If the Left Doesn't Like Birthright ... Let them start their own program..

Guys read the entire article .... 

by Daniel Gordis 

“American Jews and Israeli Jews Are Headed for a Messy Breakup,” a column by Jonathan Weisman announced in the New York Times earlier this week. He’s probably right. But only “probably.” The relationship does not have to crash, if both sides can acknowledge the profound ways in which the world’s two largest Jewish communities are profoundly different, and cease imposing their own worldview on the other.

To heal this rift, both sides are going to need to accept that we are invariably going to continue disappointing each other, because American Judaism and Israeli Judaism are, by this point, very different animals. As I describe in my forthcoming book, We Stand Divided: Competing Visions of Jewishness and the Rift Between American Jews and Israel, they now rest on almost entirely different foundations. One is universal and one particular, one focuses on Judaism as religion while the other sees Judaism as nationality, one largely exempt from the messiness of history, while the other is the product of a movement that expressly sought to restore the Jews as players into the complexities (and ugliness) of history.

Ultimately, both Israel and American Jews will have to change much about their views of and discourse about the other. At this moment, though, I want to focus on the ways in which American Jews need to rethink their discourse about Israel, since this side of the equation was much in evidence both in Weisman’s column and in another piece week, by Peter Beinart, in the Forward.

As part of the IfNotNow-instigated brouhaha about Birthright, Beinart issued a characteristic warning this week: “Birthright Will Fail If It Doesn’t Evolve With Young Jews,” arguing that Birthright trips do not offer a balanced picture of the conflict, which in turn will lead many young American Jews to ignore the program.

Watch An Amazing Battle Between Kellyanne Conway and CNN Fake News Jim Acosta

R" Berland admitted Sex Offender Offers Chareidi Parties His Support in Exchange for Photo-Op

Rabbi Berland convicted of sexual offenses has been negotiating his public rehabilitation with Chareidie politicians in exchange for his followers’ political support, according to a television report on Tuesday.

After evading arrest for three years, Eliezer Berland, 80, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in November 2016 on two counts of indecent acts and one case of assault, as part of a plea deal. He was freed after five months, in part due to ill health.

Now, his associates are working to bring him back into the fold, according to a recording obtained by Hadashot.

In the recording, captured before the October municipal elections in Jerusalem, an aide to Berland, Natan Bezenson, is heard speaking with United Torah Judaism’s MK Meir Porush.

Chareidie Parties in Israel Split Up .... "Achdus" is for the "average Shzlub" Not for the "Manhigim"

This "achdus" talk is exactly that ..."talk" ...

Practicing "achdus" preached by all "gedoilim" is only for the poor "Zhlub, who works all day, comes home for a quick bite and runs off to a Daf Yoimie shiur ..the guy who doesn't even have time to fight, who is struggling to pay his "arnonah;" trying his utmost to keep his children from noticing that the "gedoilim" are always fighting between each other and causing them to take a second look at their heritage and to leave all "this" behind because of all the hypocrisy.
Instead of getting together and working out a deal to keep their "learners" out of the army, they will now lose any momentum they had, the IDF will gain more soldiers, and the "gedoilim" will call for protests .... for that there is "achdus"

The United Torah Judaism party has filed a request with Knesset officials to approve its split into its two constituent factions Wednesday.

New "Chassidis" Refuse to wear Shtreimlich or Borcelino Hats!!

Question: Is this "muktzeh" on Shabbos? 

Samual Isaac Farkas Killed falling off a 9th floor balcony on Collins Ave Miami Beach

The Miami Beach Jewish community was shocked to hear of a horrific tragedy which occurred on Tuesday night / Wednesday morning, when a teenage boy was tragically killed.

16-year-old Yitzchak (Sam) Farkas Z”L, was killed after falling off a 9th floor balcony in what police have confirmed was a tragic accident.

Miami Beach Police Department responded to the La Costa condominium complex at 5333 Collins Ave just before 8:00PM, after receiving reports of a person falling off a balcony at that location.

Miami Beach Police and Fire Rescue units arrived at the scene and found a person laying on the floor in traumatic arrest. He expired at the scene.

Yitzchak had arrived home and found his 9th floor apartment door locked with no one home. He proceeded upstairs to the 10th floor neighbor, and asked to come inside. He explained what had happened and went to the balcony to attempt to lower himself down to his balcony below – knowing that he would be able to get into his apartment. Tragically, he fell while trying to lower himself down, and plunged to his death.

Sadly, Yitzchak celebrated his birthday the day of the tragedy.

Police Chaplain Rabbi Mark Rosenberg and Chesed Shel Emes worked for many hours with police and the medical examiner to ensure proper Kavod Hames.

