Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement.

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Oct 25

Back 1 hour

Oct 25, 2020 - Daylight Saving Time Ends

When local daylight time is about to reach
Sunday, October 25, 2020, 02:00:00 clocks are turned backward 1 hour to
Sunday, October 25, 2020, 01:00:00 local standard time instead.

Sunrise and sunset will be about 1 hour earlier on Oct 25, 2020 than the day before. There will be more light in the morning.

Also called Fall Back and Winter Time.

In Israel-We add the prayer for rain on Saturday night Mariv

The Jews of ancient Israel made three pilgrimages to Jerusalem each year, for the holidays of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Now, the official rainy season begins on Shemini Atzeret, when the Jews were about to start their journey back home after the festival of Sukkot. As much as they wanted the rain, they chose to delay their supplications in the interests of a safer and easier trip.

That is how the practice of delaying the prayer for rain began. In Israel, the prayer was begun only 15 days after Shemini Atzeret (the 7th of Cheshvan),(which is Saturday night) allowing enough time for even the Jews living near the Euphrates to return home. This custom is followed by Jews living in Israel until today.

And Aliyah day starts Saturday night as well-see below

Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk referred to the small percentage of people who truly strive to improve their middos as B'nai aliyah. What characterizes this select group is a number of traits:

They feel grateful for what Hashem gives them on the physical plane, yet always strive for greater heights spiritually.

They judge others favorably, assuming that each person is doing his maximum, given his level of awareness.

They are not dependent on others for their sense of self-worth; they see praise and insult as the same - the result of limited human intelligence.

They do their utmost to avoid hurting others' feelings.

They strive to be cheerful and to inspire others, even if they are in pain.

They show concern for the welfare of others instead of focusing on themselves.

They feel profound appreciation for all the blessings in this world, like flowers and smiles and the smallest mitzvos.

They strive constantly to improve their level of faith, knowing that every person and event in their lives is brought to them by a loving G-d.

If you are doing this holy work, consider yourself one of the B'nai aliyah!

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Causes of:MENTAL CONFUSION IN THE THIRD AGE
By:Arnaldo Liechtenstein, physician.

Whenever I teach clinical medicine to students in the fourth year of medicine, I ask the following question:

What are the causes of mental confusion in the elderly?

Some offer: "Tumors in the head". I answer: No!

Others suggest: "Early symptoms of Alzheimer's". I answer again: No!

With each rejection of their answers, their responses dry up.

And they are even more open-mouthed when I list the three most common causes:

- uncontrolled diabetes;
- urinary infection;
- dehydration

It may sound like a joke, but it isn't. People over 60 constantly stop feeling thirsty and consequently stop drinking fluids.

When no one is around to remind them to drink fluids, they quickly dehydrate. Dehydration is severe and affects the entire body. It may cause abrupt mental confusion, a drop in blood pressure, increased heart palpitations, angina (chest pain), coma and even death.

*This habit of forgetting to drink fluids begins at age 60, when we have just over 50% of the water we should have in our bodies. People over 60 have a lower water reserve. This is part of the natural aging process.*

But there are more complications. Although they are dehydrated, they don't feel like drinking water, because their internal balance mechanisms don't work very well.

*Conclusion:*

People over 60 years old dehydrate easily, not only because they have a smaller water supply, but also because they do not feel the lack of water in the body.

Although people over 60 may look healthy, the performance of reactions and chemical functions can damage their entire body.

So here are two alerts:

1) *Get into the habit of drinking liquids*. Liquids include water, juices, teas, coconut water, milk, soups, and water-rich fruits, such as watermelon, melon, peaches and pineapple; Orange and tangerine also work.

*The important thing is that, every two hours, you must drink some liquid. Remember this!*

2) Alert for family members: constantly offer fluids to people over 60. At the same time, observe them.

If you realize that they are rejecting liquids and, from one day to the next, they are irritable, breathless or display a lack of attention, these are almost certainly recurrent symptoms of dehydration.

Did you like it?

So spread it out! DON'T FORGET TO DO IT NOW!Your friends and family need to know for themselves and help you to be healthier and happier.

