Ancient Samson seal found in Beit Shemesh Israel

Another ancient find this time in Beit Shemesh, Israel, confirms the ancientand historical Jewish fighter known as Samson.

Tel Aviv University researchers recently found a seal, which measures 15 millimeters or about half an inch in diameter, representing a human figure with a lion at the archaeological site of Beit Shemesh, located between the biblical Cities of Zorah and Eshtaol, where Samson was born, flourished and finally buried, according to the  Bible Books of Judges.

The scene recorded on the label, the period of time, and location of the discovery point to a likely reference to the story of Samson, the legendary character whose heroic adventures included a famous victory in the fight hand-to-leg with a lion.

area during that period of that time.

While the label does not reveal when the stories of Samson were originally written, or clarify whether Samson was historical or legendary, the finding does help to "anchor the story in an archaeological environment," said Prof. Shlomo Bunimovitz of TAU's Department of Archaeology andAncient Near Eastern Civilizations. Prof. Bunimovitz co-directed the excavation along with Beit Shemesh Dr. Zvi Lederman. "If we are right and what we see on the label is a representation of a man meeting a lion, which proves that the legend of Samson already existed in the Beit Shemesh 

We can date this seal with fair precision," Bunimovitz adds.

The right place, right time stamp was discovered with other findings on the floor of a house excavated by archaeologists dated to the 12th century BCE. Geographically, politically and culturally, the legends surrounding Samson set out in this time period, also known as the period of the judges, before the establishment of kingship in ancient Israel.

Scandal in Bobover Camp, Children sexually abused! Update!!

Ultra Orthodox Jewish boys, from Brooklyn, New York, were sexually assaulted in an upstate New York sleep away camp, but were told by camp officials to keep quiet and not tell their parents about the incident.

State police are investigating whether a driver for a kosher food distributor, slipped into the sleeping quarters in a summer camp in upstate New York, where seventh and eighth grade children were sleeping at the time, and sexually abused several of them.

The shocking intrusion occurred in the early morning hours at the Camp Shalva in South Fallsburg, New York, according to news media reports.

When the boys complained in the morning, a supervisor reviewed security video, which showed an intruder going in and out of the bedrooms, the news media reported. Officials at the camp instructed the boys not to tell their parents what had happened.

Stephen Lungen, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor in Sullivan County, New York, told the local news media that he was contacted BY frantic camp administrators, who asked what to do about the allegations.

"They were very upset and worried about how to deal with that," Lungen said, adding that he put them in touch with the prosecutor and the State Police.

Ben Hirsch, director of the survivors of Justice, an advocacy group based in Brooklyn New York for victims of sexual abuse, said he was contacted about the allegations and immediately called the State Office for Children Services and Families, which referred the case to the State Police.

Representatives of the camp could not be reached for comment.

Update:

Examination of the image indicates the man is a registered sex offender who works as a deliveryman for a kosher food service, police said.

His name, Young has learned, is Yoel Oberlander of Monsey and camp directors said he had no reason to be near the dormitory or any of the children staying at the sleep-away camp. The school said it is checking for any evidence of inappropriate physical contact.

“It’s certainly something we can’t rule out given the fact that the perpetrator or alleged perpetrator has an alleged history and was in proximity to children. We would hope and expect that that would be fully investigated,” Scharf said.

Sources told Young that Oberlander’s employers at Golden Taste Kosher Foods are discussing his future with the company, although they adamantly refused to talk with Young when he stopped by their Spring Valley offices.

“No comment. I said no comment,” an employee said.

The camp caters almost exclusively to children of Hasidic parents living in Brooklyn.

Jewish Gold-winning gymnast Aly Raisman heading to Israel for first time

(JTA) -- Gold-winning American Jewish gymnast Aly Raisman has accepted an invitation from Israel Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein for her and her family to make their first visit to Israel.

