I received more names for Tehillim and one more name to add in the Rofa’aynu Prayer: an infant 5 months old named Adina Razael bas Sara Tzivya.
Another child Esther bat Ilana is under going heart surgery in Schneider’s on Sunday.
I have neighbors Esther and Steve if you are saying Tehillim, Esther wrote me: Please have my daughter in mind Sara Malka bas Chaya Esther.
I am asking a personal request as my heart rhythm has to be restarted this week and the process involves complete anesthetic that you also have me in mind this Shabbos either in Psalms or the general healing prayer in the Synagogue - Rachamim ben Charlotte Jacqueline. Therefore because of the hospitalization, I will not be putting out the Drasha – blog next coming Shabbos.
Ira pointed out me that my explanation of shiurim for fasting was incomplete and that I had a good reason to believe that they were not understood. I have decided that because of strong prohibition of eating on Yom Kippur that I will explain the shiurim again. I will also define as told to me by Rabbi Zev Vilna, MD how to measure liquids individually for the pious vs. the general shiurim. The shiurim for dry measure is fixed. These measurements should be defined.
R’ Sharuk Shlita told me that the fig tree of the miracle of the loaves is located in the Abuhav Synagogue which itself was supposedly reconstructed from a Spanish Synagogue brought over at the time of the inquisition with an 800 year old Sefer Torah.
AN ERROR CORRECTION: Eliezer rightly pointed the following out to me. This one slipped by me as due to my own serious health issues I have been too busy to read but only copy and paste the Good Shabbos stories for some time now. He wrote: “I cannot let the story from M. Wolfberg in your Devarim e-mailing pass without comment. In it he asserts that Hadar Hatorah was the first yeshiva for men with little or no knowledge or practice of Judaism. This assertion is also made on the Yeshiva's website (http://www.hadarhatorah.org/pages/index.php) which says that the Yeshiva was founded in 1963. For someone who entered Yeshiva Haichel Hatorah in the fall semester of 1960 this was amazing news. Since that time I have been under the "false" impression that Rabbi Jacob London, zt’l & his brother Rabbi Yechiel London, Shlita, had set up there baal teshuvah yeshiva in 1944!!! It is not enough that they (the Rabbis
Parsha Ekev
Ekev is a longer Sidra than we experienced in the last month or so. It ranks 14th out of all the 54 weekly ones. It does not however contain an excess amount of Mitzvos for it has eight which consist of six positive and two prohibitions unlike some of the Parshiyos that we will encounter in the next few weeks. Ekev like the name Yacov has the root in the Hebrew word for heel and other meaning ‘because’. So because you harkened…
7:12 And it shall come to pass, because ye hearken to these ordinances, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep with thee the covenant and the mercy which He swore unto thy fathers, 13 and He will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee; He will also bless the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land, thy corn and thy wine and you oil, the increase of thy kine and the young of thy flock, in the land which He swore unto thy fathers to give thee. 14 Thou shalt be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. 15 And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness; and He will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou know, upon thee, but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.
G-D through Moshe’s Drasha is giving us the blessing for Mitzvah observance. Today we have barren males and females in
This week, I met an old
The same sort of blessings with a series of curses appeared in Sidra Behukotai. If you observe the Mitzvos then blessings upon you and if not Oy-Voy-Voy to you!
So why wouldn’t a Jew loving and perhaps living in Eretz Yisrael not want the H1N1 Virus to be upon those that hate us. Also I heard a hidden headline this week that the Plague started in some part of the world and a new strain of the AIDS Virus was found in
I know that it is impossible for each and every Jew to abruptly change their lives. However, starting out slowly and surely will bring a person close to G-D. I know of many people who took months to observe Kashrus and Shabbos in fact similar to a convert even more than a year – including myself. The object in becoming an observant Jew can start from the simple Halacha of putting on the right shoe before the left and then the left is tied and afterwards the right. The soldier who did this simple Mitzvah for those who remember was saved from certain death. One can start observing Shabbos by not cooking, sewing, harvesting things on Shabbos. A few weeks later no typing or lighting up the Computer or TV but only reading. After more time no traveling and no shopping or carrying in a public domain unless there is an Eruv, and we can apply this to Kashrus. One can stop eating foods from forbidden sea food and swine products. Gradually from eating meat and milk together and finally one can slowly purchase one or two kosher sets of utensils and only eat kosherly slaughtered meat.
