thisisbabylon.net

to love Israel. Or to support IDF soldiers in their faith or to provide IDF soldiers with a holiday celebration.

The world-renowned kabbalists, Harav Ya'akov Hillel shlit"a and Ha'Rav David Batsri shlit"a will G-d willing, this Sunday, Lag Ba'Omer, be addressing a group of 500 IDF troops in Jerusalem. As the Jerusalem Post tells us:

Rabbi Ya'acov Hillel, head of the Ahavat Shalom Yeshiva and Rabbi David Batzri, head of Yeshivat Hashalom are scheduled to address the soldiers in Jerusalem Sunday on the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who, according to Jewish tradition, authored the Zohar, the basic text of Kabbala.

Batzri's son, Yitzhak, who is also slated to speak before the soldiers, said Kabbalists and soldiers had complementary roles in fighting Israel's enemies....

Both Batzri and Hillel are students of Rabbi Salman Mutzafi, who was a senior member of the virulently anti-Zionist and now defunct Sephardi Edah Haredit. Like their teacher, neither Batzri nor Hillel vote in Israeli elections.

"We do not want to be participants in a state that passes laws inimical to Judaism," said Yitzhak Batzri. But Batzri said that defending the Jewish people was a tremendous merit.

"By protecting the Jewish people those soldiers are doing an incredibly important mitzva," he said. "Only Torah study is more important. But if a Jew is not learning Torah then he is obligated to enlist in the army."

"But if a Jew is not learning Torah then he is obligated to enlist in the army."

GASP!

May the actions of these rebbeim contribute to achdus Yisra'el by helping to quell one of the biggest rifts in Israeli society -- the haredi vs. hiloni split over military service.

Whether or not this statement changes an individual's decision as to whether or not to enlist in IDF service or to remain in learning is irrelevant. Regardless of how the individual Jew or Jewish institution paskens, the statement has been said. By the son of a chacham.

[Said Yitzhak Batzri], "We learn from [the teaching of Jacob's wrestling with the angel] that in every generation there are two planes of struggle: The primary one is spiritual and the secondary one is material. One takes place in the heavenly realm, the other on the battlefield."

"By protecting the Jewish people those soldiers are doing an incredibly important mitzva," he said.

L'ma'an ha'Torah, that's got to have some validity.

And keep in mind, these are gedolei Yisra'el, great Rabbis of Israel, who learned under anti-Zionists. And here they are, telling IDF soldiers that they're doing a mitzva. Just for saving lives and defending lives of Jewish people.

You don't have to be a Zionist -- you don't even have to support the medinah or vote in elections -- to support Jews, Israel, or even, apparently, IDF personnel. So, hopefully, once and for all, this will end the "oh, you don't consider yourself Zionist? So you think Israel should be destroyed and millions of Jews killed?" question.

And again, this has nothing to do with the ins and outs of Zionism or how "right" it is (or whether or not it is right, or what it even consists of in 2007). It just needs to be delineated: there's such a thing as "Zionism" and such a thing as "supporting Israel" (and/or "supporting Jews"). Let's delineate the two and enable ourselves to, like Offspring, keep them separated in our minds.

Posted by Y-Love at 07:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Reprinted from the Yeshiva World News, the chatzer charedi tirelessly serving as a charedi newswire:

According to Ynet News, the Tzibur Hacharedi in Yerushalayim has established a new Tznius Bais Din to grant kashrus certificates to women’s clothing stores.

The Bakehila newspaper, reported over the weekend that an assembly of Rabbonim gathered at the home of Rav Eliyashiv Shlita, and decided to establish the Tzinus Bais Din.

Representatives will examine the garments sold in clothes stores and will grant kashrus certificates to worthy vendors.

Posted by Y-Love at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

From The Jerusalem Post:

The haredi community launched what might prove to be the nation's largest-ever consumer bloc on Sunday.

Dozens of yeshivot, seminaries, women's schools and other educational institutions from all walks of haredi society - Lithuanian, Hassidic and Sephardi - plan to concentrate their buying power. Working together, these institutions hope to eliminate the middlemen and pressure wholesalers to lower prices.

The official creation of the consumer bloc was announced Sunday at a conference at Airport City near Ben-Gurion Airport.

