I was reading through his book "Man’s Supreme Inheritance" (initially published in 1910) because I heard there were some naughty bits.
What a motherlode I found!
I got so excited when I found these materials that I had to rush off to be alone for a few minutes with the sacred text.
From page 72: "The controlling and guiding forces in savage four-footed animals and in the savage black races are practically the same; and this serves to show that from the evolutionary standpoint the mental progress of these races has not kept pace with their physical evolution from the plane of the savage animal to that of the savage human."
And then this: "The inadequate relative progress of the mental evolution of the black races as compared with that of their physical evolution, when considered in relation to their approximation to the savage animals, cannot be considered other than a most disappointing result. It surely does not furnish any convincing evidence that mankind is likely to advance adequately on the evolutionary plane in civilization by continuing to rely upon the original subconscious guidance and control."
I’m not sure this excerpt from page 110 is racist, but it does feel naughty: "The child descended from a hundred kings will speak the language and adopt the manners of the East End should it be reared among these associations; and the son of an Australian aboriginal would speak the English tongue and with certain limitations behave as a civilized child if brought up with English people."
On page 161, F.M. talks about the primitive races: "Even the spheres of courage were limited, and when confronted with the unusual these people quaked like cowards, and fled, panic-stricken, from the unaccustomed, as in the case of the negroes in the Southern States of America when the men of the Ku-Klux Klan pursued them on horseback dressed in white."
It sounds like F.M. had just seen the classic film "Birth of a Nation."
I’ve not yet met any Alexander Technique teachers or students who echo these ancient sentiments. As far as I can tell, the Technique welcomes red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in our sight, so long as they can pay.
R. Lichtenstein’s is mainly a collection of his grandfather’s halakhic insights. It is written in rabbinic Hebrew with the traditional style of question/contradiction and then neat resolution. Interspersed throughout the halakhic discussions are occasional explanatory comments that offer insight into the meaning of phrases or the underlying theological intent of the Haggadah.
R. Adler’s is a presentation of his notes from R. Soloveitchik’s lectures. There is a certain lack of polish to the notes which I think is intentional, to make it clear that they are not R. Soloveitchik’s words. There is a surprising amount of passages in the Haggadah that have no commentary, presumably because R. Adler had no notes on them. That makes for a relatively short book. Additionally, everything in this book is in R. Adler’s words, so the language is not too formal but, on the other hand, they aren’t the words of the master.
JOEL RICH WRITES: Last year I used Festivals of Freedom cross referenced to the Hagada. It’s interesting, having listened to some of the tapes that these are based on, how imho each iteration away from the original formulation (I’ll have one in next weeks audio roundup IY"H) , while valuable, loses some of the intensity and force of insight.
This year IY"H I’ll be using R’ Genack’s version which I think was quite good (I would quibble with some of his choices for alignment of the comment with a particular part of the text).
They all imho require annotating prior to the seder if you are going to use them (especially if you run the seder) but especially R’ Genack’s because of the volume of material – also need to know if your audience is into halacha or hashkafa.
IY"H I’m giving a class (if anyone shows up) in the Vilna of Essex county next Tuesday PM on R’ Genak’s volume and I intend to make up a cheat sheet with some haskafic points. FWIW my favorite (tonight anyway) quote is "Provoking children to ask and arousing their curiosity does not mean working with them for weeks before Pesach to memorize a text. The Mizvah is that the child should ask spontaneously, not be coached in advance"
Joel Rich writes: [Some] SHIURIM are Pay to download: link (look under sages or author )
Dr. Kenneth Hart Green – Did Maimonides Hide What He Really Thought About Judaism?
Did the Rambam purposely hide deeper intent? (Strauss) True philosophy requires some doubt (it’s not the opposite of faith). Rambam needed to keep his true agenda hidden because most common folk can’t handle the truth (calling Colonel Jessep) and can be dangerous even for some who seek the ultimate level (intellectual elite). [You are right Nosson Aryeh-I probably should’ve spent more time in the critical works section.
Rabbi Mordechai Willig – Relationships Between Observant Jews & Non-Observant Jews (Part II): link
Practical issues in dealing with not yet frum. Can they be counted for a minyan? Given an aliyah? Duchen? May they be invited for Shabbat even if they drive? Can you give them food even if you know they won’t make a bracha? If it’s a parent, is there halachic mourning? What if they touch your wine? This is part of a series, R’Willig is using a sefer (book) which is strict but he gives his own take. CLOR (there’s a lot of debate!)
