Esti closed her siddur [HER siddur, the one she received from Rebbetzin Feingold at the High-School graduation and hasn't missed a Shacharis in since, the one with tattered pages that has the paper inside of how many times she was zoiche to use it at the kosel, Chatzos, Vasikin, and just plain the treat! Mincha.] with a satisfied sigh, Seminary in Eretz Yisroel is so special, and looked at her phone.
What?! a call from Mommy in middle of davening?? What time was it in America?? Oy Vey you think something happened?? Oh, she left a message. She sounds smiley, is it a Simcha, did Chavi have the baby already? No.
"Esti, do me a a favor and buy the Binah magazine this week, there's something that you'll really enjoy ^{[to those of you that actually read the binah (and i KNOW some of you do), I'm NOT referring to Etka Gittel Schwartz's epilogoue this week, 'cuz Esti obviously doesn't see the Binah every week, and so missed out on the whole Gella-Rosie-Basheffer story, I'm just giving a Moshol]}! bye, speak to you tomorrow!"
Whew, sigh of relief, that's all! I'll enjoy it, of course I'll buy the Binah, and hey, it's a Mitzva of Kibbud Eim too!
And Hey [with a capital H]! I don't even have to spend any of my hard-earned babysitter money (not that I ch"v charge the heilige struggling Kollel couples who are moser nefesh for torah, of course I do it for free- it's chessed!), I have Ta's Credit Card [that's Capitalized too], And hey! Ma said I'll enjoy it! Didn't I say Seminary in Israel is great, I get to do a Mitzva, for free, and enjoy it!!!

Figure out the Nimshal yourselves....

P.S. this, is a different Esti.

Oh come on!
give us a little help
pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaase.
Im not so good at these riddles.

rabbi TZ,
can we get some male protagonists?
yankel, fishel, getzel, itche, burich, zurich, zanvil, zundel, groinem

and what is the deeper meaning behind the baby-sitting-money-Binah saga?
how about a fishing trip?
good shabbos sir
enjoy the Kayl Adon, Kah Ribon [s]and Oxycodone[/s]

ZemirosShabbos wrote on 18 May 2012 15:02:

Here you go [adapted from Rebbe Nakhman's "Sippurei Maasiyot"]:

Once upon a time there was a great king named "Yankel", he had an only son named "Fishel", King Yankel wanted to coronate Fishel in his lifetime, and so, he made a big Ball [url=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella]Cinderella[/url] wasn't invited].

Now, every time the King made a ball, it was a "King Yankel Extravaganza", and of course this time was understandably an even greater to-do, after all, there was a new king being coronated! And there was all sorts of entertainment and entertainers, cappelas, comedians, and so on and so forth, [Bardichev was there with his ice cream truck] you name it, and it was there!

When all the guests were extremely happy, the King got up and made an announcement:

"Know my dear son, that according to my Star-gazers, your kingdom will not last and you will eventually be toppled from the throne. I therefore instruct you that upon your dethronement you should be very careful not to fall into depression (=atzviss), rather continue to be happy. I will be happy in any case, if you become depressed and fall victim to atzviss, I'll be happy you were removed from the throne, because someone who falls into atzviss is not worthy of being king (are you listening, Fishel?) but if you remain happy, I shall be overjoyed that my Fishel stays happy under all circumstances!"

Prince Fishel accepted his father's rulership and appointed a new Cabinet with new countertops, Ministers, Dukes, and a whole staff to groom the royal flock of Green Elephants. Everyone was very happy under King Fishel's rule.
King Fishel was a wise man, and loved wisdom, whenever a learned scholar came to the Kingdom; he was immediately brought before the king so the king might discuss matters of wisdom with him. In his quest that all of his citizens become wise men, King Fishel introduced a new law requiring everyone to go to university, in addition, he distributed various monetary prizes to all those who graduated with a degree, and so eventually, everyone in the kingdom became very wise and very learned, and all the people would do was sit with books and study all day! Indeed no one in King Fishel's kingdom even remembered how to hold a sword or maneuver a tank, much less take care of an elephant, but they sat immersed in their studies all day long.

