parsha bit: Ki Tavo

The parsha tells us that when we enter the land, we are to bring the first fruits of our fields to the temple for an offering. When we do so we are to make a declaration beginning "Arami oveid avi", which we know from the Pesach haggadah -- "my father was a wandering (or fugitive) Aramean". This refers to Avraham. But Rashi interprets the verse differently; "Arami oveid avi" means, to him, "an Aramean sought to destroy my father". This refers to Lavan, who tried to cheat Yaakov. Both our humble beginnings and the threats we have encountered along the way are worth remembering when we thank God for his blessings.

splitting the baby

I am not Solomon, so I have to work harder for an answer. :-)

When I started leading the morning minyan, I did the service exactly as it was taught to me -- Hebrew here, English there, this melody, and so on. I have made a very few changes, gradually; after noticing that different people do in fact do it a little differently, I figured I could get away with that if I didn't jolt people too much. I made changes in the things I most care about.

Over time, I've learned, everyone else who leads this service has drifted away from one particular melody. Some people have asked me to kill it too. The rabbi, who is mara d'atra so may insist but knows the minyan was there before he was so he won't, hates it and said he would be delighted if I chose to get rid of it. I, personally, do not care; it would be hard to find a part of the service that I'm more neutral about. So for the last couple weeks I dropped it, just chanting that passage instead.

Naturally, there is one long-time, regular member who loves singing it and thinks people went behind his back to lobby me. He begged me to put it back. I did this morning, making a slight change to address what I perceive to be the rabbi's main complaint. (I haven't talked with the rabbi yet, so I don't know if that was effective.) Sigh. I wish I actually cared about this particular issue; then I could assert a position and go.

I might look for a different melody and see how that goes. I don't know any that fit all the criteria right now, but I haven't done any real work on this yet. (So hey, if any of you want to make suggestions, I'm open. It's L'dor vador; we currently do this one (ignore cheesy accompaniment please), which the rabbi feels is insufficiently reverent (um, yeah) and too repetitive. I suggested this one to the rabbi; the mood is much better, but he thinks it's still too repetitive. Any suggestions?)

random bits

Dear Pittsburgh water authority: could you arrange for me to have more than a trickle of water by tomorrow morning when I'm going to want to take a shower? Thanks. (A water main broke in Oakland this afternoon -- about ten hours ago, so I would have thought we'd have water pressure by now. I wonder if they're having trouble finding the shut-off valves again.)

I got my torah-reading assignment for the high holy days today. I'm reading on the second day of Rosh Hashana. The Reform movement reads the Akeidah on the first day, while traditional congregations read it on the second day. So what do we read on the second day? Creation, because Rosh Hashana is the birthday of the world. I like that. I'm reading the first three days of creation. If I can learn the high-holy-day trope in time I'll do that (it's pretty and I'd like to do it); if I can't, I can fall back to regular trope and maybe I can use that knowledge again in a few weeks for Simchat Torah. Either way works. And I can be certain that I won't have any trouble finding the beginning of the portion. :-)

Today when we studied my rabbi asked if I wanted to do something seasonal. (Sure!) So we studied the first mishna in tractate Rosh Hashana, the Rashi, and some of the gemara (more next time). He read and translated the mishna and Rashi (with occasional kibbitzing from me), and then he had me read the gemara (though he had to do a lot of the translation). That is, he had me read Aramaic without vowels. I got a lot of words wrong, but I also got a lot right; I'm starting to get the right instincts. Neat!

At work I've been trying to get some more resources for my project, and my project manager has had limited success. To my surprise, two other project managers have come to me recently to ask what I need so they can help. I'm happy for the help (especially if they can deliver), but I have the impression this isn't how it usually works. (But hey -- it's just possible I might actually get some QA! Score!)

I've been listening to the latest Ruach CD, a compilation/sampler of new Jewish music that comes out every two years. The big winner on this album for me is L'Chu N'rananah by a group called Mah Tovu. I would definitely like to hear more of their work.

Links:

Geek to geek communications, a write-up of what sounds like an interesting talk. (I'd not previously heard of either the speaker or the conference.)

Sometimes eBay is just a venue for good stories, with sales being secondary. That said, I'm impressed that she got that much -- stories do seem to sell stuff better than conventional listings. (A friend recently reported moving a piece of furniture on Craigslist by casting it as a pet-looking-for-new-home ad.)