Start and Stop at Honesty

The below Rabbeinu Bechaye made me think allot about the stress I put on myself at work. While honesty and truth is very hard to live by in todays business world it is simple and elegant. By staying focused on this one yesod perhaps I can become a better eved Hashem.

Thank you to ModernUberdox for the following reference.

"Rabbeinu Bechaye says this importance of honesty brought in the first words of the Torah. Every nekuda is in the first pasuk of the Torah, except the shuruk. He explains that this is because the letters which spell the word shuruk (shin-reish-kuf)can also be rearranged to spell the word sheker (shin-kuf-reish), lying, and because sheker cannot be even hinted to in foundation of the Torah. Hashem created this world to be a place based on truth, there was no room for sheker!"

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You Know You're in a Scary Profession When...

...It's 10:30 at night and a mid-level associate asks you if you're planning to stay late.

(Caveat: I'm not complaining. I found this exchange sadly amusing, but I like the work, the firm, and the people I work with, and I thank G-d that I am blessed to have a job.)

New Maccabeats Purim Video - Also by Uri Westrich

The Greeks from the Chanukah video also make a cute cameo. HT Modern Uberdox.

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Net Operating Losses and Teshuvah

Net operating losses are very valuable to a business. Although it seems counter intuitive that losing money, whether on paper or in real life, could be valuable, it is a business reality that exists because of the tax code.

Those net operating losses ("NOLs") incurred one year can be used to offset income in other years as long as the business hasn't used up those NOLs yet. Because the Internal Revenue Code ("IRC") allows a business to "carry forward" those NOLs for a number of subsequent years, the NOLs can save a company a lot of money over time.

Azoi shtait in the IRC that this heter to carry forward NOLs only exists if the company's stock or creditors don't change hands too much, which would constitute a "management change."

A bankrupt entity, which understandably usually has significant NOLs, guards its NOLs carefully by moving to enter a "NOL Trading Motion" to prohibit or limit shareholders' and creditors' ability to trade in their claims or interests, lest such trades cause a "management change," thus endangering the tax benefits of those precious losses.

I was thinking that this concept shows that even the world is aware of the concept that past losses can benefit a person. We know this is true spiritually because the gemara in Yuma 86b says that with teshuvah me'ahava, the highest level of transformative teshuvah, zadonos, willful sins (like net operating losses a person lives with) are transformed into zechuyos, merits.

At first glance, losses do not seem to be valuable on a physical or spiritual level. It's something one just wants to put in the past. But by continuing to do teshuva for past sins, out of a feeling of wanting to be closer to Hashem, those losses turn into gains.

Similarly, although it is counter intuitive, even the world has the external concept of the benefits of past losses, which perhaps reflects the inner reality of "zadonos na'asin lo k'zachios."

Have a happy Adar! May all of our zadonos undergo a "v'nafoch hu!"

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Big Problem Starbucks Kashrus - Better Not to Drink in the Stores (Updated)

Please see this one page summary of kashrus issues at Starbucks put out by the CRC, the Chicago Rabbinical Counsel, an excellent and not unnecessarily strict kashrus agency, the Av Beis Din of which I have had contact with in the past. HT to Chana at The Curious Jew for bringing this to my attention in her post "Starbucks Isn't Really So Kosher."

As someone in the business world, this is a very relevant sha'ala. This notice could not have come too soon. I have not had any Starbucks coffee since the holy Mrs. Yid elevated our family by encouraging us to start keeping cholov Yisroel, but I was just thinking this morning that I was going to invite a friend at work to coffee at Starbucks soon and just use a Gefen non-dairy creamer packet. Yikes!

It looks like even the plain brewed coffee in the regular Starbucks stores is only kosher b'dieved because the "[b]rew basket may have been washed with non-kosher items. Although the brew basket is only used as a kli sheni, the cRc recommends purchasing items which are free of all shailos." This problem does not exist with the kiosks, so it's okay to order plain coffee there. Check out the one page summary from the CRC for a short table (click on the image on the below to enlarge that part of the one page sheet) showing which products can be bought at which types of Starbucks stores. The chart is only good till 7/31/2011 according to the CRC.

