Shana Tova

Well, we just had a wonderful Chag in Buchman Darom.
I wasn't sure where I was going to daven over Rosh HaShana - I had narrowed it down to three options:

• Minyan Lev Achim, which davens in the Beit Midrash of the Bnei Akiva Yeshiva (about 8 minutes walk from our home)
  
• Hesder Yeshiva, which has its Beit Midrsah downstairs in the Bnei Akiva Yeshiva
• The un-nammed Buchman Darom minyan, which moves from place to place, but davened both mornings of Rosh HaShana in a private home, and in the evenings on a street corner.

Well first night I went to Lev Achim, and it was OK - but nothing special.
I had planned to go to Buchman Darom the following morning, but overslept (they started at 6:30, Lev Achim at 8:00), so I went to Lev Achim, and was again disappointed - a lot of noise, not much singing, and when they tried to sing different parts of the room were singing different tunes.

Second day I made it up to the Buchaman Darom minyan, there were about 40 people there, in someones living room, and I think that it was the best Rosh HaShana davening that I've ever experienced, certainly the best since I left Yeshiva (even though merkaz Modi'in where I davened the last few years was also outstanding).
It was a very "Gush" minyan", and I'm now certainly keen to join the Amuta, and hopefully this wondering homeless minyan will find a permanent, or at least temporary location soon.
It is still not known where they will daven Yom Kippur, but I hope that it'll be better than a street corner as my parents will be with us.

I didn't make it to the Hesder Yeshiva, but was there for slichot erev Rosh HaShana, and IY"H will be back again for slichot tomorrow morning.

One more point about Rosh HaShana - As always, Rabbi Lau's Shabbat Shuva Drosha was outstanding. It's amazing how many people they can pack into the Merkaz Modi'in shul (more of an unfinished basement than a shul),.

Home Sweet Home

Well, we're back home in Modi'in, I haven't had time (or energy) to blog since we got back, but I thought that I could share a few thoughts. Hopefully later in the week I'll be back in a regular blogging routine.

The House - we are delighted with our new house, our immediate neighbors seem nice, and a nice mix of native Israelis, Olim, Dati'im, and not-yet dati'im.

The Neighborhood - we have many friends who moved into Buchman Darom over the past few months, and everyone seems happy with the decision to move here. A large percentage of the neighborhood is religious, and there is quite a high percent of English Speakers (ohh no - please don't tell me that I ended up in Ramat Beit Shemesh or Efrat)

Shuls - well, there aren't ANY - not a single shul in Buchman Darom. There are several minyanim in peoples homes on Shabbat (especially Erev Shabbat), and the Yeshiva in Buchman Tzafon is only a few minutes walk from my house, they seem to have nice Shabbat and weekday minyanim - looks like we'll be there for the Chagim.

Schools - all four kids are in different schools, three of them are in new schools and so far everyone seems happy, although I'm sure that I'll have more to write on this topic in the future

Heat - it's HOT, could someone please turn down the heat outside! We still don't have air-conditioning!

Routine - this week, with everyone back in school we have started to get the family back into a routine, makes life easier for everyone

I've got a lot more to say on all of the above, as well as some thoughts on the Parsha, and Daf Yomi - but I've gotta get a document finished for work.

Daf Yomi and the Titanic

I'm back in Modi'in now and there are a million things that I want to write about - Shabbat in Buchman Darom, the choice of minyanim here, my new neighbours, kids and jetlag, the new school year - and hopefully, when I have time I'll talk about all of the above.

Right now I'm frantically trying to catch up on work, so all I'll add is a quick link related to yesterday's daf.
Yesterday we covered the status of a woman who's husband was lost at sea. One of the most famous cases was of course the Psak of Rav Yaakov Misken who ruled for the wife of Shminon Meizner who was on the Titanic.

I searched the Web for a copy of the Psak, and finally found it using the way back machine and looking at the archives of HebrewBooks.com.

You can view a copy of the Psak here.

Stay tuned for Modi'in-related stuff

Ottawa

Well, we just had a lovely three days in Ottawa with three of the kids (Yael stayed back with her Saba and Savta).

