American Jewish Committee owes Bennett an apology

The AJC's press release condemning, thoughtful former education secretary Bill Bennett's "outrageous" remark is itself outrageous, having left out his complete remark which repudiates what AJC is asking him to apologize for!

• AJC's press release:

The American Jewish Committee urges William J. Bennett to apologize for his outrageous assertion that aborting black babies would lower crime rates.

The former U.S. Secretary of Education stated on his radio show, abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.

"That is an outrageous and unacceptable remark, whatever spin he seeks to attach to it," said Ann Schaffer, director AJC's intergroup relations program, the Belfer Center for American Pluralism.

What is doubly disturbing is that Mr. Bennett does not seem to understand that it is not only morally reprehensible to consider aborting any babies for economic reasons, as he indicated. It is also morally reprehensible to single out black children in the context of a discussion on crime rates, Schaffer said.

• Now Bill Bennett's completed thought that the AJC conveniently left out:

"...That would be an impossibly ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down..."

Is AJC now going to apologize to Mr. Bennett? Well let's not get facts in the way of their agenda.

Ponaviz Yeshiva seat on eBay

Who said Israeli charedim are not making money?

A friend sent me this item on sale on eBay:



A PLACE IN THE FAMOUS PONIVEZ YESHIVA FOR ROSH HASHANA. ONLY ONE SEAT AVAILABLE FOR ONE SERIOUS BUYER. THE BIDDER WILL BE ZOCHA TO DAVEN AT THE WORLD RENOWNED YESHIVA WHERE THE FAMOUS ROSH HAYESHIVA HARAV SACH ZTL LEARNT AND DAVENED. THE PLACE IS SITUATED IN SAVON, WHICH IS AS THE VIP ENCLOSER. THE BIDDER WILL HAVE THE BEST VIEW IN THE HOUSE OF THE CHAZAN, BAL TOKEKEH AND THE FAMOUS GOLDEN ARON HAKODESH THAT IVE ENCLOSED IN THE PICTURE. THE BIDDING IS OPEN TO ALL SERIOUS PEOPLE BUT THE DAVENING WILL ONLY BE ALLOWED FOR MEN. THE BIDDER WILL ALSO HAVE THE ZUCHUS OF HAVING KIDDISH IN THE YESHIVA DINING ROOM. HAPPY BIDDING.

SEAT IN PONEVEZ YESHIVA FOR ROSH HASHANA
Item number: 6212941959

Current bid:
£85.00
Time left:
2 days 9 hours5-day listing, Ends 03-Oct-05 01:18:02 BST
Start time:
28-Sep-05 01:18:02 BST
History:
4 bids (£75.00 starting bid)
High bidder:
morrismoore ( 32)
Item location:
YESHIVAS PONAVIZ BNEI BRAKIsrael

Shain sues Lakewood township

Yehudah Shain is a one man machine, battling very powerful forces, looking that everyone's interests in lakewood is represented.

From the Asbury Park Press :


A would-be politician and community activist has sued to stop a land swap that township fathers say is needed to move forward with education and housing initiatives.
Yehuda Shain, who lost a Republican primary run this summer in his second bid for Township Committee, filed the suit in state Superior Court in Toms River, according to a copy of the suit provided by his Middletown lawyer, Larry S. Loigman...
At issue is the trade of 16 parcels, eight owned by the township and eight owned by various businesses led by the Krupnick family of Lakewood. The lands are located in a wooded swath off Oak Street, near Route 9...
A review of township tax records shows the township-owned land totals about 4 acres and is valued at $13,400. The land owned by Krupnick Family Trust, Mark Properties LLC and Whiting Pines Realty Corp Inc. totals about 2 acres and is valued at $39,000...
Krupnick has said he agreed to the swap to help the township. He added he has no plans to develop the land he would receive.

That's your (property) tax dollars at use!

Lulavim being held hostage

Message to Mubarak: Palm branch or no olive branch.

Newsday :

Sukkot celebrants face palm shortage.

..with three weeks left before the big day, the Israeli government and American Jews are worried an Egyptian ban on exporting the branches may leave many synagogues bereft of the lulav's key ingredient.
Egyptian agricultural officials instituted the prohibition after last year's record demand led to overharvesting that harmed the trees, the Jerusalem Post reported...
This week, ( congressman Gary) Ackerman came to the rescue with a full-court press on anyone who might be able to do what the Israeli Foreign Ministry so far couldn't: persuade the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture to rescind the ban...

Refer the case to the U.N.! Whose palms are getting greesed now?

Rabbonim putting out the call

Israeli rabbonim using their head sets and raising the bar-

Arutz Sheva :

The nationwide Rabbinical Communications Committee has ruled that one may only used an approved “kosher” cellular telephone, since three of the nation’s four cellular providers now offer the service.The “kosher” phones deny access to on-line content, thereby preventing phone owners from being led astray by accessing sites classified as inappropriate by the rabbinical body. Leading Torah authorities signed the proclamation, including but not limited to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv and the Rebbe of Gur...
In a related matter, the daily [English] Hamodia reported this week that adverts referring readers to a cellular telephone number that is not a subscriber of the “kosher” service will not longer be accepted by the newspaper..

For Yom kippur: Underwear drive!

Two views on how (and how not) to attract jews closer to their heritage.

1. From a press release by an organization that is seeking to make the Day Of Atonement cool :
   
   
   Thousands of Jewish worshippers around the country are being drawn to Synagogue 3000's new concept of lively, creative and spiritually welcoming communities...Synagogue 3000 leads the movement to help synagogues across denominations think creatively-Synagogue 3000 congregations are growing, not shrinking. Synagogue 3000 had a pathbreaking meeting with Rick Warren ("The Purpose-Driven Life"), founding pastor of Saddleback Church, to explore what synagogues can learn from megachurches and small groups.
   Examples:
   New York: Jewish ritual theatre with DJ, turntables and traditional instruments at revived Actors Temple hosted by Artistic Director Amichai Lau-Lavie.
   Los Angeles:
   Young female rabbi attracts vast crowds of next generation hipsters to Yom Kippur yoga and disco break-fast (Ikar, Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles);
   Performer Craig Taubman leads a band for Rosh Ha Shanah service (Sinai Temple) and conducts innovative healing service on Yom Kippur
   (University Synagogue);
   "Project Pushcart" tribute to Jewish immigrants - food & clothing drive for Hurricanes Katrina & Rita (Valley Beth Shalom)
   Washington DC: Yom Kippur creative dance celebration themed after Daniel Pearl's "I am Jewish" statement and new underwear drive for the homeless (Temple Micah, Washington DC)
   Columbus, OH: Performer Danny Maseng leads accessible and singable "adult contemporary" service on Rosh Hashanah afternoon (Temple Israel, Columbus, OH)
   Who:
   ..Synagogue 3000 was developed by Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman of Hebrew Union College and Dr. Ron Wolfson of University of Judaism. http://www.synagogue3000.org
   
   
2. Here are excerpts from an excellent opinion column in L. A.'s Jewish Journal that puts things quite differently :
   
   .. if we think that hip is the solution, we are demeaning the essence of Judaism. We are trivializing its soul....
   ..Hip is not about meaning. Hip is not about depth. Hip is not about the soul. Hip is not about connection to human beings and the world.
   Hip is about shallow. Hip is about self-absorption. Hip is about today, this minute. Hip is not about the past and it is certainly not about the future.
   This Rosh Hashanah, Jewish organizations need to realize that Judaism is not hip. Its never going to be hip. It is not supposed to be hip. Judaism has too much depth to ever be hip. Judaism must be perceived as the antidote to hip. The products Judaism offers must be the escape from shallow hip. They must be the refuge, the other road, the real thing.
   If we believe that the Jewish masses are looking for hip, there are plenty of places they can fill that need. They can go to the Gap. Now, thats hip...