(UPDATE 3/8/11: Apparantly the OU holds differently. See Chaviva's post here for their much more lenient approach.)

Incidently, a cute dialog in our house yesterday between me, Mrs. Yid, and our 6th grade Dixie Daughter related to recently starting to keep cholov Yisroel:

Dixie Daughter: I'm not sure what to tell people when they ask why we started keeping cholov Yisroel. What can I tell them?

Tell them it's because we are trying to become closer to Hashem.

Dixie Daughter: I know, but...(not looking convinced)

I think she wants to know something that's just easy to say, that won't start a whole discussion.

Okay, how about saying that we're trying to become more "chassidish..."

Dixie Daughter: WHAT??!! (unexpected news apparantly)

What if you just tell them we're trying to take on the minhagim of our Rav, Rabbi Weinberger, and that's the reason.

Dixie Daughter: Okay.

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Tanya on Fear/Embarrassment - "And They Saw 'Ki Boshesh Moshe'"

In Rav Weinberger's Tanya shiur this morning, we were learning the section in the 4th perek where the Alter Rebbe discusses the higher level of Yiras Hashem called "yiras boshes," the fear relating to embarrassment or shame. This is in contrast to the lower level of fear (though halevai we should attain it) called yiras ha'onesh, fear of punishment.

Yiras Boshes is the contemplation and recognition of Hashem's greatness and the concomitant feeling of smallness and nothingness, along with a feeling of embarrassment and shame because of a person's actions which have concealed that greatness and strengthened the forces if impurity in the world.

When healthy, this feeling will lead to a desire to come back to Hashem, and not to hide away and stay distant because of the shame. This is why, Rav Weinberger explained, the word "busha," embarrassment, has the same letters as ther word "shuva," to return.

I asked him after the shiur if this aspect of busha is related to the pasuk in Ki Sisa that the Jews saw "ki boshesh Moshe," that Moshe was delayed. The word for delayed there has the same shoresh as the word for embarrassment. He explained that the underlying shoresh means "distance." So distance in time is "delay" and distance in relationships is "shame."

I was thinking that perhaps the Torah uses the word "boshesh" rather than any other word for delay to illustrate the bad side of busha, shame. The Jews at that time went after the wrong side of busha. That feeling of shame/distance can lead to two opposite reactions. It can make a person want to come back closer, or it can make the person run away further. The Jews, by the chet ha'egel, the sin of the golden calf, reacted to the feeling of distance personified by Moshe's perceived delay in coming down from Har Sinai by running away from Hashem and building the egel. The Torah, therefore, used the word "boshesh" here, instead of "hismame'ah" or something else, to teach "how not" to react to the feeling of busha.

IY"H, may we all be zoche to attain an awareness of Hashem such that we will feel busha and return to Hashem before we even think of doing anything against His will.

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Inspiring High Quality Videos About Israel

With thanks to Dixie Dad for sending me this video, here is a great video called "Start Up Nation" about Israel's innovative economy:



Here is another great video about a commander and how Israel deals with fighting an enemy who hides among women and children:



Here is an interview with the author of "Start Up Nation" talking about the progressive deregulation economic policies:



Fascinating statistics about the the worldly effects of the infinite and hungry Jewish soul:



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All Masked Up

Thank you to a Simple Jew for providing this great source today...Yasher Koach.

Likutey Tefillos #13:

"There is no work or business activity in the world that does not contain Torah, even if it is heavily veiled."

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Dixie Yid is Back to the Old Layout - Thanks for Responding

It looks like about 75% of respondants agree that they like the old single sidebar look better. It has been changed back (though the style is still slightly different).

Thank you to those who took the time to respond.

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Hisbodedus Documentary - Very Inspiring - Embeded Video

Here is a five part video documentary on hisbodedus, what seems to me to be the number one aspect of success in keeping one's head in olam habah, even while he is steeped in olam hazeh. Big thank you to Yossi Katz at the Breslov.org blog for posting this. Very inspiring.

