Terrorist Killed by His Own Rock

A friend of mine sent me this email, and I found it fascinating! If anyone doubts Hashem's absolute justice, let them check out this story:

(INN, 18 Jan 09) A Palestinian Authority Arab who stoned cars in Samaria was killed by one of his own rocks, police have concluded. A Jewish man held in connection with the death has been released.

The Arab teenager hurled heavy stones at Israeli-owned vehicles along a Samaria highway last Tuesday evening. He managed to hit one car, which was driven by a resident of the nearby town of Emmanuel.

Fearing further attacks, the driver fired a single shot in the air to frighten away the stone-thrower. He then contacted local security officers to report both the attack and his own response.

A short time later, Israeli paramedics received a report of an Arab teen found unconscious and badly wounded next to a highway. The teen suffered a serious head injury that appeared to be a bullet wound. Medical personnel rushed to the scene but were unable to save the young Arab, who died a short time later.

Police originally believed that the resident of Emmanuel who reported firing in the air had in fact fired at his attacker, killing him. The man was arrested and questioned. However, an initial forensic report showed that the attacker had not been killed by a bullet, and the detainee was released.

A final forensic report, released over the weekend, showed that the attacker was killed when a stone he threw hit the car driven by the man from Emmanuel. The stone hit the car's tire and bounced back at high speed, hitting the attacker and leaving him with a fatal head injury.

Down home they say, "What comes around, goes around." A person has to remember that if he the trap he sets for others will end up ensnaring him.

Here's the link for the source of the story: www.lazerbrody.typepad.com/

Professor Obama

Like many yesterday, I took the time to watch inauguration ceremonies.

The location: From the seat of my Magazine Journalism class. For me, it seemed different not sitting @ home watching something like this, rather @ school. But I don't think it's that unusual nowadays that technology has allowed us access to pretty much whatever we want, wherever we are.

Nonetheless, our entire class was fixated towards the overhead screen at the front of the class and with several others were right outside our class watching off an even bigger screen in the main atrium of the HP Campus @ Centennial College. Having President Obama in a sense "give us lecture" with his inauguration speech was fun to watch.

Things that stood out from yesterday's proceedings:

1) Rick Warren reciting the Shema: Talk about catching me off guard... I was sitting @ my desk working on an in-class assignment meanwhile the CNN feed is being shown on the overhead because our Prof wanted to watch it. I wasn't constantly watching, but I heard everything loud and clear. All of sudden I hear the words "Hear O Israel..." and I'm thinking What? I turn to look and yes indeed, Rick Warren was reciting the Shema. For those who don't know, the Shema is the most important verse in Judaism. Written in the Torah, it's recitation represents a fulfilment of the paramount commandment of acceptance of G-d's absolute sovereignty (Artscroll Siddur). Good for Warren, who's also a pastor, for reciting the holy words. Jews all around the world watching must have felt special @ that moment...

2) Wow did Chief Justice John Roberts screw up reciting the words for Obama during the swearing in. He said way too much for him to repeat afterwards and spoke way to fast. To be honest, Obama did look a little nervous. And @ one point I actually thought he said one of the words wrong... And every time I watched a replay on the news, you didn't hear the mistakes, rather a quick snippet of Obama reciting a line or two. Wonder if anyone else noticed it?

3) My mom asked this one: "What if Obama has to go to the washroom?"
It's not like he can't go during the speeches, parades, balls, or whatever event that requires him to be on television. They probably snuck him out in between proceedings.

4) How much bloody coverage Michelle Obama's dresses get: Okay, I maybe conservative in this case but honestly, is it really that important to know every single detail about the clothes worn by the First Lady? Maybe it's because I'm a guy too... At one point when discussing the dress, I actually learned something interesting about the dress - it had to do with the tradition of these balls and the likeness of Michelle Obama towards Jackie Kennedy and what they both symbolize to the American public. Fine. But they still went overboard with the coverage...

5) The balls: 10 Balls? He had to go to 10? And dance @ them all? The same dance? Talk about patience... It's actually quite admirable to see someone who genuinely seems to enjoy and care about all the places and things he saw and heard. Must be gratitude. Michelle Obama on the other hand... you could tell her attention span was dwindling @ times...

6) CNN's Live Feed + Facebook Statuses: How cool was that? In addition to watching the inauguration, you could also check your friend's Facebook statuses too. In fact, most of them were probably watching the inauguration the same way you were too. I was very impressed.

