Emunah Magazine

The title of the article says it all. A student seems to be very groggy during Obama’s speech.
Enjoy

The competition between Apple and Google is getting intense as the two companies battle for supremacy in the smartphone business.

Last month, Google updated its Android operating system, introducing Android 2.2, aka FroYo.  On Monday, Apple shot back by making its latest mobile operating system, iOS 4 — formerly called iPhone OS 4.0 — official.

Apple’s iOS 4, which will be available to customers starting June 21, includes some much-awaited new features such as multitasking that will allow users to listen to music, check e-mail and answer a call at the same time. Other additions are a unified e-mail inbox, folders that can help organize your apps and access to Apple’s digital bookstore.

But all this doesn’t mean iOS 4 is ahead of Android.

Read on to see how the latest versions of the two operating systems stack up.

	iOS 4	Android 2.2 aka FroYo
Devices	iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS. Available for iPhone 3G and iPod Touch but some features not supported. iPad (coming Fall 2010).	None right now but HTC Nexus One,Motorola Droid likely to move to        Android 2.2.
Availability	Available to developers now. iPhone 3G S, iPhone 3G and iPod Touch consumers get a free upgrade on June 21. iPhone 4 available on June 24.	Available to developers now. Available               to some Nexus One users now. Updates                 to other devices “coming soon.”
Tethering	Yes	Yes
Flash Support	No. Apple says it supports only two platforms: HTML 5 and its app store.	Yes. Beta version of Flash Player 10.1      available on Android 2.2.
Multitasking	Yes	Yes
Hot-Spot Capability	No	Yes. Wi-Fi can be shared with up to                         8 devices.
Folders	Yes	Yes
Copy and Paste	Yes	Yes
Video Chat	Native support (only on iPhone 4 hardware)	Available only through add-on apps.
Books	Support for iBooks to download and read digital books.	Available only through add-on apps.
Music	Available through iTunes; automatic syncing with desktop iTunes. Streaming music only supported through apps.	Built-in ability to play MP3 files, but                   no syncing with your desktop music.                       Streaming music available via                             add-on apps.
Apps	200,000 iPhone apps	50,000 Android apps
Ads	In-app ads through iAds. Apple sells and hosts the ads and shares revenue with developers. Payment through iTunes.	In-app ads available through                           Google Mobile ads. Adsense for mobile                ads is in beta mode for developers.
E-Mail	Unified inbox combines multiple e-mail accounts. Threading of conversations.	No unified inbox. Threading available                 in Gmail.

Source: Reuters

A New Jersey man charged with DWI decided he needed some liquid courage prior to going before a judge.

So he had a few more before driving to his court appearance, crashed as he made a turn, and now faces two DWI charges, cops said.

When asked if he had been drinking, John DeMatteo, of South Brunswick, allegedly told officers he was anxious about his court date and admitted to consuming Absolut Raspberri.

***

If you’re driving on Route 150 in North Carolina and get bored with the scenery, open your window and smell the billboard.

A giant sign in Mooresville emits the scent of black pepper and charcoal to promote a new line of beef available at a local grocery chain.

A fan at the bottom of the billboard spreads the aroma by blowing air over fragrance cartridges.

***

Orange is so yesterday.

Jail officials in Cleveland County, Okla., dress inmates in hot pink shirts and yellow and white striped pants that some complain make them look more like clowns than criminals.

Authorities say the new uniforms make it easier to find escapees.

***

They call him “the grim eater.”

A hungry ghoul has been crashing services at a funeral home in Wellington, New Zealand, up to four days a week to stock up on food set out for mourners.

He even brings a Tupperware container to take home some extra snacks.

***

A bus company in Changsha, China, knows which of its drivers give passengers a rough ride — the wheel men end up wet.

Every bus is equipped with a water bowl hanging next to the operator, who’s expected to drive gently enough to avoid spills.

Source: NY Post

Jacques Judah Lyons had a strong tenor voice, one that people were glad to hear in song or speech. One March night, he used it to challenge a crowd in Lower Manhattan. Strangers in a far-off place needed their help, he said, but he knew that members of his audience had principled objections. So many of their own people, they pointed out, other Jews right there in New York, were also destitute and needed assistance.

But were these objections real, he asked, or just “excuses which the lips utter while they are rejected by the heart?”

