Chabad Crown Heights info has a video of professor Cyril Karabus being blessed by Chabad Shliach Rabbi Asher Deren with Birchas Kohanim upon his arrival from Dubai.
Rabbi Micha Peltz writes about The Jewish Birthday 'Bracha' That Teaches Us to Count.
On birthdays, Jews greet each other with 'ad meah v’esrim' - 'may you live until 120.' This blessing, which can be traced back to the Torah, seems to acknowledge that our days are numbered.
... we learn in Deuteronomy that Moses lived to be 120 years old. And great rabbis of the Talmud such as Hillel, Rabbi Yohanan Ben Zakkai, Rabbi Akiva, and Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, all lived to 120 as well. Pretty good company - suddenly living until 120 doesn’t sound so bad.
And why should it? The average life expectancy in the U.S. is 78. (It’s 80 in Israel – another reason to make aliyah!) Living more than 40 years beyond that could be quite a blessing. Assuming that a person still has their health. This caveat has given rise to a cute adaptation of this birthday blessing: “ad meah k’esrim” – “May you live until 100 [feeling] like you are 20!” That would truly be a blessing. http://baltimorejewishlife.com/news/news-detail.php?SECTION_ID=2&ARTICLE_ID=38059
Below is an excerpt from a statement made on Sunday by Representative of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement to Tehran, Nasser Abusharif, regarding Israel.
"It is the time for the Islamic Ummah (community) to confront this cancerous tumor and wipe it out from the region."
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9202242130 Abraham H. Miller writes, "Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and Leila Beckwith, two University of California faculty members, have bravely stood up against campus anti-Semitism;"
Leftist faculty and campus administrators have given a wink, a nod, and an expansive tolerance to campus anti-Semitism in a way that no other vile form of bigotry would be tolerated. Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/05/two_modernday_deborahs_fight_antisemitism.html#ixzz2ToNwUZK5
“Bahaloscha Es HaNeiros," when you bring up the candles. Why the word Bahaloscha, shouldn’t it say BiHadlikcha, when you light the candles? This can be answered with the Medrash. We all know that Hashem needs nothing from us. Everything that He asks us to do is purely for our benefit and stems from His eternal kindness. When it came to lighting the menora the gemara asks (Shabbos 22b), “V’Chi l’Ora Hu Tzarich,” does Hashem need our light? The Medrash Tanchuma (Bamidbar 5) says that the light of the appearance of the “Chayos” in Shamayim can light up the whole universe. Another Medrash Tanchuma (Bamidbar HaYashan 9) brings a mashal showing that Hashem only uses our light to make us feel important.
The Medrash Tanchuma explains that Hashem refrains from using the word BiHadlikcha, when you light the candles, because that would imply that we are the ones supplying the light. Instead, Hashem uses the word, Bahaloscha, when you go up. Each Mitzva is an opportunity for us to go up, to improve ourselves and raise ourselves. The action that we take for Hashem’s sake has no benefit to Him whatsoever. It is purely an opportunity for us to raise ourselves higher. Bahaloscha, take advantage and do it for yourself, so that you can go up!
Read more:http://revach.net/article.php?id=2316
Speaking about light, I don't believe the interview below shed much light into the President's actions on the night of the Benghazi attack.
The mother of a Jewish teenage boy that was killed near the Brooklyn Bridge 19 years ago was grateful after learning that a man suspected of playing a key role in the murder was arrested on Thursday.
Muaffaq Askar, 46, of Brooklyn, was part of a group — with suspected ties to Hamas and Hezbollah — arrested in a multi-million-dollar cigarette smuggling ring. Askar allegedly provided the gun that murdered Ari Halberstam in 1994. Read more:http://forward.com/articles/176900/mother-of-jewish-teen-killed-on-brooklyn-bridge-sp/#ixzz2TgAWMVnl
Below is a video of Devorah Halberstam receving an award from the FBI a few years ago.
On May 10, a statement was issued by the spokesperson of EU High Representative Catherine Ashton.
The High Representative is disturbed by recent events in East Jerusalem such as those that took place at Orthodox Easter, the unrest in the area of the Haram al Sharif/Temple Mount and the temporary detention of the Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine on Wednesday. It is essential that access to the holy sites in Jerusalem for peaceful worship for all denominations is fully respected.
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/137069.pdf
Israel Police barred Israeli Jews and tourists from the Temple Mount following threats of Muslim violence.
The ban on Thursday came a day after violence between a group of Orthodox Jews and Muslim worshippers on the Temple Mount. The group was prevented from entering the Temple Mount.
