The Sacramento city council meeting this Tuesday night is set to be the scene of a hot debate. That’s when it considers whether to adopt as a “sister city” an Israeli town that’s been victim to numerous terrorist rocket attacks from Gaza. The vote was supposed to be pro forma, until pro-Palestinian activists stepped in and are now pressuring council members to reject adopting Ashkelon. The same activists did not protest the Sacramento council’s decision in 2009 to name “Bethlehem, Palestine” as Sacramento’s ninth sister city.
Continue reading: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/pro-palestinian-activists-pressure-sacramento-to-reject-israeli-sister-city-but-bethlehem-palestine-was-ok-in-09/
13 Aug 2012
Gratitude
Sara Yoheved Rigler writes about the power of gratitude.
The 19th century Rabbi Natan of Breslov taught a counter-intuitive formula. He taught that when you face a problem in life, the more you complain about the problem, the longer you perpetuate the problem. On the other hand, when you thank God for everything, including the problem itself, the problem disappears.
Read full article: http://www.aish.com/sp/pg/The-Power-of-Gratitude.html
The 19th century Rabbi Natan of Breslov taught a counter-intuitive formula. He taught that when you face a problem in life, the more you complain about the problem, the longer you perpetuate the problem. On the other hand, when you thank God for everything, including the problem itself, the problem disappears.
Read full article: http://www.aish.com/sp/pg/The-Power-of-Gratitude.html
12 Aug 2012
Check your cars!
This summer I have read about two incidents where parents mistakenly left their children in sweltering hot cars and the consequences were dire.
This afternoon I read about a similar incident where a two-year- old child was left in a car. Someone who saw the girl and feared for her life broke a window and extricated the youngster from the car. Medics who examined her declared her to be in good condition, thank G-d.
Read article in Hebrew: http://anashnews.net/default.aspx?pageid=53&articleID=3124
Yesterday I posted about Fareed Zakaria being suspended from Time and CNN for alleged plagiarism.
In 2005 Mr. Zakaria returned an ADL award and criticized national director Abraham Foxman.
Below is an excerpt from a letter written by Mr. Foxman in response to the journalist's remarks.
I received your letter today and must say I am not only saddened but stunned and somewhat speechless by your decision to return the ADL Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize, you accepted in 2005. As someone I greatly respect for engaging in discussion and dialogue with an open mind I would have expected you to reach out to me before coming to judgment.
This afternoon I read about a similar incident where a two-year- old child was left in a car. Someone who saw the girl and feared for her life broke a window and extricated the youngster from the car. Medics who examined her declared her to be in good condition, thank G-d.
Read article in Hebrew: http://anashnews.net/default.aspx?pageid=53&articleID=3124
Yesterday I posted about Fareed Zakaria being suspended from Time and CNN for alleged plagiarism.
In 2005 Mr. Zakaria returned an ADL award and criticized national director Abraham Foxman.
Below is an excerpt from a letter written by Mr. Foxman in response to the journalist's remarks.
I received your letter today and must say I am not only saddened but stunned and somewhat speechless by your decision to return the ADL Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize, you accepted in 2005. As someone I greatly respect for engaging in discussion and dialogue with an open mind I would have expected you to reach out to me before coming to judgment.
5 Aug 2012
MeiReishis Hashana
"Einei Hashem Elokecho Bah MeiReishis Hashana Ad Acharis Shanah; The
eyes of Hashem are always upon it, from the beginning of the year until
year's end." (11:12) The Satmar Rebbi, Zt"l, asks, "Why does the pasuk say by
Raishis - 'Hashana', but by 'Acharis' it only says, 'Shanah'?"
He answers, that the nature of people is that in the beginning of a new year, when people are in the Tshuva mode, they say, "This year I will be better. This year I will give more Tzedoka, I will watch my anger, and learn more Torah. This will be THE year!" But when the year passes and he didn't fulfill any of his "New Year Resolutions", he sees that the year, which he thought would be THE year, turned out to be "just another year". The pasuk says, by "Raishis Hashana" - in the beginning he thinks this year will be Hashana - the year, but at the end of the year it's only "Acharis Shanah" - just another year.
We say in the Kedusha of Mussaf, "Hain Goaltie Eschem Acharis KiRaishis; When will I redeem you?" says Hashem, "when 'Acharis KiRaishis' - the end of the year will be like the beginning." When all the promises and resolutions that one makes before Rosh Hashana, will still be in place at the end of the year, that is when the Geula will come!
