Saturday 30 March 2013
Passover Shabbat Bris for baby Zev Zahavy
Posted on 20:05 by Unknown
Posted in are-they-jewish?, brooklyn, circumcision, egalitarianism, health, Passover, synagogues, zev zahavy
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Thursday 28 March 2013
Free at Last from Friday through Sunday: Six People You Meet in Synagogue
Posted on 08:50 by Unknown
For the Passover holidays, the Talmudic Blog and Talmudic Books is giving away a new book: Six People You Meet in Synagogue.
In this book, the author, Tzvee Zahavy, presents six ideal personalities of Jewish prayer and their respective prayers.
This is a condensed version of the author's previous work, God's Favorite Prayers (Talmudic Books, 2011) where he first developed the notion of the six distinct prayer archetypes: the performer, the mystic, the scribe, the priest, the meditator and the celebrity.
Six People You Meet in Synagogue
For Kindle from Amazon: FREE for Passover -- from Friday through Sunday, March 29-31.
In this book, the author, Tzvee Zahavy, presents six ideal personalities of Jewish prayer and their respective prayers.
This is a condensed version of the author's previous work, God's Favorite Prayers (Talmudic Books, 2011) where he first developed the notion of the six distinct prayer archetypes: the performer, the mystic, the scribe, the priest, the meditator and the celebrity.
Six People You Meet in Synagogue
For Kindle from Amazon: FREE for Passover -- from Friday through Sunday, March 29-31.
Check Out all the Talmudic Books
See the Kindle Edition Talmud in English
ALSO FREE for Passover -- Ponder the Questions of Whence and Wherefore -- FREE
See the Kindle Edition Talmud in English
ALSO FREE for Passover -- Ponder the Questions of Whence and Wherefore -- FREE
Posted in amazon, archetypes, Holocaust, kabbalah, kaddish, kindle, meditation, money, politics, prayer, rav, soloveitchik, synagogues, talmud, Talmudic Books
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No to the NYTimes Op-Ed: The Talmud is not a Valid Diet Book
Posted on 08:32 by Unknown
From The New York Times: OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Rabbi Jonathan Crane: The Talmud and Other Diet Books suggests that, "When Mayor Michael Bloomberg's anti-obesity programs fail, look to God and the ancient Greeks." And it suggests that local ordinances are not the way to resolve the obesity problem.
"...Perhaps a different approach can be considered, one that begins from within. Instead of fixating on indulgence and excess, as do so many top-down and outside-in efforts, we should focus on what it means for each individual to be sated..."
We are not impressed with this obvious advice. The Talmud derives from a culture at least 1500 years detached from ours and continents apart. Eating practices of today in the USA are not comparable.
And particularly today, we need to observe that the Talmud is not a valid diet book -- after two days of Yom Tov and two Seders, where surely we ate and drank more than we needed to and we were instructed by age old rabbinic writings that it was a religious necessity to do so!
Let's hope all people continue both to work on their inner appetites and monitor carefully what they eat and to observe the new regulations that help to curb the obesity outbreak in our midst. And let's pray for the success of legislation that helps end the epidemic of fatness brought on in large part by the relentless marketing of junk foods to our populace by greedy corporations in search of a fast buck.
"...Perhaps a different approach can be considered, one that begins from within. Instead of fixating on indulgence and excess, as do so many top-down and outside-in efforts, we should focus on what it means for each individual to be sated..."
We are not impressed with this obvious advice. The Talmud derives from a culture at least 1500 years detached from ours and continents apart. Eating practices of today in the USA are not comparable.
And particularly today, we need to observe that the Talmud is not a valid diet book -- after two days of Yom Tov and two Seders, where surely we ate and drank more than we needed to and we were instructed by age old rabbinic writings that it was a religious necessity to do so!
Let's hope all people continue both to work on their inner appetites and monitor carefully what they eat and to observe the new regulations that help to curb the obesity outbreak in our midst. And let's pray for the success of legislation that helps end the epidemic of fatness brought on in large part by the relentless marketing of junk foods to our populace by greedy corporations in search of a fast buck.
Monday 25 March 2013
Free Passover Seder Haggadah Online Download
Posted on 08:35 by Unknown
Here are several of the best places you can go online to download a Passover Haggadah for your Seder.
Download Hebrew Haggadahs here.
Library Makes 1,000 Rare Haggadahs Available Online
The central Chabad-Lubavitch library in New York made 1,000 Passover Haggadahs, many of them rare, available on the Internet for browsing by the public. The Agudas Chasidei Chabad Library has one of the largest collections of the Passover orders of service in the world.
Housed at the Lubavitch World Headquarters, the library's Haggadah collection began years ago with a nucleus of some 400 volumes purchased on behalf of the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory, by renowned collector and bibliographer Shmuel Wiener in 1924.
The posting at ChabadLibraryBooks.com represents close to half of the library's total Haggadah collection and is part of chief librarian Rabbi Sholom Ber Levine's goal of making the library more accessible to the public. All told, the library possesses more than 2,200 editions of the Haggadah. Although the rarest of the books, all handwritten, are not yet available, Levine is looking for ways to post them next year. Hebrew Books, directed by Chaim Rosenberg, collaborated on the project.
- The Jewish Agency Haggadah Links
- About.com Online Haggadah Links
- Wikisource Hebrew Haggadah Page
- The Union Haggadah (CCAR Classical Reform)
- Haggadah According to the Rite of Yemen: with the Arabic-Hebrew
- The Kol Menachem Haggadah: Nusach Haarizal, by Chaim Miller
Download Hebrew Haggadahs here.
Library Makes 1,000 Rare Haggadahs Available Online
An illustration of King David praising G-d in a rare Haggadah published in 1710 in Frankfurt am Maine, Germany |
The central Chabad-Lubavitch library in New York made 1,000 Passover Haggadahs, many of them rare, available on the Internet for browsing by the public. The Agudas Chasidei Chabad Library has one of the largest collections of the Passover orders of service in the world.
