Libi BaMizrach

Crossing G-d’s Goal Line at MetLife Stadium – Part III It is the season again. While from some of the essays that I have written recently, one might think that I am referring to the NFL football season, or the MLB playoff season, I am, in fact, referring to the High Holiday season – the Yamim Noraim – the Days of Awe.   The very special time every year that we regroup, reassess, and recommit ourselves to the core principles that ought to govern our lives.  We take time to reflect on the successes and failures of the past, especially the recent past, in preparing to ask Hashem for another year of life and blessings. Nevertheless, as the last in this series, maybe there are a few more lessons that we can take from the world of sports in our preparations.   It is, after all, the beginning of a new season, and we are trying to make our case to the ultimate Team Owner to “renew our contract”, because we have something that we can contribute to the success of Tea...

בס"ד Crossing G-d’s Goal Line at MetLife Stadium – Part II In the last edition of the Queens Jewish Link, I was privileged to have my undelivered speech to the Siyum “ Crossing G-d’s Goal Line at MetLife Stadium – Part I” published.   Given that at least a few of the evening’s esteemed speakers went on quite a bit beyond their originally allotted time, I feel justified in writing some additional thoughts here in “Part 2”, in the time-honored tradition of “Az mir redt shoyn . . .” (or “while I am on the topic”, for you non-Yiddish speakers). In essence, my original point was that the MetLife venue might be used as more than just a self-congratulatory and condescending “we are superior to them” attitude.  That it was possible to think about an NFL stadium as representing some positives as well, in that we there are athletic values that are analogous to what it takes to finish Shas –determination, consistency, mental toughness, absolute commitment to reaching go...

בס"ד Crossing G-D’s Goal Line at MetLife Stadium – Part I I was only mildly miffed that somehow they forgot to include me in the illustrious list of speakers at the Siyum HaShas.  In retrospect, given my 3:45 AM return home, I see that it might have been difficult to fit me in. Nevertheless, despite all the wonderful words of inspiration that were imparted, there is a neglected aspect that I might have touched upon had I been able to impart my wisdom to the magnificent gathering.  That aspect has to do with the momentous venue that we gathered in – the huge 90,000 seat Met-Life Stadium, home of the NY Giants and NY Jets of the National Football League. Several of the speakers made the fairly obvious point regarding the famous prayer of Rav Nechunia ben Hakannah that is recited at every Siyum: מודים אנחנו לפניך ה' אלקינו ששמת חלקנו מיושבי בית המדרש, ולא שמת חלקנו מיושבי קרנות. שאנו משכימים והם משכימים, אנו משכימים לדברי תורה, והם משכימים לדברים בטלים. אנו עמלים והם עמלים, אנ...

I really have not been keeping this up to date.....Hopefully teshuva is in the air... This piece was published on Aish.com and the Queens Jewish Link --------------             Tisha B’Av – Festival of Sadness Unless things change a whole lot in the next few weeks, we will one again be going through the days leading up to and including Tisha B’Av, the Ninth Day of the Month of Av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar.   Year after year, we take time to reflect on our condition in the Diaspora, and what this long, seemingly endless exile is supposed to teach us, while awaiting the long sought for Geula (Redemption).    There is an interesting anecdote recorded regarding a meeting between the prophet Jeremiah and the famous Greek philosopher, Plato.  Jeremiah was mourning the destruction of Jerusalem , and Plato engaged him in conversation.  Impressed with Jeremiah’s great wisdom, Plato asked him “I d...

Modern Orthodox or Chareidi: Are those the only choices? Yehuda L. Oppenheimer     Introduction [1] Summer 2012.  Once again, Israel is in convulsions over the Chareidim.   Due to maximalist positions staked out by both sides, no compromise is in sight.  The secularists will accept nothing less than a total draft of all Chareidim.  The Chareidim are determined to fight any change in the status quo [2] .  And many of us – who want the Chareidim to contribute their fair share to the national burden, while simultaneously honoring the mission and heroism of those who devote their lives to Torah study and teaching – we strain our ears for that nuanced voice from the Chareidi leadership that will bring unity and sanity to this crisis . . . and are once again disappointed. The first draft of this article was written in December 2011, after grown men – in supposed religious zeal – spat at and taunted 8 yr. old schoolgirls who were not...