Amnon Yitzchok uses IPhone despite Rabbinical Ban!

A prominent Israeli rabbi who urged his followers to destroy their smartphones has come out with a statement explaining how he himself was photographed using an iPhone last week.

by Sandy Eller

Pictures that have been circulating on Facebook and Whatsapp show Rabbi Amnon Yitzchak in a car on Chol Hamoed Succos holding the very device he banned, but a statement that was released  on R’ Yitzchak’s site, www.shofar.tv, explains that R’ Yitzchak received permission to use the device from R’ Aharon Leib Shteinman.

“HaRav Amnon Yitzchak shlita is against iPhones and similar devices,” reads the official statement on Shofar.  “The uneducated are asking how is it that R’ Amnon Yitzchak has an iPhone?  It should be known that the Gadol Hador HaGaon R’ Aharon Leib Shteinman gave a personal heter to the Rav and his staff, in response to a query posed in this matter by R’ Yehuda Leibowitz, to use iPhones for kiruv purposes.  Anyone who casts suspicions after his Rav is as if he is casting suspicion on the shechina.”

Police Brutally beat innocent Jewish man! Video

A shocking video was uploaded to the internet showing New York City police officers severely beating a Jewish man.
 Last week, police were called on a man who was sleeping in the living room of Aliyah Center on East New York Avenue. The caller may have mistakenly believed that the homeless man, Ehud H. Halevi, was lurking in the center of the property without permission. Aliyah is a synagogue and an outreach center for troubled youth in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Two officers from the 71st precinct, one male and one female, came and woke the man. Confused as to why he was being harassed by the police, the man refused officers' attempts to escort him out, insisting he had permission to be there and asked the police to allow him to prove it. His request was rejected as they proceeded to arrest him. When he resisted arrest, the officer became enraged and began beating the defenseless man. As you can see in the video below, the officer assumed a boxing stance and then staggered to his victim, punching him everywhere. Over the next couple of minutes the man was also pepper-sprayed and beaten with a baton by the officer, while posing no danger to the welfare of officers. After about two minutes of the sadistic beating, the officers are joined by a squadron of officers, when he was finally handcuffed and arrested. It was confirmed that the man had permission to live at the center and it is unknown who called the police. The man was charged with assaulting a police officer, a felony which carries a sentence of five years in prison upon conviction. Other charges include, trespassing, resisting arrest and harassment. He has been released on bail.

Rebbitzen Pinto tries to commit sucide!

Popular rabbi to the rich Rabbi Yehoshua Pinto and his wife are in the hospital after the rabbi’s wife attempted to commit suicide earlier today, according to reports.

Deborah Pinto, wife of Rabbi Yehoshua Pinto, who are suspected of bribing a senior police officer, tried today to commit suicide by taking an overdose of pills. Both were arrested on Thursday for questioning and were released with restrictive conditions, she was taken to the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer.

"We pray for the wellbeing of the Deborah along with her thousands of followers," the statement by Rabbi Pinto said. "The lawyers warned the authorities about the situation. Unfortunately they did not care. We are sure that she will soon recover and tell investigators her story, and then they will understand that she is completely innocent of any wrongdoing."

After hours of additional interrogation Rabbi Pinto was taken to the hospital and is staying with his wife. The rabbi, who is under house arrest, received special permission to stay with his wife. Many other associates and family members arrived at the hospital.

An investigation against Rabbi Pinto and his wife began a few weeks after the Pintos allegedly offered the police investigations division chief, Brigadier General, the amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars in return for his information about a police investigation. The officer reported that the head of the Investigations Department, General Yoav Segalovitch, responded to the offer in order to gather evidence against him. Police appointed a special unit on this case due to the

sensitive matter.

On Thursday, it was decided to move on to the investigation to the rabbi himself. The rabbi and his wife returned on Thursday from the U.S. and the moment they arrived they were taken for questioning in Ramle, where investigators arrested them on the bribe allegations. In addition, the police charged the rabbi and his wife, with money laundering. They have denied the allegations against them. At the end of the investigation they was a hearing before a judge, where police asked that they be released under restrictive conditions and subject to the deposit of a million dollars each and be forbidden to leave the country for six months.

