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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
meirbg's LiveJournal:
| Sunday, June 19th, 2016 | | 9:40 am |
| | Tuesday, July 21st, 2015 | | 12:43 am |
| | Friday, January 27th, 2012 | | 10:37 am |
| | Monday, November 7th, 2011 | | 7:34 pm |
Hobo tells a joke
In downtown Chicago, a good looking hobo asked me for a quarter (in Texas they ask for a dollar!). He offered me a joke for it. I was ready to part with all my coins, but did not want a joke, to save his time, but he said, "I will tell you a Jewish joke. It is not so good though..." I assured him that all Jewish jokes are a problem anyway, and he said, "Why do Jews have such long noses? Because the air is free!" After the payment, I told him that there was another reason. A long nose is similar to one of the letters in the Jewish alphabet (yud), and it signifies a special affinity for the divine. He said he did not know. I said that his reason might also be true, and promised to myself to think it over. In the city of Saul Bellow, every hobo is a writer, and every blogger. | | Thursday, September 1st, 2011 | | 9:12 pm |
ejusdem generis
I am reading this wonderful letter by Mike Godwin (PDF), which he wrote when he served as top lawyer for the Wikimedia Foundation, addressed to the FBI over Wikipedia's use of their seal.
I am mostly enjoying the style, but I am also looking up the terms, and I came across this, ejusdem generis, which is explained here and is used to interpret loosely written statutes. Well, amazingly enough this is the Talmud rule of prat-uklal (a specific example followed by a general category), and it is explained here!
Back to the letter, which is wonderful is style! | | Sunday, May 22nd, 2011 | | 1:15 am |
Meditation for Lag B'Omer – Gratitude ad Infinitum
 The Sefirah associated with Lag B'Omer is Glory witin Glory (Hod shebe Hod), or gratitude inside gratitude. When a man is grateful to God, he should add that he is grateful for the possiblity of standing in front of God and being grateful. He thus completes and perfects his gratitude with gratitude.
However, he does not have to stop there. He can now be grateful for his capacity of being able to be grateful for being grateful. This chain has no end. It is reminiscent of God's desire to create the world, which had to be preceded with a desire to have a desire, and so on, also ad infinitum.
Compare this to Littlewood's idea of gratitude with potential infinity.
“The following idea, or coda to the series, was invented too late (I do not remember by whom), but what should have happened is as follows. I wrote a paper for the Comptes Rendus which Prof. M. Riesz translated into French for me. At the end there were 3 footnotes. The first read (in French) 'I am greatly indebted to Prof. Riesz for translating the present paper.' The second read 'I am indebted to Prof. Riesz for translating the preceeding footnote.' The third read 'I am indebted to Prof. Riesz for translating the preceeding footnote,' with a suggestion of reflexiveness. Actually I stop legitimately at number 3: however little French I know I am capable of copying a French sentence.” (Littlewood, Mathematical Miscellany).
Why does Littlewood stop at 3 while we continue ad infinitum? Obviously, because he is grateful not for the quality of being great, but for translating his gratitude. It is because our gratefulness is for gratefulness itself that we get into the infinite loop – which is better at stretching the mind than the finite.
Art: Gustave Courbet - Eternity | | Thursday, March 10th, 2011 | | 10:54 am |
Sacrifices in Homer's Odyssey and in the Jerusalem Temple
At the end of book 3 of the Odyssey, Nestor brings sacrifices to Athena - or Minerva in Butler's translation. I chanced to be reading it when the Daf Yomi is finishing Zevachim - Sacrifices, and I found the parallels very exciting.
On seeing the goddess transform herself into a eagle and fly away, Nestor utters a vow: "Holy queen," he continued, 'vouchsafe to send down thy grace upon myself, my good wife, and my children. In return, I will offer you in sacrifice a broad-browed heifer of a year old, unbroken, and never yet brought by man under the yoke. I will gild her horns, and will offer her up to you in sacrifice."