Mazal Tov ... Two Girls Get Married ... Have Maseder Kiddushin

Did I just hear the Mesader Kiddushin say 

?ברוך אתה ה'  כשמח כלה וכלה

Get me a drink fast ....

The Reform Movement has turned most Galut Jews into ethical monotheists - that is, Bnei Noachs

The Reform Movement takes pride in interpreting the Torah in what it considers a more tolerant and open-minded way. Since the mid-19th century this has meant stripping Judaism and Jewish life of ritual commandments.

The end result has been to effectively turn most Diaspora Jews into Noahides. That is, into ethical monotheists. 

This appears to be harmless until we remember that according to Judaism, Noahides are supposed to be Gentiles - not Jews!

Jews are meant to be a priestly nation and to take over a more challenging – and rewarding – relationship with God. This allows Jews to serve as a light unto the nations and gradually draw all of humanity towards Biblical morality and the worship of one God. 

Number of Jews in Judea and Samaria nears 450,000

Maalei Adumim

The number of Israelis living in Judea and Samaria rose to nearly 450,000 during 2018 settler leaders reported Tuesday morning.

According to a report released by the Yesha Council – the umbrella group representing Israeli municipalities across Judea and Samaria – the Israeli population in the area reached 448,672 in 2018.

That marks a significant decline in the annual growth rate of the total settlement population, which grew by just 12,964 people in 2018, equaling 3.0% annual growth, compared to 14,299 in 2017 (3.4%), 15,765 in 2016 (3.9%), 15,617 in 2015 (4.0%), and 15,558 in 2014 (4.2%).

Chuck Schumer Will Block Pro-Israel Bill

Efforts are underway in the US Senate to block a pro-Israel bill in response to the ongoing government shutdown.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and other Senate Democratic leaders are behind the effort, according to a report by the Washington Examiner on Monday.

The bill is aimed at “allowing state and local governments to divest from entities that boycott, divest from, or sanction Israel because of its occupation of the West Bank.”

Paintings That You Will Swear Are Photographs

Israeli Scientists Say That Plants May Actually Be Able to HEAR GardenersTalking to Them and the Buzz of Approaching Bees

Gardeners who talk to their plants are often dismissed as being a little potty, but now there is evidence that the plants may actually be listening.

Flowers not only hear the buzz of approaching bees, but respond by producing sweeter nectar, biologists at Tel Aviv University have found.

This entices the bees to visit more often, increasing the chance of the plant’s pollen being distributed.

When the scientists played recordings of flying bees to evening primrose flowers, the sugar concentration in the nectar rose by an average 20 per cent within three minutes.

The study, published on the website BioRxiv, said it was the first evidence that plants can respond to sounds in ‘an ecologically relevant way’.

Birds fly in perfect rabbit-shaped formation

Pope Congratulates Cuba for 60 Years of Communism!

Pope Francis twirls a soccer ball he was presented by a member of the Circus of Cuba, during his weekly general audience in the Pope Paul VI hall, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019

The Vatican News website recently paid tribute to Cuba on the 60th anniversary of the Communist revolution in a post that was quickly deleted.

The Communist island nation marked the occasion with celebrations on News Year's Day, while several leftist Latin American leaders tweeted their best wishes.

The socialist despot president of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro tweeted: "We commemorate the anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution led by Commander Fidel Castro. 60 years of sacrifices, struggles and blockade; There is the heroic Cuban people, an example of resistance and dignity to the world. Long Live Cuba!"

In a pinned tweet, another socialist leader, Bolivia's Evo Morales, stated: "We salute the victory of Bro. Commandant. Fidel Castro and the valiant Cuban people on the proimperialist dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista."

Not to be outdone, the Vatican News Service offered its own tribute of sorts to commemorate the festive occasion: Cuba Celebrates 60 Years of the Revolution. The post reportedly read:

The historic anniversary was celebrated with an official ceremony in which the former head of state and leader of the Cuban Communist Party, Raúl Castro, and the current president of the nation, Miguel Díaz-Canel, participated.

The post was apparently deleted, but not before some appalled readers captured it:

Satmar Not Waiting For Moshiach .... Establishes First official Chareidie Town in Chutz Le'aaretz Since the Destruction of the Bais Ha'Mikdash!

Part of Satmar's  philosophy or SHIT'ah vis a vis the State of Israel, is that the State is guilty of what they call "Hisgaaris Be'Umois" which means that the State,just  by being a State is antagonizing the goyim ... which is prohibited ...

The "prohibition" of "Hisgaaris Be'Umois" may or may not apply in Eretz Yisroel ... but it applies certainly in Chutz Le'Aaretz. 

