tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53980622011-04-21T14:22:29.190-04:00Sometimes updated blog of Rabbi Josh Yuter<br> <br> <i><a href="mailto:jyuter@ymail.yu.edu">jyuter@ymail.yu.edu.NOSPAM</a> (without the .NOSPAM)</i>Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comBlogger481100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1066679657857450892003-10-20T16:00:00.000-04:002003-10-20T16:02:26.810-04:00

Dear Loyal Readers, I'm am pleased to announce that YUTOPIA has finally moved to YUCS!!! You'll notice a snazzy new design, improved commenting, and hopefully no more IE problems. Most of the content from this website has been transferred over. I won't be deleting anything from here, but I'm not going to be updating it anymore either. So, hop on over and change your bookmarks and links to:

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1066155037996791432003-10-14T14:10:00.000-04:002003-10-14T20:05:16.326-04:00

In one of the more enlightening distractions of the day, I had a long conversation with the Elder Avraham on the nature and merits of forgiveness. The specific issue at hand was a recent Dr. Laura column in which she tells her readers "Don't be so quick to forgive" because "knee-jerk forgiveness...will likely make you feel less important and make your pain feel inconsequential. " In one example

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1066100209204065112003-10-13T22:56:00.000-04:002003-10-13T22:56:48.646-04:00

We're in the "Marxism" section of the required "Perspectives in Social Science Analysis" class. If you've never read Marx inside, let me warn you it's some of the most boring dense reading out there. Anyway, in one of his rants on alienation, Marx claims "all objects become for him objectifications of himself." (not in the linked page, but you get the idea) Basically, when man produces an

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1065662497641539642003-10-08T21:21:00.000-04:002003-10-09T09:16:59.896-04:00

Rabbi Dr. Jacob Neusner writes an opinion piece lamenting the lack of scholarship in the Rabbinate across all denominations. Protocols covered the editorial and it was met with some criticism from the Elder Avraham. I quickly posted a comment, but I feel this topic deserves some extra attention. First, consider the different perspectives of Prof. Neusner, and Avraham. Prof. Neusner is an

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1065489087005091992003-10-06T21:11:00.000-04:002003-10-06T23:31:43.173-04:00

I'm still not able to put up a complete summary of the yamim noraim here, but I do have one story. As you could probably guess, there aren't too many frum Jews on the U of C campus. Also, several of the regulars headed "up north" for Yom Kippur which diminished our talent pool even further. Just how short-handed were we? I davened neilah. Yes, you read that right. On shabbat shuva, we

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1065158469355010392003-10-03T01:21:00.000-04:002003-10-03T01:24:02.956-04:00

Not sure what to make of this: I just noticed that someone found this blog by searching google for "apikorsim definition" - the last result on the first page. And only one month after smikha. This has got to be a record.

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1065149622496493732003-10-03T00:02:00.000-04:002003-10-07T15:49:27.343-04:00

Since my last call for comments was less than impressive, I'm going to try again with another question. What is the best most addictive interactive time waster on the web. This doesn't include reading blogs, watching amusing cartoons, or anything passive. These are things that require more user input than pressing the "play" button. For the record, I discovered these long before I came to

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1065115200018898662003-10-02T13:20:00.000-04:002003-10-02T13:30:11.610-04:00

Strange experience in the local Office Depot. I was in the filing section when I hear the faint sounds of "blessings on your head, mazal tov, mazal tov." Since I was the only white person in the store and probably the only Jew around for a mile I thought it was just senility. A few minutes later, I clearly hear Sunrise, Sunset. In the computer demo section of this Office Depot in Hyde Park

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1064937199632346202003-09-30T11:53:00.000-04:002003-10-01T08:43:00.330-04:00

Potter sent me a link to purchase the sheep in wolf's clothing. This reminded me that I've been wanting to get the holy hand-grenade, but it's a bit out of my price range. On the other hand, at U of C, I'm sure I can find plenty of arguments. Update: For those of you wondering, the holy hand-grenade is not recommended (see the bottom of the page).

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1064851604775832872003-09-29T12:06:00.000-04:002003-09-29T12:06:44.893-04:00

Sorry that blogging has been weak as of late. I'm in the process of redesigning the site and moving it over to YUCS, but it's not going so smoothly and I don't have the time to deal with it now. Classes started this morning with Theorizing Religion taught by Martin Riesebrodt. Later I have the required Perspectives in Social Science Analysis class, and tomorrow I have Ethnography and Law.