Housed at the Lubavitch World Headquarters, the library's Haggadah collection began years ago with a nucleus of some 400 volumes purchased on behalf of the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory, by renowned collector and bibliographer Shmuel Wiener in 1924.
The posting at ChabadLibraryBooks.com represents close to half of the library's total Haggadah collection and is part of chief librarian Rabbi Sholom Ber Levine's goal of making the library more accessible to the public. All told, the library possesses more than 2,200 editions of the Haggadah. Although the rarest of the books, all handwritten, are not yet available, Levine is looking for ways to post them next year. Hebrew Books, directed by Chaim Rosenberg, collaborated on the project.
Free Passover Books
Posted on 08:34 by Unknown
This one is $.99 the rest are free for Passover from Talmudic Books - Soncino Babylonian Talmud Pesahim
Babylonian Talmud Pesahim deals with regulations for the Passover holiday, prohibitions of leavened food and prescriptions for the Paschal lamb. It is the third treatise of the order Mo'ed. It is divided into ten chapters.
Chapter ten deals with the Seder meal eaten on the evening of Passover; the four cups of wine, and the benedictions pronounced over them; the questions of the son and the father's answers and instructions; other benedictions and the Hallel.
From Talmudic Books special free for Passover by Reuven Brauner:
and our Kindle books at Amazon: Talmudic Books for Kindle on the Talmud, Bible, Kabbalah and Prayer and The Kindle Edition of the Classic Soncino Talmud in English
Babylonian Talmud Pesahim deals with regulations for the Passover holiday, prohibitions of leavened food and prescriptions for the Paschal lamb. It is the third treatise of the order Mo'ed. It is divided into ten chapters.
Chapter ten deals with the Seder meal eaten on the evening of Passover; the four cups of wine, and the benedictions pronounced over them; the questions of the son and the father's answers and instructions; other benedictions and the Hallel.
From Talmudic Books special free for Passover by Reuven Brauner:
In preparation for Pesach- Laws of the Red Cow
For Pesach and particularly Seder Night- Laws of Korban Pesach
And for the days of Sefiras Ha’Omer - Pirkei Avos Synthesized
Not to mention the entire Reformatted Soncino Talmud and lots more goodies, at: Halakhah.com
and our Kindle books at Amazon: Talmudic Books for Kindle on the Talmud, Bible, Kabbalah and Prayer and The Kindle Edition of the Classic Soncino Talmud in English
Sunday 24 March 2013
Search for Chametz Android Smart Phone App
Posted on 11:02 by Unknown
Originally for iPhone, this year there is an android app in the Google Play store for the search for chametz.
The No Chametz app helps Jews go through the process of searching, cleaning, destroying and selling their chametz prior to the Passover holiday.
Having Chametz in your possession can be a serious halachic issue. This app will help you make sure you properly remove any chametz under your ownership
The app helps you search for Chametz, the bedikat chametz, by giving you the halakhah, brachas zmanim, a checklist builder and a flash light. It also helps you destroy the chametz with the Bittul and Bi'ur with halakhah, brachas and zmanim for that process. Finally, it helps you sell, Mechirah, the chametz with zmnaim, halacha and a link to sell it to an organization.
Features:
* Sell Your Chametz: Selling Halachos, Zmanim, Transaction
* Search For Chametz: Searching Halachos, Zmanim, Checklist, Bracha, Light
* Destroy Your Chametz: Destroying Halachos, Zmanim, Bracha, Transaction
* Flash Light for Compatible Devices
* English Translations for Brachas
* Zmanim Based on GPS
* Halachot from Rabbi Elozor Barclay, Rabbi Yirzchok Jaeger
Is Hawk Kosher?
Posted on 10:09 by Unknown
Hawk is not kosher. It is a bird of prey.
Proof: Video above of a hawk eating its prey outside of the window of my den in Teaneck.
Saturday 23 March 2013
Top Ten List for Seder Leaders
Posted on 19:20 by Unknown
Passover is coming... Time for our top ten tips for your Seder...
Most folks consider preparing and eating the festive meal to be the central focus of their Passover Seder. There's not much advice that we can offer to help improve upon that.
However, we have always had fun conducting the reading of the Haggadah. We learned this art as a child by watching our father masterfully conduct the communal synagogue Seders as the rabbi of the Park East Synagogue in Manhattan.
Sad. We will miss dad this year. Happy. We greet a new grandson this year. Barak and Miriam just had a boy!
So in the spirit of the season of rebirth and freedom, let us try to help free you from the dread of the task of conducting your family Seder this year.
If you follow these ten tips you will get rave reviews of your Seder from all of your guests. Guaranteed.
1. Know your Haggadah. This year, spend an hour before Passover reading through your favorite version of the Haggadah. Sort out the rituals (like Kiddush), the liturgies (like the Hallel) and the learning (like the ma nishtanah and what follows). Make marginal notes or use a highlighter.
2. Know your guests.
Find out who is coming (yes, Seder leaders need to know that). Think through what their skills are and what role they can play in the Seder. Remember some guests may be simple, some wise, some won't know how to ask a question. Try to meet the needs of everyone assembled.
3. Make a recitation assignment list (in your head or on paper).
The Best Ever Seder will be a collaboration of all the guests. Those who can't read Hebrew can read a passage from the Haggadah in translation (English, Russian or otherwise) or perform another essential task.
4. Prepare props for colorful explanations.
The matzo, maror, haroseth, shank bone, egg all have familiar symbolic meanings worth mentioning. You can include other props of your choosing for added flavor to the event: use miniature pyramids, toy or paper or chocolate frogs, relevant family memorabilia or a special illustrated Haggadah (hold it up to show it off or pass it around).
5. Buy toys for the children. Give them something nice at the retrieval of the afikomen or distribute something small anytime they start to lose interest.
6. Tell a (short) story (or two). During the reading of the Haggadah tell about how your family matriarch or patriarch conducted the Seder or prepared the meal. Reminiscing in small doses adds great flavor to your production.
