March 30, 2009
Dream
Birkas HaChama
March 23, 2009
March 20, 2009
Is there true evil in the world? Watch this and decide.
Please visit the following link to see Amalek in action:http://tinyurl.com/amalek
(cut and paste)
UPDATE
Here is an embedded copy:
March 18, 2009
Once in 28 Years - Birkas HaChamah
Highly Recommended! - JudahOn April 8, 2009, millions of Jews worldwide will unite in the most spectacular event of the past three decades.
Don’t miss it.
Jerusalem, Israel (January 2009) — Once every 28 years, the sun returns to the exact position of Creation, and Jews all over the world gather together to make Birkas HaChamah, the blessing of the sun. What is the meaning of this momentous event that happens only every few decades? How can we maximize our growth as we count down toward this rare natural phenomenon?
Targum Press is proud to present the ultimate book on Birkas HaChamah: Once in 28 Years, by renowned educator and author Rabbi Moshe Goldberger. In this unique handbook packed with fascinating facts and practical ideas for growth, the author uncovers the meaning and depth of Birkas HaChamah and the life lessons we can learn from it. With a comprehensive explanation of the blessing, a clear overview of its pertinent laws and customs, and an exploration of this event’s continual significance, Once in 28 Years allows us to harness the power and inspiration of Birkas HaChamah and keep its message reverberating in our lives for the next 28 years.
Since the last time that birkas hachama was recited, Jewish awareness and pride has literally exploded. In anticipation of April 8, 2009, thousands of both religious and secular Jews are searching for the laws and meaning of this upcoming event, which for some will be a first-time experience. Once in 28 Years builds up the excitement for the occasion, with 28 chapters of information and inspiration. It is the ideal book to use as a series in a newsletter, for teacher gifts, or as part of a schoolwide event to educate students about Birkas HaChamah.
Practical, inspiring, and easy to read, Once in 28 Years is an invaluable book for every Torah Jew.
Me: Excellent book with all the halachos and philosphy about this amazing mitzvah. Nice hardcover binding and not filled with any extra fluff. It also comes with a nifty laminated card of all the brachos and necessary tefilos.
If you would like to buy a copy, PLEASE click the graphic on the sidebar.
March 12, 2009
March 06, 2009
Iran Can Get Material to Make 50 Nukes. When do we act?
(from Fox News) Iran can develop a nuclear weapon within a year and has ready access to enough fissile material to produce up to 50 nuclear weapons, according to a panel of current and former U.S. officials advising the Obama administration.William Schneider, Jr., chairman of the Defense Science Board and a former under secretary of state in the Reagan administration, offered those estimates Wednesday during a news conference announcing the release of a new "Presidential Task Force" report on Iran by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The report, entitled "Preventing a Cascade of Instability: U.S. Engagement to Check Iranian Nuclear Progress," was signed by a team of policymakers, former officials and Iran scholars that included Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind..
Also signing on to the early draft form were two individuals expected to play significant roles in the development of the Obama administration's foreign policy: former Ambassador Dennis Ross, named last month by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a special envoy on the Iran issue, and Robert Einhorn, a former assistant secretary of state who is expected to accept a senior position dealing with non-proliferation issues.
The "cascade" refers to a set of 164 high-speed centrifuges used to enrich uranium to the high levels necessary to produce a nuclear weapon. The United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, recently reported that Iran has enough low enriched uranium to produce a nuclear weapon, and currently has 5,600 centrifuges operating at its pilot enrichment facility in Natanz. Iran has declared its intention to add another 45,000 centrifuges over the next five years.
But Schneider said Iran has already "perfected the industrial aspects of enriching uranium," and can easily develop a nuclear weapon long before 2014.
"The ability to go from low enriched uranium to highly enriched uranium, especially if [the Iranians] expand the number of centrifuges, would be a relatively brief period of time, perhaps a year or so, before they'd be able to produce a nuclear weapon," Schneider said at the news conference. "So it's not a long-distance kind of problem."
