Jewish Blogs

Is Argentina’s Political Candidate Sergio Bergman Jewish?

Rabbi Sergio Bergman, already one of Buenos Aires’ most prominent spiritual leaders, has become one of the Argentine capital’s most highly visible political candidates. Bergman was tapped by the city’s incumbent mayor, Mauricio Macri, to lead his PRO party’s list for the municipal legislature. As the top candidate on the center-right party’s slate, the rabbi is virtually assured of securing ...

Is Anti-Muslim Bias Acceptable when Considering the Ground Zero Mosque?

I was having a discussion with a friend about the Ground Zero Mosque and he felt that the greater you associate 9/11 with Islam in general, the more likely you are against the Mosque. He also pointed out that even President Bush said that we are not at war with Muslims, but with the terrorists, and he thereby disassociated 9/11 ...

Is Andrew Breitbart Jewish?

Yes, Andrew Breitbart is a Jew. The conservative pundit says he “grew up in Brentwood (i.e., Los Angeles, California) a secular liberal Jew” who celebrated his bar mitzvah and “has the tape to prove it.” How funny and clever.In an effort to discredit the congressman, in June 2011, Breitbart publicized personal tweets and emails from Rep. Anthony Weiner to various ...

Is an Orthodox Stance Jewish?

An Orthodox stance is a way of positioning both the feet and hands in combat sports such as boxing, karate, kick boxing, and mixed martial arts. A traditional orthodox stance is one in which the boxer places his or her left foot farther in front of the right foot, thus having his or her weaker side closer to the opponent. ...

Is Amar’e Stoudemire Jewish?

Amar’e Stoudemire’s official Twitter account name is @Amareisreal but it mind as well be Amare Israel. From his Twitter feed we learn that the basketball star is now in Jerusalem, Israel searching for his Jewish heritage. The 2003 Rookie of the Year has apparently learned that he has Jewish roots (born in Lake Wales, Florida his father died when he ...

Is a Menorah Just Lights?

All religious symbols are multivalent, possessing more than one meaning, or none at all. Even in the case of the most explicit representation, there’s always the option to claim that it’s “art” or “decoration” and shrug it off. But that’s not fair because cultural context does impose standard meanings.A while back we looked at one instance, connected to Hanukkah, and ...

iPhone apps for Israel

There is no better place in the world to spend Jewish holidays than Israel. In no other place the spirit of the holidays can be felt more intense. The shopping fever, house preparations, talks over where to spend it and with whom. You can feel that in every corner of Israel.Ubiquitous vibrating voice of shofar, as the sign of more ...

iPad’s Magical 4.2 Upgrade

We love our iPad. It’s a new class of device that has many uses. Not a phone, not a laptop, something else.Now we have upgraded the system to OS 4.2. There are dozens of nice things about the upgrade. These stand out.We bought an HP ePrint printer model 110 in anticipation of the new release. After the upgrade we went ...

iPad Torah has sofrim worried

Sofrim in Monsey are scrambling for new clients quickly before the new iPad Torah becomes too popular. The iPad Torah app is predicted to reduce the need for new sifrei torah. We have just learned that Rustybrick, a tech company from the Monsey area have invented the iPad Torah app as a cost cutting measure for the local community. Several ...

iPad Si, Netbook No

In April we go our iPad. The next day we put our two Dell netbooks up for sale on ebay. We had no doubt that iPad is a revolutionary shift in technology and that netbooks are nothing more than shrunken laptops.The sales numbers are now coming in showing just that. Netbook sales are down and iPads are moving like hotcakes.Read ...

iPad GPS and iPad Blackboard

There is confusion about whether iPad has a real GPS embedded. This article in BindApple explains the confusion and still leaves us unclear about what we have in our wi-fi iPad.There is excitement about the Blackboard Mobile Learn App (free — your university must have the server side modules installed) for iPad and other mobile devices. It’s a nice first ...

iPad Brings Happiness

Sukkot is called the festival of our happiness. We did have a happy holiday so far with our family and friends.On a related topic, analysts are pointing out that the Apple iPad device is producing happy users in record numbers.We’ve said from day one that the iPad gets it right. Instant happiness with hardly any frustration. Wow. Here is how ...