Kesher Talk: 12/21/2003

Support the troops. This is the most complete list of support-the-troops sites I've seen so far. It includes Polish, Australian, British, and Canadian forces as well as American. You know what to do.

The rot from within. Caroline Glick reports on the propaganda machine inside Israeli universities.

When the show was over, and the students began shuffling out of the lecture hall, a young woman approached me.
"Excuse me," she said with a heavy Russian accent. "How can you say that democracy is better than dictatorial rule?"
"Because it is better to be free than to be a slave," I answered.
Undeterred, she pressed on, "How can you support America when the US is a totalitarian state?"
"Did you learn that in Russia?" I asked.
"No, here," she said.
"Here at Tel Aviv University?"
"Yes, that is what my professors say," she said.
In the weeks that have passed since I gave that lecture, I have not been able to get those students out of my mind.

Read the whole thing.(via LGF comments)

Hanukkah - ocho kandelikas. It's over tonight, in a blaze of glory. We are supposed to place our hanukkiya where it can be seen by our neighbors, either outside the front door or in a window. (I wonder if this is where the idea of Christmas lights comes from?) I'm on the 7th floor of a big apartment building, and I've got furniture up against the length of my window, but I decided to make my hanukkiya visible from the street this year.

I found a box just the right size to raise it over the edge of the windowsill. It happened to be the cardboard box with foam inside which came with my etrog. Now, there is a tradition of recycling the components of the "four species" for other ritual uses: with some cloves, you can make the etrog into a pomander for Havdalah, and you can use the lulav to brush up the last crumbs of hametz the night before Pesach. So I was very pleased that my etrog box was going to help me announce my Judaism at Hanukkah. I covered it with foil and moved the small file cabinet out of the way so I could get to the window, and it works very well - you can see the hanukkiya in my window from across 8th Avenue.

We chant this psalm during every morning service, but it's especially relevant for Hanukkah.

Another Hanukkah site.

UPDATE: I plum crazy forgot Plum Crazy's virtual menorah lightings. Start here and click forward, looking for posts with "Oy Chanukkah" in the title. This is the best virtual menorah in blogland because when you click on each pic you get links to MP3s of Jewish songs. Not all are Hanukkah-related but you won't care.

Greetings from the troops. Merry Christmas from Co. B 389th Engineers stationed in Iraq. (You can also see pictures of them building stuff.)

(via Iowahawk)

Meanwhile, Shai has the news from Bethlehem.

Hanukkah - siete kandelikas.

Here's another comprehensive Chanukkah site.

Hanukkah - sej kandelikas. I think some other holiday starts tonight, but my friends are going out for Chinese and a movie.

Sephardic minhag for Hanukkah.

Egypt + Israel = ?: Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak yesterday called Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and thanked him for productive meetings Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher had in Israel this week, and for the medical treatment of the minister after he was attacked at Jerusalem's Temple Mount.

Rumors are that the two leaders will meet soon, for the first time since Sharon became Prime Minister in 2001.

All this comes against the backdrop of terrorism along the two countries' border. Police concluded that the perpetrators of an attack on a motorist north of Eilat came from, and returned to, Egypt.

The IDF said this incident was the seventh occurence recently of terrorists infiltrating Israel from Egyptian territory.

Hannukah spam: Some kooky characters are spamming me several times a day, wanting me to buy their red strings.

I encountered these sorts of people in person last week, accosting me on my way to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. One of them even explained to me that it must be the right thing to do, because Madonna does it.

Oh, well thanks, that clears everything up.

Hanukkah - sintyu kandelikas. The original texts on Hanukkah (in English translation), from Professor of Early Judiac Studies James Davila.

This site is bootleg central for talks and classes by esteemed Orthodox teachers. The Chanukah page has some songs as well as classes streaming audio classes in English and Hebrew.

Excellently cool stuff. How well can you distinguish Japanese from Chinese from Korean people? Take this graphically elegant test and find out. (I scored very badly, but average for test-takers so far.) Lots of other links of interest to Asian-Americans.

Human-powered flight takes another leap.

Ah, sweet schadenfreude.

The Big Dig is finally finished! Isn't that one of the signs of the impending arrival of Mashiach?

Hannukah message from President Bush:

TO: Jewish Leaders

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release: December 19, 2003

Hanukkah 2003

I send greetings to all those celebrating Hanukkah, the festival of lights.