There are other laws to learn like family purity, putting on Tephillin and Tallis and eventually moving into a Jewish Neighborhood or an area within walking distance of a Synagogue on Shabbos. For more on this theme: http://www.aish.com/tp/ss/ssw/48944161.html
8:1 All the commandment which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers. 2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that He might afflict thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou would keep His commandments, or no. 3 And He afflicted thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knew not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every thing that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
Jeff wrote this to me: Parshat Ekev introduced us to the popular phrase "Man does not live by bread alone" (8:3). However, end of that verse is far less famous, although the second part contains the true message. It reads, "Rather, by everything that emanates from the mouth of G-d does man live." If the point is that G-d's emanations are the source of our lives, why use bread as the subject, when bread only becomes edible through the toils of man? Wouldn't fruits be a better example of G-d's influence on the world?
This is in fact one of the main philosophical points of Orthodox Judaism “Ayn OD Bilado” literally meaning there is nothing beside HIM. For if a man thinks for a second what holds our atomic structure together? Why should the Muons, Neutrinos, Mesons, Quarks, Neutrons and Protons remain together and why with the attraction of Protons and Electrons that they remain relatively speaking ‘far’ apart and not bound together into a Neutron? The answer is found in our morning Shema Prayers – every day we say. “B’kaul Yom Hu osay maaser Beresheis” – everyday or each day HE renews the act of creation. Without his will our atoms and universe could collapse or by HIS will expand until we were close to absolute zero. Thus one must realize that the Universe has a Baal HaBiet (master) and that HE controls everything. So if you have bread on your table thank HIM and not your pay check.
4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
We are talking about a nation of a few million people since there were 600,000 soldiers between 20 and 60 years of age with the elderly, women and children. Yet nobody from the population had any worn out clothes and nobody got a heel spur or other foot/leg injury in 40 years!
5 And thou shalt consider in thy heart, that, as a man chastens his son, so the LORD thy God chastens thee.
The theme her is Our Father – Our King. We, the Bnei Yisrael, as written in Exodus the “first born” of G-D and halachically children of the L-RD – our main problem is that most of the time we are rebellious children as seen in the trials and tribulations that we gave G-D in the wilderness.
6 And thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in His ways, and to fear Him.
Shape up or ship out because at the end of the chapter there is a warning …
19 And it shall be, if thou shalt forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I forewarn you this day that ye shall surely perish. 20 As the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so shall ye perish; because ye would not hearken unto the voice of the LORD your God.
Do not be afraid of the sudden fear of battle but trust in HASHEM. Your wars are not the wars of the nations but work on Hashgacha from HASHEM.
9:1 Hear, O Israel: thou art to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fortified up to heaven,
Do not think yourself worthy of obtaining Eretz Yisrael as a gift but rather the 7 nations there are unworthy because of their sins from the fertility cults and idolatry, maybe robbery or murder too. These nations are cruel to strangers and their own brethren and women.
13 Furthermore the LORD spoke unto me, saying: 'I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people;
The warning here is in a bad context, but during the inquisition our stiff necked belief in HASHEM kept us from converting. So there is a positive as well as a negative side to being stiff necked.
14 let Me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.'
Moshe, the shepherd, guarded his flock that strayed from the path and so it has been with many of our leaders. Here Moshe is giving them the Mussar that they deserve and warns them that their very lives and that of their children depend on their doing the Mitzvos and avoiding sin.
From the Ancient Prophecies in the Jewish Literature – Aaron Ovadia sent me the source “Shomer Emunim – Maamah HaGeula page shin mem vav: “The King of the Arabs will go against the Persians.” http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1398
Recently there was a discussion on the Torah Forum about the authorship of various authorships for the books of the Tanach and Rebbitzen Kira S. stated that there is a school of thought about two or three Isaiahs. I am uncertain as my own writings and style has changed. At 20, I wrote so and so at 40 such and such and now at 60 plus differently. Rashi managed to edit most of his writings three times. Perhaps Isa. did not edit them at all. There are of course a few people who would argue this way or that way about whether the prophet and style of writing is different - I personally am of the opinion that Isa. was written by one person at different stages of life but I have no proof other than my own actions.