But when potentially millions of shekels go walking, the businesses come talking. In Yiddish and lashon ha'kodesh. With a rabbi in front of them.

"We hope to achieve savings on staple products and food of as much as 30%," said former Knesset Finance Committee Chairman Ya'acov Litzman (United Torah Judaism)...

Every fourth baby born in Israel is haredi and so is 52% of the Jewish population under 18 year old.

Haredi demand for some products - such as diapers, soft drinks and public transportation - far exceeds the community's relative size in the general population. This became apparent during the El Al boycott: Haredi consumers, guided by their spiritual leaders, put pressure on the national airline to stop flying on Shabbat by brandishing their disproportionately high demand for aviation services as a bargaining chip.

"No other consumer group enjoys such discipline and unity," said Dr. Shlomo Ness, an attorney and accountant who chairs the professional advisory committee that will help the amalgam of haredi institutions organize under a single banner.

Orthodox institutions from all over Israel, uniting under a single banner, to make sure that Torah-observant consumers have their concerns addressed and their needs met. Making sure Torah gets a fair shake in the Israeli business arena.

A new application of Torah im derech eretz -- Torah together with the business world.

Posted by Y-Love at 01:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In my previous post, I vented what I was feeling inside regarding what I felt to be an unfair double standard placed on Orthodox Jews. We are supposed to compromise our beliefs and observances to be more "modern", more "with it", more "accommodating", and, quite often, if we dare say words like "must" or "supposed to", we're accused of being overbearing sticks-in-the-mud.

One commenter said, as a result of reading my post, "I didn't know that (perfect faith) was a prerequisite to not being treated like (crap)." Reactions like this always lead me to scream the same anguished yelp, "Why don't people realize that I'm not advocating this?"

Who would advocate people being treated like crap. "Not giving someone an aliya" is not a blanket permission to treat someone like crap, all I was implying that, by not giving a Conservative rabbi an aliya, the person wouldn't necessarily be halachically in the wrong. For treating someone like crap, however, someone would be halachically in the wrong.

The Shabbos guest should politely decline, the aliya can easily be passed off to the rabbi's son/brother/gabbai. There is no reason necessarily for a halacha-based difficulty to turn into an interpersonal issue. And this is beautifully demonstrated by today's In the Trenches blog on the JPost site. First Mr. David Harris brings up the Rav Mordechai Eliyahu quote. Then:

And in the second incident, Micky Boyden, a Reform rabbi who moved to Israel and lost a son serving in the army in Lebanon, had his invitation to chant (k)El Moleh Rahamim at the local commemoration for Israel’s war dead rescinded by the local council in Hod Hasharon after some...threatened to disrupt the solemn ceremony because he is Reform.

Forgive me, but are we nuts? An ordained rabbi leaves Britain and moves to Israel with his family. His son makes the ultimate sacrifice for his adopted nation. And yet local officials...deny him the opportunity to lead a prayer at a public event in connection with Memorial Day.

The previous post referred to simple actions like not giving an aliya. Here is someone not being refused a religious honor, but the congregation being told, "if you give this guy this honor, we're going to bring the ruckus."

There is a big difference between the two, and I hope that such a distinction is readily apparent.

Posted by Y-Love at 01:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So today my initial survey on Judaism and events went live.

Please take a moment to fill it out. It is my hope that this initial excursion into polling will eventually lead to a more comprehensive gauging of just...well...where people are at.

Posted by Y-Love at 04:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

From Malaysia-based JUST International (The International Movement For a Just World) comes this story of Jewish-Muslim co-operation and dialogue.

A contingent of about seventy Jews and Muslims from throughout Western Europe who are involved or interested in creating interfaith dialogue on a community level met last week at the Conference on Jewish-Muslim Dialogue held in Brussels. The article relates:

What is the role of the Middle East conflict in Jewish-Muslim dialogue? Is the media a positive force for change in inter-religious relations? How can local communities be successfully engaged in dialogue? These were a number of the questions tackled by representatives of Jewish and Muslim organisations at a Conference on Jewish-Muslim Dialogue held in Brussels...

