Interesting Posts and Articles #147

1. Life in Israel has a bunch of good posts. First, the battle of the tzedaka organizations for primacy in the Shelah segulah. And on believing what you hear -- and even what you see! -- in the name of Rav Elyashiv. Including the now famous video about tznius, and whether Rav Elyashiv really said what was attributed to him in terms of SMS. Related, Rationalist Judaism posts that video and wonders about it. I have what to say about it, but never got around to posting. Perhaps soon.
   
   
2. Deserving of its own heading, Life in Israel posts on how Rav Amar backtracked on the thrips on strawberries, in an interview with Shas Youth. See also at Shirat Devorah. And thanks to those who emailed me about this as well.
   

   "Rav Amar said that he was discussing the halacha of bugs that cannot be seen. He is not saying that is the metzius of the strawberries. Rav Amar says he mentioned strawberries in the context that if the bugs on strawberries are of this type, that cannot be seen, they would be allowed to be eaten. Because the experts say that the strawberries are infested with bugs that can be seen by the naked eye, one should be careful about eating them regarding the halachos of bugs, and of one cannot clean them properly, one should not eat them."

   He was discussing theory without discussing the actual application, and whether the bugs are considered visible. It therefore all goes back to the experts, as well as our own eyes. I still think there is what to to discuss about this, but enough for now.
   
   
3. The Way to Nothing discusses Kol Brisk, in a version not as safe to accountants and electrical contractors. I don't believe the situation is so pashut.
   
   
4. At A Simple Jew, Tehillim and Chassidim. When was it first regarded as an entire unit to say?
   
   
5. Reb Akiva at Mystical Paths is finally convinced that Obama is Gog, because of certain positions on Yerushalayim. We will have to see how things shape up. Meanwhile, DovBear is having none of it.
   
   
6. Yefes makes an interesting point.
   
   
7. In England, Pringles are potato chips, by law. Compare with halacha determining the status of things. This reminds me of Jasper Fford's The Fourth Bear, in which the resolution of the story hinged upon whether a gingerbread man was a cookie or a biscuit. But this is something they actually debate in England!
   
   
8. On the Main Line on what a Chinese chumash looks like.
   
   
9. Country Yossi Magazine, in the Let's Shmooze section, reprints the Sold a Yid for a quarter story. I previously covered this story in a post titled The Rabbi, the Priest, and the Quarterback. There, I demonstrated that the story was initially about a priest who said "Oh Lord, I almost sold your Son for a quarter!" I really dislike the adaptation of these stories.
   
   
10. A yeshiva closes until after Shavuos because of one confirmed case of swine flu. I found it annoying and misleading when one blogger wrote
    

    Clearly, one who neither eats swine nor acts like swine need worry about Swine Flu.

    not only because it is untrue and gives the impression that you get it from cooked pork, but because it has the effect of being malshin the inevitable frum person who contracts the disease (as well as others even before them who did not get it from swine but from another person, and were moral people). No, we are not guaranteed "emunity," to borrow a word.
    
    
11. Don't forget to check out this week's Haveil Havalim, over at What War Zone?