Sunday, October 6, 2019

Pass this test and you don't have to worry about Alzheimer's and 10 Things You Must Do In Jerusalem and Caroline Glick on American Jews

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Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor

Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works  with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money,  and spiritual engagement

We DO get a chance to reform those early life "imprints."

 No one can really "re-parent" us. Yes, we can and should seek mentors, friends, teachers and guides, but it is important to give up the fantasy of finding a parent substitute.

Hashem gave us our particular parents and they gave whatever amount of love, security, stability and sanity He wanted us to have, given that they were, themselves, wounded, preoccupied or unaware.

The good news is that whatever we didn't get is what we MUST give ourselves and those around us NOW, to whatever extent we are capable of doing so.

Expecting an external source to "heal" us is a recipe for disaster. After all, human beings are quite "perishable" and have moods and interests which can cause us to feel unsafe, unwanted or abandoned.

Therefore, we have to create a SAFE FOUNDATION by being ACCESSIBLE, RESPONSIVE AND ENGAGED with our own emotions, without allowing those emotions to paralyze us or victimize us.

Love Yehuda Lave

10 Things You Must Do In Jerusalem

It's impossible to run out of things to do in Jerusalem. Israel's capital, one of the fastest-growing tourism destinations in the world, is Israel's largest municipality and possibly the most famous city in history.

Well known for its historical and religious sites for the three major religions, Jerusalem also has 60 museums, 2,000 archeological sites and nearly 1,600 public parks (the net area of Jerusalem's green spaces is larger than all of Tel Aviv!).

There are two outdoor markets (Machane Yehuda and the Old City shuk), 10 shopping malls and eateries offering everything from gourmet fare to ethnic street food.

The Israel Ministry of Tourism's 2018 Inbound Tourism Survey revealed that Jerusalem is the most visited Israeli city (77.5% of respondents). Four of the five most visited free sites in Israel are in or near Jerusalem's Old City: the Western Wall, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Via Dolorosa and the Mount of Olives.

ISRAEL21c suggests these 10 not-to-be-missed experiences in Israel's iconic capital.

  1. Place a prayer in the Western Wall (Kotel)

This massive retaining wall is a relic of the Second Temple complex built by King Herod and burned down by the Romans in 70 CE. Since the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967, the Kotel is open free to visitors of all faiths.

Many people place folded-up prayers or requests in the cracks between the ancient stones, giving the Western Wall the additional moniker of "Wall of Wishes." Several online services will place a note for you, but there's nothing like slipping your paper in personally – just ask Pope Francis, Lady Gaga, Barack Obama, Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Simmons, Donald Trump and countless other celebrities who've done so.

To tour the historic excavations beneath and behind the Western Wall (available in English or French), make reservations here.

  1. Splash through Hezekiah's Tunnel

When the City of David was about to be besieged by the Assyrian army in the eighth century BCE, King Hezekiah protected the water supply by diverting the Gihon Spring through a 1,750-foot (533-meter) tunnel dug into the mountain. An ancient stone carving found near the entrance describes this incredible feat of engineering.Today, trekking through Hezekiah's Tunnel in knee-high water (with a guide) is a favorite activity for visitors of all ages.

  1. Take a #Love selfie at the Israel Museum

Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Israel Museum is the largest cultural institution in Israel. The museum's archeology, fine arts and Judaica collections of nearly 500,000 objects include prehistoric to modern works, including the most extensive biblical and Holy Land archaeology holdings in the world.

Robert Indiana presented his 12-foot-high Ahava (Love) sculpture to the museum in 1977, and it has become an iconic backdrop for fun or romantic photos and weddings.

  1. Stop and smell the roses at Jerusalem Botanical Gardens

 The 30-acre Jerusalem Botanical Gardens hosts the largest plant collection in Israel (some 10,000 species) arranged in six sections representing different parts of the world. See it all aboard the Flower Train, or walk around to the indoor tropical conservatory, Plants of the Bible trail, herb and medicinal plant garden, bonsai garden and African savannah grass maze. Book a guided tour in English, among other languages. Have lunch at the lakeside cafĂ© and see if you can spot the black swan.

