Israel goes on Purim Alert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI3ixj3IuqM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vTLxpz9HKs&feature=PlayList&p=7F6DF9DCCEFACFEC&playnext=1&index=16
Schon Genug (Yiddishe for Enough is Enough)
Perhaps I am to sensitive about this question, but once again someone said something to me. This person knows about my orthodox conversion, yet they mentioned that they were on the phone with a orthodox woman and she said that knew a Orthodox Rabbi that said that I am NOT really a Jew...I really believe that I have learned enough to know the truth on this, but it has left me very hurt again. Why in G-DS name would someone want to say this to me...The person is not even Jewish....I am in tears over this conversation again. I have no doubt that I am Jewish, yet I am hurt that anyone would want me to think it is not so....They said some very mean things to me.. Why or how can there be such cold and insensitive people on this earth?
What I need is for anyone that reads this to reply your honest answer...I really need to see what all of you believe...trust me your answers will give me the extra dose of Judaism that I need right now. Thank you...N…
Our Sages of blessed memory say: "Who ever bothers a convert (or baal Tshuvah) about their past HAS NO PLACE IN THE WORLD TO COME.” We cannot go back on each Beis Din and Beis Din unless there is a bigger Beis Din and the original Beis Din makes a mistake in Torah. Originally Converts were converted by one Rabbi. Now it is by a Beis Din and worst than that today in Orthodoxy what I call a Jewish Mafia of megalomaniacs who want to rule the Jewish World. When the Moshiach comes people who are stepped on by these bullies who know how to be honest before G-D and G-D fearing will rule and those who dress costumes to fit the job will not be fit to clean my cess pool.
I came across a few “Holier than Thou types”. One came out against me going to a gym to work out. (I don’t pretend to be a super-duper hoo-ha Chassid of anybody. I know that in my personal opinion Rabbi Glixsman of saintly memory volunteered for the US Army even though under age and ended up boxing anti-semites there. I consider him one of the Lamed Vav Saints in his life time. He never pretended to be more than he was.) About a month or more ago, his son got married. His wife found out that he was trying to run after every unmarried frum skirt this side of Tel Aviv and he is 70 and has to take certain medications that we all get in our spam boxes from time to time.. He went criticizing me.
I sometimes get called upon to lead the Minyan in one Schul. In another Schul I got my USA Baal Tshuvah accent in prayer criticized. But since I prayed that day some very good things have happened for Am Yisrael. So SOMEONE UPSTAIRS harkened to my prayer.
Once I had a Yahrzeit in a Schul in Ashdod. I brought drinks from the 49 heckshirs that everybody will drink but made the mistake of buying plain Osem Crackers with the Heckshir of Rav Charlap (heaven forbid – maybe he did not check the flour for bugs, or the sugar was with 48 heckshirs or the eggs came from vultures instead of chickens – TRAFE TRAFE TRAFE) I almost punched the guy in the Schul. I started yelling at him that if he wants to refrain from eating that is his business but don’t tell me it is TRAFE and he is so worried about what is going into peoples mouths that he is not worried what is coming out of his. Our Sages say that whomever embarrasses his friend (with friends like this I don’t need the Hizballah, Hamas and Iranians) in public that he has no place in the world to come.
Parsha Tetzaveh
Suzanne posted this from the Temple Institute from last week that I cut down in size a bit:
"And they will build ME a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst." (Exodus 25:8)
This week's Torah reading of Terumah, (Exodus 25:1-27:19), features the crystal clear and eternal commandment to the children of Israel to build for G-d a sanctuary - a Holy Temple. The fulfillment of this commandment is an obligation upon us today every bit as much as it was an obligation for the generation of the desert, and for every generation that has come between.
The Temple Institute dispels ignorance and increase knowledge we are witness to more and more Jewish men and women, young and old, whose hearts are reawakening with the desire and yearning for the Holy Temple and the Divine service to be returned to the heart of the nation of Israel's relationship with the Almighty and the center of daily life and worship.
Righteous Gentiles are also becoming part of the historic and prophetic calling for the restoration of the sovereign nation of Israel in the land promised her by G-d, and the renewal of the Divine service in the place where He chose: Jerusalem.
We take this opportunity upon the annual reading of Exodus 25:8, "And they will build Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst," to restate our commitment to the fulfillment of this commandment, vital to the spiritual wellbeing of all mankind:
"Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be acceptable upon My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." (Isaiah 56:7) – Many of us sing this at the end of the High Holiday Mussaf Service.
27:20 And thou shall command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. 21 In the tent of meeting, without the veil which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall set it in order, to burn from evening to morning before the LORD; it shall be a statute for ever throughout their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.
The Bnei Yisrael are called a “stiffed neck people” by HASHEM. They are hard like the olive that falls from a tree. When the olive is left alone it produces very little oil but when beaten squeezed and pressed the Bnei Yisrael produce the sweetest of Torah learning. In the centuries in the Ghetto and poverty the best works of Rashi, Tur, etc. were produced. Don Yitzchak Abarbanel produced great leadership and works when sent to Galus. There were some exceptions of Torah in a freer atmosphere like the works of the Rambam but it was always out of beaten down Bolsheviks rule that a Moshe Feinstein, Yosef Yitzchak and Menachem Mendel Schneersohn and produced the greatest of Torah leaders.
