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Words of wisdom from a modern-day Torah sage…

Rabbi Yosef: Drunkenness is abominable

In his weekly sermon, Shas’ spiritual leader retells Book of Esther, warns against intoxication during Purim. ‘During holiday one must drink very little, only as symbolic act to remember Ahasuerus’ feast – without getting intoxicated,’ he says

YNet News Kobi Nahshoni

Shas’ spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia, Yosef saaid Saturday evening that “drunkenness is an abominable and nefarious act” and that in Purim one must drink very little wine, only as a symbolic act to remember Ahasuerus’ feast – without getting intoxicated.

In his weekly sermon Saturday eve, Yosef said, “Haman was intoxicated, but we must act with good manners.” The rabbi recommended drinking until one falls asleep – a situation in which one does not distinguish between ‘Haman the agitate’ and ‘Mordechai the blessed’.”

“A man that is drunk – what good is he?” wondered Rabbi Yosef, and stated that instead a man must “take a rest, rise up and practice religion throughout the day. Some people are up to no good. They get drunk and then take the bus and act in a rowdy manner – that is defamation of God,” he said.

Hours after The Book of Esther was read throughout the country, Rabbi Yosef retold the tale, while adding his own interpretation and humor. He added that the people of Israel were rescued by the Torah, and called on the public to donate to the institutions where the Torah was being taught.

The rabbi noted that one does not fulfill the mitzvah of exchanging Purim gifts (mishloah manot) by giving them to gentiles, and explained that the purpose of the tradition was to “show a lot of affection and love,” and therefore it did not matter if it was given to “a Hassid, a Lithuanian or a proselyte.”

It’s a part of life here, in Israel. You don’t really think about what it means, until you think about what it means! Looking at your kids or grandkids, not to mention your wife, trying on a gas mask is bizarre and scary…Welcome to Israel…

IDF to distribute gas masks today

Amid growing tensions, Home Front Command begins pilot program in Or Yehuda

Jerusalem Post online Yaakov Katz

Amid growing tension in the north, the IDF Home Front Command will begin a pilot program to redistribute gas masks in Or Yehuda on Sunday.

Under the plan – drawn up by Col. Yossi Sagiv, head of the Home Front Command’s Gas Mask and Protection Kits Department – the masks will be returned to private homes by the Israel Postal Company, which beat out seven other companies in a Defense Ministry-issued tender in late 2009. Gas masks were collected from private homes starting in 2007 by a private delivery company.

The distribution is slated to take three years. Officials said that after the distribution is completed in Or Yehuda, the IDF will review the operation, implement corrections and improvements and then start distributing the kits in other parts of the country, based on operational considerations of which area is under a more immediate threat.

The public will receive the same rubber gas mask that it had in the past with an improved filter – more effective against chemical and biological threats Israel faces – but without the syringe of Atropine that was in past kits.

Under the plan, Postal Company representatives will contact homeowners and schedule a time to visit and deliver the gas masks required by the family. Each family will be asked to pay a nominal sum of less than NIS 20. The courier will also help fit the gas masks to the family members and explain how to use them. People that prefer not to pay the fee can travel to a distribution center, that will be located in each city, to pick up their gas masks.

I KNEW it, Ellen..There really IS something to this marriage thing, after all…Even after almost 40 years…

Happily married men ‘much less likely to suffer stroke’ than single or unhappily married friends

Scientists say an unhappy marriage or being left on the shelf was as big a risk to your chances of having a stroke as having diabetes

Telegraph.co.uk

Single men and those in unsuccessful marriages were 64 per cent more likely to have a stroke than men in successful marriages.

Scientists say an unhappy marriage or being left on the shelf was as big a risk to your chances of having a stroke as having diabetes.

The findings even shocked scientists, who said they did not expect to see that a happy home life had such an impact on a man’s health.

The study did not look at how at whether women’s chance of stroke was reduced if they had a happy marriage, but researchers are keen to test out the theory on them too.

