Presence

Fool me once...

Maybe I'm being overly skeptical, but I'm certain Eminem was totally lip-syncing on Saturday Night Live. There were at least three distinct shots where lyrics could be heard, but the mic was nowhere near this mouth, nor were his lips moving.

Also, Weekend Update is totally out of ideas. That's the second Elton John appearence this season! Bring back Fallon!

It's All Happening

The world as we know it may very well change beyond all recognition tonight. We'll wake up tomorrow, the sun will be shining as it has in the past, but things will never be the same.

I've been somewhat hesitant to discuss my feelings up to this point, but right now it's impossible not to be excited, if not down-right hopeful. It's years of pain and suffering, of defeat after gruesome defeat, finally, finally justified. The last week has been the stuff of miracles, of redepmtion and rebirth. It's beyond belief. But we believe.

Go Red Sox.

Jewish Bloggers Blogging

All this talk of Jewish blogs reminds me I've been meaning to link to a few new/renewed Jewish blogs.

The first is Braindrops. If you wonder why the posts here have been so sparse, it's partly because I'm trying to get through Moishe Potemkin's caffeine-fueled, libertarian-leaning Bush-doctrine apologetics and general political stylings. In all seriousness, he's quite good, and not the least bit unpragmatic. I'll even go so far as to dub him "Andrew Sullivan Jr." or something like that. Check him out.

In other news, Elliott Cahan, still on the ballot for a Baltimore City Council seat next Tuesday (despite the fact that he now lives halfway across the world) has transformed his Cahan for City Council blog into The Cahans in Israel. Elliott is posting pictures and thoughts about his last few weeks in the States, and his experiences on making Aliyah, as well as pictures of him and assorted Baltimore Ravens. My campaign contributions hard at work. And remember, send a message this Tuesday: Vote Cahan!

Evil Empire? Nope.

The latest edition of The Commentator has an opinion piece entitled, "An Evil Empire?" I clicked through, expecting a rant on the recent crash-and-burn of the Yankees, but, to my surprise, found instead an article on blogging. The author, Zev Nagel, Editor-In-Chief of the Commie, puts Jewish bloggers directly in the crosshairs, takes aim, and fires away.

Nagel's main gripe with blogs is, in his mind, their pretense towards journalism. He sees Jewish bloggers as increasingly focused on scandal, impropriety and the negative goings-on in the Jewish community, overlooking the positive, and taking an overly and openly subjective tone in their writing. While he is correct, to some extent, that there are particular Jewish blogs that are sensationalistic and overly negative, I think he's missing the greater point as to what blogging represents to the Jewish community. But let's address some of his main points.

First off, to level a claim of negativity at blogs is a bit unfair; old-school journalism outlets broke all the major scandals of recent memory (The Jewish Week or The Forward? Take your pick). The fact that blogs focused on these issues is incidental; they're providing perpsective, not information. And there are plenty of blogs that don't focus on the negative, but provide information and insights on niche areas of Jewish life that other would otherwise not know about.

Another claim made is that blogs are inherently subjective, and make no bones about it; often their authors hide their identity, enabling them to make statements no journalist would make. The assumption is that our media is wholly objective and transparent, but the truth is, it's not. Media inherently caters to an audience; The Jewish Press, The Forward, Yated Ne'eman (whose authors are often citied with first initial, last name only, to protect their identity and modesty) are completely subjective from front to back. There's little chance the The Forward will feature a column by Dr. Yael Respler (and good for them), as their audience doesn't care for it. As a society, we're at the point where we complacently accept the subjectivity of the media; Fox News has become the media outlet for the right, CNN for the left. Blogs are no more subjective, and if they are, at least they're open about it.

Putting the journalism aspects a side (I'm not even touching the "Are blogs journalism question"), I think Nagel missed the chance to analyze the role blogs are playing in the evolving social structure of the Jewish community. The fact that blogs are so easy to use lowers the bar, but the "market" so to speak, has a way of sifting through the chaff. Given time, the blogs of merit emerge, and the ones that spew filth are abandoned or degenerate into sillyness. What's left is a diversity of opinions freely available and open to conversation. With the parocialization of our schools, communities and even our shuls increasing at an alarming rate, blogs could comprise a key component in the salvation of our community.

