I am a big fan of SodaStream, and I think you would enjoy the following item...


Jim Cramer, the financials and investment advisor guy with the tv show, is a big fan of SodaStream.

Herb Greenberg is not a fan of SodaStream.

CNBC's Jim Cramer and Herb Greenberg took the Sodastream vs. regular soda taste-test challenge, and at least one of them is surprised at the winner.

Take a look at the video of the SodaStream vs. Regular Soda taste Test:


Now that you watched it, I think this is a great indicator, it's not a scientific study so I cannot say proof, of how surprisingly good SodaStream is.


And I almost forgot to mention - SodaStream is an Israeli company...

The Electric Company has been encouraging the creation of solarium fields as a way of both saving money from the cost of electricity, and as a way of making money by creating energy and selling it back to the electric company.

solar panel sun farm

The City of Bnei Braq decided to build a solar field, and issued a tender to that end. They received the approval of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, as they were concerned that some of the electricity produced would be distributed among people who desecrate the Shabbos. Rav Kanievsky said that there is no definitive assumption that the electricity created would be used by mechalelei shabbos, and therefore it is ok.

In recent days experts went to Rav Elyashiv claiming that after an in-depth analysis of how the system works, with the electric company changing and improving the system, and have found that the electric company has now transfers the new electricity automatically, putting it back into use immediately. The immediate turnaround increases the chances of the electricity that would be created by the City of Bnei Braq to be used by people desecrating the Shabbos.

Rav Elyashiv paskened that because of the serious concern of chilul shabbos, it is prohibited to create such a solarium. Rav Elyashiv's psak was then taken to Rav Kanievsky, who listened to the new information, had it confirmed, and signed on to Rav Elyashiv's psak. (source: Kikar)

Rav Yisrael Rosen, head of Machon Tzomet, responded to the news by expressing his doubts as to the accuracy of the report, saying that there is no reason to be concerned, as the whole purpose of the solarium is to have everything automated. Being concerned about this is similar to the rain falling and watering fields on Shabbos. Nobody is involved in any aspect of the production or transfer of the electricity, not a Jew nor a non-Jew, and therefore it is fine.

And Rav Rosen added, if the concern is that a person might use such electricity on Shabbos, a person selling pens would have a problem as the buyer might use the pen on Shabbos, a person buying anything might use it on Shabbos, so how can anybody religious sell anything that might end up being used by someone else on Shabbos?

Another possibility as to the source for the issur might be that Bnei Braq would be profiting from something created on Shabbos. Rav Rosen adds that if that is the problem it is no worse than the generators used in Bnei Braq on Shabbos, as those cost money to operate, and the operator is then profiting from the electricity sold on Shabbos.

Rav Rosen continues, saying that there seems to be no reason to prohibit, and in fact such solariums should be encouraged and expanded as they prevent chilul shabbos by taking the issue out of the hands of people and automating the entire system.

A possibility I thought of is that this psak only refers to Bnei Braq specifically and not to solariums in general. perhaps Rav Elyashiv thought that a city like Bnei Braq that is completely machmir and makpid like the Chazon Ish to not allow electricity on Shabbos and only use generators would suddenyl be creating electricity and selling it to mechalelei shabbos. Maybe it was simply a matter of the oxymoron of Bnei Braq being so machmir and on the very same issue selling to mechalelei shabbos. Whereas elsewhere perhaps it would not be th same problem and maybe solariums would be allowed.

I would like to see Rav Rosen try to go to Rav Elyashiv to discuss the issues with him and come to the bottom of this. We have a psak that is unclear, with pretty decent objections raised. Did he say it as is? Did he say it differently?

I am not sure what to think of this story - a woman is suing the chevra kadisha of Netanya, for 32,000 NIS, for "forcing" her and other women to stand separate from the men at the funeral of a friend.

Ynetnews has the story:

A resident of Netanya recently filed a suit for NIS 32,000 (roughly $9,000) against Chevra Kadisha after she was asked to stand separate from men in a funeral she attended. "This is discriminatory and is against our world view," she claimed.


Susan Ayad said that last January she attended the funeral of a close friend in a Netanya cemetery. As they gathered in the eulogy square the mourners were shocked discover that large planters dividing the floor into two parts.


"The rabbi holding the service on behalf of Chevra Kadisha asked the men to stand on one side of the partition and the women to stand on the other side," the claim stated.


