Shavuoth 5773

This blog has been quiescent for a while, but be assured that I have not.  It is end of semester mode at school (and therefore the Final Exams I have had to compose and will soon have to administer and grade), there are family issues, there is a little bit of travel coming up, et cetera.

Amidst all of that, I have been engaged in  some activities behind the scenery and in the wings on certain issues that have garnered national attention and concern.

The Festival of Shavuoth comes in at sunset.  It is a major Jewish holiday (which, unfortunately, has been minimized in importance by some of the less observant and more assimilated sectors of the Jewish community) commemorating the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai.

I will soon sign off of my computer and prepare to celebrate the holiday.

Wishing all a Chag Sameach Shavuoth!

Holiday Timing

In the Hebrew calendar (which long predates the Gregorian), the Month of Tishrei contains a long series of holidays.

1 and 2 Tishrei are Rosh Hashanah (it is a 2-day holiday even in the Land of Israel);

10 Tishrei is Yom Kippur;

15 Tishrei begins the Festival of Sukkot. The first day is one during which religiously-observant Jews such as myself do not engage in activities such as working, switching electricity on or off (this includes booting up on the computer), riding in a motor vehicle, et cetera. Outside the land of Israel, 16 Tishrei is also such a day [a practice from ancient times, before computers and televisions and radios, when those outside the Land of Israel did not know for certain when the Rabbinical Court confirmed the sighting of the full moon, so two days were observed to ensure that the proper day was kept.].

On the intermediate days of Sukkot most of the aforementioned activities are permitted.

But the Festival of Sukkot ends with Shmini Atzeret on 22 Tishrei and Simchat Torah on 23 Tishrei (in Israel, the two occur on the same day, 22 Tishrei), which day/days are also days where we do not do the various aforementioned activities.

Charitable giving in the Jewish community tends to run high around this time of year, (A) because the giving of charity ("tzedaka" in Hebrew) is viewed favorably by G-d when He judges us during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur; and (B) on account of this, Jewish tzedaka organizations tend to go full throttle with their solicitation campaigns.

My wife and I have, in addition to our regular checking account, a special Tzedaka checking account, into which we deposit about 10% of our paychecks and other income. From that account we write our tzedaka checks. In addition to simplifying our records for tax purposes, it also induces a good tzedaka discipline.


So what did I get in the mail today? A solicitation from a religious Jewish organization (I shall not embarrass anyone by naming it) for their fundraising dinner in about 3 weeks. Having just emptied our Tzedaka Account, for us to purchase a full-page Journal Advertisement would place a strain on our budget. Had we known of this fundraising dinner we before the holidays we likely would have gone with at least a full-page ad, inasmuch as one of the honorees is the son of some old friends of ours.

Their timing is piss poor on this one!

Tonight begins Shmini Atzeret. To all, Chag Sameach (Happy Holiday)!

A Matter of Degree

I've got to run and make final preparations for the Festival of Sukkot tonight. My wife has just e-mailed me some more items for the shopping list. We are having guests.

And so, I wish everyone Chag Sameach Sukkot!

But before signing off, I feel inspired to post my thoughts on a recent legal development:

Ayal Rosenthal, a CPA with PriceWaterhouse Coopers (for the uninitiated, PwC is a major accounting firm), copped a guilty plea on some insider trading charges, and got a 60-day sentence. Rosenthal was enrolled in New York University's MBA program at the time, and had even worked there as a Teaching Assistant in a Professional Responsibility course.

NYU decided that Rosenthal was unworthy of an MBA degree, so Rosenthal sued. And Judge Lewis Kaplan, sitting on the bench of the Federal District Court of the Southern District of New York, upheld NYU.

I am no great fan of NYU. They do get quite snotty from time to time (and I have been professionally involved in a case in which questionable ethics on the part of certain key players in the upper reaches of the NYU hierarchy played a role). NYU, then, does not have the firmest standing to deliver the morality lecture.

But Rosenthal is no better than NYU. He, too, has a nefarious arrogance about him, and he needs humility more than he needs an MBA degree.

In my book, Rosenthal and NYU are in pari delicto (Latin for equally at fault). And where parties are in pari delicto, the courts tend to leave the parties as they stand. The pari delicto theory did not play any role in Judge Kaplan's rationale, but the result is the same.