He was speaking in a synagogue on Crosby Street on March 8, 1847, where he was the chazan, or prayer leader. His subject was relief for people in Ireland who were starving to death in a famine caused by failures of crop and government. By the end of that evening, Mr. Lyons had collected about $200 from the congregation, Shearith Israel, according to an account in the April 1847 issue of The Occident, a monthly on Jewish subjects.

On Sunday, more than 163 years later, the congregation, now at 70th Street and Central Park West, will be visited by the president of Ireland, Mary McAleese. She will give thanks for the generosity of Shearith Israel and another New York congregation, Shaaray Tefila, during the famine years. About $1,000 for relief was collected by Jews in New York.

“In some of the conventional histories, the story of the contributions of the Jewish community here has been lost to sight over the years,” said Niall Burgess, the consul general of Ireland in New York.

The story, however, is part of the tradition at Shearith Israel, said Rabbi Hayyim J. Angel, the leader of the congregation. “I knew about this growing up,” Rabbi Angel said. “We speak about it all the time in the synagogue. Chazan Lyons made a fund-raising appeal on behalf of humanity, nothing to do with religion or race.”

The Irish famine, which ran from about 1845 to 1852, was among the first humanitarian crises to be reported in the early days of global media. People and religious groups from around the world responded with donations, as described by Christine Kinealy, a professor at Drew University, in the current issue of Irish America magazine.

The first major contributions came from Calcutta, where about 40 percent of the occupying British Army was Irish-born. The Choctaw Indians, who were displaced from their homelands in the southeastern United States earlier in the 19th century, sent $174 to Ireland. Money was raised from prisoners in Sing Sing, former slaves in the Caribbean, convicts on a prison ship in London, slave churches in the South. Major sources of donations included the Society of Friends and the British Relief Association, led by Lionel de Rothschild.

The famine began with a blight on the leaf of the potato, a staple of Irish tenant farmers, and accelerated through a system of absentee landlords and colonialism. The relief efforts became tangled in bureaucratic snares and rigid commitments by British authorities to free-market solutions. . Some evangelists saw an opportunity to swap soup for the conversion of Catholics.

But there was no such agenda for most of the donors, including Shearith Israel. The congregation was formed in 1654 by Spanish and Portuguese Jews who had been living in Brazil and were driven out. When 23 refugees reached New Amsterdam, the Dutch West Indies Company ordered Peter Stuyvesant to accommodate them, “provided the poor among them shall not become a burden to the Company or to the community, but be supported by their own nation.”

Mr. Lyons became the chazan in 1839. He helped found Jews Hospital, now known as Mount Sinai. His appeal in 1847 on behalf of the Irish bluntly stated that the Jews who gathered on Crosby Street had almost nothing in common with the people on the tiny island. “There is but one connecting link between us and the sufferers,” he said. “That link, my brethren, is humanity.” When Mr. Lyons died in 1877, his niece, Emma Lazarus – author of the “Give me your tired” inscription for the Statue of Liberty – wrote a verse in his honor, “to requite the just man’s service with a just man’s death.”

Mr. Burgess, the Irish government’s senior official in New York, learned about the gifts of the Jews here from a friend who saw some information about them in the Irish Jewish Museum in Dublin. Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, connected the Irish officials with the Shearith congregation.

The congregation has continued its charitable works since 1847. The Irish are now among the leading donors of official development aid. Mr. Burgess said that was part of the famine legacy: “A few years back, President McAleese said, ‘We are a first world nation with a third world memory.’ ”

Source: NY Times

New York, NY – The Israeli chef of the New York restaurant Olympic Pita used thousands of chickpeas, 40 liters of oil and a variety of spices to create the world’s largest falafel ball on Friday.
Weighing in at 10.9 kilograms and with a circumference of more than a meter, the falafel ball is expected to enter the Guinness Book of World Records in the coming days.

Israel’s latest record bid comes amid an ongoing ‘war’ with neighboring Lebanon over another chickpea product – hummus. On May 12 Lebanese chefs smashed Israel’s record with a four-ton serving of the favorite Middle Eastern dip.

“The record set today is nothing compared to the goal we have set for ourselves for next year – the world’s largest gefilte fish,” said Israeli Consul General Asaf Shariv, who added that the record also kicked off a week’s worth of Israel-related events in New York, including the annual Israeli day parade on Fifth Avenue.

The week, dubbed Israel week, was initiated by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York in cooperation with the New York municipality.