"Despite the objection of many of the mourners we avoided causing a stir in light of the sensitivity of the event and reluctantly adhered the rabbi's instruction. I was also forced to move to the women's side and was separated from my acquaintances."


Insult and rage
Ayad claims the forced separation sparked feelings of humiliation, rage and insult. "I don't understand how in a public place such as a cemetery someone can order me where to stand just because I'm a woman."


She consequently filed a suit with the Netanya Small Claims Curt against Chevra Kadisha with the help of the Progressive Judaism Movement's legal aid services.


The claim states that the segregation does not only hurt women but all those present at cemeteries seeking to spend time with loved ones.


Ayad referred the court to Israel's anti-discrimination law which was the basis for a claim against bus segregation. She motioned the court to order Chevra Kadisha to pay NIS 31,900 in compensation.


Elements at the Progressive Judaism's pluralism center called on anyone who experienced a similar act of discrimination to approach them, suggesting there may be a more extensive campaign on the issue.

While a funeral is not really a prayer service, though kaddish is said, it is common to at least stand separately during the eulogies, though often that is without barriers placed demarcating the separation. It is also fairly common that there is no formal separation. It seems to generally be up to the discretion of the chevra kadisha and/or the family.

The article also does not say the family was or was not religious, nor does it say if the family wanted it or not. the only comment seems to be of a friend. I wonder if the family had wanted the separation, would she sue the family for forcing segregation upon her?

So, I don't know what to think. Is it right or wrong to have such a separation at a funeral? It is common, but must it be so? Is it cause for a lawsuit?

While PM Benjamin Netanyahu has been in Washington for a few days now, he took the time to go for a long walk with his wife, Sara Netanyahu, around the landmarks and sites of Washington D.C.
“The only thing we need to be afraid of is fear.The only thing we need to fear is fear itself."
Netanyahu then added, Did you ever hear of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov? Do you know what he said?
He said, ‘All of the world is a very narrow bridge, and the main thing is to have no fear at all.’
You see! Roosevelt was apparently a Chassid of the Rebbe!”

I don't understand why Bibi, PM Benjamin Netanyahu, keeps saying and insisting that the reason we won't go back to the borders of June 4, 1967 is because those borders are indefensible.

As a matter of fact, those borders proved very defensible. The Six Day War was perhaps Israel's greatest military victory (I only say perhaps because perhaps the War of Independence in 1948 was greater, as there was no real army, nor weapons, at the time) in the 63 years of Israel's existence, fending off three invading armies from hostile neighboring countries with populations far greater than Israel's. And Israel did it fighting from behind the borders of June 4, 1967.

So the 1967 borders are defensible, or at least as defensible or indefensible as any other border delineation.

The only thing I might add is that by saying it, and continuing to repeat it and pound it into the world's minds, we are minimizing the victory, minimizing the intervention of Hashem mind you.

Bibi's speech, as always, was great. There is nobody today who can speak about anything and about Israel in particular, the way Bibi can. The line about the borders being indefensible bothers me.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Speech to Congress, May 24, 2011

Kikar is reporting on an incident that recently generated an interesting halachic question, with an interesting psak from Rav Elyashiv.

A widow recently came to Rav Elyashiv with a question. She has four children from her deceased husband. Her husband had been sick and suffered greatly for a few years, until he eventually died. Shortly before his death he made a request of her that she promise that after his death she would not remarry.

She says that being full of emotion at the time she accepted his request and told him that she would not marry anyone else after his death.

Now it is a few years later, and while she has kept her word until now, she now feels it is time to move on and get married. She asked Rav Elyashiv what to do about her original promise - should she not get married or can she get married anyway?

An unreasonable request made by a man on his deathbed, leads to a tough question on her end.

Rav Elyashiv's Psak

Rav Elyashiv first tried to clarify whether she had originally responded making a promise, taking an oath, or if she simply accepted his demand. While she could not answer definitively how exactly it had been worded, she rejected the possibility that she had said it as a form of a nedder.

Rav Elyashiv then answered her question by saying she is allowed to get married. The reason is that when the deceased's soul ascended to heave, he definitely would have changed his mind and wanted her to remarry. At that point he definitely would have realized the importance of her continuing her life, and he would definitely even be happy that she is moving on and getting married.

My uncle's website, cholimlist, has been featured on Arutz7 (INN), specifically in regards to the Gilad Shalit Worldwide Tehillim Project he has running there.

