Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Community Stands Up Against Missionaries

B"H


God bless the community of Kfar HaRo'eh, the "local mail distributor" who alerted the community rabbis of this illegal attempt by Christian missionaries to distribute their pamphlets to Jewish communities, and Rabbi Eliezer Weiss and Eitan Kupferberg who found a solution to this problem.  


I have no problem with Christians in general.  I respect my Christian brothers and sisters who stand with us in support of Israel and the Jewish people, but they must not attempt to convert us--especially with the lies and deceit employed by those who call themselves "messianic Jews."


We must always draw a firm line between respecting fellow religious people and allowing those people to plot to steal the souls of the weak in Jewish communities.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Incredibly Disgusting Action: Saudi "Hackers" Explose Credit Card Information of 400,000 Israelis

B"H


I understand that people have political differences.  I understand that some Saudis think that Israelis are wrong, and that some Israelis think that Saudis are wrong.  


I have no problem with people expressing ideas, having disagreements, and staging peaceful protests.  However, stealing credit card information from innocent Israeli families and exposing that information on the internet is going way too far.


This is a crime that is so filled with hatred, that is so filled with anti-Semitism, that its almost painful to write about it.  Why would any group do this?  


This is not legitimate protest.  This is not political speech.  This is pure, unadulterated criminal thuggery against hard-working regular people on the street.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

A FREE Technological Answer to On-Line Tsniut Issues

By Michelle Nevada, Israel Jewish News

B"H


Just a short post to tell you about something I have discovered that has been very beneficial to my on-line browsing experience and may be even more beneficial to those wishing to avoid the almost unavoidable as they are attempting to read articles on the internet:  advertisements featuring half-naked women.


The issue became very pertinent for me today as I tried to read a rabbi's column in an Israeli newspaper online, but the article was surrounded by and even embedded with advertisements for weight loss pills and diet plans featuring women in jogging bras and underwear showing off how much weight they have lost.


It may just be the algorithm for my specific computer that showed those advertisements (How do they know I need to lose a few pounds?).  However, if you don't want to deal with the issue at all, there is a free technological solution to the problem.

49 Hours of Shabbat?

B"H


When Samoa decided to switch its relationship to the rest of the world by deciding to skip the last Friday in December and move to the other side of the International Date Line, they unwittingly began a fascinating halachic debate.


When, exactly, does one celebrate Shabbat under that circumstance?


And, of course, there are issues of travelers, not only to Samoa, but for anyone crossing the date line. For example, the International Date Line is slightly different in Halacha than it is observed on international maps.   When does Shabbat start and end when you cross the date line?  Is it a different day if you live there, as opposed to simply traveling there?


What happens when Shabbat starts on Thursday evening and goes until Saturday night, 49 hours? (Can you imagine how overcooked the Hamin must be?)


I don't know about you, but the whole discussion makes my head spin!


M
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The Day Shabbat Started on Thursday Night

How can the Jewish Sabbath start Thursday night and last 49 hours? Visit Samoa, where it jump-started the International Date Line.