A Few More Hours Left.....

Sunday 29 Tammuz

Yahrzeit of Rashi, Rabbi Shlomo ben Reb Yitchok

Reb Sholom of Belz says that whoever learns and completes Rashi on the Parsha each week is assured that he will be able to sit in the Mesivta of Rashi in Olam Habah.

The Rebbe of Pinsk-Karlin told over the following story:

There were a group of students traveling to Meron, and they flipped over, causing the death of 3 of them, R’L. The chavrusa of one of these students was extremely saddened by the death of his dear friend. One night this dead friend came to him in a dream and said: “Don’t be sorrowful. Remember how we used to learn chumash and Rashi, every week, with great diligence. Now, when I came to the Upper World, they judged that I should be admitted into the chamber of Rashi in Gan Eden, and therefore there is no need for you to be in sorrow”.

(Segulas HaBesht V'Talmidov)

With much appreciation to Zchusavos.blogspot.com

No Jews Allowed.......... anymore

This is a sample of what is happening across Europe and the Western World.

JEWS LEAVING SWEDEN ......... AMID GROWING ANTI-SEMITISM

Vosizneias. "Sweden, a country long regarded as a model of tolerance, has, ironically, been a refuge for Eilenberg’s family. His paternal grandparents found a home in Malmo in 1945 after surviving the Holocaust. His wife’s parents came to Malmo from Poland in 1968 after the communist government there launched an anti-Semitic purge.

"But as in many other cities across Europe, a rapidly growing Muslim population living in segregated conditions that seem to breed alienation has mixed toxically with the anger directed at Israeli policies and actions by those Muslims — and by many non-Muslims — to all but transform the lives of local Jews. Like many of their counterparts in other European cities, the Jews of Malmo report being subjected increasingly to threats, intimidation and actual violence as stand-ins for Israel.

“I didn’t want my small children to grow up in this environment,” Eilenberg said in a phone interview just before leaving Malmo. “It wouldn’t be fair to them to stay in Malmo.” ...

"a much larger screaming mob of Muslims

and Swedish leftists

who threw bottles and firecrackers"

"...“I was very scared and upset at the same time,” recalled Jehoshua Kaufman, a Jewish community leader. “Scared because there were a lot of angry people facing us, shouting insults and throwing bottles and firecrackers at the same time.

"Alan Widman, who is a strapping 6-foot-tall member of parliament and a non-Jewish member of the Liberal Party who represents Malmo, said simply, “I have never been so afraid in my life.”

"...Anti-Semitism in Europe has historically been associated with the far right, but the Jews interviewed for this article say that the threat in Sweden now comes from Muslims and from changing attitudes about Jews in the wider society."

Original article: For Jews, Swedish City is a 'Place to Move AWAY FROM.'

Marcus Eilenberg, a 32-year-old lawyer whose grandparents found refuge in Sweden after the Holocaust, recently left for Israel after repeated anti-Semitic experiences.

Malmo, Sweden: The city of Malmo Sweden is located in the south of Sweden, and is Sweden’s third largest city after Stockholm and Gothenburg. Malmo Sweden was one of Scandinavia’s first modern settlements and has long attracted visitors for the interesting architecture that can be found located throughout the city. The convenient location of Malmo Sweden with its close proximity to Copenhagen [where Jews fled to as a safe haven!] makes it a popular tourist destination.

Eye Openers

50 Random Facts That Make You Wonder

What In The World Has Happened To America

#50) A new report released by the United Nations is publicly calling for the establishment of a world currency and none of the major news networks are even covering it.
#49) Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered California State Controller John Chiang to reduce state worker pay for July to the federal minimum allowed by law -- $7.25 an hour for most state workers.
#48) A police officer in Oklahoma recently tasered an 86-year-old disabled grandma in her bed and stepped on her oxygen hose until she couldn't breathe because they considered her to be a "threat".
#47) In early 2009, U.S. net national savings as a percentage of GDP went negative for the first time since 1952, and it has continued its downward trend since then.
#46) Corexit 9500 is so incredibly toxic that the UK's Marine Management Organization has completely banned it, so if there was a major oil spill in the North Sea, BP would not be able to use it. And yet BP has dumped over a million gallons of dispersants such as Corexit 9500 into the Gulf of Mexico.
#45) For the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.

#44) It has come out that one employee used a Federal Emergency Management Agency credit card to buy $4,318 in "Happy Birthday" gift cards. Two other FEMA officials charged the cost of 360 golf umbrellas ($9,000) to the taxpayers

#43) Researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo received $389,000 from the U.S. government to pay 100 residents of Buffalo $45 each to record how much malt liquor they drink and how much pot they smoke each day.

#42) The average duration of unemployment in the United States has risen to an all-time high.

#41) The bottom 40 percent of all income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.

