בס׳ד

"Where does it say that you have a contract with G-d to have an easy life?"

the Lubavitcher Rebbe



"Failure is not the enemy of success; it is its prerequisite."

Rabbi Nosson Scherman



30 Jan 2015

Az Yashir

A relative told me an interesting item she read in the Koren siddur about Az Yashir, the song written in this week's parsha. If you look how it is written in the parsha, there is an arrangement of words similar to blocks.
The words, " הים                ובני ישראל הלכו ביבשה בתוך                  הים" are written in the last line of the shir as such. - Fascinating!


Parshas B'Shalach - Destroying Amalek In Our Times

After receiving a volley of outraged complaints from viewers, the BBC has announced an internal investigation into a reporter who offensively phrased a question to a Jewish woman interviewee in the wake of the terrorist attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris earlier this month.
Read more: http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/01/29/bbc-to-investigate-reporter-over-antisemitic-comment-during-live-broadcast-from-paris-anti-terror-rally/

One of Britain’s best loved actresses has admitted that she is contemplating leaving the country amid a sharp rise in antisemitic attacks against the UK’s Jewish community.
...“When the going gets tough, the Jews get packing,” Lipman said.
http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/01/29/leading-british-jewish-actress-says-antisemitism-may-drive-her-to-leave-uk/



The face of evil (Beshalach, Covenant and Conversation 5775 on Ethics)







29 Jan 2015

On behalf of others

Outsourcing Israel’s Security to Peacekeepers

I am currently reading a book called "Noa's Strength" written by Boruch Sikirsky about a woman who was stricken wth cancer who faced major medical from her youth. She pursued a medical career and got married, while confronting prolonged illness. Her husband relates a diary entry he found his wife had written during the period of her engagement in which she accepts upon herself certain things she wished to perform in preparation for her wedding.
She asks Hashem to help her succeed.

1. To give one shekel ad day on behalf of ..... and all the other Jews who are ill.
2. To say Shir Hashirim at least once a week... on behalf of all the Jewish men and woùen who are hoping for a good and appropriate shidduch from Hashem......

I must say I am inspired by reading details of her life.

A syllogism - a logical corollary

During the daily White House press briefing on Wednesday, Deputy Spokesman Eric Schultz had an exchange with ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl where he declined to label the Taliban not as a terrorist organization but instead as “an armed insurgency.”
Continue reading: http://www.mrc.org/biasalerts/networks-fail-cover-wh-spokesman-refusing-call-taliban-terrorist-organization


William Jacobson writes, "On Tuesday night, January 27, 2015, I spoke at the Rochester (NY) Jewish Community Center on the topic of Boycotting Israel – The insidious threat of the BDS movement."
Click here to listen to his lecture.


State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki was queried by reporters about the attack on two Israeli soldiers yesterday.


QUESTION: You began your comments on this by reaffirming your belief that Israel has the right to self-defense, and then – which might be taken as that they have a right to defend against attacks like the one that killed the two soldiers, and now you say, however, that you encourage all sides to refrain from any actions that could escalate the situation. Which is it? I mean, do you feel that the Israelis should not take any actions that would escalate the situation, or do you feel that they have every right to attack in self-defense against such things?


QUESTION: Right. But there’s a problem, because if – because if you say that Israel has the right to defend itself, but then you say that you want all sides to refrain from any action that could escalate the situation, and you believe that the Israeli retaliation is escalatory, then you’re saying that you don’t think Israel should defend itself.


MS. PSAKI: I don’t think I said that, Matt. I said --


QUESTION: No, I am – it’s a syllogism. It’s a logical corollary.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2015/01/236853.htm


The Graduate Center of the City University of New York issued a memo advising staff not to address any students as “Mr., Mrs. or Ms.” beginning this spring because some could find it disrespectful.
Read more: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/397296/cuny-dont-call-students-mr-mrs-or-ms-because-thats-maybe-disrespectful-katherine?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_content=dDkHZu&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter#%21dDkHZu



28 Jan 2015

The actual world

KRAUTHAMMER: EUROPE HAS LOST ITS SHAME TOWARDS ITS ANTI-SEMITISM

Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch belonged to a student group that brought Jew-hating Palestinian terrorists to Harvard Law School every year she was a member.
Continue reading: http://gotnews.com/loretta-lynch-belonged-jew-hating-pro-terrorist-harvard-group/


A blogger at the Dish writes the reasons for stopping to blog.