Raisman, who performs floor routines to the melody of “Hava Nagilah,” won an individual gold medal in her floor exercise last week and a bronze on the balance beam after helping the U.S. women’s team take the gold.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Edelstein wrote an impassioned letter congratulating Raisman and invited not only the 18-year-old gymnast, but also her parents, Lynn and Rick, and her younger siblings Brett, Chloe, and Madison, to be his guests.

She accepted on Friday after a telephone conversation facilitated by Dan Shapiro, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, according to The Post.

“For me personally, as the minister in charge of relations with Diaspora Jewry, hearing why you chose the song made me realize that the concept of Kol Israel Arevim Zeh Lazeh [All Jews are responsible for one another] still holds true and that the Jewish people remain united no matter how far apart we may live. I was impressed that someone so young made such a monumental, ethical decision,” Edelstein wrote to Raisman, The Post reported. 

“Making your first visit to Israel is not only important because it is the homeland of the Jewish people but also because you can contribute from your experience to the young generation of Israeli athletes,” Edelstein reportedly added. 

There were no details on the timing or length of the visit. 

The Goat that stole!

Mazel Tov! El Al decides to honor tickets

The few lucky buyers that were able to scoop up cheap airline tickets will be able to use them.

El Al Israel Airlines decided that they will honor the thousands of tickets to and from Israel that sold for under $400 earlier this week, the company said today.

More than 5,000 people took advantage of the super low rates that were the result of a failure of pricing online that lasted about two hours on Monday on Web sites like Expedia and Orbitz.
Airline officials are also offering to upgrade the tickets to non stop flightsfor an additional $150. Currently, ticket holders are scheduled to board flights with connecting flights in Europe, in both directions.

El Al is also offering a full refund without penalty for those wishing to cancel their tickets, officials said. "Despite a review of this occurrence has not been finalized, a decision was made to accommodate passengers on El Al that bought these low rate tickets because we value our reputation for providing excellent customer service," said El Al Vice President Danny Saadon. "We hope we have provided an opportunity for many novices to visit Israel and reconnecting with family and friends."
Round-trip tickets from JFK to Israel often cost as much as $1,600.

Jewish Girl wins gold, honors slain Israeli Olympians

And if that weren’t enough, she won her event with the Hebrew folk song “Hava Nagila” playing in the background.

It wasn’t a gloved-fist salute from the medal stand, but Jewish-American gymnast Aly Raisman made quite a statement yesterday by winning a gold medal and invoking the memory of the Israeli athletes killed 40 years ago in Munich.

Raisman finished first in the women’s floor exercise, but she deserves to have another medal draped around her neck for having the chutzpah to face the world and do what needed to be done and say what needed to be said.

At the same Olympic Games where bigoted organizers stubbornly refuse to honor the slain athletes with a moment of silence, 18-year-old Raisman loudly shocked observers first by winning, then by paying her own tribute to 11 sportsmen who died long before she was born.

And if that weren’t enough, she won her event with the Hebrew folk song “Hava Nagila” playing in the background.

“Having that floor music wasn’t intentional,” an emotional but poised Raisman told reporters after her performance.

“But the fact it was on the 40th anniversary is special, and winning the gold today means a lot to me.”

Then Raisman stuck the landing.

“If there had been a moment’s silence,” the 18-year-old woman told the world, “I would have supported it and respected it.”

It was 40 years ago at the 1972 Munich Games that members of the Israeli Olympic delegation were taken hostage and eventually killed by Palestinian radicals.

Executed in the massacre were 11 Israeli athletes and officials and a West German police officer.

The martyrs were remembered this week during a London ceremony filled with sadness and reflection.

But not a peep about them has been said publicly in the one place where it counts — at the Summer Games on Olympic soil.

The International Olympic Committee and its president, Jacques Rogge, have refused to properly honor the dead, arguing that the opening ceremony wasn’t an appropriate forum for a moment of silence.

But if the opening ceremony is good enough for James Bond and Mr. Bean, it’s hard to understand why it’s not good enough for 60 seconds of solitude.

