Idealogian

Vote Nader

With the U.S. presidential election only days away, I've recently decided to cast my vote for independent cadidate Ralph Nader. What won me over was his commanding performance during the debate with Bush and Kerry.

What's that you say? You don't remember seeing him in those debates? Well, maybe you weren't watching the right debate.

As far as I can tell, that actually is his official campaign site. Google turns up no more likely options.

Arafat's Health

The issue of Arafat's ailing health has made it to the front page of several New York newspapers, though his condition is reportedly improving slightly. The most appropriate comment I can make has already been made in a White House press briefing, albeit regarding someone else:

QUESTION: Did you hear that Castro fell?

[RICHARD] BOUCHER[, SPOKESMAN]: We heard that Castro fell. There are, I think, various reports that he broke a leg, an arm, a foot, and other things, and I'd guess you'd have to check with the Cubans to find out what's broken about Mr. Castro. We, obviously, have expressed our views about what's broken in Cuba.

QUESTION: Do you wish him a speedy recovery?

MR. BOUCHER: No.

QUESTION: No? Do you wish him a speedy demise?

MR. BOUCHER: I'll leave the man's health alone. I think our view --

QUESTION: Would you have preferred that his injuries be more life threatening? (Laughter.) People have come out, including your former boss --

MR. BOUCHER: I know.

QUESTION: -- and said things like, well, we hope the actuarial tables catch up with Mr. Castro. Are you disappointed that he wasn't more seriously wounded?

MR. BOUCHER: I'm not going to express that kind of disappointment. I think, you know, the events speak for themselves. The situation in Cuban is of our primary concern. The situation of Mr. Castro is of little concern to us, but unfortunately of enormous importance to the people of Cuba, who have suffered very long under his rule. And we think that the kind of rule that Cuba has had should be ended.

QUESTION: Do you think if he stepped aside -- that's an "if" question, of course -- whoever succeeds him would provide any policy more to the U.S.'s liking than Castro has?

MR. BOUCHER: It would be highly speculative for me to say that at this point, except to note that we do think the people of Cuba deserve democracy. They, like everybody else in the world, deserve a chance to choose their own fate and future, and that the Secretary of State co-chaired an effort on behalf of this Administration last year to identify what we can do to hasten that day and what we can do when that day comes to support the people of Cuba, as they have found their own democracy, which is something we have strong confidence that they will someday be able to do.

One other point of note, from the New York Times article:

Mr. Arafat has been the dominant Palestinian leader for close to four decades and has resisted any talk of a successor.

Any leader who is truly concerned with the welfare of his people would be doing his utmost to ensure a smooth transition of leadership after his departure. To ignore this issue is to prove oneself a selfish leader whose primary concern is for his own legacy and glory. Not that there was ever really any doubt about that regarding Arafat.

A Good Marriage

Someone came to this site through a Google search for foundation of a good marriage, for which this post comes up third. Two thoughts on that:

1. Maybe I should go into the marriage counseling business, since I already have a potential client base of at least one.
   Then again, since I've never been married, maybe I shouldn't.
2. If your approach to building a good marriage is to turn to Google for help, you've got a lot of work to do.

Insurrection in Aisle C

While shopping in the local Key Food, a friend and I were commiserating about the often low quality of the produce there. But since there aren't any better conventient options, we still go there anyway.

Except that FreshDirect recently began delivering to our neighborhood! Remembering this after I had walked halfway down the produce aisle, I yelled back, "By the way, have you tried FreshDirect yet?"

Never have a I gotten such dirty looks from the supermarket staff.

Incidentally, the reason I haven't yet ordered from FreshDirect is somewhat ironic. They have a promotion whereby one can get $25 off one's first order, but only if that order is over $75. That makes me hesitant to place an order until I need $75 worth of stuff, for fear of missing out on the offer. Were it not for that factor, I probably would have already ordered from them numerous times.

Vayeira - Avraham's New Partner

Check out this great shiur by Rav Ezra Bick that explains what's going on in Parshat Vayeira and how it contrasts with last week's Parshah. Really puts it all in a whole new light.

