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Eliyahu FinkFiled under: All Posts
August 10, 2009 • 12:52 PM 2
Reversing A Trend | A Kiddush Hashem Story
Lately, all the Jews in the News have been getting into trouble with the law or dying. It has been troubling.
Sometimes, we wonder what other people are saying about us. In light of the last few weeks, it just can’t be good.
This recent (true) anecdote is a change of pace and hopefully it can start a new trend. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: All Posts, Musings & Observations, anti-semitism, character development, Jewish, Jews in the News, Kiddush Hashem, middos, story, tolerance
August 6, 2009 • 3:03 PM 3
A Post Stained With Tears | Moish Gluck Of Blessed Memory
I have not been to a lot of funerals in my life. I have been blessed.
Yesterday evening my family celebrated Sheva Brachos for a cousin in my parents home. It was a joyous occasion.
Immediately following its conclusion, I walked the 200 feet from my parent’s home to the neighborhood shul. At about 11:00 PM a very moving funeral began.
The juxtaposition of these two events and the nature of the deceased brought tremendous emotion. What follows is an attempt to do those feelings justice in writing.
Filed under: All Posts, Musings & Observations, cry, family, father, funeral, heart attack, levaya, love, Moish Gluck, Moshe Gluck, mourning, parents, prayer, son, tears
August 4, 2009 • 12:34 PM 2
Rabbi Zelik Epstein, Of Blessed Memory
Yesterday, the Jewish world lost a spiritual giant (good article worth reading). Rabbi Zelik Epstein, Rosh Yeshiva of Shaar Hatorah in Queens passed away. He was 97.
R’ Zelik was a relic of the past. He studied Torah in Europe with some the greatest Torah scholars of recent American Jewry, including Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and Rabbi Yaakov Kamanetsky.
Perhaps even more significantly, he was above the fray. He did not get involved in politics and instead, studied, taught and advised and preached Torah and its values.
Filed under: All Posts, Musings & Observations, 660, Beis Medrash Elyon, Dov Kramer, facebook, history, Jewish, Judasim, mourning, politics, Rabbi Zelig Epstein, Rabbi Zelik Epstein, Shaar Hatorah, sidney greenwald, social-networking, Torah, twitter, WFAN
August 1, 2009 • 10:32 PM 4
A Jewish Black Woman’s “Henry Gates” Situation
As a Law Student, there are things I find interesting that may not interest “clients” (non-Lawyers, hehe). The following article interests me and will probably interest any lawyer or law student, anyone Jewish, or anyone that has been following the Gates Saga.
I invite you to contribute your opinion in the comments.
The article originally appeared in this week’s Jewish Press as an OP-ED. The writer is Nathan Lewin (read more about him here).
Filed under: All Posts, My Links, anti-semitism, church and state, Gates, Henry Louis Gates, law, law school, Nathan Lewin, philosophy, politics, Shabbat, Shabbos, tolerance
July 29, 2009 • 2:27 PM 1
10,000 Page Views
Thank you , dear readers of this blog
Today, we hit 10,000 page views in under 8 months. When I started this blog I had no idea if anyone would ever read my writings. You have all supported me and I appreciate it.
Looking forward to the next milestone!
-Eliyahu Fink
Filed under: All Posts
July 28, 2009 • 2:24 PM 6
Have You Been Invited To A Brachos Party Or An Amen Party?
This post has been cross-posted to DovBear – more discussion there.
The newswires have been full reporting the massive scandal in NY / NJ the last few days. There is a strong correlation between the scandal and something prevalent in contemporary Orthodox Jewish society.
You may think you are far from a money-laundering, tax evading, kidney-dealing, FBI snitching, tax-evading, “knucklehead”. You may even be have the cleanest books on Wall Street and third party audits to prove it. Yet, our entire generation is infected with the same virus that the”knucklehead”are carrying.
Filed under: All Posts, Musings & Observations, dovbear, Dwek, holier-than-thou, magic, money-laundering, ridiculous, segulah, Torah
July 26, 2009 • 2:18 PM 5
Solar Eclipse In Judaism
Last week the world witnessed another wonder of our universe, the Solar Eclipse. This eclipse was visible from Southeast Asia and was the longest eclipse in 18 years and will remain the longest for the next 123 years.
The eclipse has long been associated with mythology and supernatural acts. If you are a fan of the TV show, Heroes, you know what I mean.