So January 20th, will be a day history will never forget.
They better not forget it. I had my Bar Mitzvah on January 20th (2001).

Israel Videos on Facebook Database

Since Operation Cast Lead began a few weeks ago, Jewish communities all over the world have been showing their support for Israel and its cause. Of those communities, one in particular that has done a tremendous job in utilizing it's capabilities to do so. It's a community that knows no geographical boundaries, differentiations on levels of observance, or even political affiliation. It's a community that I'm very familiar with, and if you've ever read a post of mine, you're most likely a member of it too. (Even if you think you don't... yet spend too much time in it anyways...)

I'm talking about the Internet community, particularly the Facebook community.

When the operation began, many of my fellow Jews were quick to publicly express their support for Israel on Facebook. Such a tool enables a person so many opportunities to express themselves and in the case of these people, they've made wise decisions upon how they choose to do so.

Occasionally Facebook gets a bad rap because it can sometimes act as a source for time-wasters, laziness, procrastinators, and other unnecessary activities of which you could be better spending your time doing something better. Like exercise. Or playing a musical instrument. You know, normal stuff.

However, in Judaism there's an important concept of how everything created in this world so it could serve a purpose in doing the will of G-d. Of course we could use our body or any other physical object like a computer anyway we want, but what true benefit does it serve when there's no purpose behind it's use?

What I'm getting @ is that anyone can doodle around on Facebook, but you can also do something productive with it as well. The important thing is that you have a choice, and these people have made conscious decisions to use Facebook as a tool for supporting Israel. Such a noteworthy act is certainly considered that of doing the will of G-d. And even if you're not Jewish, the concept also rings true. We have resources and we can utilize them anyway we want. Or we can maximize potential - both ours and the object's.

This brings me to the videos. They get posted by the masses, people see them, they enjoy, get inspired and if they want, they can send the link to a friend. Too often do we get these moments of inspiration and sources of it, yet they become forgotten. When I say forgotten in terms of Facebook, I mean they become old posts as new posts arise everyday on your homepage...

What I propose is we preserve those videos (and other sources of information and inspiration), with its own place. A database where you can find them quick and easy.

So that rather than having to scramble around Youtube, or your other friend's Facebook page, or go back through multiple pages of Facebook Posted Item pages, there's an easy source for all these videos that have arose over the past few weeks.

Take it from a wannabe journalist, it makes life a lot easier to not have become a temporary detective when having to look for these things. With easy access, we can prove to those who disagree us and portray Israel as the aggressor and disturbers of peace.

Please join me in this endeavor if you desire. You too can use Facebook for more than a place just to waste time...

This the link to my Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=28125113&ref=name
I've made a list in the "Notes" section on the left side of the page where you can post videos and a forum where you can help contribute. You can also post links and messages on my blog in the comments section. Or you send me an email @ tevypilc@gmail.com

Thanks for taking the time to read this message.

Blood: This Day In Yeshiva History- January 3 (with a current twist)

I meant to write this last night but I met up with a few people I hadn't seen in a while. Priorities, Priorities... Here's what I wrote in my journal:

"Big Day today. Magen David Edom came today to the yeshiva for us to donate blood. I donated for the first time in my life. It made me feel great too. My mom talked to me about it beforehand and she really encouraged me to do it. She said that she'd done it several times and more importantly, it was donated blood that help prolong Bubby's life. That gave me even greater incentive to participate."
Bubby is the Yiddish name for grandmother. My Bubby passed away a little over a year at the time - Nov 2004. I actually forgot about this detail about the whole experience, but nonetheless it's noteworthy to recall because of how important she was to me and it gives me great joy to simply bring her up in conversation.

But here's the current twist: My dad showed me this article he was emailed on Wednesday. The article was entitled "Filthy Jewish Blood".
http://www.ou.org/shabbat_shalom/article/bogner_filthy_jewish_blood/
Talk about an attention catching title. I won't spoil it, but it basically discusses the under-reported practice of Jewish humanitarianism - TO THE PALESTINIANS IN GAZA.

That's right. To the same place they just sent ground troops last night. I can't help but wonder if the roles were reversed, would the Palestinians consider a similar practice?