There they go again (Neturai Karta)

From The Villager :

At the recent United Nations General Assembly, protesters who were able to get through the U.N.-created traffic jams demanded freedom for their countries. But Orthodox Jews said they don’t want a country, at least not one that was “established by human force,” namely Israel, to exist, until the universally accepted moshiach, or messiah, comes...

Lakewood's powerful gathering against internet

Powerful, inspiring was Lakewood's gathering on the detructiveness and harm of the internet.

Thousands jammed Bais Faiga Hall and its' outdoor spaces where from a three level crowded dais and numerous large screens, rabbonim, just days before Rosh HaShana declared a war against the internet.

Leading off was the rosh yeshiva Rabbi Malkiel Kotler who spoke about the necessity of erecting "walls", safeguarding yourself and your children. "Don't let cracks in that wall; don't open any door!"

Next Rabbi Shmual Kaminetsky delivered via video (having recently fallen) a passionate plea. He called the internet "Sakanas Nefashas", and said the takanas, rules, that will be given are about saving our children.

Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman came to the lectern thundering that the satan has us by a death grip. He quoted R' Rosenblum Shlita saying: "The pillars of Klaal Yisroel are shaking!".
Now, he said, we're deciding how our children and grandchildren will look in the future.
"Infections are spreading class to class like a plague.", he wailed, with visible sweat trickling down his face.

Lakewood's beloved mashgiach Rabbi Matisyahu Solomon ended off bemoaning how our generation is dancing with the satan and- "he's spinning out of control with much excitement", having gotten the internet in our homes.
Any heter, exclaimed the mashgiach, to posses the internet for parnasah is "B'Deyeved of B'Deyeved, adding: "I'd like to say something radical: maybe it is better to live in poverty than to give away your neshama- bring the internet in your house!".
He warned everyone : "It has no place in a jewish home",... "One picture can ruin a child for life.",... "You don't give children keys to your car"!
"We need a fear of the internet", he declared emphatically.
He ended off with the sad- but not helpless fact- of today's world, "We can't protect our children from others except with tefilah (prayer)." With that he concluded the historic asifa by leading all in the Psalm "..from the depths I call you.."

The new Takanas will be forthcoming.

Lakewood schools rules

Here are the rules given out to parents of children in Lakewood schools:

Is Ron Perlman really observant?

From Forbes

Revlon owner, multi billionaire Ron Perlman is?-

..Yet he is an observant Jew who doesn't work from sundown Friday to Sunday morning and who, as the Talmud demands, on Saturdays always prays in a group of ten Jewish men, no matter where he is in the world.

Your doubtful?-

For five years now Perelman has been married to his fourth wife -- the blonde Ellen Barkin, the actress; friends say she has calmed him down. He had four children with his first wife, a fifth with his second wife (former gossip columnist Claudia Cohen) and a sixth (the daughter with the $3 meal tickets) with his third spouse.

??????

Lev Leviev 228th wealthiest

Read about Israel's richest in Moment magazine.

Especialy if your Lubavitch! :

The world's 228th richest person is Lev Leviev the $2.6 billion mega-merchant behind Africa Israel Investments. About 20 percent of the worlds rough diamonds pass through his companies, making him the closest competitor of diamond monopoly De Beers.

Leviev donates at least $30 million to Chabad each year.

Crown Height's resident plotting Sharon murder

N.Y. Post :

September 27, 2005 -- An ultra-Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn has been busted in Israel on suspicion of plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Officials said yesterday that Shneor Zalman Hatzkolevitch would be the first Jew tossed out of Israel for security reasons...
Hatzkolevitch shares an apartment in Crown Heights with several brothers....

If he was plotting to kill their P.M. why are they sending him away?

Hillary at the Atrium

Hillary danced the night away- rhetorically - while serving up a shmorgasboard of pro-israeli comments at Monsey's Atrium ballroom. L'chaim!

Journal News :

..Speaking at the annual dinner of the Hudson Valley Political Action Committee, an influential pro-Israel lobby, Clinton, D-N.Y., told hundreds of diners at the Atrium Plaza that the United States' future was inextricably linked to that of Israel.
"I think the risks that the prime minister has taken are ones that deserve — despite obvious questions and some disagreement — deserve the respect of all of us who realize how difficult these decisions have been," Clinton said.
"We have to do more than just provide Israel with the economic aid that it needs in order to continue to remain strong," she noted, receiving applause when she added: "We have to be a strong voice alongside Israel that makes it clear that the Palestinians must dismantle structures of terror."
One of the ways America and Europe should help ensure that commitment is by withholding aid to Palestinians until they demonstrate an unequivocal commitment to peace and eliminate anti-Semitism in textbooks and other media, she said.

She's so supportive of Israel you'd think her step-grandfather was jewish or she's running for something...

Lakewood's internet crusade

Tuesday at 8:30 is Lakewood's highly publicized gathering on the topic of the internet.

The speakers will be from the Yeshiva: Rabbis Kotler and Solomon, Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman of Monsey, and a live hookup of Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsy from Philedelphia.

To insure maximum impact all speeches will be in english.

To Bibi or not to Bibi

If Likud chooses Bibi what will be lost besides their power is their influence over Sharon who'll undeniably remain P.M. attached to a new party .

Sharon now possesses highly valuable and hard to come by capitol- being personally lauded and Israel being seen in a new light-, for the war against terrorism and to gain Israel acceptance and normalcy worldwide.

Dapper Bibi Netanyahu- Clinton with a bris-is very much disliked abroad where Israel's other war is constantly waged.

The Gaza withdrawal's timing might have been premature shoving away Sharon certainly will be.

Giuliani: Sharon is Babe Ruth

There's kissing up and than there is this :

From Ha'aretz :

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who is in Israel as the keynote speaker for Thursday's Ness Technologies seminar, said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's efforts to implement the disengagement were a sign of his patriotism. Giuliani said Sharon reminds him of baseball superstar Babe Ruth.
Just like Ruth - but unlike younger leaders like Sharon's party rival Binyamin Netanyahu, whom Giuliani also praised - Sharon has been proving his ability for many years, during which he always placed the state before himself, the former mayor said.

Of Rabbi's and Rabbits

From the Washington Post :

Harold White, the senior Jewish chaplain at Georgetown University, has presided over several funerals for pets, including four of his own cats.
The important thing is to bring solace to people who have suffered a loss, said White, who wings it with prayers of his own creation, because there is no set ceremony in Judaism for the burial of an animal. I believe an animal who lived with dignity in the home should be buried with dignity.

What if the pet was only half jewish? was intermarried? in a same gender relationship?

When are the hierarchy of the man-made Jewish denominations going to take stock of their trivialization of our faith and its practices, and finally paws and think?

Architecture kosher style

Year 2005 observing Sabbath, automatically:

From the Florida Sun Sentinal :

When drawing up plans for their new house, the Gurfinkels called on an architect, an interior designer and G-d.

