Comments on: Office Girls

By: Moshe

Moshe — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:55:33 +0000

I enjoyed reading your article. Whether “correct” or not was not the point. I saw an op-ed that expressed just that- a human experience. Well done, Chani. Like you brushed upon in your article; people love to ctriticize…

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By: Jo

Jo — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:37:26 +0000

It sounds just like the place my sister works in Brooklyn. But, The double named women are a whole lot more aggressive than you’re describing them! They might be quiet around the bosses but their mouths move a mile a minute talking about kleina kepeldik things. I for one think that its wrong not to educate women. But, unfortunately I think that it still wouldn’t stop them from talking lashon hara about one another.

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By: Skeleton

Skeleton — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:32:42 +0000

I know. You can’t get more Jewish than Isador, Irving, Christopher, Alex, Benedict, etc. It’s laughable from the sense that you don’t fool anyone by anglicizing your name. Sooner or later your true identity shows. We should learn from the Rasta Jamaicans, they’re proud of their heritage, they don’t anglicize.

Have you spoken to some support person in a call center in India recently? Did they tell you their names were Pradesh, Deepahleta, or Radeshuman? Or John, John, and Jane? Personally, I prefer the latter, at least when I have to make the callback.

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By: Rupture & Continuity

Rupture & Continuity — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:23:03 +0000

Thanks Beth, much appreciated

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By: Bethany

Bethany — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:04:29 +0000

My gift to R&C. (Unfortunately, I can’t make the links work, but if you paste the info into google, I think you’ll get it.)

The Jewish Messiahs: From the Galilee to Crown Heights – Google Books Result
Harris Lenowitz – 2001 – Religion – 297 pages
Page 210

Jewish and Christian mysticism: introduction – Google Books Result
Dan Cohn-Sherbok, Lavinia Cohn-Sherbok – 1995 – Body, Mind & Spirit – 186 pages
Page 79

Tree of souls: the mythology of Judaism – Google Books ResultHoward Schwartz – 2004 – Religion – 618 pages
Page 273

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By: kafhakela

kafhakela — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:32:57 +0000

Quasi; I see you’re really familiar with his ideas and mehalech! I would love to hear more. Maybe you can contribute to Unpious a piece based on his ideas?

“This book was first published from manuscript in ’63. O how that riled up some of the wannabe Chassidim and rebbes who were more or less farbisseneeh missnagdim disguised in fur coats n hats. vd”l. ”
Wasn’t it his descendants that didn’t want it published? What were the reasons? I would guess that it was just a fight of who owns the rights to it, but I heard that the reason given was that it was not written to be printed, it was “too dangerous” for that.

“and so loved any and every Jew unconditionally…”
-unless you’re found to be from the sheidin yehudo’in…… in which case you can also go back to the mountains of darkness….

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By: Bethany

Bethany — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:32:46 +0000

Ha, R&C, I see what you mean. I hadn’t looked for links in google, but if you want to, I will. Later.

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By: quasi intellectual-quasi chussid

quasi intellectual-quasi chussid — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:20:35 +0000

The source of this minhag is the Komarner’s son R Eliyezr Zvi, in his encyclopedia-style ‘Or einaym vol. 1, entry: shmos bney yisrael. I do recall another source [which I cannot currently locate] where a descendent or disciple reports that after the passing of R Eizykl there was a clamoring to find the journal wherein the full names were safely encrypted… A somewhat related custom is recorded of R Yehoshua Heshl of Apta; for their first month he’d refer to toddlers as such [das kind], not by their given name.
(BTW, maybe Tzip or someone else can enlighten me to the etymology of the name Heschl. I think its attribution to Herschel is a mistake.)
In the Komarner’s Shtar T’noyim [prenuptial:) conditions contract] his name is entered with Mekhl at the end. The shtar t’noym is published (among other places) as an appendix to his “m’gilath s’torim” (hidden scroll, also subtitles “Chezyonot uma’ase hashem” – Visions and Acts). That ‘scroll’ is also where his more radical ideas and imaginations are found. I’m not certain, but there might be an excerpt from this m’gilah in Louis Jocobs’ Jewish Mistycal Testimonies, vtzarikh iyun shum.
Though I don’t recall his eluding to his self as a messiah, he did hint at his being a sort of reincarnation of the soul of the BeSHT, incomparably far less delusional…
Re the Komarner’s hypothetical relationship to us Unpious. Seeing such relationship takes merely a tad of imagination; he saw himself (as he pretty much was) a proud and staunch BeSHTian, and so loved any and every Jew unconditionally…
I can imagine myself sitting at his tisch one shabbos and hearing him elaborate in his toyreh… “o my dear brethren! You should only know how many angels dance round n round each click of the “@” key, and with each click on ‘go’ how many goyim [- only the heathens of yore, unlike the nations in whose shadow we’re secure] go where the black peppers grow…”
Let that flight of fancy sore to the heights n find its heavenly rest in the in the ‘Birds Nests’ pearched atop the ‘Blessed Chamber’ of the Komarner.
However I’ll indulge just a bit more. I don’t want to imagine him reading, posting, and commenting in our environs. When he’d come across a fan of RMC Lutzatto, he may still attempt some dialogue with such. But woe to us when he meets his first of our brethren who proffess to be neo-, proto- a/o post- Sabbatians, Frankists… fuggedabouddit.
Now back to (so-to-speak) seriousness. One of my greatest appreciations goes for the general idea to be garnered from his ‘Shulchan Hatahor [cleansed table], where he subjugates the ‘canon’ of Orthodox Judaism’ to being more adherent and play second fiddle to Jewish Mysticism. This book was first published from manuscript in ’63. O how that riled up some of the wannabe Chassidim and rebbes who were more or less farbisseneeh missnagdim disguised in fur coats n hats. vd”l. V’yesh lha’arikh, akh, me’epheth p’nay, hineh ketz ar’ay, leelein mi’lay, v’od hazzon l’mo’aday…

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By: kafhakela

kafhakela — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:18:32 +0000

RandC; very nicely brought out, but I don’t consider him delusional per se any more than any of the other Hasidic masters. Was the Chozeh delusional? He definitely lived in his own realms, but that doesn’t mean that he was imagining experiences which didn’t exist. I am not a psychologist, but I am sure that the human mind has the capability to soar higher than many of us would imagine possible. He might have interpreted those experiences into his own language, but the experiences were nonetheless real. Did you know that he was also a gevaldige lamdan? cf his sefer on Toras Kohanim, I forgot the name of it. I once heard from Rav Dov Landau a comment on that sefer, and I forgot that as well!

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By: Rupture & Continuity

Rupture & Continuity — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:38:44 +0000

Beth.

“What about him is so fascinating? I seem to remember him as a delusional mystic who seriously believed he had ruach hakodesh and was the messiah.”

Precisely that is what is so fascinating about him. He somewhat breaks the mold of classical chasiddisher rebbe. He has freshness; he is not stale and decrepit like other Rebbes of his time. He seems to be exuberant, vibrant, energetic, and extreme. His persona is wide and in a Jewish sense all encompassing. He was a true torah giant, was a master kabbalist, a certified genius by all accounts, highly original and innovative in his ways, he also exhibits streaks of antinomianism with his breaks from the accepted p’sak on many halakhick dictums in his responsa and other assorted works, added to that he was completely delusional and insane. All in all, I would say, a very distinguishable and estimable character, at least someone I have to know.

I didn’t find anything in google. Would you be so kind and provide a link?

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