Did these archeological finds just settle the debate on Jewish law?

Archeological finds dating back to the ancient kingdoms of Judea and Israel could shed light on the Jewish measurement unit, the tefah.

Tags: archaeological find

Clara Amit, IAA

Storage jars form one of the main ceramic types which were produced and abundantly used ever since pottery was invented.

The need to collect, store, and distribute agricultural products such as grains, oils and wine in large vessels has littered excavation sites with an abundance of ceramic jar fragments of various designs, sizes and shapes.

However, for all of their variety, three Israeli archaeologists Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Ortal Harush, Israel Antiquities Authority’s Avshalom Karasik and Weizmann Institute’s Uzy Smilansky found an astonishing common denominator among storage jars in Israel over a period of 350 years: the inner-rim diameter of the jar’s neck.

The distribution of this diameter is consistent with measurements of the palm of a (male) hand and, according to the authors, this match is not coincidental. It may reflect the use of the original metrics for the biblical measurement of the “tefach,” a unit of measurement that was used primarily by ancient Israelites, appears frequently in the Bible, and is the basis for many Jewish laws. Their findings were published in BASOR, the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research.

“It was natural for the ancient potters to adopt the handbreadth—tefach--standard. It was a unit of length that was widely used in ancient times, and is mentioned both in Assyrian and Egyptian sources and in the Old Testament, for instance: Numbers 25-25, Numbers 37-12,” the researchers shared.

The team did 3-D scans of 307 Iron-Age jars found in Khirbet Qeiyafa (Judah Kingdom; early 10th century BC), “hippo” jars from northern Israel (Israelite Kingdom, 9th Century BC—nicknamed for their large size and loop handles which resemble hippopotamuses) and royal Judah Kingdom storage jars (8-7th Century BC). The researchers observed large variations between the jars—even those from the same time period and geographic region. Only one measure remained constant: the averaged inner-rim diameter which always measured, with a standard deviation, between 8.85 and 8.97 centimeters.

The distribution of this diameter is statistically identical to the hand’s breadth of modern man. To gain data on the standard measure of a modern man’s palm, the team tapped measurements taken by the USA Army when ordering gloves for their soldiers, the mean value being 8.67±0.48 cm, which is consistent with the measurements taken from the ancient jars. Though human heights and weights have changed over time due to improved diet and health, previous research has shown that palm dimensions have not changed much over the last 3,000 years.

As to why the inner rim remained consistent while the overall shape of the jar varied so much, our Israeli group of researchers has several theories. It was a natural choice for ancient potters to use their palms as the standard diameter for jar openings—it was easy to implement when working on the wheel: the potter could simply use her/his palm as a tool. Further, storage jars were multiuse items, which meant their openings had to be large enough to allow for cleaning between uses and this involves fitting your hand into the jar.

However, there is another, ancient aspect which may explain the connection between the uniform neck diameters. It is based on the highly-regarded and observed purity laws in The Old Testament. The Book of Numbers deals with the question: What is the status of jars that were left in the vicinity of a corpse—are they impure or pure?

“This is the law, if a man dies in a tent, anyone entering the tent and anything in the tent shall be unclean for seven days. Any open vessel which has no seal fastened around it becomes unclean.” (Numbers 19: 14-15)

It is clear from this passage that the contents of a jar become impure—and therefore unusable-- unless there is a special seal on its top. This ruling had serious economic ramifications. Imagine having to throw out valuable stores of grain and oil after Grandpa Ezekiel died in the family tent. Subsequent Jewish traditions quantified these rules of impurity, stating that the minimal opening size through which impurity may enter is the square of a hand’s breadth by hand’s breadth.

“Impurity does not enter a shelter, nor does it depart from it if there is an opening less than a handbreadth [tefach] by a handbreadth [tefach].” (14.1)

“According to the Oral Tradition, it was taught that the verse is speaking only about a ceramic container, for it is a container that contracts impurity only through its opening.” (21.1) – Maimonides’s Code of Jewish Religious Law, Mishneh Torah.

