Mar 26, 2007
Mar 25, 2007
I've got my own Seder too! (video)
Lenny and Shlock Rock are rockin!! Time to get into the Pesah spirit. enjoy...
Sandler on letterman (video)
David Letterman is sick and my favorite jew in Hollywood, Adam Sandler, seems to be filling in for him. I found this clip pretty funny... enjoy.
Yontiff Thoughts
I have started posting my Pesah related posts on Yontiff Thoughts blog... be sure to check it out.. Yontiff Thoughts
went away
We went up north for shabbos to the hotel at Moshav Nir Etzion.
The ride up was very smooth except for one spot where there was a serious accident on the opposite side of the highway. It slowed traffic down on our side because of rubber-necking. The accident was so fresh that the police and ambulances had not yet shown up..
As we drove into the moshav we passed the barns where the cows live and are milked.. My kids said, "You should have brought your knife!". I do not think that is the first reaction most kids have to seeing a barn full of cows...
The hotel was beautiful, as was the moshav itself. The hotel consists of a section of room in the hotel itself and a section of cottages on the grounds of the hotel.
We stayed in a cottage... not in the hotel itself.
The dining room was nicely set and the food was good. 
They had a group from the Biale shul in RBS there on some sort of a shabbaton. By mistake we davened with that group on Friday night (thinking that was the main minyan), so the tefillot were long. What was interesting was that the "Rebbe" of the Biale shteibel led the services and he sang a number of Carlebach tunes in kabbolas shabbos. That was surprising, but now I hear that is what this particular Biale shteibel is like...Shabbos morning we davened in the regular minyan, and davening was a more normal pace...
There was another friend we saw there from RBS on a shabbaton with a school his wife runs, and I met someone fairly new to RBS as well who was there for shabbos.
One of my kids met a veritable twin of his from Modiin. It turns out they were born a day apart from each other. They played the whole shabbos together and both us and this other kids parents kept mixing up the two of the kids. It did not help that they were both wearing the exact same sweater, so at a quick glance they looked exactly the same!
We got a tour of the moshav, including the petting zoo and the "refet" where the cows are kept. These cows are humongous. Much bigger than the ones I have been shechting. He told us that on average they weigh about half a ton each. I am converting the weight now and it seems that comes out to about 450-500 kilogram each or about 1000 pounds each. That seems too small because the 6 month old calves I shechted were much smaller and they weighed about 300 kilogram (about 660 pounds)...
They showed us how the cows are milked on shabbos, though to be honest I did not understand the process the way he explained the halachic aspects of it. I am not sure the tour guide understood the process either because some of what he said was very unclear..
Speaking of cows, I just found this great site promoting cows to be bought as house pets instead of dogs. It is pretty funny, but the best line is, "And when get tired of them, you can kill them and eat them."
If you are looking for a nice mehadrin vacation spot, look up Nir Etzion. It is about 20 minutes away from Haifa..
Mar 22, 2007
surveys - ARGGHHHHH
I normally like participating in surveys, so this was unusual for me.
This lady calls up for a work related survey about equipment that we use. She says it will only take a couple of minutes. I agree to participate.
The questions she is asking me are all starting to run together. They all sound the same with just slight differences. I am trying to do somethign else at the same time, but can't seem to focus because her questions require too much concentration just to catch the subtle differences so as to answer properly.
After about 5 or 6 minutes I tell her that is it. I have had enough and cannot take it anymore. She is startled but says we are near the end, just a few more questions. She asks me to bear with her for another minute or so.
Two minutes later, after 4 more questions that all sounded the same, I tell her I have had enough. I cannot answer another question. I say goodbye.
She is startled and says, "What? What do you mean? we are almost done?"
I say I am sorry but all your questions are just about the same and it is taking way too long. I do not have the time.
She asks when she can call back to finish up.
I said not to call me again. If she has any more questions she should email them to me. I told her off for having so many questions and making it so difficult to answer and for taking so much of my time. She asks again if she can call back and I say no. I can't give her any more time. I hang up.
Recently I had another similar experience, but it was a digital survey.
We upgraded a product and afte rinstallation I agreed to participate in a survey. I get it by email and it takes me to a web page that had page after page pf questions. These, too, were very similar to each other and I had to really pay attention to answer properly.
I have done these before and sometimes a survey has a button that you can click to save the survey and get back to it later. This is very useful, especially when doing it at work. Sometimes I have to stop in the middle and being able to save it and get back to it later is useful.
This survey did not have such a feature. Just page after page of questions and I had to fill it all out in one sitting. After about 20 or so questions, I gave up and stopped.
