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"There must be some way out of
here,' said the joker to the thief,
'There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth.'
'No reason to get excited,' the thief, he
kindly spoke,
'There are many here among us who feel that life is but a
joke.
But you and I we've been through that, and this is not our
fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late.'
All along the Watchtower, Princes kept
the view,
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants too.
Outside in the cold distance, a wildcat did growl,
Two riders were approaching, and the wind began to howl."
- Bob Dylan
My Brother Alephs,
There are many things that have occurred in regards to the
chapter or AZA/BBYO as a whole in the past month such as my
being censored (I am no longer allowed to use sexual
innuendoes), or the MIT/AIT fiasco, among other things. But I
felt than one issue that is detrimental to the fate of this
chapter and AZA in our region as a whole - the ridiculous,
over-blown rivalry with Abe. C.
It is almost
disgusting how bad it is getting and I hope that you see the
message about this rivalry that Bob Dylan has so kindly
presented us. I feel that in this struggle, the joker and the
thief represent the contrasting spirits in Mandel Bloomfield
AZA #121. The views that the joker represents are those of the
Alephs who rue the way that the members (I am hesitant to use
the words "Brother Alephs" at this moment) of Abe.
C. are always trying to diminish what we do that is good and
even try and steal programs and ideas from us (hence, drinking
our wine). They are also always giving us feces (no innuendo)
whenever we do something wrong and always try to demean our
chapter, bringing no light onto the fact that whatever we did
had good intentions in the first place (plowing our earth).
Them doing this serves a few purposes for them. They are
trying to put us down to try and make us feel bad and make
themselves think that they are better than us, and they try
and diminish the good things that we do to try and convince to
their members that what we do is not good. Whenever we do
something wrong, they always give us uphill and make fun of us
and not help us get through it because they have so many
problems and internal strife that they get ecstatic when
something bad happens to us (I would just like to bring light
onto the fact that this only represents the views of a few
Alephs on one side of the problem and, as you may know,
"it takes two to tango"). I'm going to finish with
the first stanza, but not before I mention that them doing
this (and what ever they feel that we are doing to start it)
does not represent the goals of our organization as a whole so
please do not respond to anything that they do. Remember that
two of our Seven Cardinal Principles are Conduct and Fraternity.
As Alephs in Mandel Bloomfield you must never be too bold,
never too forward, ever humble, and ever observing the
principles of gentlemen. We must also have a spirit of
sociability, cooperation, and friendship toward all AZA's that
shall make us one fellowship. Clearly, somewhere along the
line in the past ten years, the goals of our two chapters have
become backward and I am surprised that no Regional Director
or Regional Board Member ever addressed this. So it is up to
us to find a way to remedy this to benefit both chapters as a
whole.
The thief,
representing the views of others in our chapter, sympathizes
with the joker, adding that he (the joker) is not the only one
who considers the situation absurd, but warns him against
letting such stupid matters prey upon his mind, since there
are far more pressing matters to be addressed. What these
matters are, are the major concerns for our chapter that do
not pertain to some stupid rivalry with another chapter (we
must work hard to once again make Mandel Bloomfield AZA #121
The Greatest Chapter in the Order). The consequences for
letting this rivalry prey upon us are made clear in the brief
outline sketched in the final verse, which draws upon the
prophet Isaiah's prediction to the fall of Babylon, in Isaiah
21, 6-9:
"For thus
hath the Lord said unto me: Go, set a watchman; let him
declare what he seeth! And he saw a chariot with a pair of
horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he
hearkened diligently without much heed. And he cried as a
lion: 'My Lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the
daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights.' And behold,
there came a chariot of men, a pair of horsemen. And he spoke
and said: 'Fallen, fallen is Babylon. And all the graven
images of her gods are broken unto the ground.'"
In the face of this howling, apocalyptic wind approaching
(which is signifying the destruction of AZA in this region),
it is far more important, the thief suggests, to seek a remedy
for the situation rather than mindless squabbling. It is for
this reason that we have taken the first peaceful step forward
and have coordinated a joint board meeting between those of
Mandel Bloomfield AZA #121 and Abe. C. on November 8, at 7:15
at the JCC. ALL ALEPHS WHO FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT THE ISSUE AND
FEEL THAT THEY HAVE PRODUCTIVE INSIGHT TO CONTRIBUTE ARE
RECOMMENDED TO ATTEND. I am also calling for a halt of all
Abe. C. bashing, and this pertains to all of our Alephs. We
must be the ones who are not creating more problems, but are
looking to find the solutions. I hate to say this, but we must
all start to share the views of the thief. Remember that all
of you are Alephs - a male Jewish youth searching endlessly
for the right in this order and the ways to make it better. I
feel that the only way that we can finally all work together
toward a common good is through AIT training. We must instill
in our AIT's what AZA is really about. We must get our new,
younger members to love the Aleph Zadik Aleph, not just be
fueled by some stupid rivalry. Concerning the AIT's, it must
be our goal for the first part of the month (other than
diminishing the rivalry with Abe. C.) to get them to have the
Seven Cardinal Principles not only in their minds, but in
their hearts.