“Shame on you International Olympic Committee because you have forsaken the 11 members of your Olympic family,” said Ankie Spitzer, whose husband, Andre, an Israeli fencing coach, was gunned down in the massacre.

“You are discriminating against them only because they are Israelis and Jews,” she went on.

Rogge was an athlete himself at the very Games where the massacre took place, representing Belgium on the sailing team.

“Even after 40 years, it is painful to relive the most painful moments of the Olympic movement,” Rogge said at an unaffiliated service before Spitzer spoke.

“I can only imagine how painful it must be for the families and close personal friends of the victims.”

But by refusing to hit the pause button for a measly 60 seconds, Rogge and other organizers have committed a sin nearly as grave as denying there was ever a Holocaust.

Were it not for young Aly and her wedding dance/bat mitzvah accompaniment, the Munich dead may have never gotten their due.

“I am Jewish, that’s why I wanted that floor music,’’ Raisman said.

“I wanted something the crowd could clap to, especially being here in London.

“It makes it even much more if the audience is going through everything with you. That was really cool and fun to hear the audience clapping.’’

Raisman’s eyes opened as wide as the gold medal she would win when the judges announced her score of 15.600 points after her mistake-free routine.

Her top finish was the first by an American woman in the Olympic floor exercise, and the win gave Raisman her second gold medal. Raisman admitted the 40th anniversary of the Munich Games made her “hora” gold even more special.

“That was the best floor performance I’ve ever done, and to do it for the Olympics is like a dream,’’ Raisman said.

Raisman did not go to the Games with the star power of her teammate Gabrielle Douglas or the résumé of world champion Jordyn Wieber,

But those who know her best said she works as hard as anyone, and, more importantly, her heart is in the right place.

‘’I’m so happy for Aly,” Douglas, the first African-American to win the all-around title, said after the floor competition. “She deserves to be up on that podium.’’

“She is a focused person,” said Rabbi Keith Stern, spiritual leader of Temple Beth Avodah in Newton Centre, Mass., where the Raisman family are members.

“She’s very proud and upfront about being Jewish. Neither she nor her family explicitly sought to send a message. But it shows how very integrated her Jewish heritage is in everything that she does.”

Stern said he remembers picking up young Aly from preschool, and never imagined she’d be some sort of megastar.

He described the US team captain as a big sister-type who is a mother hen to all her younger siblings.

“I can’t wait to have her at the temple to talk about her experience,” he said.

“I know her sister’s bat mitzvah is coming up, so maybe I’ll catch up with her then.”

Stern said that he, too, was stunned by the IOC’s refusal to hold a moment of silence.

“I’m happy to hear any other explanation,” Stern said. “But short of some racist grudge somebody is holding, I can’t figure out why it would be a terrible thing to do.”

Stern said he watched the routine and was blown away. Even so, he said he is more proud of Raisman’s gold mettle than he is of the new jewelry around her neck.

“I have to say, the statement just warmed me to the very depths of my being,” Stern said.

He compared it to the iconic black-power, raised-fist protest made by track stars John Carlos and Tommie Smith on the medal stand at the 1968 Mexico City Games.

“They’re not going to forget that,” the rabbi said. “I certainly won’t.”

Airline mix-up leads to too-cheap Israel trips

It was a Holy Land miracle.

Round-trip tickets between New York and Israel that usually cost around $1,600 were miraculously being offered for less than $400 Monday, thanks to an El Al Airlines pricing glitch.

The mistake was corrected after three hours — but not before at least 5,000 tickets were sold.

It was every Hasid for himself as news of a bargain of biblical proportions swept through communities like Crown Heights, Borough Park and Williamsburg.

Orthodox Jews frantically tried to score tickets for all members of their traditionally large families, from children to grandchildren to aunts, uncles and cousins.

Some pregnant women even tried to book future flights for their unborn children.

“I booked me, my wife, her parents and her three brothers,” said Joey Mansour, 28 of Brooklyn.

