Sunday, November 30, 2014

Can't find my Mom-So Sweet and 20 great musical perfomances and the Biblical museum in Beth Shemesh


Peace Of Mind Essential For Growth

Peace of mind is essential for obtaining many virtues. Its absence leads to all types of shortcomings.
 When you have peace of mind, you can use your mind constructively. Lack of peace of mind breeds anger and resentment.
The quality of one's prayers and blessings is dependent on the mastery of one's thoughts.
Above all else, one's ability to study Torah properly is based on having peace of mind.
Love Yehuda Lave



The Biblical Museum in Beth Shemesh with the founder


The second leg of the OU Tour on Nov 25, 2014 took us to the new biblical museum in Beth Shemesh where we got a live tour by the founder




The text for the videos is Hebrew on the site, but all the songs are the originals by the great artists in English...You can pick the person by the picture!!
Watch live performances by 20 of the greatest artists never forget
Despite the amazing musicians died the following list, more melodious voices in our hearts. Watch the live shows of the 20 greatest artists of all time.
Click here to view the content Send to a Friend | Share








I can't find my Mom,
  would it be Ok if I hung around with you guys?
An Awesome Texas Morning
(After the horses moved on, the doe came for her
    fawn.  So all is well, in case you were
    wondering...)

   


NOT SCARED OF
    THE "BIG GUYS" AT ALL..... VERY INQUISITIVE.
AND THE HORSES  DON'T SEEM TO MIND.



Too precious not to share







--

Friday, November 28, 2014

heroes of Israel and the Latrun tank museum and five ways to increase happiness

Take Joy in Being Better

When a person regrets wrongdoings, this is not a contradiction to the pre-existing obligation to be happy. Why? Because he should feel joy that he has merited to recognize the truth and is now repenting!

Love Yehuda Lave


See this film clip on the Heroes of Israel

In the rain this week the OU took a tour of the
The Latrun
Tank museum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWkrNZRlS60

For a little new country, we have a lot of history


In 1978, researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Massachusetts made a series of startling discoveries. The Illinois state lottery was new then. Common sense would say that winning a fortune would create great happiness, but there was a growing body of literature showing that even very good fortune didn't always result in long-lasting appreciation. Were lottery winners any more aware of their blessings after winning the lottery?

Studies showed that while winning produced feelings of euphoria at first, after just a few months the effects wore off and people reverted to whatever level of happiness they'd always enjoyed. Rich or poor, it seemed that everyone had a "happiness set point," a level of contentedness with their life that was internal, and had little to do with outside circumstances.

Researchers followed up the lottery interviews with a similar study on a very different group of people: those who had become paralyzed in accidents. If winning the lottery didn't change people's happiness set point to make them permanently happier, they wondered, would life-altering tragedies make victims permanently more miserable? The research found that after a few months, accident victims, too, returned to their previous levels of contentedness, their happiness set-point, despite the setbacks they now suffered.

But one exercise did permanently boost happiness: making a conscious effort to focus on our blessings. By taking time out – even as little as once a week – to stop and enumerate what we are thankful for in our lives, subjects were able to change their happiness set-points and become happier with their lives overall.

The great Rabbi Ben Zoma realized this profound truth two thousand years ago. "Who is happy?" he asked: "One who is happy with their lot" (Ethics of the Fathers, 4:1). We can all increase our happiness by learning how to be grateful and rediscover what we already have.

Here are five ways to increase our gratitude and expand our ability to feel thanksgiving, based on Jewish wisdom and modern research.

1. Brainstorm what you're thankful for.

We can short-circuit our mind's tendency to take all the good things in our lives for granted by intentionally reminding ourselves of our blessings. In one study by Prof. Sonja Lyubomirsky of the University of California, Riverside, subjects who had a conversation about things they were grateful for recorded a greater sense of happiness and well-being, and this effect lasted for months.

2. Keep a Gratitude Journal.

Writing down our blessings might even be more effective. Professors Robert Emmons of the University of California, Davis and Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami asked subjects to write down five things they were thankful for each week. The effects were profound: those who kept Gratitude Journals reported being more satisfied with their lives. They reported feeling more optimistic about the upcoming week, said they felt more connected with others, and had more energy than members of a control group who did not keep journals. Amazingly, they reported fewer sick days, and higher levels of exercise than those in a control group who did not keep a journal. ("Thanks: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier" by Robert Emmons, Ph.D.) Every morning Jews get a jumpstart in gratitude by reciting a series of blessings that help us focus on the daily gifts we receive from the Almighty.

3. Write a thank you letter.

Another way to powerfully reframe our outlook and increase our ability to feel gratitude is to reach out to others and say thank you.

Each year, Prof. Chris Peterson of the University of Michigan would give his students an unusual assignment: to write a thank you letter to a person who had touched them in some ways in their lives. Students reported feeling happier "100% of the time" after completing this assignment. Even more powerful, Prof. Peterson found, was asking students to track down the recipients of their letter and read it to them in person. Among students who were able to deliver their thanks in person, he found greater levels of optimism – and fewer negative thoughts – for up to a year afterwards.

4. Give yourself time to change.

In our busy world, it can be hard to take the time to change our ways of thinking. Prof. Tal Ben-Shahar, whose course on Positive Psychology became the most popular class ever given at Harvard, has explored how much time is required to re-wire our emotions and make ourselves more positive, grateful people.

He cites the work of Prof. Barbara Fredrickson, who asked employees at an organization to spend twenty minutes each day thinking of the love they felt for relatives, romantic partners, and close friends in their lives. Subjects reported greater feelings of joy and happiness, and lower levels of anxiety, for many weeks after the study. They also reported feeling more grateful.

Setting aside this length of time each day is effective. For those who cannot carve out 20 minutes regularly, Prof. Ben-Shahar suggests trying to spend several seconds regularly, throughout the day, dwelling on blessings and actively experiencing gratitude.

5. Turn to a higher power.

Studies show that prayer and acknowledging a higher power can dramatically boost our gratitude. Jewish tradition presents us with opportunities to connect with the Divine throughout the day, for instance when we say blessings before and after eating food, or on special occasions like witnessing lightening or hearing thunder. These moments give us a chance to stop, think about the bigger picture for a moment, and feel awe at the bounty of the world around us.

Next a story about character traits


A man once came to Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky (1913-1979), the rosh yeshiva (dean) of Ponovezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, regarding a
boy in the yeshiva who had been proposed as a match for his daughter.

He asked the rosh yeshiva how many hours a day the boy learned; was he punctual and did he spend his time diligently. Did he
come to prayers on time and did he actively participate in the lectures. Did he ask relevant questions and did he understand the
answers.