Pure: Without sediment, as we learned in Men. (86a): “He allows it to ripen at the top of the olive tree, etc.” crushed: He must crush the olives in a mortar, but he may not grind them in a mill, so that they will not contain sediment. After he has extracted the first drop [of oil], he places them [the olives] into a mill and grinds them. The [resulting] second oil is unfit for the menorah but is fit for meal offerings, as it is said: “crushed for lighting,” but not crushed for meal offerings. -[from Men. 86a] to kindle the lamps continually: Heb. לְהַעִלֹת, lit., to cause to rise. [The kohen] shall light it until the flame rises by itself. -[from Shab. 21a] continually: Heb. תָּמִיד. [Since it burns] every night, it is called תָּמִיד, as you say: “a continual burnt offering” (עֹלַת תָּמִיד)” (Exod. 29:42, Num. 28:6), [which is called “continual”] although it is [offered up] only from day to day. Similarly, concerning the flat pan meal offering [of the Kohen Gadol, the word] תָּמִיד is mentioned although it is [offered up] only half in the morning and [the other] half in the evening. [The word] תָּמִיד mentioned concerning the showbread (Exod. 25:30), however, [literally] means from Sabbath to Sabbath [i.e., continually].
From evening to morning: Give it its measure so that it will burn from evening to morning. And the Sages estimated [that this is] a half of a log [between 6 and 10.6 fl. oz.] for the long nights of Teveth, and similarly for all the nights. If any of it remains, it does not matter. [From Men. 89a]
In short an eternal flame on the altar of the L-RD. (Unfortunately due to our sins of idol worship in the first Temple and groundless hatred in the second Temple we no long have this. Woe unto us that I have to argue with Jews who think that we should be nicer to the Amalek in Gaza than our innocent children from Beer Sheva to Gedera.
28:1 And bring thou near unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that they may minister unto Me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. 2 And thou shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for splendor and for beauty. 3 And thou shall speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron's garments to sanctify him, that he may minister unto Me in the priest's office.
To sanctify him, [so] that he serve Me [as a kohen]: Heb. לְקַדְּשׁוֹ לְכַהִנוֹ-לִי, to sanctify him, to initiate him into the kehunah through these garment [so] that he would be a kohen to Me. The expression of kehunah means service, serjanterie [or serventrie] in Old French.
Aaron and his sons were to minister the Korbanos and various religious Services in the Mishkan and Mikdash. Eventually the Kehunah became so many as 10 tribes were taken away leaving mostly Jews, Cohanim and Leviim with a few from Shimon and Benyamin that 24 Mishmaros or weeks for each Cohain family. Example week one would be Cohen, two Kohn, three Katz, four Rappaport, five Kahane, etc. In turn certain Levy families would accompany these Cohanim.
4 And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a tunic of chequer work, a mitre, and a girdle; and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto Me in the priest's office. 5 And they shall take the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen.
a choshen: An ornament opposite the heart. An ephod: (apron) I did not hear (that it was a garment) [i.e., I have no tradition concerning the ephod], and I did not find the explanation of its pattern in the Baraitha [Melecheth HaMishkan]. My heart tells me that he [the Kohen Gadol] was girded with it [the ephod] from behind, its width being like the width of an [average] man’s back, similar to a kind of apron called porzent [or pourceint], [a kind of] belt, [like an] apron [back to front] that princesses wear when they ride horseback. So it was made from below [i.e., for the lower part of the body], as it is said: “and David was girded with a linen ephod” (II Sam. 6:14). [Thus] we learn that the ephod was a belt. It is impossible, however, to say that it was only a belt, because it is said: “and he put the ephod on him,” and afterwards, “and he girded him with the band of the ephod (בְּחֵשֶׁב הָאֵפוֹד) ” (Lev. 8:7), which Onkelos renders: בְּהֶמְיַן אֵפוֹדָא. [Thus] we learn that the חֵשֶׁב was the band and the ephod was a separate decoration. It is also impossible to say that because of the two shoulder straps in it, it is called ephod, for it is said: “the two shoulder straps of the ephod” (verse 27). [Thus] we learn that the ephod was a separate entity, the shoulder straps were a separate entity, and the band was a separate entity. Therefore, I say that because of the apron below it is called ephod because he decorates and adorns himself with it, as it is said: “and he decorated him with it” (Lev. 8:7); the חֵשֶׁב is the band above it, to which the shoulder straps were attached. Moreover, my heart tells me that there is evidence that it is a kind of garment, for Jonathan rendered “and David was girded with a linen ephod” (II Sam. 6: 14) as כַּרְדּוּט דְּבוּץ and he renders likewise מְעִילִים as כַּרְדּוּטִין, in the narrative of Tamar, Absalom’s sister, “for in this manner the king’s virgin daughters dressed, in robes (מְעִילִים) ” (II Sam. 13:18). A robe: Heb.. מְעִיל. It is a kind of tunic, as is the כְּתֹנֶת, only that the כְּתֹנֶת is [worn] next to his flesh and the מְעִיל is [what is] called the outside robe. Of checker work: Heb. ךְתַּשְׁבֵּץ. Made of boxes (מִשְׁבְּצוֹת) for beauty. The boxes are similar to holes made in gold jewelry as a setting for precious stones and pearls, as it is said regarding the ephod stones: “enclosed in gold settings (מִשְׁבְּצוֹת) ” (verse 11), and in Old French it is called cha(s)tons, settings. [I.e., the boxes of the checker work on the tunic are like settings for precious gems.] A cap: Heb. מִצְנֶפֶת, a type of dome-shaped hat, called cofia in Old French, A Kipa or Yarmulke as opposed to that of the Cohain Gadol who wore a Mitre similar to that which the Papal imitation looks like but the Tzitz was written Kodesh Le HASHEM because elsewhere (verse 40) [the Torah] calls them מִגְבָּעוֹת, and the Targum [Onkelos] renders: כּוֹבָעִין And a sash: This is the belt on the tunic, and the ephod is the belt on the robe, as we find in the order they were put on: “and put upon him the tunic, girded him with the sash, clothed him with the robe, put upon him the ephod” (Lev. 8:7). Holy garments: From the offering sanctified for My name they shall make it.
6 And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the skilful workman.
Rashi points out that these are the wise craftsmen who were given essentially DIVINE inspiration into the vision that Moshe saw on Mt. Sinai for 40 days and nights while he received the oral Torah. Rashi is now going to explain the working of the apron held together by the Onyx Stones (These were larger than the stones in the Choshen Mishpat if I am correct.
