Nothing says “happy Father’s Day” like your very own kid covering your very own song.
In this clip, which Matisyahu posted to YouTube (and we saw on Jewcy), the reggae star’s son Shalom sweetly belts out a kiddified version of “Live Like A Warrior.”
Like father like son…mostly. While the former hasid has lost his peyas, Shalom’s still sporting them.
Cute video of the day: Matisyahu’s kid sings Read More »
The election of cleric Hassan Rohani as president of Iran does not change anything, since he was shortlisted by the country’s radical Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Candidates who did not conform to Khamenei’s extremist outlook were not able to run for the presidency, Netanyahu said Sunday at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting, a day after Rohani’s election.
Netanyahu pointed out that “among those whose candidacies he allowed was elected the candidate who was seen as less identified with the regime, who still defines the State of Israel as ‘the great Zionist Satan.’ ”
It is Khamenei who ultimately determines Iran’s nuclear policy, the Israeli leader said.
“Iran will be judged by its actions,” Netanyahu said. “If it continues to insist on developing its nuclear program, the answer needs to be very clear — stopping the nuclear program by any means.”
Rohani, who is seen as much more moderate than the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will take office in August after receiving slightly more than 50 percent of the vote. Some 72 percent of the 50 million eligible voters turned out.
The combative Ahmadinejad was barred from running for reelection due to term limits.
“This victory is a victory of wisdom, a victory of moderation, a victory of growth and awareness, and a victory of commitment over extremism and ill temper,” Rohani said Saturday on state television.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that “Iran must abide by the demands of the international community to stop its nuclear program and cease the dissemination of terror throughout the world.”
In its statement on Saturday, the White House congratulated the Iranian people for participating in the political process and “their courage in making their voices heard.” The statement said it respected their vote.
“It is our hope that the Iranian government will heed the will of the Iranian people and make responsible choices that create a better future for all Iranians,” the White House said.
On Sunday, the British newspaper The Independent reported that Iran will send 4,000 Revolutionary Guard troops to Syria to aid President Bashar Assad against rebel forces in his country’s two-year civil war. The decision reportedly was made before the start of the presidential election.
Iran also proposed opening up what it called a “Syrian front” against Israel in the Golan Heights, according to the Independent.
Iran’s new president still Khamenei-approved, Netanyahu says Read More »
I sent my big girl to the mall with her daddy today. I wanted to buy him new pants but there were two problems with my idea. He rarely likes what I buy him, and I hate shopping so all I wind up doing is having to return things, and who’s got the time for that?? I figured if he went with his girl who has the patience and passion for the activity, the goal might be accomplished.
I guess this is acceptance. Maturation of sorts. I used to imagine family life as being always a team activity, and when anything fell short of that the whole thing was a failure. I now see it as a much more fluid, ever changing sort of system. Sometimes the group system works best. These are times that have to be nurtured and protected. Family trips or meals, for instance, as most often the memories made over ride the challenges.
There are a whole host of activities that actually don’t need all members of the team. Some people are Definitely better off being benched at home, lets say, imagining with their dolls or doing laundry. Things they may actually be better suited for in the moment.
So the mindful parenting continues… When and how to discern these moments, and to feel gratitude for all we have and HAVE had in our personal family teams is enough.
Please join me as our summer schedule continues! With a couple of time changes AND additions!
MONDAY` 9AM-10 AM TEMPLE EMANUEL
7-8:30 PM U STUDIO (beginning mid July)
TUESDAY 6:30-7:45 PM TEMPLE EMANUEL
WEDNESDAY 10-11 AM TEMPLE EMANUEL
THURSDAY 9-10 AM TEMPLE EMANUEL
TEMPLE EMANUEL 8844 BURTON WAY, BH 90211
U STUDIO 5410 WILSHIRE BLVD. #500 LA 90036
in appreciation, michelle
1. Iran
So, Netanyahu or Peres? That’s the question when it comes to Iran- should Israel (and the rest of the world) adopt the more suspicious approach espoused by the Prime Minister following the victory of moderate – relatively moderate, that is – Hassan Rohani. Or maybe the proper tone, at least for now, is the more hopeful one, presented yesterday by the President.
Netanyahu:
“Let us not delude ourselves. The international community must not become caught up in wishful thinking,” said Prime Minister Netanyahu, who insisted that the Iranian regime still considers Israel a “Zionist Satan.” “Fifteen years ago, the election of another president, also considered a moderate by the West, led to no change in these aggressive policies.”
Peres:
“It is clearly a voice of the people and a voice that says, ‘We don’t agree with this group of leaders'”.