At least in Israel, we know that G-d gave us this land and is waiting for the Jews to come back and populate it so that G-d (so to speak)  can once again reside amongst us in the land bequeathed to us ....
And the State of Israel needs to do things even if it antagonizes its neighbors because it has an obligation to protect its citizens .....
Just last night the Gazan murderers shot a missile towards Ashkelon and the State of Israel not only intercepted it but bombed the Gazan military base.... 

But what excuse is there for Jews in diaspora to antagonize the goyim???
(the towns established like New Square or Kaser and even Kiryas Yoel were part of the Major Towns, for example .. New Square is part of Spring Valley, Kaser Village in Monsey is part of Spring Valley, and even Kiryas Yoel was part of Monroe. This Town has separated from Monroe and is a separate entity)

Is the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia?

And all this time I though it was in Monroe!!

by Melissa Twigg

Ethiopia throbs with religious fervor. On Sundays in Lalibela, Aksum and Gondar, I was alone in thousand-strong crowds of monks and nuns, hermits and business owners, energetic children and bent-double grandmothers. They wrapped themselves in white or burnt orange and poured into the churches that dot the landscape.

It is a society with a more profound spirituality than anywhere else I have been to—one where worship is woven into nearly every aspect of life. And during my trip, it became clear that this veneration of the church was born from a belief that Ethiopia has been chosen by God as the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant.

There is only one man alive who has seen the alleged Ark in all its biblical glory. It is, according to Ethiopian lore, hidden in a church in Aksum—a small city in the northern highlands—and guarded by a single monk. Nobody else enters the room and only after his death will the monk leave the grounds.

Chareidie Idiot with Measles Exposes Dozens of Premature Babies in Bnei Brak .....

This potential murderer not only endangered others but endangered his very own child...

I'll bet he is always in front protesting the IDF ... but thinks nothing of killing others with a deadly painful disease. 

A measles patient insisted on visiting his premature son at the Mayanei Hayeshua hospital in Bnei Brak, last Thursday without informing anyone that he had been diagnosed with measles. 

When the medical team found out that he was ill, they rushed to vaccinate more than 80 premature babies and infants,

According to Ran Reznik and Meital Yassour Beit-Or in Israel Hayom, the hospital decided to vaccinate all 24 of the demonstrators who were in the NICU and to vaccinate 60 babies who were in the adjacent babies.

The concern was that infants and children were immunized against the disease only from the age of one year, so that immediately after birth they were not immunized against the disease, they were vaccinated with a regular vaccine rather than preventive treatment.

Prof. Motti Ravid, director of the hospital, told Israel Hayom that "this is a wild and inconsiderate act, not to mention that the same man endangered his son, along with the risk of the other babies. From now on, we will also guard the entry of adults and also hang signs around the hospital that ask visitors with fever or bloating not to enter the hospital. "

According to the Ministry of Health, as of last week, 3,030 Israelis contracted measles, with 502 patients in December.

Auschwitz: Drone video of Nazi concentration camp

Drone video shows the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp as it is today - 70 years after it was liberated by Soviet troops.

The camp in Poland is now maintained as a World Heritage Site and is visited by thousands of tourists and survivors every year. Auschwitz was the largest camp established by the Germans during World War II. More than a million people - the vast majority of them Jews - died there between 1940, when it was built, and 1945, when it was liberated by the Soviet army. Railway tracks into Auschwitz-Birkenau - Trains filled with victims from throughout occupied Europe arrived at the camp almost every day between 1942 and the summer of 1944. Ruins of wooden huts at Birkenau - Birkenau (or Auschwitz II) was erected in 1941 solely as a death camp, the wooden huts are now in ruins with only brick fireplaces and chimneys remaining. Entrance to Auschwitz I -The wrought-iron sign over the entrance bears the words Arbeit Macht Frei - "Work sets you free". Auschwitz I - The brick-built buildings were the former cavalry barracks of the Polish Army. Courtyard between blocks 10 and 11 at Auschwitz I - Block 11 was called "the Block of Death" by prisoners. Executions took place between Block 10 and Block 11 and posts in the yard were used to string up prisoners by their wrists. Auschwitz Birkenau is now a museum run by the Polish Culture Ministry, and a Unesco world heritage site.

19 Year Old Ben Zion Brandwein Completes Shas & Commentaries Gets a Bottle of Wine From The Boyaner Rebbe

 

Wow!! That will surely encourage others....

I'm not saying that he studied Shas for a reward .... but come on.....

Anyway, Great accomplishment! 

