June 3, 2005
One in a Million
“if you're one in a million, then there are 5,000 of you”---vegabond vondruke
Posted by notepad at 12:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 15, 2004
Identification and Conformity
“Conformity is the need to avoid standing out from the crowd. It
is partly based on the fear of being different; the need to go along with the
ideas or choices of others for fear of the consequences that might happen
otherwise.
“Identification is a very different flip side to this. It is
very similar to, but at the same time very different from conformity. Most
humans enjoy feeling part of something greater than themselves; their family,
their school, their nation, their church, their football team etc. This is more
than just trying to avoid being different. It is a positive desire to be like
something; to be part of it; to find identification with it. It is a desire for
the secure feeling of knowing we are not isolated – that we are not alone.
There is a warm feeling in sharing common values, common symbols, common ideas
with others.”
“People conform most when they are insecure. Adolescence is a time of great insecurity and uncertainty. It is no surprise, then, that teenagers are highly conformist. While rebelling against the outmoded values of their parents, they are at the same time the ultimate slaves to conformity – within their own peer group.”
---Max Sutherland
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Rick Klinkerfuss
DATE: 11/18/2004 12:20:00 AM
I aggree with this, because of the fact that I have always been told that beeing different is not a good thing. I also agree with this, because of how I have noticed that people stare at other people whom are not conformative. I have also noticed how people make fun of people whom do not conform.
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Posted by notepad at 5:32 PM | Comments (0)
November 10, 2004
Conformity
“Everyone hates me because I am so universally liked”
---Peter De Vries
“Conformity is something you can practice without making a spectacle of yourself”
“A million people can’t be wrong”
I am working on a post on the subject of truth. On you being you, openly. Esse Quam Videri. If you would like to ‘contribute,’ please email me.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: hasidicrebbele
DATE: 11/16/2004 10:31:47 AM
Good luck. it should be a great journey.
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Posted by notepad at 7:27 AM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2004
Geist Quotes
“Zachary Jedidiah, if you throw any more spaghetti on that man I’m going to have to consider threatening you with no sprinkles on your ice-cream sundae, and this time I think I mean it.”
“I have thought about exercise. Read about it. Watched it. Even considered it. Doctors recommend it, especially when they can’t think of anything else to say.”
“It’s one thing to have the Spanish-speaking guy at the McDonald’s drive-through window give you fries when you asked for Sprite; it’s quite another to have an Indian or Chinese doctor remove the wrong thing. ‘Remove “wart”? Thought you said “heart”. Thousand pardons.’”
“…she said in her best Zsa Zsa accent.”
---Bill Geist
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR:
DATE: 08/13/2004 06:13:16 PM
wha-a-a-t is that quoted from? sorry, not all of us are familiar with "geist".
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Shlomo
DATE: 08/15/2004 02:18:37 PM
Just click the link. It's a book.
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Posted by notepad at 8:39 PM | Comments (0)
August 4, 2004
Friends
You got a best friend? Is he smarter than you? Would you trust him with your life?---President Josiah Bartlet
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: cookie
DATE: 08/05/2004 07:51:40 PM
At the risk of sounding incredibly dumb, I have always wondered what exactly the phrase "trust with your life" means. Could someone enlighten?
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Posted by notepad at 9:24 AM | Comments (0)
May 27, 2004
Are You Really You?
If I am because I am, and you are because you are, than I am me, and you are you. But if I am because I'm not you, and you are because you're not me, than I'm not me and, and you're not you.---Rav Menachem Mendel of Kotzk I know it all got lost in translation but I just had to post it. -----
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: cookie
DATE: 06/01/2004 10:00:23 AM
The way I remember it is:
If I am I because I am I
And you are you because you are you
Then I am I, and you are you.
But if I am I because you are you
And you are you because I am I
Then I am not I, and you are not you.
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Posted by notepad at 10:00 PM | Comments (0)
May 13, 2004
Lies, Lies and Lying to Yourself
I just read through the new Mishpacha magazine again and it seems like they got at least some things right. I really suggest you get your hands on the May 12th edition.
In an interview with Rabbi Moshe Grylak, Rabbi Goldstein asserts that the reason for the high drop-out rate in our generation is the absence of truth. He blames the media for making teens today more prone to dropping out than teens in the past.