Here Maimonides brings down an ancient tradition vis a vis the laws of impurity, stating that a round opening with a maximum diameter of one hand’s breadth, or tefach, would ensure that the jar’s content would still be pure even if it were stored near a corpse. From here it would make sense that potters would create storage jars with a tefach, or hand’s breadth, opening.

For the purposes of storage and transport, a jar opening should be small. On the other hand, pouring, cleaning and easy manufacturing would dictate a large opening, at least a hand’s-width. Perhaps, the final convergence to a one handbreadth opening killed several birds with one stone and kept in mind the spiritual, legal traditions regarding the minimal window through which impurity could defile the contents of a ceramic vessel and thus make them unusable.

Over time, different rabbis attempted to provide conversions of the traditional biblical measurements to our modern measurement. The conversions for the tefach vary, with competing theories brought forth by Avraham Chaim Naeh and the Chazon Ish, both 20th century Orthodox rabbis who lived in pre-State Palestine. According to Rabbi Chaim Naeh, one tefach = 8 cm, whereas according to the Chazon Ish one tefach = 9.6 cm. The uniform opening of the ancient storage jars, which falls between 8.85-8.97 cm, falls squarely in between these two opinions and may shed light on the dimensions of the biblical tefach and, because we no longer hold by purity laws when it comes to the contamination of stored items, elucidate just how tall your sukkah can be, down to the last centimeter.

YOU WILL NEVER LOOK AT THESE LOGOS THE SAME WAY, AGAIN.

Do you see the arrow between the "E" and "x" (in white)?
I had never noticed it before.
============================== ========

The 2nd and 3rd "T's" are two people sharing (or fighting over) a
tortilla and a bowl of salsa.
============================== ========

The world's most famous bike race. The "R" in "Tour" is a cyclist.
The yellow circle is the front wheel of a bicycle, the "O" is the back wheel.
============================== ========

The arrow means Amazon has everything from A to Z
============================== =======

There is a dancing bear above the "ble".
Toblerone chocolate bars originated in Berne, Switzerland,
whose symbol is the bear.
============================== ========

See the " 31" embedded in the " BR"?
Thirty-one-derful flavors!
============================== ========

See the gorilla and lioness (in white) facing each other?
AWESOME ~ LOVED this one!
============================== ========

The smiley half face is also a 'g".
============================== ========

Just think, people get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to dream this up!
=============================

TEN THINGS I KNOW ABOUT YOU

1) You are reading this.
2) You are human.
3) You can't say the letter ''P'' without separating your lips.
4) You just attempted to do it.
6) You are laughing at yourself.
7) You have a smile on your face and you skipped No. 5.
8) You just checked to see if there is a No. 5.
9) You laugh at this because you are a funloving person & everyone does it.

10)  You have received this e-mail because I wanted you to smileand to take your mind off politics.

Why are Cuomo and de Blasio singling out Orthodox Jews as COVID scofflaws?

There are good reasons to worry about a spike in infections in haredi enclaves, but the double standards used to justify new lockdowns undermine faith in government.

(October 7, 2020 / JNS)

According to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, cracking down on Chassidic neighborhoods in Brooklyn that he termed “COVID clusters” and imposing new lockdown restrictions on them is just a matter of following Jewish law. Explaining his decision to implement new measures pinpointing specific ZIP codes in the borough, he noted that he is motivated by the principle that, “In Jewish teaching, one of the most precious principles is to save a life.”

Cuomo was right about the concept of pikuach nefesh, which obligates Jews to violate laws with but a few exceptions in order to preserve life. That’s a message some have not gotten during the course of the last several months as—whether out of frustration, ignorance or perverse stubbornness—they resisted rules about face masks or bans on gatherings of large numbers of people. The spectacle of Orthodox Jews taking to the streets this week in closely packed crowds, eschewing masks (and in one case, even burning the coverings) to protest Cuomo’s new edicts cannot be defended.

Yet it’s equally fair to ask questions that were raised by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in singling out Jews by name as the sole source of COVID scofflaws. It’s also reasonable to ask by what logic, let alone scientific principle, are they making decisions that mandate the closing of religious institutions while allowing other secular activities to go on unhindered?

