On his radio show Oct. 27, 2009, Dennis said he never spanked his kids. He now thinks that was a mistake. "Everything within context — spanking, yelling. All things being equal, when done right, a spanking can be less injurious to the psyche of a kid than yelling, especially depending on what words come out of the yell. Some kids are easy. Some kids are very difficult to raise. If there is a difficult kid, there are times when it may well be effective to give the kid a smack.
"I have always said never on the bare tush because that’s humiliating. Humiliation is a no-no with children."
"I was corporally punished [by my parents] but it was only done once and it was done wrong. And that’s part of the reason I came out against it. I was yelled at and I couldn’t stand that either. I was a good kid. …I was hit by teachers. Every time a teacher hit me, they were right. I knew they were right. It’s a lot easier to be corporally punished by a teacher than by a parent. You don’t expect your teacher to love you."
Anon comments: Who reads Theology/Jewish Thought in OJ? Nobody in OJ that I know. Maybe you’ll read a hashkafah sefer from a well known Rav or Godol, but nobody is reading theology from an academic.
IRA writes: This quote,
"Finally, it will teach all of our students that non-Orthodox denominations represent a viewpoint that we respect. Even if we disagree with some of their philosophies, we value them as one of many necessary instruments in the Jewish symphony. In this way our diversity is not a compromise of our commitment to Torah, but a confirmation of it; it is our way of teaching certain core Torah values outside the classroom and not just inside."
This quote drives a truck through orthodox judaism, by maintaining that conservative judaism and reform judaism and who knows what else, is a "necessary instrument in the Jewish symphony."
It is one thing to teach "love all jews","love the sinner hate the sin" and that the non observant are still our family and brothers, but that doesn’t legitimize their torah interpretations as valid.
NACHUM LAMM POSTS: Staying alive *is* a civil liberty, you know? The people who died in the World Trade Center would have valued that one far above the question as to whether some terrorist got his Koran.
Would you support forcing Orthodox rabbis to marry homosexuals? Because you know that’s the issue that Mr. Beigelman is tiptoeing around.
Speaking of Orthodox rabbis and marriage, the news from New Jersey…well, it confirms a bleak fact, but anyway.
Ah, growing up my elementary school rebbeim used to mock Reform and Conservative Judaism: "Ha! They convert people just so they can marry Jews! Mickey Mouse conversions!"
Time and again I’m reminded how wrong they were to limit themselves.
Indeed, one of the most radical charedim out there is out to convert people for just that reason, if only post-facto. (I dunno.)
Maybe the rich have different rules. I hate to be cynical, but this one screams for it.
ANON POSTS: I dont know Jared or Ivanka at all, but (i) they have been regulars at KJ every shabbat for several years, as well as on chagim and (ii) Rabbi Lookstein has reluctantly signed up with the RCA Beit Din for conversions [he doesnt like having to be subordinated to the Rabbinut in Israel on these issues and fears that it what is coming]. Much as people can chuckle [and people at KJ certainly do about this], there is no reason to impugn this geirus simply because she is famous.
I also understand that the wedding was more tznius-dik than a typical KJ wedding.
HAGTBG WRITES: There is an article in the New York Times about whether Ivanka dressing with sleeves will bring them back into wedding dresses.
"I thought Ms. Trump looked sensational in her lace dress. It was the sleeves. We’re so used to seeing brides in strapless dresses that Ms. Trump’s gown made a fresh statement. Maybe she’ll have an influence on brides."
MJ POSTS: So, are food stamps, WIC checks, Section 8 vouchers, and certain refundable tax credits considered charity?
GIL REPLIES: No, because it comes from a communal fund that includes money from Jews, even if only a minority. Rav Kook discusses such a case in his teshuvah.
SHLOMO POSTS: It’s worth noting in this context that most charedi institutions in Israel are funded by the Israeli government, using money allocated in return for the charedi parties’ voting in favor of arming terrorists and expelling Jews in order to give their homes to Hamas. The left-wing parties that initiated these policies have the excuse that they honestly thought they would bring peace. The charedi parties had no such illusions but voted in favor anyway. In short, they purchased their institutions in return for Jewish blood.
LAWYER MALLOY WRITES: Honestly, this is just another example of when there’s a rabbinic will, there’s a halachic way. (Though I disagree with Ble Greenberg for social reasons, she is right in that little catchphrase of hers, as everyone knows.) Just like the Chochmas Shlomo came up with a distinction, we can do the same. We can say the prohibition only applied when money was instrinsically valuable. But when it’s just a piece of paper, not even backed by gold, then the issur doesnt apply. Or whatever rationale you want to come up with.
