BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

By Dr Andre Oboler Eighty-three-year-old President Shimon Peres recently urged young people to fight anti-Semitism using Facebook. Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog met with delegates to the World Union of Jewish Students in the Knesset last week and told us to employ technology to combat Jew-hatred. Herzog, who is also responsible for relations with world Jewry and the fight against anti-Semitism, wants us to fight the good fight via the Internet. "Who's going to pay for this?" I asked. Try British Jewry, he helpfully suggested. But when I approached figures in the British Jewish leadership, they suggested - you guessed it - that I turn to the Israelis. Peres helpfully proposed a specific technology to focus on - Facebook - and I agree with his choice. If only we knew precisely what to do, and how to do it. The idea probably stems from the fact that Peres recently met Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In fact, Facebook is not only ...

Condi! Snap out of it! Ease the day-to-day life of the Palestinians? Did anyone take her to see any of the kassam damage, suicide bombing remains or the yeshiva shooting site? The willful ignorance here is just astounding and knows no bounds! ~~~~~~~~~ US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, arriving here on Saturday evening, described talks between Israel and the Palestinians as "pretty fruitful," and stressed that she was not bringing any bridging proposals of her own. Rice was hosted for a working supper by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. No statement was issued after the discussions. Speaking on her way to the region, Rice said, "I am not coming to insert American ideas into this process. What is useful right now is for the parties to continue what I think is a pretty fruitful discussion between them." Speaking to reporters aboard her plane, Rice said she would focus on three issues in her two-day visit to the region - easing Palestinian movement and access in the ...

"The blood froze in my veins" or "My blood curdled" - these common figures of speech can be taken literally, according to the latest studies. Indeed, more literally than some of us would like. For it turns out that intense fear and panic attacks can really make our blood clot and increase the risk of thrombosis or heart attack. Earlier studies showed that stress and anxiety can influence coagulation. However, they were based almost entirely on questionnaire surveys of healthy subjects. In contrast, the Bonn-based research team around Franziska Geiser (from the Clinic and Policlinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy) and Ursula Harbrecht (from the Institute of Experimental Haematology and Transfusion Medicine) have been the first to conduct a very careful examination of coagulation in patients with anxiety disorders. Everyone experiences anxiety from time to time - fear of failing the math test, dread of going down into the dark cellar or, in a more gener...

Boy do I relate to this article! - but this girl is much taller than I am. It wasn't until I moved to New York City 29 years ago that I realized I wasn't the tallest girl on the planet. Thank goodness my Nana, of blessed memory, made all my clothes... or my arms would have hung out and I would never have been able to find a proper inseam in my size back then. Things have changed and we are more aware of the differences in people's bodies. Especially women's. Though we are still fixated on unhealthy skinny-ness. By Rebecca Thomas Everywhere I go people stare at me. At the grocery store children gawk at me wide-eyed, craning their necks and pointing as they tug their mothers’ shirts. When I pass people on the street, I hear them mumble comments about my appearance. I am not deformed or handicapped, I’m not a circus attraction. I have strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. What makes me different is that I’m 6-foot-4, and I’m a woman. My entire life has been influenced ...

'Un-Islamic' Afghan radio station burned 2 poppy eradication police also killed; 100 slain in 2007, officials say Arsonists set fire Friday to a radio station near Kabul accused of being un-Islamic, and two poppy eradication policemen were killed in Afghanistan's southwest, officials said. Four gunmen broke into the offices of Radio Zafar before dawn, tied up two security guards and then set the station's equipment ablaze, said Paghman district police chief Abdul Razaq. The station's director, Najibullah Nassir, said militants have accused Radio Zafar of being morally corrupt and un-Islamic. Its programming includes shows on Islam, sports, news and music. The station has 16 employees, including two female journalists. The Afghan media have flourished since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, but journalists often face threats from militants and warlords for airing critical stories, playing music or employing women. Also Friday, a three-hour clash broke out in southwest...

