The Rest of Israel Fights Back Against the Ultra-Orthodox

Posted on January 9, 2012 by TheJewishChannel

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Los Angeles Has The Worst Streets Of Any Major American City

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Luke Ford

I remember driving west from downtown Los Angeles one evening in 2009. The lane next to the sidewalk was filled with deep potholes and almost every driver avoided it but me.

I ploughed along, grateful that my path was free while everyone else idled in traffic.

I did some major damage to my vehicle however and that cost me about a thousand dollars to fix.

The New York Times reports:

LOS ANGELES — The southwest border of Beverly Hills runs along Whitworth Drive. In some ways, it is impossible to distinguish where that city ends and this sprawling one begins. The houses are not drastically different and the lawns are manicured on both sides of the road.

Oh, but that road.

Drive west on Whitworth and the car rides like a luxury sedan. Drive east and it is more like a covered wagon bouncing across a pockmarked prairie.

There are no snowstorms here. The swings in the weather might make those from heartier parts of the country scoff. But there are potholes aplenty. Indeed, on some major streets, every downpour seems to bring another jarring rut.

In a city where driving takes up an enormous amount of physical and mental energy, it is hardly surprising that the holes in the roads provoke deep irritation, the sort of thing that residents pester the mayor about when they spot him out and about.

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How The Alexander Technique Can Help With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Luke Ford

In February 1988, I came down with what felt like a bad case of the flu. It was like my mono attack from two years previous. Only this time it did not go away. Within 15 months, I had to quit college. For the next four years, I was essentially bed-ridden.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve made dramatic progress with my CFS. I credit my three years of daily Alexander Technique teacher training and the great products prescribed to me at the Dragon Herbs store.

I know of many people with CFS who’ve been helped by regular Alexander lessons.

Martin Finnegan writes:

What exactly is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?*

Sometimes referred to as ME or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, it is a term that describes a chronic, debilitating disorder that affects the immune and central nervous system. Typical symptoms are a profound fatigue, totally out of proportion to physical activity and independent of mood, plus a range of other symptoms that can affect any organ of the body.

Causes and symtoms

The causes of CFS are unknown. There appear to be any number of apparent causes and in many cases the onset seems to be linked to a stress to the immune system such as an acute infection, especially viral in nature. After the stress or virus has run its course the symptoms do not abate as usual but become chronic and are often associated with profound fatigue and feelings of being generally unwell.

The Chronic Fatigue Society of NSW states that the symptoms of CFS are a prolonged and disabling feeling of exhaustion lasting at least six months. The symptoms are often made worse by any activity and are often unrelieved by sleep. Symptoms vary between people but may include persistent and profound fatigue, exhaustion, flu-like symptoms including a sore throat, fever and sore lymph glands, muscle and joint aches, pains and weakness, headaches, nausea, balance disturbances, dizziness, vision problems and sensitivity to light and noise, sensitivity to foods and common chemicals, thoracic symptoms including palpitations and breathing difficulties and sleeping problems including insomnia and an excessive desire to sleep. Cognitive dysfunction and poor temperature control can be also added to the long list of symptoms.

Fibromyalgia

A simlar related condition is known as fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) which has substantial symptom overlap with chronic fatigue syndrome. The Fibromyalgia Network* describes FMS as a “widespread musculoskeletal pain and fatigue disorder for which the cause is still unknown. Fibromyalgia means pain in the muscles, ligaments, and tendons – the soft fibrous tissues in the body. Most patients with FMS say that they ache all over. Their muscles may feel like they have been pulled or overworked. Sometimes the muscles twitch and at other times they burn. More women than men are afflicted with FMS, and it shows up in people of all ages”.

Diagnosis

Western medical science has no specific diagnostic test at the moment for either condition. As a result diagnosis must be made by excluding other illnesses. This can be a long, difficult and costly process. Many CFS symptoms overlap with those of a number of other illnesses including multiple sclerosis. Nor are the symptom of chronic fatigue confined to CFS.

Just about anyone can get CFS however it seems that it is most common among 20 to 40 year olds and women outnumber men. Symptoms can last from a few months to years. Some people make a gradual recovery, some never fully recover and others become progressively worse.