The second is that I am saturated in digital life and I want to return to the actual world again. I’m a human being before I am a writer; and a writer before I am a blogger, and although it’s been a joy and a privilege to have helped pioneer a genuinely new form of writing, I yearn for other, older forms. I want to read again, slowly, carefully. I want to absorb a difficult book and walk around in my own thoughts with it for a while. I want to have an idea and let it slowly take shape, rather than be instantly blogged. I want to write long essays that can answer more deeply and subtly the many questions that the Dish years have presented to me. I want to write a book.
I want to spend some real time with my parents, while I still have them, with my husband, who is too often a ‘blog-widow’, my sister and brother, my niece and nephews, and rekindle the friendships that I have simply had to let wither because I’m always tied to the blog. And I want to stay healthy.
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2015/01/28/a-note-to-my-readers/


Drink beer to ward off Alzheimer's: study



Old and new

Anti-Semitism, Old and New

GotNews reports BUSTED: Obama Advisor Working To Defeat Nethanyahu Worked For Israel Hater

Britain’s Prince Charles, in a speech on Tuesday at a London memorial service, described the Holocaust as a lesson to all faiths and a means to help respond to turmoil in the Middle East.

70 years later, at Holocaust memorial events, what is it with speakers trying to universalize the victims?
Prince Charles and State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki opine below about the cataclysmic event.

Prince Charles
“[International] Holocaust Memorial Day is not just a memorial to those six million innocent Jewish men, women and children – it is also universal because the Jews in this story represent all of us,” he said. “That is why the Holocaust is not just a Jewish tragedy, nor merely a dark page from the Second World War, but a warning and a lesson to all of us of all faiths in all times.” http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/01/27/prince-charles-says-the-holocaust-is-a-warning-and-lesson-for-all-faiths-video/

Jen Psaki speaking at yesterday's State Deparment briefing

Today, we also mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945 by the Soviet Army. As we face a global rise in anti-Semitism, it is more important than ever to remember these terrible death camps the Nazis created in order to wipe an entire race of people – men, women, and children – from the face of the Earth. They systematically swept up not only Jews, but millions of other innocents because of race, sexual orientation, disability, or political beliefs. On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the United States joins many others in paying tribute to the millions of victims who lost their lives under the Nazi regime. We also honor those who survived but still carry its lasting scars and burdens. We owe it to these people to never forget what can happen when hatred is allowed to flourish unchecked.

On Monday and Tuesday, a journalist is met with obfuscation when asked a question about beheading during the State Department briefings.

QUESTION: Oh, well, can I then – if we’re on Saudi for the moment, is there an answer to my question from yesterday about whether the United States regards beheading as a form of capital punishment to be a human rights abuse?

MS. PSAKI: I don’t have anything new to offer. I don’t know if you had chance to look at the Human Rights Reports from the past. You said you may.

QUESTION: I will confess that I did not. Is there a section on beheading?

MS. PSAKI: There’s a lot going on in the world.

We don’t make concessions to terrorists

Getting back to the Bergdahl comparison, I mean, doesn’t it strike you as a little bit hypocritical that – for the U.S. Government to say it’s all right for us to make concessions in order to get one of our guys back, but we discourage other governments from doing the same thing?

Ms. Psaki also talks about UNWRA.
Well, let me first say the United States remains a steadfast supporter of UNRWA, which we believe plays an indispensable role in the region, particularly in Gaza.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2015/01/236800.htm

27 Jan 2015

The invitee

The BBC has been accused of "race-baiting" for inviting radical anti-Israel MP George Galloway to appear at a high-profile show hosted in Finchley and Golders Green, which is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the UK.
Read more: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/190579#.VMfmppVATIU

The New York Times Reports the ‘Ordinary Life’ of a Palestinian Terrorist


Filmmaker and author Dinesh D’Souza pens pro-Netanyahu tweets such as "Liberal apoplexy over Boehner's speaking invitation to Netanyahu confirms what a great idea it was!" while Jeffrey Goldberg authors a piece titled The Netanyahu Disaster.