During Hanukkah, people of the Jewish faith around the world mark the triumph of Jews against tyranny and oppression more than two millennia ago. With courage and unfailing faith, the Maccabees secured the Jewish people's freedom and reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. As they prepared to rededicate the Temple, there was only enough oil for one day, but the light continued to burn for eight days. Today, the lighting of the Menorah represents this ancient miracle and brings a message of hope and freedom to the Jewish people.

As families and friends share in the joyous traditions of Hanukkah, we recognize the power of faith to accomplish miracles and bring light from the darkness. We join in giving thanks for the blessings God has granted to our Nation. May the joy of Hanukkah and the peace and goodwill of the season fill our hearts and inspire us to lead lives of compassion.

Laura joins me in wishing you a blessed and Happy Hanukkah.

GEORGE W. BUSH

UPDATE: Just FYI, the website includes a video of the ceremony.

Hanukkah - kuatro kandelikas. Gil is collecting links to hanukkiyot, including Ah-nuld lighting one. And here's Moe's menorah.

This menorah is being lit in Saddam's former throne room. It's a great story!

UPDATE: Laurence's menorah.

Is Hannukah the Jewish Christmas? No. The AP chronicles Jews trying to celebrate the holiday without reinforcing such notions:

Only one other Jewish family lives in Wendy Grosser's Minneapolis neighborhood, where the Christmas season arrived with twinkling lights and Nativity scenes on front lawns. Her son and two daughters, all under age 8, know their friends will soon gather with their families, ripping ribbon from piles of gifts. But Grosser, a Conservative Jew, won't compete by giving a bundle of toys to her own children as Hanukkah begins at sundown tonight.

Like many American Jews, she is resisting the pull of the holidays' close timing - an annual occurrence that has spread a misperception about Hanukkah, that its religious significance is nearly equivalent to that of Christmas.

"We are trying to emphasize its unimportance," Grosser said of the Jewish holiday, also known as the Festival of Lights. "I didn't want to do a big party because it glorifies it too much."

Hanukkah is the third-most observed Jewish holiday in the United States after Passover and Yom Kippur, according to surveys, but it is less significant under Jewish law than those two holidays and four others, including the weekly Sabbath and Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year.

And Aish.com has a cute explanation in cartoon form.

Libya to dump its weapons of mass destruction? Here was President Bush's statement:

"Good evening. I have called you here today to announce a development of great importance in our continuing effort to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Today in Tripoli, the leader of Libya, Col. Moammar al-Ghadafi, publicly confirmed his commitment to disclose and dismantle all weapons of mass destruction programs in his country. He has agreed immediately and unconditionally to allow inspectors from international organizations to enter Libya. These inspectors will render an accounting of all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and will help oversee their elimination. Col. Ghadafi's commitment, once it is fulfilled, will make our country more safe and the world more peaceful.

"Talks leading to this announcement began about nine months ago when Prime Minister Tony Blair and I were contacted through personal envoys by Col. Ghadafi. He communicated to us his willingness to make a decisive change in the policy of his government. At the direction of Col. Ghadafi, himself, Libyan officials have provided American and British officers with documentation on that country's chemical, biological, nuclear and ballistic missile programs and activities. Our experts in these fields have met directly with Libyan officials to learn additional details.

"Opposing proliferation is one of the highest priorities of the war against terror. The attacks of September the 11th, 2001 brought tragedy to the United States and revealed a future threat of even greater magnitude. Terrorists who killed thousands of innocent people would, if they ever gained weapons of mass destruction, kill hundreds of thousands -- without hesitation and without mercy. And this danger is dramatically increased when regimes build or acquire weapons of mass destruction and maintain ties to terrorist groups.

"The United States and our allies are applying a broad and active strategy to address the challenges of proliferation, through diplomacy and through the decisive actions that are sometimes needed. We've enhanced our intelligence capabilities in order to trace dangerous weapons activities. We've organized a proliferation security initiative to interdict dangerous materials and technologies in transit. We've insisted on multilateral approaches like that in North Korea to confront threats. We are supporting the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency to hold the Iranian regime to its treaty obligations.

"We obtained an additional United Nations Security Council Resolution requiring Saddam Hussein to prove that he had disarmed, and when that resolution was defied, we led a coalition to enforce it. All of these actions by the United States and our allies have sent an unmistakable message to regimes that seek or possess weapons of mass destruction. Those weapons do not bring influence or prestige. They bring isolation and otherwise unwelcome consequences.

