Adam Simon

Educator, Designer, Marketing Consultant, Publisher, Rabbi

Jack of All Trades;
Master of Some.

January 20, 02:53 PM
Modesty, Expression and Undies
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Song Stuck In Head: Undies Theme Song
Artist: UOTO (Undies On The Outside)
Link: MySpace Music Page
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An interesting question came to my attention recently, it is one that I have pondered in the past but never heard a spiritual approach to. This question also got a song stuck in my head that I haven’t heard since high school…

I rock the undies on the outside!
Who rocks the undies on the outside?
We rock the undies on the outside!

This song is the theme song for “Undies On The Outside” a Los Angeles based band from the early 2000s, and it expresses a certain mentality, one that reflects this generation’s mentality: ’What is normally on the inside, we show off on the outside!’ Undies are a thing that are usually private and yet, express a certain part of our souls, they reflect a lot about a person’s individuality and personality, as the song says “I rock undies in three different shades/I rock five pairs just in one day”. People will also often spend lots of money on undies, different brands “Gucci, Gap and Calvin Klein/Get ‘em while they’re hot and buy the whole line”, etc. but this extreme expenditure and focus on undies would generally be a private thing. This song is an anthem for those who have an extreme desire to express the inner parts of their souls, things that are normally kept private are made public and flaunted to the world.

Many people would condemn this mentality as having a lack of tzniut. Tzniut, often translated as modesty, is generally taken to mean covering up that which is attractive or which draws attention. People take this idea to mean that a person should cover up their insides – their pnimiut - and keep those things which make them special private. This could not be further from the truth! Tzniut is supposed to cover up those things that we share in common with others, those things that distract us from our pnimiut - essence or insides – and that would end up blocking our individual expression.

The mentality of ‘undies on the outside’ is a very healthy Torah mentality. To better express this, let me present the question that I mentioned in the first paragraph. “Why is the male reproductive organ of mammals on the outside of the body? This seems to be ‘unintelligent design’! This organ which is responsible for the perpetuation of the species should be the most protected, not most exposed.” First of all, not to enter the Intelligent Design vs. Evolution debate (of which I don’t really see a debate, in my mind both opinions could work in harmony…) but those evolutionists who use this question as a proof against intelligent design are asking an equally damning question on their own theory. If the placement of the organ seems “unintelligent” than according to survival of the fittest the species with this placement should have died off, and if it is evolutionarily sound than the placement must have some intelligence to it…I heard a video tour online of a zoo with a rabbi recently who expressed a very interesting idea, he explained that the briah - creation – is here to teach us. There is something to be learned from all the seemingly insignificant parts of creation (see intro post) and he applied this idea to the placement of this organ. He explained that the organ was placed in this way to teach us that, in a spiritual sense, our creative aspect, the part of us that has the greatest potential to contribute to this reality must be on the outside, not hidden or protected from view. This is the lesson to be learned from male mammals in the zoo.

(For those who are interested, a very satisfactory scientific answer to the above question is that having the sperm in a more hostile environment creates a mini-survival-of-the-fittest situation in which the weaker and/or lesser quality sperm cannot survive, leaving only the top-notch cells to make the journey and perpetuate the species)

So, to sum up, rock your undies on the outside (in a metaphorical sense)! Don’t cover up and hide the parts of your soul that make you who you are and/or are the parts of you that are creative and can be used to contribute to the universe.
January 08, 05:43 PM
Intro Post/There is Wisdom All Around Us…
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Song Stuck In Head: Darius Rucker- It Won't Be Like This For Long
Click here for lyrics and to listen (YouTube Link)
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I wrote the below Dvar Torah for the West Coast OU Bulletin the same week that I came up with the idea for this blog. I actually had a completely different song stuck in my head which inspired (post forthcoming) the blog, but I feel that the hashkafa presented in this piece reflects, at least in my opinion, the hashkafa which inspired this blog…enjoy!

There is wisdom all around us. The world that God created is a beautiful testament to His Glory and there is not one thing that is “accidental” and that we cannot glean some piece of wisdom from. I was recently driving, engaging in one of my guilty pleasures in life – listening to Country Music – when a song came on the radio, it went like this:

He didn’t have to wake up
He’d been up all night
Layin’ there in bed listenin’
To his new born baby cry
He makes a pot of coffee
He splashes water on his face
His wife gives him a kiss and says
It gonna be OK

It won’t be like this for long
One day soon that little girl is gonna be
All grown up and gone
Yeah, this phase is gonna fly by
So, he’s tryin’ to hold on

The song tells a story about a father and his daughter, through the good times and the bad, he would remind himself that “It won’t be like this for long”. During the bad times, it helped him get through them, and during the good times, it reminded him that he needed to hold onto those moments, because they too would pass. This song nearly brought tear to my eyes and when I got to school I decided that I would focus that day’s Jewish Philosophy class on this topic. Gam Ze Ya’avor – This Too Will Pass. The famous story of Shlomo Ha’Melech and the ring brought back to him by his trusted advisor with that very inscription.

This Dvar is not about Gam Ze Ya’avor, it isn’t even about Shlomo Ha’Melech, it is, however, about Country Music. In this weeks parsha, preceding the plague of Barad – hail – the Chumash tells us that there were two groups of Egyptians, those who were in awe of God and took their cattle inside to avoid the destruction of the plague and those who “Lo Sam Libo – didn’t pay attention” and left their cattle outside to be destroyed by the hail. There is a glaring lack of symmetry here, should the pasuk not have said “Those who were in awe of God took their cattle inside and thosewho were not in awe of God left their cattle outside”? This seems to be the logical symmetrical wording! But of course, the Psukim are teaching a much deeper lesson, there are expressing to us an important secret in how to live our lives…

When we learn Torah, we do not need to make a new Bracha each time as we do with food, rather, the Bracha we make each morning stays with us throughout the day, this is why we say “La’asok Be’Divrei Torah – To be involved in the words of Torah” the commandment is to be “involved” in the Torah, ordinarily a hefsek – disruption – would require a person to make a new bracha before completing a commandment, but not in this case, we only make one bracha each day. This is precisely the secret the Pasuk from our Parsha and the story of the country song is teaching us. As we move through our days, we do not spend our time in the shul 24/7 we are not all privileged to spend our days in the Beis Medrash from dawn ‘till dusk, but that does not mean that we cannot be involved with God and Torah study all day long. When a song comes on the radio, or we see a beautiful flower, we need to “Sam Lev – pay attention” because NOT paying attention tantamount to not being in awe of God, that is the true symmetry of the pasuk from our parsha. Wisdom and the Torah are all around us, God builds this world using the Torah as His blueprint all we need to do is “pay attention” and we will be able to be “involved in the words of Torah” all day long. “Reishit Chachman Yirat Hashem – The source of wisdom is awe of God” (Tehillim 111:10) and being in awe of God is as easy as opening your eyes and paying attention to the world around you.

August 22, 02:10 AM

Go To The Bathroom

There is an ancient Jewish tradition, dating back around 2000 years, it is quoted in the Talmud (Brachot 60b), “אמר אביי…כי נפיק אומר ברוך אשר יצר את האדם בחכמה וברא בו נקבים נקבים חללים חללים גלוי וידוע לפני כסא כבודך שאם יפתח אחד מהם או אם יסתם אחד מהם אי אפשר לעמוד לפניך – Abaye said, when a person leaves the restroom he should say, ‘God is the source of all blessing, He created man with wisdom, and built in him openings and cavities, it is clear before His holy throne that if one opened at the wrong time or closed at the wrong time a person could not live.’”

As we have discussed before, every action is a spiritual action, every action that we take can be something to connect us with God and our Jewish heritage. There is an ancient Jewish value that is being transmitted to us by this blessing that Abaye instructs us to say. It is a value that many people forget about and that many people neglect to incorporate as part of their Jewish outlook. This is the value of looking for the small miracles in life. The very fact that we exist and are alive and our bodies function properly is a miracle. Thanks God, we are surrounded by healthy people and it is easy to forget this…check out this quote from Dr. Kenneth M.Prager, M.D.,

“It was not until my second year of medical school that I first began to understand the appropriateness of this short prayer. Pathophysiology brought home to me the terrible consequences of even minor aberrations in the structure and function of the human body, At the very least, I began to no longer take for granted the normalcy of my trips to the bathroom. Instead, I started to realize how many things had to operate just right for these minor interruptions of my daily routine to run smoothly.”

Today’s Jewish mission is to use the bathroom and appreciate the small miracles in our lives.

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August 20, 07:45 PM

Keep Shabbat

Over the last 2 months we have been discussing the importance of fully experiencing Shabbat and the various aspects of properly experiencing it. We outlined that their are 4 general categories that encompass the experience and amazing gift that is Shabbat, Honoring Shabbat, Enjoying Shabbat, Remembering Shabbat and finally, Keeping Shabbat. The final category being the one that most people identify with and that most people have a hard time dealing with. The final category is the one most people identify with “restrictions” and while this is true on the surface, the act of ‘keeping Shabbat’ does require that a person abstain from doing various actions, on a deeper level these ‘restrictions’ are what make up the very essence and secret of Shabbat’s special power for the Jewish people and their Heritage. Asher Ginsburg (Ahad Ha’am), the founder of Cultural Zionism said it best, “More than the people of Israel have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the people of Israel.” What was meant by this statement is that although keeping Shabbat may appear at face value to be a list of restrictions, it is in reality a much deeper and powerful thing which allows us to fully appreciate and enjoy the awesomeness of Shabbat. We don’t keep the restrictions, they keep us.

This mission is going to be a little different than the missions we have had in the past, because properly keeping Shabbat and internalize its amazing power can be a lifelong pursuit. Learning new things and understanding all the rules takes study, focus and thought. But we always need to start somewhere, so I am going to try and give a brief introduction and try to refer you to some resource to start and continue this journey.

The Torah tells us (Exodus 20:9), “וְיוֹם, הַשְּׁבִיעִי–שַׁבָּת, לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ: לֹא-תַעֲשֶׂה כָל-מְלָאכָה – and the seventh day is a day when you should stop for God, do not do any melacha.” In order to understand what is meant here, we must have a proper definition of the word melacha, which is generally and incorrectly translated as ‘work’. The word melacha refers to a specific type of creative action, these actions are identical with the actions that they Jewish people accomplished in the construction and maintenance of the Tabernacle in the desert and are outlined for us in the Torah. This inherent link between Shabbat and the Tabernacle is very telling as to the special power of Shabbat to act as a connector between the Jewish people and God and to bring the Jewish people together as a united group. There are 39 categories of melacha that are outlined in the Torah and enumerated by our ancient sages, I will not list them here, but they are the basis for everything when it comes to keeping Shabbat. Based on these 39 broad categories their are many sub-categories that exist. I would reccomend getting a copy of the book The Sabbath: A Guide to Its Understanding and Observance, by Dayan Dr. I. Grunfeld as a starting point. It is a great book and is very short (under 100 pages) but manages to pack a whole lot of important details into that small space. If anyone is interested in borrowing a copy, comment below or send me and email or Facebook message. For the more advanced reader I would recommend The 39 Melochos: An Elucidation of the 39 Melochos from Concept to Practical Application, by Rabbi Dovid Ribiat, it is a massive 4 volume set and is probably the most comprehensive and complete as well as well footnoted book on the subject that exist in English.

So, today’s Jewish mission is to try to start the journey or learning about and trying to keep Shabbat. This Shabbat and in the future, try your best not break the, so called, restrictions of Shabbat and try to learn as much as you can!

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August 19, 07:45 PM

Be a Man! (girls, this is for you too)

Have you ever heard the expression, “He’s such a menstch“? or in Hebrew, “Act like a ben-adam!”? What do these phrases really mean? The Yiddish word, menstch, literally means man and the Hebrew word, ben-adam, literally means “son of Adam” or “son of man”. What is meant when we use this expression? Well, you see, in the Torah we are told a story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They were conned by a snake into eating a fruit that they shouldn’t have, this is where the mis-conception happens, they weren’t punished for eating the fruit, as much as they were punished for how they reacted when confronted about it. Rather than taking responsibility for their actions and saying they were sorry, they passed the blame on to the next person (or snake as the case may be) and this really pisssssed God off.

Ever since then, human kind (the sons and daughter of Adam and Eve) have been trying to make up for that. One of the main driving purposes of our lives is to just fess up and take responsibility for our actions. So when we use the term, mentsch or ben-adam, we are reminding ourselves of what it means to be a person, what Adam and Eve should have done, to take responsibility for our actions. That is exactly where the English expression, “Be a man” comes from. It has nothing to do with sexism or manliness, it has to do with the crucial characteristic of Mankind which is taking responsibility for our actions. The characteristic that Adam and Eve neglected to bring out and the characteristic that we are responsible to work on.

Today’s Jewish mission is to “be a man” or be a member of mankind and exemplify this characteristic of mankind, based on the shortcoming of Adam and Eve, and take responsibility for your actions.

