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.

Amy Winehouse to have Private Jewish Funeral Today

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 It is nice to know that this exceptionally talented and equally troubled soul will find a resting place among her people.

May Hashm comfort her family, friends, and fans.  May her music continue in the hearts of all who heard her.

May her death warn those among us who have contemplated the use of drugs, and may her memory serve to encourage people to develop better access to drug and alcohol treatment facilities for all of the youth of the world.

No parent of a 27-year-old should have to bury their child.

When one is faced with a child who has lost their way and needs help fast, too often the facilities are overcrowded, there are waiting lists, the care is sub-par, and only the most ill are admitted.  

This must stop.  We must be able to offer help when help is needed.  We need to research these problems in more depth, and we need to find a solution to the plague of alcohol and drugs.

M

Rabbi Angel on Parasha Hukkat

Published on Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals (http://www.jewishideas.org)

Home > Maintaining Purity and Integrity: Thoughts on Parashat Hukkat

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Maintaining Purity and Integrity: Thoughts on Parashat Hukkat

By Rabbi Marc D. Angel 

 

The laws of the Red Heifer are considered to be among the inscrutable commandments of the Torah. The elaborate ritual was ordained for the purpose of purifying those who had become ritually unclean through contact with a dead body.

One of the strange features of this procedure was that while it purified the impure, it defiled all those who were connected with the preparation of the ashes and water of purification “It purifies the impure, and simultaneously defiles the pure.” How could the exact same ingredients lead to opposite results? I suggest a possible explanation.

Those engaged in purifying others might naturally come to think of themselves as being highly important individuals. The impure people must turn to them for help. Being in this position of spiritual power could easily lead the “purifiers” to aggrandize themselves, to subtly (or not so subtly) adopt feelings of superiority. To prevent this eventuality, the Torah declares that the purifiers must themselves be rendered impure. Thus, they will not develop an inflated sense of self-importance, because they will realize that they must become ritually defiled while they purify others. The process does not raise them above those they serve, but actually lowers their status of ritual purity.

The ancient Red Heifer ceremony relates to a deeply significant aspect of religious psychology. Its message continues to be relevant today.

Some years ago I attended a meeting of Orthodox rabbis to discuss policies relating to conversion to Judaism. One of the rabbis unabashedly proclaimed: “We have the power! We can demand prospective converts to do everything our way. We do not need to make any concessions because we have total control. They need us, we don’t need them. We have the power!”