7. Be dramatic.
The Seder is a drama. The guests are the actors. Yemenite Jews have the custom to dress up and walk around the table to reenact the exodus. Even if you are not much of an actor, at the very least, you can talk about how other people are dramatic.
8. Don't be melodramatic.
You and your guests all are on stage. This is not the time to bring up old family arguments. If you do, your Seder might become the "last supper" that you eat together.
9. Have the matriarchs (of the families) greet Elijah at the door.
Watch as the wine in Elijah's cup changes color as he sips from it. Talk about loss and the mystical redemption.
10. Sing the songs with gusto.
Sing the closing songs in all the ways you can remember. You can sing Chad Gadya in Yiddish, if someone knows how, or you can add the animal sounds. Have fun -- these are supposed to be rowdy songs that you sing after drinking four cups of wine.
These tips may be self evident to you -- or they may be new. Whatever the case, good luck and have a happy and kosher Pesach. [annual repost]
Most folks consider preparing and eating the festive meal to be the central focus of their Passover Seder. There's not much advice that we can offer to help improve upon that.
However, we have always had fun conducting the reading of the Haggadah. We learned this art as a child by watching our father masterfully conduct the communal synagogue Seders as the rabbi of the Park East Synagogue in Manhattan.
Sad. We will miss dad this year. Happy. We greet a new grandson this year. Barak and Miriam just had a boy!
So in the spirit of the season of rebirth and freedom, let us try to help free you from the dread of the task of conducting your family Seder this year.
If you follow these ten tips you will get rave reviews of your Seder from all of your guests. Guaranteed.
1. Know your Haggadah. This year, spend an hour before Passover reading through your favorite version of the Haggadah. Sort out the rituals (like Kiddush), the liturgies (like the Hallel) and the learning (like the ma nishtanah and what follows). Make marginal notes or use a highlighter.
2. Know your guests.
Find out who is coming (yes, Seder leaders need to know that). Think through what their skills are and what role they can play in the Seder. Remember some guests may be simple, some wise, some won't know how to ask a question. Try to meet the needs of everyone assembled.
3. Make a recitation assignment list (in your head or on paper).
The Best Ever Seder will be a collaboration of all the guests. Those who can't read Hebrew can read a passage from the Haggadah in translation (English, Russian or otherwise) or perform another essential task.
4. Prepare props for colorful explanations.
The matzo, maror, haroseth, shank bone, egg all have familiar symbolic meanings worth mentioning. You can include other props of your choosing for added flavor to the event: use miniature pyramids, toy or paper or chocolate frogs, relevant family memorabilia or a special illustrated Haggadah (hold it up to show it off or pass it around).
5. Buy toys for the children. Give them something nice at the retrieval of the afikomen or distribute something small anytime they start to lose interest.
6. Tell a (short) story (or two). During the reading of the Haggadah tell about how your family matriarch or patriarch conducted the Seder or prepared the meal. Reminiscing in small doses adds great flavor to your production.
7. Be dramatic.
The Seder is a drama. The guests are the actors. Yemenite Jews have the custom to dress up and walk around the table to reenact the exodus. Even if you are not much of an actor, at the very least, you can talk about how other people are dramatic.
8. Don't be melodramatic.
You and your guests all are on stage. This is not the time to bring up old family arguments. If you do, your Seder might become the "last supper" that you eat together.
9. Have the matriarchs (of the families) greet Elijah at the door.
Watch as the wine in Elijah's cup changes color as he sips from it. Talk about loss and the mystical redemption.
10. Sing the songs with gusto.
Sing the closing songs in all the ways you can remember. You can sing Chad Gadya in Yiddish, if someone knows how, or you can add the animal sounds. Have fun -- these are supposed to be rowdy songs that you sing after drinking four cups of wine.
These tips may be self evident to you -- or they may be new. Whatever the case, good luck and have a happy and kosher Pesach. [annual repost]
The Sarajevo Haggadah -- the most Expensive Haggadah in the World
Posted on 18:00 by Unknown
We have posted here about all of the free Haggadahs for Passover Seders that are available on the Internet. That led us to consider asking -- what is the most expensive Haggadah in the world?
The answer is -- the rare illuminated Sarajevo Haggadah which also is said to be one of the most beautiful manuscripts and one of the most valuable books in existence.
Our facsimile of The Sarajevo Haggadah that we bought a while back is awesome.
If you are at all interested in this Haggadah, you must read People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.
Wikipedia explains:
Or you can purchase a facsimile edition of your own here: The Sarajevo Haggadah or see this web site here.
More posts about the Haggadah...
The answer is -- the rare illuminated Sarajevo Haggadah which also is said to be one of the most beautiful manuscripts and one of the most valuable books in existence.
Our facsimile of The Sarajevo Haggadah that we bought a while back is awesome.
If you are at all interested in this Haggadah, you must read People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.
Wikipedia explains:
The Sarajevo Haggadah is an illuminated manuscript that contains the traditional text of the Passover Haggadah which accompanies the Passover Seder. It is the oldest Sephardic Haggadah in the world, originating in Barcelona around 1350. The Haggadah is presently owned by the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, where it is on permanent display.You can view quite a few pages from the Sarajevo Haggadah here.
The Sarajevo Haggadah is handwritten on bleached calfskin and illuminated in copper and gold. It opens with 34 pages of illustrations of key scenes in the Bible from creation through the death of Moses. Its pages are stained with wine, evidence that it was used at many Passover Seders. It is considered to be the most beautiful illuminated Jewish manuscript in existence and one of the most valuable books in the world. In 1991 it was appraised at US $700 million....more...
Or you can purchase a facsimile edition of your own here: The Sarajevo Haggadah or see this web site here.
More posts about the Haggadah...
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's Haggadah for the Passover Seder by Rabbi M. Genack
Posted on 17:36 by Unknown
Rabbi Menahem Genack published, The Seder Night: An Exalted Evening: The Passover Haggadah: With a Commentary Based on the Teachings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. A Haggadah in English and Hebrew (2009).