A few days later I get an email from the company that I never completed the survey. I email them back that I could not give it the amount of time it needed. I suggested they shorten the survey in the future and that they add the feature to allow me to save it in the middle so I can get back to it later.
A few days later I get another email saying I still have not completed the survey. I ignored it, realizing it was just an automatic email and nobody actually reads the responses.
I am starting to lose patience with these guys. ARGHHHH
This lady calls up for a work related survey about equipment that we use. She says it will only take a couple of minutes. I agree to participate.
The questions she is asking me are all starting to run together. They all sound the same with just slight differences. I am trying to do somethign else at the same time, but can't seem to focus because her questions require too much concentration just to catch the subtle differences so as to answer properly.
After about 5 or 6 minutes I tell her that is it. I have had enough and cannot take it anymore. She is startled but says we are near the end, just a few more questions. She asks me to bear with her for another minute or so.
Two minutes later, after 4 more questions that all sounded the same, I tell her I have had enough. I cannot answer another question. I say goodbye.
She is startled and says, "What? What do you mean? we are almost done?"
I say I am sorry but all your questions are just about the same and it is taking way too long. I do not have the time.
She asks when she can call back to finish up.
I said not to call me again. If she has any more questions she should email them to me. I told her off for having so many questions and making it so difficult to answer and for taking so much of my time. She asks again if she can call back and I say no. I can't give her any more time. I hang up.
Recently I had another similar experience, but it was a digital survey.
We upgraded a product and afte rinstallation I agreed to participate in a survey. I get it by email and it takes me to a web page that had page after page pf questions. These, too, were very similar to each other and I had to really pay attention to answer properly.
I have done these before and sometimes a survey has a button that you can click to save the survey and get back to it later. This is very useful, especially when doing it at work. Sometimes I have to stop in the middle and being able to save it and get back to it later is useful.
This survey did not have such a feature. Just page after page of questions and I had to fill it all out in one sitting. After about 20 or so questions, I gave up and stopped.
A few days later I get an email from the company that I never completed the survey. I email them back that I could not give it the amount of time it needed. I suggested they shorten the survey in the future and that they add the feature to allow me to save it in the middle so I can get back to it later.
A few days later I get another email saying I still have not completed the survey. I ignored it, realizing it was just an automatic email and nobody actually reads the responses.
I am starting to lose patience with these guys. ARGHHHH
JOTD (joke of the day)
The latest joke making the rounds (no I am not the author) is pretty funny. It is a play on words in Hebrew. I will post it in Hebrew and then translate (though in English it is not funny)..
איך מכניסים חמישה ח"כים לניידת? 2 מקדימה ועוד שלושה מקדימה
How do you get 5 MK's into a police van? 2 in the front and another 3 in the front (the front is a translation for "kadima" which is the name of a political party who has yet another mk about to be arrested..play on words is 2 from kadima and another 3 from kadima.. as I said - not funny in english)
איך מכניסים חמישה ח"כים לניידת? 2 מקדימה ועוד שלושה מקדימה
How do you get 5 MK's into a police van? 2 in the front and another 3 in the front (the front is a translation for "kadima" which is the name of a political party who has yet another mk about to be arrested..play on words is 2 from kadima and another 3 from kadima.. as I said - not funny in english)
Mar 21, 2007
ridiculous design
I just saw someone selling some silver plate items for the holidays coming up. There was a very interesting item in the pile that made no sense.
It was a cake cutter. It was very nicely designed. The handle was designed beautifully with banners saying (in Hebrew), "Remember the sabbath day to make holy" and "Guard the Sabbath day to keep holy". I would guess the designer felt that most people eat cake on shabbos. Or at least would use a fancy cake cutter for shabbos.
The funny thing about it was the handle. He made the handle in a way that you pull out of the handle a lighter. Very kitchy. I am not sure what the lighter is for. Maybe to light the shabbos candles with.
So, you will use a cake cutter on shabbos that is muktze because it has a lighter built into it! What a ridiculous design! The artist who designed it must have been ignorant of Jewish tradition.
It was a cake cutter. It was very nicely designed. The handle was designed beautifully with banners saying (in Hebrew), "Remember the sabbath day to make holy" and "Guard the Sabbath day to keep holy". I would guess the designer felt that most people eat cake on shabbos. Or at least would use a fancy cake cutter for shabbos.
The funny thing about it was the handle. He made the handle in a way that you pull out of the handle a lighter. Very kitchy. I am not sure what the lighter is for. Maybe to light the shabbos candles with.