Addressed by speakers including Imam Dr Abduljalil Sajid (Chairman of the Muslim Council for Religious and Racial Harmony UK), Rabbi Michel Serfaty (Founder & President of Amitié Judéo-Musulmane de France) and European Commission Culture Director Vladimir Sucha, participants were reminded of their shared religious and cultural heritage and were encouraged to join forces rather than working against each other.

A key outcome of the Conference was the establishment of a European Platform for Jewish-Muslim Co-operation to both encourage and to raise the profile of local, national and Europe-wide dialogue and co-operation initiatives.
In providing a forum for the sharing of experiences, ideas and good practices, the Conference also witnessed the initiation of new partnerships

In providing a forum for the sharing of experiences, ideas and good practices, the Conference also witnessed the initiation of new partnerships between organisations and the development of project ideas in the arts, media coverage of Jewish and Muslim issues, religious diversity training, grassroots involvement, academic co-operation and joint lobbying efforts. Awards for best practice in Jewish-Muslim co-operative initiatives were also proposed....

Ken yirbu, and considering the rise in both Muslim and Jewish visibility and community size in places like France and the UK, dialogue like this is only going to prove itself more and more necessary as time goes on.

Posted by Y-Love at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Jerusalem Post today ran the story about the new Israeli census. Today , Israel stands at 7.15 million, a 1.8% increase over last year. 75.7% of Israel's population are Jews.

Israel's population increased by 121,000, or 1.8 percent, since last year's Independence Day, reaching a total of 7,150,000.

The Central Bureau of Statistics released the data ahead of Independence Day, which starts Monday evening.

The population growth was mainly a product of a high birthrate. Some 148,000 babies were born in 2006, and 18,400 new immigrants arrived.

According to the latest CBS figures, out of 24,000 Israelis who left the country in 2004 for a period of more than 12 months, 10,000 have returned.

Israel's 5,415,000 Jews and 310,000 "others" - mostly non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union or those whose Jewish status is undetermined - make up 80% of Israel's population. The Arab and Druse population numbers 1,425,000, or 20% of Israel's citizens.

The country's five largest cities, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Rishon Lezion and Ashdod, account for a quarter of the population, or 1,810,300 people. Another 462,200, or 6%, live in small towns, while just 119,700 - less than 2% - live on kibbutzim.

The Jerusalem Post also referenced a less readily-available study:

Approximately 47% of the population would, if born again, prefer for that to happen somewhere other than Israel, according to an "alternative survey" conducted by the Geocartographic Institute's iGeo subsidiary.

The survey, conducted in early April among 500 Israeli Jews, found that 70% of Israelis from the FSU would prefer to be reborn outside Israel, 19% of them specifying Russia as their country of choice and 15% the US.

Among wealthy local-born Israelis, 62% said they would like to be reborn abroad, 18% in the US or Canada, 8% in Switzerland and 6% in Sweden.

The survey revealed surprising findings from pensioners; 59% said they would rather live abroad. Twelve percent would choose the US, 9% Switzerland, 6% Australia and 3% would seek retirement in New Zealand.

Among the poor, 58% would have preferred to be reborn abroad, a figure close to that among the wealthy, which stands at 52%. Most in both groups mentioned the US and Canada as their chosen alternative homeland.

In contrast, 83% of the modern Orthodox sector, 80% of those living in rural towns and kibbutzim, and 65% of Israel's well off pensioners said they would choose to be reborn in Israel.

Posted by Y-Love at 04:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You have wearied the Lord with your words, and you say, "How have we wearied [Him]?"-By your saying, "Every evildoer is good in the Lord's sight, and He desires them," or, "Where is the God of judgment?" - Malachi 2:17

While I am the first to admit that there are lamentable shortcomings in the Orthodox World, and the bitter lack of ahavas Yisra'el not being the least of them, some things are just not justified and only serve as fodder for anti-charedi prejudice. Haredi Jews are the one group of Jews, it seems, that it is always kosher to diss in any and all forums, and the one group that people seem loath to defend. Once someone raises the banner of Torah, they apparently lower the banner of their own dignity.

