The Internet is Not Potiphar, it is the Tree of Good and Evil, Choose Life, Choose the Good

This is a companion piece (from my perspective) to Akiva's post on Is Your Kedusha Stronger than a Computer? kol HaKavod Akiva, I was also going to add that video to this post when I viewed it.

From the Asifa:

"So grave is the danger of Internet-watching that Torah authorities have ruled that Internet surfing without an anti-porn filter is a violation of the Torah commandment, “Thou shall not put a stumbling block in front of a blind man.” Erotic pictures on the Internet, whether they be in ads, on the Yahoo home page, or in adult sites, cause a person to violate a long list of Torah commandments, including:

“You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy!” (Vayikra 19:2)

“Thou shall not turn astray after your hearts and after your eyes which lead you astray.” (Bamidbar 15:39)

“Therefore shall your camp be holy, that He see no unclean thing in you and turn away from you.” (Devarim 23:15)

“And you shall guard yourself from every evil thing.” (Devarim 23:10)

“Do not turn astray after their gods!” (Vayikra 19:4)

“You shall not walk in the customs of the gentile.” (Vayikra 20:23)

“Thou shall not bring an abomination into your house.” (Devarim 7:26)

THEREFORE

With respect to the above, Religious Jewish men:

Do not walk on Manhattan streets
Do not own a business in Manhattan where one needs to hire locals
Do not ride the MTA lines to go anywhere
Do not ride city buses anywhere
Walk with eyes down on the streets of Boro Park, Flatbush, et al

Because the dangers do not only reside on some Internet sites, as they would have you believe, the dangers reside in your hearts. The antidote is to strengthen yourselves in Middos Tovos, in the personal Middos that pertain to strengthening one's outlook on life, one's motivations, aspirations, and your personal Ratzon. One can see a pile of mud and not want to get into it. The secret lies in your hearts, not to want or desire that which is truly not yours.

If your learning is entering your minds and hearts, would there be room for anything else?

This is your test from Shomayim in these days before Moshiach's arrival. Say "NO" to all perversions. Do you want to be among the 4/5ths that did not leave mitzrayim? It could happen.

Take your life seriously, your neshoma's health seriously, return to the basics of yiddishkeit, Torah and family.

When your computer/iPad screen/desktop is dark, it becomes a mirror to view one's reflection.

Making an Impact ... A Kiddush HaShem

I wish 60,000 men, together with their wives and children, would move to Eretz Yisrael, make it their home, and the impact on Israel, the people, and the life, would be undeniably impacted ...




... far greater than the impact on New York.

HOW CAN THIS BE??

What do we make of this horrific tragedy?

Two days after Yom Yerushalayim ...

The day after reciting the Prayer for Children composed by the Shela HaKodesh ...

On Rosh Chodesh Sivan ...

Baruch Dayan HaEmes

29 Iyar: A Special Day to Pray for our Children

On the 29th of Iyar according to the Hebrew calendar. Jewish tradition teaches that it is an opportune time to pray that our children grow up in health of body, mind, and soul. The best known prayer that our people have been using for hundreds of years is "A Parent's Prayer" composed by the holy Shl"a, a 17th Century Scholar and Kabbalist who is buried near the Rambam in Tiberias. Lazer Beams

Rosh Chodesh Sivan and a Horrific Accident Claims all but one of a Family, Six Children:

The accident claimed eight lives. There was only one survivor from the passengers of the vehicle, a 7-year-old girl who escaped with relatively minor injuries, but her entire family is gone.

The call arrived at Ichud Hatzalah at 01:25, reports of a vehicular accident on Derech Menachem Begin near Ulpana Junction in Tiveria. It appears the driver of the minivan lost control of the vehicle. The survivor, the girl, was found in the bushes, thrown from the vehicle which was engulfed in flames. She was transported to Poriah Hospital in Tiveria, listed in moderate condition. She was moved to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa during the night.

Tiveria police received a call for a vehicle with brake failure, dispatching a unit. While they were on the phone the dispatcher heard screams from the vehicle and the arriving unit saw the minivan crash and flip over, then burst into flames.

Firefighters, EMS and rescue personnel were horrified as the site after the flames were extinguished. The magnitude of the tragedy quickly became apparent to all on the scene, as well as the reality that there was nothing to do but to address the issue of kovod ha’meis.

The family that was killed in fatal crash R”L resided in Moshav Bar-Yochai in the north, near Kever Rashbi.

For the names of the Family and members, please see source articles.

However, please continue being mispallel for the lone survivor of the family, Rachel Efrat bat Yehudit

Sources: YWN and YWN

Please also see Sole Crash Survivors: A Little Girl and a Bible. A Bible was the only possession not damaged in the horrific car crash that left one young girl alive to mourn for eight family members.

More Yom Yerushalayim

Learning to be more patient with one another...
All types together in Simcha ...

Yom Yerushalayim

Today is Yom Yerushalayim and the city is alive with Simcha pouring out of everyone.