Every room in their home in the Hancock Park section of Los Angeles was designed to make it easier for Marty; his wife, Candice; and their four young children to observe their Orthodox Jewish faith...

During Sabbath, when the family cannot use anything electrical, automatic timers wired throughout the house turn off lights, the refrigerator temporarily stops making ice cubes and the oven temperature stays warm but doesn't cook...

The Gurfinkels are a high-tech family most of the week: Rooms have individual keypads to control music and home entertainment systems as well as the temperature. With a flip of a switch, the 8-foot-diameter skylight above the rotunda foyer opens to the sky. A sophisticated security system protects the property.

But when the sun sets on Friday, the widescreen TVs go dark, the family's five computers shut down and appliances go off. Their Sub-Zero refrigerator is programmed to turn off its light as well as the ice maker and compressor. So, too, with a specially equipped Thermador oven, which stays at 170 degrees and overrides the safety feature found in other ovens that shuts off the heat after 24 hours.

There are 65 mezuzot in the Gurfinkel residence installed at an angle about two-thirds of the way up doorposts and archways. The one at the doorway to 5-year-old Jake's room is ceramic with a cowboy boot and a star with the Hebrew letter shin...

Well you needn't feel any jealousy after all they do need to sweat and make the effort with the "flip of a switch".

Lubavitch builds 9 mill. $ center!

lubavitch's hard work continues to pay dividends.

From the Chicago Sun Times :

It was once the site of a movie theater that played films like "Halloween 6" and "Speed 2." Before that it was an Art Deco Post Office and now it's an empty lot -- but not for long. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held Thursday at the corner of Chestnut and Clark Streets for the Center for Jewish Life, a $9 million synagogue and community center that will be run by the orthodox Lubavitch Chabad..

The Lubavitch men wear beards, big fedora hats and long black coats. But they say they don't pressure other Jews to be like them. "Our approach is open and inclusive," said Benhiyoun. Non-Jews are welcomed and some attend Lubavitch classes, but they are not encouraged to convert...

Maybe Lakewood should seek some advice from Lubavitch on raising money for another girl's school. Though I doubt they are going to welcome non jews.

Mug; Shots. (Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky)

From the bad old days. A couple of mug shots back when jews made a killing.

From The Smoking Gun :


Along with Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was an original organized crime pillar.
Pictured in this 1928 New York Police Department photo, Siegel, who was also central to the development of Las Vegas's gambling industry, was shot to death in June 1947.

Reputed to be the Mafia's financial brains--and a pillar of the so-called Jewish mob--Meyer Lansky is seen here in a circa 1930s New York Police Department mug shot.

Pro Israeli possibly to head Public Broadcasting

Corporation for Public Broadcasting is getting a new chairperson, after much controversy. Their choice might just change things:

From the N.Y. Times :

..Board members, who plan to meet Monday in Washington, said this week that the leading candidate to become the corporation's next chairwoman was Cheryl F. Halpern, a Republican fund-raiser and former chairwoman of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
Ms. Halpern, a resident of Livingston, N.J., who has been on the corporation's board since 2002, has been critical of National Public Radio's Middle East coverage, saying it was slanted against Israel. Her family has business interests in Israel. At her Senate confirmation hearing two years ago, she suggested that journalists in public broadcasting should be punished for editorializing....

Well we always knew N.P.R. and P.B.S. needed a new head.

Conservative "Rabbi" becomes Orthodox

I've often wondered why we always see flyers about a speech to be given by a former minister or priest who converted to orthodox Judaism, and never by a former Conservative or Reform "Rabbi" who did (-do they?). So this article really interested me:

From the NJ Jewish News

..For Zell, it was the tipping point in a long process that included resigning his pulpit at the Conservative Temple Beth Or/Beth Torah in Clark, job hunting, and beginning a course of learning that led to his Orthodox ordination.

Zells journey has taken him from growing up in a Conservative family in Canada; to his ordination as a Conservative rabbi from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1981; to Clark, where he had been rabbi for 20 years. It continued in recent years with moves to the Orthodox community of West Orange, to Israel, and finally to his current home in Linden...

While the Conservative movement is right for some, Zell said, it left him feeling like he was observing Judaism light. He compared it to sitting down for dinner, preparing a special meal, and then leaving the table still hungry and unfulfilled..

Zell isnt alone. According to the National Jewish Population Survey 2000-2001, nearly half of all adult Jews who were raised Conservative no longer consider themselves part of the movement. But his move is unusual in the direction he took: According to the NJPS, only three percent of those now practice Orthodoxy..

Welcome home.

Belmar yeshiva boys o.k. after accident

Tri-Town News

At about 9 p.m. Sept. 13, a bus carrying nine students from a private high school in Belmar home to Lakewood was hit head on by a van on Squankum Road...
According to Rabbi David Heinenann, the dean of the Mesivta Keser Torah, which is the school the boys had been attending, a private ambulance service volunteer just happened to be behind the bus as the accident happened...
Heinenann said that as soon as the accident occurred, the volunteer boarded the bus and ordered all of the students to exit.
According to Heinenann, six boys were taken to Kimball Medical Center, Lakewood, with minor injuries. The other three boys were tended to by a private ambulance service..

Lakewood's admission policy

Who would have guessed?:

From Newsday :

Drew joins five other four-year schools with campuses in New Jersey that do not require the SAT or ACT, according to FairTest: Berkeley College, in West Paterson; Thomas Edison College, in Trenton; and three religious institutions, Beth Medrash Govoha, in Lakewood; Rabbinical College of America, in Morristown; and Talmudical Academy of New Jersey, in Adelphia

A couple of students in lakewood seemed genuinely perplexed to this report. One was overheard questioning the reports veracity saying, "all these years all I've ever done is sat and act!".

N.J.'s A.G. :Lakewood man discriminated against

New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey has issued a "probable cause" to a lab company in Toms River for denying employment to Lakewood orthodox jewish applicant Stuart Aron after rating him favorably, due to him not being able to work on saturday.

Now the case goes for conciliation if that is not successful it goes to a judge.

Hannity, Krugman and the decline of debate

Hannity and Krugman are two different sides of the same coin and when it comes to ideas and productive debate we're getting short changed.

Brash, intellectually ignorant take-no-prisoners style both the conservative Fox News Channel and ABC radio host Sean Hannity, and the liberal N.Y. Times columnist Paul Krugman check their political label first than form an opinion. What they consistently engage in is both preaching to a choir and mimicking it.

You'd be hard pressed coming up with one issue either of them differ from their party's standard orthodoxy. As Ed Koch use to say " Ahh, if you agree with me, ahh, one hundred percent of the time, ahh, your nuts!"

Both have many fans and a large audience- of robots I'm afraid.

Rest in peace Simon

Simon Weisenthal finaly has some rest.

The Shoah survivor whose experienced hell in a world without visible justice dedicated his remaining years seeking some, hunting his captors and accomplices, sending them to an early encounter with the True Judge.

96 years stareing at nazis and never blinking. May his memory be a blessing.

Assifa on internet in lakewood

Next Wednesday the lakewood rosh yeshivas and mashgiach are holding a large public event about the internet strongly urging all to attend.

What took so long, the lack of action until now makes the solution much more difficult as it has become part of the fabric of many daily routines.

