Author: Josh

The NCSY Shabbaton Experience

I’ve always had an odd relationship with NCSY. I was chapter president of Springfield for 4 years – 2 Junior and 2 Senior – but that was mostly because there was no one else around my age to do the job. At the shabbatons themselves I found myself somewhat marginailzed, due to a combination of adolescent awkwardness (read: geek) and having an alternative hashkafa which emphasized independent thought.
This past shabbat there was a Senior NCSY shabbaton in Springfield. An old friend my high school NCSY days, is now the regional director of some sort – despite swearing repeatedly that, “I am *never* doing NCSY when I graduate.” Aside from him, I knew a maximum of four other people who were involved with the shabbaton.
Anyway, it got me thinking back to my days as an NCSY’er. Since I’m home, I dug up a poem I wrote for the yearbook.
This was my last year in NCSY. I was outgoing Sr. President of Springfield, and my sister Esther was advisor of Juniors at the time. The Etz Chaim region has a thing called the “Torah Fund,” where they hit up the chapters for arbitrarily assessed amounts – loosely based on membership. This money went to the usual causes of supporting students for Israel programs and getting nice things for administrator’s families.
Fortunately, a chapter could fulfill its requirement by purchasing ads in the yearbook, and Springfield’s was so low that we were able to cover it by getting two ads. Esther and I decided to split one of them for Juniors and Seniors and I knocked out the following poem in roughly 15 minutes (she can vouch for that).
One editor of the yearbook was so offended by it she almost didn’t let it get published. In the end, she let it go through, but only after she mangled the meter on most stanzas. I don’t care enough to fix it right now, so you’ll have to deal with someone else’s horrible editing of a high-school senior’s 15 minute poem.
I present, now with additional annotations,

The NCSY Shabbaton Experience




Back Home Again

For anyone I’m in the NY/NJ area until Nov. 4th. I’m by YU today, and will be popping around Manhattan every now and again, in case anyone is interested and I’m planning on returning to Washington Heights next shabbat. So, if you’re in the area and would like to get together, drop me a line, and we’ll see what we can do.
There’s a new guy around YU who sells loads of sefarim out of a truck. Between the makeshift storefront and the inches of dust on each book, I felt just like being in Israel again. Best part about sefarim shopping is finding incredible deals for things about which people have no idea. Case in point: I picked up R. Meir Simcha Feldblums critical edition of Masechet Gittin for a whopping $6. Sweet!
Finally, the BangItOut link has attracted more people to the chords directory. With the moderately increased traffic, we also have a few more chords up including Yo Ya, and R. Twersky’s Im Eshkachech. And with plenty of time for Hannukah, we also have Maoz Tzur and Al HaNissim. If want Adam Sandler’s Hannukah Song, look elsewhere.




Rav vs. Rosh Yeshiva

Of the positions in the orthodox rabbinate, perhaps the two most noticeable and influential are those of the Rav and the Rosh Yeshiva. The Rav is more commonly known as a “pulpit rabbi” and is employed by a community to oversee and establish religious policy for his congregation.1 The Rosh Yeshiva is not necessarily the “head of the school” as its title translated,2 but rather is a Torah scholar who often teaches those who will eventually become Rabbis.

In contemporary halakhic disputes, it is not uncommon to find these two groups on opposite sides – especially regarding modifications to existing practices or customs. A Rav may wish to innovate, and a Rosh Yeshiva would wish to preserve the status quo. The real question is not the nature of the new or modified practice, but who has the real authority to promote change in normative Judaism.




We Bang!

I was wondering why the hit count jumped recently. It turns out that we’ve been linked from BangItOut.com – specifically the chords archive.1
Rabbi Week will continue shortly…

1. Although they complain about the lack of Karduner chords, I’ve been trying to correct this problem for some time and hopefully it won’t be an issue.




What is a Rabbi?

This is what would have been part one of the comically misnamed Rabbi Week. Yes, I’m back writing, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to get everyone out in a week’s time. Many apologies for the delay. I might even write something at a later point about it, but it does get somewhat personal. At any rate, better late than never.
Let the fun begin.




You Write Like A Dairy Farmer

If you’re an old computer gamer1 you’ve probably played or at least heard of Lucas Arts classic Monkey Island series. I know I’m about a decade behind on this, but it just recently came to my attention that the dueling insults were actually written by Orson Scott Card, author of the Ender’s Game series and many others.
Two random links of pseudo-relevance: 1. His website has interesting pictures of him at a sci fi conference in Israel. 2. See I-Mockery’s Monkey Island 2 Outtakes.

1. Meaning, you’re a geek who likes playing old computer games or you’re just an old geek who used to be a gamer back in the good ‘ol days.




YUTOPIA In Print…Sort Of

A little while ago, Rabbi Josh Joseph of the Orthodox Caucus contacted me about a publication they were putting out about dating. Someone tipped him off to this website,1 and they decided to publish the post called Mixed Blessings about the phrase “Im Yirtzeh Hashem By You.” I had no idea it was going to be distributed in this past week’s edition of the Jewish Week.
I haven’t had time to look at all of the articles just yet, but some of them seem worth checking out. In addition to the website, you can download the PDF version.
It’s an interesting development considering I never expected this blog to have any such effect and I’m curious to see how this might develop. Of course, I suppose I’ll have to get more consistent about posting….

1. Apparently, I’ve written a few times about my take on dating.