March 14, 2012 Rabbi Rabbs Got A $10 Tip From A Rabbi For Delivering A Thousand Dollars Worth Of Food 30 Miles Away Luke Ford No sacred cows.

Rabbi Rabbs Got A $10 Tip From A Rabbi For Delivering A Thousand Dollars Worth Of Food 30 Miles Away

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Luke Ford

Greg Leake emails:

Hi Rabbs,

Ten bucks!! Are you kidding me!!?

I’ll tell you the biggest reason that your delivery indcident ticks me off in a minute

First I would like to point out that if you could purchase gas for $2.50 a gallon (which is just a fantasy in our present world), it would have required $200 just to pay for the mechanics. This would be completely outside of any consideration for your time and trouble. And having just moved out of a city, as your know, 50 miles through traffic lights and freeways is no joke. And then this guy throws 10 bucks at you?

Then, of course, you’re so obviously frum that the rabbi would have had to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to see that you were a member of the club. I, of course, have never gotten why dressing a certain way is supposed to be an insight into a man’s character, but what-the-hey. I’m part of the goyim and so I wouldn’t get it anyway. However, it’s supposed to mean something to this rabbi.

I’ll tell you the thing about it that bothers me the most. You deliver this thousand pounds of food, and the dude looks at you, and what does he see? Does he see an 18-year old kid who just delivered something from the supermarket? Does he see some schlub that the big shots use to run errands? Does he see some inconsequential go-fer who is completely dismissible?

No. He sees a 50-year old man. 50. Not some kid who runs around for Ralph’s. A mature, 50-year old man who should have the right to a little dignity. And it’s the affront to your dignity that pisses me off.

By this time in life you have paid your dues. You’ve earned a little respect by virtue of the years and the maturity and the battles fought. Not to mention the losses suffered along with the wins. You shouldn’t be treated like some inconsequential bug that gets swept out.

I would say that $35 would have been at the barely excusable low end that might have been offered with an apology because of limeted funds. $50 or $70 would have been acceptable if you had not just used up a hundred in gas. And I would say about $100 for you to be acknowledged as a 50-year old man who had done this nub a favor. With $100 or more, there would have been some kind of exchange of equality in the transaction.

As you know, my wife and I recently moved out of Dallas, and I gave each of the movers a hundred on top of the fee because they were good guys who worked their asses off.

So my biggest grievance is the way this guy just dismissed you with a financial affront to your dignity. He didn’t acknowledge the fact that you deserve respect.

Go to the videotape 27 minutes in.

Posted in R. Rabbs | Comments Off

The Hijacked Rosh Yeshiva

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Luke Ford

In a lecture on rabbinic biographies for Torah in Motion, Orthodox rabbi and history professor Marc B. Shapiro says: “I think the [Nathan] Kamanetsky book was too voyeuristic in those areas. There are times when it is going to be rough to tread. The story of the famous rosh yeshiva who was involved in a hijacking. His behavior on the airplane was very questionable. He separated himself. He got his family there to convince the hijackers that he’s special and that he should be separated. His students in America thought they could raise money to ransom him.”

According to Wikipedia on Yitzchok (Isaac) Hutner (1906–1980): In the late 1960s he began to visit Israel again, planning to build a new yeshiva there. On 6 September 1970, he and his wife, daughter, and son-in-law Yonasan David were returning to New York when their airplane was hijacked by the PFLP Palestinian terrorist organization. The terrorists freed the non-Jewish passengers and held the Jewish passengers hostage on the plane for one week, after which the women and children were released and sent to Cyprus. The hijacked airplanes were subsequently detonated. The remaining 40-plus Jewish men – including Rabbi Hutner, Rabbi David, and two students accompanying Rabbi Hutner, Rabbi Meir Fund and Rabbi Yaakov Drillman – and male flight crew continued to be held hostage in and around Amman, Jordan; Rabbi Hutner was held alone in an isolated location while Jews around the world prayed fervently for his safe release. The terrorists tried to cut off his beard, but were stopped by their commanders. Rabbi Hutner was reunited with the rest of the hostages on 18 September, and was finally released on 26 September and flown together with his family members to Nicosia, Cyprus. Israeli Knesset Member Rabbi Menachem Porush chartered a private plane to meet the Hutners in Nicosia, and gave the Rav his own shirt and tallit katan, since Rabbi Hutner’s tallit, tefillin, shirt, jacket and hat had been confiscated during his three-week ordeal. Rabbi Porush reported that Rabbi Hutner had also lost 20 kilograms (44 lb), and his students appeared similarly emaciated. On 28 September Rabbi Hutner and his group were flown back to New York via Europe, and were home in time for the first night of Rosh Hashana.”

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What’s The Difference Between A Torah Scholar And A Gadol?

