Presence

Zoo Torah in DC

Via the Baltimore Achdus mailing list:

Join a Torah Tour of the National Zoo in Washington DC, led by the famous "Zoo Rabbi," Natan Slifkin! The tour will take place on Sunday, July 22nd, from 2pm to 5pm. It is aimed at adults and older kids, but all ages are welcome. The cost of the tour is $18 for adults and $12 for children. Advance registration is essential as group spaces are limited. If you would like to join the afternoon tour, please email zoorabbi@zootorah. com with the number of people in your group and a contact cellphone number, and you will be sent details of exactly where to meet.

Sunday: Kollel Yom Rishon with R. Michael Rosensweig

Kollel Yom Rishon presents two outstanding local opportunities to hear from renowned Roshei Yeshiva at Yeshivat Rambam on May 13, 20.

Rav Michael Rosensweig (5/13)
Yerushalayim: The Center of the Jewish People

Rav Zvi Sobolofsky (5/20)
Who is a Jew? Contemporary Halachic Perspectives on Conversion

Schedule
Shacharis: 9:00
Breakfast and Preparation of Mareh Mekomos: 9:45
Shiur: 10:30

This is a quite a unique opportunity. R. Rosensweig and R. Sobolofsky are both tremendous talmidei chachamim.

R. Adlerstein Scholar in Residence

This Shabbos, Shomrei Emunah is hosting R. Yitzchok Adlerstein as Pearlstone Scholar-in-Residence. R. Adlerstein wil be speaking five times over Shabbos:

• Friday Night Oneg at 9:30 PM at the home of Mr. And Mrs. Jordan Wiener (2502 Shelleydale Dr.) L'Affaire Slifkin: In this forum, Rabbi Adlerstein will give his assessment of this controversial issue. He will both advocate his position and defend his critics.


• Shiur at the 8:15 AM Minyan: The Frum Yellow Pages: Does Halacha Demand That We Buy Jewish?


• Shabbos Morning Drasha at the 9:00 AM Minyan


• Keynote Address Shabbos Afternoon at 5:45 PM: The Burka and the Sheitel: Judaism and Halacha heavily influenced the development of Islam. How Islam did things differently is a fascinating study. The comparison and contrast of legal systems will help us appreciate Halacha all the more.


• Seudah Shlishis: Haggadah Gems From Rav Kook

For a preview, please see R. Adlerstein's original post on L'Affaire Slifkin at Cross-Currents.

Posted by Greg at 12:33 PM | TrackBack

Rav Documentary Playing Charles Theatre on Sunday

Baltimore Hebrew University is holding a screening of Lonely Man of Faith: The Life and Legacy of R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik this Sunday, February 25th at The Charles Theatre. Although both the film's site and The Charles' website don't specify a time, I've heard it's showing around 2:00PM. Matinees at The Charles are usually $6.

Scholar In Residence: R. Moshe Taragin

Sorry this is a little late; Shomrei has a Scholar in Residence this week.

Rabbi Moshe Taragin - Yeshivat Har Etzion December 8-9, 2006
Schedule

Oneg at 8:00 PM (at the Fried home) - The Human Heart and the Divine Temple: Balancing Humanism and Religion

Shiur at 8:15 Minyan (shiur at approx. 9:00 am) on Migu

Drasha at 9:00 AM Minyan

Shabbos Afternoon Shiur at 3:30 PM - Tracing the (Unlikely) Yad Hashem Through Modern History

Seudah Shlishis - Yiras Shamayim, Emunah, and Relying Too Heavily Upon a Nes

For more details, see the Shomrei website.

Get In On The Auction

It's that time of year again folks. The Philadelphia Mikvah Association is holding their annual Chinese auction on January 28, 2007; it's a worthy cause, and you just might win something. You can check out the prize packages (click on the dollar amounts for each ticket category to view the prizes). I think we're going to let it ride on the sheitel.

[Disclosure: I posted about the auction last year out of the goodness of my heart (close friends of ours are the organizers). Turns out Presence drove more traffic to the auction site than even Google! So they offered me some free tickets in exchange for blogging about it again this year. Needless to say, I wouldn't blog about something unless I thought it was a worthy cause, but I thought it fair to make the disclosure.]

Operatic Tendencies

Nabucco (apparently Italian for Nebchadnezzar) is playing at the Baltimore Opera. I saw an ad for it somewhere online and found the teaser dialogue intriguing enough to click through:

“I am God.” --Nabucco
“I don’t think so.” --God
“Zzzzzzaaaaaaapppp!” --Lightning Bolt

Then I looked at the ticket prices, and was a little less intrigued. Culture's nice and all, but it also comes on DVD.

Real Presences

I know my legions of fans like to stay in the loop as to my whereabouts and appearances. I'll be traveling a bit over the next two weeks, so if you happen to be in Bergenfield, NJ, New London, CT or Palo Alto/San Francisco, CA and want to get in touch, let me know.

As always, if you send me a self-addressed stamped envelope, I'll send you a signed picture of the back of my head.

How to Raise Internet Safe Children

The Internet Ban has (thankfully) not come to Baltimore , but that doesn't mean you can't be well-informed and educated as to what is out there and decide for yourself if and how you want it getting into your home. If you're not technical, consider attending this meeting at TA, which should help you understand what your kids are doing (or could be doing) online.

Tuesday, June 6, 8:00 PM, a meeting will take place that is a must for every T. A. family. The meeting, titled "Behind the Screensaver...What's really there? How to Raise Internet Safe Children"., will take place in the MULTI PURPOSE ROOM. We will discuss and give solutions to this issue. Grandparents are encouraged to attend as well.

I'm not sure if this is open to the public, but TA has been sending out flyers and emails and making phone calls, so they are trying to promote it. Should be very worthwhile.

Comming Attractions - R. JJ Schacter

This coming Shabbos, Shomrei Emunah will be hosting R. JJ Schacter as a scholar in residence. If you miss it, you'll be sorry. The agenda:

- Shiur at the 8:15 AM Minyan - The Ba'al Hamaor's Position on Sefiras Ha'Omer
- Shabbos Morning Drasha at the 9:00 AM Minyan - America, Israel, and the World: Orthodoxy Confronts Modern Society
- Keynote Address Shabbos Afternoon at 6:00 PM - The Wandering Jew: Commemorating National Catastrophe: This lecture will examine Jewish attempts to remember communal catastrophes experienced from the Middle Ages through the Twentieth Century. The specific focus will be on the reaction to the massacre in Blois, France in 1171 as a basis for the response to the Chmielnicki Massacres of 1648-1649 in Poland and to the Holocaust.
· - Seudah Shlishis (expanded format, following 7:00 Mincha) - Intellect and Emotion in the Observance of Mitzvos

Update: ADDeRabbi sent along a link to a post by Jewish Worker with the basic sources for the Ba'al Hamaor's position on Sefiras HaOmer.

Chinese Auction in Philly

Some good friends of ours, Baltimore expats The Weintraubs, are behind the Philadelphia Mikvah Association's Chinese Auction. The auction is on Sunday December 4, but you don't need to be a Philadelphian to get in on the auction. You can visit their web site to find out the details, and purchase tickets, and help support the growing Northeast Philly community.

I'm going to bid on the sheitel and the Shabbos lamp.