I mean, will anyone argue that Nefesh B’Nefesh has not done more good for Jews than almost any other charity? What can possibly be greater than bringing thousands upon thousands of Jews to settle in the Holy Land? (What, you think opening yet another yeshivah in New Jersey where guys learn nothing is better?) And Nefesh B’Nefesh is supported by Christians. It makes no sense to say you can accept a sacrifice by Christians because of aivah, but not charity.
Whatever. Another pronouncement to be ignored from the so-called Charedi "Godol Hador". If we cared what he said, we’d be embarassed for him. Personally, I am hoping institutions accept this "psak". It means less money for them, and the less money for anything that blindly follows Rav Elyashiv, the better.
“I was driving around Hoboken at nine-thirty on Sunday night,” said Vera Wang, when I called to ask about Ivanka Trump’s wedding dress. No, Ms. Wang did not miss the wedding on Sunday, at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., but apparently she and her husband, Arthur Becker, missed a turn on their way back to Manhattan.
I thought Ms. Trump looked sensational in her lace dress. It was the sleeves. We’re so used to seeing brides in strapless dresses that Ms. Trump’s gown made a fresh statement. Maybe she’ll have an influence on brides.
…Did she think Ms. Trump might start a trend with her sleeves? “She might very,” Ms. Wang said. “Nothing would make me happier. I’ve been doing strapless dresses for 15 years. It’s tiring.”
"Shiksa goddess" is a flippy term — either an honorific or a slur depending on how you view the stereotype of the blonde gentile who lures Jewish guys to abandon their religion for love.
Now blonde model millionairess Ivanka Trump, who converted to marry Jared Kushner in a Jewish ceremony yesterday, flips the term again. The ladies of The View were all over the gala wedding. (Barbara Walters was a guest). And the pr gal for book new in paperback, The Shiksa Syndrome, (Plot line: Jewish girl plays shiksa to catch Jewish guy) is all over this.
Traditional Judaism has always discouraged such conversions.
Cindy Adams was one of 500 close personal Trump friends invited to attend the Jared Kushner–Ivanka Trump nuptials at the Trump National Golf Course in New Jersey this past weekend, and she didn’t like what she saw. Here are five of the things she disapproved of.
1. It was cold. In fact, according to the septuagenarian gossip columnist, the weather was "nippy."
2. There were some awkward moments. "During the ceremony, the bride kept trying to take the groom’s hand."
3. Some people didn’t know how to behave. "Black, which the older generation never wore to weddings, was everywhere."
4. It was loooong. "For most invitees, it was more than an eight-hour gig. They left home 2:30-ish, arrived back after midnight, and even then it meant splitting before the cake came out."
5. There was some extreme tackiness. "Friends may still be discussing the wedding invitations they’d received. It had a flier inside for Donald’s other golf properties."
Daily Intel just received the following missive from one Ivanka Kushner, née Ivanka Trump, regarding our earlier post about the Post‘s Cindy Adams report detailing the J-Vanka wedding, a.k.a. the event of the season, at least until this weekend, when Gay New Year arrives. Sayeth Ivanka:
Cindy Adams neither attended nor was invited to my wedding, and her story was filled with various inaccuracies, including those about the weather and the “marketing flyer” included in the invitation, which were both easily fact-checkable. My wedding was a private, perfect occasion, the memories from which I will treasure for a lifetime.
Brittney Lee writes: "Ivanka has had everything handed to her on a silver platter. Her chin, nose, cheeks, breast were all paid for by daddy. Ivanka’s phony conversion to Orthodox Judaism was also paid off. Ivanka is such a fraud. I can’t believe people actually admire her. She’s a joke."
Like many women, I am sure Ivanka would not have converted like that for just any tommy, dicky and harry. No. She did it for Jared because he was worth it to her. They make a great match. Let’s face it. And all other things held equal, it is clear to me that she felt there was enough there to work with, that was workable, but there were some differences that were a bit out there that needed to be brought into congruence to give the marriage some added padding and protection, and to avoid divorce due to “irreconcilable differences.”