When I look back to when I gave blood that day, I thought about how much of a service to the country I was doing by giving my blood to those who need it. I thought of victims of terror attacks, hospital patients, soldiers in combat... pretty much anyone who'd be in need in blood to keep on living. Like my Bubby.

But to Palestinians in Gaza?
Wouldn't that seem a little counterproductive?

The other day I posted an article written by my friend who discussed her experiences as a medic who had to care for an actual terrorist. She mentioned that regardless of who or why, human life should be protected and preserved if means to do so are available. Human dignity shouldn't be compromised regardless of the situation. The article makes that very clear in a very creative manner by asking you to put yourself in the shoes of an Israeli solider facing the body of wounded Palestinian who just tried to kill you.

But the article goes on to another point. The articles mentions how in addition to humanitarian relief, several trucks of blood were sent in from Jordan.

Jordan? Why blood from there? Didn't I just give blood? Didn't I just mention that regardless of who it is and why, human dignity comes first? What's the story here?

It turns out my blood isn't good enough...

The article explains:

"The truth is, just as Israel has had to come to terms with a Red Diamond as its medical symbol abroad (since the International Red Cross made it clear that the Red Star of David is offensive to too much of the world), we have also somehow had to make peace with the fact that even our blood is considered sub-human and filthy by the very people with whom we are supposed to be making peace."

I'm going to leave at that. I've posted the link of the article above. But here it is again:
http://www.ou.org/shabbat_shalom/article/bogner_filthy_jewish_blood/
It's no coincidence that this article came out almost a few years after I blood @ my yeshiva in Israel.

Let me know what you think.

A Preview to "This Day In Yeshiva History- January 3" (background info)

Well it's actually because I can't get the full post out in time before shabbat comes in 4:34. So I'll give a quick sneak preview before I post the whole thing tomorrow night.

I spent a year in yeshiva (a Jewish school for Biblical studies, males only) in Jerusalem, Israel. That year spanned from September 2005-June 2006. The name of the yeshiva was Ohr David, an American yeshiva (all the guys who went there are American, except us Canadians). The place was recommended to me by my rabbi @ NCSY, a Jewish youth organization I'd been involved with in high school. I also had connections through an NCSY summer camp called Camp Sports I attended in Baltimore, where a lot of the guys who went there eventually went to Ohr David. I won't call it a Baal Teshuva yeshiva - for Jews who weren't religious when born and brought up but are re-connecting) but there were some BTs there, like me. I'd say it was more for guys who had potential but failed to realize it, guys who had issues at home and needed a place to just grow and prosper. We actually had a great mix of guys from different walks of Jewish life, from different places, upbringings, and where we were holding in our Yiddishkeit. But we all had one thing in common - we were all looking to improve ourselves one way or another. There was just 55 of us at most, and soon enough as the year begun, we were family.T' was the best year of my life.


In fact the Lunar calender this year is on the exact time set it was that year - which means that all the holidays and when they will fall on the secular calendar are on the exact day of the week with exactly the same circumstances - i.e. the sixth day of Hanukkah that year fell on shabbat (Saturday), which also happens to be Rosh Chodesh (the beginning of the month) = that also happened this year. I know that because its the longest Birkat Hamazon (Grace after Meals) you can say - because of the inclusions. So I'm interested to see what similarities evolve between this year and that year.

I wasn't exactly sure when I was going to do write this because the Hebrew date at the time was the 3rd of Tevet, which was just after Hannukah (which ends on the 2nd). I was also unsure about what date I was going to write about because a lot happened at that time. I figured I'd go with the english date for now, because I had another article I wanted to write on the last day of Hannukah, which was the day I wrote my previous two articles. I'll decide later whether or not to keep to English or Hebrew dates, depending on the significance of the day and happening.

The 7th night of Hannukah, happened to be New Years, and a Saturday night, therefore once Shabbat was over, technically we could party if we wanted. Even though we were technically on a break over the Hannukah holiday, there were still some optional morning classes, we went to meals at our rabbis house almost every night of the holiday, and had a big party in the yeshiva of of the nights too. So New Years Day was pretty much our only day off. I spent it pretty well, which I tell in detail in the next post. Okay. So first I'll recap. Being Motzei Shabbat (Saturday night) in Jerusalem on the night of December 31st, also the 7th night of Hanukkah. Surprisingly enough, I actually have an opportunity to do something for new years. I've never really cared about new years, it's just another day to me. All I did was meet up with friends at a place and soon after midnight we headed back to yeshiva. Aside from not being the most important thing, we called it an early evening because 6 of us wanted to go to the Dead Sea for the day the next day, and we had to leave early to catch a bus to do so. That was a fun day.

