Al Ha VeDa על הא ודא

Thursday, September 30, 2004

Posted 9:15 PM by Simon (0) comments

RSS Changes II

I emailed Blogger support and they changed the RSS feed URI manually back to http://mountainsmog.blogspot.com/rss/MountainSmog.xml. The problem is that my <link> element, which uses a <$BlogSiteFeedURL$> tag (following their instructions) still points to http://mountainsmog.blogspot.com/rss/mountainsmog.xml, and I strongly suspect, without daring to make the experiment, that if I make any other changes to the feed settings it will go back to writing to that file. I explained this to them, and asked if they could solve the problem by making a symmlink, and they responded

I would suggest that you change the <$BlogSiteFeedURL$> tag in your template to the actual link, http://mountainsmog.blogspot.com/rss/MountainSmog.xml since we cannot assign both of these filenames to your account.

I don't get it: the status quo is that both files exist, they aren't about to allocate one to another user, and changing one to be a symmlink to the other would actually save them disk space. Things like this make me want to install Moveable Type or Wordpress or something so I can be in control of my own settings, and so does the fact that I am typing this whole post a second time after it vanished into limbo when I tried to publish it the first time. Do any of my six readers have any relevant experience or advice?

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Posted 10:52 PM by Simon (1) comments

Quid "ille" significat

Thanks to Talmida for the pointer to Speculative Grammarian, which I think is the best online linguistics magazine ever. My favourite article so far: "The Original Language of Winnie-the-Pooh".

Monday, September 27, 2004

Posted 11:48 PM by Simon (0) comments

Hebrew Haikus

I couldn't resist this challenge on a mailing list I subscribe to. As someone pointed out there, a haiku should be about nature or seasons, otherwise it's a senryu.

אֲסַפֵּר לִבְנִי
עַל יְצִיאַת מִצְרָיִם
בְּחוֹדֶשׁ אָבִיב

פָּך שֶׁמֶן אֶחָד
נָתַן אוֹרוֹ בְּחוֹרֶף
לִשְׁמוֹנָה יָמִים

שֶׁבַע הֲקָפוֹת
עֲרָבוֹת בְּעוֹז חוֹבְטִים
גֶּשֶׁם לִבְרָכָה

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Posted 11:29 PM by Simon (0) comments

Nearly Yom Kippur

If I was capable, I would translate this into English. I've tried many times to translate Agnon, but I just can't capture it.

השמים היו טהורים והארץ היתה שקטה וכל הרחובות היו נקיים, ורוח חדשה היתה מפרפרת בחללו של עולם. ואני תינוק כבן ארבע הייתי ומלובש הייתי בגדי מועד, ואיש אחד מקרובי הוליכני אצל אבי ואצל זקני לבית התפילה, ובית התפילה היה מלא עטופי טליתות ועטרות כסף בראשיהם ובגדיהם בגדי לבן ובידיהם ספרים, ונרות הרבה תקועים בתיבות ארוכות של חול, ואור מופלא עם ריח טוב יוצא מן הנרות. ואיש זקן עומד מוטה לפני התיבה וטליתו יורדת עד למטה מלבו וקולות ערבים ומתוקים יוצאים מטליתו. ואני עומד בחלון בית התפילה מרעיד ומשתומם על הקולות הערבים ועל עטרות הכסף ועל האור המופלא ועל ריח הדבש היוצא מן הנרות נרות השעוה. ודומה היה לי שהארץ שהלכתי עליה והרחובות שעברתי בהם וכל העולם כולו אינם אלא פרוזדור לבית זה. עדיין לא הייתי יודע להגות במושגים עיוניים ואת המושג הדרת קודש לא הכרתי. אבל אין ספק בלבי שבאותה שעה הרגשתי בקדושת המקום ובקדושת היום ובקדושת האנשים העומדים בבית ה' בתפילה ובניגונים. ואף על פי שעד לאותה השעה לא ראיתי דבר כזה לא עלה על דעתי שיש הפסק לדבר. וכך הייתי עומד ומביט על הבית ועל האנשים שעמדו בבית, ולא הבחנתי בין אדם לאדם, שכולם כאחד עם כל הבית כולו דומים היו עלי כחטיבה אחת. ושמחה גדולה היתה בלבי ולבי נדבק באהבה לבית זה ולאנשים אלו ולניגונים אלו. על יד על יד פסקו הניגונים, ועדיין בת קול היתה מנהמת עד שפסקה אף היא. נתקמטה נפשי פתאום וגעיתי בבכייה גדולה. אבי וזקני נתחלחלו ושאר כל העם עמדו עלי לפייסני. ואני דמעותי מתגלגלות והולכות מתוך הבכייה. אלו לאלו שואלים, מי גרם לתינוק שיבכה? ואלו לאלו משיבים, מי יודע.