Just some thoughts, there's more to say, but that's all for me. Check out the rest of the latest edition of the Commie, overall, it looks pretty good.

Red Sox

If it's gonna happen, I can't think of a better way.

Obviously the time is right to link to last year's post, A Prayer for the Boston Red Sox.

That's Awesome!

I love this commercial. It's absolutely brilliant.

This guy looks like he delivered all three of my children. והמבין יבין

Halakhic Man: His Practical Limitations

One of the two books I took to shul on Yom Kippur was Halakhic Man, by R. J.D. Soloveitchik (the other was Yosl Rakover Talks To God, by Zvi Kolitz). This was my first time making it past the first few chapters of this book (I made sure to look up words like noetic beforehand).

For the most part, the thesis of Halakhic Man can be summed up with this quote (pg. 24):

The foundation of foundations and the pillar of halakhic thought is not the practical ruling but the determination of the theoretical Halakhah. Therefore, many of the greatest halakhic men avoided and still avoid serving in rabbinical posts. They rather join themselves to the group of those who are relcrant to render practical decisions. And if necessity - which is not to be decried - compels them to disregard their preference and to render practical decisions, this is only a small insignificant resposibility which does not stand at the center of their concerns.

The theoretical Halakhah, not the practical decision, the ideal creation, not the emprical one, represent the longing of halakhic man.

In other words, the pinnacle of Judaism, according R. Soloveitchik, is not the shul rabbi, but the Rosh Yeshiva. Of paramount importance in Judaism is the realization/actualization of the halakhic norm, as opposed to the ethical ideal. God's Presence descends to this world not through the implementation of justice, but through the structuring and creation of a judicial system.

While I strongly sympathize with the existential aspect of R. Soloveitchik's formulation, the overtly rationalistic tone rubs me the wrong way. I am more inclined to a theory that favors the ethical/practical over the theoretical/normative. I find it hard to accept that simply by theorizing a legal system one is . Whatsmore, I think the text of the Torah supports this.

Moshe Rabbeinu is the Halakhic Man, par excellence. His role, as detailed throughout the Torah and Midrashim, was to communicate the halacha to the people. His level of prophecy, of Divine communication, has greater than any other individual's thoughout history, not only in it's closeness, but in terms of it's normative status. Moshe, however, was divorced from the practical application of the Law. Yisro, upon observing the legal process his son-in-law had set in place, advised Moshe to withdraw from the practical side of Halakha. The division created by Yisro is clearly a division between the theoretical and practical aspects of the Law (if I did not write about this previously, I should have, and will). The court system set up by Yisro (not to be confused with the seventy Elders/Zekanim or the Sanhedrin) was to adjudicate actual cases, leaving Moshe free to theorize the Law.

When it came, however to actually bringing the divine presence down among the people, Moshe failed. At Mei Merivah, Moshe missed his chance at doing just this: "Because ye believed not in Me, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them." (Num. 20:12). Despite the fact that Moshe had done more than anyone else in terms of actualization of halakhic norms, he is still denied entry into the land where those norms would be put into practice.

It has been suggested elsewhere that the approach of R. Soloveitchik in Halakhic Man is inherently galus-oriented, as it lacks a practical context of implementation (no political or governmental body able to carry out the Law), as opposed to the philosophies of R. Kook, which were inherently practical from the beginning owing to their connection with the state of Israel. Perhaps this is the nature of Moshe's punishment; as close as he was to God, he was unable to manage a practical application of the halacha (many other aspects of his identity seem to fit with this theory, for example his withdrawal from his wife, relationship with the people, etc.). When it came time to enter the land and actually implement the system that would allow the divine presence to "dwell amongst them in their impurity" the Halakhic Man found he had nothing left to offer.

(This last part connecting Moshe's denial of entrance to the Land of Israel is speculation; a good question is that Moshe was instrumental in building the Mishkan/Mikdash, which housed the divine presence while the Jews were exiled in the desert. The depiction of Yisro's advice as a distinction between theoretical and practical is, in my opinion, the correct understanding of the text.)