And they shall make the ephod: If I would try to explain the making of the ephod and the choshen according to the order of the verses, their explanation would be fragmentary and the reader would err in combining them. Therefore, I am writing [first] how they were made, as it was [i.e., in its entirety], so that the reader will be able to run through it [quickly]. Afterwards, I will explain it [how they were made] according to the sequence of the verses. The ephod was designed like a sort of apron worn by women who ride horseback [see Rashi on verse 4], and he [the Kohen Gadol] would gird [himself with] it from behind, opposite his heart, below his elbows, its width equaling the width of a man’s back and more, and it [the ephod] would reach his ankles. The belt was attached to the top of it across its width, [it was] the work of a weaver, and it extended on both sides in order to wrap [the Kohen Gadol] and gird [him] with it. The shoulder straps were attached to the belt-one to the right and one to the left from behind the Kohen [Gadol], at the two ends of the width of the apron. When he held them [i.e., the shoulder straps] upright, they stood [i.e., lay flat] on his two shoulders. They were like two straps made from the same material as the ephod [and they were] long enough to place them upright alongside his neck on either side. They were folded in front of him slightly below his shoulders. The shoham stones were set in them-one on the right shoulder strap and one on the left shoulder strap. The settings were placed at their ends in front of his shoulders, and the two golden chains were inserted into the two rings of the choshen at the two ends of its upper width-one on the right and one on the left. The two ends of the [right] chains were inserted into the settings on the right, and similarly the two ends of the left chains were inserted into the settings on the left shoulder strap. Thus, the choshen was suspended on the settings of the ephod in front of him [the Kohen Gadol] over his heart. There were two more rings on the two ends of the choshen, on the bottom of it. Opposite them [there were] two rings on the two shoulder straps from below, at its bottom end, which was attached to the belt. The rings of the choshen [were] opposite the rings of the ephod, lying on each other. He would fasten them [the rings] with a blue cord, inserted through the rings of the ephod and the choshen, attached to the band of the ephod, so that the bottom of the choshen would be attached to the band of the ephod, and it would not swing back and forth. Of gold, blue, purple, and crimson wool, and twisted fine linen: These five kinds [of substances] were twisted into each thread. They [the workers] flattened the gold into a sort of thin plate and cut cords out of them [the plates] and spun them, one thread of gold with six threads of blue wool, and one thread of gold with six threads of purple wool, and similarly with the crimson wool, and similarly with the linen, for the threads of all the kinds were doubled six fold, and one thread of gold was [twisted] with each one [kind of thread]. Afterwards, he would twist them all together. Thus, their threads were doubled into twenty-eight strands. This is explained in tractate Yoma (72a), and it is derived from the following verse (Exod. 39:3): “They flattened out the sheets of gold and he cut cords [out of them], to work (the gold cords) into the blue wool, into the purple wool, etc.” We learn that a thread of gold was twisted with every kind [of thread]. The work of a master weaver: Heb. מַעִשֵׂה חוֹשֵׁב. I have already explained (Exod. 26:1) that this is the weaving of two “walls,” [and] that the figures of its two sides are unlike one another.
An extraordinary garment needs not just any weaver but a master weaver. Just as the chief brain surgeon does the most complicated operations and does not leave it to an ordinary surgeon so here for the work of the garment of the Cohain Gadol a master weaver was needed.
7 It shall have two shoulder-pieces joined to the two ends thereof, that it may be joined together.
At both its ends: [I.e.,] to the width of the ephod. For its width was only against the Kohen’s back, and its height extended opposite his elbows, which are called coudes in French, as it is said: “they shall not gird themselves in a place that sweats” (Ezek. 44:18). [I.e.,] they should not gird themselves in a place of perspiration, [namely] neither above their elbows nor below their waists, but opposite their elbows. -[from Zev. 18b] and it shall be entirely connected: the ephod with those two shoulder straps of the ephod. He shall connect them [by sewing them] with a needle below [the shoulder straps] to the band, and he shall not weave them [together] with it, but weave them separately and then connect them.
8 And the skillfully woven band, which is upon it, wherewith to gird it on, shall be like the work thereof and of the same piece: of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 9 And thou shall take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel: 10 six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the six that remain on the other stone, according to their birth.
I would Google the OU Org. Torah Tidbits on this week’s Parsha where Phil explains how the names were written. It is well worth reading and perhaps viewing on line. As usual after the Temple was destroyed the tradition was slightly lost and it was confused exactly how the names were written and Phil explains all views.
11 With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shall thou engrave the two stones, according to the names of the children of Israel; thou shall make them to be enclosed in settings of gold. 12 And thou shall put the two stones upon the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the children of Israel; and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial. 13 And thou shall make settings of gold; 14 and two chains of pure gold; of plaited thread shall thou make them, of wreathen work; and thou shall put the wreathen chains on the settings. 15 And thou shall make a breastplate of judgment, the work of the skilful workman; like the work of the ephod thou shall make it: of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, shall thou make it. 16 Four-square it shall be and double: a span shall be the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof.
17 And thou shall set in it settings of stones, four rows of stones: a row of carnelian, topaz, and smaragd shall be the first row;
Hebrew: אֹדֶם פִּטְדָה וּבָרֶקֶת Now the Carnelian or Odem is on the top right corner per the model that I have before me and is colored more pink than red but the Wikipedia calls it: Carnelian (also spelled cornelian) is a reddish-brown mineral which is commonly used as a semi-precious gemstone. Similar to carnelian is sard, which is generally harder and darker. (The difference is not rigidly defined, and the two names are often used interchangeably.) Both carnelian and sard are varieties of the silica mineral chalcedony colored by impurities of iron oxide. The color can vary greatly, ranging from pale orange to an intense almost-black coloration.. Rashi comments later on every one according to his name: According to the order of their [the progenitors of the tribes] births shall be the order of the stones, odem for Reuben, pitdah for Simeon, and similarly for all of them. The stone can be clear, blue or even an orange-red hue. The Medrash indicates that on the Odem was also the names of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yacov but most commentaries I have seen seem to hold the same way as Rashi. Shimon’s stone was white in nature. And Levy bareket was green and the Hebrew Wikipedia calls it in English an Emerald as it appears to me.
