BS"D


THE (IN)FAMOUS RABBI SHIMON BRAND!

Tuesday, August 3rd
Trucking along, thinking about this month of Av. "It is the month of the 'low point' of the Jewish calendar (the 9th of Av, the day of the sin of the spies and the destruction of both the first and second Temples in Jerusalem) as well as the month of the 'high point' of the Jewish calender (the 15th of Av--'there are no happier days for Israel than the 15th of Av and Yom HaKippurim' (Mishnah Ta'anit 26:)--the day of finding one's predestined soul-mate).
This accords with the teaching of our sages that 'the Mashiach is born on the 9th of Av.' Relative to all other souls of Israel, the soul of Mashiach, who comes to redeem Israel from her state of (spiritual as well as physical) exile, is like a groom to his bride. After his birth on the 9th of Av he reveals himself to his bride and betroths her on the 15th of Av."
- from http://www.inner.org.
7pm - OHIO!
All I know about Ohio I learned on the Drew Carey Show :)
At sun down I stopped at Oberlin College, Joel's alma mater, to daven minch/maariv & explore the town. Checked out the Kosher/Halal Food Co-Op & took the tour - even found malted ice cream with a heksher in the little "everything store" on the main drag. There were Palestinian flags spraypainted on rocks in the park.
At 10pm I knocked on R' Shimon & Amy's door, cringing at how late it was, but desperately wanting to meet them, after I'd heard so many wonderful stories about each of them separately from Joel, Kyla, my Sofer & his wife :)
Well, not only were they home, but they had *just* returned from Israel FIFTEEN MINUTES beforehand! He said, "It's a good thing you came now, because 15 minutes ago we weren't here & in 15 minutes we'd be asleep :) It was meant to be!"
So we all had tea & traded stories - it was truly warm. Shimon, who is blind, opened one of the new little antique chotchkes he'd purchased while away & told us about it. He is an avid Asian art collector. He held this tiny blue enameled box in his hands & felt over it all carefully..."This is the blue one," he said, "it has very fine enamel work & has clusters of flowers...". He then went on to describe the artist's career & showed me how he could tell by feel who crafted it & what it looked like. He is truly amazing!
We were all bushed, so turned in so we could visit more energetically in the morning.