=sc_B12b Input of R. Shlomo Carlebach typescript B12b. Typescript dated 1/13/72 (January 13, 1972) My notation at the time I inventoried it -- from the Witt Collection I'm sure -- is "12b--Purim" and "B12b -- Apparently 1 page only". I then gave a xerox to HH and/or BZ. This copy is xeroxed '04 from the BZ Collection. ============================================================== Wnen Pharoah wanted all the Jewish boys thrown in the Nile he didn't say Jewish boys, he said col haben hayeled, all the boys, even the Egyptians, but he was winking at the people, meaning let's get to the Jews. {B12b--ref1} {B12b--n1} Let's say the today the Arabs talk against Zionism, because it looks bad to talk against the Jews. {b12b-n2} The same when Haman and Ahashveros wanted to kill all the Jews, in the decrees was not menioned the word Jew. It doesn't look nice to want to kill a whole people, and they are respetable citizens, why should we want to kill all the Jews. So it never mentioned the word Jew. {B12b-n3} At the official cermemony, when Haman and Achasveros were talking to each other, they were winking at each other the whole time, and Haman says there are some people who are bad for the government, and I want to give you ten thousand rubles for it. So Ahashveros waved at him and said, you can keep the money, and you can kill the people. All without mentioning the word Jew. That's why Mordechai was the only one who knew who it was. {B12b-ref2} {B12b-n3} They sent out letters to the world that on a certain day there was some criminal people. Imagine if you read in those days that on a certain day, the 13th of Adar there were some criminals who were against the government [who] will be wiped out. Not one Jew thoughtt it is him. I'm the best citizen in the world. They must be some mean horrible criminals . In those days the King was killing day and night anyways, so who pays attention. In the meantime he meant [or: 'means'; typescript strikeover unclear] the Yidddele. [3-line super-Paragraph break. I gather this is a 2nd excerpt from that day's talk; and that the transcriber only transcribed these two excerpts. If the tape still exists -- maybe it's from HLP, maybe one of the 8" tapes BZ mentioned -- maybe Elana Schachter has it. Or maybe it's in NxC's basement in Toronto.] What does a dead person live from. What ma'amer does he live from? He lives from the ma'amer aye so? [typesript sic: 'aye so?'. I can barely guess what that means; it's beyond my Jewish education.] Because the dead person is waiting to be resurrected. He is mamash crying where is God? {b12-2} [END TYPESCRIPT B12b] ================================================================== NOTES FOLLOW, THOUGH MORE TWISTED AROUND THAT A BOOK OF CELTS PIC And without the Book of Celts intricate harmony. ================================================================ REFERENCES TO MY (sa) INPUT OF TYPESCRIPT B12Bb FOLLOW: {B12b--ref1} {Reference: Exodus I:22 (ShMOt:ShMOT): KoL Ha_BeN Ha_YiLoD , "Every son that is born" (Rashi Chumash JPS 1950/1977) Context: Exodus I:22: "And Pharaoh charged (to) all his people, saying: Every son that is born you shall cast (him) into the river, but every daughter you shall save alive." Rashi Comments: "To all his people.": Also upon them did he decree (Sota 12). The day that Moses was born, (Pharaoh's) astrologers said to him, 'Today there was born their deliverer, but we do not know whether (he is) of the Egyptians or of Israel, and we see that his end (is) to be smitten by water.' Therefore (Pharoah decreed that day also upon the Egyptians, for it is stated, 'Every son that is born' but it is not stated 'that is born to the Hebrews.' And they did not know that in the end he would be smitten because of the waters of Meribah." {B12b--n1} --------------------------------------------------------- {B12b-ref2} {REFERENCE: Book of Esther: III:8-11: (8) Then Haman said to King AChaShVeRoSh: 'There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your realm. Their laws are different from every other people's . They do not observe even the king's laws; therefore it is not befitting the king to tolerate them. (9) If it please the king, let it be recorded that they be destoryed; and I will pay ten thousand silver talents into the hands of those who perform the duties for