I’ve noticed that some of my photos were being stolen from this site and being used for commercial and non-commercial purposes.  I don’t suspect any of this blog’s usual readers of this activity… Read More »

By now, I’m sure you’re all aware of the rally that was held last week in Jerusalem’s Kikar HaShabbat.   Chareidim chose to dress themselves and their children in Nazi garb to protest… well, I’m not sure what they were protesting.Many  chareidim in Israel, it seems, feel persecuted. Read More »

The news coming out of Israel over the past few months has been downright depressing. It seems to be a place where the rule of law no longer applies. Instead, several extremist groups are trying to assert the principle of kol d’alim g’var (whoever is stronger prevails) with respect to public policy. Read More »

As many of you are aware, there are various statements made by Chazal that are at odds with current scientific understanding. Read More »

Canon XSi, 100mm macro lens, f/2.8, 1/320 second, ISO 200 Lately, I’ve been experimenting with various water drop pictures.  Here’s one that I did that involved using some color.Comments, criticisms and critiques are welcomed, appreciated and encouraged. Read More »

As many of you are probably aware, there has been a battle going on surrounding the Orot school for girls in Beit Shemesh.  The short version of the story is as follows: The town of Beit Shemesh had been planning a new girls’ religious-Zionist school for several years.  Eventually, they were given a parcel of land and began building. Read More »

A friend of mine spotted the following flier hanging in Brooklyn.  In short, it states that there are a limited number of openings for the opportunity to do the mitzvah of shiluach hakein — the sending away of the mother bird. Read More »

I recently took a trip to the Bronx Zoo and, of course, I took my trusty camera along.  I managed to get a number of good tiger shots.  Here’s one: Canon XSi, 75-300mm lens at 300mm, f/5.6, 1/400 second, ISO 400. Comments, critiques and criticisms are welcome, encouraged and appreciated. Read More »

As long-time readers of this blog know, I happen to enjoy photography.  One particular type of photography that I enjoy is macro photography, otherwise known as “close up” photography. I own two macro lenses which I use for my macro photography.  One is a Canon 100mm macro lens (the older, non-L lens, for you photo geeks). Read More »

This past Tisha B’Av , a group of Chassidim (I believe they were Neturai Karta, but I could be wrong about that) protested in New York against Rav Shteinman and his support of the Tal Law in Israel which allows for a chareidi army unit. Read More »

A new letter is beginning to make the rounds on the internet and, possibly, other media.   The letter is about the recent murder of Leiby Kletzky, purported to be from “Moshela,” a handicapped child.  I’m not going to post the entire letter — it can be read online here or here . Read More »

There is a small maroon softcover siddur that I keep in my tallis bag and which I use every day.  I bought the siddur from a seforim store back in 1984 or 1985.   The design on the cover and the lettering on the spine have long since faded away.  Some of the pages are a bit faded and a number of the page corners are dog-eared or missing entirely. Read More »

The cover is blown… sort of.Over Shabbos, I found out that I am not nearly as anonymous as I was a few weeks ago.  A recent post of mine was read by someone who knows the subject of the post, who then spread the word (not out of malice, but because they liked what I said in the post).Truth to tell, I’m actually okay with it. Read More »

It is being reported that Shaul Spitzer, the person accused in the attempted murder of Aron Rottenberg and his family, has been released from the hospital and is back in the yeshiva in New Square .The fact that Spitzer has been welcomed back to the yeshiva shows that moral compass of the leaders of the community is severely misaligned. Read More »

I haven’t posted a photo challenge in a while, so perhaps it’s time for a new one.  Here’s the pic: Canon XSi, MP-E 65mm lens at 5x, f/16, 15 seconds The only clues I will give you is that the image you are seeing is magnified 5x its normal size and the subject(s) was (were) found in my home. Read More »

The Bar Mitzvah in our shul this past Shabbos was unlike any other Bar Mitzvah I ever attended; but that’s simply because the young man is unlike any other Bar Mitzvah I ever met before.Reuvain is a child with Down’s Syndrome. It only takes a single glance at Reuvain to know that he’s not quite like you and I. Read More »

This week, Shaul Spitzer, a New Square man,attempted to burn down own the house of another New Square man.  Spitzer arrived at the  home of Chaim Aron Rottenberg at around 4: 00 on Sunday morning, armed with Molotov cocktail-like devices. Read More »

You’ve got to love it when a weekly newspaper such as the Israeli Yated puts the following letter in their paper. All of the weeklies and freebies, including Mishpachah, distort and blur the holy Torah world view we received from our rabbonim and one should not, choliloh, bring newspapers of this sort into the home or promote them in any way. Read More »

Yes, I saw it, and I do have some things to say about it, but it may have to wait until Sunday or perhaps until after Yom Tov.  I’ve got a crunch of real work and school work at the moment and can’t really do justice to this article on the fly.If you haven’t read it yet, you can find it here . Read More »

There was a recent post on Matzav about having a positive attitude regarding food on Pesach. In it, the author points out how people often complain (whether rightly or wrongly) about Pesach food and that, perhaps, we can have a better attitude about it.This is a concept that I think all of us can get behind.  It’s completely non-controversial. Read More »