We think it's a great book and happily added it both to our collection of Haggadahs and to our library of works about the teachings of my teacher, the Rav, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. It is a handsome and professional volume, clearly written and packed with content based on the Rav's torah teachings.
Genack was known as one of the best students in the class when I was in the Rav's shiur back in college and in rabbinical school. He's pursued a career of Jewish service and teaching and continues over the decades to shine as an exemplary disciple of the Rav.
Like most books that present the Rav's torah, this one approaches the task with great reverence and nostalgia. Those are great characteristics for me and for the other several thousand students who personally sat at the feet of the Rav and gave themselves over to him as his uncritical disciples. Genack writes his condensed accounts of the Rav's lectures with the clarity that I need to hear again the Rav speaking. He was a charismatic teacher with a wealth of learning that he imparted in many ways.
In his public talks, the Rav emphasized the experiential side of Orthodox Judaism. He often spoke poetically, I think to prove two important points.
First, he wanted to prove a personal point, to show the world that he was not a cold Litvak, not just a product of the Lithuanian Yeshivas who valued only factual erudition and cold logic.
Second, he had a program in his work, to create and express a form of Orthodox Judaism that was on par with the other great religions of the world. For him that meant in his time and place and out of his training in Europe that he had to demonstrate the validity and fecundity of Orthodox Jewish religious experience. He believed that he was the Jewish Rudolph Otto or William James and that from his teachings the world would see that Orthodoxy stands proudly next to any form of the esteemed Protestant religions of the Old or New World.
The Rav had another mission in his teaching and preaching. That was to transmit the Brisker Torah, the innovative conceptual insights of his own and his family's heritage of learning. So the Rav sought to investigate the phenomenology of Orthodox Judaism, to seek out and abstract the core idea from each performance of the numerous commandments and from each recitation of the many prayers.
Rabbi Genack succeeds in presenting all sides of the Rav in his publication, though he does so without the kind of self consciousness that I have just evoked above.
But now for the other question. How does this book play in Peoria? How will people who were not long-time students of the Rav react to this book? This book is not for the ordinary Jew who never studied with the Rav and it's not for the non-Jewish scholar or layperson. A Reform or Conservative or even an Orthodox Jew who never knew the Rav would need much more translated from the insider's notes and nostalgia of this book to the vocabulary and syntax or religious discourse in its more common and less private forms.
All told, this is a very good work in its genre. //repost from 2009//
We think it's a great book and happily added it both to our collection of Haggadahs and to our library of works about the teachings of my teacher, the Rav, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. It is a handsome and professional volume, clearly written and packed with content based on the Rav's torah teachings.
Genack was known as one of the best students in the class when I was in the Rav's shiur back in college and in rabbinical school. He's pursued a career of Jewish service and teaching and continues over the decades to shine as an exemplary disciple of the Rav.
Like most books that present the Rav's torah, this one approaches the task with great reverence and nostalgia. Those are great characteristics for me and for the other several thousand students who personally sat at the feet of the Rav and gave themselves over to him as his uncritical disciples. Genack writes his condensed accounts of the Rav's lectures with the clarity that I need to hear again the Rav speaking. He was a charismatic teacher with a wealth of learning that he imparted in many ways.
In his public talks, the Rav emphasized the experiential side of Orthodox Judaism. He often spoke poetically, I think to prove two important points.
First, he wanted to prove a personal point, to show the world that he was not a cold Litvak, not just a product of the Lithuanian Yeshivas who valued only factual erudition and cold logic.
Second, he had a program in his work, to create and express a form of Orthodox Judaism that was on par with the other great religions of the world. For him that meant in his time and place and out of his training in Europe that he had to demonstrate the validity and fecundity of Orthodox Jewish religious experience. He believed that he was the Jewish Rudolph Otto or William James and that from his teachings the world would see that Orthodoxy stands proudly next to any form of the esteemed Protestant religions of the Old or New World.
The Rav had another mission in his teaching and preaching. That was to transmit the Brisker Torah, the innovative conceptual insights of his own and his family's heritage of learning. So the Rav sought to investigate the phenomenology of Orthodox Judaism, to seek out and abstract the core idea from each performance of the numerous commandments and from each recitation of the many prayers.
Rabbi Genack succeeds in presenting all sides of the Rav in his publication, though he does so without the kind of self consciousness that I have just evoked above.
But now for the other question. How does this book play in Peoria? How will people who were not long-time students of the Rav react to this book? This book is not for the ordinary Jew who never studied with the Rav and it's not for the non-Jewish scholar or layperson. A Reform or Conservative or even an Orthodox Jew who never knew the Rav would need much more translated from the insider's notes and nostalgia of this book to the vocabulary and syntax or religious discourse in its more common and less private forms.
All told, this is a very good work in its genre. //repost from 2009//
Posted in bible, books, christianity, haggadah, Maimonides, New York Jews, orthodox, Passover, prayer, rabbis, rav, religion, soloveitchik, synagogues, talmud, yeshiva
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Is Julius Genachowski Jewish?
Posted on 17:24 by Unknown
Yes, Julius Genachowski is a Jew.
Barack Obama named Genachowski as Head of the Federal Communications Commission in 2009. He announced his intention to resign in March, 2013.
Several news reports confirmed that, "Mr. Genachowski, attended yeshiva through high school and studied in yeshiva in Israel before going to Columbia... His parents are immigrants who survived the Holocaust."
Calling him a "Talmud Ace," The Forward reported:
Julius Genachowski was born August 19, 1962, to Adele and Azriel Genachowski. He grew up in Great Neck, a Long Island suburb, in a family that attended the local Young Israel. He attended Orthodox day school at North Shore Hebrew Academy and summered at Camp Raleigh. His high school was the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy, which is part of Yeshiva University. Though he says he cut classes to play basketball, he won the Talmud award.He is the cousin of Rabbi Menachem Genack (we assume shortened from Genachowski), rabbinic administrator and CEO of O.U. Kosher, an Orthodox rabbi with liberal political views.