Read full article: http://revach.net/parshas-hashavua/quick-vort/Parshas-Eikev-Satmar-Rov-The-Beginning-Of-The-Big-Year/2646
Those of have seven hours to spare can click on the link to the Siyum Hashas presentation that Matzav pointed me to this evening.
He answers, that the nature of people is that in the beginning of a new year, when people are in the Tshuva mode, they say, "This year I will be better. This year I will give more Tzedoka, I will watch my anger, and learn more Torah. This will be THE year!" But when the year passes and he didn't fulfill any of his "New Year Resolutions", he sees that the year, which he thought would be THE year, turned out to be "just another year". The pasuk says, by "Raishis Hashana" - in the beginning he thinks this year will be Hashana - the year, but at the end of the year it's only "Acharis Shanah" - just another year.
We say in the Kedusha of Mussaf, "Hain Goaltie Eschem Acharis KiRaishis; When will I redeem you?" says Hashem, "when 'Acharis KiRaishis' - the end of the year will be like the beginning." When all the promises and resolutions that one makes before Rosh Hashana, will still be in place at the end of the year, that is when the Geula will come!
Read full article: http://revach.net/parshas-hashavua/quick-vort/Parshas-Eikev-Satmar-Rov-The-Beginning-Of-The-Big-Year/2646
Those of have seven hours to spare can click on the link to the Siyum Hashas presentation that Matzav pointed me to this evening.
Great remorse and bad manners
The other day I called a friend of mine and the phone was answered by her eighteen-year-old daughter. When I asked to speak to her mother she told me that her mother wasn't at home. I had called the previous week, looking for a phone number and she hadn't relayed the message to her mother. Expecting her to do the same, I couldn't fathom that she would tell her mother I had called. Instead I asked her when she thought her mother would return.
She answered, "in ten minutes."
"Why couldn't she tell me directly that her mother wasn't at home but was expected within the next quarter of an hour,' I asked myself.
Of course the answer is that many children are not taught the social graces of good phone manners or effective communication.
I thought of the above incident when I read a story about a boy who was taught a lesson by his coaches after he cut in line for a flight.
Click here to read the story and watch a video where he expresses his great remorse to his fellow passengers.
She answered, "in ten minutes."
"Why couldn't she tell me directly that her mother wasn't at home but was expected within the next quarter of an hour,' I asked myself.
Of course the answer is that many children are not taught the social graces of good phone manners or effective communication.
I thought of the above incident when I read a story about a boy who was taught a lesson by his coaches after he cut in line for a flight.
Click here to read the story and watch a video where he expresses his great remorse to his fellow passengers.
4 Aug 2012
The converso journalist
Doreen Carjaval writes about a Spanish manufacturer of hats whose business is being saved from an unlikely source.
But despite the Spanish economic crisis, the hat company is thriving, thanks to an unlikely revenue base: the sales of thousands of black hats each year to Satmar Hasidic Jews in Jerusalem and Brooklyn.
“They are saving us in the crisis,” said Miguel García Gutiérrez, 35, the managing director of the Roche factory, officially known as Industrias Sombrereras Españolas, which operates in an industrial park in Salteras, about nine miles outside Seville. “We have an important market in Spain for traditional hats, but with the crisis those sales have fallen for the last three years, between 20 and 30 percent. But our exports are rising for hats for Orthodox Jews.”
Read full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/world/europe/black-hats-for-brooklyn-made-to-precise-order-in-spain.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
And for those who missed an article about Ms. Carjaval's background, here goes.
Doreen Carvajal was raised Catholic and had no occasion to question her religious or cultural heritage growing up. Even when she became a journalist (she’s currently a European correspondent for the New York Times and International Herald Tribune) and readers, seeing her byline, wrote to tell her that her last name was a common Sephardic Jewish name, she remained incurious. It took moving to Arcos de la Frontera, an ancient town in Andalusia, Spain, for her to finally confront the likelihood that her ancestors were conversos—that is, Spanish Jews who 600 years ago converted to Christianity rather than face death or exile during the Inquisition.