A few highlights:

On Sunday we visited Upper Canada Village, a recreation of a Canadian Village from the 1860s. The kids had a great time visiting the various buildings and speaking to people from that period.
If you have a chance to go, allow extra time in the Schoolhouse, which this kids enjoyed the most.

Monday morning we took the kids to the Museum of Civilization which not only has an IMAX (we saw an amazing movie about the Alps), and a very well done history of Canada, but they have an excellent and educational kids museum which kept the kids entertained for hours.

In the afternoon we took them on a river ride which was, well, a boat ride on a river (go figure) .

Sunday night I took Yehoshua to the Sound and Light Show outside Parliament which I'd also recommend if you find yourself in Ottawa on a Summer evening.

On the way back to Toronto on Tuesday we stopped at Sanders farm which has 10 mazes, all with an educational theme, as well as a wagon ride and other activities - again I'd highly recommend it if you're looking for a full day's entertainment for your kids in the Ottawa region.

While in Ottawa I davened at the Young Israel of Ottawa. Interesting to see that the minyan is being taken over by Chabad - at least half the minyan were chabadnikim, and you can see that they are slowly trying to insert Chabad minhagim into the shul - but I guess that's a topic for another Post - or maybe not (don't get me started on Chabad, I may say something that I'll regret later)

Eyes down, heart up

Last night I went with my wife to see Kooza, a circus-production currently playing in toronto (we head home to Modi'in next week)

One of the acts was a group of three performers who managed to position their bodies in very unnatural shapes - I now realize that they were just a day ahead ini Daf Yomi and were trying to follow Rabbi Yeshmael's advice in today's daf:

Yevamot 105B

Rebbi Yishmael b'Rebbi Yosi explains .... when one
prays, he should direct his eyes downward, in the direction of the dwelling
place of the Shechinah in Eretz Yisrael, and he should direct his heart upward
towards heaven.

Well, here are some pictures of the performers last night trying to keep their eyes facing down and heart facing up.....

Blast From The Past

Well, I'm still in Totonto - we head back home to Modi'in in just over a week.

Friday night I was in my Father-in-law's shul, and at the back of the shul I saw a familiar face that I hadn't seen for 20 years. Rabbi Moshe Berlove who was the Rabbi in Wellington while I was a teenager there was in town for a family Wedding.

I had a wonderful opportuniy to catch up with him after davening, and also spoke for a while with his son Melech who was all of five years old last time a I saw him.

I was very close to Rabbi Berlove 20 years ago and spent many many Shabbatot at their home, but I haven't been in contact with them since he left New Zealand in 1989. It was lovely to catch up and share memories. He shared with me a story about my Grandmother that I didn't know before and we talked about various things that he remembered from his time in Wellington.


Tomorrow I'm off to Ottawa with my family, and probably wont have acgnace to Blog until I get back on Ruesday night.

Maybe when I get back I'll write some reactions to the article that was in Friday's In Jerusalem about Modi'in.

Parshat Raeh

I am really busy at work right now, and don't have time to write a proper post, but there is a Rashi at the end of Shlishi of this week's Parsha that is bothering me, and I wanted to write it down.

If anyone has any thoughts on this Rashi, Please leave me a comment.

Pasuk 12:28 says:

כח שְׁמֹר וְשָׁמַעְתָּ, אֵת כָּל-הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי, מְצַוֶּךָּ: לְמַעַן יִיטַב לְךָ וּלְבָנֶיךָ אַחֲרֶיךָ, עַד-עוֹלָם--כִּי תַעֲשֶׂה הַטּוֹב וְהַיָּשָׁר, בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ.

Guard and listen to all these things that I command you so that it should be good for you and your children after you for ever, for you should do the good and the straight in the eyes of HaShem your G-d
(my translation).

Rashi says:
"Hatov" (good), means in the eyes of Heaven
"Hayashar" (straight) means in the eyes of people

Leaving aside questions of reward and punishment (which the pasuk relates to directly), my question is why is it important that our actions are not only Right (in the eyes of Heaven), but that they are seen to be right.

Surely there are cases where the right thing to do will be critisized or rejceted by society.
If an action is Right, but not embraced by society - does that make it any less right?

I wanted to follow this up in other sources, but I am travelling right now and don't have easy access to sforim.
If anyone has any insights, please leave me a comment.

Shabbat Shalom