Here he promises an animal, but not a specific one, so that if one is lost, he will be responsible to bring another. He also adorns the cow like they did in Israel for the first-fruit procession.
As he mixed the wine, he prayed much and made drink-offerings to Minerva, daughter of Aegis-bearing Jove.
As we have recently learned in Avodah Zarah, the usual intention of an idolater is to pour the first drop to his god, and the upright heroes of Homer do this without fail.
Then Nestor began with washing his hands and sprinkling the barley meal, and he offered many a prayer to Minerva as he threw a lock from the heifer's head upon the fire.
The kohanim washed their hands. The barley meal agrees with the opinion of the opponents of Rabbi Yehudah that flour offerings are brought on private altars. Prayer is required in the Temple before a thanksgiving offering - which Nestor's one is.
Thrasymedes dealt his blow, and brought the heifer down with a stroke... then they lifted the heifer's head from off the ground, and Pisistratus cut her throat.
The kohanim would stun the animal, and the slaughter was done at the neck.
They cut out the thigh bones all in due course, wrapped them round in two layers of fat, and set some pieces of raw meat on the top of them; then Nestor laid them upon the wood fire.
That is burning the limbs and fats on the Altar.
Meanwhile lovely Polycaste, Nestor's youngest daughter, washed Telemachus.
That's special - I do not think kohanim were getting such treatment in the Temple.
When the outer meats were done they drew them off the spits and sat down to dinner...
This goes according with the opinion in the Talmud that peace offering are allowed on private altars and that they can be eaten. Why are there such strong parallels and connections? One explanation is exchange of experiences. The other - that the sacrifices were given to mankind, only people started using them in the service of the idols, and then later the Torah restored the correct laws (as in Bieberfeld, "The Universal History of the Jews.") Art: Nestor and his sons sacrifice to Poseidon on the beach at Pylos | | Monday, March 7th, 2011 | | 11:10 am |
| | Sunday, March 6th, 2011 | | 11:34 pm |
Joseph and Zuleika
 Jami (1414-1492) described the story in his poem Yusuf and Zuleika. The Medrash story about all Zuleika's friends cutting their fingers is retold as follows:
The poem now pursues the Scriptural account of the life of Joseph, or Yussuf, whose supernatural beauty is, however, described as being the especial gift of God, and recorded to have been so great that no woman could look on him without love. Zuleika, therefore, only shared the fate of all her sex. Some writers say the ladies who clamored so much against her for her passion were, when he first entered the chamber where they were all assembled, in the act of cutting pomegranates, some say oranges, and in their admiration and amazement cut their fingers instead of the fruit! Yussuf is considered the emblem of divine perfection, and Zuleika's love is the image of the love of the creature toward the Creator: some go so far as to say that we ought to follow her example, and should permit the beauty of God to transport us out of ourselves. The rapid change from prison to high estate of Yussuf they consider a type of the impatience of the soul to burst its fetters and join its Creator. Yussuf was always surrounded with a celestial light, typical as well of the moral beauty and wisdom which adorned his mind. He is sold as a slave, and Zuleika becomes his purchaser, to the great rage and envy of all her rivals, amongst whom was included the Princess Nasigha, of the race of Aad. The beautiful Yussuf now enters her service, and, at his own desire, a flock of sheep are given to his special keeping, his admiring mistress wishing, by every indulgence, to attach him to her. The nurse of Zuleika is the confidante of the passion which she cannot control, and which, at length, in an imprudent moment, she discloses to its object himself. His father, Jacob, or the angel Gabriel in his likeness, appears, to warn him of his danger, and he flies, leaving his mistress in an agony of despair, rage, and grief. She thus exclaims: Is this a dream?—another dream,
Now continue with the poem,
Like that which stole my senses first,
Which sparkled o'er my life's dull stream,
By idle, erring fancy nursed?
Was it for this my life I spent
In murmurs deep, and discontent—
Slighted, for this, all homage due,
From gen'rous, faithful love withdrew?
