The origins of ..... Tom and Jerry

Rambam on dissing Gedolim

I happened across an amazing Rambam:

יז) וזה הוא דרך ישיבת הלצים הרשעים: בתחילה מרבין בדברי הבאי, כעניין שנאמר "וקול כסיל, ברוב דברים" (קוהלת ה,ב); ומתוך כך באין לספר בגנות הצדיקים, כעניין שנאמר "תיאלמנה, שפתי שקר: הדוברות על צדיק, עתק" (תהילים לא,יט); ומתוך כך יהיה להן הרגל לדבר בנביאים וליתן דופי בדבריהם, כעניין שנאמר "ויהיו מלעיבים, במלאכי האלוהים, ובוזים דבריו, ומיתעתעים בנביאיו" (דברי הימים ב לו,טז); ומתוך כך באין לדבר באלוהים וכופרין בעיקר, כעניין שנאמר "ויחפאו בני ישראל, דברים אשר לא כן, על ה', אלוהיהם" (מלכים ב יז,ט).

Basically, the Rambam is detailing a four step process that can lead people to the point of kefirah b'ikar.

1) Spending lots of time talking about "narishkaitin".

This, he says, will lead to:
2) Degrading Tzadikim.

Eventually they will:
3) Speak [negatively] about the neviim and begin doubting their words.

Which will result in:
4) Total kefirah.

What amazed me was that we saw this four-step process take place before our own eyes on a number of blogs over the last few years.

A - Z (again)

My co-conspirator in this endeavor, Shtender, didn’t want me to feel left out so he graciously tagged me to participate in the A – Z meme. Here goes:

Accent: It’s really the weirdest thing. I have no accent at all. I know people from Toronto and Cleveland and Detroit and Australia with all kinds of accents but I just speak regular.

Booze: For me to consider imbibing any alcoholic beverage whatsoever, it must meet the following criteria: It must contain alcohol. That’s it.

Chore I Hate: Anything LkwdGal asks me to do and when I say, “OK”, She asks “When”? And when I say “Soon”, she says “Can you PLEASE do it now”? That’s a chore that I hate. It may have previously been My Most Favorite Chore, heck, I may have never even thought of it as a chore, but from that moment on it is officially classified as A Chore That I Hate.

Dogs/Cats: Homes are for humans, zoos are for animals.

Essential Electronics: I can’t imagine living without a … dishwasher.

Favorite Perfume/Cologne: I never wore cologne until I was engaged and LkwdGal bought me this. I liked it a lot and I still wear only that.

Gold/Silver: I have a gold colored tie. That’s about as close as I can get to gold. But I bought a lottery ticket and as they say, hey, you never know.

Hometown: I lived in Lakewood for 90% of my life.

Insomnia: Never ever. Sleep is my most favorite activity.

Job Title: Guy who works the hardest for the least.

Kids: LkwdKiddo I, LkwdKiddo II, and LkwdKiddo III. All the same gender.

Living Arrangements: A house that is too small.

Most Admired Trait: Modesty and Humility. I know I’m only supposed to choose one, but I really excel at both of these and I couldn’t decide which of the two really defines me.

Number of sexual partners: What’s that?

Overnight Hospital Stays: Never as a patient, but LkwdKiddo III was born on a Friday night and I spent that night in a dingy hospital lounge on a lumpy couch below a blearing TV next to a rumbling elevator. Does that count?

Phobia: I have an intense and totally irrational fear of being busted blogging at work.

Quote: “I’ll do it later. I will. Really.”

Religion: Jewish. Somewhere between Scary Charedi and LW Yeshivish on the LamidZayin scale.

Siblings: More than ten, less than twenty. I’ll leave it at that.

Time I usually wake up: 2:30 AM, 3:45 AM, 4:30 AM, and 6:30 AM.

Unusual Talent: Pretending to be asleep when I hear one of the kids crying in the other room so I don’t have to be the one to get up.

Vegetable I refuse to eat: If it’s remotely edible, I eat it.

Worst Habit: Spending way too long in the bathroom finishing a sudoku or a crossword puzzle.

X-Rays: When I was ten years old I was in a car accident and I spent Purim in the ER waiting to get X-rays done. Nothing was broken.

Yummy Foods I make: Mac and cheese, frozen pizza and fish sticks.

Zodiac Sign: No clue but I just looked it up on Wikipedia. I am a Cancer. (I think I remember being called that once in camp by some stuck up older kid.) The associated words and/or phrases are: "I feel," sensitive, tenacious, family and home oriented, helpful, nurturing, moody, stomach/breasts. I have no clue what any of that means, but hey, you asked.

A chilling reminder

In case anyone needs a reminder what the War on Terror is all about, here's a chilling one. In short, it's a 911 call made from the top of the burning World Trade Center, it ends as the towers begin to collapse. Scary stuff.

Crude Language Warning.



If the video doesn't play, you can go directly to the YouTube page here.

The MEME of A through Z

Did not yet have time to blog after Pesach, but a MEME does not leave you with much choice. I was thoughfully tagged by Jameel (who better not delete his blog), so I'll take the time out of my overly hectic schedule to do this (Kidding. Well, not really.)

Accent: North American English. My Hebrew sounds like North American Hebrew as well.

Booze: Glenrothes is without a doubt my favorite scotch. I drink Vodka too. Wine is not my thing really.

Chore I Hate: Most of them. Particularly going to the Dry Cleaners.

