BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

By Lesli Koppelman Ross Throughout Jewish history, Jews living in the Diaspora have been challenged by the question of how much to assimilate into the broader cultures in which they lived and how much to maintain a separate community. Today referred to as "dual loyalty," Jews have often been accused of disloyalty to their country because of their allegiance to their own community (and to the State of Israel). Approaching the issue from a traditional perspective, the author of this article argues that Purim offers a lesson in how Jews can be equally active in the Jewish community and the broader society. Logic and world history tell us that the conquered Jews should have adopted the customs and standards of those among whom they were forced to live. Instead, as Purim instructs, they saved themselves not by "fitting in" with the surrounding populations, but by maintaining their values and way of life. The philosophy they developed to compensate for their generally mis

Just found another news article to illustrate something I always say!: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PUT ON THE INTERNET! EVEN STUFF YOU THINK IS ANONYMOUS OR POSTED PRIVATELY ON A CLOSED BOARD OR FORUM. A couple years ago someone accused me of PURPOSELY putting them on a porn aggregator; along with a lot of twisted statements & smears about me. I have to laugh because this post itself will probably end up on a porn aggregator. WHY? Because web spiders from a variety of aggregators are combing the net all the time for certain word or phrase combinations. Just the words "sex" or "porn" are going to get you put alongside some disgusting, salacious and truly depraved stuff. The person who made this accusation had made rude sexual references about me online. Including threats of physical harm against me. They did this themselves. And this is the net. When you do that? Sh*t happens. In the early 90s I worked for a ( not short enough ) time at a small office on the East

from THE NEW AGENDA Harry Reid Discovers Domestic Violence by Amy Siskind After hearing barely the utterance of a women’s issue out of Harry Reid’s mouth for as long as I can recall, imagine my surprise yesterday to hear Senator Reid speaking out on domestic violence. What you might ask gave Senator Reid this epiphany on this escalating crisis in our country? While violence generally in our country has been flat to down for the better part of a decade, violence against women continues to soar. And of course, the untold crisis of teen dating violence continues to froth unnoticed by politicians like Senator Reid. Here’s some recent stats put out by MADE (Moms and Dads for Education to Stop Teen Dating Abuse ), or which TNA is a national partner: 1 in 3 teens who have been in a dating relationship have experienced sexual abuse, physical abuse, or threats of physical harm. 1 in 2 of all 14 – 24 year olds has been the target of some form of digital abuse. Nearly 1 in 4 teens in a

from the always excellent DEADENDERS: So barry has a muslim envoy… Shocker! What other religious groups does Obama have a guy for? Let me know. So this envoy like almost everyone that works for this administration says stupid crap and then the media does their best to erase the fact that it ever happened to protect Obama. This is an example why print media is good and screen shots are better. PROOF! P resident Obama’s new Muslim envoy Rashad Hussain admitted Friday to once defending a man who later pleaded guilty to conspiring to aid a terrorist group — an admission that contradicts earlier claims from the White House that the quotes had been mistakenly attributed to Hussain. Hussain, named by Obama as an envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference, said Friday his comments at the time were “ill conceived or not well formulated.” In 2004, the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs quoted Hussain saying at a seminar on Muslim issues that Sami al-Arian was the victi

Tiger, please go join Jon Gosselin, Steve Philips and all the other cheating Narcissist Morons hiding behind “sex addiction rehab.” We all know you’re going to go back to preying on vulnerable women and then allowing your media hacks to call them skanks & bimbos as soon as you can. Boo-friggin’ hoo... get over yourself. How to Not Apologize When You’ve Seriously F-d Up ( a good read just for you Tiger, baby) excerpts : Make sure the “confession”, er, apology comes MONTHS or years after the incident. It’s just too much work to actually own up immediately afterwards. Let’s face it, you’re not after any real resolution, and you are not offering any kind of restitution – you are looking to assuage your guilty conscience and buy absolution, and, if you play your cards right, you can get attention for your act of “bravery” in coming forward. If it’s absolution you are looking for, why not join the Catholic church instead? “Powerful and sneaky people use apologies as end runs around repen

I have never been able to experience intimacy without genuine emotion. I do not understand people who do that. I believe its exploitative of others. I learned in the last few years that many pathologicals: Narcissists & Sociopaths mostly, are truly capable of corrupting, abusing and using this. Tiger Woods, Steve Philips and all you others who abuse & use others for sex... you're not addicts - you're predators. The Deeper Meaning of Physical Intimacy by Rabbi Chaim Levine It has the potential for intense holiness and intense corruption, depending who's at the helm -- your soul or your ego. Did the title catch your attention? Why? There is something about this topic that sets off firecrackers in people's minds. Ad agencies use sex almost ubiquitously to prey on your pocketbooks -- they tie it together with selling minivans, french fries, mail delivery services, and computers. What's underneath all this hype is the reality that physical intimacy carries tre

