á''ä – Back In Action
It’s nice to be missed. Ya silly bastids.
You might have gathered this outage had the potential of being a rather stressful and trying experience for me. Truthfully, it’s been incredibly nervewracking. I’ve been working on the server around the clock, catching about 3 1/2 hours of sleep a night.
Help, as they say, came from all corners. While some of our readers graciously offered technical assistance and alternate server space, others seized this as an opportunity to “school” me for my purported heathenism. Here’s a couple of ways to nicely kick a guy while he’s down:
Hi,
Not that you’re asking me, but I think that it’s not a coincidence that soon after you put up that Jewish-skin smut on the blog that this unfortunate event happened.
I know you must be going crazy over the gorgeous Israeli girls (I married one), but there’s got to be another way to ‘stimulate’ the guys back in America.
g’mar hatima,
Josh
Dear Daniel
I am the last person who should say this to you for I am not an angel, not a tzaddik and by saying this I am in no way trying to put you down.
I would like to point out that on Rosh Hashanah you publicly desecrated the Holy day and right after the Holiday your server went down it could be looked at asa message from G-d for you.
Again I say I have no right to say this to you. I was afraid the point might be missed and that is the only reason I am writing this.
Wish you health and happiness and a good new year
moshe
Considering the fact that Bar-Refaeli is on the cover of ôðà é +ôìåñ (Israel’s version of People) this week, which is adorning every newsstand in the country, if I’m going down for, er, appreciating G-d’s creations, then, I guess all of Israel is as well. But I suppose that doesn’t mean anything if you think like that already…
If I am to believe that this incident was of no coincidence, and that I am being punished for oogling hott Israeli chicks, then what do we make of this?
Generally I tend to brush this type of thinking off as superstitious, and in a way, a chilul hashem, because dogma’s a big turn-off for me. But nonetheless, it is still a question I have asked myself throughout this process, ridiculous to some as it may seem: Did G-d smite my server cuz I’m not especially religious?
That was, essentially, the topic of this lengthy theological reflection on Orthochist that sparked some rather enlightened discourse wif A to the K (and is perhaps the post that instigated Moshe’s remarks).
And so, it being that reflective time between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, I suppose it’s a question I’m still asking myself everyday—one which is amplified by Josh and Moshe’s remarks. What really is our relationship to G-d?
[Update] Comments aren’t working. Sigh. Comments are working.
test
welcome back!
yup, i definitely feel that the God of Israel is a Trickster-type divinity…
hey man, what happened to my S-hacek?
Speaking of coincidences… Over Rosh Hashana I was thinking about how I really need a better backup scheme. Saturday night I spent an hour spiffing up backup scripts to nightly replicate all my files and databases. I then ordered an Iomege Rev drive and some disks. Monday the drive came, and soon after I realized JewsSchool was down…. Hmmmmmmmmmm
Here you go. Asshole.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/hurricane.asp
ahem
That is sooooo cute. Keep up the good work!
It takes a big man to admit he made a mistake.
Even better with a really funny comeback.
Kudos.
Hey dude, my server went down too. I visited 5 sites that i do regularly and they were all down. Coincedentally, jewish sites.
Mobius:
Good to have you back, though I am new around here I have missed the interaction.
As far as the other side. G-D may have played apart, the question is what is the lesson and for whom.
Heh. Welcome back. We tried to hold down the fort and all but there’s nothing quite like the original, eh? Ooof. Well have an easy fast.
hi, i hope everyones feeling blessed. So yes G-d does more than “play” a role. sayin maybe G-d had something to do with it is an idolotrous statement if G-d had ‘something’ to do with it then we are saying that there is another power upholding the world and G-d had something to do with this situation!.. an yes we can all learn from it. The Baal Shem Tov says everything we see and that happens to us is a lesson for us to take, absorb and utilize as a newly earned strength. peace and much love…
Aish:
Does this mean that things can not occur ‘randomly.’
G-D knows everything that is going to happen, does that mean He causes everything to happen. If G-D does control everything that happens then everything that happens is therefore G-D’s will and it doesn’t matter what the other reasons cause things to happen, it all stems from His will then we are not truly responsible for what happens and have no free will.
Is this what you were intending to say or did I just completely miss your point.
Welcome back to being online again.
Boy, did we miss you!
cheers
Leslie
Little Wolf, Aish,
There’s an Albert Einstein quote: “God doesn’t play dice.” It’s referring to quantum physics, but it also reflects my feeling about God’s influence in everything that happens in the world. There is no random.
God knows/controls the future…free will… blah blah blah. Jewish philosophy 101.
little wolf:
thats not what i inteded to say however you can take that route. if were looking at it like you have said then it could be the most devistating revelation or the most liberating. G-d is the master of the worlds. His will is the Torah and the mitzvot He gave/gives to us. our job is to nullify our will to His. Reb nachman says you are where your thoughts are and the Baal Shem Tov says you are where your will is. we at every moment in ‘time’ have the choice of making our will His or serving ourselves and our animalistic instincts. we are given these midot (measures, or characteristics, strengths, traits) to utilize in the proper way. so all of the drives we have can be made holy or lowly. Our job is to reveal G-d in this world by doing what He asks of us: the mitzvot. we can easily lose ourselves in the trance of our desires. (and they are realistic, practical desires…eating sleeping, emotional, physical and spiritual fullfilment.) The trick is to take all these drives and necessities and bring them back to the source. refine ourselves, being conscious of every moment and move we make and embracing our relationship with Hashem. Doing it for the Most High. the whole rosh hashana is about crowning G-d as king. how can we crown G-d?….we must crown G-d because ein melech ble am. there is no king without a nation. a king needs ppl to follow him the ppl make him the king we are showing G-d we want and embrace Him in our lives in every aspect of our lives because we realize He is running the show i can chose to ignore that and not give the credit bec this world is called yesh m’ayin something from nothing meaning we can look at something and not see its source we think we are something seperate but we arent, its all one and we can easily let ourselves give in to the reality of Hashem memaley kol almin (G-d fills all worlds) and sovev kol almin (surrounds all worlds, or encompases , theres not realy a good translation for the word, all worlds) or we can choose to dance to the beat of desires and serve ourselves which is avoda zara. it really all comes together . im rambling on because there is no end its all connected its all chassidus.just be b’simcha and look for the personal divine providence always surrounding you. -peace and love
“Not only does God play dice, but he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen.”
— Stephen Hawking
G-d’s will is definative. Our perception and interpretation of it are arbitrary.