Genachowski spent a year after high school studying in Jerusalem at Yeshivat HaKotel, where he and his peers practiced “learning, discussing, questioning each other, even the possibilities of different points of view,” he recalled. “One of the things that you take away from learning Talmud, learning Gemara, is that two or three brilliant people can look at the same passage and have different interpretations and views, each of which makes a lot of sense, but they’re not all consistent. So I enjoyed that.”
Today, Genachowski attends Sabbath services regularly at Adas Israel, Washington’s largest Conservative synagogue.
Posted in are-they-jewish?, barack, Holocaust, Is-it-kosher?, kosher, obama, politics, rabbis, religion, yeshiva
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Friday 22 March 2013
Is the Daily Beast Kosher?
Posted on 14:37 by Unknown
Used to be Newsweek, now it is the Daily Beast. It is a news site not an animal. So it cannot be kosher in the narrow sense of the word, that is permissible for physical consumption. Is it permissible to read the Daily Beast? We suppose it is kosher.
Here are some of the salient points about the site, mainly from Wikipedia (with our comments):
Read it or skip it. Some best rabbis' names are missing.
Here are some of the salient points about the site, mainly from Wikipedia (with our comments):
- The Daily Beast was launched on October 6, 2008, and is owned by IAC (Barry Diller, the chairman). Edward Felsenthal, a former Wall Street Journal editor, was the site's executive editor, and Stephen Colvin was its president. (We believe that all three men are Jewish.)
- The name of the site is derived from that of one of the fictional newspapers in Evelyn Waugh's novel Scoop. (Not all the postings are fictional.)
- On November 12, 2010, The Daily Beast and Newsweek announced a merger deal, creating a combined company, The Newsweek Daily Beast Company. (Losing $ millions each year.)
- One of the features of The Daily Beast is the "Cheat Sheet", billed as "must reads from all over". Published daily, the "Cheat Sheet" offers a selection of articles from online news outlets on popular stories. The "Cheat Sheet" includes brief summaries of the article, and a link to read the full text of the article on the website of its provider. (Sounds like an Internet site from 1997 all over again.)
- Since launch, the site has introduced additional sections, including a video "Cheat Sheet", "Book Beast", "Hungry Beast", and "Sexy Beast", a Fashion and Entertainment section. (Theme is beginning to wear thin.)
- The site's motto is "Read this Skip That" (Kinda like a medieval church index.)
Read it or skip it. Some best rabbis' names are missing.
Is sportscaster Marv Albert Jewish?
Posted on 10:20 by Unknown
Yes, the always dynamic and sometimes controversial Marv Albert is a Jew.
According to Wikipedia, he was born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig on June 12, 1941 to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, where he went to Abraham Lincoln High School. Members of Albert's family owned a grocery store on Brighton Beach Avenue between 3rd and 4th streets known as Aufrichtig's.
Now did you know that Marv moonlights as a psychotherapist?
The piece by New Yorker's Jesse Eisenberg: “Marv Albert Is My Therapist” will make you chuckle.
According to Wikipedia, he was born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig on June 12, 1941 to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, where he went to Abraham Lincoln High School. Members of Albert's family owned a grocery store on Brighton Beach Avenue between 3rd and 4th streets known as Aufrichtig's.
Now did you know that Marv moonlights as a psychotherapist?
The piece by New Yorker's Jesse Eisenberg: “Marv Albert Is My Therapist” will make you chuckle.
The Fifth Question: Can we eat Legumes on Passover?
Posted on 10:06 by Unknown
We endorse with enthusiasm Shammai Engelmayer's Passover rant in the Jewish Standard on the custom by some Jews to avoid legumes on the holiday.
He brilliantly observes:
We took a quick walk through the Passover aisle at the supermarket yesterday. What? Tam Tams for Passover!? A good friend of ours noted that there's virtually nothing left to sing about in children's songs about the chametz prohibitions. Kids today have KP faux cheerios and donuts and on and on.
Shammai is right about legumes. Our friend is right about the explosion of faux products that look like chametz but according to some rabbi -- aren't leavened at all.
Questioning the rules has potential merit. Looser rules might make holiday things easier and more pleasant.
Of course, once you open the detailed topics up for conversation you run the risk that someone will ask about the essence of the chametz taboo.
The answer to that is: Chametz on Passover is forbidden by the Torah. This night is different. No more questions.
He brilliantly observes:
...In Israel, several Orthodox rabbis have used this as a reason to abandon the ban on kitniyot — legumes and their derivatives (such as corn oil or peanut oil, for example). They note that the Land of Israel was inhabited by S’fardim and Mizrachi long before the Ashkenazim began their return there. Therefore, using kitniyot on Pesach honors the traditions of the land.And he goes on to spell out the ramifications of the domineering Ashkenazi attitudes in this matter and others over the ages.
The same holds true for us in the United States. The waves of Ashkenazi immigration began in the 19th century. For centuries until then, the Jews of North America were S’fardim. They knew nothing about a kitniyot ban. They ate rice and the like during Pesach. It was a time-honored custom that goes back to the Talmud itself...
We took a quick walk through the Passover aisle at the supermarket yesterday. What? Tam Tams for Passover!? A good friend of ours noted that there's virtually nothing left to sing about in children's songs about the chametz prohibitions. Kids today have KP faux cheerios and donuts and on and on.
Shammai is right about legumes. Our friend is right about the explosion of faux products that look like chametz but according to some rabbi -- aren't leavened at all.
Questioning the rules has potential merit. Looser rules might make holiday things easier and more pleasant.
Of course, once you open the detailed topics up for conversation you run the risk that someone will ask about the essence of the chametz taboo.
The answer to that is: Chametz on Passover is forbidden by the Torah. This night is different. No more questions.
Thursday 21 March 2013
New Yorker: At His Birthday Party Philip Roth talks of Death
Posted on 07:46 by Unknown
New Yorker has been churning out amazing content in the past few issues. David Remnick continues that flow with his account of Philip Roth's eightieth birthday celebration in Newark.
Remnick explains that death was Roth's main topic in his birthday remarks. An odd choice for a birthday festival for most folks but not for Roth.