deposit in the King's treasuries. (10) So the King took his signet ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedasa the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. (11) Then the King said to Haman: 'The silver is given to you, the people Also, to do with as you see fit.' (12) The king's secretaries were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and everything was written exactly as Haman had dictated, to the King's satraps, to the governors of every provice, and to the officials of every people; each province in its own script, and to each people in its own language; in King Ahasuerus' name it was written, and it was sealed with the King's signet ring. (13) Letters were sent by courier to all the King's provinces, to destroy, to slay, and to exterminate all Jews ![Megillat Esther 3:13 sic: AeT KoL Ha_YHUDIM]! , {I !flag! this point because RSC seems to assume in this transcribed excerpt that there was no reference in that letter to the Jews -- only to 'enemies of the king'} young and old, children and women, in a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions." (ArtScroll translation.) {B12b-r3n1} -------------------------------------------------- {B12b-r3n1 -- Footnote to Reference r2, above} ArtScroll capitalizes 'King' (meaning King Xerxes, the shticker aka Achashverus). Everyone knows that the King_of_the_Universe is nowhere explicit and everywhere implicit in Megillat Esther. As I heard the Megillah read at Haverat Shalom (by Ronnie Levin et al.) it seems clear that every time you hear read 'Ha_Melech', this is the pointer (as they say in Zen; and also Wittgenstein says something similar in the conclusion to his Tractatus) to that. ----------------------------------------------- {B12b-r3n1t1 -- Ie, toenote 1 to footnote 1 of reference note 3} [ Speaking of Haverat Shalom, the writer is launched into a querulous discussion of young women wearing tallit; which qibbles & quarrels he tries to hide below; so go to 'r3n1t1' if and only if you want to do so now. That was a CAVEAT, TABBYCAT.] ------------------------------------------------------------------ ================================================================= NOTES (sa) TO MY INPUT OF TYPESCRIPT #B12-b COMMENTS FROM PEANUT GALLERY as_it_is_said: "No comments from the peanut gallery." as_it_is_said: "Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" "Up in the balcony where the seats are cheaper." --------------------------------------------------------------- This must be read under EinsteinWriter, reconstituting the flagged successive block-indents as noted on my Homepage and elsewhere, such that #l1 if FlushLeft, #L2 moves the LM 5 spaces to the right, and successively so on. ---------------------------------------------------------------- {B12b--n1} {Comment (sa): Comment on Rashi re: Exodus I:22: "we do not know whether (he is) of the Egyptians or of Israel". Quite so. For he was the adopted son of the daughter of Pharoah; raised in all apparent respects Egyptian; and did not identify with his own people until one day he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew.} --------------------------------------------- {b12b-n2} {Comment (sa): Of course there is a such a thing as bona fide criticism of Israel (if not of Zionism, which is merely the affirmation of the right of the Jewish people to return to the land of Israel). One want to say so, and many do; it is 'politically correct' nowadays. But, as Dershowitz et al. point out for those of wavering faith, past a certain point criticism of Israel does reflect an ulterior motive. My hunch is that it's simplistic to term this motive 'anti- Semitism'; I'd guess that many of our Arab opponents hold neither ethnic nor religious animosity toward the Jewish people, but are merely enagaged in a sophisticated multi_dimensional campaign to conquer Israel. And many of Israel's opponents in European establishments are merely patriotically trying to protect their own people -- by appeasing the demonstrated threat of Arab terrorism. (A few bombings of Paris Cafe's in the '70's and France flopped right over; most of the rest of Europe did too, not waiting for a local demonstration. But too, I think there is an underlying anti-Semitism among the European -- #l2 including poor old England, much as it