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How the Alexander Technique helps people with Multiple Sclerosis

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Luke Ford

Alexander Technique can help you restore your sense of balance, calm your nerves, and increase your energy.

It helped me overcome decades of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Alexander Technique makes no claims about curing anything. It just gives you the tools to make the most of your life.

Marta Curbelo tells Robert Rickover: “I [still] need to take good care of myself.

“When I have nerve-ending pain on my left side, if I am over-tired or stressed, the nerve ending pains come back. I come back to myself and the Technique and I calm the nervous system down and the pain goes away. If I stay with my whole self, it’s nothing. Alexander gives me more energy. I feel freer. Calmer.”

“For people with Parkinson’s, it helps the kinesthesia calm down. With spasticity and spinal cord injury, it opens things up and you’re able to move. Your hand is not grabbing. It’s just open. Neurological diseases become similar.”

Marta writes:

Before I could enroll at ACAT, I became paralyzed with what was much later diagnosed as Multiple Sclerosis, the neurological disease. It took many months before I fully recovered and could begin my AT education. I graduated from ACAT in 1987 and had my second MS episode involving double vision soon after. (Nothing is known to cure MS.) My AT education helped me reduce stress and quiet my nervous system. By the daily application of my AT learned skills, I have been able to keep my MS symptoms at bay. My neurologist was so impressed with my progress that he asked me to speak about AT at a major MS symposium in New York City. So you can see why I am so sold on the benefits of AT!

One of the most important AT lessons is training to heighten your kinesthetic awareness, something not ordinarily taught us. Kinesthetic awareness allows you to be more in touch with your body so that you can be conscious of a subtle ache or pain before it progresses into a major problem. This awareness permits a minor discomfort to become a positive catalyst for mobilizing your AT skills to stop its progression. If your awareness is only of a major pain affecting your activities, it is much more difficult to correct. In my case, when I experience the subtle beginnings of my MS symptoms (which most people would not even notice), I am able to consciously use my AT skills to quiet my nervous system to reduce or eliminate the symptoms and have a greater sense of well-being.

Everyone has something. In my case, it is a major neurological disease. The AT has given me the tools to minimize the symptoms and effects of this disease. I am very grateful. I know, from my two decades of teaching, that the personal growth and practical skills available from the study of AT can help everyone. It should be part of everyone’s education.

Hear my interview on the Alexander Technique and neurological diseases.

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This Week’s Torah Portion – Parashat Shemot (Exodus 1:1-6:1)

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Luke Ford

I discuss the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Rabbs Mondays at 7:00 pm PST on my cam and on YouTube. Facebook Fan Page.

This week we study Parashat Shemot (Exodus 1:1-6:1).

Watch the video.

* Is it good for the Jews to have a full service Asian ecstasy massage parlor next to the shul? Why do so many Jewish men go for Asian women? What happens to a house of God when it is located next to a house of prostitution?

* How does one overcome Captain SaveAHo tendencies? When I find a cute woman in prostitution or stripping or nude modeling, I want to save her, but many of these women don’t want to be saved and all that happens is that I get lost in a miasma of sin.

* Why do some Orthodox Jews want women to sit at the back of the bus? How is this different from racial segregation?

* Haredi violence in Beit Shemesh catches Israel’s attention

* Without divine intervention, the Denver Broncos would’ve won how many games this year? Could God use a Christian NFL quarterback for holy purposes?

* After seeing what God did to Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, I’m now convinced HaShem intervenes in our daily lives and I am afraid to keep sinning.

* Rabbi Berel Wein writes: “We hear nothing regarding Moses for the next sixty years until he reemerges as a shepherd in Midian, married to the daughter of Yitro, the local religious chief who, at this time, is still a pagan. Hardly the resume’ that one would expect for the leader of Israel, the greatest of all prophets and the teacher of all human kind.”

Many of the great leaders of the Jewish people have wandered in the wilderness for years consorting with pagans. For instance, I know of this blogger who was lost in the San Fernando Valley for more than a decade and then became a moral leader.

* Here’s a beautiful description of Pharaoh’s daughter finding Moses in the Nile (1886 painting by Edwin Long). My own rescue happened similarly when a pack of nubile babes descended upon as I took a swim.