Parshat Beshalach

A reminder - Tuesday: Reb Mendel M’Riminov’s Segulah for Parnassah; Parshas Ha’mon


Auschwitz Concentration Camp Survivors Return to Mark Anniversary


The number of anti-Semitic acts doubled in France during 2014, with acts involving physical violence leading the increase, the country's main Jewish group said on Tuesday.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/anti-semitic-acts-france-doubled-2014-jewish-group-081538932.html


How to Process Sudden Death


Jonathan Tobin writes about J Street over here.



Segulah for Parnassah

Tuesday: Reb Mendel M’Riminov’s Segulah for Parnassah; Parshas Ha’mon

Last week many were quick to hail the United Nations conference on anti-Semitism as a hopeful step forward. The fact that just 37 of the 193 UN member states even bothered to send delegates should be demonstration enough of just how little many countries care about the modern-day revival of global Jew hatred.
Read more: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/2015/01/25/delirium-anti-zionism/

After Krias Yam Suf the Bnei Yisroel arrived in Mara and had no water to drink because the water there was bitter. Hashem told Moshe to throw in a bitter tree and the water became sweet. After this incident the pasuk recaps and says "Sham Sam Lo Chok UMishpat VSham Nisahu"; in Mara Hashem gave them mitzvos and tested them. Why was it so important to test them?

The Netziv explains that the Torah is teaching us a valuable lesson for all generations about Bitachon and earning a living. Sometimes a person's finances come down to the last penny and it looks like he will have nothing to eat. The future looks bleak and there is no help in sight. Even then a person must be confident in Hashem that he will provide a way to support him. Hashem is "Kol Yachol" and His salvation can be provided from the most unexpected sources. Just like the bitter tree was the least expected solution to cure bitter water so too Hashem can bring your fortune from what appears to be the exact opposite, so don't ever lose hope. Hang tough, it is all just a test!
http://revach.net/tefila/article.php?id=1711


I was particularly saddened to learn of the petirah of Rabbi Shalom Arush's granddaughter this past weekend. May the rabbi, who has given so much comfort to thousands through his Emunah sefarim, find nechama, and may his son and family be comforted  b'soch sha'ar availay Tzion v'Yerushalayim.



14 Jan 2015

Fear and good

Rabbi Arnold Saunders remembers clearly his shock at the slogan he noticed printed on the back of a man wearing a Manchester United shirt as he was driving one day in Salford. It read: “Kill the Jews.”


The 54-year-old cleric, a Reds fan since the age of nine, has experienced more than his fair share of violent anti-Semitism.
... Rabbi Saunders said: “Of course there is a heightened alert but, as Roosevelt said, we have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-new-antisemitism-i-looked-at-his-shirt-and-saw-kill-the-jews-and-was-truly-shocked-9976303.html

I would add to Roosevelt's quote "and yirat Hashem."

Yesterday I linked to an article which quotes Rabbi Dov Lellouche, a community rabbi and principal of Rechit Hochma, a Jewish preschool in Paris.

“We must continue to trust in God that everything He does is for our good,” he said.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/01/13/we-must-continue-to-trust-in-god-french-jewish-school-principal-says-nearly-half-of-students-havent-returned-to-school/

Yesterday I received an email of daily emunah by Rabbi David Ashear which I recommend people sign up for by sending an email to Emunadaily@gmail.com 
Below is an excerpt from the email.

I was recently learning with a young man who told me that the day before, he was on his way somewhere - in the rain - and struggled with himself to turn around to recite Minhah with a minyan before continuing along his way. As he was leaving the synagogue, his phone dropped and cracked. Reflecting upon the experience, he said something beautiful: "Because I overcame this challenge and went to pray with a minyan, Hashem had compassion on me and allowed me to receive the afflictions I needed through a little crack in my phone, instead of making me suffer something much worse." This is the proper attitude we should have. Instead of saying, "Hashem, I go to pray with a minyan and this is what You do to me?" he said, "Hashem, You're so kind. Because I prayed with a minyan, you afflicted me in such a slight way for my benefit."

Jimmy Carter: Charlie Hebdo Attack Could Help Defeat Islamophobia

Josh Earnest: Wouldn’t Be Accurate to Call Paris Attackers ‘Radical Islamists’


13 Jan 2015

On the outskirts

Rav Hillel Zaks zt”l

Jimmy Carter: Jews 'May Be Safer in France' Than Israel

‘We Must Continue to Trust in God’: French Jewish School Principal Says Nearly Half of Students Haven’t Returned to School


Batya Medad asks CNN: "West Jerusalem." Where's That?

