Archives for January 2005

This evening my son and I put on our own “Muppet Show” production using his Muppets. Strange how he instinctively knew that it was appropriate for Miss Piggy to beat up other Muppets. More strange to realize that the memories I have of the show are from the 70’s.

We ended the evening with our rendition of Where the Wild Things are By Maurice Sendak. It was complete with our own wild Rumpus and then he lay down and I blessed him again and watched him sleep his face without worry and his body completely relaxed and I knew that I for at least one more night I had done my job and I smiled.

Hannah Senesh is someone that I learned about many years ago. I’d like to say that she caught my eye then and maybe she did, but I don’t really remember. I was probably around 7 or 8 as I seem to remember it being discussed in class as part of our discussion about Begin and Sadat.

I was too young to really understand what they were getting at, but now I remember things differently. My teachers discussed peace with Egypt and how historic a moment it was. They talked about Judea and Samaria and that maybe we would see a meeting with King Hussein to discuss giving the West Bank to Jordan. It is only as an adult that I see the politics of my teachers as the one discussed it in terms of the West Bank and the other spoke fondly of riding his motorcycle through Judea and Samaria.

What I do remember for certain was being surprised to hear that a girl had fought during the war, but Hannah Senesh belonged to my grandparent’s era and that seemed a million miles away so I must have filed the information. Or so I think, it is almost 30 years ago and some memories grow more faint.

What I do know is that I enjoyed reading what Rishon Rishon said about her as well as Imshin.

You don’t have to be Jewish to appreciate her words or her bravery. She was worth remembering.

A thermodynamics professor wrote a take home exam for his graduate students. It had one question: “Is hell exothermic or endothermic? Support your answer with proof.”

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle’s Law or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

“First, we postulate that if souls exist, then they must have some mass. If they do, then a mole of souls can also have a mass. So, at what rate are souls moving into hell and at what rate are souls leaving? I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for souls entering hell, let’s look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and all souls go to hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change in volume in hell. Boyle’s Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of souls and volume needs to stay constant.

1. So, if hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter hell, then the temperature and pressure in hell will increase until all hell breaks loose.

2. Of course, if hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in hell, than the temperature and pressure will drop until hell freezes over.

So which is it? If we accept the postulate given me by Therese Banyan during our freshman year, and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then # 2 cannot be true, and hell is exothermic.”

Lisa doesn’t know me and has no idea that I have been reading her story of how she came to live in Israel, but I found it to be very interestings.

It has multiple parts and can be found at

Part one

Part two

Part three

Part four

It is worth reading.

Barefoot Jewess wrote a post about how the mechitza can add a little sexiness to davening. Ok, I am taking her thoughts and running with them, not necessarily in the direction that she intended, so I’ll thank her for the inspiration and push on.

For those of you who are not in the know the mechitza is a separation between the men and womens sections in the synagogue. It is not found in every synagogue and typically is not located in any that are not what would be termed Orthodox.

Davening is something that is very hard for me. It is a strange paradox to me, a real contradiction. I have no doubt that there is a G-d and no doubt that G-d hears my prayers, but he/she/it certainly feels no obligation to answer them. And that is ok with me, it really is, the work is good.

But for whatever reason I have always found it challenging to daven. If I am going to do it, I prefer to be part of a community and almost always prefer to do it on a mountaintop or some other outdoorsy natural scene. Nature just helps me feel that connection.

It is no secret that I find women intriguing. I always have, there are so many different things about women that catch my eye. Add in my natural interest in people watching and you have a man who is easily distracted. So in some ways davening with a mechitzah is very useful, it helps me to stay a little more grounded, sometimes.

Sometimes it is worse knowing that it is there. It is like there is forbidden fruit (sorry ladies, I am not trying to be disrespectful) and I cannot help but try and look. Actually I find that long skirts often have the same effect on me. I try to be subtle as I stare to try and get a sense of what her legs look like. Interesting, just so interesting to me.

About 13 years or so ago I had a dream. I was back in Jerusalem. It was Friday night and I was at the Kotel and the place was packed. I was pressed up against the stone fervently praying, speaking to G-d in the most intimate way I could. If I close my eyes I can still see it. There are men in black all around me, bodies moving, a hum in the air from the singing, an energy that was electric. And then I am dancing, were moving in a circle with reckless abandon we have all given ourselves over, the dance is a prayer and an offering, it is almost overwhelming.

And then suddenly the plaza is almost empty and I realize that standing on my right there is a woman, she is holding my hand and I am filled with an incredible sense of peace and love. I turn to look at her, the love bursting from within and I wake up, the mechitza between sleep and wakefulness has prevented me from seeing her face.