The Pirkei Avot Challenge

A friend of mine showed me this video last night. Kyrie Irving, the NBA rookie of the year, dresses up as an old man and then joins a pick-up game of basketball. What quote from Pirkei Avot can be a message you take from this video? I presented this "Pirkei Avot Challenge" to some of my classes today, but let's see how the rest of you do.  If you get it right, you win a prize (probably candy from my office - sorry, not so exciting). Good luck!

A New Hatikvah?

Recently, my Jewish Philosophy class discussed the Middle East conflict and spent time playing the game Peacemaker, trying to create a peace treaty between the Israelis and Palestinians. Last class, we watched a video where Neshama Carlebach (at the request of the newspaper The Jewish Daily Forward) came up with a new version of Hatikvah, one that is a little more universal and that both Jews and Arabs living in Israel could relate to. In class, we debated our thoughts about this new version of Hatikvah. Is it important that Hatikvah be an anthem that all citizens of Israel feel comfortable singing? Or, is it ok for Hatikvah to be a uniquely Jewish anthem? Should it make a difference that many Jews feel very connected to the emotional words of Hatikvah and the fact that it mentions the connection Jews feel towards Israel and Jerusalem or is this exclusionary to a large amount of Israel's population who also feels connected to the land? Either way, it's an interesting discussion to be had - especially the week before Yom Yerushalayim! You can read more about it here.

Pesach - the Sequel

Today we celebrated Pesach Sheini by not saying tachanun.  Many have a minhag to eat Matzah as well (I got some at the barbecue I attended -- Thanks Rabbi & Mrs. S.).  The reason there is such a holiday is because back in the desert, Jews who were טמא on פסח, and couldn't bring the קרבן פסח asked למה נגרע? Why should we lose out?  One lesson we can take from their story is in their approach to מצות.  They viewed a mitzva as an opportunity, and the loss of that opportunity something to fight against.  There is great irony in that the chief celebration is omitting Tachanun.

At the same time its important to realize that all they did was ask.  They happened to receive the answer they wanted, so we can't know how they would have reacted had Hashem said no.  Also, it would be Hashem Himself turning them down.  Still, the question of למה נגרע can become a dangerous one depending on where the conversation leads.  At a certain point we have to remember that we don't understand everything.