We ended up watching the quadruple funeral of the four Jewish victims of the Arab terror attack in the Parisian Kosher Supermarket on CNN. The broadcast was seriously marred by the fact that the announcer kept saying that they were in "West Jerusalem."
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.be/2015/01/cnn-west-jerusalem-wheres-that.html

After reading her post, I wanted to see how some sites covered the event.

CNN identifies the perpetrator as a "gunman" and the ones who carried out the attack on the cartoonists were the "terrorist's associates."
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/13/middleeast/paris-kosher-store-funeral/

IBTTimes reports, "While Paris and west Jerusalem organized memorial services for the victims, a cleric in Pakistan held "funerals" for two of the perpetrators of the attacks, which claimed the lives of 17 people over three days."
http://www.ibtimes.com/charlie-hebdo-attack-funerals-killers-held-pakistan-while-victims-are-honored-france-1781742

Ma'an News refers to the gunman as an "Islamic extremist" and reports that the victims were laid to rest at the "Givat Shaul cemetery on the western outskirts of Jerusalem." http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=753687



Multiple frogs- multiple headlines

Vata'al ha'tz'fardaya vat'chas es Eretz Mitzraim (8:2)" - "And the frog arose and covered the land of Mitzraim."  Why is tz'fardaya (frog) written in the singular? Rashi quotes from the Medrash that the plague began with one large frog. Whenever the Mitzrim hit it, streams of frogs came pouring out of it. Ultimately, so many frogs came out that the whole land of Mitzraim was covered.
The Steipler asks the very obvious question. Once the Mitzrim saw that each hit brought forth more frogs, why didn't they stop hitting it? The Steipler explains, they became furious when they saw the large frog spewing more frogs... They couldn't control their anger and frustration... They hit it again... It spewed more frogs... They got even angrier... They hit it again... It spewed more... And again... "Va't'chas es Eretz Mitzraim" - The whole land of Mitzraim was covered with frogs.
When we're angry, we act in a counterproductive and self-destructive manner. If someone acts aggressively toward us our automatic response is to respond with anger. Stop! Think. If we'll stay silent, the other person would gradually cool down. Our angry response will simply fuel the fire further. Counterproductive. Self-destructive. Think. Plan out the proper response - if any. Act on impulse - va't'chas es Eretz Mitzraim and the whole land will be covered with frogs.
http://revach.net/tefila/article.php?id=1596


LifeNews has an article titled Man Awakens After 12 Years in a “Vegetative State,” Says “I Was Aware of Everything.”


NewsBusters has a screenshot of an initial headline at Yahoo.
"Wannabe hero killed in Paris hostage drama, survivor recalls," read the headline. Perhaps thinking better of the matter, editors later changed the headline to "Survivor recalls Paris hostage drama at Jewish supermarket." 
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/ken-shepherd/2015/01/12/yahoo-news-smears-slain-wannabe-hero-paris-hostage-taking#sthash.ek8s2MYQ.dpuf


The headline has now been changed to "Survivor recalls horror of Paris hostage drama." Perhaps the headline will be whittled down to "Survivor."


There are some great comments posted under the Yahoo article which include, "I just cannot believe the title of this article. "Wannabe" denotes someone who selfishly tries to make himself out to be something he isn't for personal glory - - the total opposite of this man who at least tried to do something and paid with his life for it.

Bruno Bettelheim, who spent some time as a prisoner at Buchenwald, wrote of the female dancer who, in the line to go to the gas chamber, did a dance kick trying to disarm one of the guards. She, too, was shot for her pains. But as Bettelheim points out, she died in a defiant gesture and that made her a heroine. The "wannabe" deserves the same title.

Shame on you, Yahoo. "
http://news.yahoo.com/paris-hostage-drama-bad-movie-202034654.html


12 Jan 2015

Rejoicing in the Geula

In the beginning of Parshas VaEirah the Torah tells us the children of Reuven, Shimon, and Levi. With Levi the Torah goes into great detail and then does not continue with the other Shevatim. If the whole purpose was to document Moshe and Aharon's lineage why start with Reuven?