After receiving a favorable report, the father thanked Rabbi Rozovsky for his time and began to leave. Rabbi Rozovsky asked the
father, "Until now you asked me questions; do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" The father agreed.

"You seem happy with the information I gave you about this boy. You obviously think that all your daughter needs to know is whether
he arrives to his study sessions on time and if he knows how to learn Torah. But perhaps your daughter would like to know if he is a
mensch.

"It seems to me that you ought to be asking, 'Is he pleasant to be around? How does he behave at mealtimes? Does he
occasionally go into the kitchen to thank the staff for preparing the food? Does he get up and fill the empty water pitcher, or wait for
someone else to do it? When he arrives in his room after a late-night learning session, does he do so quietly so as not to wake up
his roommates? Does he make his bed and keep his things neat?

"I think," continued Rabbi Rozovsky, "that you need to check these things out. If he comes home and doesn't like the food your
daughter worked hard to prepare, his face will crumple in obvious dissatisfaction. Will your daughter then be happy that her father
checked the boy out with the rosh yeshiva who told him that he is familiar with much of the Talmud? Will your daughter say, "It's true
that he has no manners and no social skills, but I respect him anyway because he knows the intricacies of the difficult sections of the
Torah?"    [The foregoing story is documented in the Denver Kollel Torah Weekly]
~




--

Thursday, November 27, 2014

16 Chinese Girls on One Bicycles and all you need is love (Beatles)


The Right Comparison

A person can potentially use comparisons to mess up his life. For example, a person can go to the most elegant restaurant which employs the greatest chef. He can order the most expensive food. Then for the rest of his life he can say about any other meal, "This isn't as good as the meal I once had in that five-star restaurant."

I recently related this example to a group of tourists. They laughed. And then one spoke up and said, "I just realized that I do this all the time. Just last night at the fancy hotel we were staying at, my first comment after the meal was, 'This wasn't as good as the food I ate at another restaurant five years ago.' I didn't realize how foolish this response is."

Our patterns of comparisons will either be a way we prevent ourselves from enjoying what we have, or a way by which we gain a greater sense of appreciation. A sage once said, "In spiritual matters look up and raise your sights. But when it comes to material and physical matters look down." That is, in spiritual matters keep looking for role models to motivate yourself to reach higher and higher levels. But when it comes to appreciating your possessions and your financial situation, look at those who have less than you and gain a greater sense of appreciation for what you have.

Love Yehuda Lave





By Laibl Wolf

All You Need is Love

I like Beatles' music.  It is original, fresh, and quirkily meaningful. But on 25th June 1967 John Lennon got it decidedly wrong. Not the music – just the title. Nothing wrong with the love part, but expressing love as a need has got it all wrong.  You don't 'need' love – you love. Love is many splendored thing and gives you that lovin' feeling'. But love is also inner-work of taming the ego.

Democracy is a great political system but doesn't always translate to other life areas e.g. love. And yet many people view love as a sacred democratic institution.  Emotion-democrats claim it's all about fairness, equality, reciprocity, a two-way street.  It's not.  Love is a one-way street. Think about it. Love is about giving. Love is what you draw from yourself to confer on another - a block of your busy time, a wad of hard earned-money, a flow of feelings at the tired end of the day. It's always a gratuitous expression of sensitive caring.

So why can't it be a two way street?  Wouldn't that make it doubly good? Not at all. You can't make someone love you. Love cannot be coercive and coerced. To get someone to love you back is to demand fulfilment of a need – your need – the need to be loved. But that is the ego talking. I need to be loved. And you, dear lady or gentleman, better love me, right now, on cue, at my bidding, otherwise 'it's not love'. Does that sound at all like love to you? Yet it does sound 'needy'.right arrow

To be loved evokes a warm fuzzy feeling, a 'feel-good' feeling. Nothing unnatural or improper about feeling good when being loved. But that is the expression of love of the other for you. It is their verb, their choice, their givingness – not yours. Love is not an equation. Love is an one-sided initiative.

 

The Kabbala explains love-dynamics in this way. The spiritual source of love is the Sefira of Hessed.  The nature of Hessed is to flow outwards from the mind, body, and soul. And it doesn't flow inwards at the same time, so love is not what you receive, only what you give.

When the troubled lover says to his doubting partner: I will love you if you will love me, he is transacting business and specifying the conditional nature of the contract  - the big 'if'. It might be a plaintive call for fairness but it's the ego talking, saying 'I want', 'I must have', 'I need that emotional fix'.  True love means to love, not to be a recipient of love.  If you love truly it is highly likely that you will awaken a true love in the other and you will, in passing, also be on the receiving end of their love with all of its attendant good feelings. But you don't love to get it back.  That's emotional bribery. When you get it back it's called a bonus!

 

 

Love is not a need because a need is what is seeking fulfilment of what is missing in you. Love is what you give the other to fill up their emotional black hole, not yours.

Clearly love is a tricky matter. Introspection, honesty and clear-headedness are required to assess emotional integrity.  The important thing is not to engage in a 'user-friendly' relationship – very friendly but using the other for your own needs.

 John, wherever you are, I am hereby retitling your song All You Give Is Love. Hope you don't mind. It's a better life recipe for joy and happiness.

 



Subject: 16 Chinese Girls on Bicycles

 

16 Chinese Girls on Bicycles

 
 

INCREDIBLE!
I think you will find this performance nearly unbelievable.  It really looks like an impossible feat.  
Can you imagine the years of practice that went into the preparation for something like this? 




More tremendous Chinese Acrobatics


               ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE
 
 http://www.youtube.com/embed/7-UTRIln9Pk






--

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Beauty of Antarctica and the new lazer watch



Emulate The Creator

The mitzvah to develop our character is the mitzvah to "walk in the ways of our Creator." Viewing events and situations in this light will elevate the mundane, for in the ultimate view of life nothing is mundane. Every moment presents its unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
By acting and reacting in ways that are kind, compassionate, understanding, and sensitive, you emulate the Creator and bring the Shchinah (Divine presence) into your home. No accomplishment could be greater.
Love Yehuda Lave



Chof Tet b'November....was a very important date in the process of the creation of the State of Israel.... There is a street in Katamon publicizing the event.....

Is it a coincidence that the Arabs are using the same date to deny Jewish presence and gain international recognition....?

What is the message....Who is the owner of the Land of Israel ?

