Lamedzayin's great

Check this out. Turns out I'm Modern Orthodox (who knew?)...

Congratulations. You're Modern Orthodox all right, but wait! Just when you were ready to live an idyllic happily-labeled life they announce Left Wing and Right Wing Modern Orthodoxy. What the heck is up with that? Maybe you need to rethink and refine some of your positions, and then take the test again so I can put you in a little box.

Something to ponder.

Something else to ponder: Are Lamedzayin and Thefederator the same person? Hmm...

Say what?

This post should probably be of a length longer than what my current timeframe will allow, but I wanted to say a word or two about... a word or two. Or, more accurately, about how we spell them.

Take the title of this blog, for instance. I had originally used the 'traditional' spelling ('Mincha'), but that was ages ago and I'm currently in academic mode, thus necessitating the switch to a more standard version (see the guide published by the Academia la-lashon ha-'ivrit, the highest authority on modern Hebrew). But what's interesting about that is the extent to which ideology and context play into the whole field of transliteration.

To use the name of another prayer service as an example, look at the morning service. By the logic not-actually-articulated above, I would spell it 'Shaharit,' as the USCJ and the RA do on their respective websites. Open the standard ArtScroll siddur, though, and you'll see a listing for 'Shacharis.' Look at minyan times for a Modern Orthodox shul (LA's Beth Jacob, for instance) and you'll likely see 'Shacharit.' Prominent 'problems' evident here are the letters het (/'chet'/'ches') and tav (/'sof').

I wonder how many of us try to classify the spellers of this one word as soon as we see it in whatever permutation.

To some extent, it's legitimate, and it makes sense. 'Shaharit,' which, as I said, reflects a more academic perspective, would seem to be most consistent with the Conservative value of academic scholarship as the avenue through which an observant lifestyle ought to be studied and understood. At the same time, 'Shacharis' would seem to best reflect the traditional Orthodox tie to the great yeshivot of Eastern Europe, where 'Ashkenazis' reigned and which have, to a great extent, inspired and shaped the current generation. Finally, 'Shacharit' would indeed seem to reflect the Modern Orthodox duality, combining the 'chet' of the Orthodox with the 'tav' of modern scholarship to create a unique combination of contemporary academia and traditional values.

There's no saying I won't resort back to my original spelling in due course. But for now, I'll leave it as is.

Matisyahu ROCKS

Just a brief comment on Matisyahu, the quasi-Rastafarian-turned-ba'al teshuva-turned-hasidic reggae master extraordinaire. I heard him on campus in a Chabad-sponsored appearance two years ago and wasn't overly impressed, mostly because I'm not huge on reggae.

The other night, however, as I was channel surfing at whatever ungodly hour, I saw a mind-blowing thing: there, on MTV, was Matisyahu, crooning about Hashem and Mashiach in an uber-cool video featuring the artist himself bouncing in a billboard as the lyrics danced around him and--yes--a kiruv-y scene at the very end. And the music wasn't half bad, either.

I sort of squinted at the TV, wondering if I had stumbled upon a rerun of the Chabad telethon. But no -- MTV it was.

I've since seen the video of "King Without a Crown" twice more and have visited Matisyahu's page on MTV.com, which features a nice bio that describes his music as a cross between Bob Marley and Reb Shlomele and makes reference to the Carlebach Shul on the Upper West Side.

Now, I don't often get emotional, and certainly never over a music video. But as I watched this video, I felt as if I was about to tear up. This guy is a walking, beat boxing kiddush Hashem. The fact that he can dance around in full Lubavitch garb on a channel that is not particularly known for its divrei Torah, is staggering.

Kol ha-kavod, Matisyahu. You've got yourself a fan.