Great Death Notice

I've no idea who this is, but I like his death notice in the New York Times:

SHUCHMAN--Amos, of New York, on February 1, 2013. Beloved and caring husband of Alice Shuchman for 51 years, father of Daniel (Lori Lesser) and Nina (Brian Roth), grandfather of Jacob, Sarah, Aaron and Ariela. Born in Tel Aviv in 1928, fought bravely in the Haganah. Loved his family, his birth and adopted countries, finance, skiing, opera, ballet and biking in Central Park. Loved everything about NYC, except the New York Times. Services at Beth El Cemetery (Or Zarua section), Paramus, NJ, Sunday at 11am. Memorial contributions to a charity of your choice. His fearless heart still beats within all of us. Shalom, Saba.

Some Haredi Soul Searching

From Israel Hayom:

Yaakov Rivlin, one of the most respected commentators of the haredi system, recently expressed an insight that some would call historic. “The national-religious are about to take the place of the haredim in the religious and political systems of life in this country, and we must resign ourselves to that,” he wrote in the haredi newspaper BaKehila [In the community]. “We can only hope that they will treat us better than we treated them when we controlled the appointments and jobs and left them not even crumbs: not in the city rabbinates, the religious councils or the local authorities. When the next government takes office, we will pay for the humiliating way we treated them. And we will pay dearly.”

I suggest you read the entire article by the insightful Yehudah Shlezinger. I partly agree with his analysis, and will write a full post on it, post Shushan Purim (I live in Jerusalem).

Most Insensitive Purim Costume 2

I didn't think anyone could beat this costume, but as always, once someone sets the bar, someone else has to  raise it:

The pictures are volunteers and the head of Zaka - an organisation that collects body parts for burial - wearing white robes with blood and a caption on the back saying "Hiss reminds - the body has no spare parts". Hiss is a reference to Israel's notorious pathologist Yehudah Hiss, "The Body has no spare parts" is the slogan for an Israeli vitamin company.

Hattip: Rotter.net

Comparing Ahmadinejad and Haman Is PC Acceptable

I decided to have this cleared up before the commencement of Purim drunkenness for the year.

BBC Never Heard of the Book Of Esther

I guess the drinking started early:

Before my arak-drenched boozefest commenced, an Israeli friend explained that there are three things you are supposed to do on Purim: read the Megillah (the relevant section of the Talmud, the central religious Jewish text), 

God knows if we actually read out tractate Megillah on purim, there is zero chance we would get any of the kids (or grownups) to actually come.

Via BBCWatch

All Time Least Sensitive Purim Costume

Can you imagine the outrage if they were dressed up as a blown up bus?

Via @alfiguri Via Ynet

Savages in Azerbaijan Lack Sense of Irony

From The Washington Post:

But on Monday the head of the Modern Musavat party, Hafiz Hajiyev, told the Turan Information Agency that the time has come for Aylisli to be punished forportraying Azerbaijanis as savages.

“We have to cut off his ear,” Hajiyev said. “This decision is to be executed by members of the youth branch of the party.”

Via

Terrorists In Britain Are Really Dumb

From The Guardian:

The court previously heard that the men, two of whom are alleged to have received terror training in Pakistan, planned to detonate a series of suicide bombs in an attack that could have been bigger than the 7 July 2005 atrocities.

The jury heard that Ali registered two accounts on eBay's online charity website "half in jest" in September 2006, with the user names "terrorshop" and "shopterror", using the email address be_terror@yahoo.co.uk.

Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, said that eBay closed down one of the accounts in October 2006.

"The second account remains active, but, like the first, has never been used," he said. "However, both reveal his mindset even then, even if the usernames he chose were registered half in jest."

Why We Shouldn't Get Too Upset About George Galloway

Like many of you I was disgusted when I first say the video below showing how Mr Galloway - a British MP - “stormed out” of a debate at Christ Church on Wednesday evening, upon finding out that his opponent, Eylon Aslan-Levy, a third-year student at Brasenose, was an Israeli citizen:




However, I soon saw the following video of Mr Galloway participating on the TV show "Big Brother":




How can you ever take this man seriously after that?