The situation was so marvelous that one who was considered the greates boor in King Fishel's kingdom, was considered the wisest man in the neighboring kingdom of Gye.

Eventually though, some of the great scholars, began to spout heretic ideas, and because they were considered such wise men, people began believing them, and so it happened that most of the kingdom, including even its wise king, Fishel, became total Apikorsim.

King Fishel's conscience still ate at him though, and from time to time he would begin to grunt and moan thinking, "What have I become? What will be with me?" and he would moan very deeply indeed, but then, he would begin to think of his great wisdom, and all the heretical ideas would return at once.


Zemmy and Zuggy were two good friends who lived in neighboring GYE. Zemmy had a five year old son named Chaim Yonah, originally he had been named Christopher Robin, but upon Zemmy's wife's insistence, the name had been changed. Zuggy had a four year old daughter named Elka, she too had originally had a goyish name, Alice, but it had been changed upon Zemmy's insistence [you see, Zuggy didn't have a wife]. Both of them secretly harbored a hope that one day their children would marry.

Alas, for their peaceful lives would soon come to an end! Pandemonium broke out in Gye one day, when all of King Fishel's green elephants "flew the coop" so to speak, and escaped over the border to the neighboring kingdom right into their peaceful shtetl [for none of King Fishel's men were adequately trained in the art of controlling green elephants], many of them charging straight down the quiet street where Zuggy and Zemmy lived, Petrified the townsmen abandoned their safek-shack-safek-huts and fled for the safety of the thick woods [which were far too thick for extra obese green elephants].

Sadly, amidst the general chaos, Chaim Yonah and Elka, were somehow misplaced, and the two small children found themselves alone in the terrifying woods… all alone they began to cry, when suddenly a kindly old beggar named "Getzel" came upon them, seeing two children crying, he gave them a bit of (old stale) bread, and asked them how they came about to be wandering alone through the woods.

"I believe I followed a talking rabbit down an endless hole" said Elka.

"Achhh, don't listen to her" little Chaim Yonah said in an authoritative tone, "She's as imaginative as a silly old bear stuffed with fluff! We're small children, we don't know how we got here".

With that Getzel turned and began walking away from them. The children begged that he take them along and watch over them, but he refused, the children then noticed that Getzel was a "Blind Beggar", and wondered how it is that he knew the way despite his blindness, but they didn't think of asking (for even though they were smart enough to notice that it was strange, they didn't think of asking). As Blind Beggar Getzel left, he turned to them and blessed them that they grow up and turn out like him. He left them another few slices of (old stale) bread, and then he was gone.

The clever children realized that the visit of Getzel must have been hashem's way of providing them with sustenance and so, they didn't complain. As the day wore on, they ate up the food, and when night fell they fell asleep (needless to say, Elka had one of those lengthy fantastic dreams, but that's a story for itself).

The next morning dawned bright and early, and the children woke up, upon facing their stark reality, Chaim Yonah and Elka began crying and screaming once again. Just then, another beggar named "Itche" came along, Elka immediately began chattering with him excitedly, However Itche signed to the children that he could not hear, as he was a deaf beggar. "That's just as well" said Elka [and here came her favorite little toss of her head] "It's not as if I mind much talking to myself!"

Itche left them some bread, and after blessing them that they turn out just as him, turned to leave, the children begged to come along, he just ignored them and walked away. [Elka later explained to Chaim Yonah "Of course he left! He didn't hear us begging him!]

Later when this bread was finished too, a beggar called "Burich" [who had an irregular neck] came along and repeated the whole spiel, and so it happened that "Zurich" [who was a hunch-backed beggar] came along, and "Zanvil" who didn't have arms, and "Zundel" who didn't have legs. All of these beggars came along and provided the children with sustenance, blessed them to turn out like themselves, and left.

Eventually when all the food was gone the children somehow found their way to a town and knocked on the first door they saw begging for food, when they received what they asked for they were overjoyed and began to live as beggars, drifting from one place to another…
To be continued....

