Intolerance

This may come as a shock to followers of this blog but I think I suffer from a serious case of intolerance. (OTOH, it is good to see Barry Katz blogging because he makes me seem like Mr. open minded). As we head towards Elul, I will endeavor to work on this midah. MHW will be my role model since she has yet to say (nor, I bet, think) a bad word about anyone.

These are among the things that drive me crazy:

1. People who are late to shul
2. When I'm late to shul
3. People who daven for the amud and mumble
4. People who daven for the amud too fast
5. People who daven for the amud too slow
6. People who daven for the amud and don't know the nusach
7. People who smoke and put their arms around me
8. People who dress casually for Shabbos
9. People who live in the U.S., are over the age of 40 and whose ancestors come from Poland yet say Shabbat Shalom instead of Good Shabbos.
10. People who don't return a "good Shabbos" with a "good Shabbos" (or even a Shabbat Shalom)
11. Shiny Shoe music
12. "sefirah albums"
13. People who talk too loudly on cell phones while riding the LIRR
14. People who talk too loudly to each other on the LIRR
15. Anyone who bothers me while I'm riding the LIRR
16. People who say "between you and I"
17. Stupid advertisements in Jewish newspapers
18. Shmarya (most of the time) and Chakira (all of the time)

I'm sure there's more but it's late and I can't think of any more right now.

I will work on becoming more tolerant starting now. It's good to beat the Elul rush.