December 2004 Archives

Quick post to let y'all know I'm still alive, busy, and heading to NY soon. On a completely unrelated note, the winning number for Chicago's Dec 25th evening pick-3 number was 666.

Submit punchline below:

Still in time for Hannukah, Fark links to this nifty What's That Song program. It's pretty simple - you pick an artist, you hear selections from that artist, and you guess which of that artist's song it is. From what I can tell he taps in to Amazon's archive of CD samples which gives you an impressive selection.

You can start with some basics like Billy Joel, Dylan, U2, Metallica, Elton John, and yes, even Weird Al and They Might Be Giants.

You'll notice though that many of the samples have the song titiles in them, making this whole excersize entirely pointless.

However, all is not lost.

Since it's based on Amazon's extensive library, you can even do Carlebach or Lanzbom. You might recognize the tunes, but the official titles are in english. This means that in order to guess correctly you actually need to know what the song means. Nice challenge, eh?

Enjoy!

In case you're wondering, I did pretty well on the ones I personally took:

Hooray! You scored 10 out of 10.

Perfect. 100%. You are a music guru. We bow down before you.

80's music is just the beginning.

Once again, Dani gives us two links to the official OU responses to the shehita controversy. First is the Statement of Rabbis and Certifying Agencies on Recent Publicity on Kosher Slaughter which was actually earlier. Now, it happens to be hosted on the OU's site. The second piece is a message from Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb (Executive Vice President) and Rabbi Menachem Genack (Kashrut Rabbinic Administrator).

I'm putting the text of the message below. Between the two letters, I think the OU has done a decent job of responding both to the halakhic non-issue and to PETA's claims of animal cruelty.

While I doubt this will be the last we hear of this in the media (internet and otherwise), I'm willing to let it go until a real halakhic problem comes out of it or until something egregious actually warrants a response.

Remember last year I went to see the One Man Star Wars Trillogy? It looks like the guy is back in Chicago and now also does a one man Lord of the Rings. It's in a bigger theater and the tickets are a little more expensive, but not by much.

Actually, there are several shows playing in Chicago including the pre-broadway production of Spamalot with the original cast. Surprisingly, these are also relatively affordable especially compared to NY.

At some point I figure I'll need a break from writing. So, if I'm going to see one show this year, what should it be?

Any recommendations?

Got a tip that Dani linked to the OU's response to the Rubashkins/PETA controversy. For what it's worth, I think they did a good job of responding to that which required a response.

Protocols
12-08-2002 - 12-08-2004

With this final post, the Protocols era comes to a close. Despite its humble beginnings in late 2002, Protocols quickly became the one of the Jewish community's widest read and influential publications - in print or online. Its eclectic Elders frequently posted updates and summaries on topics including politics (American, Israeli, and global), religion, academia - and basically anything else they felt like. They uncovered and confronted scandals, occasionally created them when none existed, and even started getting mainstream media recognition. Though well short of its goal to "totally dominate the blogosphere," Protocols clearly became the center for Jewish news on the internet.

Today on YUTOPIA, we look back at Protocols meteoric rise, its internal technical and personal struggles, and its eventual descent into cultural irrelevance and its unfortunate demise.

Have a good one.

UPDATE: As a special Hannukah treat to the loyal readers, I am giving away GMail invitations. I now have only 1 left, so get it while it's still there!

Drop a line if you're interested.

Fark links to this BBC article about Bank Leumi developing a credit card which will not work on Shabbat.

First, I'm curious how would this apply to people traveling overseas or for Internet purchases? Does it go by Shabbat in Israel or where the purchase was made?

On a more serious note, I have no idea what the point of this is. The Orthodox don't shop on Shabbat - or at least shouldn't.¹ Secular Jews (or clever Orthodox) will either use a different card - either from Bank Leumi or someplace else or just use cash or cheque. Certainly if the bank forces all clients to use the restrictive card, they would only increase the animosity towards the Orthodox.

Provided that the bank doesn't force people to use the cards, this plan seems fairly innocuous. If it makes you happy, go for it - certainly no issurim are being violated by having it. However, I'm troubled by this quote: "Reports also say it may not work on any day in shops which do not honour the Sabbath."