strives to imagine that that little Channel insulates it -- #l1 establishment intelligentsia and their camp-followers. #l2 (Although it's a bit unfair to term the English anti-Semitic; they put down (with insidiously subtle if not intricate linguistic sophistication) everyone outside their own Club.) #l1 But, as Dershowitz et al. point out, one may attribute an anti_Semitic (or other ulterior) motivation to criticism of Israel, when Israel is morally castigated for acts that no other nation is castigated for. To put it tersely: If 'mutatis mutandis' is not close at hand, then it's piggery bigotry. If A is to B but C isn't to D, then it's selective tendentiousness. It's pretty pervasive nowadays, from the USA almost as much as the Europeans. Incidentally -- may Sam Huntington be stuffed back into an overstarched shirt from the Coop and hung as a scarecrow from the sign before Leavitt & Pierce's -- I do not think the Israel-Arab conflict is a religious one, nor even a cultural one. Religious wars were a Christian perversion. We're indifferent to Christianity, and practically unconcious of Islam. #l2 For instance: It is halachically permitted to daven (discharge the required Jewish prayers) in a mosque, although not ordinarily in a church (if one is facing a crucifix, then since one makes token bows during prayer, this could be taken as bowing down to an idolatrous symbol, or even to an idol. Like, Christianity is "cute and sweet" #l3 (RSC's phrase, though he usually predicated it of things in Reform; although he clearly knew their were goyim, it's not clear that he ever thought of Christians except as a rather hospitable terra incognita.) #l2 they build nice churches in New England, and have nice Easter egg hunts, and are real good at succoring the poor (who they always have with them), and wrote a groovy English Bible, buit if you start to get your head into that theology, it's down the rabbit-hole, Warren. Like, talk of inside-out isomorphic mappings man. #l1 Our opposition to a Palestinian state is a matter of territory and security, not of religious nor even cultural intolerance, much less ethnic xenophobia; and still less, racism. I'm beginning to cringe at this almost daily sanctimonious moral hectoring, and I only get it from passing remarks in the Israel English news. It goes far beyond what is reasonable; they do not take an objective much less distinterested standpoint; and they do not have our best interest at heart. #l2 They'd sell Israel in a piece process, piece by piece, for a barrel of oil a day, and try to do so too. U.S. foreign policy is bipartisan and consistent in this respect. They also sell the same arms to everyone; the Madwoman of Chaillot was quite right. #l1 I can barely go into my kitchen to kill the ants without half- hearing some Society for Insect Rights accusing me of using 'excess force'. (Portrait of the Artist in his Atelier, Faye:) I open my 2-inch solid steel door #l2 (beside the graceful fillagreed iron bars that block any possible ingress #l3 (and egress, in case of fire) #l2 from each window; a previous tenant worried about such things) #l1 to feed my adopted cat #l2 (she adopted me; I'm rather indecisive about relationships), #l1 and approximately 5 members of her extended family (she is now an aunt) #l2 who hide under the house until they hear the pitter-patter of factory catfood on a plastic bowl, and then appear and demand equal rights. #l3 And if sometimes I try to assert myself and say, "there's a limit", they gaze up at me with soulful, reproachful eyes; and/or launch a sneak attack upon the bowl when I walk back through the open door to wash my hands. #l4 The Resident cat, a lst-world Cinderella elitist in a 3rd-world environment, lies down on her side in an appeasement posture, or pacifistic_ly leaves the scene. And thus, I think, our opponents hope to do to us. #l1 The two-plus room bungalow I live in is built of iron_bar reinforced concrete; it was put up before 1967, to withstand small artillery shells, when the border with Jordan-occupied Palestine was the Midea river, about a mile away. The iron traps the heat of the incessant summer daytime sun, and sends it into the house at night, so I keep the door open when I type at night. The night air is almost cool, moist from the Mediterranean 20 miles away; one can just glimpse it from here when the sun is low. The cats have gone off hunting now, I suppose. Poetry and lesser trash sits on my shelves unread. And essays too. I take a piece of cheesecake and a shot of black coffee -- coffee is the luxury nowadays; one should cut down. I go out for a short walk, to the Bet Knesset. The night air is rather pleasant. The cat comes with me. I tell her, I've just written about you; you're a famous cat now. But she doesn't look much like what I wrote. Nicer. The first rooster calls. It's 03:30, start of the 3rd watch. 