עתה אספר מי גרם לי שאבכה. אותה שעה שנפסקה התפילה נפסקה פתאום אותה חטיבה נאה. מקצת מן האנשים הורידו טליתותיהם מעל ראשיהם ומקצתם התחילו מסיחים זה עם זה. אותם שאהבתי נדבקה בהם החליפו פניהם פתאום והשחיתו את דמותם הנאה ואת דמות הבית ודמות היום. ועל זה היה דוה לבי ועל זה געיתי בבכייה.

כמה שנים יצאו ועדיין אותה השתוממות מופקדת בלבי. וכשם שהיא מופקדת בלבי כך שמור בלבי אותו הצער. וכל שנה ושנה ביום הכיפורים כשאני רואה אנשים מישראל "כולם צנים לובן מוצעפים, לאדרך בשרפים עפים", מחליפים פנים של חילוי בפנים של חולין נפשי מתקמטת כבאותו היום.

S. Y. Agnon, Introduction to "Days of Awe"

Sunday, September 19, 2004

Posted 11:47 AM by Simon (2) comments

Ideas for teaching liturgy

I realized during Rosh Hashana services last week that Aviad doesn't know half as much as I had assumed that he did about the structure of the Mahzor. The middle of the silent Amida wasn't a very helpful time to realize this, but I gave him a whispered overview of Malchuyot Zichronot and Shofarot before the repetition while resolving to do the job properly in the time remaining before his Bar Mitzvah.

So … I have been trying to think up a lesson plan, and had the idea of approaching it as a system of cycles, something like this:

• Three times a day: the Amidah
  • Sources: the patriarchs vs. the Temple services
  • Structure and content
    • First three blessings
    • Middle thirteen blessings
    • Last three blessings
  • Live example: Minha
    • Parshat haTamid and Pitum haKetoret
    • Ashrei
    • Kaddish as liturgical punctuation
    • Amida
    • Tahanun
    • Alenu
• Twice a day: the Shema
  • Sources
  • Structure and content
  • Live example: Arvit
    • Blessings before the Shema
    • Shema
    • Blessings after the Shema
    • Amida
    • Alenu
• Every Monday and Thursday: weekday Torah reading
  • Sources
  • Live example: Shahrit
    • Morning blessings and readings
    • Pesukei deZimra
    • Blessings before the Shema
    • Shema
    • Blessings after the Shema
    • Amida
    • Tahanun
    • Torah reading
    • Alenu
• Once a week: Shabbat
  • Shabbat forms of the Amida, including Musaf
    • First three blessings
    • Middle blessing
    • Last three blessings
  • Other extras
    • Kabbalat Shabbat
    • Expanded Pesukei deZimra
    • Minha Torah reading
    • Havdala
• Once a month: Rosh Hodesh
  • Ya'ale veyavo
  • Hallel
  • Torah reading
  • Musaf
  • Birkat haLevana and Kiddush Levana
• Four times a year: public fast days
  • Selihot
  • Anenu and Nahem
  • Torah reading
• Three times a year: Pilgrim Festivals
  • Festival forms of the Amida, including Musaf
    • First three blessings
    • Middle blessing
    • Last three blessings
  • Other extras
    • Hallel
    • Torah reading
    • Hosha'anot
  • Special festival services
    • Seder
    • Tikkun Leil Shavu'ot
    • Tikkun Hosha'ana Rabba
• Once a year: High Holidays
  • Selihot
  • Shofar
  • Rosh haShana Musaf
  • Yom Kippur Amidot
  • Ne'ila
• Once a year: Minor Festivals
  • Purim and Hanukka
    • Al haNissim
    • Hallel
    • Megillat Esther
  • Others
    • Tu biShvat
    • Lag Ba'omer
    • Tu beAv
• Every now and then: life-cycle events

I don't know if this approach would work for everybody, but I'm sure it would have worked for me when I was a kid, and I suspect it will work for Aviad too.