The Thursday ban came after Muslim groups threatened to protest the visit of Jewish children to the Temple Mount as part of an educational program to study Temple rituals, including the Shavuot holiday ritual of bringing first fruits to the Temple. http://www.jewishjournal.com/israel/article/jews_barred_from_temple_mount
Will Ms. Ashton once again issue a statement about access to the holy sites for all denominations?
Click here to listen to The Scathing Speech That Just Got a Standing Ovation During the IRS Hearing.
The last words of Birchas Kohanim are "V'Yaseim Licha Sholom". The Medrash says, "Sholom B'Knisasech, Sholom B'Yitziasech, Sholom Im Kol Adam," peace in your coming, your going, and peace with every man.
The Iturei Torah brings the Ksav Sofer who explains this Medrash. The Gemara in Brachos (59) tells us the interpretation of many different dreams. Among these dreams, three of them tell of peace; the kettle, the river, and the bird. The Ksav Sofer says that these represent three different kinds of peace. The kettle represents peace in your home, where all the household members use the same kettle. The river means peace in your country, where all the citizens share the water and benefits of the country's river. The bird symbolizes world peace, like a bird who is not limited to any specific local and can fly wherever its wings take it.
When Hashem gives us a bracha of peace it is all encompassing. The Medrash says, "Sholom B'Knisasech," you will have peace in your coming, meaning within the confines of your home. "Sholom B'Yitziasech," peace when you go outside and interact with your countrymen. "Sholom Im Kol Adam," no matter where and no matter with whom, peace will reign supreme! http://revach.net/article.php?id=3828
Below is a Torah thought by Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple on the priestly blessing.
This week’s reading is the source of the priestly blessing, “The Lord bless you and keep you…”
The blessing is worked into other parts of the Tanach, especially Psalm 6, sung in some communities before Ma’ariv at the end of the weekly Shabbat. The familiar phrases are there: “God be gracious to us and bless us: may He make His face shine towards us”. There are some interesting changes, however. The original blessing focusses on “you” (“The Lord bless you and keep you”); here it is “us”.
Who is the “us”? At first sight we think it is the Jewish people, and we are certainly part of the answer, but the subsequent verses refer to “the nations”. Samson Raphael Hirsch comments, “Through the knowledge spread among the nations by the presence of Israel in their midst, all the nations will be brought to do homage to God… Then God shall bless us; then we shall have reached the goal of all our mission among the nations”.
Hirsch also points out that where the text says, “May He make His face shine towards us”, here we have “amongst us”, suggesting that whilst we start by asking God to turn His countenance in our direction, now we ask that His presence be seen in every aspect of our lives, in who we are and what we do, not only on our faces and outer appearance. http://www.oztorah.com/2013/05/the-hidden-benediction-naso/
Barbara Kay writes about A quick fix for Montreal’s Jewish parking exemption issue — ‘parking goys’
In Montreal, to accommodate the needs of Jews with street parking, who are not allowed to move them to the other side of the street on designated street-sweeping days if it conflicts with a Jewish holiday, the city has for the last 30 years waived restrictions on street parking for a few blocks around Orthodox synagogues. The parking signs are covered up on those days to ensure the cars are not ticketed.
Up until Wednesday, the first day of Shavuot, the accommodation was practised without incident. Then Bernard Drainville, Parti Québécois Minister of Democratic Institutions, learned of the policy and erupted in dudgeon. “We cannot start saying we are going to change the highway code and the parking signs according to different religions. It will never end,” Drainville complained. “We will have parking signs for Jewish holidays, then we will have parking signs for Catholic holidays, and after that parking signs for Muslim holidays. It makes no sense. We cannot manage a society like that.”
Continue reading: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/05/16/barbara-kay-a-quick-fix-for-montreals-jewish-parking-exemption-issue-parking-goys/
And you should declare on that very day (that) a sacred occasion it should be for you. You should not perform any work of labor. (This is) an eternal law, in all of your places of settlement, for all of your generations. (Sefer VaYikra 23:21) 1. The Torah does not reveal the purpose of Shavuot The above is one of the pesukim in the Torah that instruct us to observe the festival of Shavuot. Shavuot corresponds with the date upon which we received the Torah at Sinai and commemorates that event. However, the connection between Shavuot and the Sinai Revelation is never explicitly stated in the Torah. Whereas the Torah teaches us that we are to observe Pesach in commemoration of our redemption from Egypt and that we are to celebrate Succot in order to recall our sojourn in the wilderness, the purpose and objective of Shavuot are not stated in the Torah. Instead, Shavuot’s identity as a celebration of Revelation is only revealed in the Oral Law. Why is the Written Torah silent on the issue of Shavuot’s objective and purpose?
