Ping Pong I : Agudist vs Zionist

MS: How about this: click on the Video to learn a lesson in compassion from Russian citizens

LH: As Alexis said a half an hour ago, why do we hold a minutes silence for what happened in Paris, but do not commemorate similar terrorist attacks in other countries. He used the words "double standards"!

MS: These are not double standards; this is a single standard for EU countries and NO standard for the "Wejs"...

LH: The French Government actually supported ISIS against Israel. People who live in glass houses...........

=======================

LH: There are many concerning articles on the internet that London is next after Paris http://metro.co.uk/2015/11/14/britain-on-high-alert-mi5-braced-for-attacks-in-london-5501249/

MS: See: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/246348/wartime-message-from-agudath-israel-of-america-gratitude-and-fortitude.html

The same goes for all citizens, tourists and refugees sheltering in the British isles...

Democrat

A wise man once wrote that to be a Democrat you have to believe:

1)      Your own country is evil and can do no right and every other country can do no wrong.  Only other people can be proud of their country.
2)      Success is evil.  It is somehow noble to be poor and miserable.
3)      Paying people to be poor and miserable is a great idea.  Emulating successful people is for "sell-outs".
4)      Free speech is only for reporters and terrorists, not for working class people.
5)      Taxes can never be too high.
6)      People are too stupid to take care of themselves.
7)      People are defined by their race or gender or nationality rather than their own behaviour or achievement.
8)      Paying poor families to have babies is a great idea.
9)      Paying people not to work and farmers not to grow crops is a great idea.
10)   Science means whatever a politically-charged, self-selected group of scientists says it does.  If the actual facts are otherwise, just cover it up, fudge the numbers, and blacklist anyone who says otherwise.
11)   Having the federal government spend almost twice as much money as it takes in and therefore put our children and grandchildren in debt is great.
12)   Ignoring your enemies’ intentions and putting your head in the sand is a viable defence strategy.  Well, that or just surrendering.  "Better Red than Dead!
13)   Importing millions of poor, uneducated peasants from Third World countries is a great idea.  See #3 and #8 above.
14)   Everyone else is the problem.  If only you were dictator of the world and could tell everyone what to do, the world would be a utopia.
15)   Representative government is only good when you get your way.  If you don't: protest, throw a fit, harass and intimidate people, and/or cherry pick a friendly judge to give you what you want.
16)   Welcome murderous foreign elements with one hand whilst silencing loyal citizens with the other is de rigueur.
17)   Keep your oil-producing enemies in business, when your domestic economy is teetering on the brink of total meltdown.

I survived my first week without my Mobile

Rosh Chodesh Elul 5775,

Mizrach Beis Hamedrash, South Tottenham, North London, Western Europe

Yesterday I did something I haven’t done before. I forgot to put my Mobile on when I left the house for work.
That meant being about 14 hours without my watch. Over half a day with no notifications, or TxT tracking, or quick replies to eMail messages.
For the first time since I bought my first mobile, I was disconnected.

And I was kind of pleased.
The reason was that I now had chance to see just how used to the Mobile I had become.
My failing memory had given me the opportunity to spend a working day away from the Mobile to find out just how engrained it was in my daily life, and importantly, whether I would miss it or not.
At first, apart from my initial irritation that I managed to forget to pick it up, I didn’t miss the Mobile so much.

Come to think of it, before I bought the latest model, I hadn’t used a Smartphone ever before so not having my whole life crammed into a piece of silicon wasn’t as alien as it might be for some.
How I managed to forget it in the first place is down to the fact that we’re having some adaptations done in my flat - otherwise I would have noticed that it was missing (or, shall I say “I was missing it) much sooner.

Whatever the ins and outs of the situation, I was facing a day without my mobile, checking my pockets for it like some sort of hungry animal.

Oh the indignity!

