My Great Grandfather was Harris Epstein the Great Inventor of a Patented Folding Umbrella, Extension Ladder and more

I am named after my great-grandfather, Harris (Tzvee) Epstein, aka, Epstein the Inventor, who lived in New York City and Spring Valley. I probably inherited my technical curiosity from him.

He was the inventor and patent holder of many practical items, a folding umbrella, an extension ladder, a double sided toothbrush, a vegetable grater and more.

Here are of his patents with their links from Google Patent search: 

FOLDING UMBRELLA Patent number: 1666692 Filing date: Jan 29, 1927 Issue date: Apr 17, 1928

SIGNALING APPARATUS US Pat. 1060898 - H. EPSTEIN. SIGNALING APPARATUS, APPLICATION PILED JAN. 26, 19.11. Patented May 6,1913.

EXTENSION LADDER US Pat. 949529 - Filed Feb 10, 1909

VEGETABLE GRATER US Pat. 1799963 - Filed Apr 4, 1930... UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HARRIS EPSTEIN, OF ROCKAWAY BEACH, NEW YORK VEGETABLE GRATER

GAS-CONTROLLING DEVICE US Pat. 968457 - Filed Jan 11, 1910

TOOTH BRUSH Patent number: 1111144 Filing date: Oct 4, 1913 Issue date: Sep 22, 1914

Papa Epstein, as he was called by his grandchildren, sure would have liked the age of the personal computer and the Internet, especially the iPad and smart phone.

Electricity on Shabbat? My Dear Rabbi Zahavy Jewish Standard Column for March 2020

Electricity on Shabbat? My Dear Rabbi Zahavy Jewish Standard Column for March 2020

Dear Rabbi Zahavy,

Members of my community of Orthodox Jews who are shomer Shabbos refrain from turning on and off all electrical devices to observe their Shabbat rest. So, on Friday nights and Saturdays our practice is not to use, for instance, our phones or TVs or computers. And we don’t turn on or off lights or fans or heaters.

Lately, I’ve become lax in keeping these rules, especially regarding my use of my smart phone, my computer and my Alexa Amazon Echo devices. I feel that using these devices enhances my rest and my leisure. And I have found that avoiding them makes me uneasy, not relaxed or restful.

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I don’t publicly advertise my actions. But it’s increasingly evident to me that my family knows what I am doing and that they quietly disapprove.

I am worried and need your advice. Am I sinning by my behavior? I feel strongly that what I am doing is not a violation of any rules and likely will continue my uses. But what can I do regarding my actions if this all blows up and causes social friction in my family and community?

Electrified in Englewood

Dear Electrified,

Establishing sacred time is a powerful part of all religions. The notion that we Jews spend one day a week in a special world of restful restrictions starting on sundown on Friday is an amazing claim to make. And at the same time, it is hard for the community to enforce the Sabbath taboos.

Is the Yo App Jewish?

Yes, Bloomberg reported that the incredibly popular, quirky and eccentric Yo app was invented by Jews in Israel.

Accordingly I'm awarding the app the Harris Epstein prize for great Talmudic inventions.

Stephen Colbert joined the Yo revolution with this take on it.



This reminds me of a song I heard as a kid at the first Broadway show I went to, "Milk and Honey". So I adapted the song lyrics for the app generation.

Yo, Yo,
You'll find Yo
The nicest greeting you know;
It means bonjour, salud, and skoal
And twice as much as hello.
It means a million lovely things,
Like peace be yours,
Welcome home.
And even when you say goodbye,
You say goodbye with Yo.

It's a very useful word,
It can get you through the day;
All you really need to know,
You can hardly go wrong,
This is your home as long as you say:
Yo,
The nicest greeting I know;
Yo,
Means twice as much as hello.
It means a million lovely things,
Like peace be yours,
Welcome home.
And even when you say goodbye,
If your voice has
"I don't want to go" in it,
Say goodbye with a little "hello" in it,
And say goodbye with Yo.

It's the most amazing thing
That I think I've ever heard
Wait till Berlitz hears of you
All my foundering's done
I'm a native with one little word

Yo, Yo,
I find Yo
The nicest greeting you know;
It means bonjour, salud, and skoal
And twice as much as hello.
It means a million lovely things,
Like peace be yours,
Welcome home.
And even when you say goodbye...
If your voice has
"I don't want to go" in it,
Say goodbye with a little "hello" in it,
And say goodbye with Yo.

CNN: Apple software sucks

CNN Money says: "Apple should focus on its mediocre software".

