User:Valley2city
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Personal Vitae
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Personal not-so-Vitae
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[edit] About Me
I'm a 25-year-old Rabbinical student and teacher, also involved in the catering industry, from Los Angeles, CA. I consider myself an expert on matters of Judaism, with a dabbling in the subjects, IRL, of the other WikiProjects (see sidebar) of which I am involved.
[edit] A Wikipedian Theology
When Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden they suddenly developed the ability to know things and to be self-aware. This came at the cost of mortality and decay, that humans would have to toil for their natural lives which would be drastically shortened from eternity to much less. Pain, sorrow, and death are introduced into the world, in exchange for the blissful innocent ignorance. I have posed the question to my students, friends, colleagues, and teachers that "if you were in the position of Adam or Eve and given the choice of whether or not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, knowing the ramifications, would you eat"? Nine times out of ten the answer I have received is "yes".
Increasing knowledge is one of the greatest things given to humanity. I do not believe that there is any sin in what Adam and Eve did. Rather, I believe God placed it in front of them so that they would eat of it. "The sum of human knowledge is the fear of God", writes Ben Sira. It is this for reason that I find Wikipedia so noble a cause and so vital a pursuit. One person cannot know even a small fraction of all knowledge; yet through this collaborative effort, perhaps we can get that much closer to true enlightenment.
And as Rabbi Yehuda ben Teima writes in Pirkei Avot 5:23, "Be bold as the leopard".
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[edit] My contribution to Wikipedia
My major contribution to Wikipedia comes in the form of the WikiProjects of which I am a member, especially those relating to Judaism. In these categories I have created and done very major overhauls in a number of articles (which I will enumerate in the future). I also bill myself as a wikignome (or maybe Obsessive-Compulsive, making tiny edits all over the place, whether considered minor or major. I also tend to follow up edits with other edits (usually more minor) including things I have forgotten after clicking the Save page button. This most often happens on talk pages as I tend to forget to sign the articles with the 4 tildes. As you may be able to tell, I do not have the best organization system, but I do get the job done. I need to improve my style, though I have found methods that work other than the proper ways. My goal here on wiki is to improve the technological aspect as my once-glorious programming skills have grown as archaic as Windows 98.
I am quite passionate about issues regarding Judaism and Israel and love to debate topics relating to these, but I also maintain a semblance of unbias as I write or edit articles on these topics. I think one of the most important things to remember is that Wikipedia is first and foremost is to be a verifiable encyclopedic wiki (it says so right above the Save page button) and it is one thing to be passionate about something (this motivates edits on said topics) but it is another to include your bias within the articles. I am a stickler for policy and will not hesitate to bring up questions about the verifiablity, POV, et al. of any article, though I myself am hesitant (to a fault) to tag a page as such, first desiring an preliminary talk opinion of whether or not we should put one up. I know the foremost policy is to "be bold", but I'm too nice. Well, maybe I'll be more bold now that I have actually written this mini wiki-bio. However, I am highly intolerant of vandalism and I will quickly revert any that I see. I am Pro-IP Profiling and look first at changes on my watchlist for anonymous IPs as those tend to contribute more vandalism (A recent study of the WP:Vandalism Studies concluded that about 97% of vandals are IP users). As such I am also in favor of quicker semi-protection for pages that are either vandalized or edit-warred by anonymous IPs. For other me-related things, there are links in some of my userboxes if you decide to stalk me.
I am beginning to expand my horizons within the Wikiworld, particularly within Wikipedia, utilizing a plethora of tools, including Popups, AWB, and my new personal favorite, Twinkle.
Though my main Wikipedia contributions are in the English edition, I am also known to be a contributor to the Hebrew and Yiddish wikipedias. I also maintain a profile on the Spanish and Simple English wikipedias.
[edit] Administrative aspirations
I think that at some point I might want to become an Admin. I am sometimes frustrated at my lack of ability to make simple changes to vandalism and the relatively delayed process of waiting for an administrator to fulfill the many pressing tasks such as protections, reverting undiscussed and controversial renames, reproving blatant and repeat vandals, and various minutae. One of the things I have done the most here is reverting vandalism. I am frustrated, however, that nothing constructive can come of my revision as I cannot perform tochecha, a Hebrew term for "light and constructive admonition" on the wayward or accidental editor who performed these changes. I would certainly not use my tools for controversial purposes and plan on recusing myself from the final decisions of topics relating to Israel. Yes, I admit I have a bias in support of Israel; everyone has biases. Maybe I have been accused of having a POV. Everyone has a POV! I relegate this point of view to the Talk Pages. In fact, I think the whole reason for Talk pages is to talk, to have discussions on pertinent topics to the article. I enjoy a friendly debate on the nitty-gritty on the Talk Page, but I eternally remain civil, cordial, and constructive (the three Cs) in aspects I may disagree with. I have certain expertise, yes, but that should, all the moreso, be a reason for me to edit articles on which I consider myself somewhat of an expert, only including fact (or in the case of religion, religious beliefs that may turn out to be fact) and leaving POV at the door (or the Talk Page). I think the content of Wikipedia encyclopaedic entries should not contain such biases, however, and I do my utmost to make sure that this is not present in mine or other editors contributions. I don't think I will be focused on the technical aspect of Wikipedia (see the end of my first paragraph). I would like to work with vandalism prevention, protection, and enforcement as well as making tedious changes to whatever needs to be done (I don't mind). So I probably would not reject a well-intentioned RfA nomination.
