JawsBlog

Vinny and Snooki from the Jersey Shore make an appearance at a purim party.

Their apparel and fake tans however, were not costumes….

Though I’ve only skimmed it so far, the Curious Jew has a great post-up
:
Being Gay In The Orthodox World: A Conversation with Members of the YU Community

From a friend on Facebook came this idea:

[potato] Latkas + soy sauce.

Not sure about that one. In my eyes, Latkas always go with sour cream and/or applesauce

Came home this evening, and found that The Sister had put up lights on the balcony.

Not so sure how I feel about it. Part of me says it’s a very goyishy thing to do. I also think it’s just stupid. (they’re plain white too–no colors or anything interesting either!)

Thoughts?

Williamsburg Hipsters Vs. Hasidim

Hmmm….a bit of a tough one here. Though my respect for a fellow Jew triumps far more over my disdain for “hipsters’. Going to have to side with the Hasids on this one–on the reckless cyclers argument.

LGT the Fark Thread on this (read at your own discretion)

Bleg: Anyone know where one can find reasonably priced, Kosher mezuzh klafim? [parchments]

thanks!

From the Rabbi’s sermon at shul yesterday:

“You know…Noach [Noah] had to probably be the worst salesman ever. Here he was, building an ark for 120 years, and the only people he could convince to come aboard was his family…”

What a fun weekend! Granted, I spent most of it in/at Synagogue…but it was a great way to wrap up the Fall holiday season.

Shmini Atzeret davening came and went. Nothing extra-ordinary with it (so to speak). One major thing however, was the man who proclaimed after having an aliyah, that as an act of penance for his “wrongdoings” (his words)–that he was going to sponsor 5 kiddushim! What was the best part about it was the sincerety of the man. Sure, the fact that he’s sponsoring the kiddushim is great, but it was the sincerity and honesty with which he did it that really resonated. Oh, I even made it to shul in time for kriyat shema! [That almost never happens, especially since I don't use an alarm clock on Shabbos].

Simchas Torah evening was just plain old fashioned fun. The police had closed down the street to traffic, so everything took place outside–so there was literally dancing in the street!

To fuel the fun, a group of yeshiva bochorim walked ~3 hours (~8-9 miles) from Crown Heights to the Upper East Side to celebrate at the Chabad house as well. And they were walking back home too! [How they were going to accomplish that is beyond me–based on how tipsy most of ‘em were).

And now it’s back to the regular weeks I go…

I had a really nice Yom Kippur this year. Really! Probably the best one I’ve had in the past 5 years or so.

Part of it was that i held up better physiologically (My body without water and nutrients doesn’t always cooperate too well).

The other part of it was that this year I found something deep within me–more spiritually–which has long been absent. As this is a personal thing, between me and G-d, I’m not going to elaborate.

I attended services at Chabad of the Upper East Side, but this year the services were held in the auditorium of PS 158–as the crowd is too large for the (architecturally beautiful) Chabad building.

While the auditorium chairs were a bit uncomfy–that was the only downside. The Rabbi who led services (I wish I could remember his name) did a wonderful job. His stories and explanations which were spread throughout the course of the day, were both meaningful and thought provoking–and enhanced the self-reflection of the liturgy.

Also, credit must go to the Chazzan for a beautiful job as well!

Now that I’ve eaten and consumed some water, it’s time to get ready for work tomorrow.

Next up: Sukkot (a/k/a Festival of the Tabernacles)

Especially if the rabbi is packing heat for the Holidays.

An interesting security idea–but wouldn’t a gun be considered mukseh?

My kindergarten teacher passed away today. She was a great woman both as an individual and as a teacher.

In addition to being my teacher in kindergarten, she was also a congregant at my (old) synagogue, so she was an individual who I saw often-=and who saw me grow over the years.

I still remember the first day of kindergarten, it was raining outside, and I stood at my bus stop at the corner…only to have the bus not show up for me that day. My mother proceeded to drive me to school (oh, and of course all of this was photographed) and my teacher still made me feel very welcome in class. She was a very kindhearted and dedicated individual.