Obviously, some differences cannot be reconciled. But luckily for those two, religion is one of those things that can, if the parties are not too rigid. Jared, likewise could have converted to Christianity. But these big switches work better if the woman submits. I hate to sound Victorian but the facts are the facts and have not and will not change for centuries. A man needs to feel that to some extent, his woman has submitted to him. He has to feel like he’s the CEO in the marriage. And you know what? Secretly? I think women need to feel that too – that she has married a man who is man enough to be given the privilege of being her CEO. And it’s a missing ingredient in a lot of modern marriages. That is why so many are failing. Ivanka clearly understood this dynamic and so, even though she didn’t have to, even though she could have had her pick of so many eligible Gentile bachelors in New York, she converted to show her commitment, and to submit to her husband and to her marriage and relationship.
I see no fraud here. I see a smart woman. I see an intelligent wife who is doing the best she can under the circumstances to avoid a speedy, embarassing divorce. I see a strategist pulling out a preemptive strike to protect her interest in her investment of time making all those kosher dishes, investment of emotions, and everything else besides.
I am sure the agreement goes to the unborn children and includes a clause about what their last names will be. Trump-Kushner no doubt – as opposed to TRUMP or KUSHNER alone. And of course, they will be raised Orthodox Jews. I am sure that is in the prenuptial agreement. And they likely will attend Hebrew school according to the stipulation of their parents.
Yea. But Orthodox, huh? Wow. When you convert to Orthodox Judaism from Christianity for your husband, that’s intense. That is off the charts love, I would surmise. You really shouldn’t need a prenup with committment like that.
New York magazine reports July 17, 2009: This spring, for instance, Ivanka attended a benefit for the Mikvah, the traditional Jewish bath, in Jared’s hometown of Livingston, New Jersey, with his mom, Seryl, and his two sisters, Nicole and Dara. One attendee reported that Seryl introduced Ivanka to friends solely as "Ivanka," and not as Jared’s girlfriend.
Nicole writes on the JewishJournal.com: "Ivanka’s “conversion” was a fraud and only done for marriage. Ivanka’s “conversion” was completed in 8 months and was done just to get married to Jared Kushner. Orthodox conversions take 2-4 years to complete and are never done for the reason of marriage. Ivanka’s wedding was a “Big fat interfaith marriage.” There was nothing Jewish about it."
CIS.org writes: WASHINGTON (October 27, 2009) – The 287(g) program was created by Congress in 1996 to enhance cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. The Obama administration has imposed new rules for the 287(g) program that unduly constrain the local partners and could allow more alien scofflaws identified by local agencies to remain here. But even with these changes, based on unsubstantiated criticism from ethnic and civil liberties groups, the 287(g) program remains an effective tool in immigration law enforcement and local crime-fighting.
A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies examines in detail the 287(g) program’s history, status, and results, concluding with a number of recommendations for improvement. The report, “The 287(g) Program: Protecting Home Towns and Homeland,” by Jessica Vaughan and James R. Edwards, Jr., is based on interviews with participating local law enforcement agencies (LEAs), statistics and reports provided by local LEAs, and data provided by ICE through a FOIA request.
Among the findings:
About 1,000 officers from 67 law enforcement agencies have been trained and participate in the program. With 9 new agencies joining and a handful of agencies dropping out in 2009, the total number of participating agencies as of October 2009 is 73.
287(g) officers lodged immigration charges on more than 81,000 illegal or criminal aliens between January 2006 and November 2008, according to data provided by ICE.
In 2008, the number of 287(g) arrests (45,368) was equal to one-fifth of all criminal aliens identified by ICE in prisons and jails nationwide that year (221,085). The program has flagged a large number of known serious and/or violent offenders, as well as some low-level offenders still at the bottom of the criminal behavior escalator. Illegal aliens targeted by the program have been identified as a result of involvement in local law-breaking in addition to immigration law-breaking.
While 287(g) agencies use the authority mainly to identify and process illegal aliens who have committed additional crimes, Congress never intended the program to be limited to that use. Lawmakers intended for local agency partners to use the authority for local law enforcement priorities and according to local needs, which may or may not be the same as federal priorities.
Participating agencies credit the 287(g) program as a major factor in reduced local crime rates, smaller inmate populations, and lower criminal justice costs.
287(g) is cost-effective — much less expensive than other criminal alien identification programs such as Secure Communities and Fugitive Operations. For example, in 2008 ICE spent $219 million to remove 34,000 fugitive aliens (mostly criminals). In 2008, ICE was given $40 million for 287(g), which produced more than 45,000 arrests of aliens who were involved in state and local crimes. In Harris County, Texas, the billion-dollar ICE Secure Communities interoperability program found about 1,718 removable aliens in its first six months beginning late in 2008; meanwhile the locally paid 287(g) officers in the same jail system charged about 5,000 criminal aliens over the same time period.
