Apple Inc. removed the Arabic-language “Thirdintifada” application from its App Store following a request from the Israeli government.
The application was removed June 22, a day after Israel’s minister of public diplomacy and diaspora affairs, Yuli Edelstein, wrote to Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs making the request.
“We removed this app from the App Store because it violates the developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people,” an Apple spokesman said Wednesday evening.
The Thirdintifada application, which had been available for free download from the App Store, updates users on anti-Israel protests or allows them to organize their own. It also features anti-Israel articles and photos of terrorists who have attacked Israel or Israelis.
Edelstein, who in his letter to Jobs had called the application “anti-Israel and anti-Zionist,” commended the decision in a statement issued June 23.
“This is an additional step in preventing hostile elements, which are frequently tainted by anti-Semitism, from spreading incitement via the ‘new media,’ ” his statement said. “By its action, Apple has proven, as Facebook did, that it shares the values that oppose violence, incitement and terrorism.”
In March, Edelman appealed to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to remove a page called “Third Intifada” that called for a new uprising against Israel. The page subsequently was removed, though copycat pages arose in its place.
Edelstein in his letter to Jobs wrote, “I believe Apple, as a pioneering and progressive company, places the values of liberty, freedom of expression and creativity as a guiding light. Also, as a leader in its area, I am convinced that you are aware of this type of application’s ability to unite many toward an objective that could be disastrous.”
Circumcision, or “brit milah,” has long been the stuff of cheap jokes and comedy. But in recent weeks, what used to be nothing more than harmless fare has taken on a much more serious tone. So-called “intactivists” on the fringe left of American politics have pushed the radical notion that infant circumcision is an act of genital mutilation, so unacceptable in fact that it ought to be illegal.
That such a notion should have garnered enough signatures to have qualified for a popular referendum in San Francisco (and potentially elsewhere) is deeply troubling. For even if, as expected, it will be defeated in the end -– like most such California ballots—that will offer scant comfort to the millions of Americans, Jewish or otherwise, who for good reasons circumcise their sons at birth. For to them – to us – it defies comprehension that in this land of liberty and justice for all, serious consideration can be given to outlawing the fundamental practice of Jews since the beginning of Jewish history.
We thought we had left such things far behind in our long journey through eras and lands of religious bigotry and cultural intolerance.
Proponents of the ballot argue that there is a state interest in opposing the consequences of circumcision. But to carry any weight, only state interests of the highest order and greatest clarity should be permitted to override religious liberty claims. And given the substantial medical evidence that circumcision has positive benefits, that standard cannot be met here.
The referendum has been couched as a vote on male genital mutilation. To frame our age-old practice as genital mutilation is manipulative and misleading, as it precludes any other interpretation of circumcision. To portray the issue, as the intactivists have, via a supposedly humorous cartoon featuring Foreskin Man battling Monster Mohel is worse than a bad joke. It is deeply offensive and beyond the pale of civilized discourse.
The concern, however, goes far beyond the right to circumcise Jewish or Muslim children.
Far more troubling and ominous is what would appear to be a gathering assault on the religious freedoms enjoyed by faith minorities in this land that so proudly celebrates the separation of church and state.
There are many examples: There are growing efforts to forbid adherence by Muslims to their Sharia law. Some hospitals and medical care facilities have adopted end-of-life policies that would violate the deeply held principles of minority faiths relating to life and death. Some corporate employment policies do not allow for “conscience clause exemptions” based on religious belief. There are ongoing challenges to accommodation of religious practices such as Sabbath eruv construction.
The list goes on.
Such crucial concerns should not be seen as merely the parochial concerns of some Jews. To the contrary, like the First Amendment that so critically ensured every citizen’s right to free exercise of religion, they reflect the long tradition of recognizing that the price of liberty, as Andrew Jackson said, is eternal vigilance. As long as the practices of any minority faith are threatened, we are all of us – religious or non-religious – at peril of the loss of our fragile freedoms in a world of increasing homogeneity and conformity.
And thus, to ignore or downplay the significance of anti-circumcision activist groups that would presume to oppose others’ faith or practices, no matter how frivolous or outlandish it might appear, would be not just folly but a clear and present danger to all of our freedoms. And thus the time to oppose them, in concert with all freedom-loving Americans, is now.
Rabbi Basil Herring is the executive vice president and Rabbi Joel Finkelstein is vice president of the Rabbinical Council of America, a Modern Orthodox association.