She will be missed, May her memory be a blessing.

[The funeral is taking place in Cleveland, and shiva will also be sat there]

Nothing too “earth shattering” within PM Netanyahu’s speech earlier today at Bar-Ilan

I sort of like the analysis over at AoSHQ on the speech.

Bibi scores some points for showing up Obama’s omission of the real historical origins of the (modern) State of Israel.

Otherwise, there was nothing in the speech that hadn’t been heard before.

Funny to read the Palestinian responses though. The “peace process” is once again DOA (though–was it ever “alive” to begin with?)

This kind of story doesn’t make for good PR for the Jewish community:

Nothing Orthodox at The Tombs Where They Party All the Time

Cleveland Hebrew School closing after 119 years .

Attended for a year or two (2nd grade)–didn’t get much out of it compared to Day School. Still very suprised to hear it’s closing.

FBI, NYPD Arrest 4 in Alleged Plot to Bomb NY Synagogues.

Very, very good work by the FBI and NYPD. LEt’s hope that there aren’t more crazies like this out there.

Brooklyn gas stop a kosher delight

Gefilta fish and cholent! Brilliant! So much better than the normal gas station fare.

Passover is now over–now it’s back to consuming leavened products!

Honestly though, my diet during Passover was very similar to my diet during the regular year. The only real difference was that the number of items/ingredients availble to me was far more limited, as were the number of cooking utensils I had.

For the latter, there’s no need for me to have a full kitchen’s worth of pots and pans 1 week of the year.

As for limited ingredients, many of the things I consume year round would theoretically be Kosher for Passover–if only they were prepared in such conditions. (Things such as spices, herbs, oils, nuts, etc.)

Oh, I’ve got 2+ boxes of Matzo here that I never touched–any takers?

Things will be slow here because of the Passover holiday. Especially with Mom, Dad and The Brother in town (uh oh,,,,!)

Normalcy should hopefully return come Sunday.

Happy Passover!

Ugh…I hate Matzo so much. Not just what it manages to do to my GI tract, but, really, I don’t find it that appetizing.
(Maybe the fact that I’m not a big carb person either contributes to this feeling).

But while shopping yesterday, I found items on the shelves like “passover pancakes” or “passover pasta”–which is wrong on so many levels.

So here’s my recap of the YULA-MTA game from Sunday.

The atmosphere was crazy. YU’s gym was over-capacity with people cheering on both schools. Students (and their parents) from YULA (Los Angeles) made the trip to the tournament, and they were quite vocal for all 32 minutes. The MTA students also had a cheering section going. The atmosphere was intense (for a HS basketball game)/

At the start, YULA just seemed off rhythm, missing shots and the like. On the other hand, MTA was hitting their shots.

MTA went with a 3-2 zone, which proved to be YULA’s undoing. YULA seemed to pass the ball around the perimiter a lot, but was barely able to penetrate. This lead to a lot of poor passes, which were easily picked off and/or were not crisp enough to give the recipient an advantage. MTA’s ability to keep YULA at the perimiter, enabled them do dominate the defensive boards. Nor did YULA seem to have a rhythm or scheme for their offense. No set plays to be called or anything.

YULA’s use of a man-to-man defense was also problematic, as MTA seemed to have a good pick-and-roll style offense going.

Granted, thsi was the first time I’d seen either of these teams play, but from what little I saw, MTA was the better team. MTA’s also got a guard, #3, who is only a sophmore, who has a lot of talent.

One thing that I noticed about the game (and some of the other tourney games)–most of the teams try to almost always play it inside. There’s not much of a jump shot style game–meaning that teams held to the perimeter are in trouble.

The style of the game diferred much from what I remembered seeing when I saw my HS basketball team play. Granted, a D-I school in Ohio is in a totally different echelon than a Jewish Day School–it’s apples and oranges. The one common factor was the intensity which the guys played with.