An interesting correction in NYT Magazine

When cows fly

From the New York Times Magazine:

An article on Jan. 16 about drilling for oil off the coast of Angola erroneously reported a story about cows falling from planes, as an example of risks in any engineering endeavor.No cows, smuggled or otherwise, ever fell from a plane into a Japanese fishing rig. The story is an urban legend, and versions of it have been reported in Scotland, Germany, Russia and other locations.

You can read about this urban legend on Snopes here. A retelling of this legend:

A very strange true story:

Earlier this year, the dazed crew of a Japanese trawler were plucked of the Sea of Japan clinging to the wreckage of their sunken ship. Their rescue, however, was followed by immediate imprisonment once authorities questioned the sailors on their ship's loss. To a man they claimed that a cow, falling out of a clear blue sky, had struck the trawler amidships, shattering its hull and sinking the vessel within minutes.

They remained in prison for several weeks, until the Russian Air Force reluctantly informed Japanese authorities that the crew of one of its cargo planes had apparently stolen a cow wandering at the edge of a Siberian airfield, forced the cow into the plane's hold and hastily taken off for home. Unprepared for live cargo, the Russian crew was ill-equipped to manage a now rampaging cow within its hold. To save the aircraft and themselves, they shoved the animal out of the cargo hold as they crossed the Sea of Japan at an altitude of 30,000 feet.

Heh.

Tangentially related, it is apparently New York Times Letter to the Editor policy that you cannot say that the Times is wrong.

Did a researcher "admit" swine flu was manufactured in a lab?

Snopes has not covered this, so I thought I would step up to the plate, by bringing prominence to this. Swine flu naturally has all the conspiracy theorists in a frenzy. Among the biggest claims for it all being a plot is the Dallas Country Health Director, John Carlo, referring to it as having been cultivated in a lab. Thus, in this video, at about the 52 second mark, he refers to "this strain of swine influenza that's been cultured in the laboratory..."



The implication would be that someone deliberately created this. However, a local reporter spoke to him to get clarification, in the wake of the reaction from conspiracy theorists. He clarifies:

"I'm 36, and I don't blog," Carlo says. "But it hit the blogosphere very quickly, and we need to figure out how to be available to that media as well. We've been tracking this element of the news, and I went back and reviewed the information and where this came from -- and to be honest, I didn't see how that impression had been directed. But, of course, at this point, this is something completely natural. There should be no consideration this is man-made. This is something that has happened throughout history. Swine flu isn't rare. We see it every other year in the U.S. The point was, it's a completely new virus and something not seen before anywhere -- this particular strain of swine flu."

For those needing further elucidation -- say, anyone who's never watched a television medical drama or been to a doctor -- when Carlo said the strain had been cultured in a lab, he just meant: "They took the swab off the individual infected with the illness and grew it in the lab," he says. "It's confusing, but it certainly wasn't created in a lab. I guess it seems obvious for the medical professionals. I'm working with my advisers to make it clear on the messaging. We definitely don't want to convey that it was created in the lab."

The Rabbi, the Priest, and the Quarterback

Over at DovBear, in a post discussing the possibility that a story of the suicide of 93 Beis Yaakov girls was fabricated, Bray of Fundie asks what the motivation could be. Why in the world would somebody fabricate a story like that?! This is reason for him to lean towards believing the story is true.

I don't find this a persuasive argument, because every few weeks we encounter some "inspirational" story passed around as true, which was fabricated by some individual who thought it would be inspirational. It is an attempt to be mezakeh the rabbim. And the problem with this is that they do not see any problem making up inspirational stories; and their idea of "inspirational" is sometimes skewed. It is not at all inconceivable that someone would find the message in the Beis Yaakov story inspirational, and would pass it around as truth.

Also, sometimes stories begin in a way where it is quasi-evident they are made up, to illustrate a point, but as the story spreads, it morphs, and people misunderstand elements of it, including whether it is a true incident.

A good recent example is the story linked to recently at Shirat Devorah. She writes:

If you have the title "Rabbi" in front of your name, you should definitely read this post from Mashiach is Coming - even if you're not a Rabbi, it's a good lesson to bear in mind.