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August 18, 07:45 PM

Raise Some Money for Charity

God says in Parashay Vayera (Genesis 18:19), “כִּי יְדַעְתִּיו, לְמַעַן אֲשֶׁר יְצַוֶּה אֶת-בָּנָיו וְאֶת-בֵּיתוֹ אַחֲרָיו, וְשָׁמְרוּ דֶּרֶךְ יְהוָה, לַעֲשׂוֹת צְדָקָה וּמִשְׁפָּט – Because I know Abraham will command his children to follow in his way, and preserve the way of God, to be just and do the right thing.” Generally the word צְדָקָה – tzedakah is translated as charity, which people take to mean as something nice that we do that is above and beyond our normal responsibility. However, this isn’t the case. The word צְדָקָה comes from the root word צדק meaning ‘justice’. The true meaning of the word צְדָקָה is doing the right and just thing, the thing that is supposed to be done, not the above and beyond thing to do. So, when we talk about charity it isn’t something that is supposed to be done only if we have the means, time or ability, it is something that is a responsibility for all the “children of Abraham (all of us)”. It is our responsibility, our heritage, our legacy. Doing the right thing for the Jewish people is a matter of course.

So, what does that mean for us? It means no excuses. It means that just because you are a teenager and don’t have enough money to go the movies isn’t an excuse for not doing “charity”. This isn’t an optional thing we do if we are able, it is our Jewish responsibility to help other no matter what our situation is. In fact, our ancient Jewish sages teach us that even a person who receives charity, must give charity to the person who poorer than him.

But how? If you don’t have money to give then what should you do? This is another big misconception about charity. Money is not the only way to give charity. You have many other things that you can give and use to help people. Your skills, your time, your creativity and so much more. Money isn’t the only thing in the world. You could volunteer, try to raise money, or use your skills to help someone out.

Today’s Jewish mission is to raise some money for charity, or find another way to help and give charity the Jewish way, not by giving only when it is convenient and not by only giving money, but by giving of yourself.

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August 17, 07:45 PM

Cook a Meal for Your Parents

The fifth of the Ten Commandments read (Exodus 20:11), “כַּבֵּד אֶת-אָבִיךָ, וְאֶת-אִמֶּךָ–לְמַעַן, יַאֲרִכוּן יָמֶיךָ, עַל הָאֲדָמָה, אֲשֶׁר-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ – Honor your father and mother so that you should live a long and happy life”. We see throughout the Torah how valuable this instruction is. In fact, even those characters who are regarded as evil and bad still honored their parents. From Esau to Reuben, now matter how evil of a person or how great and amazing the person, they each honored their parents. But why is this so important? We have discussed before the importance of being in awe of God and realizing how awesome He is, this concept relates to our parents as well. Parents form a partnership with God to bring us into this world, together they actually create us and nurture us, so we have to be in awe of all 3 parties. My Rabbi always says, “Your parents are equal to God, you need to treat them like they are God!” why? Because they are partners with God in creation, they form and nurture us and take care of our needs when we are incapable. This applies even to a parent who only gave birth to us, or an adoptive parent who only raised us.

But how do we honor our parents? Our great sages have discussed this a lot, but one of the key things we can do to honor our parents is to show them that we want their love and care. To show them that we appreciate all they have done for us and that we, now, as self-sufficient creatures have internalized the messages that they taught us of nurturing and providing. One of the prime examples of this is making food. By cooking a meal and providing this food to them, we are showing them that we know what it means to be like them, and just as we have said before that it is crucial to emulate God, it is also crucial to emulate the objective values of a true parent, giving, nurturing and providing. This emulation is the best way to show them that we appreciate and get what they are doing.

By providing food, you are providing life, and honor and showing your parents that you get it.

Today’s Jewish mission is to prepare a meal for your parents. Something that will enjoy, but most of all something that will show them that you appreciate, honor and respect them and that you get how amazing it is that they partnered with God to create, nurture and provide for you.

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August 16, 07:45 PM

Listen to Music

We are told about Elisha the prophet (Kings II 3:15), “וְהָיָה כְּנַגֵּן הַמְנַגֵּן, וַתְּהִי עָלָיו יַד-יְהוָה – when the musicians played their music he felt the presence of God”. It is clear from this line that there is a very heavy spiritual power to music, in fact, we know that the Chassidic Masters over the last few hundred years have used the power of music to tap into the soul. Music is a very powerful tool in raising our spiritual awareness and bringing ourselves closer to God and our Jewish Heritage.

The Kabbalah teaches us that “music is the language of the spiritual world”. What does this mean? Why is music such a powerful spiritual tool? Well, as we have said before, God gave us the power of creation and he “uploaded” into us all of our creativity and power. Every expression of this creativity is an expression of God’s love for us and an expression of our creative abilities, which are a gift from and emulating God. Music is no exception, in fact it is a much higher level. Our mouths are a very special, the power of speech is what separates us from the animal world. However, when we speak, things can be taken one way or another, and we can use words to convey positive or negative messages. But when we sing a tune, or a niggun as it is known in Hebrew, there is no negative possibilities, only the pure essence of our soul.

So, today’s Jewish mission is to listen to some music, preferably something Jewish, and try and connect to God and your Spiritual Jewish Heritage through the music.

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August 15, 07:45 PM
Help the Sick
In parashat Va’era, after Abraham is recuperating from his circumcision, God comes to visit him and comfort him. Our ancient sages teach us that from this story we learn that it is a big deal to visit and help the sick. Why? Because, as we know, we are supposed to “love our neighbor as ourself” and obviously when we are sick, we need help.

But there is much more to this “big deal” than just doing something for someone who is in need. Helping the sick is a way of emulating God. As we saw in the above story, when Abraham was in need, God came to comfort him. We have discussed in the past the Jewish emphasis on being a giver and that God, being infinite, is the ultimate giver being that he cannot “take” from anyone. We have to strive to see opportunities when people are in need as opportunities for us to be givers and emulate God.

So, today’s Jewish mission is to be a giver and help someone who is sick. Here are some ideas:
- Visit a patient in the hospital/nursing home, or visit the homebound.
- Call a homebound senior before Shabbos.
- Bring food to a family with a new baby.
- Drive someone to a doctor’s appointment.
- Help a child, whose parent is hospitalized, with homework.
- Say psalms together or on behalf of the ill.
- Take someone’s car to be filled with gas.
- Bring gift certificates from places which deliver food, so a family can make its own food choices and not feel dependent on what others cook for them.
- Call when you are at the store, and say “I am here. What can I pick up for you?”
- Share your hobbies, such as baking, singing or writing.
- Smile.
- Listen.
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August 15, 12:46 AM

Don’t Be Blinded

The Torah tells us (Deuteronomy 16:19), “וְלֹא-תִקַּח שֹׁחַד–כִּי הַשֹּׁחַד יְעַוֵּר עֵינֵי חֲכָמִים, וִיסַלֵּף דִּבְרֵי צַדִּיקִם – Don’t take bribes, because they blind the wise person and mess up the words of the just.” The literal understanding of this line is pretty straightforward, don’t take a bribe, pretty simple. However our ancient wise men taught us an additional way to understand this line. Each and every one of us is considered a judge, and each and every second of our lives we are making judgments and decisions about what to do with ourselves and how to act. When we are judging these choices, we must be very careful not to take bribes, whether they be from other or from ourselves.

A person is always going to be blinded by his own wants and desires, he will naturally go toward what is more comfortable for himself. What the Torah is telling us is that we need to be careful when making judgement calls throughout our lives, careful not to be blinded by our own subjectivity, not to be blinded by the flashy things around us, but to realize that we cannot always be objective and adjust our perception based on that knowledge.

Today’s Jewish mission is to try to realize when we are being blinded by our own bias and adjust our sights accordingly.

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August 13, 07:45 AM

Remember Shabbat Take 2 – Make Havdala

Over the last few weeks, on Fridays, we have been discussing the various aspects of Shabbat and making it a real part of our lives. We have been talking, mainly, about how to enjoy and respect Shabbat in ways outside of what most people consider Shabbat Observance, but which are a very large part of the true Shabbat experience. This week, I want to talk about one aspect of Shabbat that many people don’t associate with Shabbat – Havdala. As we have said in the past, Shabbat has 4 categories to it, Honor, Enjoy, Remember and Keep, and one of the key ways of remembering Shabbat is by making a separation between it and the rest of the week. When you have something special, something that you enjoy very much, and something that is very valuable, it is important to make sure that you maintain that things specialness. One way of doing this is by making it clear where that thing ends and other things begin.

Shabbat is no different. Shabbat is a very special part of our lives and we need to cherish it, we also need to make a clear distinction between Shabbat and the rest of the week. This also leads us to a deeper insight about life in general, it is always important to be able to distinguish between things, between those things which are special and not, those things which are holy and not, etc.

So, today’s Jewish Mission is to gather your family and friends and after having an amazingly inspirational Shabbat, say goodbye and make a clear distinction between Shabbat and the rest of the week. For more details on making Havdala see the video below (I know, its a little cheesy…).

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August 12, 07:45 AM

Set Your Priorities

King Solomon tells us (Proverbs 27:21), “מַצְרֵף לַכֶּסֶף, וְכוּר לַזָּהָב; וְאִישׁ, לְפִי מַהֲלָלוֹ – the refining pot shows us what silver really is, the furnace shows us for gold, but a person’s true colors are shown by what they praise.” We can learn a lot about a person based upon what they feel is important. Does a person think that holy people are awesome and that wisdom and knowledge is awesome? Or does a person think that it is really cool to hurt others and make fun of people. Even if a person doesn’t make fun of people himself, thinking that behavior is a cool one says a lot about who they are. What we hold in high-regard speaks volumes to what our core values are and what type of people we are.

Many Jews say a special prayer on Shabbat, “ain ke’arkecha – There is nothing as valuable as you, God”. At face value this seems a little odd, why should we be telling God He is the most valuable thing in the world? Who are we to tell God He is awesome? It would be like going up to Kobe Bryant and saying, “You are an amazing basketball player!” Who are you to tell him that? But when we look at this in the context of what we learned above, it makes much more sense. We aren’t telling god that, objectively, He is the most valuable, rather we are telling him that we are putting him at the top of our priority list, that He is, subjectively, to us, the most valuable thing in the world. We are declaring that we are the type of person who puts God first in our lives.

Today’s Jewish mission is to figure out what things you praise, what things are valuable to you, figure out what that says about who you are and try and re-prioritize your life putting God and Judaism at the top.

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August 17, 03:13 PM

How Did I Forget Mikledet? Amazing Online Hebrew Keyboard

Image via Wikipedia

While writing my post, Hebrew for Android, I went to reference an article I (thought) I had written on Mikledet (http://www.mikledet.com/) the amazing online Javascript based Heberw keyboard, but the article was nowhere to be found! I don’t know how I could have forgotten to share this amazing tools/resource with my fellow Frumhackers, but apparently I did. I guess it is right in time for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur to do teshuva!

The Mikledet keyboard is and amazing tool, it is basically a simple web-based application that allows you to type in Hebrew without any special software of settings, the Javascript “hi-jacks” your keyboard and whatever key you hit while your cursor is in the text area is converted to the corresponding Hebrew character. It even has an on-screen keyboard for reference which lights up as you type. The app also allows you to switch from the classic Hebrew keyboard layout to phonetic layout. It is really awesome for those times you need to write an email response in Hebrew or do a quick Google search. There is even a Facebook app which allows you to access the keyboard from within Facebook for convenience while communicating with Hebrew speakers.

Image via Wikipedia

Mikledet is developed by Chen Levkovich, and Israeli from Tel Aviv, here is a quote from the about us page:

I created Mikledet.com mostly for myself (and my wife). We lived in Munich at the time, without any P.C. at home. I connected to the Internet mostly from Internet cafes, which of course had no Hebrew support. We had no possibility to send Hebrew emails, until I created Mikledet.com (well at the beginning the name was e-vrit and then just Mikledet). I wrote all the initial code at the easy Internet cafe next to Munich’s central station, and at the time I used my home page at geocities.

He has also developed 2 other amazing apps, http://skypetranslate.com/, an app to translate Skype conversations to and from Hebrew, and http://www.muftah-alhuruf.com/, an Arabic keyboard similar to Mikledet (very useful for doing searches of Gaonic Literature in the original Arabic ).

Now that I have written the article that I (thought) had written before, I can tell you that Android 2.2 (Froyo) which I just updated to supports Hebrew and supports the Mikledet mobile and regular keyboards!

[Mikledet] [Mikledet Facebook App]
August 17, 02:43 PM

Hebrew For Android!

Image via Wikipedia

I just got the Android 2.2 (Froyo) update and, amongst other really cool new features, it features Hebrew support! I was able to access Mechon Mamre’s library (http://www.mechon-mamre.org/) and lots of other Hebrew sites and content. I can even now see Hebrew in my Gmail app and in various other apps throughout the phone. If you have a Droid (like me) and want to get the Froyo update before it gets pushed to you OTA, check this article out for a quick and easy way to get the update without breaking any rules.

