Sunday, October 25, 2009

Slam

I hate to write things here that would give a journal-like feel, since that would suggest a poverty in ideas, but for me there are ideas of lasting value to be gleaned from this, so: I finally ended up attending one of Cheerio's poetry sessions. It was very....informative. And I saw two blog authors who I had not yet seen in person (Dowy and Altie, ...it's only right to link).

First of all in regards to poetry: Now, if you were to approach me in the past asking if there is any correlation between Chassidut Chabad and a great appreciation of poetry I'm afraid I would have had to answer in the negative. My surprise, therefore, at such a love for poetry as displayed by adherents of that Chassidut, in which each and every individual present was called up to read just as on Simchat Torah, was not small. Personally it was not only the approach but also the very content and form of the poetry that I found eye-opening, since, as with most things, I've only recently come to decipher what is appreciable about modern forms of this art.

I personally come from a background of great appreciation for the beautiful verse and form of the Hebrew prose of Halevi, Ben Gevirol and the like, and I scoffed at the idea that there could be such beauty in English poetry in the same way the French used to mock the idea of beautiful German poetry. But as I've begun to meet poets (they seem to be everywhere in my life all of a sudden) and read more modern poetry I've come to see that today's poetry is not at all about beauty or form, but purely about moods and ideas. And the sort of idea that's lauded most is one that displays the principles of "realism". So far all I can say is that it seems to be a method of great potential for describing ideas and feelings. I shall have to research the subject.

In regards to the readers: A very interesting crowd. All from religious-Chabad households and yet all well educated, well spoken, well written and well trained in any which talent they may surpass at. Truly a well-rounded sort of folk, the kind one rarely sees turn up on the shores of Brooklyn--yet an interesting phenomenon on the American Jewish scene as a whole. Wholly religious and yet wholly American and wholly secular--the sort of thing the Modern Orthodox seem to be striving for. Quite an accomplishment and hopefully a lesson to others as well. I myself on the other hand, have never been quite as well rounded, but rather grapple with every aspect of life as if I were learning to walk for the first time. Yet I don't believe there is any sort of intrinsic difference that separates us; if I had been raised as them there is no question that I too would have been just as well rounded. But it would seem that as for me, G-d had other plans.

I would go on with more meaningless minutiae about my evening, but it is not my custom to be lengthy here.

26 comments:

Joseph said...

Here is a chabad poet...of the classical sort
http://www.zviyair.com/Poems_Index.asp?id=1&lang=he

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

Oh wow, would you look at that. It looks like a very similar style to Rav Kook (i.e. early modern religious Hebrew poetry), though Rav Kook's poetry has a more ridgid form (which I like).

...who is this Tzi Yair guy anyway? Well, I guess I can just look him up...

Freeda said...

just saw that you have me under brooklyn girls. I am NOT from brooklyn....

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

Yes well I spoke with someone about this in the past. The reality is that most of those girls either are or have been in Brooklyn for a substatial amount of time.

Anyway, it's more about culture than location; I can tell if your name is Freeda that you probably don't come from Idaho. And the only other option there is "modern" girls, so...I know the terminology is a bit off.

Tem said...

neither am i, btw ;)

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

tembow: Well worry not, because you're not under "Brooklyn girls". In fact, not on the roster at all. Now, I would have you on because your blog has such nice background colors, it's just that I have this policy of only including blogs with WORDS! ; )

Freeda said...

I never have and pray that I never will have to live in Brooklyn. The longest I was ever there was for 4 or 5 days for a wedding. And Freeda is NOT my name...

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

The truth is I share your sentiments about Brooklyn, but I'm sort of forced to be here in the meantime. ...so where are you from then? And if Freeda is not your real name then why on earth would you call yourself that?

Freeda said...

Where do I live? Oh, somewhere on planet earth...and as for the name- hameivin yavin. Sorry you don't qualify.

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

"somewhere on planet earth"- Ohh, this whole time I thought you resided on one of Jupiter's moons..

"and as for the name- hameivin yavin"- וכנראה שאני לא מביו. אבל את זה כבר הייתי יכול להגיד לעצמי.

Freeda said...

well, I could have been an astronaut...and as for the Freeda thing, you're right. Boy, I miss hebrew... wish I could type it. And yes, i know about google translate but it doesn't do a good job...

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

The Hebrew keyboard is in the control panel. If the urge to type in Hebrew comes upon you I'm sure you'd manage to decipher the locations of all the letters on the keyboard.

Rachelli Dreyfuss said...

just btw, going along with freeda, i am not and have NEVER been to brooklyn... i am not sure if i feel insulted or honored that i was put into that category...
hm..

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

Honored, man. Honored. Anyone who makes it into my blogroll should feel a surge of pride so large swell their heart to the point that they do know if they're just really happy or going into cardiac arrest. THAT honored. ; ) So personally, I praise anyone who's either never been to or hates Brooklyn, but being on the blogroll is all that matters!

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

Um, 'Rachelli', I'm not sure if it's only me, but I seem to be unable to comment on your blog. Perhaps you should look into it.

Rachelli Dreyfuss said...

seems to work for me... what are you clicking...?

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

ok, I just checked both the Explorer and Firefox browsers, and in both there seems to be no place to write the word verification. Perhaps you're better off disabling that entirely.

Rachelli Dreyfuss said...

well i changed it.. lemme know if it works.

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

ok, for you alone I changed the titles! Tell me what you think.

Oh, and, what happened? You didn't even publish my comments! I know they were worded weirdly but it was like the fifth time I wrote the same sort of thing, so...

Yossi said...

that was a really touching and beautiful description of the people you met. way to go

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

Ha, thanks man. I mean, I'm not sure I meant it to be "touching", but.. ...you should come over next time you know. Put up some mechitzas. Have some fun. ; )

Rachelli Dreyfuss said...

sorry... i was just a lil turned off by them..
feel free to try again ;)

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

Ha. Haha. I'm sorry then. Though by the eighth time it doesn't come out quite as flattering as the first. Anyway, I wasn't sure it would go through.

Rachelli Dreyfuss said...

well, then there you go!

Anonymous said...

ok i commented prev as anon and i said ur name conflicts with ur words i was right. werent u writing as a lubav in that post? u sounded like one, if i recall.

anyway as a lubav that can relate to the end of this post also, learning to walk anew with every aspect of this world, i want to say that i am no stranger to sefardim tehorim on our shlichus here

any way good luck in life

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

"ok i commented prev as anon"- Oh, right, and now you're commenting as anonYMOUS. I knew they sounded similar ; ).

"werent u writing as a lubav in that post? u sounded like one, if i recall."

"i want to say that i am no stranger to sefardim tehorim on our shlichus here"- And where might "here" be?

And 'no', I wasn't "writing as a lubav". If you must know, I'm generally antagonistic towards Chabad, partly because of what you're mentioning: Their missions to convert the Sefaradim. I mean, it's not just religion they're spreading, but their form of religion. It's hard to say the mission is always a good thing for those it comes in contact with. Anyway, for ignorant Jews it's definitely a commendable endeavor, but what I never liked was their coming to the Sefaradi camp to convert them to their vodka-drinking worship of their Russian rabbi, while awaiting his return. If it was only Judaism they were concerned about, they would take the religious differences into account.

Though the truth is I'm just as antagonistic towards the "mitnagdim" for the same reason, and I have nothing against those who were born into shlichus families.

"u sounded like one, if i recall."- I should get my voice checked out in that case...

"learning to walk anew with every aspect of this world"- Interesting line. ..good luck yourself.