Until we believe we are have been appointed the sole supervisors by The Creator of the World....we will only experience more terror....


http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/187758#.VHGBn4uUc9Y


Palestinians Call Synagogue Victims 'Terrorists'
Palestinian leaders reacted to Tuesday's killing of five Israelis in a Jerusalem synagogue by calling the murder victims "terrorists" and characterizing the synagogue as a "command center."
The victims included three Israeli-American rabbis and one British-born rabbi, who died at the scene, and an Israeli police officer who later died from his wounds. Seven other Israelis were injured when two Palestinian cousins entered the Kehilat Bnei Torah synagogue and attacked victims with meat cleavers and a handgun before being shot dead by police.
The militant Palestinian group Hamas described the attack as "a quality development in the confrontation with the Israeli occupation," the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. "The organization welcomes the terror attack, an appropriate and functional response to the crimes of the occupation."
Hamas spokesman Sheikh Aal Radhwan called the four murdered rabbis "the greatest terrorists in that racist state. These are no civilians. They are terrorists," according to the Middle East Media Research Institute, which translated the comments of Palestinian leaders.
Radhwan said rabbis "represent the greatest terrorism against our Palestinian people and our holy places. They are terrorists because they are occupiers, because they are extremists, and because they are oppressors."
Hamas Political Bureau member Osama Hamdan said the attack "is the kind of act that defends the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and condemns the Israeli crimes," according to CNS News.
He added: "According to all the international laws the settlers are not civilians. International law defines them as armed militias."
Sultan Abu Al-Einein, an adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, praised the attack on his Facebook page, calling it a "heroic operation" and posting graphic pictures showing dead Jews wearing prayer shawls. He called the two dead attackers "martyrs."
Fatah spokesman Ahmad Assaf called the attack "the natural result" of Israeli "violations" in Jerusalem.
Tawfiq Tirawi of the Fatah Central Committee, a prominent Palestinian political party, charged that "the responsibility for the Israelis killed lies with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, his government, and his settlers. The responsibility also lies with America, which helps Israel."
Abu Ahmand Fouad, deputy secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said: "That synagogue is a kind of command center for the planning of acts of aggression against our people and our holy places. This is no prayer synagogue."
And Palestinian political scientist Abdul Sattar Kassem said: "This operation was symbolic because it was carried out in a synagogue. For the Palestinian people, synagogues represent Israeli settlements and extremism."
Netanyahu ordered authorities to demolish the attackers' homes, and authorities promised action to revoke the permit for the wife of one assailant to remain in Israel.
As the Insider Report disclosed last week, several Jewish groups have condemned Abbas for inciting violence in Israel and the West Bank rather than seeking to quell the hostilities.


The watch that fires LASERS: Gadget is so powerful it lights matches from across the room

  • Bond Inspired LaserWatch was built by Wuppertal-based Patrick Priebe
  • He designs and builds metal laser gadgets to order online
  • His rechargeable watch has an LED watch module and 1,500-milliwatt laser
  • In a video, Mr Priebe demonstrates the power of the laser by popping balloons and lighting matches
By Victoria Woollaston for MailOnline
Published: 15:34 GMT, 21 November 2014 | Updated: 13:12 GMT, 22 November 2014
If smartwatches from the likes of Apple and Motorola don't appeal to you, a German inventor has built a powerful alternative.
Dubbed Bond Inspired LaserWatch, the timepiece was designed at home by a hobbyist using a metal case, screws, and a built-in laser pointer.
And during a video, the designer demonstrates the power of the laser by popping balloons and lighting matches from around 3ft (one metre) away.
Scroll down for video  
The Bond Inspired LaserWatch was built by Wuppertal-based Patrick Priebe, who designs and builds metal laser gadgets to order online. His rechargeable watch has an LED watch module and 1,500-milliwatt laser. In a video, he demonstrates the power of the laser by popping balloons and lighting matches (pictured)

His rechargeable watch has an LED watch module and 1,500-milliwatt laser.

'Some people asked me about [the watch] and I didn't think I would ever make something like this, but I've made it,' explained Mr Priebe. 

THE LASER GATLING GUN 

Earlier this year, Mr Priebe built a laser weapon, inspired by the Gatling gun.
The gun is made from aluminium and shoots rounds of 1.4-watt Class 4 blue lasers.
The inventor said, although it is only strong enough to pop balloons, it is still too dangerous to be used outside
A video shows the rapid-fire weapon popping 26 balloons mounted on a wall.
Eight AA batteries power the laser motor and the gun's turret is powered by four ball bearings controlled by a mechanism under the gun.
As the barrel spins, the lasers - powered by lithium-ion batteries - are shot out.
'It's average in size, and is still a little bulky for a watch.
'You can't [use] it for too long, because of the tiny battery and tiny laser module, but it is fun.'
Pressing the button on the bottom and side of the device shows the time, while the bottom button on its own is used to fire the laser.
Each button is 2.5mm long and fits into the metal casing, alongside the digital watch module. 
Mr Priebe admitted that the watch was a 'pain in the a' to make because of all the tiny parts, and it took him around 40 hours to complete.
He said if he ever was to sell one it would 'cost a bit', which he later qualified to be around $300 (£191).
Earlier this year, the same German inventor built a laser weapon, inspired by the Gatling gun.
The gun is made from aluminium and shoots rounds of 1.4-watt Class 4 blue lasers.
The inventor said that although it is only strong enough to pop balloons, it is still too dangerous to be used outside
To watch the full power Patrick Priebe's Lasers click here 
Pressing the button on the bottom and side of the device shows the time, while the bottom button is used to fire the laser. He said if he ever was to sell one of the watches, it would 'cost a bit', which he later qualified to be around $300 (£191)
Pressing the button on the bottom and side of the device shows the time, while the bottom button is used to fire the laser. He said if he ever was to sell one of the watches, it would 'cost a bit', which he later qualified to be around $300 (£191)
A video shows the rapid-fire weapon popping 26 balloons mounted on a wall.
Eight AA batteries power the laser motor and the gun's turret is powered by four ball bearings controlled by a mechanism under the gun.
As the barrel spins, the lasers - powered by lithium-ion batteries - are shot out.
Mr Priebe admitted that the watch was a 'pain in the a' to make because of all the tiny parts, and the total watch took him around 40 hours to complete. The watch is pictured popping balloons on a wall
+3
Mr Priebe admitted that the watch was a 'pain in the a' to make because of all the tiny parts, and the total watch took him around 40 hours to complete. The watch is pictured popping balloons on a wall
The laser watch was inspired by 1964 Bond film Goldfinger. In this scene, Auric Goldfinger (played by Gert Fröbe) ties James Bond (Sean Connery) to a table and threatens to cut him using the laser pointer (pictured)
+3
The laser watch was inspired by 1964 Bond film Goldfinger. In this scene, Auric Goldfinger (played by Gert Fröbe) ties James Bond (Sean Connery) to a table and threatens to cut him using the laser pointer (pictured)
The inventor is obviously fearful his designs will fall into the wrong hands, too, as he states on his website: 'No plans, no schematics, no blueprints'.
The laser weapon is a taken on the iconic Gatling gun invented by Richard Gatling in the 1860s. 
Mr Priebe's became an internet hit when he created a fully-functional Iron Man Gauntlet, complete with lasers on the palm and forearm.
He has previously created laser gloves and a pulse laser gun, a laser revolver and even a flame glove.
Earlier this year, Mr Priebe built a laser weapon, inspired by the Gatling gun. The gun (pictured) is made from aluminium and shoots rounds of 1.4-watt Class 4 blue lasers
Earlier this year, Mr Priebe built a laser weapon, inspired by the Gatling gun. The gun (pictured) is made from aluminium and shoots rounds of 1.4-watt Class 4 blue lasers
A video shows the rapid-fire weapon popping 26 balloons mounted on a wall. It works in a similar way to standard Gatling gun (pictured) invented by Richard Gatling in the 1860s
+3
A video shows the rapid-fire weapon popping 26 balloons mounted on a wall. It works in a similar way to standard Gatling gun (pictured