The internet unquestionably is of the highest form of poison whose lethal ingredients have seeped into so many homes, cracking or shaking their foundations.

Sadly it can't be prohibited cart blanche. It has become necessary for (among others) :

1. doing business, making money (no exact definition for that);
2. school (woman have to support husbands in kollel),
3. and miscellaneous usages( try signing up for Geico offline).

Bear in mind too that most new cell phones come with it.

The solution lies primarily in the stigmatizing of and educating about it :"A good jewish home distances itself from it!!"

Perhaps some impact would be had if when you place your kid in school, you must sign that you won't look at anything that Rabbi XYZ would deem inappropriate.

So you won't have to daven in a basement..

Rockland's Record has an overview of a Clinton signed law that gives religious housing protection from zoning:

..representing Kiryas Joel real-estate interests, has already invoked RLUIPA in the unfolding battle between the Hasidic community and neighboring towns over Kiryas Joel's plans to expand. When Woodbury residents petitioned last year to create a new village encompassing most of the town, Lynch sent Woodbury Supervisor Sheila Conroy a letter saying the proposal was intended to ward off the high-density housing of Hasidic Jews and would violate RLUIPA and the Fair Housing Act.
..Town of Ramapo, which has a large population of Hasidic and Orthodox Jews, town officials cited RLUIPA last year when they changed their zoning to allow religious dormitories, despite objections from residents and some of Ramapo's villages. The same threat induced one of those villages, Airmont, to surrender its opposition to plans to build a yeshiva with 30 big apartments and dormitories for 170 students in a neighborhood of single-family homes. That still wasn't enough. The federal government sued Airmont under RLUIPA and the Fair Housing Act in June because it doesn't allow religious dormitories in its zoning.
In Monroe, RLUIPA emerged like a magic wand to rescue Congregation Shari Torah's foundering proposal to open a synagogue, school and wedding hall in the former Manhattan Beer Distributors warehouse on Larkin Drive. Schools normally aren't allowed in that heavy-industry zone. But after an initial attempt to portray the school as a permitted trade shop, the congregation came back with arguments about the special status of a religious school. The town Planning Board and its lawyer readily concurred..

198 Mizo Christians convert to Judaism

Next time you call AOL or some other technology company and the accented voice goes "shalowm mie naym iz Ben Tziun" here's why:

From India's New Karela newspaper;

Aizawl: As many as 198 Mizo Christians, who converted to Judaism, were blessed by the spiritual rabbi of the Shephardic Rabbinate Council here, Zion Buarbon, after completing the final stage of conversion called, 'Mikvah'.
The long wait was over for the hundreds of Mizo tribes, who claim to be the descendents of one of the 10 'lost tribes' of Israel as mentioned in the Bible.
The spiritual rabbi was accompanied by 12 rabbis, two of them women. They were assigned by Rabbi Shlomo Amar, chief of Shephardic Rabbinate Council of Israel, to perform the religious conversions in Mizoram and Manipur.
The recent development took place following Isreal's Chief Shephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar's historical decision in the beginning of April, to recognise the 'Beni Menashe' clan in the North East as the descendants of one of the original tribes of Isreal.
The conversion process, 'Giur', consisted of interviews by the rabbis and the ritual bath or 'Mikvah'.
Information Secretary of the Shavei Israel Avior Khawlhring told UNI that the final converts have undergone all necessary rituals, including, circumcision. Shavei Israel is an organisation which has been trying to locate the 10 lost tribes of Israel.
Spiritual Rabbi or Beit Rabbi seldom go out of Israel unless there is an issue of prime importance for Israel and Judaism as a whole. ''The 'Mikvah' of Aizawl and Imphal seems to be quite important to them,'' said Liyon Fanai, a Mizo convert and one of the leaders of Shavei Israel, Aizawl.

Want a free trip to Uman?

Get on board quick-

Jerusalem Post :

A Jew named Meir Singer donated $1 million to subsidize 2,000 plane tickets to Uman, Ukraine for people who have never visited the gravesite of Rabbi Nahman of Breslav.
According to travel agents at Or Haderech, an agency arranging charter flights on Ukraine Airways for Rosh Hashanah, Singer will pay $500 of a $679 plane ticket....

No word yet if in return you have to distribute little booklets from R' Nachman on the streets.

N.Y. Times, Washington Post- Two views on Roberts

A tale of two papers:

From the increasingly reasonable Washington Post - they supported the Iraqi war- in support:

JOHN G. ROBERTS JR. should be confirmed as chief justice of the United States. He is overwhelmingly well-qualified, possesses an unusually keen legal mind and practices a collegiality of the type an effective chief justice must have. He shows every sign of commitment to restraint and impartiality. Nominees of comparable quality have, after rigorous hearings, been confirmed nearly unanimously. We hope Judge Roberts will similarly be approved by a large bipartisan vote....
Judge Roberts represents the best nominee liberals can reasonably expect from a conservative president who promised to appoint judges who shared his philosophy. Before his nomination, we suggested several criteria that Mr. Bush should adopt to garner broad bipartisan support: professional qualifications of the high-
est caliber, a modest conception of the judicial function, a strong belief in the stability of precedent, adherence to judicial philosophy, even where the results are not politically comfortable, and an appreciation that fidelity to the text of the Constitution need not mean cramped interpretations of language that was written for a changing society. Judge Roberts possesses the personal qualities we hoped...

From the predictable, becoming more and more irrelevant daily, N.Y.Times , against:

John Roberts failed to live up to the worst fears of his critics in his confirmation hearings last week. But in many important areas where senators wanted to be reassured that he would be a careful guardian of Americans' rights, he refused to give any solid indication of his legal approach. That makes it difficult to decide whether he should be confirmed. Weighing the pluses and minuses and the many, many unanswered questions, and considering some of the alternatives, a responsible senator might still conclude that he warrants approval. But the unknowns about Mr. Roberts's views remain troubling, especially since he is being nominated not merely to the Supreme Court, but to be chief justice. That position is too important to entrust to an enigma, which is what Mr. Roberts remains...
Over days of testimony, he dodged and weaved around many other critical legal issues. On abortion, church-state separation, gay rights and the right of illegal immigrants' children to attend public school - all currently recognized by the court - he asks to be accepted on faith. That just isn't good enough. The Constitution says that senators must give their "advice and consent" to Supreme Court nominees. To do that in a meaningful way in the case of Mr. Roberts, they need information that has been withheld from them.

Bush's next pick is going to get understandably, real ugly real fast. Brace yourself.

More Chayas then Christinas in NYC!!

Need more evidence of the burgeoning orthodox population:

N.Y. Times :

In the last several years, New York City has had more baby girls named Fatoumata than Lisa, more Aaliyahs than Melissas, more Chayas than Christinas. There have been more baby boys named Moshe than Peter, more Miguels than Jeffreys, more Ahmeds than Stanleys....
The city's large Orthodox Jewish population has helped to push Moshe to No. 68 , Mordechai to 155 and Shlomo to 199. Angel (26 in 2004 over all) and Jes- (96) are popular among Hispanic boys, as are names of Catholic saints traditionally. ...

Monsey Mohel to stop metzitzah

Journal News

A Monsey rabbi linked to three infants who contracted herpes has agreed to stop performing oral suction circumcisions in New York City until a religious panel investigates the method, the city announced yesterday.
Kurzmann said no conclusive medical evidence has been shown that the infants contracted the virus from the rabbi. The rabbi took a herpes test, but the results have not been released by the state or city.

