"Is that player a Jew?" Ask the Jewish Sports Review! (Hey, it rhymes!)

B"H

Shel Wallman and Ephraim Moxson are doing this for the love of it.  They explain that they are both retired and don't make any money at it.

So, what makes them do it?

I have a theory that, inside every Jewish man and every Jewish woman, is a little boy or a little girl who wants to know the same things that my little ones want to know:  Is that player like me?  Do they say Shema?  Do they also have Pesach?

Thanks, Jewish Sports Review, for your dedication to the dreams and inspiration of every little Jewish boy and every little Jewish girl who every dreamed of standing on a baseball diamond--whether they are 9 or 99!

M

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Duo celebrating bar mitzvah of counting Jewish athletes
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/10/28/2741474/jewish-review-headline
By Edmon J. Rodman

LOS ANGELES (JTA) -- Down in Texas, the Rangers have an All-Star second baseman who has added flavor and flair to the 2010 season, helping propel his team to the World Series for the first time in its history. And with a name like Ian Kinsler, he might just be ...

Rabbi Angel on Parashat Hayei Sarah

A Parable on Life's Meaning: Thoughts on Parashat Hayei Sarah

October 30, 2010

http://www.jewishideas.org/angel-shabbat/parable-lifes-meaning-thoughts-parashat-hayei-

By Rabbi Marc D. Angel

  

In this week's Torah portion, we read of the deaths of Sarah and Abraham--the founding couple of ethical monotheism and of the people of Israel.  Their lives have left a profound imprint on human history; as we ponder their lives and deaths, it would be well to ponder the meaning  of life for ourselves. A rabbinic parable offers keen perspective. (The  following is drawn from my book, "Losing the Rat Race, Winning at Life," Urim Publications, 2005.)

A rabbinic parable tells of a poor man who was struggling to support his family. He learned of a faraway land that was filled with precious jewels. A ship would soon be leaving for this land and it had room for him as a passenger. But the ship would only return after an interval of unspecified length. His wife agreed that he should make the voyage, so as to be able to obtain valuable jewels to bring back to support his family in wealth and honor.

McDonald's Restaurants Favor the Rights of Animals Over the Rights of Religious People. Shuts down Kosher Slaughter for London Jews.

B"H

Well, McDonalds has now shut down one of the only Kosher slaughter houses for London Jews.  Nice work, McDonalds!  

I would tell everyone to boycott them, but that would be a bit ridiculous, wouldn't it, being most of us couldn't eat there anyways.

What might work, though, is to write plenty of letters to McDonald's and let them know what we think and, of course, show them for what they are.

Kosher Slaughter, when done correctly, is actually LESS PAINFUL than stunning.  

According to Temple Grandlin, a well respected inspector of slaughterhouses (all types):
 

In  plants with upright restraining devices, I made further observations to determine if slaughter without stunning causes pain. If the cattle stay completely calm while kosher slaughter is performed, they flinch slightly at the beginning of the cut. There is no other movement until convulsions start when sensibility is lost. Immediately after the cut I loosened the head holder and body restraints. Most cattle looked around for 5 to 60 seconds until they collapsed. They did not seem aware that their throats were cut. Waving my hand in front of the animal’s face caused a much bigger reaction than the kosher cut (Grandin, 1994).

Why didn't McDonalds look into this research?  Why has it ignored the issues present in Kosher slaughter?

Probably because, in the EU, it is more important to side with the rights of animals than the rights of religious minorities.  What is wrong with Halal meat anyway?  Isn't it infinitely better quality stuff than the bloody treif meat anyways?  Seriously, do the gentiles really care?  It's still a cheap burger!  

Those who care about how the animal is slaughtered probably aren't eating there anyways!

Unfortunately, these days, it is much easier for a corporation to side with those who hate religious people than it is to side with the truth.

Very sad turn of events.

I hope every religious person of every religious persuasion sees McDonald's action for what it is:  anti-religious bigotry.

M

"We have reached an ugly abyss of hareidi leadership and there is nothing left but to rise up against it. This is not the Torah we know, this is not our viewpoint and these are not our leaders."--Rabbi Binyamin Lau

B"H

This is a beautiful speech, which I cannot classify as anything less than a manifesto for authentic Torah scholarship, humanity, and Jewish education.

Thank you, Rabbi Angel, for featuring it on Jewish Ideas/Ideals, and thank you, Rabbi Lau, for saying these words so courageously.

Too many rabbis are hiding in the shadows, keeping their opinions and knowledge to themselves, afraid to speak out for fear that they will be religiously and professionally lynched by an uneducated and fervent Haredi mob.