“Then I booked my in-laws again for March, my wife’s first cousin who’s married with three children, his mother-in-law, my wife’s aunt, her husband, and two kids.”

Word spread quickly on Facebook and via text message after a Web site, Dan’s Deals, which publishes hot bargains, sent out Twitter alerts notifying members.

“I told everybody in the office and five of the eight people in the office immediately booked tickets for themselves and their families — without hesitation,” said Lazar Cohen, 27, an Orthodox Jew from Crown Heights, who learned of the eye-popping deal when his brother-in-law called from Texas.

“The whole office went into chaos mode,” he said.

“I told my family as well. My sister booked a ticket for herself, my parents booked tickets for themselves, my brother — along with his wife and two kids — booked tickets for $1,631 for four people.

“My cousins also booked, and they have a kid.”

The airline blamed a contractor responsible for posting fares and did not say whether it would honor the tickets — even after customer- service representatives promised ticket buyers it would.

El Al promised a decision by later this week.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/festival_of_flights_2sLECxnYkDxGft8sl9PbfO#ixzz22xLFwQeW

Romney should make a deal with Obama, "I'll release my tax returns and you release your college transcripts

by Wayne Allyn Root (he is a former Libertarian vice presidential nominee.)
I am President Obama’s classmate at Columbia University, Class of ’83. I am also one of the most accurate Las Vegas oddsmakers and prognosticators. Accurate enough that I was awarded my own star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars. And I smell something rotten in Denmark. Obama has a big skeleton in his closet. It’s his college records. Call it “gut instinct” but my gut is almost always right. Obama has a secret hidden at Columbia- and it’s a bad one that threatens to bring down his presidency. Gut instinct is how I’ve made my living for 29 years since graduating Columbia.
Obama and his infamous strategist David Axelrod understand how to play political hardball, the best it’s ever been played. Team Obama has decided to distract America’s voters by condemning Mitt Romney for not releasing enough years of his tax returns. It’s the perfect cover. Obama knows the best defense is a bold offense. Just keep attacking Mitt and blaming him for secrecy and evasion, while accusing him of having a scandal that doesn’t exist. Then ask followers like Senator Harry Reid to chase the lead. The U.S. Senate Majority Leader appears to now be making up stories out of thin air, about tax returns he knows nothing about. It’s a cynical, brilliant, and vicious strategy. Make Romney defend, so he can’t attack the real Obama scandal.
This is classic Axelrod. Obama has won several elections in his career by slandering his opponents and leaking sealed documents. Not only do these insinuations and leaks ruin the credibility and reputation of Obama’s opponents, they keep them on the defensive and off Obama’s trail of sealed documents.
By attacking Romney’s tax records, Obama’s socialist cabal creates a problem that doesn’t exist. Is the U.S. Senate Majority Leader making up stories out of thin air? You decide. But the reason for this baseless attack is clear- make Romney defend, so not only is he “off message” but it helps the media ignore the real Obama scandal.
My answer for Romney? Call Obama’s bluff.
Romney should call a press conference and issue a challenge in front of the nation. He should agree to release more of his tax returns, only if Obama unseals his college records. Simple and straight-forward. Mitt should ask “What could possibly be so embarrassing in your college records from 29 years ago that you are afraid to let America’s voters see? If it’s THAT bad, maybe it’s something the voters ought to see.” Suddenly the tables are turned. Now Obama is on the defensive.
My bet is that Obama will never unseal his records because they contain information that could destroy his chances for re-election. Once this challenge is made public, my prediction is you’ll never hear about Mitt’s tax returns ever again.
Why are the college records, of a 51-year-old President of the United States, so important to keep secret? I think I know the answer.
If anyone should have questions about Obama’s record at Columbia University, it’s me. We both graduated (according to Obama) Columbia University, Class of ’83. We were both (according to Obama) Pre-Law and Political Science majors. And I thought I knew most everyone at Columbia. I certainly thought I’d heard of all of my fellow Political Science majors. But not Obama (or as he was known then- Barry Soetoro). I never met him. Never saw him. Never even heard of him. And none of the classmates that I knew at Columbia have ever met him, saw him, or heard of him.
But don’t take my word for it. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2008 that Fox News randomly called 400 of our Columbia classmates and never found one who had ever met Obama.
Now all of this mystery could be easily and instantly dismissed if Obama released his Columbia transcripts to the media. But even after serving as President for 3 1/2 years he refuses to unseal his college records. Shouldn’t the media be as relentless in pursuit of Obama’s records as Romney’s? Shouldn’t they be digging into Obama’s past–beyond what he has written about himself–with the same boundless enthusiasm as Mitt’s?
The first question I’d ask is, if you had great grades, why would you seal your records? So let’s assume Obama got poor grades. Why not release the records? He’s president of the free world, for gosh sakes. He’s commander-in-chief of the U.S. military. Who’d care about some poor grades from three decades ago, right? So then what’s the problem? Doesn’t that make the media suspicious? Something doesn’t add up.
Secondly, if he had poor grades at Occidental, how did he get admitted to an Ivy League university in the first place? And if his grades at Columbia were awful, how’d he ever get into Harvard Law School? So again those grades must have been great, right? So why spend millions to keep them sealed?
Third, how did Obama pay for all these fancy schools without coming from a wealthy background? If he had student loans or scholarships, would he not have to maintain good grades?
I can only think of one answer that would explain this mystery.
Here’s my gut belief: Obama got a leg up by being admitted to both Occidental and Columbia as a foreign exchange student. He was raised as a young boy in Indonesia. But did his mother ever change him back to a U.S. citizen? When he returned to live with his grandparents in Hawaii or as he neared college-age preparing to apply to schools, did he ever change his citizenship back? I’m betting not.
If you could unseal Obama’s Columbia University records I believe you’d find that:
A)   He rarely ever attended class.
B)   His grades were not those typical of what we understand it takes to get into Harvard Law School.
C)   He attended Columbia as a foreign exchange student.
D)   He paid little for either undergraduate college or Harvard Law School because of foreign aid and scholarships given to a poor foreign students like this kid Barry Soetoro from Indonesia.
If you think I’m “fishing” then prove me wrong. Open up your records Mr. President. What are you afraid of?
If it’s okay for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to go on a fishing expedition about Romney’s taxes (even though he knows absolutely nothing about them nor will release his own), then I think I can do the same thing. But as Obama’s Columbia Class of ’83 classmate, at least I have more standing to make educated guesses.
It’s time for Mitt to go on the attack and call Obama’s bluff.

