J-Bloggers, Jews Represent

The 2006 Weblog Awards are in full swing... a few of the blogs I read regularly are nominated in different categories - feel free to vote for Jack's Shack here, TownCrier here, DryBones here, and then debate between Treppenwitz and Elder of Ziyon for Best MiddleEast/Africa blog. Treppenwitz actually is running a tight race in his category... and I feel for DryBones. His category is loaded with great comic blogs.

Other interesting posts:

• SIW has a very well-written letter regarding the Kolko arrest from a member of JSafe. Excerpt:

I applaud those “anonymous bloggers” who brought this issue public and kept it in the public eye. Without them, this arrest would not have happened. They too have been subject to attack recently. I have already written about the problems of anonymous blogging (”Are Blogs Kosher? The Jewish Week 05/25/2006)–”Can these blogs be more responsible? Yes, and they need to exercise much greater care in upholding standards of decency, fairness and justice because they, too, can be responsible for harming innocents. And Web surfers should not necessarily believe what they read on them…But the blogs are here and, for now, supply a valuable service.

• DaveBender points us to this fascinating WSJ piece on Jewish DNA.
• (via MoC) BenChorin has a cute story about the dedication of Israeli teens to their country.
• LOR reports that Matisyahu was nominated for a Grammy.
  

Unbelievably Lucky

This video touched me, though I'm unsure what it has to do with cingular.

Deheaded

Something about this picture just grabs you, no? I don't know if it's all the colors, patterns, textures... or just the fact that it looks like our formerly non-commenting friend's head has completely disappeared. But since Sarah [cough cough] seems to never use her posting rights, I figured I may as well post a cool picture. 

Browns vs. Steelers

All right, David - Browns to cover? (Steelers are 7.5 point favorites.) [I'd say win, but that gives you waaay too much of an advantage...]

GO BROWNS!!!

Funny People

Some people are just funny. Some bloggers are really funny. On an otherwise very boring day, there's one blogger who is currently being extremely entertaining (and another who is being somewhat funny). Thanks people - otherwise, I'd be so incredibly bored right now...

Religious Test

(Hat tip: Pamela H.) Who do you think is right in this case?

A Jewish woman in North Hollywood, CA., lodged a complaint Tuesday against Fitness USA for an alleged civil rights violation involving a fellow gym patron. According to Jodi Berry, executive director of Fitness USA, Chana [redacted] was praying in front of another member’s locker when the member wanted access to her belongings inside the locker. The inconvenienced patron tried to interrupt Ms. [redacted], but she remained standing in front of the locker and an altercation ensued. A manager was called into the locker room to intervene.

Ms. [redacted] later complained that the Fitness USA management was unconcerned about the humiliation she suffered when her prayers were interrupted. She stated that the gym personnel were insensitive, rejected her complaints and did not satisfactorily intervene on her behalf. Ms. [redacted] further reported that the manager told her, “You have to respect her (the other patron), but she does not have to respect your god.”

I personally think that the patron is right here - you can't block someone's locker and expect them not to be upset. It's hard to know exactly what the altercation consisted of, but the original fault goes to the person praying. What do you think?

(After you've commented, read the rest of the piece here.)

Ezzie's Blog Roundup, 12/7: Heroes

Woah. Heroes is an amazing show. I just watched this week's episode online... wow. I, much like Meryl, recommend it highly. I had to start from Episode 6, but NBC just put all the episodes online, so you can catch up easily.

Anyways, some good reads out there that you may have missed:

• 10) Yitzchak is one of many who linked to this, so I randomly picked him. This is quite a (deserving) slap in the face to ex-President Jimmy Carter.
• 9) David Kirschner may be stressed out, but at least he's getting published.
• 8) Kasamba is hilarious, period.
• 7) Sephardi Lady tackles FSA's before the tax year is out. Save yourself a few hundred bucks and read this.
  
• 6) DAG has Michael Medved's excellent take on the Prager/Ellison kerfuffle.
  

And now, on to the top 5:

• 5) This DAG follow-up on the tznius conference may make you want to throw up - it's all the rules and guidelines they made. Most of them are reasonable, but a few really make you wonder; and the first rule is sad, especially when recalling who was not at the conference.
  
