Tibbi’s Roundup: It’s All in the Wrist

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Whatever you do – Do it with real commitment, right? Well… There’s such a thing as too much commitment.

Dave Hurban is the inventor of the iDermal–a strapless iPod nano that goes directly on your wrist, according to a report in Time Magazine.

Think of it, with an iPod magically attached to your wrist, without a band — you could probably double your exercising time, or whatever it is you do with your iPod (Iusually listen to music).

But Hurban, the iDermal’s inventor, had to insert four magnets into his arm to get the desired effect.

So, now you know, to qualify for a strapless iPod you must endure what pain and a lot of bleeding.

Are we as committed to our issues as Dave Hurban is to his? I doubt it. I want you to be a little less committed, if possible. All of you, bloggers and the people who care for them. It’s spring time, what are you doing on the Internet when outside the sun is shining? Go out, run on the grass, you’ll thank me later.

Don’t forget your iPod.

Re: Cops Scare Easy

You arrived at a shorter formulation of my dictum, The Law Follows the Path of Least Resistance.

In the 1970s I lived in Cambridge, MA. Fanatics of my generation were always in the streets vandalizing public property. I saw this on my way to and from the bookstore, the grocery, the T station.

And as I worked my way along the periphery of chaos with my hands occupied by purchases, I was always stopped by police.

The dictum has proven true in the 40 years since.
Diane Blitzer, Write Angle

Take a look at some of today’s police action. Apparently, when some cop are confronted with scary teenage girls, they stick with the mission, despite the obvious danger to life and limb.
TS

What’s the matter? You don’t like my blog anymore? Yesterday’s post had a near record number of hits and you didn’t think it worthy enough to feature? Want Emes and Emunah in your life? Harry Maryles

Making a Kiddush HaShem There is a front page essay in last week’s the Jewish Press that is both refreshing and troubling. 40 year old Rabbi Yaakov Rosenblatt (pictured) has touched upon a subject which is a recurrent theme here, Kiddush HaShem. Well not exactly. The theme I write about is the antithesis to this: Chilul HaShem. But one cannot really discuss one side of this coin without thinking about the other.

Rabbi Rosenblatt clearly identifies as Haredi. Although he does not refer to himself that way specifically it is obvious from the context that he is. What is refreshing therefore is that he is calling for a new mission for his community that will be inspiring for the current generation. Just as the mission was for earlier
Harry Maryles, Emes Ve-Emunah

Link to my interesting blog post: Achas L’Maala V’Sheva L’Matta, Everything you always wanted to ASK about the Haredim (but were afraid to KNOW), The Chareidi Response Y. Hirshman

Accepting Kids or Excepting Kids – Phishing for a Psak I wrote in my book that there are basically two “grades” of Haredim: the Rabi Shimon ben Yochai grade and the Rabi Yishmael grade.

In general, the two grades interact rather well but on some issues there may need a bit of arbitration. Here is how I wrote it in the book:

The inevitable result is the emergence of two main categories of Haredim – the [Rabbi] Shimonists and the [Rabbi] Yishmaelists. These two strains co-exist within every Haredi community and often within Haredi households. In most aspects, there are no substantial adverse effects to this phenomenon. The Yishmaelists admire the Shimonists for maintaining a higher standard and the Shimonists appreciate that the Yishmaelists are ‘doing their job’. Essentially, they carry out a teamwork program (in the spirit of the Yissachar – Zevulun partnership) as, typically, both groups gain from the achievements of the other.
Yechezkel, Achas L’Maala V’Sheva L’Matta

Honestly, the man always agrees with me, it’s embarrassing already…

How to Write About Israel Writing about Israel is a booming field. No news agency, be it ever so humble, can avoid embedding a few correspondents and a dog’s tail of stringers into Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, to sit in cafes clicking away on their laptops, meeting up with leftist NGO’s and the oppressed Muslim of the week.

At a time when international desks are being cut to the bone, this is the one bone that the news hounds won’t give up.
Daniel Greenfield, Sultan Knish

As usual, very thoughtful stuff in Hirhurim.