Liberal Conservative Jews walk out on Rep Michelle Bachman on Yom Kippur

Rabbi Michael Siegel

Jews attending synagogue prayer services during Yom Kippur staged a walkout after Michele Bachmann suddenly appeared.

A week after the Representative Michele Bachmann made the controversial appearance in a Chicago synagogue on Yom Kippur, the chief rabbi of the congregation, and the man who introduced Bachmann during the service, spoke about appearance.

Rabbi Michael Siegel of Anshe Emet Synagogue in Lake View North Broadway saluted the politician, a standard measure for public officials attending the services. However, it did not take not long for the attacks to pour in, not only against Bachmann, but against Rabbi Siegel, too.

According to Siegel, he knew the political appearance might ruffle some feathers, but he hoped that the focus of the synagogue will remain on Yom Kippur.

 "I think you have to be living under a rock not to know that Congresswoman Bachmann is in the news quite frequently, and is considered by many to be a polarizing figure in the country," Siegel said. "For those who are concerned about LGBT issues, abortion rights, things of that nature, she certainly is in the radar screens of many people.

"So when I heard that she was coming, I knew it would be a topic of discussion on the Yom Kippur, the focus of the day should not have been on Michele Bachmann though."

"To see some of the comments regarding the visit of Congresswoman Bachmann, it hurts more than others were hurt by the visit."
Siegel said he has been reaching out to community members in person to have a face to face conversation about why the politician was recognized. He is also hoping to send a correspondence to the congregation in the future to address the issue.

CNN's view of the mid-east

East Ramapo Parent that complained about frum people using the public school as a shortcut is a SEX OFFENDER!

Keith Meyers

One of the parents who earlier this week confronted trespassers at an East Ramapo elementary school to highlight the dangers of failing to secure school borders is a Level 1 sex offender. 
Keith Meyers, 47, of Spring Valley pleaded guilty in 1999 to a misdemeanor count of attempted possession of a sexual performance of a child less than 16 years of age, officials at the state Division of Criminal Justice Services said Friday. Meyers told Journal News reporter Mareesa Nicosia of his status, but the information was not included in a story on Page One Wednesday.
Level 1 is the lowest of the state’s three designations, and Level 1 offenders are considered at low risk of repeating their crimes. There are no local laws prohibiting Level 1 offenders who have successfully completed their probation from being on school grounds, said Patricia Gunning, chief prosecutor for the Special Victims Unit of the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office. Though registered with the state for a 20-year period, Level 1 offenders are not listed on the state’s sex offender website. About eight parents patrolled the grounds of Grandview Elementary for two hours Tuesday, confronting walkers as they took a shortcut through the property.Most of the men and women cutting across the school’s expansive back lawn were Orthodox or Hasidic Jews observing the festival of Sukkot, a time when they typically do not drive.
Joseph Gestetner, a Spring Valley man who writes in the local community and maintains a popular blog, questioned the motives of the parents who patrolled the school and confronted the men and women while they were observing the religious festival.
“There’s a saying in the Talmud that somebody who has failure tends to project that failure on to other people,” said Gestetner, who has a child in an East Ramapo private school.
“Being that he was the guy over there rushing over to people on a Tuesday afternoon in the rain with nothing else on his mind other than wondering if there’s an Orthodox pedophile running around, you have to look at your own books. We did and this is what we found,” he said. “We showed a bad lapse in judgment,” said CynDee Royle, editor and vice president/news for The Journal News. “The information on Mr. Meyers’ criminal history should have been included, particularly in a story about parents’ fears concerning sex offenders being on school grounds.”
Meyers said Friday he had done nothing wrong and was well within his rights stepping onto school district property to support a group of concerned parents working toward school safety. “I’m a parent and a taxpayer and I have a right to be there,” he said. “For this to be the lightning rod and focus of this, I’m desperately afraid this is going to take attention away from the real problem.”
State officials said Meyers was sentenced to three years’ probation following the 1999 conviction and that he has served his time. Meyers will remain a Level 1 offender until 2019.
Meyers’ picture and offender status are listed on the East Ramapo School District website.
Superintendent of Schools Joel Klein said he could not comment on the matter because of a pending lawsuit filed by several of the parents who patrolled the school.“Because I’m named in legal action on this, I really can’t talk about it,” Klein said.
After receiving a complaint about Meyers’ presence at the school, the Ramapo Police Department contacted staff at The Journal News on Friday seeking information regarding the incident. Asked later about their investigation, police offered no comment.
Meyers said he has not been contacted by local authorities.
In February 2011, Meyers filed suit against the Village of Spring Valley, the Spring Valley Police Department and several department officers claiming that his rights had been violated during a 2010 incident at his home.
On Feb. 19, 2010, according to a complaint filed by Meyers’ attorney in U.S. District Court, police used a Taser on Meyers, striking him in the back while he was waving a broomstick at a process server who had driven away from his home.
Meyers suffered several broken ribs and a concussion during the incident, according to the complaint.

