In case you missed it before, you might want to check out my post from last year The Historical Meaning of Tish’a B’av (9 Av).
Aside from that, not much else is going on this end aside from schoolwork and job hunting. Which reminds me, if anyone out there has job leads for :
Please drop me a line.
If you’re in the Chicago area (or will be within next five years or so), and you happen to watch the PBS affiliate WTTW 11, you might catch me in one of their station commercials.
A few months ago I was on a date in the Museum of Science and Industry and there was this camera crew from the station looking for people to record some of their promos. They had a list of types of people they were looking for, one of which was “young couple.” Since we were a “young couple,” I just figured this would be a cool thing to do on a date. Besides – who really watches PBS around here that could possibly have a chance of recognizing me?
Apparently, many many people at UC.
Geeks.
Incidentally, thanks to Hasidic Musician for pointing out that Eli Ata was originally a Chabad niggun, and not a Carlebach one. Correction has been made.
In honor of this “holiday,” I’ve posted some new chords for your playing pleasure – and I even added a new category of “Israeli / Folk.” Many thanks to Azriel Steiner for his contributions.
New Additions
If you don’t hear from me this week, don’t take it personally.
*sigh*
Yeah, I’m taking liberties with “somtimes” updated to the point where I’ve been spending more time writing about why I’m not writing then actually writing. Keep in mind that I’m taking two classes this quarter which require weekly writing assignments and I’m changing thesis topics.
Short story is that I’m doing well, really busy, and really tired. In other words, your typical U of C student. Sederaim were typically fun in the Yuter household; it’s a shame we can’t record them. Of particular note, the Rabbis Yuter had a nice tag-team proving why the commandment of retelling the story of the Exodus is not in fact related to the generic “Learning Torah.”
Anyway, the point is that if there are any loyal readers still there, sit tight for hopefully another week or so while I straighten out some things, and recover from Pesach. If all goes well, it should be worth it.
In the meantime, I figured out (I think) the chords to Blue Fringe’s song Flippin’ Out and I added the chords to Carlebach’s Im Eshkachech which, ironically, I had forgotten to post.
Come to think of it, maybe that’s why I haven’t been able to blog…
Just some random postings today as I continue “enjoying” spring break:
That’s all for now. Evil Paper coming soon….
Officially, it’s “spring break” here, but I’m catching up on some things. Expect blogging to resume at some point in the near future.
Besides, did you really think I’d come back on National Goof-Off Day?
I’ve just about finished with the weekly pilgrimages to the cRc, which has been taking much of my time recently. They have all been incredibly helpful, especially Executive Director Rabbi Joseph Ozarowski. I’m not planning on publishing the paper, but if you’re reading this, know that they do much more than Kashrut., including (but not limited to) a new rehab program.(Free reg reqd)
I am officially plugging The Queen of Persia from Shazak Publications. Highly recommended for all ages.
Also on the Purim front, I’m working on some shticks, and typing up my shiur from last year on the real halakhot of drinking on Purim. Rav Gedalia Schwartz, the Av Beit Din of the cRc, recently gave a shiur on Purim drinking which confirmed my initial analysis of the sources.
In other news: I’m going to an AIPAC conference for university students on Sunday. I’ve never been to one of these things before, but I have a feeling I’ll have fun one way or another. I’ll try to write up some highlights from that. Also, I’m working on my take of Evil in the Talmud and a brief introduction to Jewish Law. Oh yeah, and a thesis of some sort.
I’ve realized I really missed sitting down in the library and just writing. It’s always unfortunate when school gets in the way of education. At any rate, if and when things calm down, I can get back to the good ‘ol days of semi-regular pseudo-intellectual blogging.
You might have noticed that on the side of the page I added a link to The Niblings – which refer to my niece and nephews. Although Ben pointed out the connection to 43-Man Squamish, I first heard the term from a friend of mine, and I thought it was cute.
At any rate, I got a great letter from Esther about the newest Eli story:
Oh yeah, and he’s learning how to layn.
This, loyal readers, is my nephew.
YUTOPIA has broken the 10,000 hit barrier since its launch in July and notched over 17,000 page views.
Unreal.
Many thanks to the Loyal Readers, and everyone who came here by accident while searching for dating questions, The Alphabet of Ben Sira, Frumster, secular colleges, most recently jewish guitar chords, and my favorite: apikorsim definition (to the old site).
I know the content has been slow as of late. I’ve been working on a detailed response to R. Stein’s Beis Yitzhack articles which is taking much longer than I would have liked and I do have other work to do in grad school. I should be done with it within the next couple of days.
Oh – and a shout out to Avraham Bronstein on his new solo project.
The title is a reference to the movie Rounders which you should see if you haven’t yet. John Malkovich as Teddy KGB must be seen and heard to be fully appreciated.