can people really change?

i had a professor in college who used to say that people don't change, not even from religion. at the time i didn't realize what he meant. now i do. people can change certain behaviors within themselves but one can't change ones essence. one can channel ones anger in a positive fashion and not give in to ones gut reactions. but they are still there under the surface. a shy person can force their self to be more social, but innately their first gut reaction will be to be shy. an overly sensitive person will always have such sensitivities even  though they may be able to rationally confront a stressful situation. ones core make up is g-d given. what we do  have control over is how we channel these attributes.

moderation

i never thought id see the day when i would be moderating comments on my blog. i dont even get that many comments! the thing is im getting sick of deleting the japanese comment spam so  i decided that it was time to moderate for awhile.

dancing at auschwitz

these two videos i have just posted are just amazing. they bring tears to my eyes. such  triumph. this man has survived the horrors of auchwitz,  was  able to have a family and  to return to the sight of such terror and show that the best revenge is living well. he survived , had children and grandchildren and is still able to smile and laugh and dance.

People dancing at Auschwitz : im sure most of you have seen this, if you havent, its worth a look. be sure and watch it until the end.

I Will Survive: Dancing Auschwitz.Part3

the stoning of soraya m

i finally have given in and have subscribed to netflix. the main reason i did this is because netflix has some dvd titles that i really want to see and the library does not have them. so i caved and now im hooked. one of the dvds that has just become available is the stoning of soraya m. what an eye opening movie!
the stoning of soraya m  is set in iran of the 1980's where a husband wants another wife but doesn't want to have to pay alimony for divorcing his first wife and doesn't have enough money to have two wives so he decides to accuse her of adultery  so she will be killed . this film is based on a true story.
a few days after i viewed this film i read in the paper that there is another woman in iran who they were thinking of stoning because she "committed adultery" . this is 2010 folks. what up?
recently marie claire magazine featured an article about a father who killed his daughter because she was "disgracing the family honor". the daughter had become americanized and had a boyfriend . this is why her father hit her with his car, put her in a coma and then she died.
when i first saw the stoning of soraya m  and the newspaper article i had felt so grateful to live in the united states where this kind of sexism does not exist. when i read the marie claire article i was outraged by how such sexist mores can be transported to this country even if just within a family.

tisha b'av past

the most dramatic tisha b'av i have experienced was when i was 13 years old and in sleep away camp. on the evening of tisha b'av  a shiur was held outside overlooking a lake. on the other side of the lake the camp created a fire that was burning as the shiur was going on. it was surreal. looking back i think its amazing that they were able to create this fire situation without burning the entire camp down.