Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Getting every thing in now

I am almost on my way home for the holiday which means no blog til Saturday night or Sunday afternoon at the earliest. There is nothing like packing to the sounds of Matisyahu, Paul McCartney, and the Who. And doing all that on an empty stomach.

Ariel Sharon is "permanently incapacitated."

Interesting development at the Alpha Epsilon Phi chapter at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
About a dozen pledges and current members of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology chapter of Alpha Epsilon Phi, the nation’s oldest Jewish sorority, have de-affiliated. According to Elizabeth Katcoff, an MIT sophomore who is the sorority’s vice president of recruitment, most of these young women didn’t realize they were joining a Jewish sorority. They were not told about it during recruitment, she says.

When chapter officials explained the sorority’s history at a February meeting, the exodus occurred.

The chapter is recruiting again, and has a new pledge class of five students, four of whom are Jewish. Bonnie Wunsch, the sorority’s national executive director, says the sorority is open to anyone regardless of religion, but is committed to its Jewish orientation.
There is an interesting article in the Jerusalem Post regarding the reevaluation of Birthright Israel. Ever since spring 2004 (before that actually, but that was the first time that I was elgible to do so), I keep wanting to Eretz Yisrael, the home of my ancestors if you go back to Biblical times (I have it on record that I do descend from Aaron, but I am not a Kohen or a Levite since it comes from patrilineal desecent). The reasons that I have not gone yet is because I was have a summer class or work. The case this year being that I did not get the $250 deposit in time and a passport. If things go well, I expect to go this winter or the winter after that since I expect to be taking classes next summer to get out on time.
Terrified that American Jewish college students were forgetting they were Jewish, Yossi Beilin gave birth to an idea. Charles Bronfman and Michael Steinhardt, two US Jewish philanthropists, adopted it. They determined that it was every Jewish child's "birthright" to come to Israel; thus, the name of the project, which has become the new "savior" of the North American Jewish community.

Thousands of college-age youth have come here since the beginning of birthright israel. The slogan of this dramatic effort is: "It's free. That's right; Israel is 'on-the-house,' Judaism is 'for sale.'"

It's called outreach. If you are an unaffiliated Jew, never having been active in Jewish life, you are rewarded. It is your "birthright" to come to your homeland.

BIRTHRIGHT enthusiasts would be well advised to read the biblical story of Jacob and Esau. Esau gave up his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of lentil soup. But Jacob's mere acquisition of the birthright did not give him entitlement to it. It was only after years of struggling, whereby he served his uncle Laban as little more than a slave for 21 years that he ultimately earned the name Israel, legitimately inheriting the birthright (Genesis 32:25-29).
Tom Daschle backs penalties for illegal immigrants.

This shows that musicians care about the communities that they perform in.

The Boston Red Sox are now 6-1. Josh Beckett got the win. Papelbon, his fourth save this season. David Ortiz hit his second home run this season.

Have I mentioned this yet?
An album of previously unheard BEATLES recordings will be released this summer, thirty-six years after the band's breakup. The project will be supervised by PAUL McCARTNEY and RINGO STARR, with the release slated to coincide with a Las Vegas Beatles-themed Cirque de Soleil show. The circus, renowned for their creative acrobatics and set designs, have had unprecedented access to the heavily guarded Beatles catalog, and the show will feature music from the upcoming release. McCartney and Starr -- along with JOHN LENNON's widow YOKO ONO and GEORGE HARRISON's widow OLIVIA -- are collaborating on the production, which will replace SIEGFRIED AND ROY's longstanding act at the Mirage Hotel and Casino.
Be right back...

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