(no subject)

I made it through Yom Kippur without fainting, throwing up, or falling over!!!

I think the consumption of a large bag of crisps (salt content) and a lot of water, and weaning off caffeine beforehand helped.

We davened at Tehillah, in Boston, which was very nice on the whole. Yom Kippur baffles me somewhat; the concept of sins between man and God is a complicated one if you have problems with the idea that God keeps score. It really seems awfully petty that God would keep score. No good solution just now, I'm afraid. Other fish to fry. You should see the results here soonish :)

(no subject)

Oy vey, translation! There are some words in Rabbinic which just...don't have English equivalents. I'm translating the Mishnah Berurah's rules for writing the letter shin, and he's talking about the left-hand leg (if you don't know what shin looks like, sorry!).

He says: הראש השמאלי הזה יהיה לכתחילה יריכו ממש בעמידה
- that is: ha-rosh ha-smoli ha-zeh yihyeh lekhathilah yereikho mamash be-amidah, or: This left head, its thigh should ideally be mamash standing upright.

It means...well, one might say, "That was mamash a cup of tea" after a particularly satisfying cup, or "He is mamash a good teacher" of a particularly fine teacher. It sort of means "really," but "really" doesn't convey the emphatic certainty of mamash.