18 and the second row a carbuncle, a sapphire, and an emerald;
Hebrew: נֹפֶךְ סַפִּיר, וְיָהֲלֹם Nofach is for Yehuda and a Yellow Diamond. Yissachar is the sapphire they have is not the dark blue but purple in hue so I am not a gem expert but am uncertain to the little model that I have at home and certainly my model has the wrong order of things because the Yaalom or clear Diamond is way down in the wrong row clear cut diamond. I went and googled the Sapphire for example and got this: Sapphire (Greek: sappheiros) refers to gem varieties of the mineral corundum, an aluminium oxide (Al2O3), when it is a color other than red, in which case the gem would instead be a ruby. Trace amounts of other elements such as iron, titanium, or chromium can give corundum blue, yellow, pink, purple, orange, or greenish color. Pink-orange corundum are also sapphires, but are instead called padparadscha.
19 and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;
Hebrew: לֶשֶׁם שְׁבוֹ, וְאַחְלָמָה The Leshem or jacinth is light sky blue in color and is of the tribe of Yosef, the Shavu is very orange brown in color and is used as a camaya (charm) for pregnant women that they should not have a natural miss abort and the tribe of Benyamin where Rachel died in childbirth hence the camaya. Achlamach is a darker purple than the sapphire and is of the tribe of Dan.
20 and the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper; they shall be enclosed in gold in their settings.
Hebrew: תַּרְשִׁישׁ וְשֹׁהַם, וְיָשְׁפֵה Tarshis is ivory white and the tribe of Naphtali. Onyx or Shoham is jet black like the shoulder pieces and is the tribe of Gad. Yispah or Jasper was a darkish brown and the tribe of Asher.
21 And the stones shall be according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a signet, every one according to his name, they shall be for the twelve tribes.
Why Parsha Zachor?
The Torah asks us a few times to remember things like what happened to Miriam, Amalek, etc. Why did Aaron Yehoshua ben Chaya Shoshana run away from his bride the next morning to fight Amalek surely Nechemia his assistant could have led the troops for a few more days? The answer is that in each generation it is a Mitzvah to remember and fight Amalek. Amalek is both the physical and the spiritual anti-semite. He can come in the form of Haman, Hitler, Himmler, Stalin, Saddam, Khomeini, etc. Nowadays Iran continues and members of the Hamas and Hizballah want to do the work of Amalek. They usually come in families. The Abu Beyuv, Abu Zevel, Abu Jora, Abu Organic Fertilizer families, etc. are the ones coming constantly coming after Am Yisrael. These are real blooded Amalek. Others just cling to their philosophy. These are the ones that come and attack school buses, point Katyushas and Kassams at schools and kindergartens attack the elderly, etc. Their hatred for Yisrael, Torah and Mitzvos is a battle against HASHEM HIMSELF. They are the opposite. They don’t need a non-Jewish Devil with a pitchfork poking them on. They do this from the bottom of their rotten hearts. They hate us so much that they are willing to blow themselves up to kill us, Hindu’s, Buddhists, Christians, and even Shiite Moslems but the main enemy is us. We represent holiness and the path to salvation or a light unto the nations of the world. They live in darkness and train their very infants to become homicide bombers. It does not matter if there is a paraplegic who dies in the world trade center and posed no threat to them or a two month old Shalchevet Pass in Chevron. Their crimes and that of their surrogates throughout all generations we must remember and fight them. As long as they exist according to the Chofetz Chaim regarding the passages of Amalek it is written KES in Hebrew instead of KESAY. The KES is not a whole Throne for G-D until they are blotted out and once more like during the creation HE can sit on HIS KESAY. We cannot have real peace with Gaza or Lebanon until the Amalek leaders and army is deposed of. The same with real peace with the entire Arab Nation. Only when HASHEM will give strength until HIS people then HASHEM can bless HIS Nation with peace. May the Moshiach come quickly to do what the Israeli ‘leadership’ has failed to do.
Halacha
On Purim one adds עַל הַנִּסִּים to the Birkat Hamazon during the 2nd Bracha. If you forgot to add עַל הַנִּסִּים and you've already said 'ברוך אתה ה then you don't have to make amends. However, if possible you should say the following during the HaRachaman's after the 4th Bracha:
הָרַחֲמָן הוּא יַעֲשֶׂה לָנוּ נִסִּים וְנִפְלָאוֹת
כְּמוֹ שֶׁעָשָׂה לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ בַּיָּמִים הַהֵם בַּזְּמַן הַזֶּה
בִּימֵי מרדכי
and then continue with the rest of the עַל הַנִּסִּים. During every Amida of Purim one adds עַל הַנִּסִּים during Modim.. If you forgot to add עַל הַנִּסִּים and you've already said 'ברוך אתה ה then you don't have to make amends. Source: Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 44:16, 139: 21
This Shabbat - the one before Purim - is Parshas Zachor. A second Sefer Torah is taken out and for Maftir we read about the obligation to annihilate the nation of Amalek and remember their wickedness. For the Haphtarah we read the story of King Saul's attempt to fulfill the Mitzva of annihilating Amalek. (Shmuel-1 Ch. 15)
Source: Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 140:2 – Danny
Reform Movement gives incentive for new Congregants. http://realestate.aol.com/article/_a/jewish-families-get-help/20092281209?ncid=AOLCOMMre00dynlsec0003
Harmony with Nature – I received this from Noam Aranov: PEREK SHIRA is the song that is sung every day by ALL of HASHEM's creations in the realms of "domem" (i.e. the still, e.g. a rock), "tzomeyach" (i.e. the botanic, e.g. a flower) and "chai" (i.e. the animal kingdom, e.g. a lion). It is believed to have been authored by none-other than King David himself, who (like the Holy Baal Shem Tov) had the power to converse with animals.