Perilous Times

Jewish New York man shoots, kills chef at Israeli hotel

An American, reported to be from New York, shot and killed a chef at a hotel in the Red Sea resort city of Eilat Friday, before forces from an anti-terror unit shot the gunman dead, police said. The incident appeared to be based on a personal dispute.

The attacker was on a Jewish work and study program and was employed at the hotel until earlier this week.

The shooting took place at the Leonardo Club hotel.  The attacker reportedly snatched a gun from a security guard.

The beach resort was packed with tourists enjoying the week-long Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

Police and army anti-terror units stormed the hotel.

"The shooter barricaded himself into the kitchen and was surrounded by police forces, including special units, who asked him to turn himself in," police spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP.

The man opened fire and anti-terror forces returned fire, killing the attacker, said a spokeswoman for the Israeli military.

The gunman was a 23-year-old Jewish man from New York. He was participating in a program that brings Jews to Israel for work and studies, said Ofer Gutman, head of the Oranim program, which is sponsored partially by the Israeli government.

"He was a normal guy," Gutman told The Associated Press. "There was nothing that indicated what would happen in the end." Gutman declined to give the attacker's name.

The man arrived in Israel about two months ago on the Oranim program, combining Hebrew study, travel and work in an Eilat hotel along with a university course on hotel management, Gutman said. On Tuesday, the hotel and the program decided, together with the man, to terminate his work at the hotel, and the Oranim staff was planning to reassign him to another workplace, Gutman said.

Gutman did not say why it was decided to end his work at the hotel, but said participants sometimes transfer to other workplaces based on their personal preferences.

Israeli media reported that the man the gunman killed was a hotel employee who had argued with him. Police could not immediately verify that account. Zaki Heller, a spokesman for Israel's rescue service, told Israel's Channel 2 TV the victim was a man in his 50s. Police said he was a hotel chef. His name was not released.

Israel Radio reported that the gunman ran into the lobby and fired a shot in the air, then ran through the dining room as hotel guests dived under tables.

Michal Bouaron, a guest at the hotel, told Channel 2 that police ordered guests to stay in their rooms during the incident. Later, police announced that it was safe for guests to leave their rooms.

"Everyone left here happy, clapping," Bouaron said. "There was a lot of tension."

She added, "Life goes on ... We won't let this ruin our day and our vacation."

The hotel is filled to capacity, Israeli media reported, because of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, when many Israelis take vacations. Eilat, with attractive Red Sea beaches and hot, dry weather, is a favorite getaway spot for Israelis.

Read more: http://www.myfoxny.com/story/19743245/american-shoots-kills-chef-at-israeli-hotel#ixzz28QjxPC5Y

Frum boy killed in crash on way back from Succos Trip

10 year old Avraham Nuhem Dor was killed in the accident

 A 10-year old boy was killed in a car accident as his family was driving on Highway 40 near the Goral junction on Thursday.The Dor family members of Chabad was on its way back from a Succot trip dow South when, for unknown reasons, the family car flipped over.

Along with the 10-year-old, the parents and three siblings aged two months, six and 13 were lightly injured and taken by paramedics to Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba. The investigation is in its initial phases, and it is still unclear if the boy or anyone else was wearing a seatbelt when the accident happened, or if there was any negligence on the part of the driver.

