Update Regarding This Blog
The blogging has really slowed down here. I'm not feeling the same passion to write as usual, even regarding subjects I love reading & writing about (like Rav Avigdor Miller's divrei Torah on the parsha).
I'm not even completely sure why.
Yes, life events happen and they take up time & energy (both mental, emotional, and physical).
But I'm thinking maybe it's more that Hashem is answering my prayers about emotionally disconnecting from the Internet.
After all, I suddenly started feeling a lack of "oomph" to do much online recently, whether it's email or reading...although for some reason, I've gotten very into listening to shiurim on Torah Anytime, which is something I usually have a hard time finding time for because I've a desktop computer, not a phone traveling with me for mobile listening.
So maybe it's that.
And that probably sounds weird to some people because I'm not exactly so connected in the first place. For example, I've got one of the tightest filters in the world (Netfree) and I don't have a cell phone or any social media.
But as Rav Itamar Schwartz frequently mentions, a key problem with the Internet is FEELING connected to it & DESIRING that connection.
Meaning, if you have the choice between hearing a shiur from a non-Internet device and hearing one while connected online to a device (and it's exactly the same shiur with the exact same quality on either device), toward which one do you find yourself pulled?
For many of us, we feel pulled toward davka the shiur connected to the Internet rather than the MP3 or cassette player (again, with the theoretic option of the same shiur being available with equal quality on either device).
It's not something to feel depressed or bad about, but just something to be aware of:
Most of us feel pulled to do stuff online (and NOT just for convenience) even when the same opportunity presents itself offline...and we usually lack any recognition of this discrepancy.
But back to the original topic...I have a couple of posts mostly written that are just sitting around neglected. Hopefully, I'll get to them soon. Maybe a short one, at least.
All in all, I don't know exactly why I'm feeling this way.
However, I am feeling good about not being online so much. And I'm curious to see where this takes me...
I'm not even completely sure why.
Yes, life events happen and they take up time & energy (both mental, emotional, and physical).
But I'm thinking maybe it's more that Hashem is answering my prayers about emotionally disconnecting from the Internet.
After all, I suddenly started feeling a lack of "oomph" to do much online recently, whether it's email or reading...although for some reason, I've gotten very into listening to shiurim on Torah Anytime, which is something I usually have a hard time finding time for because I've a desktop computer, not a phone traveling with me for mobile listening.
So maybe it's that.
And that probably sounds weird to some people because I'm not exactly so connected in the first place. For example, I've got one of the tightest filters in the world (Netfree) and I don't have a cell phone or any social media.
But as Rav Itamar Schwartz frequently mentions, a key problem with the Internet is FEELING connected to it & DESIRING that connection.
Meaning, if you have the choice between hearing a shiur from a non-Internet device and hearing one while connected online to a device (and it's exactly the same shiur with the exact same quality on either device), toward which one do you find yourself pulled?
For many of us, we feel pulled toward davka the shiur connected to the Internet rather than the MP3 or cassette player (again, with the theoretic option of the same shiur being available with equal quality on either device).
It's not something to feel depressed or bad about, but just something to be aware of:
Most of us feel pulled to do stuff online (and NOT just for convenience) even when the same opportunity presents itself offline...and we usually lack any recognition of this discrepancy.
But back to the original topic...I have a couple of posts mostly written that are just sitting around neglected. Hopefully, I'll get to them soon. Maybe a short one, at least.
All in all, I don't know exactly why I'm feeling this way.
However, I am feeling good about not being online so much. And I'm curious to see where this takes me...
Update Regarding Covid in Eretz Yisrael
Last week, I wrote this post saying that after a couple of months of the news reporting a sharp rise of covid in Israel, I neither saw nor heard of any cases of covid specifically, nor did my family know of any anywhere:
Why is My Personal Experience the Diametric OPPOSITE of the News Reports?
And yeah, it could be that colds or viruses going around are actually undiagnosed covid (though the yeshivah virus is not covid), but undiagnosed covid wouldn't be included in the recorded covid cases because, well, it's unrecorded and undocumented.
Yet as of around 3 days ago, I'm hearing of covid cases popping up in our community or among the circle of acquaintances around the country.
So just wanted to be honest about all that.
Rav Itamar Schwartz said that covid will not completely disappear until Mashiach comes. But it won't always be so strongly felt. Its presence will strengthen & weaken in cycles.
Please see here:
https://question.bilvavi.net/blog/2021/08/24/14908-has-the-world-returned-to-normal/
Sort of like recently, when (except for mask mandates in pharmacies and the like) it felt like covid had finally gone...even though it hadn't.
But when covid shifts into the weakened part of its cycle, one barely feels its presence.
Regarding reports of a covid spike even when you see no such occurrence yourself, here's a Q&A from Rav Itamar Schwartz. (He refers to specifically the Israeli government, but I've no idea if this applies to all governments.):
Why is My Personal Experience the Diametric OPPOSITE of the News Reports?
And yeah, it could be that colds or viruses going around are actually undiagnosed covid (though the yeshivah virus is not covid), but undiagnosed covid wouldn't be included in the recorded covid cases because, well, it's unrecorded and undocumented.
Yet as of around 3 days ago, I'm hearing of covid cases popping up in our community or among the circle of acquaintances around the country.
So just wanted to be honest about all that.
Rav Itamar Schwartz said that covid will not completely disappear until Mashiach comes. But it won't always be so strongly felt. Its presence will strengthen & weaken in cycles.
Please see here:
https://question.bilvavi.net/blog/2021/08/24/14908-has-the-world-returned-to-normal/
Sort of like recently, when (except for mask mandates in pharmacies and the like) it felt like covid had finally gone...even though it hadn't.
But when covid shifts into the weakened part of its cycle, one barely feels its presence.
Regarding reports of a covid spike even when you see no such occurrence yourself, here's a Q&A from Rav Itamar Schwartz. (He refers to specifically the Israeli government, but I've no idea if this applies to all governments.):
Is There Really A New Wave of Corona Now?
QUESTION:
When the Rav was recently asked if the new wave of corona is a real concern or not, the Rav answered that it is partially true and partially false. I can understand that it is partially a real concern, but what did the Rav mean that it is partially false? Haven’t people died from it so far?
ANSWER:
The details of the current situation are partially a real concern and partially fabricated – sometimes a little fabricated, and sometimes largely fabricated.
Part [of the reason of why the current corona situation is exaggerated] is due to a lack of thinking and understanding [on the government’s part], part of it is being done on purpose by the government because of all kinds of agendas they have, and also because of politics, money, trying to weaken religion in Israel, a desire of the government to take more control over the country, etc.
https://question.bilvavi.net/blog/2021/08/24/14901-is-there-really-a-new-wave-of-corona-now/
Just for clarity, the rav states that while some of the problems of covid DO exist—people HAVE died from it, people HAVE experienced complications from it—at the same time, aspects of the covid situation ARE being exaggerated.
And the fabricated, exaggerated aspects derive from the following (according to the above Q&A)...
Unintentional fabrications & exaggerations due to:
Intentional fabrications & exaggerations due to:
And the fabricated, exaggerated aspects derive from the following (according to the above Q&A)...
Unintentional fabrications & exaggerations due to:
- a lack of thinking on the government’s part
- a lack of understanding on the government’s part
Intentional fabrications & exaggerations due to:
- all kinds of agendas possessed by the Israeli government
- politics
- money
- trying to weaken religion in Israel
- a desire of the government to take more control over the country
- Etc.
May Hashem please keep us all in robust physical & mental health, and may Hashem please shine the light of Geula on us all.
A sunset over the Negev in Eretz Yisrael
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