Rabbi’s Musings & Amusings

During a speech he gave at a sheva brachos, Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn, noted that he had seen a cereal box that had on its cover a picture of an athlete eating that cereal. Rav Berenbaum related that he had three questions on the advertisement. First of all, even though the athlete was holding a bowl of that cereal, who is to say that he even likes the cereal? He may detest the cereal but is being paid to pose that way. Secondly, even if he does like the cereal, who is to say that just because he likes it, I’ll like it, too? Finally, he’s famous because he can play ball well. What does that have to do with knowing if a cereal is good or not?

One day last week, my neck was feeling extremely stiff, and it hurt to turn my head in either direction. For the rest of the day, I was mindful to not turn my head too quickly. When I needed to turn my head, I braced myself for a surge of pain. But during the night, when movement is unconscious, I woke up in tremendous pain and couldn’t fall back to sleep for some time.

It’s been noted that parents who only have one child don’t have the complete parenting experience. That’s because when something is broken, they easily know who did it. Those who have multiple children, however, get to deal with multiple blank angelic looks and innocent replies of “It wasn’t me,” and have no way of knowing what really happened.

I’m considering writing a #1 New York Times bestselling book. My hesitation is that, because of my extreme humility, I’m not sure I want to publish such a popular bestseller. But if I do, I think it’ll be called: Two Steps to Perfect Relationships. The fact that it doesn’t guarantee perfection isn’t important. I’ve noticed that many other New York Times Best Sellers do not quite live up to their grandiose and emphatic titles either.

One day last week, my neck was feeling extremely stiff, and it hurt to turn my head in either direction. For the rest of the day, I was mindful to not turn my head too quickly. When I needed to turn my head, I braced myself for a surge of pain. But during the night, when movement is unconscious, I woke up in tremendous pain and couldn’t fall back to sleep for some time.

 One morning, when I came down to my basement office, I noticed that the carpet was wet. It had rained hard the previous evening and it was clear that rain had seeped in from outside. The handyman we called to assess the problem told us that there was a thin crack in the outside wall of the house, and it was from there that rain had gotten in and soaked the carpet.