Guardian on chabad (and messianism)

Interesting article In England's Guardian about chabad's laudatory hard work in Europe. What is once again clear is that the issue of chabad's messianism can't be swept under a rug, clearly it is visible to all.

Guardian :

...Others take a different line. '[Chabad] is a danger because it is like a sect,' said Dr Julius Schoeps of Berlin's Moses Mendelssohn Centre for Jewish Studies. 'They have the money, they have a message and a very effective educational system. It is a sort of war. They conquer the countries where Jews are living ... and that has profound, long-term consequences for Jewish communities throughout Europe.'
Schoeps, like many other Jews, is concerned about the messianic message. Chabad started in the Belarussian town of Lubavitch 250 years ago, led by rabbis who told their followers that they should prepare for a messiah who would deliver the Jews and usher in a new age of global peace. After decades on the margins, Chabad, under the leadership of a brilliant scholar called Menachem Mendel Schneerson, began to grow rapidly. Images of Schneerson appear in the movement's literature. A picture hangs in Banim's office and his restaurant.
Most controversially of all, Schneerson, who fled Nazi persecution to the US, where he died in 1994, is considered by many to be the messiah. Some believe he lives on, though not in a physical form. 'Messianism is a huge component of their philosophy - as is outreach, all mixed with an energetic, lively, happy idea of what it means to be Jewish that touches a whole range of ethnic and religious identity issues' said Dr Wilson Pickett, of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research London. 'Put it together and you have something that is far from bland, spiritual fare and can be very attractive.'...

Rockers add to Chanukkah playlist

Rolling Stone Magazine :

This year, Jews everywhere can retire "I Have a Little Dreidel" from mass rotation thanks to the ingenuity of Guster's lead singer, Adam Gardner, and Zambonis guitarist Dave Schneider. The two have formed a holiday-timed side project, the LeeVees, and will brighten the relatively sparse Hanukkah musical repertoire when they release Hanukkah Rocks on October 18th...
Another theme of Hanukkah Rocks is the alienation some Jewish kids feel during Christmas time; it's treated humorously, but still thoughtfully, on the song "Goyem Friends" (goyem is Yiddish for non-Jew). "That's a song for the Jewish kids so you can still hold your head high that you're Jewish even though all your non-Jewish friends are getting these kick-ass presents on Christmas and you're getting a six-pack of socks from your mom," Gardner says. "It's saying that you'll get yours in the end, so don't worry...

Anything is better than Adam Sandler's exhausting ditties.

(This site does not condone inappropriate music.)

Americans rank foreign countries

Harris Poll :

First column: Friendly; second: Friendly not Close Ally; third: Not friendly not enemy ;

1. Great Britain % 74, 18, 3;
2. Canada % 48, 37, 10;
3. Australia % 36, 36, 9;
4. Israel % 41, 31, 13;
5. Japan % 30, 37, 2;

Two points:

The leftward moving, Iraq non supporting Canada, numbers have little basis with reality.

What would Israel have to do to be considered a "close ally"?

Pataki hands out grants to New Square and Kiryas Yoel

Pataki must really be serious about the presidency (watch out Hillary!) wooing that famous block of votes in New Square (And Kiryas Yoel).

Mid-Hudson News

Governor George Pataki came to the Northern Dutchess Village of Tivoli to announce the grants, which include $400,000 for the village...
Other $400,000 grants were presented to the Delaware County Town of Masonville and the Village of Deposit; the Greene County government; the Village or Kiryas Joel in Orange County; the Village of New Square in Rockland County; the Village of Monticello in Sullivan County; and the Town of Wawarsing in Ulster County...

Is Schumer Frum? Maybe.

Washington Post profile/interview with the scrappy and hard working liberal senator:

"God has been good to me," Schumer says. "And yes, I believe in God." He goes on to explain that he believes in "an intervening God," as opposed to a God who simply "set the forces of the universe in motion" and let man determine his own fate.

Move over Joe Lieberman.

continued:

Schumer was raised as a Reform Jew, but admires modern Orthodoxy's "blend of modernity and tradition."

"Was-" ? And now?

Felder, de Blasio, Hikind and Cindy Sheehan

Cindy Sheehan is coming to brooklyn, Felder's comment in the New York Sun:

Others, like City Council Member Simcha Felder, hope to send a different message to a woman they view as a fanatic who despises America and Israel and doesn't speak for other families who lost their children in the war in Iraq.
"As far as I'm concerned, she can go back to where she came from," Mr. Felder said in a telephone interview. "If she came to my neighborhood, I would drive her out. I would do everything I could to make her life miserable, legally." Mr. Felder represents the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Borough Park, Midwood, and Bensonhurst.

Hikind's (and Hillary's) best friend and Councilman of a district with an orthodox presence:

City Council Member Bill de Blasio of Brooklyn called Ms. Sheehan "a hero" and said he hopes to hear her speak on Sunday. "She's having a profound impact in the national debate," he said.

Will Hikind comment on de Blasio's labeling "A HERO" the lady who-

Ms. Sheehan also drew criticism from a letter she allegedly e-mailed to "Nightline" that accused Mr. Bush of fighting a war to help Israel. She allegedly wrote: "Am I emotional? Yes, my first born was murdered. Am I angry? Yes, he was killed for lies and for a PNAC Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel. My son joined the army to protect America, not Israel. Am I stupid? No, I know full well that my son, my family, this nation and this world were betrayed by George Bush who was influenced by the neo-con PNAC agendas after 9/11."Ms. Sheehan said she did write to "Nightline" but denied writing that specific passage.

Lakewood developer fined

If a tree falls in a development and ...

Asbury Park Press

BERKELEY A Lakewood developer who removed trees from his development site without a permit was fined $105,000 by the state Department of Environmental Protection for removing the trees and for failing to meet other requirements.
Dov Gluck and Ben Halpern of Tallwoods LLC on River Avenue in Lakewood were notified of the fine in writing by the DEP.


...another couple houses are squeezed in....

The death of (british) Reform Judaism:

England's Reform Judaism in their never ending quest to be "compassionate" and inclusive are now going after the dead.

From the English website, Totaly Jewish

Liberal Judaism is set to sanction interfaith burials in Jewish cemeteries for the first time. It means non-Jewish wives or husbands will be able to be interred with their Jewish spouses.
A landmark recommendation, which is expected to be passed at the organisations council this month, recommends that provision is made to ensure that established partners who have not converted are not separated after death.
...would also pave the way for the children of mixed-faith marriages to be buried in the same cemetery as their parents.The proposed move, which has the unanimous backing of Liberal Judaisms officers and rabbinic conference, goes a step further than the current policy of the Movement for Reform Judaism, which ruled that non-Jews and their spouses could be buried together only in a dedicated section of a graveyard, separated from the main cemetery by a path or hedge...
Liberal Judaisms Chief Executive, Rabbi Danny Rich, said he viewed such a separation as abhorrent, insisting that the new proposal rejects the current divisiveness which could imply there are two classes of people buried.He told TJ: It is a policy one might argue is long overdue. A number of individual synagogues already carry out the policy and, bearing in mind Liberal Judaisms inclusive nature when a Jew and a non-Jew are alive, it would seem cruel and ironic to part in death a couple we had sought to nurture in life.Rabbi Rich said the move would be in accordance with the bodys current policies, including offering a sympathetic and encouraging conversion process, participating in the affirming of Jewish identity in a relationship where only one partner is Jewish. ...

