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Posts Tagged ‘twitter’

Why Blogging Is Good

Aug 17th, 2010
by rabbifink.
4 comments

On Twitter, someone (HT below) linked to this Verizon ad. I confess to never seeing the ad on TV but I commend Verizon for putting their ads on YouTube. Sometimes ads are art. This is one of those times.

I also admit to using Verizon for absolutely zero services. I don’t like them very much, I think their logo is dated, their name is weird and their customer service is deplorable. But I know a good ad when I see one.

Do I think this ad translates into sales? Probably not.

It remains an excellent piece of art. (more…)

What Does The Word ‘Wife’ Mean?

Mar 26th, 2010
by rabbifink.
4 comments

What does it mean to be a good wife?

That’s a question NY Times columnist (Lisa Belkin) wants to answer.

I posed the question to some of the mother / wife types that I know on Twitter and a very interesting conversation ensued. Jessica Gottlieb wrote a wonderful post in response to the article.

According to this NY Times columnist women don’t want to be called a wife anymore.

That is a pretty broad statement. Further, part of what is great about 2010 is that we are not contsrained to traditional notions and roles. But (more…)

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

Nov 26th, 2009
by rabbifink.
2 comments
Photo: Flickr/cortniedee.

Photo: Flickr/cortniedee.

A few days ago a photo was posted on Twitter by the NBA. Somehow, this photo has been on my mind since I saw it.

In sports, two teams oppose each other under the pretense that they are enemies. Their fans may even dislike one another, (see Celtics / Lakers, Yankees / Red Sox, UNC / Duke, etc,) but in the end, athletes are mostly friendly with each other. Even when athletes get upset or physical with one another, they can remain friends (see Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest).

In the real world, people have a harder time getting along. People divide along political lines, religious lines and country lines. (more…)

Matisyahu, NBC and The Olympic Winter Games Make A Great Team

Nov 4th, 2009
by rabbifink.
2 comments

Matisyahu-One_DayI first heard of Matisyahu while working as a Campus Rabbi at USC. The Jewish students on campus were really into his music (this was ~5 years ago) and some of my students invited me to join them at a Matisyahu concert.

He was performing at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood which was right near my home. I went and it was really cool. The music was great, the message was equally wholesome and the connection that I got to build with my students was profound.

I liked it enough that I took my wife to a Matisyahu show at the American Jewish University a few weeks later. It was a bad venue for a concert. It was more like a movie theater than the right venue for a reggae concert. Still, we enjoyed the music.

I knew that Matisyahu had made it, when (more…)

No God Is Top Trending Topic On Twitter

Oct 20th, 2009
by rabbifink.
1 comment

fail_whaleTwitter has a sidebar with the top trending topics on Twitter at any given moment.

As of this very second the #1 Trending Topic on Twitter is “No God“.

I just thought that was really interesting.

And that is a good reason for a “Fail Whale” to lead this post… (more…)

Twitter Your Prayers

Sep 18th, 2009
by rabbifink.
4 comments

rosh hashana hashanah twitter bird shofar

This Post Has Been Cross Posted to DovBear.

The morning before Rosh Hashana there is a custom to recite extended Slichos in Shul.

Led by Gary Dalin, the services this morning were wonderful. Thank you Gary.

The Slichos are mostly Medieval era poetry designed to arouse the soul within to make amends for all wrongs committed during the year. As we approach the judgment of Rosh Hashana we bolster our efforts in securing a good verdict with the extra Slichos.

As the Slichos are written using a complex, poetic formula it is necessary to use a prayer book with translated versions of the Slichos to help us understand what we are reading in the original Hebrew.

Sometimes, the translations are nearly as difficult to understand as the original. There was one very familiar word found in Slicha #38. (more…)

Authentic Judaism and Authentic Charity

Sep 8th, 2009
by rabbifink.
No comments yet

announcementThis post is really two Public Service Announcements.

Please read both and if you are able to help in any way possible, it is much appreciated.