[UPDATE: I would recommend using the "ללא ניקוד" (non-vowelized) versions of Mechon Mamre (Tanach is available chaser (בכתיב המסורה) and maaleh (בכתיב מלא), because the vowel support isn't that good (read: doesn't work)]

Also be sure to check out our previous articles about Judaism and Hebrew on the Android Platform: [http://www.frumhacks.com/2010/03/android-apps-i-would-love-to-see/] [http://www.frumhacks.com/2010/02/android-rundown/]
July 05, 09:20 PM

Brochos.com Offers Bracha Lookup from Web, Mobile and Text

We’ve all been there, out and about, about to take a bite of our snack or lunch when we realize, “Wait, what is the bracha on quinoa?” or “Do I say a borei nefashot after rice, or al ha’michya?”, if only we could all carry Halachos of Brachos in our back pocket. Well now you can! Thanks to an amazingly well built web app, Brochos.com, we all now have access to a breadth of knowledge on what the appropriate bracha is for a given situation. Whether you have a smartphone (Andriod, Iphone, Blackberry, Palm, etc.) or not you can access this database via its wonderful mobile site, touch site or by sending text messages and receiving automated responses, including sources.

The database covers a wide array of foods, from Ale to Zwieback, and has sources, which range from Mishna Berura to Halachos of Brachos, to back up its claims. Additionally, most database entries include pictures of the food in question to guarantee that we are talking about the same item, the actual text of the bracha for easy reference and articles about the proper shiur to be consumed to require an after bracha.

The database features an easy to search interface, with search (and autocorrect), alphabetical and food type references. All in all, it is well designed, very useful and intuitive and provides of wealth of neccesary information to the Frum consumer.

Well Done!
June 29, 03:15 AM

Help the Local Schools in San Diego

Hello,

I don’t normally do this. Really, in fact I never do, but this time I will make an exception.

I spend much of my time working with the teens in my community, and they spend much of their time in their High Schools. Right now there is an opportunity for all of us to help those schools raise up to $250,000 without spending a penny and without moving from where you are sitting, all in under 1 minute.

Check out this video to see how to make it happen: http://www.vimeo.com/12935869

Again, sorry for the plug post, but this one is worth it.
July 04, 03:17 PM

Preceden.com Creates Awesome Timelines (and so do I)

A new tool I discovered the other day called Preceden (http://preceden.com) creates really beautiful timelines simply and easily. It has tons of uses, I’m sure, but check out a sample timeline I created for the Jewish History class I teach (at SCY High School) http://preceden.com/timelines/2954-jewish-history it is still “under construction” but feel free to poke around and let us know some of the other uses you find in the comments below…

Enjoy!
July 04, 03:18 PM
Android Apps I Would Love To See
I have officially had my Droid for enough time to start getting demanding. I have been using the thing and still absolutely love it, but have come up with some (seemingly) easy to build apps that I would love to see come into existence for the Android OS Platform.
- GPS Data Davening Direction – I have an app that acts like a compass (GPS Data) and I can look up the exact compass heading to face during davening on MyZmanim.com, now all that someone needs to do is cobble these features together. An app that will look up you GPS location, reference the database at MyZmanim for the correct heading (Rhumb Line or Great Circle, your choice) and overlay that heading onto a compass on the screen…
- Minyan Maps/GPS Aware Minyan Reminder – MinyanMaps.com exists, a GPS aware app that could give you directions to the nearest upcoming minyan or set an alert and launch GPS Navigation the amount of time before the next minyan that it takes to get there would be really cool, again all the databases and info is out there, it is just about cobbling it together into a sweet app.
- Kosher Food Barcode/Hashkacha Scanner – Ok, this one is a little more complex, but just as doable. Google Goggles and Google Shopper already have the basic idea, now the trick is being able to take a picutre of a hashgacha symbol and see if it is good or not/scan a barcode of a product to see if it is kosher.
- Shabbos Alarm Clock – This may already exist, but I haven’t found it yet. A simple alarm clock application that doesn’t ring for an hour, but gives you the choice of how long to ring for…ideal for shabbos morning or a nice shabbos afternoon nap.
Come on Jewish developer world, hook a brother up!
August 18, 12:08 AM
Android Rundown or Jewish Content on Android
I recently got an Android phone (Motorola Droid for Verizon) and I am loving it. I was a Blackberry person for over 5 years and I even tried making the switch to the G1 about a year ago, but now with the new Droid I haven’t looked back. It really does do everything I want in a phone (or net-book for that matter!) and more. Here’s a look at some of the apps that I have been using so far (both Frum and not):
- Zmanim – This app is solid for grabbing Zmanim on the fly when you are away in a place that you don’t know the zipcode for. It picks up your GPS location and gives you the Zmanim for that location. The developer is nice and responsive and is working on improving the app. Features I Love: GPS location of zmanim, easy fingerswipe interface. Features I Wish: Widget implementation, GRA Zmanim, Reminders.
- Gallery Widget – Not what you think, I don’t keep pictures of my mother on my home screen…What I did do was take a picture of Modim De’Rabanan in my siddur and put it on my secondary home screen so that I can easily say it when the chazzan get there during chazarat ha’shatz and I have wandered away from my siddur…
- Tanach App – To be honest I don’t really use this, but I would. The Droid doesn’t have native Hebrew support and I have been to lazy to actually set it up, it just didn’t seem worth it for the occasional GTalk status…However this app does contain all of tanach in an easy to use, easy to reference format. Feature I Love: Search Feature I Wish: Native Hebrew Support.
- Agenda Widget – This little guy is my absolute favorite, it allows you to put your upcoming events right on your homescreen. It also allows for complete customization of which calendars to display (Shabbos times and Zmanim see http://frumhacks.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-to-get-jewish-calendar-on-all-your.html), how large the widget should be and the formatting of text. All events are linked to your calendar so when you click from the widget it opens to the event to view or edit. My favorite app! Feature I Love: Its existence, color coded calendars, customization. Feature I Wish: Multiple widgets with individual calendar set-ups.
- zmanimbot – Not really an app, but still my favorite zmanim thingy. See previous post http://frumhacks.blogspot.com/2008/11/zmanim-bot-put-zmanim-right-where-you.html
- Shazam – This is the coolest thing! Imagine you hear a song on the radio and you want to write a blog post about it later (http://songsstuckintherabbishead.wordpress.com/) all you do it click this app and it listens to the song, identifies it, and saves it for later. It also gives you options to search YouTube for the song or buy it on Amazon. Features I Love: Save tagged songs for later use, YouTube search to verify its the right song. Features I Wish: Syncing to cloud
- tDigitalClock – This app is a Shabbos lifesaver. All it does is turn your screen into a digital clock and keep the screen on all the time. Plug your phone in, open the app and you are good to go all shabbos long. No more waking up in the middle of the night to try and stumble around looking for a clock! It even lets you customize the background and text. Feature I Love: Prevents screen from sleeping Feature I Wish: Screen lock to prevent accidental Issur De’Rabanan.
- Easy Metal Detector Lite or Metal Detector – That’s right, this phone is a metal detector, no joke. I also thought it was a gag app at first, but after some serious testing it is real. No real uses other then being awesome, but sometimes that is important. And the other day while teaching I caught a kid using his phone and when he claimed he didn’t have one, I whipped out my Droid and found that he was hiding it in his sock, airport security style!
- Bubble – A bubble level, it has been especially helpful in hanging pictures and the like, works really well.
- Google Goggles – Search by pictures or see through walls, all you do is take a picture and the OCR and Google Picture Search does the rest, adding business cards to your contacts, finding books online, finding info on products. Additionally, you can hold the phone up and the GPS will kick in to show nearby businesses in the direction you hold the phone. I have actually used this quite a bit.
- GPS Status – Awesome compass app. Gives you exact headings and allows me to Daven in the correct direction exactly. Feature I Love: Detailed GPS Data, Compass headings. Feature I Wish: Davening integration with markers for great circle and rhumb line based on GPS location.
- Woot Checker – Does just that, great for woot-offs.
- WordPress – A nice app, can manage all my WordPress blogs, self hosted or not.
- Pandora and Pandora Widget – Really smooth streaming, doesn’t kill battery that much and the widget allows you to check on the song currently playing and control the music.
- Simpletext.ws – This isn’t really an app and really deserves its own post. I discovered this web app after searching for something like it for a while. I think it is my favorite find of the year. Essentially it is a Notepad in the cloud. It is a simple plain text editor that stores documents in the cloud and can be accessed from the browser on my droid. Notepad is to MS Office what Simpletext.ws is to Google Docs. I love it. It keeps my notes synced across all my devices and where ever I go. I can jot a quick note or write up some HTML code where ever and have it when I get home. It is awesome. And using the bookmark shortcut adding feature on the Droid it is basically an app, all I did was bookmark the page and add the shortcut to my homescreen and it behaves just like any of the other notepad apps that exist, except it is in the cloud. Did I mention it is clean and pretty looking. Feature I Love: Plain text only, save and open multiple docs, fast even on mobile, clean interface, everything about it. Feature I Wish: Sharing.
So far, I love my Droid and haven’t looked back. It is fast, does what is supposed to do and has a flip-out keyboard for when I just don’t feel like dealing with the on-screen (which is surprisingly good, and that is from a former Blackberry user). It has built in navigation, voice search, Google Voice integration and is just awesome. I am happy!
February 23, 03:41 AM

Delicious Tortilla Pizza

Image via Wikipedia

Image by audioeric via Flickr

We only have one oven in our kitchen and it is Fleishig (for meat), but I love pizza…the classic Kosher Kitchen Dilemma. Recently, after a late night post-shabbaton food party, I discovered the solution, stove-top tortilla pizza.
Basically all you do it take a large saucepan, add one tortilla, cover it in sauce, cheese, and spices (oregano, basil, thyme and garlic for me) and let it cook slowly over a medium to low heat. It is delicious! Because the heat comes from the bottom the crust gets crunchy and the cheese melts really well without getting hard. The texture and taste is spot on and it doesn’t require and oven!

Enjoy!
February 23, 03:35 AM

Soak Stuff In Dishwasher Detergent to Remove Organic Gross

Image by dno1967 via Flickr

Recently we had a small remodel done to our kitchen and I felt it was time to clean up the place. The first place I decided to start was the fridge, the most gross part of the kitchen. When I removed the shelves I found them to be much grosser than I thought, caked with old organic food grossness. With the remodel of our kitchen we also had two (yes, we have finally made it) dishwashers installed and they came with free detergent, the fancy Cascade liquid kind that “dissolves foodstuff“, so I thought, I wonder if it will dissolve this “foodstuff”. I filled up the bathtub and added a squirt of detergent, sure enough after a few hour soak, they were completely clean! No scrubbing or any elbow grease at all!
February 23, 03:30 AM

Use Google Voice as Caller ID

Image via CrunchBase

I have been experimenting with Google Voice for a while now, and recently figured out a new feature (or clever use) of the service. If you don’t have caller ID at home or work, and wish you did, set up your Google Voice number to forward to both your cell phone and your other phone, now when the phone rings the caller ID will come up on your cell and you can answer on your home or work phone if you want to talk to the person…pretty clever, huh?

June 28, 03:52 PM

The Fetus

Just as the fetus is independent of the mother and yet simultaneously completely dependent on, nourished by, contained within and surrounded by the mother, so too we and God.

Just as the fetus is not aware of the mothers existence, so too we can go through life unaware of Gods existence.

Just as the fetus is created in the image of the mother and father and yet cannot fathom or know what the mother and father look like, so too we and God.

Just as the entire pregnancy is only developing the fetus into a baby and preparing it for life, so too our lives are developing us and preparing us for real life.

Just as the fetus opens its eyes and attempts to see, even though it is engulfed in darkness, so too we must attempt to open our eyes in spite of the darkness.

Just as the fetus can see certain amounts of light and hear certain amounts of sound from the real world, so too we have the ability to perceive some light in the darkness.
June 20, 03:15 AM

The Secret of Punishment

There is simple Rashi on this week’s parsha that can teach us a tremendous lesson about natural consequences, a lesson which I try very diligently to impart to my students.
In this weeks parsha (20:13-14) within the story of Moshe and Aharon’s sin regarding striking the rock for water there is an apparent contradiction. The first pasuk (13) tells us “Hashem said to Moshe and Aharon, “Since you did not have faith in Me to sanctify Me in front of the Jews, therefore you shall not bring them to the Land which I have given them.” but the pasuk following it (14) tells us “These are the waters of dispute [Mei Merivah] where the children of Israel argued with Hashem, and He was sanctified through them.”

But I thought that Moshe and Aharon sinned by NOT sanctifying Hashem with the water?!