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2844312/The-watch-fires-LASERS-Gadget-powerful-lights-matches-room.html#ixzz3JrVJnYZq




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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Excavation in the city of David and great old pictures


Practicing Foresight

Neglecting to look ahead is a prime cause of unhappiness. One who overeats disparages the value of food. A quarrelsome man complains against the blessings of marriage, relatives and neighbors. By practicing foresight, many evils can be avoided.


Love Yehuda Lave







An unforgettable visit to the city of David. Paste the link below

http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/this-video-left-me-glued-to-the-screen?omhide=true&utm_source=MadMimi&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Israel+Breaking+News+Video%3A+Hamas%27s+new+hit+song+in+Hebrew+-+%27Zionist%2C+you+are+about+to+be+killed+by+a+car%27&utm_campaign=20141119_m123165811_11%2F20+Israel+Breaking+News+Video%3A+Hamas%27s+new+hit+song+in+Hebrew+-+%27Zionist%2C+you+are+about+to+be+killed+by+a+car%27&utm_term=cityofdavid_jerusalem_jpg_3F1416392021




Jordanian Prime Minister, Abdullah Ensour

Jordanian Prime Minister, Abdullah Ensour
Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour sent letters of condolence to the families of the two terrorists who committed the Har Nof Massacre, killing 5 people, and leaving behind dozens of orphans.

This is in followup to the prayers and moment of silence that the Jordanian Parliament held in honor of the two terrorists.

With peace partners like Jordan, who needs enemies?

An estimated 80% of the population of Jordan identify themselves as "Palestinians", which would make Jordan the Palestinian state, except for minor problem of the Hussein monarchy which is in the way of the majority.


A photograph taken by Scott's British Antarctic Expedition to the South Pole, before they perished on their return journey. [1910]A%20photograph%20taken%20by%20Scott%u2019s%20British%20Antarctic%20Expedition%20to%20the%20South%20Pole%2C%20before%20they%20perished%20on%20their%20return%20journey.%20%5B1910%5D

 

The traffic jam at the Brandenburg Gate as East and West Germans cross freely on the first Saturday after the fall of the Berlin Wall. [November, 1989]

The%20traffic%20jam%20at%20the%20Brandenburg%20Gate%20as%20East%20and%20West%20Germans%20cross%20freely%20on%20the%20first%20Saturday%20after%20the%20fall%20of%20the%20Berlin%20Wall.%20%5BNovember%2C%201989%5D
 

Fidel Castro enjoying ice cream during a visit to a US military camp. [1959]

Fidel%20Castro%20enjoying%20ice%20cream%20during%20a%20visit%20to%20a%20US%20military%20camp.%20%5B1959%5D
 

The recording of the MGM Lion. [1929]

The%20recording%20of%20the%20MGM%20Lion.%20%5B1929%5D
 

The models of "American Gothic" stand next to the painting

The%20models%20of%20%u201CAmerican%20Gothic%u201D%20stand%20next%20to%20the%20painting
 

The iceberg that is thought to have sunk the Titanic. Black and red paint is smeared along the side. [1912]

The%20iceberg%20that%20is%20thought%20to%20have%20sunk%20the%20Titanic.%20Black%20and%20red%20paint%20is%20smeared%20along%20the%20side.%20%5B1912%5D%20
 

The filming of Batman and Robin.

The%20filming%20of%20Batman%20and%20Robin.%20
 

Wilbur Wright circles the Statue of Liberty in the Model A. [29 September, 1909]

Wilbur%20Wright%20circles%20the%20Statue%20of%20Liberty%20in%20the%20Model%20A.%20%5B29%20September%2C%201909%5D
 

Race organisers attempt to stop Kathrine Switzer from competing in the Boston Marathon. She became the first woman to finish the race. [1967]

Race%20organisers%20attempt%20to%20stop%20Kathrine%20Switzer%20from%20competing%20in%20the%20Boston%20Marathon.%20She%20became%20the%20first%20woman%20to%20finish%20the%20race.%20%5B1967%5D
 

A Native American overlooks the newly completed Transcontinental railroad. [1868]

A%20Native%20American%20overlooks%20the%20newly%20completed%20Transcontinental%20railroad.%20%5B1868%5D
 

African Americans protest against the war in Vietnam during the Harlem Peace March. [1967]

African%20Americans%20protest%20against%20the%20war%20in%20Vietnam%20during%20the%20Harlem%20Peace%20March.%20%5B1967%5D
 

The "Tank Man" stand off in Tiananmen Square. "Tank Man" is to the left of the digger. [1989]

The%20%u201CTank%20Man%u201D%20stand%20off%20in%20Tiananmen%20Square.%20%u201CTank%20Man%u201D%20is%20to%20the%20left%20of%20the%20digger.%20%5B1989%5D
 

The aftermath of Victory over Japan Day in New York. [14 August, 1945]

The%20aftermath%20of%20Victory%20over%20Japan%20Day%20in%20New%20York.%20%5B14%20August%2C%201945%5D
 

The last few prisoners of Alcatraz leave as the prison is shut down for good. [1963]

The%20last%20few%20prisoners%20of%20Alcatraz%20leave%20as%20the%20prison%20is%20shut%20down%20for%20good.%20%5B1963%5D
 

The Hollywood sign, shortly after it was installed. It originally read "Hollywoodland". [1923]

The%20Hollywood%20sign%2C%20shortly%20after%20it%20was%20installed.%20It%20originally%20read%20%u201CHollywoodland%u201D.%20%5B1923%5D
 