Almost everyone on my mother's side of the family dies from heart disease. I test positive for CRP (Cardio-Reactive Protein) which is an indicator of heart disease. A simple blood test can tell if you carry this risk factor. I had a cardiac "incident" during a personally traumatic event 5 1/2 years ago - after which I was hospitalized a couple times for physical symptoms relating to Complex PTSD. When I saw this article it made perfect sense to me. New Study Shows Link Between Hopelessness and Hypertension New research shows a link between harboring feelings of hopelessness and developing hypertension. The research was published in the February 17 issue of Hypertension. The study of 616 middle-aged men from eastern Finland showed that men who suffered from feelings of high hopelessness over the course of the 4-year study were 3 times more likely to develop hypertension than men who did not suffer from feelings of hopelessness as much, if at all. "This is the first

Even though President Obama says he is against off shore drilling for our country, he signed an executive order to loan 2 Billion of OUR taxpayers dollars to a Brazilian Oil Exploration Company (which is the 8th largest company in the entire world) to drill for oil off the coast of Brazil. The oil that comes from this operation is for the sole purpose and use of China and NOT THE USA. That's right - NOT THE USA. Now here's the real clincher...the Chinese government is under contract to purchase all the oil that this oil field will produce, which is hundreds of millions of barrels of oil". The U.S.A., in trillions of dollars of debt, has absolutely no gain from this transaction whatsoever! Guess who is the largest individual stockholder of this Brazilian Oil Company and who would benefit most from this? It is American BILLIONAIRE, George Soros, who was one of President Obama's most generous financial supporters during his campaign. If you are able to connect the dots a

by Viv Groskop Are you naturally disposed to being bigger? Why do some people struggle to maintain their ‘ideal’ weight while others remain effortlessly slim? It could be down to genetics. Why is it that some people never get fat? And others – present company included – can’t seem to stay slim for very long at all? Does the answer lie in our genes? Is there really such a thing as a ‘natural’ weight that’s personal to each of us? Last year American catwalk model Crystal Renn talked about her fight to find her natural weight while maintaining her career as a model. From the age of 14 she dieted obsessively and by the age of 17 she had slimmed down to seven stone, a US size zero. She then started to gain weight again and the following year, in 2004, she was photographed by Steven Meisel for US Vogue. Six years on, she is a British size 14 (US size 10), weighs around 12 stone and is one of the most successful voluptuous models in the world. Nature, she believes, always meant her to be larg

This article is right on! Despite moving from Astoria almost 7 years ago, I still shop there - one of my children's schools is there, my children's doctors and dentist is there. I spent a week in the hospital there last January. I have friends there. I belong to WHY LEAVE ASTORIA and ASTORIANS for news and opinions on local businesses, which I support. Astoria has some recent additions in the form of world class restaurants - places which I gladly take my children! Just today I went to a small store that's only open a few days a week - and showcases the work of local Astoria artists. I went to pick out a nice birthday gift for one of my dearest friends and took one of my kids with me to help. I circled the block for 20 mins looking for parking, since I am disabled and can't walk very far many days. When I came out, I had to climb over poorly removed snow while a ticketing agent stood tapping his ticket machine by my car. My disabled placard tag was clearly pla

Along with my neurological and endocrinological problems - my cardiac problems were getting worse but have been halted in their tracks. All the medical testing in the world can only show the physical effects and try to treat them. But I know in my soul where the root of the problem is. It isn't just my lifetime of being a target for interpersonal exploitation & abuse, being invalidated and opprobriated b y those I trusted... it's this: "A debilitating weariness brought about by repetitive, empathic response to pain and suffering, compassion fatigue is a result of absorbing and internalizing the emotions of clients and, sometimes, coworkers, explains Karl LaRowe, MA, LCSW. It's an occupational hazard that may affect any professional who works day in and day out with those who are physically, mentally, or emotionally challenged or those who have been traumatized - whether by illness, violence or other tragedies." "Compassion fatigue, says LaRowe, is nothi

by David Kenney Waterford In his first State of the Union address, President Obama stated that during the first year of his tenure he and his staff did not do their jobs, no plans for immediate action were formulated and even more is being done behind closed doors. His theme, "change you can believe in," was and remains a vacuous, insipid platitude that continues to keep him in campaign mode to this day. Americans are really not stupid enough to allow him and his staff to continue to blame George W. Bush for all evils forever. President Obama has been staring at the problems for a year and owes it to us that he finally rises to the occasion. That he does not may be evidence that he is set on the ruination of America. He signals his malignant narcissism by the folding and dropping of his hands on the lectern at every point. His doing so signals that he believes he has formulated and delivered an absolute truth and to even discuss it would be futile. SOURCE

Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all.” - Bill Clinton Since the Virgina Tech Tragedy in April and this week's numerous shootings, I have been spending a lot of my online time searching for what the Torah and the Jewish Sages have to say about mental illness, depression and the treatment of trauma. For too long we have swept the problems of mental illness under the carpet... and hoped that they would go away. -- Richard J. Codey Some of what I read was oversimplification. Some of it assumes a level playing field with all the mentally ill. Some of it, unfortunately, posits that mental illness can be controlled by willpower - ignoring medical research that points to the fact that mental illness is caused by chemical changes in the brain that are often permanent and sometimes genetic in cause. Additionally, some say that depression from abuse can be overcome by sheer willpower, completely ignoring once again - that abuse and trauma can cause p