Rav Eliezer HaGadol Ashkenazi in his classic, Maasei Hashem, says that the Torah is teaching us why Levi's descendants played a central role in Yetzias Mitzrayim and not the descendants of his older brothers. He says that Levi foresaw and felt the pain of the upcoming Tzaros and gave his children names hinting towards the galus. Gershon, that they would be strangers in a strange land; Kehos, weak and battered; Mirori, they would lead bitter lives.

This is seen in the wording of the parsha when documenting each family. By Reuven it says, "The heads of the families were..." By Shimon it says, "The children of Shimon..." By Levi it says, "These are the names of the children of Levi." It was the tears shed behind these names that not only helped save his family from being pulled into slavery, but it also made this family the worthy redeemers of the Bnei Yisrael.

It says in the last perek of Yeshaya (66:10) regarding the Binyan Bais HaMikdash, "Sisu Ita Masos Kol Hamisablim Aleha; Rejoice those who mourned over her." Those who cry most in the Galus are the ones who are zocheh to merit rejoicing in the Geula.
http://revach.net/tefila/article.php?id=1591


Glenn Greenwald: Pro-Israel sentiment in the U.S. is at least as bad for freedom of speech as Islamist terrorists murdering cartoonists


No Holds Barred: Are you guilty of feeling hatred for the Paris murderers?



Who bears some culpability for the egregious spelling mistake in the following headline?


Farage says West bares some 'culpability' for Paris massacres because of foreign wars and mass immigration
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2907116/Farage-says-West-bares-culpability-Paris-massacres-foreign-wars-mass-immigration.html#ixzz3OdtYhaRD
UPDATE: Spelling error corrected!!!




Great exchange between journalist and White House Spokesperson in a post titled Fox’s Ed Henry Confronts Earnest: Why Didn’t You Send Someone to Paris?


Inexact language and messages

Dan Margalit opines, "French President Francois Hollande used inexact language to describe the murder of four Jews in the heart of Paris. He called it an "anti-Semitic act," but refrained from using the words "Islamic terrorism." Commentators explained this puzzling phrasing by pointing out Hollande's desire to not anger French Muslims, many of whom voted for him in the last presidential election. Hollande's choice of words represented a distortion of reality."
Read more: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=11185


French prosecutors said Monday they were investigating notorious French comedian Dieudonne for "inciting terrorism" after he posted a Facebook comment that could be interpreted as sympathising with one of last week's attackers in Paris.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/french-comedian-dieudonne-probed-paris-shootings-remark-135503969.html#Q1Td4oc


Sammy Ghozlan, founder of France’s National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, announced he would immigrate to Israel, calling it “a message.”
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.635398


Orthodox Jewish Medics From Monsey, NY Air-Transport Critically Injured US Army Vet For Free


Margaret Sullivan explains why the New York Times executive editor, Dean Baquet, didn't publish cartoons form the Charlie Hebdo newspaper.


Ultimately, he decided against it, he said, because he had to consider foremost the sensibilities of Times readers, especially its Muslim readers. ...“We have a standard that is long held and that serves us well: that there is a line between gratuitous insult and satire. Most of these are gratuitous insult.”
http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/charlie-hebdo-cartoon-publication-debate/?smid=tw-share&_r=0


Apparently, calling Ultra-Orthodox Jews "leeches" won't offend and is not a gratuitous insult.


The reality is that a majority of Israeli citizens do not serve in the military, including Palestinian citizens of Israel, or the “fifth column,” as they are often branded, and the ultra-Orthodox, or “leeches,” as they’ve been called.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/12/opinion/why-i-wont-serve-israel.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region&region=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region


Haftorah Parashat Va’eira: The Triumph Over All 10 Nations





11 Jan 2015

His amazing bitachon

משותק אבל מאמין: "אני לא מסכן. זו זכות עבורי להיות במצב הזה"


For those who understand Hebrew, the article above and related video below are incredible testimonies to a special inspiring individual.


Paris: Grand Mosque Open, Grand Synagogue Closed


BBC Reporter Slammed for Anti-Semitic Comments at Paris March


When initial reports stated that the four victims of the attach at the Paris kosher market were to be buried in Har HaZeisim, I wondered if Israel would guarantee that family members would be able to visit their loved ones without risk of being targets of rock attacks. Now reports claim Paris Victims to be Buried in Har Hamenuhot in Jerusalem.



CNN speaks volumes

Yesterday I posted about how I was reading a worthwhile book by Rebbetzin Feldbrand titled Essentials; A Commentary on Derech Hashem by Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzato, published by Israel Bookshop Publications.
Below is a short thought from the book on a verse in this past week's parsha attributed to Divrei Meir.