#40) In the U.S., the average federal worker now earns about twice as much as the average worker in the private sector.

#39) Back in 1950 each retiree's Social Security benefit was paid for by 16 workers. Today, each retiree's Social Security benefit is paid for by approximately 3.3 workers. By 2025 it is projected that there will be approximately two workers for each retiree

#38) According to a U.S. Treasury Department report to Congress, the U.S. national debt will top $13.6 trillion this year and climb to an estimated $19.6 trillion by 2015.

#37) The federal government actually has the gall to ask for online donations that will supposedly go towards paying off the national debt.
#36) The Cactus Bug Project at the University Of Florida was allocated $325,394 in economic stimulus funds to study the mating decisions of cactus bugs.
#35) A dinner cruise company in Chicago got nearly $1 million in economic stimulus funds to combat terrorism.
#34) It is being reported that a 6-year-old girl from Ohio is on the "no fly" list maintained by U.S. Homeland Security.
#33) During the first quarter of 2010, the total number of loans that are at least three months past due in the United States increased for the 16th consecutive quarter.
#32) According to a new report, Americans spend twice as much as residents of other developed countries on healthcare, but get lower quality and far less efficiency.
#31) Some experts are warning that the cost of bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could reach as high as $1 trillion.
#30) The FDA has announced that the offspring of cloned animals could be in our food supply right now and that there is nothing that they can do about it.
#29) In May, sales of new homes in the United States dropped to the lowest level ever recorded.
#28) In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has ranged between 300 to 500 to one.
#27) Federal border officials recently said that Mexican drug cartels have not only set up shop on American soil, they are actually maintaining lookout bases in strategic locations in the hills of southern Arizona.
#26) The U.S. government has declared some parts of Arizona off limits to U.S. citizens because of the threat of violence from Mexican drug smugglers.
#25) According to the credit card repayment calculator, if you owe $6000 on a credit card with a 20 percent interest rate and only pay the minimum payment each time, it will take you 54 years to pay off that credit card. During those 54 years you will pay $26,168 in interest rate charges in addition to the $6000 in principal that you are required to pay back.
#24) According to prepared testimony by Goldman Sachs Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn, Goldman Sachs shorted roughly $615 million of the collateralized debt obligations and residential mortgage-backed securities the firm underwrote since late 2006.
#23) The six biggest banks in the United States now possess assets equivalent to 60 percent of America's gross national product.
#22) Four of the biggest U.S. banks (Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup) had a "perfect quarter" with zero days of trading losses during the first quarter of 2010.
#21) 1.41 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009 - a 32 percent increase over 2008.
#20) BP has hired private security contractors to keep the American people away from oil cleanup sites and nobody seems to care.
#19) Barack Obama is calling for a "civilian expeditionary force" to be sent to Afghanistan and Iraq to help overburdened military troops build infrastructure.
#18) On June 18th, two Christians decided that they would peacefully pass out copies of the gospel of John on a public sidewalk outside a public Arab festival in Dearborn, Michigan and within 3 minutes 8 policemen surrounded them and placed them under arrest.
#17) It is being reported that sales of foreclosed homes in Florida made up nearly 40 percent of all home purchases in the first part of this year.
#16) During a recent interview with Larry King, former first lady Laura Bush revealed to the world that she is actually in favor of legalized gay marriage and a woman's "right" to abortion.
#15) Scientists at Columbia University are warning that the dose of radiation from the new full body security scanners going into airports all over the United States could be up to 20 times higher than originally estimated.
#14) 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement.
#13) The FDIC's deposit insurance fund now has negative 20.7 billion dollars in it, which represents a slight improvement from the end of 2009.
#12) The judge that BP is pushing for to hear an estimated 200 lawsuits on the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster gets tens of thousands of dollars a year in oil royalties and is paid travel expenses to industry conferences.
#11) In recent years the U.S. government has spent $2.6 million tax dollars to study the drinking habits of Chinese prostitutes and $400,000 tax dollars to pay researchers to cruise six bars in Buenos Aires, Argentina to find out why gay men engage in risky sexual behavior when drunk.
#10) U.S. officials say that more than three billion dollars in cash (much of it aid money paid for by U.S. taxpayers) has been stolen by corrupt officials in Afghanistan and flown out of Kabul International Airport in recent years.
#9) According to a report by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the baggage check fees collected by U.S. airlines shot up 33% in the first quarter of 2010 to $769 million.
#8) Three California high school students are fighting for their right to show their American patriotism - even on a Mexican holiday - after they were forced to remove their American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo.
#7) Right now, interest on the U.S. national debt and spending on entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare are somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 15 percent of GDP. By 2080, they are projected to eat up approximately 50 percent of GDP.
#6) The total of all government, corporate and consumer debt in the United States is now about 360 percent of GDP.
#5) A 6-year-old girl was recently handcuffed and sent to a mental facility after throwing temper tantrums at her elementary school.
#4) In Florida, students have been arrested by police for things as simple as bringing a plastic butter knife to school, throwing an eraser, and drawing a picture of a gun.
#3) School officials in one town in Massachusetts are refusing to allow students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
#2) According to one new study, approximately 21 percent of children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010.
#1) Since 1973, more than 50 million babies have been murdered in abortion facilities across the United States.