287(g) is a force multiplier. In 2008, the Colorado state 287(g) unit alone made 777 immigration arrests. In that same year the entire ICE investigations office based in Denver, which covers all of Colorado and several other states, made a total of 1,594 arrests. In Maricopa County, Arizona, the local ICE detention and removal manager supervises five ICE deportation agents, who are supplemented by 64 additional locally paid county jail 287(g) officers who also identify and process criminal aliens.
The largest number of agreements have been signed for 287(g) programs in correctional institutions, such as county jails or state prisons. These programs were responsible for 91 percent of the 287(g) arrests over the period we studied.
The task force/investigative 287(g) programs provide equally important crime-fighting benefits and are a useful tool to address such illegal immigration-related crime problems as alien smuggling, drugs, street gangs, and identity theft.
The Colorado, Arizona, and Alabama 287(g) programs have boosted ICE efforts to combat alien smuggling, which has been neglected since the agency’s formation.
Notwithstanding allegations from immigrant and civil liberties advocates, there have been no confirmed instances of racial profiling, discrimination, or other abuse of authority under the 287(g) program. There is no evidence whatsoever of a “chilling effect” on crime reporting in the 287(g) jurisdictions.
The waiting list for 287(g) is long — reportedly one to three years from the time of request to join until implementation.
The biggest obstacle to improving and expanding the 287(g) program is the lack of funding for bed space to detain illegal aliens discovered by local agencies to have committed crimes. As a result, ICE currently is removing fewer than half of the criminal aliens identified under 287(g). Several states have submitted proposals to ICE to help alleviate this problem, but ICE has not acted to increase funding for bed space, even as it claims to prioritize the removal of criminal aliens.
Jeff Pearlman has an article in the November 2009 issue of Penthouse about former pitcher John Rocker.
Pearlman wrote the original article ten years ago in Sports Illustrated that ended Rocker’s career.
It made me reflect on the difference between public and private and how well Judaism educates us in this regard.
If you are an Orthodox Jew, but you quietly watch TV in the privacy of your own apartment on Shabbat, no one is going to know and no one is going to talk. But if you drive your car around the community on Shabbat, people will know and people will talk.
You can say "Queers with AIDS" and diss "faggots" and other such talk all you like in private with like-minded friends, but when you talk to a reporter, you are not talking to him as an individual but to his audience, and you have to be more careful.
Many people will say, "I don’t care what other people think."
This is a delusion. If you truly believe you don’t care what other people think, you are massively deluded. If everywhere you go people turn away from you or treat you like a leper and pour contempt upon you, it will only take a little while before this makes a massive influence on you.
I’m about as independent a person as I know. I am about as free as anyone I know in saying what I think but I consider all the time the consequences of what I am writing and saying. I try to be true to my vision but I don’t pretend that I don’t care about what other people think of me.
People say that about me all the time. "Oh Luke, he doesn’t care about what other people think of him."
I don’t like to argue with people in person so I never contradict this. I think it is great if people think that, if they think I am that strong and independent, but no man is an island. Everything we do affects other people.
I enjoy shocking people but I don’t enjoy the consequences, hence, as I get older, I engage in less needless shocking.
The ex-New York Mets GM and current (well, former) ESPN baseball analyst has, once again, inserted his penis in the slot where his brain is supposed to make deposits. In case you haven’t heard (and, by this point, who the hell hasn’t?), Phillips—a married father—was having an affair with a 22-year-old ESPN employee … who happens to be insane.
I have never cheated on my wife, and never will. However, if I accidentally break that vow and enter the dark world of infidelity, it would only be with a farm animal, because farm animals don’t talk, write letters or drive their cars into structures. Fortunately, I am not attracted to farm animals (emus, on the other hand …).
Unfortunately for Steve Phillips, he failed to follow my blueprint. His affair was with Brooke Hundley, who not only bears a striking resemblance to the late, great Sam Kinison, but believes the best way to enhance an affair’s excitement is to, egad, write a letter to the man’s wife, chat with his son on Facebook and drive her car into his house.
