Snuffy and Koach Hadimyon

Perhaps the most complex character I've come across is snuffy. As Paul Simon says a man he hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest (Or in Bigbird's case see). While we all know that snuffy is not real to big bird he is as real as it gets. Big Bird understands that seeing is not believing and that the imagination is what inspires us to create. It is then fitting that Snuffy is a mammoth of a character and it is precisely his largess that leads many of the sesame faithful baffled. In our lives there are times when we just can't relate or understand what is real and what is just an imaginary friend. The struggle that big bird faces is of tantamount importance to the human condition. He can capitulate to the dictum's of society and denounce his beloved snuffy as a childhood mirage, or dig deep inside his bird being, flying in the face of his com padres and internalize the reality that he knows to be truth.
A special shout out to my comrade in arms reb reuven for the teaching

God Follows Me Everywhere

God follows me everywhere-

spins a net of glances around me

shines upon my sightless back like a sun.

God follows me like a forest everywhere.

My lips, always amazed, are truly numb, dumb,

like a child who blunders upon an ancient holy place.

God follows me like a shiver everywhere.

My desire is for rest; the demand within me is: Rise up,

See how prophetic visions are scattered in the streets.

I go with my reveries as with a secret

in a long corridor thought the world-

and sometimes I glimpse high above me, the faceless face of God.

…

God follows me in tramways, in cafes.

Oh, it is only with the back of the pupils of one’s eyes that

one can see

how secrets ripen, how visions come to be.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Oscar the snag

Last summer I had the grand idea to buy a season pass to sesame place. It lasts through this summer as well and little did I realize the great chinuch oppurtunity I would have when making my frequent visits this summer. Although I must admit I am more perplexed by each day I frequent the "street" I have been able to impart many a life lesson to the boy with each trip we make. I will start with my most recent trip.

I always knew that Oscar the Grouch was a snag hiding out in his garbage can "im yisaser ish bamistarim vani lo erenu neum hashem" the prsyzcha says g-d says to the person who resideds in his can thinking he is accomplishing his life mission by pouring over a talmud that does not enlighten his soul. G-d says i will not look at him. Oscar lives in a world of darkness. He has become so institutionalized in his can and any simchas hachaim has been stripped from him as he has had the can and its lid molded to his head. He sings how he loves trash. He percieves his learning as something so grand and idealizes his empty puruit while we on the outside looking in pity his hypocrisy. His professes how he is sad when he is happy and gets joy from being sad. Powerful stuff!.