German prisoners react to footage of concentration camps. [1945]

German%20prisoners%20react%20to%20footage%20of%20concentration%20camps.%20%5B1945%5D
 

Neil Armstrong photographed by Buzz Aldrin, shortly after walking on the moon. [1969]

Neil%20Armstrong%20photographed%20by%20Buzz%20Aldrin%2C%20shortly%20after%20walking%20on%20the%20moon.%20%5B1969%5D
 

An injured survivor of the Hindenburg smokes as he is carried to safety. [6 May, 1937]

An%20injured%20survivor%20of%20the%20Hindenburg%20smokes%20as%20he%20is%20carried%20to%20safety.%20%5B6%20May%2C%201937%5D
 

An over the shoulder view of JFK's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech. [1963]

An%20over%20the%20shoulder%20view%20of%20JFK%u2019s%20%u201CIch%20bin%20ein%20Berliner%u201D%20speech.%20%5B1963%5D
 

The only known photograph of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, before giving his famous address. [November 19, 1863]

The%20only%20known%20photograph%20of%20Abraham%20Lincoln%20at%20Gettysburg%2C%20before%20giving%20his%20famous%20address.%20%5BNovember%2019%2C%201863%5D
 

Howard Carter Looking through the open doors of Tutankhamun's Shrine. [January, 1924]

Howard%20Carter%20Looking%20through%20the%20open%20doors%20of%20Tutankhamun%27s%20Shrine.%20%5BJanuary%2C%201924%5D%20
 

An East German guard passes a flower through a gap in the Berlin Wall on the morning it was torn down. [1989]

An%20East%20German%20guard%20passes%20a%20flower%20through%20a%20gap%20in%20the%20Berlin%20Wall%20on%20the%20morning%20it%20was%20torn%20down.%20%5B1989%5D
 

Three men run in the marathon at the first modern Olympic Games. [1896]

Three%20men%20run%20in%20the%20marathon%20at%20the%20first%20modern%20Olympic%20Games.%20%5B1896%5D
 

Norway receive their first ever shipment of bananas. [1905]

Norway%20receive%20their%20first%20ever%20shipment%20of%20bananas.%20%5B1905%5D
 

The Beatles during their shoot for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. [1967]

The%20Beatles%20during%20their%20shoot%20for%20Sgt.%20Pepper%27s%20Lonely%20Hearts%20Club%20Band.%20%5B1967%5D
 

Mourners climb telephone poles to get a view of Gandhi's funeral procession. [1948]

Mourners%20climb%20telephone%20poles%20to%20get%20a%20view%20of%20Gandhi%27s%20funeral%20procession.%20%5B1948%5D
 

Enlisted men aboard an American ship hear the news of Japan's surrender. [1945]

Enlisted%20men%20aboard%20an%20American%20ship%20hear%20the%20news%20of%20Japan%u2019s%20surrender.%20%5B1945%5D
 

Spectators standing upon couches, tables and chairs to to see the signing of the treaty of Versailles and the end of World War I. [1919]

Spectators%20standing%20upon%20couches%2C%20tables%20and%20chairs%20to%20to%20see%20the%20signing%20of%20the%20treaty%20of%20Versailles%20and%20the%20end%20of%20World%20War%20I.%20%5B1919%5D
 

The first ever underground train journey. Edgware Road Station, London. [1862]

The%20first%20ever%20underground%20train%20journey.%20Edgware%20Road%20Station%2C%20London.%20%5B1862%5D
 

The last known photo of the Titanic above water. [1912]

The%20last%20known%20photo%20of%20the%20Titanic%20above%20water.%20%5B1912%5D
 

A photo taken in secret of the Supreme Court in session, one of only two ever taken. [1932]

A%20photo%20taken%20in%20secret%20of%20the%20Supreme%20Court%20in%20session%2C%20one%20of%20only%20two%20ever%20taken.%20%5B1932%5D
 

A large crowd, made up of many African Americans, mourn the death of Abraham Lincoln outside the Courthouse in Vicksburg, Mississippi. [1865]

A%20large%20crowd%2C%20made%20up%20of%20many%20African%20Americans%2C%20mourn%20the%20death%20of%20Abraham%20Lincoln%20outside%20the%20Courthouse%20in%20Vicksburg%2C%20Mississippi.%20%5B1865%5D




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Monday, November 24, 2014

Visiting the temple mount and Jews of New York and exercise for people over 60


Mentally Prepare For Challenges

The more mentally prepared you are for challenges to your being in a serene state, the greater your ability to maintain this state. The goal to strive for is to be able to remain in a serene state even when other people say and do things that could potentially cause distress. Mentally practice remaining serene regardless of what anyone says. Knowing that you can do this in your imagination will free you from worrying about what anyone may say in the future.


Love Yehuda Lave

Only in an alternate, Orwellian universe could only one group of people on earth—Jews—be enjoined from praying on the single site most holy to their faith, and, moreover, be told that their presence there is not only provocative but is repugnant and befouls the very ground on which those of another faith—Muslims—have staked a triumphalist religious claim and now wish to gather and pray.

This attempt to airbrush out a Jewish presence from Jerusalem—in fact, all of historic Palestine—is not a new message for Abbas, of course. In 2000 he expressed similar contempt for the idea that a Jewish temple had ever existed on the Temple Mount and that, even if it had existed, the offenses committed by Israel against the Palestinians negated any claim Jews might have enjoyed, absent their perfidy.

"Anyone who wants to forget the past [i.e., the Israelis] cannot come and claim that the [Jewish] temple is situated beneath the Haram," Abbas absurdly asserted in an article in Kul Al-Arab, an Israeli Arabic-language weekly newspaper. " . . . But even if it is so, we do not accept it, because it is not logical for someone who wants a practical peace."

Judging by the October 30th statement by U.S. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki, forgetting the past is something in which the John Kerry's office is also complicit.  "We're extremely concerned by escalating tensions across Jerusalem and particularly surrounding the Haram al-Sharif, Temple Mount," Psaki said, pointedly, and dangerously, referring to the Temple Mount by its Arab name first and thereby fortifying, and seeming to lend equal weight to, the Palestinian's spurious claim to spiritual and territorial rights to the site, and to the wider area described now as East Jerusalem.

"It is actually critical that all sides exercise restraint, refrain from provocative actions and rhetoric and preserve the status quo," she added, suggesting that Jews not be allowed to pray on the Mount and that the status quo prohibiting Jews from praying on the site be ordered to continue so as to not incite Muslim sensibilities.