For this, no joy, no pomp have prized;
For this, all honors have despised—
Left all my soul, to passion free,
To be thus hated—spurned-by thee?
The story of Yusuf and Zuleika ends when Zuleika, old and imprisoned, sees Yusuf in his kingly attire. She runs to him, and Yusuf, recognizing that she is the true love, marries her. Zuleika becomes young again through a miracle.
The Sefer Gilgulei Neshamot tells that the reincarnation of Joseph was Yehoshuah, and the reincation of Zuleika was Rahav, one of the four most beautiful women in history. Yehoshuah married Rahav, making the poet correct. | | Tuesday, February 15th, 2011 | | 8:45 am |
Meditation on a Candle
Then comes the light radiating from the candle, and this is the power to perceive, or Wisdom. Finally, there is the concept of the flame itself, and this corresponds to the highest Sefirah, the Crown, or Will.
All of these parts are united only through a wick. By contemplating a flame in this manner, one can bind himself to the Ten Sefirot.
The word used for the candle in the Sefer Yetzirah here is “gachelet,” or coal, and its numerical value is 441. The numerical value of the word Truth, “Emet” is the same. It is Truth that binds all opposites together. This is indicated in the word itself, for letter Aleph of Emet is the first letter of the alphabet, and letter Tav of Emet is the last letter of the alphabet. This is also the concept that the highest and the lowest meet and flow into each other. That infinite chain of transformations can also be used as a mental exercise, or meditation. | | Sunday, February 13th, 2011 | | 8:50 am |
| | Monday, October 4th, 2010 | | 11:40 am |
Anna Karenina as a Fight Between Morality and Mysticism (first 50 pages)
However, based on the assumption that the work of a genius touches us to the core because it itself touches on the ideas which serve as a foundation of the world, we can interpret it as complete and absolute truth. Accordingly, it should be read as, “(Seemingly) happy families are all alike; every unhappy family (author trying to resolve the question in a real, deep, way) is unhappy in its own way (requires an individual approach, which can be worked out only through sufferings required to obtain knowledge)”. Don't get scared, not necessarily physical suffering, but in the sense of "more wisdom - more sorrow; more knowledge - more grief."
Every person can give an obvious answer about what is right and what is wrong. Anna is her husband's wife, given to him by God, and it should stay that way. This is wrong, however, too obvious to be true. Every time a person brings in God to support his stance against others, he is prejudiced and is therefore wrong.
Vronsky is obviously Anna's true love, and true partner, if only because they are indeed lovers. The conflict here, one might say, is that Vronsky has not completed his correction, he is not perfect, whereas Anna is. The only reason she is reincarnated is for him – and he blows this chance, probably again and again.
Tolstoy is probing the veracity of this answer from many points of view, represented by the others in the novel. Will he get it? Let's wait for the next 50 pages.
Art: Heinrich Matvejevich Maniser - Anna Karenina | | Sunday, August 8th, 2010 | | 11:36 am |
Don Quixote as an Allegory of the Four Spiritual Worlds
"Too bad for those Sages who only eat the straw of the Torah and do not learn its secrets. For they rely only on their intellect and logic, eating from the Tree of Good and Bad, that is, wheat (חטה). But חטה consists of error (חט) and good (ה), and thus they inevitably have an admixture of falsehood in their learning."
"For the King and the Queen (Cosmic Man Zeir Anpin and his companion Nukva) in the World of Nearness do not ride on a donkey but on a horse. It is their servant, the angel Metatron, who rides on a donkey."
We thus see that the Knight on a Horse (Don Quixote) and the Servant on a Donkey (Sancho Panza) are parallel to the four spiritual worlds: Nearness and Creation on the one hand, and Formation and Action on the other.
"And if you tell me" - continues the Zohar – "that the Messiah should also arrive on a donkey, and that the Messiah is called poor (עני), hinting at the three hardest tractates of the Talmud (ערובין, נדה, יבמות), thus including all Talmud – that is only the beginning of his arrival, for he is not called King until he rides on a horse."
