A paraphrased comment from out there in the blogosphere:
I’d love to see the perspective of someone like “Esther” at Beyond BT, but I personally would hate to see someone who is more of a moderate be vilified and maligned.
Based on some of the more vocal and vehemently opinionated comments I’ve read on the (otherwise enjoyable and interesting) BBT blog, that is what would likely happen.
The Beyond BT Melava Malka in Eretz Yisroel is scheduled for THIS MOETZAE SHABBOS,May 26th from 9:00-11:30 in Beit Shemesh at the home of Beyond BT contributor Menachem Lipkin.(I believe his daughter will be there as well, so you can ask all of the questions you want about their letters ;) ) For location details and directions, please e-mail msl at lipkinfamily-dot-com.
REMINDER
Preparations for the Passaic Shabbaton are in full swing. We are trying to get an idea of numbers so if you are planning on joining us on July 20-21, please e-mail us at beyondbt@gmail.com
Good Shabbos.
Well, the JIB Awards have wrapped up and we’re happy to say that Beyond Teshuva came in Second Place for Best Group Blog. We’d like to thank everyone who voted for us and extend our gratitude to all of you that contribute and comment here on a daily basis. This clearly is a group effort.
We also won the Best Jewish Music Post for Live on the Radio: The Seeds of Teshuva of a Nascent Rock Star. If you haven’t already checked out that post, it’s worthwhile.
The JIB (Jewish and Israeli Blogger) Award nominations are open. The awards bring an awareness of some of the great Jewish blogs out there. If there are any particular posts you like, you can nominate them for the Best Jewish Religious Post and the Best Torah Post Nominations.
We’re not such big fans of the word Best. Best implies comparison and in general comparisons are not proper from a Torah perspective with some limited exceptions like Kinas Soferim. The job of each Jew is to take their unique heredity, environment and circumstances and get as close to Hashem as possible. Comparisons have no role there except for each of us becoming a better Jew today than we were tomorrow.
The structure of awards are such that comparisons are inherent. In this particular case striving for “Best” will hopefully bring about some good and Beyond BT contributor Akiva is one of the organizers of the Awards and the Awards provide a means for Jews to unite around a common project. So, we’re throwing our hat in the ring and when the time comes we’ll softly encourage you to NOMINATE AND VOTE FOR BEYOND BT, for the good of the Klal of course.
It’s week one for Pirkei Avos and you can download an English translation here (Translation by Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld from his commentary at http://torah.org/learning/pirkei-avos). For those who don’t like to download PDFs, here is Chapter One:
Chapter 1
1. “Moses received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it Joshua. Joshua transmitted it to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets transmitted it to the Men of the Great Assembly. They [the Men of the Great Assembly] said three things: Be deliberate in judgment, raise many students, and make a protective fence for the Torah.”
2. “Shimon the Righteous was of the last survivors of the Men of the Great Assembly. He used to say, the world is based upon three things: on Torah, on service [of G-d], and on acts of kindness.”
3. “Antignos of Socho received the transmission from Shimon the Righteous. He used to say, do not be as servants who serve the Master to receive reward. Rather, be as servants who serve the Master not to receive reward. And let the fear of heaven be upon you.”
4. “Yossi ben (son of) Yo’ezer of Ts’raidah and Yossi ben Yochanan of Jerusalem received the transmission from them. Yossi ben Yo’ezer used to say, let your house be a meeting place for the sages, cleave to the dust of their feet, and drink thirstily their words.”
5. “Yossi the son of Yochanan of Jerusalem said: Let your house be open wide, and let the poor be members of your household, and do not talk excessively with women. This was said regarding one’s own wife, certainly with another’s wife. Based on this the Sages have said, one who talks excessively with women causes evil to himself, wastes time from Torah study, and will eventually inherit Gehinnom (Hell).”
6. “Yehoshua the son of Perachia and Nittai of Arbel received the transmission from them (the Rabbis mentioned in Mishna 4). Yehoshua the son of Perachia said, make for yourself a Rabbi, acquire for yourself a friend, and judge everyone favorably.”
7. “Nittai of Arbel said, distance yourself from a bad neighbor, do not befriend a wicked person, and do not despair of punishment.”
8. “Yehuda the son of Tabbai and Shimon the son of Shatach received the transmission from them (the scholars mentioned in Mishna 6). Yehuda the son of Tabbai said, do not act as an adviser to judges. When the litigants are standing before you they should be in your eyes as guilty. When they are dismissed from before you they should be in your eyes as innocent, provided they have accepted the judgment.”
