My Sephardic Pesach Recipes, and some Pesach Websites too!

B"H

OK, I am in complete denial. Seriously, I haven't done much, and between the guilt that keeps me up at night and the laundry and kid stuff and full time job I have, I think I will have to give myself just one day to get ready (next Sunday, presumably).

Meanwhile, I will share my favorite websites and recipes with you!

Now, I hope you understand that I am proudly and completely Sephardic--which means that my recipes might have to be adapted for my dear Ashkenazi friends (mostly substituting Pesach Powdered Sugar for Regular, etc.). Some, of course, can't be adapted at all, and some don't need any adaption (like my lasagna recipe).

Without further ado . . .

Saudi Arabia: Iranian Nuclear Plant Would Be Disaster Worse than Fukushima, but Obama Won't Listen to Them, Won't Take Action to Prevent Disaster!

B"H

Even Saudi Arabia is opposed to Obama's Middle East Policies. 

When will Obama stop acting like an adolescent, angry that he isn't being taken seriously, and start acting like a president?  When will he realize that the intelligence information from our allies is valuable--not only to augment US intelligence, but also because relying upon their intelligence information shows trust in the competence of our allies?

Do the Israelis need to "be the man" AGAIN in this situation because the US is too afraid to upset anyone?

We are talking about the great loss of life here--not only from a rouge nation like Iran developing and (G-d forbid) using a nuclear bomb on their neighbors, but also because this technology cannot be safely by the Iranians--even for peaceful purposes.

I hope we can get through these next two years with Obama without the whole world coming apart at the seams.  He is so dangerously incompetent, so seriously inept in his position.

Please, G-d, send Obama some wisdom!  

M

Black Students Take a Stand! “The Students for Justice in Palestine’s labeling of Israel, an extremely diverse and vibrant country, as an apartheid state is not only false, but offensive.”

B"H

I am so proud to say that I teach at an HBCU!  My students are the finest you will find anywhere.  They find a way, or they make one.

Most of my students are conservative in their value systems, they are religious, and they are breathtakingly smart.  Mostly, they are well-schooled in the lessons of history, much better schooled than any students in the state colleges where I have taught.  

They have to be.

Like Jews, African Americans carry with them a painful historical legacy.  This is why Jews and blacks walked hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder during the civil rights era.  

Justice is most significant to those for whom Justice has been denied.

Just as Jews should speak out when the word "Holocaust" is cheapened by its application to small matters or appropriated by groups who intend only to repeat the Holocaust; African Americans must step up and object to the cheapening of the word "apartheid." 

Thank you, Vanguard Leadership Group, for your stalwart and powerful statement.  Thank you, HBCUs for championing the cause of JUSTICE wherever it needs to be defended. 

Thank you to the black community, to the black ministers and reverends, rabbis and imams, priests and laypeople who, every day, defend Israel and her people. G-d bless you all!

Mostly, thank you to the strong and amazing students and your equally dedicated parents who cherish heritage,  history, and tradition enough to choose an HBCU.  You are the leaders of tomorrow, and I am honored to know you.

M

Rabbi Angel on Parasha Metsora

Jobs, Careers and Callings: Thoughts on Parashat Metsora, April 9, 2011

By Rabbi Marc D. Angel

 

The priests of old (the cohanim) had high prestige positions, serving as spiritual leaders of the people of Israel. They received priestly gifts and seem to have lived comfortable lives.

Yet, when we read this week's Torah portion, we see that the cohanim had some unpleasant responsibilities. They had to examine the wounds of lepers and arrange for their purification. They had to check out clothing and houses that were struck by a leprosy-type plague. If we also consider that the tasks of the cohanim included the daily slaughtering of animals in the Tabernacle (and later in the Temples in Jerusalem), we realize that the cohanim did not always have an easy go of things.

Let us imagine how three cohanim would have described their duties:

Latest Wikileaks: (Yawn) Israel Knows Egypt's Mohammed Tantawi is an Obstacle to Peace, Israel's Military Analysis is Prophetic, and Southern Commander, Major General Yoav Galant, Thought Hamas Needs to be "Strong Enough" for Ceasefire

B"H

Wow.  Reading this, understanding what Galant said, ". . . that Hamas needed to be "strong enough to enforce a ceasefire," makes me thank G-d, right now, that he is no longer the Southern Commander.  

G-d forbid we would strengthen the hand of our enemy!!  Hamas is not a government we should do any negotiation with.  We cannot trust them, we cannot work with them, and we certainly should never strengthen them in any way!