Initially, I didn’t really notice that I didn’t have my Mobile with me.
Sure, I was conscious of the fact that I was pressing the left button of my mouse to check the time or for notifications while it sat on the desk, only to realise that I am mobileless – not mouseless.
The sky didn’t fall in, my head didn’t fall off, and the world kept on spinning even while my Mobile sat on the shelf at home. But then I started receiving messages and Twitter replies as a couple of conversations sparked.
My desktop alerts on my office PC started bleeping with alarming regularity and I found myself checking the Message Ticker more often than I really needed to, but I felt compelled to because it was shouting at me.

Like a baby crying, it’s impossibly difficult to ignore the Messenger, which is so desperate for your attention. And then I realized that the Mobile would have stopped all that. Instead of all the distracting noises and perceived requirement to check notifications, the Mobile would have tapped me on the chest and then gone away, keen to let me finish what I was doing.
The Mobile is so much better at letting you know that sure, there’s something for you to look at, but you can do it on your own terms. No need to stop everything to find out that someone has sent you a message on Twitter.

There are offshoots of this too.
When I was checking notifications on my office screen, I found myself replying to tweets or messages when I didn’t need to because they could have waited.
What’s worse is I then ended up browsing Twitter or tapping a link that took me further away from what I was meant to be doing.
People talk about the Mobile reducing distractions but it’s true, it really does. At the end of the day I went home with my initial beliefs confirmed.
The Mobile is not something any of us need, and not having one isn’t going to ruin your life by any stretch of the imagination. If you do have one though, I’m willing to bet that you’ll feel a little off should you not use it for a week.

You might not be able to quite put your finger on what’s wrong at first, but it will dawn on you soon enough. The Mobile has found a little hole in my world and while it’s not going to change lives, just plugging that hole can make a difference.
I’m still not convinced that apps are the culprit, and that may never change even when “filtered apps” arrive after the Asifa, but if receiving notifications of things happening and then triaging the resulting information sounds like something you do a lot of, then the Mobile may just fill a hole for you as well. If you own a Mobile and have used it every day for the best part of your adult life, I challenge you to go a week without it and see how you get on.

I’m not going to say that people don’t know what they’ve got until it’s gone, but I have a sneaky suspicion most will want to make sure they put their Mobile after a week, which points to our generation’s degeneration: we’ve become slaves to our Mobile SmartPhones.
I know I did. Not anymore…

Put away yours, you’ll thank me for the prodding and pat yourself on the shoulder!

Your thoughts please,

Based on an article by Oliver Haslam of May 28, 2015 "I survived my first day without my Mobile"

Hashgochoh Protis X - השגחה פרטית

This week Sunday (30/08/2015), I was busy preparing the launch event of HaGefen UK and took off a couple of hours to visit an elderly family member in Golders Green.  As I was sitting on the 210 bus, I was in a quandary: how on earth can I leave North London when in a mere three hours I will have to welcome the attendees to HaGefen UK?!  On the other hand, the Mitzvah of Bikur Cholim is as vital – if not more important – than a new initiative, which may or may not succeed.  As I was stepping off the bus, I heard someone calling my name, which turned out to be an old friend of mine who was waving wildly to me.  He shouted to me that I should please wait for him and started to drive his car into a side road.  Gesturing to him that I will wait for him, I made my way to a spot where we could meet: he in his car and me on the pavement.  He drove his car alongside me and rolled down the window saying: “I just returned from abroad and was going to search for your number.  You see, since the interview about the Shadchonim Crisis was published in Inyan (a HaModia supplement) on Chamishoh Osor beOv this year I was looking for you, as we urgently need to do something about this.”  I was astonished at this Hashgochoh Protis: here I am, wondering whether I should really be in Golders Green and now it’s all clear: this meeting had to take place just in time to invite him to the inaugural gathering of HaGefen UK!

Hashgochoh Protis IX - השגחה פרטית

This week’s Sedra Parashas Behar starts with the Mitzvah of Schmitta: to allow one’s field fallow, resist from tending to the trees and let others enjoy the fruits of your labour.  This is one of the Mitzvos that in recent years has become ever more relevant, since many fruit growers in the holy land of Israel cultivate a variety of fruits, mainly for export.

