emunah

i give people alot of credit who have complete emunah that everything that hashem does is for the best. its not that i have zero faith, its just that i cant totally say that i always have complete and total faith that everything that happens is for the best. i realize that we as people dont always see the whole picture, but i really do have a hard time understanding how life can be so unfair sometimes.

post yom kippur blues

once i started working, i really started appreciating rosh hashanah and yom kippur. at least these are holidays most jewish people take off work for (even if its just one day for rosh hashanah) . once yom kippur is over you are really on your own. sukkos? what's that? did you make a mistake with your jewish holidays list? did u really think they'd believe you just wanted Columbus day off? after all there are those who say that Columbus was jewish. and then when you tell them about simchas torah... well how many jewish holidays are there?
my personal favorite was recently when two jewish co-workers asked me if shavuos was coming up soon and was i going to be taking off for that holiday as well. they do get points for knowing shavuos actually exists, so i had to let them down easy when i informed them that shavuos is 7 weeks after passover, not 2 weeks after rosh hashanah.
i used to feel funny being the sole frummie asking to take off for the jewish holidays, but at the same time i had felt fortunate it was just me.
with kashrus laws its best being the sole kashrus observer . this way there is no one who says they keep kosher but eat the non-kosher ,non-meat meals and goodies that appear in the office. then you dont have to explain to anyone why david cohenlevyyisroel is eating the non-hechshered cheese sandwiches and yet i wont.
its too bad that secular jews dont participate in sukkos/simchas torah. they are down for the more somber parts of being jewish and none of the fun. kind of like only attending family functions when there is a funeral , but never attending a familial wedding.
anyway, this is why i have those post-yom kippur blues. now im the sole frum jew in a sukkah-less desert of non-observers, paving the frontier for others like me.

secret ballot

imagine if the results of rosh hashana and yom kippur were public knowledge. what if at the end of shul there was a billboard will a list of whos tefilos were accepted. what if there was another list of the fates of every shul member for the rest of the year. it would definitely be interesting, but it would also be very anti- climactic for the good things that will be occurring. im not so sure that it would be good knowing if something bad was going to chas veshalom happen. too scary. it is best that one doesnt know for sure if one's prayers are accepted. if they werent accepted and one knew this one might do more teshuvah, but one also might not bother. one also might go in a downward spiral because one wouldnt think that any prayer would help or change an evil decree. i would definitely say its better to be delusional and assume that hashem has forgiven us and expect a good year.
apparently hashem thinks that the secret ballot system he employs is superior. otherwise it wouldn't be secret.
gmar chatima tovah and have an easy fast.

if you are single today do you truly believe you will get married?

the poll has ended. now for the truth my dear readers have revealed. only half of the respondents believe that they will marry. thirty percent solidly believe that they will never marry and the remaining twenty percent do not firmly believe either way that they will or will not marry. it just depends on the day.
its nice to see that so many still believe their bashert is out there. however, when thirty percent of those polled solidly say they dont believe they will ever marry , this is disturbing. i hear what they are saying. however, its is bold to actually admit, even in an anonymous venue. i would have thought that more would just be wishy - washy and say that their emunah depended on the day instead of a full out no i dont think i will ever marry. and yes, i would have thought only twenty percent would have thought they would never marry. i guess alot of people feel they are realists and therefore dont believe marriage will ever happen for them. perhaps im a fool in believing that i will get married. i would rather be that fool. it makes me feel better to be hopeful.

check this out...

i just read a comment on frum satire's blog post www.frumsatire.net/2008/10/05/shidduch-blog-carnival/ by future druggie and it was funny, but dead on true. ill repeat the comment here because i just totally love it

i'm a single jewish male,

hitting fifty-five,

yet i refuse to date

a girl over thirty-five.

i'm perfectly normal,

as normal as can be,

but i suffer from baby delusional syndrome,

a painful malady.

i'm going to be a daddy,

in my fantasy.

i would prefer to stay single

than face reality.

baby delusional syndrome

what am i going to do?

ive got to keep lying about my age

and my income, too.

im a single jewish male,

hitting fifty-six.....

by: future druggie

and there you have it. they wonder why there is a shidduch crisis....

no one gets exactly what they want, but meanwhile everyone expects that they will.

yom kippur

yom kippur, a holiday i dread , soon will be upon us. of course the foremost reason i dread it, is not necessarily the most noble. i most dread yom kippur because of the day long fast. the true reason to dread yom kippur is because its the day of atonement and we all hope that hashem will forgive us for all of our averos. although i guess i always have faith that hashem will forgive everyone for all of our sins every yom kippur. its funny, i may not have supreme emunah all of the time in regard to other issues, but for this issue, i do have faith. i always believe that there will be a better year this year than last year. it doesnt always happen that way, but im usually hopeful.
i guess its not so bad to dread yom kippur mostly because of the fasting. maybe this is the reason we have to fast. so we remember that yom kippur is day of to be awed, and if fear of fasting is what gives one this feeling then so be it. the way to man's heart is through his stomach, so then that makes alot of sense. we have to search our hearts to do sincere teshuvah and therefore we must be hungry on yom kippur to do this. ahhhh....

foodists

one day a few weeks ago i was doing my usual veggie shopping at the farmer's market in union square when i overheard a woman stating how glad she was that she was able to buy nightshade vegetables. when asked why she hadnt been able to purchase nightshade vegetables she replied that nightshade vegetables had been "out" when she had been living in l.a. oy vey. how someone could be so superficial to think of a vegetable as being "out" is beyond me . what could be "out" about an eggplant or a potato? what is this world coming to? littering , smoking cigarettes, noise pollution should be out , but a vegetable group?