Now, we usually don't dwell on the subject of death in our thoughts. But today we conclude our recitation of Kaddish for our dad. And that put us face-to-face with the subject. As we said in another post, we feel that through the public synagogue Kaddish ritual we firmly rooted our dad's soul into the community of Jews that he so loved and served with such dedication. As the community of Israel lives and flourishes, so does the energy of our dad live on. One form of immortality.
Dad's body rests in a cemetery in Israel on Har Hamenuchot overlooking the hills of Jerusalem. His presence there roots his soul in the Zionist dimension of our collective reality as a people. As the State of Israel lives and flourishes, so does the vitality of our dad live on. Another form of immortality.
Roth eloquently writes of the stones in a cemetery in New Jersey and the memory of his family. Roth has certainly rooted his soul in a public vital body of writing that will live on for a long time. A Rothian form of immortality.
Here is Remnick's teasing conclusion to his essay:
Remnick explains that death was Roth's main topic in his birthday remarks. An odd choice for a birthday festival for most folks but not for Roth.
Now, we usually don't dwell on the subject of death in our thoughts. But today we conclude our recitation of Kaddish for our dad. And that put us face-to-face with the subject. As we said in another post, we feel that through the public synagogue Kaddish ritual we firmly rooted our dad's soul into the community of Jews that he so loved and served with such dedication. As the community of Israel lives and flourishes, so does the energy of our dad live on. One form of immortality.
Dad's body rests in a cemetery in Israel on Har Hamenuchot overlooking the hills of Jerusalem. His presence there roots his soul in the Zionist dimension of our collective reality as a people. As the State of Israel lives and flourishes, so does the vitality of our dad live on. Another form of immortality.
Roth eloquently writes of the stones in a cemetery in New Jersey and the memory of his family. Roth has certainly rooted his soul in a public vital body of writing that will live on for a long time. A Rothian form of immortality.
Here is Remnick's teasing conclusion to his essay:
...Roth is the author of thirty-one books. His favorite, he has said, the one in which he felt the most free as he wrote it, is “Sabbath’s Theater.” Laughing a little to himself, Roth said that the novel, which was published in 1995, could easily have been titled “Death and the Art of Dying.” Its epigraph is Prospero’s line in Act V, Scene 1 in “The Tempest”: “Every third thought shall be my grave.” And within is the line from Kafka: “The meaning of life is that it stops.”
“The book is death-haunted,” Roth said. Mickey Sabbath, the turbulent, profane, and libidinous hero, is a man who is beyond discretion and taste, whose outrageous adulterous behavior is, Roth said, “his response to a place where nothing keeps its promise and everything is perishable.” As a boy, Sabbath lost the person closest to him in the world—his older brother, Morty, whose plane was shot down, in 1944, over the Japanese-occupied Philippines.
With that introduction, Roth read pages three hundred and sixty-three to three hundred and seventy of “Sabbath’s Theater,” one of the most stunning passages in all his work. He was not about to let us forget what eighty means. In the novel, Sabbath has gone south (“Tunnel, turnpike, parkway—the shore!”) to visit the Jewish cemetery where his grandparents, parents, and brother are all buried. I will not ruin it for you. To get the feel of the night, you must read the passage in full—or, better, read the novel entire. And imagine that this passage—with its great elegy of gravestones, with its memories of life lived, of a life cut short, and all of it in particular—imagine that this is what Philip Roth chose, very deliberately, as his birthday message, his greeting, his farewell. These were not his last words—please, not that!—but they were what he chose. Death-haunted but assertive of life. The passage ends with his hero putting stones on the graves of the dead. Stones that honor the dead. Stones that are also meant to speak to the dead, to mark the presence of life, as well, if only for a while. The passage ends simply. It ends with the line, “Here I am.”
Wednesday 20 March 2013
Google Keep Kosher?
Posted on 18:08 by Unknown
Keep Kosher?
Yes we think that Google's newest service called "Keep" is glatt Kosher. It's a keeper.
Here is what Google says about Keep:
Quickly capture what’s on your mind and recall it easily wherever you are. Create a checklist, enter a voice note or snap a photo and annotate it. Everything you add is instantly available on all your devices – desktop and mobile.
With Google Keep you can:
• Keep track of your thoughts via notes, lists and photos
• Have voice notes transcribed automatically
• Use homescreen widgets to capture thoughts quickly
• Color-code your notes to help find them later
• Swipe to archive things you no longer need
• Turn a note into a checklist by adding checkboxes
• Use your notes from anywhere - they are safely stored in the cloud and available on the web at http://drive.google.com/keep
• Keep track of your thoughts via notes, lists and photos
• Have voice notes transcribed automatically
• Use homescreen widgets to capture thoughts quickly
• Color-code your notes to help find them later
• Swipe to archive things you no longer need
• Turn a note into a checklist by adding checkboxes
• Use your notes from anywhere - they are safely stored in the cloud and available on the web at http://drive.google.com/keep
Saturday 16 March 2013
Amazon.com: Incredible Free Album of Shabbat Music
Posted on 17:20 by Unknown
1. Silent Prayer, Andrew Dennen 3:35 2. Angels Around Me, C Lanzbom 2:57 3. Eshet Chayil, C Lanzbom 5:37 4. Mi Shebeirach, Debbie Friedman 4:13 5. Swingin' on the Tree of Life, Eric Komar 4:11 6. Stairway to Shabbos, Larry Milder 2:39 7. Shalom Alechem, Laurence Juber 3:33 8. Nign Lshabes Vyontif, Pete Rushefsky 2:34 9. Kaddisch, Richard Locker 4:02 10. Hashkivenu, Sean Harkness 4:40 11. Lcha Dodi, Sean Harkness 3:55 12. Shabbat Prayer, Sheryl Braunstein 2:47 13. Shalom Aleichem, Salam Aleikum Sol Tevél 3:30 14. Elohai Naomi, Less 4:16 15. Hoshia Na, Hillel Tigay 2:42 |
For more albums of Craig Taubman music MP3 downloads on Amazon see these seventeen albums.