* “Where did his holiness and greatness stem from, how was it developed, who were his mentors and what were his experiences over those long decades of separation from his people?”

No, those words were not written about me but about Moses.

“The Torah gives us no clue or answer to these questions. It effectively points out that greatness oftentimes comes from unexpected sources and from people and leaders who operate outside of the usual establishment circles.”

* A man on the subway asked the bloke next to him for the time. The bloke did not answer. The man kept pestering him and finally forced him to answer. “I did not answer you,” said the Jewish bloke, “because I foresaw that if I answered you, you would say something and then I would say something and eventually you’d want to marry my daughter and I don’t want my daughter to marry a guy who doesn’t have a watch.”

The wise man foresees the consequences of his actions.

* How much has our life been influenced by our name? I believe my life has been shaped by my having been named “Luke Ford.” It’s a superstar name. My Hebrew name is Levi Ben Avraham and when I’m called Levi, that brings out a whole different side of me. When I’m called baby, that also brings out a different side of me. And when I’m called “Oh, Luke, Luke, Luke!”, that brings out a different side of me.

* The Levites and the priests were set aside from the rest of the Jewish people just as the Jews are set aside from the rest of humanity.

* I was hanging out with a friend from childhood the other day. I kept calling him “goy”. I asked him to carry my bags. I stuck him with the bill for lunch. He finally got a bit tired of this treatment. I explained that one of the few benefits of being an Orthodox Jew is that you have a hechsher to be what the goyim might call a bigot. Because your life has significantly narrowed thanks to the observance of Jewish law (which makes it difficult to fraternize with non-Jews and non-observant Jews), it’s easy to view the outside world as only good for business. The life of the Orthodox Jew is demanding but at least you get to look down on everyone else. Not all Orthodox Jews do look down on others, maybe not even most, but I’ve found that every insular community I know well tends to look down on the outside world.

I believe this type of “bigotry” is largely harmless in Orthodox Judaism because you never do anything to harm anyone in the wider world. You just might think that others are less disciplined and less smart and less moral than you. It can be an intoxicating feeling of superiority. Perhaps it is wrong and a shameful interpretation of the Jewish tradition but it’s a lot of fun and I enjoy riding this wave at times, but then again, I am a bad man.

* If God ever asks me to be the king of the Jews, I won’t protest like Moshe did. I’ll just say, here I am, Lord. What shall I blog?

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Doing Something Rude To Tim Tebow

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Luke Ford

Tim Tebow is the most visible representative of organized religion in America today. And there’s something about good people such as Tim (if you love God or goodness, you gotta love Tim Tebow) that makes bad people hate on them.

Tim Tebow is a moral litmus test. He’s like an honorary Jew.

I’m watching the Denver Broncos whomping the Pittsburgh Steelers 14-6. And I’m thinking about spiritual lessons.

Tim Tebow seems like such a gentleman, it makes me want to do something rude to him and if he does not respond in a gentlemanly way, say to people, “Tim’s not a real Christian.”

Yes, I know that’s perverse.

I had a shrink who said I could be exploitive.

I have an Orthodox rabbi friend who asked Dennis Prager for a ride home after his speech. He wanted to test if Dennis Prager was really a mentch.

Dennis declined to give him a ride home, but from my own experience and that of people I trust, Dennis Prager is as big of a mentch as you’ll find.

I so identify with that rabbi. When I meet somebody with a reputation of being a good guy, I feel this perverse desire to test the person. Worse, or more shameful, when I meet someone who’s generous, I want to ask them for a favor.

I’m watching Tim Tebow fire up his sideline. “Football is an emotional game,” notes the commentator.

Judaism is an emotional game for many. I sometimes like dispassionate analysis from a rabbi but on many days, I want to be fired up. Orthodox Judaism is just do damn demanding, I want my emotional tank filled so that I want to go out and do mitzvos.

I was feeling so empty this morning. Talmud study was great, but after davening, I was ready to be inspired.