Putting another halacha (and their tradition) to sleep.

One nation under who?

Let me congratulate the judge on his wise decision that "one nation under g-d" be stricken out of the"pledge" in our public schools. Our learned children deserve a more precise and acurate reading:

"..one nation under unelected, omnipotent, elite judges (who are destroying our culture)..".

Does the removal now of "under G-d" mean retroactivly we weren't under Him?

Judges should be term limited along with law professors. Uber-clever judges' renderings have sadly left us neither"one nation" nor "under g-d".

Lakewood cop cleared on scuffle with rabbi

Authorities have cleared the Lakewood cop (Menk) involved in the scuffle arrest of the Rosh Yeshiva of Mesifta of Lakewood, Rabbi Yosef Bursztyn. More details not given. Charges against the Rosh Yeshiva will probably be presented to a grand jury according to law enforcment.

All who know Rabbi Bursztyn know the absurdity of the accusation of him having attacked the police officer. So what realy happened that ended up with Rabbi Bursztyn in the hospital?

The truth must come out and be dealt with.

Gaza, greenbacks and greenhouses

So what happened to the American concerned Gaza greenhouses that a handful of rich jews altruisticaly purchased for more money than the worth of many palm beach golf courses, 14 million sweaty dollars, to preserve it for the palestinians?

The grateful, peacful gaza citizens apparently mistook it for some New Orlean's electronic stores empting it out.

Before you fret consider this better millions wasted on an enviormental structure there than on a culture debasing museum here.

To the U.N.: NU!

The U.N. session is getting under way. Manhattan's traffic will be affected so here's some helpful advice: if you're stuck in your car in back of one of the world's most powerful, spoiled, ego-maniacal, pompous dictators don't honk.

The U.N. does matter in world affairs, because we and other free nations let it. The reform that is under way misses all the necessary, crucial points: spread liberty, stop Whabbi teachings, don't reward and honor dictatorships.

For that to happen competion- the engine for change- needs to occur. So let's create another organization, exclusivly made up of vibrant Democracies dedicated to that life affirming cause.

We'll call it the: "YOU END(- or else)" !!

Islamists setting the world on fire

Netzarim's shul didn't have to be torched, celebration could have been without matches and gasoline. And islamists don't have to have no regard for other religions.

But they did and they don't.

Eventually the world will force Islamists to reform in thought and in deed. But first the fire from 911 to the shuls in Gaza will have to reach them.

Lakewood girl's schools to finaly open

Girls in lakewood will have school starting monday. The schools who last week didn't have room for more students now- poof!- found space.

Will the quality of the student body suffer now? Will this send a message to the world: move to lakewood and no matter what frummkeit you raise your children the'll be a desk waiting for them?

Will this cause an already diminishing high standard of Torah living to fall more rapidly (CH"V)?

We'll see soon enough.

Career or motherhood, one or the other

Woman can not have it all just ask NBC's White House correspondant, wife of Allen Greenspan, Andrea Mitchel :

Jewish Woman Magazine

What do you think makes you a good role model for Jewish women? I'm not sure I'm a good role model for Jewish women. I wouldn't presume to be. I think everyone does her own thing. And as someone who hasn't had children, I haven't had the experience of creating a home for children and leading them through education. I have nieces and nephews and a goddaughter, but I don't think I'm the best example of someone who's done all the important things that women who have children do. That's been one of my great sadnesses.

Gender equality dosen't take motherhood into account. Less Jewish marriage and children is the sad and destructive consenquence for trying to make equal what is imeasurably distinct.

Don't take my word for it take Mitchel's.

Is this STILL Judaism?!

Father in heaven we weren't still when others perverted the holy, sullied the sanctified...

We condemn:

Reform Judaism press release :

Washington, September 7, 2005 - In response to yesterdays vote by the California Assembly legalizing same sex marriage, Rabbi Michael Berk, Director of the Union for Reform Judaisms Pacific Central West Council, and Rabbi Alan Henkin, Director of the Union for Reform Judaisms Pacific Southwest Council, issued the following statement:
Yesterdays vote by the California Assembly is a monumental stride toward ensuring and ultimately protecting the gay and lesbian communitys right to share in the same personal and legal privileges of civil marriage afforded heterosexual Americans. The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act amends the California Family Code to define marriage as a personal relation arising out of a civil contract between two persons, instead of between a man and a woman. This new classification will permit access for same sex couples to over eleven hundred rights, protections, and responsibilities afforded to heterosexual couples.
The California Assembly's decision reflects the notion that the United States was established with the important belief that all people are equal under the law. To that end, we must continue to remain steadfast in our intolerance of laws and regulations that do not reflect that equality. To allow only heterosexual couples the legal protection through marriage relegates the gay and lesbian population to second class citizenship. As the California Assemblys vote makes clear, gays and lesbians should enjoy the same fundamental civil marriage rights all other Americans enjoy. The Assemblys vote is a powerful and necessary declaration that people should not be excluded from the institution of marriage and related benefits based on their sexual orientation.
The Reform Jewish Movement has long been committed to welcoming gay and lesbian Jews into our congregations, synagogues and communal life and staunchly supports legislative efforts to grant equal opportunity through same sex marriage for the gay and lesbian community.
We applaud the California Assemblys landmark decision...

http://rac.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=1231&pge_prg_id=4368

To our brothers a question: At what point does "reforming Judaism" reach the point it becomes so unrecognizable that it isn't Judaism at all but a new distinct breed?

This issue alone quantitatively and qualitatively deviates from Mosaic laws by :

• Permitting and normalizing a behavior unambiguously forbidden, called an abomination in the holy Torah
• Disregarding Mosaic marriage ("al daas Moishe V'Yisroel"); no longer defining this holy union as the Torah prescribes it, but as man wants it
• Legistlating and inculcating by law and decree a new definition of marriage and " sanctified union", thus causing others to sin.

While they abandon You and Your laws we become more attached.

On Rosh Hashona the "Rabbi" smiles

Another gem from a Conservative "rabbi"-

L.A.'s Jewish Journal:

Rabbi Toba August likes to accentuate the positive, and the new year is no exception.
“Too often for the High Holidays, we’re told about our shortcomings,” August said. “I want to concentrate on what we’re doing right.... We don’t recognize the things we do that matter. I want us to walk out of services feeling elevated and validated and renewed.”

Told about OUR shortcomings?@#!!%&*?? What's next atoning for our sins??!!

http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=14609

Can they go lower? Israel to raze gaza shuls

What country's high court is the most leftist in the world? Whose High Court contrary to every other one doesn't take its heritage and traditions into account? :

(IsraelNN.com) Leaders of the Shas party and National Religious Party (NRP) denounced Thursday night's Supreme Court ruling that the government may demolish synagogues in Gush Katif. Shas leader Eli Yishai said the court's 4-3 decision is part of a chain of events that separate the court from Jewish values.NRP leader Zevulun Orlev said that that "no Christian or Moslem judge in the world" would support destroying a house of worship. "The Supreme Court again has proven that observant Jews have no reason to come to its gates," Orlev added

The demolition should be effortless to them having practiced throughout the decades at demolishing every vestige of Yiddishkeit.

