Last post about Rambam

This will probably be my last post about Rambam. Many people have said that they don't really care anymore. It happened and it is over. For me, it will never be over and I will always think about what could have been. As I mentioned many times, I will continue to teach what I have learned at Rambam.

One role model, that I mentioned in my speech, has come out to speak about his thoughts on what has happened. Harry Kozlovsky is one of the great leaders of Yeshivat Rambam and I wanted to share his article with all of you.http://baltimorejewishlife.com/m/news/article.php?SECTION_ID=1&ARTICLE_ID=7155

Press on the link and you will learn a lot. I know I have.

Quote of the day

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt

    

Last stop for the Yeshivat Rambam sign

The last stop for the Yeshivat Rambam sign- Now sitting on our back porch to collect dust.

Picture I found...

Went to the Rambam building for the last time
Bnos Yisroel will be moving in tomorrow
The letters have been taken off 
The big signs on the front lawn have been pulled out of the ground
But I managed to salvage this picture before it was to be thrown out....

Yeshivat Rambam 1991-2011

It's your life

I kinda want to be Francesca Battistelli 


This is a great warm-up song
Before an interview
Before a summer program
Before a date(sorry guys I had to put that one in)
Before a standardized test
Before making a huge decision


I bolded my favorite lines...

It's Your Life lyrics

This is the moment,it's on the line,
Which way your gonna fall,
In the middle, between wrong and right,
but you know after all.

CHORUS :
It's your life watcha gonna do?
The World is watching you,
everyday the choices you make,
say what you are and who your heart beats for,
it's an open door,
it's your life.

Are you who you always said you would be,
with a sinking feeling in your chest,
always waiting on someone else to fix you,
tell me when did you forget?

CHORUS :
( From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/f/francesca-battistelli-lyrics/it_s-your-life-lyrics.html )
It's your life watcha you gonna do?
The World is watching you,
everyday the choices you make,
say what you are and who your heart beats for,
it's an open door.

To live the way that you believe,
this is your opportunity,
to let your life be one that lights the way,

Chorus :
It's your life watcha gonna do?
The World is watching you,
everyday the choices you make,
say what you are and who your heart beats for,
it's an open door,
REPEAT
It's your life,It's your life.

these lyrics are submitted by The M.
these lyrics are last corrected by Krissy McCartney

Sharing songs

These songs were sent to me by my friend studying dowtown at UMB...these are all very inspiring while I sit in starbucks and attempt to organize my plans for next year...

another shout out to my friend studying out in Towson...you can do it! And listen to these songs when you need a pick me up. Or we can just go back to powerplant :)

Keep your head up! Andy Grammer 

Free to be me: Francesca Battistelli 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKSQjSdU8VA

Enjoy! 

Everyone's Zeidy

Everyone's Zeidy

There are days where you act like a crazy twenty something year old; having fun with friends, staying out late at night, traveling, thinking that you have all the time in the world to fulfill your dreams.

While this is a fine attitude on the one hand, on the other hand, we have so much riding on us.

Today is my Zeidy, HaChazzan Yosef ben HaRav Yaakov Aryeh z"l's third yarzheit.

When my Zeidy was alive, everything made sense. Our mesorah/tradition flowed from him and whenever I had a question about Judaism or life, I would always go to him. When asked what true love was really about, instead of giving adjectives, I would say "just look at my Zeidy and grandma. That is true love."  When he passed away in my grandmother's arms three years ago, all those years of Zeidy's teachings became real. We were now the holders of the tradition and had the responsibility of preserving it, living it, and passing it on. 

Pesach will never be the same without Zeidy glowing with happiness at the head of our table adorned in his white kittel; nothing is really the same. My brother made a siyum tonight in his memory for the elevation of his neshama. Zeidy would have loved shmoozing/conversing with all of the bachurim/young yeshiva students that filled our house tonight. His eyes would have lit up when he would find a friend in the room to become his chevrusa for the night. He was once a yeshiva bachur himself but his yeshiva days were cut short because he was sent to a slave labor camp. 

