Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor | | | Two Ways to Make a Situation Worse An ill person can needlessly worsen his situation in one of two ways. He can mistakenly consider himself not to be ill, and fail to seek the doctors and the medicine he needs. The second is the opposite. His sickness might be severe, but he exacerbates his situation by considering himself even more sick than he really is and this leads to his giving up hope of ever being cured. He himself increases the damage of his sickness by his discouragement. This is very important for a sick person to keep in mind. But it is also appropriate in the area of spiritual welfare. A person not aware of his faults and failings will not work on self-improvement. But if he over exaggerates the extent of his negative qualities and behavior, he will become discouraged and his discouragement will prevent him from improving. Love Yehuda Lave | | Rosh Chodesh Tammuz Hebrew month Tammuz, or Tamuz, is the tenth month of the civil year and the fourth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar, and the Assyrian calendar. Wikipedia Number of days: 29 Gregorian Equivalent: June–July Month Number: 4 Season: Summer | | Chris Wallace Reveals What Kind of Man Krauthammer Really Is in Emotional On-Air Tribute The graceful greatness of conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer was revealed in his farewell, Fox News anchor Chris Wallace said Friday in an on-air tribute to the conservative legend. Krauthammer, 68, revealed earlier Friday that he was dying of cancer and had only weeks to live. Although he became a quadriplegic more than 40 years ago after a diving accident, Krauthammer achieved fame as a voice for conservative principles and policies. "I leave this life with no regrets," Krauthammer wrote in his farewell letter, according to Fox News. "It was a wonderful life — full and complete with the great loves and great endeavors that make it worth living. I am sad to leave, but I leave with the knowledge that I lived the life that I intended." Wallace, the anchor for "Fox News Sunday," shared his thoughts about Krauthammer. "As he discovered, to his shock, the cancer had returned and … he talks about 'the final verdict is in, my fight is over' and finally when he says that 'I leave this life with no regret,' it is such quintessential Charles Krauthammer," Wallace said. "It is so graceful, it is so honest, it is so brave." Wallace said he knew of Krauthammer's diagnosis about 10 days before the commentator made the news public. In his on-air tribute, he noted that Krauthammer never let the tragedy that took away the use of his arms and legs stop him from making an impact on society. "I never, in all the years I knew Charles ever heard him express any sense of pity, 'why me,'" Wallace said. "He led his life fully, vibrantly. Yes, he was very badly disabled. No use of his legs. Almost no use of his hands. And yet he lived a full life." Although Krauthammer was a conservative, he was never pigeonholed into any one political camp. "I think the thing that I … admire most about Charles, though, is that in a world in which we all, there's a tendency to fall into tribes, you're in this camp or this camp, Charles' camp was his honesty, his values, his conviction," Wallace said. "He could be lacerating in going after the excesses of liberalism, he could be just as tough going after the betrayals of his conservatism." Wallace ended his tribute with a message to his colleague. "Charles, if you're out there, if you're watching this with your beloved wife Robin and your dear son Daniel who I know have been such a support to you in so many ways, I want you to know that I love you … and feel so honored to consider myself a colleague of yours," he said. "You are a great man." Wallace was not alone in honoring Krauthammer. In The Washington Post, columnist Kathleen Parker said her goodbye. "This is how I'll always remember you, Charles, if you're reading this — as the smartest, handsomest, most dignified gentleman and scholar ever to wield a pen in the pursuit of truth and right ideas," she wrote. "It is incomprehensible that you are soon to leave us, but I'm not at all surprised that God would need a good shrink." In his farewell letter, Krauthammer summed up why he left life with a feeling that his time on Earth had been worthwhile. I believe that the pursuit of truth and right ideas through honest debate and rigorous argument is a noble undertaking," Krauthammer wrote, according to NPR. "I am grateful to have played a small role in the conversations that have helped guide this extraordinary nation's destiny." | | These insults are from an era before the English language was infiltrated by four-letter words! "He had delusions of adequacy ."
-Walter Kerr
"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."
- Winston Churchill
"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with greatpleasure."
-Clarence Darrow
"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to thedictionary.."
-William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)
"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it."
-Moses Hadas
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it."
-Mark Twain
"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends."
-Oscar Wilde
"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend, if you have one."
-George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill
"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one."
-Winston Churchill, in response
"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here." -Stephen Bishop
"He is a self-made man and worships his creator."
-John Bright
"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial." -Irvin S. Cobb
"He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others."
-Samuel Johnson
"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up."
- Paul Keating
"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily."
-Charles, Count Talleyrand
"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him."
-Forrest Tucker
"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?"
-Mark Twain
"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork."
-Mae West
"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."
-Oscar Wilde
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination."
-Andrew Lang (1844-1912)
"He has Van Gogh's ear for music."
-Billy Wilder
"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But I'm afraid this wasn't it.."