Rashi answers beautifully, Moshe and Aharon should have sanctified Hashem by speaking to the rock, “I [Hashem] would have been sanctified in the eyes of the congregation. They would have said,”If this rock, which neither speaks nor hears, and does not require sustenance, fulfills the word of the Omnipresent, how much more should we!” but instead they did not speak to it, and Hashem told them that they would die before entering the land, and through this He was sanctified, “For Moses and Aaron died because of them. When God judges His holy ones, He is feared and sanctified by mankind. Similarly, it says, “You are awesome, O God, because of Your holy ones” (Ps. 68:36). And likewise it says, “I am sanctified by those close to Me” (Lev. 10:3)”

Hashem needed to be sanctified through the rock and the water at this time, he gave Moshe and Aharon the opportunity to do this by speaking to it, when they failed, he was left no recourse but to kill them before they entered the land of Israel…they were not ‘punished’ for their deeds, but their deeds required this natural consequence take place…

This is a deep secret regarding the understanding of reward and punishment and a huge lesson in terms of teaching children…
June 20, 02:26 AM
Snake? What Snakes?
I found/developed a beautiful pshat on this week’s parsha that I want to share:
In this weeks parsha (21:6) we are related a story of moderate intrigue, the Jewish people complain to Moshe (yet again) about their food and God sends “fiery serpents” which bite and kill many of them…the Jews run to Moshe and beg him to pray that God “remove the serpents”, Moshe does and God tells him a remedy for the serpents’ bite, hoist a copper serpent on a pole and when the Jews look upon it they will be healed. The classic explanation, that most people have heard, is that of Rashi (based on the Gemara in Rosh Hashana), “Does a snake cause death or life? However, when Israel looked heavenward and subjected their hearts to their Father in heaven, they would be healed, but if not, they would waste away” The cure, seemingly, was a restored connection with Hashem and spirituality.

But there are a number of good questions to be asked on the psukim that rely the story to us:
1. When mentioning the serpents, the pasuk uses the wording “הַנְּחָשִׁים הַשְּׂרָפִים – THE fiery serpents” making use of the ה ha’yediah lets us know that the pasuk is referring to specific snakes; what snakes is the pasuk referring to?
2. The Jewish people beg Moshe to ask Hashem to “remove the serpents”, however the removal of the snakes is conspicuously absent from our story, it would seem from the simple reading that the Jews continued to be plagued by the snakes, and that Hashem would ‘merely’ heal those who had been bitten, nowhere does it mention that the snakes were removed!
The Chizkuni addresses the first of the questions, and I saw a beautiful mahalach which I think is the clear pshat on these psukim.
First we must understand the context of the Jews’ complaint and what they were complaining about. This story comes just after the Jews had interactions with other, non-nomadic peoples, they encountered the Edomites and the Cananites, immediately following their interactions with these peoples they complain, saying “וְנַפְשֵׁנוּ קָצָה בַּלֶּחֶם הַקְּלֹקֵל – We hate this light bread (the ma’an)” and then Hashem sends in the snakes…

Rav Nachshoni in his Studies in the Weekly Parsha (Hebrew original, Hagus B’Parshios HaTorah) gives a beautiful mahalach in answering these questions: The Jews had now seen what their fellow people had, in terms of heavy breads, fruits, vegetables, meats, etc. and now they wanted this as well. They were no longer satisfied with the “light bread” that Hashem had been providing them with, so Hashem responded in kind. Why does the pasuk refer to the snakes as THE snakes, because these were the standard desert snakes that had always been there, they were always there, crawling around underneath the Jews’ feet. But, up until this point Hashem had been protecting the Jews by means of the cloud, etc. just as he had been providing them with food and shelter in the desert. But now that they said ‘We don’t want this spiritual food, we want real world food, just like everybody else!’ Hashem showed them what the real world was really like…you want to live like everybody else, eat their food, you need to deal with their hardships as well! So he stopped protecting them from the snakes that lived in the desert and they started getting bitten…once they realized the error of their ways, Hashem gave them a remedy for those who had been bitten, return to your spiritual cloud, to the world of ma’an and protection, because you don’t understand the real world yet…this is why Hashem doesn’t remove the snakes, there was no need, they had been there the whole time, the Jews just needed to remember to put themselves into the protection of Hashem…
June 20, 02:00 AM
Methods of Reproduction and Our Relationship with God
I am known to use a phrase (which I coined), “The briah (creation) is a wonderful mashal (parable or metaphor) for the briah.” I really do find that there is so much beauty and truth to be gleaned from the world around us…
I was recently thinking about reproduction and the methods applied by the various creatures and species that exist in our world and wondering why? Why do they all exist, why isn’t there just one way for organisms to reproduce?

Let’s look at the different methods that are in place:
1. Asexual reproduction – One organism, all by itself, splits in two and produces an offspring.
2. Sexual reproduction of (some) plants – Two separate organisms, by way of an intermediary come together to create an offspring.
3. Sexual reproduction by means of eggs – One organism leaves something and a second organism leaves something, these two things produce an offspring.
4. Sexual reproduction in mammals – Two creatures come together in order to form an offspring.
5. Sexual reproduction in (most) humans – Two people enter into a loving relationship and then come together to form an offspring.
To me, this is a beautiful illustration of our relationship with Hashem and the other possible relationships to be had with him. God is showing us, be means of the different type of relationships that exist in the world with the goal of creation, that he could have just as easily created a world in which there was NO relationship whatsoever between Him and his creation, simply a one-sided creation, no need for a relationship between us and Him (asexual reproduction) He could have also built a world by which He used intermediaries to interact with us, (plants) but we are told that Hashem took us out of Egypt, “Ani Ve’lo etc.” He does not use intermediaries when forging a relationship with us, he does this with other nations, but not us. He could have also formed a world in which we interacted with Him only indirectly only seeing his effects but never developing a relationship with Him directly (eggs), this is also not the world he willed…Finally, we can have a direct relationship with Hashem, but do it only by route, as a course of survival (mammals)…this too is not the world that Hashem willed into existence, rather it is a world where our relationship with Him is direct (Shir Hashirim) and based on love…
This is connected to the idea of “lo tov heyot hadam levado – It is not good for man to be alone”…
May 16, 12:35 AM

600,000

I learned an interesting Nesivos Shalom this shabbos which I wanted to share and which led me to a Chiddush…he discusses the idea of 600,000 Jews and what the significance can possibly be that the Torah informs us of this counting. As we know the Torah is a Book of Life and as such, each piece of it is applicable, so this point must be applicable to us.

He goes onto explain that there is an intrinsic connection between the 600,000 Jews, the 600,000 letters in the Torah and the name Haviy-ah. He explains that there are 600,000 permutations of this name of God and it is connected to this idea of 600,000. He then explains that this is the key to reaching a state of completion or unification, combining these three ingredients, Unity of the Jewish People, the Torah and Hashem. And with these three ingredients we can achieve completion or shleimus.

This is directly related to the concept relayed in Pirkei Avos that “the world stands on three things, the Torah, the Avodah and Gemilut Chassadim” Torah is the Torah, Avodah is Avodat Hashem or connection to God, and Gemilut Chassadim is what can help us acheive this aspect of unity in the Jewish people.

All this is related to the 600,000 relayed in our parsha and this is lesson that we can learn from this seemingly un-applicable story…it is in reality the essence of the whole Torah and the whole world, a formula for reaching completion…
May 16, 12:28 AM

Being Counted, Loved and Appointed

There is a very interesting Rashi on this week’s parsha, in which Rashi teaches us the meaning of a certain word (Rashi to Perek 1 Pasuk 50), the word PAKAD he explains that the word, in this context should be translated as “appointed” as opposed to its meaning throughout the rest of the parsha “counted”…

It seems this word has two distinct meanings, one is counting and one is appointing (Hashem Pakad Es Sara, God appointed Sara) but I think that these two meanings are actually one in the same…

When God counts His people, it is an act of Love, He Loves us and therefore he counts us…but in the very same action of Him Loving us He is appointing us as His servants and chosen nation. So in essence by counting us, He is Loving us and by Loving us he is appointing us as his chosen nation.

Essentially this word only has one meaning, it means “a Loving counting, which comes with responsibility”…
May 16, 12:14 AM

Counting Levites and Avodas Ha’Kodesh

While learning this week’s parsha, I was confronted with an interesting question: Why is the general population counted from the age of 20 while the Levites are counted from the age of one month? It is explained that the age of one month is really just a check to ensure the new-born baby will survive, but in reality the age of counting is from birth…this strengthens the question even more, why is a Levite counted from birth, but everyone else only counted from when they are 20 years old?

The general population is counted from the point of “yotzeh tzavah – When they are able to go to the army” when they become useful of functional, shouldn’t the same din apply to the Levites? Shouldn’t they be counted from the age that they begin serving in the Mishkan? Or at least from Bar Mitzvah when their obligation to be the teachers of the Jewish people begins?

I think that this can teach us an important yesod in Avodas Ha’Kodesh and working for the klal…those people who are soldiers start being useful when they begin being soldiers, before they are soldiers, they are not counted, and after they are soldiers they are not counted, because a solider’s purpose only lasts as long as he serves, but one who works for the klal, one who dedicates him/herself to Avodas Ha’Kodesh their contribution is everlasting and every action that they take leading up to their service is significant…As soon as a Levite is alive, every piece of food he eats, every action he takes, every thing he does is building towards his Avodas Hashem and is therefore significant…this is why a Levite is counted from birth, when we dedicate our lives to Avodas Ha’Kodesh every step we take and action we do is significant, le’tov o’ lehepech chas ve’shalom…
February 22, 03:08 PM

Fate vs. Destiny – Race vs. Religion

This post is way overdue. Almost a month ago, I ran West Coast NCSY‘s second annual THX (The Torah Experience, formerly Yarchei Kallah) Shabbaton and with the help of Rabbi Dr. Mattan Erder we explored the theme of Identity. My closing speech was also written up on this blog http://chidusheifrumhacks.blogspot.com/2010/02/superman-and-jews.html, but now I am writing what I felt was an important idea in terms of what is a Jew.

Required Reading:

Rabbi Yosef Dov Solveitchik:

Fate:

“What is an existence of fate? It is an existence of duress, in the nature of ‘against your will do you live.’ It is a factual existence, simply one line in a [long] chain of mechanical causality, devoid of significance, direction, purpose, and subordinate to the forces of the environment into whose midst the individual is pushed, unconsulted by Providence. The ‘I’ of fate emerges as an object. As an object, man appears as acted upon and not as an actor. He is acted upon through his passive collision with the objective outside, as one object confronting another. The ‘I’ of fate is hurled into a sealed dynamic that is always turned outward. Man’s existence is hollow, lacking inner content, substance, and independence. The ‘I’ of fate denies itself completely, because the sense of selfhood and objectification cannot dwell in tandem…”

“What is the nature of a covenant of fate? Fate in the life of a people, as in the life of an individual, signifies an existence of compulsion. A strange necessity binds the particulars into one whole. The individual, against his will, is subjected and subjugated to the national, fate-laden, reality. He cannot evade this reality and become assimilated into some other, different, reality… A Jew cannot expel the god of the Hebrews from his private domain. Even if he defiles the Sabbath, defiles his table and bed, and strives to deny his own Jewish-ness, his membership in the Jewish people, he will still not be able to escape…So long as a person’s nose testifies to his origins, so long as a drop of Jewish blood courses through his veins, so long as physically he is still a Jew, he serves the God of the Hebrews against his will.”

Destiny:

“What is an Existence of Destiny? It is an active existence, when man confronts the environment into which he has been cast with an understanding of his uniqueness and his value, freedom and capacity; without compromising his integrity and independence in his struggle with the outside world. The slogan of the ‘I’ of destiny is: ‘Against your will you are born, and against your will you die,’ but by your free will do you live. Man is born as an object, but it is within his capability to live as a ‘subject.’ – as a creator and innovator who impresses his individual imprimatur on his life and breaks out of a life of instinctive, automatic behavior into one of creative activity.”

What is the nature of the covenant of destiny? Destiny in the life of a people, as in the life of an individual, signifies a deliberate and conscious existence that the people has chosen out of its own free will and in which it finds the full realization of its historical being. Its existence, in place of simply being the experience of an unalterable reality into which the people has been thrust, now appears as the experience of an act… replete with movement, ascent, striving and attaining. The people is embedded in its destiny as a result of its longing for a refined, substantive, and purposeful existence… A life of destiny is a life with direction; it is the fruit of cognitive readiness and free choice.

What is the content of the covenant at Sinai? It consists in a special way of life which directs man’s existence toward attaining a single goal, a goal beyond the reach of the man of fate, namely, man’s imitation of his Creator through an act of self-transcendence.”

“Judaism has always believed that a person has the ability to take his fate into his hands and to mold it into destiny, into a life of freedom, meaning and joy, that he has the power to transform a sense of inferiority into a feeling of worth. It is for this reason that Judaism has emphasized the importance of the principle of free will. The Jewish community is obligated to utilize its free will in all areas of life in general.