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1064256919188483212003-09-22T14:55:00.000-04:002003-09-22T18:30:51.216-04:00

Mendy informs me of Shlock Rock's new album which is mostly of Broadway parodies. As always, some are clever, and others are painful. Two comments though. Though I can't prove it off of the web yet, I do remember Rechnitzer Rejects already doing a song called Get Me to the Shul on Time. (It began with the line "I'm getting maftir in the morning..."). I'm also noticing that he does a parody

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1064255464745835342003-09-22T14:31:00.000-04:002003-09-22T19:49:57.546-04:00

YU posts on their website the text of Richard Joel's inaugural address. It seems like a great speach - eloquent and more important, grounded in reality. This is where I find he differs from his predecesor. R. Lamm's speaches and visions were abstract. While we would talk about the "ideas" of Torah U'Madda, he lost sight of what was actually happening in his own university. Joel appears to be

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1064188380291631532003-09-21T20:13:00.000-04:002003-09-22T13:09:32.106-04:00

The move is done - I'm finally here in the windy city. With much help from my mom, we the move went surprisingly smoothly. We rented a Buick Century from National. The rate wasn't horrible considering it was a one-way rental. Ironically, we picked a car with IL plates. The trunk was massive and we got incredible mileage - the entire trip took 1.5 tanks of gas. Including two rest-stops, we

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1063664026076441992003-09-15T18:13:00.000-04:002003-09-15T18:21:38.240-04:00

As I wrote in the title, this is my "sometimes" updated blog. I've tried to keep the posts here intelligent and/or humerous and to post only when I had something to say, or more importantly, the time to say it. There's the rub. This week I am finally moving to Chicago and trying to get the student loans and finances in order. It's an exciting opportunity, but terribly nerve-wracking. At any

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1063212763084575042003-09-10T12:52:00.000-04:002003-09-11T13:10:50.500-04:00

Continuing my "Greatest Hits" blogging (while moving away from the Purim Torah), I wanted to revisit my Pluralism Equation. During my second year of smikha, I participated in Clal's Rabbinic Internship Program. One of the goals of this program was to promote pluralistic dialogue between the various denominations, and they accepted a diverse group of students. In addition to myself, my group

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1063122108753319212003-09-09T11:41:00.000-04:002003-09-10T23:49:45.030-04:00

The previous two posts were technically before my smikha days. My first year in smikha was also one of the more auspicious years in YU's PR history. It started when YU removed stacks of the Commentator from Belfer Hall right before the annual open house. An embarrassed YU eventually compensated the Commie for the papers, but the fun didn't stop there. The story hit the mainstream press with

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1063083520161031142003-09-09T00:58:00.000-04:002003-09-09T11:42:19.770-04:00

This next one came almost by accident. I was fooling around with an image editing program and I noticed one of the filters - I think it was called "charcoal" - created a similar effect as the Les Misérables poster. That year most of the CS majors were not fans of the MIS department. This was probably due to MIS' incompetence and stupidity. After some more crude graphic work, I came up

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1063082252889832162003-09-09T00:37:00.000-04:002003-09-09T00:37:32.806-04:00

One of the perks of doing the web page for The Commentator was that I had more input than I should have had with the Purim issues. For example, my first year I got the purim issue titled The Ordinary Potato (the common tater). The second year the purim issue was called Commie Sutra. This was also my doing, the result of an offhanded comment to Yishai Fleisher on the subway. Around this time

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1063031427983298282003-09-08T10:30:00.000-04:002003-09-08T17:42:17.356-04:00

After four years of courses, shiurim, tests, and papers, I finally have the authorization to call myself "Rabbi." My Revel transcript has all the classes and confirmation of passing the comps and official graduation will be forthcoming. This is however close enough to say I completed my requirements for smikha according to R. Bronstein - the only opinion which matters at this point. So, now

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1062603278840986592003-09-03T11:34:00.000-04:002003-09-03T11:35:16.410-04:00

I've been busy the past few weeks with moving out of Washington Heights, preparing for the big move to Chicago, and trying to complete my M.A. and smikha at YU. I budgeted two days for this this week, but apparently they can only do one task a day. Here is where things stand now based on what I had to do over the summer: Finish final classRevise triple paperRegistrar enters grades into the

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1061400535784083812003-08-20T13:28:00.000-04:002003-08-20T13:29:51.070-04:00

The New York Post has an interesting exchange between Mr. Taheri and some Muslim readers displeased with his article on the Hijab. I can't say I'm terribly surprised at the reaction or the response. A traditional religious mindset is challenged by a modern rational position. Compare this discussion in the Islamic world to the attitudes expressed in contemporary literature on women's issues in

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1061319162872216872003-08-19T14:52:00.000-04:002003-08-19T16:29:57.900-04:00

Some of us "old timers" remember the Yeshiva University PR machine working overtime when YU was ranked in US News' top tier of US colleges. Side note: Of the Top 50 schools, YU was the only one to publicize its ranking (normally in the 40's) on its website. This provided us with endless amusement as we were able to navigate the internet kiosks in Furst and Belfer through US News' site to get to