Too many are standing in judgment of our Torah scholars, hell-bent upon the anti-Jewish intellectual void that is the obsequious rabbi worship.

I fear we are heading quickly into a "Jewish Dark Ages": where learned rabbis fear to be labeled heretics, while heretics roam freely in the street spouting lies without fear.

Judaism is plunging head-first into a sea of ignorance, and our sacred knowledge is being daily replaced by a collection of superstitious mumbo jumbo in the name of "strictness."

This is a serious problem.

Mamoinides warned us that Hashm carefully delineated between Jewish worship and pagan worship by changing only small things so that we would be willing to leave our old ways and embrace the Torah.  If we deviate from the practices handed down by our matriarchs and patriarches, even a small bit, we may find ourselves, unwittingly, performing tasks as a pagan would.  This is why we are told we cannot add to or detract from the Torah--not even one letter.

Unfortunately, the Torah is being added to daily with some new chumrot, and being detracted from daily through the denial of such things as respect for Torah, avoiding Loshan Hara and Motzei Shem Ra, and protecting the stranger among us.

M

Doña Gracia (Finally) Takes Her Place In Jewish and Zionist History

 B"H

Among Sephardim, Doña Gracia is well known, but for many in the Jewish world, they do not know her.

She is a true woman of valor, a 15th Century Esther, who truly asked herself for what reason Hashm had placed her a position of power and influence.

She had, like Esther, seen the evil king and queen of Spain (may their names be forever cursed and forgotten) order the destruction, death, and exile of the Jews of Spain.  

Like Esther, Doña Gracia took the money and the influence she had, and used her place to not only save lives, but save Jewish culture and tradition by establishing synagogues and schools, and by rebuilding Tiberias into a Holy city once more.

May every Jewish child know her name, and may her legacy live, forever!

M

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The true founder of the Zionist Movement?  
Once the wealthiest woman in the world, Dona Gracia planned to establish an autonomous Jewish community in Tiberias.  
By GREER FAY CASHMAN http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=192797

She was more than 300 years ahead of Theodor Herzl  in conceiving a movement whereby Jews would once again take possession of their spiritual homeland, and way ahead of Baron Rothschild in buying property in the Land of Israel, but only now is Dona Gracia (Gracia Mendes Nasi), once the wealthiest woman in the world, being accorded her rightful place in Jewish and Israeli history.

Nazi Pope's Synod Says "Jews No Longer Chosen People," MK Danny Ayalon Charges Lebanese Head of Synod with Libel Against Jews

B"H

Well, I guess the Catholic Synod in Rome knows more than the Bible, more than G-d? 

According to them, Jews are "no longer the chosen people."  

Last I checked, G-d doesn't change His covenants, His promises, or His Word.

 

And, according to Vatican II's "DECLARATION ON THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS--NOSTRA AETATE--PROCLAIMED BY HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI ON OCTOBER 28, 1965":

As Holy Scripture testifies, Jerusalem did not recognize the time of her visitation,(9) nor did the Jews in large number, accept the Gospel; indeed not a few opposed its spreading.(10) Nevertheless, God holds the Jews most dear for the sake of their Fathers; He does not repent of the gifts He makes or of the calls He issues-such is the witness of the Apostle.(11) In company with the Prophets and the same Apostle, the Church awaits that day, known to God alone, on which all peoples will address the Lord in a single voice and "serve him shoulder to shoulder" (Soph. 3:9).(12)

Hmmm.  It seems that Vatican II clearly states that Jews DO have rights to the "gifts He makes or of the calls He issues" (i.e. our right to Israel and Jerusalem.)  It seems the Synod is busy undoing Vatican II, at least in this respect. 

Of course, they won't be undoing the Synod itself, it seems--which was also a Vatican II issue.

Interesting  how the Nazi Pope hates Jews, and suddenly everything the Jews do is wrong.  That is, even though Vatican II also says:

Furthermore, in her rejection of every persecution against any man, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel's spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.

Interesting how the Synod has completely ignored this section of Vatican II, and substituted political considerations for those promised in this document.  

I guess along with the replacement theory (supersessionism) that we thought had disappeared from the Catholic Church.

Am Ha'aretz Traitor, Uri Blau, Returns to Israel

B”H

I hope that, in addition to the obvious charges against this traitor, that the state will also charge Ha’aretz newspaper with aiding and abetting his treachery by supporting Uri Blau while he was living outside the country and was a wanted fugitive.

Not only did he harm the state, but he lied to the state of Israel, then continued to print the stories—perhaps endangering Israel’s security and the lives of our men and women in uniform.

He should be ashamed to show his face in public.