This reminds me of this:
Blind wrote on 02 Sep 2010 19:18:



That was a lifetime ago.

TZ, i love it! both cause of the honorable mentchen and the honorable mention and the seamless blending of so many streams of literature

i think this calls for profound quote
“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”
― Thomas Jefferson

note: the quote was chosen for its overall profoundness and does not pertain or reflect on our dapper author

totally unrelated
yechida wrote on 27 Oct 2009 18:06:

Recap: The wise King Fishel is coronated by his father at a lavish affair, during which his father, King Yankel, predicts his son's eventual fall from power and admonishes him to remain happy at all costs.
In his quest to enrich the wisdom and scholarship of his kingdom King Fishel and his men totally forget about practicalities which in turn leads to their flock [or herd] of green elephants escaping to neighboring Gye, in the ensuing chaos, Zemmy and Zuggy lose their children, Zemmy's five year old Chaim Yonah, and Zuggy's four year old Elka.
The children however, are not separated and remain in the woods where they are cared for by various disabled/handicapped beggars, Getzel, Itche, Burich, Zurich, Zanvil, Zundel, each of whom blesses the children that they turn out like himself. Eventually the children find their way out of the woods and take up begging to survive…

And so it happened that the children became beggars in every sense [there obviously weren't any of those social services programs we have today], and soon gained quite a reputation amongst the beggars. All of the regional beggars knew the story of the orphaned children-beggars.

And so it happened one day that there was a great fair, and all of the merchants came to the capital city, which of course meant that that was where all the money, and of course it logically followed that that's where all the beggars went. It was at the annual fair when "Groinem" had his heyday, Groinem too, was renowned amongst his fellow beggars, he was the oldest most respected beggar, the undisputed king!

thanks TZ!
(nuuuuu... when's the next installment?)

Official Post:

So, after having a terrible week, I fell on Wednesday, didn't tell anyone about it, so I am now. Ummm I'm seriously considering SA meetings [gasp] right after Yom Tov, because frankly, I'm just falling deeper and deeper. I have resolved to work on weeding out any negative thoughts as they approach, and dwell less on "shtuyot".

Good idea, TZ. Go for it.

TZ,
SA meetings for me are/were the key to recovery. i could white knuckle with the best of them but the difference between a day sober and a sober day only came about after i started attending meetings.
They might work for you too.
Have you followed the progression list in the handbook?
If A works fine, if not go on to B. If B works fine, if not go on to C etc...
Hope you find the right combination for you to live a life in recovery.

Hatzlacha in all things GOOD.
chaimyakov

Wow! I haven't posted in ages! My thread was moved onto page 2 of the board! [I just bounced it right back up again though]

So Gevurah PM'd me for a "Fishel-Post", I'm not continuing that story, 'cuz all Zemmy asked for was that I use those characters, and I did, all of them, any one interested in the story can read the original hebrew here or check out the english here and here. Now for an

Official Post:
I'm on Day 11, Shavuos was awesome, uplifting and holy [Plus! I was accosted by the Ben Durdayalach- whom I met in the street, turns out Rabbi Ben Durdye was my almost-next-door-neighbor on shavuos when he was Oleh Regel to Yerushalayim, so that was nice, but there were a lot of other nice parts too]. So was this Shabbos [at least according to [url=http://www.guardyoureyes.org/forum/index.php?topic=2893.msg138709#msg138709]Blind Beggar[/url]]. Overall I'm doing ok.
What am I doing for "Recovery"?
Not SA meetings... yet. I made a Chavrusa with an [older and respected (almost zaidy-like)] GYE Member to study the handbooks on the phone + I have more exciting news, but I'll leave that for later (because it is unrelated to recovery, although it is related in a way).

Ooooh, we can't wait to hear your exciting news.
Hashem also agrees that this Shabbos was great and anyone who wants to know can look on my thread over here: www.guardyoureyes.org/forum/index.php?topic=2893.msg138709#msg138709