9. “Shimon the son of Shatach said, examine witnesses thoroughly, and be careful with your words, lest through them they learn to lie.”
10. “Shemaya and Avtalyon received the tradition from them (the scholars mentioned in mishna 8). Shemaya said, love work, despise high position, and do not become too close to the authorities.”
11. “Avtalyon said: ‘Sages, be careful with your words lest you deserve to be exiled and are exiled to a place of bad waters. The students who come after you will drink of these waters and die and God’s Name will be desecrated.’ “
12. “Hillel and Shammai received the transmission from them (the scholars mentioned in Mishna 10). Hillel said, be of the students of Aharon, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving people and bringing them closer to Torah.”
13. “He (Hillel) used to say, one who seeks a name loses his name, one who does not increase decreases, one who does not learn deserves death, and one who makes use of the crown [of Torah] will pass away.”
14. “He (Hillel) used to say, if I am not for me who is for me, if I am for myself what am I, and if not now when.”
15. “Shammai said, make your Torah study fixed, say little and do much, and receive everyone with a cheerful countenance.”
16. “Rabban Gamliel said, make for yourself a Rabbi, remove yourself from doubt, and do not give extra tithes due to estimation.”
17. “Shimon his [Rabban Gamliel’s] son said, all my life I have been raised among the Sages, and I have not found anything better for oneself than silence. Study is not the main thing but action. All who talk excessively bring about sin.”
18. “Rabbi Shimon the son of Gamliel said, on three things does the world endure – justice, truth and peace, as the verse says (Zechariah 8:16), ‘Truth and judgments of peace judge in your gates.’ ”
We want to take this opportunity to wish all our readers, commentors and contributors a Chag Kosher V’Someach. May we all continue to grow together and through our efforts help bring about the final redemption.
Here is a special link to all of the Beyond BT Pesach Posts from this year as well as last year. It includes the Beyond BT Guide to the Seder, practical advice and divrei torah.
Aish has an audio post of traditional hagaddah tunes. If you have little ones around the house, Aish also has Haggadah Coloring Pages and Ten Plagues Coloring Pages that will keep them busy during Sunday and Monday’s Pre-Pesach crunch time.
Rabbi Noson Weisz has a great article which shows us how to free ourselves from the limitations of physical reality (emes) and tap in to the deeper reality of sprituality (emuna).
YU Torah has a great Pesach package called Pesach To Go which includes some great Dvrei Torah and some great seder nights games for the kinderlach. And here’s the Pesach to Go from 5766.
Check out the Absolut Haggadah, a refreshing blend of humor and commentary trying to uncover the pshat (basic meaning) of the Haggadah.
Pesach is Z’man Cheiruseinu, the time of our redemption. Unfortunately, several Israeli soldiers remain captive. The OU is sponsoring a worldwide learning initiative in their merit, you can find out more and sign up here.
A journalist is writing an article on relationships between fairly new observant individuals and their parents. The writer is looking to conduct fairly quick interviews with people who are going through, or have recently gone through, the initial phase of becoming observant. Please email us if you are willing to help with a short interview and we will pass your information on to the writer.
While we’re on the subject, how was your relationship with your parents when you first started becoming observant?
Was it strained because you made mistakes?
How understanding were your parents?
What would you definitely do differently?
Where do you think you did a good job of maintaining good relationships?
Share your experiences by dripping a note in the comments.
Last week we upgraded to a new version of our WordPress software. Our hosting provider Dreamhost has this great feature called one click installs which enabled us to do the upgrade by pressing a button and waiting about a minute. It worked like a charm, B’ezras Hashem.
One of the major advantage of the new software is its new spam filter Akismet. It seems to be working incrediblt, bli ayin hara, catching over 1300 spam comments in five days (and that included a slow national holiday ). At the same time, it is letting through most of the real comments. We are still looking through what it flags as spam, but we might stop that at some point. So if your comment ever disappears into cyberspace and it’s not in moderation, please email us so we can try to de-spam it.
Wordpress is among the best blogging software products on the market and it’s free. It is part of a software trend called Open Source Software. We are thankful to WordPress, Akismet and their founding developer Matt Mullenweg for providing us with these great tools to help build our Beyond BT community.
Thanks to Matt, WordPress and DreamHost.
As the blog has grown in popularity over the past six months or so, the comment spammers have taken notice. For those of you that are unaware, comments spammers flood blog comment sections in the hopes that you’ll click on their link and improve their Google page ranking.
