This morning I...

I was recently thinking about this whole blogging thing, particularly as regards my autobiographical posts. Do people want to read my every move? Is it time to sign up for twitter? The one major issue is that normally I'm in Yeshiva, so my feed wouldn't be too interesting. But even without that consideration, or if someone is willing to sponsor an iPhone with service, there still remains the fundamental premise of the whole endeavor, and that is that someone is interested in my every movement. If I was Barack Obama for example, then I would understand people wanting to know what I ate for breakfast, but guess what? I'm not the President. Wow, it's weird to write that. No one cares that I had half a bowl of chassidishe rice crispies for breakfast this morning. And yet there are time when it could come in handy. For example, I don't think anyone's ever twittered a smicha test. That would be really cool. Even a live feed of a farbrengen would be great.
Which brings us to the next stop on our program. Today was the 24th of Teveth. The Yahrtzeit of the Alter Rebbe. He passed away in Piena and is interred in Haditch. I was going to bring down what I said last year on this day, but I didn't really say anything too brilliant. However, I did notice a nice short post from last year that never got commented on, so I figure no one read it and will therefore enjoy it now. So, without further ado, let's bring it back to my birthday last year, the 12th of February 2008:

Today the Shluchim of YHSTC had another spectacular Shiur from Rabbi Nachman Wilhelm, and I'd like to share a nice vort that he said at the end. Kosher fish must have both fins and scales. The truth is, however, that all fish that have scales also have fins, so what's the point of the Torah mandating the fins? The Alter Rebbe says that we can look at the particular functions of these two body parts for the answer. A fin is something that is used to go upward, to go higher, and this is representative of Torah study, a discipline that plumbs the depths of the human intellect and simultaneously soars aloft to bask in the rays of G-d's own knowledge. A scale is a cover, a protection. We see this in Tanya, where the Alter Rebbe writes that a person builds up a chain mail with their Mitzvos, particularly Tzedaka.
So the answer is; when someone only has fins, only has Torah (like a misnaged), then they're suspect. But if someone only has good deeds, then they're all right.