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Dixie Yid is Now Optimized for Mobile Viewing

Thanks to Neil Harris's suggestion, the blog is now optimized for mobile viewing!

... not that you should even have a Blackberry... or an iPhone... or an Android...

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Who is a Ben Olam Habah?

I was thinking about the gemara quoted in this post, where Eliyahu Hanavi says that no one in the (presumably Jewish) market that day was a "ben olam habah" except for a warden and a jester who did their work for the sake of Hashem. Although it was not the immediate point of the gemara, there is a glaring kasha on what Eliyahu Hanavi said: How can it be than almost no one in the whole shuk was a "ben olam habah"? Doesn't the mishna in Avos say that "kol Yisroel yesh lahem chelek l'olam habah," that every single Jew has a share in the world to come?

(And I don't think you can answer that the Gemara in Sanhedrin lists a number of exceptions to the general rule because: (a) it's shver to be mokim the gemara that everyone in the shuk were the worst of the worst, baalei lashon hara, apikursim, and mevazei talmidei chachamim and (b) there's a shita in the gemara there that the dorshei reshumos learn that ona deeper level, even the Yidden she'ein lahem chelek l'olam habah really do have a chelek.)

I think the answer lies in the phrase "ben olam habah." It could have referred to "people with a chelek in olam habah." Instead, Eliyahu referred to "bnei" olam habah," implying people who are "in the category of olam habah." Meaning: a ben olam habah is someone who lives in olam habah even in this world. What does this mean? In olam habah, "kol ha'aretz deiah es Hashem," the whole world and all aspects of physicality ("artzius") will know Hashem. Someone who lives in olam habah now knows that connecting to Hashem and doing the ratzon Hashem is the purpose of life in the world, and they don't get confused by the upside down priorities of the physical world ("olam hafuch ra'isi"), although he is indeed living in this world.

That's why a talmid chochom is called "Shabbos." Shabbos is "me'ein olam habah," an aspect of the world to come, and the Tzadik is called Shabbos because he lives with the knowlwdge of Hashem that will exist in the world to come, even in this world. Such people are indeed in the category of a "ben olam habah."

That's why so few people in the marketplace were bnei olam habah. Most of us get lost in the details of olam hazeh. We may have a share in olam hazeh and may, IY"H, be fulfilling basic halacha, but we are not mentally living with olam habah while we go about our business. We're living in the world of bechira and not yediah.

IY"H we should be zocheh to be bnei olam habah, living with olam habah even as we live, for the moment, in olam hazeh.

(Full disclosure: It could be I heard or learned this idea somewhere before, but I don't remember.)

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Avodas Ha'Avodah - Introduction and a Brief Background

I have to thank Dixie Yid for introducing me and the blog's new focus, as well as for inviting me to be a co-author on the blog.

Many of you might have noticed the blog's new focus: Avodas Ha'Avoda. This refers to how a person is oved Hashem, serves Hashem, through his avodah, working for his livelihood.

The idea came out of a "chance" meeting between myself and Dixie Yid on the way into work recently. For certain reasons, I have been recently struggling with the whole experience of working. I just couldn't mentally deal with the fact that I was working very hard to provide for my family, but at the end of the day, I was still just yearning to be able to sit and learn. I sat in the office crying out to Hashem, asking him to let me sit in the Beis Medrash. Why couldn't it be me? I love Torah, I love learning, and I love being an eved Hashem. Simply speaking, work was bringing me down.

I ebbed and flowed. I would find sources of inspiration in my learning, but nothing stuck with me.

About a month ago, I started to read The Dimension Beyond by Rabbi Yisrael Lorberbaum. It started to fundamentally change me in ways no other sefer has. I hope some day I have the opportunity to meet R' Lorberbaum. In the middle of learning this sefer, I spoke with an old friend from up north about my work challenges. The next day he forwarded me an article, which I shared with Dixie Yid which is posted here. This article truly changed me... It just connected to it in away nothing else I have read has. One line which particularly struck me were these simple words "In truth, if there exists a profession in the world, since it was created with God's will, it must be used as a tool to accomplish God's will." Those words made the connection in my neshama. I felt as if Hashem sent me a gift...