  1. Eat your way through the shuk

 If busloads of Tel Avivians and hordes of European backpackers are hiring guides to take them through the shops and stalls of Jerusalem's Machane Yehuda outdoor market, you know something hip must be happening here.

The shuk, as it's better known, is a hot spot for culinary tourism during the day and a hot spot for dining and unwinding at night. The mix of fresh produce, exotic spices and juices (tamarind drink, anyone?), street food and craft beer makes for a colorful sensory experience.

  1. Collect kitschy souvenirs on Ben Yehuda

The Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall in the center of town is the prime place for people-watching, grabbing a bite to eat, watching street performers and choosing souvenirs for yourself and everyone on your list.

Israeli map magnets? Check. "America don't worry – Israel is behind you" or "Guns 'N' Moses" T-shirts? Got it. Skullcaps with sports and corporate logos? No problem. Olivewood camels and crosses, falafel keychains, IDF pencil cases? Hamsa charms, Simpsons mezuzah cases, dancing Hasid statuettes? All here, and much, much more.

  1. Pet a pigmy goat

The 62-acre Tisch Family Zoological Gardens (Jerusalem Biblical Zoo) is one of the most popular paid tourist sites in Israel.

Overall, the zoo houses 270 species ranging from the addax to the yellow-banded poison dart frog, including the largest collection of creatures featured in the Bible. Some areas are geared to petting, and visitors may participate in guided feedings of many animals, such as lemurs, meerkats, giraffes and peccaries.

A visitors' center in a replica of Noah's Ark hosts films and lectures; an art gallery; computer stations providing information about the zoo animals; and a souvenir shop and cafeteria with a spectacular view over the Jerusalem hills.

The newest addition to the zoo complex is the Gottesman Family Israel Aquarium. You can buy a combined ticket or separate tickets.

  1. Walk the cobblestones

The best way to see the city is by foot. Walking tours led by English-speaking guides, some for free, explore many parts of Jerusalem every day of the week. Among the many options are Sandeman's New Jerusalem ToursTours by Locals, and Jerusalem Saturday Tours. Click here for a full list.

Join free English tours of the Safra Square municipal complex every Monday and Thursday at 10am; the Supreme Court, Sunday through Thursday at noon; and the Knesset (Parliament), Sunday through Thursday at 8:30am, noon and 2pm.

  1. Hop a ride on the light rail

When your feet get tired, board the sleek electrified trains transporting a hodgepodge of Jerusalem's Jewish, Muslim and Christian citizenry and tourists,from north to south through the main streets of Jerusalem.

Watch your toes at the Machane Yehuda stop, as shoppers board the light rail wheeling carts piled high with fresh breads, fruits and veggies. Get a birds-eye view of the city as the train crosses the Strings Bridge, gorgeously lit up at night. Disembark anywhere along the route and get back on for your next adventure whenever you're ready.

  1. Find a name at Yad Vashem

The light rail terminates in the south at Mount Herzl, home of Israel's national cemetery, the award-winning Memorial Hall of Israel's Fallen and a multimedia museum about the father of modern Zionism.

From there, it's a short walk to the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center, encompassing the Holocaust History Museum, Museum of Holocaust Art, Hall of Names, Children's Memorial and the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations. There are guided tours of Yad Vashem in English every Friday.

 

Full Story (ISRAEL21c)

Before, I was afraid it was the beginning of Alzheimer's ... but today, after reading this article, I am reassured."

Who's afraid of Alzheimer's ?

In the following analysis the French Professor Bruno Dubois, Director of the Institute of Memory and Alzheimer's Disease (IMMA) at La Piti??-Salp??tri??re - Paris Hospitals / addresses the subject in a rather reassuring way:

"For some time now, I have been stuck and I do not know what we were talking about ... Before, I was afraid it was the beginning of Alzheimer's ... but today, after reading this article, I am reassured."