In order to keep the overwhelming majority of this spam from actually hitting the blog for public consumption, we employ a fairly strong filtering mechanism. On a given day, we filter and delete literally hundreds of spam comments.
Unfortunately, the filter will catch many, many non-spam comments as well. When this happens, the comment will most likely be placed in a moderation queue and will be approved and posted within the hour (yes, we have no lives).
Recently we had certain words cause a comment or two to disappear into the vast infinity of hyperspace, never to be heard from again and some of you emailed us. We’ve removed those triggers, so the worst that will happen to your comment is that it will go into moderation.
We are investigating other means of addressing the spam problem. In the meantime, if your comment does not appear immediately, please be assured that we are not moderating comments and we have not “banned” you from commenting. In life, striking the balance between keeping out the “bad” while letting in the “good” is no simple task. The same goes for filtering out the spam while allowing your comments to be freely posted. Bear with us and, please, keep on commenting!
It was a very nice event. We had about 35 people mostly from Kew Gardens Hills, with Gil Student and Rabbi and Mrs Dovid Schwartz coming in from Brooklyn. Ezzie Goldish was there as well as Beyond BT contributors Steve Brizel, David Kirschner, Marty Fleisher and other Beyond BT readers and commentors whose anonymity we’ll respect.
The inspiration and entertainment was provided by Gedalia from Monsey who described his journey from a traditional Jewish upbringing through a period as a lyricist and musicial performer in clubs in Greenwich Village such as the Bottom Line. A trip to Poland and subsequently to Israel was the beginning of Gedalia’s awakening. He chose the path of immersion in Torah study and has been learning for approximately 10 years, currently in a Kollel in Monsey.
Gedalia interspersed his story with songs that he had chosen from the over 100 that he has written in his life. Gedalia explained that learning Torah now fills the place that songwriting previously occupied, but he enjoys very much performing and giving chizuk to his audiences. Toward the end of the show he answered questions from the audience. He pointed out that BTs and FFBs have the same obligation to learn and do mitzvos. The only difference being the starting point but every Jew, BTs and FFBs alike, have things that they have to work on.
The menu of pizza and ice cream sundaes seemed to satisfy and there was plenty of good conversation both before and after the show. Thanks to everybody who came out to celebrate Beyond BT’s one year anniversary.
The Melava Malka is one week away on December 2nd at 8:00 PM and it would be great if all those planning to attend would RSVP to let us know you’re coming.
The location is Congregation Ahavas Yisroel, 147-03 73rd Avenue in Kew Gardens Hills . The cost is $5 per person and we’re serving Pizza and Ice Cream. Some people are afraid of coming to Queens and getting lost, but this address is really easy: just take the Grand Central or the Van Wyck to Jewel Avenue eastbound to Main Street (or take the LIE to Main Street). Once you’re on Main Street go to 73rd Avenue and make a left, and go one long block to CAY. That’s just one turn off of Main Street!
The inspiration and entertainment will be a show entitled “Searching for Meaning – A BTs Spiritual Journey in Music and Monologue”, performed by a new friend whom Rabbi Lam introduced to us.
Please RSVP either in the comments or by email at beyondbt@gmail.com.
Here are two pictures from the Melava Malka after the Shabbaton:
With Rosh Hoshana just around the corner, it behooves us to review our actions to determine which ones we are happy with and which ones we would like to improve upon. The same holds true for Beyond BT.
A few of the things we are happy with are:
1. With rare exception, the civil tone of the blog;
2. The variety of points of view being presented in both the posts and the comments;
3. The new friends and connections that have been made online and off;
4. The way the blog has been able to raise and present issues affecting BTs and the broader Jewish community;
5. That many people have told us that the blog has helped them with BT and growth related issues and has filled a void.
Some of the things, we would like to improve upon are:
1. Increasing the number of contributors to the blog; (If you are interested, please contact us at beyondbt@gmail.com)
2. Gaining more support and assistance for offline events like Melave Malkes and Shabbatons;
3. Increasing the awareness of the site to all who might benefit or be able to contribute;
4. Expanding the tent of Torah so more people will feel accepted and supported on their growth path;
5. Increasing the awareness that the site is not a monolithic, one size fits all approach;
We want to thank all those who read, comment and contribute to the site and we wish you all a Kesiva V’Chasima Tova.