Zeidy could speak anyone's language, he could dance at anyone's wedding. He talked torah, any sugya from the gemara, chassidus, every type of Judaism, music, politics, hockey, and philosophy....name it and he could talk about it.

My friends drove up from Baltimore to attend the funeral which took place in New York. They said, "we had to come to Zeidy's funeral because he was our Zeidy too." He was everyone's Zeidy. He would smile when my friends would come over and he would ask about everyone's well being. He was just so loved. 

May his neshama have an aliyah and I hope he is comfortable and happy, wearing his favorite 

sweater, learning and singing with his father who was killed in Auschwitz, eating his mother and grandmother's cheese buns, and getting into mischief with his sweet brothers who will forever remain teenagers in my mind because they all perished in the Holocaust at the height of their youth. 

Dear Zeidy, I will be returning to Poland this summer. Last time I went to Poland to visit the "grave" of your family in Auschwitz, I was able to call you after the trip to tell you I arrived home safely. You were there to give me a bracha before and after the trip...yisimech elokim kisara rivka rachel and leah...in your Hungarian/yiddish accent; everything sounds holier in a Hungarian accent. This time, I am going alone. There will be no bracha from you. There will be no phone call from you to console me over the fact that there is no matzevah/headstone for your family and the 1.5 million victims who perished al kiddush Hashem in Auschwitz. It will be very difficult but I will channel your strength and faith making sure that they are never forgotten. 

May Zeidy's neshama have an aliyah always, and Zeidy, please know that you are sorely missed by your adoring fans; your grandchildren and everyone who thought of you as their Zeidy. 

The monumental and the mundane

Sheryl Sandberg, the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook said in her speech at the Barnard 2011 Commencement that, "most of our lives are filled with days we do not remember." 

I think that this line helps define the theme of my blog. Some of my blog posts are about monumental days; days that change or mark something significant in our individual lives, community lives, or the landscape of the world. Posts about Yeshivat Rambam closing (major for the Baltimore Jewish community and the modern orthodox community), graduation, or unfortunately posts about a death in the community. 

But my other posts are about the days that "we aren't supposed to remember." 

The days spent working towards those monumental and "remembered days," or the days just spent living; nights spent with friends and significant others, days spent thinking of the traveling we wish we could be doing instead of studying or working, that precious time spent with family, days spent doing absolutely nothing but staring at our gchat list and facebook news feed (yes I said that out loud! But that is something right?:))

I am sitting in starbucks still finishing my graduate work but in between writing my essays, I am listening to music and youtube videos. This is one of those days that I probably won't remember.

This song has really spoke to me recently. I am sure you all know the song but I ask you to look at the words carefully, I can really relate to this song at this current time and I think you might relate as well. I am attaching the lyrics and song.

There will be more to come! Stay tuned.

For The First Time 

The Script

She's all laid up in bed with a broken heart
While i'm drinking jack all alone in my local bar
And we don't know how we got into this mad situation
Only doing things out of frustration
Trying to make it work but man these times are hard

She needs me now but I can't seem to find a time
I've got a new job now in the unemployment line
And we don't know how we got into this mess it's a gods test
Someone help us cause we're doing our best

Chorus: 

Trying to make it work but man these times are hard
But we're gonna start by drinking old cheap bottles of wine
Sit talking up all night
Saying things we haven't for a while, a while yeah
We're smiling but we're close to tearsEven after all these years
We just now got the feeling that we're meeting
For the first time

She's in line at the door with her head held high
While I just lost my job but didn't lose my flight
But we both know how we're gonna make it work when it hurts
When you pick yourself up you get kicked in the dirt

Chorus: 

Trying to make it work but man these times are hard

But we're gonna start by drinking old cheap bottles of wine
Sit talking up all night
Saying things we haven't for a while, a while yeah
We're smiling but we're close to tears
Even after all these years
We just now got the feeling that we're meeting
For the first time

Drinking old cheap bottles of wine
Saying things we haven't for a while, a while yeah
We're smiling but we're close to tears
Even after all these years

We just now got the feeling that we're meeting
For the first time

Oh these times are hard
Yeah they're making us crazy
Don't give up on me baby