Khunrum emails: “I’m watching Tim Tebow same as you Luke and I’m pulling for him to win. My friend’s laugh at Tim and mock religion. When I’m at the gym I hear remarks like “Tebow ain’t done s**t since they started talking about him”. Although I am a secular Buddhist, not a Christian, I want Tim to do well and show up the mockers and haters. And yes Luke, you are perverse for wanting to say something rude to him. I was hoping Alexander would rid you of such rude impulses. YESSSSSS! 20 to 6 Tebow!”

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How Should You Walk The Mean Streets Of Pico-Robertson?

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Luke Ford

Leaving a Shabbat dinner the other night, I was advised by the hostess to watch out for muggers. Don’t let anybody sneak up behind me. There have been three Orthodox Jews mugged on Airdrome in the past month.

I was told to act crazy if I suspected people wanted to mug me. To thrash about and yell and scream. I guess even muggers prefer to stay away from crazy people.

I’ve heard that if you are stiff or awkward in your body movements, that makes you more likely to get mugged.

Bernie Weiss writes about body usage in self-defense:

Your attacker reads your body language long before you begin your defense. Typically in self defense training, we focus on specific fighting skills. Body usage, or how you hold and maneuver your body, contributes to your ability to perform a specific skill such as a kick, parry, joint lock, etc., but often we forget how fundamental our body usage is to the effectiveness of the technique.

In general how we hold and use our body influences potential attackers whether they are on a training floor, in the street, working with us as business associates or simply friends and family. As a result, our body signals and the psychology behind them become extraordinarily important. Both researchers (psychologists, sociologists, etc.) as well as martial arts masters have written about body usage. It can be very instructive to compare the information and learn from it.

Certainly Gichin Funakoshi, founder of Shotokan karate, understood the importance of body usage. The mind and body, he said, should be trained and developed in a spirit of “humility” which is a somewhat old fashioned term for respect and unpretentiousness. In fact, it is in the fundamental aspects of self defense such as standing position (natural stance), moving position (the transition between stances), and orientation to others that body usage is most important. Let’s begin by examining the natural stance to discover the implications and significance of body usage to both the martial arts training floor and the “real world”.

From a psychological point of view, the natural or ready stance is an opportunity to practice projecting power or authority in order to control a potentially threatening situation. Police officers, for example, are trained to exude an image of authority in order to control criminals. Likewise, Joan Nelson in her hands-on self defense practice book, Self Defense, Steps to Success, recommends projecting “an unvictimlike, confident and vigilant demeanor” in order to discourage attackers from selecting you.

John T. Molloy, of “Dress for Success” fame, researched and reported on body usage in Live for Success. In a chapter on power in the workplace, he points out that “authority is as much nonverbal as verbal.” He goes on to discuss the basic authority stance which he describes as “almost military in nature: the shoulders squared, the head erect, the jaw muscles tight, the mouth closed and unsmiling, feet planted firmly on the floor and eyes steady.”

…The goal here is to keep the neck relatively straight and upright. The head, which weighs about 10-15 pounds, is a wonderful self defense tool and can be used to strike forward or backwards. For optimum balance and comfort to the neck, however, Alexander Technique teachers recommend allowing the head to be “poised lightly on top of the spine”. The common saying, “it’s a pain in the neck” illustrates how easy it is to create discomfort here.

Alexander Technique is a body usage training system that teaches people how to move in the most natural and easy manner. Judith Stransky, an experienced and skilled practitioner in Santa Monica, CA, describes it as “a mind-body experience that unlocks the flow of physical, mental, and spiritual energy to higher levels of well-being and effectiveness”. Alexander Technique training is much in demand by people in the performing arts (including martial artists) and is frequently prescribed by medical specialists to relieve pain that other treatments have not been able to address.

One of the guiding concepts of Alexander Technique is to mentally repeat to yourself the following body usage mantra: Let the neck be free, to let the head go forward and up, to let the back lengthen and widen. Letting the chin drop allows the top of the head to lift upward and the neck to move freely.

Royalty and successful warriors returning to their home cities are often described as entering with “head held high”. Thus the chin/neck/head position conveys stature and maintains your health.

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How Does One Enjoy Life When There’s A Genocide In Darfur?

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Luke Ford

I was just out for a walk. It’s a beautiful sunny day in Pico-Robertson.