OBAMA: THAT WASN'T 'THE REAL MITT ROMNEY'

Today, President Obama, smarting over his shellacking last night by Mitt Romney in the first presidential debate, took to the stump in Denver. It was a far more comfortable setting – one with no opponent, no moderator, no clock, and no accountability. Plus a teleprompter.

So Obama was back to his old self. And as my colleague John Nolte has pointed out, like George Costanza waiting for a chance to use his Jerk Store line, Obama waited until Romney was nowhere in site to figure out his plan of attack.

Apparently, his plan of attack is to pretend that last night didn’t happen. Here’s what he said today:

"When I got on to the stage, I met this very spirited fellow who claimed to be Mitt Romney. The man on stage last night does not want to be held accountable for the real Mitt Romney's decisions…for the last year. So Gov. Romney may dance around his positions, but if you want to be president, you owe the American people the truth … So here's the truth: Gov. Romney cannot pay for his $5 trillion tax plan.”

This is hogwash. The real Mitt Romney is the same Mitt Romney who showed up last night. Romney rose to the occasion at the Republican National Convention. He rose to the occasion during the Republican primary debates. In fact, every time the American people get to see Mitt Romney unfiltered, they like him more.

The reason Americans haven’t seen this Mitt Romney is because they usually see him spliced and diced by the Obama-compliant mainstream media. There was none of that last night. And Obama had to face real questions for a real opponent.

As for Obama’s claim that Romney doesn’t want to be held responsible for “the real Mitt Romney’s positions,” that’s hogwash too. Romney has not switched his position on anything he said last night. He’s been perfectly consistent on his tax plan – and Obama keeps using the widely-discredited $5 trillion statistic because he’s got no other bullets in his rhetorical gun. Besides, it’s laughable for this president – the biggest spendthrift in human history – to whine about deficits. He has no credibility.

As for dancing around positions, President Obama was a master at it last night. He said a lot of words, and he said nothing. Mitt Romney got the short end of the stick on time of possession – Obama spoke for a full 4 minutes longer than Romney. And nobody remembers a thing he said, because he was prevaricating for every minute.

This is Barack Obama’s worst fear: that the Mitt Romney who showed up to the debate last night was the real Mitt Romney. And that that Mitt Romney has the ability to speak directly to the American people.

MITT HUMILIATES THE MEDIA AND NOW THEY WILL SEEK REVENGE

"Who is this guy?" tens of millions of American voters asked themselves last night. "This isn't the Mitt Romney the media's presented to me over the last six months?"

Free of the corrupt media's corrupt filter; free of the spin, the lying fact-checkers, the gotchas, and the desperate effort to cover up any and all bad news that might hurt Obama -- by every standard, every measure, every opinion and every opinion poll, what we witnessed last night at the first presidential debate of 2012 was a commanding, dominating blow-out performance by Governor Mitt Romney.

Last night the GOP contender showed up to kick butt and chew bubblegum, but unfortunately for  Barack Obama, Romney was all out of bubblegum. The real loser, though, was a corrupt mainstream media that had just spent months desperately crafting a Mitt Romney that doesn't exist -- a Mitt Romney voters would not find acceptable as president.

We've all seen what's happened month after month after month after month: Obama's Media Palace Guards have assured us that Romney can do nothing right and Obama can do nothing wrong. This carefully crafted media game-plan (coordinated openly with the Obama campaign) was meant to strip Romney of the single quality voters demand in a president, and that's competence.  If you're not competent you’re not an acceptable alternative, which means we're going to vote for "the devil we know."

But last night all of this blew up in the media's face, and this morning the American people trust the media even less than they did the night before -- and for one very simple reason: they were lied to … again. Where was the bumbling, elitist, out of touch, awkward, wife-killing, gay-hating, corporate vulture who tortures dogs and stumbles through Europe like Chevy Chase in a "Vacation" sequel?