"If anyone is aware of his memory problems, he does not have Alzheimer's."

1. I forget the names of families ...
2. I do not remember where I put some things ...

It often happens in people 60 years and older that they complain that they lack memory.

"The information is always in the brain, it is the "processor"
that is lacking. "

This is "Anosognosia" or temporary forgetfulness.

Half of people 60 and older have some symptoms that are due to age rather than disease.

The most common cases are:
- forgetting the name of a person,
- going to a room in the house and not remembering why we were going there ...
- a blank memory for a movie title or actor, an actress,
- a waste of time searching where we left our glasses or keys ...

After 60 years most people have such a difficulty, which indicates that it is not a disease but rather a characteristic due to the passage of years. Many people are concerned about these oversights hence the importance of the following statement:

"Those who are conscious of being forgetful have no serious problem of memory.
"Those who suffer from a memory illness or Alzheimer's, are not aware of what is happening."

Professor Bruno Dubois, Director of IMMA, reassures the majority of people concerned about their oversights:

"The more we complain about memory loss, the less likely we are to suffer from memory sickness.

- Now for a little neurological test:
Only use your eyes!

1- Find the C in the table below!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

2- If you have already found the C,

Then find the 6 in the table below.

99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
69999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

3- Now find the N in the table below. Attention, it's a little more difficult!

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

If you pass these three tests without problem:
- you can cancel your annual visit to the neurologist.
- your brain is in perfect shape!
- you are far from having any relationship with Alzheimer's.

So, share this with your over-60 friends, it can reassure them...

 

Caroline B. Glick on American Jews

Caroline Glick is an award-winning columnist and author of "The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East."

American Jewry's days of reckoning

The more strongly liberal Jews embrace progressivism, the less capable they become of defending their Judaism – much less defending their fellow Jews who aren't progressive.

by Caroline B. Glick

 

Published on 2019-10-04 10:01

Last modified: 2019-10-04 10:01

American Jewry's days of reckoning

On September 29, President Donald Trump set out his nationalist political philosophy in his address before the UN General Assembly. Arguing that the nation-state is the best guarantor of human freedom and liberty, Trump set up a contrast between "patriots" and "globalists."

"The future does not belong to globalists," he said.

"The future belongs to patriots. The future belongs to sovereign and independent nations who protect their citizens, respect their neighbors, and honor the differences that make each country special and unique."

Jewish nationalists, that is, Zionists, could hear their core convictions echoed in Trump's statement. Israeli political philosopher Yoram Hazony made much the same argument in his book "The Virtue of Nationalism," which was published last year.

One of the regimes most opposed to nationalism is the Iranian regime. Iran's leaders view the regime not as the government of the nation of Iran, but as the leader of a global jihad, which will end with the regime's domination of the world, in the name of Islam – not Iran.

Anti-Semitism is one of the animating doctrines of Iran's regime. The leaders ascribe to genocidal Jew-hatred. They use their commitment to annihilating Israel and war against the Jewish state as a means to build legitimacy for their regime and revolution throughout the Islamic world.

In his speech, Trump highlighted the regime's anti-Semitism and its commitment to annihilate Israel.

Trump also excoriated the Arab world for refusing to recognize Israel's right to exist, saying, "Fanatics have long used hatred of Israel to distract from their own failures."

Trump pledged, "America will never tolerate such anti-Semitic hate."

Rather than earning him plaudits, American Jews were caustic in their response to Trump's speech. Britain's Independent reported that several American Jews condemned Trump's speech as anti-Semitic. For instance, Laura Seay, a political science professor in Texas tweeted, "So … Trump condemns anti-Semitism in the same speech he started with anti-Semitic code language like 'globalism.'"