The article points out shortcomings in major apple software offerings, "...nearly every offering from Apple ranges from mediocre (iTunes) to awful (Maps)."

I asked a few IT professionals about the recent decision by Apple to give away free its iPad software like Pages, Numbers and Keynote. They said they are giving it away because the software is not very good, and not popular.

I think iTunes lacks in many respects - it is not intuitive - it is at times confusing. And I have been frustrated trying to use it for years. IOS 7 just came out and it too lacks any noticeable sophistication. It does not allow any significant customization or creativity.

I have an Android phone and a 7" Android tablet. I'm thinking, Why not just get a 10" Android tablet and ditch the iPad 3?

I bought an iPad Air on 11/1 and brought it home. Can't honestly think of why I want to keep it. Yikes. Looks like the magic of the apple spell has been broken. I returned it 11/4.

Yes, 11/4 I returned the iPad to the Apple Store in the Garden State Plaza - just a few hours before a man fired shots in that mall and then committed suicide.

Ironic: my kids heard the news and called me from Israel to see if I was okay. I was okay.

Free Awesome Torah and Haftorah Chanting Apps from PocketTorah

Barak forwarded this from Eytan Kurshan (first posted on 4/17/12)...

Hi everyone,

I wanted to let you know that I was involved in the creation of an app which has just launched! It is called PocketTorah and is available here. 

The app contains a recording of every aliyah in the Torah as well as all Haftorot. If you'd like to hear me, I recorded the parshiyot from Tazria to Acharei-Mot.

There is also a separate module containing recordings of just the trope of Torah, Haftorah, and Megilah....

Congrats to Rabbi Charlie Schwartz and Russel Neiss for putting this all together.

Eytan

We downloaded and reviewed the apps. They are awesome.

"PocketTorah is an application that  will provide the user the ability to learn the weekly Torah and Haftarah portion anywhere, at any time, on any mobile device or computer for free."

Denominational Alert! These two apps obviously were designed for Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist Jews. There are women Torah readers recorded on the apps, so officially they are not suitable for Orthodox users.

Learn to chant

1. Download for iOS
2. Download for Android
3. Use it on any computer in a web browser using Chrome or Safari.

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App Measures Your Brainwaves to Know When You're Busy

We like this, been waiting for it for decades.

Gizmodo reports, "Automatic Do-Not-Disturb Measures Your Brainwaves to Know When You’re Busy."

Italian-born neuroscientist Ruggero Scorcioni has developed a new technology that will help you get stuff done by deflecting phone calls or other notifications away when you're busy. Finally, technology to help keep your brainspace clear when you need it.

Ruggero showed us his tech implemented as an app on smartphone at an AT&T event in New York this morning. The technology works by measuring your brainwave activity using a commercially available headset which talks to your phone via Bluetooth. When your activity goes above a certain adjustable threshold, Ruggero's app automatically holds your calls using a publicly available AT&T API.

The key to Ruggero's app are the algorithms he uses to process the brainwave data. Beyond simply holding your calls, Ruggero says the technology could be used to hold your e-mail notifications and other interruptions until you've got the mental bandwidth to address them. He won an AT&T hack-a-thon back in January, and used the $30,000 prize to start his new company Brainyno. Here's hoping he finds a way to keep those pesky Facebook alerts from distracting you when you're trying to work.

Stunning Cell Phone - Samsung Galaxy S3

We upgraded our cell phone to the stunning Samsung Galaxy S3.



In particular we love the clarity of the display and the speed of the processor and the Android system. The battery is a weakness. Especially when Sprint's signal is hard to find, the battery runs down quickly.

We Have Browsed and Sinned - Ashamnu Confession for Internet Users

For those Orthodox Jews who believe that browsing on the Internet leads to sin, here is an Ashamnu A to Z acrostic to recite during the season of repentance for those Web actions that might lead one to sin.

Applenu (or Androidnu)
Blackberrynu
Clicknu
Downloadnu
Emailnu
Facebooknu
Googlenu
Hacknu
iPadnu (or iPhonenu)
Jokenu
Keyboardnu
Loginnu
Messagenu
Networknu
Outboxnu
Pornu
QWERTYnu
Retailnu
Surfnu
Textnu
Unfriendnu
Virusnu
Wikipedianu
Xboxnu
Yahoonu
Zinenu

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VIN: Rabbi Manis Friedman Says the Internet is not a Crisis for Judaism

On the day of a major stadium rally that was called by rabbis to warn against the dangers of the Internet, a prominent Lubavitch rabbi says there is no "unprecedented crisis." VIN reports:

In an address to a group of teenage students, noted author, lecturer and educator Rabbi Manis Friedman dismissed the notion of banning the internet and rejected the idea that the Jewish community is facing an unprecedented crisis.