At the Mashiach Is Coming blog, we encounter the following story:

Several years ago, a rabbi from out-of-state accepted a call to a community in Houston , Texas . Some weeks after he arrived, he had an occasion to ride the bus from his home to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him a quarter too much change.
As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, 'You'd better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it'.
Then he thought, 'Oh, forget it, it's only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway, the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a 'gift from G-d' and keep quiet'.
When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, and then he handed the quarter to the driver and said, 'Here, you gave me too much change'.
The driver, with a smile, replied, 'Aren't you the new rabbi in town?'
'Yes' he replied.
'Well, I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I'll see you in Shul on Shabbos'.
When the rabbi stepped off of the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on, and said, 'Oh Rebono Shel Olam, I almost sold a Yid for a quarter.'

Our lives are the only thing some people will ever read.

This is a really scary example of how much people watch us as JEW, and will put us to the test! Always be on guard -- and remember -- You carry the name of HaShem on your shoulders when you call yourself a 'JEW'.

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

Right off the bat, I was suspicious of this story. While I am sure that these stories do happen on occasion, this reads like an inspirational tale, something from a homily. This is the genre, and there are many fictional stories of this sort. So maybe it happened, but there is a strong likelihood it did not. Even though a generic time was given ("several" years ago), a place was given ("Houston, Texas"), and the rabbi is question was quasi-identified ("a rabbi from out-of-state").

Further, certain elements of the story seem strange, or stilted. (1) What kind of test is this? Maybe the rabbi would not count his change, and just pocket it, assuming it was accurate; or what if he would count his change inaccurately? (2) It just happened that the bus-driver was Jewish. This is possible, but then he would not be wearing a kippah, for the rabbi did not recognize him as Jewish; I suppose this could be a kiruv opportunity. (3) A rabbi just looks like a religious Jew. He is not a priest, who is identifiable as clergy by the collar. Why should the driver assume he is the new rabbi? (4) This is a practical question. Does Houston have metrocards, or machines to accept coins? do the bus-drivers actually dispense change? (5) The bus-driver uses the term "worship," and will see the rabbi in shul on shabbos. Again, he might be quasi-religious... such is suggested, but many Jews go to shul during the course of the week as well. Christians have "worship" on their day of rest. Yes, they have mass on other days, which some attend, but the big day to go to church is Sunday. One can picture the statement better as "I'll see you in church on Sunday." (6) The idea of selling a soul for money (in this case, a Yid, but a Jewish soul) has New Testament connotations: that of Judas; and of selling one's soul to the devil.

Not all of the above was apparent to me at first, but it did strike me as possibly originally being about a priest -- besides these elements, if an inspirational urban legend, one would expect to find it in the general American culture first, but modified to a Jewish audience, much like the story of Kyle.

And indeed, after a bit of searching, I discovered this, from about July to August of 2007:

There is a story of a priest new in town who boarded a local bus. The driver gave him the incorrect change handing the priest an extra quarter. The priest sat down before he realized what had happened. "It's only a quarter, what does it matter?" he thought to himself.

As he went to exit the bus, the priest returned the quarter to the driver. The driver thanked him and admitted: "You know Father, my wife and I have been unsatisfied with the churches in town. We heard there was a new priest. I knew it was you when you stepped on the bus and I gave you the extra quarter on purpose to see what you would do. My wife and I will see you on Sunday."

And at that point, it was already presumably an established, well-known, inspirational tale.

Now someone comment and say that "they got it from us!"

Now that you have considered that response, how about this version of the story, which is a more direct parallel, from 2006. In this following one, it is even closer to the language.And also this, with a bit more text, where the bit more text is important. And the priest at the end says "Oh God, I almost sold your Son for a quarter." This is surely a Judas reference.

Several years ago, a preacher moved to Houston, Texas. Some weeks after he arrived, he had occasion to ride the bus from his home to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him a quarter too much change. As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, "You'd better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it."