The Social Media Challenge Imagine wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with your most personal information. Everyone who sees you knows about your social life, your preferences, your highest moments and worst defeats. No one would wear such a t-shirt because doing so is an abandonment of privacy, a destruction of the social boundaries we need to allow us to experiment and grow.

Misuse of social media is wearing that exposing t-shirt.
Rabbi Gil Student, Hirhurim Torah Musings

I didn’t know they Haredim were having a hard time packing the stadium for the Internet Reduction (can’t say anti-Internet because that’s not PC enough. Apparently the Haredim loooove the Internet, but only like 4% of it. The rest they want kept away in a nice bottle with all the other genies.

If You Love Torah Judaism Stay Home on May 20 Any loyal fan of charedi Judaism should be deeply offended by the message currently being used to promote the CitiField Asifa on May 20. Instead of telling us why the Asifa is important, we are being urged to save the organizers from embarrassment. Rather than put a good team on the field, the event organizers are asking us to prop up a bunch of farm hands and, through our attendance at the Asifa, shield them from the consequences of their own failures.
Dov Bear

You really need to date one to understand…

A Comprehensive Guide for Ladies: How to Avoid @#$%s in Israel It is easy to describe a typical Israeli “Ars”; their appearance and behavior screams so loud, the sound can practically choke you. For more information, please see my guide: “Ladies… Beware of the Ars!” One of the first steps in problem solving is awareness, and it is far from a difficult task to raise “Ars Awareness.” One the other hand, how do you avoid the less obvious, less in-your-face, less apparent jerks who are equally harmful, if not more so?
Michelle Esther Appelbaum, Jewlicious

You know it’s going to totally noisy – go join the side of the angels.

This Thursday in San Francisco: Love, Hate and the Jewish State Taking place at Hub San Francisco (925 Mission St.) in the SF Chronicle Building, Love, Hate and the Jewish State is meant to be a civil dialog about Israel where participants are encouraged to share their stories and “Leave the boxing gloves at home.” Sponsored by the New Israel Fund’s New Generations, the young adult/young professional 20s and 30s wing of the NIF, the program encourages participants to share their personal experiences about Israel and social justice.
CK, Jewlicious

Get used to it, Israel has the largest Jewish population in the world. And we get HBO!

Aliyah, Moving to Israel, Unusual or Normal/Logical/Common for Jews? Recently, I found myself emailing with a couple of members of my high school graduating class who probably never once spoke to me when we were students together. Email and many decades are the great equalizer.

They’re trying to organize a big reunion in their part of the world, about half a world’s distance from where I am in Israel. I had replied to their query/announcement saying I’d love to meet anyone from our class who comes to Israel, but I can’t make the reunion. There were a few hundred Jews in our graduating class, but I’m the only one here in Israel. One of them wrote that she considered my being here the most “unusual” of all the stories she knows. I find that strange.
Batya, Shiloh Musings

(In honor of Sunday’s celebration of 45 years since the reunification of Jerusalem, the Muqata collected various short stories and “two-sentence mentions,” shedding light on Jewish history in the areas conquered during the Six-Day War.)

A Historical Sampling In the 16th century there was as small Jewish community in Jenin, mentioned by Polish-Lithuanian Prince Nicholas Christopher Radziwill who toured the land, as well as by several Jewish scholars.  In the mid-17th century a French doctor wrote of Jewish merchants who lived in the town.  A few Jews continued to live in Jenin until the Arab riots of the 20th century.
Ora, The Muqata

Love things kids say. To this day we use the term “Hossipal” which our kid used when she was three, as in “We go to hossipal to fix my booboo.”

Kol Hakavod, Boy! Apparently not satisfied with bossing two little sibs around, Rimonit decided yesterday (and Kinneret immediately followed suit) to extend her orders to anyone she could see outside the window.
Shoshana Kordova, The 90th Minute

Not cute, really, but pretty amusing (go to the blog for the punch line):

Unusual Daf Yomi Audience
I was driving home from the airport last night and was listening to a radio program on Radio Kol Chai. The program was a call-in show with some rav. After a few calls discussing various topics ranging from how bad the internet is to the Russian goyim who were brought to live in Israel, a woman called in and said something that floored the host of the show.
Life in Israel