A Preview to "This Day In Yeshiva History- January 3" (background info)

Well it's actually because I can't get the full post out in time before shabbat comes in 4:34. So I'll give a quick sneak preview before I post the whole thing tomorrow night.

I spent a year in yeshiva (a Jewish school for Biblical studies, males only) in Jerusalem, Israel. That year spanned from September 2005-June 2006. The name of the yeshiva was Ohr David, an American yeshiva (all the guys who went there are American, except us Canadians). The place was recommended to me by my rabbi @ NCSY, a Jewish youth organization I'd been involved with in high school. I also had connections through an NCSY summer camp called Camp Sports I attended in Baltimore, where a lot of the guys who went there eventually went to Ohr David. I won't call it a Baal Teshuva yeshiva - for Jews who weren't religious when born and brought up but are re-connecting) but there were some BTs there, like me. I'd say it was more for guys who had potential but failed to realize it, guys who had issues at home and needed a place to just grow and prosper. We actually had a great mix of guys from different walks of Jewish life, from different places, upbringings, and where we were holding in our Yiddishkeit. But we all had one thing in common - we were all looking to improve ourselves one way or another. There was just 55 of us at most, and soon enough as the year begun, we were family.T' was the best year of my life.


In fact the Lunar calender this year is on the exact time set it was that year - which means that all the holidays and when they will fall on the secular calendar are on the exact day of the week with exactly the same circumstances - i.e. the sixth day of Hanukkah that year fell on shabbat (Saturday), which also happens to be Rosh Chodesh (the beginning of the month) = that also happened this year. I know that because its the longest Birkat Hamazon (Grace after Meals) you can say - because of the inclusions. So I'm interested to see what similarities evolve between this year and that year.

I wasn't exactly sure when I was going to do write this because the Hebrew date at the time was the 3rd of Tevet, which was just after Hannukah (which ends on the 2nd). I was also unsure about what date I was going to write about because a lot happened at that time. I figured I'd go with the english date for now, because I had another article I wanted to write on the last day of Hannukah, which was the day I wrote my previous two articles. I'll decide later whether or not to keep to English or Hebrew dates, depending on the significance of the day and happening.

The 7th night of Hannukah, happened to be New Years, and a Saturday night, therefore once Shabbat was over, technically we could party if we wanted. Even though we were technically on a break over the Hannukah holiday, there were still some optional morning classes, we went to meals at our rabbis house almost every night of the holiday, and had a big party in the yeshiva of of the nights too. So New Years Day was pretty much our only day off. I spent it pretty well, which I tell in detail in the next post. Okay. So first I'll recap. Being Motzei Shabbat (Saturday night) in Jerusalem on the night of December 31st, also the 7th night of Hanukkah. Surprisingly enough, I actually have an opportunity to do something for new years. I've never really cared about new years, it's just another day to me. All I did was meet up with friends at a place and soon after midnight we headed back to yeshiva. Aside from not being the most important thing, we called it an early evening because 6 of us wanted to go to the Dead Sea for the day the next day, and we had to leave early to catch a bus to do so. That was a fun day.

I could have purely focused on that day but a few days ago, my dad read me something he was emailed, which seemed like such a coincidence considering what I was doing in yeshiva a few days later on the 3rd, so I decided to choose that topic while including something about the days before.

Hope you enjoy it!
Shabbat Shalom/Good Shabbos/Sabbatical Salutations and Benedictions

(don't ask about the last greeting)

December 16- This Day in History

Besides from the most important thing that happened on this day, a lot of other cool things happened on this day as well. People born, people died... famous events etc.
I already knew of a lot of these things but there were a few cool ones I hadn't seen before. So after doing some research, here's a brief list of cool things that happened on the day I share my birthday with:
Let's start with notable events:
1997- Clinton names his Labrador retriever, "Buddy"
1994- Céline Dion gets married to manager René Angélil

Wait a second, I said notable events... Let's try this again:

1998- Operation Desert Fox begins- The US and UK bomb Iraq because of an alleged failure to comply with UN Security Council resolutions. You can look as this day as a monumental day in how things began developing towards present day Iraq.
1991- Independence Day for The Republic of Kazahkstan. Very nice! I knew I was connected in more than one way to Kazahkstan asides from my infamous Borat costume.

