People who live in glass houses

As I from time-to-time need to remind my kids, you should never throw stones. it is dangerous and can even be potential lethal.

Sometimes the “first” intifada is described as “non-violent” as it consisted largely of stone throwing (or stone shooting from a slingshot). Far from being non-violent, this type of attack can cause death or injury, especially if you fire the stone at a car which could cause the driver to loose control of the vehicle.

Well if you’re wondering what the correct response is to assault with a potentially deadly rock, take a look at the following article from the Associate Press.

Boy Throwing Rocks Hit By Crossbow

Associated Press

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego police say a 16-year-old boy throwing rocks at a sport utility vehicle was struck by a crossbow arrow fired by a passenger.

Police say the shirtless boy and a friend were throwing rocks at a black Toyota RAV4 in the Linda Vista neighborhood Monday afternoon when a passenger fired a crossbow out the window.

The boy was shot in the right side and was taken to a hospital. The San Diego Union-Tribune says his injuries are not life-threatening.

His name wasn't released.

Nobody has been arrested.

Anyone know where you can by a decent crossbow in Israel?

Have you contacted you MP yet

If there are any readers out there who are citizens of countries that are still planning to attend the “Durban III” hate-fest at the UN on September 22, I would strongly recommend that you write to your MP or Foreign Minister and question why your government is attending.

Below is the letter that I just sent to the New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs. Bli Neder, if I receive a response I’ll post it on this blog.

Countries that have pulled out so far include the Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Austria, Israel, Canada, and the United States.

If you are a citizen of a country not in the above list, NOW is the time to write to your government.

To: murray.mccully@parliament.govt.nz
Subject: Durban III Conference

 

Hon Murray McCully
Minister of Foreign Affairs

 

Dear Minister,

As a New Zealand citizen currently living in Israel, I find it distressing that New Zealand is still part of a shrinking number of Western Democracies that are attending the “Durban III” conference at the United Nations later this month.

As the minister is no doubt aware, the original Durban conference that took place a few days before the September 11 terrorist attacks, was slated to be a conference against Racism and intolerance, but in fact turned out to be an openly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel hate-fest.

That a respected body like the United Nations could allow such a conference to take place shows that anti-Semitism is still an acceptable form of racism in many parts of the world.

That New Zealand has not yet publically distanced itself from the conference is an embarrassment to all New Zealanders who believe in equality and civil rights for all.

I sincerely hope that the New Zealand government will follow the lead of Australia, Canada, the United States and many European nations, boycott the conference, and show the world that New Zealand does not regard anti-Semitism or anti-Zionism to be an acceptable practice.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Sedley

Modi’in,
Israel

Jerusalem, Palestina

A few blogs (The Muqata and DovBear) have posts on the following wedding invitation which lists the location of the wedding as ירושלם תובב”א פלשתינא (Jerusalem, May it be built speedily, Palestine)

Needless to say, there has not been a “Jerusalem, Palestine” since the end of the British Mandate.

In addition to the location, there are a few strange things about this wedding invitation:

• The time is 7:00 on a Friday afternoon with the time zone listed as “7.00 לשא”י” or “2:00 אירופית”
  I have no idea what time that is supposed to mean, לשא”י probably stands for “לשעון ארץ ישראל” (Eretz Yisrael time), as opposed to “Zionist Daylight Saving time” It is quite common for people in Mea Sharim to not change their clocks for Daylight Saving time, so it most likely means 6:00 PM Israel time (IDT), but I have no idea what “2.00 European Time” would correspond to; 6 PM IDT is 3 PM GMT, but as far as I can tell, there is no place in Europe that would be 2 PM when it is 6 PM here in Israel.
  
  
• Shabbat comes in this week in Jerusalem at 6:27, so if they do mean 6:00 PM Israel time, that is less than half an hour before Shabbat. If the wedding was 7:00 Israel time, that is a few minutes after Shkiya when it would be forbidden to get married under normal circumstances (I know that there is a Rama where he discusses a wedding that he performed after Shkiya on Erev Shabbat, but that was far from a normal circumstance)
  
  
• The wedding is to be held in the home of the bride’s parents in Mea Sharim. Given the small size of homes in Mea Sharim, I assume that it will be a very small wedding.
  
  
• An erev Shabbat wedding is not as strange as it seems, at one time it was very common to get married on Erev Shabbat, particularly in Jerusalem where people didn’t have money for lavish weddings. This way the 2 families could eat Sudat Shabbat together which would also be the Sudat Mitzva for the wedding.