Well, he didn’t show up last night because that's not who Mitt Romney is. That Mitt Romney is a media creation manufactured out of lies and desperation by those who spend 24 hours a day crafting trip wires, fabricating gaffes, and standing before the elephant of Barack Obama's failures and asking, "What elephant?"

For all of moderator Jim Lehrer's flaws last night, the 78 year-old semi-retired PBS newsman did the only thing we conservatives ask of the media: he mostly stayed out of the way and offered up a fairly level playing field. There were no gotcha questions and no,What about your gaaaaaffes? To his great credit (though he did try to rescue the president more than once), Lehrer kept the debate in an arena no liberal can win in --and that's on the issues.

Unlike his cretin colleagues, Lehrer was actually interested in the issues that matter. So he asked about taxes, job creation, education, the deficit, and an overall governing philosophy. In other words, he didn't stack the deck to distract away from what a horrible philosophy big government liberalism really is. With a rare opportunity like this, if you’re smart, prepared and all out of bubblegum, a conservative can win any debate. Obviously, Mitt Romney not only won last night, he delivered the kind of satisfying drubbing to Barack Obama we conservatives have been waiting four years to savor.

Yes, someone finally was given and took full advantage of the opportunity to point to that little emperor and say to the world, "Look, he's naked!"

And now the lying, biased, corrupt, degenerate mainstream media has a problem on its hands. Because now the whole world knows that they were not only pointing to clothes that didn’t exist but also attempting to destroy anyone who dared cry "Naked!"

In ninety short but delicious and unforgettable minutes, Mitt Romney not only exposed President FailureTeleprompter as the churlish, entitled failure he truly is -- he also destroyed the caricature our thoroughly corrupted media institutions had built around him.  

Romney's commanding victory was Reaganesque, and so is the result. In 1980, the media did everything in its power to  scare voters away from Ronald Reagan by portraying him as a scary warmonger. But during his first and only debate with then-President Jimmy Carter, Reagan proved the media a liar.

This is exactly what Romney did last night, but unfortunately, he has two more debates ahead of him. This means that the media has two more kicks at the cat to rescue Obama, and Romney had better be prepared because the push is already on to ensure he is asked,What about your gaaaafffes?

Even though Obama enjoyed four more minutes to speak than Romney, immediately after last night's debate, the left marched in unison to blame the moderator for notcontrolling things enough. And this makes perfect sense. Leftists know they can't win on a level playing field. But if the referee takes control,  victory can be had!

This means that for the two upcoming debates, Romney had better be prepared for questions about his dog, Bain, gaffes, wealth, taxes, high school bullying, perfect hair, the mole that wasn't there before, and his disastrously racist victory over Obama in the last debate.

NJ Congressman threatens his Republican opponent, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, saying he will “have to suffer."

Bill Pascrell spewing anti-semitic rants

Bill Pascrell, Democratic incumbent Congressman from New Jersey’s 9th district, recently threatened his Republican opponent, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, saying he will “have to suffer with the people he’s getting the money from.”
Referring to billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, who have emerged as two of the largest Republican donors, Pascrell continued saying, “We know their record. We know they’re being investigated. If he wants to take money from them, fine,” NJSpotlight.com reported.
Boteach, an Orthodox Rabbi who is probably best known for his book “Kosher Sex,” received a major monetary boost from the Adelsons when they donated $50,000 to the Patriot Prosperity PAC, supporting Pascrell’s Republican opponent.
“I treasure the Adelsons’ support. They are among the most generous and sophisticated political donors in the country,” Boteach, who made Newsweek’s list of 50 most influential rabbis, said upon hearing of the donation.
In response to Pascrell’s threat, Rabbi Boteach issued a statement saying, “I find it bone-chilling that a sitting Congressman would threaten his opponent for simply engaging in the democratic process. It is one thing for Bill Pascrell to try and intimidate me and my supporters.  It is completely another to threaten unspecified retaliation in the form of ‘suffering’ for simply exercising First Amendment rights. We expect harassment of political opponents in Iran and the former Soviet Union. We certainly don’t expect an elected official in New Jersey to act in this manner. The Adelsons are the foremost Jewish philanthropists in America. It is particularly troubling that a sitting Congressman would threaten people who have done so much good in the world.”