The Talmud in Gittin provides one of the basic sources for mesirah (turning over “evildoers” to the secular government) and R’Rosensweig details the opinions of the Rashba and Meiri which drive much of the current discussions.
Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff – Rav Meir Kahane: link
An analysis of Rabbi Meir Kahane’s approach in U.S. and Israel. Wrong on some, right on others…see his book review in the spring issue of “Jewish Action”.
Daniel Fridman – Mordechai Learner or Earner: link
Chazal tell us Mordechi was ratzui L’rov echav (beloved by the majority) because he should’ve gone back to learning. Theory here is parallel to Yosef, that we are in a “groundhog day” loop of temporary salvations, chazal were articulating ultimate desire/destiny.
Nachum Lamm posts: "I always had a sneaking suspicion that the Straussians had a bit of an ulterior motive: They really admire the Rambam, but, not being observant Jews themselves, have a hard time reconciling to the fact that this man they admired so much didn’t, say, eat pork and, moreover, wrote a whole bunch (fourteen volumes worth, in fact) telling other people not to either. So they invented (even if they have good proofs) this idea that he didn’t really mean it. That way, they can study the Moreh and have their ham sandwich too, so to speak."
Rabbi Gil Student blogs: "Response has been extremely underwhelming. What gives? Is it the choice of material? The price? Will the few thousand of weekly visitors only read if it’s free? I’ve decided to offer a 20% discount to all orders in the month of March (applicable to all previous orders as well). Please indicate in the comments section whether there is something else that I can do. Note that with a pre-order, you will not be charged until the book ships (in August). Please help us reach the (revised down) goal of 500 pre-ordered copies."
"Publishing this as a book helps get the message out to people who are not blog-friendly. And, if you are wondering, no this will not be profitable for me. I have at least another four volumes to publish and any excess funds from volume one will go to publishing future volumes."
When should somone who orders the book expect to recieve it?
The expected publication date is August 8, 2009. If we can meet that date, then you should expect the book the next week.
Menachem: The book itself does not have haskamos but there are a number of blurbs about the blog from rabbis and laymen. The list is as follows (in alphabetical order): Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, Rabbi Hanan Balk, Rabbi Dr. David Berger, Rabbi Yosef Blau, Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz, Rabbi Asher Bush, Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb, Dr. Charles Hall, Rabbi Ari Kahn, Rabbi Benjamin G. Kelsen, Dr. Arnold Lustiger, Rabbi Chaim Malinowitz, Jason Maoz, Rabbi Natan Slifkin
None of them had the bad manners to critique blogs but R. Malinowitz was perhaps the most cautious in his endorsement.
The cover art is not yet finalized but it will be great. I’m using the best graphic designer in the business. She did the OU Rav Soloveitchik Haggadah cover (as well as Flipping Out?, A Philosophy of Mitzvot and a few other of my books).
Menachem Butler writes: "Are there any rabbinic haskamot to the volume? If yes, then who? If yes, then did they have any critiques of blogs in general? How come no chapter on "Why Cantors Do Not Like Rabbis"? and what does the cover look like? As Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz of ArtScroll/Mesorah was once quoted in a newspaper article saying: "whoever said don’t judge a book by its cover, was not in the business of book publishing.""
Ganbo writes: You know, it occurs to me, checking through your catalogue, I’ve bought 13 or so books from Yashar (some as gifts) during the few years you’ve been in business. Many have been reprints (Rabbi Israel Salanter, the collections like My Yeshiva College, etc.), so require less work/investment to prepare for publication (surely it’s cheaper to reproduce pages from an existing edition than to typeset a book from scratch). The books seem to do well at local bookstores and the Seforim Sale.
And yet you have no money left in the business to produce this latest project? Has the publishing business been so unprofitable? If so, why continue to do it?
Rabbi Gil Student responds: Publishing is not a particularly profitable industry, even in the mainstream where publishers are currently folding and/or consolidating. Those are the guys who sell millions of copies. Currently, all Jewish publishers make their money from pre-funding of books. In this case, though, I’m just looking to cover costs. I think you just don’t realize how much production and marketing cost.
Publishing has been a hobby for me. I’ve never taken a salary.
ARI POSTS: For the same reason that newspapers are failing (as decrsibed by TSG). Why pay for something that you get for free?