The parade, scheduled for Sunday, was expected to draw thousands of Israel supporters in New York. Omri Casspi, the first Israeli to play in the NBA, was set to lead the procession alongside Israeli consulate staff.

On Monday, Israeli musician Idan Raichel is due to perform before a crowd of about 2,000 New Yorkers.

Source: Ha’aretz

Munkatch ( Munkacs ) Kids In Yeshiva In 1933

Goldman Sachs overlord Lloyd Blankfein is so rich, he bought his $26 million “Master of the Universe” duplex at 15 Central Park West in cash before finally selling his five-bedroom, seven-bath prewar duplex at 941 Park Ave. Blankfein just accepted an offer on that apartment, reports The Post’s Jennifer Gould Keil. The luxurious abode, asking $15 million last year, was most recently listed for $13.5 million — on top of which a buyer must pay $11,327 a month maintenance.

Source: NY Post

I. Walking with God

Are you allowed to text or check your e-mail while praying or reciting a blessing? The Taz (Orach Chaim 191:1) writes in strong language that you must pay full and complete attention while reciting a blessing. He compares it to “walking contrary with [God]” which can also mean walking with God carelessly. This leads to a punishment of “And I will walk contrary with you” (Lev. 26:23-24). This seems to conclusively answer the question but it is actually more complicated.

II. The Shema Exceptions

The Mishnah (Berakhos 16a) states that workers up in a tree can recite Shema while still in the tree but must descend to the ground to pray the Amidah. Rashi explains that the Amidah requires extra concentration, which is not possible while up in the tree. The Gemara continues that workers must stop their work for the first section of Shema (commentators disagree exactly what constitutes this section) but may continue their work for the second section.

The Gemara (Yoma 19a) tells of a time when a talmudic sage was quoting a Mishnah and mispronounced the name of a rabbi. Rava, who was reciting Shema at the time, motioned with his hands to indicate that the name should be pronouned with a “beis”. Shouldn’t Rava have been concentrating on the Shema and not motioning to others? Not to worry, explains the Gemara, because he was reciting the second section of Shema. If the Shema does not require great concentration and you can work and motion to others while finishing it, perhaps you can also text and check your e-mail.

III. Two Reasons for Focus

The Ramban (Milchamos to Berakhos 19a) distinguishes between two reasons that would forbid motioning or working while reciting Shema: 1) the need to concentrate, 2) the obligation to have kevi’us (fixedness). The former is a function of intent while the latter is a matter of respect and context. The second section of Shema requires neither.

I suggest that this also applies to the blessings before and after Shema. The Maharsha (Yoma 19a) connects the issues of kevi’us and greeting someone during Shema. Since the permission to greet or respond to a greeting at specific points in the Shema apply also to the blessings, the lack of needed kevi’us presumably also applies. The language of the Rambam (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhos Keri’as Shema 2:4) also implies that the blessings of Shema have the same status as the second section

V. Conclusion

What seems to emerge, then, is that while you may not text or check your e-mail when you are reciting a blessing or the Amidah or the first section of Shema, you may do so while reciting the blessings and the second section of Shema.

However, perhaps we have to distinguish between performing repetitive work with your hands or motioning with your hands and doing something that requires thought, like writing or reading. The Ritva (Berakhos 19a sv. lo) writes: “And even though you do not need actual intent, you still cannot be involved in other things so that you have a rested heart.” The Shulchan Arukh Ha-Rav (183:14) only allows mindless work that you do with your hands and nothing that requires concentration. Therefore, it seems that you must avoid your electronic communication devices while praying, reciting blessings and saying Shema.

As always, ask you rabbi about halakhic matters and don’t rely on what you read online.

Source:Hirhurim

This special prayer was composed by the Shelah Hakadosh to express the prayers of parents on behalf of their children. The Shelah said the optimal time for parents to recite this prayer is Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan , but it may be recited anytime. The holy Shlah Hakadosh left Europe in the 17th century and made his home in Eretz Yisrael, becoming chief Rabbi of Jerusalem.

The Artscroll website states:
“All parents want the best for their children — that they should be good and upright, that they have everything they need for a fruitful, joyous life.