I have no idea how they would manage to do this from a technical perspective. The only thing I can think of is that "certain authorities" would create a blacklist and send that in to Bank Leumi. I can't even begin to enumerate the problems with such a system (think corruption, fights over authority, payoffs, blackmailing, etc.)

1. Perhaps it's like the content cell phones and the Orthodox can't be trusted to be shomer Shabbat on their own such that they need external techinical restrictions to keep them on the proper path.

Over shabbat, it occurred to me that my last post could be seen as overly critical of the OU. However, my goal was more to point out the inadequacies of its letter rather than criticize the OU itself or its practices in the areas of hashgacha. While I do think the OU needs to issue its own clarification, I also said that they need to get the benefit of the doubt in this case.

1. Thousands of shehitot are done at this plant. We have no idea if this is a common occurrence or an isolated incident.
2. We don't know for certain if the sheita is in fact pasul.
3. Until the Rabbanut issues a formal pesak halakha - the Jerusalem Post doesn't count - we're not sure exactly what their position is.
4. Even if the shehita doesn't meet the Rabbanut's standards, that religious body technically has no authority in America.
5. Even if the shehita was in fact objectively pasul, we have no idea if the meat was ever distributed or packaged as kosher. For all we know, the mashgichim saw it - and rejected it.
6. Someone who has actually visited the plant told me that several "runs" are done at the plant. Meaning at the same plant, different mashgichim oversee shehita for different organizations. Thus, the infraction might not have even occurred under the OU's watch.

As I mentioned in the last post, now is not the time for people who have never opened a Yoreh Deah to start paskening and invalidating the OU. They've been doing hashgacha for a long time and aren't going to do anything to cause the masses to sin.

Again, just sit tight and wait for the OU to formally address the issue.

Just got this e-mail about the shehita fiasco. Below is the complete text, followed by my comments.

(Too long for the front page).

I haven't been following the election Ukraine so much, but check out the picture in this MSNBC article.

While I'm happy that democracy is winning out there, is that really any excuse for an accordion?

Thesis is coming along, slower than I'd like, but progress is progress. Meantime, I'm getting into Shabbat mode which means I can ignore things for at least one day It's a shame I'm too behind to weigh in on the Rubashkin's scandal, but I'm sure other people are taking care of it. If you're interested, you can listen to an interview with new OU President Stephen Savitsky and Rabbi Weinreb.

'Roid Rage
Next up is the whole Barry Bonds taking steroids ("unknowingly" of course). Yeah, everyone seems to be talking about it as well, and not surprisingly, everyone is missing the real point.

Why is it so important if Bonds - or anyone else - took steroids? The simple answer is steriods violate "the integrity of the game." The logic is that when players take these illegal steroids, they give themselves an unfair advantage over the other players. This of course shatters the romantic illusion of legitimate athletic competition. In addition to the player's tainting their own acheivements, the entire institution of sport is now called into question.

This spirit of competitiveness cannot simply be dismissed. Sports can unify communities, but only through the drama of succeeding against all odds. We like replaying the myths of the weak beating the strong because it reminds us that we can suceed against adversities if we try hard enough.¹

The problem is that this message can be found almost anywhere in society. For some trite examples from Bruce Almighty, "a single mom who works two full-time jobs, and still finds the time to pick up her kid at soccer practice, that's a miracle. A teenager that says "no" to drugs and "yes" to an education, that's a miracle."

However, unlike the mother or teenager whose struggles produce something, sports cannot claim any instrinsic value. What does it really give back to society? Does it give kids something to shoot for? Unquestionably. Does it help pull people off of the streets? Yes. But so can other things as well. Sports offers the millions of contracts and the attitude that if you're rich you can get away anything including murder.

Once the myth of competition is tarnished, there really isn't anything left.

It's also why people are so up in arms about Barry Bonds, arguably the "best" player of his generation. Suddenly, he has nothing left. All his accomplishments are fraudulant. He might have donated some of his millions, but who really cares about that? He's known for his stats, not for being a hummanitarian. Like most athletes, his only lasting legacy was on the field.

Without his numbers, Bond's legacy might as well be buried undreneath it.

1. Or have divine assistance.