Chumus, or hummus, has gone on to become like Chabad and Coca Cola... you can pretty much find it anywhere you might go.

So, according to an article in TOI, people mailed in samples of their poop for analysis and the research discovered that tweaking the bacteria in anyone's poop could turn them into a morning person. 

Yesterday morning there was a partial solar eclipse. The next eclipse is coming in seven years, and supposedly, from what I have read, that one will be a major eclipse with a majority of the sun covered. Yesterday's partial eclipse was relatively small, with the sun looking sort of like a Pac-Man.

I took advantage to teach my granddaughter about the eclipse:


In Judaism an eclipse is considered a bad sign for the world. I don't really know why. I never understood these symbols, acts of nature, as being bad (or good) signs. It never made much sense to me as nowadays we know well in advance of the natural act that is going to happen. Maybe a couple thousand years ago it was unexpected and they thought it had meaning, but nowadays we know when will be an eclipse and when will be a blood moon and when Venus will be visible and when this or that will happen, so I am not sure why it needs to be a bad sign.

But the Gemara says it is a bad sign for the world, so whether I understand it or not, that's what it is.

We are halfway through 2020 (5780), and with everything we have already experienced this year - NOW THE HEAVENS ARE SENDING US A SIGN???? Why not send the sign before 2020 began? And if after all this year has already brought us we are getting a sign of bad tidings now, we should probably really be concerned about what lays in store ahead for us!

and yes, whenever I hear about an eclipse I think of the Bonnie Tyler song Total Eclipse of the Heart..

this is fabulous. The Israel Airports Authority table for arrival times includes the Beresheet lunar landing scheduled for tonight! The time is slightly off, as it says the "Not Final" scheduled landing time is 22:00, but if I am not mistaken the landing maneuver will begin at 22:25. Either way, good job IAA!

After the Beresheet lunar module passed into the moon's orbit, it snapped and sent back these pictures of the far side of the moon. The second one has Planet Earth in the background..

This Thursday, April 11, is the scheduled landing on the moon, if everything continues to go well!

This morning the Beresheet lunar module, continuing to make its way to the moon, performed another maneuver to adjust for a precise meetup with the atmosphere of the moon. This Thursday Beresheet is meant to meet up and start its orbit around the moon in preparation for the lunar landing. Yesterday Beresheet, in its final revolution around Earth, passed through the section closest to Earth, 1700km away. The engineers were able to take the above photograph from a distance of 16,000km over Earth. This picture, showing the Western Hemisphere and northeast Africa, also shows the rain clouds over Israel..

Jews in space! #HistoryOfTheWorldPart1 https://t.co/DF9wUA3uo5

— Mel Brooks (@MelBrooks) February 22, 2019

here is the full launch of the SpaceIL lunar mission... we are rooting for it to make it all the way to the moon and land safely (estimated for April 11)! Yes, I woke up at 3:20am on Friday morning to watch the launch..

when watching the launch I noticed the white haired man with a large black kipa sitting in front of one of the computer terminals... I was wondering who he is..

If the #SpaceIL mission is successful this Thursday, Israel will become the fourth country to land an aircraft on the moon. Good luck, Beresheet!🚀 https://t.co/aO5R50eaKY

— Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) February 20, 2019