So, you will use a cake cutter on shabbos that is muktze because it has a lighter built into it! What a ridiculous design! The artist who designed it must have been ignorant of Jewish tradition.
a matter of priorities
The Labor Union called for a general strike today. That pretty much means the country services have been shut down. The reason is because the problem from a few months ago regarding unpaid municipal workers has still not been resolved, despite government promises many times to resolve it.
They rescheduled the strike a few times already and after the government not coming through on their promises another time, the Histadrut finally decided not to give them any more chances but to show they are serious. So we have a major strike shutting down the country right now. Hopefully it will be resolved quickly and things can get back to the normal level of inefficiency!
The strike was originally called to begin at 6am this morning. They compromised to push it off until 9am to allow a few extra hours for last minute negotiations. Until 9am nothing was shut down and no services were delayed. Everything (evertything that opens before 9am that is) worked normally until 9am. At 9am whatever was working in the public sector then shut down.
Everything, that is, except for one thing. The trains. Of all the striking authorities, everyone provided their services to the public until 9am except for the trains. People who went for earlier trains found the doors to the stations locked and signs saying they are on strike.
The Labor Union has announced that even if the strike continues, they will allow flights from England to land. The reason is the upcoming soccer (football for you non-Americans) match between Israel and England. They are expecting a lot of English fans to fly in and have decided that they should open the airport to these English hooligans.
At the same time, they are still undecided as to whether they will allow flights for 900 students returning from Poland (March of the Living) to land. That is aside from all the people travelling for personal reasons and business reasons who are stranded. The English soccer fans are more important. Soccer is a national emergency.
It is all a matter of priorities.
They rescheduled the strike a few times already and after the government not coming through on their promises another time, the Histadrut finally decided not to give them any more chances but to show they are serious. So we have a major strike shutting down the country right now. Hopefully it will be resolved quickly and things can get back to the normal level of inefficiency!
The strike was originally called to begin at 6am this morning. They compromised to push it off until 9am to allow a few extra hours for last minute negotiations. Until 9am nothing was shut down and no services were delayed. Everything (evertything that opens before 9am that is) worked normally until 9am. At 9am whatever was working in the public sector then shut down.
Everything, that is, except for one thing. The trains. Of all the striking authorities, everyone provided their services to the public until 9am except for the trains. People who went for earlier trains found the doors to the stations locked and signs saying they are on strike.
The Labor Union has announced that even if the strike continues, they will allow flights from England to land. The reason is the upcoming soccer (football for you non-Americans) match between Israel and England. They are expecting a lot of English fans to fly in and have decided that they should open the airport to these English hooligans.
At the same time, they are still undecided as to whether they will allow flights for 900 students returning from Poland (March of the Living) to land. That is aside from all the people travelling for personal reasons and business reasons who are stranded. The English soccer fans are more important. Soccer is a national emergency.
It is all a matter of priorities.
Kitniyot is now muttar!!!
As you can see here, Rav David Bar-Hayim, head of the Bet Ha'Vaad Beis Din in Jerusalem (he spells things differently - I am spelling it more phonetically practical for your ease of reading) has come out with his long awaited psak.
Rav Bar-Hayim holds that the decree against eating kitniyot is a ban that should be repealed.
Discussing the custom he says, "According to Rav Bar-Hayim, the custom grew up in some Jewish communities during the Exile, but no one is quite sure how it began or why. Some say it started in Medieval Europe as a response to sometimes finding wheat grains in sacks of rice. This is a problem, as rice cannot become Chametz (leavened) whereas wheat certainly can--and the consumption of Chametz is strictly forbidden during Pesah by the Torah. Others have suggested that it was to avoid confusion with the five grains that can become Chametz.
"This was a localized custom in parts of Germany, which later moved eastwards to Poland and Russia with the waves of Jewish emigration", states Rav Bar-Hayim. "The explanations offered for the custom are unconvincing. You don't find wheat in rice today. It was never accepted by Jews worldwide. Whatever the origin of the custom, Ashkenazi Jewish commentators have struggled to find good reasons for the ban. Some authorities, such as Rabbenu Yeruham, called it a ‘foolish custom'".
Over time, more and more items were arbitrarily added to the list: beans and peas, and more recently soya beans and even peanuts. Few Ashkenazi Jews today would eat peanuts or use peanut oil on Pesah, but as recently as 40 years ago peanuts were permitted by all Rabbinical authorities. Often there were economic interests at work behind the scenes, pushing for ever more stringent definitions of Kitniyoth, in order to create a market for a particular product. Products that were previously kosher were banned. Very expensive oils such as walnut oil replaced other oils that were previously acceptable and the focus of the holiday shifted from avoiding Chametz to avoiding Kitniyoth.