Many works of literature, fairy tales and myths contain hints to spiritual truths known to all mystics, and they resonate within the human soul.
Art: Salvador Dali - The Impossible Dream | | Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 | | 11:36 am |
Who should I ask?
What I find fascinating is that courts has limited authority in imposing oaths, they can't just blindly make one swear that he will say only the truth.
However, a secular court can take a Bible (or ask one raise a hand) and make one swear to say the truth even if one does not want to swear.
Where could I find more discussion about this comparison? - Thank you | | Thursday, March 4th, 2010 | | 12:20 pm |
speaking in tounges
 Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti (1774-1849) was keeper of the Vatican library and later a cardinal, but he’s best remembered for being a hyperpolyglot, a speaker of many languages. How many? Estimates range from 24 (in 1805) to 114 (judged after his death). The true number probably lies somewhere in between, but it’s considerable–Byron called Mezzofanti “a monster of languages, the Briareus of parts of speech.” A Russian traveler once asked Mezzofanti for a list of the dialects he had mastered, and the cardinal sent him the name of God in 56 languages. And Gregory XVI once arranged to have a polyglot group of students waylay him in the Vatican gardens: “[O]n a sudden, at a given signal, these youths grouped themselves for a moment on their knees before his Holiness, and then, quickly rising, addressed themselves to Mezzofanti, each in his own tongue, with such an abundance of words and such a volubility of tone, that, in the jargon of dialects, it was almost impossible to hear, much less to understand, them. But Mezzofanti did not shrink from the conflict. With the promptness and address which were peculiar to him, he took them up singly, and replied to each in his own language, with such spirit and elegance as to amaze them all.” | | Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 | | 7:11 am |
Meditation on Infinite 5-dimensional Space
 When we view the Sefirot as being ten directions in a five-dimensional continuum, we can also interpret this in the following manner. Each pair of Sefirot defines an infinite line, extended infinitely in both directions. The end points of such an infinite line, however, come together and meet once again at the "point in infinity." This is a fact recognized by mathematicians, and considerable use of the "point at infinity" is found in complex analysis, the calculus of complex number s.
One can use this as a meditation. Try to imagine the sphere at infinity and the point at infinity, and attempt to perceive how they are actually one. You will then see that your usual conceptions of space and extension are not as simple as you believe.
(Sefer Yetzirah, R. A. Kaplan Commentary)
| | Thursday, June 11th, 2009 | | 8:45 pm |
Mystics of all countries – unite! Мистики всех стран - соединяйтесь!
 Sefer Yetzira (The Book of Creation) is a concise mystical book (between 1,300 to 2,500 words) whose teaching were developed by the Patriarch Abraham and which was recorded at least 2000 years ago. Sentence 7: Ten Sefirot of Nothingness Their end is embedded in their beginning and their beginning in their end like a flame in a burning coal For the Master is singular He has no second And before one, what do you count? Commentary According to most commentaries, the “beginning” is Keter (Crown), while the “end” is Malchut (Kingship). These are the two endpoints of the spiritual dimension. On the most basic level, Crown is seen as the concept of Cause, while Kingship is the archetype of Effect. Since a cause cannot exist without an effect, and an effect cannot exist without a cause, the two are interdependent on each other. The Sefer Yetzirah likens this to a “flame bound to a burning coal.” A flame cannot exist without the coal, and the burning coal cannot exits without a flame. Although the coal is the cause of the flame, the flame is also the cause of the burning coal. Without the flame, the would not be a burning coal. Since Cause cannot exist without Effect, Effect is also the cause of the Cause. In this sense, Effect is the cause, and the cause is the Effect. Since beginning and end are inseparable, “their end is embedded in their beginning, and their beginning in their end.” The commentary goes on to explain the 5-dimensional space (three physical dimension, time, and soul, meaning good/bad dimension), and describes an infinitely remote sphere where all these converge. All of the above can be used as meditation devices for visualizing the complex spiritual worlds. And now… Mystics of all countries – unite! One can easily see that many mystical schools engage in the same meditative techniques, thus they are dealing with the same spiritual worlds, which should really come as no surprise. “Ten Sefirot of Nothingness” is parallel to Hindu meditation on Nothing, behind one’s head, which is one of the most powerful and dangerous forms of meditation. “And before one, what do you count?” is the sound of one hand clapping in Zen. The reader is invited to find further parallels. | | Monday, April 27th, 2009 | | 10:34 am |
| | Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 | | 9:01 pm |
Shakespeare Cheapens Reason?
