Wisdom from the gentiles: John Steinbeck

Some interesting quotes from a wonderful writer John Steinbeck. I generally am averse to contemporary secular literature, but Steinbeck rises above. Whereas many novel writers are consumed with their own decadence (Fitzgerald, Hemingway), Steinbeck got outside himself and wrote about poverty (Grapes of Wrath) and religious struggle (East of Eden). When reading Steinbeck one doesn't feel as though he's writing about himself. I wonder if his German-American heritage left him less decadent and more focused on values. Also, he lived in the prime of America and not in the decadent cities.

Here are some quotes:

A sad soul can kill quicker than a germ.

If you're in trouble, or hurt or need - go to the poor people. They're the only ones that'll help - the only ones.

Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass.

A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.

In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable.

No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself.

Time is the only critic without ambition.

We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it.

Rav Breuer: A Loving Tribute

Rav Breuer: A Loving Tribute  Breuers 2gether

"Produced some years ago by Steve Fox (Fox Video Productions, Teaneck) for a SRH Dinner. Posted with permission."

When it rains it pours. Or is it that geula comes by surprise and it overwhelms. This youtube channel which is the work of a Breuer's person is giving us such a view into the beauty that is the KAJ Kehilla. I can't even describe what this is doing for me personally. It's fantastic. 

chanuka kaj

chanukakaj

Breuers 2gether

General Meeting KAJ

General Meeting KAJ

Breuers 2gether

"A very weighty subject was discussed before the general membership. Rav Schwab Zt'l had announced his retirement and requested that a new Rav be brought in. The President is urging the members to move the process along."

from Tiferes Tzvi

excerpt from 

Tiferes Tzvi

A Student Torah Publication of YRSRH

Founded in 1984

ויבאו שטרי בני ישראל ויצעקו אל פרעה לאמר... תבן אין נתן לעבדיך ולבנים אמרים לנו עשו והנה עבדיך מכים וחטאת עמך. (ה, טו-טז)

The foremen of the בני ישראל came and cried out to פרעה, saying…Straw is not given to your servants, yet they tell us, ‘Make bricks!’ Behold your servants are being beaten, and it is a sin for your people. (5, 15-16)

There are several ways to interpret what וחטאת עמך means. רש"י holds that the foremen were telling פרעה that these decrees are bringing sin on his people. Ibn Ezra says they were rebuking פרעה himself, by telling him, “You are sinning”. However, they did not tell him outright, they only hinted it to him.

However we explain this comment, what was the purpose of telling it to פרעה? Was פרעה so righteous that he would change his ways because of what they were telling him!? On the contrary, in the eyes of פרעה the backbreaking labor that was decreed was no sin at all!

Rav Shimon Schwab זצ"ל explains that the foremen were warning פרעה. He was giving orders that were impossible to fulfill, thereby causing them to transgress his command.
Nonetheless, פרעה’s taskmasters beat them for it. This being so, ה' will act מדה כנגד מדה and punish פרעה for something that will be impossible for him to do. This ended up occurring when ה' took away פרעה’s free will and he had to transgress the command to let the בני ישראל go. Nonetheless, ה' still punished him for transgressing.

Another explanation is that the foremen meant that since פרעה commanded them to do the impossible, his respect would be cheapened because the Egyptians will see that the Jews are not fulfilling his laws and they will no longer fear transgressing his word.

posted with permission