Read full article: http://www.tabletmag.com/podcasts/107668/reporter-digs-up-converso-past
But despite the Spanish economic crisis, the hat company is thriving, thanks to an unlikely revenue base: the sales of thousands of black hats each year to Satmar Hasidic Jews in Jerusalem and Brooklyn.
“They are saving us in the crisis,” said Miguel García Gutiérrez, 35, the managing director of the Roche factory, officially known as Industrias Sombrereras Españolas, which operates in an industrial park in Salteras, about nine miles outside Seville. “We have an important market in Spain for traditional hats, but with the crisis those sales have fallen for the last three years, between 20 and 30 percent. But our exports are rising for hats for Orthodox Jews.”
Read full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/world/europe/black-hats-for-brooklyn-made-to-precise-order-in-spain.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
And for those who missed an article about Ms. Carjaval's background, here goes.
Doreen Carvajal was raised Catholic and had no occasion to question her religious or cultural heritage growing up. Even when she became a journalist (she’s currently a European correspondent for the New York Times and International Herald Tribune) and readers, seeing her byline, wrote to tell her that her last name was a common Sephardic Jewish name, she remained incurious. It took moving to Arcos de la Frontera, an ancient town in Andalusia, Spain, for her to finally confront the likelihood that her ancestors were conversos—that is, Spanish Jews who 600 years ago converted to Christianity rather than face death or exile during the Inquisition.
Read full article: http://www.tabletmag.com/podcasts/107668/reporter-digs-up-converso-past
3 Aug 2012
An apology
Alana Goodman has written an article titled DCCC Apologizes to Adelson for “Untrue” Attacks.
Faced with a threat of a defamtion suit, the DCCC backed off. How about extending defamation suits to those who make their accusations in the guise of questions? Why should journalists be able to get away with a headline such as Did John Doe assassinate President Kennedy?
If a journalist is so convinced that he is writing the truth, he should be brave enough to write "John Doe assassinated President Kennedy." Otherwise, the article should not be printed.
Here are two Torah thoughts on Parshat Vaetchanan. The first is by Rabbi Frand. Click here to read. After reading this article by Rabbi Mansour, I was inspired to perform a mitzva immediately. I went to visit an old age home and put a smile on an octogenarian's face.
Faced with a threat of a defamtion suit, the DCCC backed off. How about extending defamation suits to those who make their accusations in the guise of questions? Why should journalists be able to get away with a headline such as Did John Doe assassinate President Kennedy?
If a journalist is so convinced that he is writing the truth, he should be brave enough to write "John Doe assassinated President Kennedy." Otherwise, the article should not be printed.
Here are two Torah thoughts on Parshat Vaetchanan. The first is by Rabbi Frand. Click here to read. After reading this article by Rabbi Mansour, I was inspired to perform a mitzva immediately. I went to visit an old age home and put a smile on an octogenarian's face.
Tu b'Av and the numbers
Tu b’Av (named for the date in the Hebrew calendar, the 15th (Tet = 9, Vav = 6; 9+6=15) of the Hebrew month of Av) is one of the lesser known holidays in the Jewish calendar...
...The first mention of Tu b’Av is in the Mishna (Taanit), where it says (attributed to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel), “There were no better days for the people of Israel than the Fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur, since on these days the daughters of Jerusalem go out dressed in white and dance in the vineyards. What they were saying: Young man, consider who you choose (to be your wife).” (Taanit 4:8). http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/tubav.html
All the daughters of Jerusalem dressed the same so that there was no distinction between rich and poor. Nowadays many parents complain to me how difficult the period of shidduchim is and how much harder it is than years ago. I wish there was a magoc solution and I praise those who are involved in trying to better the situation. May your efforts succeed and may we be zocheh to make many shidduchim, thereby increasing our numbers.
Speaking about numbers, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks writes an excellent Parsha thought about the "fewest of all peoples" in an article titled Numbers Don’t Tell The Story.
Moses warns the Israelites against intermarriage with them, not for racial but for religious reasons: “They will turn your children away from following Me to serve other gods.” Malbim interprets our verse as Moses saying to the Israelites: Don’t justify intermarriage on the grounds that it will increase the number of Jews. God is not interested in numbers.
Read full article: http://www.jewishpress.com/judaism/parsha/numbers-dont-tell-the-story/2012/08/01/
.
