no such thing as munchenhausen

Saw this plastered on the pashkevilim in Yerushalayim yesterday;

Professor Ester Hertzog from the prestigious Beit Berel institute
(not known to be to pro-Chareidi, to say the least
(Beit Berel that is; I'm unaware of Professor's Hertzog's views))
claims that recent studies in England prove that
there is no such thing as munchenhausen syndrome by proxy!

Now - what does that say about our medical system?

Israeli society seems slow to learn.

If in England it has been disproved, then why do the Israeli's still hold of it?

don't curse the chareidim

Ynet has an interesting & positive article about all the chessed in the Chareidi community: don't curse the chareidim .

[Article is in Hebrew. It probably is also translated to English; If you have a link, post it in the comments.]

equal-opportunity corruption

"It's nice to see people from different religious and ethnic backgrounds working so closely for corruption and fraud. Syrian Jews, Italian Americans, Afro-American, Hispanics ... it's equal-opportunity corruption".

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1102897.html regarding the massive money-laundering and illegal organ trading case that broke out this week.

more to come...

a new blog on the munchausen mom

http://meidaamiti.blogspot.com/

Chareidi mother - a different angle

Tsofar has a different angle on the story of the Chareidi mother who allegdly starved her son.

What's the truth?

cool pdf search engine

As a developer, I'm constantly in the pursue of documentation & software development related reading material.
I just came upon a cool pdf search engine.
I was a little suspicious - I was sure that once I found what I'm looking for, a little (or big) pop-up would come up asking for money.
But lo & behold, it's a free service!
I'm bookmarking this one!

Latest Chareidi Protest

I, for one, am embarrassed by the violent protest, and by the protesters.

Yes, I see myself as Chareidi. But I believe that there is a more socialized way to protest. (If there is at all a reason to protest - and I'm not sure about that either.)

I am embarrassed by their behaviour. I think it paints us all black & negatively.

On the other hand, I can see sometimes an advantage to there way of protest.
Take the case of Meirav Vizel z"l - the young mother of 38 from Elad, who perished a week ago, unexpectedly. The last Mishpocha edition had it that the police officer refused to release the body for burial, until he heard that two bus-full of Chareidi protesters are on their way from Yerushalayim & Bet-shemesh.

tracht gut, vet zein gut

Famous Lubavitcher quote, in Yiddish.

It translates to:

Think good, and it will be good.

Now, that's a hero!

2 potential murderers walk into a Yeshiva library, and yell 'hands up'.

Elyakim Kovatch, a Yeshiva counselor, pull out his gun and single-handily brings these 2 guys down.

Now, that's what I call a hero!

Way to go, Kovatch!

Yeshiva counselor who killed terrorists lives to tell the tale

Who are you, Abe Cohen?

'v'raita es achorai, upanai lo yerau'.

"And I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen." (Exodus 33:23)

We humans can not know Him. We can only know who / what He is not.

And we are commanded to emulate Him & 'follow in His ways'...

I'll tell you one thing: I'm not who you think!

answers

Answers.

Definitely not a Jewish concept.

A Jew answers a question with another question.

It should have been named questions...

Chareidim and the internet

Chareidim don't use the internet.

Or do they?

Officially - it's banned.

But recent polls say that somewhere between 40 to 50 percent of chareidi households have some kind of internet access.

And that's not to mention those who have access to internet in the workplace.

(Chareidim that work? another stereotype broken... but that's for a different post!)

keeping it kosher

no... not the food.

Your computer.

Or to be more precise, the software on your computer.

Several years ago, I hired someone to install some software on my computer (nowadays, I do it myself... ).

"I assume it's freeware", I said, half innocently.

"no", he replied, "it's gneiva-ware"...!

Today, with the abundance of freeware & open source projects, you can get almost any kind of software for little or no pay.

So... Why be a ganef? Is it worth it?

What would the Chofetz Chaim do?

My Rosh Yeshiva was fond of saying, whenever in doubt - just think of what the Chofetz Chaim would have done.

That's a standard I've tried to live up to.

Was I always successful? Not necessarily...

Would the Chofetz Chaim be sitting next to a computer, blogging away?

What do you think?

beutiful scenery

Can you spot the location?

YU Maccabeats - Lecha Dodi

Some Acappella music for the drei voch.

Note: this is not to imply that it is permissable to listen to vocal music during the drei voch. It's actually arguable. If in doubt, consult your LOR.

Madoff & Me

I have nothing to do with Bernie Madoff.

Or do I?

Well... I certainly didn't invest any money by him...

But there's a lesson to be learnt, even for us who've never heard of him before.

Emuna Braverman in a wonderful essay: Madoff & Me.

Twouble with Twitters

A Jewish bus driver

Following a late minyan for Maariv Wednesday night, I was standing in the street shmuzing with a friend. Time was approaching 11:30 PM.

All of a sudden, a bus approaches, and screeches to a halt.

The bus driver opens his window, and yells out to us;

"what time does the fast start tomorrow morning?"...

Only in Israel...

An easy and meaningfull fast to y'all!