NYU's denial of Rosenthal's MBA has, in a broad sense, ever so slightly prevented my own MBA (not from NYU) from cheapening in value.

Rosh HaShanah 5771

I haven't the time for an extended posting. In a few hours, the sun will set (it already has done so in the Holy City of Jerusalem) and the New Year, 5771, will be upon us.

This past one has had its plusses and minuses for me and my family. I hope and pray that 5771 will be a good one, without some of the negatives that have anguished us.

The holiday will be Thursday and Friday, and then, we go directly in to Shabbat, my religious Sabbath. Accordingly, it will be three days without doing certain types of work (including turning electric switches on or off, going online, accessing my e-mail, swimming, driving, et cetera). It will be a challenge, but I look forward to it.

I wish all a very happy and healthy New Year.

L'Shanah Tovah Tikatevu!!

Chag Sameach Shavuot

In a few hours, the sun will set and it will be the Festival of Shavuot, commemorating the giving of the Ten Commandments and indeed, the entire Torah at Mt. Sinai, seven weeks after the departure from Egypt.

Though the holiday has fallen into disuse amongst many modern day, secular American Jews, it is one of the most important holidays of the year. That is why my family and I keep the holiday.

Here's wishing everyone a happy and healthy Shavuot!

Chag Sameach to all!

Limudei Kodesh and Limudei Chol

Limudei Kodesh and Limudei Chol


One of the big issues in Jewish education is the balance of, and relationship between, Limudei Kodesh and Limudei Chol (literal Hebrew for "Holy Studies" and "Mundane Studies"). Limudei Kodesh refers to education in religious subjects such as Torah, Talmud, the writings of great commentators such as Rashi or Maimonides or the Vilna Gaon, and the like. Limudei Chol refers to the secular subjects such as Math, Social Studies, Science, English, et cetera.

Rule of thumb: The more insular the outlook of the administration of the school, the less the emphasis on limudei chol and the greater the emphasis on limudei kodesh. And many institutions have gotten increasingly insular over the years. Carrying things ad extremum, is that students are graduating many of these institutions with little or no knowledge or skills in the areas where skills and knowledge are required to secure adequate gainful employment, or even socialize out on the street.

This is not just an empty exercise in reductio ad absurdum. In the case of Pinches O. v. Florence F., N.Y.L.J., 12 January 2004, p. 20, col. 1 (Family Ct. Kings Co.), aff'd 15 A.D.3d 664, 789 N.Y.S.2d 912 (2d Dept. 2005), the Court found that graduates of the Satmar school system, with virtually no exception, require remedial education in order to be able to go to college.


The way things are in many insular Jewish educational institutions in America: Limudei chol gets to hold onto the running board while limudei kodesh rides inside the limousine (or, in many instances, the old jalopy clunker). The limudei chol teachers are paid last (and many of these yeshivas are behind in paying the limudei kodesh teachers and rabbis), and, worse yet, the children are given the distinct message, implicit or implicit, that limudei chol teachers are only there because the law requires them to be, but they should not be paid much mind by the students.

Read some of the comments to the postings on theyeshivaworld.com or vosizneias.com, and you will see the piss-poor English grammar and spelling skills of some of these products of the insular religious Jewish community's yeshivas.

Quite frankly, I do understand (but do not agree with) the insular community's rationale for the emphasis on limudei kodesh to the gross subordination of limudei chol. My wife's uncle is a rabbi in Bnei Brak. One of the times we spent Shabbat with them, we discussed these issues. Uncle's logic is that if his sons are going to be spending their lives learning and teaching Torah, then they would not need to learn advanced level science, or any mathematics beyond the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; and if his daughters were going to be hausfrauen whose primary function was to raise the children, then their limudei chol needs were similarly limited. [It is noted that Uncle married a daughter of one of the more moneyed families of the insular religious Jewish community, so he was able to marry off his 13 children and get them all apartments. Whether the family fortune can go on to support the next generation remains to be seen, but the well has already run dry in many other formerly affluent religious Jewish families.].

Also, there is concern, which I share, of the negative influences inherent in studying secular subjects.