A 19-year-old boy, Ben Zion Brandwein, student of the Bayan Yeshiva in Modi'in Illit, studied Shas and all its commentators by heart, and at the end of the Talmud, he was examined by the Admor of Boyan  who gave him a bottle of wine! 

As a child, Ben Zion,  studied in the Talmud Torah from Kanovka Belz and was a tremendous masmid. Presently, he studies at the Bayan Yeshiva in Modi'in Illit.

Despite his youth, he was able to finish the entire Talmud - , with commentators by heart.

Ben Zion Brandwein lives in Bnei Brak, and his father serves as a bookshop manager in the city.

When the Admor of Bayan heard that the outstanding young man knew the entire Talmud, he tested him asking him questions  from several places in Shas, then blessing him and giving him a bottle of wine in appreciation.

The graduation ceremony of the outstanding 19-year-old boy will take place at the Bayan Yeshiva in Modi'in Illit, with the participation of the yeshiva rabbis and accompanied by an orchestra and a Seudat Mitzvah.

Day Yoimie Snippets ... Chullin 33, 34, 35,36, 37, 38, & 39

Hey ladies ... here is an opportunity to test your husbands and see if he really goes to the daf....

Also it is a good opportunity for the entire family to share thoughts on the daf ... so that the family feels united by discussing what the head of the house is studying.   

You can copy and print this without my consent, since Torah belongs to all of us..... 

See  previous Daf Yoimie Snippets 

"דף ל''ג "טמאת ידים      

Page33  Mesectas Chullin  

"Contamination (Tumah) of the Hands" 

*This "snippet" is a bit longer than usual because of its complexity ... 

When we talk about "tumah" "contamination" in the Talmud and Shulchan Aruch " "we speak about a "spiritual contamination." 

 From here on in, I will use the word that the Torah & Talmud use .. "tumah" ....instead of the English word "contamination" because the english translation doesn't do the meaning of "tumah" justice.

Before I explain this particular daf, I must introduce some concepts in "tumah," and so that's the reason this  particular "snippet" will be a bit longer than my usual "snippets".

Introduction:

When a Jewish person touches a corpse with his hand, his entire body contracts "tumah" 

There are many levels or degrees of "tumah."  I will attempt to summarize them briefly..

The strictest level of tumah, is אבי אבות הטמאה ... which if translated literally, means "father of fathers" of tumah. 

and that level of tumah can only be the corpse itself ....

The level below that, is far more common, and that is called 

אב הטמאה, which means literally "father of tumah."

In order to contract this level of tumah a person would have to touch a human corpse or the carcass of one of the 8 species of creeping creatures listed in the Torah and these creatures are referred to as Sheratzim ...

Included in this tumah are kosher animals that died not by "ritually slaughter" but were killed for example by a bullet etc. and that animal is now a "נבילה"

Also included are the following humans :

Zav, Zavah, Niddah or Metzora .. 

Now ......

Any object that comes in contact with an אב הטמאה,

becomes a ראשון לטמאה a tumah in the "first degree" 

Under Biblical law ... people or vessels that came in contact with this mentioned tumah can no longer convey tumah to some other item.... it stops...

The exception: 

Food items that came in contact with an אב הטמאה can acquire what is called : שני לטמאה ..."second degree" of tumah.

But in the case of "chullin" which is ordinary food, (not consecrated,) tumah can go no further than a שני לטמאה

so if a שני לטמאה touches "chullin" it conveys no degree of tumah.

However food items that are Terumah or Kodesh, due to greater degrees of stringency associated with them, can go beyond שני לטמאה

and can become שלישי לטמאה  a third degree level and in the case of Kodesh food even a  רביעי לטמאה a fourth level of tumah!

Back to our daf:

We discussed above that if one touches a corpse his entire body becomes tumah.....and he becomes a אב הטמאה

Now, 

if this person who is now a אב הטמאה, touches another person, that person is as we mentioned above, becomes a 

ראשון לטמאה ...

so, it would follow our logic that if this ראשון לטמאה,   now touches  another person, this "touched" person or object would not contract any tumah .....it would stop (except if he touched food.)

But the rabbis enacted a rule (תקנה) that the hands of this person who is a ראשון לטמאה becomes a שני לטמאה as well ...

his hands not his entire body..

So now he can still covey tumah to Teruma & Kodesh foods with his hands.

 The rabbis enacted this rule so that people be careful what  with their hands at all times and that is the novelty of this rule.

Therefore the Kohanim had to wash their hands before they ate terumah .. because of its greater sanctity.

The rabbis instituted that all of us should wash their hands before eating bread to be in the habit of being careful with our hands...... and now you know why we wash to bread ...

Press "read more" immediately below to continue to the rest of the dafim!