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that is beautiful and inspiring BaalHabooze!
That is so true WIY. Having a language that we can all communicate and share in is such a gift that I too often take for granted. Being able to relate on this thread to other people’s experiences as an American and more basically as a human is profound, when it comes right down to it. We are blessed that G-d gave us the means through language to share support, comfort, and console each other as we remember the unspeakable impressions made to our memories through our five senses on 911.
Thank you WIY, this is very helpful and really fascinating to me! I think I understand the situation better now.
besalel, I will check out that particular verse and try to figure it out!
Hello besalel and 147,
How you have carried the agony of those images these eleven years I do not know. Having watched the events that day second-hand on TV, I am still shocked at how fresh and raw these memories are for me. I think of you and everyone who holds pain and grief from that day, and I pray that we will never know another day like that again.
Hello WIY,
Thank you, I really appreciate what you just said — I have really tried to hone my writing skills since I was an English and writing major, then through law school and after as a child advocate. Isn’t it amazing how difficult it can be, but how beautiful it is when you can accomplish it, to catch the moment, it’s impressions, it’s feelings, with words and/or music? It is like holding a butterfly in the palm of your hand, it is so delicate and ephemeral. I am constantly awestruck by the ability of words and music, especially in a spiritual context, to move me. When it comes to a subject like 911, that sense is heightened beyond belief for me.
Hello besalel,
That is beautiful! I agree completely. Is what you wrote in English a translation of the Hebrew? I don’t read Hebrew at this point but will be changing that!
Hello 147,
I have been thinking a lot about this too. Every year at this time takes me back to that day. This morning down here in Pennsylvania was so much like that day — pure blue sky, 70s, no humidity, just absolutely perfect to start.
I will never forget walking into my 3rd year law school income taxation class first thing in the morning and seeing the professor scribble in big letters on the chalkboard “class cancelled.” Then we all went to a lounge in the law school referred to as the Goat and stood glued to the TV to watch the footage.
We were too afraid to leave the law school and were unsure if Philadelphia would be a target, so we stayed for hours in the building and it’s center courtyard. It seemed that day as if every Penn Law student had family and friends in NYC and DC, as virtually everyone hovered in the courtyard trying unsuccessfully on the cell phone lines to confirm that loved ones were safe. I can’t even find words to describe the looks on my classmates’ faces. And all the while, I kept looking up at the clear blue sky — how did such evil come out of it that day? I could not understand. Things became very quiet in Philadelphia that day as the only things flying overhead were military planes.
Eleven years later I still cry when I take the time to recall that day. My father’s family, Slavic immigrants to New York City, helped build some of the tallest skyscrapers, including the World Trade Center.
I was 24, and all of a sudden, the world separated into “before” and “after.”
That is beautiful, puppy, thank you 🙂
Thank you very much Nechomah for your explanation and encouragement — it is so helpful to have both right now!
Lebidik yankel and besalel, I am very interested to hear what goes on in other places and in other observant Jewish communities. What besalel said made me think of some questions I have, if anyone has some answers:
It sounds from what besalel wrote that some people of Sephardic background are part of the CR. I often see on posts and threads here the word “Yiddishkeit,” which I had thought was an expression referring more or less to Ashkenazi Jewish people. Are Sephardic (and Mizrahi, for that matter) Jewish people part of the “Yiddishkeit” that posters here refer to? If not, what are the equivalent expressions to “Yiddishkeit” for Sephardic and Mizrahi people? Does the website name here “Yeshiva World” encompass yeshiva thinking and discussions that are primarily geared towards one of these three major groupings of Jewish people, or to all of them? Do people of these three major groupings tend to go to separate Ashkenazic, Sephardic, or Mizrahi yeshivas, or do they tend to all learn together?
Thank you for your clarifications!
That is hilarious! Good luck with driving This name is already taken 🙂
Hello golfer and yichusdik,
Thank you so much for your advice! And I have to apologize for taking this thread off-track for a few posts here — I’m sorry BaalHabooze!
It really means a lot to me what both of you said about my journey in becoming Orthodox 🙂 Thank you for pointing me in the right direction regarding S.Y. Agnon. It makes sense, what you said yichusdik, about him using many Torah sources, because Days of Awe does not list him as the author, but rather as the editor. I suppose he was kind of splicing together various sources, because he seems to take stuff from all over the place — a lot of interesting stories. Some of what he cites I can understand, but there is also plenty that confuses me because I lack the necessary context, I think. For instance, with the section on Selichot, I could gather from what he cited when one starts saying the penitential prayers (in terms of time of day and time during Elul), but I am not even remotely sure what prayers are said or the proper way to say them! I have to get more info on the basics, I’m sure.
Hello Nechomah,
Thank you for your encouragement and suggestions! I’m glad that some of the practices I can begin at home, especially while I’m still helpings my mother as she goes through chemotherapy. I am also hopeful that maybe someday I may still find my other half! I hope you have a wonderful New Year 🙂
Thank you for explaining this to me shein, zahavasdad, and Shopping613. So it sounds as if saying selichot is something that a woman can do at home on her own. The editor of the book I’m re-reading is S. Y. Agnon — is that who you are talking about, Shopping 613?
Hello, I think I may be 122?
Hello iced,
I am not sure about city driving, I am sorry! I think what people have posted here is much better than the smaller amount that I remember learning in Pennsylvania. We are pretty bad drivers down here it would seem!
Hello BallHabooze and This name is already taken,
I was just re-reading a part of a book called Days of Awe, regarding preparation in Elul for the High Holy Days, and the text was discussing Selichot. Could you or anyone in the Coffee Room tell me if it is common practice to wake up at midnight to begin reading and reciting the prayers? The book makes it sound as if that is the case. Also, do women do this as well as men, and if they do, is there any difference in the way they go about doing this?
Thank you for explaining the details to me, and I hope you have a restful Shabbos!
Hello Moderators,
I hope you have a Good Shabbos! I had a a potentially silly but perhaps creative suggestion for the category “Controversial Topics”…perhaps it could be subtitled “The Stir” (with a play on the fact that you stir your coffee, or at least you do if you add cream and sugar!). Just a thought, sorry if it was stupid.
Hi iced,
I think I remember from driver’s ed. 19 years ago that, on the highway, it should be at least two car lengths.
I meant “thank you”!
Thank BaalHabooze, you are a thoughtful and funny poster — I always enjoy reading what you have to say!
I was thinking about what GeshmakMan said. I did not mean to have a laugh at someone else’s expense or put anyone down. I am sorry for joking about it. I am trying to be more mindful of any lashon hora on my part. I apologize.