In the past weeks we have discussed various commandments that are related to speech, such as lashon hara. Another, less well-known command relating to speech is the prohibition of ‘hurtful words’, ( Onas Devarim in Hebrew) .There is a well-known saying that, “sticks and stones might break my bones but words can never hurt me.” This is not the Torah approach; speech is a very powerful tool that can be used to cause great good or great harm. In a certain way, harmful speech can actually do more damage than causing physical pain because speech can penetrate deep into a person’s inner being. Anyone involved in a long relationship can testify that a few harsh words can be remembered for several years. There are a number of different forms of Onas Devarim . The most obvious is speaking harshly to a person. It is forbidden to speak in such a way that will cause emotional damage to a person. Thus, raising one’s voice, or shouting are forms of speech that are almost always prohibited. A person...

Always amuses and fascinates me how synchronist life is if you pay attention. I was just talking with someone about how, as a convert - I find myself being shunned by Jews. I used to get teased, taunted and beat up as a kid all the time - so I am right 99% of the time when I sense I am being talked about. Things like I will never be a REAL Jew or I am a wanna-be. Or they question my reasons for converting. And today I opened my email and read the article below. In my life I have faced issues like not feeling like a REAL woman because of my infertility and endocrine disorder. Or because I never dated a lot nor pursued men like other girls. Or how I am not a REAL mother because I had 12+ years of infertility treatment to get pregnant; despite 2 abortions when I was younger. Or I will never be a REAL NYer - even tho I have lived here more than 1/2 my life and never felt more comfortable or at home in place in my life, from day one. In my late -marriage - I was not allowed to have...

My friend, Rabbi Schwartz gave a very interesting analogy to someone at my Torah study class. It was a beautiful analogy from the teachings of the Sages. To paraphrase: The student asks the teacher how do I know how close I am to God? The teacher said, "put you arm out in front of you with your palm open to your face. Can you see your hand?" The student said yes. The teacher said "Move it towards your face about 6". Can you see your hand?" The student said yes. The teacher said "Move it towards your face another 6". Can you see your hand?" The student said yes. The teacher said "Move it towards your face another 6". Can you see your hand?" At this point the student's hand was covering his face. "Rabbi," said the student, "I can no longer see anything." "And so it is with God," said the Rabbi, "when you think you can't see or feel Him? He's so close He's right on top of you....

Wah wah wah!! Us whiny women... all we do is whine that we aren't equal. All in how you frame it, however. You call it whining - I call it telling the truth. Funny how scary we women seem to be when we tell the truth! I am not even going to try to speak to those thick-headed enough to believe this. But most men still do. Most men still think they should be in charge at their church or temple and at work. Look at the Islamofascists who tell women to cover up because they can't control themselves around beauty, yet when some woman gets raped through no fault of her own - she's subject to an honor killing. When I was in Eighth Grade my mother got a call from my school. She got these a lot, not because I was a trouble maker but because many teachers didn't know what to do with me. I was breaking their mold. I'd written an essay on abortion rights and women's rights. The teacher and principal both said it was excellent but "too controversial." My ...

Is Bush the worst U.S. president ever? Historians might argue over ranking, but there's no doubt he has been an unmitigated disaster Thomas Walkom, Columnist Historians will argue over whether George W. Bush is the worst president the United States has ever endured. But that is not the point. Five years after Bush's ill-starred invasion of Iraq, three years after Hurricane Katrina and seven months into the unravelling of the U.S. financial system, the point is that the 43rd president of the United States - regardless of his ranking in the pantheon - is a unique and unmitigated disaster. Whether Bush is more of a warmonger than James Polk, who in 1846 manufactured a crisis with Mexico in order to seize what is now California, more tolerant of cronyism than poker-playing Warren Harding (1921 to 1923), or more unlucky than William Harrison (he died after catching cold at his 1841 inauguration) is interesting but irrelevant. What we do know is that this president, this "decid...

According to witnesses, a loud black man approached a crowd of some 4,000 strangers in downtown Chicago Tuesday and made repeated demands for change. "The time for change is now," said the black guy, yelling at everyone within earshot for 20 straight minutes, practically begging America for change. "The need for change is stronger and more urgent than ever before. And only you—the people standing here today, and indeed all the people of this great nation—only you can deliver this change." It is estimated that, to date, the black man has asked every single person in the United States for change. "I've already seen this guy four times today," Chicago-area ad salesman Blake Gordon said. "Every time, it's the same exact spiel. 'I need change.' 'I want change.' Why's he so eager for all this change? What's he going to do with it, anyway?" After his initial requests for change, the black man rambled nonstop on a variety ...