Jonathan Schorsch, an instructor of Jewish Studies at Columbia University, graced the pages of the Jerusalem Post today with a piece so melodramatic it seems to seek to evoke pathos with the same efficacy as syrup of ipecac. Putting non-Orthodox clergy squarely into the "victim" category, Schorsch's article is symptomatic of the same anti-haredi spin I hear far too often in Jewish media:

Why many Jews might feel the Orthodox do hate them

By JONATHAN SCHORSCH

I vividly recall sitting in a shiur years back at a synagogue one Shabbat afternoon. The rabbi, a man from Iran who got his ordination at Yeshiva University, followed a digression that led him to proclaim, to shout, really, that it would be better to be a Christian than a Conservative or Reform Jew. He cited as support Rabbi Moshe Feinstein's teshuva that an Orthodox air conditioner repairman may not enter a Conservative or Reform synagogue even if only to repair the equipment. It is forbidden, went the logic, to enter a place where one knows a priori that there is no kedusha.

REMEMBER one motz'ei Shabbat when I heard a lecture by the head of a very liberal Orthodox organization. He insisted throughout on the importance of not drawing lines between Jews. Afterward, during the informal conversation some audience members had struck up with him, it turned out that some lines were, indeed, critical. He said, for instance, that a Conservative rabbi should not be given an aliya at an Orthodox synagogue.

Why? I asked.

Because one cannot be sure that when he says the blessing (no mention was made of women rabbis) that he has in mind the same idea of God. Astounding narishkeyt! Does anyone really believe that the Baba Sali and Yosef Soloveitchik held the same idea of God?!

The JTS, the main seminary for Conservative Judaism, contains on its website guidelines for how to introduce highschoolers to the Documentary Hypothesis, an intellectual theory that the Torah, G-d forbid, had multiple human authors, none of whom were a Divine Entity. In other words, this institution is teaching that four guys, who lived at various times, wrote the Torah, and not G-d(Rachmana litzlan). This, in the eyes of Maimonides (whose 13 affirmations of faith are repeated in various forms in synagogues throughout the world) and according to at least one Talmudic opinion, constitutes heresy, kefirah. It renders he who holds this belief a kofer, a denier of the Divinity of the Torah.

To say that "not giving rabbi X an aliya" is an action equatable with anti-Semitism, racism, or any other sociological division is preposterous. This is an action, essentially, which has nothing to do with "denominational lines", it is simply a statement of faith. The bottom line is that the Orthodox rabbi was calling up people to read from a holy, G-d-given text, whereas the Conservative rabbi may see himself as being called up to hear words from a text written by four ancient Israelites.

A non-Orthodox rabbi once told me that what he liked about Judaism is that there were no "loyalty oaths", that one could believe whatever they wanted and it still be "Judaism". One could see how such a viewpoint would not jibe well with those who see the Talmud as being Divine, halacha/Jewish Law as being Divinely guided, or those who see the Hebrew Scriptures as a Divine text.

The Torah Jew says, "I believe with perfect faith that the Torah given to Moses is the same one in our hands", this man believed that Moses may or may not have ever existed (ch"v).

What Schorsch is in effect saying is that the exhortations of the Code of Jewish Law, of the Talmud, of Maimonides should be "bent" or (chalilah) "done away with" when it comes to belief (update - Ed.). He would like for belief in the Torah to be optional to be called up to read from the Torah (update). Schorsch takes offense at the mention of "behavioral observance" -- i.e., that one's behaviors are in line with halacha -- but how else should his Shabbos guest's parents, the "prominent Orthodox rabbi" and (most likely) his rebbitzen, have framed the distiction?

His actions were in line with halacha, but his heart may or may not have been, so the parents of his Shabbos guest (update - Ed.) tried to gauge this fact. Perhaps a better choice of words (not perhaps, I'm sure it was) was in order, but his host wanted to ask: "Do you believe as we believe, that G-d wrote the Torah, that the Torah is from Heaven, that Moses was the prophet of all Israel, that the Messiah will one day come, that the Holy Temple will be rebuilt?"

To this, Schorsch took offense. This, in my opinion, has nothing to do with Orthodox Jews or Orthodoxy.

His problem is not with Avi Shafran. It seems that he is placing unfair double standards on Orthodox Jews -- if some Jews (update) see Jewish Law as being this flexi-code as malleable as liquid cellophane, surely the Orthodox Jew I'm staying with must! Surely these "principles of faith" aren't "set in stone"! -- and when his standards prove to be unjust, we see articles like this.