DNA tests confirm, Jews of Africa belong to the Jewish race

North African Jews

The Jewish people across the world all have very close DNA similarities, according to a new study.

North African Jews are more closely related to Jews around the world, rather than of their non-Jewish neighbors in North Africa, a new study of DNA has found.

In addition, their DNA carries a record of their migrations through the centuries. Some parts of their DNA dates back to the ancient people of the Middle East believed to have migrated to North Africa more than 2,000 years ago, while other bits are connected to Spanish and Portuguese Jews who fled to North Africa after their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th century, the study authors have said.

The finding is consistent with other research showing that the Jews of Europe and the Middle East share more DNA with each other than with external groups, said Dr. Harry Ostrer, a medical geneticist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and author of the report, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Jews tend to be more interconnected than they are to non-Jews, including non-Jews living in their same area, which is true in all regions," he said.

Ostrer previous work has focused primarily on DNA samples collected from American Jews. Hoping to "catch up" and present a fuller picture of Jewish history and diversity, he and his colleagues analyzed DNA samples from 145 people of Jewish origin from North Africa, from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Djerba which is an island off the coast of Tunisia and Libya.

Comparing the DNA genetic data obtained from a variety of other Jewish groups and non-Jews, they found that the Jewish populations of North Africa have clearly genetic patterns more similar to European and Middle Eastern Jews than non-Jews who currently live in region. The data indicates that, once established in their communities, Jews in this region did not marry their non-Jewish neighbors.