Continue reading: http://www.ou.org/torah/article/the_torahs_mysterious_treatment_of_the_festival_of_shavuot#.UZJ7eiz8Lcd
An article published in the National Post on December 2011 contains the following excerpt about the East End Madrassah in Toronto.
A police report outlining the results of the investigation said a review of the madrassah’s syllabus books found portions that originated in Iran, “challenged some of Canada’s core values” and “suggested intolerance.” http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/11/09/east-end-madrassah-mosque/
A May 2012 article reported the following:
A Toronto Islamic school that runs weekend classes at a Scarborough, Ont., high school has been barred from teaching there, pending a police investigation into alleged anti-Semitic curriculum material, Toronto's school board has confirmed.
East End Madrassah has been ordered to stop Sunday lessons at David and Mary Thomson Collegiate, after reports surfaced last week of online teachings alluding to "treacherous" Jews" who "conspired to kill" the Islamic Prophet Mohammed.
One line contrasted Islam with "the Jews and the Nazis." http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/05/16/toronto-madrassah-antisemitic.html
Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi, Imam of the Islamic Shia Ithna-Asheri Jamaat of Toronto acknowledged, "while the revelation of the existence of inappropriate language used in the material on the East End Madrasah (EEM) website is hurtful to the Jewish community," http://iqra.ca/2012/isij-of-toronto-responds-to-east-end-madrasah-curriculum/
Below is a video in which the imam discusses Pamela Geller.
The second video is one of Pamela Geller. Click here to listen to the full speech.
The following is an excerpt from an email by Rabbi Eli Mansour.
Rav Haim Palachi (Turkey, 1788-1869), in his work Mo’ed Le’chol Hai, observes that the first day of Shabuot can fall on only four days of the week – Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. These days are represented by the letters “Alef,” “Bet,” “Dalet” and “Vav,” which spell the word “Abedu,” as in the verse, “Abedu Goyim Me’arso” – “Gentile nations have been driven from His land.” As we know, G-d first offered the Torah to the other nations, but they did not accept it, and it was therefore given to the Jewish people. Thus, as a result of the day of Shabuot, the event of Matan Torah, “Abedu Goyim Me’arso” – the gentile nations were driven from Eretz Yisrael, and this is alluded to by the four days on which the holiday can occur.
Read more: http://www.dailyhalacha.com/Display.asp?ClipDate=5/13/2013
Click here for Hilchos Uminhagei Shavuos by Rabbi Yissochor Dov Krakowski.
Save the Children has published a mother's index rank with Finland ranking the highest. Israel ranks 5 places higher than the United States at 25.
The Palestinian territory rank is ______ no data available.
H/T yourjewishnews
Rabbi Shais Taub writes about Life, Death and Cheesecake: The Truth About Shavuos at the Huffington Post.
You would think people would get excited about mass prophecy, but alas, there's no denying:
Passover, the holiday of the Exodus, is way more popular than Shavuos, when we received the Torah. Passover, with its plagues and miracles, grabs our attention. Passover is life-and-death, a dramatic escape from doom. But Shavuos? It's what happens seven weeks later, when things settle down. G-d takes us into the desert to tell us how to live.
Aish has an article by Rabbi Bejamin Blech titled The 10 Commandments for Our Times.
1. I am the Lord your God…
We live in an age of cultural relativism. Secularism has turned morality into no more than a personal preference. Sin, evil, wrongdoing are words that have lost all meaning in a world where there are no absolute truths. Today it is the critic of depraved actions who is condemned for his bigoted lack of tolerance. How did all this happen? Dostoyevsky understood it well when he wrote in The Brothers Karamazov “Without God, all is permissible.” “I am the Lord your God” is number one on the list of 10 because without that as #1, all you have left is zero. So too without a belief in God mankind loses its rationale for acting as noble beings created in the divine image.
Read more: http://www.aish.com/ci/s/The-10-Commandments-for-Our-Times.html
Above the article is an illustration of two rounded tablets which contained the Ten Commandments.
After reading the excerpt below, I might have chosen a different illustration to accompany the article.
In traditional Jewish sources, the size and shape of the Luchot are derived in the Talmud based on the dimensions of the Ark. This approach led the Talmud (Baba Batra 14a)[5] to conclude that each tablet was 6x6x3 tefachim.[6] In addition, the Talmud declares that after all of the items were placed in the Ark it was totally full, implying that the Tablets were cuboids, not rounded at the top.