One of my favourites:
1991- UN General Assembly Resolution 4686 is passed, which revokes UN General Assembly Resolution 3379 after Israel makes revocation of resolution 3379 a condition of its participation in the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991
Why is this a big deal? Pretty much the UN reversed a ruling that Zionism is considered racism. Like there was ever any question of that concept in the first place boggles me. The final vote was 111-25 (13 abstained). President Bush told the General Assembly:

"...to equate Zionism with the intolerable sin of racism is to twist history and forget the terrible plight of Jews in World War II and indeed throughout history."

Let this be a lesson for everyone...
I encourage everyone to look up information about this historic event.

1973-O.J. Simpson becomes the first NFLer to rush for 2,00o yards in a season. And now rots in prison.
1971- Independence Day of State of Bahrain AND Victory Day in Bangladesh- this day marks the surrender of the Pakistani army in the Bangladesh War of Independence and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, paving the way for independence in Bangladesh.
ALSO
Miami Dolphins become first undefeated NFL team at 14-0-0. They actually lost the Super Bowl that year (a la New England Patriots in 2007/8) but repeated the undefeated season and won the big game - the only time that's been done.
1969- MP's in English Commons vote to abolish hanging. 2 days later the House of Lords voted in favour of abolishing the death penalty completely.
1966- Jimi Hendrix Experience releases its first single "Hey Joe," in the UK. And a legend is born.
1960- 1960 New York air disaster- While approaching New York's Idlewild Airport, a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 collides with a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation in a blinding snowstorm over Staten Island, killing 134.
1944- The Battle of the Bulge begins. This was the last major offensive by the Germans in WWII before eventually losing the war. Thank G-d for that.

1773- The Boston Tea Party. That's right, today was the day that members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Natives and dumped several crates of tea into Boston harbour as a protest against the Tea Act.

1689- English Parliament adopts Bill of Rights after Glorious Revolution
1497- Vasco da Gama goes where no man has gone before- around the Cape of Good Hope, the point where Bartolomeu Dias had made it to, but turned back.

Birthdays:
1770- Ludwig von Beethoven, the musician: duh duh duh duh, duh duh duh duh!!
1775- Jane Austen, novelist, Pride and Prejudice
1883- Max Linder, French pioneer of silent film, it's said he created what was probably the first identifiable motion-picture character who appeared in successive situation comedies. Jewish too.
1913- George Ignatieff, He was a Russian-born Canadian diplomat, but today he's relevant because he's the father of Michael Ignatieff, the soon-to-be next leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.
1934- Elgin Baylor, NBA Hall-of-Famer
1938- Frank Deford, American Sportswriter
1941- Lesley Stahl, American journalist, 60 minutes

1946- Benny Andersson, singer and songwriter for ABBA - OR, the reason I almost my mind this summer while working because of having to listen to ABBA over and over again...

1949- Billy Gibbons, ZZ Top guitarist. A real musician, and what facial hair! >

1962- William "The Refrigerator" Perry, American football player, awesome nickname- at his peak weight he was 382 lbs! (See Below)

1963- Benjamin Bratt, American actor, Law & Order, Traffic
1966- Clifford Robinson, American basketball player
One of my favourites: 1967- Donovan Bailey, Canadian sprinter, 2-time Olympic gold medalist, held the world record for the 100 metre dash at 9.84 seconds. He's also from Oakville, Ontario, my previous hometown.
1975- Ben Kowalewicz, Canadian musician, Billy Talent. Solid band.
1977- Eric Belanger, Canadian hockey player, Minnesota Wild



Deaths:
1859- Wilhelm Grimm, One of the Brothers Grimm, fairy tale writer
1916 (old style calender, so for us its actually on December 29)- Rasputin, powerful Russian monk. legend has it that on this day he was poisoned by Romanov family members who believed his influence on the Tsaritsa became too dangerous. He didn't die right away but this event is known as the catalyst for his downfall.
1922- Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the man who revived the Hebrew language. Read his bio. What a fascinating story he has. He lived a tough life - after his wife died of tuberculosis and three of his five children died within a span of 10 days - but managed to revive a seemingly dead language. Many orthodox authorities rejected his teachings because of the sanctity of the Hebrew language, which is regarded as "Lashon HaKodesh" or holy language/tongue, and should only be used for the discussion of holy/torah matters, not everyday conversational use (they consider it a misuse of the language, thus explaining the prevalence of Yiddish as a conversational language.) Personally, I agree with the orthodox point of view, but what Ben-Yehuda did was extremely vital to the well-being of Jewish identity. One of the first things any Jew learns is the Aleph-Beis (the alphabet), and without it, it's extremely difficult to grasp much. Also, when defining a nation, better yet an organized group of similar people - language is usually one of those dominating characteristics. Thank G-d for bringing a man like Elizer Ben Yehuda into this world.
1922- Gabriel Narutowic, 1st President of Poland, assassinated a week after his election.
1976- George, a goose that lived to 49 years, 8 months. I read this and thought wow.
1980- Colonel Sanders, Mr. Kentucky Fried Chicken


Hope you enjoyed that!