"We learn from the Mishnah and the Talmud that customs are connected to a particular place. When one moves permanently to another locality, one is to adopt the local custom," explains Rav Bar-Hayim. "The custom of abstaining from eating Kitniyoth during Pesah has never been the prevailing practice among all Jews in Erets Yisrael, and is therefore not binding upon Jews living in Israel. A person may choose to continue adhering to his custom, but no one has the right to enforce his custom on others."
According to the ruling, the variety of customs forbidding different foods creates divisiveness that the Torah prohibits. "The Torah specifically instructs us not to act in a divisive fashion; the Jews in a particular place should follow the same customs" says Rav Bar-Hayim. "This is the opinion of Rambam and other authorities who state that we should not have more than one beth din (religious court) or groups practicing different customs in the same city. This leads to a lack of societal cohesion. Today we see that this is all too true. We hope that this ruling will serve as the beginning of a process that will unite the Jewish People.""
I like the idea behind it. Over the years we have become more and more machmir as to what is considered kitniyot. As he writes, many items are no longer used today despite never having been included in the ban.
Some of Rav Bar-Hayim's talmidim will eat kitniyot this year, I am sure. I am not a talmid of his and will therefore continue refraining from eating kitniyot, until my rabbonim decide otherwise.
But who knows - maybe this psak of Rav Bar-Hayim's will open the file on kitniyot and spur halachik debate among the rabbonim on the issue. Maybe this is the beginning of a general change.
Rav Bar-Hayim holds that the decree against eating kitniyot is a ban that should be repealed.
Discussing the custom he says, "According to Rav Bar-Hayim, the custom grew up in some Jewish communities during the Exile, but no one is quite sure how it began or why. Some say it started in Medieval Europe as a response to sometimes finding wheat grains in sacks of rice. This is a problem, as rice cannot become Chametz (leavened) whereas wheat certainly can--and the consumption of Chametz is strictly forbidden during Pesah by the Torah. Others have suggested that it was to avoid confusion with the five grains that can become Chametz.
"This was a localized custom in parts of Germany, which later moved eastwards to Poland and Russia with the waves of Jewish emigration", states Rav Bar-Hayim. "The explanations offered for the custom are unconvincing. You don't find wheat in rice today. It was never accepted by Jews worldwide. Whatever the origin of the custom, Ashkenazi Jewish commentators have struggled to find good reasons for the ban. Some authorities, such as Rabbenu Yeruham, called it a ‘foolish custom'".
Over time, more and more items were arbitrarily added to the list: beans and peas, and more recently soya beans and even peanuts. Few Ashkenazi Jews today would eat peanuts or use peanut oil on Pesah, but as recently as 40 years ago peanuts were permitted by all Rabbinical authorities. Often there were economic interests at work behind the scenes, pushing for ever more stringent definitions of Kitniyoth, in order to create a market for a particular product. Products that were previously kosher were banned. Very expensive oils such as walnut oil replaced other oils that were previously acceptable and the focus of the holiday shifted from avoiding Chametz to avoiding Kitniyoth.
"We learn from the Mishnah and the Talmud that customs are connected to a particular place. When one moves permanently to another locality, one is to adopt the local custom," explains Rav Bar-Hayim. "The custom of abstaining from eating Kitniyoth during Pesah has never been the prevailing practice among all Jews in Erets Yisrael, and is therefore not binding upon Jews living in Israel. A person may choose to continue adhering to his custom, but no one has the right to enforce his custom on others."
According to the ruling, the variety of customs forbidding different foods creates divisiveness that the Torah prohibits. "The Torah specifically instructs us not to act in a divisive fashion; the Jews in a particular place should follow the same customs" says Rav Bar-Hayim. "This is the opinion of Rambam and other authorities who state that we should not have more than one beth din (religious court) or groups practicing different customs in the same city. This leads to a lack of societal cohesion. Today we see that this is all too true. We hope that this ruling will serve as the beginning of a process that will unite the Jewish People.""
I like the idea behind it. Over the years we have become more and more machmir as to what is considered kitniyot. As he writes, many items are no longer used today despite never having been included in the ban.
Some of Rav Bar-Hayim's talmidim will eat kitniyot this year, I am sure. I am not a talmid of his and will therefore continue refraining from eating kitniyot, until my rabbonim decide otherwise.
But who knows - maybe this psak of Rav Bar-Hayim's will open the file on kitniyot and spur halachik debate among the rabbonim on the issue. Maybe this is the beginning of a general change.
