In LA

The following ad appeared in the right column of the google search results page for my query “shpilkes”:

I didn’t know one could order shpilkes for delivery. Can I get some kvelling included in the order without paying additional shipping charges?

On a serious note, does this mean that the advertiser deliberately picked this particular keyword and paid to make this impression?

Wow, this is a crazy one. First (some) Muslims the world over get (extremely) riled up about a ‘cartoons of Mohammed’ contest in Denmark and the republication of the cartoons in papers across Europe, and then an Iranian paper announces that it’s running a ‘best anti-semitic cartoon’ contest in retaliation, and now an Israeli paper has proudly boasted that Israelis will be able to make the best anti-semitic cartoons, and has launched a new contest, the Israeli Anti-Semitic Cartoon Contest.

No joke. Or lots of jokes. See it how you like.

Congrats to Andrew Krucoff on his bar mitzvah and a nod to American Apparel for sponsoring it.

Things that matter

Hurricane Relief Efforts

• Threadless.com will donate $10 to the red cross for every purchase of this pretty $10 shirt.
• The NAACP Disaster Relief Fund. Politics and race shouldn’t matter at all in a time of crisis, but this is an imperfect world (and government) we’re talking about. The NAACP promises “to ensure the equitable distribution of money and resources from Federal, state and local government and other relief agencies”, a goal they list after “1) provide immediate assistance to the worst affected victims” and “2) mobilize resources to feed, cloth and shelter displaced victims”. All 3 goals are important, but after what I’ve seen (amazing footage, quicktime format) on TV and read about the initial disaster relief efforts I think goal #3 cannot be overstated right now.
• The Red Cross is doing a lot of great work in areas hit hard by the hurricane and its aftermath. They’re putting FEMA’s response to shame, which is great except that FEMA is really supposed to be able to respond to emergencies, it’s kind of that organization’s whole purpose. In any case, Red Cross, please keep up the good work, and we’re all donating to you. Wish I could take back the portion of my taxes that went into the FEMA director’s salary and divert them straight into the Red Cross coffers.
• One of the things I’ve always found most appealing about modern-day Judaism is the importance placed on tikkun olam, which means “heal the world”. This concept may have begun its life as a metaphysical kabbalistic notion, but it has since been expounded upon by the mainstream Jewish community to become a strong progressive social imperative. So I’m happy to note that many large Jewish organizations have set up hurricane relief funds and are sending volunteers and supplies to help Jewish and non-Jewish communities in “Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, the Western Florida panhandle and other affected areas”. Las Vegas is also helping out — OK so that city is not itself a Jewish organization, but Jewish gangster Bugsy Siegel (unfortunate middle name ommitted) is credited in that cities mythology with turning it into a gambling mecca, and its current mayor is Oscar Goodman, so I’m going to lump it into this paragraph.
• Here’s a more comprehensive list of Hurrican Katrina charities. I’m guessing it’s the FEMA approved list. However, before you give money to ‘Operation Blessing, be sure to read this article, entitled “FEMA-Recommended Charity ‘Operation Blessing’ Gives Half Its Cash to Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network…”. Depending on where you want your money to go that one may or may not be the charity for you.

Democracy

• The ability to perform an accurate recount is an important part of the political process, a way to attempt to verify that a close call was decided correctly. California is one of the 25 states that requires “voter-verifiable paper audit trails in all its electronic voting machines”. This means that when you vote, the machine prints out a receipt, you then check the receipt to see whether it accurately lists your vote, and I’d guess you place that receipt in a box for later use if the vote is close enough to require a manual recount. This sounds great, the voter can see the receipt to make sure it accurately lists their vote, and it also can serve as a backup in case the machine vote is corrupted.The problem is that some jurisdictions with electronic voting machines are going about recounts a different way — in the case of a recount they’re just having the machine print out all these receipts at once, and they then count them. This is stupid. The voter can’t verify that these receipts actually show their vote, and if the machine has been tampered with or has malfunctioned the problem will go undetected. This is not a recount, and should not be considered a valid recount. Enter State Bill 370, put forth by Senator Debra Bowen. This bill “makes clear that a manual recount of voting machines is a manual recount of ballots that the voter has personally verified”. The bill has already passed the State legislature, but Governor Schwarzenegger might not sign it — his Secretary of State is pushing for a veto because he says it will cost time and money to do a recount in the proper manner, and instead we should go with the nonsensical recount of non-voter-verified-ballots method. What price is democracy worth? The Electronic Frontier Foundation has published an informational web page on the bill and if you fill out the simple web form they’ll send an email to the Governor for you. It is worth doing. We may never hear the end of disputes over the results of the 2000 Florida recount, let’s not let that happen here in California.

Or at least, they will be able to unite soon when at least one more Jewish woman becomes a traditional scribe to join Vancouver’s Aviel Barclay in her career path. According to this article at Forward (a journal from New York founded in 1897 and published in English, Russian, and Yiddish!), Aviel is the only soferet (traditional scribe) at the moment, but there’s at least one more soferet in training in New York.

“Black Berry Sheet” © copyright A. Barclay

A bit of explanation about sofrim (scribes) and some historical background is in order: There are many ritual objects used in the practice of Judaism, from Torah scrolls to marriage contracts (ketubim) to tefillin and mezuzot, that require the work of a scribe. There are all sorts of rabbinic laws and traditions relating to the exact shape of the hebrew letters in such inscriptions, and it’s a profession requiring a large amount of technical skill (certain kinds of mistakes in writing a Torah scroll require starting the section over), halachic (Jewish law) knowledge, and a good aesthetic sensibility. Traditionally, sofrim have been male, and many orthodox would argue that this is the way it should be for a variety of reasons. There’s a heated halachic debate on this issue within the orthodox community.

So this makes Aviel Barclay’s situation very unique. I stumbled across her blog/diary and webpage today. Some of her ketubim (marriage contracts) look very nice, and she is writing an entire torah for a congregation in Seattle. She also writes amulets and teaches the kabbalah of the letters.

Aviel is very traditional and thus looks within the rabbinic tradition for her responses to critics and to inform her own thoughts and rationalizations. I mention this to explain some of the rather technical-sounding halachic language and logic in her posts. You may need a hebrew and aramaic dictionary to get through some of those posts with the meaning intact, but the photos of her work scattered through her blog need no translation.

There’s a list of “Ancient Texts Online” available here courtesy of the Paleojudaica blog. It includes such writings as the Babylonian Talmud, the Septuagint, Writings of Maimonides, the New Testament in Greek, etc.

If you’ve been looking for a band of Jewish motorcycle enthusiasts to join, you’re in luck. The King David Bikers are ready to ride, and there’s probably a branch in your city.

I wonder if Rabbi Ira Stone, former Rabbi of Seattle’s Congregation Beth Shalom, is a member. On weekdays he would always ride his hog to synagogue and show up wearing leather pants and a helmet.