Then he thought, "Oh, forget it, it's only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount?
Anyway, the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a 'gift from God' and keep quiet." When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, then he handed the quarter to the driver and said, "Here, you gave me to much change." The driver with a smile replied, "Aren't you the new preacher in town? I have been thinking lately about going to worship somewhere. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I'll see you at church on Sunday"

When the preacher stepped off of the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on, and said, "Oh God, I almost sold your Son for a quarter." Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read.

This is a really scary example of how much people watch us as Christians, and
will put us to the test! Always be on guard -- and remember -- You carry the name of Christ on your shoulders when you call yourself 'Christian.'

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
I'm glad a friend forwarded this to me as a reminder. So, I choose to forward it to you - my friend. God bless you; I hope you are having a wonderful day!

If you don't pass this on to anybody, nothing bad will happen; but, if you do, you will have ministered to someone.

The Will of God will never take you to where the Grace of God will not PROTECT you...

Stay FAITHFUL and Be GRATEFUL

Here, my girsological skills can come in handy. Source A and source C surely did not arise independently of one another. Someone either modified source A to make source C, or else someone modified source C to make source A. So while the language is identical, consider the changes.

1) God to G-d. Which is likely original. It could have been transformed in either direction, with a Christian fixing the supremely strange misspelling. But wouldn't the rabbi have said "a gift from Hashem?"

2) "Here, you gave me to [sic] much change" to "Here, you gave me too much change". In the Jewish version, the spelling is correct. Would someone fix the careless spelling error, or would he deliberately edit a correct text to introduce a spelling error. Obviously, the Christian one is the original.

3) "Oh God, I almost sold your Son for a quarter." to 'Oh Rebono Shel Olam, I almost sold a Yid for a quarter': The Jewish one seems to me like a conscious attempt to frum up the language. Would a rabbi exclaim "Oh God!"? But would a Christian understand Rebono shel Olam and change it to Oh God?

4) If changing from "a yid," you would expect something like "a Christian soul." Substituting "your Son," with the capital S, is obviously a reference to Jesus. This is not an expected substitution. But a Jewish writer trying to strip out the overtly Christian references in the story in order to "purify" it for a Jewish audience, and there is obviously no exact parallel for "your Son," so he substituted "a yid."

5) " Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read." to "Our lives are the only thing some people will ever read."
Again, a modification to remove a Christian-sounding statement. And indeed, it is a Christian phrase. Do a google search and read through some of the 3 million hits. They seem to base it on 2 Corinthians 3:1-3, from the New Testament. One modern rendition of it:

You are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by all,

6) The Will of God, and the Grace of God, being removed.

7) Compare the Christian version:

This is a really scary example of how much people watch us as Christians, and
will put us to the test! Always be on guard -- and remember -- You carry the name of Christ on your shoulders when you call yourself 'Christian.'

to the Jewish version:

This is a really scary example of how much people watch us as JEW, and will put us to the test! Always be on guard -- and remember -- You carry the name of HaShem on your shoulders when you call yourself a 'JEW'.

The fellow who changed this to JEW, in all-caps, in both places, should have made the first one "Jews". And can you imagine his audacity in modifying the story and merrily changing "carry the name of Christ on your shoulders" to "carry the name of Hashem on your shoulders"?!

I find this sort of modification, and hoodwinking of people in order to "inspire" them, mildly offensive.

Still, it might be a true story, and might have originated with a rabbi. But based on the above, I highly doubt it. And it is unfortunate that people try to inspire others with false inspirational stories, or pass on such stories as truth rather than homily.

The Difference A Friend Can Make? A Jewish "Kyle"

So I picked up a copy of the recent Country Yossi Magazine, attracted at first by the cover promoting the now-banned and thus-canceled "Big Event." But also because it is always interesting reading, particularly the Letters to the Editor and the responses from Country Yossi.

They often feature articles by Rabbi Eli Teitelbaum, who is against fake segulahs, fake mysticism, Reiki, natural medicine, and so on. And so, it was somewhat surprising to see him fall for an email forward, which he printed apparently believing it was true. Before proceeding, you may wish to click on the article pictured to the right. You will get a full-page scan of the article. See if any of this story sounds familiar.