We have to teach them and train them what to use as a counterbalance against the temptations of the world. Simply criticizing and rebuking isn’t going to be very effective.…
How does a father ‘sell a cheap imitation’?
When you tell your son stories, and demand of him a certain level of behavior, that you yourself have not attained – or perhaps don’t even really believe in – then you are selling him an imitation, and an imitation is a lie. Any value that is conveyed in this ‘imitation fashion’ won’t be absorbed by the child. Furthermore, he will mock that value for the rest of his life.
I want to explain to parents what kind of damage they are perpetrating when they lie to their children.
Rabbi Goldstein recounts a conversation with a boy:
…I told him, “I understand that you have already commited every possible sin. Now you are asking G-d, ‘What? How? What now? Do I have any hope? Can I come back?”
I told him, “Did you ever really daven? Did you ever learn the meaning of the words in the prayers? Did you ever say the words and feel they were true? Did you ever think about ‘our lives that lie within Your hands’ – have you ever considered what those words mean, that our lives lie within Hashem’s hands? You are accustomed to living with lies, speaking lies, and worst of all, lying to yourself. Come, let’s try one thing. Did you daven Maariv yet? Invest in one Maariv. Go into the Women’s Section; there’s no one there. Sit with yourself, and consider what you are about to say. Then say the words with understanding; feel what you’re saying. If it takes less than an hour, I will consider you very talented.”
Two hours later, he came back and said, “I didn’t succeed. But I did get a small taste.”
Today he is a G-d fearing Jew.
In the next article, titled Trust, Trust & More Trust Michal Silver tells the story of a couple who opens their doors to teenagers who are ‘on the fringe.’ I will not quote anything from that article, you’ll just have to read it yourself. What I will say is this, if it wasn’t for a family just like Elimelech and Chava in the story, I would not be who I am today, in Yiddishkeit or in personality. When I was away from home, during my final zman in yeshiva at seventeen, they opened their doors to me and others. We found a listening ear we didn’t find anywhere else. We found a calm that was missing at home, and I saw a side of Yiddishkeit that was very hard for me to see at home or in Yeshiva at the time. I will be forever grateful to them and to Hashem for that half-year. I still go back for Shabbos every once in a while, and love it every time.
Read the magazine, take some inspiration, and open your eyes to the teenager who has hair slightly longer than his brothers’.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: gishmak
DATE: 05/13/2004 09:19:14 PM
Hi! I wasn't planning on getting this week's edition, but maybe now I will. Thanks!
By the way, did you go hear R' Amnon Yitzchok speak?
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: gishmak
DATE: 05/17/2004 10:03:04 PM
I got it! Thanks! It's very good. My husband also enjoyed it
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Posted by notepad at 8:04 PM | Comments (0)
Measuring the Size of A Lie
"The size of a lie depends on how much truth it contains. If it contains a lot of truth within, then the lie is a very big one."
---Rabbi Moshe Goldstein in an interview with Mishpacha Magazine. The entire interview is concise, true and to the point. I would strongly suggest that you shell out the $1.95 to buy the May 12th issue, especially if you are a parent or educator.
Posted by notepad at 9:50 AM | Comments (0)
May 12, 2004
Be like everyone else, be...
"YOUNIQUE"
---A Billboard for Mini
Posted by notepad at 9:34 AM | Comments (0)
March 22, 2004
Do You Remember...
When a public Phone was useful to the public?
When Shannah Rishonah lasted only one year?
When it took years to become an expert?
When Chinuch was not synonymous with tapes?
When the difference between a spudik and a shtreiml was noticeable?
When a wedding was over at night?
When singers had no need to know every obscure Ma'amar Chazal?
When rich people had money?
When breakfast wasn't "another" cup of coffee?
When tea was served at tea parties?
When "what's doing?" wasn't a rhetorical question?
When "ein vort" wasn't so expensive?
When the phone was on the wall?
When shirts were washed, not dry-cleaned?
When "diet" meant eating less?
When "Rabbeini Hakudush" referred to the Mesader Mishnayos?
When the mailbox wasn't full every day?
When the young couple bought their own nail-clipper?
When the parties weren't emergencies yet?
When 7:30 was 8:00 sharp?
When "mertzeshem" consisted of three words?
When to be a Rebbetzin you need a Rav for a husband?
When not all kosher products were "mhadrin min hamehadrin?"
