three notes from this week

i'm taking the LSAT in a week (why? well, that's a very good question...)
in honor of this impending event, i started to study last week.
the only real pattern i can notice is that i always do badly (significantly more mistakes) in the section after the logic games section (though not in that section itself, anymore).
so then its all just about nerves, eh?
maybe i need to spend the rest of the week meditating, then...

on an entirely unrelated note, i love it how sketchy chassidishe businessmen justify their requests for checks made out to cash, etc, with "i didn't charge you any taxes" and not "i don't pay taxes." i mean, i do benefit (is that unethical, btw?), but to put it that way implies that i would have chosen the tax-less option if asked, which is not true...

also, if anyone can point me in the direction of some of the primary (allegedly kabbalistic) sources discouraging women's participation in havdalah-related things (eg, drinking the wine) that would help me with a project i'm working on, which i may discuss later...

shabbat shalom, hey!

"sort of a game"

David Brooks wrote in Thursday's New York times about "Gangsta Rap" as some sort of globalized culture of oppression. Fine.
then he threw in this bit toward the end:

"In America, at least, gangsta rap is sort of a game. The gangsta fan ends up in college or law school. Bu in France, the barriers to ascent are higher..."

college or law school? Whether or not France is worse, that second sentence shows an amazing (literally, I am amazed) disconnect.

trivia

Today I finally restored my phone service, which got suspended without my knowledge while I was in Israel. (Yes, I was basically completely responsdible. I just didn't realize there was such a small window for late payments when your service contract is expired...)

[n"m: i'f you tried to call me and the nice electronic lady told you that Iw as "not accepting calls" that is no longer the case]

Over the past week of phonelessness, I used a lot of payphones, which was an experience I have not missed. I also got to spend entire days without worrying that someone was going to call and ask about the anticipated color of my shoelaces at my wedding. So everything cuts both ways, I suppose.

Today I also went to Brooklyn for the first time in months, which was happy, and I got to ehar the cars driving around Boro Park with loudspeakers urging people (in English and Yiddish) to vote because it is "essential to the future of our comunity." I, embarassingly, did not visit my (admitedly nowhere-near-where-i-live) polling place...

Runcible Spoons

For Rosh Chodesh someone brought in quinces, which, of course, brought the following to mind:

I
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'



II
Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?'
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.



III
'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.


-Edward Lear

Hi, mom!

Who knew that anyone, let alone people who would tell my mother read this.
not that there's anything wrong with that, of course...

מדת שבת...שהיא ענין שירה

הגהות מיימוניות הל שבת פכ"ט הע ע

Rambam says you says it is a "mitzvah to bless on the wine on the day of shabbat before he eats the second meal."

Hagahot Maymoniyyot says:

"...in the Sheiltot, it explains the reason (for daytime kiddush as being) in order to differentiate between the character of shabbat and the character of weekdays, for it (presumably, the character of shabbat) is an idea of song (inyan shirah) and we only say song over wine."

nifty, eh?

the perks of being a feminist nerd

my afternoon seder (hilchot niddah) is much more fun.

the three things most people find most annoying are:

1 - trivial but tedious mathematical/numerical calculations
2 - bizzarre ancient science tidbits
3 - gender/sexuality "issues"

lucky for me, those are three of my most favoritest things to fret about. (one might argue, i spent most of my official efforts for the last 3 years on either 1 or 2, and, for better or worse, a lot of my spare time on 3)

[conclude pat on the back. resume general anxiety about all the things i have to do in the too-near future]

ספר אבודרהם מעריב של שבת ד"ה ומקדש ש"צ

. והטעם שאין אומרים בשבת אשר בחר בנו מכל עם ורוממנו מכל לשון כמו בימים טובים לפי שבמרה נצטוו על השבת שנאמר (שמות טו, כה) שם שם לו חוק ומשפט ושם נסהו ואמרו ז"ל שבת ודינין במרה אפקוד. ועדיין לא בחר בהם הקדוש ברוך הוא עד שנתן להם התורה אבל כשנצטוו על ימים טובים כבר נתן להם התורה ובחר בהם ולכך אין אומרים בשבת אשר בחר בנו. וגם רוממנו מכל לשון לפי שהוא על שם (תה' ל, ב) ארוממך ה' כי דליתני כלומר נסים גדולים עשית לי שדליתני על אויבי ולכן ארוממך. וימים טובים נצטוו בהם על ידי נסים ונפלאות שעשה עמהם הקב"ה אבל שבת לא נצטוו בו על ידי נסים ונפלאות אלא על שם ששבת בו ממלאכה ולכך אין אומרים בשבת ורוממנו מכל לשון. ומזה הטעם אומרים גם כן בתפלות ימים טובים אתה בחרתנו וכו' ורוממתנו.

translation and thougts (perhaps forthcoming) [follow].

The reason that we do not say "Who chose us from all nations and exalted us of all tongues" as (we do) on holidays: because at Marah they were commanded about the Sabbath, as it is said (Ex. 15:25) "There He placed for him a statute and a law and there He tested him," and they ob"m (our sages), said "Sabbath and laws ('dinim' - civil laws?) at AMrah were commanded.' And the KB"H had still not chosen them until He gave them the Torah. But when they were commanded regarding the holidays He had already given them the Torah and chosen them, and therefore we do not say "Who chose us" on shabbat. And also, "exalted us from all tongues" (is omitted on shabbat) because it is (said) in reference to "I will exalt You, Hashem, for You have raised me up [and not allowed my enemies to rejoice over me]" (Ps. 30:2) That is to say, You have done great miracles for me, that You raised me over my enemies, and therefore I will exalt You. And the Holidays - they were commanded about them due to miracles and wonders that the KBH did with them, but Shabbat - they were not commanded about it due to miracles and wonders, rather because He rested therein from creative work (melakhah). And therefore we do not say on shabbat "and exalted us from all tongues...."

notes:
1- the limmud re: ve-romemanu is wierd. it uses a pasuk in which we are r.m.m. God in response to situation X (miracles) to prove that God being rmm us means God's doing X for us. wierd.
2- more centrally, the idea of shabbat as being uniquely Jewish, but pre-sinai (=pre-covenental, to some degree) is super-interesting. perhaps this indicates that shabbat is somehow a prerequesite for the covenant at Sinai?