Those who are more advanced in Torah would do well to withhold their condemnation and condescension from those who are still taking their first steps in it or even have yet to take any toward it.

But let's make no mistake -- to the Torah Jew, some things are Torah beliefs and some things aren't. And the twain are not going to meet any time soon.

Posted by Y-Love at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

From the LA Times, a hate crime from an LA-area Starbucks:

A man was charged with a hate crime Tuesday for allegedly taunting and pulling a knife on a customer speaking Arabic at a Starbucks coffeehouse.

Anthony Tabarsi, 41, mocked three men who were speaking Arabic at the shop in the 2700 block of Harbor Boulevard, saying that all Arabs are terrorists and that he hates them, according to prosecutors.

After one of the men followed him outside, they said, Tabarsi lunged at him with a knife before fleeing from the parking lot.

Because of previous convictions, prosecutors said, Tabarsi could face life in prison if found guilty

Posted by Y-Love at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

From The Jewish Press:

An unsigned leaflet delivered to homes at Ramsgate, Kent, site of the Moses Montefiore synagogue and mausoleum, has angered residents who have always preserved a good relationship with the many Jewish visitors who visit the site...

Recently, property magnate and prominent member of the Satmar community Samuel Berger announced his intention to rebuild the original kollel in keeping with the terms of Sir Moses’s will. The leaflet circulating in Ramsgate describes the reconstruction of the college in the image of what it called "a Charedi sect."

"Sir Moses Montefiore had little tolerance for Charedim," the author of the flier claims. "He regarded them as aloof and arrogant and criticized them for isolating themselves from the wider society. He would not approve of a Charedi college in his name."

The leaflet continues, "Within a few years the Medical Centre will be in the middle of an ultra- Orthodox Jewish ghetto where no English is spoken, cars are not welcome on Saturday and ‘immodestly dressed visitors’ are subject to personal, probably violent, abuse."

Posted by Y-Love at 03:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I can't deny the undeniable.

This is hilarious. We just have GOT to make 100 blessings in a day.

100 brachos, even if you need to involve a secular Jew in the mitzva. After all, G-d also created the secular.

A hat tip where it's deserved.

Posted by Y-Love at 04:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yet another digital piece of evidence to be used against someone in the Next World.

May Hashem have mercy on the souls of the departed.

All of them.

Some will need it more than others.

I, like others, initially thought that link was of an underground facebook site which, literally, spread from friend to friend across millions of people over the course of 12 or 14 hours. Unfortunately, this was probably rooted in a sort of subconscious ethnic profiling reflex that we, as Americans have. One of the first things people wanted to know was answered by the word "Asian", and answered in its entirety by "Asian, male, 20". And, when someone fit the description (Asian, male, same area!) AND had guns, apparently for whoever leaked the original link with the caption, it was too much to resist.

And now Mr. Chiang is dealing with death threats.

The Internet owes him an apology.

Posted by Y-Love at 04:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

And David said to Gad; "I am exceedingly distressed; let us fall now into the hand of the L-rd; for His mercies are great; but into the hand of man let me not fall." -- 2 Shmuel 24:14

Rarely do I ever criticize or rant about anything in the charedi velt. I am unabashedly pro-charedi and pro-Torah almost to a fault. I consider my conversion to Judaism -- Orthodox, no, ultra-Orthodox Judaism -- to be the best decision I ever made, and my grandmother told me on her deathbed that she agreed. I never regret leaving my family and everything seven years ago to come to the shtetl in which I now live, I know that Torah -- as redacted by Chaza"l and practicalized in the Shulchan Aruch -- is the manifestation of the word of the Living G-d, the Creator Himself, in ink on parchment/laser toner on paper.

Which is why this kashrus thing keeps getting to me.

A person who calls out Reb Yankel in shul for not checking into the origin of his bottled water is often praised for his scrupulous observance of the laws of yayin nesech or other contaminant which could work its way into the water. Were the same person to stand up and call someone out for insulting someone, or spreading lies about someone -- both of which could, in certain circumstances, exclude someone from the entire Next World, they have "ba'al teshuva-itis", or are "frumyaks" or some other semi-insulting term for someone who, oh, takes these commandments to heart.