I could have purely focused on that day but a few days ago, my dad read me something he was emailed, which seemed like such a coincidence considering what I was doing in yeshiva a few days later on the 3rd, so I decided to choose that topic while including something about the days before.

Hope you enjoy it!
Shabbat Shalom/Good Shabbos/Sabbatical Salutations and Benedictions

(don't ask about the last greeting)

Tevy @ Centennial Journalism’s Weblog (and some shout outs)

One of our professors made a blog for our journalism class @ Centennial college. As "Centennial Journalism's Weblog," it's got a ton of articles written by myself and my fellow classmates. It also has pictures :)
http://centennialjournalism.wordpress.com/

Check out a feature I wrote on kosher food @ the Royal Winter Fair back in October:
http://centennialjournalism.wordpress.com/2008/12/13/kosher-on-display-at-the-royal-winter-fair/

Also, check out a profile that was done on yours truly by a fellow journalism student at Centennial College. It's a work of art! I had tears... tears of joy
http://centennialjournalism.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/tevy-pilc-profile/


Enjoy reading! And while I'm at it (it being publicizing myself, something I don't like doing), I'll shift the focus off myself to others with a few shout outs.

One.... (he gets first dibs cause he just told me he's reading the blog) to Ed Abramovitz on his recent engagement to Michelle Rosen, and for simply being an awesome person

Two.... To Aaron Samole and Sarah Shainhouse on their marriage that took place a few hours ago! What a great night! Mazel Tov! (And let me make a quick note on something, when you say on faceboook you're attending an event, ATTEND IT!! No one likes a no show) Regardless, t'was a great night for all who attended

Three... To Celeste De Muelenaere. Not only because she's a fellow Centennial Journalism student, but it was her birthday yesterday too (and I probably missed a party:(

Four... To Heshy Freid and his FrumSatire.net website. When I found this, I was so happy to see that someone made a blog or some sort of collection of thoughts and writings of this calibre and particular topic of interest. I've always wanted to do something like that since leaving yeshiva but didn't feel like the right person to do so. Glad to see that someone took advantage of a great opportunity and did it well so successfully (I even plugged it to a guy I met at the wedding I went to last night, thinking he'd get a kick out of it). And a belated happy birthday as well! And... If I may suggest for a new topic (if you end up reading this), I know you've done several wedding posts but how bout a list of all the dances you see @ frum weddings. we're talking line dances, putting the chasan and kalla on top of a table and pray to G-d the group of guys don't let go and drop the table. Oh, and to answer your survey: Mamma Leah's (I've got old Ner connections)

Five... To Talia Shmuel who recentely wrote this fantastic piece: http://www.facebook.com/inbox/readmessage.php?t=1005647196410&f=1&e=0#/note.php?note_id=53184044055 OR here http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=28125113&ref=profile (it's my profile, but there's a link there too)

Holiday Happenings- Radio Hanukkah and so much more...

Happy holidays ye old townspeople... I took a small sabbatical from writing (and pretty much everything else) over the holidays just to recuperate a little more from school (like I really need that much support ;) but more importantly to kick back and enjoy the holidays. And that includes everyone no matter what you celebrate- even if you celebrate simply having time off from whatever you do on a normal basis.

So as the Festival of Lights begins to flicker away - no pun intended, it just sounded nice when I thought it out, here's a few things that were apparent over this year's edition of the holiday season:

For me personally, Hanukkah shares a special significance: My Hebrew birth date -aka the date I was born on in the Hebrew calender - is the 25th of the month of Kislev - the first day Hanukkah. I was actually born on the day (not the preceding night) and literally just made it before sunset, thus making it the 26th. I like to remind my parents that I was their 'miracle baby' and 'the light of their lives' or any other useful Hanukkah metaphor that could be fit with birth :)

So when the first candle was lit - that was the moment I finally felt 21. To honour the times, everyday @ morning services, there's an additional reading from the Torah, which I usually try to read for the congregation every year. It's a challenge, but I love it. So I spend a little time practicing, even though a lot of it is the same words over and over again. Look it up and you'll know what I mean.

