The age of 80

The Torah tells us that Moshe was 80 years old and Aharon 83 when they stood before Paroh (Va'eira 7:7). Why is this so important to us? Rav Shimon Schwab explains that Aharon was born at the time that Paroh told the midwives to kill all Jewish born baby boys. Moshe was born three years later when Paroh decreed that every male born child must be thrown in the river. Both these decrees were made to ward off the prediction of the star gazers who foresaw that the redeemer of the Jews would be born at that time. Moshe and Aharon were sent to not only redeem Bnei Yisrael, but also to teach Paroh that Hashem controls the world and not him. For the first lesson Moshe asked Paroh to dig deep into his memory and recall the decrees of many decades ago. Then he proudly told him that he and Aharon were both children that should have never seen the light of day. Yet, because Hashem is in control, they both defied the decree and here they were alive and well... and ready to play the role of the redeemers that Paroh tried so desperately tried to kill.
http://www.revach.net/parshas-hashavua/quick-vort/Parshas-Va039eira-Rav-Shimon-Schwab-First-Lesson-Happy-Birthday-To-Moshe-amp-Aharon/4885

And speaking of the ripe old age of 80, here is a Yahoo article I came across about foods to eat to help prevent cancer.

To reduce your risk of cancer, look no further than your fridge. "All the studies on cancer and nutrition point to eating plant-based foods for their phytonutrients and other special compounds," says Richard Béliveau, PhD, chair in the prevention and treatment of cancer at the University of Québec at Montreal and author of Foods to Fight Cancer. Aim for five to nine daily servings of all kinds of fruits and vegetables—especially these six superstars.
Read full article: http://shine.yahoo.com/event/vitality/6-cancer-fighting-superfoods-2428408/

Travel and stress

A NYPost article titled Stories from the blizzard details people's experiences during the snowstorm in New York.
She got stuck at Kennedy Airport. The airline flew her luggage to London without her. She was trapped on the subway for seven excruciating hours, and she hasn’t had a decent meal in days.
Other than that, Doris Logie, how was your trip to New York?
“It was lovely,” said Logie, who has been trying to return to Scotland with her daughter, Alex, since Sunday. “We had a wonderful Christmas, but I’ll never come back at this time of the year.”
...Everyone knows something wasn’t kosher about the blizzard clean-up, and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa thinks he knows why — “gentile” salt.
“Kosher salt has always done miracles in New York City snowstorms,” Sliwa quipped. “Normally, when you have a big storm and you crunch in salt, your shoes get white. It’s not happening this time. There’s no crunching going on.”
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/the_holiday_blizzard_WPiFfuBG68dSAAKa3W5nhJ

For those of you who have experienced distress while traveling, reading Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis's Rising Above Aggravation will perhaps help you gain a better perspective.

The frogs

Two articles

Click here to read Victor Sharpe's article titled Two nations under Islamic duress -- Serbia and Israel.
Click here to read Abraham Foxman's article titled The Arab Press' Nazification of Israeli Leaders.

To give

Caught a clip on CNN's heroes of the year about Narayanan Krishnan. Extremely inspiring and amazing what one person can do.

The religion list

Click here to read an interesting article by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach titled The End of the Rabbi As Mr. Nice Guy.
Click here to read an article titled HuffPost Religion's 10 Most Influential People of 2010.

I don't agree that all 10 should have made the list and I disagree with the reasons for their inclusion, but I'll let you decide for yourselves.

The possibility of the miraculous

Light a candle of truth

I caught a video of Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech at the 92nd Street Y in which he describes his meeting with the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

To be the best you can be

"Hu Aharon Umoshe" (6:26); "Hu Moshe ViAharon" (6:27) Rashi points out, that there are places where the Torah places Aharon before Moshe and there are places where it places Moshe before Aharon. This is to teach us that they are of equal significance (Shkulim Haym). The obvious question is, how can we say that Aharon was equal to Moshe? Doesn't the Torah say that there never was or will be a Navi as great as Moshe?
The Maskil L'David answers, at this point they were of equal significance. It was only after Mattan Torah where Moshe was alone for 40 days and nights with the Shechina that he elevated himself above Aharon.
R' Moshe Feinstein offers a different answer. Of course Moshe was greater than Aharon even at this point. They were of equal significance in the aspect that each one of them fulfilled his Tafkid (potential) in this world. Hashem does not look how great one is, rather if he was able to "be all that he could be". If one reaches that level, he achieved the highest level. Aharon reached that level; therefore in this sense he was as great as Moshe who also reached the level of fulfilling his total potential. This is a comforting thought for all of Klal Yisroel. We too have the potential to be as great as Moshe in this sense.
http://www.revach.net/parshas-hashavua/quick-vort/Parshas-Vaeira-Rav-Moshe-Feinstein-Moshe-Aharon-and-You-Can-All-Be-Equal/1594

A second chance

Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may live...

A few days ago a story was making the rounds about a couple who had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars on a game show, despite having given the right answer.
A HuffingtonPost article describes how the couple have been invited back for a second appearance. Hopefully, justice will be served.