I immediately recognized it as a story passed around by email, not about the Jewish "Yossi" but about the gentile kid "Kyle." That Rabbi Teitelbaum fell for it, despite his usual skepticism, such that he prints it under a column "Real Life," and "from an anonymous source," is interesting. It is because it promotes middot tovot, and does not promote false mysticism, I suppose. But there is an important lesson in here somewhere.

The basic story is of a kid who is carrying a bunch of books home, gets them knocked out of his hands by a bunch of bullies. Another kid comes to his aid and befriends him, and introduces him into his circle of friends. Later, the first kid becomes popular, becomes valedictorian, and to a full auditorium, tells how he was carrying all those books home because he was planning on committing suicide that weekend, and this other kid thus saved his life. Thus, we also should take time to positively impact others with friendliness.

There are various aspects of the story that don't ring true, when told about Yossi. (Read the story first.) For one, I marvel that a kid going to Lakewood would confess planned suicide in such a public forum, as that could well ruin his own chances of a good shidduch, as well as that of any siblings. Also, the bullies who knocked down the seforim onto the ground seem to be kids from the same school, and thus in this story from a yeshiva. Would they do this to seforim? Also "Today was one of those days" does not make any sense in context, as betrays some editorial hand. Also, the ending of the tale, "Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when we have trouble remembering how to fly," really strikes me as something a Christian would say, rather than a Jewish person. Plus, I remember it being told over as happening to a gentile kid.

So Motza'ei Shabbos, I look it up on Snopes, doing a Google search for one of the phrases, put in quotation marks for an exact match, and including the word Snopes. And that takes me to this page on Snopes:

One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd." I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friend tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on. As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes. My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him and as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye.

As I handed him his glasses, I said, "Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives." He looked at me and said, "Hey thanks!" There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.

I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.

We talked all the way home, and I carried his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play football on Saturday with me and my friends. He said yes. We hung all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him. And my friends thought the same of him.

Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, "Damn boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!" He just laughed and handed me half the books. Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors, began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the smiles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for business on a football scholarship. Kyle was valedictorian of our class.

I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak. Graduation day, I saw Kyle.

He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than me and all the girls loved him! Boy, sometimes I was jealous.

Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So, I smacked him on the back and said, "Hey, big guy, you'll be great!" He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. "Thanks," he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began. "Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach . . . but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story." I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile. "Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable." I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment.

I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize its depth. Never underestimate the power of your actions.

With one small gesture you can change a person’s life. For better or for worse. God puts us all in each other’s lives to impact one another in some way. Look for God in others.

It is interesting that whoever changed it obviously thought that the message was a good one, but that a Jewish audience would, or should, not learn lessons from non-Jews. So they made a bunch of changes to the story. I could type the article in by hand and do a file compare with the Kyle story to spot every single one, but we can predict where the changes will be, and just look in the parallel text. Look at the Jewish one, and see how it was changed from the original one about Kyle. Then look at the gentile one, look for words like "damn," or references to college, or how "all the girls loved him," and see what the Jewish version does with it. It is quite funny.

Here are some of the changes. Kyle means about Kyle, and Yossi means about Yossi:

Kyle:
It looked like he was carrying all of his books.
Yossi:
It looked like he was carrying all of his seforim and books.

Kyle:
I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd."
Yossi:
I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all his books each day? He must really be a nerd."

Perhaps because if they are seforim, he would be bringing them to learn over Shabbos. Or more likely because of the next change, which involves playing football on Saturday, something which the editor makes sure to change consistently through the story.

Kyle:
I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friend tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.
Yossi:
I looked at him, shrugged my shoulders and went on.

A nice Jewish boy would not be going to parties or a football game, certainly not a football game on Shabbos. (This is perhaps why the earlier reference to it being a Friday was stripped out, though this later removal makes the immediately preceding change unnecessary.) So he just looked at him.

Kyle:
As I handed him his glasses, I said, "Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives."
Yossi:
As I handed him his glasses, I said, "Those guys are real idiots. They really should get on with their lives."