• 4) Ariella notes a wonderful guidebook on marriage. You may want to bring back the barf bag for this one. Excerpt:

  #3 [directed at the husband] “Make peace as soon as possible, even if it means going beyond what the other party is entitled to. NEVER LET A QUARREL CONTINUE. Even if it means going to Manhattan and buying your wife a $1,500 diamond, that will take you five years to pay up—do it! No matter what, she will probably take the diamond—and your marriage will be restored.”

• 3) Save the barf bag: Orthomom [commentary] and DAG [actual letter] have the Jewish Press response to a heart-wrenching piece by a struggling frum gay man.
• 2) This DAG find (he had a great day) made me say What!? Excerpt:

  They have restricted the studies of the women to the area in which they are actually teaching. They have allowed taking courses to reach the levels bachir and kefel to'ar (a level that allows the teacher to teach in a seminar), and also other courses known as gemulim. However they do not allow women to get a BA or a BA equivalent. Maran HaRav Eliashiv said that he did not know how it could be that for so long those who run the courses had not sought rabbinical guidance. He also said that those who had been exposed to outside influences in these advanced courses must be assumed by the Bais Yaakov system to be on a lower level than those who have not been so exposed.

• 1) Chana has a fascinating, thought-provoking post on how we think about pedophiles.
  

Have a wonderful day!

Anyone up for Lunch?

Anyone in midtown Manhattan want to grab lunch? I'm bored and hungry.

As a follow-up on yesterday's link... Harry Maryles has a good post on the subject, while R' Gil Student and Krum both discuss R' Schachter's speech saying people should report such activities to the police. As always, it would be better if people could attach their names to their statements, and while it is obviously understandable why people often do not feel safe or comfortable doing so, it also does impact how much one can trust their information and claims.

Some newish (at least to me) blogs I'm enjoying, off the top of my head:

• RaggedyMom - and not just because she can stalk me while I wait for the bus...
• DaBoysof905
• MotherinIsrael

And, one of my old faves has moved to a new, "better" location: Reflections of a Rabbi's Wife.

And, for all you hookah lovers out there (you know who you are!) - y'all may want to read this at CampusJ.

How I Met Serach, Part VII...Eleven: Is She Cute!?

This is Part VII of a series about how I proposed to Serach. Part I is here, Part II is here, Part III is here, and Part IV is here, Part V is here, Part VI is here. Or, you could simply use the dropdown menu on the left side of the blog titled "How I Met Serach". I'm currently giving the background of the story... starting from the first date. My "sister" B has just called and interrupted what seems to have turned into a date, much to my surprise.

Ez: Hey B, what's up?
B: Heeeey! Are you still out with that girl Serach?
Ez: Umm, yeah.
B: EH-ZIE!! Is this a date?! It IS a date! I told you it was a date. [Note: She does this a bit, in case you haven't noticed.]
Ez: Umm, no? Maybe? I don't know.
B: OHMIGOD, it's a date. Haha! You're on a date! Well, is she cute!?
Ez: [long pause] Uh, yeah. [I had no clue how to answer that. I mean, that's not my focus, and I don't think I am/try not to be shallow, even if I did notice that she's really pretty. But B knows me well, so...]
B: No, no, Ezzie, that's not what I asked. I asked if she's cuuute. Not just cute. You can answer the question, don't worry. It's okay. Now - Is. She. Cute!?
Ez: Okay, okay. Yes!
B: Yaaay! Good. Okaaay, I'll let you get back to your daaate! Byeeeeeeee!!!!

So I got off the phone with B, and returned to what was clearly a date. Serach didn't miss a beat, continuing to talk while I just listened, throwing in a few words here and there. Though I'd explained B to Serach in the past, I think I tried to explain that one a bit more clearly now - I think Serach probably thought it quite strange that I had a sister who was in fact not related to me in any capacity, was just a year younger than me, and was someone who I spoke to nearly every night for about an hour. I can't imagine why.

