Tzedek-Tzedek

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_5400000/newsid_5408600/5408608.stm?bw=nb&mp=wm&news=1&ms3=2&ms_javascript=true&bbcws=2 A British Moslem policeman has asked to be released from duties which he finds objectionable. More amazing even than the claim that this policeman objected to guarding the Israeli Embassy in London, was that the Metropolitan Police apparently accepted this as a legitimate objection, and so excused him from guard duty at the embassy.... On the other hand, principles aside, who the heck would want him guarding the embassy in any case....

By Rabbi Dov Lipman SELICHOT PROGRAM AT SECULAR HIGH SCHOOL The uniqueness of Bet Shemesh was highlighted before Yom Kippur when the city's only secular high school held a midnight selichot program.  The program included the recitation of actual selichot, the singing of special songs, presentations about Yom Kippur, and the blowing of the Shofar.   ------------- CITY LEADERS   DISPUTE COMPLAINTS ABOUT SCHOOL GUARDS City leaders responsible for education reacted harshly to the criticism regarding school guards which emerged in the newspapers in past weeks.  City councilman, Richard Peres (Labor, pictured) who holds the education portfolio reported that no complaints ever reached his desk and that he checked with other education authorities and no one had heard a single complaint from parents before these reports emerged in the papers.  Peres stressed that he is in touch daily with principals of the schools and would act immediately if there were any...

It reads like science fiction – but it’s for real and right now. A most incredible, silent but, apparently, highly effective attack has been launched on Iran . Perhaps by Israel – but we’ll probably never know. Consisting of the world’s most sophisticated and devious computer virus, known as “Stuxnet”, this virus has penetrated Iran ’s industrial control centers, including those of their nuclear facilities. The delivery mechanism may have been as simple as a USB memory stick.  The virus takes advantage of characteristics of both the ubiquitous Windows’s operating system and the lesser known (to the consumer) Siemens’ industrial control computers – which enjoy international market dominance. Experts around the world are puzzling over the ingeniously malicious code, which not only hides itself from discovery, but can apparently become ever-more scheming, the more it is pursued. Commentators are assuming this is well beyond the development capabilities of a geek or two, and is ...

From the team which brought you "We Con The World" - Latma TV now turn their attention to the brazen provocation by Shlomit, who destroyed the peace in the Middle East, by buildi ng a Succah. 

Three articles... 1. Ha'aretz : Black and White in Colour , is an in-depth analytical report on the Hareidi Lite of Ramat Beit Shemesh, including extensive quotes from Rav Avrohom Leventhal of Lema'an Achai. 2. Jerusalem Post : Feeding the Anglo Poor ,by Ruth Eglash, including about Lema'an Achai, and a specific Anglo family in Ramat Bet Shemesh, who have been helped by Lema'an Achai . 3. "Shopping" - a local Bet Shemesh give-away paper, listed the town's 100 "Most Influential" people. Coming in at a modest 82th slot was none other than, yours trully, David Morris. I wasn't sure whether to be boyed by being 'ahead' of various people who are much more prominent than me (such as Rav Spector, at no.83!!), or disappointed to be 'behind' various folks I hadn't heard of.    

I fondly recall our rabbi in the synagogue I attended in England solemnly and loudly praying for the welfare of the Royal Family, in English, from the bimah. The older siddurim there had the names of kings, queens and princes long departed.  This is an ancient tradition in Jewish communities around the world, to pray for the welfare of one’s host countries and rulers, usually in the language of that country. The earliest source is Biblical: And seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and pray to the Lord in its behalf; for in its prosperity you shall prosper. (Jeremiah 29:4-7) And in the Mishna, it states (Avot 3:2; and cf. Avodah Zarah 4a): Rabbi Hananya the Deputy High Priest says: Pray for the welfare of the Kingdom (= Rome ), for were it not for the fear of it, a man would swallow his neighbor alive. Rabbi Hananya lived at the end of the Second Temple period. He is saying that the Jews should pray for the Roman government for, if not for them, the...

From Hirhurim - Musings Blog.... The latest issue of the Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society (LX) has a very important article by the editor, R. Alfred Cohen, titled “Judging Transgression in the Absence of Witnesses.” R. Cohen surveys the sources and views regarding how to respond to reports of abuse that lack qualified witnesses, or any proof. This article is groundbreaking and sets the standard of discussion for this issue.   Full article at: http://torahmusings.com/2010/09/responding-halakhically-to-reports-of-abuse.html/comment-page-1