Speaking on May 2nd at the United Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Crown Heights, Rabbi Friedman called the internet the nisayon of today’s generation and advised students to do what Jews have been doing for years – stay strong and withstand the test that is being placed before klal yisroel...more...

Since we met him many years ago in Minnesota, Rabbi Friedman's trenchant observations have always made sense to us.

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Is the Internet Kosher?

Is the Internet kosher?

Now, the hot dogs served at Citi Field can be judged kosher or treif.

The Internet cannot. It is a medium for communications and hence cannot be kosher or treif. Some rabbis are making a mass rally about the Internet the center of attention for their communities.

We wonder if the rabbis know that every month we give away 25,000 tractates of the Talmud on our web site www.halakhah.com.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the "Orthodox Internet Rally Divides a Community".

Previously the WSJ reported, "A group of ultra-Orthodox Jews have rented out Citi Field for a meeting later this month intended to draw thousands of men to discuss the dangers of the Internet and formulate a communitywide response. The event, set for May 20, has been publicized internationally within the Orthodox Jewish press and tapped into a world-wide debate over how to reconcile modern life with the Internet's perceived moral dangers."

In our Talmudic view, this event is a giant mistake. Nothing of value can be accomplished through a rally in a stadium to remedy a perceived threat to morality. And clearly the Internet is not the problem. If the ease of accessing pornography via the Internet is at issue, and we assume that is the main concern, then the pornographers who create the content ought to be the target, not the communications and delivery mechanisms of the Net.

It looks to us like the rabbis are making a statement through the rally, but the wrong statement. The event says to us that the rabbis fear that the beauty of the moral life of Torah cannot compete with the attraction of the depravity of the x-rated content of the Internet. A rally, like the one planned, is a sign of panic that the battle is being lost, not a sign of confidence in the strength and validity of Judaism as a moral system and beacon to the nations.

There is much to be done to bolster morality in the world and to promote Judaism. A Citi Field rabbi-rally is not an effective means of doing either.

Are iPhones, Android devices, iPads, and Blackberrys Kosher?

David Assaf (in his wonderful Hebrew blog "Oneg Shabbat") writes at some length and detail about how a few 19th century rabbis apparently permitted speaking on a telephone on Shabbat.

He ends up with a "that was then, this is now" contrast citing a rabbinic wall poster that was seen in Givat Shaul in Jerusalem a few weeks ago. The poster warns Jews that "iPhones, Android devices, iPads, Blackberrys, MP4 and the like" and all video players and Internet devices, all of these "endanger the sanctity of the house of Israel" and they are bringing a "spiritual Holocaust" upon those who use them, "G-d Forbid..." 

"It is surely forbidden to own or use these devices" the rabbis warn. 

Just so there is no confusion, we disagree with those rabbis. We rule that these devices are kosher, permitted for use by all Jews. We are sure that is a relief for some of our readers.

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JTS publishes over 100 podcasts via Apple's iTunes

In a welcome initiative the Jewish Theological Seminary Announced the Launch of JTS iTunes U with quality recordings of events and presentations for the public at large.

The unanswered question in this press release is how (or whether) JTS leverages iTunes and all other digital technologies for instruction of its students in and out of the classroom.

The Jewish Theological Seminary is pleased to announce the launch of the JTS iTunes U site. The site, accessible via Apple’s iTunes, makes public lectures, Torah commentaries, and select JTS courses available for free streaming and downloading.

“The launch of the iTunes U site marks a fantastic step forward for JTS’s online presence,” says Rabbi Charlie Schwartz, director of Digital Engagement and Learning at JTS. “It is now possible to easily find, download, and experience the deep and meaningful learning that happens every day at JTS.”

The JTS iTunes U site features a wide variety of content. The weekly Torah commentary podcasts are easy to find and subscribe to, as are recordings of public JTS lectures and events, such as the popular series of Library Book Talks that feature JTS faculty and other distinguished authors discussing their latest books. Collections of lectures detailing issues in contemporary Jewish philosophy, theology, and ethics highlight how JTS scholarship engages with the challenges of the 21st century. In the near future, full courses—complete with course materials—will be made available, providing access to JTS’s world-class faculty and high-level Jewish learning. 

“Opening access to the wealth of learning, scholarship, and meaningful engagement with Jewish tradition that embodies JTS is core to the university's mission,” says Rabbi Marc Wolf, the newly appointed vice chancellor and chief development officer of JTS. “In the coming months, JTS will dramatically expand the ways, both innovative and traditional, that communities and individuals can be inspired by the energy of JTS,” Rabbi Wolf adds.