In Southeast Asia, many Hindus were gripped by fear. According to Hindu tradition, the eclipse can cause harm to unborn children. Many ancient cultures attached mythological meaning to solar eclipses. Today, we know that the eclipse is part of the solar pattern that is predictable to the second.
What about Judaism? What do we say about the solar eclipse?
Filed under: All Posts, Musings & Observations, Beauty, eclipse, Heroes, Hindu, Jewish, Judaism, light, morality, mythology, nachmanadies, nature, New York Times, solar eclipse, talmud, Torah, youtube
July 21, 2009 • 4:55 PM 1
How Many Is Too Many?
The writer, a woman, calls upon all Orthodox Jews to reject “the evil feminists” of Kolech and “have as many children as possible, as soon as possible”. For there is no greater joy in life than having many children.
Her arguments are weak (read it for yourself) and the ending says it all: “Trust me”. Why should I trust her?
As a proud father of 2 beautiful boys (a 6 year old and 8 month old) I can attest to the joys of parenthood. Giving the gift of life to one’s offspring is both very powerful and oftentimes emotional. I cannot imagine my life without my family.
I must take issue with this woman’s assertion that “the greatest gift we can give our families is a big family. Very big”.
Filed under: All Posts, Musings & Observations, My Links, children, dovbear, economic crisis, education, family, ridiculous, Vosizneias
July 19, 2009 • 11:21 PM 23
Shame on Gizmodo | Shame on Us Too
One of my favorite gadget blogs ran a discpicable headline for a post yesterday. Gizmodo is a great blog when it comes to getting information, reviews and opinions on the latest technology and gadgets. Unfortunately, yesterday they disgraced their reputation with a pretty offensive headline.
The headline garnered enough attention that they ultimately changed it to something less offensive.
Filed under: All Posts, Musings & Observations, My Links, anti-semitism, gizmodo, holier-than-thou, law, lawsuits, respect, ridiculous, Shabbat, Shabbos, social-networking, technology, tolerance
July 17, 2009 • 1:36 PM 3
A Happy 2009 Birthday
Yesterday was my birthday.
I am not huge “birthday guy”. I love my children’s birthday more than my own birthday and my mother loves my birthday more than I do.
A lot of people know my birthday. Co-workers, family and friends all know my birthday. This year I got a ton of birthday wishes.
But itwas different.
Filed under: All Posts, Musings & Observations, birthday, facebook, fun, happy birthday, social-networking, technology, twitter
July 16, 2009 • 3:23 PM 2
The Sales Pitch
This post is cross-posted to DovBear – more discussion there.
I read an important column on a good website yesterday.
It wasn’t on NYTimes.com or Yahoo.com or ESPN.com (some of my favorite sites to link from) this article was on Vosizneias.com. VIN is a Orthodox Jewish blog with editorials and news. I recommend checking it out when you have a chance.
The column I read was a great perpective on Baal Teshuvas and their integration into the Frum community. In particular the column focused on various reactions of the BT (I use the term adoringly) when encountered with other (supposedly) Frum Jews who are not living up to their own standards.
Filed under: All Posts, Musings & Observations, My Links, Baal Teshuva, dovbear, education, honesty, Judd Magilnick, Kiruv, Rabbi Berel Wein, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, Seinfeld, Torah, Vosizneias, youtube
July 14, 2009 • 10:24 AM 10
Summer Reading
During the summer months many people find some extra time to catch up on their reading. By reading, I mean books with paper, ink, covers and turning pages. I don’t mean on a backlit display plugged into an electrical outlet.
This summer, I have been too busy to do any real substantive offline reading. I have done a lot of online reading, but my book reading has fallen behind.
One exception has been DovBear on the Parsha, and you can read my review here.
Part of the reason for this is that in my “spare time” I usually end up reading up on Law School materials. I actually enjoy reading cases and Law Review articles, so my reading of other stuff has fallen a bit behind.
There is plenty of summer left and I thought it would be nice to provide some of my all time favorite reads and a quick note about why I like each book.
Filed under: All Posts, My Links, book review, education, social-networking, sports, technology, Torah
July 13, 2009 • 9:15 AM 0
Misleading Charity Campaign
A Religious charity in Israel has embarked on what I and many others feel to be a misleadeing charity campaign.
Promises 0f safety from danger, special perks and privileges and out of context quotes from great Rabbis permeate the campaign.
I wrote all ab0ut in on DovBear. You can check it out by clicking below.
Filed under: All Posts, My Links, charity, dovbear, Israel, ridiculous, tzedaka
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