Meanwhile, Serach and I kept walking around, talking. It was pretty cold out, and we were shivering, but there was no place open at 2:00 in the morning, oddly enough, so we just kept walking on Main Street until we got near Jewel Avenue. Lo and behold, we saw a sight for sore eyes: A beautiful, huge, and most importantly, 24-hour store which is home to one of Serach's favorite things: Slurpees. Hello, 7-Eleven!

We walked in, and though we felt weird kind of walking around the store not buying anything, we were finally able to warm up a bit. One guy was behind the counter, not doing much; the other was mopping up around the store. We asked if they minded that we were just standing and talking in the store, since it was so cold outside; they didn't care, though they probably thought we were nuts.

In case they weren't sure, after a while, and after we had warmed up quite a bit, Serach decided she was going to get a Slurpee. I think I bought something also (probably a Coke), and we continued to stand there and talk... and talk, and talk, and talk. By now, it was about 3:30. We felt really weird/bad that we were now the only people besides the two guys working there who were in the store, so we decided to leave. On the way out, we thanked the guy behind the counter, while the other guy was behind the coffee machines mopping, not really paying any attention.

That's when Serach did something truly memorable.

Ezzie: I'm writing the story as I remember it, and unfortunately that sometimes results in skipping some details. When I remember them, I'll try to fill them in; possibly in the comments, possibly in the posts if it won't make it too disjointed. If anything is unclear or you have any questions, feel free to ask! Serach won't admit it, but she's been reading the story [and lately, other posts, too!] - maybe she'll fill in some of the details and her perspective at some point. I'm still hoping. :)

Tags: How I met Serach, Serach, Ezzie, Goldish, 7-Eleven, B

Worst Comeback Ever

This is the worst, and most amazing, comeback you'll ever see in a football game. East Plano was trailing 41-17 with about 3:30 left in the game, when the game turned downright comical. The announcers only add to the comedy of it. I've never seen a team so stupidly touch an onside kick before - and not just once. Mind-boggling. You have to watch this to the very end... I have so many questions on the coaches in this game.

Great posts out there today that you should check out:

• Shoshana doesn't tell her story over at BeyondBT.
• LT of DaBoysof905 is all for national service in the US.
• The BatTaz discusses his experiences in Chofetz Chaim.
• CWY wants to know why Israel didn't declassify this months ago, when they were trying to win a war. Ugh.
  

Enjoy! (Football helmet-tip: AL, whose blogger login I can't recall...)

Special note to a reader from Baltimore who I sort of met this past weekend: I'm really sorry - the person who introduced us didn't realize I'd just washed and couldn't talk, so sorry for being a bit rude there. But feel free to come over next Sunday! :)

Happy & Sad

One of the interesting things about the J-blogosphere is the range of what it covers, from the happiest moments to the saddest stories. Today is no exception: JewishBlogmeister has a baby boy, and (via MentalBlog) there's this open letter on a very controversial subject to R' Matisyahu Solomon. Go wish JBM a Mazel Tov, and if you can stomach it, read through the letter.

Parenting 102

NOTE: I am not getting anything for writing about TheShmuz, rather I'm choosing to do so because I think it is a very worthwhile program for many people. My brother attends Chofetz Chaim, and I went to a branch of it during high school and have many friends in CC, which is how I heard about TBT/TheShmuz.

Many months ago, I was asked if I could write about The Shmuz (TheShmuz.com). I was repeatedly invited to listen online and to come check it out in person, but between Elianna's birth, the search for a job, the move, and starting a new job, it didn't seem to work out. I attended one Shmuz a few weeks ago, but didn't feel it gave me enough of an impression; but after tonight, I have a far better idea of what it is all about.

Tonight's theme was parenting, but it focused really on two things: Both parenting and education. Not only was it simply very good material, (and Rabbi Shafier is a good speaker) the points made were all on the money. I was seriously reminded over and over again of one of my favorite videos as I listened. Basically, he kept reiterating that each child must be raised and educated according to what is best for them individually, that children must be disciplined but never with vengeance, and that parents need to stay involved in knowing what is going on in their childrens' lives far more than they do by speaking with their teachers, etc. - not by simply dumping them off in school, coming back a few years later, and expecting that they will be some kind of perfect product. All in all, while I may not agree with every single thing he said, it was a very good shmuz and they are very worthwhile to attend.

