Anat Hoffman: "Every group brought to Israel their own [cultural] import. The Moroccans brought the Maimuna, and Americans brought equality"
The University of Bologna in Italy has found what it says may be the oldest complete scroll of Judaism's most important text, the Torah.The scroll was in the university library but had been mislabelled, a professor at the university says.It was previously thought the scroll was no more that a few hundred years old.However, after carbon dating tests, the university has said the text may have been written more than 850 years ago.The university's Professor of Hebrew Mauro Perani says this would make it the oldest complete text of the Torah known to exist, and an object of extraordinary worth.The university says that in 1889 one of its librarians, Leonello Modona, had examined the scroll and dated it to the 17th Century.However, when Mr Perani recently re-examined the scroll, he realised the script used was that of the oriental Babylonian tradition, meaning that the scroll must be extremely old.Another reason for the dating is that the text has many features forbidden in later copies under rules laid down by the scholar Maimonides in the 12th Century, the university says.
An earlier version of this article misidentified the "Sesame Street" character with whom Ryan C. Crocker, the former United States ambassador, was photographed in Kabul. It was Grover, not Cookie Monster.
But even with all those people using the service, it kind of feels like Waze came out of nowhere, doesn't it?That might because the New York and San Francisco tech press uses it a lot less. Seriously: What Instagram was to brunch for the tech set, and what Tumblr was to their personal blogs of meaninglessness, what is Waze? At its best, Waze is a driver's mapping tool, especially popular in areas notable for their terrible drivers. Namely: Israel, a country known for the world's worstdrivers. (During my first 30 minutes in the country earlier this month, my driver ran into a guy on his scooter.)
“We have agreed with Elmar Mammadyarov that…we will discuss joint measures to ensure that this outrageous action will not go unanswered,” Lavrov added.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov condemned the disappearance of votes awarded by Azerbaijan to Russian singer Dina Garipova at the recent Eurovision Song Contest as “an outrageous action,” and vowed on Tuesday that Russia would respond to the incident. (source)
[T]he problem with girls singing Anim Zmirot is that "my heart tells me" that this isn't right, because it harms "Kedushat Yisrael". Exactly as your heart tells you that there is no problem. There are no proofs for what is the "spirit of torah," if there was - it wouldn't be the spirit of Torah but halacha. There are many different opinions of Gedolei Yisrael in the past and in the present what is considered modest (צנוע), and when anyone who adds to the standard is only lessening Tzniut and when whoever adds will be blessed. You can cite examples to here and to here how to act, without ever proving the point. I have no problem that girls should sing Anim Zmirot as long as the person who enacts it is first class Gadol, who you can count on that his senses that this isn't against God's will (Spirit of torah)...I tried to keep the flowing style of writing in the translation, however I'm not sure I succeeded. The writer is probably best characterized as a very open Hardalnick, and as the paragraph shows he's very sensitive not to offend anyone. I liked both parts of his argument. The first part of his argument is merely a reflection of how he feels. He has a feeling girls should not be singing in a shul, but he does not ascribe it to halacha - just his gut feeling of what is proper. You can't argue with someone's gut.
One more point. I don't want to address the issue of modesty directly, but I'm sure you'll understand - there is a saying that only the left can go to war, and only the right can remove settlements. The left is not suspect of a messianic motivation for war, and the right is not suspect of a spiritual disconnect from Eretz Yisrael or ignoring security needs.
Lowering the standards separating boys and girls is not convincing in my opinion when it comes from certain people, of which a small minority have real problems in their daily manners (again I'm not thinking of anyone specific only generally and a small minority!). Some of them too easily stretch the boundary and even pass adopting a tolerant non thinking attitude to the relationship between the sexes, clothing and other similar concerns. Equally, and in the opposite direction, I am not excited when someone who always Machmirs in Kashrut publishes a new chumra. However, when a Chumra comes from someone who always tries to be lenient and despite that publishes a chumra - his opinion carries more weight...
Threatened by a two-pronged assault of assimilation and intolerance, Karaites have begun building up their own defences. Though they have no yeshivas, or religious academies, they have begun studying at home. Elders have sloughed off their skullcaps and stopped lighting candles on Friday nights, in line with a biblical injunction against burning flames on the Sabbath.
