BlueTruth

BOTH has pointed to a good-looking new group blog that is out there called BlueTruth. What it's about:

Here we will be refuting the accusations and exposing the lies that are being told on the streets and in cyberspace about Israel, Jews and pro-Israel organizations.

A severe campaign of disinformation is underfoot that relies on anti-Semitic stereotypes, intimidation, half-truths, and outright lies. These campaigns have gone almost completely unanswered. Until now, they have also gotten little press and were deemed by many to be inconsequential. Given the media blitz that has surrounded Jimmy Carter's book, the Mearshimer-Walt paper, and the coordinated media campaign accusing "Jews," and/or "Zionists" or suppressing free speech and access to the media, we decided it is time to fight back.

Welcome to the next stage of the struggle.

May they have much success.

What If? The Power of Rabbanim

Life-of-Rubin has a fantastic post up today. Excerpts:

I was thinking that if 100 Rabbis [sic], or however many it is can get together and decide that a simple piece of clothing material should be assur then what would happen if these same Rabbis [sic] actually used this power for other things plaguing our communities worldwide.

What if 100 Rabbi's got together and decided to ban smoking. Smoking claims the lives of so many [...]

What if 100 Rabbi's got together to end obesity. [...]

I guess that's the question isn't it. What if ... ?

Coffee, Your Price

[cross-posted at Kindness Happens]

(Hat tip: Michael B) This is pretty cool, and interesting:

With its blood-red walls and black leather sofas, Kirkland's Terra Bite Lounge looks like any other coffee shop — until you get to the menu. There are no prices listed. Terra Bite doesn't have them.

You read that right: No prices. Customers pay what and when they like, or not at all — it makes no difference to the cafe employees, who are instructed not to peek when people put money in the metal lock box.

I wonder if - and hope - it will be successful. I think it may be for the reasons illustrated in this comment [the very first comment] on a Kirkland blog:

I went down to Terra Bite randomly on a Sunday with my best friend because Janis had told me about it. Katie and I had this plan to just go in, get coffee and not pay because we wanted to see how it felt to just not pay. We ended up feeling so guilty that we drove back paid double what we would have and I offered to put a bumper sticker on my car to help advertise...it's a crazy mind game they have going there.

This is much better than similar ideas from the past - say, communism or other policies that distribute wealth, for a simple reason given by the next comment:

My initial excitement was later tempered by the thought that we've done this before and it has failed miserably (pick any communist state that has tried to force economic equality by spreading wealth). But then I realized that this was fundamentally different. It's not a government forcing us to distribute wealth. It's about relative worth measured by US. It forces US to look at the larger economic picture and assess how we fit in.

It's really brilliant, and I'd love to see how it goes. Hopefully it will show that people really are kind, honest, and fair. My guess? A high enough percentage of people really are, and that will make this be at least moderately successful.

No To Fur?

A lady next to me on the subway had a couple of interesting pins on this morning, and one of them really bothered me. Two of the pins had the word fur with a red slash through them - "No to Fur". The third pin, though, had a statement:

Animals are not for us to eat, wear, or experiment on.

Now, while I may personally disagree, I can respect those who make a personal choice not to eat animals or not to wear animals. But I can't respect those who feel that we cannot experiment on them, either. Anyone with any medical understanding whatsoever can tell you the importance of animal testing in learning how medicines and treatments can work for people. Just this past Friday night, our friend Moshe was discussing how testing on mice in his cancer research lab was teaching them quite a bit.

Noble ideals do not always translate into noble results. Issues are almost never black and white - nobody is in favor of 'cruelty to animals', for example, it's a question of what is truly cruel and how much value we place on people as opposed to animals. I cannot respect those who place the lives of animals over those of humans, however.

[Chana has a fascinating story/post on a similar subject. The timing of this post is coincidental.]

Spoofing the Lecha Video

(Hattip: Chana F) It seems a few girls made their own music video to Lecha, spoofing some parts of the one by David Lavon and company from last year, and now it's up on YouTube.

Fighting Back

Two interesting stories in the news today regarding anti-Semitism:

• 1) More and more people are starting to realize just how biased ex-President Carter's book about Israel was. His fighting with the well-respected Wiesenthal Center is not helping him.
• 2) Iran's anti-Semitic cartoons are getting international press. It's about time.
  