A couple of weeks before Trump delivered his address to the UN, the leaders of the Reform movement published a pre-Rosh Hashanah statement on the movement's website. Rather than concern themselves with Jewish continuity or spiritual renewal, the statement was a long diatribe against Trump.

Among other things, they alleged, "Since taking office, President Trump's words and actions have sowed division, spread fear, and expressed hateful views that go far beyond the legitimate expressions of policy differences that characterize healthy political debate."

The question is, what has the Reform movement done for American Jews? According to a few hundred Jewish demonstrators who congregated outside New York City Hall on September 22, the answer is: Nothing.

The purpose of the demonstration was to demand that city officials take effective action to stem the rising wave of anti-Semitic attacks in the city.

According to a report published in May by the New York Police Department, from January through May of this year, New York City experienced an 83% rise in hate crime. 59% of hate crimes in the city are directed against Jews. And anti-Semitic attacks have risen 90% in the past year.

Among the participants, Morton Klein, the president of the Zionist Organization of America was the only leader of a major Jewish organization. Aside from two New York City councilmen, no Jewish politicians attended the event. New York Senator Charles Schumer wasn't there. Neither were any of the Jewish representatives from New York.

The Union of Reform Judaism also didn't send a representative.

It isn't difficult to understand why almost every Jewish leader ignored the rally. The Jews under assault aren't their sort of Jews. And the people attacking them aren't their sort of anti-Semites.

The Jewish victims in New York are not Reform Jews. They are ultra-Orthodox Jews. And they don't live in Manhattan. They live in Brooklyn.

Shortly after the NYPD released its hate crimes report, New York's Mayor Bill De Blasio held a press conference in Brooklyn. There he insisted that the anti-Semitic assaults are the work of the far right. In his words, "I think the ideological movement that is anti-Semitic is the right-wing movement."

He added, "I want to be very, very clear, the violent threat, the threat that is ideological is very much from the right."

Unfortunately for De Blasio, there are no neo-Nazis in Crown Heights and Williamsburg. The perpetrators of the attacks against his city's Jewish community are not Trump voters. They are his voters.

Most of the perpetrators are African Americans, and as such, like the Reform Jews, they are members in good standing of the progressive camp in American politics.

The liberal Jewish establishment in America is far more comfortable talking about neo-Nazis than black Jew anti-Semites. That is a large part of the reason that in its annual reports on anti-Semitic attacks in the United States in 2017 and 2018, the Anti-Defamation League tried hard to give the impression that most anti-Semitism in the U.S. emanates from the political right, and is inspired by President Trump. But the facts point to a different conclusion.

Last month the Amcha Initiative, which documents, investigates and combats anti-Semitism on college campuses, published its 2018 report on-campus anti-Semitism. The report revealed that classic anti-Semitic attacks – that is, right-wing anti-Semitic attacks – decreased 42%. In contrast, 2018 saw a 70% increase in leftist anti-Semitic attacks on campuses.

The report's most alarming finding is that faculty members are playing a central role in propagating and inciting anti-Semitism on campuses by pushing academic boycotts of Israel. Their decisive role – and the fact that their actions are largely backed by university administrators – indicates that anti-Semitism has become institutionalized in American academia.

Rather than fight against this dangerous state of affairs, major Jewish groups have been diffident in their responses. While anti-Israel groups like J Street oppose legislative initiatives to penalize companies that boycott Israel, other liberal groups, like the ADL sit on the fence. They give lip service to anti-BDS laws while grousing incoherently that supporting the penalization of those who discriminate against Israeli Jews somehow breaches the First Amendment or otherwise causes undefined harm to the Jewish community.

The frustrating fact is that these liberal Jewish organizations could make a difference if they wished. If major Jewish groups, including the Reform movement, were to wage a serious, sustained campaign against U.S. academia's institutionalization of anti-Semitism, liberal politicians would be doing much more than they have been to combat the phenomenon.