Additionally, money is tight all around, and the only way for most to justify the purchase is out of hakaras hatov to your hard work. However, many of your "few thousand" weekly readers aren’t as invested in your blog.
Also you mentioned you have a few thousand regular readers and are expecting 1,000 to pre-order the sefer.
What percentage of your regular readers is that?
Personally, this is the type of book I may pick up if I was at the store but not something I am willing to order online.
Although, I am open to be guilted into it . . .
ANON POSTS: Two things: A. I rarely buy books. B. I think you should have been much more eclectic in your choice of topics discussed in the book. I think the book should’ve contained 40 different topics covering a wide range of issues, preferably controversial, "hot-topic" type issues.
ITHACA, NY — Rabbi Steven Greenberg, the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi, will discuss “Gayness and God” at Ithaca College on Monday, March 23. His talk, which is free and open to the public, is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Clark Lounge, Egbert Hall.
A senior teaching fellow at CLAL: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Greenberg is the author of “Wrestling with God and Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition.” He has spoken widely at college campuses, Jewish community centers and synagogues on issues of faith, sexuality and tradition and helped organize the first Orthodox Mental Health Conference on homosexuality. He is a founding member of Open House Jerusalem, an organization that advances the cause of social tolerance in Israel.
The assumption — which often becomes the reality — is that there is incompatibility or even hostility between traditionally religious people and gay or lesbian people. Greenberg’s perspective provides a way to bridge this gap through the examination and reinterpretation of traditional texts often used to exclude gays and lesbians from particular religious communities. He will share his radical and pragmatic solutions to the conflict between traditional religion, Judaism in particular, and homosexuality. All are welcome to join him in an honest conversation about what it means to be gay, bisexual, lesbian or transgender while also being religious.
After New York Times columnist Roger Cohen went to an L.A. synagogue to defend his views on Iran and the state of the Jews there, the synagogue’s rabbi, David Wolpe, penned his impressions of the encounter on The Huffington Post:
Increasingly I came to believe that Iran was not Cohen’s sole concern; he wanted it as a stick with which to beat Israel over Gaza, whose incursion he wrote left him ashamed…
To my mind the challenges I offered him, and the audience offered, were met with restatements of the same position, and little acknowledgment of the force of the argument. I asked "You advocate negotiations with Hamas and Hizbollah, arguing that they can be pragmatic. What if Hamas and Hizbollah had the arms of Israel and Israel had their force of arms. What do you think would happen?" To my amazement, he said he didn’t know. Well, I do. And so does he. For all the thoughtless and ignorant cry that Israel is committing ‘genocide’ no one doubts the true genocide that would befall the Jews of Israel if Hamas had a superior force of arms. As Iran moves closer to a nuclear weapon, such a question becomes less and less theoretical.
Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic also finds Cogen assessment of Hamas and Hezbollah credulous.
Yisroel Pensack emails Luke: "Cohen can be credulous, but his assessment cannot be. His assessment may reflect his credulity, because he is credulous. Check your dictionary."
JERUSALEM (JTA) — It is not appropriate for the pope to wear a cross at the Western Wall, the rabbi in charge of the holy site said.
Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to visit Israel in May and visit the Western Wall. He wears a large cross at all public appearances.
"My position is that it is not fitting to enter the Western Wall area with religious symbols, including a cross," Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch told the Jerusalem Post Monday. "I feel the same way about a Jew putting on a tallit and phylacteries and going into a church."
Warsaw – Thousands of Hasidic Jews will on Tuesday pray at the grave in Poland of one of the faith’s most influential rabbis, marking the 223 anniversary of his death.
Rabbi Elimelech Weisblum’s grave in southeastern Poland will see Jews from across the world come to pray, dance and sing at one of the most significant places in the Hasidic faith.
The anniversary is ‘classically Jewish – chaotic,’ Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich told…
‘It’s very intense and it’s also very individual,’ Schudrich said. ‘Rabbi Elimelech was one of the great Hasidic masters and it’s considered a great merit to visit the grave of someone that’s on such a high spiritual level at the anniversary of his death."
A new issue has been published of Tradition vol. 1 no. 4, Winter 2008:
Homer and the Bible by R. Shalom Carmy — Criticizing those who try to impress and excite readers/listeners by being controversial. To my knowledge, the first use of Homer Simpson in a Torah journal.