Anyways about the holidays...

I'm sitting in my Dad's car Sunday morning (on the 21st) waiting for my dad to return after picking up a Toronto Star at the local Shopper's Drug Mart after morning services. Unfortunately, there's no National Post on Sunday, which is really too bad, if you ask me...

So as I'm waiting I begin playing with one of the car's coolest features: XM Satellite Radio
We've only had the car since July but we can't get enough of it. It actually provides us with what we want without any tassels or what not. Everyone gets to listen to what they like and variety is at a premium (Note- this is not a plug for satellite radio, rather a kudos for its services).

One of my favourite stations is the all Led Zeppelin station on channel 39. It happens to be the first of the rock stations on the dial. As I'm listening I go to turn up the volume and accidentally hit the channel changing nob instead, to channel 38. What I hear next is quite astounding.

"For the next 8 days and nights, tune into Radio Hanukkah, channel 38 on XM Satellite Radio for all your holiday favourites and classics, as well as live footage of the lighting of the White House National Menorah in Washington..."

Interesting. After all the years of having to listen to the same Christmas songs, I can now go into the car and hear all my favourite Hanukkah songs!

Okay that wasn't my real initial reaction, but I was surprised to hear something remotely Jewish on the radio, let alone a national station (satellite nonetheless) completely devoted to something of a Jewish nature, the holiday of Hanukkah! I ended up getting my family hooked to the station. Of course you had your usual songs like Hanerot Halalu, Maoz Tzur, and Oy Hanukkah ("Oy Hanukkah, Oy Hanukkah, come light the menorah, lets have a party, we'll all dance the hora..") but there was so much more. You could even hear those songs in several different languages, (Yiddish!) and in different musical forms (Klezmer!). Yeah I'm being sarcastic but just like your typical Christmas music that's played over and over again, unfortunately it's not too different from the Hanukkah music, so what gives? you ask...

Like bands like Zeppelin, AC/DC, Elvis, Springsteen and the Grateful Dead, who all have their own stations on satellite radio, you have to have a pretty large catalogue of material to demand that kind of air play. Not to mention the demand (yay!!) The station, which is in its 3rd year, is only available for the 8 days if the holiday (so ends tonight :(

The station features all sorts of music such as the usual classics, Klezmer bands, Israeli folk and traditional music, kids music, contemporary Jewish music, music from Jewish themed and inspired movies and Broadway plays, as well as hourly live features from Jewish bands such as Soulfarm, Blue Fringe, Rebbie Soul and others. Not only is there music, but there's also a variety of classes given by some of the most reknown speakers such as Rabbi Shmuley (who had an hourly slot at noon), Janis Ian. There's Jewish comedy too! And you can't forget Carlebach... a Jewish music essential!

Not bad for a group of people who only make up about 1% of the world's population.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday, whatever you were celebrating!

Click here if you want to know more about the station:
http://www.xmradio.com/pdf/radio_hanukkah_schedule08.pdf
http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/channelpage.xmc?ch=38

I'm not purely responsible for this work of art. My friend put it together in yeshiva and I took a picture of it. But yes, it's a menorah made of beer bottles, entirely kosher. (no need for Manishevitz)

December 16- This Day in History

Besides from the most important thing that happened on this day, a lot of other cool things happened on this day as well. People born, people died... famous events etc.
I already knew of a lot of these things but there were a few cool ones I hadn't seen before. So after doing some research, here's a brief list of cool things that happened on the day I share my birthday with:
Let's start with notable events:
1997- Clinton names his Labrador retriever, "Buddy"
1994- Céline Dion gets married to manager René Angélil

Wait a second, I said notable events... Let's try this again:

1998- Operation Desert Fox begins- The US and UK bomb Iraq because of an alleged failure to comply with UN Security Council resolutions. You can look as this day as a monumental day in how things began developing towards present day Iraq.
1991- Independence Day for The Republic of Kazahkstan. Very nice! I knew I was connected in more than one way to Kazahkstan asides from my infamous Borat costume.

One of my favourites:
1991- UN General Assembly Resolution 4686 is passed, which revokes UN General Assembly Resolution 3379 after Israel makes revocation of resolution 3379 a condition of its participation in the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991
Why is this a big deal? Pretty much the UN reversed a ruling that Zionism is considered racism. Like there was ever any question of that concept in the first place boggles me. The final vote was 111-25 (13 abstained). President Bush told the General Assembly:

"...to equate Zionism with the intolerable sin of racism is to twist history and forget the terrible plight of Jews in World War II and indeed throughout history."