“Israel is a Jewish state and Jews have superior rights,” says the chief rabbinate’s spokesman.
“But the Karaites are not Jewish.”
There's a story that Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer likes to tell, and he tells it with no little charm: how, in the 1970s, he happened to be in the Far East when terrorists attacked the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok, how he rushed over to the site and how the prime minister, Golda Meir, picked up the phone and asked who was speaking and he replied, "Fuad," and Golda was appalled because she thought that the Arabs had taken over the embassy.
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Harav Eliyahu: The Emmanuel Rozen Story Proves Women Shouldn't Serve In The IDFWhat exactly is the logic here? Harav Eliyahu's basic argument is that sexual harassment is endemic in society, and as such we shouldn't be allowing women to serve together with men. Fair enough. However the same logic can only really lead to a completely segregated society - something that is non existent even in the Haredi community. Moreover, considering by the amount of sexual scandals that we keep hearing about in Haredi communities, it would seem that the same logic would demand that we all send our female daughters to live their lives in closed nunneries, preferably somewhere in Siberia.
First milk, butter, coffee and cornmeal ran short. Now Venezuela is running out of the most basic of necessities – toilet paper....
President Nicolás Maduro, who was selected by the dying Hugo Chávez to carry on his "Bolivarian revolution", claims that anti-government forces, including the private sector, are causing the shortages in an effort to destabilise the country.
The government this week announced it also would import 760,000 tonnes of food in addition to the 50m rolls of toilet paper.
Commerce minister Alejandro Fleming blamed the shortage of toilet tissue on "excessive demand" built up as a result of "a media campaign that has been generated to disrupt the country".
What’s new at the Queens Zoo these days is three female mulefoot hogs.The mulefoot, a domestic hog named for its unusual non-cloven hoof, is black, beautiful and classified as “critically rare” by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.A century ago, according to the conservancy, the mulefoot was widely bred in the Midwest “for ease of fattening and production of meat, lard and especially hams.” But it is no longer commonly bred by farmers, the zoo said.The ladies, still unnamed, are a year old and can be visited on the zoo’s farm.It was not immediately clear whether the meat of hogs with uncloven hooves was considered kosher.
Update, 4:26 p.m. | City Room, based on its extremely poor religious training, made the mistake above of wondering aloud whether meat from a pig with an uncloven hoof would still be considered nonkosher.Rabbi Moshe Elefant, chief operating officer of the kashrut division of the Orthodox Union, the largest kosher certification organization in the world, quickly set us straight.“Actually this pig is even worse than all other pigs,” he said. “Not only does it not chew its cud, it doesn’t have a split hoof.”Split hoof = kosher. Unsplit = nonkosher. The thing that makes pigs nonkosher is that they don’t chew their cud. We will remember this. Thanks, Rabbi.
We will remember this too. Thanks, Rabbi.
Jerusalem is surrounded by high mountains. On Mount Sion are the sepulchers of the house of David, and those of the kings who reigned after him. In consequence of the following circumstance, however, this place is at present hardly to be recognized. Fifteen years ago, one of the walls of the place of worship on Mount Sion fell down, and the patriarch commanded the priest to repair it. He ordered stones to be taken from the original wall of Sion for that purpose, and twenty workmen were hired at stated wages, who broke stones from the very foundation of the walls of Sion. Two of these laborers, who were intimate friends, upon a certain day treated one another, and repaired to their work after their friendly meal. The overseer accused them of dilatoriness, but they answered that they would still perform their day's work, and would employ thereupon the time while their fellow laborers were at meals. They then continued to break out stones, until, happening to meet with one which formed the mouth of a cavern, they agreed to enter it in search of treasure, and they proceeded until they reached a large hall, supported by pillars of marble, encrusted with gold and silver, and before which stood a table, with a golden scepter and crown. This was the sepulcher of David, King of Israel, to the left of which they saw that of Solomon in a similar state, and so on the sepulchers of all the kings of Juda, who were buried there. They further saw chests locked up, the contents of which nobody knew, and were on the point of entering the hall, when a blast of wind like a storm issued forth from the mouth of the cavern so strong that it threw them down almost lifeless on the ground. There they lay until evening, when another wind rushed forth, from which they heard a voice like that of a man calling aloud, "Get up, and go forth from this place." The men rushed out full of fear, and proceeded to the patriarch to report what had happenedMiracles are fairly rare in Benjamin of Tudela's diary. Joshua Prawer estimates that Benjamin of Tudela visited Jerusalem roughly in 1169-1171. If so the story of the workers should have occured sometime in 1154-1156. Prawer can not find any mention of an event on Mount Zion during those years, except for a lightning bolt hitting a church in 1146 (10 years too early). R. Abraham el Constatini is almost certainly the same as mentioned in the travels of Rabbi Petachia of Ratisbon, and is probably a member of Chasidei Ashkenaz.