However what is not mentioned on the invitation is the ages of the Chatan and Kala.

The Kala is the Granddaughter of Moshe Hirsch, the former leader of Neturei Karta (until his death last year), she was apparently 17 when she got engaged last year and is now 18 (or maybe even 19)

What is more worrying is the Chatan who was 15 last year when he got engaged. Below is a video from his Irusin (engagement). He looks like a scared Bar Mitzva kid with a Shtreimel, not a young man ready to take on the responsibilities of marriage.

Video hat tip: Gruting

The Mossad Strikes Again

The New Zealand media (followed by other media outlets and Honest Reporting) is all abuzz about an alleged spy scandal that the Israeli who died in the Christchurch earthquake was a Mossad agent.

Having lived in New Zealand for the first 20 years of my life I can assure you that not much happens there, so a spy scandal makes for great entertainment.

According to the Southland Times (link has since been updates with confirmation that the story is false) that originally broke the story, the story is basically that (from the original article):

Three Israelis were among the 181 people who died when the earthquake destroyed most of Christchurch's central business district on February 22. One was found to be carrying at least five passports.

An unaccredited Israeli search and rescue squad was later confronted by armed New Zealand officers and removed from the sealed-off "red zone" of the central city.

The response of the Israeli government to the three deaths appears extraordinary. In the hours after the 6.3 quake struck:

• Prime Minister John Key fielded the first of four calls that day from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

• Israel's Ambassador in the South Pacific, Shemi Tzur, who is based in Australia, booked flights to Christchurch, where he visited the morgue.

• Israel's civil defence chief left Israel for Christchurch.

• A complete Israeli urban search and rescue squad was assembled and flown to Christchurch, arriving about the same time as ...

• Three people who had smashed their way out of a van crushed by a concrete pillar in the central city, leaving a fourth person dead in the vehicle, arrived back in Israel.

Soon after the article was printed, it was debunked by the DimPost, but in case you need it spelling out, there is nothing unusual or suspicions about this story. Nothing, zero, just people acting as you would expect (it must have been another slow news month in New Zealand, for about the 200th month in a row).

The Southland Times that originally broke the story got so many verifiable facts wrong it's surprising that the editors let it print, let alone on the front page. But in case the editors missed the non-news of this item, here are the facts:

• Turns out that the Israeli was not carrying 5 passports, just one – it is however possible that the 4 people in the car had multiple passports between them – not particularly newsworthy.
• The Israeli PM called the New Zealand PM because Israelis were hurt and Israel is often the first to offer assistance after a major disaster, just ask the PM of Haiti, Japan, Turkey, or any other country which as suffered a major natural disaster.
• Shemi Tzur is not “Israel's Ambassador in the South Pacific … based in Australia”, he is Israel's Ambassador to New Zealand based in Wellington. I realize that Wellington is in the North Island, but I would have thought that the fine people of the Southland Times would have heard of it, after all it is their capital city. This is the most glaring error, because it is so obviously wrong and would have been easy to check.
• The three people who smashed their way out of the vehicle left the country the next day were following directives of both the Israeli and New Zealand Governments who recommended that all travellers who are able to leave as quickly as possible.
  I guess Israelis following government directives are by definition suspicious and were probably Mossad.
• This Israeli Search and Rescue team were trying to help even though they didn’t have authorization from the NZ Government.
  I guess Israelis going against government directives are by definition suspicious and were probably Mossad.

So basically the entire story was that an Israeli died in the earthquake, his travelling companions followed government directives and returned home to Israel, Bibi Netanyahu called the NZ Prime Minister to offer assistance, and an Israeli search and rescue team arrived without being asked.

Except for the fact that there was no illegal, suspicious, or even unusual activity there is every reason to believe that this was a good spy story.

Like I said, it’s been a slow news decade in New Zealand, almost like last decade.

No true Scotsman (or Yid) …

I just saw one of the most disgusting responses to last week’s tragic murder in Boro Park.

This letter printed on The Yeshiva World, and other places, puts the blame for the murder on Klal Yisrael, in particular our “Goyisha type materialism”. Of course Pizza, Sushi, Large houses, and Tznius are the reasons that this little boy was murdered – not only that, but the “Bedika of Shechita is very lax”. No indication as to how much Pizza or sushi this little chassidic boy ate, how big his house was, or how often he did spot inspections of Shechita knives before purchasing meat.

To make the letter even worse, it claims to have been written by “a handicapped child” without even attempting to mimic the style of a child, let alone a handicapped child.

