Archives for July 2007

Harry Potter- Deathly Hallows Thoughts and More

July 19, 2007 by Jack Steiner 6 Comments

Last night I finished re-reading Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince. It was a lot of fun. In some ways I enjoyed reading it more the second time around. This time there wasn’t any concern or worry about someone spoiling the ending for me.

Rowling did an excellent job of creating all sorts of excitement and anticipation about the coming book. It doesn’t hurt that there is an immense amount of hype surrounding the release of Deathly Hallows. If you are a fan of the series it is hard not to get caught up in it all. Not to mention that the media and Scholastic public relations department are working hard to generate more. That is part of why Rowling is asking the public to ‘Help preserve the secrecy’ of Potter.

“As launch night looms, let’s all, please, ignore the misinformation popping up on the web and in the press on the plot of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,”‘ Rowling wrote in a message posted Wednesday on her Web site, http://www.jkrowling.com/.

“I’d like to ask everyone who calls themselves a Potter fan to help preserve the secrecy of the plot for all those who are looking forward to reading the book at the same time on publication day. In a very short time you will know EVERYTHING!”

Her last line about knowing everything touches upon something that bothers me. When I read Harry Potter or Tolkien I suspend disbelief. I don’t try to view the world as I know it to be. I try to see the world as the author has drawn it. A place in which magic and magical creatures exist. It is a fantasy world and I know it to be that.

The thing that makes me a little crazy is the intense analysis in which armchair pundits try to claim that the author used character XYZ as a metaphor for life or scenario PDQ is really political commentary. That doesn’t mean that sometimes these things aren’t happening, it is just my commentary. I don’t want to get caught up in whether the Ministry of Magic is supposed to be representative of a good or bad government. I just want to enjoy the freaking story.

And now on to my own suggestion of which two characters are going to die in the story. If you don’t want to hear this please stop reading now. I haven’t spent hours and hours thinking about this so consider this to be just the random mutterings of one more fan.

Death Watch: Hermione, Neville, Hagrid and Snape will all die. Stay tuned. It won’t be long until we find out for certain.

Posts That Lack Substance

July 19, 2007 by Jack Steiner 2 Comments

I try not to waste my time complaining about other bloggers. Some of this is because of the old saw about people who live in glass houses should not throw stones and some of it is because I don’t expect that my words are going to affect any sort of change so I might as well focus my energy elsewhere.

Every now and then I break this rule. The most recent example is The Yeshiva Owes Your Parents a Refund in which I complained about some of the horrible writing I found on various Jblogs. The crimes against grammar and spelling are amongst my biggest complaints. I suppose that second on my list are those posts that seem to be completely devoid of logic and reason.

They’re usually political posts in which the author has gone on some sort of a rant about a topic. The problem isn’t just that the logic and and reason are missing or questionable, it is that they haven’t any factual support. There is not a grain of empirical evidence, not one shred of proof of their position other than their whining.

To be clear I am sure that in almost 5,000 posts you can find examples of this in my own writing. But my word, it just irks me to see this repeated over and over again. So if you are wondering why I no longer visit your little world it is because the province you occupy has proven to be more than dull and I have enough tedium in my life.

What Is My Purpose Part 2

July 19, 2007 by Jack Steiner 9 Comments

About 18 months ago I wrote a post called What Is My Purpose? This ties into that post because I am still searching. It is a search that began decades ago. I don’t say that for dramatic effect but because it is the truth. It is one of the things that I love about blogging. I don’t have just one chevrusa but many. In truth the list is abridged. I hesitate to share that because it is incomplete and I search for a complete picture.

My children ask for answers and I feel obligated to provide them. Often I turn the question back on my son. What do you think? I do it because when you deal with abstract concepts it is hard to provide concrete answers. Sometimes the child’s perspective is more honest. They haven’t had years of life experience to prove that something has to be a certain way. It is much easier for them to just accept.

I don’t do that easily. I don’t just accept. I fight. I fight. I fight. I battle and I fight. Wrestling is a way of life. There are days in which it wears me out. There are moments when I wish that I could just buy in and accept everything but I don’t know how.

Faith is like that. Sometimes there are things that you accept because you can and sometimes you simply cannot.

We are in the midst of The Nine Days. If you are unfamiliar with what I am referring to email me and I’ll try to bring you up to speed, but for now I am going to move on. Tisha B’Av weighs upon the community. Frankly I don’t observe most of the laws and minhagim surrounding this time. I won’t stop listening to music. Someone once asked me to justify why and I had to laugh. I don’t keep Kosher, I am not Shomer Shabbos so why would they be upset by my listening to music.

Still they insisted that I answer the question. Here it is. Music is a tool that I use to help me engage in deeper introspection. Kavanah my friend, it is about kavanah.

Tisha B’Av weighs upon me for many reasons but not the least of which is from my experience in ’85. We read Eicha while overlooking the Old City and it penetrated my heart. I felt it. I felt such sadness. In my mind I could hear the cries of the fallen and I just felt intense sorrow at what was lost. In my head I could hear the war and visualize the destruction. I have never forgotten that moment.