The two Jewish Actors participated in World War II as soldiers.
There was a Jewish Actor who starred in “Tom Thumb”, “The Music Man”, “Herbie the love bug” that often was a fall guy: Buddy Hackett was born in Brooklyn, New York, of Jewish heritage, the son of an upholsterer. The family lived in the
He served three years with an anti-aircraft unit during World War II. He married, and had a son and two daughters.
He co-starred with Burt Lancaster and Cary Grant. Tony Curtis was born as Bernard Schwartz in the Bronx, New York, the son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants Helen (née Klein) and Emanuel Schwartz. The family originates from Mátészalka, Hungary. His father was a tailor. The family lived in the back of the tailor shop, his parents in one corner and Curtis and his brothers Julius and Robert in another. Curtis has said, "When I was a child Mom beat me up and was very aggressive and antagonistic." His mother was later diagnosed with schizophrenia, a mental illness which also affected his brother Robert and led to his institutionalization. When Curtis was eight, he and his younger brother Julius were placed in an orphanage for a month because their parents could not afford to feed them. Four years later, Julius was struck and killed by a truck.
During World War II Curtis served in the United States Navy aboard USS Proteus (AS-19), a submarine tender. On September 2, 1945, he witnessed the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay from about a mile away.[3]
Following his military service, Curtis studied acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with the influential German director Erwin Piscator along with Elaine Stritch, Walter Matthau, and Rod Steiger. He was discovered by a talent agent and casting director Joyce Selznick. Curtis claims it was because he "was the handsomest of the boys." Arriving in
(What a great theme for a Mussar [Ethics] Drasha about living for the moment in this world or using it as a vestibule to prepare for the next.)
Halacha
Remembering the Destruction of the Temple not only occurs on Tisha B’Av there are people who upon building a house will not paint a square of the wall in honor of the Temple. However, if one bought a second hand apartment, he is exempt from destroying the paint. Even still many religious people do scrape away the paint in honor of the destroyed
After the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash (
A number of joyous events happened over the years on Tu B'Av. - It was the day the Generation-of-the-Wilderness realized that the sin of the spies had been forgiven, in the year 2488. - It was the day that the tribes were allowed to intermarry, including orphaned daughters (as per Bamidbar 36:8) once all those who conquered the Land had passed away.
- On the same day the tribe of Binyamin were allowed to intermarry with other tribes, after the scandal of Give'ah (as per Shoftim 19 - 21), around the year 2524.
- It was the day that King Hoshea ben Elah removed the blockades that the wicked King Yerav'am ben Nevat had placed on the roads, preventing the Jews from going to Jerusalem for the Festivals about 75 years earlier, around the year 3040.
- It was the day the Romans allowed those massacred by the wicked Hadrian in Beitar to be buried, some time after he died in 138 (C.E).
- It was the day they stopped chopping wood for the altar in the Bet Hamikdash every year, as it marks the end of "summer" (as per Rashi on Beresheis 8:22) and the start of the 2 months of "heat". The wood had to be worm free to be used on the altar, and had to be fully dried before the rainy season.
This gave everybody more time for learning Torah - and therefore Tu B'Av is the Joyous Day of Increased Torah Learning.
Source: The Book of our Heritage, Vol 3 page 307-313
From a funny Shidduch site: ...a guy and girl went on a boat ride the wind started to drift him farther away from the dock than he'd like...do he tried to row back toward the boat rental. he's trying, and shvitzing, and trying, and shmaltzing but he can’t fight the wind. so he decides to let the wind push him to shore and let the bpat rental guy worry about getting his own boat back...the make it to shore. he put the oar into the ground to steady the boat and lets the girl get out first...not realizing she gets out into a pile of mud knee deep. she can't get out and they guy doesn’t know what to do to help her...he gets out of the boat steadies himself and the boat and hands her the oar. she manages to pull her leg out of the mud but her shoe is missing. she hopped back to the car muddy and shoeless. I can only imagine the lok on her/her parents face when she finally made it home... and no they did not end up together.