Thursday 14 March 2013
Is Haym Soloveitchik a hero?
Posted on 07:50 by Unknown
Professor Haym Soloveitchik has stepped up yet again to "blow the whistle" on the "insufficiencies" of the scholarship of Professor Talia Fishman. Haym has raised his mission to the level of a crusade with his latest rejoinders and critiques, published here and here.
Why the crusade? Haym explains his motives through a personal anecdote in his rejoinder on his web site:
Haym has stepped up heroically to claim supremacy of his opinion over Fishman's based on his assertion that by his "rigorous standards of quality," Fishman is illiterate in rabbinics. Therefore her work is worthless. And unless Haym roots Fishman out of the profession, the field of "rabbinics" will be ruined.
So Haym imagines himself to be a scholar-hero. All we can say is, Bravo to brave Haym the Hero.
Why the crusade? Haym explains his motives through a personal anecdote in his rejoinder on his web site:
When Becoming the People of the Talmud appeared and then won the Jewish Book Council Award for Scholarship, the danger posed by this was clear; nevertheless, I was conflicted about putting my assessment into print. I discussed the matter with one of my oldest colleagues over dinner. He listened carefully and said, “Haym, the only way you can justify the review that you are thinking of is if you state openly what the real reason for it is, the larger issue that is at stake here. You can only do that is by becoming first, a whistle-blower and then stating matters with an explicitness that breaches the proprieties of academic engagement. You have to point out not simply mistakes but also their elementary nature and what they say about the writer’s basic competence.” I thought about this during the meal and, as it was drawing to a close, replied: “Those rules of propriety, and they are good ones, apply when they are superimposed on the quality controls that function as a matter of course in academia. Everyone then understands what is being said by indirection. However, when that community is wholly in the dark as to what is transpiring, those rules must be breached. Look at what happened in Talmud. A few reviews were, in fact, written in the 1960s and ‘70s pointing out the errors of the author and hinting at his ignorance. The criticisms were shrugged off, because people thought, ‘Oh well, everyone makes mistakes.’ They didn’t know that the errors were ones that a schoolboy would never have made. This couldn’t be stated openly because it was against the rules of the game. Look at the situation now. If these rules aren’t finally broken and the whistle blown, there will be little left in a decade.”We cannot help but observe that none of the scholarship in the field that Haym calls "Rabbinics" is scientific, or for that matter even vaguely social scientific. So "facts" are not at issue in judging the worth of contributions to the field. Assertions by these scholars are "opinion and conjecture" about matters that are far distant from us in time, space, culture and language.
Haym has stepped up heroically to claim supremacy of his opinion over Fishman's based on his assertion that by his "rigorous standards of quality," Fishman is illiterate in rabbinics. Therefore her work is worthless. And unless Haym roots Fishman out of the profession, the field of "rabbinics" will be ruined.
So Haym imagines himself to be a scholar-hero. All we can say is, Bravo to brave Haym the Hero.
Tuesday 12 March 2013
Is Lena Dunham Jewish?
Posted on 09:51 by Unknown
Yes, Lena Dunham is a Jew. She is creator and star of the controversial hit HBO series Girls, which "we hear" is edgy and entertaining.
Wikipedia reports, "Dunham's father is Protestant, and according to Dunham, a Mayflower descendant; Dunham's mother is Jewish."
Dunham told the Jewish Journal: “I went to Hebrew school for, like, two weeks, and then didn’t get the part I wanted in the play and quit,” she said. “But I’ve always had a great love of all the holidays that we celebrate together as a family: Passover, Chanukah. I’ve spent a good amount of time in temple, and I definitely feel very culturally Jewish, although that’s the biggest clichĂ© for a Jewish woman to say.”
Dunham dates Jack Antonoff, also Jewish and a former neighbor of ours in Bergen County. JStandard reported in a cover story that, "Solomon Schechter’s Jack Antonoff is a Grammy Award winner!" He won for song of the year and best new artist.
Dunham Instagrammed the cover of the Jewish Standard (3/11/2013) observing that, "Jewish boys are best." Thank you Lena.
Wikipedia reports, "Dunham's father is Protestant, and according to Dunham, a Mayflower descendant; Dunham's mother is Jewish."
Dunham told the Jewish Journal: “I went to Hebrew school for, like, two weeks, and then didn’t get the part I wanted in the play and quit,” she said. “But I’ve always had a great love of all the holidays that we celebrate together as a family: Passover, Chanukah. I’ve spent a good amount of time in temple, and I definitely feel very culturally Jewish, although that’s the biggest clichĂ© for a Jewish woman to say.”
Dunham dates Jack Antonoff, also Jewish and a former neighbor of ours in Bergen County. JStandard reported in a cover story that, "Solomon Schechter’s Jack Antonoff is a Grammy Award winner!" He won for song of the year and best new artist.
Dunham Instagrammed the cover of the Jewish Standard (3/11/2013) observing that, "Jewish boys are best." Thank you Lena.
Monday 11 March 2013
Where Can You Find the Best Deals on Passover Wine?
Posted on 15:14 by Unknown
We wanted to know where to get some wine for Passover. A friend showed us wine-searcher.com and we were impressed. Here is what the site claims about their wine search service:
Update: The Times has a bunch of recommendations for Passover wines here.
The Wine-Searcher search engine lists 5,554,710 wines and prices from 38,491 merchants around the world, making it easy to locate and purchase wine at the best available prices. The database grows day by day, and we use various procedures (both manual and automated) for removing lists that are out-of-date, incorrectly priced, or deceptive in any way. ... The search engine offers two levels of service:In the case of Kosher wines for Passover, we found the local area search results excellent.
1. Free-For-Use: searches all wine retailers' price lists, but if the searched-for wine is available at one of Wine-Searcher's sponsors, other results do not show.
2. Pro Version: shows all results for your chosen wine, not just those of our sponsors. A Pro Version subscription costs $39.00 (USD) per year, and includes extra services such as searches by bottle size and tracking your purchases at multiple stores.
