Theory of Mind

courtesy of XKCD.com

A very similar conversation took place in a recent class discussion on personality...

Needless to say, by the end of the three hours, we were passing around the Tylenol.

Emunat Chachamim

A shmuess from Rav Moshe Friedman on the concept of emunat chachamim, here.

A Chicago native, Rav Friedman is Rosh HaYeshiva of Yeshivat Nesivos Ahron, a yeshiva in the heart of the Beit Yisrael neighborhood in Jerusalem.

Matisyahu acoustic EP out today

Matisyahu just released a live acoustic EP from his Spark Seeker tour today. It can be found on iTunes or at his website.

Now with English...

I posted a slightly different video a few months back, having found it over at Dixie Yid's blog.

This go-around has English subtitles for those who struggle with the Hebrew.

Kudos to my brother for sending this to me...

The Lubliner Rebbetzin...

L'Kavod Shabbos Kodesh, a most enjoyable story



My favorite part is when the Seer is called up to the Heavenly Court: "We expect trouble from you, Seer...but your rebbetzin?!?"

Awesome.

Music

I just thought it would be nice to post some music reflecting what's been in rotation on my iPod lately...

More than a year later, and Moshe Hecht's debut album continues to be a fresh listen. There are some free tracks available on his website.


I'm not very familiar with Chazzan Helfgott but I absolutely love Eternal Echoes, the collaboration between him and virtuoso Itzhak Perlman. A dudele is a favorite song...


Oren Tsur (mandolin) is part of the HaLev v'HaMaayan ensemble (where he mainly plays violin) along with Chilik Frank and others. He shows his versatility in this clip with Nadav Bachar, a talented young artist.


Moshiach Oi! gets a listen only when I'm in an ironic mood, but it's good for injecting humor into an overcast day.

Recognizing Potential

Listen to the MUSTN'TS, child,
Listen to the DONT'S
Listen to the SHOULDN'TS
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON'TS
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
Then listen close to me -
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be. 

- Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends

This little poem was a tremendous source of encouragement for me at various stages in my youth. Although we can all agree that one's optimism and hope for the future must be tempered by a realistic sense of one's limitations - there are many things that we may not be able to achieve due to various circumstances in our life - that feeling of possibility must be opened up to a child in the first place if he is ever to venture beyond the safety of complacency.

Sort of related to the previous post.

From Rav Kook:

A Torn Soul 

Whoever has said that my soul is torn spoke well. It is certainly torn. 

I cannot imagine a person whose soul is not torn. 

Only a lifeless object is whole, but a human being is filled with conflicting desires, and an inner war rages within him continuously. 

The purpose of all my work is to mend the rents within my spirit by means of an all-inclusive viewpoint in whose greatness and exaltedness everything is embraced and comes to complete harmony.