Things like mistreatment of workers, "shady" business deals ("fraud" b'la'az), manipulation of government resources -- these things not only raise anti-Semitism from non-Jews, but also make it impossible to turn Jews on (or back on) to Judaism. How can I tell you to let G-d into your life by following the laws that no one else takes seriously? Those are supposed to be the religious people! How can the yeshiva say "listen to the words of Rabbi X" when Rabbi X's gabbai is printing up newsletters with all sorts of BS in the name of Rabbi X? Or Rabbi X's words aren't even written down? Or no one listens to Rabbi X?

And this hurts, because I love the Torah. In this particular situation, no one's even discussing the Torah behind the issue.

So this is my contribution to the radicalization of religion.

I would love to see a Shulchan Aruch taken from block to block and all of these places with labor violations and unsafe environments and abuse being labeled for what they are, and I want to see the actual Torah Law win out. I want to see Choshen Mishpat given equal airtime as halachos of Shabbos, and words like shvartzer and shiksa treated as badly as Hebrew National hot dogs. I envision a world where learning about one's development as a Jew is given more time than one spends taking a dump, where Talmud is learned as if it is more than a collection of quotes from Roshei Yeshiva, and where one's connection to G-d is not measured by the number of microns in their water filter or number of lumens in their lettuce-checking lightbox. I want to see, once and for all, the bridge between "what's written" and "what's done", and making them into two different categories is what allows for 99.9% of the problems inside and with the religious communities.

As it is taught, the Jewish people must improve ourselves and unite before any time of redemption is supposed to happen. (And for what happens to those who aren't down, see makkas choshech.) The King won't sit on a broken chair, and if I have to bring new-school harbatzah or whatever is necessary to be the f**king krazy glue for whatever part of the nation I merit to bring together then so be it.

F**k the bullsh*t, the Nation which received the Torah should expect no less than Divinity in their lives. We can't let Judaism get treated like a Lexus in the Bronx:

Stolen by some dudes from a ghetto and chopped up. Ha'meivinim yavinu v'yaskilu.

Posted by Y-Love at 02:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

This was passed on to me in the names of Rabbi Yudel Shain and Rabbi Yisroel Hisiger:

CREST TOOTHPASTE

The Proctor and Gamble Company has made known that Crest, "Pro Health Toothpaste," is made with animal derived ingredients including pork fat.

The following Crest toothpastes are made WITHOUT animal derived ingredients and there is no information about presence or absence of alcohol in flavor.

1) Cavity Protection Toothpaste
a. Regular Flavor b. Cool Mint Jell
2) Anti Cavity Toothpaste
a. Regular Flavor b. Kid Crest

The rest of Crest toothpastes contain animal derived ingredients including pork fat.

Please pass this on to anyone who would care if their toothpaste is treif.

CAVEAT: I want to make it perfectly clear HERE that according to R' Yisro'el Belsky, kach shamati ha'yom, non-kosher ingredients in one's toothpaste do not necessarily render to the toothpaste forbidden (this would not be the case were we talking about mouthwash). This is not a cry for every tube of Crest to make its way into a garbage bag ASAP, rather, just an alert so that consumers can make educated choices free of any forbidden materials.

UPDATE:
Apparently this is an older Email. This email originally went out a while ago, and, according to FrumHouse (b'shem the Chicago Rabbinical Council) the key ingredient here is the glycerin.

The Halal Products Blog asked Crest officially in August of 2006 about this, and here was Crest's response and this is direct from the pig's horse's mouth:

Thanks for contacting Crest.

Crest is made from raw materials that can come from either animal or vegetable sources. This may be either beef or pork, depending on available supplies. There is no way to determine which source is in any particular package of product. However, the animal source, if used, is chemically altered during manufacture and no longer resembles the original material by the time it is added to our product.

The following Crest versions / flavors contain NO animal derivatives:
Crest Anti-Cavity Regular Paste
Crest Cavity Protection Cool Mint Gel
Crest Cavity Protection Regular Paste
Crest Cavity Protection Icy Mint Striped (this was discontinued in March 2005)
Kid’s Crest

None of our Health Care products are certified kosher or carry the “U” or other kosher labeling. If you have a question about the acceptability for use, we suggest sharing consulting your rabbi who is in a better position to answer.