Adapted from an article by A. B. Zikuron in Die Tzeitung.
Posted by notepad at 6:21 PM | Comments (0)
Rebel Yelp
Here's how young people in different age brackets responded to the following question, posed by The Zandl Group, New York: "What was the last rebellious thing that you did?"Guys 8-12
Ate paste
Hit my sister
Left my clothes on the floor
Burned leaves
Threw fart bombs
Pretended to be sick
Spoke after teacher said stopGals 8-12
Acted bad in a store
Ate donuts that I wasn't supposed to
Hit my sister
Yelled at mom
Pushed a boy into the pool
Put suds in public hot tub
Didn't wear clothes mom picked outGuys 18-24
Did coke
Stole Jesus sign from church [because] it beckoned to me
Threw a Molotov cocktail out of a car window
Threw customer's pizza out instead of delivering it
Bar fightGals 18-24
Went cliff diving
Partied like a rock star
Got a tattoo
Had a baby
Joined the armyVia Brandweek
I would love to see what the honest answers would be if heimishe 13-to-20-year-old guys and girls were asked the same question...
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR:
DATE: 05/19/2004 08:50:36 PM
Frum girl, age 17:Went on my grandparents' screename when my parents dont ever let me im, or know my own password, didn't call them to tell them I'll be home late, stayed home from school, spoke to a muslim,didn't study for a test...What does that rate? And left my tznious buttons on my uniform open...
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Posted by notepad at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)
January 14, 2004
Careless Whisper
I'm never gonna dance again,
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
It's not the song, the lyrics, or even the words, it's the concept.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Parapet
EMAIL: ida@ho.com
IP: 205.184.171.173
URL:
DATE: 01/15/2004 02:22:25 AM
It's never about words it's always about the concept.
ALGERNON: ... I don't play accurately - any one can play accurately - but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. (Oscar Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest)
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Posted by notepad at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)
January 11, 2004
Seeing with the Heart
"One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes."---Antoine de Saint-Exupery in The Little Prince
(Did anyone else read it?)
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: She
DATE: 01/12/2004 05:59:33 AM
Is there anyone who hasn't?
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Natan
DATE: 01/12/2004 12:55:26 PM
I didn't.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Me
DATE: 01/12/2004 03:35:26 PM
I didnt either. dont care for the ancient literature or whatever that is ;)
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Thornpike
DATE: 01/15/2004 02:27:43 AM
The little prince is the quientessential literature. It's on par with salinger's catcher in the rhye. If everyone would read either or both of the these books the world would be a much better place. And Orwell's 1984. And Fanny Hill.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: blah
DATE: 01/15/2004 04:18:26 AM
if that quote were true then... no comment
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: cookie
DATE: 01/15/2004 12:32:39 PM
1984 is an overrated piece of junk. I had to trash it after skimming through for redeeming qualities. But I'll grant you this much: it gave us many words and phrases for concepts. Remember, Big Brother is watching. VDa"L.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Shlomo
DATE: 01/15/2004 01:52:36 PM
I must agree with Cookie on 1984. I couldn't even read thru the entire thing. But on the other hand, if I hadn't read the parts I did I would not have understood mant phrases that people use a lot, especially in this post-9/11 world. I didn't read the other two Thornpike mentioned, am I really missing out here?
I got The Little Prince from my UPS guy, a beautiful Sixtieth-Anniversary-Edition. I thought he probably has no idea what he gave me, turns out he read it many times, in English and in Spanish and he told me what I already knew, that if I read it a few more times, I'll see many more levels.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Fishele
DATE: 02/20/2004 05:22:26 AM
Catcher in the Rye was so dead boring I couldn't finish it. Stick to JK Rowling.
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Posted by notepad at 11:06 PM | Comments (0)
December 19, 2003
Carpe Noctum
Season’s Greetings?As I get older, it’s harder to feel the spirit of Chanuka....
...Yet all too often we celebrate without really reflecting upon “nes gadol haya sham,” it was a miracle that the Jewish people are here to stay. We get so caught up with latkas, dreidels, menorahs, and Hanuka bushes (r”l), that we forget that it’s Torah that was saved. Not a culture, not simply a way of life, but a religion with a connection to the Borei Olam. The very things that the Jews eschewed we are now embracing- love of sensual pleasures. The Greeks were master sensualists. They loved the beauty of the human body. They loved food, sex, music, and else anything that felt good. Our Chanuka parties have good food, good company, and are a rollicking good time. It feels good. But it’s Togetherness! you shout. It’s Family time! Love and Brotherhood and Comraderie. But will someone say a Dvar Torah? Perhaps an obligatory short one. How about some Zmiros, some singing of Chanuka songs? Feh. Pass s’more of those latkas, Zaidy.