Lakewood girl's schools closed by R' Elyashav

Girls in Lakewood had today off due to a letter signed by Rav Elyashiv shlita and many other signatures including the mashgiach of Lakewood, Rabbi Solomon declaring girls schools can not be open so long as there are girls not admitted for lack of space.

Many new families arriving as well as the financial costs of maintaining a girl's high school has created this conundrum which this exploding community struggles to solve.

All will soon be solved as necessity is the mother of invention but meanwhile mothers at work have kids sitting home all day.

Can Chabad be "mikariv" ghosts?

Washington Post:

MERION, Pa. -- Rabbi Shraga Sherman knows about the murder and he's heard about the ghosts. But it's going to take a lot more than that to scare him away from the Colonial-era General Wayne Inn, a supposedly haunted building that he's transforming into a synagogue, Jewish community center and upscale kosher restaurant.
Sherman, director of Chabad Lubavitch of the Main Line, is spearheading a $1.5 million renovation to give his growing Orthodox congregation a new home in the Philadelphia suburbs.
Rabbi Shraga Sherman knows about the murder and he's heard about the ghosts. But it's going to take a lot more than that to scare him away from the Colonial-era General Wayne Inn, a supposedly haunted building that he's transforming into a synagogue, Jewish community center and...',
The plan is welcomed by the Lower Merion Historical Society, which has seen a parade of restaurant owners pull out of the National Historic Site, where guests have included George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette and the inn's namesake, Revolutionary War Maj. Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne. The building has been vacant since 2002.
"To save historic structures they have to be repurposed," said society president Jerry Francis. "We're looking for the renewal of the General Wayne Inn."
Whether the new tenants will be welcomed by Wilhelm, the Hessian soldier who is one of several reported apparitions at the inn, remains to be seen.
Sherman is unfazed. He said community support, plus the inn's "phenomenal location (and) functional space," make it the perfect site for the new Chabad Center for Jewish Life.
The synagogue space alone _ which he said might hold up to 200 people _ would quadruple the capacity of the current Lubavitch facility in nearby Bala Cynwyd. A ceremonial groundbreaking is scheduled for Wednesday.
The plans add another chapter to the colorful history of the inn. The original portion of the inn was built in 1704, many decades before Philadelphia's elite turned the area into a tony collection of towns known as the Main Line.
Over the centuries it has stayed true to its initial use as a roadside tavern. Along with guests such as Washington, Lafayette and Wayne, Edgar Allan Poe is rumored to have worked on "The Raven" there.
And Wilhelm, according to Francis, was buried in the basement.
There are varying versions of the Wilhelm story, but Francis' tale goes like this: Wilhelm was shot during a skirmish in 1777 by colonists who, afraid of British reprisals, hid his body in the cellar. The soldier couldn't be buried outside because the ground was frozen.
Wilhelm is reported to be a charming prankster, Francis said. Claims of other ghostly appearances _ and occurrences _ investigated by paranormal societies also seem to be more playful than frightful: a cash register inexplicably filled with water; napkins on perfectly set tables mysteriously ending up on the floor.
But the inn's karma seemingly took a turn for the worse with the murder of restaurateur James Webb in December 1996. Webb was shot in the head by business partner Guy Sileo Jr., who is serving a life sentence.
The next three eateries at the site failed, but Bob Duncan, director of building and planning for Lower Merion Township, said the Lubavitchers' mixed-use idea might be what's needed to revive the property.
"This is a different concept than anything that's gone through there previously," Duncan said. "It could work."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/05/AR2005090500585.html

Catskills on Motzei Shabbos

Another carbon-copy boring article about motzei shabbos in the Catskills.

N. Y. Times

At least they include interesting pictures.

Conservative leaders' 'teshuva' on, um...

Warning: Do not read while eating-

From the far left Tikkun magazine:

The Conservative movement has recently issued a policy statement on transgender Jews, which suggests that a wholesale change in Rabbinical recognition of the transgendered is afoot. According to a United Synagogue Review summary of recent decisions of the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards circulated on the TransJews listserv, Rabbi Mayer Rabinowitz issued a responsum entitled “The Status of Transsexuals,” which took the following revolutionary positions:
1. Only those who have undergone full Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS), including phalloplasty/vaginoplasty, are to be considered as having changed their sex status and should be recognized as their new sex by Jewish law.
2. A person who has undergone partial SRS is not deemed to have changed their sex status.
3. A brit of hatafat dam brit is not required for one who has had a phalloplasty.
4. A get (Jewish divorce) is not necessary if one spouse undergoes SRS since the kiddushin are automatically annulled. However, in the case of a Male to Female (MTF) person, a get should be given before the SRS is completed.
5. Recognition by the civil authorities of the new sex status is required in order to marry a person who has undergone SRS. This will prevent us from performing same sex marriages according to civil law.
6. A new name should be given to the person with a new sexual status by means of a misheberach.
The teshuvah was approved

The Conservatives have completely worn out this nonsensicle facade of accepting halacha. Yet again they've unmasked their inner self, who they truly are and what they believe- or don't believe!

Their heretical and hysterical "Teshuvas" are not surprising considering they've performed so many operations on the ancient and timeless Scroll, it is no longer recognizable to them.

They shouldn't be writing a "teshuva" but doing some.

Come home, repent.

Trying to solve Lakewood's housing problem

Affordable housing coming to Lakewood:

Asbury Park Press:

LAKEWOOD — A coalition of private citizens and public officials has crafted the document that will be a new application for the township's affordable housing program... The application is the latest step in the township's voluntary plan to provide more affordable housing. The Township Committee already has given land to three nonprofit housing agencies — New Jersey Housing and Neighborhood Development, the Lakewood Housing Authority and Solutions to End Poverty Soon, or STEPS — so they can build hundreds of single-family homes and town houses that will be available for rent or sale.
Prices for those units — which will be distributed in a lottery — may start as low as $125,000. But to qualify to live in the homes, applicants will need to meet guidelines for income that they may be unaware of, officials have said...

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050901/NEWS02/509010499/1070/NEWS02 .

From a letter in the paper:

..First, the article connected the flight of long-time low-income residents from town to "a gentrification tied to the growth of Beth Medrash Govoha." That is only part of the story and narrowly defines responsibility for gentrification, which is motivated by different interests.This relatively small township of Lakewood is home to two universities that are expanding and creating a demand by students, staff and construction workers for housing and services within proximity of the institutions. This is an effect of gentrification — new groups move in, displacing existing residents and increasing pressure on the land and neighborhoods whenever development discounts the interests of existing residents...

.http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050901/OPINION/509010451/1029/POLITICS

Satmar Rebbe Z"TL's Yarzheit

In the treife medina he created a dynasty.They laughed and riduculed him for daring to attempt to recreate what he left behind. Through dogged efforts and unswaying beliefs his ambition first pursevered than eventualy thrived, bared witness today across the globe.

He taught us : in order to view the heaven properly you have to erect a high wall around you. If you emulate them, you (or you're children) will chas vashalam eventualy become them.

Fierce, determined, unrelenting, a dedicated soilder of Hashem.

All of us owe honor and thanks to his memory for Yidisshkeit in America.

