כי לא מחשבותי מחשבותיכם

כִּי לֹא מַחְשְׁבוֹתַי מַחְשְׁבוֹתֵיכֶם, וְלֹא דַרְכֵיכֶם דְּרָכָי

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Oxymoron of the Day: A Meaningful Fast

My wife's niece, a young and idealist OM, wished me an 'easy and meaningful fast' (tzom kal vemashmauti) on this day of 17  Tammuz.

But how meaningful can a fast day be if we commemorate:
  • the beginning of the destruction of a city that now, after so many years of exile, has become a city that is more vibrant than in biblical times (ever)?
  • that Apostomus burned a Torah scrol, when we have had so many other book and Torah burnings at other times: why is this Torah different from all the other ones? 
  • that Moses broke the first set of tablets but we received a new set of Ten Commandments afterwards?
  • that we were not able to sacrifice anymore in the Temple because there were no animals anymore: who needs animal sacrifices anyway?
  • that an idol was placed in the Temple, but what does that matter if the Temple itself got destroyed anyway?
Needless to say that the Turkish showarma today was dedicated to all those fools who think the fast day is meaningful, just because they were told to bellieve so.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Amitnira's Posting on Parshat Yitro, now with English Translation!

My first experiment with translations. And since I am a fan of amitnira, here is her weekly parasha!