The Gilad Shalit Worldwide Tehillim Project is a group signed up to say tehillim every day until Gilad Shalit is released from captivity. You can join at any point, stop at any point, sign up for as many chapters as you want.

As far as the general cholimlist tehillim site, if you know someone sick, you can create your own ring of tehillim sayers, have people sign up, email updates to the participants, let people know when they can stop, etc.

INN writes:

A new website for reciting Tehillim (Psalms} for sick people features a section for prayers on behalf of kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit, while Hamas renews rumors on new talks for his release.


The website was put together by Barry Kupfer, who initiated the Gilad Schalit Worldwide Tehillim Project as part of his site that tracks the names of sick people for whom prayers are said for their recovery. The site also lets users know when to stop saying Tehillim, and lets synagogues create their own lists with their members being able to keep the records up to date.


Schalit was kidnapped by terrorists from the Army of Islam, the Popular Resistance Committees and Hamas in June 2006 during a deadly attack on an IDF checkpoint near Gaza, in which two soldiers were killed.


“The idea is that all of Tehillim should be recited every day until he is released,” according to Kupfer. “Users will need to register to the site and then can select an open section to recite. They can resign at any time. They will also get an email after 30 days asking them to confirm their participation.”


The new project comes as Hamas winds up the rumor clinic again with reports that it is resuming negotiations with a mediator and that Israel has agreed to free 20 terrorists “with blood on their hands” in return for Schalit. The soldier’s physical and psychological conditions are not known, and Hamas continues to defy the Geneva Convention by refusing visits by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and communication with his family.

"Stay Up All Night"
It is not Shavuot yet, but it is getting close. Here is a great new video about staying up all night Shavuot night to learn Torah

1. Sephardic Yekkes

2. A Review of Dialogue

3. The Tzvika Force in the Golan Heights 1973

4. Segulot and Yeshuot

5. Does Judaism Require Submission Within Marriage?

Picture Of the Day




the volunteers of the rescue organizations were prepared last night for a mass casualty event with the El Al plane having technical trouble, and everyone being concerned it might crash.

Quote of the day
Clearly Obama's plan is no different, aside from a few small details, from that of George Bush. Now he refers to the 1967 borders as sacred, but who says we accept them, and that we won't speak of the '48 lines?

-- Hamas Spokesman Mahmoud al-Zahar

They did not change their names, their language nor their style of dress. These are the three ways in which Jews have always been unique, and why we merited leaving Egypt, and presumably many other salvations we have experienced through history. So we are told.

In the post-Royal Wedding era, after the world has seen the fairy tale style wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, somebody, an Israeli, was so inspired, so moved by the wedding, that he decided to change his name. he was going to change his name to a combination of names from 10 different monarchs.

According to Ynetnews:

The names he requested be listed on his identification card are: Henry, William, Phillip, Charles, Frederick, Michael, Louis, George, Edward, and Robert.


The clerk who accepted the man's plea was somewhat skeptical, but said he would check if the request was legally plausible, according to the man's account.


A few days later he received a call saying the change was not possible, the explanation being that it would "mislead the public".


The clerk then proposed a compromise, asking the man to choose just three of the 10 names for his ID.


"Thousands of people change their names each year in Israel, some of them at the advice of a rabbi and others at the advice of psychics, in addition to those who want Hebrew names, but we've never seen such an odd request," the Population and Immigration Authority explained in a statement.


"We see many requests that derive from a desire to be special or unique, and only in extreme case in which we feel that the public will be offended do we veto the request."

Perhaps another good thing about the State of Israel is that the government encourages our remaining unique in these ways, not allowing crazy people to change their names like that..

Another thought is to employ the talmudic rule of "Tafasta Meruba Lo Tafasta". When you try for too much, you don't get anything. Had he chosen just a couple of names, perhaps 3 as the clerk suggested, his request might have been immediately granted. yet he chose 10 names, which was too much.

The Maccabeats At The White House
Here is the whole performance...

Gene Simmons from KISS, who is originally Israeli by birth, slams Obama's recent statements.

I love him. he is great, the way he just says everything that is on his mind..

An alert reader tipped me off to this:
Amazingly, the CDC, the Center for Disease Control, either has a sense of humor or takes the threat of a zombie attack very seriously.

The CDC has published a page of information of how to prepare for a possible zombie attack.