But in characterizing East Jerusalem —or any part of Jerusalem, for that matter —as territory that Israel "occupies" but over which it enjoys no sovereignty, Abbas (and U.S. State Department, too) is misreading, once again, the content and purpose of 1967's U.N. Security Council Resolution 242 that suggested an Israeli withdrawal "from territories [not all territories]" it acquired in the Six-Day War.

Critics of Israeli policy who either willfully misread or deliberately obscure the resolution's purpose say that the Jewish State is in violation of 242 by continuing to occupy the 'West Bank' and Jerusalem, including what is spuriously now referred to as "Arab" East Jerusalem.  But the drafters of Resolution 242 were very precise in creating the statute's language, and they never considered Jerusalem to have been occupied by Israel after the Six-Day War.  Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Arthur Goldberg, one of the resolution's authors, made this very clear when he wrote some years later that "Resolution 242 in no way refers to Jerusalem, and this omission was deliberate[.] . . . At no time in [my] many speeches [before the U.N.] did I refer to East Jerusalem as occupied territory."


"Liberating" Jerusalem, of course, does not mean transforming it into a pluralistic, open city where members of three major faiths can live freely and practice their religions openly.
But the true danger of the Palestinian thinking about Jerusalem—and, indeed, about all of the Palestine that they covet, including Israel itself—was revealed in Yasser Arafat's own view that he expressed in a July 2000 edition of al-Hayat al-Jadida when he threatened that "They can occupy us by force, because we are weaker now, but in two years, ten years, or one hundred years, there will be someone who will liberate Jerusalem [from them]."

"Liberating" Jerusalem, of course, does not mean transforming it into a pluralistic, open city where members of three major faiths can live freely and practice their religions openly. Liberating Jerusalem for the Palestinians would be more in keeping with the type of liberation that Transjordan's Arab League effected when they burned and looted the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem in 1948; expelled and killed its hapless Jewish population; destroyed some 58 synagogues, many hundreds of years old; unearthed gravestones from the history-laden Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives and used them for latrine pavers; and barred any Jew from praying at the Western Wall or entering the Temple Mount.  

But false irredentist claims, Islamic supremacism which compels Jews and Christians to live in dhimmitude under Muslim control, and an evident cultural and theological disregard for other faiths— while troubling in the battle over sovereignty in Jerusalem—are not, according to Dore Gold, Israel's former ambassador to the United Nations, the most dangerous aspects of a diplomatic capitulation which would allow the Palestinians to claim a shared Jerusalem.

In his engaging book, The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City, Gold pointed to a far more troubling aspect: in their desire to accede to Arab requests for a presence and religious sovereignty in Jerusalem, the State Department, EU, UN member states, and Islamic apologists in the Middle East and worldwide may actually ignite jihadist impulses they seek to dampen with their well-intentioned, but defective, diplomacy.


The Temple Mount: Are Jews Allowed To Enter?

Published: November 20th, 2014
Latest update: November 21st, 2014
Temple_Mount_aerial_from_south_tb_q010703bsr-300x225

Following the Six-Day War, Israel's Chief Rabbinate promulgated a ban on Jews ascending the Temple Mount. This decision, along with the continued effective control of the site by the Waqf, has severely limited the Jewish civilian presence on the mount. As a result, many Jews and non-Jews ignore its significance in Judaism. The recent attempt to rec­tify this situation by organizing group visits to the mount has ignited a passionate legal debate.

Several biblical commandments regulated entrance to the various sections of the Temple, including the establishment of a guard system to enforce these rules (Num. 18:1–4). The Torah (Lev. 19:30) further com­mands a general reverence for the Temple, interpreted by the sages to include respectful behavior within permissible areas, such as not carrying a stick or wallet, wearing leather shoes, or walking around for mundane purposes (Berachot 54a).

Medieval commentators debated whether these restrictions became dormant following the Temple's destruction. Raavad (twelfth century, Provence) contended that although the rest of Eretz Yisrael retained its sanctity, the Temple Mount was desacralized by its non-Jewish conquerors (Nachmanides, Makkot 19a; Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Beit HaBechirah 6:14).

Rabbi Menachem HaMeiri (Beit HaBechirah, Shavuot 16a) understood this position to allow for Jews to walk on the Temple Mount, and he reports that they have historically done so. Indeed, as noted by Gedalia Meyer and Henoch Messner ("Entering the Temple Mount – in Halacha and Jewish Thought," Hakirah, volume 10, Winter 2010), talmudic stories (Makkot 24b) and medieval travelogues indicate that Jews ascended the Temple Mount until Muslim conquerors banned entrance by non-Muslims in the twelfth century.

Maimonides, however, insisted that the entire compound has retained its sanctity, and that sacrifices may still be offered there, even without the Temple (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Beit HaBechirah 6:14).

In fact, as Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Chajes points out, several talmudic passages indicate that many Temple rites – particularly the Passover sacrifice – continued into late antiquity (Darchei Horaa, p. 261).

Rabbi Tzvi Kalischer, moved by messianic aspirations, attempted to renew such activity in the nineteenth century (Derishat Tziyon). Yet his proposal was shot down by figures like Rabbi Yaakov Ettlinger, who contended that sacrifices were not per­missible without finding the altar's exact location, priests with proven pedigree, and various Temple apparatuses (Binyan Tziyon 1).

Maimonides's ruling, which demands continual reverence for the Temple Mount and restricts entry to it (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Beit HaBechirah 7:7), was widely accepted by medieval (Kaftor VaFerach 6) and modern (MB 561:5) authorities.

According to Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, even Raavad believed that the area remains holy, but that entry is punishable only when the Temple stands (Mishpat Kohen 96). As Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron noted, these laws also prohibit tour guides from encour­aging unrestricted visits to the site by non-Jewish tourists (Tchumin 11).

Yet the sages permitted entry into some of the sacred areas fol­lowing appropriate ritual preparation, including immersion in a mikveh, a ritual bath (Kelim 1:8), even for people who had contracted impurity through contact with corpses (MT Hilchot Beit HaBechirah 7:15).

Moreover, the current rectangular Temple Mount complex, which was expanded in the Herodian era to about 150,000 square meters, includes sections not within the original Temple area, which formed a square (500 amot x 500 amot) with sides of roughly 250 meters (Middot 2:1).

Maimonides himself walked and prayed in the permissible areas when he visited Eretz Yisrael in 1165 (Iggerot HaRambam 1, p. 224).

As such, two sixteenth-century rabbis, David ibn Zimra (Shut HaRadbaz 2:691) and Yosef di Trani (Maharit, Tzurat HaBayit), attempted to delineate the exact Temple location and permitted Jews to walk on certain areas of the mount. Yet their calculations are highly disputed, leading many scholars – including Rabbi Yisrael of Shklov, leader of Jerusalem's Jewish community in the nineteenth century (Pe'at HaShulchan 2:11) – to prohibit entrance to the Temple Mount (which was regularly banned by the ruling authorities anyway).

