Articles of Interest

• The Toldos Aharon Rebbe went to Meiron in a box due to Tumah concerns


• Speaking of graves, there's a new proposal to put the new Barzilai Hospital wing under the graves


• From Parsha Potpourri, talking about the Pesukim in Behar that deal with being sold as a slave:

  The Chofetz Chaim derives an inspiring lesson from these seemingly mundane and complex laws. A Jew living today who is told to yearn for the coming of Moshiach could easily despair and wonder how he will merit seeing something which was denied to so many righteous individuals in previous generations. However, we learn from these laws that the closer a slave gets to the predetermined time of his release (the Yovel year), the less money will be needed to purchase his premature freedom because of all of the work he has already performed.
  
  Similarly, upon creating the universe, Hashem decreed a preordained time for the final redemption. However, He stipulated that with sufficient merits, it would be possible to bring Moshiach before this time. In order to cause his arrival centuries in advance of the prearranged time, tremendous merits were necessary, something that even our most pious ancestors weren’t able to accumulate. As the time for the ultimate redemption draws ever nearer, however, the remaining “balance” dwindles ever smaller, a balance which we are indeed capable of “paying off” if we only allow ourselves to serve Hashem to our maximum potential.



• Nigeria's new acting president's name: Goodluck Jonathan. I know Sepharadim have the female name of "Mazal Tov", but somehow, it sounds funnier in English.


• A troubling trend toward secularism in a recent poll, and R' Aryeh Deri blames it on a lack of Ahdut in Am Yisrael.