The scientists also found that North African Jews formed two main groups, Morocco and Algeria Jews

shared more DNA with the European Jews as was seen by Tunisia, Libya and Djerba.

This is probably due to the fact that Jews living in West Africa married with Sephardic Jews who fled there after their expulsion from Spain and Portugal in the 15th century, the researchers wrote.

Yeshiva University historian Lawrence Schiffman said that the results are well aligned with the historical record.

"It's exciting to see what we know from the history books and that all of it is backed by genetics," he said.

Jewish Doctor dies saving 2 drowning boys

A doctor died while saving two boys.
Dr. Donald Liu did not hesitate when he saw the two children struggling to swim in the rough waters of Lake Michigan.

Despite the objections of his own children, who were concerned about the dangerous conditions, Liu ran along the beach in Berrien County, Michigan, and plunged into the lake to help the boys, who had fallen from a kayak, according to Liu's wife and the authorities.

An elite pediatric surgeon of Chicago, Liu reached the two boys, said his wife, Dr. Dana Suskind. However, the rip current emerging from beneath the waves of 5 feet of water dragged the doctor below the surface, said Bruce McKamey, a police officer from Chikaming municipality.

Emergency personnel who arrived around 10:40 am local time on Sunday, took Liu, 50, from the water and Suskind, who is also a surgeon, performed CPR on her husband of over 17 years. The

children, to who the doctor swam to save, were friends of the family. They did return safely to shore thanks to the help of the doctor. But Liu was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.

"It was horrible," Suskind said Monday. "He had the biggest heart. He was a brilliant surgeon, but what was amazing about him was that he was the best father, this was his priority in life, and he loved me with all his heart."

Liu and Suskind belong to a prominent Jewish community in Chicago.

Dov Berish Englander dies while toiveling in the ocean

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish rabbi drowned while performing a ritual immersion in the sea off the resort town of Aberystwyth in West Wales.

Dov Berish Englander, 47, described as a highly respected member of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in London, on vacation in the picturesque seaside town of Aberystwyth, where he died while diving into the sea, using it as a "mikvah" ritual bath, in the traditional cleansing of the body in a natural water body that symbolizes a return to purity.

A hotel guest called the emergency phone number after seeing Rabbi Englander fighting for his life at sea.

A lifeboat and rescue helicopter arrived and the team took the rabbi out of the water. Paramedics tried to revive him, but the rabbi was pronounced dead at Bronglais General Hospital in Aberystwyth, the news media reported.

Rabbi Berish Englander, of Stamford Hill, north London, was described as "well respected" for his religious knowledge and charity. "He was a rabbi that was categorized as very fair and very, very

prominent and respected in the community," said a member of the community.

"He was a good example to all. He was the kind of man to show as a role model for children," he said. "He was very kind and generous and gave huge amounts of money to charity. He will be missed by all who knew him."

Police said they are not treating the incident as suspicious. In June, the Satmar Rabbi Chaim Breisch died after struggling in the sea off the coastal town of Broadstairs, Kent, about 80 kilometers southeast of London.

Frum Jewish Store Owner found murdered! UPDATED AUG5

A father of four was found dead on the floor the last night in his 99-cent store in Brooklyn, New York police said.

Two customers entered the store at 1877 86th Street in Bensonhurst at 8:45 pm and found Isaac Kadare, 59, unconscious. Doctors found that he had suffered a head injury.

An employee told the news media that he spoke to a detective who said that police were investigating the death as a likely homicide. A police source said police have not ruled out a heart attack followed by a fall.

His family was devastated this morning.
"I do not know what to say. He loved his family, his four children," sobbed his wife, Nancy Kadare, who wanted to celebrate his birthday with him next week.
"He was a hard working man, I do not understand. A person who is alive one day and the next day he is not."

Margarita Roman, 38, who has lived in the building of the store said, Kadare had bought the store 11 years ago.