It's my 21st Birthday!! A time to celebrate, but also to look back... and reflect

It's 1:15 AM, I'm sitting on the couch of my basement room floor in my house. I've got an open beer to my left, my bongo to my right, and metallica blasting from my laptop speakers (someone just closed the door from the main floor leading to the basement - too loud I presume :)

I don't really feel like sleeping tonight, because why would I want to waste such a day like this?
(I actually have to finish up an overdue essay.. guess I can't have it all my way..)

Today is December 16 and 21 years ago today I was born. No matter what country, I'm considered an adult. It's a little something worth contemplating amidst my happy state of mind.

To be honest, up until the clock actually struck 12, I wasn't all that excited. I had just finished up a very long week and clearly I was still feeling its effects. But it felt more than just that...

I was waiting in line today with my mother at the local WalMart. She had just finished placing a bunch of random things on the checkout table. One of those things was a birthday card, which she specifically told me to go away and keep busy while she looked for one. After carefully placing it on the checkout table away from my what my eyes could see, she turned to me and said:

"You're gonna be 21 by this time tomorrow, that's amazing. You know, some people are married and having kids by now."

I knew it. I was tired but I knew it. As much as I don't like to compare myself to others and how they were raised to be brought up a certain way and be ready for certain responsibilities and stages of life at certain ages, I felt a little urge of discomfort after hearing this remark. She quickly made a small joke to ease the tension but thoughts had already begun to resonate inside me.

Fine, marriage and kids are one thing, but at an age like 21, it's safe enough to say that this is the beginning of adulthoood. Responsibilities. Privileges. Capabilities. Sometimes I've thought to myself that time and time again, I've been unable to live up to the potential I'm truly capable of. Call it a lack of deisre, laziness, the feeling of comfort based on my surroundings, a lack of urgency or maybe just an unwilling mentality to conform to how everyone else presents themselves, simply for the sake of standing out. In the end, there are several things I can improve upon in my life with trying to become the best human being I can be.

But when I start feeling depressed about how much I could've been, I try to recall where I was not too long ago. I being to ask myself, "have I made progress since X date?" and most of the time, and on an overall level.... yes, I have grown since then. I can also take confort in the fact that thank G-d I 've been given all that I have today, and even more so, thank G-d I have a state of mind that relaizes that I can't be content with the status quo or with whatever level I may be holding at.

Sometimes life can seem like a reverse escalator (or one of those conveyor belts at the airport that you can use when walking through the bording area's long hallways - except backwards). No matter how hard you try to walk up those flight of stairs, the current's going in the opposite direction.

As happy and thankful as I am for reaching this milestone in my life, I need to also take into consideration where am I going and how am I getting there. Though its emphasized now, with G-d's help I can have this concept in my mind everyday or more often than not.

Thanks for all the warm wishes and may we all take the time to properly examine where we are in our lives and guide ourselves on the right path meant for us.


I declare this day a national holiday in Tevytown. Now lets party!

New Feautures in Town

The Mayor of TevyTown has decided to introduce a few new features to town. They could come around here or there, one a week, when I feel like it; they're just a few things I wanna get out in the open. Fun stuff, check em' out.

Life and What Life Shoud be
An on going entry about Judaism vs. the world around me. How I'm dealing with things around me, current things going on etc. "A little bit of Torah amongst the craziness."

Flashback Freeze
Let's go back in time and talk about something that happened to myself that's worth talking about around, include why it's relevant (duh).

This Day in Yeshiva History
Citing journal entries, we go back to the greatest year of my life and find out what I was doing @ that time. A space for nostalgia, inspiration... something to feel good about.

Week/Month in Review
What the title says. I'll do my best to post these on either Fridays, Sundays or Mondays. If I miss those dates then I'll make it up on Tuesday or Thursday. If it isn't something substantial to give it its own own post, it'll wind up here.

Now enjoy the next two entries...

And a very happy birthday to my dad, Zev who turned 50 last week!!