I, Bas~Melech, do hereby tag the entire J-blogosphere to take up the following challenge:
Write one (1) original Purim Torah without deriding any Jew or Jewish sect/group (good-natured teasing permitted). As it is a bit late in the season to start this kind of game, post-Purim-Torahs are also welcome.
Bonus points will be awarded to anyone who can talmudically prove that blogging is a mitzvah.
Here is a kasha to get you started, but feel free to improvise:
In the classic song, I'm a Little Teapot, verse 6 commands: "When I start to boil, take me out."
From what, exactly, does the little teapot wish to be taken out? Was it ever in something? One can also use the expression of "taking out" from under something, but the accepted custom is to boil teapots over a flame.
(Or perhaps she is begging for a date?)
You may also wish to explore the curious switching of the narrative: Whereas the singer claims to be a teapot, he or she then goes on to use verbs that would more likely pertain to the water or tea within a teapot: "When I... boil," "...pour me out."
I see endless possibilities here, but I'll give you a go at it first.
Now go tag all your friends -- the more, the merrier. And if you take up the challenge, please link us to your Purim Torah in the comments.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Purim Torah Tag
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12 comments:
I'm not sure what version (minhag) of the song you are singing, but the wikipedia official (equivalent to the shulchan aruch) version does not contain that verse.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'm_a_Little_Teapot
I thought it was "When I start to boil, hear me shout."
Anyway, Purim Torah... I'm on it.
Ah, what a relief. You have set my mind at ease. I wonder if I should take legal action against my preschool teachers...
Anyway, the second question still holds: I'm having difficulty performing "pour me out" bidieved as my teapot is quite solid and doesn't pour easily. Can we consider the tea an extension of the pot?
The nussach I learned as a child goes, "When I get all steamed up, hear me shout."
Just sayin'.
blogging isn't a mitzvah so it can't be proven. try proving that the sky is beneath us, that computers are edible food, that purple is the color of water, that purim falls out in june, etc.
but how blogging can be a mitzvah, you wanna know?
1A. it helps us against committing the sin of "lo sin'af" (after reading what ppl kvetch about, there is no reason to be jealous of anyone at all)
1B. it thereby reinforces hakaras hatov (never felt more appreciative for things after reading these sorts of blogs)
thinking....
BM - you're confusing "i'm a little teapot" with "i'm a little latke"
but hey! chanukah on purim is OK at my end. we say al hanisim anyway...
:P
Frum Jews believe in the Torah. We are described as Torahdik if we do so. We are told in Shema "v'dibartoh bom." Blogging is one type of speech. Frum blogs contain speech about frum subjects. Our words on a blog are therefore representative of who we are, which is Torahdike Jews. Therefore, if we blog we are fulfilling the mitzvah of speaking as frum Jews.
Sigh, still a lot of holes in this but somewhere in it is a kernel of Purim Torah.
My shpiel is not exactly purim torah, but it's a shpiel none the less
Mine isnt either Torah...
but its a Purim post..
Happy Shushan Purim to you...BM
lolllllllll re the little teapot pilpul!
much appreciated :)
ok to prove that blogging is a mitzvah. fine so im making this up as i go along but here goes. the rambam in hilchos ishus states that when a man betroths a woman, he must say harei at mekudeshet li. its a dispute amongst the rishonim whether the lashon is maakev meaning whether not saying it will disqualify the betrothal. in so far as terumos and maasrot are concerned though, ones thoughts are enough to enact a chalos meaning to say that thought is the causitive factor. this being true we see that in certain circumstance word is more important than thought. we also know that a man could betroth a woman through a shtar or written document without verbally saying anything since the written word says it all. hence we have 3 steps, 1)though 2)word 3)written word. we could derive from here that written word for the sake of a mitzvah is affectual and in certain circumstances better than a simple thought left unspoken or unshared. now lets assume that a man betroths a woman through his blog and the woman in question accepts his proposal through the blogosphere...could this have halachic ramifications (assuming ofcourse eidim, witnesses are present) if you hold that bloggin holds the same significance as a shtar then it shold be good. assumign that this last point is true, we then see that blogging can hold legal halachic ramifications insofar as a shtar is concerned. the midrash tanchuma points out that the torah should be looked at as a wedding document between the jews and hashem and therefore the torah is a shtar. now if we were to take the torah which is a shtar and take the blogosphere which could be used as a shtar, we could now build a binyan av where the common factors are combined showing that writing torah on a blog is equivalent to matan har sinai and we are simply perpetuating the marriage contract between ourselves and god, could there be a bigger mitzvah?!
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