(We recite the prayer anytime but especially…) on THE DAY BEFORE ROSH CHODESH SIVAN, for that is the month when God gave us the Torah, and when the Jewish people began to be called His Children. On that day, (the Shelah Hakadosh) writes, fathers and mothers should give charity to the poor and repent. They should even fast, if they are able to

Free Download – Tefillas Hasheloh, .PDF

Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard law professor who has become one of Israel’s most committed and articulate advocates, on Wednesday emphatically hailed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as a potential partner for peace, calling him “the best that Israel has, and probably the best that Israel has ever had.”

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post immediately after a 90-minute meeting with Fayyad in Ramallah, their first meeting, Dershowitz said Fayyad “genuinely would like to bring peace and a two-state solution, based on his conception of what a two-state solution would look like.”

This, he stressed, was “very different” from Israel’s conception, in matters relating to security, among others. But overall, said Dershowitz, Fayyad’s differences with Israel fell into the realm of “reasonable disagreement.”

“I didn’t hear a single argument that seemed unreasonable,” said Dershowitz, adding, “The same goes for my recent meetings with Israeli leaders.”

Thus, he said, “you have reasonable people [on both sides] disagreeing over reasonable issues.

“Whether that gulf can be bridged is a hard question,” he said. “But we’re in the realm of reasonable disagreement, and that’s a big step forward.”

It was very different from the Arafat era, he said, to encounter “reason and civil disobedience” on the Palestinian side, compared to the previous “unreason and terror.”
Nonetheless, he stressed that his glowing assessment of Fayyad did not necessarily encompass the PA leadership as a whole.

“I don’t think you can generalize from him to others,” he said. “It’s not clear to me that he speaks for the [PA] government, even though he’s the prime minister. But [it is significant] that he’s entrusted with so important a position.”

Dershowitz said he had asked Fayyad “hard questions” about PA support for the Goldstone Report, about Fayyad’s campaign against Israel’s joining the OECD, about PA incitement against Israel, and about his campaign to boycott settlement goods.

The professor, author of The Case for Israel and The Case Against Israel’s Enemies, said Fayyad did not attempt to claim that the Goldstone Report on Operation Cast Lead was accurate, that “he didn’t seem too unhappy” to have lost the OECD battle, and that he condemned incitement.

Himself a critic of the settlement enterprise, Dershowitz said that Fayyad had “a very good point in using nonviolent means” to show opposition to the settlements.

As far as other final-status issues were concerned, Dershowitz said he did not believe Fayyad, “as a pragmatist,” would make “the same fatal mistake that Arafat did and give up on peace over a fake right of return.”

On security, he went on, “Fayyad argued against IDF troops periodically entering Ramallah and in favor of bolstering the internal PA security forces. He makes a persuasive case,” said Dershowitz, adding the caveat: “These aren’t areas I’m expert in.”

Allowing that “maybe I’m too optimistic,” Dershowitz said, “I’m prepared to err on that side. I’m not saying Israel should err on that side… I’m so used to hearing from Palestinian leaders who give me nothing to hold onto.”