Disclaimer

It's common within financial companies to include disclaimers at the end of e-mails, stating that any information contained therein is not to be taken as any sort of guarantee or official opinion. But when those disclaimers are automatically appended to every single e-mail a person sends, one can arrive at the following absurdity:

From: [a salesperson in my company]
To: [my team]
Subject: RE: New product cash trade

THANK YOU

Disclaimer:
This material has been prepared specifically for you by the Fixed Income or Trading/Sales Department and is not the product of Fixed Income or Research. We are not soliciting any action based upon this material. Opinions expressed are our present opinions only. The material is based upon information which we consider reliable, but we do not represent that it is accurate or complete, and it should not be relied upon as such. Certain transactions, including those involving futures, options and high yield securities, give rise to substantial risk and are not suitable for all investors. We, or persons involved in the preparation or issuance of this material, may from time to time, have long or short positions in, and buy or sell, the securities, futures, options or other instruments and investments identical with or related to those mentioned herein. [Company Name] does not provide accounting, tax or legal advice; such matters should be discussed with your advisors and or counsel. In addition, we mutually agree that, subject to applicable law, you may disclose any and all aspects of this material that are necessary to support any U.S. federal income tax benefits, without [Company Name] imposing any limitation of any kind. This material has been issued by [Company Name] and has been approved by [Company Name] International, which is authorised and regulated by The Financial Services Authority, in connection with its distribution in the United Kingdom and by [Company Name] Canada in connection with its distribution in Canada. Further information on any of the securities, futures or options mentioned in this material may be obtained upon request.

Good Cause?

This Sunday the American Diabetes Association is holding its annual Walk for Diabetes in Riverside Park. I considered walking, but, though the weather is supposed to be decent, I can't help but have some reservations about the cause.

Anyone know when the Walk Against Diabetes is?

Lech L'cha - Hearing God's Call

"Lech l'cha mei'artz'cha umimoladt'cha umibeit avicha, el ha'aretz asher ar'eka" (B'reishit 12:1). Seemingly out of the blue, God calls out to Avram and tells him to pick himself up and move to a foreign land, where God will make his descendants into a great nation. Who is Avram and why is God talking to him? On this point the Torah gives us very little information. The only background we have regarding Avram was provided in last week's Parshah - he is the son of Terach, he married Sarai (with whom he had no children yet), and he moved with Terach from Ur Kasdim to Charan (B'reishit 11:29-31). That's a startlingly short biography for a man who has just been chosen to be the progenitor of God's chosen nation, and it certainly provides very little insight into why Avram in particular was picked.

Chazal were clearly bothered by this. They tell us various stories to try to fill in the blanks - Avram looked up at the stars and logically deduced monotheism, Avram smashed his father's idols, Avram's faith was tested when he was thrown into a furnace - but, whether historically true or not, none of this is actually written in Chumash.

The omission is especially strange considering that Avram/Avraham Avinu is the first person to truly develop a relationship with God.* Assuming that "ma'aseh avot siman labanim" - the actions of our forefathers are intended to be examples for how we, their descendents, should live our lives - and that we too are supposed to develop a relationship with God, why doesn't the Torah describe how Avram comes to know God, so that we may emulate Avram's approach in our own lives?

Many answers have been given to this question. Rav Michael Rosensweig suggested that the Torah doesn't want to present any one way of approaching God. Individuals should feel some degree of freedom to approach God in their own unique way and should not feel constrained to following a precise path set forth by Avram. Rav Mosheh Lichtenstein explained that Avram's spiritual journey is between him and God and is, to put it bluntly, none of our business. For God to reveal details of their relationship would almost be an invasion of Avram's privacy.

While both of these approaches may be true, they don't fully explain the Torah's presentation. Even No'ach is described as being an "ish tzaddik" (righteous man) and "tammim" (perfect, whole-hearted), as well as having "walked with God" (B'reishit 6:9). The above approaches explain why we don't get a detailed history of Avram's formative years, but couldn't we at least be told that he was a tzaddik? Shouldn't the Torah at least explain that there was this really great guy named Avram who found favor in God's eyes, and God liked him so much that He chose him to be the father of a nation and therefore instructed him, "Lech l'cha...?" Why aren't we given any mention at all of Avram's greatness or his destiny until after the command of "Lech l'cha?"