The Ma'alos had an article in the same vain. But hey, that's what that magazine is all about...
Have a happy Chanukkah... Whatever it means to you...
EDIT: It was in Der Blick, not Ma'alos. My apologies.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Gishmak
DATE: 12/21/2003 08:14:00 PM
a freilichin Chanuka!
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Miriam
DATE: 12/25/2003 12:21:19 AM
Thanks.
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Posted by notepad at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)
December 1, 2003
Garbage Men
I found this via Unbroken Glass' comments:
...we had the same old discussion if we should marry a learning guy or working guy. The latter was so looked down upon. The teacher says we should all sell our diomand rings, and our husbands should all sit and learn fulltime. So I asked what if a guy isn't made out for learning. Shes like, well then, that's his challenge, he must overcome it… Then someone asked if everyone is learning whose going to support everyone… and I said if someone has the talents and capability to be a lawyer, why can't he use it and give plenty of charity? So she goes, well there always has to be a garbage man, but why does it have to be you? Shes comparing docters and lawyers to garbage men!!!!!!
I found the rest of it sort of hard to comprehend but the above paragraph stopped me. Doctors and Lawyers are garbage men? The entire class should marry working boys? Sell your diamond ring so he can sit and learn? Someone who's not made for learning, it's his "challenge"? He must overcome it? What is up with these people?
I always knew that some people think like that, I didn't know it's officially taught in schools. What is this world coming to? Do I have a new cause to campaign for? "Equal Rights for the Working Boy"
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: cookie
DATE: 12/03/2003 12:03:23 PM
No time to blog, but I couldn't resist a comment. Nu, so what's the deal, I could live without lawyers (I think), but I couldn't live without garbage men (or women)! What utter snobbery. Like sanitation engineers are lesser beings than doctors or lawyers.
And the funniest part of all this is that I'm a believer in kollel. But it's clearly not the best thing for everyone. More when I (dream on) have more time.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Ganger
DATE: 12/03/2003 09:00:53 PM
Poor little defenseless lawyers and doctors. Bad bad frumies: boo boo boo.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Some
DATE: 12/03/2003 09:03:43 PM
Somtimes you need to get carried away just to stay your self, to counteract the onslaught of tumeh. Epes, get musser shmoozed.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Gishmak
DATE: 12/04/2003 09:48:02 PM
I learned in BY-type schools....what we learned is that there are two types of GOOD JEWS. Those who learn and those who support the learners. If you're not made out to be a full-time learner, you can be ko'vea itim and make a Yissachar-Zevulun partnership. You can't look down at either side. Everyone's different - you just have to do your part.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Some
DATE: 12/05/2003 12:31:57 PM
All learning boys are vampires.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: rinx
DATE: 12/07/2003 01:20:33 PM
lol, im famous, ppl are qouting me;) i agree with all of you... i personally would prbbly sell my diomond ring for my husband to learn...but thats me, not everyone can do that, and it not madotory for everyone to do that...and i believe ppl should and can be lawyers...its a controversy.. maybe we'll ask moshiach when he comes...
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: MonkeyWrench
DATE: 12/14/2003 02:14:29 PM
Everyone loves to quote the Yissachar-Zevulun arrangement. As if they were the only shevatim! What if I want to be a Dan, or a Yosef, or whoever? (In fact, what if I AM one of those?) The truth is that Levi was the real learners and teachers of klal yisrael, but lets not let that get in the way of our contemporary view of Judaism.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Kettle Called Black
DATE: 12/16/2003 05:12:02 PM
Of course Levi was supported by tithes from the other shevatim. Interestingly, the Rambam in Hilchos Ma'asros includes anyone whose work is solely for the klal as having the din of a Levi l'gabi communal support b'zman hazeh.
-- One whose wife refused to accept an engagement ring on the grounds that such a purchase was inappropriate hackafically for a kollel couple.