When you pick up an avocado in you rlocal supermarket, the product description might include “Israel” as the country of origin, inevitably a bell starts ringing in your head: is it right to buy this fruit?  Add Schmitta to the equation and panic starts setting in: how will I be able to adhere to the Halochos pertaining Schmitta produce?

The following story happened to us during the last Schmitta, during the summer holiday of 5775 (2015), which we spent in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.  

Having accepted summer work as a Mashgiach in one of the Kosher hotels in the region, I had to inspect all incoming goods to ensure they conform to the laws of Kashrus.

On the morning of 27 Av (August 12^th) I did my rounds in the store rooms, fridge and freezers. When I opened the walk-in fridge and gave the many boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables a glance over, a surprise was awaiting me.  Nestled between the many crates, bags and containers stacked on the shelves and littering the floor, I spotted a box of mango fruit, imported straight from Eretz Yisroel.  The company name Miriam Shoham was clearly printed on the side and this was enough evidence to establish the origins of the fruit.  Notwithstanding the fact that it was in the middle of a Schmitta year, this owner of Israel-based mango plantations managed to secure exports of their produce all the way to the Wallis region of southern Switzerland.

When I took the box to the office and couldn’t find the owner, I started looking for him and finally located him in (where else) the hotel’s Beis HaMedrash.

A heated discussion ensued about the issue surrounding the mangos, as these fruits were certainly Schmitta produce, meaning that they shouldn’t have been sold and certainly not to Chutz Lo-Oretz.   The bizarre thing about this episode was that – as the hotel owner explained - the wholesaler duly promised not to supply any fruits that arrived from Israel (even though he couldn’t quite understand the paradox: here is a Jewish person who refused to buy from his own country...) and here we were being erroneously supplied with exactly these forbidden fruit.

At the time of our deliberation, there were other people in the Beis HaMedrash and some even joined the discussion.  Being that they came from Benei Beraq in Israel, they knew much more about these Halochos than the average ‘Chutznik’ like the hotel staff – I included.

We left it for the hotel owner to ask his Rav HaMachshir in Zurich how to deal with this, with the proviso that until a clear answer was forthcoming, the mangoes will not be used.  As the appointed Mashgiach for the Kitchen it was agreed that I will check up on the progress.

In the afternoon I went out to do some errands in the main road of Saas-Fee and as I was approaching one of the tourist offices opposite the Walliser Kantonalbank, I bumped into one of these Israeli Tourists who overheard our discussion in the Beis HaMedrash.  We went over the Halachic implications in more detail, when he apologised that he needs to leave me as he is in a hurry to leave for the airport soon.  We shook hands and I wished him a safe trip and he started making his way back to the hotel.

As we parted - it was exactly 14:57Hrs - I noticed an electric-powered commercial ‘service truck’ trolley stopping just in front of me - opposite the Walliser Kantonalbank.

Here was a clue to solve our dilemma, which came in the most unexpected way - I just could not believe my eyes when I read the name of the company that was emblazoned on the side of the trolley...

Picture of the Schmitta Van

Children Are Quick

TEACHER: Why are you late?

STUDENT: Cause class started before I got here.

TEACHER: Maria, go to the map and find North America ..

MARIA: Here it is.

TEACHER: Correct. Now class, who discovered America ?

CLASS: Maria.

TEACHER: John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?

JOHN: You told me to do it without using tables.

TEACHER: Glenn, how do you spell 'crocodile?'

GLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L'

TEACHER: No, that's wrong

GLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.

(I Love this child)

TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?

DONALD: H I J K L M N O.

TEACHER: What are you talking about?

DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.

TEACHER: Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't have ten years ago.

WINNIE: Me!

TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty?

GLEN: Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are.

TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with ' I. '

MILLIE: I is..

