Most people around the world will have seen the photograph of the group of men and women who sat in the White House lair during the raid on “O” (that’s Osama not Obama, of course). What some may not have seen is the Photoshopped version published by a Chasidic newspaper in New York called Der Zeitung, in which the two…
Gulled By Gul
I am constantly amazed at the idiots politicians make of themselves when they say stupid things. They should know better. And the only defense I hear are such pathetic excuses as, “He has to satisfy his coalition partners, the street, his constituency or his mother-in-law.” Take Bibi. Of course we know that Hamas wants to liberate Tel Aviv. The apparent…
OBL
When your enemy falls, do not rejoice. (Proverbs 24) Of course I am delighted that Osama Bin Laden has been sent to his grave. Doubtless there are billions of other humans who are mourning his loss. I wonder how all those children named Osama or Usama after him are feeling today; I am sure a goodly percentage of them will…
The Royal Wedding
There is a blessing the Talmud gives for when one sees royalty (Brachot 58a). The text itself goes further and says one should even go out of one’s way to see royalty, because in being impressed by the way the way they are held in awe by mortals, one should realize how much more the King of kings should be…
Kitniyot
The issue of kitniyot. The term meant pulses and beans in the Talmud, but now extends to include peas, certain other vegetables, peanuts, and any new food that reaches the market. It seems strange, just typical of the excessive, casuistic preoccupation with minutiae that now dominates Orthodox Jewish life and seems to have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with one’s…
Happiness
At China’s National People’s Congress this year, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao declared that increasing happiness was more important than the GNP. If China really cared about its citizens it would give them more freedom. Guangdong is to change its name to “Happy Guangdong” and officials in China have established “happiness indices”. If “happiness” in Chinese is the same as “happiness”…