As much as I would like to continue the discussion about how beautiful and thin I am, even I am sick of the subject. I am flying to Paris today for the wedding of one of my best friends in the whole world. I will only be in France for the weekend but I’ve been thinking a lot about marriage in anticipation of this trip.
I am lucky to have some of the most incredible friends and many of them date back a long time but Tess is officially the longest. Our moms met when they were pregnant with us taking Jane Fonda’s exercise class and became friends. Tess and I were born a week apart and essentially grew up together. She remains one of my closest friends and I’m the un-official maid of honor (she’s not really having a bridal party). But this is officially the first of my good friends to get married (although I think I have two that are about to follow suit) and it’s making me sad. I feel like I’m about to lose something in my life.
Tess is about to be a wife. Except it literally feels like last night that she was on my trundle bed for a sleepover and my mom was coming in to tell us to stop talking and go to bed, and as soon as she would leave we would burst out laughing again. Now she will no longer be a single girl ever again.
It’s reminding me of a feeling I distinctly remember at the tender age of 16. Tess was the first of us to have a boyfriend and I went with her to pick out a pocket watch for her boyfriend Jonathon’s birthday. I was excited for her and pressing her for all the details of what having a boyfriend was like. What do you guys do when you’re together? How far have you gone? Does he write you notes in class? We went into a sketchy pawn shop in the Valley and looked at all the scratched gold watches. When the guy went to ring us up, the watch was 50$. She paid it and all of the sudden I felt like things would never be the same again. She was spending 50$ on a boy?! Neither one of us got much in the way of allowance and Tess especially could be a bit miserly at times so I couldn’t believe this. I knew she had never spent that much on my presents or anyone’s present. I had never seen her spend 50$ on anything ever before. Had she ever gone this out of her way to get me something? All of the sudden, boys had entered our life and I wasn’t the most important relationship in her life anymore. I couldn’t believe it. There was a boy between us.
Of course within a few months that relationship was over and Tess and I stayed best friends without much really changing. And Tess has always been a great friend to me both in and out of relationships over the years. But I guess it hit me at that moment, that no matter how close you are to your friends, when you get married, you’re marrying your closest friend and you vow to always put that person first. As it should be – you build a life and a family together with your spouse not your BFF. But it’s just so concrete now. He comes before me.
So I’m still sad. I feel like I’m losing one of my friends – not completely, just a little, like she’s moving far way and I know I’m being selfish but I can’t help it – I don’t want her to go. Once she leaves for this journey nothing will ever be the same. She is about to pledge herself to this man and it scares me a little. I’m not ready! But she is – she’s getting married after all. I just don’t want things to change. But I fear soon I’ll need to make the same journey myself or get left in the dust.
I just want to stay the way I remember us. Getting in trouble in Ballet class for talking, making our own perfume out of water and eucalyptus leaves, dancing around her living room while her Dad videotaped us, getting our first pair of high heels. I have so many vivid memories of when I was young but the scary thing is, I’m much closer in age to being the mom in those memories now than the kid.
But at the end of the day, so much of our youth was about finding someone to love us. And now she has. And I adore her fiancé. And I have no doubt that he will love her forever. And when I see how happy she is, sometimes I get so happy for her, it feels like it’s all happening to me. She’s about to be a bride and wear a wedding dress. It’s really happening to her and it couldn’t have happened in a more perfect way with a more perfect guy.
Once in college I had a crazy roommate with an even wilder mother who had been through a few marriages. But I’ll never forget some sage advice she handed out frequently, “girlfriends are like cockroaches. They were there before the men, they’ll be there after the men.”
I don’t think in this case, there will be after the men. But maybe it should just be amended and we could say “They were there before the men, and they’ll be there with the men.”
My best friend will be married. It’s the end of an era for us. But the beginning of something so new and magical and so exciting for her that I can only assume, it will all keep getting better for both of us. A bientot et Felicitations pour mes amies! Grosses Bissous!