From the CDC website:

There goes the neighborhood!

We’ve all seen at least one movie about flesh-eating zombies taking over (my personal favorite is Resident Evil), but where do zombies come from and why do they love eating brains so much? The word zombie comes from Haitian and New Orleans voodoo origins. Although its meaning has changed slightly over the years, it refers to a human corpse mysteriously reanimated to serve the undead. Through ancient voodoo and folk-lore traditions, shows like the Walking Dead were born.
In movies, shows, and literature, zombies are often depicted as being created by an infectious virus, which is passed on via bites and contact with bodily fluids. Harvard psychiatrist Steven Schoolman wrote a (fictional) medical paper on the zombies presented in Night of the Living Dead and refers to the condition as Ataxic Neurodegenerative Satiety Deficiency Syndrome caused by an infectious agent. The Zombie Survival Guide identifies the cause of zombies as a virus called solanum. Other zombie origins shown in films include radiation from a destroyed NASA Venus probe (as in Night of the Living Dead), as well as mutations of existing conditions such as prions, mad-cow disease, measles and rabies.
The rise of zombies in pop culture has given credence to the idea that a zombie apocalypse could happen. In such a scenario zombies would take over entire countries, roaming city streets eating anything living that got in their way. The proliferation of this idea has led many people to wonder “How do I prepare for a zombie apocalypse?”


Well, we’re here to answer that question for you, and hopefully share a few tips about preparing for real emergencies too!


Some of the supplies for your emergency kit.


So what do you need to do before zombies…or hurricanes or pandemics for example, actually happen? First of all, you should have an emergency kit in your house. This includes things like water, food, and other supplies to get you through the first couple of days before you can locate a zombie-free refugee camp (or in the event of a natural disaster, it will buy you some time until you are able to make your way to an evacuation shelter or utility lines are restored). Below are a few items you should include in your kit, for a full list visit the CDC Emergency page.
Water (1 gallon per person per day)
Food (stock up on non-perishable items that you eat regularly)
Medications (this includes prescription and non-prescription meds)
Tools and Supplies (utility knife, duct tape, battery powered radio, etc.)
Sanitation and Hygiene (household bleach, soap, towels, etc.)
Clothing and Bedding (a change of clothes for each family member and blankets)
Important documents (copies of your driver’s license, passport, and birth certificate to name a few)
First Aid supplies (although you’re a goner if a zombie bites you, you can use these supplies to treat basic cuts and lacerations that you might get during a tornado or hurricane)
Once you’ve made your emergency kit, you should sit down with your family and come up with an emergency plan. This includes where you would go and who you would call if zombies started appearing outside your door step. You can also implement this plan if there is a flood, earthquake, or other emergency.


Identify the types of emergencies that are possible in your area. Besides a zombie apocalypse, this may include floods, tornadoes, or earthquakes. If you are unsure contact your local Red Cross chapter for more information.
Pick a meeting place for your family to regroup in case zombies invade your home…or your town evacuates because of a hurricane. Pick one place right outside your home for sudden emergencies and one place outside of your neighborhood in case you are unable to return home right away.
Identify your emergency contacts. Make a list of local contacts like the police, fire department, and your local zombie response team. Also identify an out-of-state contact that you can call during an emergency to let the rest of your family know you are ok.
Plan your evacuation route. When zombies are hungry they won’t stop until they get food (i.e., brains), which means you need to get out of town fast! Plan where you would go and multiple routes you would take ahead of time so that the flesh eaters don’t have a chance! This is also helpful when natural disasters strike and you have to take shelter fast.


If zombies did start roaming the streets, CDC would conduct an investigation much like any other disease outbreak. CDC would provide technical assistance to cities, states, or international partners dealing with a zombie infestation. This assistance might include consultation, lab testing and analysis, patient management and care, tracking of contacts, and infection control (including isolation and quarantine). It’s likely that an investigation of this scenario would seek to accomplish several goals: determine the cause of the illness, the source of the infection/virus/toxin, learn how it is transmitted and how readily it is spread, how to break the cycle of transmission and thus prevent further cases, and how patients can best be treated. Not only would scientists be working to identify the cause and cure of the zombie outbreak, but CDC and other federal agencies would send medical teams and first responders to help those in affected areas (I will be volunteering the young nameless disease detectives for the field work).

Thankfully, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is looking out for us...