Yom HaShoah
by: Schvach Yid


I’ve just been treated to a déja vu, courtesy of Isaac Steven Herschkopf and The New York Jewish Week, at: http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a15468/News/New_York.html.

My maternal grandparents had cousins and friends who lived in Washington Heights, located in the northern section of Manhattan. All were Holocaust refugees; a few were survivors. The celebrated chochum (chochamah?) of sex, Dr. Ruth Westheimer (http://www.germanheritage.com/biographies/mtoz/westheimer.html) herself a survivor of the Holocaust, continues to reside in the neighborhood.

The refugees/survivors of Hitler’s homicidal tirade really did accept their lives as they were, tattooed numbers, memories, and all. They were as much heroes as victims. Have a read.

Shavua Tov, Y’all!
by: Schvach Yid


Here’s what I do like about Britain:




And here is a little love letter to Iran and its hero Ahmedwhat’shisname:

The History of ‘British Palestine’ Revisited
by: Schvach Yid


Thanks to Victor Sharpe, who has posted an article on Arutz Sheva titled
Forced to Concede a Birthright?, which can be found at:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/8713, where he provides a link to yet another of his synopses on the history of Britain’s maneuverings concerning Jewish
aspirations over the former British Mandate of Palestine, at:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/03/the_two_state_solution_is_87_y.html.

Britain. Lovely. I think I’ve written enough about my opinions concerning Britain and its long-standing contempt for us Jews. Say no more – go and read.

I hope you all had a ‘yoffie’ great Pesach; I did (I didn’t run into one British governmental official during the entire chag, nor should I have - they’re rather rare down here in America’s Bible Belt).

A Rebuttal from a Blogger
by: Schvach Yid


Rickismom has taken exception to an article (and I assume at least one blog posting) about a recent trip undertaken by a group of Amish to the Lubavitchers at 770, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. You can read it at:
http://beneaththewings.blogspot.com/2009/04/amish-and-orthodox-2-worlds.html

‘Both groups tend to be either looked down upon, or treated as a joke, without the outside viewer taking the time to look beyond their preconceived assumptions.And, as a final note, I add that this last statement is also true as regards the world of the intellectually challenged, and the disabled.’

Ouch!!!!! And I thought humor was a sign of high intelligence. I think I’d better clean up my act. Do you think any Amish have read it; after all, it is online?

The matter of where to ‘draw the line’ evidently applies to both religious groups (as well as to me). The practical applications of Halacha range far and wide. There exists a considerable fund of rabbinical rulings on, for example, Muktzah – those items and activities forbidden on Shabbos. At what point has one succeeded in ridding one’s home, and especially kitchen, of chametz? I don’t cover my kitchen sink with aluminum foil, nor do I wrap my kitchen’s walls with plastic. Have I violated the laws of Pesach by these omissions? My line is drawn in fairly shallow waters.

The Amish, I assume, stay away from computers, and so I assume not even one of the Amish has read the Ynetnews.com article, nor my blog, nor that of Rickismom. Chabad is computer-intensive, but I doubt that many Lubavitchers will have an interest in my blogs.

So my humored curiosity continues. Do the Amish have a concept similar to Muktzah?
If they don’t use phones, or computers, then how do they know about Chabad Lubavitch, and how did they find the location of Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn? How did they travel there, etc.?

I don’t think a person has to be ‘intellectually challenged’ to scratch his noggin.

Oh yeah, Chag Pesach Sameach.

Here it is Folks
by: Schvach Yid


Ynetnews.com has a news post that’s sort of amusing: Amish Tour Haredi Brooklyn Neighborhood. Actually, in this country, they’re called frum, not hareidi, and the community, to be specific, is Lubavitch - nu, who else does Jewish outreach as well?.

This, of course, was not a campaign of Jewish outreach, but rather (I guess) an attempt at good inter-community relations.

I wonder how the Amish traveled from Lancaster PA. to Brooklyn, NY. It’s a long horse and buggy ride. I don’t think they fly. Buses? Back home, it’s definitely horse and buggies.

Every so often my brother visits the Amish on their home turf in Pennsylvania. He drives, and he’s not Lubavitch.

You can read about it here: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3695558,00.html