Notably, as they hem and haw, the same Trump administration which the liberal Jewish establishment regularly accuses of unleashing anti-Semitism is taking steps to curtail the scourge of academic Jew-hatred.

Last month, for instance, the Education Department sent warning letters to Duke University and to the University of North Carolina after they used federal funds to finance an anti-Semitic conference.

Which brings us to the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn. The attacks against the Jews of Crown Heights, Williamsburg and Boro Part are serious and growing more frequent.

Jews walking down the streets are beset by assailants who call them "Dirty Jew" and beat them with sticks and fists. Jews are sideswiped with bricks. Jewish women are assaulted, their head coverings violently removed. Synagogues are vandalized.

The violence against the Jews of Brooklyn is reminiscent of the black community's violent pogrom against the Jews of Crown Heights in 1991. In August 1991, more than 180 members of the Chabad community were injured in a three-day, four-night pogrom carried out by African and Caribbean American rioters. Yankel Rosenbaum, a visiting student from Melbourne, Australia was brutally beaten and stabbed to death.

One of the main black leaders who incited the pogrom was Rev. Al Sharpton, the self-styled civil rights leader. Despite the fact that Sharpton never apologized for stirring up the mass violence against the Jews and then maintaining it for days after it first began, over the past decade, Sharpton has risen in stature in the Democratic party to the point where Democratic presidential hopefuls make pilgrimages to him in the hope of securing his endorsement. MSNBC gave him a show.

And, in recent months, as the Jews of Crown Heights again absorb blows from their African American neighbors, the Reform Jewish movement has joined Sharpton's fan club.

On Rosh Hashana, the tony East Side Synagogue honored Sharpton at its service. In May, the Religious Action Center of the Reform movement held a conference in Washington, DC titled "Consultation on Conscience." They invited Sharpton, whom they touted as a "civil rights leader" to speak.

Rosenbaum's brother Norman Rosenbaum decried the RAC's decision to invite Sharpton in an op-ed in the Washington Examiner. "Sharpton has never apologized or shown any remorse for his actions during the 1991 Crown Heights Pogrom," he noted.

"How pathetic it is that the Religious Action Center's conference is titled 'Consultation on Conscience.' That organization, in having Al Sharpton speak, only demonstrates that it has none," he concluded.

The liberal Jewish leadership's decision to pretend away progressive anti-Semitism is not unhinged. As a decade of survey data has shown conclusively, their communities are in a state of demographic collapse. With the lowest fertility rates in America, with the majority of non-Orthodox Jews intermarrying and with Jewish literacy at an all-time low, the liberal Jewish establishment seeks to retain its members by embracing their lowest common denominator. That commonality is not Judaism. It is progressivism. Whereas the 2013 Pew survey of American Jews showed that a mere 19% of American Jews believe that observing Jewish law is an essential part of what it means to be Jewish, 56% said working for justice and equality is an essential part of Judaism.

In light of the data, facing mass assimilation and a membership with an increasingly weak sense of Jewish identity, many non-Orthodox Jewish communities now conflate progressive politics with Jewish identity. By serving as a political outlet for their members, the apparent thinking goes, these non-Orthodox communities hope to retain their members.

The problem with this strategy is that with anti-Semitism rapidly becoming a major component of progressive politics, the more strongly liberal Jews embrace progressivism, the less capable they become of defending their Judaism – much less defending their fellow Jews who aren't progressive. And if nothing changes in the trajectory of progressive politics, sooner rather than later, liberal Jews will be forced to abandon either their Jewish identity or their progressive identity.

For the American Jewish community to survive this clash, the leaders of the community need to begin fighting for their rights as Jews. Unfortunately, at present, there is little reason for optimism.

See you tomorrow--Yom Kippur is on Wendesday (starting Tuesday night and Sukot starts Sunday Night

Love Yehuda Lave

Rabbi Yehuda Lave

PO Box 7335, Rehavia Jerusalem 9107202

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