4 in winter, 3 in summer, I assume.} ------------------------ {B12b-r3n1t1 -- Ie, toenote 1 to footnote 1 of reference note 3} Someone said, he quit Reform and joined Orthodox because Orthodox women don't wear a tallit yet, except Betsy. Of course women wore a tallit when davening at Haverat Shalom (mid-70s); and most handsome they looked too. Though of course we were all still young then. #l2 (And R. Shlomo once said, at davka the Abode Ruach Camp, Autumn 1982, just after the start of the Lebanon War #l3 which was supposed to eliminate the PLO as a military and political power, in exchange for Israel leaving the Sinai #l4 (Al Haig apparently negotiated that deal, but they coup'd him out of the Reagan Adminstsration -- #l5 though it maybe really was he who held the country and maybe the world together when Nixon was shot -- #l6 remember his remark, on TV: someone asked, 'Who's in charge here' and he replied, 'Well actually, I am' -- clearly a staged messaged to the USSR that this was no time to try a fast one - - even though legally Agnew and then thee Speaker of House were the line of sucession, not the Secretary of State -- #l2 So R. Shlomo said, there on the Campground, A young man of Israel never looks more handsome than when he is in uniform. #l3 This was a bit less of an applause line there than the previous remark, regarding Shabat preparation: "Who knows what holiness there is in those little pieces of (toilet) paper." #l4 (The Abode Camp privies being -- well -- ) #l1 Surely it is no less appropriate for women to wear a tallit than for men to do so. For starters, the tallit is surely a feminine garment, with those fringes. #l2 I mean, you see a settler wearing tzitzit, and, not to put too fine a point on it, it's a bit like that cornball male chauvinist Johnny Cash hack song, "A Boy Named Sue" -- if you wear something like that, you'd better be tough -- #l3 I mean, I reckon they tuck them in in the USA. But the command of tziztzit is bilical (where tfillin is rabbinic.) Tzitzit is clearly and literally specified in the Bible; tfillin is textually justified only by a very strained literalization of what is obviously meant as a metaphor. And, although women are exempt from time-bound commandments, tzitzit is merely ('merely'!) a reminder of the overriding commandment expressed in the Sh'ma -- to love the Divine order with all your heart, all your soul, and all you have. Whereas tfillin -- I mean, whose heavy leather straps, black yet, are what you'd harness up a donkey with, and that's about where it's at -- #l4 St. Francis' donkey, 'brother ass' -- make sure he stays on the 'straight and narrow' path. And Balaam's donkey too, (mutis mutandis as we understands). I mean I might have struck myself down with my own hand if I hadn't I bet been wearing imaginary tefillin from one or more of my progenitors. #l3 That's the tfillin of the arm and hand; the tfillin of the third eye is -- truth to tell, I don't know yet, maybe never, but I guess -- maybe just that -- to keep your apparent intuitive perception from going wacky. Now the restraint on action is surely predominantly one needed by men, and would seem to be pretty much time- bound [I can't yet say that clearly. R. Zalman must surely have worked all this out. I'd guess that what the tfillin of the head channel is something other than whatever it is that women use for brains. If we use hochman, or dat, maybe they use binah. I dunno. So everyone knows, it is not forbidden for a women to wear a tallis, nor even tfillin; but in the case of tfillin, most clearly tifillin of the arm, but questionably for tfillin of the head, it would seem in general less appropriate. I mean, one can't argue that the halachot were addressed only to men; we