Our historic obligation, today, is to raise ourselves from a people to a holy nation… from an existence of necessity to an authentic way of life suffused with eternal ethical and religious values…”

Now after having explored these sources, we come out with an important ideas. There is a distinction between Fate and Destiny, Fate is what happens to us, it is the collective big picture timeline that is out of our control. Destiny is what we make of that situation. Fate is big and thrust upon us, Destiny is individual and is the outcome of our decisions. This balance is the delicate tight-rope of free-will. (For those of you who watch Lost, this is, in my opinion, what is going on the show, there is a split timeline between Fate and Destiny. One timeline in which the choices made by the Islanders effects their future and they command their destiny and prevent the plane from crashing and one where Fate wins out and even though they make the choice to try and take things into their own hands, they cannot effect the outcome…but that is a different, longer conversation.

I think that this concept can help us better understand what it means to be a Jew and the duality it entails. There is a famous question, is Judaism a race or a religion? And I think the answer is both. In Judaism, whether you like it or not, you are born into it, because of your mother and mine we are Jews. This Fate is thrust upon us without us having any say, we are a race. Just as a Black Person cannot change his/her skin color, so too a Jew cannot change his/her blood. However their a another component to being a Jew, choice. We are handed our race, but what we make of it is our own. Being a Jew by birth or blood is our Fate, but being a Jew by choice is our Destiny.

Let’s examine the pasuk presented above, the Jewish people are referred to in two distinct ways and the pasuk uses two distinct verbs to denote the means of communication. One is Bnei Yisroel, The Sons of Israel, and the other is Beit Yaakov, the Household of Jacob. The Torah says Omar to the Household of Jacob and Hagid to the Children of Israel. This pasuk is a perfect proof to the concept outlined above. Throughout the Torah we see Jacob referenced by two names, Jacob and Israel, as opposed to anyone else whose name is changed, only be referenced by the new name. These two names reference the duality we discussed above. Jacob is the name he was given, the name he was born with, it means “heel” which signifies Jacob’s failed attempt to grab on and control his Fate. Israel is his new name, the one which he acquired, it means “to struggle with God” and signifies Jacob/Israel taking control of his Destiny and making it his own.

This duality is the Jewish condition.

To go further into the pasuk we see that two seperate verbs are used in the context of the two names given to the Jewish People, Omar to the Household of Jacob and Hagid to the Children of Israel. Both of these words, on the surface, mean the same thing, to say. However if we look beneath the surface we can understand that both of these verbs carry a special connotation that further drives home the idea presented above. The word Amar signifies the grouping of a number of ideas into one unified idea and communicating that point, it represents grouping individuals together into one collective whole. This is our nationhood, the race of the Jews, all individual Destiny’s are just a blur in the face of the collective Fate. But Hagada signifies taking a large concept and breaking it down into its individual components to make it easier to communicate. This corresponds with the Children of Israel, the idea of Destiny, that we have the power to break down the collective Fate and take charge of our individual Destiny.

We are all Jews by birth (Fate), let us become Jews by choice (Destiny).
February 22, 02:55 PM

Lamed Vav

Over this past weekend I had the privilege of attending one of my favorite annual events, the SCY High Ski-Battaon, and over the course of Shabbos I spoke about a number of things surrounding the theme of “The Responsibility of Unity”. One piece that I gave over was novel and I felt like sharing.

Last Wednesday I heard Rabbi Dr. JJ Shachter address a group of NCSY Staff members at our semi-monthly conference call, he spoke about the letter Vav. He explained that Adam was created on Yom Vav (the sixth day), and that the mark placed on the forehead of Cain was a Vav, underscoring the idea that this was the purpose of humanity, Vav ha-chibbur, the Vav which connects, this letter in Hebrew is a letter that connects two things, it also means hook, an object which supports, he spoke about the significance of the Vavim in the Mishkan and the fact that this idea of connection and support of one-another is the key to rebuilding our temple and bringing our world to its completion.

We have a concept, since the Temple was destroyed there exist 36 righteous people, Tzadikim, who support the very fabric of reality and keep the connection between this world and the spiritual reality. They are known as the Lamed Vav Tzadikim. They are like our lifeline since the destruction of the temple. Perhaps we can understand a little depth behind their name and this number. As we outlined above, the letter Vav denotes connection and support and it is the key to completion and rebuilding. Perhaps the significance of the Lamed Vav is that striving Le’vav toward Vav toward connection and support is what we all must internalize and what we all must do. These Lamed Vav Tzadikim are the metaphor for what we all must internalize, striving le’vav toward vav toward connection and support is the only way to bring about completion and redemption.
February 01, 05:56 PM

White Donkey

As I was discussing the concept of Mashiach riding into town on a “white donkey” I made this connection.

First of all, to explain this idea of Mashiach’s white donkey. The Hebrew word for donkey is chamor whose root word is chomer or physical material. Donkeys represent physicality or the most raw materials of our physical reality. And as we all know, white is a symbol of purity, but let’s explore that a little further and try to understand what that purity means and why white is the symbol for it.

The Hebrew word for white is lavan which shares a root word with libbun or the act of heating something up to remove the impurities. When a vessel becomes un-kosher one must heat it up and perform the act of libbun to make it kosher once again, this process heats the metal up so hot that any impurities or foreign matter is burned up and the metal turns white this is why white symbolizes purity.

Using this concept we can better understand the idea of a “white donkey” when a person is able to use the physical world around them for its intended purpose and uplift it, he removes any kilppah or impurity that it contains, when we sanctify the physical world we uplift it and purify it. The Mashiach will be “riding”, meaning he will in control of, a “white donkey”, or a completely purified and uplifted physical reality, he will be a person who is totally in control of the materials or physicality of our world will have removed any impurities from them.

August 25, 02:00 PM

Awesome Drop Transfers Files to Your Android Phone via HTML5 Drag-and-Drop [Downloads]

Windows/Mac/Linux and Android: Mounting your Android phone to your computer to transfer files can be kind of a pain. Free Android app Awesome Drop lets you drag files from your computer onto your device over the web, no mounting necessary.
While you could always use Dropbox's Android client to share files between your devices, not everyone has a Dropbox account. Furthermore, it doesn't actually sync files to your device's hard drive, so it becomes a multi-step process. Awesome Drop is quick, painless, and works from any computer.

Just open up the Awesome Drop app on your phone and enter the PIN it gives you in Awesome Drop's web interface, accessible from any browser. The HTML5-powered webapp will then give you a window to which you can drag and drop any files you want, and they'll automatically appear on your phone, ready for use. Check out the video for a demonstration.

Awesome Drop is a free download for Android devices, and works on most browsers.

Awesome Drop [via #tips]
August 25, 03:00 PM

Airline Seating Chart Shows You Best Seat for Your Needs [Air Travel Tip]

Whether you want more leg room, a better spot to stash your carry on bag, or to keep your elbows safe from the ravages of rickety drink carts, this handy diagram will help.
The above diagram comes to us courtesy of Show Me How: 500 Things You Should Know Instructions for Life From the Everyday to the Exotic by Lauren Smith and Derek Fagerstrom. The illustration offers a great visual guide to selecting seats for your next airline trip. Need a safe spot to stash your carry one? Pick a seat at the back, you'll board first and have your pick of the available bins. Want to bank on decent leg room? Grab a seat by the bulkhead or the back of the plane, seat pitch increases towards the back of many planes.

All that information doesn't help you if you can't actually book a seat that's specific to the sweet spots in the particular plane you're flying in, of course, so make sure you check out previously reviewed SeatGuru—you'll see where your potential seats are in relation to the specific plane you're flying on. Have a travel tip, trick, or infographic to share? Let's hear about it in the comments. Thanks Edward!

Show Me How: Choose The Best Airplane Seat [Show Me How]
August 27, 02:30 PM

Hulu Plus Comparison Chart Pits Hulu, Hulu Plus, and Netflix Libraries Against Each Other [Infographic]

We've discussed Hulu Plus' strengths and shortcomings, but with other services out there, it's hard to put it all in perspective. Luckily, reader OCEntertainment has created a handy chart to show us what shows Hulu, Hulu Plus, and Netflix offer.
There have been a few smaller charts floating around the net this week, comparing Hulu to Hulu Plus as well as Hulu and Hulu Plus to Netflix. OCEntertainment's chart isn't comprehensive (that would be a mighty big and impossible chart to make), but it does look like the most informative one out there, listing some of the most popular shows on the web and how many seasons each service offers (note that the chart above includes Netflix instant streaming, but does not include what Netflix has available on DVD. So it's on equal footing with Hulu Plus, but you can also rent most unavailable shows on DVD with a $10/month subscription).

Update: As many of you have noted, a bit of the data is outdated (as it was created earlier this month), most notably Family Guy being available on Netflix. As noted below, you can always double-check the services themselves to see if they have a show you want, but this chart should still give you a general idea. I've checked through the libraries, and apart from all 8 seasons of Family guy on both services and all 5 seasons of Angel being available on Hulu Plus; the other titles should be accurate.

Note that if you'd like a more comprehensive list, you can compare the two libraries yourself. You can browse Hulu Plus' library without an account, but Netflix requires you have an account to truly browse (though you can search and browse some of the titles here). They do offer a one month free trial, so if you're serious about signing up for one of these services, you have nothing to lose by signing up for Netflix's trial and comparing the two libraries yourself. Already know your favorite service? Let us know which one and why in the comments. And, as always, keep in mind Hulu Plus is still in early beta and may get more content in the future.

Hulu Plus Comparison Chart [Autistic Disdain]
August 27, 01:51 AM

Safety is also a Mitzvah

Remember the Versailles wedding tragedy of about 15 years ago? There was a third-story event hall in Jerusalem called "Versailles" which was hosting a wedding, and the floor suddenly collapsed, killing a number of people. At the time, there were the usual people talking about how it was a Divine punishment for mixed dancing, or lack of tzniyus, etc. I recall my late publisher Rabbi Moshe Dombey z"l marveling at how they were missing the obvious. The hall had been constructed using the "Pal-Kal" method - a way of building cheap and quick. There was no need to divine any cause other than the obvious: It is dangerously irresponsible to look for quick-and-easy shortcuts in something as serious as constructing tall buildings. And responsibility in such matters as construction is also a Torah obligation, be it the mitzvah of maakeh or venishmartem es nafshosechem.

Driving a car - a potentially lethal device - is also a serious business. I recall once seeing a responsum from one of the Acharonim (I'd be indebted if someone can provide the source) about a wagon-driver who got into an accident and killed someone. It was ruled that he has to fast twice a week for several years, support the victim's family for the rest of their lives, and pray for forgiveness every night for the rest of his life. We tend to think of Torah obligations as being davenning, learning, maybe even tzedakah, but driving safely and responsibly is also a Torah obligation. In that spirit, I am presenting a very, very disturbing video about texting while driving. It is very uncomfortable to watch, but if you ever text while driving, or even talk on a cellphone (and using a hands-free unit is almost as dangerous), you must watch it.
August 23, 08:52 PM

CloudMagic Is a Lightning Fast, As-You-Type Search Tool for Gmail [Downloads]

Shared by adam
This is awesome!

Windows/Mac with Firefox or Chrome: The CloudMagic browser extension adds an incredibly fast and effective as-you-type search box to your Gmail account capable of searching across multiple accounts in one shot and previewing emails without leaving what you're doing.

First, a note on privacy: CloudMagic stores your password and data locally, on your computer, so you don't have to feel too creepy about handing a third party the keys to your Google account. Once you install the extension and add your account information, CloudMagic starts indexing your inbox. Indexing time will vary depending on how big your account is, but recent email was almost instantly searchable in my test. You can narrow your search using many of the same operators available in Gmail, and, as you can see in the video above, the results are fast and the inline previews are particularly handy when you're composing and email and don't want to leave the window just to look up a little information. In my experience, Gmail search speeds slow down significantly the more email you receive, and so far CloudMagic's lightning fast search is feeling like a godsend.

CloudMagic is a free plug-in for Windows and Mac, works with Firefox or Chrome; it supports regular Gmail and Google Apps accounts. If you give it a go, let's hear how it worked for you in the comments.

CloudMagic [via TechCrunch]

This is awesome!
August 18, 05:00 PM

Gmail Apps Search Scours Your Email and Google Docs with One Query [Google Docs]

Google today launched a new Gmail Labs feature called Apps Search that, when enabled, lets you search both your inbox and Google Docs straight from Gmail.

Once enabled, your Search Mail button is replaced by a Search Mail and Docs button. When you perform a search, you'll see a selection of matching documents from Google Docs below your mail results. To enable it, head to the Labs tab in Gmail, find and enable Apps Search, and click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page. Gmail will reload, and the handy new Apps Search will be up and running in your inbox.

