HARDCORE TEEN SOFRUT

בס"ד


Tamuz 27

I'm already receiving very positive feedback on my class, after only one day, barukh HaShem!

There are some younger people who want to join up - here with their parents - who wish to take my class. It's very flattering & quite happymaking, all this enthusiasm, but I close my classes as of the first day. We move quickly & have an awful lot of material to cover, so I look forward to welcoming them next time.

One of my beginner-students is agitating to learn how to write mezuzot in the remaining 2 days of classes. I explained that the laws of mezuzot are fantastically involved & require personal mentoring over much more time than we actually have.

I complemented one of the women in the dining room on her outfit at lunch. "Nice dress", I said with a smile. She replied with, "Thanks - but it's a bit revealing..."
I thought this was an odd response, particularly when she always wears short, sleeveless dresses in the summer, but then I remembered a brief exchange we had yesterday:
"Aviel, do you wear long sleeves for reasons of modesty?"
"Yes." I smiled.
Such is our experience of those afraid thery are being judged negatively by we who adhere more stringently. She doesn't mind the style of this dress, otherwise she wouldn't have put it on this morning. Just because I wouldn't make the same choice of garb, that doesn't mean it offends me. I wish we could all get along without making negative assumptions...
...G@d willing, before Moshiach comes...

This afternoon while Joel was in class with R' Gafni, I hung out with Benny - he's the evil genius who writes this blog.
We talked about the works of R' Dr Martin Samuel Cohen & R' Marc-Alain Ouaknin, his fellow geniuses, & conspired that I facilitate his getting in touch with them both ( I have connexions). Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to introduce random Jewish geniuses to each other...

We also discussed Jewish amulets (he's writing his doctoral dissertation on them) & astrology. I missed our talks :)