Moreover, Schneider warned that the fundamentalist Islamic regime in Tehran -- which has threatened to wipe Israel off the map and equipped and funded regional terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah -- has access to significant amounts of the raw fissile material that would be the core ingredient in such a nuclear arsenal.
These indigenous natural resources include "yellowcake," the raw uranium ore that is converted to gas and then fed into the cascades of centrifuges. "Iran has enough yellowcake in the country to perhaps produce enough highly enriched uranium, if they go to that length, to produce perhaps fifty nuclear weapons," Schneider said.
Neither of the other two panel members who appeared alongside Schneider at the news conference -- Eugene Habiger, a retried four-star general and former commander in chief of the U.S. Strategic Command, and Nancy Soderberg, a former ambassador to the U.N. and National Security Council staffer during the Clinton administration -- disputed Schneider's claims.
The Washington Instiyute's nine-page report also warned that Israel "may feel compelled" to take military action to try to destroy or retard the Iranian nuclear program if Russia sells the S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Iran.
"Israeli leaders seem convinced that at least for now, they have a military option," the report states.
"However, Israelis see the option fading over the next one to two years, not only because of Iran's nuclear progress and dispersion of its program but also because of improved Iranian air defenses, especially the expected delivery of the S-300. ... Israel therefore may feel compelled to act before the option disappears."
Schneider, who along with Habiger and Soderberg conferred with high-level officials from Israel, Jordan, Qatar, and Bahrain during a trip to the Middle East last December, reported that the Israeli military still believes it can hold the Iranian nuclear apparatus "at risk," but will no longer hold that view if Tehran acquires more sophisticated air defense technology from Moscow.
"It is the transfer of the S-300 that is likely to be a trigger for Israeli action," Schneider said. "The time frame is getting compressed and we need to act quickly if we are going to be successful [in resolving the issue peacefully]."
"Time is not on our side," agreed Habiger. "We've been mucking about on this issue for years now."
Habiger and Soderberg said it remains possible for the U.S., by working with Russia, China and Arab allies in the Persian Gulf, to persuade Iran not to obtain a nuclear weapon.
"They are a rational actor," Soderberg said of the Iranian regime. "They are deterrable." If the costs of pursuing the nuclear program are made sufficiently high, the panel said -- particularly through the imposition of sanctions on Iran's oil and gas sector -- Tehran's "cost-benefit analysis" could be changed.
Iran's defense minister visited Moscow last month to press for the Russian state-controlled arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, to sell Iran the S-300 system. Russian officials, at least publicly, were non-committal.
However, Iran signed a $700 million contract with Russia in 2005 to purchase 29 low-to-medium altitude surface-to-air missiles, which were delivered the following year and became operational in early 2007.
January 28, 2009
A Must See Video!
Egyptian Cleric Amin Al-Ansari Justifies the Holocaust, Airs Footage, and Declares: "This Is What We Hope Will Happen But, Allah Willing, at the Hand of the Muslims."
(WARNING: Disturbing Holocaust Footage)
January 26, 2009
January 15, 2009
Bad Economy May Fuel Hate Groups, Experts Warn
From the Washington Post. Click HERE for the full article.
January 14, 2009
January 13, 2009
Emunah - My thoughts.
I am not trying to introduce a chidush. This has probably a basic Rashi and am showing my ignorance, but here goes.I noticed in morning davening that Psalm 146 and 147 seemingly have similar thoughts but are actually very different. In 146 we read: "Praiseworthy is he in whose help is the God of Jacob; his hope is in the Lord his God. Who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, Who keeps truth forever. Who performs justice for the oppressed, Who gives bread to the hungry..." נֹתֵן לֶחֶם לָרְעֵבִים
147 reads: "He gives the animal its food, to the young ravens which call out." In Hebrew there is a "mapik heh" which denotes that the bread is the animal's. נוֹתֵן לִבְהֵמָה לַחְמָהּ Lachmah... her bread.