One great thing about blogging is the opportunity to connect with other people for the sake of an important cause. Today, I present you with two important causes. (more…)

Book Review | The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook

Aug 27th, 2009
by rabbifink.
2 comments

Facebook Founder Mark ZuckerbergYesterday I flew from New York to Los Angeles. We got to the airport just under 3 hours before our flight. This is a direct result of missing a few flights in the last few years. We always err on the side of caution.

I stopped in a Hudson Books to peruse the available reading material. Prominently displayed was a new book by Ben Mezrich called “The Accidental Billionaires“. I am a big fan of Mezrich having read, Busting Vegas, Rigged and of course Bringing Down the House (I recommend all those books). I took a look at the book and discovered it was about the founding and founders of Facebook.

I bought the book.

(more…)

Elul Begins With A Warning | Anonymous Bloggers Take Note: Google Knows Your Every Move

Aug 21st, 2009
by rabbifink.
11 comments

A little while back I contributed a decent post to DovBear that generated an impressive response from legions of commenters on DovBear. The post was a comparison of anonymous vs. onymous blogging.

I argued that by blogging about important things anonymously, they are less effective and only perpetuate the near censorship of right-wing Orthodox Judaism. Some went on to call anonymous blogging cowardly.

In the discussion that ensued I conceded that quite possibly, better conversation can be had anonymously and I admitted that for a blog like DovBear, the unfortunate reality is that anonymity is the preferable choice.

Something left undiscussed was the reality that DovBear is not anonymous. Google, who hosts his blog, knows exactly who he is, where he lives and presumably, has access to all his email, searches and web history. Until a few days ago, one may have assumed that their information was safe with Google.

Not anymore.

(more…)

Rabbi Zelik Epstein, Of Blessed Memory

Aug 4th, 2009
by rabbifink.
5 comments

Yesterday, the Jewish world lost a spiritual giant (good article worth reading). Rabbi Zelik Epstein, Rosh Yeshiva of Shaar Hatorah in Queens passed away. He was 97.

R’ Zelik was a relic of the past. He studied Torah in Europe with some the greatest Torah scholars of recent American Jewry, including Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and Rabbi Yaakov Kamanetsky.

Perhaps even more significantly, he was above the fray. He did not get involved in politics and instead, studied, taught and advised and preached Torah and its values.

(more…)

A Happy 2009 Birthday

Jul 17th, 2009
by rabbifink.
3 comments

Yesterday was my birthday.

I am not huge “birthday guy”. I love my children’s birthday more than my own birthday and my mother loves my birthday more than I do.

A lot of people know my birthday. Co-workers, family and friends all know my birthday. This year I got a ton of birthday wishes.

But it was different.

(more…)

Onymous Blogging

Jul 1st, 2009
by rabbifink.
7 comments

This post has been cross-posted to DovBear. – more discussion there.

Social Networking has been around for a long time. The term is nearly two centuries old and the concept perhaps 30 times that.

With the internet explosion around the new millennium social networking became all the rage on the world wide web. MySpace and others blazed the trail. Now, blogging, Facebook and Twitter are an integral part of our social landscape.

Naturally, I was drawn to these new age ways of using technology to create social networks. I’ve been on Facebook since its inception five years ago and joined Twitter a while ago and have only recently begun to blog.

Over the last few weeks some incredible things have happened that are direct results of social networking online. (more…)

Where Is The Outrage? | The Plight of Middle Eastern Jewry

Jun 10th, 2009
by rabbifink.
6 comments

This post has been cross posted to DovBear – great discussion there.

Do Anglo/American Jews care enough about our middle-eastern Jewish brothers and sisters?

Yesterday DovBear posted a really great Op-Ed piece from the NY Times.

In fact. before checking his blog I even emailed the article to him as I assumed he would find it interesting.

Of course, I was too late as it had already been posted!

What occurred subsequent to his posting of the article was even more interesting. (more…)

Your Unique Voice and A Kafkaesque Experience

Apr 13th, 2009
by rabbifink.
3 comments

Last week, Facebook disabled my account. No explanation, no reason, no apology, just gone.

There are terms that each member of Facebook agrees to abide by and I have not violated any of those terms. I have emailed Facebook asking for an explanation or at the very least an acknowledgement that my account has been disabled. So far… nothing. (more…)