When a Candle Begins to Go Out ...

July 4, 1776 = 17 Tammuz 5536

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration

of the thirteen united

States of America

When in the Course of human events

it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Shabbat Shalom - Parshas Pinchas

Good Shabbos

Shabbat Parashat Pinchas

Wishing one and all a peaceful, calm, warm and breezy Yom Shabbat!

Pidyon Shevuyim

The Vatican has loaned a 9th century prayer book considered to be the oldest Hebrew publication in existence to the Jewish Museum in London...in an impressive set of fellow artefacts, a decadently-illustrated bible from 15th century Spain and an image of the Temple of Solomon...“It is a reminder that in many cases our shared experience is stronger than our differences.” VosizNeias

What kind of "shared experience"

was the 15th C (1492) Expulsion of Jews from Spain?

What kind of "shared experience" were the Crusades?

How Can One Lend a Stolen Possession?

This and other artifacts that once belonged to Jewish People immersed in their devotion to the Creator of the World, and Devout with the Mitzvos...............are being held against their Will.

The Mitzvah of Pidyon Shevuyim is one of the MOST IMPORTANT Mitzvos

The Mitzvah of Pidyon Shvuyim (Hebrew: פדיון שבויים‎, literally: Redemption of Prisoners) is considered an important commandment in the Jewish Halakha. The aim of this Mitzvah, which is the most important of the Mitzvot of Tzedakah[1], is to bring about the release of any Children of Israel held captive by gentiles. The Mitzvah carries a great humanitarian value in the framework of functional community life. Wikipedia.

I don't think "The Crusades" or the "Auto de Fa" give one ownership over items confiscated from persecuted Jews!

The Finger of G-d

In a bizarre reversal of the norm, the skies over Greece were heavy today with the threat of more storms, and the temperatures dropping overnight to 21 degrees Celsius.

WE THE PEOPLE ...

ONE NATION, UNDER GOD FOREVER

"You shall not curse the people because they are blessed."

Toras Kedosha: Numbers 22:12

Tammuz 12, 5770, June 24, 2010

n

"We the people" tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the people" tell the government what it is allowed to do. "We the people" are free.

Ronald Reagan Farewell Address 1989

Coincidence? .....Or an Act of G-d!

Thanks to Nava at Dreaming of Moshiach:

Remember

Aleph, Beis, Gimmel

Emunah and Bitachon will bring the Geulah

Let's Bring the Geulah

א ב ג

א = Emunah

ב = Bitachon

ג = Geulah

Aleph....Beis....Gimmel

Emunah and Bitachon brings the Geulah

Injustices are rearing their Ugly 'Head'

Rubashkin and the “Hekhsher Tzedek”

Unethical in the Name of Ethics

Rabbi YY Jacobson

Animal Vs. Human Flesh

The following moving episode from the “other side” of the Atlantic was related by Cantor Moshe Kraus from Ottawa, who observed it first-hand. *

As a youngster, Moshe Kraus worked in the home of one of the great religious and spiritual Jewish personalities in pre-war Europe, the Rabbi of Munkatsh (a town in southwestern Ukraine), Rabbi Chaim Elazar Spira (1871-1937), known as the “Minchas Elazar.” In his duty of cleaning up and organizing the numerous scattered books in the Rabbi’s study, Moshe Kraus regularly encountered the many people who came to have the Rabbi mediate their disputes and quarrels.

One day, as moshe Kraus was organizing the books, the leader of a particular Jewish community, came to the Munkatcher Rebbe to settle an ongoing quarrel he had with the community Rabbi.

The community leader, who loathed the Rabbi deeply, has been hunting him down (what else is new in the world?). He went so far as to instruct his wife not to ask the Rabbi any questions concerning Jewish law. “Should you have any questions,” he told her, “you ask me.”

One Friday afternoon, a question arose regarding a chicken she was preparing for Sabbath, and her husband was not home. In desperation, she went to the Rabbi to receive a ruling concerning the chicken’s kosher status. The Rabbi ruled it was Kosher. So the woman went ahead and cooked it.

When her husband came home and found out what happened, he was furious. After inspecting the chicken himself, he announced that it was not-kosher. “Aha! He exclaimed. You see, I told you he’s not a competent Rabbi, as the chicken is not Kosher!” and with that he put away the chicken on the side and would not eat it.