Yitzchak Ritz wrote on facebook the following which is really worth sharing: Shabbos afternoon I encountered Rabbi Moshe Tendler in the hallway. I told him that I wanted to ask him a Kashrus question. I explained that I was planning on attending a conference next week which was a Jewish forum but post-denominational. It was being run and attended by Jewish Renewal, Progressive, Reconstructionist, Reform, and Conservative Jews. I explained that I will probably be the only Orthodox Jew there and my reason for going is because I have encountered many times laypeople and Rabbis from these denominations who are shocked to be exposed to someone like myself who is an Orthodox Jew whose Torah from Sinai based Judaism is non-judgmental, open and loving and claims that Torah Judaism is not, as they have believed, based on restrictions and giving up personal autonomies to rabbis while not investigating, and interacting with the rest of the world. The portrayal of the extreme in the media which is portrayed as the norm and their personal interactions with some, has led them to believe that Torah from Sinai Judaism is a non viable and positive approach.
Encountering someone who does believe and is fully committed yet will dialogue respectfully and lovingly, in my experience, has being astounding to many rabbis outside the Orthodox denomination that I have encountered.
Generally the authoritative Rabbis I have encountered in the Ultra Orthodox world would be very disapproving of the notion of dialogue and co-mingling with other denominations. That’s why, while expected, its still was very affirming to hear Rav Tendler tell me that what I am doing is truly a wonderful endeavor. It was really heart warming to hear a Gadol B’Yisroel looking at what the purpose of an action was rather than the action itself as a bases for sensing whether it was worthwhile and permitted.
I told Rav Tendler that as per my usual routine with such retreats I bring along my own food even though they are billed as Kosher, because obviously their Kosher standards would not be compatible with my own. However, I was wondering since they advertised that there will be a full time mashgiach who is koshering the kitchen and there wont be any meat products at all, only dairy, fish, or vegetarian and parve foods what might the kashrus issues be?
He replied that first I should check because many times even non Orthodox groups will bring in an Orthodox Mashgiach. The issues with a non-Orthodox mashgiach is that the standards they might use for koshering might not be adequate.
I then asked him that while I would not eat in a place that was not drabbanan (rabbinicly) kosher, I was curious what could possibly be a Biblical issur (forbidden) in eating food from such a retreat?
Rav Tendler was a little startled by the question, which kind of amused me. ;-) He thought for a second and then responded that the Conservative movement has deemed Swordfish to be Kosher and we consider it to be shellfish and therefore Biblically forbidden.
I thanked him for his time and walked away feeling very affirmed with his enthusiastic approval of my non-conventional adventures.
Orthodox Jewish Scientists and Evolution: Instead of just opposing it by calling it Evilution or try to disprove many claims like the late Tzaddik Rabbi Avigdor Miller who called it, “The most pernicious document known to man.” One could take another approach and just through it prove the existence of G-D by the improbable fact that man, plants and animals could ever evolve at all.
Now let’s get to
What is needed is a healthy respect for science while understanding what science can and can not tell us along with a reverence for Torah, while understanding what the Torah is interested in telling us.
Basically, they refuted the fundamental Darwinians who have turned a science into a belief system. As well as refuting religious fundamentalists who can not accept that there could be other possibilities outside of the most literal interpretation. They brought tremendous amounts of data both scientific and religious to bolster those points.
The bottom line is that Evolution, the age of the earth, dinosaurs etc are not contradictory with the Torah in any way shape or form. As long as one believes that it was G-d who set it all in motion, the mechanism of HOW that happened is unimportant from a religious perspective. And from a scientific perspective it is helpful to take things with a grain of salt until there is more conclusive evidence in many areas that are still based on extrapolation from very limited data.