It was one of many moments in Israel. I never stop that search. I never lost the feeling. It is part of what ties me to Israel. There is a deep connection there that words never truly express. It is a love for the land. I love America and being American. I love watching the US take on all countries at the Olympics, but my love for Israel is a different sort of love.

It is similar to the feeling you have for you first love. It is deep. One day I will go back. If you’ll forgive my inner geek it will be similar to when the elves visit Cirdan to leave Middle-Earth. For now and forever America is home but Israel will always occupy my thoughts.

So here I sit at the computer with so many thoughts still unresolved. There is a lump in my throat. I am torn. This is part of why I wish for a life that was a 1000 years. There is so much to do and so many things that I want to explore and so little time.

The blogosphere is such a good outlet because it provides at least one venue in which I can try to explore these dark and uncharted corners of my heart.

One day my children and I are going to have a long discussion about the choices we make and how they impact our lives. Sometimes it is hard not to wonder if this is the life that I am supposed to lead. Have I been true to my heart? Have I done right by myself or have I buried who I am so far beneath the weight of responsibility that it is lost.

I have a heart and soul that sometimes are at war with logic and reason. Equilibrium exists. More often than not it exists but the moments in which it does not are hard. I suppose that I’ll finish this rambling by quoting myself:

When I ask what my purpose is I am not really asking. I have an understanding of that and it works for me. I suppose that what I am saying is that sometimes I want to skip the journey and see the finish. Tell me the who, what, where, why and how and I’ll be forever grateful or maybe I won’t. Maybe the most important part is the journey and that which is yet to come.

Come Play Quidditch With Me

July 18, 2007 by Jack Steiner 3 Comments

I thought that this was interesting.

Dewey, a student at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, organizes the campus Quidditch club of about 40 Potter devotees imitating the aerial game of the book series.

Although Bucknell has not played its first official game — that is expected in September — Dewey’s club has received $150 from the college to buy supplies, including hula hoops and a volleyball that stands in for the fictional “quaffle.”

Also on the equipment list are the brooms on which J.K. Rowling’s Quidditch players fly around during games and which Bucknell players are required to hold between their legs.

Clearly there are a few things that make this game more challenging than in the book, such as the inability to fly.

Each team consists of 12 to 15 players, seven of whom are on the field at a time. They include a “keeper” to defend the hoops through which scores are made; “chasers” whose job it is to put the quaffle through the hoops; and “beaters” who throw balls called “bludgers” at their opponents.

There is also a “seeker” who chases the elusive “golden “snitch” around campus during the game. The capture of the snitch, usually after about 15 minutes, signals the end of the game.

Dewey described the sport as “mildly full-contact” and said it requires some athletic ability, particularly for seekers, who are typically cross-country runners. It appeals equally to men and women, he said.

Death Is Not Good Enough For Them

July 18, 2007 by Jack Steiner 5 Comments

I stumbled onto two articles that infuriated me today:

Man guilty of abducting mom, leaving daughter to alligators

MIAMI, Florida (AP) — A man who had been released from prison early for good behavior was convicted Tuesday of trying to kill a young mother and leaving her 5-year-old daughter to be eaten alive by alligators in the Everglades.

Harrel Franklin Braddy had befriended Shandelle Maycock and her daughter Quatisha. Maycock testified that Braddy went to her home in November 1998 and grew enraged when she asked him to leave.

He choked Maycock until she was unconscious and then forced her and Quatisha into his car, the woman testified. At one point, Maycock gained consciousness, grabbed the child and jumped out of the moving vehicle.

Braddy stopped, choked the woman again and put her in the trunk, she testified. Maycock never saw her daughter again. Prosecutors said Braddy then drove to a section of Interstate 75 in the Everglades known as Alligator Alley and dropped Quatisha in the water beside the road.

She was alive when alligators bit her on the head and stomach, a medical examiner said.

and

Dad to child killer: ‘My daughter has heard me cry’

Couey, a convicted sex offender, was staying nearby in a trailer with his half-sister. Couey kidnapped the girl from her bedroom and later, in a taped confession, admitted that he buried the child alive. “I went out there one night and dug a hole and put her in it. Buried her,” he said.

She was found wrapped in garbage bags, holding a stuffed toy dolphin, her hands bound with stereo wire. Jessica died from asphyxiation after being sexually assaulted, according to a medical examiner’s report.

Some times there are no words.

Things I am Thinking About

July 18, 2007 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

I have a number of different thoughts flowing around my mind. It is well after midnight and I really should be going to sleep. Instead I have been mulling over posts about the Nine Days, Minhagim and a half dozen other ideas.

Since I haven’t finished thinking things through I am going to provide some links to old posts that tie into some of these thoughts. I’ll take a look at it all in the morning and we’ll see if I come up with anything brilliant.

Morality Without Religion- A Comment to The Self-Righteous
The Future of Judaism
My Brother- A Lesson in Simple Physics
Twenty Five Years of Torah Reading
Frum & Gay
Moments When I feel Closest To G-d
What is My Purpose?

If things go well I’ll figure out how to put all these thoughts together into a coherent and thoughtful post. Lately that has been a task. Wish me luck.