This position was adopted by numerous authorities following the Six-Day War, includ­ing Rabbis Ovadia Yosef (Yabia Omer YD 5:26), Yitzchak Weiss (Minchat Yitzchak 5:1), and Eliezer Waldenburg (Tzitz Eliezer 10:1).

Others contend that this stringency has led to neglect of the sacred space. Most prominently, Rabbi Shlomo Goren dedicated a book, Har HaBayit, to determining the permissible areas of entry.

While the efforts of Rabbis Mordechai Eliyahu (Tchumin 3) and She'ar Yashuv HaKohen to build a synagogue on the Temple Mount have been thwarted, other scholars – such as Rabbis Nachum Rabinovitch and Chaim Druckman – recently advocated Jewish entry (after strict halachic preparation) into areas they claim are indisputably outside the restricted zones.

Yet other religious Zionist leaders – including Rabbis Avraham Shapira and Shlomo Aviner – have opposed such entry, maintaining that modern-day Jews are spiritually unprepared for the Temple's holiness.

About the Author: Rabbi Shlomo M. Brody is the author of the just released "A Guide to the Complex: Contemporary Halakhic Debates" (Maggid Books), which presents over 130 of the most provocative, controversial topics in Jewish law today and from which this article was adapted. Rabbi Brody is the founding director of the Tikvah Overseas Seminars for Yeshiva and Midrasha Students and teaches at Yeshivat Hakotel in Jerusalem.



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EXERCISE FOR PEOPLE OVER 60

Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side.
 
With a  5-lb potato bag in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax.
 
Each day you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer. 
 
After a couple of weeks, move up to  10-lb  potato  bags  . Then try 50-lb potato bags and eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-lb potato bag in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute.  (I'm at this level).
 
    
After you feel confident at that level,   put a potato  in each bag.


Police curtail Jewish rights










Yeshiva Beit Orot

Photo Credit: Abir Sultan/Flash 90

Two student from Yeshiva Beit Orot on the Mount of Olives were injured Friday night when Arab terrorists set upon them as their group of 8 unarmed students were walking to their Yeshiva, coming back from the nearby Beit Hachoshen where they went for evening prayers.

The Choshen is a building on top of the Mount of Olives where 5 families reside, and has a hall that is serves as a local synagogue. It is a 15 minutes walk from Beit Orot.

One of the Jewish students, age 24, was slashed in the back with knife, a second, age 21, suffered a head injury from a metal pole wielded by the group of Arab terrorists. At least one Molotov Cocktail was also thrown at the group, and just barely missed hitting them.

The group of student, including the two wounded Yeshiva students ran the rest of the way back to the Yeshiva, and MDA ambulances transported them to Shaarei Tzedek hospital where they were stitched up. They were listed in lightly injured condition.

Residents of the area are angry that there wasn't an active police presence on the A-Tur road, where numerous attacks against Jews and tourists repeatedly happen.

Just before Shabbat, according to Jerusalem councilman Arieh King, the local police commander announced a curfew for Jewish residents of the area, stating that any Jews found walking outside in Mount of Olives areas would be arrested. No such astounding announcement was made for the violent Arabs.

Yishai Fleisher, a local resident and JewishPress.com contributing editor told JewishPress.com that the residents will continue to walk the roads of Jerusalem, and the police had better get their act together, "The police need to defend our rights to walk the streets of Jerusalem, not curtail them."

Yishai adds, the police didn't place an actual general curfew on the residents from going outside, but unconditionally "forbade" the students from leaving via the back, southern gate of Beit Orot which leads only into Arab areas where rioting is happening.


GETTY IMAGES



By Laila Caron

Published November 15, 2014, issue of November 21, 2014.


1. The first Jews to set foot in North America arrived in New York as a group of 23 in 1654. However, there are indications that Columbus and many of his crew were Jewish.

2. Congregation Shearith Israel, founded in New York in 1654, was the first synagogue in the colonies. It was the sole purveyor of kosher meat until 1813.

3. By the late 19th century, there were over 5,000 kosher butchers and 1,000 slaughterers in New York.

4. In 1902, the Beef Trust raised the price of kosher meat on the Lower East Side from 12 to 18 cents per pound. After butchers' boycotts proved ineffectual, 20,000 Lower East Side women stole meat from kosher butcher shops and set it on fire on the streets in protest. The Forward supported their efforts, running the headline "Bravo, Bravo, Bravo, Jewish women!"

5. On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist fire claimed the lives of 146 garment workers, the majority of whom were Jewish immigrants. Reporting on the tragedy, the Forverts wrote that 'the disaster is too great, to dreadful, to be able to express one's feelings."

6. When entertainer Al Jolson came to New York City at age 14, he held jobs in the circus and as a singing waiter. Born to a cantor, Jolson's career took off when he began performing in blackface.

Al Jolson, 1930.

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Al Jolson, 1930.

7. In 1903, the Lower East Side Chinese and Jewish communities formed an unlikely partnership when Chinese organizers put on a benefit for Jewish victims of the Kishinev pogrom, raising $280.

8. In 1930, there were over 80 pickle vendors in the Lower East Side's thriving Jewish pickle scene. The briney delights were brought to America in the mid-19th century by German Jewish immigrants.

9. The egg cream is thought to have been invented by the Jewish owner of a Brooklyn candy shop. musician Lou Reed was a famous admirer of the frothy drink.

10. From the beginning of the 20th century till the close of World War II, the Lower East Side's 2nd Avenue was known as the Yiddish Theater District, or the Jewish Rialto. It extended from 2nd Avenue to Avenue B, and from 14th Street to Houston. Considered Broadway's competitor, the Jewish Rialto was home to a variety of productions including burlesque and vaudeville shows, as well as Shakespearean, Jewish and classic plays, and were all in Yiddish.

11. The Jewish Rialto's most popular haunt was the Cafe Royal on Second Avenue and 12th Street, where one could find performers such as Molly Picon and Charlie Chaplin sharing blintzes.

http://forward.com/workspace/assets/images/articles/3382649.jpg

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Pushcart City: Pushcarts were all the rage among Jewish vendors on the Lower East Side from the turn of the century until 1940, when Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia banned their use. Jewish pushcart operators sold everything from vegetables to cigars to stockings.

12. Pushcarts were all the rage among Jewish vendors on the Lower East Side from the turn of the century until 1940, when Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia banned their use. Jewish pushcart operators sold everything from vegetables to cigars to stockings.