After Sabbath, the husband, with chicken in tow, called on the Rabbi to come with him to the Munkatsher Rebbe to settle the matter. Once and for all, he would prove to the world that this Rabbi was indeed an ignoramus and unworthy of his position. Arriving at the Rebbe, the community leader proceeds to tell the whole story, showing the Rebbe the chicken. Finishing his narrative, he says: “Rebbe you see, the Rabbi is feeding us non-kosher food! He must be dismissed from his post.”

The Munkatsher Rebbe did not say a word. He simply took the chicken and examined it well. Then he took a piece of the chicken, closed his eyes, recited the blessing of shehakol (the blessing we recite before eating chicken or meat), and ate it.

The verdict has been stated: the community leader was in the wrong; the Rabbi was in the right. The community leader left the home angry and upset. His scheme to dethrone the Rabbi did not materialize.

Present at this occurrence was the Talmudic scholar Rabbi Yitzchok Sterhell (author of Kochav Yitzchok on the Jerusalem Talmud.) After the two plaintiffs had left, he turned to the Munkatcher Rebbe and asked: “Although according to basic Jewish law the chicken was indeed kosher, it was certainly not “Glatt?” It was certainly not on the highest level of Kashrut. Why did you have to eat from it; you could have merely said that it was kosher?”

The Munkatsher Rebbe slammed his fist on the table, causing all of the books to shake, and replied sternly: “And human ‘meat’ is Glatt Kosher?!”

The message the Munkatcher Rebbe was conveying was that if the laws of kosher food are being enforced while human flesh is being consumed, at the expense of human dignity and basic kindness, you ought to be weary of this type of “kashrut.” The Munkatcher was ready to lower his religious standards of kosher, in order to put an end to the ugly witch hunt of an innocent human being.

Where’s the Apology?
It is troubling to say, but such a form of “kashrut” has recently developed. A few years ago, a new kosher symbol by the name of “hekhsher tzedek” originated by rabbis within the Conservative movement and has been endorsed by the Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative rabbis. Its mission statement was to introduce higher ethics into the preparation of kosher food.

The new certification resulted from the initiative of Rabbi Morris Allen of Beth Jacob Congregation in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, following investigative reporting by Nathaniel Popper in The Forward (a weekly Jewish newspaper) regarding working conditions at the Rubashkin Agriprocessors kosher meat plant in Postville, Iowa.

In an interview with Pamela Miller from the Star Tribune, Rabbi Allen states, "While it [the team led by Rabbi Allen] was not able to verify all of the Forward's claims, 'we witnessed some things that went against the dignity of workers.'" Allen argues that “We should not be eating food that has been produced in a way that has denied the dignity of the laborer. We should not be more concerned about the smoothness of a cow’s lung than we are about the safety of a worker’s hand.”

Noble instincts indeed. Alas, as it turns out, this new kosher certification speaking in the name of ethics has been established on the foundations of horrific and unjust human abuse. For years, leading activists of Hekhsher Tzedek slandered the Agri kosher meat plant and its manager Sholom Rubashkin for the supposedly horrendous mistreatment of workers. Yet, on June 7th, a jury in Waterloo, Iowa proclaimed kosher slaughterhouse manager Sholom Rubashkin not guilty of all 67 child labor violations he has been charged with. It turns out that the accusations were unfounded.

[In separate charges for obtaining bank loans for the company through fraudulent reports, Rubashkin was sentenced today to 27 years in prison. The bank loans were being used to sustain the Agri plant and were paid up till the Federal government shut down the meat plant. The lawyers vowed to appeal this uniquely harsh sentence.]

We have not heard an apology from the Rabbinical Assembly for the creation of a new kosher symbol dedicated to ethics fueled, inspired and validated by the unjust character assassination of Mr. Rubashkin and his company. Does the Jewish world really want a kosher mark born of Jewish suffering?

Hath not Sholom Rubashkin eyes? Hath not Rubashkin hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? If you prick him, does he not bleed?

*) Cantor Kraus related this story to Rabbi Pinchas Williger from Montreal, who shared it with me.

My Beloved Eretz HaKodesh

So much has been said already, that I didn't want to touch on this topic.

However, my blogger friend Akiva at Mystical Paths posted the very best synopsis to date. So much so that I join with those who were so upset that they may have said/written 'too much' AND ARE NOW SORRY THEY DID.

Reb AKiva by far, in my estimation, gave the best explanation of what happened; because I got it all wrong, and may also be guilty of something or other.

Not one other 'place' explained it so simply that anyone could understand. I was all upset that Jewish children were not allowed to learn together with 'more religious' children. How else can the not-so-religious learn about the beauty of being religious. Only, now after all these terrible words and pictures, it probably turned everyone NOT even close to being religious, AWAY FROM even getting near to Shomer Shabbos Jews.

Just look what can happen in the Israeli heat?!

I also apologize to the Land, if I said anything hasty or improper.