There is confusion about whether iPad has a real GPS embedded. This article in BindApple explains the confusion and still leaves us unclear about what we have in our wi-fi iPad.
People have been asking us what we think of the iPad.
The Times has an article about an exhibit at the YU Museum of the Braginsky Hebrew Illuminated Manuscript collection.
) and has lavished praise on Fred Donner's (Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of Islam
).
The Forward reports that, "Rubashkin’s Jail Sentence Denounced by Angry Haredim; Some Accuse Judge of Anti-Semitism, ‘Just Like Dreyfus!’"
Is Rev. Tom Brock a Hypocrite? And if he fits the definition, then so what?Outing case: Cries of 'hypocrite' for pastor, magazine
An anti-gay pastor is allegedly "outed" by a magazine reporter who went undercover in a therapy group.
By JEFF STRICKLER
A Minneapolis gay magazine story allegedly "outing" a minister based on comments he made during a therapy session is generating a flood of controversy, both about the minister and the magazine's reporting techniques.
Lavender Magazine published an article Friday saying that the Rev. Tom Brock, senior pastor at Hope Lutheran Church in north Minneapolis and an outspoken critic of gays, has attended a support group for men struggling with same-sex attractions. The magazine said its reporter, John Townsend, joined the group undercover after getting a tip that Brock was a member...more...
What more can we say?
A source reports that the Slonimer Rebbe calls for an apocalyptic Holy War over school integration in Israel.Nation of Hashem, Be Strong and Let Us Gather Strength
To our beloved, dear community, Hashem is upon them, may they live. Be strong and may your hearts gather courage, all those who hope to Hashem.
During these difficult days that our congregation, may Hashem guard and protect them, is enduring – His advice is faith, and this is Hashem in whom we place our hope, we will rejoice and be jubilant in His salvation.
Know this: Had I thought that the court justices believe what they say, that the school in Emanuel is founded on racial discrimination, it seems to me that I would act differently.
However, since I have no speck of a doubt that they know the truth, that all their words are based on falsehood. If so, this is nothing but a struggle between faith and heresy, between the force of holiness and the force of impurity of the Other (evil) Side, – a struggle that we always knew would erupt at the End of Days.
And in a struggle over sanctification of Hashem’s Name – even if they will place us before a firing squad – we will not yield nor compromise a hairsbreadth!
Hashem is our King and we are His servants until our final breath.
And I call to all believers in Israel:
Please join us in this exalted struggle, the struggle that has been awaited and anticipated for generations, “when will it come to my hand, that I should be able to fulfill it”.
In Kosher Ice Cream, a Taste of Traditional Baking
By FLORENCE FABRICANT
Move over Soy Vay sauces. Chozen is a new kosher ice cream with mix-ins that would make Tevye happy. Rugelach, coconut-almond macaroon and chocolate matzo are the flavors, all swirled in a fine vanilla ice cream base with no gums or stabilizers. It started as a kitchen table concoction by Ronne Fisher and her daughters, Meredith Fisher and Isabelle Krishana, as they shared memories of traditional Jewish baked goods and ate homemade rugelach straight from the freezer. Nonetheless, one bite of the coconut-almond macaroon had me happily recalling a Good Humor toasted almond ice cream pop. Chocolate babka and honey-apple are future flavors. How about hamantaschen for Purim?
Chozen Ice Cream is $4.99 a pint at Garden of Eden stores, $5.99 at Union Market stores.
WSJ reports that the not-so-kosher lobbyist has gone into the kosher pizza business, Jack Abramoff: Back in Business. And we found out in the article that we have something remarkable in common with JackDisgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff was released from federal prison to a halfway-house earlier this month and is taking steps towards a new start—at a pizza shop.
The Baltimore Jewish Times reported Monday that Abramoff is working with Tov Pizza (“Baltimore’s Best Kosher Pizza”) owner Ron Rosenbluth in “almost all areas of the restaurant business” with the expectation of focus on marketing strategies during his six-month stint.
Abramoff, before his precipitous decline and imprisonment in November 2006 on felony counts of fraud and corruption charges, listed among his business interests a kosher restaurant in Washington, D.C., so the industry is not new to him.
Rosenbluth told the paper that he was considered it part of his faith to help others, and that he was pleased his pizza business was a place where Abramoff could start a new path. “We’re all Jews, we’re all on the same team,” said Rosenbluth. “I’m more than happy to help a fellow Jew in any way I can.”
The Baltimore Jewish Times notes that Abramoff reportedly immersed himself in his faith while in jail. Citing a former inmate at the prison during his incarceration, the paper reports that Abramoff “gave shirum, or Torah lectures, to the Jewish inmates on an almost daily basis. He focused on Nach, Halachah (Jewish law) and the weekly Torah portion. He also taught an introduction to davening course.”
Kaddish is a prayer recited for the departed in Jewish tradition.
A week ago we started to have to manually connect to Wifi every time we turned on our iPad. That is not a good thing.
A new post announces a minor upgrade in Gmail for iPad:
There's an Orthodox blog war brewing over the Emanuel school segregation situation. 