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to them. This ecclesiastic summoned into his presence R. Abraham el Constantini, a pious ascetic, one of the mourners of the downfall of Jerusalem, 14 and caused the two laborers to repeat what they had previously reported. R. Abraham thereupon informed the patriarch that they had discovered the sepulchers of the house of David and of the kings of Juda. The following morning the laborers were sent for again, but they were found stretched on their beds and still full of fear; they declared that they would not attempt to go again to the cave, as it was not God's will to discover it to any one. The patriarch ordered the place to be walled up, so as to hide it effectually from every one unto the present day. The above-mentioned R. Abraham told me all this.
In my classes on the Bible as literature, in fact, I like to tell my students that the book might be more accurately called The Norton Anthology of Ancient Hebrew Literature. It is, in any event, a library—and no singular term, certainly not “1,000-page morality tale,” can adequately describe it. It contains tales, yes; but also historical chronicles, genealogies, songs and poems, legal codes, sermons, political tracts and propaganda, prayers, elegies, allegories, dream visions and apocalyptic visions, and proverbs and other wisdom literature. The only true “morality tale” is the book of Job, which belongs to that last genre.
First, we'll begin with the new material. On Friday, May 3, AFP published the following photographs and captions misidentifying Israeli stone-throwers as Palestinian:
DEIR JARIR : Palestinians, whose faces are covered, prepare to throw stones during clashes with Israeli security forces and settlers from the nearby settlement of Ofra following a demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel on May 3, 2013 in the West Bank village of Deir Jarir, northeast of Ramallah . AFP PHOTO/ ABBAS MOMANI
The three men pictured in the top photograph, who also appear in the background of the second photograph, are Israeli stone-throwers, not Palestinian. Their ritual fringes ("tzitzit") are clearly visible in the first photograph.
@tamarsternthal I've given your last post a "Worst Hasbara of the Day Award" mostlykosher.blogspot.co.il/2013/05/worst-…
— Benjamin of Tudela (@BenjaminTudela) May 7, 2013
@benjamintudela We have to call it like we see it.
— Tamar Sternthal (@TamarSternthal) May 7, 2013
@tamarsternthal I understand the motivation, but still find it slightly weird.
— Benjamin of Tudela (@BenjaminTudela) May 7, 2013
@benjamintudela Some might call it weird. @cameraorg calls it integrity.
— Tamar Sternthal (@TamarSternthal) May 7, 2013
Arabs have unearthed this old cartoon by famed Palestinian artists, Naji Al-`Ali (killed by Yasir `Arafat). The headline says: "Arab solidarity". The man with the papers says: "If Israel were to attack Syria, we should attack." The other men say: "Clarify. Attack whom?"
Someone once asked me if I had ever tried Axe body-wash. I put down the five pound turkey leg I had been gnawing on, looked them dead in the eye and said, "Once. Then I put it in a canoe that I hollowed out of a giant redwood with my fingernails and sent it down the river... which is a better service than it deserved." I am a man, and I don't want any liquid soap that leaves you with some nondescript "sexy" smell. When I wash myself in anything that is not the blood of my enemies, I use pine tar soap. I want an emollient that will cut through all of the dirt, sweat, blood, pitch, grease, or more blood that I might find myself covered in at any moment, and I want it to leave me smelling like a camp fire. This is not a dual action body scrub and moisturizer that pairs well with your passion fruit shampoo. This is a man's soap that smells the way my beard, boots, and red flannel shirt look... magnificent.
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov fell off his horse just after he crossed the finish line in first place in Ashgabat this week — and then tried to cover up the tumble by forcing spectators to delete all evidence of the incident.