Now that I've finished my manifesto, I would like to talk
about next month's programming, which covers all the
five-folds and looks to be one of Mandel Bloomfield's greatest
ever. I ended off the last paragraph by speaking about the
AIT's loving the Seven Cardinal Principles because this month
we have our final AIT training program on the 7th where we
will teach the little ones about the Seven Cardinal
Principles, Up You Men, and the Five Folds, among other
things. It is very important that everybody in our chapter
knows all the words to Up You Men as it is a great feeling at
conventions when our chapter is the only one in the region
that knows the words. On the 3rd of this month it is my
birthday, and the next night we are having our 2nd general
business meeting which everybody should attend. There will be
cake and candy and I'd like my horn to be blown a bit (no
sexual innuendoes there), so for silly business do something
funny about me. This month our floor-hockey season gets into
full swing with more games. I was very impressed with the play
of many of our AIT's (and Roni) and hope that they can bring
some of those skills to Fallboy, which is coming up at the end
of the month. We're going to kick behind in basketball and
especially in hockey. For the first time in my AZA career, I
would like to drink from Lord Stanley's Cup. And just for
Adam, I will continue the "metaphor," which will be
running for the 5th, non-consecutive year: "Mandel
Bloomfield without Stanley's Cup is like Dykstra without his
steroids or the Frames without a goalie or Peewee without his
playhouse or ..." Speaking of Fallboy, on the 21st, we
have a basketball practice where we will be gearing up for
Myran and Abe. C. and Baloban and Calgary. We will once again
cover the athletic fold with gaga against Abe. C. on the 18th.
And we have a social program with Ahava sometime and another
Potluck Shabbas (please call me if we can use your house). All
of these programs will be amazing, but the one that will make
me most proud is Mandel Bloomfield's first ever Initiation of
AIT's into our chapter and our order as Alephs. This will
truly be a momentous occasion and all of the parents and
friends of the AIT's will be invited. And, oh yes,
refreshments will be served.
Truly, this month's
programming will be amazing. All the five-folds will be
covered. But a mature Aleph, wise in the ways of the Aleph
Zadik Aleph, may notice that there are only four areas of
programming that I have spoken of. But which is the one that
is missing? There are five-folds in the programming of AZA.
How many can you remember? I bet that the hardest one for you
to remember, and the one that most rarely appears on your
calendars, is community service. Community service is an
important part of the five-fold and full program of AZA. Doing
work in the community not only increases our standing in the
community (which we really need to do), but can also make you
feel pretty good about yourself. Whether we do things like
raising money for Jewish Family Services, walk for the cancer
society, play basketball with wheelchair athletes, or collect
food for the Bissel Center, we must learn to program in this
fold. It is for this reason that I am proud to say that last
month, Mandel Bloomfield AZA #121 participated in what will be
one of many community service programs when we aided the Beth
Israel Synagogue in helping them pack-up for their move to the
west-end. And this month, I am even more proud to say, we are
selling Chanukah greetings on November 8th (the same day as
our joint business meeting), whose proceeds will go to Jewish
Family Services, and we are attending, and hopefully
participating in the community memorial service for
Kristallnacht on November 9th. But there is still one program
that I have failed to mention - a program that everybody must
attend as it signifies the real reason that we are here today
and have an Aleph Zadik Aleph to go to - the attending of the
Remembrance Day Memorial Service on November 11th at 10:30 at
the Jewish Cemetery, where we will lay a wreath beside the
monument to the great Menachem Mendel Bloomfield, who gave his
life to ensure our freedom. It is of the utmost importance
that everyone attends this program. Please call me if you need
a ride or have any other questions or concerns about matters
regarding our beloved Mandel Bloomfield AZA #121.
Fraternally Submitted,
With Undying Love For
The business meeting where
I can use sexual innuendoes,
Sharon not letting me using sexual
innuendoes in my releases, My Bubbie
telling me to not send out releases
containing sexual innuendoes to AIT's,
Corcky changing the photo-copying
password so I can't send out a release that
contains - yup, you guessed it - sexual
innuendoes, and the wise Alephs of
Mandel Bloomfield AZA #121
who have the utmost compassion for
those who are not fortunate enough
to have an Aleph Zadik Aleph to go to
Jonah B. Mozeson
Chapter Aleph Godol,
Mandel Bloomfield AZA #121,
1999-2000
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