For months, I have refused to read, comment upon, or print anything appearing on the pages of Ha’aretz.  I don’t think it is right to support a newspaper that was supporting a man in avoiding the law.

Now, finally, Blau is in custody.

It is my sincere hope that the newspaper will be fined or senior members of that newspaper will be arrested in connection with Blau's actions.

M

Benoît Mandelbrot, of Blessed Memory, Mathematician, Creator of Fractal Geometry, Holocaust Survivor

An example of a fractal

B"H

Any time someone tells me that the arabs are so violent because they have been "oppressed" by Israel, I think to stories of people like Benoît Mandelbrot.

At the age of 11, he fled from his home in Warsaw to escape the Nazis, first going to Paris, and then hiding in the French countryside where he worked with horses and did farm work.

When the war was over, he enrolled in college in Paris, overcoming his lack of formal education through hard work and with a keen mind.

Soon, he would change the world with his theories.

There is no oppression like the oppression of the Jews, but there are also no greater contributors, per capita, than the Jews.  Above all, our success has been the success of the world.

We didn't blow ourselves up, we didn't murder innocent people, we simply, quietly, and with a great sense of purpose, succeeded because success, above all things, is the greatest revenge against our enemies.

M

Germany Shocked! Poll Shows 10% Want Return of Feurer, 17% Say Jews Have Too Much Influence. Pundits Blame Recession.

Hitler and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem

B”H

Believe me, it is not due to the recession.

The EU has been fed on a constant diet of anti-Israel propaganda from the arabs for the last 35 years.  Arafat was a true nephew to his Nazi Uncle, the “Grand Mufti” of Jerusalem, who was dear friends with Hitler.

The Germans may have been conquered, but the racist and homicidal philosophy of Nazism survived within the robes of arab nationalists, who hate the Jews more than anyone, and who carried that Nazism back to Germany disguised as “anti-Israel” bias.

Bereft of religion, their nationalism homogenized away by the European Union, Europeans are grasping at anything resembling an identity, even if that identity is drawn from the darkest passages of history.

America Rejects Obama's Policies on Israel in Latest McLaughlin Poll

 

B"H

Unlike Europe with, as Mitt Romney put it, Cathedrals that are "so inspired, so grand, so empty," America's churches and synagogues are full and growing.

Obama might have forgotten why Israel was created, but America hasn't. 

America hasn't forgotten Israel's importance to the world.  America hasn't forgotten the Jewish connection to the land.  America still believes "those who bless Israel will be blessed."

In fact, according to this poll, those candidates who support Israel WILL be blessed:

A candidate's image as pro-Israel or anti-Israel could affect elections, the poll found. 52.7% said they were more likely to vote for a  candidate they perceive as pro-Israel, while 24% said they are less likely to vote for someone pro-Israel. 53.6% said they would not vote for an anti-Israel candidate even if they agreed with them on other issues, while just 31.6% said they would.

 G-d bless America, G-d Bless Israel, and let the people speak in November!

M 

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Poll: America Supports Israel, Rejects Obama's Policies   

by Maayana Miskin http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/140049

A poll conducted by McLaughlin and Associates has found that the majority of American adults support Israel, and oppose U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East Policy. While a majority of just over 50% expressed approval of Obama's work in office, more expressed disapproval  than approval of his handling of American-Israel relations.

Paladino Tells Hassidim He Is Against "Brainwashing Kids" into thinking Homosexuality is OK . . .And This Hurts His Campaign, How?

 B”H

OK, let’s look at this politically, for a moment. Do you really thing the homosexual community was ready to jump to their feet and support Paladino in this race?  Do you think he needed to pander to them for votes?

Uh . . .no.  

Does he need the votes of blocks of Satmar Hassidim who would back him in astounding numbers.

Uh . . .yes.

Do I think that what he said was “politically correct”?  

Uh . . . it depends upon your politics, doesn’t it?  

In this situation, it certainly doesn’t hurt Paladino to say these things.  Why is everyone one surprised?

This is his religious belief, his personal opinion, and he is planning to stand on those opinions.  That is his own political risk to take.

Do I think this will significantly alter the rights of homosexuals in New York state?  

Uh . . . No.

This is not a monarchy, and the governor of the state does not determine the rights of those he governs. First, there is a federal government with federal laws that guarantee rights and responsibilities to the citizenship of the US.  Then, if he wins the governor’s office, he becomes an executive officer, and the other two branches of government—legislative and judicial—are much more likely to impact those issues than the governor.  

So, what’s the big deal about his saying this?

The big deal is that of the “political minders” that have stationed themselves at every street corner to tell everyone how and what to think about every issue.  They think the have “politically correct” down cold . . .

