Four square

Every once in a while there's so little to write you end up with a post like last night's. And every once in a while you have so much to write that you end up with a play like last night's.

What's a guy to do? There's simply so much to be said. I could for example publicly defend myself against a private email attack, or else wonder why Ohad, Shloime Gertner, and Shwekey have all failed to put out recordings in the last two years (or so). Then again, I could write a little something about the existence of G-d, or maybe even pontificate about chitas.

You know what? That's a good idea. Am I the only one out there who completely forgets that it's a double parsha until it's Monday, and then have to make up a whole day's Chumash? This seems to happen to me every time there's a double parsha. Not that I'm complaining, of course, it just strikes me as funny.

Next topic? Right, we've got some existence of G-d shtuff. Now look, I'm a simple guy. By that I mean that I'm very accepting and shallow, not given to questioning the way things are or even wondering at them. Yeah, I'm the poshite yid Lipa Schmeltzer isn't. Not that I'm not intelligent, but I tend to accept things at face value, and not analyze them. That's why I was never very good with Gemara. Be that as it may, I wasn't meaning to toot my own horn here or anything, or even to denigrate myself. I merely wanted to figure out what it was that made atheists tick. You see, there's two famous arguments made by Jewish philosopher people, only one of which is really Jewish, but whatever.

The one that isn't Jewish goes something like this: so there was a big bang. Ok. We're happy for you. But what caused the big bang? At some point there had to be something which made those two little particles come together and produce whatever it is that the big bang was. Science can work its way back to that point, but before that? It's no go Charlie. And don't tell me, "It could have been anything, why G-d?" That's just lame. Fine, it was a higher power. Or whatever. But it was definitely something. Something pretty danged powerful, and beyond what you or I can possibly concieve in our little imaginations.

And the second, Jewish proof? You know the whole mount sinai thing, where 600,000 men and countless women and children gathered together and had the biggest trip of their lives? So yeah, we're the only religion confident enough to claim mass revelation. Because when millions of people saw something together, it's kind of hard to lie about. This, by the by, is known as the Kuzari principle.

So come one, come all, to the great atheist fair, and tell me why these aren't good proofs! Or else abandon ye false gods and start keeping kosher.

Next up we got music, namely those three artists who have been negligent in their musical distribution. Honestly, Shwekey I could care less about, but I'd love to hear new cds from the other two. And while we're at it... paging Ben Tzion Friedman, Avraham Fried, Mordechai Werdyger...

And last and possibly least, it's time for the public response to a private indignation. You see, a couple of days ago I got an email cursing me out for referring to a certain Rabbi as the "Chazzan Pish". After a little searching it turned out that I never called him that. So then I got cursed out for not cursing out whoever used that term. I pointed out that if I were to respond to every stupid thing said on this blog I'd have no time to actually blog. So then I got cursed out for not taking responsibility for everything written on the blog. Makes sense? Not so much.

Anyway, the Chazon Ish's big sin was A. Arguing with R' Chaim Naah (and the Alter Rebbe), and B. Being the epitome of a "snag". The first would make anyone's blood boil, and the second just gets under the collective chassidic skin.

This reminds me of the famous story of a rebbe or rabbi or big someone (the Chassam Sofer maybe?)who was told, "Rabbi person, they're saying your Torah in their name!" The great man responded, "As long as they don't say their Torah in my name."

Oh yes, and I hope everyone enjoyed the paragraphs. A pain they were.