A friend of mine (though I can't recall who) once suggested what I think is a very novel approach to this question. Though I'm not at all convinced it's correct, it's still an intriguing possibility to consider: perhaps Avram wasn't anything particularly special until now. Why did God choose him and only him for the command of "Lech l'cha?" Well, who says He did? How do we know that God didn't give the same command to numerous other people in Avram's generation (either simultaneously or one after the other)? Perhaps the only difference between Avram and everyone else, and what therefore made him special, is that Avram listened. He heard God calling out to him and chose to followthat calling.

This approach seems somewhat far-fetched (and perhaps even slightly heretical) until we realize that Chazal themselves say something very similar, only with reference to a situation much later on in Jewish history. The Sifri on D'varim states that before giving the Torah to the Jews, God went to all the other nations of the world and offered it to them. After a brief synopsis of the laws included therein, they all rejected it. Only B'nei Yisra'eil responded with acceptance - "Na'aseh V'nishma" (Exodus 24:7). It is B'nei Yisra'eil's willingness to listen to and obey God's command that sets them apart from all the other nations. And in that context, Chazal's statement is even stranger - God had already promised Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya'akov that He would choose their descendants as a nation. To make the offer to other nations, then, seems more than a bit strange. But if God did that, it seems at least reasonable for Him to make the command/offer of "Lech l'cha" to more than one person.

If this is true (and perhaps even if it isn't), the Torah is teaching us a very important lesson about how Avram began his relationship with God: he simply listened to God's call and responded to it with action. And this is something that is very relevant to us as we try to emulate Avram and build our own relationships with God. With all that's going on around us all the time, it's often very easy to miss the call of God that is subtly present in many aspects of our daily lives.

When your alarm clock goes off in the morning, do hit the snooze button five times? Or do you hear the call of t'fillah b'tzibbur (communal prayer services), or at least sof z'man k'ri'at sh'ma (the end of the period in which the sh'ma may be recited in the morning)? When you see someone new in your neighborhood, do you just smile and nod your head, as if to almost (but not quite) say, "Hello?" Or do you hear the call of hachnasat or'chim (welcoming guests), go over and introduce yourself, and invite the person over for a Shabbat meal? When you get an e-mail regarding a shiur that will take place in your shul, do you simply hit the delete key, or do you hear the call of talmud torah and make an effort to attend?

The lesson we can learn from Avram is that you don't need to start out as a tzaddik or a tammim. You simply need to choose to hear what God is saying to you. And if you pay close enough attention, I believe, you'll find that God talks to all of us; we just need to learn how to listen.

* Adam, Chavah and Kaiyin each speak no more than one or two sentences to God, all in self-defense after being accused of wrong-doing. No'ach, though described as having "walked with God," does not say a single word to Him throughout the entire story. As Chumash presents things, Avram is the first person to (eventually) converse with God, certainly a prerequisite for any serious relationship.

Best and Brightest?

The company I work for "prides itself on hiring the best and the brightest."

I'm having a little trouble reconciling that pride with an e-mail I received from one of our users (an employee who uses the software my team writes):

The system won't allow me to cancel another bug
In this situation, it ususally will be disappeared ref20041013007342 pc 1 tomorrow.
The bug will be hanging today.

No, it's not just you - it didn't make sense to any of us either.

Maybe she scored really high on the math portion of the SATs.

Something Old, Something New

Ten things you shouldn't buy new and ten things that you should never buy used

A Bachelor's Dilemma

Overheard at lunch:

"If only we had more mice, that stuff never would've gotten caked on."

Brain Teaser - Even-handed Clock

I just heard this one from my sister and brother-and-law, though the "back story" is my own invention.

A disgruntled watchmaker, having just been informed that he is about to be downsized, has thrown a little mischief into the works. His final watch was produced with minute and hour hands that are exactly the same length. (There is no second hand.) Otherwise, however, the watch is perfectly precise.