Jewish Observer article after his petirah

Another "great" piece of writing by "Hollywood Jewer"

Peter Mehlman, former Seinfeld now Dreamworks writer (bio ), in the Huffington Post:

Notice how the only Israeli settlers who reacted with extreme emotion and resentment -- or burned themselves to death -- were former Americans and former Russians? Israel always needed more citizens but the immigrants who show up are orthodox fanatics, many of whom don't join the army, don't work and collect state subsidies while reading the talmud.
Is there any way to get people to stop believing in G-d?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-mehlman/bright-spots_b_6554.html

Notice how uppity Hollywood jews: don't join the army (of Hashem), don't have any "meaningful" work and don't collect residuals of their religion, while they relenting corrupt Americas social fabric? Is there any way to get these people to stop their vitriolic self hate?

A case against intermarriage

Eloquent and persuasive-

Jack Bieler the rabbi of Kemp Mill Synagogue in Silver Spring in the Baltimore Jewish Times:

...The key source of Jewish identity today is Jewish parents who, in order to counter the assimilatory forces affecting their children, have to make concerted and proactive efforts at considerable financial cost, as well as sacrifice time and energy, to try to expose their offspring to memorable and substantive Jewish experiences and role models.
Only when parents do their best to convey their personal Jewish commitment strongly, and very self-consciously design Jewish activities in which their children can actively participate, do they create the potential for their offspring to grow up seeing themselves not only as self-confident and passionate about Judaism, but also dedicated to assuring that their own future children will feel the same way about Jewish traditions.
The difficulties that intermarriage poses to achieving such an outcome should be self-evident. Even if a non-Jewish parent is supportive of his/her children being brought up as Jews, there will be significant limits upon what such a person can be expected to contribute to his/her offspring's nascent Jewish identity.
When children encounter their own identity crises during their adolescent years, which parent will be looked upon as the one to emulate, and with whom to identify? What lesson does a child learn from a non-Jewish parent, even if he/she is not a practicing adherent of his/her faith, a fact that will certainly not be lost on this young Jew?
Should and even can a parent be expected to recuse him/herself due to different religious beliefs when his/her own child comes with a question about faith, about theodicy, about the treatment of Jews in broader society? From the perspective of advancing Jewish continuity, will Judaism be best served when children are presented by their parents with approaches of different religions and told to choose for themselves how to deal with life's problems and challenges?
While American culture encourages every individual to make his/her own choices wherever possible regarding major personal decisions, a marriage partner certainly being one of the most significant choices that anyone can ever make over the course of a lifetime, a commitment to Jewish continuity via an unapologetic Jewish upbringing of one's children should strongly inform the type of person one chooses to marry and discourage the option of intermarriage.

http://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=4003&TM=83081.23

On Rosh HaShana in their temples will Reform (and Conservative) "leaders" have the courage to distribute this???

Measuring the location of the Bais Hamikdash

Scholars disagree exactly where the Bais HaMikdash was located:

South Bend Tribune:

How long is a "cubit"?
Defining that ancient measurement may seem a matter of mere Bible trivia, but in theory the answer could affect a potentially calamitous modern-day religious confrontation.
The term occurs in the Bible more than 100 times. Some well-known examples:
God's directive to Noah on building the ark: "The length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits" (Genesis 6:15).
The dimensions for the Jerusalem Temple that King Solomon built: "60 cubits long, 20 cubits wide and 30 cubits high" (1 Kings 6:2).
The prophet Ezekiel's vision of the restored Temple precinct: "Set apart for the Lord a portion of the land as a holy district, 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits broad" (Ezekiel 45:1).
Cubit, from the Latin word for "elbow," is used in most English Bible translations when the Hebrew word for "elbow" refers to measurements.
In various ancient cultures, the cubit referred to the typical measurement between a person's elbow and the tip of the middle finger. Obviously, there was no fixed meaning because people come in different sizes. Scholars say the cubit became a more or less standardized measure but referred to different lengths in ancient Sumer, Egypt, Greece, Rome and Israel.
As for biblical usage, scholars estimate the cubit at anywhere from 1.33 to 2.2 feet, says Joshua Schwartz, the dean of Jewish studies at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, writing in the current Biblical Archaeology Review.
The consensus appears to be the 1969 view of Arye Ben David that in Temple measurements, at least, a cubit was 1.84 feet.
However, Asher Selig Kaufman is a "cubit minimalist" who puts the length at only 1.43 feet. Historian Kaufman specializes in aspects of the Temple Mount, the sector where the Temple once stood (called the Haram as-Sharif or "Noble Sanctuary" by Muslims). His short cubit provides the basis for controversial calculations on the location of the ancient Temple.
During the past five centuries, most Jews have agreed with Rabbi David ben Zimra's belief that the ancient Temple stood at the exact site that's now occupied by the Dome of the Rock. This is one of Islam's holiest structures, commemorating what's believed to be the spot from which Muhammad ascended to heaven.
Some zealous Jews and Christians interpret the Bible as teaching that it's God's will for the Temple to be rebuilt someday at its original location. If the conventional location is correct, that would require demolition of the Muslim shrine -- and incitement to interfaith world war.
But the effect of Kaufman's short cubits is to undermine the old "central theory" for the Temple's location. His "northern theory" puts the Temple site northwest of the Dome of the Rock at a cupola known as the Dome of the Spirits or Dome of the Tablets.
(There's also a third or "southern theory" promoted by Tel Aviv architect Tuviah Sagiv.)
Kaufman set forth his case in Biblical Archaeology Review in 1983. He pursues the theme further in a 2004 book published in Israel, "The Temple Mount: Where Is the Holy of Holies?" the third in a series treating the Mount.
If Kaufman is right about cubits, it's possible Israel could someday rebuild the Temple without having to destroy Islam's Dome of the Rock -- not that Muslims would welcome such nearby construction, either.
Besides calculations based upon a short cubit, Kaufman argues based on the alignment of the Temple in relation to the Mount of Olives.
In Jewish tradition, a priest would burn a red heifer and mix the ashes with water to be sprinkled on worshippers for ritual cleansing. The ceremony took place on the Mount of Olives with the priest looking toward the entrance to the Temple sanctuary.
To Kaufman, the line of sight argues for the northern location. Schwartz's article says, "With all due respect to the calculations of the author, it is impossible to know where the priest stood."
Though Kaufman's views "have been accepted by very few scholars," Schwartz says, he is an acknowledged expert and his general contributions to Temple Mount scholarship "cannot be denied."

http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2005/09/01/faith.20050901-sbt-MICH-D4-For_Jews__a_cubit_is.sto

May we merit its rebuilding immanently.

Lakewood Yeshiva Bussing to continue

Tri-Town News:

LAKEWOOD — Three years after filing a lawsuit that challenged the Lakewood school district’s busing policy, activist George Osborne is calling it quits. He said he will not appeal a May 4 denial by the Appellate Court...
The petition charged that Lakewood’s Orthodox Jewish citizens voted as a bloc and therefore controlled the Township Committee and the Board of Education. As a result, Osborne maintained that there was no separation between church and state in the district’s busing policy. The petition also maintained that Orthodox Jewish boys and girls were bused to religious schools separately from public school students, and according to their gender...
“It is coincidental that the Orthodox schools [where students are bused] are single gender,” the judges’ decision stated. “The routes pursuant to the policy are neutral and do not foster religion.” ...

http://tritown.gmnews.com/news/2005/0901/Front_Page/026.html

The routes just might be the sole thing in Lakewood not to "foster religion".