Update: The Times has a bunch of recommendations for Passover wines here.
Is TV Kosher for Dogs?
Posted on 10:56 by Unknown
Is TV kosher for dogs? Yes it is, now that the Israeli Dog Channel offering, DOGTV, is live in California, at $9.95 a month.
TV channel for dogs launched in IsraelSee more news about the channel.
An Israeli cable TV company has launched a television channel that is aimed primarily at dogs.
The channel, available in Israel via the Yes satellite company was first launched last February in California's second-largest city San Diego, where it reached some 483,000 homes.
"DOGTV is scientifically developed and Pup approved. DOGTV is cable's first television network for dogs that is created exclusively for canines, and the humans who love them," the Jerusalem Post quoted the company's website as reading.
It further read that the channel provides TV for dogs with three types of programming offering relaxing and stimulating content as well as positive behavioural reinforcements.
The company's site said that dogs that are left alone tend to become anxious so the calming sounds and music in the relaxing segments on DOGTV were created to keep them peaceful.
The site added that unlike any other TV channel, every frame and every sound on the channel is designed 100 percent for dogs.
The company has claimed that years of research led it to develop special content to meet the specific characteristics of canine vision and hearing, like enhanced colouring to emphasize details and stress on contrast, brightness, and frame rate; and the use of sound effects, music and specific ranges of frequencies that best suit dogs.(ANI)
Sunday 10 March 2013
Is Niacin kosher for your heart?
Posted on 15:45 by Unknown
No, niacin is not kosher for your heart.
USA Today via Detroit Free Press alerts us to a new study that found, "Niacin doesn't help heart, may cause harm, study says."
We knew this eleven years ago. After Lipitor gave us hepatitis and the cardiologist told us to take Niaspan, instead we looked it up and found no reason to believe that Niacin pills would be a benefit to us.
After doing the math, we politely refused to take any cholesterol reducing medication. The studies showed a "reduction in risk" which meant that the meds did not cure or prevent disease.
Now it turns out that we were right. The meds actually can cause disease.
PS: Friday we got our cholesterol numbers (first time in about 5 years): 191 total, 88 HDL; 2.2 ratio Total/HDL. We eat eggs every day and take no meds. We swim 100 laps a day and eat nuts and vegetables, fish, yogurt, cheeses and lean meats.
USA Today via Detroit Free Press alerts us to a new study that found, "Niacin doesn't help heart, may cause harm, study says."
We knew this eleven years ago. After Lipitor gave us hepatitis and the cardiologist told us to take Niaspan, instead we looked it up and found no reason to believe that Niacin pills would be a benefit to us.
After doing the math, we politely refused to take any cholesterol reducing medication. The studies showed a "reduction in risk" which meant that the meds did not cure or prevent disease.
Now it turns out that we were right. The meds actually can cause disease.
PS: Friday we got our cholesterol numbers (first time in about 5 years): 191 total, 88 HDL; 2.2 ratio Total/HDL. We eat eggs every day and take no meds. We swim 100 laps a day and eat nuts and vegetables, fish, yogurt, cheeses and lean meats.
Is Punk Rock Jewish?
Posted on 15:17 by Unknown
No, punk rock is not Jewish. Yes, there are a few Jewish punk rock musicians. The Times' story, The Orthodox Fringe Moshiach Oi! Merges Orthodox Judaism and Punk Rock, misses the point entirely.
The fact is that both Orthodox Judaism and punk rock are quirky versions of their respective genres. And so the story of Orthodox-punk-rock is an account of quirkiness to the second power. Maybe nine people are involved in this globally. Get it? We don't.
The fact is that both Orthodox Judaism and punk rock are quirky versions of their respective genres. And so the story of Orthodox-punk-rock is an account of quirkiness to the second power. Maybe nine people are involved in this globally. Get it? We don't.
Saturday 9 March 2013
Is Marijuana Kosher for Passover?
Posted on 20:30 by Unknown
Via Earth Times with a big smile. Passover pot is not a problem for Sephardic Jews. Is cannabis kosher for Passover for Ashkenazic Jews?
Is pot kitniyot? It's up to the rabbi[repost]
JERUSALEM (UPI) In Israel, rabbis are trying to determine if hemp and its cousin, marijuana, are on the list of legumes that some Jews must abstain from during Passover.
This year, the Green Leaf Party, which advocates legalization of marijuana, warned its members by e-mail that it may be considered kitniyot, or a legume. Observant Ashkenazi Jews abstain from kitniyot during the holiday.
Rabbi Daniel Ayin told the Jerusalem Post that the issue is whether hemp seeds -- and marijuana -- are considered edible. If they are edible, then Ashkenazi Jews should not eat them during Passover.
Ayin said that individual rabbis can make the decision for their congregations.
One couple, who for some reason did not want their last names used, told the Post they only realized that they might have a problem when a friend offered to buy their marijuana. Daniel and Sarah, both recent emigrants from Chicago, said he told them he was making the rounds of all his observant friends before the holiday.
To play it safe, the couple got rid of their stash -- not by selling it, which they decided would be inappropriate -- and gave the house an extra ritual cleaning.
Dramatic Video: NBC's Richard Engel Reports on the motives for the Pope's Resignation
Posted on 16:30 by Unknown
This video from NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams ("Exposing Vatican secrets a 'dangerous' mission, says Vatileaks journalist") raises many questions about the motives for the Pope's resignation.
"NBC News' Richard Engel talks to Gianluigi Nuzzi, one of Italy's top investigative journalists, about the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. Nuzzi's interviews with Benedict's whistleblower butler led to the Vatileaks scandal. Nuzzi and others allege that within the Vatican there were financial cover-ups and a twisted web of money, power and sex."
"NBC News' Richard Engel talks to Gianluigi Nuzzi, one of Italy's top investigative journalists, about the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. Nuzzi's interviews with Benedict's whistleblower butler led to the Vatileaks scandal. Nuzzi and others allege that within the Vatican there were financial cover-ups and a twisted web of money, power and sex."
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