Dogs/Cats: I hate everything feline. Cats scare me. They always look at you like they have something going on that you don't know about. And don't get me started on the Jerusalem cats. Dogs are okay I guess, but I don't presently have one. Perhaps one day.

Essential Electronics: I cannot live without my Blackberry, iPaq and computer. Really, I can't.

Favorite Perfume/Cologne: Issey Miyake.

Gold/Silver: Nothing to say here (some people know where I live!)

Hometown: East Coast US. May change in the near future.

Insomnia: Occasionaly. Sometimes I can be reading a good book, I look up and it's 4 AM.

Job Title: Graphic Designer

Kids: None yet.

Living Arrangements: Intentionally left blank. :)

Most Admired Trait: Being able to srive a car while steering with my knees, closing the door and changing the cd at the same time.

Number of sexual partners: Elventy billion. Dumb question for this kind of blog.

Overnight Hospital Stays: Never, b"h. Not that I can remember anyway.

Phobia: Hmmmm, I guess I get claustrophobic sometimes.

Quote: "Getting old is mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter!" (not mine.)

Religion: Doh!

Siblings: Many, K"h. YOu wouldn't believe it if I told ya.

Time I usually wake up: Depends on the day. More accurately, it depends on the night before.

Unusual Talent: Playing guitar and saxaphone is not really unusual, so nothing really. Wait, is being able to beat you at Boggle a talent?

Vegetable I refuse to eat: I eat pretty much anything that appears in the fridge, be it fruit, vegetable or cardboard.

Worst Habit: I refuse to wash dishes. I can't do it. And no, I won't try.

X-Rays: Just my teeth. Never broke a bone, thank God.

Yummy Foods I make: How do I choose? I cook alot of different dishes, mostly Italian food though.

Zodiac Sign: Don't have the foggiest clue. Really.

Tagging...Orthomom, Lkwdguy,, and S.

Chag Sameach!

Boro Park "Riots".

Riots? Please. LA and Crown Heights rioters would take offense. Even the police won't call this a riot. Of course some media outlets will milk this for all it's worth.

That said, what happened?

1. Do some Boro Parkers believe they are living in Israel?
2. Are some people really incapable of thinking before acting?
3. Are some people just idiots?
4. Were some Boro Parkers feeling left out of the Satmar Chilul Hashem party?

I think the answers are 1,2 & 3.

Which reminds me of a saying of R' Noach Weinberg's: "Do not judge Judaism by the Jews".

I think I need to make that into a bumper sticker. Or at least into a sign for my anti Neturei Karta counter-demonstrations.

We need to remember that we are living in Golus. We live in this 'Medina shel Chessed' by their good graces. Most countries that we have lived in have eventually turned on us. Must we try our hardest for it to happen here too?

It doesn't matter if they beat the poor man to death, there are ways to handle these things. These kinds of antics are always counter-productive, make a huge Chilul Hashem and hurt your cause.

May Hashem protect us regardless of our shortcomings, because they seem to be getting bigger every day.

Common sense?

There have not been many times in my life when I was embarrassed to be wearing a yamulka. Sure, sometimes you may feel awkward and strange, depending on the situation, but embarrassment for wearing it is not something I usually feel.

I had the misfortune of spending some hours at the local branch of the Department of Motor Vehicles this past Friday. I was prepared for the headache that's usually involved, but I was not prepared for what happened.

As I was waiting on one of the many lines, I notice an obviously frum man (hat, jacket, beard) walk in the door with four (4) of his young children. Why someone brings any children, let alone four of them to the DMV is completely beyond me. He sits down to wait his turn, pulls a small chumash out of his jacket pocket and settles in for the wait. His children, obviously, do not. They're running all over the place, yelling, tripping over people and pretty much irritating everyone. He's oblivious, buried in his chumash.

A woman who works there approached him and tapped him on the shoulder (gasp!). He jumps up. "Can you please control your children" she asked him. He rounded up his kids and asked them nicely to sit down next to him. Then he buried himself back into the chumash. Predictably, about 1 minute and 12 seconds later, they're running all over the place again.

What happened to common sense? This man probably thinks he's doing something good and noble by learning his chumash and going over the parsha in his spare time. But he's not. He's making a terrible Chilul Hashem. Yes, I realize kids are kids, but most reasonably sane people do not bring children to the DMV. And if it couldn't be avoided, at least make sure they behave! Put the chumash away and take care of them to the best of your ability. Wearing a hat, jacket and beard carries responsibilities with it. All eyes are upon you. You are representing Orthodox Judaism whether you like it or not. If you can't live up to that, at least try to act the part for a few hours.

He wasn't able to see the looks or hear the comments. I was. My yarmulka was getting heavier on my head.

I wouldn't complain if this was an isolated incident. So one guy may be crazy. But I know and you know that it's not. I'm sure you've seen this behavior yourself.

I think it's the ghetto mentality. Some people (in my opinion) are not used to going out among non-Jewish people. They go to Jewish schools, Jewish stores, learn in yeshivos, and never really have to interact with people who do not see things the way they do. Unfortunately there's a certain accepted behavior when you're among frum people which would not be accepted in the real world (that's another subject for another post). Frum people would generally not complain if the kids are running all over the place in their store. So that becomes normal. And it happens even when they're not among frum people. And it's very wrong.

Derech Eretz kadmah L'Torah.