Read more: http://www.ou.org/torah/article/tzarich_iyun_the_luchot#.UZACXSz8Lcc
The head of a Jewish group that says it was targeted by the Internal Revenue Service over its opposition to President Obama’s Israel policy said Saturday that she sees parallels between the tax agency’s treatment of Tea Party groups and her own case.
The Zionist group Z Streetsued the IRS in the summer of 2010, alleging that a federal agent, Diane Gentry, told the group’s lawyer that the agency was “carefully scrutinizing organizations that are in any way connected with Israel.”
Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/pro-israel-group-sees-same-conduct-in-irss-tea-party-campaig
On a different topic, Kikar Hashabat has a fascinating story about three cousins from Netanya who attended the kindling of the bonfire by the Sanz Rebbe on Lag Baomer. Later, they caught a bus to Meron. After a long trip involving traffic jams, the girls arrived in Meron. One of the girls encountered a woman who was collecting tzedakkah and, as she placed a shekel in the tzedakkah pushka, the old woman blessed her that she should get engaged by the end of the month. The other two cousins quickly added their shekels and were blessed that they, too, should become engaged by the end of the month. The girls responded with an "Amen."
One week after Lag Baomer, one of the cousins got engaged to a bachur learning at Yeshivat Sanz. The following week another girl got engaged to a student from Yeshivat Sanz. On Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan, the shadchan who was arranging a match for the third cousin succeeded in getting the chasan's family to agree to a vort at 1:30 in the morning.
Wow! If anyone knows which woman gave these girls blessings, I am sure plenty of people would wish to donate to tzedakkah and receive a blessing, as well.
The Church of Scotland will reword a controversial report which said “scripture” provides no basis for Jewish claims to Israel, the church said in statement.
Senior Internal Revenue Service officials knew agents were targeting tea party groups as early as 2011, according to a draft of an inspector general's report obtained by The Associated Press that seemingly contradicts public statements by the IRS commissioner.
Why has Patrick Ventrell, the Acting Deputy Spokesperson, been the one to speak at the State Department Brieifngs this past month instead of Ms. Nuland, the Spokesperson?
FrontPage Mag has a video in which the Glazov Gang discusses Pamela Geller being banned to speak in a synagogue in Canada while convicted highjacker Leila Khaled can speak via Skype at the University of British Columbia.
Prior to Ms. Khaled's speech, the Globe and Mail reported the following.
However, I do want to point out to the fact that this statement is offensive to the UBC community. It assumes that students at UBC are not capable of critical thinking, assessing Khaled's speech and making informed judgements. TheBlaze reports, "The Internal Revenue Service is apologizing for inappropriately flagging conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status." Read more: http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3273796770070251781#editor/target=post;postID=2961620310238192383
"In the third month after the Exodus of the Jewish People from Egypt, on that very day, they came to the Desert of Sinai" (Shemot 19:1)
Jewish Tradition says that "that very day" refers to Rosh Chodesh Sivan. About that day it is written, "And the People of Israel encamped there, opposite the Mountain." The verb written in Hebrew for "encamped" is "vayichan," a singular, rather than plural, form. This is to indicate that the acceptance of the Torah by the Jewish People was as if with a single mind, and a single heart. This was necessary because the Torah was like a marriage contract between G-d and Israel and, as such, there was no room for any hesitation or disloyalty between the parties.
Read more: http://www.ou.org/chagim/roshchodesh/sivan/rchsivan.htm
by Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple The first of the Ten Commandments doesn’t seem to be commanding anything. It is a statement, “I am the Lord your God”. One explanation is that the Decalogue is – as the Hebrew aseret hadib’rot makes clear – ten statements or principles, not necessarily ten commands. If, however, the ten are counted as mitzvot there still is a way of understanding Number 1 as a command – “I am to be the Lord your God”. The true significance of that interpretation is suggested by a Chassidic saying in the name of the Rabbi of Kovrin. He looks at the words of Moses in Deut. 5:5, “I stood between the Lord and you at that time”, referring to the people’s reluctance to hear the voice of God, and their clamour for Moses, not God, to speak to them. Says the Rabbi of Kovrin, what often stands between God and us is the “I”, the anochi, the human ego. When we boast and say, “I am great, I am powerful, I am clever”, we are posing one “I” against another. We can’t both be “I”. The Decalogue says, “The Divine ‘I’ must be your God, not the human one…” http://www.oztorah.com/2013/05/the-first-commandment/
"Mothers make a difference in their kids' lives. You believe in the kid, and he believes in himself for the rest of his life."
"My mission in life is to do everything I can to serve Hashem and to recognize the hashgacha in everything. We're in good hands because Hashem is taking care of us. Everything is really good."
by Esky Cook, professional artist and mother of six, including blind daughter
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