Cabinet Approves "Loyalty Oath" for all Non-Jews. Goes to Cabinet ministerial meeting and then to a vote in the Knesset

B”H

Now that the loyalty oath has been approved, we wait for the other shoe to drop.  It is a non-secret that Avigdor Lieberman will now put his weight behind another building freeze in Judea and Samaria in “payment” for Bibi’s support of the loyalty oath.

Wait for it.  It will be the next news story out of the cabinet.

It will be for 60 days, and will not include any buildings that have begun construction already (i.e. Most of the classroom buildings, which were started right away in anticipation of this cowardly reversal of Bibi’s policy statements).

I hope, sincerely, that this loyalty oath will make it through the knesset, and I am guessing that it will.  I think such an oath is part of every other sovereign nation, and it is Israel’s time to start being a sovereign nation and stop apologizing for existing.

It is also, in my opinion, time that Israel annexed all of Judea and Samaria, required all those non-Jews who want to keep their citizenship to take the oath ON CAMERA, and deport those who refuse.

We cannot survive with an enemy inside our borders.

I have no problem with someone disagreeing with the government or making legitimate and powerful demands upon that government in a lawful and peaceful manner, but anyone who works to actively destroy the government through violent means, or who works to murder and terrorize the citizens of a sovereign Israel in order to fulfill the wishes of enemy states, cannot be a citizen of that state and must be either denied citizenship or prosecuted for treason.

I also applaud the Knesset for getting around the sticky issue of the Law of Return by requiring only those who do not qualify under the Law of Return to take the oath.  That was a very savvy move which will insure the cooperation of the religious parties in the Knesset.

M

All Hands On Deck! Grid Search for Steven Meyer of Great Neck, NY Needs Volunteers TODAY!

UPDATE:  Sadly, Mr. Mayer's body was found over Shabbat, on October 16, in a wooded area in Riverhead.  May Hashm comfort his family.

B"H

Today, Sunday, October 10, 2010, the Boro Park Shomrim, in coordination with many other community groups will begin a massive search for Steven Meyer, a metals trader from Great Neck, NY.

Searchers will be meeting in Riverhead, NY at the:

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS HOTEL & SUITES EAST END 
1707 Old Country Road Route 58 
Riverhead, NY 11901. (click for map)

The search will begin at 8:30 a.m. and continue throughout the day. Volunteers can arrive at any time during the day.

Shacharit Minyan will be a 9:30 for anyone in need.

All volunteers are requested to report to the staging area, as the search is carefully planned and will be conducted in a specific way. 

Volunteers are asked to bring enough food and water for the day.

The is an urgent request for anyone with specialized search equipment, including boats, ATVs, or connections to caterer for food that would also be helpful to the organizers  to call 347-927-7701.

Please read the most recent news article (below) for information on this missing man.  

M

Some Jewish Names Lost to Time

B"H

I usually cover news items, but I thought that this information was important to those of you who do genealogical research, so I wanted to share it with you right away.

After I wrote the post on the Hebrew Cemetery in Virginia City, NV, and the effort to get information about Jewish Cemeteries in the United States that are in danger of disappearing under the ravages of time, I contacted the The Jewish Cemetery Project of the International Association of Jewish Genealogy Societies and told them about Virginia City.

I was pleased to find out that there is already an group of Synagogues in Reno assisting the Comstock Cemetery Association in repairing and restoring the Hebrew Cemetery in Virginia City.

Meanwhile, I remembered an old book, by Verna Stumpf Paterson, a historian at the University of Nevada, Reno.  I had come across the book when I was a teen.  It was called Cemeteries Records of Nevada and it was published in 1960. 

The reason this book is so important is that she recorded the names and inscriptions on Comstock graves all over Nevada before they were destroyed, washed away, displaced by building projects, or completely obliterated by time.

I was unable to find the book, but I did find the special collection of Verna Stumpf Paterson's papers at the University of Nevada, Reno, which includes (Thank G-d!!) the manuscript of her book.  

With some help from the wonderful Special Collections Librarian, Joel Guldner, I got a copy of the list of those buried at the Hebrew Cemetery, as recorded by Verna Stumpf Paterson, and the information from their gravestones.  My thanks go out to Joel for his professional and attentive service in finding these records promptly. 

I checked to see that this information was not available elsewhere.  It wasn't.  There is an old list posted by the USGenWeb Project from 1997, which has some additional names not included here--but some of the names on that list are wrong according to Verna Stumpf Paterson's manuscript (for example REES is recorded as REEB).  The USGenWeb list doesn't reveal where they got the information, so I am unsure of its veracity.  