All in all, Tiferes B'nei Torah, which runs TheShmuz and a number of other classes/shiurim each week*, is very well-organized and impressive. They are the brainchild of the Rabbinical Seminary of America (better known as the Chofetz Chaim yeshivos) and its head, Rabbi H. Leibowitz to help working men keep a structure of learning and Torah life when they may have very little time outside of work and family responsibilities. They have a number of different classes each week in different areas, and they run these classes so far in Queens, Monsey, and Brooklyn. The weekly Shmuz in Queens which I attended fills up the room - there are 50-60 people there each and every week, and it is given in both of the other locations on different nights, in addition to then being placed on their website.

Check out their site, listen to some of the talks, try and attend some of the classes if you can - it's really worthwhile and you can gain a lot from it. There were a few articles written about TBT that are on the site, including this one from early this year that describes it very well.

* I have also attended the Chumash shiur on Wednesday evenings which was quite good; and I have heard very good things from friends about the Sunday morning Iyun shiur and excellent things about the weekday mornings' practical Halacha shiur. The others I haven't heard much about, but the people giving them are great.

A Religious Test

"The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." - Article VI of the United States Constitution

To many, this story is old news, but a quick recap: Dennis Prager (who is Jewish) is upset that MN Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, plans on using a Koran to be sworn into office. Prager's statements were denounced by... well, pretty much everyone, including the ADL. CAIR now wants him removed from the board of the federally-funded Holocaust Memorial Council (which advises the Holocaust Museum), which he was recently appointed to, for his statement.

Now here's the really weird twist - Prager (who is Jewish, remember?) wants Jews to swear on the Christian Bible, too:

Prager said the ceremonial oath is no less significant than the actual swearing-in.

"Oh, that's the whole point. It's exactly because it's ceremonial that it matters to me," he said. "Ceremonies matter. Ceremonies are exceedingly important. That is the way a society states what is most significant to it."

Prager also said that he would like to see Jews swear their oaths of office on the Christian Bible — the Jewish Bible does not include the New Testament that is central to Christian beliefs.

Well, at least he can claim he's consistent and not biased against Muslims in particular... But this just further shows how stupid his opinion on this really is. What happened to the "no religious test" clause in the Constitution? His statement that everybody has sworn on the Bible seems to be wrong, anyway: In addition to T. Roosevelt, who he mentions, many Congressmen and Senators seem to have merely affirmed or sworn on an Old Testament only (in the case of some Jews).

[Note: According to the article, the actual swearing-in is only done by raising their right hand; the part with the Bible is merely a ceremonious photo-op, not even a real swearing in.]

The only valid question is where we draw the line on what people can swear on: Can a Scientologist swear on Dyanetics, an atheist on... oh, Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion? I think the simple answer to this is - if it becomes a serious issue - that everyone must either affirm or swear on the Constitution of the United States, which is the document they are swearing to uphold and protect.

Blogging Public Service Request

CWY notes, and this has something that has often bothered me as well...

Many bloggers, including myself, don't use Haloscan, so we're stuck with whatever Blogger gives us.

For some reason, the default timestamp for Blogger comments only include the time and not the date of the comment. This is really annoying, as it is impossible to tell if a comment thread is still active, or has wrapped up several days ago. This can be remedied rather quickly in Blogger under Settings->Comments->Comments Timestamp Format.

So please, if you use Blogger comments, change the settings to include the date and time. This makes it much easier for anyone who comes by to see if the thread has already died, or is still an ongoing discussion. Thanks!

Post of the Day

You know it's a good one when a number of people have already linked to it, even though it's been up just a few hours. BeyondBT's R' Yonasan Goldson says It's Lonely in the Middle:

I’ve long been taken with the following quote from Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik: “All extremism, fanaticism, and obscurantism come from a lack of security. A person who is secure cannot be an extremist.” ...