13. At Sammy's Roumanian Steak House on Chrystie and Delancey, every table is provided with a bottle of chicken fat as a condiment; resident emcee Dani Luv entertains diners with renditions of Jewish standards and punchy Borsht Belt humor.

14. One of the first kosher Chinese restaurants in New York was Moshe Peking, whose all-Chinese waitstaff wore yarmulkes.

15. The Second Avenue Deli opened in 1954 in the then-fading Yiddish Theater District. It featured a Yiddish Walk of Fame on the sidewalk outside its original location on Second Avenue and Tenth Street, and served up such Jewish specialties as matzo ball soup and corned beef. In 2007, it closed and reopened in Murray Hill.

A feast at the Second Avenue Deli

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

A feast at the Second Avenue Deli

16. Famed music club CBGB was opened in 1973 by Jewish founder Hilly Kristal.

17. Mayor La Guardia, who served for three terms from 1934 to 1945, was born to a Jewish mother and descended from Rabbi Samuel David Luzzatto, but practiced as an Episcopalian. 18. The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center was named in honor of the Jewish U.S. senator, who served from 1957 to 1981.

19. Sig Klein's Fat Men's Shop opened in the late 1800s at 52 Third Ave., and carried plus-sized clothes for men. Its sign featured the slogan: "If everyone was fat there would be no war."

20. Abraham Beame was the first practicing Jew to become mayor of New York. He held office from 1974 to 1977.

21. The popular and proudly Jewish mayor Ed Koch, who served from 1978 to 1989, was known for the phrase "How'm I doing?" which he would ask passersby while standing on street corners or riding the subway. Newsday called him the "ultimate New Yorker."

Ed Koch reads the Forward

Ed Koch reads the Forward

22. The erection of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 and the Williamsburg Bridge in 1903 catalyzed a Jewish exodus from the Lower East Side to Southside Williamsburg. Crossing the bridge on foot, the LES's Jews left in search of better living conditions.

23. By 1930, more than 40% of New York City's Jews lived in Brooklyn.

24. Jewish-fronted band The Ramones formed in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens in 1974.

25. Allen Ginsberg moved to New York to attend Columbia in 1943. He was purportedly related to seminal Zionist thinker Ahad Ha'am.

26. Poet and kabbalist Lionel Ziprin entertained visitors including Thelonius Monk, Charlie Parker, and Bob Dylan in his Lower East Side living room, expounding for hours on Jewish esoterica and history.

27. The bagel originated in Poland, and arrived in New York City in the 1880s in the hands of Eastern European Jewish immigrants.

28. Three hundred all-Jewish New York bagel craftsmen formed a trade union in the early 1900s, the Bagel Bakers Local 338, which established standards for bagel production and conducted meetings in Yiddish.

29. In December 1951, New York City was hit with what The New York Times termed the "bagel famine," when a dispute between the members of the Bagel trade union and the Bagel Bakers association led to the closing of 32 out of 34 of the city's bagel bakeries.

New York bagels

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New York bagels

30. As a result of the bagel outage, the sale of lox dropped nearly 50%. Murray Nathan, who helped resolve an earlier lox strike in 1948, was brought in to mediate the situation. The outage lasted until February.

31. Coney Island Bagels and Bialys, the oldest kosher bagel shop in New York, was set to close in 2011 until two Muslim businessmen, Peerzada Shah and Zafaryab Ali, bought the store and promised to keep it kosher. Ali had previously worked at the shop for 10 years. 32. Lou Reed was born in Brooklyn, and in 1989 released an album whose title, "New York," paid tribute to the city.

33. In a reinterpretation of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven," Lou Reed asked the four questions at the Downtown Seder at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in 2004.

34. Musician Lenny Kaye was born in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in 1946. He met Patti Smith while working at Village Oldies on Bleecker Street and went on to become a member of the Patti Smith Group.

35. Starting in the 1970s, hundreds of thousands of Jews left the Soviet Union for New York, many settling in Brighton Beach, which came to be known as "Little Odessa."

36. Established in 1927, Kehila Kedosha Janina at 280 Broome St. is the last remaining Greek Jewish synagogue in the Western Hemisphere.

37. Streit's Matzo Company, the last remaining neighborhood matzo factory, stands at 148-150 Rivington St.

Streit  s Matzo

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Streit's Matzo

38. The oldest Orthodox Jewish Russian congregation in the United States, Beth Hamedrash Hagadol, is still active at 60 Norfolk St.

39. On the corner of Essex and Rutgers, down the street from the original Forverts building on Seward Park, the Garden Cafeteria served as a gathering place for Jewish actors, artists and playwrights such as Sholem Aleichem and Isaac Bashevis Singer from 1941 to 1983. It became Wing Shing, a Chinese restaurant, in 1985, and now houses Reena Spaulings Fine Art.

40. Seward Park on the Lower East Side was created in 1900. New immigrants worked in the park's artisan market, and on special occasions such as elections, thousands gathered in the park to watch the Forverts's flashing news sign in Yiddish.

41. Jewish gangs rose to prominence during the Prohibition; at a conference in New York in 1931, Jewish gangsters agreed to partner with Italian Americans, and together remained the most dominant groups in organized crime until several decades after WWII.

42. After an appeal from a New York judge, Nathan Perlman, Jewish gangster Meyer Lansky and members of Murder Inc. broke up Nazi rallies around the city for over a year, with the one stipulation that there be no killing.

43. Lines of a sonnet by Sephardic poet Emma Lazarus, who was born in New York City in 1847, are inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

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44. The house that stands at 770 Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn is the center and spiritual home of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. Formerly inhabited by Chabad's late leader Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Lubavitchers have built replicas of the building all over the world to serve as movement outposts.

45. The first Reform congregation in New York City, Temple Emanu-El, was founded in 1845 by 33 mostly German Jews, and moved to its present location in 1929. Members have included Joan Rivers and Michael Bloomberg.

46. As large numbers of German Jews fleeing Nazi persecution made their homes in Washington Heights in the mid-1930s, the area was dubbed "Frankfurt on the Hudson."

47. Sweet 'n' Low was invented in 1957 in Brooklyn by Benjamin Eisenstaedt.

48. Bronx-born Milton Glaser designed the "INY" logo in 1977.

49. Eight hasidic dynasties are headquartered in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn.

50. Outside of Israel, New York City is home to the largest population of Jews in the world.

51. As of 2011, 1 in 6 households in New York were Jewish.



Read more: http://forward.com/articles/209106/of-egg-creams-ed-koch-and--other-facts-you-didnt/#ixzz3JHfDuogW