Parsha Links
Rabbi Noson Weisz on the Importance of Being Earnest
Rabbi Berel Wein on Holy Days: Time For An Accounting
Rabbi Label Lam on Afraid to Miss the Parade
Read more Links and Announcements
Rabbi David Schallheim on Parshas Ki Tavo: First Fruits.
Rabbi Wein on School.
Beyond Beyond BT: A Simple Jew interviews Neil Harris.
Over at Aish: My Son the Fanatic.
McAfee on Virus Hoaxes.
Kiruv Training Seminar in Kew Gardens Hills
September 10, 2006 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM
Seminar in Outreach Techniques presented by experienced leaders of Aish HaTorah and the Orthodox Union.
Have you always wanted to share in the vital mitzvah of Kiruv? (…but thought it took too much time, or a different skill set)
Are you involved in Kiruv and would like to hone your skills?
Want to add a new aspect to your spirituality for the Yamim Ha-Noraim?
Looking for cutting edge tools to share with fellow Jews?
THEN… make sure to be at a Seminar in Outreach Techniques presented by experienced leaders of Aish HaTorah and the Orthodox Union. You will have the opportunity to form an ongoing group of caring outreach friends in your area.
Join us at Congregation Etz Chaim on Sunday 9/10/06 following 7:00 PM Mincha/Maariv.
For more information contact: Stewart Weinberg or Barry Gavarin
Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz and Rabbi Dovid Orlofsky will be speaking at Ohel Yosef at Yeshiva M’Kor Boruch in Passaic at 7:30pm on Wednesday night. Rabbi Tatz’s lecture is entitled “Ordeals and the Development of the Spirit” and Rabbi Orlofsky’s lecture will be “Beyond Apples and Honey”.
More details can be found at http://ohr.edu/web/passaic2006.htm.
Rabbi Akiva Tatz will be speaking at the Young Israel of Queens Valley at 8:30 PM Tonight in Kew Gardens Hills. The topic is “Faith in a Faithless World”. Last year he drew the biggest crowd that I’ve ever seen at a YIQV event, so even if there is less people this year, my suggestion is to get there a little early.
A few weeks ago we spoke with Reb Yoel Goldberg and Rabbi Leib Shear co-founders of Chayei Olam, a new second stage kiruv program. They have created an organizations which is squarely directed at many of the Beyond BT readers. In the hours we spent in conversation they showed their awareness and concern for the issues that Baalei Teshuva face. They listened carefully to the input we gave as a result of our experiences here at Beyond BT. We hope those who can, take advantage of the services they are offering. Below is an article published in a local Monsey paper which highlights the goals of the organization.
Yomim Tovim are around the corner. Are we ready for the task? Are we familiar with its many rituals? Do we understand the meaning behind all the tefilos on Yomim Noraim? What’s in the honey we will be dipping into so often throughout Tishrei? Why does such a seemingly benign tefiloh as Kol Nidrei evoke such emotion? Why are men spending so much time and money on Arba Minim?
If questions such as these have been on your mind, then you’re not alone. So many of us have not had the time or opportunity to delve into the meaning of so much of what we practice. Many of us also may have not learned the intricacies of Halacha and Minhagim growing up. A Chayei Olam shiur on varied and timely topics of interest may just be for you.
Read more Chayei Olam – A Second Stage Kiruv Organization
A great clip about Jerusalem from Gil Ronen.
An English translation of the Rambam’s Hilchos Teshuva.
Rabbi Weisz on the Spiritual Staircase relating Ki Teitzi, Elul and Teshuva.
Ayelet at Aish on Weight Loss and Teshuva.
We often get letters of appreciation and we like to share them from time to time to show our appreciation for your expressions of appreciation. Thanks!
Your website is fantastic. I have been chozer b’tshuva for 10 yrs. now. Your website creates a brilliant forum that brings us BTs together to give and receive support for our difficult battles. It is nice to know that there are so many people willing to share their wisdom through past experiences. Whether your beyondbt contributors have been frum for 1 month or 30 years, their insights are so important. We need all the help in the world. Thank you.
-D-
Lenny Solomon (of Shlock Rock) has released a new album which contains a song about Rabbi Lazer Brody. You can read the lyrics and download the song on Rabbi Brody’s blog .
YU has a great video paying tribute to Israel’s Soldieres. (Thanks to Rabbi Mordechai Scher for the link.)
A Simple Jew is looking for some quality Jewish heavy metal music.
Israel still needs our financial support and you help with matching funds of as much as $3 for every $1. You can read about the details here.