TEACHER: No, Millie..... Always say, 'I am.'

MILLIE: Oh, All right... 'I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.'

TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't punish him?

LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand.....

TEACHER: Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?

SIMON: No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook. (LOL!)

TEACHER: Clyde , your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly the same as your brother's.. Did you copy his?

CLYDE : No, sir. It's the same dog.

(I want to adopt this kid!!!)

TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?

HAROLD: A teacher.

Why Israel is the World’s Best Nation

A beautiful article about Israel, written by an incredible Italian with a real backbone in journalism!

The writer, Giulio  Meotti  is an Italian journalist with Il Foglio.

I don’t know another nation on earth without recognized borders.

I don’t know another nation on earth whose population lives under a perpetual emotional strain. 

I don’t know another nation on earth threatened to be wiped off the map.

I don’t know another nation on earth so threatened by boycotts all over the world.

I don’t know another nation on earth where winners tend to lose wars.         

I don’t know another nation on earth which provides its own enemy with water, electricity, food, weapons, and medical treatment.

I don’t know another nation on earth where guests on official visits utter disrespectful and offensive words.

But I also  don’t know another nation on earth which has recorded so many miracles.

Imagine a helpless, naked Jew at the gas ovens facing a Nazi official, who thinks he will get rid of the “Jewish cancer,” get rid of this unique phenomenon of 2,000 years.

Could that helpless, naked Jew imagine that in 50 years other Jews will be flying F-16s in the skies over Israel? 

Could that helpless Jew imagine that Israel’s  population today would be nine times  that of 1948, the year of the state’s creation?

Could that  helpless Jew imagine that Israel is much happier than all the European countries? 

Could that helpless Jew imagine that Israel has the highest production of scientific publications per capita in the world?

Could that helpless Jew imagine that Israel has the highest worldwide publication of  new books? 

Could that helpless Jew imagine that Israel is the only nation which began the XXI century with a net gain in the number of trees? 

Could that helpless Jew imagine that Israel has with largest number of chess grandmasters per capita of any city in the world?

Could that helpless Jew imagine that Israel is the nation whose academics produce more scientific papers per capita than anywhere else in the world?

Could that helpless Jew imagine that Israel is the nation with the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world?

Could that helpless Jew imagine that Israel is the country which, in proportion to its population, with the largest number of startup companies in the world? 

Could that  helpless Jew imagine that Israel is the country with the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita? 

Could that  helpless Jew imagine that Israel is the nation with the largest  immigrant-absorbing model on earth?

Unfortunately, you will not find Israel’s goodness and superiority in  the media (also Israeli), because it doesn’t fit in with the stereotype of the colonialist Zionist occupier.

In the world’s consciousness, the word “Israel” must be equated with fear.   

Israel just came out of another war against terrorists whose value is less than that of animals.  Do you know of any animal species sheltering behind its own children?

But the Jewish State, despite its media, its cynical politicians, establishment, once again showed the world it is the best humanity has

to offer.       

This hope is expressed in the faces of Israel’s fallen soldiers, its wounded and injured soldiers.  In those faces there is joie-de-vivre, not sadness or hatred.

Terrorists and their Western appeasers want to destroy Israel because it is a light unto the nations, the only one in the world in which we live.

With all the accusations hurled at us, it is good to see a "righteous Gentile" who appreciates the uniqueness of Israel in the family of nations.   Show us another nation on earth which, since its founding, had to sacrifice 23,000 soldiers over the span of her first seventy years.

ca. 2007 - ALL EUROPEAN LIFE DIED IN AUSCHWITZ

ALL EUROPEAN LIFE DIED IN AUSCHWITZ

By Sebastian Vilar Rodrigez

I walked down the street in Barcelona, and suddenly discovered a terrible truth - Europe died in Auschwitz.

We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, talent. We destroyed the chosen people, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world.

The contribution of this people is felt in all areas of life: science, art, international trade, and above all, as the conscience of the world. These are the people we burned.