Source: JPost

Here is our print edition for our online readers to see

For close to two decades, I have taken the same van to work. It is a minibus which runs between where I live in Flatbush and my work in Boro Park. Once, after I paid my fare and took a seat, I was shocked to discover that the van was empty. Only I and the driver were on the van that was usually over crowded and seat-less.
I leaned back in my seat, looking forward to what promised to be a relaxing 20 minute ride. Approximately 2 stops into the ride, a young man got into the van and made a quick comment to the driver, which I didn’t pay attention to as I enjoyed my solitude. The man, a young chasidik looking man, asked me in Yiddish if I spoke the language. I responded I did. Being polite and well spoken, he asked me with a slight Hebrew accent to his Yiddish if I would possibly, in a very polite manner, move to the back of the van so he could sit in the front.
Now here I am, a middle aged Jewish woman with a leg brace on her left leg as the result of a very serious bone condition, being asked by someone younger than some of my children to move to the back. What would most people have done?
I was faced with a moral dilemma. Should I pretend I did not hear him? Or perhaps give him a dismissive look, or even possibly say to him “Are you crazy?” What would you have done?
I then stood up and walked to the back of the van. I never saw this man again. I know nothing of his background or education, save from the description given before. I have no idea why this man would have the nerve to ask an older American woman who is traveling in America to move to the back of the bus. But that is just what he did.
For those of you who have travelled to Israel you most likely know that in certain cities (Yerushalayim and Ramat Beit Shemesh) there have been issues with the so called “mehdarin buses.” These buses place all the men in the front with the women in the back. Recently, the Israeli government and courts have been cracking down on these buses claiming them to be discriminatory and a Charedi carrier for many Non-Charedi passengers.
The law suit was brought by a group of Non-Charedi women who were asked too many times to please leave their seats and move to the back. It is believed that the Israeli courts will eliminate these buses. The first few seats on the bus are designated for the elderly and infirm passengers.
And now I have a story to tell you of something that happened to my elderly aunt. My aunt has lived in Yerushalayim for forty years. She is a Holocaust survivor and although she is quite active, she uses a cane to get around. She recently got on to a number 2 bus coming from the Kotel. A young man was sitting in the seats designated for the elderly. I say seats because this man was using his second seat as a place to keep his packages. She asked him kindly if he would move his packages so she could sit down. He looked at her, then looked at the back of the bus and responded, “There are empty seats in the back!”
What is going on? Have we allowed our ideas of frumkeit and tzniut to take the place of common sense and Mentshlichkeit? Are we so caught up with chumras that we are incapable of seeing the real problem? I have no answer to this, but I ask that we take a step back and use common sense to analyze this. Our laws of tzniut were designed to preserve our holiness, to ensure that we treat each other with respect. Do we not remember now during Sfira that all of those young men who died because they could not treat their fellow man, or even woman in this case, with respect?
Young men, when you see an elderly or even older woman making her way to the back of the bus, consider how you should behave. These women walk to the back to help preserve this holy idea try to remember the same. Stand up and give up a seat. They deserve it, especially if you’re in their spot!

by Breindi Markowitz – For feedback, email breindi@emunahmagazine.com

Of course for all of the paranoid Arabs out there I loved hearing your newest idea. According to the British Magazine Economist, in Israel Arabs must wait longer at traffic lights than Jews. They claim that at intersection between two Arab neighborhoods have only 18 seconds of cross time but Jews crossing at their neighborhoods have 90. Clearly these are false and totally outrageous allegations.

In fact at one crossing between two highly Jewish populated cities drivers only receive 16 seconds of green light while having to wait 1 minute and 41 seconds for the highway traffic to stop. The truth is that Israel’s time regulations are done the same way they are done everywhere else in the world, and they are based on the amount of daily traffic and the size of the street.

Of course this is just another heinous idea of blaming Israel and Jews for everyone’s problems. Now they are convinced that the Israeli Light rail will be stealing Arabs lanes of traffic, by occupying these lanes. But these are everyone’s lanes and the light rail benefits everyone.

Heres a touching video about why you should care about Shalom Rubashkin. The narrator talks about the injustice that Rubashkin is facing versus Toyota CEO.

On The Beat Reporter Shmiel Geffen Submitted this video : send videos to video@emunahmagazine.com

Google’s GPS software which is currently distributed for free and runs on Android devices will soon be available for other phones. The software which displays the traffic, a satellite and first-person imaging of the streets also includes a voice search and car dock mode. Although no timetables were released it is expected to appear soon on the BlackBerry, IPhone, Palm, and possibly the new Windows 7 devices. Garmin Recently released an app that works on many Blackberry models including the popular Tour and Curve. Seems like the market for turn by turn GPS is heading to the freebie zone. Last year after Android started giving away a premium GPS product for free Garmin

has decided to do the same and Nokia’s recent purchase of Navtech may be an indication of where that company is headed with in terms of their GPS producs

This photo was uploaded by our On The Beat Photographer Shmiel Geffen , If you have a funny photo email to photos@emunahmagazine.com

It’s all about the Benjamin’s. In the first time since 1996 the US treasury has redesigned the $100 bill to prevent from counterfeiting. The bills now contain tiny sensors and a computer chip to prove its authenticity. It is currently the highest printed currency in the US but not in US history there have been several bills in the past with higher values. The US has made in the past a $500 bill displaying the face of William McKinley. A $1000 bill with the image of Grover Cleveland the $5000 portrayed Madison and they even made a $10,000 bill which is adorned with the likeness of US treasury secretary Chase. A $100,000 bill was created but it is not a officially a dollar bill that was ever able to be used by the general public it was only in use by the government. Woodrow Wilson was on that bill.
Here are some video and pics , if you have interesting photos, email us at photo@emunahmagazine.com

New video introducing the new $100 bill and some of its security features

One Hundred Dollar Bill

Some video fo the production of the new $100 dollar bill