Apparently, the editor thought jerks was too harsh, or maybe thought it was vulgar.I think the former. Which is why getting a life becomes getting on with your life, something with a different connotation.

Kyle:
I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived.
Yossi:
I helped him pick up his seforim and books, and asked him where he lived.

Hey, at least the editing is consistent.

Kyle:
As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.
Yossi:
It turned out that he lived very close to me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had just moved in.

We cannot have Yossi going to a private school. He goes to the yeshiva high school, just like the narrator. So instead, it is because he had just moved in.

Kyle:
I asked him if he wanted to play football on Saturday with me and my friends. He said yes. We hung all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him. And my friends thought the same of him.
Yossi:
I asked him if he wanted to play football on Sunday with me and my friends. He said yes. We hung around together, and the more I got to know Yossi, the more I liked him. My friends thought the same of him.

So the football game happens on a Sunday rather than Saturday. That bears out my earlier observation about stripping out reference to Friday. And here, all weekend just becomes "around together," for similar reasons.

Kyle:
Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, "Damn boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!" He just laughed and handed me half the books.
Yossi:
Monday morning came, and there was Yossi with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, "[] You are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of seforim and books you carry everyday!" He just laughed and handed me half the books.

The person who modified this forgot to put in "seforim and" in the first sentence of this paragraph, but managed to put it in in the next reference. More importantly, he took out the words "Damn, boy!" Obviously, we cannot have a yeshiva bachur saying that!

Kyle:
Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors, [we] began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the smiles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for business on a football scholarship. Kyle was valedictorian of our class.
Yossi:
Over the next four years, Yossi and I became best friends. When we were seniors, I began to think about bais medrash. Yossi decided on Lakewood, and I was going to Brisk. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. [] Yossi was valedictorian of our class.

Note that of course, they would not contemplate college, which is traif! So Georgetown becomes Lakewood, and Duke becomes Brisk. Kudos to whoever changed this for preserving the number of syllables in each place. Similarly, if they are going to bais medrash after high school, then one is not going to be a doctor, and the other is not going for business on a football scholarship. Not many Jewish yeshiva high-school boys get football scholarships to college anyway, I would guess. They edited this from a better version, though, or else fixed the spelling errors. Notice how "miles" is correct, but "smiles" in the Kyle version is incorrect. (And it is not that the Yossi story is the original. Snopes talks about how this fake story about Kyle developed, which I will discuss later on in this post.)

Kyle:
Graduation day, I saw Kyle.He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than me and all the girls loved him! Boy, sometimes I was jealous. [New Paragraph] Today was one of those days.
Yossi:
Graduation day came, [] and Yossi looked great. He was one of those guys that really 'found himself' during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. [] [New Paragraph] Today was one of those days.

Note how they took out reference to how Kyle "had more dates than me and all the girls loved him!" A yeshiva guy who is going to Brisk would not be dating extensively in high school. And "all the girls loved him" is inappropriate. If so, "Boy, sometimes I was jealous" would not make sense, and was taken out as well. Also, because jealously is not necessarily a nice emotion to have. Kinas soferim is one thing. But jealously for the other guy being a ladies' man is not so great.

But they preserve "today was one of those days," which was the beginning of the next paragraph! But of course, "one of those days" was "one of they days" that the anonymous author was jealous of him. But they stripped out the reference to jealousy from the previous paragraph, so this sentence makes no sense. I guess they did not notice since it was in a separate paragraph.

Kyle:
As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began. "Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach . . . but mostly your friends.
Yossi:
As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began. "Graduation is a time to thank those who helped me make it through those tough years. My parents, my teachers, my siblings, [] but mostly your friends.

Note how they stripped out reference to the coach.

Kyle:
For better or for worse. God puts us all in each other’s lives to impact one another in some way. Look for God in others.
Yossi:
For better or for worse. Hashem puts us all in each other’s lives to impact one another in some way. Look for the good in others, and they will find the good in you."

God becomes Hashem, to frum it up. And looking for God in others is something a Christian would say. So it had to be changed to "the good."