And under the pretense of tolerance, and because we wanted to prove to ourselves that we were cured of the disease of racism, we opened our gates to 20 million Muslims, who brought us stupidity and ignorance, religious extremism and lack of tolerance, crime and poverty due to an unwillingness to work and support their families with pride.

They have turned our beautiful Spanish cities into the third world, drowning in filth and crime.

Shut up in the apartments they receive free from the government, they plan the murder and destruction of their naive hosts.

And thus, in our misery, we have exchanged culture for fanatical hatred, creative skill for destructive skill, intelligence for backwardness and superstition.

We have exchanged the pursuit of peace of the Jews of Europe and their talent for hoping for a better future for their children, their determined clinging to life because life is holy, for those who pursue death, for people consumed by the desire for death for themselves and others, for our children and theirs.

What a terrible mistake was made by miserable Europe.

*********************

The above is a SPANISH NEWSPAPER ARTICLE.  KEEP IT FOREMOST IN YOUR MIND THAT THIS WAS WRITTEN BY A SPANISH WRITER ABOUT SPAIN AND EUROPE.

This is a translation from a Spanish newspaper.

Please send this article to as many people as possible, with a request to forward it on.

Outrageous!

The Pope says that jihad violence is against God's nature, and officials fear that in response, Muslims enraged by this insult will commit... jihad violence.

• Muslims murder 3,000 innocents in New York and expect no criticism.
• Muslims murder 202 tourists in Bali and expect no criticism.
• Muslims murder 333 schoolchildren and their teachers in Beslan and expect no criticism.
• Muslims murder 292 innocents, mainly Kenyans and Tanzanians at two US Embassies and expect no criticism.
• Muslims murder 241 US and 58 French peacekeepers in Beirut and expect no criticism.
• Muslims fire 4,000 Katyusha rockets into Northern Israel killing over 50 innocent civilians and expect no criticism.
• Muslims murder 52 in London and 191 in Madrid and expect no criticism.
• Muslims murder 200 in Mumbai and expect no criticism.
• Muslims behead Western hostages in Iraq , Buddhist monks in Thailand and Christian schoolgirls in Indonesia and expect no criticism.
• Muslims murder 500,000 in Darfur and expect no criticism.
• Muslims regard Jews as 'sons of pigs and monkeys', and vow to nuke Israel and expect no criticism.
• Muslims force women to wear hideous sacks, stone to death women for getting raped and for leaving the home unescorted, engage in honor killings of sisters and daughters for unapproved dating, and expect no criticism.
• Muslims danced in the streets and handed out sweets to their kids to celebrate the 9/11 atrocity, and still expected no criticism.
• Since 9/11 Muslims have killed over 26,000 and wounded over 50,000 in terrorist attacks worldwide and expect no criticism.
• Since 9/11 Muslims have committed terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Chad, Chechnya, Dagestan, Denmark, East Timor, Egypt, England, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ingushetia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Kabardino-Balkans, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Gaza-Palestinian Authority, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Somalia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Arab Republic, United States, Uzbekistan and Yemen, and still expect no criticism.
• Muslims have carried out over 5,800 fatal terrorist atrocities since 9/11, and countless thousands since Islamic conquest began in 623 AD and expect no criticism. 

But if a Pope dares to tell the truth about Islam or Danes publish cartoons about Mohammed, then let the outpourings of Islamic hate and outrage begin.

And, by some twisted reach of logic, the arrogant Muslims demand the Pope issue an apology.

A Hesped for Rav Treger - the Rosh Yeshiva of Eitz Chayim

Press release (DRAFT)

London, Date: 9 June 2015

A Hesped for Rav Treger - as the Rosh Yeshiva of Eitz Chayim, Wilrijk, near Antwerp in Belgium was known - was held on Monday evening 21 Sivan at the Pardes Wiznitz hall on Lampard Grove, North London.

