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Aspaqlaria

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TiDE and Slabodka

Posted: 12 Jun 2009 08:42 AM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Aspaqlaria/~3/8WHxbLIBdNA/tide-and-slabodka.shtml


(The previous post was off topic, but on the blog. This post is on topic,  
but posted elsewhere.)

Rabbi Rich Wolpoe posted to the Nishma blog an exchange we had by email.  
Here are some snippets of things I say in the post and consequent dialog  
(so far):

Look how similar TIDE [Torah im Derech Eretz] and Slabodka are in terms of  
objective.
There is a fundamental difference in how they define refinement. R Hirsch  
speaks in terms of culture. Slabodka, unsurprisingly, in terms of middos.  
The overlap is large, but they are far from identical. I think that also  
underlies their difference in approach to taamei hamitzvos [the reasons  
for, or lessons taken from, mitzvos -micha].
RSRH makes it about internalizing messages. And therefore when the message  
is unclear, he invokes symbology. Symbols do present messages in a manner  
where they can be better internalized. Thus the power of poetry over prose.
Mussar looks to mitzvos to behaviorally change the person.
Middos arent really emotions as much as the various propensities to have  
one or the other. In English, the difference between the emotion of anger  
and the character trait of having a temper.

Slabodka (as the rest of Mussar, but Slabodka IMHO is closest to TiDE) is  
speaking of mitzvos in terms of precognitive changes, of being the kind of  
person more likely to experience religious ecstasy, not necessarily  
creating that moment of ecstasy itself.

RSRHs symbology system presumes changes through internalization of symbols   
and yet very little Torah existed before his day explicating those symbols.
Because the post is on Nishma, I shut off comments to this post. Instead,  
kindly add to the discussion there.
Links:

Nishma: http://nishmablog.blogspot.com/
Nishma blog entry:  
http://nishmablog.blogspot.com/2009/06/reflections-upon-nishma-intellectual.html
Comments:  
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3314914268727443114&postID=7044701523316949728




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Off Topic but very important - Security

Posted: 12 Jun 2009 07:22 AM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Aspaqlaria/~3/Fhaygcj-lKU/off-topic-but-very-important-security.shtml


The Problem

In early May, Johanna Justin-Jinich, a student at Wesleyan University, was  
shot to death at an off-campus book store. Her killer was in the middle of  
reading the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and mentioned the victims  
Jewishness as part of the cause for killing her. Court records report that  
his journal entry the day before the killing, read: Kill Johanna. She must  
die. I think it OK to kill Jews and go on a killing spree at this school.

More famously was the attempted bombing of two synagogues in Riverdale, the  
Bronx, New York City three weeks back.

Now, an attack at the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. The killer, a  
long-time antisemite, finally turned words into violence when the  
government cut his Social Security check and he blamed the Jews. Obama was  
created by Jews a note on his car windshield read at the time of the  
killing. Another read, Jews control the mass media  Jews captured Americas  
money. Ironically, Stephen Tyrone Johns Hyd lost his life protecting the  
very memory that should have kept us all safer.

Quoting the New York Times:

“The proximity of the Riverdale bomb plots and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial  
event demonstrates clearly there’s a serious threat against the Jewish  
community,” the council’s associate executive director, David M. Pollock,  
said on Thursday.

The economy is doing poorly, Jewish names get thrown around  whether  
fairly, like Madoffs, or unfairly, like people thinking Lehman Brothers is  
still Jewish  and antisemitism is on the rise. Not as in Europe, but still,  
lives have been lost.

There is a pattern and a clear need to increase protection at Jewish sites  
in the United States.

One Persons Proposal

On the other hand, the same bad economy that is creating this uptick in  
violence makes it difficult to find the means to increase protection. The  
typical shul cant raise the funds to hire a security guard. Were going to  
have to rely on volunteerism.

I therefore recommend we adopt a neighborhood watch model. Rabbanim need to  
remind their congregants of the importance of making sure the doors are  
locked when leaving the building.

When the building is in use, one person, or better, a chavrusah (who can  
learn together while on duty and therefore not waste the time) be stationed  
outside the entrance of the synagogue or school and even at the block with  
the kosher shopping strip. While I dont know if the risk is severe enough  
to qualify for the use of radios on Shabbos, we could perhaps ask the  
Hatzolah members who already have a reason to permissibly carry one to play  
a role in this effort.

And of course we should make use of whatever police presence our  
representatives can garner for this purpose.

I invite you to suggest other ideas.

I URGE YOU to raise the issue with the local rabbis, elected official and  
community leaders.



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