The next statement, "Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when we have trouble remembering how to fly," was presumably a message added to the chain email by some Christian, but it did not raise enough flags for the Jewish person who edited it to realize and remove it.

But the thing is, it did not even happen to Kyle. Check out Snopes' writeup, where they talk about the development of this. It is a reworking of a story from Chicken Soup for the Soul:

It is a rewritten version of "A Simple Gesture," an inspirational tale penned by John W. Schlatter that appears in the 1993 bestseller, Chicken Soup for the Soul...

The key difference between the Schlatter story and what is being passed on the Internet is the ending: Schlatter's "Bill" reveals to "Mark" he'd been planning to kill himself that day, but does so in a private conversation. There is no tearjerking valedictory speech, no community just alerted to a selfless life-changing act performed by one in its presence, no shining-eyed parents just discovering what a marvel they have for a son. [Josh's Note: this is actually a misreading - it is Kyle's parents, not the narrator's parents, who are mentioned in the story.]

Other differences include:

• "Bill's" books are not knocked out of his arms by a gang of bullies; he trips all on his own, with the story heavily implying no one other than "Mark" is around to see this.
• "Mark" invites "Bill" in for a Coke, and they do spend the rest of the afternoon together, but not the rest of the weekend as in the Internet version, nor does "Mark" work "Bill" into his circle of friends.
• The boys don't become best friends in this tale. They have sporadic contact with one another throughout their school lives, but they are never more than distantly friendly.

The Internet version clearly exaggerates each of the story's main points: A boy who trips over his own feet becomes a lad beset by bullies; a boy who helps pick up books then spends an afternoon with the one who tripped becomes someone who takes a less-able youngster under his wing by tending to him all that weekend and helping him make new friends by offering up his own; two lads who see a bit of each other throughout their school lives are transformed into best friends; and a private admission between just two is turned into a public lauding at a well-attended event. Whoever effected these changes must have thought they made for a better story in much the same way a fisherman looks to magnify his battle with Nature by claiming the fish was bigger, more feisty, and infinitely more crafty than any previously encountered.

There is more to the write-up. Read it all.

It is an... interesting... phenomenon that people make up stories to inspire others, and present it as the truth. This is what the original writers of the Kyle story intended, and the intent of whichever Jewish writer modified it. I wonder whether the Jewish editorial hand knew that the Kyle story was made up, or whether he thought he was modifying an otherwise entirely true story. Regardless, we should be careful and somewhat skeptical of these inspiring stories floating around. There have been a bunch of them lately. It is better to be inspired by truth. And there is a Jewish principle of midvar sheker tirchak, which should certainly inform our actions and words, even if we are trying to be mezakeh es harabbim.

The Secret behind the number 11 - A Partial Debunking

I recently received this by email. Here is a partial debunking, unfortunately necessary.

Basically, there are 10,000+ facts associated with 9/11, and someone selected a bunch of such facts which add up in various ways to the number 11. Ignoring the other 40+ which add up to 12. And the 42+ which add up to 13. And so on. And this is supposed to mean something.

Besides that many of these "facts" are actually false. Others have already debunked this. So this adds nothing new, except to introduce it to new audiences. (Similar ones which try to link this with gematria are similarly silly.) My comments throughout this piece.

The Secret behind the number 11

Pretty Chilling - read to the bottom. Try it out.
If you are a sceptical [sic] person - still read on as it's actually very interesting!

This is actually really freaky!! (Mainly the end part, but read it all first)

1) New York City has 11 letters

Washington, DC has 9, or 12 letters. Pennsylvania has 12 as well. But Shanksville has 11. Pentagon has 8 letters. Don't tell them, or they'll add this to the list.

2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.
3) Ramsin Yuseb has 11 letters . (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993)

But this spelling and transliteration is unique to this email. All other references to him have different transliterations of his name, and those transliteration do not have 11 letters. Further, he has nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Meanwhile, in no way does Osama bin Ladin have 11 letters.

4) George W Bush has 11 letters.
But George Bush has 10. And George Walker Bush has more.

This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets interesting:
1) New York is the 11th state.