"And another message should be equally clear: leaders who abandon the pursuit of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and the means to deliver them, will find an open path to better relations with the United States and other free nations. With today's announcement by its leader, Libya has begun the process of rejoining the community of nations. And Col. Ghadafi knows the way forward. Libya should carry out the commitments announced today. Libya should also fully engage in the war against terror. Its government, in response to the United Nations Security Council Lockerbie demands, has already renounced all acts of terrorism and pledged cooperation in the international fight against terrorism. We expect Libya to meet these commitments, as well.

"As the Libyan government takes these essential steps and demonstrates its seriousness, its good faith will be returned. Libya can regain a secure and respected place among the nations, and over time, achieve far better relations with the United States. The Libyan people are heirs to an ancient and respected culture, and their country lies at the center of a vital region. As Libya becomes a more peaceful nation, it can be a source of stability in Africa and the Middle East.

"Should Libya pursue internal reform, America will be ready to help its people to build a more free and prosperous country. Great Britain shares this commitment, and Prime Minister Blair and I welcome today's declaration by Col. Ghadafi. Because Libya has a troubled history with America and Britain, we will be vigilant in ensuring its government lives up to all its responsibilities. Yet, as we have found with other nations, old hostilities do not need to go on forever. And I hope that other leaders will find an example in Libya's announcement today.

"Our understanding with Libya came about through quiet diplomacy. It is a result, however, of policies and principles declared to all. Over the last two years, a great coalition of nations has come together to oppose terror and to oppose the spread of weapons of mass destruction. We've been clear in our purposes. We have shown resolve. In word and in action, we have clarified the choices left to potential adversaries. And when leaders make the wise and responsible choice, when they renounce terror and weapons of mass destruction, as Col. Ghadafi has now done, they serve the interest of their own people and they add to the security of all nations.

"Thank you."

Hanukkah - tres kandelikas. Imshin comments on Jonathan's thoughts about the Maccabees. Yes - they were religious fundamentalist zealots. But - they were fighting deliberate enforced cultural genocide. It's a complex topic and both bloggers do it justice. Naomi Chana has similar mixed feelings about the obligatory hymn of Hanukkah, "Ma'oz Tzur."

This is also how many modern liberal Jews tend to feel about Israel. When we are actors in history, when we have agency - in other words, in the real world where there is no perfect good, we have to make imperfect and agonizing decisions in favor of the better over the worse, and hindsight will always show a rosy potential future that we failed to achieve. We Jews do like to think that when we have a chance to make history, we can do it better than all those callous brutal gentiles. The ways Jews have handled our moral choices compares favorably to most of the world's peoples, but we want to be perfect. So we end up with three liberal modern Jews grappling with the zealousness of the Maccabees and the bloodthirstyness of the hymn commemorating their deeds.

But we do like to grapple.

UPDATE: Jonathan responds to Imshin.

The low-carb hack. Does this sound like anyone we know? Great geek metaphors:

As digital-rights attorney Mike Godwin, who lost more than 80 pounds by cutting carbs, says, "It's like you're exploiting a security hole in your own body." He's quoting hacker Ian Goldberg, who should know -- Goldberg is famous in hacker circles for breaking the encryption on Netscape Navigator 1.1.

. . . says [Cory] Doctorow. "If you ask people to reduce their caloric intake and increase their exercise, you won't get a lot of good results. It's like going around complaining that people have crappy passwords."

. . . "I think on the downside of what that metaphor suggests is that you are operating your body out of spec," says [Doc] Searls. "Overclocking says that your body is specced for a certain performance speed, and overclocking it gets you a tradeoff between performance and heat, essentially."

. . . "In a way, you are in fact burning off some of your body fat, and in that respect the metaphor is accurate. It's not accurate in the sense that you may be damaging your body in some way. It raises the suggestion that maybe you're doing something a bit unhealthy. And I don't think that's the case." Godwin goes even further: "It might be that we're designed actually to operate that way, instead of eating a whole bunch of processed carbs. [With a low-carb diet] it actually may be that we're gearing our diets to how we should be eating. It might be a feature, not a bug."

None of the geeks in this article mention exercise, which is a crucial part of a successful low-carb diet, and I've seen some weight-training programs that involve just as much tech tweaking as diet plans. In any case, hundreds of morbidly obese people seem to be morphing into height-weight proportionate people, which can only be a good thing.

Kesher Talk

Saturday, December 27, 2003

Friday, December 26, 2003

Thursday, December 25, 2003

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Monday, December 22, 2003

Sunday, December 21, 2003

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