A Bit about My Raison D'Etre (if I need one...)

אַ֥שְֽׁרֵי־הָאִ֗ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֤ר ׀ לֹ֥א הָלַךְ֮ בַּעֲצַ֪ת רְשָׁ֫עִ֥ים וּבְדֶ֣רֶךְ חַ֭טָּאִים לֹ֥א עָמָ֑ד וּבְמֹושַׁ֥ב לֵ֝צִ֗ים לֹ֣א יָשָֽׁב׃


"HAPPY IS the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the scornful."--Psalms 1:1 (JPS translation)


With the FSM as my witness, I am that scornful that this verse is talking about.


Although I plan on balancing things out in this blog and speaking on many subjects, I'm told I tend to gravitate to the sacred a bit too often for a man who rejects it.  Thus, knowing that I will be doing this a lot, I figured I might as well begin with the first verse in Psalms.

The Hebrew word that translates to "scoffer" in this verse is לֵ֝צִ֗ ("letz").  Another definition for this word is clown.  But in this context, we're not talking about party clowns, circus-folk, or Shakespearean fools.  R. Eliyahu Dessler even extends the definition to include people who are too lazy to study Torah or do Mitvot (to be righteous, if you will).  But let me stick to the more simple definition--the scoffer.


And so, dear reader, I am giving Acher a bit of a new twist--my twist.  Those of you who have read Milton Steinberg's masterpiece As a Driven Leaf (which I will reference a lot) know that he perceived Acher as being a total Stoic; one who could not reconcile his passions with the faith he was raised in or the hyper-Hedonistic lifestyle that was rampant in Antioch, which was the 4th biggest city in the Roman Empire during his time.  


In my iteration, Acher is a bit of a לֵ֝צִ֗, a scoffer if you will.  Though many of the topics Acher will be addressing are of a serious nature, the author of this blog has reached a point in his career where he no longer takes a good deal of things too seriously.  Sometimes, laughter is the best medicine.  And so, consider this blog part serious exegesis and part parody.


And how do you tell which I am utilizing at any given moment?  Well, thanks to dear old Poe's Law, you may never know.  Consider this part of the fun and challenge of me writing a blog and you reading my blog.  While I will try to remain as lucid as possible as often as possible, I still have quite a bit of kinks to work out in my writing style.  I guess as I blog more, as I find my voice more, things should fall into place.


But until then, take nothing I say too seriously.  Unless I preempt it with thou shalt now take me seriously--don't even take that seriously!


Peace.  And Happy Monday.