I love Scotch, and I paskin like the London Beth Din that every single Scotch is kosher. But I love Israel as well, and I particularly don’t like people picking on Israel. So, I support fully counter-boycotting against Scotch’s made in the area where their local council is boycotting Israel. From the best analysis I have seen, Auchentoshen is the Scotch to boycott. Now, Auchentoshan is not my favorite Scotch, so I’m kind of happy that it is really the only Scotch, readily available in America, that is clearly produced and distilled in the West Dunbartonshire (WDS) part of Scotland, where a majority of the local council has voted various boycotts of Israel – including not allowing Israeli books in the local library. The most precise report of what is and is not produced in this shire comes from Joshua E. London, of the Jewish Single Malt Whiskey Society, who is critical of the boycott. But even he admits the viciousness of the WDS local council toward Israel, and that Auchentoshen, while owned by a Japanese conglomerate, is distilled and produced in WDS.
I don’t like boycotts because of policy differences, but when someone boycotts Israel, we must send them a clear message that not only will they suffer, but all their supporters suffer. People in WDS need to understand that if their elected officials pick on Israel, it is their responsibility to remove them from office. I want the world to know that there are millions of consumers and advocates who will fight against any boycott of Israel. These boycotts are not only ignorant and vicious, they are immoral as well. The distillers and producers of Scotch, have to tell that to elected and unelected officials: if you live in a place that discriminates against Israel, or if you are a school which allows students to harm pro-Israel students and speakers, your competitors will benefit and you will lose. That’s the new order. Maybe these crazy socialist/communist/Marxist councils will pick on someone else.
I’m not impressed that Auchentoshen is working to get KLBD hashgacha for their drinks; Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, refused to give hashgacha for any Scotch in his days, because he believed all of it was kosher. I still hold of the London Beth Din’s rule that it is all kosher. In fact, I would suggest that the KLBD, the hashgacha of the London Beth Din, raise the issue of the WDS boycott of Israel in their discussions regarding the kashrut of Auchentashen. The Scotch companies claim that it is not their fault that the local council has voted to boycott Israel; they are just a company and cannot influence elections. I ask then, that these companies who feel they can’t speak up, and universities who claim that they have to allow free speech to students that disrupt Israeli speakers, make a donation to the Friends of the IDF to show that they have nothing against Israel. Or, make a donation to Zaka or Hatzala or even Magen David Adom, any Israeli program that helps victims of Arab terrorism. If they make those donations, and are open about those donations, then I would accept that as a demonstration of their good will.
We in the Diaspora are generally not sending our kids to fight for Israel, nor are we living in Israel and subjecting ourselves to all the risks that Israelis face every day. We are enjoying the bounty of America or some other foreign land. The least we can do is send a message of support for Israel with everything with partake of – whether it is Scotch, higher education, or anything else that God has blessed us with the means of purchasing. Let those who support Israel be blessed and let those who would want to harm Israel face the consequences. God has given us the means of making this world a little more just – let us not shirk our responsibility. Yes, let us drink responsibly!
It was last Tuesday and I was in a hurry. First mistake. I had promised to replace an exterior light bulb above the entrance to my friend, Vivian’s house. It gets pretty dark at night in that general area, not only because of that bulb, but also because the one on the porch ceiling below has been 20 watts for apparently a very long time – probably a refrigerator bulb. Vivian has difficulty walking and seeing, so I was anxious to take care of the bulb at the top in front. I raced over to discover that it was higher up than I had anticipated, and it was an unusually shaped fluorescent. I decided to remove the old one so that I could take it to the store and match it. It was getting later and later. I only had about fifteen minutes before I had to leave to pick up Roxy at school. After knocking on the door and giving Vivian a quick “hello,” I scooted to the backyard and grabbed an aluminum extension ladder – same one I had used to go up on the roof a few months back to figure out where the leak was before calling my roofer. At that time, I used the ladder properly. At that time…. I WASN’T IN A HURRY.
