...when he made Sukkos 4 days after Yom Kippur?!
...went very well.
I don't have a single sermon or class prepared for Succos yet...
It is my sad news to report that the Happy hungarian blog is at rest. Its author is very much alove, according to confirmed reports. But reports of the blog's demise are alas not premature.
As a yeshiva colleague, the happy hungarian held my interest with the same kinds of insights he shared with me when we spoke to each other on a daily basis. But now, excuses citing words like "work", "busy", and "no time" creep up. Shame, I say. Shame! And rest in peace, until you rise up at the end of some undisclosed number of days.
Are any other friends blogging?
What an incredible weekend!
I wish I was more of a typer so that I could go into detail about all the things that went well. First off, the Bar-Mitzvah went smashingly well. There were more people in the shul than there will be at Kol Nidrei. And my sermon and explanation of the service were very very well received by all, from gentile to Talmid Chochom. I think that is a very important skill to have: the ability to give a talk can interest both the total am haaretz and a rov at the same time.
The bar-mitzvah was happy. His parents were extremely pleased. Many of the guests who are members of the C and R temples in Yehupitz were amazed at how much they enjoyed the whole service. Many of them thought that it would have the same level of inspiration as the 2:45pm to 2:57pm Mincha at Shomer Shabbos in boro Park, only 3 hours long. (They never heard of the place, but you know what I mean...) They came away inspired and I think willing to come again.
There's more. There's always more. Later...
There's a big simcha in shul tomorrow. The baal simcha hired the caterer from the Yehupitz JCC to cater the event. Many months ago, I was asked if she could prepare the food at the JCC. I said no. the kashrus standards at the JCC are nowhere near as good as those at the shul. So this morning she came to shul and began to cook. She has done nothing but b**** and moan and complain the entire time, 9 hours that she was there. It wasn't even funny. This woman is the paradigm of negativity. It was disgusting. I came to despise her today.
The baalas simcha smiled at first. "Oh that's Plonis for you. haha. Always complaining. chuckle." A few hours later, the baalas simcha told me that the caterer almost brought her to tears with her groaning that everything in the shul kitchen was so terrible and unacceptable and the simcha was gonna be messed up etc... The Baalas simcha said she had to leave the building to get away from the nastiness.
What kind of rebuke is possible?
I don't know how you all feel about the hostage taking and the massacre this past week, but I am furious. It seems that the weeks before Rosh Hashana have not bode(d?) well for the world these last few years. There was 9/11, then all these hurricanes etc.
But here Russia's role is clear. They have made considerable effort to negotiate. The Chachens seem to be of the same breed of animalistic Islamofascict terrorists. They must be annihilated, along with any community that harbors them. Machiavelli's words quoted in this blog last month are especially relevant.
Mark Steyn put it very well:
weepy candlelight vigils were a cop-out: the issue wasn't whether you were sad about the dead people but whether you wanted to do something about it.
I gave over the same message after 9/11. The United Jewish Federation of Yehupitz had a rally in a large auditorium. The other (Cand R) community leaders opted for weepy and mushy and candlelight. I opted to tell the hundreds assembled that our compassion for the dead, the survivors the firemen and the thousands suffering needed to be equaled by the anger at and hatred of and resolve to go to war against those who created the carnage and devastation. Although the direct response I received was favorable, I did get a lot of indirect flack similar to the kind Zell Miller received last week.
I hope Putin can see the broader implications of his battle.
1) He picked up in the second half. That domestic promise-list was awful. One he started talking about 9-11 etc. things got interesting.
2) Colin Powell was very noticeably absent from the entire convention.
Finally, at 10:43pm, talks about 9-11!
OK. No more updates. Yawn....
Good night.
Some interesting ideas, but nothing special.
Some lame education promises.
Health accounts.
WAY too much on domestic gov't give-aways. It clarifies my take that I want him back because of his response to 9-11, not because he's a real conservative.
He just plugged his website. How dumb.
UPDATE: mentionned the unborn child. Good. I thought the GOP would totally ignore it. not that they'll be able to do anything about it...
A line on the gay marriage issue. But he portrays it as a fight against "activist judges".
"I'll continue to appoint judges..." Good luck!
Gentle attack on Kerry. Not hateful, Chas V'Shalom. Although I may wake up to discover that it was hateful.
So far four minutes into his speech and it's looking like a real dud. A snoozer. Luckily it's been a great four days, so his bad speech won't hurt him.
Talk about cognitive dissonance. I woke up this morning to discover that the media was calling Zell's speech "hateful", "over the top", a "raw meat" speech. Chris Matthews freaked!
Honestly, the last emotion that came to mind when watching it last night was "hate". Technomind pointed out the absurdity on his blog, which never discusses politics. So I was greatful to see that posted.
You know, I often get tired of the radio shows kvetch about the "liberal media". I know that the networks' news coverage does favor more liberal perspectives of the events, but I find the constant rehashing of that issue to be annoying.
I still find it annoying, but this Miller example really makes the point. He was impassioned and powerful, but not hateful, and not (as the pundits were putting it) "personal".
One of the talking heads on hardbell actually called Zell's reference to Kennedy-Kerry's voting records on defense as "personal"! When I read that I was floored.
Then came the surprise of the day: I was talking to a local lawyer friend of mine and he told me that he found Zell's attitude to be hateful. I don't get it...
One thing I can say: I previously posted that I thought a lot of clinton's convention speech. And I also liked Sharpton's speech. But regardless of politics, I think the GOP had far better and far more convincing major addresses at their convention. November 2nd will tell if the voters feel this way too.
PS: Before the campaign started, Jon Stewart could claim that he was an equal opportunity satirist. The last few months have turned him into an outright Al Franken type. Any semblance of equal opportunity humor is long gone.
I'm listening to his speech now. Dang he's good! He's so good. Guliani and Ahhhnold were great, but this guy's on fire! Go for it Zell!