Frum Lady with Burka in "Rockland Kosher" in Monsey

Yup! Chassidim are going crazy, having their wives dress like arabs.....

The whole world is collapsing all around yet the Belzer Rebbe announced that he is "Makpid" on White Socks During Chol Hamoed

Crazy stuff ....read the following posted on the Theyeshivaworld

As a sign to differentiate between kovod shabbos and yomtov, Belzer chassidim wear white socks on yomtov. Many chassidic courts wear white socks on shabbos, but Belze maintains its tradition from Europe and chassidim wear black socks on shabbos.
Last erev Sukkos the Rebbe Shlita instructed chassidim to wear white socks on yomtov for those able to do so, explaining this adds to kovod yomtov, including chol hamoed. Chassidim explain the rebbe is stringent in maintaining kedushas yomtov during the days of chol hamoed as well.

Father and Daughter Hit By Van While Walking Home

Nachmen Lefkowitz, 39, is in critical condition after being hit by a 2006 Ford Free Star van at 9:27 p.m. on Tuesday while walking to his home in Ramapo with his 16-year-old daughter, Rivky.

Mr. Lefkowitz sustained a broken leg and internal injuries. Hatzolah took the pair to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, where Mr. Lefkowitz underwent emergency surgery and his daughter was treated for leg pain, according to The Journal News (http://lohud.us/VuNDtB).

Ramapo police said the father and daughter were walking along Saddle River Road, but it is unclear if they were crossing Saddle River Road or walking in the street when they were hit near Miele Road where they live. The incident is being investigated. Thus far, no charges or traffic violations have been filed against the 26-year-old driver of the van.

Smash Your Attitude, Not Your iPhone

by Rabbi Gil Student

Recent news stories about wedding witnesses disqualified for their smartphones and a rabbi-led iPhone smashing ceremony need not generate feelings of alienation among moderates. We all need to remember a simple message: Even a united global Torah community has sub-communities with different customs and standards. What works for some people may be totally inappropriate for us. However, responsible Internet usage is a universally obligation, even if it takes different forms in different communities.

Over the past few months, Torah leaders have reminded us that filters are not enough for a kosher online experience. While someone with enough time and skill can always bypass a filter, even those with no such desire or ability need more. Filters, at their best, keep out the shmutz and other inappropriate websites. Frum Jews have a higher standard than that. As we rapidly transition to a digital age, we have to remember that people are still people and the Torah is still our guide.

R. Mordechai Kamenetsky tells the story of people paying a shivah call to his grandfather, Reb Yaakov. The large crowd required additional chairs. As individuals went to the basement to bring chairs, Reb Yaakov encouraged them to take a chair for someone else. In that way, he explained, you can turn a simple necessary act into an act of chesed. We, too, can raise our time online from a necessary chore into a mitzvah, an opportunity to help others spiritually.

Internet Is Necessary

Calls for restricting Internet usage to business needs will fail. We increasingly accomplish our household needs online. We not only shop, pay our bills, file our insurance claims and the like on the Internet but we also learn online about medical symptoms, home maintenance, travel destinations and much more. Information has been overwhelmingly transferred to the Internet, which has in turn become the primary information resource for our everyday lives. If you want to know a museum’s hours for a summer Sunday family trip, you check its website. If you need directions to a wedding hall, you use Google Maps. And if you want to know whether New York State vehicular law allows a u-turn from the right lane, you search for it online.

More than that, Torah sails through the cyberwaves in previously unimaginable ways. Some yeshivas place recordings of every single shiur online so alumni and others can learn from their rabbeim. I can access literally hundreds of thousands of hours, perhaps millions, of high-level shiurim on my smartphone. One website provides the entire text of Tanach, Mishnah, Tosefta, Talmud Bavli, Yerushalmi and Mishneh Torah. Another contains tens of thousands of sefarim for free download. Ten years ago, I was a frequent visitor of the New York Public Library’s collection of obscure sefarim in Midtown Manhattan. Now I just download them onto my iPad. The process of learning has not changed but the method of accessing texts and classes has, particularly for those who have left yeshiva.