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Luke Ford

In a lecture on rabbinic biographies for Torah in Motion, Orthodox rabbi and history professor Marc B. Shapiro says: “In the haredi world [ultra-Orthodoxy], [Rav J.B. Soloveitchik] is recognized as a Torah scholar but not as a gadol [great rabbi]. Why not? He knew as much as these others. He knew more than them. They know. They’ll tell you he knew more but the difference between a Torah scholar and a gadol is that the gadol has to hold by the da’as Torah [general teachings of the senior haredi rabbis], by the perspective established by the haredi sages of the previous generation like the Chazon Ish. If you break with that and become a Zionist, you’re a Torah sage but not a gadol. You can see by Yated Ne’eman in the Hebrew who’s a gadol, who gets the title of maran, harav ha gaon and who just gets rabbi.

“Ovadiah Yosef used to be a gadol. Now he’s not. Hashkafah (worldview) is the most important thing.”

Posted in Marc B. Shapiro, Orthodoxy, R. J. B. Soloveitchik, Rabbis | Tagged chazon ish, haredi world, Marc B. Shapiro, orthodox rabbi, torah in motion, torah scholar | Comments Off

David Deida – Sexual Therapy, Sexual Yoga, & Spiritual Practice

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Luke Ford

David Deida is one of my favorite thinkers.

He seems to carry a lot of tension in his shoulders.

David: “You can be entirely dysfunctional therapeutically, psychologically and emotionally, you can be a wreck and still be a master yogi.”

You couldn’t say the same thing about an Alexander teacher. A broken-down Alexander teacher is almost a contradiction in terms.

Deida says most artists find their inspiration at “temporary extremes.”

Extremism is a rare trait among Alexander teachers. We tend to be moderate gentle people. We don’t tend to chase extreme highs.

Deida: “For art, you want to create temporary extremes… Like Picasso chain-smoking, abusing women. You’re keeping it out there and that’s how you do art… Drugs, sex and rock’n’roll could be a part of it or just the drama and intensity of life could create good art. If you want to create sexual art, you want to go to extremes. If you want to do good therapy, you want a safe environment.”

“I’ve never found anyone become spiritually open through practice.”

“How many people do you know who are brilliantly enlightened through regular practices?”

As it is impossible to define “spiritually open” or “brilliantly enlightened”, Deida is on safe ground whatever he says here.

I relate to this Deida video because the writer-artist part of me tends to be wild while my profession as an Alexander Technique teacher depends upon my creating a safe environment for my students.

Deida: “If you’re a good artist, you fall on your face a lot. But you don’t want to do that if you’re in a therapy mode. If someone is dealing with issues of deep abuse, you don’t want to go, ‘Whoops, I just ruined your life.'”

Posted in David Deida, Yoga | Comments Off

What’s The Training Difference Between An Alexander Teacher And A Yoga Teacher?

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Luke Ford

A typical yoga teacher has taken a course of about 200 hours, often done in 12-hour stretches on weekends.

An Alexander Technique teacher trains for three hours a day, five days a week, 36 weeks a year, for three years (a total of more than 1600 hours of training).

A massage therapist has training of about 500 hours.

Training to teach pilates requires about 300 hours.

Feldenkrais practitioners train for about 800 hours. Again, much of this training is done in long stretches of eight hours or more. By limiting daily training to three hours, Alexander Technique teacher training is of a different quality than these other modalities. On average, the Alexander teacher spends much more time and money on his education.

Posted in Alexander Technique, Yoga | Comments Off

Who Is The Happy Man? He Who Is Content With His Lot

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Luke Ford

Dennis Prager writes:

After 25 years of lecturing on happiness, writing a book on the subject (“Happiness Is a Serious Problem”) and devoting an hour of my radio show every week for the last 13 years to happiness, here are some conclusions about who is happy.
People who control themselves.
Happiness is dependent on self-discipline. We are the biggest obstacles to our own happiness. It is much easier to do battle with society and with others than to fight our own nature.
People who are given little and earn what they have.
That is why lottery winners are rarely happier than those who have far less money — they didn’t earn their newfound wealth. And they are often less happy after their win than they were before it.
So, too, those who get used to receiving unearned material benefits (such as government entitlements) are likely to be unhappier than they were before receiving those benefits — and much less happy than those who have earned whatever they have. That is why the entrepreneur who has worked day and night for years is usually happier than the person who inherited vast wealth.

Posted in Dennis Prager, Happiness | Comments Off

The Pulling Down Of Pol Pot

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Luke Ford

Pol Pot‘s Khmer Rouge murdered about one in three of Cambodia’s citizens during the 1970s. A graduate of the Sorbonne, he’s often listed as one of the ten most evil people of the 20th Century.

When you watch him interviewed here, you can see all tension in his neck and back. He pulls down and in on himself.

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The Tension Patterns Of Chairman Mao

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Luke Ford

Mao Zedong was the biggest murderer in history. He killed about 75 million of his own people.

Mao did not move with elegance and ease and his Little Red Book contains no exhortations to free the neck so the head can release forward and up.

Mao was stiff. He tended to tip his head back, to lock his neck, and to pull down and in on himself. I wonder if his genocidal impulses came from all the unnecessary tension he put on his cervical spine?