Let this be a lesson for everyone...
I encourage everyone to look up information about this historic event.

1973-O.J. Simpson becomes the first NFLer to rush for 2,00o yards in a season. And now rots in prison.
1971- Independence Day of State of Bahrain AND Victory Day in Bangladesh- this day marks the surrender of the Pakistani army in the Bangladesh War of Independence and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, paving the way for independence in Bangladesh.
ALSO
Miami Dolphins become first undefeated NFL team at 14-0-0. They actually lost the Super Bowl that year (a la New England Patriots in 2007/8) but repeated the undefeated season and won the big game - the only time that's been done.
1969- MP's in English Commons vote to abolish hanging. 2 days later the House of Lords voted in favour of abolishing the death penalty completely.
1966- Jimi Hendrix Experience releases its first single "Hey Joe," in the UK. And a legend is born.
1960- 1960 New York air disaster- While approaching New York's Idlewild Airport, a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 collides with a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation in a blinding snowstorm over Staten Island, killing 134.
1944- The Battle of the Bulge begins. This was the last major offensive by the Germans in WWII before eventually losing the war. Thank G-d for that.

1773- The Boston Tea Party. That's right, today was the day that members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Natives and dumped several crates of tea into Boston harbour as a protest against the Tea Act.

1689- English Parliament adopts Bill of Rights after Glorious Revolution
1497- Vasco da Gama goes where no man has gone before- around the Cape of Good Hope, the point where Bartolomeu Dias had made it to, but turned back.

Birthdays:
1770- Ludwig von Beethoven, the musician: duh duh duh duh, duh duh duh duh!!
1775- Jane Austen, novelist, Pride and Prejudice
1883- Max Linder, French pioneer of silent film, it's said he created what was probably the first identifiable motion-picture character who appeared in successive situation comedies. Jewish too.
1913- George Ignatieff, He was a Russian-born Canadian diplomat, but today he's relevant because he's the father of Michael Ignatieff, the soon-to-be next leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.
1934- Elgin Baylor, NBA Hall-of-Famer
1938- Frank Deford, American Sportswriter
1941- Lesley Stahl, American journalist, 60 minutes

1946- Benny Andersson, singer and songwriter for ABBA - OR, the reason I almost my mind this summer while working because of having to listen to ABBA over and over again...

1949- Billy Gibbons, ZZ Top guitarist. A real musician, and what facial hair! >

1962- William "The Refrigerator" Perry, American football player, awesome nickname- at his peak weight he was 382 lbs! (See Below)

1963- Benjamin Bratt, American actor, Law & Order, Traffic
1966- Clifford Robinson, American basketball player
One of my favourites: 1967- Donovan Bailey, Canadian sprinter, 2-time Olympic gold medalist, held the world record for the 100 metre dash at 9.84 seconds. He's also from Oakville, Ontario, my previous hometown.
1975- Ben Kowalewicz, Canadian musician, Billy Talent. Solid band.
1977- Eric Belanger, Canadian hockey player, Minnesota Wild



Deaths:
1859- Wilhelm Grimm, One of the Brothers Grimm, fairy tale writer
1916 (old style calender, so for us its actually on December 29)- Rasputin, powerful Russian monk. legend has it that on this day he was poisoned by Romanov family members who believed his influence on the Tsaritsa became too dangerous. He didn't die right away but this event is known as the catalyst for his downfall.
1922- Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the man who revived the Hebrew language. Read his bio. What a fascinating story he has. He lived a tough life - after his wife died of tuberculosis and three of his five children died within a span of 10 days - but managed to revive a seemingly dead language. Many orthodox authorities rejected his teachings because of the sanctity of the Hebrew language, which is regarded as "Lashon HaKodesh" or holy language/tongue, and should only be used for the discussion of holy/torah matters, not everyday conversational use (they consider it a misuse of the language, thus explaining the prevalence of Yiddish as a conversational language.) Personally, I agree with the orthodox point of view, but what Ben-Yehuda did was extremely vital to the well-being of Jewish identity. One of the first things any Jew learns is the Aleph-Beis (the alphabet), and without it, it's extremely difficult to grasp much. Also, when defining a nation, better yet an organized group of similar people - language is usually one of those dominating characteristics. Thank G-d for bringing a man like Elizer Ben Yehuda into this world.
1922- Gabriel Narutowic, 1st President of Poland, assassinated a week after his election.
1976- George, a goose that lived to 49 years, 8 months. I read this and thought wow.
1980- Colonel Sanders, Mr. Kentucky Fried Chicken


Hope you enjoyed that!