The event was attended by his many Talmidim, some whose grandchildren are now of Yeshiva age and many who only knew the Rosh Yeshiva from his many Shiurim that he delivered in Antwerp proper, having settled there in his later years.

Listening with rapt attention . . . .

HaRav Moshe HaLevi Hoffman

Wilrijk old-timers, who left the Jeschiwa (=Yeshiva) many decades ago sat alongside Yungeleit and listened as one eulogy after another highlighted the sterling characters that this Godol beTorah demonstrated throughout his very productive life.

From left to right: Rabbi Aftergut, Dayan Padwa and Rabbi Englander

Also in attendance was Dayan HaRav Yosef Padwa Shlita, whose sons attended Wilrijk Yeshiwa under Rav Treger Ztz"l. 

Following Minchah, the chairman Rabbi Moshe Halevi Hoffman opened the evening by describing his own feelings of loss, reminiscing on the many tranquil, learning filled years that he spent under the Rosh Yeshiva's tutelage.  

He echoed the sentiments of many, when he described the electrified air that permeated the Yeshiva walls, as if charged with Torah-power. 

HaRav Eliyohu Aftergut 

Rabbi Moshe Hoffman then introduced the guest speaker Rabbi Eli Aftergut who came specially from Antwerp to be Maspid his mentor, emphasising the many facets by which the Rosh yeshiva was uniquely famous: his breadth and depth of analysis, his concentration power and how he moulded each and every Talmid into a Ben Torah.  

He made us aspire to greatness and opened up vistas of learning that enabled us - his Talmidim, whom him dearly loved - to blossom in their adult years, long after they left the Yeshiva.

Rabbi Moshe Hoffman then introduced Rabbi Sholom Tzvi Englander, who kept the audience spellbound with his description of the Rosh Yeshiva's pedagogic prowess, retelling a number of anecdotes to illustrate this rare quality, for which our generation of Mechanchim is sometimes left wanting.  The Rosh Yeshiva invested much thought into how to present a novel idea of Mussar and Hashkofo, so that even the most recent arrival should be able to absorb it.

Rabbi Sholom Tzvi Englander speaking,
Dayan Joseph Padwa sitting next to him

Rabbi Moshe Hoffman then introduced the youngest son of the Rosh Yeshiva, Harav Yitzchok Treger of Har Nof, Yerusholayim, author of Halichos Shlomo and other Seforim. 

Reb Yitzchok dwelled on the manner in which his great father the giant in learning who delved into the depths of the most intricate Sugyos of Shas, managed to explain his Shiurim to the young saplings that were under charge and how a variety of Torah movements and worldviews found a place in his large heart, by which he managed to unify such a diverse collection of Bochurim, many who were poles apart from each other - into a cohesive and happy Chaburah. 

HaRav Yitzchok Treger, son of the Rosh Yeshiva

His early Chasidic upbringing was augmented by the Lithuanian Derech HaLimmud in his formative years and found meaning after his wedding to the daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach Ztz"l, who was the epitome of Halocho in his days. 

With his typical warmth and natural way with people, coupled with his trademark humility, afforded him a route straight into the hearts and minds of his pupils, many of whom regard him as their life mentor - as was evident at this gathering.

The Talmidim agreed to perpetuate his memory in a Torah Way: using the end of the twelve-month period as a goal, the whole Shas (Gemorro Bavli) will be completed by dividing it into 30-folio portions each - לעלוי נשמת מורנו הרב י-הודה ארי-ה בן ר' אברהם.  

The Siyum is planned for the 27th of Adar II 5776, when a dinner is to be held in London in memory of Rav Treger and in support of the Wilrijk Yeshiva.  For more details, contact 07974160252. 

The organisers wish to extend their heartfelt thanks to Mr Gershon Leitner and his able team, who laboured unflinchingly to guarantee the success of this auspicious event.  The large turnout surely is credited to his effort, for which we wish him success in all his private as well as communal endeavours.