Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Dreams 101

I had a very odd dream last night -- I was transported back [in time?] to Yeshiva College, and was required to attend a course in English Composition.

I was unsure why I had to take the course as it seemed apparent to that I had already fulfilled the requirement for graduation. I raised all sorts of issues to the professor who replied "those are advanced topics, we won't be discussing those in the framework of this course." The dream seemed to drag on and on, and I found the whole experience rather weird.

It could be that Yeshiva College has been on my mind because of the largest fraud in the history of the universe, committed by Bernard Madoff (trustee of Yeshiva University and Chairman of YU's business school) -- and the involvement of J. Ezra Merkin -- the scion of a philanthropic family known for its support of Modern Orthodox causes and also a YU trustee and chairman of YU's investment committee. The email letter I received (in triplicate) from YU's president, Richard Joel was reassuring about YU's financial future (depsite someone on YC's campus rumor-mongering that tuition would be raised to $50K/year for undergraduates.)

Maybe it had to do with my free-food post last week about YU (which I'm sure Madoff would appreciate these days).

Any dream analysts out there?

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

15 comments:

Ben Bayit said...

you should have gotten over the "I didn't graduate and have to go back to YU" dream by now.....

The Israel Bank Shares ponzi scheme in the early 1980's was by far much larger than the madoff scandal.

Commenter Abbi said...

yes, i was thinking it was a case of "Come for the free food, stay for the English comp" kind of thing.

Could be the madoff thing too. I just posted a great post for work analyzing Madoff's mindframe: http://seekingalpha.com/article/110992-inside-the-mind-of-bernie-madoff

Mrs. S. said...

The email letter I received (in triplicate)
YU must really like you! I only received it twice, and my husband only got a single copy...
:-)

Anonymous said...

I'm sure tuition will soar beyond the $50,000 mark at some point.

Lurker said...

Did the professor make you write an essay about the sensuality of a Buick, or the works of Tyrone Green?

I had a similar dream once, except it was Comp. Theory, not English Comp., and the professor had a Russian accent...

Jameel @ The Muqata said...

Commenter Abbi: Aha! So you moonlight writing posts elsewhere, but never at the Muqata...I see...

Ben Bayit: So far, the only proof I have found of your statement that the Israel Bank Pondi scheme was bigger than 50 billion was on Steve Plaut's blog. Do you have any other primary source?

Mrs. S: I got 2 sent as an "alumni" and 1 from having a YU (alumni) email address which was a general email sent to every single YU email.

TNSPR: Who knows...

Lurker: The sensuality of Buick? How crass.

The works of Tyronne Green? I had to work haahrd to google that one.

Jack Steiner said...

"Dark and Lonely is the night... " Tyrone Green lives.

Jameel @ The Muqata said...

Jack: See Eye El El.

Nachum said...

A school dream! Even Freud wrote about them. Quite common. I was last in school almost a decade ago, and I still have them every now and then.

Jameel @ The Muqata said...

Nachum: Ok, I havent been in a YU classroom in far more than a decade -- so what's pshat in a school dream?!

TikunOlam said...

Ok, often a school dream like this, where you have to go back in time to finish something you have already completed in waking life means that you are concerned about an upcoming transition, like a promotion, adjusting to a new responsibility, etc. Something that you have to get through and adjust to. It usually comes with a feeling of being out of control, not sure of one's efficacy for the new role or if one is up for the task. That is just a general interpretation of course, dreams are only meaningful to the dreamer in that it all depends on what that class, that place, the feelings the dream evoked, mean to you.

YMedad said...

But I replied and then wrote a letter to The Commie pointing out that what YU did with Merkin would be a criminal offense in Israel and maybe that's why there's little aliyah.

Ben Bayit said...

See the last line of the article.

http://www.globes.co.il/news/docview.aspx?did=720994

that $10 billion figure needs to inflation adjusted. that's the direct figure. there are indirect figures - such as how the scandal caused hyperinflation and basically wiped out savings.

There are plenty of other sources.

Madoff everyone is using a $50BN figure - but that's not the principal amount. that's what people through they had or what the investments were after leverage. the principal amount is more like $15BN.

computer programmers should never take on economists when it comes to bean counting........

Nachum said...

Yisrael, what's the crime in Israel?

Should I be more confident in my upcoming aliyah because I'm not involved in such shenanigans?

Anonymous said...

the great thing about those kind of dreams is when you wake up and realize that college was 2 decades ago and that whether you deserved to graduate or not, the diploma is yours
as oposed to the eruv shabbat and its 20 minutes to candelighting and ive done nothing dream , which can still happen
either way i would watch out for pits and brothers for a few days still

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