Search across your docs, sites and email with the Gmail "Apps Search" lab [Google Enterprise Blog]
August 19, 03:15 PM

Your Password Should Be At Least 12 Random Characters Long to Be Safe [Security]

According to a study at Georgia Tech Research Institute, your password should be at least 12 random characters long (and include letters, numbers, and symbols) if you want to consider yourself safe from brute force password hacks. From MSNBC: "'Eight-character passwords are inadequate now ... If eight characters is all you use, and if you restrict your characters to only alphabetic letters, it can be cracked in minutes,' said Richard Boyd, a senior researcher at GTRI." We've highlighted how easily common passwords can be hacked, but even if you've got a system auto-generating your passwords, you may want to make sure you're going for at least 12. It may seem like a lot to remember (because it is), but that's where a great password management solution comes in handy. [MSNBC via @wjrothman]
August 19, 05:00 PM

Rebook Your Cancelled Flight Faster by Not Following Directions [Travel Tip]

Listening to your airline's suggestions on rebooking a cancelled flight may not be the best idea. Travel web site Hipmunk offers some more effective suggestions.
Awesome flight search site Hipmunk (our first look) has a blog, and they've begun posting helpful travel advice. For example, Hipmunk suggests that if your flight is canceled and you do what the airline tells you to do, you're doing it wrong.

While you have a number of options, so long as you're not waiting in the rebooking line you've been told to, you're probably going to be in better shape. Anything from calling the airline directly to waiting in line at the gate of another flight departing to your destination can help you get things done faster. No matter what alternate route you choose, just make sure you keep your luggage in mind. If you've checked any bags, rebooking is going to be a bit slower and more complicated, so travel light and be prepared to run to a new gate next time your flight is canceled.

Got any rebooking tips of your own? Share 'em in the comments!

3 Reasons You're Doing it Wrong When Your Flight is Cancelled [Hipmunk Blog]
August 22, 04:10 PM

BBC: Gaza Flotilla: What Really Happened?

Shared by adam
A very balanced documentary from BBC
Watch the video of BBC's shockingly fair treatment of the Gaza flotilla. A very balanced documentary from BBC
August 17, 01:11 PM

Chelsea’s Wedding and the Third Mesorah | Cross-Currents

Shared by adam
Whether or not we agree regarding the Clintons, the point brought out about a Jew's emotion is a great one...
When the Clinton-Mezvinsky nuptials were announced, I played the role of Grinch, and opined that there was little cause for celebration. Nothing could change my Whether or not we agree regarding the Clintons, the point brought out about a Jew's emotion is a great one...
August 17, 11:00 AM

EasyRoomIn Is an Expense Tracker, Micro Social Network, and More for Roommates [Roommates]

Most roommate conflict stems from poor communication. EasyRoomIn seeks to cut down on misunderstandings and poor communication with bill and chore tracking, ownership lists, contact managements, and communication tools.
EasyRoomIn can easily server as a communication hub for your entire household. You and your roommates sign up for a free account and your residence becomes a hub for a micro social network within EasyRoomIn. There you can share bills, assign chores, put due dates and notices on a shared calendar, share messages on a message board, and even catalog your possessions. EasyRoomIn has a contact manager to handle emergency contacts and contact information important to the whole household. It's a genius solution for roommates, especially roommates in a multi-person household like many college students.

EasyRoomIn not only brings all these features together but is easy to use. It's extremely easy to make a new bill, split up the percentage each person is paying, and make sure everyone gets email reminders when their portion is due. Cataloging possessions is simple too. When it's time to move out the "Stuff" list will help when people can't recall who brought the silverware or other household goods.

EasyRoomIn is a free service and requires a basic email registration for account setup. Have a favorite tool for helping to manage roommate relations and communication? Let's hear about it in the comments.

EasyRoomIn [via MakeUseOf]
August 17, 12:00 PM
Master the Art of Low-Effort Cooking [Back To School]
Whether you're a college student, single career builder, or parent with mouths to feed, we're all short on time. Luckily anyone, undergraduate or otherwise, can learn to cook easy, low-effort meals that are cheap, nourishing, and helpful at healing last night's indulgences.
Photo by s h a r i :}.

Below we'll detail a few basic, time-friendly cooking methods using three tools common to anyone, from the dorm dweller to apartment renter to home owner. These meals and routines are not, generally, gourmet feasts that will impress a date—unless your date happens to find cooking efficiency sexy. They can, however, be made in nearly any college residency, whether in your dorm room or in the "common room," depending on your institution's rules.

We're assuming access to the very basics of cooking here: basic cutlery and dishes, maybe a halfway decent kitchen-style knife (though a serrated steak knife can work, too), access to water and electricity, and use of one of the tools that make up our Dorm Room Trio: a rice cooker, a microwave, and some kind of hot surface, like a Foreman Grill, a hot plate, or even a waffle iron.

College Cooking 101: The Rice Cooker

The rice cooker sounds like one of those notorious unitaskers you should avoid when you don't have a lot of space for cooking gadgets, but these cookers can do a lot more than just cook rice. Do you know the man who's the most prominent proponent of the rice cooker's miraculous ways? It's Roger Ebert. No kidding.

The famed film critic, voluminous blogger and tweeter, and incredibly productive writer has a small book coming out on the subject, The Pot and How to Use It: The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker, in late September. Luckily, that book stems from a transcendent blog post on rice cooker cooking, which is a great introduction to the device and why it's smarter than any stove:

We will begin with a scientific conundrum. You put Minute Rice and the correct amount of water into the Pot, and click to Cook. Minutes later, the Pot clicks over to Warm. Tomorrow night, you put whole grain organic rice and the correct amount of water into the Pot, and click to Cook. An hour later, the Pot clicks over to Warm. Both nights, the rice is perfectly cooked.

How does it know? There are no dials and settings on the Pot. As far as you can tell, there is only a heating element beneath. There doesn't look like room for anything else to hide. How does the Pot know how long to cook the rice? It is a mystery of the Orient. Don't ask questions you don't need the answers to. The point here is to save you some time and money. If you want gourmet cooking, you aren't going to learn about it here.

A fresh batch of rice goes a long way to making a quick meal—add in some vegetables, nearly any batch of last night's leftovers, some furikake/rice seasoning, if you're feeling expansive, and you're up and eating without having to tear yourself away from ... your studies, of course.

But Ebert's guidance will also get you cooking oatmeals, soup, and stews in your rice cooker. With a bigger model that comes with a tray, you can also steam any food that can be cooked by steaming or poaching. Ebert even suggests a sauce or two you can make in your rice cooker, which can then be used to dress up that chicken or beef you'll be microwaving down the hall.

The New York Times is likewise enthusiastic about the rice cooker for making tasty one-pot meals (with recipes for bibimbap with salmon and spinach and chicken biryani with saffron cream). Those are probably a little high-falutin' for most college tastes, though they can be modified for cost savings and pretension. Real Simple, meanwhile, has at least two smart suggestions: rice cooker risotto, and a simple dessert of fresh fruits poached in juice, wine, or maple or other syrups.

Note: Normally, you'd be right to scoff at the idea of college students having access to fresh fruits, let alone salmon. But the college kids these days, with their on-campus organic stores and their Starbucks and mo-bile telephones ... but we digress.

Intermediate College Cooking 250: Mastering the Microwave

Far more people know how to power up a microwave than properly load a rice cooker, it's true. What makes this course intermediate is in the proper, somewhat monitored use of a microwave to properly cook meals that don't come in cardboard and plastic. Photo by Robert S. Donovan.

So what's the best way to cook using your microwave? In a word, vegetables. They're not a common thing in the college experience, but they're cheap, filling, and probably give you a leg up on your classmates living off pre-formed meat and chicken. You actually get more vitamins from vegetables when they're microwaved, and if you use it the right way, they'll actually turn out better than with a stovetop.

As Unofficial Lifehacker Food Advisor Mark Bittman explains, there's no exact recipe for cooking up vegetables in your microwave, mostly because microwave ovens vary greatly in their power and efficiency. But the process is fairly simple, and requires just a bit of trial and error:

For any vegetable you would parboil or steam, the microwave works as well or better, and is faster. Put the vegetable in a bowl with a tiny bit of water (or sometimes none), cover and zap. Asparagus: two minutes; artichokes (a revelation): six; cauliflower (try my cauliflower with tomatoes and pimentón): five; potatoes or beets: four; spinach: one or two; eggplant: we'll get to that. Timing, though, is tricky, especially if you strictly follow an older recipe.

Always err on the side of under-cooking, write down you preferred prep times, and you're good to go.

Beyond vegetables, you can pull off some fairly impressive cooking stunts with your microwave, some of which we've covered here before:
- Potato chips (Original post)
- Chocolate cake in a coffee mug (Note: this is more for the "Ain't that cool" effect then the, umm, amazing taste. (Original post)
- DIY microwave popcorn bags, where you can vary up the butter, spices, and other ingredients. (Original post)
- Make milk foam for coffee inside a microwaved mason jar. (Original post)
Advanced One-Pot Cooking 399: Crock Pot, Foreman Grill, or Hot Plate

If you've got a legitimate "hot plate," or electric griddle, you've got it much better than the microwave-only set. Anything you can cook on a stovetop, you can pretty much pull off on small griddle, with some conversions for amounts and heating times. The double-sided indoor grill, universally known as the Foreman Grill, offers the same flexibility, but often cooks faster, due to its covering of both sides. About.com has a pretty extensive roundup of Foreman recipes, which also work for hot plates/griddles. In general, though, you can't go wrong with grilled cheese. Photo by Liz (perspicacious.org).

Maybe you've got a small student apartment where you can actually plug in anything you want, safety willing. The crock pot, then, is your new best friend for meals you don't have to cook after a long day of hitting the books or, well, whatever. There are endless spots around the internet for slow cooker/crockpot recipes; one or two of our favorites are crockpot chicken tacos and financial blog The Simple Dollar's template for five-ingredient crock pot meals.

We've previously posted a tip from a reader about using a light socket timer to extend a crock pot's "range"—that is, having your crock pot turn on after you've left the home, if you're going to be away longer than you'd like your food cooking at even the lowest level. Many commenters, rightly, noted that you don't want to do this with foods where long exposures could be a safety issue. It's worth keeping in mind, but for recipes that don't involve raw meat, where you only need to shave an hour or two off the cook time, you should be fine.

Readers' Recipes and Ideas

Many of us hold our college survival stories close to our heart. Then again, some of us seemed to get out of college better fed than others.

Here's a few clever ideas and recipe links from readers who responded to our Twitter query about making a meal with only access to the three devices above:
- Aquila_76: Franks & Beans. 8 dog + 2 cans of baked beans. Mix in some molasses, brown sugar, & spicy mustard. Nuke for about 10 minutes.
- chiieeddy: Add 1 cup rice + 1/3 cup beans to rice cook (my fuzzy logic will allow for dried but ymmv). Add spices, cook.
- satyamnayak pointed us to a Flickr set from Kimaroo that shows the making of rice cooker cake. That's right—chocolate cake, cooked in a rice cooker. We've reached out to ask for details.
- gorideyourbike tips us to a whole pasta dinner in a rice cooker that we're eager to try some busy day.
How did you survive college with only minimal cooking gear? What's your favorite rice cooker, microwave, or slow-cooker meal? Students and alumni are invited to join us in the comments.
July 26, 03:30 PM
The Science Behind "Having a Bad Day" (and How to Solve It) [Mind Hacks]
Steve Schwartz had a bad day. Then his girlfriend did. Then he did a little research on what "having a bad day" really entails, and how he can avoid losing his day to one next time a "bad day" comes around.
Photo by TheeErin.

Sometimes you wake up, and within the first hour or so, you know it's going to be a bad day. It happened to me a couple days ago, and it happened to my girlfriend just this morning. So I'd like to take this opportunity to go on the record saying this entire notion of having a "bad day" is bullshit! Don't worry, this is not a rant, there's real science behind it. Let me explain.

A Bad Day Is as Real as You Make It

Think for a minute… when is the last time you had a bad day? When is the last time a couple things happened, not quite as you had planned, and you thought, "I cannot wait until today is over!"

Here's the thing… there is absolutely no such thing as a bad day in reality. A bad day only exists in our interpretation of reality, which then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

When asked in an interview [1] if there is any science behind why a bad day occurs, Peter J. Bentley, PhD, writer of Why Sh*t Happens: The Science of a Really Bad Day, responded:

Yes, and it's our fault, I'm afraid! The statistics show that people who believe in bad luck will have more accidents on Friday the 13th. Those who have a negative attitude are more likely to endow normal little mishaps with some mystical significance. Some psychologists even suggest that it's a way of subconsciously avoiding responsibility for our actions. "It was Friday 13th, so I was bound to stick my fingers with superglue" or "Accidents happen in threes, so after the first mishap the next two were inevitable." Of course it's nonsense.

So there you have it, we have the ability to make a bad day exist if we believe it to exist.

Disclaimer: I have not yet read the book mentioned above, and only came across it when doing research for this essay. I have added it to my queue and look forward to posting an update once I've read it. If you've read this book and have some feedback, let me know in the comments!