Charles Altieri from UC Berkeley says in his lecture on Midsummer Night's Dream ( here they all are!) that Lysander cheapens reason. Lysander has just been awakened by Helena and, under the influence of the magic juice applied to his eyes, falls madly in love with her  HELENA Lysander if you live, good sir, awake. LYSANDER [Awaking] And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake. He now needs to explain his infatuation, as follows  The will of man is by his reason sway'd; And reason says you are the worthier maid. Things growing are not ripe until their season So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason; And touching now the point of human skill, Reason becomes the marshal to my will And leads me to your eyes, where I o'erlook Love's stories written in love's richest book. This is all upside down. Not the The will of man is by his reason sway'd;but it should be The reason of man is by his desire sway'd;But in this play, everything is reversed, as Bottom says: The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was. Furthermore, Reason becomes the marshal to my willsound like Reason becomes the servant to my will.This is contrast and funny, and we are entranced and enchanted. I will posit though that Shakespeare with Lysander are correct in cheapening reason. Any time something touches us deeply, be it a fairy tale, a myth, or an episode in Shakespeare, then in addition to the talent of the author, it is a mystical principle that they touch upon is what makes us shake. We know this principle but have lost it. As the Hindus teach us, the mind is often a Deceiver. So too in Kabbalah, the mind of the spiritual entity called Zeir Anpin, representing a supernal man, does not stay constant, but rather grows from the state of “Young Mind” to the state of “Adult Mind.” Now this is what Lysander means precisely, “Things growing are not ripe until their season” - meaning, from the birth of Zeir Anpin till his mature age, he changes. Actually, as Kaballah teaches, Zeir Anpin becomes young again every year on Passover and reaches his full maturity at about the time that we are in now, the end of the month of Adar. The fact that the Will is higher than the Mind is also true. In fact, the Will has to come first, for someone has to will for the other things (including his will) to exist. | | Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 | | 9:30 am |
Shakespeare as a Talmudist - Logic against Grammar
HERMIA
Sweet, do not scorn her so.
DEMETRIUS If she cannot entreat, I can compel.
LYSANDER Thou canst compel no more than she entreat: Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers. Helen, I love thee; by my life, I do: I swear by that which I will lose for thee, To prove him false that says I love thee not.
DEMETRIUS I say I love thee more than he can do.
LYSANDER If thou say so, withdraw, and prove it too. "Sweet, do not scorn her so" sets up the scene for the disagreement. Demetrius claims an "a forteriori" argument: "since she cannot entreat, I can compel," which in his mind is stronger. As the Oxford School commentary notes, Demetrius is overly competitive. Lysander counters with "compel and entreat are mentioned in the same phrase to teach us that they have the same power." Demetrius' argument now works against him: his compelling is not effective because her entreaties aren't. This in Talmud is called "argument by word analogy." What is to decide? Both approaches are correct. As often happens in the Talmud, one opponent invokes an oath, "by my life!" What is the other one to say? A stronger oath! Such a thing doesn't exist, as Shakespeare has proven before: HERMIA
By all the vows that ever men have broke, In number more than ever women spoke, and therefore it works only to make the first witness false. According to normal logic, it would not work, but according to the Talmud, the second set of witnesses is believed over the first, so it works. What gives? A sexual innuendo raises it up to the level of mystery and thus resolves the argument. |
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