We fear Burg is at the vanguard, and that he may be right.Burg: Haredim not part of State of Israel
Former Knesset speaker worries rift with haredim too deep to bridge; says 'we are witnessing ongoing disintegration of Israeli society into 'tribes'
Ronen Medzini
Former Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg said mass protests in the haredi sector following the Emmanuel affair, in which parents refused to send their daughters to an ethnically mixed school despite a High Court ruling on the matter, served as the final deed of divorce between the haredim and the rest of Israeli society.
In an interview with Ynet, Burg warned that the widely covered attack of haredi sector representatives on the Supreme Court and its judges is eroding Israel's rule of law.
"The haredim are not part of the State of Israel," said Burg. "The day before yesterday, haredim declared their autonomy within the State. They may be part of other countries, but I think we are witnessing the ongoing disintegration of Israeli society into 'tribes'."
The former Knesset speaker said the passing week has served as a turning point in the State's ability to govern the haredim.
"The Supreme Court has become a weak body under attack and no one is defending it. Their power trip, along with mistakes made by the political establishment, which has simply ceased to function in the past few weeks, are issues that could have been solved quickly.
"However," Burg added, "The situation has reached a boiling point, and the demon cannot be put back into the bottle."
Burg spoke during a weekly leftist protest at the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah against Jewish presence there. According to Burg, there is a connection between the haredi conduct and the political situation.
"They will simply establish their own communal autonomy. The last ones to get this status will be the occupied population of the State of Israel in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
"When people say 'there is no holiness in an occupied city,' it means that there is a need to do a just act instead of a wrong one. This is exactly what all these people are doing here – this is the real Jerusalem," he said.
Unbelievable that Orthodox Jews present one of the greatest threats to the viable future of the State of Israel.
The Times has a story about foods in America that focuses on a product line called Holy Land Hummus from Minneapolis, "Hummus Catches On in America (as Long as It’s Flavored)."
pdated from 8/30/09.The need, the process, and legislation
My children should see what it means to be a JewThere are 80,729 people in the United States on waiting lists for a kidney (2,723 in New Jersey). Although the number of living donors has increased in recent years, the rate of donation does not keep up with demand and many people die while waiting for a kidney. There are approximately 6,000 live kidney donations per year in the United States, representing about 45 percent of all kidneys donated (the rest are from deceased donors). In New Jersey, living donors have actually eclipsed deceased donors; in the last 10 years there were 1,472 living kidney donors, compared with 1,297 deceased donors.
Need a babysitter, a ride to Manhattan, or a kosher used barbecue grill? TeaneckShuls, a moderated listserv connecting people in the northern New Jersey area, can help you find what you need. Need a kidney? TeaneckShuls can help as well. Ruthie Levi, a moderator for the listserv, reports that “as a result of an e-mail posting on this list for someone seeking a kidney donation, Rabbi Ephraim Simon of Chabad Teaneck has … successfully donated his own kidney.”
“It’s not like I woke up one morning and wanted to donate a kidney,” said Simon, who serves as the Chabad rabbi in Teaneck. “My own children, ages 2 to 14, are my first priority.” He recounted how a woman named Chaya Lipshutz had been posting for years on TeaneckShuls about people who needed kidney donors. “I would read them, and sigh, and go on with my day. I have nine little children and it was not something I would envision doing.” However, one such posting touched him deeply. “In August 2008, [Lipshutz] had a post of a 12-year-old girl — how could I let a 12-year-old girl die? I have a daughter who is 12.”
There is in the App Store a free and a pay Siddur for your iPad to make it davening friendly (search for Pocket iSiddur and Siddur HD respectively). 
For the years of criminal abuse by his priests, Pope Benedict XIV has offered an apology and begged for forgiveness, costing him nothing.The pope said the Devil was behind the scandal, saying it had emerged now, in the middle of the Vatican’s Year of the Priest, because “the enemy,” or the Devil, wants to see “God driven out of the world.”Scorecard: One worthless apology. Pope still on square one.
“And so it happened that in this very year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests came to light — particularly the abuse of the little ones,” the pope added.
It seems clear to us that Israel is not losing the PR war after the latest events. The results are complex and mixed. An example, Tony Judt in an op-ed has moderated his anti-Israel rhetoric, quite a surprise to us.Israel Without Clichés
By TONY JUDT
THE Israeli raid on the Free Gaza flotilla has generated an outpouring of clichés from the usual suspects. It is almost impossible to discuss the Middle East without resorting to tired accusations and ritual defenses: perhaps a little house cleaning is in order.
No. 1: Israel is being/should be delegitimized
Israel is a state like any other, long-established and internationally recognized. The bad behavior of its governments does not “delegitimize” it, any more than the bad behavior of the rulers of North Korea, Sudan — or, indeed, the United States — “delegitimizes” them. When Israel breaks international law, it should be pressed to desist; but it is precisely because it is a state under international law that we have that leverage.
Some critics of Israel are motivated by a wish that it did not exist — that it would just somehow go away. But this is the politics of the ostrich: Flemish nationalists feel the same way about Belgium, Basque separatists about Spain. Israel is not going away, nor should it. As for the official Israeli public relations campaign to discredit any criticism as an exercise in “de-legitimization,” it is uniquely self-defeating. Every time Jerusalem responds this way, it highlights its own isolation...more...