As for the rest of the "leaks," I have to say:  Israel is a democratic nation with a very vital group of journalists who investigate and comb through everything Israel is, was, and will be.

The "leaks," therefore, are not shocking in any way.  These are things we already knew or expected.  I think the shocking stuff comes to those nations who do not have freedom of the press, whose governments are not open, and whose leaders deal in shadows.

M

This is What A Modern Jewish Heroine Looks Like! G-d Bless Naama Shafir--Basketball Star, Religious Jew. You Go Girl!!! May You Inspire All Those Girls Who Want to be Successful and Religious!!

B”H

I am so proud to know that I share my faith with this brilliant star of Israel.

May she go above and beyond.  May Hashm bless her for the Kiddush Hashm she performs on a daily basis.

May she be an emblem to our youth that it is possible to be successful and religious.

G-d bless you, Naama!

M

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An Orthodox Jew Leads Toledo to a Women's National Basketball Title

From the Hardwood to Halacha
http://forward.com/articles/136770/
By Elana Sztokman


Naama Shafir, a junior guard, poured in a career-high 40 points to lead the University of Toledo to victory in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament championship. She was crowned the basketball tournament’s MVP. And then she walked about two miles home.


Shafir, an Orthodox Jew from Israel, did not want to break the Sabbath.


The University of Toledo’s 76–68 triumph over the University of Southern California on April 2 marked a historic moment for Toledo — its first postseason championship in school history. The win also marked the climax of a historic season for Shafir, the first female Orthodox Jew to earn an NCAA scholarship and to play American women’s Division I basketball

Human Rights Watch (really?) Exposes Abuse of Journalists by Hamas and Fatah

B"H

I regard HRW as an incredibly anti-Semitic group who want, more than anything, the end of Israel.  They were one of the forces behind the Goldstone Report (which even Goldstone can't stand behind at this point), and they are behind the constant harassment of Jews living on Jewish land in Yesha.  This group, along with Doctors Without Borders, Peace Now, and Amnesty International have been walking hand in had with terrorists, rapists, murderers, and corrupt politicians for decades--trying to convince us all that Jews are always evil and arabs are always good.

It must be REALLY bad for HRW to actually report that their heros, the "palestinians," are doing something evil. You can bet HRW will have a very difficult time doing ANYTHING with the arabs from now on.  They will find themselves beaten and harassed, I'm sure.

But, I guess, when the harassment is worse when you don't say something than when you do, the scales tip.  I'm sorry that it took so long.  How many idealistic young college students have they bamboozled, how many silly old people have they conned, how many stupid politicians have they convinced by their artificially sweetened rhetoric?

Perhaps the tide is turning against all these arab organizations who held court with the journalists and the liberals.  Now that the "arab uprisings" are happening, those journalists don't know what to do with themselves.  Should they report their old buddies, or the rebels as the good guys?  How shall they slant it now?

What do the poor journalists do when those who they previously lauded in their "struggle against the Israeli occupiers" actually come out and say that the Israelis are the good guys, that the arab governments have been doing some really evil things, and that they want to know why the Western liberals haven't raise their voices against the injustice, sexism, anti-homosexual, and repressive totalitarian governments in the arab Middle East?

It must be really hard to write those "good guy arab/ bad guy Jew" stories these days.

Thank you, HRW, for actually sprinkling a bit of savory truth over your terrorist torte for once!

M

Fake "Kabbalah Center International" Facing Federal Investigation that Madonna's "Raising Malawi" Charity Funnelled Money to Cover Bergs' Luxurious Lifestyle

B”H

I am glad that the fake “Kabbalah Center” with their Insurance Salesman “rabbi” (who left his wife and eight children for his secretary), is finally getting the exposure it deserves.  It appears “Raising Malawi” has finally brought down Berg.

I’m sorry if it hurt Madonna.  She seems to be a truly innocent bystander who sincerely wanted to help people and was taken by some very smooth con artists.  The Bergs and their ilk pose as holy people, and poach what they want from Jewish holy texts to sell to gullible (mostly) gentiles who would have found much more substance and power in simple Judaism rather than this quasi-magical fakery posing as spirituality.

Seriously, if you want to find the key to living a spiritual life, you must first start with the basics of following Jewish law: keeping kosher, keeping the Sabbath, and keeping the festivals.   All spirituality starts with the physical world, with how we conduct ourselves.  At Sinai we said, "We will do, THEN we will understand." 