2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number 11.
3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11
92 people, including pilots, but OK.
4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers , was carrying 65 passengers. 6 + 5 = 11
Actually, rather than 65, there were 64 people (passengers + crew) on board Flight 77, and 6 + 4 = 10.
Also, one of the flights was United Air Flight 93, and 9 + 3 = 12. So numbers add up to 12, not just 11. United Air Flight 175 was another, and 1 + 7 + 5 = 13. It was this Flight 175, not 77, which had 65 people on board.
5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 =11

6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911.

Sheer coincidence. .?
Not coincidence, but just selection of a certain group of facts from a much larger set.
Read on and make up your own mind:

1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254.
2 + 5 + 4 = 11
Actually, the total number of people on all flights was 221. 2 + 2 + 1 = 5.
2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year.
3) The Madrid bombing took place on 3/11/2004. 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.
Note how here the year is included. Because 3+11 is not equal to 11. So change the representation of the date.

4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers incident.
By my calculations in Excel, it actually happened 912 days after the Twin Towers incident. You see, Madrid happened in March, and the year 2004 was a leap year. Thus, there was a Feb 29, which means 912 days.

Now this is where things get totally eerie:

The most recognized symbol for the US , after the Stars & Stripes, is the Eagle. The following verse is taken from the Koran, the Islamic holy book:

"For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was peace."

That verse is number 9.11 of the Koran.

Except of course that this verse is not in the Koran. It was made up as a hoax and a joke after 9/11. The actual verse 9.11 in the Koran refers to something completely different.

Unconvinced about all of this still ..?
Yup.


Try this and see how you feel afterwards, it made my hair stand on end:

Open Microsoft Word and do the following:

1. Type in upper case Q33 NY This is the flight number of the first plane to hit one of the Twin Towers .
2. Highlight the Q33 NY.
3. Change the font size to 48.
4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS……………………

What do you think now????
Except Q33 was not in fact the flight number of the first plane to hit one of the Twin Towers. Somebody, perhaps as a joke, worked backwards from the WingDings.

Send this to as many people as you know and in 11 minutes you will get a nice surprise.
Feel free to point anyone who sends this to you this partial debunking.

Did Bush Pledge Allegiance to the Israeli Flag?

So I notice someone linked to my earlier parshablog item about the Bush Daf Yomi spoof in order to demonstrate to some anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist that the photo is faked. Alas, while a major point of my post was to warn people that when making Purim jokes, we should take care because people ignorant of Judaism will not spot the joke, some joker anonymously commented giving an 'explanation' of how the photo might not be photoshopped - because Bush might be chassidish! While funny, that anonymous joke has now been cited as evidence by said ant-Semitic conspiracy theorist to claim that the photo might not be photoshopped.

Of course, people willing to modify evidence don't really need our help to do it... Here is another item, from that same thread. Did Bush really salute the Israeli flag? This picture sure makes it seem like it...



But wait -- what is that flag behind Bush? And how come the picture size is so awkward? Someone has cropped the image! Furthermore, the image name is bush_israel_flag_2.jpg, implying that there was an earlier image. Indeed, a search on the web yields the original, bush israel flag.jpg:



President George Bush and his wife are standing in front of several flags, of several different countries, presumably in the UN during the Star Spangled Banner or some such. Bush's wife is not pledging allegiance to whatever flag is in front of her! Clever photoshopping is at work here.

New Urban Legend: Bush's Daf Yomi Shiur!

Update: Check out this post as well about whether Bush pledged allegiance to the Israeli flag.

This is a lesson to keep in mind as Purim approaching. There are idiots and anti-Semites out there, who do not know a joke when they see one, do not want to know a joke when they see one, or are too ignorant of our culture to know a joke when they see one. Therefore, when putting things "out there," we should realize that we have a global audience of fools.

I subscribe to several google alerts to keep abreast of new information in several fields - for example, when a new news article on "copepods" or "biblical archaeology" comes out or is indexed by Google, I know fairly quickly, because Google sends me a daily alert by email. One Google alert I have is for the word "Talmud," and as you might expect, many of the articles are written by anti-Semites, making all sorts of allegations against the Jews.

