I'm still too young to be a grumpy old man

this just in from the New Zealand news website Stuff

Britons find being older than 52 is nothing to laugh about because that's the age when they start becoming grumpy, according to a survey on Friday.

The poll of 2000 Britons found those over 50 laughed far less than their younger counterparts and complained far more.

While infants laughed up to 300 times a day, that figure had fallen to an average of six laughs by teenage years and only 2.5 daily chuckles for those over 60, the survey for cable TV channel Dave found.

Men were also found to be grumpier than women.

One reason for the decline in mirth might be the lack of joke-telling skills. The study found the average Briton only knows two jokes.

So I'm just 11 years too young to be truly grumpy!

(Only 2 jokes?? My neighbour tells everyone that he knows 100 jokes!)

Ralbag on Noach

Ralbag (Rabbi Levi ben Gershon) has a very interesting explanation of the Tower of Bavel. He says that they really didn't do anything wrong, except that G-d wanted them to spread around the world, rather than stay in one place. Why did they need to spread over the world?

He writes that if they were all living in one place, then if a natural disaster (e.g. earthquake, hurricane, tsunami) happened, the entire human race would be wiped out. G-d wanted them spread to different locations so that even if one part of the world was destroyed the human race would continue.

This means that even though G-d interacts with the world, and watches what goes on (and is directly involved), He does not wish to intervene in the natural course of events, and when nature dictates that disasters occur, G-d choses not to prevent it - even to save the entire human race! G-d would rather perform the one-time miracle of mixing up the languages and separating the nations, than get involved to save a country from 'Acts of G-d' (which according to Ralbag are really not acts of G-d at all, but acts of nature).

You can read it here on Hebrew Books

Next time someone suggests to you that the latest catastrophe is caused by (pick the sin of your choice)
a) gay pride parade
b) tight clothing
c) listening to Shweky disks
d) anything else any Rabbi doesn't like at any time
point out this Ralbag to them and see how they understand it.

Shavua Tov

Avodah Zara 10a and Jesus

This week in Daf Yomi we learned a lot about Romans. One of the things that Rashi cites on daf 10a is that the Romans have no language or script of their own. For anyone, like me, who spent years studying Latin and learning Virgil, Cattallus, or any of the other Latin authors it is hard to understand this Rashi.

Luckily there is a wonderful shiur online from Rav Shnayer Leiman which explains what Rashi means. The answer is very surprising (and involves Jesus and Peter - sorry to give that away from the beginning).

Here is the shiur Jewish Perspectives on Early Christianity.

Rav Leiman also refers to a little known text "Toldos Yeshu HaNotzri" which can be found online here as a pdf.

Near Miss

Phew! That was a close thing! Cyber pirates tried to hack into an Israeli website, but accidentally hijached the website of a stately home in Israel, according to the Daily Telegraph. I hope this is another encouraging sign for the peace process. If the Palestinians (or Algerians in this case) are happy with stately homes instead of Israeli land I'm sure we can reach some kind of deal with the British. They were the ones who gave land to the Palestinians (though they weren't called that back in '47) in the first place. Surely they could spare a few grand homes, fortresses and castles for Hamas and Fatah. That isn't asking too much is it?

One of Britain’s best-known castles fell victim to a band of hapless Middle-Eastern “cyber-pirates” last week after they mistook it for a Crusader fortress of the same name more than 2,000 miles away.

Belvoir Castle, the family seat of the 11th Duke of Rutland, was mistakenly targeted by a subversive group of Algerian hackers who confused its website with that of Belvoir Fortress in Israel.

The hackers hijacked the castle’s homepage and replaced images of the stately home nestled in rolling Leicestershire countryside with a black page displaying the Algerian flag and a tirade against the Jewish state in Arabic.

We are worthy!

Remember that classic line from Wayne's World - "We are not worthy"? Well sometimes I also feel like that.

I was reading Shivchei HaBesht and came across this quote, which I found very powerful. If you have ever been depressed and wondered whether G-d wants your prayers when you feel like a sinner and worthless - this may help:

ושמעתי מפי ר׳ מנדל מבאר שאמר בימי נעורי בעת חתלחבות בשעת
התפלה עלה במחשבתי איך מלא לבי לחתפלל לפני חשי״ת מוכלל
מפשעים ושבר לבי בקרבי. והיה כך זמן רב ולא יכולתי להפטר ממהשבה
זו כי נדמה לי שהיא מהשבה טובה. ואה״כ השבתי בלבי למה לא נופלת
מהשבה זו במותי ובלבי כשאשב לאכול אצל חקערד. אז דחיתי מחשבה זו:

"I heard from Rav Mendel of Ber who said that when he was young, while praying intensely he would think 'How can I be so bold as to pray before G-d when I am a sinner?' My heart would break within me. This bothered me for a long time and I couldn't get rid of this thought, and it seemed to me that it was a good thought. Afterwards I realised that I only have this thought during prayer, and never when I sit down to eat. Then I was able to get rid of this thought."

In other words, why do we only feel inadequate when we pray? G-d wants our prayers, regardless of who we are and what we have done. If we really felt inadequate we would also be bothered at other times, and not only when praying.

And I felt better! Even if I am not worthy, G-d still loves me!