PEREK SHIRA has been likened to an orchestra with many different instruments each contributing their unique sound. Every creation sings its unique song, and when they are combined they create "beautiful music".
"Man" is likened to the conductor of this orchestra, without whom the music could not be elevated to its highest potential. He (man) is seen as the "Crown" of Creation, within whom are included all of these forces (of Domem, Tzomeyach and Chai). Thus, when man sings PEREK SHIRA he gives strength to ALL of Creation to sing their song, and when their respective ministering angels sing - they receive sustenance from above - which they in turn bring down to us.
Rabbi Chaim ben Attar (1696-1742), aka the "Ohr HaChaim" HaKadosh, commented (Beresheis 3:1) that everything HASHEM created has its own system of speech with which to praise HASHEM "... and go learn this from PEREK SHIRA".
Rebbe Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (1740-1810) noted that "...if a man wants one of the nations of the world to change their attitude positively towards Israel (the Jews), then if that man knows the song of the nations' angel that sings and praises HASHEM, then that ministering angel has to love that man who knows his unique song to HASHEM, and because he loves that Holy Jew the angel is compelled to do his will... therefore he who recites PEREK SHIRA is great!"
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810) says "Know that each shepherd has a special tune according to the grass and according to the location that the shepherd is - because all grasses have a song. This is the concept of PEREK SHIRA. From the song of the grass a beautiful melody of the shepherd is being made".
Reciting the PEREK SHIRA daily is a SEGULA which helps in all realms: heath, well-being, financial, zivug (finding one's beshert), bearing children, etc.
RECITING PEREK SHIRA FOR 40 DAYS CONSECUTIVELY has even more influence up above, and is said to be a tremendous SEGULA, particularly for those in need of finding their beshert (spouse to be).
The purpose of this group is to INFORM Jews all over the world about this important and holy practice, and ENCOURAGE and MOTIVATE them to recite PEREK SHIRA.
To recite PEREK SHIRA in Hebrew please visit: http://perekshira.googlepages.com/index.htm
To view PEREK SHIRA with English translation please visit: http://www.zootorah.com/books/Perek%20Shirah%20booklet..pdf
This on the holocaust I posted last year but since Rachel resent this to me: http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=54397189388&h=eI_QS&u=1Enjz
Judea Pearl speaks out on the new way of anti-semitism: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3678767,00.html
Miracles Galore
1) Shabbos in Ashkelon the Hamas working in association with Google Earth is able to target schools. Did you notice that in Cast Lead a disproportional number of schools and kindergartens were hit in Beer Sheva, Ashdod and Ashkelon? On this Shabbos was no exception two new improved Grad Katyushas hit Ashkelon. One with extra explosives landing in the school yard where some children had been playing earlier and destroyed all the classrooms with pellets in the High School.
2) Sderot a Kassam explodes in the backyard of a house does a lot of structural damage but no injuries.
3) A private miracle outside of Israel within an hour twice saved from death: http://www.lemondrop.com/2009/03/02/fortunate-teen-survives-two-crashes-in-one-day/
4) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123594125500204049.html
A short Purim Saga for the Young and perhaps old alike from the OU: http://www.ou.org/shabbat_shalom/article/yaffa_ganz_second_back_purim_5769_contemporary_purim_saga/
Thanks to Tehilla for this site Moshiach News then click the second part: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ds8N2mWSVw&feature=related
Rachamim’s nonsensical Purim Halacha: Kiddush is made over a minimum of the largest German Beer Mug filled to the brim with wine and a majority of the cup must be downed within a minute. The Nusach of the Kiddush goes “Et Chag HaShukurim HaZeh” (this holiday of drunkards). After that it is customary especially by the Chassidim to sample whiskey, bourbon, brandy, gin, vodka, rum, vermouth, plum-peach-cherry-almond-banana liquors, etc. If you are still standing and are capable of drinking beer then go ahead. Rabbi Shlomo Mimran raised an objection when he raised his glass. The Sephardim in Burro Park first drink Arach because of the licorice taste and it can be 90 proof. Chachamim say: They once attended a party where the Rebbe from Boston had 95% pure alcohol and Reb Chaim added caraway seeds to give it a special flavor. Nobody disputes the fact that 95% pure alcohol can propel you in all sorts of directions.
Inyanay Diyoma
In 1982, I took my family to the States and among the people that I visited was my grandmother’s first cousin Annie Porges Kohn and her sister Trudy Porges who happened to marry a Porges. We drove to the Village to see her daughter. We never got to meet her granddaughter Eleanor but while we were talking there, her husband was on the phone with friends. My 11 year old was bored and listened into the conversation on the phone, “I am entertaining some Israeli Nazi cousins of my wife”. Last week cousin Bill kicked the bucket. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbert_Tatum
On the other hand one of radio’s greats passed away I used to love his news broadcasts and analysis from my childhood until a few years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Harvey
R’ A.L. forwarded this letter to me and perhaps you will understand what incentive is and what to kill incentive.
Subject: FW: INTERESTING LETTER
>
> INTERESTING LETTER FROM SMALL BUSINESS EMPLOYER TO HIS STAFF:
>
>
> To All My Valued Employees,
>
> There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country.
>
> However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests.
>
> First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You've seen my big home at last years Christmas party. I'm sure; all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life.
>
> However, what you don't see is the back story.
>
> I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living apartment was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.
>
> My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn't have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business - hard work, discipline, and sacrifice..
>
> Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes.
>
> Instead of hitting the Nordstrom's for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the discount store extracting any clothing item that didn't look like it was birthed in the 70's. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.