[edit] Torah Portion of the Week
God told Moses to cleanse the Levites by sprinkling on them water of purification, and making them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes. Moses was to assemble the Israelites around the Levites and cause the Israelites to lay their hands upon the Levites. Aaron was to designate the Levites as an elevation offering from the Israelites. The Levites were then to lay their hands in turn upon the heads of two bulls, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, to make expiation for the Levites. Thereafter, the Levites were qualified for the service of the Tent of Meeting, in place of the firstborn of the Israelites. God told Moses that Levites aged 25 to 50 were to work in the service of the Tent of Meeting, but after age 50 they were to retire and could stand guard but not perform labor.
At the beginning of the second year following the Exodus from Egypt, God told Moses to have the Israelites celebrate Passover at its set time. But some men were unclean because they had had contact with a corpse and could not offer the Passover sacrifice on the set day. They asked Moses and Aaron how they could participate in Passover, and Moses told them to stand by while he listened for God’s instructions. God told Moses that whenever Israelites were defiled by a corpse or on a long journey on Passover, they were to offer the Passover offering on the 14th day of the second month — a month after Passover — otherwise in strict accord with the law of the Passover sacrifice. But if a man who was clean and not on a journey refrained from offering the Passover sacrifice, he was to be cut off from his kin.
Starting the day that the Tabernacle was set up, a cloud covered the Tabernacle by day, and a fire rested on it by night. Whenever the cloud lifted from the Tent, the Israelites would follow it until the cloud settled, and there the Israelites would make camp and stay as long as the cloud lingered.
God told Moses to have two silver trumpets made to summon the community and to set it in motion. Upon long blasts of the two horns, the whole community was to assemble before the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Upon the blast of one, the chieftains were to assemble. Short blasts directed the divisions encamped on the east to move forward, and a second set of short blasts directed those on the south to move forward. As well, short blasts were to be sounded when the Israelites were at war against an aggressor who attacked them, and the trumpets were to be sounded on joyous occasions, festivals, new moons, burnt offerings, and sacrifices of well-being.
In the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle and the Israelites set out on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai to the wilderness of Paran. Moses asked his father-in-law (here called Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite) to come with the Israelites, promising to be generous with him, but he replied that he would return to his native land. Moses pressed him again, noting that he could serve as the Israelites’ guide.
They marched three days distance from Mount Sinai, with the Ark of the Covenant in front of them, and God’s cloud above them by day. When the Ark was to set out, Moses would say: “Advance, O Lord! May Your enemies be scattered, and may Your foes flee before You!” And when it halted, he would say: “Return, O Lord, You who are Israel’s myriads of thousands!”
The people took to complaining bitterly before God, and God ravaging the outskirts of the camp with fire until Moses prayed to God, and then the fire died down.
Moses gathered the 70 elders, and God came down in a cloud, spoke to Moses, and drew upon the spirit that was on Moses and put it upon the elders. When the spirit rested upon them, they spoke in ecstasy, but did not continue. Eldad and Medad had remained in camp, yet the spirit rested upon them, and they spoke in ecstasy in the camp. When a youth reported to Moses that Eldad and Medad were acting the prophet in the camp, Joshua called on Moses to restrain them. But Moses told Joshua: “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord put His spirit upon them!”
A wind from God then swept quail from the sea and strewed them all around the camp, and the people gathered quail for two days. While the meat was still between their teeth, God struck the people with a plague.
Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, saying: “He married a Cushite woman!” and “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” God heard and called Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to come to the Tent of Meeting. God came down in cloud and called out to Aaron and Miriam: “When a prophet of the Lord arises among you, I make Myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; he is trusted throughout My household. With him I speak mouth to mouth, plainly and not in riddles, and he beholds the likeness of the Lord. How then did you not shrink from speaking against My servant Moses!” As the cloud withdrew, Miriam was stricken with snow-white scales. Moses cried out to God, “O God, pray heal her!” But God said to Moses, “If her father spat in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut out of camp for seven days.” And the people waited until she rejoined the camp.
