The first week of August 2012 is a momentous time. On Wednesday, August 1, 2012 one of the largest gatherings of Jews will take place at Met Life Stadium in NJ to celebrate the completion of the Daf Yomi Cycle. It promises to be an awe inspiring event.

The current cycle is actually scheduled to end on Thursday on the Daf calendar, but the last Daf is short and they will actually complete it at the Siyum HaShas on Wednesday. It will be completed after nightfall so perhaps technically, it will be Thursday’s Daf.

On Friday, August 3rd, the Daf Yomi will begin the new cycle with Mesechta Brochos. My Rav is a proponent of deeper learning of Gemora wherever possible, and I asked whether I should learn the Daf when I was inspired at the Siyum HaShas 14 years ago in Madison Square Garden. He told me that if I didn’t give up any of the sedorim (learning sessions) I had at that time, it would be ok.

My experience over the past 14 years is that the Daf is a very fast pace and it’s hard to retain the information. In addition, you really don’t have the time to give each Daf the mental workout it requires. However, I think it is valuable to learn the Daf because:

1) It commits you to learning Gemora every day and it’s hard to catch up when you fall behind so you usually meet that committment.

2) You get exposed to many different Gemora sugyas and structures.

3) You’re connected on a regular basis with others who are learning the same Daf. It’s nice to be able to say to your friend, did you see the Daf today. My Rav calls the NY Times OP-Ed page, the Daf Yomi of the secular world, so it’s nice to be on the same page with the real Torah thing.

4) Art Scroll can get you through any Daf. It takes about 30 minutes to learn the Daf with all the Art Scroll notes. Of course, your mileage may vary.

5) If you spend more time on it with review, you will retain more material.

6) Although in theory you can use that time to learn something else, in reality the 30-60 minutes on the Daf will certainly be among the best spiritual hours of your day.

I’m still a big proponent of deeper Gemora learning, but I think BTs (and FFBs) should at least give the Daf a try, as long as they don’t give up any existing sedorim. I know there will be some who will discourage you from starting, but show them this article and if that doesn’t work have them send me an email or call me, I’m still waiting to hear a strong general case against giving it a try.

– Are you going to the Siyum HaShas? Why? Why not?

– Are you starting Daf Yomi? Why? Why not?

In the notes from a class titled The Stunning Power of Speech a number of Strategies to Improve Our Speech are suggested. They are:
1) View Others Positively
2) Develop Humility
3) Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
4) Controlling Anger
5) View Yourself as a Soul, Not as a Body
6) Develop Constructive Speaking Habits and the Art of Silence
7) Prayer
8) Torah Study

Please take a look at the paper and let us know which strategies make sense to you and whether there are others you’ve found successful.

If you regularly read Jewish publications, you’ll see that there is a tremendous amount of criticism leveled against different communities. Although the criticisms may indeed be warranted, they’re often scathing, with little charitable understanding of other points of view.

Perhaps people feel their criticisms won’t register if they present other point of view. Or maybe people feel it’s impossible to judge favorably in many situations.

Why do you think it’s so difficult to judge favorably?

Have you be successful in presenting criticism while still judging favorably?

Are there any techniques that you would recommend?

The NY Times had an article on Hasidic dress in the warm weather. It reminded us of the days when David Kelsey used to comment here, and he would often voice his objection to inappropriate Orthodox dress in the summer in the non-Hasidic communities.

In any case, many of us non-Hasidim do wear hot black felt hats in the summer. In what hashkafic basket do you put that practice?

Do you feel the benefits of being part of a community by adopting their standard dress brings great benefits?

Do you think it’s more or less important for BTs to conform to communal dress codes?

What Should The Goal of Kiruv Be?

1) To help people become Shomer Shabbos over a period of time.

2) To help people connect to G-d without necessarily becoming Shomer Shabbos.

3) To teach people Torah without necessarily becoming Shomer Shabbos.

4) To encourage people to do more mitzvos without necessarily becoming Shomer Shabbos.

5) Something else.

A BT in the discovery phase is full of excitement, growth-orientation and optimism. However in the integration and Beyond BT phases the energy and continual improvement start to fade.

Perhaps the initial enthusiasm was unwarranted.
Or perhaps the community causes BTs to gravitate towards the norm of a status quo Judaism.

1) How have you been able to reignite the enthusiasm and optimism?

2) How can BTs bring a lasting positive influence to the Frum community?

The Baalei Teshuva path can be roughly divided into 3 stages

1) Discovery – learning and growth

2) Integration – navigating to your place in the community

3) Beyond BT – Torah living and slower growth

Did you go too fast in phase 1?

Did you have the right community support and teachers in phase 2?

Have you found a way to target continual improvement in phase 3?

We saw a Tweet from our referal logs that someone was #disappointed because we reposted Kressel’s decision to take on a more stringent standard of Internet usage.

Perhaps others are #disappointed.

Are you #disappointed that people are uncomfortable when someone decides to take on a more stringent standard then them?

Are you #disappointed that people in the moderate middle frame the issue as either pro or anti-Internet, and don’t articulate the obvious middle position that the Internet has both tremendous benefits and dangers, and we would be wise to make all attempts to mitigate the dangers?

Are you #disappointed that Torah observant people think it’s a good idea to allow their children unfiltered Internet access despite the dangers?

What are you #disappointed about regarding the Internet discussion?

What do you think of these objectives from the article “The Moral Costs of Jewish Day School” from Jewish Ideas Daily?

This model corrects many of the current system’s moral deficiencies:

It makes the tuition-setting process transparent and predictable.

It moves many middle-class families off the rolls of those receiving financial aid.

It defines day school education as a public good to be communally supported instead of an individual good, privately purchased.

It makes clear that the rich, even when they pay the maximum tuition, are assessed a lower percentage of their income than the middle class.

Please read the article.