So, Netanyahu or Peres? This isn't a choice between two different analytical understandings of the new situation with Iran. The glass is the same glass, the only difference is whether one chooses to talk about the half full or the half empty part of it. For these two leaders, it is a matter of personality. Netanyahu has an image to maintain as the grim one, Peres an image of the eternal optimist. Both played the role you'd expect them to play. Both did what they thought had to be done: Netanyahu in warning against delusions (he hates the delusional outlook), and Peres in warning against self fulfilling dire prophesies (he hates the pessimistic outlook).
Peres' is the more appealing outlook.
Netanyahu's is the more realistic one.
2. Intelligence
In my article from last week about Middle East upheaval, I focused on the failure of intelligence agencies to predict most of what has happened in the region in recent years. Since the article was mostly about Syria, the failure to forecast Assad's ability to survive was the main point of reference.
In December 2011, a year and a half ago, Israel’s then-defense minister, Ehud Barak, estimated that Syria’s Bashar Assad fall would come in a matter of “weeks.” He was not alone in his estimation. A month or so before him, “Western diplomats” told Reuters that Assad’s fall was all but certain. In January 2012, a month after Barak, a spokesman for the White House explained that Assad “has lost control of the country” and it is inevitable that his “brutal regime” would fall from power. Yet Assad has persisted in defeating such expectations and refused to comply.
By April 2012, observers began to realize that the tune had to change. “It might take more than we thought,” a senior officer said, and the former head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security services, mockingly suggested that the Assad regime would outlive Barak’s party. As things turned out, this was an accurate forecast, one of few such successes.
This week intelligence agencies and politicians and experts were humbled again by their inability to predict Rohani's victory. Look at this guide to the frontrunners, which gave Rohani only a slight chance of winning. It was – no doubt – a “surprise result”, as Time magazine tagged it. It “stunned the Islamic Republic’s hard-line establishment”, Time reports, but it also stunned other establishments. “The outline the intelligence community (Military Intelligence and the Mossad) provided to the political leadership in Israel over the past few weeks didn’t even have a hint of this overwhelming defeat – and we can quite confidently say that the predictions of the intelligence services in other Western countries weren’t any more accurate”, Amos Harel reported.
Another intelligence failure then? More like our failure to realize that while intelligence agencies can collect operational information that is very useful, they are barely more capable of predicting election results and geo-strategic trends that the average intelligent newspaper reader.
3. Peres
He will celebrate his 90th birthday tomorrow. Agree with him, disagree with him, he is our last lion- reason enough for me to refrain from being petty about his Presidential extravaganza.
4. Chief Rabbi
Many people were hopeful that Rabbi David Stav is going to revolutionize Israel's Rabbinate. But a sobering reality is gradually creeping in: Stav is a fine choice, but a losing one. Two days ago, spiritual leader of Shas, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, explained to his flock that electing Stav would be “like putting an idol in the sanctuary of the Temple”. Yet again, people should be reminded that the election of a chief rabbi in Israel isn't a reality show in which the most liked person is picked by the public. Electing chief rabbi is all about power politics – and supporters of Stav, while gaining the moral high ground in choosing to stick with him, are likely to lose.
Is this a bad thing? When it comes to Israel's rabbinate I think it isn't. Admittedly adopting a somewhat Marxist view of the rabbinate, I'd rather have a rabbi that is as detached from Israeli realities as possible. Since I don't think there's any hope for the rabbinate – nor do I want it to have any hope – I'd rather see it decline to the point of irrelevancy. Thus, the less communicative the chief rabbi, the less moderate and open, the more under haredi influence he is, the better.
Iran- Good News or Bad News? (and Other Comments on the Current Events) Read More »
The two-state solution is dead, Israeli government minister Naftali Bennett, head of the coalition partner Jewish Home Party, told a settlers’ group.
“Never has so much time been invested in something so pointless,” Bennett told a meeting Monday of the Yesha Council in Jerusalem. “We need to build, build, build.”
“(T)he challenge now is how do we move forward from here, knowing that a Palestinian state within Israel is not possible, Bennett reportedly also said, adding: “We have to move from solving the problem to living with the problem.”
Following Bennett’s remarks, Peace Now called on government minister Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid party, to leave the government over past statements that his party would not be part of a government that is not willing to negotiation peace with the Palestinians.
Bennett’s remarks come a week after Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon said that Israel’s government will oppose a two-state solution and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, remarks that were roundly condemned.
