Congrats to the Blackhawks

I haven't posted on my blog recently, but congratulations again to the Chicago Blackhawks for winning the Stanley Cup on Monday night in Boston. The Blackhawks scored two goals in the last minute, with goals from Bickell and Bolland to beat Boston 3-2 and win the Stanley Cup. The parade is set for tomorrow morning at the United Center. Patrick Kane won the Conn Smythe Award, which is given to the MVP of the playoffs. It's a little different than the NBA, which gives an award for the Finals, which LeBron James won this year. Congratulations to Gabe Deutsch and other Miami Heat sports fans on their team's NBA championship.

Chicago sports teams- What's good about them

This month the National Hockey League is holding its annual Championship, or Stanley Cup Final. The Stanley Cup Final features the Chicago Blackhawks against the Boston Bruins.

The reason why I am rooting for Chicago is because I like the fact that Chicago teams, when they are at their best, can play like champions.

Let's go back a few weeks to the last game of the Western Conference Semifinals between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings. The game was tied with about two minutes left and Niklas Hjalmarsson scored an apparent go-ahead goal, however there were coincidental penalties on the play, so the goal was disallowed. Eventually the game went into overtime. In the first overtime, Brent Seabrook (aka Seabs) scored the winning goal about four minutes into overtime to win the series for Chicago. Chicago faced adversity, but didn't whine or kvetch about it, and had the resolve and resiliency to make it through and win the game. The 1990's Bulls faced adversity and challenges, yet won 6 NBA titles. The White Sox won a title after nearly blowing a 15 game lead in September.

Let's contrast this with attitude of a champion to some of the Northwest's teams reactions of a disallowed goal, the team would whine and moan, cries of conspiracy theories would abound and the team would lose, whether based in Vancouver, Spokane or Eugene, Oregon.

I'd like to see ONE Northwest team prove me wrong, but I'm not waiting around for it to happen. Regardless of what happens in the next few games between the Hawks and Bruins, Chicago has earned my respect for its sports teams.

Yeshiva High Schools v. Conservative High Schools- which is better

This week's topic is the subject of Orthodox Jewish High Schools, or Yeshiva High Schools as compared with Conservative Jewish High Schools. Which type of school is better and why?

Part of this depends on what your goals are in life. For those who wish to be Rabbis, teachers, social workers, etc. then a Yeshiva High School is great. If you plan on going into fields such as finance or law, I would suggest staying away from the Yeshiva High School and go to a Conservative High School or public school.

In my humble opinion, only a small percentage of Yeshiva High School students truly belong there and truly embody the mission of the high school. Despite my record, I am not sure that I belonged in a Yeshiva High School and may have been better off in a school that's "Conservative" or part of the Schechter movement. One that comes to mind is Chicagoland Jewish High School.

When you have a school with a dress code and rules about boys and girls not getting too close to each other, etc. you are over-regulating the students' lives. Eventually they either really buy into the system or go in a different direction. Very few students have the drive and makeup to totally buy into the Orthodox lifestyle 100%, in my opinion. While it may take a while for the kids to buy into the system, and some kids get really religious and devout after High School in the "Gap Year in Israel", that year may wear off after a while.

I would rather take my chances at a school like the Chicagoland Jewish High School than a school like Ida Crown Jewish Academy, because of the strictures that Orthodox Judaism places upon their students and faculty. From the dress code to the extra-curricular activities, going to a Yeshiva High School would bore me to tears today and I wouldn't want my son or daughter in such an environment.

Additionally, it seems like there's a stigma in being Orthoprax as compared with Orthodox. In other words, it isn't sufficient to go a Yeshiva High School and just do all of the rituals. Some people have the innate desire and drive to be truly Orthodox, but some can only do "Orthoprax". I feel that I am in the latter camp now, whereas when I was younger, I was in the former camp.

People who go to work and study in the outside world are in for a rude awakening when they leave the Orthodox Jewish bubble. Not everyone subscribes to our insular way of doing things. In fact, it's just the opposite.

Many of the good religious kids are nice but socially flawed and have a limited understanding of the outside world, particularly people who are under 35. They don't know what it's like to be religious when 80% of your peers aren't interested in being religious.

If being a religious Jew today means surrendering to the Yeshiva world, then count me out.

Thank you.

Sincerely yours,

Joshua Normand