It is essential to hook the top of an extension ladder to the top of the roof or any other structure we’re using the ladder to access. The rubber feet on the bottom of the ladder are not sufficient to keep the ladder from sliding out from under the climber. When I got to the front of the house with the ladder, I realized that I couldn’t hook the top of the ladder to the front (Apex) of the house….. and now it’s only ten minutes before I have to leave. At this moment, The Handy Hazzan could have had the sense to put the ladder away and leave. Vivian had done without this light for weeks if not months. What would be so terrible if she went another day or two? And so, in a senseless moment, not thinking of my own safety, not thinking of the daughter that I love and am mandated to care for… I leaned the top of the extension ladder against the stucco wall, made sure the feet of the ladder were flat on the ground, and proceeded to ascend. About five rungs up, I thought I felt the ladder slip … just a little. I stopped. It stopped… and then I cannot believe I did this… I began climbing again, albeit slowly, up the ladder. I was now about eight or nine feet off of the ground when suddenly, slip gave way to slide – a new twist on the old Simon and Garfunkle tune. The legs gave way and the top of the ladder zipped down the stucco wall, with me holding on all the way, face down. Crash! Thank G-d I had enough koach (koiyich Yiddish) – strength – to cushion my fall by bracing myself in a plank position, although nose and forehead did their parts as well. My face looked like Gregory Hines had tap danced the Twelfth Street Rag on it. My nose was bleeding and my left hand felt numb (ultimately just fine). I couldn’t be sure of my condition, although I knew that was my blood on the ground next to my face. Vivian heard the crash and when she saw me lying there she thought (kinna hera ) I was dead. “Vivian, call 911,” I yelped. She did. By the time the two fireman arrived fifteen minutes later, I was up and at the gate greeting them. Dueling for first place from among my emotions were stupidity, stupidity and stupidity. (Yes, you therapists out there… with me, stupidity is a real emotion.) Guess which one won. Poor Vivian was nearly in hysterics. I assured her I was going to be fine. This was a week ago and what lingers is a damaged left shoulder, the joint exceptionally grumpy for serving me as shock absorber. I convinced the medics that I could do without an emergency room. Finally, I drove away and directly to my union’s (Screen Actors Guild) clinic on LaBrea Avenue, where a great doc was able to put almost Humpty Dumpty Hazzan together again. Good thing Mom was available to get Roxy at school.
I now must insist to myself and you, my readers, that we cannot ever be in a hurry when it comes to safety. Our first obligation to ourselves and others is to maintain safety at all times. Unlike Vivian’s ultimate, plaintive cry, “Never go on a ladder again,” my promise to myself is “Never be stupid again and always take the time to make certain that I am working safely.A few days later it occurred to me that I would have to get back on a ladder, as getting back on the proverbial horse, and I chose to do so in a much safer kind of way on a step ladder (which I call an “A Ladder” in the companion Youtube video) for this week’s Do-It-Yourself” project: washing (exterior) windows. Here goes:
Before washing windows, or cleaning anything else for that matter, it’s a good idea to understand the Ph scale, and how cleaning products range from Acidic – not to be confused with Hassidic (0-2 Ph), to alkaline (13-14 Ph). I refer to a pretty nifty book entitled “Clean it Fast Clean it Right, edited by Jeff Bredenberg for Rodale Press, 1998. Jeff explains that there are five basic kinds of cleaning chemicals: 1. Surfactants … lower the surface tension of water on an item, making it flow more smoothly over surfaces and into tiny cracks, crevices and pores. Then the chemicals can get in there and break down the soils.
2. Alkalies – Most cleaners contain alkalies, not acids, because most soils – from hamburger grease to plain old mud – are acidic. We will be using an alkaline-based cleaning solution to clean the outside of the windows. The dirt is mostly environmental and, in fact, the grill is on the deck not far from that window. Who knows? We might have a bit of hamburger grease on the window as well.
3. Acids – for alkaline soils like lime scale, soap deposits, rust, tannin (from coffee and tea stains), alcoholic beverages, and mustard. These need an acid based cleaner that could range in strength form the mildness of a solution of white vinegar in water, to the harshness of sulfuric acid.
4. Solvents – dissolve soils instead of neutralizing them like alkalies and acids. Examples include paint and lacquer thinner, acetone, alcohol and glycerin. These chemicals are very harsh and toxic, not to mention hard on the environment. Solvents are highly regulated and for good reason.
5. Disinfectants – are for killing germs/bacteria. You may be familiar with such common disinfectants as Lysol, Pinesol, and liquid household bleach (Clorox).
For our window cleaning, I created a solution of a gallon of warm water, baking soda (about three tablespoons), a cup of rubbing alcohol, and two big squirts of dishwashing liquid. Alcohol speeds up drying. You may wish to add a little sudsy ammonia to prevent streaking.
For the longest time I thought that a bottle of blue glass cleaner and paper towels was all I needed to clean windows. (I still might do that on the interior panes.) Then someone gave me the tip that they used newspaper to wipe off the glass cleaner. That’s not a good idea. The newsprint will come off on your hands and you’ll smear the glass. Believe it or not, sudsy water is all you need. Water doesn’t streak and it costs next to nothing. On the other hand, additives like the baking soda will help cut through some of the more ornery dirt.