>
> So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don't. There is no "off" button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have that freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden - the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations ... You never realize the back story and the sacrifices I've made. Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn't.
>
> The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for.
>
> Yes, business ownership has its benefits but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds.
>
> Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:
>
> I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don't pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my "stimulus" check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.
>
> The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country.
>
> The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? That's nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy.
>
> Here is what many of you don't understand ... to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn't need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.
>
> When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don't defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the poor of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of
> change you can keep.
>
> So where am I going with all this?
>
> It's quite simple.
>
> If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child's future. Frankly, it isn't my problem any more.
>
> Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I'm done. I'm done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.
>
> So, if you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever.
>
> If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about.
>
> Signed,
> Your Boss
OBAMA WISHES TO GIFT $900 MILLION TO GAZA UNDER HAMAS CONTROL (1) by Emanuel A. Winston, Mid East analyst & commentator
Why not make the $900 Million you are offering to Gazan Palestinians a round Billion? $900 Million creates the illusion that it’s less - as when a retailer prices something at $14.95,instead of $15.00 (plus tax).
Congress must approve this hustle at a time when the old saying is in play, that is: "A Billion here, a Billion there, and pretty soon we’re talking real money."
Why is President Obama rewarding the Gazans when they voted in the majority to put Hamas in power when Hamas ran on a platform of unremitting Terror against Israel? Although the Bush-Rice regime and the Arabist State Department pushed the disinformation propaganda of President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas as a "Moderate", he remains a Terrorist in spirit (and in fact).
Remember, he’s also known by his "nom de guerre" (war name) as Abu Mazen. That’s what Senator John Kerry, new Head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee called him February 24th on CNN.
Remember that for 40 years Abu Mazen was Yassir Arafat’s companion, right-hand man, protégé, financier in Arafat’s 40 year reign as the Founder of radical Islamic Terrorism. Abu Mazen is no moderate and never was. Recall that he was the "bag man" who gathered the funds for the Munich Olympics PLO massacre of Israeli athletes.
The Muslim Arab Palestinians called Fatah are the direct descendants of Arafat’s army of Terrorists and 9 brutal Secret Services. But, they are all called "Moderates" - despite all the Suicide Terror Attacks they implemented and the thousands of Jews they murdered and maimed for life.
Fatah is composed of Al Aksa Martyrs’ Brigades, well known for their Terrorist acts and Tanzim whose leader was Marwan Bargouti. He is now serving five life sentences for Terror and Murder. He is no Moderate. Fatah and Hamas have the same core ideology except for their disinformation model, i.e.,the pretense that Fatah Palestinians are Moderate.
However, the State Department under Condoleezza Rice and now under Hillary Clinton, is pushing to have Bargouti released, along with 1000 other caught, tried and convicted Terrorists. Please note our article from February 17 "RECIDIVISM OF TERRORISTS" that describes how at least 30% of released Terrorists return to killing Jews. (2)
The State Department wants Bargouti to replace Abbas as the reincarnation of Yassir Arafat. After all, America gave Arafat Billions of Dollars to represent American interests (stop laughing) and now it’s Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s turn to spend Billions on Fatah and Hamas and to release Bargouti so he can unify Fatah and Hamas. Bargouti is a serious killer who is accepted by both as a leader and seasoned Terrorist.
Now Obama and Hillary wish to gift $900 Million to the Hamas Palestinians who made Gaza into a firing base for Kassam Rockets, Katyusha Missiles, Grad Missiles. All together 10,000 Rockets, Missiles and Mortars have been fired into Israel’s civilian population over the past 8 years and continuing today during another alleged cease-fire.
Hillary Clinton is to attend a Donors’ Conference this coming Monday March 2nd at Sharm el Sheik (the southern tip of the Sinai Desert). Hillary is expected to publicly announce President Obama’s pledge of $900 Million Dollars of American tax-payers’ money to Gaza Muslim Arab Palestinians now under the Hamas government.
We are again told that none of the money will fall into Hamas’ hands for weapons or to pay monthly salaries for Hamas and Palestinian salaries. Even Hamas has said openly that whatever monies go to Abbas and Fatah, also gets Hamas their share. Perhaps because most of Fatah consists of various Terror groups who are also loyal to Hamas.
Should the U.S. State Department ever succeed in uniting Fatah and Hamas, within days Fatah would disappear - except in name only and would remain as a false front to receive the Free World’s donor monies from the U.S., the E.U., the U..N. (especially UNRWA, United Nations Relief Works Association). Of course, Iran and Syria will always remain a prime source for many advanced weapons, missiles, explosives, etc.
A united Fatah-Hamas would have a short "Hudna" (temporary false peace) with Israel so that the U.S. Arabists can claim that two states could now be formed in peace. The peaceful Jews would be forced out of their homes in Judea, Samaria, the Jordan Valley, the Golan Heights and all those parts of Jerusalem that Jordan occupied and desecrated for 19 years from 1948 to 1967. That includes the North, the South and the East of Jerusalem - with the ancient Old City and the Temple Mount. The Jews could be forced out by a coalition of foreign forces under the cover of being peace troops.
Since the U.S. has not been able to pacify Islamic "Mujahadin" (fighters for Islam) anywhere in the world, the pretense of hammering Israel on the anvil of Arab Muslim Oil interests is the prevailing line of disinformation - or as known to many knowledgeable about propaganda as B.S. Lying to the American people and to the American Congress has become as endemic as white smoke coming out of the White House chimney.
When President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged $900 Million to Gaza Muslim Arab Palestinians, it was in line with Obama's agenda to appease Iran, Syria, Hizballah, Hamas, Fatah, Saudi Arabia and all those Muslim states who still are signed onto the Arab League Charter for committing Genocide against the Jewish people and for eliminating the Jewish State of Israel.
