?

12/31-1/1: New Year's Eve Soul Gathering Egalitarian Shabbat Farbrengen

some vacation statistics

Number of days I spent in Florida this week: 2.5
Number of days it was atually warm: 0
Number of separate occasions during those 2.5 days on which my grandmother used the word "sallowness" in discussing my complexion: 3
Number of days I did not stop smiling after starting my vacation: 4
Time I arrived in Boston, from NYC, by Bus, on Thursday: 3:45 am
Number of people I care about whom I snapped at within 15 hours of my arrival: 4
Correlation between the number of days left of my vacation and my downturn in mood: direct.

Poll: Is it safe to ride the train from WAshington Heights to Brooklyn (Midwood) as an unaccompanied female at 1 am?

I mentioned to someone at work that I live near Ave J and 15th.
"Oh, right near my man DiFara's!"
"(silent: huh?)"
"DiFara's, come one, right across the street!"
My continued failure to have any idea what he was talking about prompted him to mention it to a random passerby, and they shared a moment reminiscing about high-quality pizza.
All I could mumble to justify my astounding cultural deficiency was "It's not kosher."
So apparently the treif pizza store on avenue J that I always thought was just some sort of nondescript anomaly in the landscape is quite noteworthy. Three cheers for parochialism.

three emunot

So, rav goldvicht this week brought a Maharal that talks about the three regalim as each epitomizing one of three foundational beliefs.
Pesach: belief in the existnce of God, or "ein od milevado."
Shavuot: belief in torah min hashamayim
Sukkot: belief in hashgachah peratit (or hashgochoh pratis).

Maharal ties these three beliefs to three times in the Torah where there is statement that all of benei yisrale (vs .specific individuals) belive s/t.
1- in egypt, the people believe (va-yeamen ha-am) that GOd has redeemed them (hashgachah peratit)
2- at yam suf, "va-ya'aminu baShem uvemosheh avdo (existence of God)
3- at har sinai, "ve-gam becha ya'aminu le-olam." (torah min hashamayim)
(citations may be coming when i have more time...)

ignoring for the moment some problems* with especially the third prooftext, i am wondering about the order:
the order of the regalim seems logical enough - belief in God as such, then belief in individual attention from said God, then belief that that attention has taken the form of, among other things, the Torah. but what about the order in history? how can b"Y believe in hashgachah before they believe in God as such?
There seems to be some statement here about the genesis of belief under suffering/extreme circumstances (egypt) as opposed to "ordinary" times. It makes some sense to say that one sees God in the details of redemption before one has the emotional (and physical) strength to see a "bigger picture," but I think there is probably more to say here. what does it mean to acquire, as a people, belief in hashgachah before basic emunah? Does that perhaps have something to do with the apparent ease w/ which b"y lose focus on God in teh desert and the necessity of frequent open miracles? Is our celebration of the chagim in their order some sort of an attempt to correct the original order?
Thoughts are welcome.

*eg, the statement is a promise that b"y will believe something., not a statement that they actually do.

An event I did not attend this week in Crown Heights:
"Video" (this was in big Hebrew letters, title and content unsepcified, but easily guessed) at beis moshiach for yud tes kislev.

An event I did attend this week:
"Breslov Shabbaton in Flatbush."

When I came in the women's section had about 6 seats and there was a sign:

"Due to an overflow crowd this shabbos the main women's section has been moved downstairs.
We deeply appreciate your cooperation and participation."

This in a shul where women sing.*

That aside, it was all very nice. A funny crowd of flatbush-misfits who smile and don't wear expensive clothing and say hello but don't need to know your last name (miriam whaaat?) so they can place you on their yichus-map. And, despite the during-daavening exile, an atmosphere in which it wasn't embarassing to be female and seen.
A small very happy looking chassidishe man played the recorder (of the wind instrument, not the electronic device, variety) at a melaveh malkah. The end.

* More to the point, perhaps, this is a shul where they open the mechitzah during shiurim so women can see what we're listening to. But it still didn't occur to them that the best way to save space might be to collapse the 6-10 tables between rows in the men's section!