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1061302017188946522003-08-19T10:06:00.000-04:002003-08-19T10:07:20.350-04:00

Danny Hirshtal sends in an insightful piece from National Post regarding the Hijab - the headgear of Muslim women. It's a fascinating read, although I'm not sure how accurate it is. For example, the author claims, "It is not sanctioned anywhere in the Koran, the fundamental text of Islam, or the hadith (traditions) attributed to the Prophet." However, as cited in the above link, Qur'an 33:59

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1061300764247490562003-08-19T09:46:00.000-04:002003-08-19T09:46:04.100-04:00

I'm experimenting with different free-commenting tools since Entanation has been unrelliable. On one hand, all previous comments will be lost. On the other, Anonymous Coward's (Josh Waxman) "First Post" can be easily duplicated. If anyone has suggestions, please let me know.

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1061300619582401102003-08-19T09:43:00.000-04:002003-08-19T09:43:39.436-04:00

If you're using IE you might have a problem viewing the front page where it gets cut off towards the top. You can fix this by simply resizing the browser.

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1060321284645405632003-08-08T01:41:00.000-04:002003-08-10T20:46:18.333-04:00

The following was given as a shiur of a given on 9 Av 5763, Aug 7th 2003 Introduction For those of you who haven't been following this blog, I'll give you a quick recap. A week ago, someone asked me what happened on 9 Av. My first resposne was quoting M. Ta'anit 4:6. She then asked what else happened on 9 Av, meaning event that happened later in Jewish history - the Spanish Expiulsion and

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1059747051569373202003-08-01T10:10:00.000-04:002003-08-02T23:40:36.500-04:00

Real quick posting today. There's an editorial in the NYTimes today lamenting the increase in the prison population. "Federal, state and local governments have been putting more people behind bars even though crime, including violent crime, is down sharply. The driving force has been an array of get-tough policies, many adopted in another era, when fear of crime was greater." [emphasis mine]

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1059590114897492512003-07-30T14:35:00.000-04:002003-08-01T09:33:39.930-04:00

Just in case anyone gets on my case, check the URL: http://yutopia.blogspot.com is the link we all know and love. http://yutopia.blogpsot.com takes you to "A mega-site of Bible, Christian and religious information & studies." Thank you.

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1059490155074098822003-07-29T10:49:00.000-04:002003-07-29T10:49:14.913-04:00

I've been getting swamped with e-mails and IM's about the historical accuracy of 9 Av events. Even Protocols is getting in on the action. This is going to take much longer to explain - including the possiblity of adjusting for Hebcal's limitation of 1752. Basically, this is getting way out of hand for blogging right now. I think this topic of historical accuracy and religious significance

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1059484742091767012003-07-29T09:19:00.000-04:002003-07-29T09:29:11.333-04:00

Abdicate.net gives us a few other infamous events which took place on 9 Av, all of which "are verifiable in the history books.". We already demonstrated the WWI date to be wrong. The only other event which we can verify with Hebcal is the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto. Abdicate.net gives us July 10th 1942 as the day deportations began. This however corresponds to 25 Tammuz 5702. From

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1059448128738849132003-07-28T23:08:00.000-04:002003-07-29T08:35:56.363-04:00

Someone asked me tonight about what happened on 9 av. M. Taanit 4:6 lists 5 things: Decree that the dor midbar wouldn't enter Eretz Yisrael Hurban I Hurban II Beitar destroyed Yerushalayim destroyed But I was also asked about other later historical events, like the Spanish expulsion and WWI. Did these events occur (or start) on 9 Av? Let's put it to the test with some help from our good

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1059402742111400792003-07-28T10:32:00.000-04:002003-07-28T11:02:51.080-04:00

Interesting mahloket in the Islamic world. In 2000 an Alexandrian court ruled that Islam doesn't accept electronic communications for divorce. Malaysia, however, authorized the use of SMS as a legitimate medium. This seems to be an official pesak and would carry more weight than the acts of individuals. Acc to Islamic law, a husband divorces his wife by telling her "I divorce thee" three

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1059345263308465242003-07-27T18:34:00.000-04:002003-07-27T18:34:23.276-04:00

I've noticed that more people have been reading my blog than I had ever expected. So I figured it's high time to make the thing look a little nicer. In general, much going on, but not for public consumption.