I know where Verna Stumpf Paterson got her information, though--she walked up to the cemetery and recorded it.   So, in an effort to assist all those Jewish Genealogists out there, here is Verna Stumpf Paterson's list of those buried in the Jewish Cemetery.   

Because I only needed the pages for the Hebrew Cemetery, I have included only the names and gravestone inscriptions for the Hebrew Cemetery.  However, I wanted to also include the table of contents from the book in case anyone else is looking for records of the other cemeteries, so you know where to find them!

The following is transcribed from Verna Stumpf Paterson's book, Cemetery Records of Nevada, 1960.  Manuscript.  Special Collections, University of Nevada Reno.

M

Israeli Loyalty Oath "To Jewish and Democratic Nation" To Be Introduced to Cabinet by BiBi on Sunday

B”H

I think a loyalty oath is a very good idea, but not necessarily at this moment.

Why not at this moment?  Because most of us know that Bibi is just trying to please Lieberman and get him out of his hair so Bibi can freeze settlements again.  And, of course, there is no guarantee that those in the Knesset will approve the loyalty oath—especially being that it isn't just the leftists and arabs who will object.  I can see that a lot of Haredim would also potentially refuse to make an oath to a “Jewish and Democratic” nation because Torah is not mentioned.

We could end up with a lot of people from both the left AND the right objecting to the loyalty oath idea.

Nevertheless, it is a very good idea.

Why is it so important to have this oath?

Because the arabs are insisting upon the “right of return” to Israel, with their main objective to flood the Israeli population in order to accomplish via the voting booth what they can’t accomplish through terrorist acts alone:  the complete destruction of the Jewish State.

If we require that every potential citizen take a loyalty oath, then arabs won’t want to take the oath.  First, they will refuse to acknowledge or affirm Israel as a Jewish State; and second, if they took that oath, they would not be able to visit any Arab land.  In order to join the Jewish people, they would have to denounce their allegiance to the puppet masters in Hamas, Fatah, and Hizbullah.

As an added bonus, I think all the oaths should be videotaped, in case someone decides, later, to deny that they took any such oath to the State of Israel.

If Israel was smart, they would refuse to grandfather anyone in.  They should require every citizen of Israel to take this oath.  If they did so, many of the “fifth column” arabs, who work to undermine Israel, and their leftist sympathizers would have their citizenship revoked and they would be deported from Israel.

I think that would solve a lot of problems.

M
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Police Protect Arab "Harvesters" but Ignore Jewish Farmers Terrorized and Victimized by Arabs and Leftist Sympathizers

B”H

A beautiful editorial by Orit Struck of the Human Rights Organization for Judea and Samaria, but one that, in my opinion, doesn’t go far enough.

What is not mentioned is the land-grab by arabs who claim olive trees and groves that are not their own.  They do this in order to establish land-rights in Israel.

Olive trees are a traditional way of showing land ownership, and when the arabs claim trees and groves that do not belong to them, and they are backed by the full force of the government of Israel, it is the same as the government seizing Jewish land and ceding it to arabs.

When I was in Judea and Samaria, I saw this on a regular basis.  Most people do not know that these "groves" the arabs claim are not organized lines of trees, as they would assume.  They are scrubby collections of semi-wild olive trees growing on hillsides, often times on or near Jewish land.  Every olive that rolls down a hill and sprouts is marked by arabs who claim that as “their tree” and several trees as “their grove.”   They also change the markers on Jewish trees, even ones planted generations ago by Jews in Jewish yards, to read that the trees belong to arabs in order to steal the trees, groves, and land.

The arabs are assisted by leftists in this land-grab, who also plant trees very close to Jewish towns and villages in an effort to claim the edges of those towns and villages as “arab land,” and to use the cover of those trees for terrorists activities against the Jews.

When we don’t protect our own land rights and our own farmers, we are giving up the land to arabs and their leftist sympathizers.

This is a very serious and very dangerous issue that most, outside of Israel and outside of Judea and Samaria, do not understand fully.

M

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Sanchez Sacked at CNN for Jew-Slandering Remarks

B”H

I’m sure he doesn’t have to worry.

Sadly, enough, there are plenty of Jew Haters who would be happy to hire him. 

MSNBC is probably already in negotiations to hire him, and if that doesn’t work out, there’s always CBS, NBC, or ABC.

Is there room on "The View" for a guy?

M

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CNN Anchor Sanchez Fired for Hinting Jews Control Media

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/139843

by Gil Ronen

CNN fired a star anchorman, Rick Sanchez, after Sanchez let loose against Comedy Central's “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart on Pete Dominick's Sirius radio show.