The Times has a story in the business section of the Hobby Lobby's Steve Green's new Bible Museum. Green is a Pentecostal.Craft Shop Family Buys Up Ancient Bibles for Museum
By GERALDINE FABRIKANT
OKLAHOMA CITY — At least one example of the printed word is in great demand even in the digital age: ancient Bibles.
With a goal of establishing a national Bible museum of great depth and size, the evangelical Christian family behind the Hobby Lobby chain of craft stores has been spending heavily to amass a collection that has set dealers buzzing in the staid world of rare books.
Cheat Sheet. Under Pressure, Teachers Tamper With Test ScoresBy TRIP GABRIEL
Experts say cases of teachers altering test scores have risen along with the stakes involved in testing....more...
Henry calls our attention to the Bergen County Yeshiva Tuition Blog, a subversive discussion of the dynamics of parents who pay for tuition at Yeshivas.
We did not know about the 50% drop in liberal arts majors "in the past generation." We don't know upon what David Brooks basis his assertion. Sure, in the 15 years prior to the current recession, jobs were plentiful, money flowed and business majors got hired.History for Dollars
By DAVID BROOKS
When the going gets tough, the tough take accounting. When the job market worsens, many students figure they can’t indulge in an English or a history major. They have to study something that will lead directly to a job.
So it is almost inevitable that over the next few years, as labor markets struggle, the humanities will continue their long slide. There already has been a nearly 50 percent drop in the portion of liberal arts majors over the past generation, and that trend is bound to accelerate. Once the stars of university life, humanities now play bit roles when prospective students take their college tours. The labs are more glamorous than the libraries.
But allow me to pause for a moment and throw another sandbag on the levee of those trying to resist this tide. Let me stand up for the history, English and art classes, even in the face of today’s economic realities... more...
We understand the political and social uses of archaeology, thanks to our son's work in the area, especially well stated in his recent book. Israel unearths 3,500-year-old religious artifacts
By MARIA R. HOWELL (AP)
JERUSALEM — Archaeologists have unearthed a cache of rare, 35-century-old religious artifacts once used in pagan rituals, Israeli officials said Monday.
The items were found during an excavation ordered by the Israel Antiquities Authority along the route of a new gas line in the country's north. Excavating a rock hollow, archeologists found more than 100 intact artifacts, including a vessel for burning incense and the sculpted face of a woman that was part of a cup used in a pagan religious ceremony.
"This is my 42nd excavation in 15 years and the first time I've found more than shards," said Edwin van den Brink, the archaeologist who directed the excavation. He said he expected to find artifacts, but not the amount or quality they uncovered.
Some of the small vessels were used to carry precious liquids from Cyprus and Mycenae, Greece, 3,500 years ago. These vessels were replicated by people in those areas, illustrating a link between the regions, van den Brink said.
Van den Brink said they might have been used in a nearby temple. They were deposited in the hole either to be preserved from a fire that swept through the region at the end of the Late Bronze Age, or they were buried because they were no longer in use.
Yossi Garfinkel, a professor of archaeology at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem who was not involved in the dig, said holy articles could not be thrown out and were buried instead.
"It is quite possible that these artifacts were used in the cultic area and in the temple and they accumulated, and when they ran out of space or they became old, a pit was made to bury them," Garfinkel said.
The Antiquities Authority plans to exhibit the artifacts in the coming year.
Tomorrow in the times, OP-ED COLUMNIST -- "Israel and Outremer," By ROSS DOUTHAT, contains a tall pile of meaningless assertions cloaked in learned sounding historical contexts, like this one,In the wake of the Gaza and Lebanon wars, and now the blockade-running fiasco, the Jewish state is as isolated on the world stage as it’s been since the dark Zionism-is-racism years of the 1970s.To which all we can say is, ooh ooh - not isolated on the world stage again!
Some detailed speculations from lonelysandwich blogger Adam Lisagore on the status and future of TV via Apple and others.
Are we Jews a stupid, block-headed nation?
Ironic that the idea of the Sabbath that made it the backbone of the strength of the ancient Israelite people, the notion of a forced day of rest for the worker, has now become so totally trivialized, that it becomes nothing more than a way to learn some sort of arbitrary anti-technology self discipline.
We now have free data tethering on our Sprint Palm Pro mobile phone running on the Windows mobile operating system. How?Software can turn many new and older phones into hot spots, too. WMWifiRouter, from Morose Media, based in the Netherlands, works on a variety of phones. I used it on an HTC Touch Pro2, which runs the Windows Mobile operating system. The software ($19.99 at wmwifirouter.com) can be downloaded directly to the phone.The only drawback to this arrangement is that the phone runs hot while serving as a router and the battery drains quickly. We estimate a few hours of usage is all you can expect before you need to recharge your cell battery.
) investigates that problem, as reviewed in "Islamic Suicide Terrorism & the Stockholm Syndrome Writ Large" by Jerry Gordon in the New English Review.