Berdymukhammedov won the $11 million purse when the horse he was riding won by about a length and half at the racetrack — a fact trumpeted by the former Soviet republic's tightly controlled media.
But the leaked video footage shows that the horse then stumbled and Berdymukhammedov flew over its shoulders. The other horses barely missed trampling the motionless president. A group of men in black suits swarmed onto the track and, after a few moments, an ambulance pulled up and whisked away the apparently unconscious Berdymukhammedov.
About an hour later, a stiff-looking Berdymukhammedov returned to the event and waved to the cheering crowd, indicating that he was well.
During the hourlong interval, Berdymukhammedov's security detail went through the crowd, which included members of top international equestrian clubs invited to attend the event on an all-expenses-paid junket, and forced them to delete videos and photos of the incident, EurasiaNet.org reported.
Law enforcement officials also searched passengers flying out of the Ashgabat airport, seizing mobile phones, tablet computers, laptops, cameras and any other devices that could be used to record the fall, Fergana news agency reported.
An Orthodox Jewish woman is suing makeup giant Lancome, claiming that its “24-hour” foundation doesn’t really last that long — and so doesn’t stay on long enough to get her through the Sabbath.
Rorie Weisberg of upstate Monsey says the French luxury-cosmetics maker committed the sin of false advertising when it claimed that its new Teint Idole Ultra 24H provides a full day and night of “lasting perfection.”
Because of the product’s failure, she says, she can’t look good and stay holy at the same time.
MOGADISHU, Somalia — An official in a semi autonomous region of Somalia says the government has executed 13 prisoners, including a woman.Abdifatah Haji Aden, Puntland’s military court chairman, said the prisoners were executed by firing squad on the outskirts of Bossaso, Puntland’s commercial hub, on Tuesday. Aden said one soldier who helped carry out the execution died after being struck by an errant bullet fired by a colleague.
In the last days of Byzantine rule over the Land of Israel the Jews made an attempt to exploit the rivalry between the powers ruling the orient - Persia, Byzantium and Rome - in order to regain their political independence. For hundreds of years they had repeatedly hoped that the redemption of the Jewish people would come with the conquest of Palestine by Persia; and now the time seemed to have arrived. At the beginning of the seventh century, the Persians set out on their conquests in the East, and in the year 614 they reached the borders of Palestine. Their approach set off a powerful messianic fermentation, which is reflected in several works written at the time whose theme is the Redemption. The Armenian historian Sebeos reported (Chapter XXIV): 'As the Persians approached Palestine, the remnants of the Jewish nation rose against the Christians, joined the Persians and made common cause with them.' The Jews assisted the invaders materially in their conquest of Galilee. From there the invading army turned to Caesarea and continued its conquests down to Apollonia, then eastwards to Lydda and from there to Jerusalem, which was captured in May 614. Jewish forces also took part in the conquest of Jerusalem. Sophronius, a contemporary monk who lived near Bethlehem, wrote in a poem: 'God-seeking strangers and citizens of the city [Jerusalem]; . When they faced the Persians and their Hebrew friends/Hastened to close the city gates.'
The Persians handed Jerusalem over to Jewish settlers, who proceeded with the expulsion of the Christians and the removal of their churches. At the head of Jerusalem stood a leader whom we know only by his messianic name: Nehemiah ben Hushiel ben Ephraim ben Joseph. The sacrificial cult may even have been resumed. Jewish rule in Jerusalem lasted three years. In 617 there was a reversal of Persian policy. For reasons that are not sufficiently clear, the Persians made peace with the Christians. The Jews, on the other hand, did not, and the Persian authorities were forced to fight them: 'And they waged war against the saints and brought down many of them. and Shiroi [the king of Persia] stabbed Nehemiah ben Hushiel. and sixteen of the just were killed together with him (Book of Zerubabel, page 101).Most of what we know of Nehemiah ben Hushiel is from the apocalyptic book of Zerubbel. Zerubbel describes the eschatological struggle between the Armilus, who is the leader of Rome, and the Messiah ben Yosef - Nehemiah. Nehemiah falls in battle (which is actually the defining charecterisitc of all Messiah Ben Yosef), but will be resurrected by Hephisibah the mother of the Messiah. (exciting stuff!)
