Rabbi Gil Student and the Atheist

Rabbi Gil Student notes that he refused to run an ad for Sam Harris’s new atheist book, and that refusal made yesterday’s Wall Street Journal as part of an article on the book’s promotion. Harris is a strong spokesman for atheism, and his arguments directed against Christianity also work very well against another religion – [...]

Matisyahu Farbrengen Online Video

Looks like this was shot in Hadar HaTorah. Features a nice Matisyahu performance and a guest shot by Charlie Buttons. (No Yechi action, either.) Nice.

The Best Chabad Niggun…

Sung (and written) by the late Rebbe.

Satmar Mafia In Action

This is how the mafia works, folks. It’s how they did the circumcision deal with NY State that endangers infants’ lives. It’s how they do welfare. It’s sick. Worse yet, it’s your future.
[Hat Tip: Sheyna Rofeh-Filosof.]

Kapparot Chickens Treife?

There is mention of an interesting halakhic ruling in an otherwise pedestrian Ynet article about abuses surrounding the practice of kapparot – the pagan ritual of waving a chicken over ones head to symbolically cast ones sins into the chicken, followed immediately by watching as the chicken is slaughtered, is meant to promote teshuva, repentence. [...]

The Orthodox Disneyland Destroys Jerusalem

Wealthy diaspora Jews, particularly Orthodox Jews, are buying up much of central Jerusalem, driving property values skyward and driving young poor, middle and upper-middle class Israelis out of Jerusalem in an unprecedented exodus. Worse yet, whole neighborhoods of the city are now ghost towns, with apartments vacant most of the year while their owners live [...]

Woodstock In Uman

The Forward’s Nathaniel Popper reports:

… The mayor estimates that a third of the real estate near the grave is now owned by Israelis. This year, many of the pilgrims stayed in an enormous tent city that was erected by an Israeli philanthropist who also paid for the plane tickets of some 4,000 people.

One of the [...]

Talit, Kippa Sales Skyrocket

Out with the old, in with the new? Ynet reports:

According to Textile and Fashion Industries Association data, sales of locally manufactured kippas ahead of Yom Kippur have risen by as much as 25 percent compared to the yearly average and by 5 percent in comparison with last year’s holiday season figures.
The overall sales during Rosh [...]

Rav Shach: Democracy = Cancer

…In effect, democracy does not interest the ultra-Orthodox as an issue that is important as a matter of principle, because in their world only Torah values exist. Therefore, Rabbi [Eliezer] Shach* also only refers to democracy in passing in several statements (such as the one in which he compares democracy to cancer, because “only the [...]

Rabbi Alan J. Yuter Bitch Slaps Rabbi Avi Shafran

Rabbi Alan J. Yuter writes in the NY Jewish Week:

Orthodox Rabbi Avi Shafran does not like the bashing of haredi rabbis. He then bashes the late Conservative Rabbi Louis Finkelstein who, while one may disagree with the gentleman, was a very pious and learned Jew. (Letters, Sept. 1) Recent research has shown that he viewed [...]

BREAKING: RUBASHKIN SUPPLIER FAILS ANIMAL WELFARE AUDIT, Shackle & Hoist Used, RABBIS APPROVED

Here’s the lowdown: AgriProcessors (Rubashkin) purchases veal and lamb from other slaughterhouses. I’m told the reason for this is, at least in the case of veal, primarily economic; Holstein cattle are notorious for having defects that render them non-kosher, and veal is almost always Holstein. One of Rubashkin’s suppliers is (or was) Atlantic Beef & [...]

They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore

Kinky Friedman at left with cigar. Former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura at right with what appears to be an Iron Cross and a samurai goatee.

The AP reports:

With political soul mate [former professional wrestler and Minnesota governor] Jesse Ventura in tow, Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman is telling college audiences that he has no reason to [...]

Matisyahu Messianist

Tzemach Atlas has two posts on his trip to Crown Heights for Rosh Hashana. He closes one post by noting the first person he ran into in Crown Heights was Matisyahu, coming out of the Lefferts mikva wearing a “Yechi” yarmulke. He also has pictures of Chabadniks lining up to get wine “from the Rebbe” [...]

Use It Or Lose It

Responding to news of a new study showing moderate consumption of Cabernet Sovingion wine appears to lower the risk of getting Alzheimers Disease, Hadassah University Medical Center metabolism expert Prof. Elliot Berry:

…who has long advocated moderate consumption of red wine, said he recommended it for preventing various ills. “Even though not everything that works in [...]