Just as important, why have Cuomo and de Blasio, as well as so many other local and state leaders around the nation, treated religious activities and protests against these restrictions as inherently illegitimate and illegal while turning a blind eye towards the mass protests and violence in the streets that have taken place under the banner of the Black Lives Matter movement?

Seen from that perspective, the anger of the haredim who have been resisting COVID restrictions can be understood, if not excused, as a natural reaction to hypocritical policies and a troubling willingness to make the easily identifiable Orthodox Jewish community the scapegoats for the pandemic.

It’s entirely fair to note that haredi communities—both in the United States and Israel—have been particularly resistant to COVID rules, especially those that banned synagogue services, in addition to gatherings for weddings and funerals. The explanation for this is variously given as a function of the insular nature of ultra-Orthodox culture, as well as their being disconnected from the flow of information about the disease on the Internet and their inherent distrust of secular authorities.

But it’s equally fair to point out that in neither country have the haredim been the sole sources of COVID infractions.

It’s also true that neither Cuomo nor de Blasio has much credibility on this issue. The governor has never owned up to his guilt in forcing nursing homes to accept coronavirus patients at the start of the pandemic—a colossal error that led to a massive number of fatalities that still account for the largest single factor in the number of deaths from the coronavirus. The mayor is a hopeless incompetent who is hard to take seriously when he attempts to impose his will on Jewish critics.

Part of the problem is that, like so many of their colleagues in positions of authority, Cuomo and de Blasio have been empowered by the pandemic to act in ways that would have been unthinkable in any other circumstance. The spread of the virus is a genuine emergency not unlike a natural disaster or an armed conflict that gives authorities the power to act in the public interest outside of the normal restraints of constitutional government. However, their use of these powers to protect citizens against a common menace—in this case, the spread of the disease—must still be restrained by the same principles that ought to inform all government actions. In order to have legitimacy, they must be rooted in law, and be applied consistently and without prejudice. And the exercise of these powers cannot go on indefinitely.

Unfortunately, those elements have often been conspicuous by their absence when it comes to enforcing pandemic restrictions—something that has become much more evident since the first few weeks of the crisis when the country was panicked, and both citizens and the courts were inclined to give authorities the benefit of the doubt.

They have, as is usually the case with politicians who become drunk with power, become extremely intolerant of those who push back against them, which have put the Orthodox community in their cross-hairs.

Just as important, once state and municipal governments, like those in New York, not only failed to stop the mass demonstrations that arose following George Floyd’s death, but in many cases actually endorsed them, the equation changed. The fact that they would have cracked down hard if they had been linked to their political opponents rather than a key constituency made their hypocrisy undeniable.

As those “mostly peaceful” protests continued and violence spread, governments that sent cops to shut down synagogues and churches, close playgrounds or arrest people without masks while doing little or nothing to stop rioters lost whatever credibility they once had. If preventing looting by non-socially distanced criminals is not a government priority but stopping people from praying in a house of worship is, something is profoundly wrong, and it’s no good blaming people—whether they are Orthodox Jews or anyone else—for noticing.

Moreover, the willingness of mainstream media outlets to excuse this hypocrisy also contributes to the way support for restrictions is declining. When The New York Times labels haredi protesters in Brooklyn a violent “mob”—a term considered both racist and unacceptable when applied to the riots carried out in the name of the Black Lives Matter movement—we know that the paper’s bias and its long history of questionable coverage of Jewish subjects is behind their decisions.

Given the pattern of continued COVID outbreaks around the world, there are legitimate questions to be answered about whether lockdowns are doing what advocates claim. That’s especially true when so many seem oblivious to the enormous damage they have done.

The answer to this problem is not continued resistance to common-sense measures like masks and social distancing. But before anyone criticizes those who are protesting the untrammeled use of government power to impose lockdowns, it is past time for politicians to drop the hypocrisy and their scapegoating of Jews or anyone else that thinks the First Amendment hasn’t been repealed.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS—Jewish News Syndicate. Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin.

See you Sunday  bli neder -Shabbat Shalom

We need Mosiach now!

Love Yehuda Lave