Of Rockets and Hamburgers

There is a restaurant on Emek Refaim street, in Jerusalem, called "Burger's Bar", that has a stellar reputation among Americans. Today, I finally decided to try it, to see if that reputation is justified. Conclusion: It is.

But as I was munching on my burger, I wondered if there are times in life when it is better to see things in black and white, and where the line is between grey values, and lack of values. You see, I generally avoid meat during the week, because I believe while it is ok to kill an animal for food for a special occassion, provided you gave it a good life, it's not ok for you to live a life that requires the regular slaughtering of animals for your gastronomic pleasure on a frequent basis. I think eating meat on shabbat is ok, because that is a special occasion - a sanctified day, a highlight of the week - even though, in reality, on most shabbats I will either eat no meat, or only eat meat for one of the shabbat meals, simply because meat-eating is not really a part of my life anymore.

In addition to my moral problem with excessive meat consumption, there is also the fact that the meat industry does not give the cows in question a good quality of life - which possibly violates the Jewish law of not torturing animals. That is why I try not to patronize the industry.

I take a similiar attitude towards modesty: I see it as a guideline for general dressing habits, but think its ok if once in a while I dress immodestly - as long as its not my general mode of attire.

Is my flexibility a good thing, or is it a sign of weakness?

I was pondering this as I ate my burger, when I found out that rockets had fallen ten miles south of Tel Aviv, which is to Israel what Manhattan is to the USA. I have cousins living under rocket fire in southern Israel. I myself am a one-hour's drive away from rocket range - and I hate to sound corny, but this really brought things into perspective. I'm sitting here, eating a hamburger, while my family and friends are under attack, and that makes my pseudo-philosophucal problems seem so tiny. I thought about how much time I wasted today, and how precious life is. I think I should probably try using more spare time to study Torah, because that is what matters to me, and to pray for people, and for peace, because that also matters to me. Will I go through with  it? Only time will tell, because resolutions do not always translate into actions.

But let's all take a moment to appreciate what a miracle it is that we are breathing.

Yom Kippur Obession?

I recently engaged in the weekly ritual of deciding which food gets to stay in my fridge, and which gets dumped into the garbage can. As I stood there, examining my mozarella cheese, I thought, "Today is Yom Kippur for my food. I am standing here like a בקרת רעה עדרו, מעביר צאנו תחת שבטו
deciding the גזר דיו of every item.

I then started singing my favorite part of Unetane Tokef:
אָדָם יְסוֹדוֹ מֵעָפָר, וְסוֹפוֹ לֶעָפָר
בְּנַפְשׁוֹ יָבִיא לַחְמוֹ
מָשׁוּל כְּחֶרֶס הַנִּשְׁבָּר
כְּחָצִיר יָבֵשׁ וּכְצִיץ נוֹבֵל
כְּצֵל עוֹבֵר וּכְעָנָן כָּלָה
וּכְרוּחַ נוֹשָׁבֶת וּכְאָבָק פּוֹרֵחַ
וְכַחֲלום יָעוּף.
וְאַתָּה הוּא מֶלֶךְ אֵל חַי וְקַיָּם

Today, I was reading for class, counting off  each reading, and I started to think of the High Priest counting in the temple Yom Kippur service, as expressed in the avodah prayer:
אחת, אחת ואחת....

Why this Yom Kippur obsessions? Is my subconscious telling me I need to do teshuvah?