Laag BeOmer Celebration

Join Rebbe on the Banks of the Deleware where he will lead us to simcha, ahavas yisroel, and achdus.

Rebbe Simchah!

Rebbe invites everyone to celebrate the engagement of his daughter Batya to Yosef Bronstein.




This Thursday night, 6 - 10pm at the Rubin Shul.



Mazel Tov!

Pesach Sheni Chizuk

Pesach Sheni is for people who are tamei or far away from the Beis Hamikdash, so that they get a second chance. But what about a person who spends all afternoon, and leaves without a kosher korban, because everyone has come out treif... it is to that heartbroken jew, who the Kohen whispers in his ear, brother, I'll see you next month.
A person believes that if "I've been trying to serve Hashem, but it doesn't work, that Hashem doesn't want me," to a Jew like this Pesach Sheni tells them that Hashem does want you, He just wants you next month, and want you to learn that living through that feeling is also serving Him.

“The time to eat is in one’s youth; the time to sleep is in the grave; for sadness and depression there is not time at all. You may call it depression, but I call it escape from obligation and a rejection of the yoke of heaven."

The Kotzker

The Light of Iyyar

"The trouble with all rational demonstrations of the existence of God, with which the history of philosophy abounds, consists in their being exactly what they were meant to be by those who formulated them: abstract logical demonstrations divorced from the living primal experiences in which these demonstrations are rooted…

Does the loving bride in the embrace of her beloved ask for proof that he is alive and real? Must the prayerful soul clinging in passionate love and ecstasy to her Beloved demonstrate that He exists?"

Rav Soloveitchik, Lonely Man of Faith

Mad Russian, Where art thou?

Has anyone heard from or seen Abe?

Does anyone think he looks a bit like Ricky Hatton?

Does anyone want to watch the fight with me this Motsaei Shabbos?

Orthopraxy, Yom Tov Sheni Style

While spending the last days of Pesach at a hotel by the Dead Sea, I had a very interesting experience:

The hotel was packed, mostly with Israeli Jews. Consequently, the number of people keeping the second day of Yom Tov was quite small, considering many American Jews at the hotel were only keeping one day.

On leil Shmini shel Pesach, the diaspora Jews keeping the 8th day gathered with the hotel manager to discuss what time shacharis would be the following day. A number of heimishe Jews - full of righteous frumkeit, hats and the whole shibang - expressed a very strong desire to daven at a later hour - no earlier than 8:30! - but also wanted to be able to make it to the hotel's breakfast after davening, for kiddush.

The problem was, breakfast at the hotel was scheduled to officially end at 10am (since, for most guests, it was a regular weekday). When the manager told these guests that they would have to daven early if they wanted to make it to breakfast (or eat before davening), things got ugly. Some of the heimishe guests threatened to never return to the hotel. Others expressed horror at the thought of eating before davening. The hotel manager's conciliatory offer of a table of cake and coffee was summarily rejected. These Jews demanded a serious, kosher l'pesach hotel breakfast - nothing less!

In the end, we davened at 8:15am, and finished all of yom tov davening in under an hour and a half (!!!), so these yidden had no problem making it to breakfast. Baruch Hashem, everyone got their hot, chocolate covered macaroons.

And then something funny happened. At about 11am that morning, I saw this very same crew of Jews heading straight for the coed pool, in bathing suits.

Banana Republic, take 2

It seems Gilad Erdan, Israel's Environmental Protection Minister, has been reading the RRRR blog. I met this Jew when he came to Teaneck for Shabbos last winter - he certainly seemed to have his heart in the right place.

"Israel does not take orders from [US President Barack] Obama," Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) said on Monday, responding to an earlier statement by the US president in which he reaffirmed his administration's commitment to all previous understandings between Israel and the Palestinians, including the process launched at Annapolis in 2007.

Erdan, who is also in charge of coordinating between the Knesset and the cabinet, also praised Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who only last week said that Israel was not bound by the Annapolis talks.

"Let me be clear," Obama had said, "the United States strongly supports the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. That is a goal shared by Palestinians, Israelis, and people of good will around the world. That is a goal that the parties agreed to in the road map and at Annapolis. And that is a goal that I will actively pursue as president."

"In voting for [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu the citizens of Israel have decided that they will not become the US's fifty first state," said Erdan, who was representing the coalition in a Knesset deliberation of Lieberman's controversial statements. He added, however, that "Obama is a friend of Israel and the United States is an important ally and everything between us will be the result of communication."

The Struggle of Our Generation

“…[A]lmost anyone who is seriously involved in any church will recognize that churchgoing is not synonymous with personal spirituality… Having participated throughout my life in organized church and community service groups, I have found that attending church does not necessarily mean living the principles taught in those meetings. You can be active in church but inactive in its gospel.

In the church-centered life, image or appearance can become a person’s dominant consideration, leading to hypocrisy that undermines personal security and intrinsic worth.