"Teven ein nisan le'avadecha u'levenim omrim lanu asu...we receive no straw (teven) and are told to make bricks" (Shemos 5:16)
Rrav Meir of Premishlan explains: "Even if we lack understanding (tevunah) to repent, our white hairs (levenim translates as both "bricks" and "white ones") exhort us to do so, for old age has arrived.)

הגר"ח קנייבסקי: על יהודי צרפת לעלות לארץ ישראל

Below are a selection of headlines linking to articles regarding CNN. Just this morning a friend read me an email that is making the rounds in which there is a claim that the terrorist at the supermarket had a destination of a Chabad school in mind when he set off but got into a car accident and changed his plans. I can't vouch for the veracity of the email.


CNN Tries To Convince Viewers Attack On Kosher Market Was Not Anti-Semitic


CNN's silence on Jim Clancy speaks volumes


CNN Reporter in Full Meltdown: Those Who Disagree With Me on Muhammad Cartoons Are Agents for Israel


Anderson Cooper Corrects Cuomo’s Description of French Terrorist as ‘African-American’

10 Jan 2015

The safety of the community

I have been reading a book by Rebbetzin Feldbrand titled Essentials; A Commentary on Derech Hashem by Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzato which contains many inspirational thoughts and stories. I must say that I have been inspired.


The DailyMail reports 'Every single French Jew I know has left Paris': Editor of Britain's Jewish Chronicle claims people are fleeing terror-hit French capital.


The New York Times asks After Days of Terror, French Muslims Wonder: What Now?


Jewish quarters across the country are on high alert after a hostage siege Friday at a kosher market that President François Hollande described as a “terrifying act of anti-Semitism.” This has only increased the sense of competing communities pitted against each other. The police said the suspect, Amedy Coulibaly, an associate of Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, the brothers suspected in the Charlie Hebdo attack, declared he had wanted to defend Palestinians and target Jews.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/world/europe/french-muslims-worry-about-backlash-after-charlie-hebdo-attack.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=a-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0


Shouldn't the New York Times ask French Jews wonder, what now?
I guess they don't have any need to worry because in September 2014, EJP reported that French Prime Minister Manuel Valls spoke at the Great Synagogue of rue de la Victoire in Paris where he stated, ‘’the government closely monitors that the safety of the community is guaranteed everywhere, all the time.’’
http://ejpress.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50462&catid=2


Before the weekend, I posted the sentence ending a Time magazine article titled Where Do France's Jews Belong?


Unlike Sharon, I can't accept that fighting anti-Semitism in France is futile, because I believe that a Jew's place is anywhere he or she chooses to live.
http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,671180,00.html


INN reports that "Plans are underway for all four of Friday's victims to be buried in a state ceremony in Israel."
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/189744#.VLFl-JVATIU


Perhaps the last sentence can be amended to "I believe that a Jew's place is anywhere he or she chooses to die and the place where he or she chooses to be buried."

9 Jan 2015

Empathy

Parshas Shemos - Derech Eretz Kadma L'torah -To Be A Mensch

This week's parsha speaks about the miraculous story of how Moshe Rabeinu came into this world and how he developed and matured to become the savior of the Jewish people.Moshe Rabeinu spent his formative years in Pharoah's household leading us to ask,why was this the most appropriate place for Moshe to be raised?
Read more: http://baltimorejewishlife.com/torah/parsha-detail.php?SECTION_ID=45&ARTICLE_ID=56088

Shooting at Kosher market in eastern Paris

Below are a few sentences from a 2004 Time article.

Ariel Sharon's belief that the Jews of France belong in Israel and ought to get there as soon as possible lest they fall victim to anti-Semitism gone wild has opened a major diplomatic row between France and Israel.
... Unlike Sharon, I can't accept that fighting anti-Semitism in France is futile, because I believe that a Jew's place is anywhere he or she chooses to live.
http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,671180,00.html

Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis has printed a letter from a reader who finds herself unmarried at age 29. The Rebbetzin has yet to respond, but let's hope the letter writer finds her bashert soon.

INN writes, Paris Massacre Terrorists Were on US 'No Fly' List 'For Years'

British Cleric to NewsmaxTV Host: ‘Are You Jewish?’