Simplification Turned Against Us

The question then becomes, if we know that a bad day is all in our heads, then why do we allow it to occur? Why do we give in and throw away the rest of our day, simply by accepting and believing that we are indeed having a bad day?

The answer: it's a convenient over-simplification.

The brain's facility to simplify, in most contexts, is very useful and beneficial. Our brains develop symbols, or abstract representations of complex ideas, that allow us to connect the represented ideas with other ideas, and to build upon them, without having to keep the full details of every complex idea at the forefront of our minds.

In other words, simplification clears our minds, freeing our brains to draw additional connections and conclusions from complex ideas, data, and experiences.

But what happens when we simplify experiences with the wrong symbolic conclusion? This is precisely what happens when we conclude that we are having a bad day. We blame our misfortune on factors outside of our own control, in order to avoid analyzing the real reasons things happened as they did (or perhaps even to eschew our own responsibility). Hence, it is easy for us to believe we're having a bad day. The obvious downside is that once you accept the convenient conclusion that the entire day is for naught, it will actually cause the rest of your day to go horribly awry.

I'm not exactly saying you should discard all belief in the notion of luck. In fact, a recent study published in Psychology Today indicates that people who believe in luck are in fact luckier and happier throughout their lives than those who don't [2]. Perhaps we should believe in good luck, but not bad luck, if such a thing is possible.

The Waterglass of Expectation

I'm sure you've heard of the Placebo Effect. More specifically, studies examining the neurobiological effects of placebos, such as analgesia, have shown definitively that our expectations directly impact our interpretation of reality. Medical subjects who are told they will experience pain, experience heightened pain. Subjects who are merely told that they have been given something to reduce pain, experience a greatly reduced level of pain. The only difference was the expectation each subject had going in. [3]

Furthermore, Robert Coghill, PhD, a pain researcher at Wake Forest, has taken MRIs of subjects and found that this placebo-induced analgesia occurs at the most basic level or our perception of pain. It's not just a matter of patients fooling themselves into experiencing lesser pain. The brain regions that interpret pain actually show far less activity when subjects have lowered expectations for the pain they will experience. [4]

We've already established that if you expect bad things to happen, you are more susceptible to having bad things happen to you. As the cherry on top, negative expectations will also cause you to interpret things in a negative manner. So, even if the rest of your day is average, you won't see it that way.

Experiencing the world with negative expectations is like viewing reality through a muddy waterglass. Your view will be distorted and you won't like what you see.

Ending Our Bad Day

Neurobiology is fun and interesting, but how does this help us fix our bad day? After all, even when we know a bad day is all in our heads, it can still be very convincing and real to us when we're having one. Here are a few steps that can help turn a bad day around:
1. Reflect on the negative feeling you have right now. Is it stress? Anxiety? Frustration? What caused it? Try to label it in one to three words, but no more! For instance, it might be "frustration with clients" or "anger from assholes." You know, something like that. Once you've labeled it, do not think about the feeling or events anymore. Move on and only refer back to the label if necessary.
  Matthew Lieberman, an associate professor at UCLA, has shown that the simple act of putting our feelings into a word or two can dramatically reduce the effect of those feelings. When you're angry, simply attaching the word "anger" to your feeling makes you less angry. [5]
2. Re-evaluate the situation or events that lead to this stress. Find some conceivable positive outcome. Did you just lose a client? Figure out why, and you're left with a powerful experience from the school of hard knocks, which you can use to your advantage in the future.
  
  Or if that fails, try to imagine some way it could have gone worse (your mileage may vary with this technique… I've just found that it works for me).
  
  Reevaluation is often much easier said than done (it's the most difficult step in this list by far). There are a few tricks you can use to help you get in the right mindset to reevaluate your situation. These tricks rely on the fact that the brain responds to novelty by releasing dopamine, which puts you in a good mood and can help to reset your outlook. [6]
  
  The crazy thing is that you can trigger your brain's novelty response with seemingly small and trivial changes. The main idea is to simply change your environment in some small way so as to cause an out-of-the-ordinary experience. Some examples (which I've had a lot of luck with) include heightening or lowering your chair (or moving the seat in your car slightly aft or fore, but so as to still be comfortable and safe). You may also try listening to a different type of music; if you normally listen to rock, listen to some hip hop for the day. Go for a bike ride or walk in an area you've never explored (again, stay safe). For lunch, go to a restaurant at which you've never eaten.
3. Remember that the outcome of the previous minute is not indicative of the outcome of the next minute. Likewise, the last hour has no bearing on the next hour, and this morning is no indication of what this afternoon will bring.
4. There is no step 4, just get on with your life already!
You may also try talking to someone you trust, but beware. As stated in #1 above, thinking too deeply can cause you to dwell and can heighten your sense of frustration or anger with the events that have gone unfavorably, which may lead inevitably to the downward spiral otherwise known as "a bad day".

Many of these ideas were inspired by or adapted from David Rock's book, Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long. If you're interested in why our brains work as described here, or why some of these techniques work, I highly recommend it. It's not just a bunch of self-improvement, believe-in-yourself fluff; it explains how the latest discoveries in neuroscience and neurobiology can impact your day-to-day life.

[1] Interview with Peter J Bentley, PhD
[2] Study published in Psychology Today on effect of believing in luck
[3] Studies examining the neurobiological effects of the placebo effect
[4] MRIs showing placebo-induced analgesia
[5] The effects of putting feelings into words
[6] Response to novelty predicts the locomotor and nucleus accumbens dopamine response to cocaine

Steve Schwartz is the owner of Alfa Jango, LLC (building web applications and software), founder of RateMyStudentRental.com (on- and off-campus student housing reviews), and creator of LeadNuke.com (cultivating qualified sales leads from around the web).

The Science Behind "Having a Bad Day" (and how to solve it) [The Blog of Steve Schwartz]
August 17, 01:23 AM
How to Rebuild Your Attention Span and Focus [Focus]
Shared by adam
I almost read the whole thing without skimming...almost

Most people who click on this article won't finish reading it. So says Nick Carr. The New York Times will remind you that you'll probably forget it in a few minutes. This idea's so prevalent, even the Onion has started taking jabs.

There's some truth to it. Posts like this and search trends point to what we're after. Many people want the ability to focus more and feel like they're losing the ability to focus on a particular task for long periods of time. We feel like we're losing that ability. Getting Things Done and all the other books out there tend to give you some rituals to cope with the problem — but only if you could stick to them. Most of us, just a few weeks after reading that book, sit next to filing cabinets (virtual or otherwise) and go about our merry way.

That's because we're focused on the wrong thing. To get a longer attention span — even a span long enough to read this article — don't worry about managing the information. Worry about managing your attention. Paying attention, for long periods of time, is a form of endurance athleticism. Like running a marathon, it requires practice and training to get the most out of it. It is as much Twitter's fault that you have a short attention span as it is your closet's fault it doesn't have any running shoes in it. If you want the ability to focus on things for a long period of time, you need attention fitness.

Neuroplasticity is how your brain changes its organization over time to deal with new experiences. It involves physical changes inside of the brain based on the particular tasks the brain is asked to complete. It's why the hippocampus of a seasoned taxi driver in London is larger than average, and how a meditating monk grows grey matter. Your brain isn't a mythological deity but a physical part of your body that needs to be taken care of just like the rest of your body. And your body responds to two things really well — diet and exercise. Let's presume your brain, being a part of the body, also does.

Things like Inbox Zero or cutting down on meetings may be handy tricks, but they don't take neuroplasticity into account. The bet there is that you have a finite amount of attention to spend, and that attention range isn't changeable. That stuff is handy for making the best use of your limited attention span, but it's not going to improve your attention span. It's not going to stop your brain from being easily distracted or unfocused if you've already trained it to be that way.

So how do you train to focus? I've been using interval training with great success. Modeled after how I trained to run my first marathon using Jeff Galloway's technique, I practice attention interval training. I got this timer installed on my computer. It's an excellent interval timer based on a technique called the Pomodoro technique — but I'm primarily using it based on its ability to make sound, set good intervals, and support logging. I started small: 10 minutes of work with two minute breaks. My strategy has been to keep it so when the timer goes off that tells me it's time to take a break, I feel like I can keep going. I'm up to 35 minutes now with 2 minute breaks. Interestingly enough — this is about as far as I'll get probably while still being able to keep Instant Messaging on. I've found that about 35 minutes is the max response time for IM to be useful.

The timer isn't the key part though, that's just a component of a system like a good watch is a part of running a marathon. Here's how I set that up:

Ditched the Second Monitor

I've been using a second monitor for nearly ten years, thinking that vast amounts of space were key to productivity. The second monitor myth has been around for quite some time. Yet the only actual scientific study I could find linking multiple monitors to productivity was done in 2003 by a monitor manufacturer, a video card manufacturer, and the University of Utah. It's actually kind of a marketing document, not a study. I've opted for one, large monitor. Two monitors just allows me to put distractions on one monitor, and actual work on another.

Set up Spaces in OS X

Spaces is virtual desktop software on OS X. I never thought it was useful before ditching the second monitor, but now — instead of having always-on distraction in one monitor on my desk, I can put my email, twitter, and surfing browser in one "Space" on OS X and keep it there. When I start my pomodoro timer, I hop into a "space" that looks more like this — only the tools I need to do whatever task I am up for on the screen. In this case, I need limited web browsing and a text editor to write this blog post. Note the addition of "about:blank" in my bookmark bar at the top of the browser. While I'm writing and don't need to use the browser, I tend to blank the screen out so I don't get too distracted by the browser.

My third space simply has Remember the Milk running in full screen.

Ed. note: If you're not running OS X, take a look at these popular virtual desktops for alternatives to Spaces.

Turned the mouse off during work-time

During the time that I'm working (unless I'm editing) — my 35 minute work intervals — I turn my mouse off. I've found that I can focus much more on the task at hand if I don't touch or use that mouse. For me, my mouse is a gateway towards passive browsing and web surfing. If I don't have access to it, I can't begin the chain reaction of getting sucked into the web. For me, it'd be like running a marathon on a road with 26.2 miles of chicken-wing stores. I might make it a few miles, sure, but around mile 20, I'm going to succumb to temptation. I've found that Divvy helps me manage windows without the mouse, and that Vimium helps me use the web for research without the mouse.

Created a proactive routine

Part of my 2 minute break-time is used to set-up whatever tools I need to accomplish my next task. I use that time to figure out exactly what I need for my next task, close-down all the things I don't need for that task, and set windows up appropriately. There's rarely a time when I need more than two windows open. My workspace, whether it be writing code or writing blog posts, more often than not, looks like this. The set-up generally involves closing all tabs in the browser, and starting the browser fresh with an about:blank page. The key here is, I don't just hop into doing work. I spend a minute or two setting up an ideal environment for me to be able to complete whatever my next task is. When I leave my computer for the day, there are no windows open. I start with a blank slate to come back to. No need getting bogged down in yesterday's set-up.

About those tabs

None of my web browsers — surfing or otherwise, are allowed to have more than 5 tabs per browser window at any time. I do this via the No More Tabs Chrome extension. This extension is pretty brutal: if you create a new tab and you're over your tab limit (defaults to 5) it'll close your oldest one. I've been running this extension for over a month, and not once have I had a serious problem. It's forced me to pay attention to a particular web page and finish working with it if I'm going to move on to something else.

The Environment Around Me

While I work primarily from home, I'm still prone to distractions from my environment. To conquer that, I have a pair of noise-reducing headphones, and I listen primarily to lyric-free music. Just a bit of noise to keep me focused. I sit at my desk, but I suspect that I'll be converting to a standing desk soon because I don't want to die early. I also tend to keep some snacks (nuts) and beverages around my desk so that food and water don't lower my focus threshold. Though there's one big anomaly here: I'm not working in an office with that many people in it. I don't have a lot of meetings to take. I'm not managing anyone right now. For that though, I suggest consolidating all meetings into the afternoon and make them back to back. That way, you're getting them out of the way and you have solid, long blocks of time to focus on getting things done.

Synopsis

Like all exercise, different kinds of workouts work differently for different people. For me, interval training works wonders — this blog post, for instance, has taken me 70 minutes to research and write — ordinarily a blog post like this before I had this set-up would take me nearly a full day's worth of work. More importantly though, I'm able to do things like read long articles or even academic papers — things I never used to "have time for" which really meant "had attention for."

If you think you're having focus problems — if the concept of provigil appeals to you, or you've thought "oh if I could only get my hands on some ritalin," think about setting up an attention fitness regimen for yourself instead. My general advice:
1. Do slightly less than you think you're capable of
2. Increase your capacity while staying under that bar (#1)
3. You're not going to run the attention fitness equivalent of a marathon today. Start slow.
Your brain, like your body, is only a result of what you train it to do. Attention fitness, like any other kind of fitness, takes time even to get into a routine. But once you make it a habit, it starts to pay off.

