Interesting Posts and Articles #303

1. Blog In Dm, via Life In Israel, points to some revisionist history on the part of Mordechai Ben David, about performing in front of mixed audiences. This in response to lies told about the planned present performance:
   

   He said that before his last performance, the one to a woman only audience, Rav and Rebbetzin Landau (the rav of Bnei Braq) called the head of the organization and said that they had been told they were bringing a dancer to perform. The organizer was in shock and after a moment responded that it is not true but there is only one performer at the show and that is Mordechai Ben David.

   Regarding mixed audiences:
   

   He then went on to claim that they are making him out to be a rasha, saying he performs to mixed audiences, and it is not true as he refuses to take jobs that would require him to perform to a mixed audience, and that he never has done so.

   In terms of the mixed audience bit, it is unfortunate that he grants the crazies the ability to define what is right, such that a performer before a mixed audience is a "rasha".
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2. Regarding the Jewish burqa women, here is The Muqata, A Mother In Israel, and Life In Israel.
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3. The tweet that made Rabbi Eliyahu Fink famous.
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4. At Mystical Paths, someone high on drugs at the kotel:
   

   So what could possibly be wrong with this?

      Here’s what wrong. It rips you off. big time! (Translation for those of you who did not experience “the sixties,” “a rip off” is a thief who grabs something away from you, something that you want to hold on to.) And this is just what drugs do to your life. They rip off both your physical life, and from my point of view even worse, they rip off your spiritual life, too. And, that’s what hurts so bad.

   and:
   

   The real problem is not that he was having a good time. The “munchies” are fun while you are munching. (Stoned people often get ravenous appetites to stuff food, usually, for something like a few candy bars.) The problem is that he is so satisfied with his drugged experience, that he will never feel the need to do the hard work that is necessary in order to have a true spiritual experience. He will go through his entire life “getting off” on the stones, not even knowing that there is a true spiritual Revelation available.  And that’s why they call it “Dope!”

   If I recall correctly, when the Baal Shem Tov wanted to ascend to higher worlds, he would smoke his pipe.
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5. At any rate, my guess was that it was some of these fellows who spotted the UFO at the kotel. Speaking of which, here is a discussion of how it is a hoax. And via Shirat Devorah, a nice video demonstrating how it is a hoax:
   
   
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   Here is further proof, showing what stock footage the hoaxters used to make the video.
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6. Revach with a discussion from the Shevet HaKehosi of whether dollar bills are allowed in the bathroom. The conclusion:
   

   Furthermore says the Shevet HaKehosi the dollar bills are not written by anyone with any kavana for Shem Hashem, it is merely printed by a machine. Therefore he concludes that it has no Kedusha and may be taken into a bathroom, but if someone wants to be machmir, Tavo Alav Bracha.

   While I understand from the summary that there is room to be machmir, because of the daas yachid of Rav Yaakov Emden, I would disagree with this sentiment of tavo alav bracha. Not that I wish to deprive any member of klal Yisrael of blessings, but that adopting completely unnecessary chumrot based on rejected individual opinions somehow makes one a better person.
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7. The Rebbetzin's Husband on defrocking a chassid.
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8. Wired introduces us to Titanosaurus, an ancestor of triceratops.
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9. An opinion piece in the Lakewood View about being allowed to question.
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10. DovBear on Judaism and its Peter Popoff problem.
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11. Iranium, the movie. Watch free there. Or, here:
    
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12. Here on parshablog, part ii of why I am in favor of murex trunculus techeiles. And whether current events in Egypt are a fulfillment of a prophecy of Yeshayahu.