Thanks again for writing.

Ruth
Crest Team

There may be pork in the toothpaste.

Posted by Y-Love at 05:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

If there's anyone that I could imagine Jean-Marie Le Pen supporters revering, I can't say Muhammad pops into my mind. But that's precisely what's happening, according to the Washington Times. French Muslims are apparently rallying behind Monsieur Xenophobe in increasing numbers:

A small but significant minority of French Muslims intend to vote for Jean-Marie Le Pen, the far-right National Front leader in this month's presidential elections -- a remarkable achievement for the politician known for his anti-immigrant stance.

Some of the country's 5 million Muslims do not want a new wave of immigrants to arrive. They also support Mr. Le Pen's anti-American rhetoric and his publicized "friendship" with the people of Iraq. Others are attracted by his traditional stand on moral issues such as abortion, family and the death penalty.

If Le Pen thought the World Cup soccer team had "too many colored players", I hardly see how -- his moral stands aside -- he can be trusted to provide equal services and opportunities to "colored" families and neighborhoods.

Posted by Y-Love at 03:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I just find John McCain hard to stomach sometimes:

Sinking in polls and struggling to reinvigorate his foundering presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) delivered a robust defense of the war in Iraq on Wednesday, declaring that President Bush and the conflict's supporters are on the right side of history in the struggle against terrorism and extremism.

Dismissing public opinion polls as offering nothing but "temporary favor" to the war's opponents, McCain directly confronted the biggest obstacle to his White House ambitions: his unyielding support of a war that more than two-thirds of the country has turned against.

"I sympathize with the fatigue of the American people," he told cadets at the Virginia Military Institute. "But I also know the toll a lost war takes on an army and a country. It is the right road. It is necessary and just."

McCain offered a blistering critique of Democrats in control of Congress. He accused them of being reckless in their foreign policy by attempting to set a deadline for withdrawal in legislation intended to provide money for the war effort. And he said those who control the legislature are "heedless of the terrible consequences" of failing in Iraq.

"Democratic leaders smiled and cheered as the last votes were counted," he said. "What were they celebrating? Defeat? Surrender?"

What did he call this half-trillion-dollar war? Necessary? Just?

In the text of his speech given at VMI, one finds such vignettes we have come to expect from the neocons:

In the early days after 9/11 our country was united in a single purpose, to find the terrorists bent on our destruction and eliminate the threat they posed to us.

In the intervening years, we've learned the complexity of the struggle against radical Islamic ideology. The extremists, a tiny percentage of the hundreds of millions of peaceful Muslims, are flexible, intelligent, determined and unconstrained by international borders. They wish to return the world to the seventh century, and they will use any means, no matter how inhumane, to eliminate anyone who stands in their way.

We're fighting for the soul of Islam? American troops are fighting a just war, in a key element in the struggle for the soul of Islam?

Support the troops, and not with PR-driven blatant lies. Bring them home alive from a region on its way to stability. How does McCain live with himself?

Posted by Y-Love at 02:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

"If you see oppression of the poor and deprivation of justice and righteousness in the state, wonder not about the matter, for the Highest over the high watches, and there are higher ones over them." -- Ecclesiastes 5:7

Dan Froomkin at the Washington Post brings down a bombshell today that many of us may not have been aware of.

In accordance with the Presidential Records Act, White House email correspondence must be preserved forever. Never deleted, and never tampered with after sent or received in order to ensure accuracy and transparency of records.

But this is not your average administration, and after the wiretapping, secret jails and deportations, and general political opacity we've been subjected to under this regime, this should just come as no surprise:

Countless e-mails to and from many key White House staffers have been deleted -- lost to history and placed out of reach of congressional subpoenas -- due to a brazen violation of internal White House policy that was allowed to continue for more than six years, the White House acknowledged yesterday.

The leading culprit appears to be President Bush's enormously influential political adviser Karl Rove, who reportedly used his Republican National Committee-provided Blackberry and e-mail accounts for most of his electronic communication.

The White House yesterday said it has no idea how many e-mails have been lost.

In an afternoon conference call with reporters, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel spread the blame all around. "White House policy did not give clear enough guidance," he said..."I guess the bottom line is that our policy at the White House was not clear enough for employees."