Here is a really silly one. Do you know that Bush attends a daily Daf Yomi shiur with his Rabbi, Ari Fleischer, learning from an Artscroll gemara?

Neither did I, until I saw the photo evidence on an anti-Semitic web site:

Now, where this photo appears, it always appears with this caption in yellow on top: "Daf Yomi: Everyone's doing the daf."

"Do the Daf" is a slogan to convince people to learn Daf Yomi. It is obviously silly to think that Bush is learning Daf Yomi, and this is clearly a spoof.

In fact, a google image search for the filename as it appears on the anti-semitic website yields the source of the image, and it is clearly labelled a Purim spoof.

From shmais.com, we have the picture, next to the text:

PURIM SPOOF

President Bush waves to reporters on the way to his new Daf Yom Shiur with his former spokesman and recently ordained Rabbi, Ari Fleischer.

The photo itself looks like it has been photoshopped as a joke, with someone inserted an Artscroll into Bush's bent arm.

For those readers of parshablog who do not know this, Purim is a holiday in which Jews take it upon themselves to be silly, and make all sorts of jokes, and a spoof like this is not out of the ordinary. No Jewish reader thinks that Bush is actually holding and learning an Artscroll, and certainly not that he attends a Daf Yomi class. It is obviously ridiculous.

However, it made its way into the "news" -- a site listed by Google News, at least. Here is an opinion column by a "quilt designer and author of two books," in which she includes the picture (together with the humorous caption in yellow) and writes:

"If dependant on the mass media, the Religious Right will never hear about his profane outbursts or his Daf Yomi Shiur excursions with his former spokesman and recently ordained Rabbi, Ari Fleischer. Daf Yomi is the daily study of the Talmud (2711 pages). Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with the daily study of the Talmud or any other religious book if he is in fact doing this on a daily basis. But I find it highly unusual that this activity has not come to the attention of the media. If the media boldly revealed Clinton's private soap-opera sexual escapades then certainly we would actually be interested in Bush's more dignified religious activities. Bush received a great deal of support from the Orthodox Jewish community in the 2004 elections. So perhaps Bush merely wishes to be all things to all people — please the Christian constituency and the Orthodox Jewish community as well."

Ummm... Perhaps it has not come to the attention of the mass media, or if it has, they are not reporting it, because it is not true?! Just a bit of research reveals it is a spoof, but this image provides fodder for those who think Bush is too close with those Orthodox Jews.

A little more searching led me to Noachide News, which is most certainly an anti-Semitic website. They display the picture, and write:

"YET Bush carries his Talmud Bavli DAF..."

The same site links to another picture of an Artscroll at Menachem Butler's AJHistory blog.

I'm going to try to submit this one to Snopes.

Update: Other "news sites" that carry this "story":
Houston Indymedia
Judicial-inc.biz

Update: Here at liberty forum, someone also posted the picture, and some people want to believe it is real even though they acknowledge that it was later clarified to be a Purim spoof. Insane!

As one commenter on the site notes:

Buy a clue. It appeared on a Jewish membership page, among Purim pictures, and it was OBVIOUS to the people expected to view it (namely Jews with some religiosity) to recognize it as a Purim joke. The reference to the non-religious Ari Fleischer as a rabbi sort of highlighted the joke.

I am sure that if anyone had contact Chabad about the background and bona fides of the photo, they would have been told it was a joke. Texe Marrs doesn't trust Jews ... but he'll take this dubious photo without the slightest inquiry....

Update: Also noted in that thread is that the photo has been reversed - as one can tell from the buttons on the shirt and jacket, as well as the parting of Bush's hair - yet the text on the cover of the Artscroll is not reversed, evidence that the Artscroll was inserted after the photo was taken. Furthermore, the Artscroll in the image is apparently identical in shading, etc., to the one in Artscroll's catalog photo.

Update: And now someone is citing the comment by Anonymous to this post as proof that the photo could be real, not knowing enough about Judaism that the comment by Anonymous is a spoof as well. Hah! Note also that in the site I link to here, they stripped off the top part of the picture which labels it a spoof.