Interesting Posts and Articles #307

1. This week's Haveil Havolim is at To Kiss a Mezuzah.
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2. Shirat Devorah speaking out against a silly "segulah" that is floating around:

   For those who believe in segulot (A mystical Jewish formula for good mazel) and who of us can't use that!?   Please do not break! Just 27 words. 
   
   "G'mar Chatima Tova!   GOD our Father, walk through my house & take away all my worries & illness & please watch over & heal my family ... Amen." 
   
   This prayer is so powerful. Pass this to 12 people including me.  A blessing is coming to you in 4 mins of a new job, a house, marriage, good health, or financially'.
    Do not break or ask questions. 

   It is a chain mail masquerading as a segulah. As I note there, it is worse than this. It is actually an adaptation of a Christian prayer meme which is going around, presently with about 3,640 hits on Google:

   LET'S DO THIS ....JUST 19 WORDS GOD OUR FATHER, WALK THROUGH MY HOUSE AND TAKE AWAY ALL MY WORRIES AND ILLNESSES; AND PLEASE WATCH OVER AND HEAL MY FAMILY IN JESUS ' NAME. AMEN

   This count is off, even here. Here are the original "Just 19 words":

   GOD OUR FATHER, 
   WALK THROUGH MY HOUSE 
   AND TAKE AWAY ALL MY WORRIES AND ILLNESSES;
   IN JESUS' NAME. AMEN 

   
   
   Here is an example of one with the words "Just 27 words." So, the person who decided to change this into a "Jewish" meme wanted to preserve the 27 words. The ellipses (...) indicate where "in Jesus' name" was removed. And so, to keep the count, he or she began it with 'Gmar Chatima Tova'. Either that or to give it some Jewish flavor.
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   So, so silly.
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3. Rationalist Judaism warns us not to be taken in by the hype of the 'medical miracle' of Chase Britton, a three-year old boy who seems to be functioning well without a cerebellum. He points us to the Neurologica Blog:

   The story of Chase Britton is certainly an interesting one, and it’s unfortunate that the reporting on this case has been so dismal. Chase has pontocerebellar hypoplasia. According to reports he has an absent pons and cerebellum, although I could not find any imaging online. It is possible that his cerebellum is atrophied to the point that it is not visible (or easily visible on MRI scan), but there is probably a remnant there. The pons also cannot be missing. That’s like saying someone’s neck is missing. It is just atrophied – perhaps the ventral pons is missing or atrophied.

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4. SerandEz points us to an article in The Simple Dollar about how it is harder nowadays for young people and couples to save. He wonders whether the same is true for young Orthodox couples.
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5. In the Daily Mail, police order residents not to put wire mesh on their windows, for it might injure burglars.
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6. Via DovBear, how fortune tellers (and some Rebbes) con people.
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7. Avakesh on Rashi and Yerushalmi.
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8. VIN, the Yeshiva World, and Matzav with a YNet article on a dove that came to learn Torah. They believe it is a gilgul, and so one fellow tried to shecht it. I would guess because an animal gilgul receives its tikkun by having someone make a bracha over it and eat it. The pasuk states {in Va'esnachan}:
   
   ו  וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם, וַעֲשִׂיתֶם--כִּי הִוא חָכְמַתְכֶם וּבִינַתְכֶם, לְעֵינֵי הָעַמִּים:  אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁמְעוּן, אֵת כָּל-הַחֻקִּים הָאֵלֶּה, וְאָמְרוּ רַק עַם-חָכָם וְנָבוֹן, הַגּוֹי הַגָּדוֹל הַזֶּה.
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   I never knew how to interpret this pasuk, but now I have merited to understand it. Now I understand that the רק is למעט תלמידי קמניץ. Every mentally disturbed person is a dybbuk, every autistic person or tame dove in search of breadcrumbs is a gilgul. DovBear discusses it here and does not think too much of this. Yernanen Yaakov, in discussing it, suggests they take the same course of action as Rav Ovadia Yosef.
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   Meanwhile, Rabbi Natan Slifkin, at Rationalist Judaism, dislikes how some are using this to mock other people's beliefs. And he notes the calls of kefira in both directions about gilgul and Zoharic authorship in the comment section of Vos Iz Neias. He ends with this cute story:

   On a lighter note, I was told a terrific story by someone who studied at Gateshead yeshivah in England. A bird once flew into the Beis HaMidrash, and someone approached the Rosh Yeshivah and said, "Efsher it's a gilgul?"
   
   Replied the Rosh Yeshivah, "Efsher it's a feigel?"

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9. On The Main Line with an unknown portrait of the Vilna Gaon, sans kippa.
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10. Apologies -- I should have viewed this video in full before posting it.
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11. Mystical Paths about tattoos.
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12. Here on parshablog, Why should the half-shekel perplex Moshe Rabbenu? And more on mor dror.