His employers, having noticed the problem, have no choice but to sell the watch at a steep discount. In order to determine the discount, they must first answer the question: how many times a day is the watch truly ambiguous? Obviously, one could watch the watch for a minute and see which hand moves more, thereby determining which hand is which and thus the correct time. But how many times a day will a single glance at the watch (and perhaps a bit of brainpower) leave the wearer absolutely unable to determine the correct time?

Oh, and chag samei'ach!

Knee Slappers

Kerry using humor as political tool

"Heavens to Betsy," it's hard to believe that the John Kerry of U.S. Senate stiff-speak is out there on the campaign trail tossing off homespun phrases, and even a joke or two.

Not only is the sometimes aloof senator from Massachusetts dropping an occasional laugh-line into his stump speech, his audiences are chuckling.

So just what are these jokes he's telling? Here's the first one the article cites (make sure you're not drinking any milk!):

Even while speaking on the very serious topic of Iraq last week at New York University, Kerry made the audience laugh six times at President Bush's expense. Most of the guffaws came when Kerry stated Bush administration positions in a tone that suggested they were the height of ridiculousness.

Kerry said the occupation of Iraq is riddled with problems, "yet today, President Bush tells us that he would do everything all over again, the same way." Kerry paused for affect before asking sarcastically, "How can he possibly be serious?"

Ah hah hah ha! Ah ha! Ah... Umm...

OK, so maybe it's not that funny. And, actually, maybe it's not even sarcasm. More of a rhetorical question, really. But just wait till you hear this next one!

[Kerry] drew guffaws at Temple University last Friday when he criticized Bush for dragging his feet before appearing before the September 11 commission "but only with Vice President Cheney at his side."

Ba dam bum, ching!

But seriously, folks - admittedly, I've never actually heard Kerry speak. Since I get all my news off the internet, I'm not sure I'd even recognize his voice. So maybe this article just isn't doing justice to his exceptional delivery, and maybe Kerry should succeed Leno in 2009.

Or maybe we have a presidential candidate who's duller than an afternoon of watching paint dry.

Christian Law - Follow-Up

A new reader comments on an old post and explains when Christians do and don't follow the rules set forth by what they refer to as the "Old Testament" (i.e., the Jewish bible):

Most Christians view the Mosaic Law (including the Ten Commandments) in one of two ways:

1. Christians are bound to keep only the Laws specifically repeated in the New Testament of the bible (as well as any commands in the New Testament that did not exist in the Old Testament). Thus, the since the Ten are repeated, Christians are bound to keep them. (Most Christians fall into this category)

2. Christians are bound to keep all the commands unless they are specifically repealed ... in the New Testament. This would include everything except the dietary commands (repealed via Peter's vision) and the sacrificial commands (repealed via the crucifixion). I've never met anyone who falls into this category but I've been told that they do exist.

In a follow-up e-mail, I asked:

My knowledge of the New Testament is very limited. Where are the Ten [Commandments] repeated? Are they repeated individually in various places, or are they re-cited as "The Ten Commandments?"

She responded:

The commands are repeated in various places throughout the new testament. There are a couple of places where several are listed together but for the most part they're scattered (most are repeated more than once). I could give you a couple of exact references if you want them. There is never a place where they're grouped together and repeated as "The Ten Commandments." :)

I should probably point out that the command for shabbat is not actually repeated anywhere. There are instances of people observing it, or going to synagogues on that day to teach or be taught but the command itself is not there. There are a few theories as to exactly why this is. But most Christians at least think you should go to church on the 'sabbath' (which for some reason that I'm sure some research could turn up, has turned into Sunday).

For those inquiring minds who wanted to know.

Stuffed Goose

For years, animal rights activists have opposed the production and sale of foie gras - fattened duck or goose liver. The birds are shoved into small cages or pens and are forced to eat much more than they normally would. Often, a feeding tube is inserted directly down the throats of the birds and pumps food into their stomachs two, and maybe even three or four, times a day, until their stomachs and livers are practically bursting at the seams.

With two three-day-Yammim Tovim down and one more to go, I can definitely empathize.