Saturday, September 18, 2004

Posted 8:23 PM by Simon (0) comments

RSS changes

For those using the RSS feed, I have been fiddling with the settings, and the most notable result seems to be that the URI has changed from http://mountainsmog.blogspot.com/rss/MountainSmog.xml to http://mountainsmog.blogspot.com/rss/mountainsmog.xml. Apologies if this has inconvenienced anybody.

Posted 11:54 AM by Simon (0) comments

For calendar geeks

Hat-tip to Avraham Bronstein for the link to “How is this year different from all other years?” Sample quotation:

This year 5765 is the only year in all of history whose “keviut” (year-type determination) involves dechiyyat BeTU-TaKPaT at the end of the year, and whose Pesach falls on April 24.

The "exercise for the reader" in section M.7 has been bothering me: "There is one other situation [apart from Shushan Purim on Shabbat] where the same haftara can be read on two consecutive Shabbatot. Figure out what it is." The only answer I can think of is rather contrived: an ethnically mixed congregation does Sephardi and Ashkenazi readings on alternate weeks, and so reads "ועמי תלואים למשובתי" for Parshat Vayyetze on a Sephardi week, and then reads it again for Parshat Vayyishlah on Ashkenazi week.

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Posted 10:49 PM by Simon (0) comments

Eyeopener

In the Torah reading for the first day of Rosh Hashana, Hagar and Ishmael have been sent off into the desert and have run out of water. Hagar sits crying, out of sight of her son so as not to see him die. She has given up hope.

At this point, just as in the story of the Akeda in the reading for the next day (why does nobody ever seem to make anything of the parallels between the two stories? A topic for another drash), the deus ex machina appears and saves their lives.

וַיִּפְקַח אֱלֹהִים אֶת עֵינֶיהָ וַתֵּרֶא בְּאֵר מָיִם וַתֵּלֶךְ וַתְּמַלֵּא אֶת הַחֵמֶת מַיִם וַתַּשְׁקְ אֶת הַנָּעַר

And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

What exactly happened with this well? The commentaries are mostly silent, but I see 3 possibilities.

1. A well miraculously appears. This seems to be implied by Bereshit Rabba 53, 14 where the angels challenge God to justify why he is raising up a well for Ishmael, whose descendants would deny water to the exiles from Jerusalem, according to midrashim on Isaiah 21, 13. (If you were wondering, the answer is that God only judges people as they are at the present moment, also a topic for another drash)
2. God gives Hagar some kind of supernatural perception, or dowsing ability, which enables her to discover a hidden well. Seforno's commentary is saying either this or the next possibility:
3. The well was there all the time and Hagar only notices it when God points it out. (I imagine her even sitting on the edge of the well or tripping over it without realizing, rather like Mole on Badger's door-scraper in The Wind in the Willows.) She had been so absorbed in her problems that she wasn't letting herself see the solution to them which was right in front of her face.

I had a similar eyeopener this week. I discovered, after 15 years of thinking it was beyond my abilities, that by acting according to a few simple principles I can increase the happiness of the person whose happiness is most important to me out of all proportion to the effort required. What a New Year's present for us both!

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Posted 7:28 PM by Simon (1) comments

Google takes a stand on gender politics

Posted 12:47 AM by Simon (0) comments

How many deaths will it take?

Every terrorist attack brings its own horrid variations on the same old tragedy.

On the news tonight we heard someone describe how he had been sitting next to the suicide bomber for part of the bus journey until he had given up his seat to a woman and moved to the back of the bus. With his voice shaking, he described how he had seen the same woman lying dead in the bus, and how hard it was to come to terms with the fact that if he hadn't given her his seat she wouldn't have been sitting right next to the explosion.