I passed these kids playing. They were laughing and shooting each other with water guns.

At least one kid wore a t-shirt that read “Stop the genocide in Darfur”.

It seemed incongruous. How does one enjoy life while wearing a t-shirt with that message?

It all seemed very Jewish. We’re keenly aware of humanity’s capacity for cruelty. At the same time, we want to enjoy life. How does one reconcile these conflicting impulses?

The Jewish tradition has about the best guidance that I know of. It sets aside time for prayer and reflection. It sets aside time for work. It sets aside time for celebration. We need wisdom about how to lead a life and the Jewish tradition provides specific directions.

I wear a yarmulke and fringes during my waking hours. They are to remind me about God. So should one wear a yarmulke and fringes while masturbating (a sin according to every religious tradition I know of)? The blogger who asks that question, Heshy Fried, is now engaged to be married. A hearty mazal tov to Heshy and to his beautiful Chabad bride.

Heshy is consistently the funniest Orthodox blogger I know.

I once hooked up with a student from AJU. When we were grappling, she said she liked to talk about Torah in bed. And she was serious.

She also shared later that evening that she’d been arrested for hooking up with a girl in the back of a car.

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Best Buy Heads For Bankruptcy

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Luke Ford

I went to Best Buy on Pico Blvd last Wednesday and the customer service, when I was able to flag a reluctant employee, was shoddy at best. The employees rarely seem educated or enthusiastic, much like the folks I remember from other failed department stores such as Circuit City.

So if Best Buy goes down, where will I be able to pick up a hard drive and a video card like I needed last week? Staples was not up to the task. I tried them first.

Larry Downes writes:

Electronics retailer Best Buy is headed for the exits. I can’t say when exactly, but my guess is that it’s only a matter of time, maybe a few more years.

Consider a few key metrics. Despite the disappearance of competitors including Circuit City, the company is losing market share. Its last earnings announcement disappointed investors. In 2011, the company’s stock has lost 40% of its value. Forward P/E is a mere 6.23 (industry average is 10.20). Its market cap down to less than $9 billion. Its average analyst rating, according to The Street.com, is a B-.

Those are just some of the numbers, and they don’t look good. They bear out a prediction in March from the Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column, which forecast “the worst is yet to come” for Best Buy investors. With the flop of 3D televisions and the expansion of Apple’s own retail locations, there was no killer product on the horizon that would lift it from the doldrums. Though the company accounts for almost a third of all U.S. consumer electronics purchases, analysts noted, the company remains a ripe target for more nimble competitors.

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Conservative Commentator Tony Blankley Is Dead

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Luke Ford

I met him in October of 2005:

Washington Times Op/Ed Editor Tony Blankley Calls For Constituational Declaration Of War Against Islamic Fascism

Blankley spoke to the Wednesday Morning Club Monday.

I sat next to the radiant Cathy Seipp, bathing in her luminosity to the depth that the Torah allows.

When I first arrived at 11:35AM at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, Cathy was not around, so I hung awkwardly around the three-man crowd surrounding Tony (author of the new book The West’s Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations?). I felt like I was getting cock-blocked even though my intentions were purely platonic.

Tony finally broke through his protective wedge and introduced himself. It made me feel like I had worth.

In his speech, Blankley said he was a child actor. He and Humphrey Bogart made their last movie together in 1956 — The Harder They Fall.

Tony (former spokesman for Newt Gingrich, he’s on the libertarian end of the Republican party) called for ethnic profiling, secure borders, and biometric national ID cards.

He said we should not treat China and Russia as friends or enemies.

The Washington Times reports:

Tony Blankley, a noted conservative author and commentator and former editorial page editor of The Washington Times, died late Saturday, according to family sources. He was 63 and had been battling stomach cancer.

Mr. Blankley was an executive vice president of the Edelman public-relations firm in Washington, a visiting senior fellow in national-security communications at the Heritage Foundation, a syndicated newspaper columnist and an on-air political commentator for CNN, NBC and NPR.

He was also a regular weekly guest on “The McLaughlin Group.”

Mr. Blankley was editorial page editor of The Times from 2002 to 2007, and from 1990 to 1997 he served as press secretary and general adviser to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

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