Clay Johnson blogs at Infovegan.com, a blog about information dieting and civic accountability. He was formerly the director of Sunlight Labs at the Sunlight Foundation and founder of Blue State Digital — the technology company behind Barack Obama's web site.

How to Focus [InfoVegan]

Photo by Ed Yourdon.

I almost read the whole thing without skimming...almost
August 03, 08:00 AM

Read Your Paid Software's Fine Print for Unexpected Savings [Saving Money]

Sometimes the fine print can actually save you money. Case in point: the latest copies of Microsoft Office. Many assume Microsoft wants money for every installation, but Office is technically licensed for at least two installations.
Windows site Neowin.net, by way of a Twitter reply from Microsoft's Australian offices, points out that every copy of Office allows for legitimate installation on one primary computer and a "portable device," which for all intents and purposes means a laptop. If your primary computer is a laptop, well, you're allowed to use Office on both those computers. Office's Home and Student version allows for three home installations, too, but that's another story.

So while reading through a license agreement might seem like an exercise in migraine testing, scanning to the section on installation rights, or asking the question, can pay off. Because nobody around these parts was even thinking of making a secondary installation before being fully cleared by the license agreement.

Did you know: Microsoft Office is licensed for two PCs? [Neowin.net]
August 03, 09:00 AM

Sleeping In on Weekends Might Help You Catch Up From the Week [Sleep]

Contrary to what we've heard in the past, scientists suggest in a new study that grabbing an extra hour or two in one night can help restore your performance after a week of less-than-awesome slumber.
Photo by B Rosen.

In the journal Sleep, a recent study was analyzed in which 159 adults, at an average age of 30, were given two 10-hour nights, then most were given just four hours of sleep across five consecutive nights. After that, the amount of sleep allowed was randomized. Those who received the most sleep after that pretty awful-sounding week fared the best:

Dr David Dinges, chief of the Division of Sleep and Chronobiology at the University of Pennsylvania, who led the study, said: "The additional hour or two of sleep in the morning after a period of chronic partial sleep loss has genuine benefits for continued recovery of behavioural alertness.

"The bottom line is that adequate recovery is important for coping with the effects of chronic sleep restriction on the brain."

Does this go directly against what your friends, and other studies, have suggested? Kind of. Doesn't it feel great to wake up at an unproductive hour on a weekend? Yes.Your mileage, then, will vary.

Have you found sleeping in on weekends helps you recover, or does it merely set a bad precedent?

Lying in at the weekend boosts your brain power, study shows [Telegraph via @rosa]
August 03, 11:00 AM

Unproductive Work Is a More Sinister Time Sink Than Goofing Off [Quotables]

The easiest way to waste time isn't goofing off and pursuing leisure activities, it's focusing on unproductive work. Train yourself to see unproductive work as easily as you can see when you're just goofing off.
Photo by Dave-F.

Paul Graham, an essayist and programmer, discovered a strong parallel between managing money and managing time. It's easy to see when you're spending too much money, very few of us could spend tens of thousands on material goods and not have something tangible and highly visible to show for our wild spending. On the opposite side of that, however, is investing. It's easy to move large sums of money around in investment vehicles without really setting off any alarms in your mind that you're shuffling about huge sums of cash. He writes on the similarities between the two:

A few days ago I realized something surprising: the situation with time is much the same as with money. The most dangerous way to lose time is not to spend it having fun, but to spend it doing fake work. When you spend time having fun, you know you're being self-indulgent. Alarms start to go off fairly quickly. If I woke up one morning and sat down on the sofa and watched TV all day, I'd feel like something was terribly wrong. Just thinking about it makes me wince. I'd start to feel uncomfortable after sitting on a sofa watching TV for 2 hours, let alone a whole day.

And yet I've definitely had days when I might as well have sat in front of a TV all day-days at the end of which, if I asked myself what I got done that day, the answer would have been: basically, nothing. I feel bad after these days too, but nothing like as bad as I'd feel if I spent the whole day on the sofa watching TV. If I spent a whole day watching TV I'd feel like I was descending into perdition. But the same alarms don't go off on the days when I get nothing done, because I'm doing stuff that seems, superficially, like real work. Dealing with email, for example. You do it sitting at a desk. It's not fun. So it must be work.

It's painfully easy to see how playing Xbox 360 is not work but it's just as painfully easy to get caught up in doing things at your desk that are no more productive and a lot less fun than just sitting around playing Halo. What part of your daily routine looks like work but is really just sucking away time you could be spending on something productive? Sound off in the comments with the daily time sinks that slip under your radar.

How To Lose Time and Money [Paul Graham via How To Split An Atom]
August 03, 04:30 PM

Reuse Retail Boxes by Turning Them Inside Out [Recycling]

The boxes your electronic devices come in are often quite sturdy and would be perfect for storage, shipping, or other uses, except they're usually covered in tons of barcodes, photos, and text. This clever hack makes your box a blank slate.
Lifehacker reader dboudwin has a simple solution for turning barcode-spattered and graphic-bedazzled boxes into clean shipping boxes.

Instead of wrapping or using a sharpie to cross out all the barcodes of a retail box you need to ship, just turn it inside out. A lot of these boxes don't use tape or glue and turn into a perfect blank shipping box.

It's a clever solution whether you want to use it for shipping or just to have a nice clean box to label and store on a shelf. For another clever way to deal with barcodes on boxes make sure to check out how to remove labels without tearing the box. Have a clever tip of your own to share? Thanks for sharing dboudwin!

[via #tips]
August 03, 05:00 PM

Create a Better Emergency Contact Number with Google Voice [Emergency]

Everybody's got a go-to in case of emergency (ICE) contact, but emergencies have a nasty habit of not caring whether your ICE contact is available to pick up the phone. Reader snappingleather's clever solution: Expand your ICE reach with Google Voice.
Use an extra Google Voice number to make an In Case of Emergency contact number that dials multiple family members at once.

A lot of us have more than one Google account (in fact, Google just launched a new feature specifically for multiple account owners), so the idea would be that you set up one of your non-primary accounts with Google Voice, then make that number, when called, ring everyone you'd consider an emergency contact—maybe your significant other, your parents, your sister. The only caveat:

While Google Voice allows you to use two Voice accounts for the same number, you do have to trade off features. That is, let's say your significant other already has a Google Voice account. If you created a new Voice account and set his/her number to ring when that Voice number was dialed, you could do that. But they wouldn't be able to use SMS with their default Voice account. (Then again, if no one you'd list as an ICE contact uses Google Voice, you're in the clear.)

It's a clever idea, and one you could also incorporate with the ICE contact you've already added to your phone.

[via #tips]
August 03, 05:05 PM

Update Your Droid to Froyo Without Waiting [Android]

Got a Droid and can't wait for Verizon to push out the over-the-air Android 2.2 Froyo update to your phone? All-things-Android blog Android Central details how to update your Droid to the official ROM without twiddling your thumbs, waiting for the update to push out on its own. (No rooting or anything fancy required.) [Android Central via @willsmith]

Adam Simon

Educator, Designer, Marketing Consultant, Publisher, Rabbi

Program Development | Greater San Diego Area, US

I am unique blend of Jewish educator and entrepreneurial business consultant, with substantial experience working in the non-profit field; specializing in event coordination, strategic planning, marketing, design, curriculum development, teaching and generally bringing any project through to completion; always looking for a new business idea and always looking for new avenues of marketing for my various projects.

I have used this blend to create programs for NCSY, the Jewish Student Union, Jewish High Schools and Yeshiva Programs around the globe.

Contact me for anything, I can probably help your project/business or refer you to someone who can.

Specialties: Consulting, Infrastructure Developement, Event Coordination, Marketing, Graphic and Web Design, Strategic Planning, Organizational Meetings, Publishing and Distribution, Teaching, Theatre, Jewish Education, Torah, Advertising, Curriculum Development,

Sept 2008 - Present

Teacher / Southern California Yeshiva High School (SCY High)

I Teach:
-Jewish Philosophy
-Talmudic Analysis
-Biblical Analysis
-Jewish Law (Practical and Theoretical)
-Jewish History
-Graphic and Web Design

Additional (volunteer) responsibilities have included:
-Web Design and Consulting
-Graphic Design and Marketing
-Hebrew Language Substitute
-Student Enrichment
-Student Advisory Group
Aug 2008 - Present

Program Coordinator / Beth Jacob Congregation of San Diego

-Community Outreach
-Adult Education
-Youth Service
-Event Planning
-Organize Computer and Office Systems
-Advertising/PR
Aug 2008 - Present

San Diego Chapter Director / NCSY

Responsibilities:
-Coordinate Events
-Curriculum Development
-Develop Relationships with Parents and Students
-Recruit Members (Ad/PR)

Accomplishments:
-Awarded Chapter Growth Award in 2009, never before awarded to a first year director
-Awarded Chapter Of The Year Award in 2010, never before awarded to a second year director or to a chapter outside of Los Angeles
-Expanded Chapter Membership by 300%
-Deployed and Developed NCSY Brand within the community
-Increased Fundraising by 800%
Dec 2007 - Present

Consultant / Fill In The Blank Consulting

-Business Consulting
-Infrastructure Development
-Event Coordination
-Marketing
-Graphic and Web Design
-Strategic Planning
-Organizational Meetings
2006 - Present

Director of Operations / Rossi Publications

-Built and sustain business infrastructure (see RossiPublications.com)
-Procure and produce publication projects
-Coordinate and develop sales and retailer contacts
-Design and implement wholesale/retail marketing campaigns
2005 - 2009

On Site Event Coordinator / Events Organized

-Coordinate events (ie. weddings, corporate conventions, fundraisers, etc.)
-Worked with organizations such as AJOP and Aish LA
Jun 2005 - Jul 2008

West Coast Director of Programs / NCSY

-Coordinate regional (500+ attendees) and smaller conventions
--Including Producing Multimedia Presentations
-Create and implement new programs and session materials
-Design and produce promo. materials (flyers, brochures, magazines, emails, videos)
-Coordinate volunteers from around the United States
-Establish and maintain community relations
2002 - 2003

Technical Director; Designer / Electric Lodge Theatre

-Created dynamic lighting scenarios for production
-Designed theatrical lighting and theatre layout
-Assembled and operated lighting equipment
Sept 1999 - Jun 2003

Owner / Road Runner Press

My first graphic design based company. I started this company when I was fairly young and it was relatively successful by those standards. I designed, printed, mail-merged and mailed invitations for weddings, bar mitzvahs etc. and corporate mailings.

2003 - 2006

Netiv Aryeh Theological College

Bachelors in Talmudic Law and Philosophy

Activities: Founder of Student Gma'ch (Free Loan Society)
Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg

Rabbinical Ordination in Jewish Law

Websites:

Rossi Publications Home, Fill In The Blank Home, Design Portfolio

Honors:

Achim Kiruv Seminar Certificate, NCSY Chapter Growth Award 2009, NCSY Chapter Of The Year Award 2010

Interests:

Writing, Judaism, Hiking, Technology, Problem Solving, Torah, Information, Books, Tinkering, Photography, Design, Computers, Inventing, Arts, Painting, Programing, Electronics, Understanding How Things Work, Languages, Teaching, Education

Who wants to lend us a minivan/van in LA Saturday night?

Posted 20 minutes ago
I wish I could write a review about Yelp!

Posted 7 hours ago
just doesnt understand where the tape measure could have gone!! I refuse to buy another one...it has to be around here somewhere...

Posted 2 days ago
whats for dinner?!?

Posted 2 days ago
where is the tape measure?!?!

Posted 3 days ago
anyone in La Jolla now coming to the college area before Shabbat??

Posted 14 days ago
hates not having a car!!!

Posted 17 days ago
is sad we did not hear from Batel Darey today :( We thought we were finally going to get to see you!

Posted 2 weeks ago
So cranky! Who cancels a movie? Uch

Posted 2 weeks ago
HATES AAMCO!!!!

Posted 2 weeks ago

Gran Torino

Released in 2008

September 02, 06:31 PM

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Adam Simon

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College Cooking 101: The Rice Cooker

Intermediate College Cooking 250: Mastering the Microwave

Advanced One-Pot Cooking 399: Crock Pot, Foreman Grill, or Hot Plate

Readers' Recipes and Ideas

A Bad Day Is as Real as You Make It

Simplification Turned Against Us

The Waterglass of Expectation

Ending Our Bad Day

Ditched the Second Monitor

Set up Spaces in OS X

Turned the mouse off during work-time

Created a proactive routine

About those tabs

The Environment Around Me

Synopsis

Profile

Summary

Experience

Teacher / Southern California Yeshiva High School (SCY High)

Program Coordinator / Beth Jacob Congregation of San Diego

San Diego Chapter Director / NCSY

Consultant / Fill In The Blank Consulting

Director of Operations / Rossi Publications

On Site Event Coordinator / Events Organized

West Coast Director of Programs / NCSY

Technical Director; Designer / Electric Lodge Theatre

Owner / Road Runner Press

Education

Netiv Aryeh Theological College

Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg

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