New Feautures in Town

The Mayor of TevyTown has decided to introduce a few new features to town. They could come around here or there, one a week, when I feel like it; they're just a few things I wanna get out in the open. Fun stuff, check em' out.

Life and What Life Shoud be
An on going entry about Judaism vs. the world around me. How I'm dealing with things around me, current things going on etc. "A little bit of Torah amongst the craziness."

Flashback Freeze
Let's go back in time and talk about something that happened to myself that's worth talking about around, include why it's relevant (duh).

This Day in Yeshiva History
Citing journal entries, we go back to the greatest year of my life and find out what I was doing @ that time. A space for nostalgia, inspiration... something to feel good about.

Week/Month in Review
What the title says. I'll do my best to post these on either Fridays, Sundays or Mondays. If I miss those dates then I'll make it up on Tuesday or Thursday. If it isn't something substantial to give it its own own post, it'll wind up here.

Now enjoy the next two entries...

And a very happy birthday to my dad, Zev who turned 50 last week!!

The Obama Email

I'll admit that all I was only going to do was give my take on the candidates and what I though about the whole election hullabaloo. On Thursday however, an old friend of mine sent me a very eye catching email that appealed to me on many levels. It was written by Rabbi Lazer Brody, (profile).
Take a look:

"Those who don't come to Israel while they still can may be lucky to escape from the USA with a plastic bag and a pair of pajamas." Rabbi Shalom Arush made this devastating statement in his public lecture in Hebrew several hours ago. Rabbi Shalom is neither partisan nor does he care about politics, whether in Israel or overseas. Yet, he said, "The near eighty percent of America's Jews who voted for Obama will soon be called upon to suffer the consequence of their choice." What consequence? The American economy is so bad, and so much new money with no backing is being printed, that the gross national product soon won't be enough to pay for the mere interest that America owes its creditors. Suddenly, the young people of the USA will wake up from their slumber of fun and games to realize that the country has not only mortgaged their future, but the future of their great grand children and the unborn generations for years to come. With mounting unemployment and rioting in the streets, who'll take the blame? The Jews, of course! Don't be fooled by a few Uncle-Tom Jews in the Obama crew. The Judenrat - entrusted of filling the daily cattle-car quotas destined for the death camps - was also staffed by Jews.
I don't like messianic speculation, but more and more of this generation's spiritual leaders are saying that Moshiach is fast on the way. Don't miss the train. If you're smart, you'll start phasing out your assets in the USA and buying property in Israel. And if you're even smarter, you'll start thinking really seriously about coming home. Soon, the choice won't be yours. It's not too nice to escape as a refugee in the middle of the night with nothing more than your pajamas and a plastic bag.


First of all, I want to make it clear that I'm not in support of what's said in this passage. It's really hard for me to say that because even though I respect the opinion of the quoted Rabbis and the material has substance (I'll explain later in the post), a lot of it is speculation, so its really hard to attach any tangible evidence to believe what's being said. Than there's me trying to hone the mindset of a journalist: trying to say as neutral, objective, realistic as possible in the face all the point of views (no matter how attractive and appealing it is...).

Nonetheless, I wouldn't be posting this passage here unless I found it had value and opportunities existed to grow from it. I respect the people who took the time get this message out in the open.

My grandmother told me something very interesting a few weeks ago. She told me that back in Europe before the war, the first major sign that things were going wrong was the economy. I don't know exact circumstances, but I've done my research and its true.

She was however, actually talking about the Jews.

When the economy went bad in Europe, it was the first of many things the Jews began to get blamed for and you know the rest. She then told me to keep this mind with what's going on in the world right now. I don't know what to think of this kind of message that I posted above. It may just be speculation, who knows? I usually don't pay attention to something that appears like something speculation. But I thought twice after remembering what grandmother told me. Let's hope G-d willing, that the times ahead are prosperous and filled with opportunity. And if not, than its for the best.

Just something to think about.

