Monday, April 13, 2009

Almonds too

Tonight there was a farbrengen at Lubavitch House in West S. Paul, and yours truly was on the scene cracking an obscene amount of nuts and writing down some of the shtuff being said by Rabbi Moshe Feller, director of Upper Midwest Merkos and Twins fan.

He mentioned one of the biggest conservative rabbis back in the day, Arthur Hertzberg, who was no friend of Lubavitch. He eventually became friendly with our glorious movement when his daughter, who lived in Fresno, California, sent her kid to the local Shliach's (Zirkind) preschool.

At some point he made it to the Shluchim convention, where he said that for years he had been preaching "a Jew in the home and a citizen in the street," but this failed. The Rebbe said, "A Jew in the street, and through this you'll be successful at being a Jew in the home." This method worked.
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Nochum Schapiro (from Australia) on the shluchim conference call/farbrengen on Yud Aleph Nissan said that one of the people he knew, a banker, suffered from tremendous spinal pains. He was a regional overseer for banks, and his job was to come in when problems arose and solve them. He said that the only time he escaped from his wrenching back pain was when he was immersed in financial issues. The lesson? You can only be happy when you're helping someone else.
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Everyone should say some Tehillim for Charlene bas Molly. Thanks.
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The Friedriker Rebbe was a genius in both Chassidus and Nigleh, but he didn't publicize his erudition in the latter. He once declared that this wasn't his job in life. At some point the Rebbe came across a whole series of letters between the Friedriker Rebbe and R' Chaim Ozer regarding shechita, which showed off the Friedriker Rebbe's brilliance. The Rebbe marked the letters "not for publication".

19 comments:

Anarchist Chossid said...

The Rebbe saw that these letters were not published and asked FR, and the latter answered: “That’s not my mission”.

Lesson — ummm, ok. [Some smart stuff about Pain Gate theory written here.]

le7 said...

You were eating almonds?

Almond cookies are even better. (Almonds, sugar, eggs, oil and melted chocolate....)

Anonymous said...

mmmmm cookies!

J

Just like a guy said...

Can't you people ever stop thinking about food? I mean, I can't, but...

Modeh B'Miktsas said...

Whereas Rav Chaim Ozer would not publicize his knowledge in kabbala. Takes all kinds...

Nemo said...

With all do respect to Nochum Shapiro, but the lesson of his story should be that you can only be happy when you're making money.

And with all do respect to Moshe Feller, what kind of suck up moves to a town and then decides to be a fan of the local sports team just to make his B'Batim happy?

bonne said...

I've been cracking walnuts. And squeezing oranges. And serving bananas mixed with raw egg in an attempt of what might be considered ice cream.

Modeh B'Miktsas said...

I've been eating processed foods and gebrokts all yom tov. No kitniyos though.

Just like a guy said...

Nemo: What kind of idiot makes nasty comments about the Rebbe's shluchim while betraying a complete lack of knowledge?

For the record, Rabbi Moshe Feller was born in Minnesota many moons ago. So there.

Sara: I believe the spice and spirit has a good recipe for Pesach sorbet.

Modeh: You trying to make us jealous or something?

Modeh B'Miktsas said...

No, I'm trying to save your souls by converting you to my particular brand of snag-lite.

Nemo said...

I'm sorry, all DUE respect.

Anarchist Chossid said...

Modeh, Yaroslav Hashek (Gashek, whatever, insert some random Czech accent marks) once wrote: "If you want to commit a suicide, hang yourself quietly in the stables on your suspenders. Don't disturb others."

For some reason, every time somebody becomes a snag or an appikores (i.e., an appikores but not a snag), he wants the whole world to know. It's like Frum Satire telling everyone about an accident he had in his friend's car while the whole friend's family was there. Why would you tell other people something like that?

Anarchist Chossid said...

When Rogachover was sick with youknowwhat, in the final stages, he was in great pain (r"l). But when people asked him sha'alos, he would stop feeling pain. So, he kept asking people to ask him about Torah.

You can say something ruchniusdik that when you're one with Toireh, when you help other people, etc., you don't feel pain. Or you can say something gashmiyustike that whenever you're doing something you really love, your attention is at it and not at the pain — i.e., Pain Gate theory.

Or you can be a mentch and say that Hashem is Elokim. I.e., both levels are true.

Just like a guy said...

Modeh: Oy!

Nemo: salachti.

Anonymous said...

mmmm cookies!


J

Modeh B'Miktsas said...

CA: snaghood and heresy are two different mental disorders. Chassidus is a third.

As you know anyone but my particular brand is a heretic.

Anarchist Chossid said...

Moideh, you make the same mistake as CA confusing something in bad taste with something objective bad or wrong. Ramak, Alter Rebbe, FR and the Rebbe disagree with you on your distinction.

Anarchist Chossid said...

I mean, as TRS. Wow… need sleep.

Just like a guy said...

Modeh: no, chassidus is mental order. Go learn the maamar Ashrei Tivchar us'kareiv.

CA: What's your problem now?