...The first mention of Tu b’Av is in the Mishna (Taanit), where it says (attributed to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel), “There were no better days for the people of Israel than the Fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur, since on these days the daughters of Jerusalem go out dressed in white and dance in the vineyards. What they were saying: Young man, consider who you choose (to be your wife).” (Taanit 4:8). http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/tubav.html
All the daughters of Jerusalem dressed the same so that there was no distinction between rich and poor. Nowadays many parents complain to me how difficult the period of shidduchim is and how much harder it is than years ago. I wish there was a magoc solution and I praise those who are involved in trying to better the situation. May your efforts succeed and may we be zocheh to make many shidduchim, thereby increasing our numbers.
Speaking about numbers, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks writes an excellent Parsha thought about the "fewest of all peoples" in an article titled Numbers Don’t Tell The Story.
Moses warns the Israelites against intermarriage with them, not for racial but for religious reasons: “They will turn your children away from following Me to serve other gods.” Malbim interprets our verse as Moses saying to the Israelites: Don’t justify intermarriage on the grounds that it will increase the number of Jews. God is not interested in numbers.
Read full article: http://www.jewishpress.com/judaism/parsha/numbers-dont-tell-the-story/2012/08/01/
.
2 Aug 2012
The other
Below is an excerpt from International Religious Freedom Report for 2011 - Executive Summary.
This report also documents a global increase in anti-Semitism, manifested in Holocaust denial, glorification, and relativism; conflating opposition to certain policies of Israel with blatant anti-Semitism; growing nationalistic movements that target “the other;” and traditional forms of anti-Semitism, such as conspiracy theories, acts of desecration and assault, “blood libel,” and cartoons demonizing Jews. In Venezuela, the official media published numerous anti-Semitic statements. In Egypt, anti-Israel sentiment in the media was widespread and sometimes included anti-Semitic rhetoric and Holocaust denial or glorification. Web sites promoting Holocaust denial operated with Iran's consent. In France, the report documents desecration of Jewish synagogues and cemeteries. Hungary saw the rise in popularity of an openly anti-Semitic party, the Jobbik party. Jewish property was defaced in Ukraine, including a synagogue and several Holocaust monuments. In both Ukraine and the Netherlands, soccer matches were marred by anti-Semitic slogans.
Read report: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm#wrapper
Congressman Allen West aptly describes the liberal side when he opines, "because free speech is only free if you agree with what they say and what they believe."
This report also documents a global increase in anti-Semitism, manifested in Holocaust denial, glorification, and relativism; conflating opposition to certain policies of Israel with blatant anti-Semitism; growing nationalistic movements that target “the other;” and traditional forms of anti-Semitism, such as conspiracy theories, acts of desecration and assault, “blood libel,” and cartoons demonizing Jews. In Venezuela, the official media published numerous anti-Semitic statements. In Egypt, anti-Israel sentiment in the media was widespread and sometimes included anti-Semitic rhetoric and Holocaust denial or glorification. Web sites promoting Holocaust denial operated with Iran's consent. In France, the report documents desecration of Jewish synagogues and cemeteries. Hungary saw the rise in popularity of an openly anti-Semitic party, the Jobbik party. Jewish property was defaced in Ukraine, including a synagogue and several Holocaust monuments. In both Ukraine and the Netherlands, soccer matches were marred by anti-Semitic slogans.
Read report: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm#wrapper
Congressman Allen West aptly describes the liberal side when he opines, "because free speech is only free if you agree with what they say and what they believe."
Simchas haTorah!!
The following is a description by an individual who uploaded the first video below at the Siyum Hashas this evening.
Simchas hatorah!!!! Jewish unity by dancing after the hadran by the twelfth siyum hashes of the dad yomi. There are 90,000+ jews in this video, from all backgrounds, celebrating the same thing.
The third video below is one in which we can all benefit watching, as we see people being interviewed about the massive traffic jams and the hours spent commuting to the event. Instead of complaining, those interviewed focused on the excitement of the event itself and how it was all worth it, regardless of the traffic.
Simchas hatorah!!!! Jewish unity by dancing after the hadran by the twelfth siyum hashes of the dad yomi. There are 90,000+ jews in this video, from all backgrounds, celebrating the same thing.
The third video below is one in which we can all benefit watching, as we see people being interviewed about the massive traffic jams and the hours spent commuting to the event. Instead of complaining, those interviewed focused on the excitement of the event itself and how it was all worth it, regardless of the traffic.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)