Awareness of an issue is key to fighting it. Hopefully, this will make more people aware.

Dear Brother

YS has a great post at On the Flip Side... Excerpt:

On 7/19/06, My Brother wrote:

Sometimes I wish I lived in Israel. I know it's the wrong thing for me but I still wish it sometimes. When do I wish it? When northern Israel is getting Katushaed and Israel decides to do something about it. That makes me want to be there. Where the action is.

...

But there is a distinct feeling during these tense times that Jewish History happens in Israel.

Not only "during these tense times" but I'd say "on the whole" this is where it's happening. I feel hard pressed to say that the future of Am Yisroel is happening in NY.

I feel NY and American Jewry will be a parsha in the story of Am yisroel in Golus. Like Poland and Spain and Morocco.

Personally, I've long felt the same, but I think that what his brother touched on in the original letter is an important point as well: Obviously, people miss Israel the most when they're either there for a short time/just returned, or when something dramatic is happening - whether good or bad. (For instance, watching the Nefesh b'Nefesh video a couple of days ago, I was basically crying, wanting to go there - similar to the reactions I had during the war.)

At the same time, I know that at the present moment it is best for me to be here (heck, even in New York City), and not there. Then again, I feel that YS is right - in the grand scheme of things, what goes on here is but a small parsha (chapter) in terms of Judaism, while what happens there will not be.

I'm not sure any of these really contradict one another, but they trouble me nonetheless. Any thoughts?

Slow As A Snail

Stacey has a beautiful post up about her daughter's little, slimy friends. Excerpt:

I hate to lie to my children. But sometimes there is no other choice.

"I will miss them so much, Mommy. But if it's better for them to be out there, then I guess we need to let them go. I don't want Joe to die," she said, chin quivering.

We said a prayer to G-d to watch over them. She told them she loved them. And then we went outside and I let her spoon them out under a bush in our backyard.

DA!

Elianna's latest is up at Our Kids Speak. (That's right, I wrote Elianna! :) )

Living On The Front Lines

Jameel has a wonderful post this morning explaining his decision to raise a family in what many would consider a dangerous area in the Shomron, in response to a question a commenter posed. Check it out.

Ezzie's Blog Roundup, 2/6: From the Heart

There have been a number of fantastic posts in the J-blogosphere the past week, but with busy season picking up steam, I simply don't have the time to link, read, and post as much as I'd like to. [Meanwhile, everyone reading this is thinking "Um, he still posts more than everyone but Jack..." - yeah, well, I've written almost 0 original thoughts, okay?]

A few notes on my part: Blogger II stinks. Half the blogs don't seem to take comments these days, I lost a really well-researched post I was writing, and I can't take advantage of some of the "new features" without losing a nice chunk of what I've got. Rex Grossman stinks. The interceptions he threw were clear picks the second he let go, as the Bears fans next to me screamed "NO!" when each one fluttered HIGH into the air, hanging up there long enough for any high-school safety or corner to get under. I think the second one was being clocked for hang time. And the fumbled snap was right in his hands - I know the ball is wet, but come on... it went right through, it didn't slide off.

Okay, on to the posts - a number of which are really from the heart:

• 10) Robbie cleans up.
• 9) This is a great reminder of why I love IsraellyCool. Hehe.
• 8) Ayelet has love for geeks.
• 7) SaraK links to a really well-made video (if you like Grey's Anatomy).
• 6) This post by Treppenwitz about his new glasses which are helping with dyslexia is fascinating. We know quite a number of people with it, and [full disclosure] my sister-in-law is an optometrist in the NY/NJ area and recently opened a vision therapy center that does this type of work.

And on to the Top 5:

• 5) Yaakov Astor runs into some anti-Semitism in The Jews Are Taking Over at BeyondBT.
• 4) This video at Frum Philly Farmgirl made me cry (happy and sad). [via Shoshana]
• 3) Chana writes perhaps better than ever in discussing The Lonely Man of Faith about Rav Soloveitchik.
• 2) Raggedy Mom has a beautiful post about bedtime at the Raggedys.
• 1) Fascinatingly honest post by LabRab on what his PostSecret card would be.

Finally a couple of bonuses from last week:

• XGH on what life is all about. It's a good one.
• Shoshana discusses whether all Jews should be Orthodox, responding to JA.