The lashon is very telling. Hashem gives food to the hungry human being; one who can, or at least should, realize from Whom his food is coming.
The animal is one who assumes that the bread is her's to begin with.
Perhaps Melech David is giving us a message. We can act like the animal and claim that we have is from our own hands: my money, my home, my car. Or we can use the human trait of emunah and realize that all we have was, is and will always be from Hashem's will.
In fact 147 continues (after describing the animal): "He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He does not take pleasure in the legs of man. Hashem takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in His loving kindness."
I have many friends who have been hit hard by the economic collapse, myself included. It is a daily struggle to remember that I am not in control. I can work hard and give everything 100%, but it is Hashem who runs the world. He not only sustains us weekly, but for evey second.
Klal Yisrael needs to remember that and look to our Father in Heaven. The IDF, Obama's bailout, that vitamin you take in the morning... none can be successsful without the will of Hashem.
Thanks for listening.
Judah's Hechsher of Blog Awesomeness! #2
Here are more of my favorite sites.Israel Matzav
Right Truth
Stand Strong for the Klal
Little Green Footballs (I know it's a no-brainer, but kudos to Charles nonetheless)
The Elder of Ziyon
Dhimmi Watch
Avodah Ivrit
West Bank Mama
Read 'em. Support 'em. Love 'em. They keep the Klal strong.
January 12, 2009
From Dreaming of Moshiach
"We see many miracles during this war and we must increase our prayers. Soon we will be zoche to see the Bet HaMikdash, very very very very soon in our days!"
Pro-Palestinian rally in New York turns violent
NEW YORK (CNN) -- At least nine protesters were arrested in a pro-Palestinian rally Sunday afternoon in New York that injured seven police officers, authorities said.
The extent of injuries varied from minor to serious, New York police said. Two officers sustained head injuries.
Detective Cheryl Crispin said the protesters taken into custody faced charges ranging from disorderly conduct to reckless endangerment.
In a statement, the NYPD said the officers were injured when trying to break up a fight between two demonstrators.
"While attempting to separate the males, several others joined in and began to assault the officers," the statement said.
The demonstrators had gathered on Manhattan's West Side on Sunday afternoon to protest the Israeli incursion in Gaza. The rally began peacefully, but skirmishes between police and demonstrators eventually broke out, witnesses said. iReport.com: Hundreds march, shout at rally
Steve Sherman, coordinator of security for United for Peace and Justice and a demonstrator at the rally, said police maced demonstrators.
"The police pushed us out onto the avenue, and as we were walking down the avenue ... they charged with horses on the sidewalks and they charged with their own bodies and pushed in, and a riot started," he said.
Mike Eilenfeldt, another demonstrator, said confrontations between the police and protesters appeared to escalate after a police officer had fallen to the ground.
"He's laying on the street, and from that point on it's a police riot where they start attacking the young people," Eilenfeldt told CNN.
Police denied the allegations of mace being used on protesters.
January 09, 2009
Jackass of the Right. I think he and Carter should mud wrestle.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
January 08, 2009
Judah's Hechsher of Blog Awesomeness!
Here are my picks for the most Chazak Pro-Israel blogs. These are my "must reads."
Smooth Stone
Point of Pinchas
Daled Amos
Boker Tov, Boulder
Biur Chametz
Yeranen Yaakov
and the kick-butt, up to the minute news from the front...
The Muqata
Keep up the awesomeness!
The Palestine that never was...
"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism."- Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein, 1977Worth reposting. Read Joseph Farah's excellent article Palestinian People Do Not Exist
"Then We [Allah] said to the Israelites: 'Dwell in this land [the Land of Israel]. When the promise of the hereafter [End of Days] comes to be fulfilled, We [Allah] shall assemble you [the Israelites] all together [in the Land of Israel]."
- Qur'an, "Night Journey," chapter 17:100-104