Obama: Soon to be the most powerful man in the world

Its been a little week or so since Barack Obama won the election and although dust from the election coverage has settled, there's still much to to talk about.

Like most people, the US election was on my mind for the past "I can't even recall how long the coverage of the election has been going on for times" (that was supposed to be a substitute for an amount of time I couldn't put together). To be an honest even I have an interest in politics, because I'm an avid fan of Saturday Night Live, it was their spoofs that really turned me (and my family) on to the election.

But besides that, I began to notice a few things from my peers. One was that many of my religious friends (both American and Canadian) were heavily in favourite of McCain. No surprise there since George W. Bush has been one of those most supportive Presidents of Israel in history. To many people who are devoted to the Holy Land, foreign policy with Israel is without question the most important issue of any election campaign. You want proof? Take a look @ this past Canadian election: Prior to Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party taking office in 2006, most ridings with a significant Jewish population voted Liberal, such as my riding of Thornhill, which is home to one of the largest observant Jewish populations in Canada. Yet after Paul Martin's government broke down and Harper came into power, his party began to display a staunch supporting of Israel and the Jewish community certainly took notice. During this past election, Peter Kent of the Conservative Party convincingly defeated Liberal incumbent Susan Kadis - who is Jewish herself.

However... with the exception of support for Israel, Bush didn't do so well in anywhere else (that's an understatement).

Enter Obama: Personally I can't really find much not to like about him. He's definitely got great appeal (dancing on the Ellen DeGeneres show, playing 3-on-3 with Indiana high school students). Things like that are good for brownie points but running against the person succeeding George W. Bush, he'd be hard-pressed to lose.

So my question is, would it be hypocritical to say I'm Conservative in Canada, yet Liberal in America?

I'm not sure really. Guess I should brush up on my American politics.

And my appreciation of Obama, well let's just say I've had to ask myself a few questions after reading a very interesting email my friend sent me. (I was going to include it here, but Shabbat is coming so there's no time for that...). On Sunday, maybe Saturday night I'll post my thoughts on this email in relation to the election...

But for now, Have a good shabbos y'all (or as I like to say: Sabbatical Salutations and Benedictions!!)

Also!! Stay tuned for some announcement on some new features I'll be adding to the blog in the near future.

Holidays + Work + Tevy = The Wrong Perspective

It's been a full week since the holidays finished (with the exception of Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan- the beginning of the month of Cheshvan from Tuesday night to Thursday afternoon) and things seem to be back to normal, whatever normal may be. Whether its school, work or whatever one spends their time usually doing, the routine is back in full swing.

From my perspective, I've finally caught up from missing 7 days of holidays over the past month. During that span of time I've had to make up 3 big assignments, cram for a test, and deal with the craziness of that Canadian election. I'll admit it's been tough trying to manage my time accordingly and give proper focus to the work amidst the holiday rush but I try my best not to complain. I shouldn't have to make excuses (or even call the holidays as excuses) for getting my work done efficiently and submitted on time.

But something occurred to me as the final holiday, Simchat Torah, was coming to an end. It was a realization that the holidays were finally over. Even though I had a mountain of work to do once I got home, I took some time to reflect over this year's holiday experience. Of course it was meaningful and full of joy, but I felt like I could've done more.
More as in:
- time spent preparing for the holidays, such as learning customs and helping out the family
- time spent getting work out of the way so it wouldn't impede on properly preparing and observing the holidays.

I could say more, but I think you get the picture. As much as I didn't want it to be this way, I couldn't help but have the idea that it was the holidays getting in the way of work and everything else I needed to take care of. IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE OPPOSITE!

My work got in the way of the holidays -that's the right perspective to have. Though I know he takes care of me, I should have amped up my trust in G-d, especially during these times. And he did take care of me. More than I than I know it and more than I expected (though I shouldn't expect it).

I think everyone can learn from this concept regardless of the situation. We need to get our priorities straight when rationalizing our time and resources, and by doing so, we can get more done and appreciate more of what's around us.

In the meantime, stay tuned for some of things that I actually had to deal with during that span of time, such as my interview and experience with recently elected Member of Parliament for Thornhill, Peter Kent - who as yesterday was also named Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Cabinet as Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas). Let's hop he can still keep to his commitments in Thornhill in addition to his new responsibilities in Thornhill.

(and of course whatever is going on now)