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Posted by notepad at 5:40 PM | Comments (0)
November 27, 2003
Infiniti
From a print ad for the Infiniti Q45:
you didn’t eat your broccoli.
and you didn’t get in line
with all the other kids. you
never really cared about
where you sat at the lunch
table or which clique you
were in then or what club
you are in now. you knew
that the best way to live was
by doing what you wanted
not just what you were told.
soon everyone else began
to notice. you wanted to go
your own way. and you did.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Brooms
DATE: 11/27/2003 04:46:22 PM
Wow so mysterious. Nobody but nobody tell can. What happened to the y. In infiniti.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Shlomo
DATE: 11/27/2003 07:46:31 PM
http://www.infiniti.com/content/0,,cid-184_sctid-12001,00.html
Duh! It's a brand not a word.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Gishmak
DATE: 11/30/2003 03:53:18 PM
very nice!
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: st@@m
DATE: 12/04/2003 12:02:16 AM
niiiiice!
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: cookie
DATE: 12/10/2003 02:03:00 PM
Maybe I'm dense, but why would you want to drive a Q45? Obviously because you would want to fit the Q45 stereotype. Nice try, but no cigar.
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Posted by notepad at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)
November 17, 2003
Truth (2)
"I have told the whole truth... and only dead men can tell the truth in this world."---Mark Twain
Posted by notepad at 4:51 PM | Comments (0)
November 11, 2003
Who Is This Child?
The moment you understand that the child you see now is who he is now, and you are now parenting the child you’re looking at, not the one you knew, you’ve started the long journey toward saving your son.
This is old, November 1999 old, but it's still very much correct. Maybe the JO should just keep publishing it every year?
I don't know who this Rabbi Levy is but I think he would do a great service to the communitty if he kept spreading those and other wise words.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Goodness Gracious
DATE: 11/11/2003 04:59:23 PM
I disagree with the article. Fringehood is a form mental retardation. And instead of lowering the standards to suit each child what must be done is to give him the tools to accomodate for his deficiency or inaptitude. Ie I recomend instrumental enrichment. In yo face!
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Gishmak
DATE: 11/14/2003 01:15:25 AM
i'm sure it's harder to do than it is to say, though!
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Posted by notepad at 11:48 AM | Comments (0)
November 6, 2003
Individuality
Always remember that you are unique, just like everybody else.---Despair.com
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Q!SAT
DATE: 11/07/2003 05:46:29 PM
Fine, alright...I'll remember.
Great quote!
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Eunique
DATE: 11/09/2003 08:55:54 PM
There is a tested remedy for feeling unique. You must be mevatel your yesh to Hashem by being mevatel yourself to kneses yirsoel. And since yisroel v'kudsha brich hu is chad - 1 - one becomes one: but in two ways - thru yisroel and thru kudsha brich hu, because if one becomes one in only one way the oneness is incomplete; so one is still a little bit unone; but when one is one in two ways one is one completely. So one cannot be one unless one is two: yisroel v'kudsha brich hu. So its ironic that being unique can actually accomplish its logical opposite, not disparity not differentiation, but copycatation and mimickization of ordinary masses. This leads to a parodoxical conclusion - that despite being the same, or maybe quite surprisingly because of it, one shall always remain what one can never be - ie either unique due to a lack of dissimilarity, or the same due to a lack of uniqueness.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: yuda
DATE: 11/10/2003 10:41:31 PM
very true, though i do not like the satire it implies...
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Posted by notepad at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)
November 3, 2003
I Think, therefore.... (2)
If Descarte’s maxim “I think, therefore I am” holds true, then the flip side is “if no one knows what I’m thinking, do I exist?”---Lorna Graham
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: spurt
DATE: 11/04/2003 08:48:27 PM
I think I know I think I know I think I know - that's what I don't think!
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Posted by notepad at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2003
Smile!
I would like to suggest that you bear in mind one of my husband, Ha Rav Meshulem HaLevi Jungreis, zt"l's favorite teachings from the Bresslover Rebbe, zt"l: "When there is no reason to smile, put a smile on your face and G-d will give you every reason to smile."---Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Q!SAT
DATE: 10/26/2003 08:08:12 PM
I like that :-)...
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Mindy
DATE: 10/27/2003 02:24:50 AM
Shlomo, I saw it this week too and it really resonates with me. it's my new motto!!!