He operated two stores on the ground floor and rented apartments above,she said.

Neighbors said Kadare had come to the United States from Israel. He and his wife have two teen daughters, a teen son and a daughter that is 10 years old.

"His family is always there," said Roman. "Your children are always there. His wife is always there. They were not there tonight."
After hearing the news yesterday afternoon, relatives of the businessman came rapidly.
"His wife seemed lost, the little girl was crying, not know what was going on,'' said another neighbor.
"They wanted to go into the store, but they were not allowed.”

UPDATE! AUG 5

Police have a suspect in mind in the apparent homicide of Bensonhurst store owner Isaac Kadare.

Kadare, 59, was found dead around 9 p.m. on Thursday by two customers inside the “Amazing 99 cents Deals” store in the 1800 block of 86th Street. He was found shot in the head, the Medical Examiner confirmed with CBS 2.

Police told 1010 WINS that they believe that the same suspect who murdered Kadare also killed a Bay Ridge shopkeeper on July 6. The suspect description is similar, and ballistics tests confirm that the same .22-caliber gun was used in both murders.

Strangely the addresses of the two shops are similar, with the first owner killed at 7718 Fifth Avenue and the second businessman killed at 1877 86th Street.

Mazel Tov to Klall Yisroel on the Siyum Ha'Shaas

 Some 90,000 people packed MetLife Stadium to celebrate the completion of the page-a-day Talmud cycle in the largest-ever Siyum HaShas.

The gathering Wednesday evening, which was simulcast to some 60 U.S. cities and more than 20 countries, marked the completion of the 7 1/2-year cycle it takes to complete the Talmud (known collectively as Shas) at the rate of a folio -- two sides of a page -- per day. The program, known as Daf Yomi, was begun by the late Rabbi Meir Shapiro in 1923, and the first siyum, or completion, was celebrated in Lublin, Poland, in 1930. This year's siyum -- the cycle technically ends Thursday -- celebrated the completion of the 12th cycle since that time.

"Fortunate is the person who sees, who experiences, this great gathering," said Rabbi Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz, the emcee of the event. "Try to visualize the singing and dancing that's going on right now in shamayim [heaven] watching tens of thousands celebrating the masechtos [tractates] they worked on so diligently!"

The stadium event consisted mostly of speeches in English and Yiddish and short video tributes, including to the late Jerome Schottenstein, to whom the event was dedicated and whose family sponsored the ArtScroll English translation of the Talmud. No women appeared onstage or on the videos, but several thousand women were seated in an upper tier of the stadium outfitted with curtains that were pulled closed during the prayer services that opened the event.

Rabbi Malkiel Kotler of the Beth Medrash Govoha, a yeshiva in Lakewood, N.J., taught the final section of the Talmud to the crowd. Once the ceremony was complete, the crowd erupted in thunderous singing and dancing.

The new Daf Yomi Talmud cycle begins Friday with page 2 (all Talmudic tractates begin on page 2) of Tractate Brachot.

Mass Jewish grave, Jews murdered by the Romans during destruction of 2nd Bais Hamikdash, Found!

A mass grave most probably of massacred Jews was found on the Temple Mount.

The remains of thousands of Jews massacred by the Romans on the Temple Mount during the destruction of the Second Temple may have been recovered, according to veteran archaeological reporter.

According to an Israeli news media source, a video clearly shows thousands of human skeletons in what appears to be a mass grave.

The reporter told the audience, that the film had been shot in an underground cave in the area of the Gate of Mercy, a sealed door in the wall of the Old City in Jerusalem, opposite Mount of Olives, near the east wall of the Temple Mount, the news media reported. He raised the possibility that the skeletons were the remains of 6,000 Jews, mostly women and children that were killed on the Temple Mount, when the Romans destroyed the Second Temple.

The slaughter is described in the writings of Josephus Flavius, a Jewish general of the Jewish forces  who witnessed the destruction.