But when I asked Stanzel to read out loud the White House e-mail policy, it seemed clear enough to me: "Federal law requires the preservation of electronic communications sent or received by White House staff," says the handbook that all staffers are given and expected to read and comply with.

Another oppression of justice in the State.

Posted by Y-Love at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Jewish Exponent today ran the story of a new "Tzedek Hechsher" that's being debated by the Conservative Movement:

Jewish law clearly has a lot to say, of course, about ritual slaughter, and the proper preparation of kosher meat and poultry. There's also plenty in the Torah and Talmud that focuses on employer-employee relationships, and the ethics of how to treat workers.

Except for a few historical cases where rabbinical authorities tried to link the two issues, generally, they've been considered sperate spheres.

But a newly formed commission created by the Conservative movement is calling attention to conditions faced by workers at kosher-meat plants. The Commission of Inquiry is weighing whether or not to call for a "Tsedek Hekhsher," combining the Hebrew word for justice with the traditional term for kosher certification.

The initiative would create a process to certify that kosher meat and chicken were prepared in an environment where workers are paid fairly and on time, treated with dignity and receive adequate safety training.

"I believe that we, as Jews, when it comes to the food we are obligated to eat, should make sure it is produced in a way that meets the necessary standards of Jewish law and Jewish values," stated Morris Allen, a Minnesota rabbi who's chairing the commission established by the Rabbinical Assembly and United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

And where are those of us who do believe that G-d wrote the Torah?

I remember hearing from one mashgiach who worked for the Orthodox Union. He was speaking about how he removed his certification from one particular restaurant.

The food? Glatt kosher. No question. The staff? Dressed modestly. The wine? Kosher l'mehadrin 100%. So what made the rabbi remove his certification?

There is a relatively little known halacha, a prohibition against having music and alcoholic beverages served in the same "room". This particular restaurant had a live musician standing literally next to the bar. This rabbi would not allow his name to be on such a violation of the Code of Jewish Law, and he removed his certification. The restaurant quickly found another supervision agency under which it remains to this day, and it has since redone its interior.

This particular rabbi is renowned for being a tzaddik and his word goes without question in the Orthodox community. His actions with this particular restaurant were applauded. So where is the applause for similar actions, holding kosher establishments to observance of the Code of Jewish Law, or the outcry for more of the same?

Why isn't this even being talked about?

An article on Eco-Kashrus (kosher certification requiring environmental concerns be implemented) was relegated to almost irrelevance in Kashrus magazine. Laws of bal tashchis, of "not destroying" the environment ("fruit trees" are referenced in the verse) are discussed in the Code of Jewish Law, right there in the second volume, not too far after laws of forbidden meat and dairy mixtures. Is there not even room for a debate of the validity of these holy laws when it comes to kosher certification?

And the workers. I have an extremely hard time understanding how blatant Choshen Mishpat (fourth volume of the Code of Jewish Law) violations are allowed to go on in light of numerous exhortations of the Sages in the Talmud (Bava Metzia) to treat workers well, pay wages on time, etc. Even calling someone an insulting word is forbidden by Choshen Mishpat 228.

While no one is asking for full Dept. of Labor and EEOC audits with every check of a pizza oven, the fact that these are not even considered valid enough concerns to be placed on the table of discussion is disturbing.

If these aren't valid concerns, and if kashrus really does only go on the food itself, then let's stop calling for modestly dressed staff and try to put a hechsher on the Hooters in Tel Aviv (Hashem ya'akor kacha mei'artzo). Let's stop applauding righteous rabbinical authorities for enforcing laws of alcohol consumption. Let's stop inquiring into the belief systems of winemakers (as is done with some Chaba"d wineries).

Otherwise, if those are valid concerns, let's examine the rest of the volume that those laws come from. If the Code of Jewish Law determines what goes into the food, it should determine what goes into the paycheck of the one who makes the food.

If it doesn't have to, if the Shulchan Aruch does not apply in its entirety to eating establishments and I'm barking up the wrong tree, also please let me know. In writing.

And let it be codified forever.

Otherwise, the silence of those of us who believe in the Torah, in light of all these labor violations, could create a chillul Hashem, G-d forbid.

Posted by Y-Love at 02:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)