-Groucho Marx
| | Tax Break for Americans On June 4, 2018, the US Internal Revenue Service issued a bulletin which delayed by one year (until April 15, 2019) the first payment of the US transition tax for those overseas American business owners whose total transition tax liability was $1 million or less.
It is estimated that this exemption will cover expats with approximately $6.5 million in cash assets or $12.5 million non-cash assets.
You can read the relevant section of the IRS bulletin (Question and Answer 16) in the text box below this message. For an analysis of this bulletin and how it relates to American expats, we recommend tax lawyer John Richardson's blog post.
The delay in the first transition tax payment is great news for overseas American business owners, but this is only the first step in the process to remove the Transition Tax for small businesses, altogether.
Lawmakers now need to define what constitutes a 'small overseas American business' for a future Transition Tax legislative fix. John Richardson (tax lawyer) thinks that the IRS range for a small business (depending on the cash/fixed asset ratio) is probably between $5.7 million and $11 million. In our last discussion with the Treasury Department regarding the financial definition for overseas small businesses for the Transition Tax fix legislation, Treasury indicated a value of $10 million.
Republicans Overseas continues to work on the implementation of Territorial Taxation for Individuals, which would effectively allow overseas Americans (both as individuals and as small business owners) to stop paying US taxes and to only pay taxes to their host country. As soon as the draft TTFI bill is available to share with the public, we will do so.
Sincerely,
Solomon
Solomon Yue
CEO Republicans Overseas RELEVANT SECTION FROM IRS BULLETIN
Q16: If an individual fails to timely pay his or her first installment of tax due under section 965(h), will the IRS assess an addition to tax for failure to pay? Will the taxpayer's requirement to pay all subsequent installments be accelerated under section 965(h)(3)?
A16: If an individual meets the criteria in this paragraph and pays the total amount of the first installment on or before the due date for the second installment, the IRS will not assess an addition to tax for failure to timely pay the first installment and will not accelerate subsequent installments under section 965(h)(3). An individual with a net tax liability under section 965 is required to report the liability on his or her tax return for the year in which or with which the inclusion year of the deferred foreign income corporation ends and pay the full amount of that liability on the unextended due date of that return, unless the individual elects to pay the liability in eight annual installments pursuant to section 965(h)(1). However, the IRS has determined that, if an individual's net tax liability under section 965 in the individual's 2017 taxable year is less than $1 million, the individual makes a timely election under section 965(h), and the individual did not pay the full amount of the first installment by the due date under section 965(h)(2), the failure to make the payment will not result in an acceleration event under section 965(h)(3) so long as the individual pays the full amount of the first installment (and its second installment) by the due date for its 2018 return (determined without regard to extensions). For this purpose, the relevant due date generally is April 15, 2019. In the case of United States citizens or residents whose tax homes and abodes, in a real and substantial sense, are outside the United States and Puerto Rico, and United States citizens and residents in military or naval service on duty, including non-permanent or short term duty, outside the United States and Puerto Rico, the relevant due date is June 17, 2019, which is provided by Treas. Reg. §1.6081-5(a)(5) and (6). Although the IRS will not assess an addition to tax for failure to timely pay the first installment, a taxpayer will be liable for interest on such amount from the due date of the installment. See I.R.C. §6601. If the IRS sends a taxpayer a notice of an addition to tax for failure to timely pay the first installment, and the taxpayer meets all the conditions for relief described above (including making the required payment by the due date for the second installment due under section 965(h)), the taxpayer should contact the IRS office that issued the notice and request abatement of the addition to tax for failure to timely pay the first installment in accordance with the provisions in these FAQs. Posted: 06/04/2018 | | Message Of Terror Victim's Mother Goes Viral On Anniversary Of Murder A message written by Rina Ariel, the mother of murdered Israeli teenager Hallel Yaffa Ariel, went viral on social media in Israel on Thursday, the two-year anniversary of Hallel's death at the hands of an Arab terrorist. "On this morning exactly 2 years ago, our Hallel was murdered. Murdered at the hands of an evil one," the post began. "Just 13.5 years old. An innocent girl who wanted to live, to dance and to dream," said Ariel. Hallel was stabbed to death in her home in Kiryat Arba in 2016 by an Arab who infiltrated into her home on the edge of town. Having performed in a dance recital the night before, Hallel was sleeping late when Mohammad Nasser Tra'ayra, a 17-year-old Palestinian high school dropout, snuck into her room and stabbed her multiple times in the chest and abdomen. No one else was at home. "Since then, the pain has gotten deeper and the loss even more unbearable," continued Ariel. "And from this depth, I call on each and every individual. Look at your children. At your families. Hug them close. Love and be thankful for what you have. Even when it isn't perfect. Even when it's complicated." She also called