Nor can the church give a person a constant sense of guidance. Church-centered people often tend to live in compartments, acting and thinking and feeling in certain ways on the Sabbath and in totally different ways on weekdays…"

From Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Montefiore Windmill

From the Diaries of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore:

The Montefiore's pilgrimage trip to Eretz Israel, 1827:

[When they arrived in Jerusalem, Mr. and Mrs. Montefiore] repaired to the home of Mr. Joseph Amzalak [a Portuguese Jew], while the [non-Jewish] men who accompanied them took up their quarters in the Greek convent.

The Montefiores subsequently went to see the Western Wall. During their absence, the Governor sent to say that he expected Mr. Montefiore to come and take coffee, and that he regretted that Mr. Montefiore should have gone to [stay with] the Jews: if he did not like going to the convent, he would have given him a house in the city.

Mr. Montefiore, on hearing the message, said "I hope I shall ever live and die in the society of my brethren of Israel!"

Heartland Proud!

While other members of the RRRR have been making the news recently, this one takes the cake.

Here's to the Minister of Agriculture - spiritual healer!

Roadtrip to Omaha, anyone?

Ayeh

I've always wondered what we mean when we say the words "Ayeh Makom Kevodo" - "Where is the place of His glory?" in Kedusha on Shabbos.

According to Rebbe Nachman, "Kevodo Malei Olam" and "Ayeh makom kevodo" are two ways of perceiving God's presence:

"Ayeh makom kevodo - Where is the place of His Glory?" indicates God’s utter transcendence; "M’lo kol ha’aretz kevodo - The entire earth is full of His Glory," indicates God’s immanence.

This is certainly true. But I thought of another possibility as well. R David Fohrman explains the difference between "Eiphoh" and "Ayeh". Both words mean "where". But as we know, the Torah would not have two words with same exact meaning; what is the subtle difference between the two words?

"Eiphoh" is used when you want to know, literally, where something is. "Eiphoh haSherutim?" - where is the bathroom?

But "Ayeh" is not about where something is, literally. Its used for rhetorical purposes - when the questioner is posing a challenge. For example, when a father asks his 4 year old son, who has cookie crumbs all over his mouth - "Where did the cookies go!?" - the father know exactly where the cookies are. He is challenging his child; the cookies should still be here!

When God asked Kayin, after he had murdered Hevel, "אֵי הֶבֶל אָחִיךָ" - where is Hevel your brother? - God is challenging Kayin. God knows exactly where Hevel is! God is challenging Kayin; why is Hevel not here!

This is how we can understand "Ayeh Makom Kevodo." We know where God is - God is everywhere, and He is also beyond, just as Rebbe Nachman said. But the angels are asking, and we are asking along with them - where are you, God? Why are you not here yet, in all of your glory?! We need you! Reveal yourself in all your glory!

Purim in Brooklyn: Our weapons are ready

A Hazy Picture?

The Piacetzner Rebbe, in his Hachsharas Avreichim, quotes Rav Avraham Azulai (grandfather of the Chida) as saying:

When one is learning the Torah of his Rebbe, he should picture, in his mind, the face of his Rebbe, and in that way attach himself to his Rebbe's soul. This is what Rabbi Abba would do when trying to decipher the teachings of his master, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai; envisioning his Rebbe's face enabled him to better understand his Rebbe's teachings.

We of the RRRR, scattered as we are over the 4 corners of the world, can go weeks and months without seeing Rebbe face to face. Rebbe has given us some eitzah on this matter, but the long separations can nevertheless be disheartening. And not only disheartening - time away from Rebbe always seems to lead to some level of unclarity, be it in learning or otherwise.

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So how about this: when times get tough, when Rebbe's life teachings all of a sudden no longer seem to make sense, don't just stare at a picture of Rebbe for inspiration (though this is certainly a level). Because in the end, that picture is simply one Jew's portrayal of Rebbe at one particular moment in time, from his perspective. Instead, recreate a vivid mental image of Rebbe in your own mind. You can picture Rebbe saying over a shem mishmuel while peeling a banana, or you can imagine once again that you are on the beaches of Nahariya with Rebbe, battling the waves of fury. And through this holy exercise, you can reconnect to Rebbe's soul, and to the clarity that comes with such connection.

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The hazy pictures of the mind may not be so hazy after all.

March Madness

Check out Shashgaz, aka Zakein Mamrei, aka me, on the news. Yes, the news.

Pesach Preparation

Click to hear this clip from the Rebbe Reichman Ruach Revival Band featuring Chaim Dovid. Be sure to congratulate Shashgaz on his congo solo.

Minyan Man

Nine men are waiting to pray. They may be the greatest tzaddikim. But being nine they are still short of the required minyan for prayer. They are forbidden to utter a single word of the communal prayers.

All of a sudden some totally insignificant man comes in from the streets. Whoever he may be, he is joined to them. They are ten. Now they can recite the Kedusha.

No sooner than they are finished, this same individual makes his escape and goes back to the streets. But the words of holiness which were uttered before can now never be erased.
(Reb Nosson of Breslov)

Official Hippo of the Revolution?

This baby hippo needs a home fast - or the Nazi enabling Swiss will euthanize it. See here for details.

From my perspective as Defense Minister, I see tremendous possibilities. Imagine storming the beis medrish on the back of a 6,000 pound hippo! The possibilities are endless...

Purim in Merryland