Thus everyone walks away happy except the fundamentalists on either side. And that I can live with. ;-)
If you really want to read more about the technical issues, here is a wonderful article which I excerpted my favorite part:
http://www.aish.com/ci/sam/48951611.html
“Simon Conway Morris, professor of evolutionary paleontology at the University of Cambridge and fellow of the Royal Society of England, is the scientist who revealed the significance of the Cambrian explosion of animal life. He refers to this vast biological waste land of failed life forms as the "multidimensional hyperspace of biological reality."
Can this have happened by random mutations of the genome? Not if our understanding of statistics is correct. It would be as if nature reached into a grab bag containing a billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion non-viable proteins -- and pulled out the one that worked.
And then repeated this trick a million times.
With odds like that....”
From Chaim K. about one believing in one coming on the Moshiach: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHPr4fgYHW8
A number of non-Jewish friends have sent me a U-Tube video to the effect that Yeshu gave us the name of the anti-Moshiach.
Since some of you may receive the video and I am not the biggest Chassid of Barak Obama I am certain about one thing – even if he is the anti-Moshiach, the proof is not in the movie. Here is my answer should you get such a movie.
The Hebrew word for Lightning is Barak and for Thunder is Rahm and any
He is not a rebellious competing angel but a faithful servant unto G-D.
4 that thou shalt take up this parable against the king of
Inyanay Diyoma
According to the Malbim, the Xtian world will fight Islam at first but the question is will this be it: http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6203
Note: This has been submitted to Pajamas Media for publication. If they reject this article, I'll let you know, and you can forward it on your sites should you so desire.
Ruvy
A man I'm proud to call my friend, Dr. Lawrence
This article in the Washington Times, details his long and tortuous story, though it has also appeared previously in Haaretz (in articles written by Yossi Melman) and in the Forward in an article by Nathan Guttman.
I knew Larry Franklin when he was still a student of East Asian studies and an officer of the
I do not believe that his spying against Israel was the right thing to do, and I'm not afraid to tell him so straight up; but if Larry says he was talked into it by FBI agents, I will believe him over any badge carrying liar working for what is increasingly a government that hates Jews. The way I see it, Larry was snookered, and is suffering for his idealism and patriotism. Instead of getting a medal for his honorable behavior in the line of duty, he is a convict, condemned by the country he has loved all of his life.
That stinks. I'm glad I left the
--
Shabbat Shalom
Blessings from
Ruvy
I brought down the following story about a woman who performs on stage immodestly, has a 19 year old fellow who supplies her desires and she is 50, she is non-Jewish following a money making Rabbi – you can believe what you want but it is obvious to me that she has let to find the truth and is still too materialistic: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3755074,00.html
Seeing is not believing in this case: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voAntzB7EwE
CNN’S MAJOR FACT ERROR SHOWS ITS BIAS by Emanuel A. Winston,
CNN SHOWS ITS BIAS: CNN at noon CDT July 28 was featuring a CNN journalist, Cal Perry from Beirut,
Let me repeat that: CNN’S Cal Perry said that settlers do NOT have to serve in the Israeli military. That bit of misinformation is typical of CNN, given their well-known hostility to
The fact is that settlers and religiously observant Jews are disproportionately soldiers for
It is known that
CNN’s Cal Perry (and his editors and directors) is clearly one of CNN’s poorly informed reporters - of which there have been many, when it comes to spinning the news against
Perry exemplifies the poor and unreliable quality of CNN’s reportage.
Actually Settlers have to serve until between 54 and 60 years of age in a home guard if they were not front line soldiers.
From
The Russians are helping Hizballah: http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6210
The biggest cost of medical expenses come from the lawyers who sue at the drop of a hat. Maybe Edwards got rich by this but the doctors have to pay a good portion of their bill to mal-practice insurance and then you pay more for health care too. Stop the frivolous law suits and you cut the costs in less than half of what you pay today.
Chessed among the Nations: Susan Boyle looked like a train wreck when she appeared on a talent show. The poor thing had never been taught the act of make-up and a few things about style. See what a good make-up and clothing design artist can do for the poor woman;
http://www.aol.com/__photogallery/popup.html?keuid=dotcom-popeater_tv_susan_boyle
Irene sent me this: M. Savage compares Mao and Obama and others: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhMq71TAG4M&feature=player_embedded
Have a great Shabbos and stay healthy,