The film shows archeologists enter the cave, followed by a lighting technician and camera. The three first pass through a narrow hallway and then enter the cave with clearly visible human remains. As soon as he left the cave, the Israel Antiquities Authority or IAA, staff resealed the entrance to it, he said.

The Romans stayed on the Temple Mount for a month after the destruction of the Temple and then  

went on to conquer of the upper city.

They had to get rid of the thousands of decaying bodies and the most obvious place to do this would have been the natural caves in the hillside, around the Gate of Mercy.

Couple watched in horror as their front lawn suddenly falls down a cliff.Video

The front yard just disappeared in front of their eyes.
A couple of Whidbey Island has spent the last week watching the front yard disappearing, falling piece by piece over a cliff 200 feet deep.

The worst is that they were unable to stop it.

Rosalee Ballinger has seen the pieces fall. She sees the hole 50 feet wide, where a tree 500 years old, once stood.

Her husband, Roy, said it started a week ago.

"Suddenly one day, there was a geyser that squirted probably 25, 30 feet in the air," he said.

The geyser seemed to come from nowhere.

"We cried and laughed," said Rosallee. "I do not know what we will do. It's devastating, absolutely devastating."

Roy said he did not think it will get his home destroyed, but said his store, that he calls his pride and joy, is definitely on the path of destruction.

"I know of no way to stop it," he said. "Only God will have to stop it."

The fire department is concerned about the decline, too. Hidden in the earth is a propane tank 

underground. On Wednesday morning the tank was 12 feet from the edge, but this afternoon it was just 12 inches.

"It could explode a valve, or slip down the slope innocently. We do not know," said Assistant Fire Chief Mike Cotton.

The water department and the fire department checked all the lines in the area and found no leaks. They say the likely cause is a natural spring that apparently changed its course.

There are no homes below the Ballinger property.

Frum Girl running for New York State Senate!

An ultra-tan and, like, totally cool 22-year-old from Brooklyn is running for state Senate, landing on the usually stuffed-shirt political scene in an explosion of pink and bling — and sporting a Web site that’s more “Legally Blonde” than “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”

“I’m Senator and I Know It,” newbie candidate Mindy Meyer’s Web site declares in tricked-out letters as an instrumental version of LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It” plays.

The clearly fun-loving, Orthodox Jewish law-school student cites Rudy Giuliani as her political idol and hails Reese Witherspoon’s character in the comic movie “Legally Blonde” for showing her that “you can take pink and make it sophisticated.”

n one photo on MindyMeyer4Senate.com, the cute candidate is superimposed over the dome of the US Capitol — not the Senate chamber she’s running for in Albany.

In another photo, she’s holding a bow and arrow as Katniss from the “Hunger Games,” alongside her position on poverty and unemployment: “No more ‘Hunger Games’ in our district!”

Meyer may be a political neophyte, but “I can tell you one thing, I have no experience in corruption,” says the Touro College alum, who majored in political science.

The site also claims: “A lifelong Flatbush resident, Mindy is the first young woman in the history of New York to run for New York State Senate.”

Meyer, who works for a Flatbush real-estate lawyer, said her Web site “was 100 percent my own. We need to get young people involved in politics. The Senate doesn’t have to be a senior citizens home.”

She said she “fell asleep” looking at other state senators’ Web sites. She called hers “substantive — the only difference is it’s actually exciting.”

Running as a Republican and Conservative, Meyer will face Democratic incumbent Kevin Parker.

Parker didn’t return calls from The Post but told the Web site City & State he’s taking her campaign seriously.

“Every challenge is a credible challenge,” he said. “This is the American democratic process, but I don’t know Ms. Meyer at all. She is rather young.”

But her candidacy is making Brooklyn’s Conservative Party chairman very happy.

“She’s a law-school student, she’s extremely intelligent, she is very focused on this race, and I’m excited to have a candidate who’s getting all this attention!” gushed Jerry Kassar.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/pink_can_gal_bold_sen_bid_mqhoZFFgQxFqtFGkiiFqtO#ixzz21ZaRWPkZ