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: blue spurt of a lighted match
DATE: 10/28/2003 04:39:55 PM
I think when there is no reason to smile and one smiles anyway, God gives one a reason to weep inside first. And only then, much later, God gives one a reason to weep on the outside too. And when one remembers how one wept inside and how one thought that that was bad, one smiles at one's own foolishness, for somethings are bad and somethings are badder. And then there is the baddest of them all - FEAR of the good! When that comes, just hide under something big and strong, like a table or a bed.
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Posted by notepad at 3:35 PM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2003
Truth
Something may be “true,” but not “uniquely true.” A person may realize that a certain thing is true, but he has not completely eliminated all other possibilities. “Uniquely true” means that all other possibilities have been completely eliminated.---Rabbi Eliyahu E. Dessler in Strive for Truth, vol. 5 p. 25.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: blue spurt of a lighted match!
DATE: 10/28/2003 04:49:37 PM
So if one hasn't eliminated other possibilities that means one isn't convinced of the thing-at-hand's truth.
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Posted by notepad at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2003
I Think, therefore.... (1)
"I think, therefore I am single."
---ToWhomItMayConcern
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Shlomo
DATE: 09/19/2003 12:11:34 PM
It seems the quote actually belongs to one Liz Winston.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: R
DATE: 09/25/2003 02:45:58 AM
Dont be so morbid.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: A-Base
DATE: 09/30/2003 07:12:48 PM
I think some people are single because they don't think. If they'd REALLY think, they wouldn't want to be single.
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Posted by notepad at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)
September 17, 2003
True Inner Self
"Oh, yeah? - Well, my true inner self can whip your true inner self!"
---Cartoon in National Review
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: toohock
DATE: 09/17/2003 03:24:15 PM
thanks for the humor!
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Posted by notepad at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)
September 4, 2003
Shabbos
In our society, messed up as it is, Shabbos is one thing that has a lot of “weight”. Even people whose yiddishkeit is not rooted deeply in their hearts, keep Shabbos to it's utmost, or at least try to. It is considered a “milestone” (if in the wrong direction,) when someone who is officially frum is mechalel Shabbos. Here's a Definition of melacha that all of us should have been taught along with the basics, such as “don't turn on a light on Shabbos.”
How is the Shabbos to become such a symbol? How is it to become an education and a sanctification for our true task in life? “The seventh day is to be a Shabbos to G-d your G-d.” How? “On it you shall not do any kind of work.” This is much more than a mere day of rest. It is an all-embracing symbolic statement. How does man show his domination over the earth? By fashioning all the things in his environment to suit his own purposes, the earth for his habitation, plants and animals for his food and clothing, metals and plastics for his industry, coal and oil and the atom itself for his energy. With his science and his technology he can transform everything into an instrument for his own service. How wonderful this is! What tremendous power resides in the mind of man! But wherever we see a great concentration of power, we must ask: how is this power regulated? Uncontrolled power leads to disaster. As we have learnt while studying other mitzvos, the control envisaged by the Torah is a self-imposed control. In consists in replacing selfish, materialist goals by unselfish, spiritual goals, revealed to us by the world's creator. This ensures that the way we administer the world will be beneficent rather than disastrous. It is our task as Jews to keep this option open. We do it by maintaining the symbol of the Shabbos. On this day, at the behest of the Torah, we are to refrain from all productive activity. For this one day we relinquish our domination over the world and its resources. This is why the Hebrew name of this day is Shabbat, which does not mean “rest” but “cessation of activity.” On this day we, so to speak, restore the world to G-d, and thus proclaim, to ourselves and to others, that our life in this world has higher, spiritual aims.Refraining from work on Shabbos is thus a “sign”, as the Torah puts it: an expressive symbol for all time. The bearer of the symbol, the “work” that we refrain from on Shabbos, is very carefully circumscribed in Jewish law. Melacha, as this type of work is called, certainly does not mean physical exertion. It refers to carrying out an intelligent purpose by practical skill, production, creation, transport, transforming an object for human purposes; all, as we saw, activities which bespeak man's domination of the physical world. A person can have tired himself out the whole day, but so long as he has not produced something of significance, or effected some magnificent change in an object, he has not done a melacha. On the other hand if one has brought about such a change, without the slightest exertion, then he has desecrated the Shabbos. In fact the less exertion needed, the more the act proclaims man's successful domination of his environment, and this is just the type of act that we have to relinquish on Shabbos to G-d.