The latest scandal
Finance Minister (Kadima) Avraham Hirschson has been under investigation for embezzlement, theft, fraud and more to the tune of between 5 million dollars to 15 million dollars. This allegedly took place when he was the chairman of Nili, a non-profit organization associated with the Labor Union.
The investigation was just ramped up and Hirschson was questioned today under caution for seven hours. While by law he does not need to resign until the point that he is indicted, Kadima officials are saying that there is no way he will be able to continue at his post as Finance Minister under such heavy suspicion. He will be pushed out shortly.
I predict that unless Olmert decides to go with an outsider, as he did with the appointment of Friedman as Justice Minister, he will appoint Meir Sheetrit as Finance Minister. Sheetrit, while he is a jerk and I do not like him, is the only guy there who has experience in running the Finance Ministry. He was joint, or rather sub, Finance Minister working closely with Bibi Netanyahu in the Sharon government. Sheetrit is also a political rival of Olmert's and this might be the candy that Olmert can use to keep Sheetrit quiet.
Another standard day for the Kadima party...
The investigation was just ramped up and Hirschson was questioned today under caution for seven hours. While by law he does not need to resign until the point that he is indicted, Kadima officials are saying that there is no way he will be able to continue at his post as Finance Minister under such heavy suspicion. He will be pushed out shortly.
I predict that unless Olmert decides to go with an outsider, as he did with the appointment of Friedman as Justice Minister, he will appoint Meir Sheetrit as Finance Minister. Sheetrit, while he is a jerk and I do not like him, is the only guy there who has experience in running the Finance Ministry. He was joint, or rather sub, Finance Minister working closely with Bibi Netanyahu in the Sharon government. Sheetrit is also a political rival of Olmert's and this might be the candy that Olmert can use to keep Sheetrit quiet.
Another standard day for the Kadima party...
Mar 20, 2007
give credit where credit is due
Kadima MK Otniel Shneller gets my support today.
The left wind parties are generally hell bent on delegitimizing the "settler" community. They do everything possible to accept the Palestinian opinion and reject the settlers opinions in any conflict/scuffle. It never matters if there is proof for the claims of the settlers or not, the left wing always takes the opportunity to blame the settlers for conflagarations in our relationship with the Arabs.
Some "settlers" from Hebron took over a building from the Arabs. They say they bought it fair and square.
The left wing parties are up in arms as to how this can go on and they must be evicted and they are ruining the prospects for peace, blah blah blah.
Today MK Shneller from Kadima, who is known to be close with PM Olmert, went down to see up close what is going on down there. Instead of releasing a statement condemning the provocative acts of the settlers and that they must be evicted, he took the unusual step of supporting them.
He is assuming the sale was legal and valid, as claimed by the settlers of Hebron. Based on that assumption he supports the move into the building.
The left wing believes that only in Israel can land be sold to Palestinians. We have seen many court cases petitioned up to the Supreme Court about a Jewish moshav that refused to sell lland to an Arab. The left wing parties (Labor and Meretz among others) always support petitions to the Supreme Court to force Jews to sell their land to Arabs.
Yet when Arabs sell their land to Jews, either the left wing assume they are lying (despite documentation) or they say it is illegal, or they say it does not matter because it harms prospects for peace.
Kol hakavod to MK Shneller for going against the popular stance and coming out in support of the settlers.
The left wind parties are generally hell bent on delegitimizing the "settler" community. They do everything possible to accept the Palestinian opinion and reject the settlers opinions in any conflict/scuffle. It never matters if there is proof for the claims of the settlers or not, the left wing always takes the opportunity to blame the settlers for conflagarations in our relationship with the Arabs.
Some "settlers" from Hebron took over a building from the Arabs. They say they bought it fair and square.
The left wing parties are up in arms as to how this can go on and they must be evicted and they are ruining the prospects for peace, blah blah blah.
Today MK Shneller from Kadima, who is known to be close with PM Olmert, went down to see up close what is going on down there. Instead of releasing a statement condemning the provocative acts of the settlers and that they must be evicted, he took the unusual step of supporting them.
He is assuming the sale was legal and valid, as claimed by the settlers of Hebron. Based on that assumption he supports the move into the building.
The left wing believes that only in Israel can land be sold to Palestinians. We have seen many court cases petitioned up to the Supreme Court about a Jewish moshav that refused to sell lland to an Arab. The left wing parties (Labor and Meretz among others) always support petitions to the Supreme Court to force Jews to sell their land to Arabs.
Yet when Arabs sell their land to Jews, either the left wing assume they are lying (despite documentation) or they say it is illegal, or they say it does not matter because it harms prospects for peace.
Kol hakavod to MK Shneller for going against the popular stance and coming out in support of the settlers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Related Posts