The Living Wage and Jewish Law by R. Dr. Aaron Levine — Shows that Jewish law does not support Living Wage legislation. Dismisses Conservative Rabbi Jill Jacobs’ arguments in favor of it. Points out that Living Wage legislation: 1) addresses the individual and not the household, 2) is a tax on employers rather than one that is proportional to wealth, 3) an increase in wages will yield a correponding decrease in anti-poverty benefits that depend on income, 4) has disemployment effects. Instead supports the Earned Income Tax Credit. Also see these post: I, II, III
Halakhic Issues Presented by Breast Cancer by Naomi Englard-Schaffer and Dr. Deena Zimmerman — Discussion of nidah, mikvah, birth control and tattooing as it relates to treatment of breast cancer.
Survey of Recent Halakhic Periodical Literature: Blood Sugar Tests & Use of Viagra on Shabbat by R. J. David Bleich — Strongly advocates diabetics testing blood sugar level on Shabbos but discusses whether certain methods that minimize the amount of blood used are preferable. Also discusses the arguments against using Viagra and similar drugs on Shabbos and concludes that it is permissible.
Review Essay: A Modern Midrash Moshe – Methodological Considerations by R. Hayyim Angel — Can Midrash become binding? Is R. Mosheh Lichtenstein’s analysis of Moshe’s career in his book (link) the final word? R. Hayyim Angel’s answer: No.
Digesting the Exodus Narrative – Rav Soloveitchik’s Approach to the Seder Eve by Daniel Wolf — A detailed and insightful review of Festival of Freedom.
Book Review: Neehaz Be-Sevakh by R. Chaim Navon and Ve-Hayu la-Ahadim be-Yadekha by R. Yuval Cherlow by Mali Brofsky — Summary: R. Navon’s book is a good introduction to R. Soloveitchik’s thought, R. Cherlow’s book is a Kookian look at R. Soloveitchik. Both sound interesting but the latter sounds fascinating.
Communications: Music During Sefirah and the Three Weeks by R. Nathaniel Helfgot and R. Moshe Bleich — R. Nati says that Rav Soloveitchik permitted listening to taped music during the Three Weeks and Sefirah. R. Bleich questions this report and points out that most authorities disagree. However, I can attest that "everyone knows" that Rav Soloveitchik permitted it. And, I’ve been told, so did R. Yitzchak Hutner.
Talmid writes: "Rabbi Feldman used to have a shiur that he would give to NCSY groups called "The Simpsons in Halacha" or something like that. Both are incredible in their ability to relate to people of all types and ages in spite of the fact that both have extraordinary brains."
MICHA POSTS: "I find RSCarmy’s topic interesting. Much of Tradition itself contains such articles. Perhaps not by using something curiosity-provoking like dragging in Homer Simpson, but many theses are presented for their controversiality. For that matter, an oddball presentation of an idea the author would believe either way is less problematic, rather than a contrarian who likes an idea because it startles."
YUngerman writes: "My mother went to Stern in the 70’s and said that she asked RAL about listening to music during sefira. He replied that sefira is a public mourning and, as such, listening to music in the privacy of one’s dorm room is permitted."
Moshe writes: "Does Jewish law really have a position on the living wage law? or is there simply a legitimate disagreement between economists and policy makers. I think no good is served by suggesting that the halacha supports a particular parties agenda. God is not a Republican or a Democrat."
ANON WRITES: "I found it interesting that 3 of the 6 articles in Tradition were written by Americans who made aliya (Zimmerman, Wolf, Brofsky), and the 4th was a review of a book by an American who made aliya (Rabbi M Lichtenstein). What does this say about MO in America?"
MICHA WRITES: "Well, aliyah is a much more central part of MO ideal than in any other community. And one would think that idealists are more likely to be capable of writing articles, both in knowledge and in making time. One would therefore think that there would be some heightened correlation between olim and Tradition contributors."
TRADITION WRITES: "Maybe because the active editors, all students of R. Carmy, live in Israel (Blau, Sacks, and Ziegler)- and two of them live on the same block as Brofsky and Wolf!"
In general, there are three basic models for charging synagogue dues:
Flat Fee — The first is to make it affordable to just about everybody so that all members pay the same amount. Then, because this will not cover all expenses, additional fundraising campaigns are required. We’re all familiar with these types of fundraisers — dinners, journals, chinese auctions, selling honors, etc.
Discounted Fees — The other type is to have high dues and then to offer discounts and lower levels of membership to people who cannot afford the full dues. This doesn’t exempt the members from further fundraisers but it makes those campaigns less urgent.