The JTS iTunes U site can be visited via iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/institution/jewish-theological-seminary/id472010491. 

Download iTunes for free: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/.

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Feldheim Publishers in Israel in Deep Trouble

Reuven wrote to tell us "Oy Vey" that Arutz Sheva reports, "Feldheim Books In Israel in Danger of Collapse. Feldheim Publishing in Israel, which caters to the hareidi religious community, is in danger of collapse and may be bought out."

Book publishing is so over. Nobody buys physical books. The underlying story for Jewish books is that vanity authors are keeping some of the small Israeli and American Jewish presses alive, paying big bucks to have their books published.

Here is the Feldheim story from A7:

Feldheim Publishing in Israel, which caters to the hareidi religious community, is in danger of collapse but may be bought out.

Its financial difficulties, reported Monday by B’Hadrei Haderim, are the latest in the book publishing and distributing industry that has been overwhelmed by online publishers and e-books.

Feldheim officials said it has asked for a stay in proceedings of financial claims against the company, and an industry source indicated that the Or Chaim publishing house is negotiating with Feldheim Israel to buy it out.

The stay in proceedings has not affected the operation of Feldheim’s chain of book stores, at least for the time being.

The publishing company was founded in 1939 by Philip Feldheim and now is managed by his son and grandson, who have expanded the firm. His son operates the publishing house in Jerusalem, with several bookstores in the capital city in addition to other Israeli cities with a large hareidi religious population.

Can You Read a Book on the Sabbath?

Centuries ago, when the codex first came out and began to replace scrolls, it took the rabbis years before they permitted Jews to use a codex on the Sabbath. The Torah is still read in 2012 in the synagogue from a scroll.

So too with the Kindle.

And this reminds us of a funny Norwegian video, a call to the medieval monastic codex help desk. With the famous Talmudic objection, "Are you sure I won't lose any text?" from the show "Øystein og jeg" on Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) 2001.



Orig. post 2/07.

Hot Lava Destroys an iPad 2 in Hawaii

We liked this promo -- a strange way to show the power of hot lava.

A hot book -- "God's Favorite Prayers"

Rabbi Sacks Mocks Steve Jobs - but he is dead and cannot answer

Oy, oy, oy. The rabbi maybe should have retired last year, not next year. He's got it wrong, oy, oy, oy.

"The late Steve Jobs helped create a selfish 'i, i, i' consumer culture that has only brought unhappiness, the Chief Rabbi has claimed."

There is nothing at all about Apple products that is any more selfish or materialist than any other consumer market product. iPad has Torah apps! What is the man talking about?

[The rabbi sort-of apologized for his dumb remarks according to the EJP, to wit, "Rabbi Sacks, the clarification statement added, "uses an iPhone and an iPad on a daily basis" and "was simply pointing out the potential dangers of consumerism when taken too far.""]

iPad has brought this writer more happiness than any previous technological invention, and that includes the remote garage door opener and the cell phone, two previous inventions that changed our lives completely.

The iPad and iPod machines are not sources of unhappiness or selfishness or materialism. That blast from the chief is way out of line.

Now if we were chief rabbi (like the if we were a horse anthropologist) and we wanted to chastise Steve Jobs, there is ample room for criticizing the man. We wouldn't do it as a criticism though because that is contrary to the Torah. You are not permitted to mock the dead. They cannot answer. The rabbis remind us that one who mocks the dead is like one who insults his creator. It's based on a verse in the bible about the poor and weak, only it is applied to the dead. Proverbs 17:5 is the verse that is invoked in this regard, לועג לרש חרף עושהו "One who mocks the poor affronts his Maker."

The rabbi ought politely to have raised issues about Jobs' actions as a person during his life. We complimented last week the president of a respected company because he brought representatives of an NGO to his corporate office and recommended that all employees support their charitable efforts. We applauded him for following the model of Bill Gates in seeking to bolster philanthropy. And we mentioned to him by contrast Steve Jobs, who was not known as a philanthropist during his lifetime.

Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote about this known issue (a bug in the program?) in August 2011 ("The Mystery of Steve Jobs’s Public Giving") saying among other things, "...the lack of public philanthropy by Mr. Jobs — long whispered about, but rarely said aloud — raises some important questions about the way the public views business and business people at a time when some 'millionaires and billionaires' are criticized for not giving back enough while others like Mr. Jobs are lionized."