on supporters to do something to support Israel in the wake of the tragic anniversary. "Give yourselves a moment to think today. To ask what can be done for our incredible nation and our wonderful land in order to enhance life here. We will build up national strength, social strength and spiritual strength," she wrote. "Let us try to end today with the feeling that we have made progress and advanced even one small thing in this matter. And it will be in memory of Hallel Yaffa." Following the attack, during which her son was killed by security personnel, the mother of Tra'ayra praised her son as a martyr for Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and encouraged others to follow in his footsteps. Her family receives a stipend of $350 a month from the Palestinian Authority. (JNS) | | May I Join a Protest on Shabbat? By Yehuda Shurpin I live in a state where there are many white supremacists and even some neo-Nazis. They are planning to march in my town this coming Saturday, and I want to join the counterprotest, which will include representatives from many organizations, as well as concerned individuals. Is it OK for me to attend the protest, even though it is slated for Shabbat afternoon? Reply Before addressing your question, it is important to note that Shabbat observance follows both the "letter of the law" and the "spirit of the law." While an action may be halachically permitted, it may not be in keeping with the spirit of Shabbat and is therefore avoided. Let's examine how this applies to protesting. The Technical Stuff Although it is permitted to violate Shabbat for the sake of saving a life, in your case, it does not seem as if anyone's life depends directly on your attendance at the rally. However, it is clear that attending such a rally is commendable. If you attend, you would obviously need to be careful not to do anything that may violate Shabbat, such as carrying signs in a place where there is no eruv or driving to the protest. In addition, you must not cause others to violate Shabbat on your behalf. Another issue to bear in mind is posing for photos or speaking to video cameras, which can be problematic.1 Provided that you can take care of the logistics, we can turn to the spirit of Shabbat. Shabbat Comportment The prophet Isaiah proclaims: "If you restrain your foot because of the Sabbath from performing your affairs on My holy day, and you call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the L‑rd honored, and you honor it by not doing your wonted ways, by not pursuing your affairs and speaking words, then you shall delight with the L‑rd . . ."2 From this verse, the sages understand that even if we aren't technically doing an act prohibited on Shabbat, we must be sure our Shabbat activities are different from the weekday routine. So if something is considered a mundane activity (uvdin dechol), it should not be done on Shabbat.3 Regarding speech, it is permitted to converse on Shabbat as you do during the week, if that is what gives you pleasure.4 However, if something will cause anxiety "or even a trace of worry," it is forbidden to even (intentionally5) think about it on Shabbat.6 Protesting often comes with critical speechmaking, chanting and shouting, which may be problematic. Public Need However, there are exceptions to the above rule. While mundane speech and activities are generally forbidden, they are permitted when there is a mitzvah at stake (provided that no actual Shabbat laws would be broken). For example, while measuring is a mundane activity that is generally avoided on Shabbat, one may measure for the sake of a mitzvah, such as determining whether a mikvah contains the requisite amount of water to be kosher.7 Likewise, if a person loses an object, it is permitted to announce the loss on Shabbat, asking for anyone with knowledge of its whereabouts to step forward, because the return of a lost object is a mitzvah.8 Furthermore, in some instances, even if the action is not for the sake of a specific mitzvah, but for a pressing need for the community at large, it would be permitted.9 (Note that it is only permissible—both with regard to mitzvah-related speech as well as communal issues—if there is an actual pressing need for it to be done on Shabbat.10) Based on the above, there are rabbis who permit joining a protest that takes place on Shabbat if it is related to a communal need or a pressing mitzvah.11 Now, what exactly falls under the category of mitzvah-related is not entirely clear, and some people may get more anxious than others, so it is important to discuss your specific situation with a local, qualified rabbi if you feel there are grounds for you to attend a protest. May we merit the day when there will no longer be strife, and peace will descend upon the world! Footnotes 1. See Shearim Metzuyanim BaHalakhah 80:54; Me'ah She'arim, 56. 2. Isaiah 58:13. 3. Shulchan Aruch Harav, Orech Chaim 306. 4. Shulchan Aruch Harav, Orech Chaim 307:2; see there that, nevertheless, one should ideally limit his speech on Shabbat to Torah topics. 5. See Eishel Avraham (Buchach) 306:8 that the Torah wasn't given to angels, thus this prohibition does not refer to worries that come unbidden to a person. 6. Shulchan Aruch Harav, Orech Chaim 306:21. 7. Shulchan Aruch Harav, Orech Chaim 306:18. 8. Shulchan Aruch Harav, Orech Chaim 306:25. 9. Shulchan Aruch Harav, Orech Chaim 306:27. 10. See citations in Piskei Teshuvot, Orech Chaim 306:5,15; 307:2. 11. See for example, Minchat Yehudah, Orech Chaim 34. by Yehuda Shurpin | | MAGICIAN WINNER | Tomer Dudai | Israel's Got Talent 2018 Great magic | | Koreans love Israel and the Blue string at the Bible Lands museum 061118 The first event was Thursday, June 7th at the convention center and the Bible Lands museum was with Nefesh B Nefesh on June 11. | | See you tomorrow Love Yehuda Lave | | | |