Then, after you have mastered those laws as well as you can, start studying.

Study day and night and night and day and learn Hebrew, learn all the Jewish texts.  Then, when you are at a level that you can really understand the spiritual, study it with a rabbi who knows what he is saying—not some idiot who is going to sell you “instant access” without any context or understanding!

If you really really want to know, you have to push yourself to learn.  There are no short cuts.

Anyone who says they can give you a short cut is lying.

M

A VICTORY FOR SANITY!! It's a Military Tribunal for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammed, Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, Ramzi Bin Al Shibh, Ali Abdul-Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed Al Hawsawi in murder of 2,976 people on September 11, 2001

B"H

G-d Bless the Congress of the United States of America, and the voters who had enough of Obama's crazy ideas and voted in strong conservatives!  

The murderers of more than 2,976 people are being tried in a Military Tribunal (the appropriate place for a war crime)!

Attorney General Eric Holder is crying over the fact that "his hands were tied" by the congress (Thank G-d!!).

Cry on, Eric.  Your loss is a victory for sanity and a promise for some measure of justice for the families of those murdered on 9/11/2001.

May Justice prevail!  May those who are guilty PAY for their crimes.

M

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Holder Blames Congress for Forcing Hand on Military Commissions for 9/11 Detainees
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/04/khalid-sheikh-mohammad-military-commission-trial/
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
        
Congress tied the Obama administration's hands in trying the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11,  2001, terror attacks and his accomplices, Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday, announcing that he was left without a choice and has referred the cases to the Defense Department for trial.

$1 Billion Lawsuit Against Facebook Filed Over "Third Intifada Page." May Hashm Bring Success to This Endeavor! If Facebook Can't Find Moral Courage, Perhaps It Will Find Financial Courage!

B”H

Did I call it last week, or did I call it?  I KNEW this would happen.  Thank You, Larry Klayman, and your yet unnamed source!  May you succeed in this endeavor, may you be blessed by G-d, and may you use the money you win toward helping those who are harmed by arab violence against Jews.

I know Facebook has software to find these hate-pages much more quickly than my friends can find them by typing into a searchbox.  There is no reason on earth why these hate pages exist but the environment of tolerance toward hating Jews which has permeated our times.

I remember, as a child, thinking "How could the Holocaust have happened? How could the German people have believed the lies that Hitler told them?"  Now, living in these times, I understand perfectly how the Holocaust could have happened.  Shame on every so-called "leftist" who spreads hate in the name "tolerance."  You are the intolerant ones!  You are the new Nazis.

 Wake up, Europe!  Wake up, US college students and liberals!!  You are setting the stage for the murder of Jews, and when it happens (again and again), you look the other way and say, "I have nothing to do with this."

Know that the blood of the Fogel family is on your hands, know that the blood of Jews killed and injured at the bus station is on your hands!  Know that the blood of Jews who are murdered in Yemen and Syria and Egypt and Iran and Iraq are on your hands.  Know that the terrorists draw their strength and their money from you.  

You can look away if you want, but G-d will not.  You can deny responsibility, but the TRUE JUDGE will decide your guilt.

M

Goldstone Reconsiders His Report, Writes Editorial in the Washington Post Explaining, "If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document."

B"H

This letter will never undue the damage that Richard Goldstone has done to Israel, but it is a start at setting the record straight.

It must have been very difficult to write this letter, to admit that what he said in the report was not the truth.  He must have been compelled by the events in Israel, especially in Itamar, to write this letter. 

May G-d bless him for his commitment to setting the record straight.

M

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Reconsidering the Goldstone Report on Israel and war crimes
By Richard Goldstone, Friday, April 1, 8:42 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/reconsidering-the-goldstone-report-on-israel-and-war-crimes/2011/04/01/AFg111JC_story.html

We know a lot more today about what happened in the Gaza war of 2008-09 than we did when I chaired the fact-finding mission appointed by  the U.N. Human Rights Council that produced what has come to be known as the Goldstone Report. If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.

The final report by the U.N. committee of independent experts — chaired by former New York judge Mary McGowan Davis — that followed up on the recommendations of the Goldstone Report has found that “Israel has dedicated significant resources to investigate over 400 allegations of operational misconduct in Gaza” while “the de facto authorities (i.e., Hamas) have not conducted any investigations into the launching of rocket and mortar attacks against Israel.”