Time Is Precious

We cannot avoid the Internet so we must embrace it with basic guidelines. In addition to the filters and image blockers we install, three Torah principles must stand at the forefront of our minds. The first is bitul zman, wasting time. Everyone needs down time to relax, shmooze, recharge your batteries and allow for random thought association. We are more creative when our minds have some time to expand beyond our normal corridors of thought.

But beware of the Internet time hole. Websites make money by keeping you online for long stretches of time. The easiest way to counter that effort is keeping a log of how much time you spend online each day, outside of work-related activity. Hashem gave you enough common sense to know that spending hours on end each night engaged in leisure activity is simply wrong. It is a waste of your short time in this world. When you keep a log, you gain the power to make informed decisions about how best to spend your time.

Behave Yourself

Second is tznius. While we often speak of tznius in terms of how we dress, we know that it also applies to how we act. Filters and image blockers can remove pictures that fail our standards of modesty but our conscience must guide our interactions with others. Your online interpersonal conduct must follow the same high standards as your offline public interactions. The language you use, the aggressiveness you exhibit and the intimacy of your interactions with others on the Internet must demonstrate your best behavior. Oversharing, flirting or developing close relationships with members of the opposite gender are just as inappropriate online as off.

Kiddush Hashem

Every interaction we have with others, particularly in public, is an opportunity to make a Kiddush Hashem. With nearly the entire civilized world active on the Internet, your time online is just such an opportunity. Whenever you are online, regardless of which website you are visiting, try to make a Kiddush Hashem. Act with sterling midos, show respect to others, let the whole world know that you and your community–Hashem’s chosen people–serve as positive role models.

You are smart enough to know that even when you are correct, insulting others will offend. You know that honey attracts more than a sting. When you are online, you are in public and need to be the honey that attracts people to the Torah. You must demonstrate that the Torah refines people into exemplary individuals worthy of emulation.

The three Torah concepts we discussed are only some of the many that should guide your Internet use. Most importantly, you have to realize your obligation to rise above the chaos of the Internet, just like your offline behavior rises above levels exhibited on the city street. We must not only avoid improper online behavior but actively show the beauty of a Torah lifestyle. In doing so, we raise our Internet activities into mitzvah acts, spreading Hashem’s glory across the world.

Rabbi Gil Student blogs at TorahMusings.com and maintains a website dedicated to responsible frum Internet usage, InternetInJewishHome.com.

East Ramapo Anti-Semites refuse to allow frum residents to take short cut thru public schools eventhough they pay the school taxes

About eight parents patrolled the grounds of Grandview Elementary for two hours, informing dozens of walkers who were taking a shortcut through the property that they were trespassing and asking them to find another route. A district security officer joined them “We’re concerned that we don’t know who’s walking through … it’s a security issue,” said district critic Peggy Hatton, shielded under an umbrella as rain pelted the grounds around noon. Most of the men and a few women cutting across the school’s expansive back lawn were Orthodox or Hasidic Jews observing the festival of Sukkot, a time when they typically do not drive. Most quietly ignored the parents’ requests and continued walking. “Enforce it equally,” one man called out as he headed toward the Wesley Hills neighborhood behind the school. Another man approached parent Keith Meyers and called him an anti-Semite, which led to an exchange of angry words. “This is what my taxes are paying for,” another man grumbled, as parent and district critic Tony Luciano trained his video camera on the scene. One woman refused to leave the grounds and got into a shouting match with parents. Police were notified but no arrests were made, Ramapo Sgt. Tom Dolan said. The push to keep strangers off school grounds during school hours — in a district whose large Orthodox and Hasidic population walks many places — is nothing new. At least 200 parents have cited concerns about trespassing and alleged other misdeeds in a class-action lawsuit filed against school board members and district officials this summer. Sexual predators are another concern, parents said. Nearly 20 registered sex offenders live within two miles of East Ramapo’s public schools, records show. “At the end of the day, it’s about the safety of our children,” said Cassandra Edwards, a mother of two middle school students who attended Grandview.

