvation. Let's greet his Presence in Thanks and call out to him with songs."

It goes on to speak of recognizing G-d as Creator and of seeing his hand in our personal lives. These are two tracks which can be separate, or one can lead to and connect with the other. These are two elements of what we focus on on Shabbos.

The last lines of this psalm take an unusual turn as Dovid HaMelech channels the voice of G-d. He complains of quarreling with The Desert Generation for 40 years. Eventually the second Desert Generation do enter enter Israel, after their parents' generation erred in their hearts and were banned. Rabbi SR Hirsch infers from this that every Galus generation is a redoing of the desert scenario. If we would listen today to G-d's voice with whole hearts - starting, perhaps, with gratitude - then our exile would end and we would enter the land.

My own little song of thanks:

Every day 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.

Nesivos Shalom Yahrtzeit

 Today is 7 Av, the Yahrtzeit of the Nesivos Shalom, previous Rebbe of Slonim.  His work, somehow overflowed fro his branch of Chasidus into the entirety of the Jewish world.  I have no words for my feelings that include gratefulness and go beyond it in response to having his Torah in my life.

Instead of sharing his Torah exclusively here, now, I will share something that I'm thinking about that started with a Torah thought of his (that's a Slonimer tradition, as so much of his teachings are).

The Torah says that G-d said "Let there be light" and there was light.  As he does from time to time, in the Chasidic tradition, the Nesivos Shalom brings out new meaning of a verse by using something other than the conventional punctuation.  In the case, if you put a comma after the first Hebrew word in this verse it can mean that a person says.  Then if you put in quote marks, the statement is "G-d, let there be light," followed by the words, "and then there will be light." So, now, the pasuk is telling us that when we cry out to G-d and tell him we need light in our lives and we can only get it from Him, that is when we will find light enter our lives.

Besides putting the idea in my head of making this verse a mantra, this Torah insight also got me thinking about the Jewish view of spiritual light.  I was recently at a class which discussed what the number one pasuk, so to speak, in the Torah is.  (It comes from a Medrash shared in the introduction to the sefer Ein Yaakov, and the author himself says that he could not find the Medrash.) The presenter suggested we each think about what pasuk we could make an argument for being the most important in the Torah.  Taking a bit of poetic license in re-interpreting the question I want to say that this is a verse that is very important to me and which I think has more depth than people realize.  (This could be said about any pasuk. In fact, in this shiur I attended, we were each instructed to open a Chumash to a seemingly random page and line and then argue for the verse we found being The Line of the Torah!)

It's of interest that light was created on day 1 of the creation we read of in Breishit. The sun was only created on day 4.  So where did this original light emanate from, what was it's nature and purpose?

Rav Kook wrote the book of Orot, Lights and many other books with light in their title and theme.

We praise G-d daily for creating light.  Might this be a spiritual light? 

The Nesivos Shalom points out the the time of the three weeks is a dark time of year spiritually and physically, as reflected by the days getting shorter and the nights longer. (This is the reverse of Chanukah time , which is considered the light time of year becaus ethe very short days start to get longer that that time.)

Some people light one more Shabbos candle for each child born representing the light that person brought into the world.

May the light the Nesivos Shalom's light continue to enlighten us all.

Spine Poems, An Eclectic Collection of Found Verse, For Book Lovers

I recently bought  a book as an impulse by at the cash register of the Upper West Side's Shakespeare and Co.

Spine Poems, An Eclectic Collection of Found Verse, For Book Lovers, by Annette Dauphin Simon is rare in many ways, including that it is everything it claims to be in its title. I was ready to settle for another cute, short book of quick poems where I find one or two that I like, or another light book for bathroom reading. This is on a vastly higher level.

This is an elegant book, in which there is actually something I like on most every page. There's an accurate drawing of the spines of books on top of eachother, and the titles on the spine make a poem. On the facing page is the poem typed out. And then comes the great surprise. there are detailed notes that vary from page to page in what thy cover, including great historical details (like how far back Humpty Dumpty's words actually date) and things about the theme being dealt with, and more.

I keep being called back to this book, which just feels so sincere and generous in how it was written and published. I am so grateful for this book that is truly special for me and bringing me uplift and even joy.

 If you see see a young child wearing a coat that's way to big for him you'd be wise to conclude the coat for made for someone bigger than him (probably his father). Similarly, we see our depth of emotional, intellectual and spiritual is enormous to such an extent that it would be wise to conclude that it was made for something bigger than simply getting through our physical existence on this plane (which is what lower forms of life do, instinctually, with smaller coats).

An analogy of The Steipler, cited by Rabbi Abraham Twerski in Living Each Day (1988), pg. 276

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