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1059145507649392252003-07-25T11:05:00.000-04:002003-07-27T19:55:07.070-04:00

Othniel Askew, who murdered political rival Councilman James Davis, was afraid of being blackmailed for being Gay. On the other hand, he refused to donate his internal organs: "In his pocket, the officials said, the 31-year-old Askew carried a card that said, 'I am not an organ donor. I am Jewish.' Orthodox Jews frown upon organ donations." Apparently homosexuality and murder aren't as "

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1058812078211431132003-07-21T14:27:00.000-04:002003-07-22T10:38:09.676-04:00

Normally I'm better tempered than this; it takes a lot to get me annoyed enough to blog. However, in one day I've gotten messages from Frumster people who probably should....well you can decide what to do with them. Person 1 (intentially leaving out their screen name) messages me with a "Hey - What's up?" I was planning on ignoring it until somone who will remain nameless for now said that

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1058543183483405792003-07-18T11:46:00.000-04:002003-07-18T15:22:06.430-04:00

I've decided to give up on regular posting during the summer, but hopefully I'll be able to do more when I'm at U of C. Almost recovered from wiping the hard drive on my laptop, but I lost most of the changes to my big paper. Fortunately, the main stuff is still accessible. Oh, I officially passed the comps. :-) Feeling a need to rant right now. I just got asked if I thought women should be

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-1057603708618843562003-07-07T14:48:00.000-04:002003-07-07T14:48:28.450-04:00

I was going to post a poll here, but I had back out after numerous threats on my life. So much for intellectual freedom.

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-960176622003-06-25T11:03:00.000-04:002003-06-25T11:04:15.000-04:00

THE END IS NEAR!!! Although currently unoffical, I have been told I did "ok" on the comps. :-) It has also been decided that I will take the Ben-Sasson class (assuming I can register on time). One more step to go before I can drop the "" from "Rabbi." Instead of a kiddush, I think I'll put in a nice blog about smikha upon my completion in Sept.

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-959887722003-06-24T14:20:00.000-04:002003-06-24T14:20:32.473-04:00

Ok, back from shabbat. Life didn't change that drastically. If anyone is reading this, I'm sorry for being so vague. At some point if I (or someone else) will write my life story, I might fill in the gaps. On the pleasant note, I bought my first fiction book in years. The last one, American Gods was a great book - but IMHO, the ending tanked. So, instead of caving in to media pressure and

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-957750232003-06-17T22:08:00.000-04:002003-06-17T22:08:12.806-04:00

Going away for shabbat. Life about to drastically change.

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-955988802003-06-12T14:16:00.000-04:002003-06-12T14:19:08.000-04:00

Since I have my own personal blog now, I guess I can start moving some various nonesense over here. The following was written sometime in 2002. I was in Gruss in Israel and working with Russel on setting up an ADSL network in the computer room. This song has been performed by me only once - that Purim in Dr. Jackson's apt - and will probably never be performed (by me at least) again. Trust

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-955350642003-06-11T00:08:00.000-04:002003-06-11T00:08:45.880-04:00

EMERGENCY POSTING!!!!!! Remember how I said I'm trying to straighten out thigs? I failed. Big Time. Oh well, at least I'm not bored....

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-955057742003-06-10T10:09:00.000-04:002003-06-11T00:09:05.000-04:00

First off, congrats to Meredith on finally completing the LSAT!!!! And it only took 3 years.... In other news, I'm finally going away for shabbatot again and trying to straighten out things. Question of the week: Do I do a 2 year old paper on Kabbalistic Prayer or do I take a summer Revel class with either Dr. Carlebach or Dr. Ben Sasson (the bottom two classes here: http://www.yu.edu/revel/

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-951993082003-06-02T13:24:00.000-04:002003-06-02T13:24:14.480-04:00

Haven't posted in a while. Here's the quick summary of recent events: Yom Yerushalayim Lunch went well, speach went well, nearly had a repeat of the "Mahar Hodesh" incident. Thanks Hillel! I'm getting smikha in the morning....ok September actually Guitar is restrung and in tune. Mandolin has a slight problem of the bridge falling off. Cool shiur coming up on Music and Computer Piracy in

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-945582362003-05-18T21:56:00.000-04:002003-05-18T21:56:57.300-04:00

I just got proposed to over IM from a poser who matches web log layouts to her bedsheets. I am so dead...

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-944531372003-05-16T11:15:00.000-04:002003-05-16T11:15:34.516-04:00

Let it be known that Meredith knows how to operate this thing better than Josh does, yet Josh is the one who was a computer science major. Also, he admits that he doesn't know how to type. But conveniently he's going for semikha--as long as he can deal with shul politics he'll turn out all right in the end. It should also be noted that my Politics B.A. hasn't done much for me, except qualify

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-944524232003-05-16T11:03:00.000-04:002003-05-16T11:03:30.380-04:00

Many thanks to MEREDITH SHECK for helping me get this thing working

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5398062.post-944099272003-05-15T16:43:00.000-04:002003-05-15T16:43:06.123-04:00

First blog posting....more to come...

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10330623783905141929noreply@blogger.com