Fast forward to this past Erev Shabbos... I was sitting in my home office and thinking about the fact that there is so much Torah relating to work. There is so much available which can provide chizuk. There is a lot of Torah which can truly inspire and change so many of us who are struggling to find meaning and inspiration in our "9-5".

I emailed my friend, Dixie Yid, asking his thoughts on working towards the following lofty goal with me: I want to set out to collect as many non-halachic Torah sources which provide inspiration and mussar for Avodas Ha'Avodah. I told him that I wanted to collate all of this and publish a sefer, donating all the proceeds to tzedakah. Even just in my small world, there are so many men grappling with Avodas Ha'Avodah. Think of the change we could make in this work, in Klal Yisrael, in Families....

Dixie Yid thought it was a great idea and graciously decided to change the focus of his blog. But why? Simple, we NEED YOUR HELP! With my help, we will find and post relevant articles based on mussar, early meforshim, machshavah, and chassidus, but we need all of you to send us sources! Please leave them as comments or send them by e-mail to either myself or Dixie Yid. Our e-mail addresses are on the right sidebar. As we receive them, we post and catalogue them for the blog With Hashem's help, we will publish them in a sefer and im yirtzeh Hashem, it will help bring Moshiach one step closer!

With sincere feelings of hakoras hatov to Dixie Yid and the current readers, I hope you are inspired as much as I am to what I deem as a truly worthy endevour to help be michazik Klal Yisrael to be mikadish their Avodas Ha'Avodah.

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Poll on New Template/Layout - Please Respond

As mentioned, the Dixie Yid blog has a new focus and a new style. I don't want the new style/layout to be distracting or less user friendly. Therefore, I ask you to please answer the poll over on the right sidebar. Please leave any other suggestions as a comment. Thank you!!

Update (3/2/11): Thanks to Neil Harris's suggestion, the blog is now optimized for mobile viewing.

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The Dixie Yid Blog's New Focus

This blog is going through an inner change. The new template and layout are meant to be an outer expression of that change. If you have visited the blog off of an RSS reader recently, you will have also noticed the new byline, "Avodas Ha'avodah." I use that phrase to refer to the particular form of avodas Hashem through one's hishtadlus for his livelihood.

As readers know, I have been posting much much less in the last year or so. My final semester of law school, the Bar Exam, a sefer I have been working on translating, and the job that I started in September, as well as my obligations to my family, have made me very busy.

Many of the very few substantive posts that I have put up recently related to my struggle to grow spiritually in an intense work environment. This is a big challenge, but the attempt to balance the requirements of olam hazeh with those of olam haboh is nothing new. It tracks the general war and balancing act we all face while living in this world (which struggle is the very purpose of the world). Because this is such a universal subject, there is a lot of Torah out there on, or relating to, this topic. (Check out this story, if you started reading Dixie Yid after 2007; a very yesodosdik story.)

My friend Marc Rossen, who shared this article with me, is also wrestling with this inyan, and in talking with him, we decided that it would benefit us and the rest of the Jewish people to focus this blog's attention on Torah and stories which would help us and others learn how to navigate this difficult balance.

I therefore asked Marc to join me as an author on this blog, so welcome Marc! Hopefully he and y'all can get the chance to know each other over the coming months. :-)

The truth is that this topic is needed for many people, even those in klei kodesh. Unless one can truthfully say about himself that "Toraso umanuso," he needs to work on this area as well.

Therefore, please stay tuned to the new focus. We will still have other interesting, funning, or share-worthy things to put up, but the main focus will be "Avodas Ha'Avodah."

IY"H, may we be zoche to connect to Hashem through whatever our chelek in life is! Stay tuned for an introductory post by Marc. Kol tuv!

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