Of all the moves, my favorite is her letter, which includes this passage:
“I care about Steve a lot and I’ve been asking him to come clean to you about everything, from when we first slept together in St. Louis in his hotel suite (where he assured me I wouldn’t have to worry about getting pregnant since his vasectomy) to the fact that we have continued to talk, see each other and schedule meet-ups even since you found out.”
Rabbi Shifren (RabbiForSenate.com) emails: It is clear that unless each of us realizes that if one of our citizens is being disadvantaged in this war for the transformation of our culture, then we all are losers. I can’t help but recalling my experience as a rehab teacher at Sheriff Peter Pitchess Wayside Ranch, L.A. County’s biggest lockup. As I approached the prison cell, a black man yelled over, "Hey Rabbi Shifren!".
I said, "I’m sorry sir, but I don’t believe we’ve met."
He replied, mournfully, "You were my Spanish teacher at Dorsey High."
"Sir, I’m so sorry you’re here. How is it that you ended up in jail?, I asked, shaken that one of my students was encarcerated before my very eyes.
"Rabbi, they didn’t teach me anything. Just kept passing me on. I have no skills, no learning, all I could do was deal drugs."
When I think of how many times we had to translate EVERYTHING into Spanish, the hours and dollars wasted on foreigners here bent on changing our society into a satellite of Mexico, and their minions of black school administrators enabling them to vanquish our schools and communities, I know this is a war of survival in which each of us must step up to protect our nation. We don’t have the luxury of picking "coalitions" in this war. It’s about you and me, your family and mine, and our readiness to fight a satanic opposition, stealthily claiming more territory each day under the banner of "multi-culturalism." Some claim that Valley Forge was America’s finest hour. They’re wrong. Our nation will be face its final test right here on the streets of South Central Los Angeles. Will we take back our schools from the educrats, re-conquer our communities from the radical Hispanic gangs, sowing panic in the black communities? Will we finally agree that English is our nation’s language, and teach our students the command of it? Will we continue to discriminate against our African American citizens, on whose bloody backs this nation’s strength and wealth was established, BY FORCING THEM TO SPEAK A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN ORDER TO GET A JOB IN AMERICA? When these questions are answered, then there will be a clear vision for our survival as a nation.
I heard an interesting dvar Torah the other day about the parsha of Noach.
The speaker pointed out that Nimrod united the world through his brilliant oratory. He was deserving of a Nobel peace prize. He wanted to create socialist healthcare system.
From Wikipedia: "Nimrod (Hebrew: ????????,ModernNimrodTiberian??????? ; Nimr?? Arabic: ?????) is a Mesopotamian monarch mentioned in the Book of Genesis, who also figures in many legends and folktales. He is depicted in the Bible as a mighty ruler and nation builder who founded many cities, including the great Babel or Babylon. Despite his stance as a powerful leader, his reputation was tarnished by his traditional association with the construction of the Tower of Babel."
The audience sucked in its breath. It was the first time I had heard a sermon taking shots at a black man, in this case President Barack Obama. Generally this is not done in shuls, even in Orthodox ones, because it is generally considered bad form in most Orthodox shuls to go political in your Shabbos morning sermon. Also, few Jews want to say anything negative publicly about any black man, and certainly not the president, for fear of being called racist.
Most Jews I know would rather eat ham than saying anything publicly that could be considered racist.
The speaker alluded to Obama (or his administration) saying that Israel does not have a blank check.
The speaker turned to the ark holding the Torah scrolls and said, here is our check. If we perform God’s commandments, he will bless us and we will prosper in the land He has given us. Can we do this? Yes, we can!
Josephus wrote:
Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of God. He was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, a bold man, and of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if it were through his means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. He also gradually changed the government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on his power… Now the multitude were very ready to follow the determination of Nimrod, and to esteem it a piece of cowardice to submit to God; and they built a tower, neither sparing any pains, nor being in any degree negligent about the work: and, by reason of the multitude of hands employed in it, it grew very high, sooner than any one could expect; but the thickness of it was so great, and it was so strongly built, that thereby its great height seemed, upon the view, to be less than it really was. It was built of burnt brick, cemented together with mortar, made of bitumen, that it might not be liable to admit water. When God saw that they acted so madly, he did not resolve to destroy them utterly, since they were not grown wiser by the destruction of the former sinners; but he caused a tumult among them, by producing in them diverse languages, and causing that, through the multitude of those languages, they should not be able to understand one another. The place wherein they built the tower is now called Babylon, because of the confusion of that language which they readily understood before; for the Hebrews mean by the word Babel, confusion…
Joe emails: I have a deviant fascination (is there any other kind?) with monitoring synagogue websites. Some are quite useful. More important than the content is the theme of the site and what it tells you about the shul.