Thinking About Quiting (Don't worry, it's not Ezzie)

So lately I have been giving serious thought to quiting the blog scene. I was looking for my own "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow" only to realize, its just an illusion. I don't see a point in continuing. Frankly, the blogs have harmed my life much more than I thought. Everything from shalom bayit to my relationship with mere acquaintances has been affected by the blogs. I think the only logical thing to do is to stop.

I AM curious to know why do some of you blog. Are you looking for something, or just want to share some thoughts? Has it been a postive experience for the most part or not? Have you met new friends? New enemies? :)

"Articulate"

(Hat tip: Anonymous)

The New York Times says it better than I did last week. This was a great article.

So Much To Do...

...so little time.

So what were everyone's favorite commercials? (Overall, another weak, weak year)

Mine:

• The GM one with the nightmare of the yellow machine
• The face slaps instead of fist pumps
• All the CareerBuilder ones in the jungles
• Coke ones were cute
• K-Fed becoming a burger-flipper
  

That's off the top of my head...

Super Bowl XLI

At least we don't have to get all the dumb XL jokes from last year...

Colts 38, Bears 20. Okay - not really, but I have 8/0 in one of my pool "boxes".

The Colts should win by double digits, though... go Colts! (I have to - too many Chicago friends, ya know?)

Crazy Slippery

These are crazy...

Serach and Elianna

This is a picture from a recent engagement party of a couple of good friends of ours... I think you can click to see the Picasa Web Album of a few other pictures, too. I've never used the Web Albums before - they're really easy. Thanks Mom! ;)

From Sara & Xvi's ...

MAZEL TOV!!!

It's a girl!!

My OD brother and sister-in-law (SIL, who writes on this blog every few months) have given birth to a baby girl!! MAZEL TOV!!

She's 8 pounds and 18.5 inches, and they're not sure who she looks like yet - but with her fat cheeks, my brother said "maybe Elianna...!" Anyways, we're very excited, and this could yet be an even more exciting Shabbos, if we get to take care of Ben (4) & Hen (2).

Extra tidbit: Today is my brother's Hebrew birthday, 14 Shvat. Cute, eh? That's one way to save money on getting a present...

Tree Hugging

DryBones has posted one of his old comic strips for Tu B'Shvat, and I really like it:He also has a new one today, and links to another oldie but goodie there - check it out.

When I was in Israel, we actually planted trees on Moshav Beit Meir (where Yeshivat Ohr Yerushalayim [OJ] is located) in honor of Tu B'Shvat. I believe they're growing nicely...

Ezzie's Blog Roundup: Groundhog's Day!

Today is Groundhog's Day, which is easily the stupidest American holiday of the year - and therefore the most fun. What true American doesn't love speculating about meaningless outcomes to meaningless things!? I know I love it.

There were a number of excellent posts in the J-blogosphere today, even as Holy Hyrax waged war against Jameel, tried to sabotage my blog, and otherwise celebrated his birthday on a (snicker) Mac. [Sorry, see the posts below for details and some really amazing graphic design work.] Most of them are fairly short...

Pictures:

• Me-Ander has a couple beautiful pics of winter mornings in Israel.
• A Simple Jew is ready for Shabbos Shira.

Funny:

• Jake's line on Bush yesterday was really good.
• Ayelet's son is hilariously pragmatic.
• DaBoys expound on cereal (and milk). If you're not reading this blog yet... this is the best blog you're not reading yet.
  

Learning:

• Steg's little friends know why we can't see God.
• FrumWithQ's discusses in short the problems with parents being in denial. Serach sees this all the time in her job - it's time we tried to grow up and accept that people aren't perfect. If not for us, for our children!
• Shifra is saddened that kids of today can't play as we did in the past. This post is right on the mark, and Shifra is another blog you should definitely be reading.
  

Advanced Learning:

• LabRab has a very well-written post explaining why he will not be attending the video on the Rav this weekend - he's got Rav burnout.
• DaBoys explain why football is the greatest sport (as if we didn't know), and drop a nice group of links on us.
  

Important & Sad:

• Kefirot notes just how anti-Israel Chirac is.
• Sephardi Lady has an amazing yet sad post on waste. Please read it!
  

That's all for this morning/night. Have a great one!