The study followed 10,059 civil servants and council workers who completed the Israeli Ischemic Heart Disease Study in 1963.

They followed the men through death records and other public registers to 1997 to check their cause of death.

In 1965, two years after the first study, the participants were asked to rate their marriages as successful or unsuccessful or if they never married at all.

Dr Uri Goldbourt, of Tel Aviv University, said the study was a sign of how important good relationships are to men.

“An analysis of the 3.6 percent of men who had reported dissatisfaction in their marriage found the adjusted risk of a fatal stroke was also 64 percent higher, compared with men who considered their marriages very successful,” he said.

“I had not expected that unsuccessful marriage would be of this statistical importance.”

Dr Goldbourt said the risk of stroke was just as high for single men as it was for those stuck in dead end marriages.

He said: “Considering age at death and adjusting for socioeconomic status, obesity, blood pressure, smoking habits and family size, as well as existing diabetes and heart disease at the time of the earlier survey, single men had a 64 percent higher risk of fatal stroke than did married men.

“That figure is comparable to the risk of fatal stroke faced by men with diabetes.”

Dr Goldbourt said the new research had several limitations.

“There was a lack of data on nonfatal versus fatal strokes and on participants’ medical treatment after the first five years of the initial study. Women also weren’t included.

“While the effects of marital status and success may be similar in women there are still differences, and research on women is clearly needed.”

We, Israel and the Jews, allow the Muslims to have a mosque on the holiest site to Judaism, the Holy Temple Mount in Jerusalem. They then use this site as a base from which to throw rocks and bottles on Jewish worshipers and tourists visiting the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, below. And this is in response to Israel’s decision to acknowledge the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb outside of Bethlehem as Jewish heritage sites, meaning that the government of Israel will invest money to refurbish the sites and educate students about the historic and cultural significance of these places…
And the world condemns ISRAEL, not the wacko Muslims throwing the rocks…

Riots erupt on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount

Young Arabs barricaded in al-Aqsa Mosque since Saturday evening throw stones at passerby. Stones hurled at police forces in Old City as well. Border Guard officer lightly injured in head. One person detained. Islamic organizations tells followers Jews may lay cornerstone for temple

Reprinted from Ynetnews Efrat Weiss

Morning of clashes in Jerusalem’s Old City: Police forces entered the al-Aqsa Mosque plaza at the Temple Mount on Sunday morning after dozens of Arab youths who barricaded themselves in the mosque on Saturday night began hurling stones at passersby entering the Temple Mount compound.

A Border Guard officer was lightly injured in the head by stones hurled in the Old City’s alleys. He received medical treatment on site and resumed his activity.

Sources in the mosque reported that at least eight worshippers were hurt by tear gas. According to the Palestinians, hundreds of policemen encircled the mosque, demanding that the youths evacuate themselves.

Stones were occasionally thrown at police officers in the alleys of the Old City, including near the Antonia Fortress, which is one of the entrances to the Temple Mount. There were no reports of injuries. One suspect was detained for questioning.

The police reported that some 30 Arab youths had barricaded themselves inside the mosques and that efforts made by the Waqf (the council managing Muslim sites) to remove them had failed. Police entered the mount’s plaza following the stone throwing and closed its gates, and the youths fled into the mosque.

The police then opened the mount’s gates to worshippers, but restricted entrance to the site to male worshippers with Israeli identity cards over the age of 50 and to female worshippers of all ages. Visits to the site continued as usual.

It is estimated that Sunday’s events at the Temple Mount come following the tension that arose over Israel’s decision to include the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem to its list of national heritage sites.

Members of the Waqf and various Islamic organizations, including the Islamic Movement, urged Muslims over the weekend to flock to the Temple Mount, claiming that “radical Jewish organizations have called on their followers to arrive at the mount today and on Tuesday in an attempt to lay the cornerstone for the temple.”

The Islamic organizations also called on Muslims to be on high alert around March 16, when they said extreme Jewish organizations were planning to mark the global day for the temple’s reconstruction.