all stood at the base of Mt. Sinai, even those who would not be Jewish for millenia; nowhere is it said that the women stayed in the tents while the men went forth; though maybe they did. I mean, someone had to look after the goats and kids and chickens and stewpots, so that yuppie chicks could eventually put on tzitzit -- oh shucks, this risks collapsing into Israeli slapstick. Time to eat breakfast; I could really go for a plate of homefries and beans in a Gallup snowsquall. It's a pity that there aren't any good-tasting treif foods (except scallops, of course); almost everything that's non-kosher darned well ought to be. But I digress. #l1 ------------------------------------------------------------------ {B12b-n3} {Comment (sa): But R. Shlomo seems to be in error here; the Megillat Esther text is: ![Megillat Esther 3:13 sic: AeT KoL Ha_YHUDIM]! So I don't know where he is drawing this interpretation from. It would be quite surprising if he mis-remembered, or if he lacked a traditonal Source for it; R. Shlomo was very responsible to orthodox tradition; his innovation is, as traditional allows and encourages, held off until his interpretation of texts.} --------------------------------------------- {b12-2} {Comment (sa): Typescript does not hyphenate. I suppose one needn't be too strict about it; only some amongst the strictly orthodox require hyphenation. Lubavitch, I think. Maybe this could be seen as a reflection of the yirah/achava distinction: V_YaHeD Lvav_eNU L_AChavaH V_L_YiRAH AaeT ShMe_Kha ("and unify our hearts to to love and fear [but better: revere, be in awe of] YOUR NAME. (Siddur, Metsudah weekday Sfard). Well, this is a very important 'concentration', as the SO crowd would put it -- one does need both; love and awe. There's the classic story of Rebbe Reb Zusha, a hasid so wrapped up in love of G_d. So one day (being the sort who can't resist getting himself into trouble, just to see what's there) he asks to experience also yirat ''. So of course he immediately gets what he asks for -- prayer can be thataway on the upper floors -- and has to hide under the bed, and won't -- or I'd say , can't -- come out until it passes. Well, this seems like just one more cute hasidic story; but that little lesson cost me 3 years on the beach on Rodos, barely able sometimes to cross the street -- as if Baalam's angel with a flaming sword #l2 (or do I conflate that with the one who blocked their return to Gan Eden -- #l3 and such a nice young couple too -- [and Cf. PVK (Zenith passim): the past can be modified by the present -- and archetypes too maybe? -- #l6 like, Whitehead's 'eternal objects' modified -- oh pace Plato -- by our merely personal incidents #l7 (but Cf. too 'but for you the world was created') -- "the angel Gabriel revealed as old Mar Prell" (that's a recollected bit quote from a modern Yiddish-Israeli poet who settled in NYC, I think his name was Prell) -- #l5 my hit was when I took Jesus' self- characterization as 'ben Adam' -- when I took that New Testament phrase in the modern Israeli sense -- like 'schmendrik here' -- a charmingly humorous gesture of humility -- "John the Baptist renounced almost everything and they put him down for it; and 'ben Adam' here #l6] -- Shlomo would sometimes term himself something like 'your humble brother' -- once at the Abode, I think the first Ruach Camp I heard him offer someone 'my humble business card' -- #l5 drinks a little wine sometimes, and they do the same thing -- #l6 [had stood athwart my path. (don't know now where that phrase goes. ok phrase though; keep it for spare parts)] #l7 I even sympathize with Richard Crookback nowadays: at least we still have "the world to bustle in"; the Judgement of Heaven may wait for a while. Daybreak: I open the door. The cats sit like an Egyptian guard of honor before the steps, excpecting breakfast. Early morning clouds. Roosters calling. Birds chant plainsong. All this for one mosquito who woke me up with a bite on the foot at 01:30.} ================================================================== sa, Mevo Modi'in, 27 June '04 -- 8 TaMUZ -- 8 Jaamud al-awal "and the night has been long; ditto, ditto my song; and thank goodness they're both of them over." (Gilbert & Sullivan, Iolanthe?) =================================================================