Service-Based Fee — The third is that there are no membership dues per se but attendees are expected to pay for each service they receive, e.g. a seat, an honor, etc.
Mike writes: "While the korbanos tzibbur were paid from a head tax, the labor costs of the Beis hamikdash, i.e. the kohanim and leviim were paid in proportion to income (T’rumah and ma’aser rishon) or in return for services (the skin of an Olah and the various portions of korbanos given to the kohanim.) Money for upkeep (bedek habayit) came from donations."
MYCROFT POSTS: An unscientific sociological observation-it is my impression that half a century or so the model for many schuls was relatively small memebership dues-with the great majority of money rased by the top 10% or so. A schul was often considered a communal obligation-it is my impression inthe past half century or so that gradually the models that schuls use are we are a club if one wants to join one pays their pro rata share-similar to the requirements of a gym club.
Of course to the extent that schuls are expensive is part of the raising of the bar to belong to Judaism or Orthodoxy. Nit nearly the problem of day schools/Yeshivas but still there.
I will note in passing that in a US context a schul could not ever legally bar the door to going to services to those who don’t belong or don’t "buy" seats etc. if they wish payments to them to be deductible under IRC as a charitable deduction.
It is my impression that ultimately the reason why schul dues etc are deductible andYeshiva tuition is not-is not because of services etc-I believe the "Goldbergs"? of LA who argued many times before various US courts that tuition should be deductible as a religious expense to the extent of limudei kodesh-because that is as much a mitzvah as davening andthus would be an unconstittutional preference to allow payments for chuch services to be deductible and not payments for study of religious texts. The answer given was that schools will bar the doorto those who don’t pay tuition, churches etc will not bar the dooor to those who don’t pay-they can give preference to seats to those who have contributed to the extent that there is no room for all-vut could not bar entrance to anyone if there was an empty seat etc at the time.
DOV WEINSTOCK WRITES: "My shul (and I am sure many many others) uses all 3 models. There is a membership fee (the price of which moves steadily upwards), people of limited means are given discounts, and the expectation is that specific services like aliyot, seats for Yamim Noraim, etc. are paid for on top of that (or included with a higher membership payment). Even so, they have difficulty making ends meet."
Mair writes: "The major problem is not the charging of dues. It’s the collection of dues. What form of sanctions does the financial officer have available to collect delinquent accounts? Very few, if any, as far as I can tell."
Arthur emails:
I enjoyed your comments about synagogue funding and the 3 paths to financial stability. I think it overlooks the real key. Successful synagogues rely on elements 4, 5 and 6
4. Income producing components. Renting out halls for functions is the big source of income for shuls. Preschool is a strong second. Advertising in journals and newsletters is another.
5. The non-member member… the man who lives a thousand miles away and sends a check for old times sake but requires no seat and no services.
6. Shnorring… annual dinners, asking people to provide lox and whitefish to the affluent as a form of charity.
7. Subventions from federations etc. nominally for the adult education programming.
The audience politely applauded Cohen at the end of the talk, but when Wolpe opened the dialogue, some sparks – leavened by humor – were ignited.
Wolpe to Cohen: “You draw a distinction between the Iranian people and their rulers, but Iran has a long history of anti-Semitism…the Iranian government has republished the notorious anti-Semitic forgery ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,’ and your New York Times column ran in the Teheran Post.
Cohen: “Then they stole my column.”
Wolpe: “That shows that it was worth stealing.”
Finally, it was the audience’s turn to confront Cohen directly, and the questions ranged from thoughtful to bitter.
“Were you paid by the Iranian government for your trip?” asked one audience member. “No,” said Cohen, though he paid an Iranian “agency” $150 a day for the services of a translator, who acknowledged that he would have to file a report on Cohen’s doings with the authorities.
Wolpe interjected that Cohen had paid for his own trip to speak at Sinai Temple.
Several questioners wondered how Cohen could take the answers of fearful Iranian Jews at face value, especially with a government translator at his side.
Cohen responded that he recognized the possibility of self-censorship by those he talked to, “but that doesn’t mean that nothing they said is of any value.”
The SOASstudent posts about my first video: "At 3:25 you refer to his second wife as a "journalist". She wrote brief, idiotic, inane, ungrammatical, misspelled ‘think pieces’ for a rag in a town called Bahawalpur. French’s "authorized" biography is self serving and sanitized. And its not "IN Sir Vidia’s Shadow", as you call it). 9:19 you say "his race-baiting strikes me as comic". Theroux made the point that if Naipaul said about Jews what he’d said about blacks, he would be a pariah and not gotten the Nobel. do you agree?"