But what made me laugh was the following paragraph:

A true Yid would never kill a child as this man did, only if he is totally deranged. And even so, a real Yiddishah Neshomah could never be guilty of such cruelty; therefore he died Al Kiddush Hashem. The Goyishkeit in us is what killed him.

Without even trying, the author of the letter paraphrased the “No True Scotsman” Argument:

Imagine Hamish McDonald, a Scotsman, sitting down with his Glasgow Morning Herald and seeing an article about how the "Brighton Sex Maniac Strikes Again." Hamish is shocked and declares that "No Scotsman would do such a thing." The next day he sits down to read his Glasgow Morning Herald again and this time finds an article about an Aberdeen man whose brutal actions make the Brighton sex maniac seem almost gentlemanly. This fact shows that Hamish was wrong in his opinion but is he going to admit this? Not likely. This time he says, "No true Scotsman would do such a thing."

—Antony Flew, Thinking About Thinking

Wikipedia describes this type of argument as an intentional logical fallacy, an ad hoc attempt to retain an unreasoned assertion.

Hat Tip: Wolfish Musings

Herman Cain Said What About Islam?

As Americans are getting ready for the 4-yearly power pageant (AKA Presidential Elections), the entire world gets an entertaining several months as Americans put on the ultimate reality show – primaries.

Even though I am not an American and don’t get a vote, I love following US politics and always have candidates that I’m rooting for, much like many Israelis root for various English soccer teams.

One of the GOP candidates who initially impressed me but may have just lost my support is Herman Cain. In the early debates he struck me as about the only rational speaker, however his approach to religious freedom seems to be seriously misguided with reports that he said that communities 'Have the Right' to Ban Mosques.

Cain was quotes as saying:

"Let's go back to the fundamental issue that the people are basically saying that they are objecting to, … They are objecting to the fact that Islam is both religion and (a) set of laws, Shariah law. That's the difference between any one of our other traditional religions where it's just about religious purposes.

I’m not sure what Cain defines as “traditional religions”, but I can think of at least one other established religion widely practiced in the US which defines itself as “both a religion and a set of laws”.

Hint – the religion is widely practiced in Israel, and the set of laws is not called Shariah, rather it’s Halacha.

The US is correctly concerned about Islamic extremism, but if a GOP candidate defines the all aspects of Islam unacceptable to the point that he feels that mosques could be banned anywhere, than as a religious Jew, I am very concerned about the direction the world’s uni-power is headed.

I hope that Cain issues a clarification. In the mean time, I’m headed back to the list of GOP candidates to see if there is anyone else worth rooting for.

Can we use computer analysis to prove that G-d Wrote the Torah?

For many years various outreach organizations, most notably Aish Hatorah have used the “Torah Codes” to “prove” that the Torah must have been written by G-d.

Basically the argument was that using “highspeed computer analysis of the letters of the Torah” they found hidden messages that could not have been put there humanly which proves that the Torah was written by G-d who decided to hide secret messages in the Torah in this manner.

There are many flaws in this argument

• Similar codes can be found in other text
• The Torah we have is not letter-for-letter identical to older manuscripts. The Rama on Shulcah Aruch (Orach Chayim 143:4) says explicitly that an extra letter or missing letter does not invalidate a Torah Scroll, as our Torah Scrolls are not so accurate.
• In spite of what Aish claims at Discovery seminars, the codes have been reviewed by statisticians, and rejected as a statistical anomaly which would prove that there is unique about the patterns of letters in the Torah.

However, the biggest problem with basing belief in the Divine Authorship of the Torah on computer generated statistical analysis is what would happen if there was computer-generated Statistical Analysis that indicates that the Torah was written by multiple authors?

Well, now we’ll find out. NPR has an article on recent statistical and linguistic analysis which indicates that “multiple hands wrote the Bible”.

Unlike the Torah Codes, this analysis has gone through a robust scientific process and was not written by people who had an agenda to prove or disprove anything about the Torah, in fact 3 of the 4 scientists that worked on the project are religious Jews that belive in the Divine Origin of the Torah. The analysis was developed to analyze historical and modern texts, not specifically to analyze the Torah.

I accept as a tenent of our Faith that HaShem revealed Himself on Sinai and gave to Moshe the Torah, however I don’t believe that we need to find secret codes to prove or disprove that article of faith.

I would be interested to see a response from Aish HaTorah or other outreach organizations that taught that you can base or strengthen faith based on computer-generated textual analysis.

Hat Tip: Modern Orthoprax and DovBear