A little more than a year ago [28 September 2008], this Blog posted some discussion regarding one Mordechai Samet, a product of the insular religious system who didn't perform so admirably, and who now resides, at taxpayer expense, in the Federal Correctional Institution at Otisville, NY. The long and short of it is that Samet blames everyone but himself for his predicament, and does not acknowledge the wrongfulness of the panoply of fraud, racketeering and money laundering activities for which he was sentenced.

Samet can be compared and contrasted to his junior sidekick, Chaim Hollender, who received a lesser sentence along with Samet. Hollender is now out after 7 years, and apparently, is well on his way to becoming an exemplar of successful rehabilitation. Hollender, it seems, has gotten active with a group known as Lasurim, which reaches out to incarcerated Jews, and which brings speakers to religious high schools in order to inform the adolescents of the wisdom of not making the same mistakes Hollender made. If indeed Hollender prevents just one person from embarking upon a career of fraud or other illegalities, then his rehabilitation has been a success, and each additional person saved is pure profit to society.

There is an article in the latest issue (October 2009) of Kashrus Magazine, which I have just read. In an article co-authored by Hollender, he states:

"There are people who have very little education in some areas. They think that if they need money that it is okay to write something that's not exactly true. They simply don't understand that this can put them into a very serious position."

As incredible as this statement might sound upon the first hearing, I can believe it. Being familiar with a number of people from several of the insular communities, I can see how their disconnect from society at large can eventually lead to a disconnect between right and wrong (though I shall defer to the psychologists and sociologists to explain the exact mechanics of the process).

But now, I have some questions for my wife's uncle, which I hope to ask him next time we meet.

A. If indeed Limudei Kodesh is so positive and wholesome, how does that account for more than just one black-hat religious Jew from going off the derech and disconnecting from the various Torah injunctions to be fair and honest and to fear G-d?

B. If Limudei Kodesh alone cannot ensure honesty, and if, as Mr. Hollender implies, the lack of knowledge of the real world impels religious Jews to commit crimes and other acts of dishonesty, do the children, then, need limudei chol as well as limudei kodesh?

C. If indeed the children need limudei chol, then shouldn't the yeshivas stop breaking down the limudei chol wagon and start letting making clear -- in word and in deed -- that the limudei chol courses and teachers are important?


In a few hours, the Festival of Sukkot will begin. As with last year's holiday, we will be hosting our friend "He" as a houseguest, and will have other guests as well.

Shabbat Shalom, and Chag Sameach!

Fitness, Fatness, and Fitting into the Sukkah

We are now amidst the Festival of Sukkot (as briefly mentioned in the prior posting). It has been quite enjoyable to us, for all of the reasons it is enjoyable to everyone everywhere. My one observation thus far involves the social dynamic at the meal.

Specifically, at the first night's meal I was the only nonfatso in our Sukkah, outnumbered three to one. The three fatsos were (1) my wife, (2) our houseguest known in this blog as "He" (discussed here and here), and (3) a fellow attorney, graduate of an Ivy League law school, who has an uncanny knack for getting himself into some strange predicaments in his personal and professional life.

On the other hand, at last night's meal, the Shabbat meal during the Festival, there were six of us in the Sukkah all told, of whom, my wife was the only fatso. In fact, three of the guests (Mom, Dad and 20-something daughter) are tall, and thin as rails.

It was amazing to observe the differences in my wife's food intake when she was in the company of other fatsos, as compared with her food intake when she was outnumbered by nonfatsos. Seems that she ate less food, and healthier foods, when she was not with the other fatsos.

This observation by a non-scientist is obviously not of the quality for publication in some sort of medical journal, but maybe someone would like to do some sort of controlled scientific experiment on the effects of the presence of multiple fatsos on the dining behavior of one another.

Chag Sameach Sukkot

In a few hours the sun will set, and it will be the Festival of Sukkot. I finished building my sukkah within the past 24 hours, and now need to verify that the electrification in the sukkah is properly operational (i.e., the timer is properly working) so the lights go on and off at the proper times.

We have a house guest, namely, "He" as discussed in the post of 31 August. And, sure enough, He stopped by earlier with some pies and other fatso food, which surely will do little to help my wife get to healthy eating habits.

Fortunately, the projected weather seems to be reasonably fair, so my wife will at least get some exercise by walking the mile to shul and back.

In any event, I still have a lot to do, so everyone have a good holiday!

Chag Sameach Sukkot!!