Two-state solution is dead, Naftali Bennett says Read More »
The US
Headline: Obama, Putin to meet for talks on Syria at G8 summit
To Read: According to Doyle McManus, Obama is following the 'Aspin Doctrine' doctrine in Syria ('a slope isn't slippery if you're willing to walk away')-
Obama was left with two unpalatable options: escalate or accept defeat. Doing nothing might have led to irreversible results, the collapse of the rebels, so he chose to escalate — but only a little and with a vow to put no U.S. boots on the ground.
Some critics will still warn that he has stepped onto a slippery slope that leads to direct military intervention. But that's where the Aspin Doctrine comes in. There are plenty of examples of the United States aiding one faction in a civil war, only to disengage if our client army failed (Ronald Reagan's Contras in Nicaragua, for example).
Obama's gradual escalation doesn't preclude military intervention later — and could even pave the way for it.
Quote: “I see it as a potentially hopeful sign. I think the question for us now is: If he is interested in, as he has said in his campaign events, mending his relations — Iran’s relations with the rest of the world — there’s an opportunity to do that”, Denis McDonough, President Obama's Chief of Staff, commenting on the Rowhani election in Iran.
Number: 60, the estimated percent decrease in American gas imports since 2005.
Israel
Headline: Israeli, Palestinian finance ministers meet
To Read: Evelyn Gordon views the Palestinians' refusal to allow the building of an egalitarian section at the western wall as a kind of test of American Jewry's true priorities on Israel-
Most liberal American Jews have two main demands of Israel: They want it to recognize the non-Orthodox denominations, and they want it to make peace with the Palestinians, right now. The latter demand isn’t confined to fringe anti-Israel activists; it’s routinely voiced by long-time Israel supporters like Rabbi Eric Yoffie or Leon Wieseltier. So I’d like all these Jews to seriously consider this question: When these two primary demands conflict, what do you do–capitulate to the PA in the interests of “peace” and give up on being able to pray at the Western Wall in your own fashion, or insist on your rights at the Wall at the cost of further antagonizing the Palestinians, for whom modifications of the Western Wall Plaza are no less objectionable than new outposts in the heart of the West Bank?
Quote: “Never has so much time been invested in something so pointless. We need to build, build, build. If the money spent on caviar in cocktail parties dealing with the idea of a Palestinian state would have been used for building interchanges (in the territories) – everything would be different”, Economy Minister and Habayir Hayehudi chairman, Naftali Bennett, talking about the pointlessness of a Palestine state.
Number: 600, the number of people in a 24/7 military force created in the Gaza strip to prevent rocket fires at Israel, according to an Arab source.
The Middle East
Headline: Syrian activists: 20 soldiers killed, wounded by car bomb attack on Damascus checkpoint
To Read: Shashank Joshi believes that even though Iran's new President will indeed be in the shadow of the supreme leader, and even though serious foreign policy shifts are not likely to occur, there still might be reason for celebration-
These geopolitical issues aren’t the only ones that matter, though. Iranians live under an autocratic, repressive and economically stagnating system. Anything that eases those conditions is an unalloyed good. More important, the events of the past several years underscore that evolutionary political change is far preferable, both to its participants and bystanders, to the revolutionary violence witnessed in places like Syria. Rohani’s regime credentials may allow him to serve as a bridge figure, capable of couching modest reforms terms that are politically acceptable to the hardliners.
Quote: “Jerusalem and its holy sites are of the highest priority to the Palestinian Authority's new government”, the new Palestinian PM, Rami Hamdallah, visiting the Al Aqsa Mosque.
Number: 77,000, the number of Syrian refugees in Egypt.
The Jewish World
Headline: Chief rabbinate candidate attacked at wedding
To Read: Adam Kirsch sees interesting similarities between Chaim Nachman Bialik's attitude toward Jewish Halakha and Marcel Proust's (equally Jewish) attitude toward metaphysical abstraction-
Even as Proust explicitly rejects religion, he invokes metaphysics: specifically, the Platonic scheme of a life that preexists this one, which we spend in the company of pure Ideas and for which we long unceasingly in this fallen world. The Idea serves Proust in the same way that halakha serves Bialik: Both are attempts to reconstitute the kind of absolute authority that is missing from the secular world. And both are invoked, as they have to be, only hypothetically. For Bialik, we must live as if we believed halakha were divine, in order to create a noble national life; for Proust, we must live as if we believed in a world “entirely different from this one,” in order to create a noble work of art.
Quote: “We know who runs Poland … it’s run by Jews, and particularly bad Jews”, Jan Kielb, the leader of a new Polish Antisemitic party which was allowed to run for parliament by the Polish courts after no prosecutor has lodged a complaint about the party.
Number: about 100, the number of Jews saved by Odoardo Focherini, the first Righteous Gentile to be beatified, in WW2.