The chief rabbi had an ample opportunity to raise the p-question, without insult to Jobs' memory, to probe why he never set a public example as a big philanthropist or even as a simple charitable person.

But for the rabbi to attack the iPad and insinuate that it is a source of the world's unhappiness -- that is silly talk. The Telegraph reported the story of the rabbi's rants in front of the queen:

Chief Rabbi blames Apple for helping create selfish society
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, and Martin Beckford

Lord Sacks said that advertising only made shoppers aware of what they did not own, rather than feeling grateful for what they have.

Talmudic Puzzlement over the Kindle Fire

"God's Favorite Prayers" Kindle edition looks great on the Kindle Fire.

Our new Kindle Fire tablet arrived today. We like it. It's a compromise between an android phone and an iPad. We have a Samsung Epic 4G android phone that can do most of what the Kindle Fire can do. But it is smaller and it is a phone. We have an iPad that is an iPad. It is 10 inches and it is amazing. We use both devices daily. We depend on both.

The Kindle Fire is 7 inches. It is plenty big enough for reading. In fact it is the same size as the standard Kindle. But yes, it is much heavier. And it is color and touch screen and quite slick. We like the navigation that Amazon put on top of the Android operating system, and the browser (called "silk" by Amazon). In short, this is an impressive device.

Questions abound, subject to answer over the next few weeks. Will we use this device? Since we already have an actual Kindle (much lighter) and an actual Android phone (3G most of the time from Sprint) and an actual iPad (we take it everywhere and use it for everything) -- where will the Fire fit in to our lifestyle?

What is the essence of this new creature? Now that is a big Talmudic question.

"God's Favorite Prayers" Kindle edition looks great on the Kindle Fire.

New Yorker Blog: Elie Kaunfer Explains Digital Judaism

A New Yorker blog post (Screen Savers, posted by Macy Halford) has nicely surveyed the state-of-the-apps in the realm of religious practice.

In their sweep of the landscape they contacted Elie Kaunfer, who said some intelligent things:

...This is not to say that disputes about the value and use of digital texts do not arise. Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, the co-founder and executive director of Mechon Hadar, a traditional Jewish educational institute on the Upper West Side, said that arguments commonly arise in orthodox communities when congregants who are otherwise observant use their devices on the Sabbath. (There’s a term for this style of observance: “Keeping half-Shabbos.”) At Mechon Hadar’s yeshiva, where Kaunfer runs prayers three times a day during the week, he sees people use their devices to pray on: “It’s a little jarring,” he told me, “because you don’t know if they’re communing with God or checking e-mail.”

... many see seemingly negative effects of the digital era as evidence of spiritual vitality. Kaunfer, for instance, believes that the current revolution is not so very different from the one that occurred some seventeen hundred years ago, when the Mishnah (the Jewish code of law), hitherto communicated orally, was first written down. Then, he said, memory took a blow, and it has taken another one with the coming of the handheld device. But this isn’t necessarily bad: “In many ways, pulling text out of one’s pocket is truer to the way Jews experienced text in ancient times, when they pulled it out of their heads.”

Well said, and this latest revolution has just begun.

"God's Favorite Prayers" will revolutionize your spirit

Was Steve Jobs Jewish?

No, Steve Jobs, who passed away today, was not a Jew.

The brilliant visionary genius, who was Apple CEO until August, practiced Buddhism. He was born to Catholic and Muslim biological parents, Joanne Carole Schieble and Abdulfattah John Jandali, and was adopted and brought up by Christian parents, Paul and Clara Jobs, according to sources.

Jobs was appointed chairman of the board at Apple in August. He was 56 and battled cancer for several years.

Steve Jobs' impact on the world of technology was immeasurable. He changed the world at large for the better. He transcended all categorization. God bless his beautiful soul.

Are they Jewish? Apple in France De-Apps “Juif ou pas Juif?”

From JWeekly via Theophrastus:

Cupertino-based Apple Inc. has removed a mobile app called “Jew or Not Jew?” from its online App Store in France.

The app let users consult a database of celebrities and public figures to determine if they are Jewish or not. Its removal follows a complaint from a French anti-racism group that threatened to sue the iPhone and iPad maker.

Yes, the app is still available in the US for $1.99, but it gets poor reviews.

Wishlist: (1) Camera integration for this app. Take a picture of someone and it determines if they are Jewish. Hmm. How would they do that? (2) New app - Kosher or Treif? Scan the UPC code of a product and it looks up whether the product is kosher. Or take a picture of a food and it looks up if it is kosher, or it texts to a rabbi to check, and texts you back with the answer.