This morning I went to hear three shiurim on Yerushalayim, in Baka, and then after a garden lunch we all started our march from Baka to the old Derech Hevron and listened as our guide spoke of Avraham Avinu and his footsteps on the way to Har HaBayit. Some of us felt as if we were treading that same path.

On we went with our footsteps traversing a rugged path, thru trees, pebbles and stones, and then we came out onto the Tayelet. This is the very large winding walkway that just about traverses all of Yerushalayim. At least. From this hilltop pathway one could see almost all the other hilltops, Har HarHabayit, Har HaZeitim, Mt Scopus, a few Arab sounding hills too, plus Harei Yehuda, a desert moshav, the Yam HaMelech. As far as the eye could see, the expanse was breathtaking, all the way over to the sand hills of Yehuda and practically into Jordan.

The buses are running on a different schedule, because the streets are filling up with marchers. Up Rehov Ramban they are marching, in their white shirts, knitted kippot, flags flying high, and voices bellowing out patriotic tunes. I'm home now, in the afternoon, and my mirpeset door is open and there is a cacophony of birds singing, helicopters flying overhead, singing marchers, and cars with music rising and filling the crisp, clean air. The weather couldn't have been more excellent, a perfect blend of coolness and caressing warmth. (If I close my eyes, it sounds like Purim)

HaShem must be getting Nachas from His children so full of joy for the love of Yerushalayim, and for the miracle that He performed for us.

How could a Jew stay in a land not his own, but one that celebrates turkey day, rabbits, and jingling bells?

First Lemonade, Now Ice Cream

(Photo from Annie Tao Photography)

"A state Environmental Police truck stands by the entrance to Great Brook Farm State Park in Carlisle Tuesday. Officers closed the ice-cream stand there Friday over alleged construction-permit violations."

Here's what the Lowell, Mass. Paper wrote:

Looking to hit the spot with a savory ice cream at Great Brook Farm State Park this week?

You may be out of luck.

The park's popular ice-cream stand was unexpectedly shut down by state officials over the weekend, after the stand's operator made building improvements at the site without getting permission first.

Mark Duffy, who has operated the dairy farm at the state-owned park for 26 years and has a lease with the state to run the stand, said armed Environmental Police officers showed up at stand on Friday evening and stood guard throughout the weekend, turning away customers craving delectable sundaes and frappes.

To make matters worse, said Duffy, the shutdown happened right before the sunny Mother's Day weekend.

Read the rest of this kid-unfriendly bust at "Ice Cream Caper"


Meanwhile the Lady in the White Tower has been eating them all when we weren't looking: ice cream, cakes, milkshakes, cream pies, you name it.

Watch the GBTV episode:



See what Glenn Beck plans: Lemonade, Cake, and Hug-a-Thon Across America in support of another American tradition being trampled upon.

Yum, Yum :-)

Remarkable Discovery

It seems Israeli archaelogists have been unearthing more and more artifacts that substantiate our presence in our Land from Biblical times. Many Jews need no substantiation, but revel in the items relating to our ancestors nevertheless. I feel that the unearthing of Biblical artifacts sends messages of encouragement for the Israeli Government to do "the Right Thing" vis a vis G-d's command to enter our Land and our Return to our Homeland.

As the Geula is approaching, these 'finds' are encouragement to many, and should soon put to rest the Palestinian lies. To Jews living in other lands this can only stir the emotions, hopefully, and perhaps provide the impetus to return Home. The following was first seen on VosizNeas, but printed here in part from The Jerusalem Post:

Discovery of 3 Small Shrines Have Revealed Use of Ancient Architectural Consistent with Solomon's Temple



A Hebrew University archeologist has discovered artifacts from a 3,000-year-old community that have created a new understandings of how the First Temple was built, the university announced on Tuesday.

Prof. Yosef Garfinkel, the Yigal Yadin Professor of Archeology at the university, displayed models of items excavated in Khirbet Qeiyafa, a fortified city in the Valley of Elah, about 30 km. southwest of Jerusalem.

The religious community, which Garfinkel believes was Jewish, based on the lack of pig bones and graven images, kept small shrines in rooms of three buildings. The small ritual objects are box-like in shape and made from basalt or clay. The shrines predate the First Temple by at least 30 years, but utilize important architectural designs written in the Torah that describe how the Temple should be built.

The discovery of these ritual objects has allowed archeologists a new understanding of the Temple’s construction, explained Garfinkel.

More than 20 architectural terms that describe the Temple no longer exist in modern language, so models of the Temple are based on educated guesses. For example, the Torah states that the Temple had “slaot,” which was previously understood as “columns,” and “sequfim,” which was widely translated as “windows.” But after studying the small shrines, Garfinkel concluded that the number of slaot corresponded to triglyphs, ornamental decorations above the columns, and the number of sequifim was consistent with a triple recessed doorway, rather than windows.[...]


[Please go to JPost link above for remainder of article.]