DAS Blog

Hello Readership (however many you are: two? three? ...)

I am back from Yom Kippur followed by a post-Yom Kippur weekend. I have some thoughts from Yom Kippur, but I must get caffeinated first.

I cannot seem to find them (my googling skills are not so good), but Machzor Hadash, used by my Hillel, has some good Chassidic stories to ponder. If you can get a hold of it, consider the story of Rebbe Levi Yitzchak and whether the price of Salvation could be the life of Haim the washerman. Consider even the names of the characters and the questions asked: whose fault is it that we sin? Can the life of Life who washes us be what it takes to free us from sin?

I always wonder -- with the Dionysian leaders whose exploits are told in almost impenetrable allegories: is there any connection between Hassidism and Zen?