The laws concerning the prohibition of melacha on Shabbos, which are the realization in practice of the above concept, have as their scope practically all the productive activities of man. To qualify as melacha an act must be deliberate, it must aim at, and achieve, some significant, constructive purpose, and be done with reasonable skill. It is an important principle of the Shabbos laws that an act done in an unusual manner or for purely destructive purposes is not a melacha. A little reflection will show how all these principles fit into the concept of prohibition of melacha which we developed above.
From MASTERPLAN 41:3-4, by Rav Aryeh Carmell
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: April
DATE: 05/28/2004 06:58:33 PM
I have a Jewish friend that owns and operates a greenhouse. While he closes the business to the public, does not do any type of propagation or transplanting, fertilization, trimming, etc. on the Sabbath, he does water his plants in fear they will not survive otherwise. This is his only income. Is it okay for him to water the plants? If not, is there something he could do, like water in a way that he normally doesn't?
Thank you,
April
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Posted by notepad at 12:40 AM | Comments (0)
September 2, 2003
Knowledge
"Life is higher than knowledge and actions are the fruit of wisdom."---Rav Aryeh Carmell in Masterplan
Posted by notepad at 11:30 AM | Comments (0)
August 24, 2003
First Class
In a letter to The Economist, Christopher Thomas from Bryan, Texas writes:
...I have long advocated that those who would fly first class should instead buy a long block of seats in economy, lie out comfortably and insist on an appropriate number of snacks, drinks and meals. Such a person, surrounded by the cramped envy of so many others, would feel far more like royalty than someone in first class.
He's right, isn't he?
Posted by notepad at 9:47 PM | Comments (0)
August 17, 2003
Brain Maps
In an article in we've got blog, Rebecca Blood writes:
Read any weblog for a few weeks and it is impossible not to feel that you know its writer. The best weblogs are those that convey the strongest personality. Every weblog has a point of view, and even those that contain no personal information reveal, over time, detailed maps of their creators' minds. It is captivating to see the biases, interests, and judgments of an individual reveal themselves so clearly.
The scary thing is that it's true. You could get a “detailed map” of someone's life from reading their “anonymous” blog. This is why I officially put in fiction, or will put in fiction, in my blog.
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Q!SAT
DATE: 08/17/2003 08:21:23 PM
I'm curious how much of myself I portray on the web.....quite a lot, so it seems.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: toohock
DATE: 08/18/2003 02:51:53 PM
hmmm, read my hocks. and tell me who i am....
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Shlomo
DATE: 08/18/2003 03:09:33 PM
First I want to see you sticking around long enough.
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Posted by notepad at 6:46 PM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2003
Weekend Quotes
"Heroin and cocaine are weapons of mass destruction that have been causing horrendous casualties in America for decades"
---J.S. Walker
"...if we as a nation expect to attract real people to public life, we have to do what we can not to intrude on matters that don't affect a public figure's duties and performance."
---Rudolph W. Giuliani
"Like Elvis, legends never die - especially when they are profitable."
---The Economist
Posted by notepad at 1:27 AM | Comments (0)
August 7, 2003
The A-Base
I can't help but wonder who this is. Is it someone I know? Is it someone who like me is starting a new blog after leaving the old one behind? If it is, I woder who will last longer.
The writing is good. On the big question "Should people keep personal websites?" S/He answers,
Before you bring this issue up on hashkafah.com, consider this:
Anyone can look at a public site like OnlySimchas.com and come away envious. I need not go into details to emphasize my point.Some people will be happy for you no matter what. Some people will be jealous no matter what. Should you hole yourself away from the world at large in order to avoid being the recipient of an evil eye?
No.
Just proceed with caution.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Q!SAT
DATE: 08/08/2003 01:53:20 PM
...as with everything. In moderation.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: A-Base
DATE: 08/18/2003 03:36:11 AM
>I can't help but wonder who this is. Is it someone I know? Is it someone who like me is starting a new blog after leaving the old one behind? If it is, I woder who will last longer.
I wonder likewise.
Posted by notepad at 8:38 PM | Comments (0)
Terrorism or Freedom
"Terrorism will either destroy free nations, or free nations will destroy it."
---Tom DeLay
Posted by notepad at 8:17 PM | Comments (0)