We are told that in addition to the $900 Million for Gazan Hamas Palestinians, President Obama has also pledged to pay out $23 Million to bring in thousands of Hamas Palestinian Muslims into America as immigrants. Why not? The U.S. State Department has over the years offered visas to all sorts of Arabs and Muslims from countries hostile to America, many of whom called themselves students who then enroll in courses on physics, chemistry and biology. Some train to fly airplanes.
Mr. President and Congress: As retired elderly Americans who worked and saved all their lives are now being thrown out of their retirement apartments because their savings are being eroded, you wish to spend a Billion on Gazan Hamas Palestinians who choose war and terror. While Medicare and Medicaid are going broke, you wish to send a Billion Dollars to a people who cannot be stopped from firing missiles at Israel.
Are we now to fund Al Qaeda, Hizballah, Syria and even Iran because they babble a few misleading words, implying their cessation of Terror? While you are trying to prove you are pals with anything Islamic, don’t do it with the dwindling American taxpayers’ dollars. If you think Charity to Islam will bring you honor among Islamists, then give it out of your own salary.
OBAMA'S NEW SPY CHIEF PUBLISHES A VICIOUS ANTI-ISRAEL JOURNAL by SAMMY BENOIT http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/02/obamas_new_spy_chief_publishes.html
received from Shoshanna Walker & forwarded with comments by Emanuel A. Winston, Mid East analyst & commentator
The appointment of Charles Freeman to the position as the Chairman of the National Intelligence Council speaks more to the vetting process where a former Saudi Ambassador who has echoed Saudi hatred for the Jewish State can meet President Barack Obama’s standards.
If the Saudis recommended Freeman for this sensitive post and Obama accepted this directive, then there’s more to Obama’s Saudi/Muslim connections than previously known. Freeman must be dismissed from this post or Obama must accept being known as a fellow traveler to Islam and hostile to Israel, denials notwithstanding.
As you read some of Freeman’s statements, you will recognize a straight forward anti-Semite and an instrument of Wahhabi Islamic policy that rules in Saudi Arabia.
Charles Freeman must be immediately exposed for what he is and what he stands for. He is an embarrassment to America and to the office of the President.
If Freeman and those like him are to be the new face of America then, no doubt, our Flag must dispense with the Stars and Stripes to that of the Arab star and crescent.
COMMENTS BY EMANUEL A. WINSTON
February 24, 2009
Obama's New Spy Chief Publishes a Vicious Anti Israel Journal by Sammy Benoit
Ben Smith has confirmed that Charles Freeman has been offered and accepted President Obama's invitation to be the Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, the intelligence community's primary big-think shop and the lead U.S. governmental body in producing national intelligence estimates.
For the last dozen years, Freeman, the former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, has been President of the Middle East Policy Council (formally known as the American Arab Affairs Council) a lobbying group for the Arab world. One of the group’s primary functions is to publish a quarterly journal called *Middle East Policy*. The journal is filled with anti-Israel messages that are beyond even the broadest definition of mainstream of U.S. thinking on the region. As the President of the organization responsible for this vicious and biased journal, the appointment of Freeman as a gatekeeper for U.S. intelligence is a very disturbing matter.
The Chairman of the National Intelligence Council is just like the editor of a journal. He must review, edit, add context to, and decide what to present to the President in terms of good intelligence. Therefore it is reasonable to predict Freeman's handling of the NIC job by looking at his work as President of MPEC and the journal that is published under his authority, "Middle East Policy".
As you are about to see, the vicious and distorted polemics that have passed through his editorial desk prove that Freeman is not qualified to be the "editor" of America's intelligence.
In MIDDLE EAST POLICY, VOL. XV, NO. 3, FALL 2008, the Editor's Note perpetuates the anti-Israel slander that the Iraq war was waged for Israel:
...beginning that the war was an excuse to enlarge the U.S. strategic "footprint" (as neo-con William Kristol calls it) on top of the lakes of oil in the Gulf region and make life safer for Israel, starting with the easiest problem case, Iraq. If the governments in the area did not come around, no problem; American troops were there in any case and would protect Israel ....In a New York Times op-ed (July 18), Benny Morris put the matter to Bush/Cheney crudely: bomb the suspected sites now or Israel will have to use nuclear weapons on Iran later. Call it extortion, if you will. But perhaps a better term is moral hazard: having been "insured" by the United States, Israel does not have to be cautious or even sensible. The Georgians seem to
have learned this lesson too, and without having to pay the high premium that a first-class standing army of lobbyists requires. Anne Joyce August 15, 2008
In another Editor's Note (July 07) IDF is depicted using Nazi military tactics during the Six-Day-War:
As regime-change advocates would have it, real peace talks cannot happen first; a deal with Syria involving an exchange of land for peace would cement in place the ruling Baath party of Bashar al-Asad. If he were to regain through negotiations the Golan Heights, occupied
by Israel since its Blitzkrieg of June 1967, he would be a god to his people, having set right what his father could not. A popular leader is very hard to topple, even in a weak state...
That same editorial goes on to say that political campaigners do not criticize Israel for fear of being labeled anti-Semitic:
Honest debate in this election season is hampered, as always, by the political correctness (or, rather, the abject fear) of mainstream political figures, both neo-conservative and neo-liberal, and the media will not get out ahead of them. They all have to protect themselves from the charge of Antisemitism, which has now been successfully conflated with criticism of the State of Israel...
This Editor's Note from the Fall 2007 issue accuses the US of working to protect Israel’s "victim status:"
This hamstrung U.S. diplomacy but protected Israel's victim status and left it free to annex as much Palestinian land as possible (see articles on the current lack of peace by Kelman, Kasrils and Peled-Elhanan). We still allow Israel to call the shots. Ehud Barak, a contender for power again, has said that talking to Hamas had to wait until Israel had a military deterrent to the low-tech missiles that have been lobbed into Israeli towns from the Gaza Strip. There is no sign that the U.S. government, whichever party leads it, will talk Israel down from this position. And the current fiasco in the making buying off Fatah and starving Hamas is an Israeli plan that Washington has had to accept."