Video surfaces of Obama in 2007 suggesting racism slowed aid to post-Katrina New Orleans

In a video obtained exclusively by The Daily Caller, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama tells an audience of black ministers, including the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, that the U.S. government shortchanged Hurricane Katrina victims because of racism

“The people down in New Orleans they don’t care about as much!” Obama shouts in the video, which was shot in June of 2007 at Hampton University in Virginia. By contrast, survivors of Sept. 11 and Hurricane Andrew received generous amounts of aid, Obama explains. The reason? Unlike residents of majority-black New Orleans, the federal government considers those victims “part of the American family.”

The racially charged and at times angry speech undermines Obama’s carefully-crafted image as a leader eager to build bridges between ethnic groups. For nearly 40 minutes, using an accent he almost never adopts in public, Obama describes a racist, zero-sum society, in which the white majority profits by exploiting black America. The mostly black audience shouts in agreement. The effect is closer to an Al Sharpton rally than a conventional campaign event.

Obama gave the speech in the middle of a hotly-contested presidential primary season, but his remarks escaped scrutiny. Reporters in the room seem to have missed or ignored his most controversial statements. The liberal blogger Andrew Sullivan linked to what he described as a “transcript” of the speech, which turned out not to be a transcript at all, but instead the prepared remarks provided by the campaign. In fact, Obama, who was not using a teleprompter, deviated from his script repeatedly and at length, ad libbing lines that he does not appear to have used before any other audience during his presidential run. A local newspaper posted a series of video clips of the speech, but left out key portions. No complete video of the Hampton speech was widely released.

Obama begins his address with “a special shout out” to Jeremiah Wright, the Chicago pastor who nearly derailed Obama’s campaign months later when his sermons attacking Israel and America and accusing the U.S. government of “inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color” became public. To the audience at Hampton, Obama describes Wright as, “my pastor, the guy who puts up with me, counsels me, listens to my wife complain about me. He’s a friend and a great leader. Not just in Chicago, but all across the country.”

By the time Obama appeared at Hampton, Jeremiah Wright had become a political problem. Wright told The New York Times earlier that year that he would no longer be speaking on the campaign’s behalf because his rhetoric was considered too militant. And yet later in the Hampton speech Obama explicitly defends Wright from unnamed critics, a group he describes as “they”: “They had stories about Trinity United Church of Christ, because we talked about black people in church: ‘Oh, that might be a separatist church,’” Obama said mockingly.

Thousands of sukkahs destroyed as violent storm hits Israel

A rare violent summer storm hit Israel over the first day of Sukkot leaving thousands without power and destroying thousands of sukkahs.

Thousands of people were left without power for hours during the first day of the festival of Sukkot on Sunday night and Monday. High winds brought down power lines in the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak, causing power outages throughout central Israel. Power failures were also reported in some parts of northern Israel, as fallen trees due to strong winds hit electrical wires.

Most power outages extended from a few minutes to about an hour, but in some places the lights

were off for several hours. Israel Electric Company emergency crews worked to ensure that hospitals and defense facilities were able to get power restored first.

 IEC warned residents of the affected neighborhoods not to touch the wires that had fallen to the ground. As many as 9,000 homes were without power much of Monday.

Weather in Israel was unusual for the first day of Sukkot, with cloudy skies and extreme moisture conditions in many parts of the country, with rain falling in the north and center of the country.

The forecast for Tuesday is possible rain, falling temperatures and humidity gradually reduced over the next few days.

Supreme Court Rejects Rubashkin's Appeal of 27-Year Sentence

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review a 27-year prison term issued to a former kosher slaughterhouse executive convicted of financial fraud following a huge immigration raid at the Iowa plant.

The Supreme Court declined Monday to consider an appeal filed by former Agriprocessors Inc. vice president Sholom Rubashkin.

He was convicted of a scheme to cheat the Postville plant’s lender out of $27 million by submitting fake invoices that made its finances appear healthier than they were. His arrest came after immigration authorities raided the plant and arrested 389 illegal immigrants.

Rubashkin had argued that U.S. District Judge Linda Reade could not be impartial because she met with investigators to plan the immigration raid. He also argued his prison term was too long for a first-time, nonviolent offender.