SOASStudent posts about my second video: "0:36 Naipaul "is a black man" now? Are you blind? Then at 1:37 you say the word nigger "can be used for good or evil". But you dont bother to give an example of how it can be used for good, and you dont even have the balls to say the word in this video. Why dont you go up to a black man and casually use the word in conversation, then if he objects, then see how he responds to this carefully thought out argument."
Luke says: Well, mate, because of hysteria like yours, the word "nigger" has mystical evil powers for many weak-minded people. All words can be used for good or for evil. When people who are friends use the word privately, particularly if everyone in the conversation is black, and no harm or dehumanization is advocated, then nobody is hurt. I certainly see nothing wrong with black friends calling each other "nigger." That’s the way they roll. Who am I to judge?
On certain streets around me, "African-American" is punk ass sissy talk that no self-respecting gangbanger would ever let upon his lips. He’d soon suck white donkey dong.
In South-Central Los Angeles, the word "nigger" is often used in a positive and life-affirming way that even Oprah would approve of, as in, "Hey nigger, give me all your money or I’ll put a cap in your ass."
On the other hand, my white Jewish boss often calls me "nigg." He says this to demean me. This is bad. He’s subtly implying that I have an African-American work ethic, which, in his view, is a bad thing and is the reason he is always late to pay me.
He’s liable to say things like, "How is a shoe store like the post office? They’re both filled with a thousand black loafers."
Given the history of race-relations in America, "nigger" is generally a bad word for non-black Americans to use on black people. On the other hand, black people raised in the darkest parts of Africa may well employ the term on each other to add some frisson to an otherwise dreary existence.
The morality of all words is determined by context. When a Jewish friend of mine vents about "kikes" and he does it in a certain private context where he’s focusing on certain Jews of the Left, I don’t take offense. There are certain bad Jews he objects to and to describe his feelings most accurately he uses the word "kike." Big deal.
I don’t use the "cunt" word, not publicly anyway, but if my lawfully wedded wife in a moment of cock-drunk ecstacy implored me to "kiss my cunt," I see no sin in her using this graphic term (though the act itself may be an abomination). On the other hand, if my rabbi said this to me in shul while I was pulling the Torah out of the ark and the entire congregation was on their feet and singing holy words, I’d be taken aback.
There is a time and a place for everything, even for playing "The Commandant and the Jew" and for acting out a certain scene from "The Kite Runner."
"Gonna go Kite Runner on you," is a delightful phrase I use on many of my dates.
I’m not sure I agree with Paul Theroux. Anti-Semitic writers have won numerous Nobel prizes for Literature, including that bloke in Portugal recently. Racism and bigotry should not disqualify someone from prizes for Literature. The Nobel Peace Prize, maybe.
Plenty of great writers have hated Jews, including many of the writers of the New Testament and of the Great Books of Western Civilization (Goethe, Hegel, Marx, etc). Great writers are still great even if they dislike Jews or blacks or Mexicans.
I don’t recall Sir Vidia advocating that anyone harm blacks or any group of people. Therefore, I think his jokes are pretty close to harmless. If they’re not funny, that’s not a big deal.
I’m sorry to use so many naughty words in this blog post, but this is the way hale and hearty heterosexual sons of the Southern Cross communicate their feelings to those they love.
David Deutsch emails: "Actually, very nice. But I would have simply replied "I refuse to respond to someone whose use of the term "rag" to refer to a newspaper in Bawalpur that employed female writers suggests that he is both racist and sexist.""
The hall was packed. Balloons bounced around. There were special decorations. People got there early and were happy. We sang him some songs. We danced with him. We ate cake with him. We listened to his lecture and did his exercises and chanted two mantras.
Then we went up to perfect strangers and said, "I don’t know you, but every time I see you, I just feel ridiculous amounts of love for you."
I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive of the balloons and the songs. I didn’t want to get too cultish. A real man doesn’t make a fuss about another man’s birthday. I kinda sat on my hands for much of it but in the end the good cheer was too much for my defenses.
"This guy knows all the gossip, the ins and outs, the lashon hara of the Orthodox world. He’s an [expert] in... all the inner workings of the Orthodox world." (Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff)