For those wishing to dig deeper, the MEPC website can be found here http://www.mepc.org/journal/journal.asp.
While one can certainly disagree with other views of the middle-east and its problems, the views expressed by the Chas Freeman led MEPC are not within even the broadest mainstream currents of U.S. thinking on the region. It is not merely that the think tank is anti-Israel; the viciousness and contempt of its views, and the openness of MEPC's bias, make the appointment of Freeman to "edit" the intelligence information of the United States a very disturbing matter.
The following I cut short by a little.
NO FREE SPEECH FOR JEWS IN ISRAEL - ONLY FOR ARABS/LEFTISTS by Steven Plaut received from Freeman Center for Strategic Studies forwarded with comments by Emanuel A. Winston, Mid East analyst & commentator
Some judges in Israel are so consummately biased, they should be evicted from their jobs. The Courts of Israel in many cases are reminiscent of what happened when the celebrated German Courts, once so admired for judicial integrity, were captured by the Evil of Hitler. Some of the German judges were hanged after being convicted at the Nuremberg Tribunals.
Today we see Israel’s Supreme Court, once so admired in the world, has begun to disintegrate, first under Chief Justice Aharon Barak - now under Dorit Beinish, the Supreme Court has become a political party of the Left. The American judge Robert Bork said Israel’s Supreme Court under Aharon was an "activist" Court. That means the Court "acts" politically, not judicially. You can suggest some other definitions
NO FREE SPEECH FOR JEWS IN ISRAEL - ONLY FOR ARABS/LEFTISTS by Steven Plaut
Freedom of speech in Israel just took another bullet.. The Leftist First Amendment, under which anti-Israel leftists and Arabs are entitled to the protection of freedom of speech for everything they say but know one else is, made a comeback this week. The Israeli dual court system struck back.
Neria Ofan was convicted this week of racism by a Jerusalem Magistrate's Court. He was convicted of driving with an insensitive bumper sticker on his car. This is not a spoof. It really happened.
Ofan's felony? Ofan, who lives in the West Bank, had a bumper sticker on his car that reads, "Where there are No Arabs, there is No Terror." That, fatwa-ed the court's judge Shulamit Dotan, constitutes racism. Another Jews was similar convicted in criminal court six months back for wearing a Tee shirt containing the same slogan.
Now what does NOT constitute racism or incitement in post-democratic Israel? Arab students chanting "Death to the Jews" does not. Waving PLO and Hamas banners on campuses does not. We know that merely calling for Jews to be exterminated and for Israel to be annihilated also does not. The Supreme Court ruled just before the last election that two Arab parties whose platforms call for Israel's annihilation should be allowed to run and to sit in Israel's parliament. We know that Holocaust revisionism is protected speech, or at least that is what an Arab woman judge in Nazareth court wrote in one of her better known verdicts. We know that cheering on terrorist murders of Jewish children is not racist. After all, there are scores of leftist faculty members at Israeli universities who do THAT all the time.
Dotan was one of the judges who had earlier "convicted" Moshe Feiglin of "sedition" because he had blocked a traffic intersection in the 1990s with a group of protesters against Oslo. Blocking traffic intersections for other things, such as for the demands of the Histadrut or when students want lower tuition, is democratic and permitted. Among Dotan's more notorious acts of bias was this: she was the lead judge in the trial over the indictment of Israel's ex-President Moshe Katsav, accused of sexual molestation and rape. Except that it is looking more and more like Katsav is innocent and the prosecutor is right now proposing that the case be thrown out (see http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3654005,00.html ). It seems that Judge Shula held deliberations on the punishment sentence to be handed to Katsav even before his trial began!! See this: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3554711,00.html
As for that slogan, "Where there are no Arabs, there is no Terror," it is very close to being an empirically verifiable statement, although one can, I suppose, find terror here and there in places where there are no Arabs, like in Sri Lanka. But racism? I mean, if the court had accused the driver of perpetrating a slight empirical exaggeration, perhaps it might have a case.
It actually turns out that the slogan and bumper stickers were first the invention of an operator of a bed and breakfast on the Golan Heights, who handed them out during the 2000 intifada violence in the Galilee. Its point was that the Galilee is dangerous, but the Golan, where there are virtually no Arabs, is safe, so come on up for the weekend.
The sticker was then picked up by others, perhaps with a different agenda.
I personally prefer the bumper sticker that reads, "Where there are No Leftists there is no Treason," and I am prepared to go to prison for having one on my car if anyone can get one printed up and sent to me.
From R’ A.L.: New Technological Advances for Purim for the future measurements in the rebuilt Temple.
With today's rapid advance in technology, we thought it important to bring to our readers' attention some new engineering conversions.
Ratio of an igloo's circumference to its diameter: Eskimo Pi.
2000 pounds of Chinese soup: Won ton.
1 millionth of a mouthwash: 1 microscope.
Time between slipping on a peel and smacking the pavement: 1 bananasecond.
Time it takes to sail 220 yards at 1 nautical mile per hour: Knot-furlong.
365.25 days of drinking low-calorie beer: 1 lite-year.
Half of a large intestine: 1 semicolon.
Shortest distance between two jokes: A straight line.
1000 acres: 1 kilohurtz.
Basic unit of laryngitis: 1 hoarsepower.
453.6 graham crackers: 1 pound cake.
1 million microphones: 1 megaphone.
10 cards: 1 decacards.
1 kilogram of falling figs: 1 fig newton.
1000 cubic centimeters of wet socks: 1 littlehosen.
2 monograms: 1 diagram.
8 nickels: 2 paradigms.
3 statue miles of intravenous surgical tubing at Yale University Hospital: 1 I.V. League.
Have a wonderful peaceful Shabbos and a really happy Purim,
Rachamim Pauli