YICC stands out as the big leaguer in orthodox shuls in L.A. It does not mess around. Its site is ridiculously detailed, and is very cold in that way. It is led by a Rabbi who believes that Rabbi Soloveitchik and his Lithuanian precision is still the model – it reminds me of an old joke that shows how heartless the lithuanian jews were – the story was that there was this new lithuanian rabbi who just got the job of watching the matza (unleavened bread) being made. This is a very strict process and the matza must be completed in a very short period of time – there is some window for error, but zero tolerance is to be preferred. So the new rabbi ask the old rabbi if there are any special idiosyncrasies the old rabbi followed – the old lithuanian rabbi said – yes – you should know that the women preparing the matzas are mostly widows who desperately need the money to feed their families. Accordingly, you should therefore be very kind to them because if you yell at them to move the process along, they tend to cry and those tears could get in the dough and the matza could leaven rendering the lot unkosher.
YICC is that way, very professional, but at the expense of some coldness. I have never seen a shul website where members post pictorials of their families with one-upsmanship about who has a more perfect life. The site has a book of its own proprietary customs with the most exacting methodology for when the leader of the prayers can or cannot repeat words. In one bit of exclusionary brilliance, the book says:
"Members of YICC who are mourners during the 12 month period of mourning always have precedence for the “Amud” even if there is a non-member who has “Yarzheit” for a parent or is in “Shloshim”."
In essence, like american express, membership has its privileges. I am sure there is a rock solid source for this custom, but even with a source, it does not seem very christian – if someone visits the shul in the immediate 30 days of mourning, i think the christian thing is to let the visitor pray and lead the congregation.
Unlike its competitor www.bnaidavid.com – there is no touchy feely crap. This is division 1 football as the man says. Yicc does not assist the local homeless, instead, it has a ridiculous staffing level so that every age group is home at YICC, literally from cradle to grave. Bnai David favors the youth and has a great child’s program so that the professional women can get some time away from their bratty kids and participate in the services. At YICC, your professional woman should be bringing in two to three hundred large (on top of the husband making 4-600k) and afford a nanny.
Moral of the site – what the hell was YICC thinking even letting you breathe in its general direction?
CHAIM AMALEK EMAILS: "I just checked out the YICC web site and a random assortment of member biographies for the first time. Was this one of the shuls you were expelled from; was it/is it THE shul you wanted to/would like to belong to? Because if it is, then perhaps a useful writing exercise would be for you to write up some member bios of the Luke Ford that you think you could/will/want to be in 2014."
I’ve got a few tendencies in the bipolar direction. I tend to get so high that I think there will be no consequences for my actions. Then I get so low that I think there’s no hope.
I find yoga and Alexander Technique and friends are good ways to balance myself out.
I applied today to be a part of this bipolar study. I said if they had any doubt that I was bipolar, they should just check my website.
They responded: "Thank you for writing. To qualify for the study we require written confirmation of your bipolar diagnosis most often in the form of letter from your psychiatrist or mental health care provider."
Our Tehillim Group which meets each Tuesday at 8 p.m. prays for Cholim, Shiduchim, & Israel. This Tuesday, October 27th, we have been requested to include the yeshiva boys stranded in dire straits in Japan in our prayers. Please join us make a strong group.
Yaakov posts: Those boys committed the crime unknowingly. The E was in hidden compartments in the brand new luggage that was given to them by a "art/antiquities dealer" who was a friend of a friend. He knew that they were traveling and asked them to deliver the suitcases to an art dealer in Japan claiming that there were extremely precious works of art hidden inside. The two boys are innocent!
I’m like Chairman Mao. I win hearts and minds and I live off the land in my little hovel. I devote myself to providing good blog posts for the community so they can have something to share with each over the dinner table.
My father set up his own non-denominational evangelical Christian foundation Good News Unlimited.
We bought a home. Then we found another home and decided to buy it and sell the first. It was an inflationary-era. President Carter was presiding over a bumbling economy. Real estate had been jumping in values dramatically. It seemed like a good move.
It was not a good move. It was almost a disaster. If you count the wear and tear on our psyches, it was a disaster.
"This guy knows all the gossip, the ins and outs, the lashon hara of the Orthodox world. He’s an [expert] in... all the inner workings of the Orthodox world." (Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff)