Professor Koppel observes that both the modern world and the Chareidi world make the same fundamental mistake, each in its own way. In their efforts to eliminate this spiritual-physical tension, Chareidim are inclined to reject any involvement with the physical, whereas Modern Orthodoxy is inclined to legitimize everything physical in the context of being a Torah Jew. In my own language, Chareidim tend toward forbidding everything not expressly permitted, while the Modern Orthodox tend toward permitting everything not expressly forbidden.

Read the whole thing (especially as those quotes are way out of context). As Serach always says, "Everyone follows their own rav and has their own minhagim (customs). Each person should respect the other for what they do, even if it's different from what they themselves do."

One quibble with the piece - R' Goldson seems to feel that people in the middle are being forced to choose one side or the other, to their detriment. I feel that over the last number of years, we've seen first a large split along the lines of what he describes; but more recently, we've begun to see the reverse - a rejection of both extremes, particularly by the younger generation, and a resurgence toward the middle from both sides.

Speaking of the UN...

Jewlicious points us to a good reminder of why the UN is a bunch of BS.

A Bad Day

Well, today can't get much worse... Yesterday, I suddenly got huge headaches, to the point where I actually got sick. Serach came home, and she started throwing up, too, though completely unrelated it seems. Weird. Then there's today's news headlines:

• UN Ambassador John Bolton will resign after his current UN appointment, since the Democrats won't confirm him because he's "too combative". Meanwhile, he's done an excellent job while he's been there. The logic escapes me.
• One of the things he would do was point out UN corruption - and, since that keeps happening, it's good to have him there. Having someone who doesn't say anything to "be nice" is just plain stupid.
  
• Hugo Chavez wins in Venezuela, and he's going to see if he can get rid of the term limits that currently exist. But no, he's not a dictator.
• Speaking of dictators, it appears that North Korea has been running insurance scams in other countries.
  

Other than that, life is good. Thanks to yesterday, we still haven't had a chance to go over our expenses for the next Jewish Economics post, but hopefully that will happen soon.

The Collapse

How often does a team start off 3-0, with 4 games remaining, needing just one win to clinch a playoff spot... and utterly collapse? Well, we did. TwistCafe managed to blow four straight games, the first one a tight matchup against the eventual division champ, the rest blowouts. Basically, we stunk.

On a more cheerful note, the 96th edition of Haveil Havalim is up at SoccerDad! Check it out.

Must-Win + Five Links

After three consecutive losses, our TwistCafe team needs to turn around our offense today to clinch a playoff spot. We could back in with a loss by another team, but we'd rather not rely on that. We're missing three of our players at least, which makes it even tougher, but we think we can rebound this week - and once it's the playoffs, anything can happen.

Five worthwhile reads for this Sunday morning:

• Israel (the State) has its own blog, which they e-mailed a number of J-bloggers about last week. Looks interesting...
• Hilarious story with The PT, as written by her brother.
• JBM points to a guy with an interesting fundraising bumper sticker.
• BeyondBT recaps last night's melave malka, which was quite enjoyable (even though I came really late).
• Great post by Scraps. Must-read.
  

Have a great day!

Ezzie's Blog Roundup: The FFC Aufruf!

This weekend should be lots of fun, as we'll be spending it celebrating the aufruf (um, pre-wedding celebration? Who can translate that?) for the upcoming wedding of FFD & FFW. Meanwhile... here's some good reads to enjoy until then.

• 10) Balaboosteh turns 30 - and admits it!
• 9-8) PsychoToddler's son's bar mitzvah will not be called on account of snow. Lots and lots of snow. (And Stacey is jealous!)
  
• 7) I wonder if PT's son will follow R' Gil's advice. (And it's so true.)
  
• 6-5-4-3) WestBankMama & Jameel are ticked off at Chayei Sarah's lambasting of the public face of Religious Zionism. Personally, I think that their posts are great, though I think CS made a bunch of very good, valid points in her post. Perhaps I'll elaborate later, but I think her follow-up post shows exactly that.
  
• 2) Krum points to the foolish comments of a Rabbi. Amen.
• 1) Dave Bender talks about the super-cool Yasam units in Israel. I've seen these guys in action - they look like they're straight out of the movies.
  

Have a wonderful Shabbos!