Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor | | | | Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement | | André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu is a violinist and conductor best known for creating the waltz-playing Johann Strauss Orchestra. Global phenomenon André Rieu, the "King of Waltz" who has made classical music accessible to ordinary people, will bring his Johann Strauss Orchestra back to the USA in 2020. I have 120 people in my payroll without any government giving me any money. We live off the tickets and the records I sell. That is very unusual. Andre Rieu
André Rieu currently has a net worth of $40 million dollars. Now, I've changed my life to make sure I work only on what I love. Andre Rieu
I believe that music in itself heals and that everything is about the power of the mind. I thought if you are happy, you don't get ill. Your health is in your head. When you are satisfied with your work, you don't get ill. Andre Rieu The waltz is a very important part of my life. It's a very important way for me to express my positiveness, bringing humor to the world. Andre Rieu
| | Understanding the Bible requires understanding the Oral Bible On the Mountain top, G-d Said the Jews, I have the most beautiful present for you, The Torah! The Jewish people said what does it cost and G-d is free a present. So the Jewish People said if it is free, we will take Two! The Torah is impossible to understand even if you know Hebrew as a Mother Tongue. What we know as the written Torah, the five books of Moses is only a shorthand synopsis of the full story. If one were to read what is called Cliff notes (a summary of a novel that students use in school to learn literature), you would get the big picture but not the details. For that reason, it says specifically in the Written Torah that an understanding of the Bible is being given to Moses and this is what is handed down in our Oral Torah. The Talmud summarizes most of the Oral Torah, but even knowing the entire Talmud, one has to study for many years with a knowledgeable teacher to begin to grasp the depth of the Torah. The 26 books of the bible have about 1200 pages. In the Talmud, there are about 6,000 pages but the commentaries add up to about 20,000 more pages in small type. "An eye for an eye" (Biblical Hebrew עַ֚יִן תַּ֣חַת עַ֔יִן) is the principle that a person who has injured another person is to be penalized to a similar degree, and the person inflicting such punishment should be the injured party. The Oral Torah teaches, however, that it means the victim receives the [estimated] value of the injury in compensation. The intent behind the principle was to compensate the victim, not necessarily to punish the evildoer. The Talmud teaches this because of the principle that what if an evildoer put out three eyes of victims? He obviously can't pay with three eyes because he doesn't have three. Therefore the written Torah does not always mean what it says in black and white. This is the principle of needed the Oral Torah to explain the written text. "In the third month after the Exodus from Egypt, the Children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sinai." (Shemot 19:1) Rashi (one of the most important commentaries) explains that Israel arrived at the Wilderness of Sinai on Rosh Chodesh Sivan, 6 days before we received the Torah there. According to the Talmud in Tractate Shabbat, the month of Sivan is represented by תאומים which means TWINS. Why did G‑d choose to give us the Torah in the month symbolized by twins? One explanation is because G‑d gave us Twin Torahs, the Written Torah, and the Oral Torah. This is what King David means "G‑d has spoken once, but these two have I heard." (The Two Torahs) (Tehillim 62:12) Rav Ovid Feinstein gives another interesting interpretation of why the Torah was given under the sign of the Twins. The Torah is called Torath Chesed (Mishlei 31:26). The Talmud in Tractate Sota 14a teaches that King Solomon calls it Torath Kindness (Chesed in Hebrew) because the Torah begins with Chesed, where G‑d clothed Adam and Eve, and ends with Chesed where G‑d buries Moshe. In order to keep the Torah properly, we must relate to our fellow Jews in the same way that one twin brother relates to another. The Torah wants us to strive for twin-like sensitivity to each other's joys and sorrows. This was the level that Israel attained at Mount Sinai under the monthly sign of the Twins. Thus, the Torah states "Israel encamped there, in front of the mountain." Rashi wonders, why the word ויחן ENCAMPED is in the singular form when there were 600,000 men there plus many women and children? Rashi answers because at the Giving of the Torah all of Israel was united as one person with one heart. As the famous song goes "UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL." This is the goal to which we should aspire in all of our relationships with our fellow Jews. Even though we are separate individuals each with different unique personalities and needs, we are still closely connected to our fellow Jews with love and responsibility for one another. As the Torah states in Vayikra 19:18, "Love your fellow Jew as yourself" and Rabbi Akiva said that this is THE cardinal rule of the entire Torah. | | Why Are So Many Young People Unhappy? By Dennis Prager Here are some unhappy statistics: * In America between 1946 and 2006, the suicide rate quadrupled for males ages 15 to 24 and doubled for females the same age. Advertisement * In 1950, the suicide rate per 100,000 Americans was 11.4. In 2017, it was 14. * According to Grant Duwe, director of research and evaluation at the Minnesota Department of Corrections, in the 1980s, there were 32 mass public shootings (which he defines as incidents in which four or more people are killed publicly with guns within 24 hours). In the 1990s, there were 42. In the first decade of this century, there were 28. In all the 1950s, when there were fewer controls on guns, there was one. Fifty years before that, in the 1900s, there were none. * Reuters Health reported in 2019, "Suicidal thinking, severe depression and rates of self-injury among U.S. college students more than doubled over less than a decade, a nationwide study suggests." The study co-author Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University, said, "It suggests that something is seriously wrong in the lives of young people." This data is not only applicable to Americans. As social commentator Kay Hymowitz wrote in City Journal in 2019: "Loneliness, public-health experts tell us, is killing as many people as obesity and smoking. … Germans are lonely, the bon vivant French are lonely, and even the Scandinavians – the happiest people in the world, according to the UN's World Happiness Report – are lonely, too. British prime minister Theresa May recently appointed a 'Minister of Loneliness.' … [C]onsider Japan, a country now in the throes of an epidemic of kodokushi, roughly translated as 'lonely deaths.' Local Japanese papers regularly publish stories about kinless elderly whose deaths go unnoticed until the telltale smell of maggot-eaten flesh alerts neighbors." Though people have more money, better health care, better health, better housing, and more education, and live longer than at any time in history, they – especially young people – are unhappier than at any time since data collection began. Why has this happened? There are any number of reasons. Increased use of illicit drugs and prescription drug abuse and less human interaction because of constant cellphone use are two widely offered, valid explanations. Less valid explanations include competition, grades anxiety, capitalism, and income inequality. And then there are young people's fears that because of global warming, they have a bleak, and perhaps no, future. But the biggest reason may be the almost-complete loss of values and meaning over the last half-century. Let's begin with values. America – and much of the rest of the West, but I will confine my discussion to America – was founded on two sets of values: Judeo-Christian and American. This combination created the freest, most opportunity-giving, most affluent country in world history. This is not chauvinism. It is fact. And it was regarded as such throughout the world. That is why France gave America – and only America – the Statue of Liberty. That's why people from every country on Earth so wanted to immigrate to America – and still do. Chief among American values was keeping government as small as possible. This enabled non-governmental institutions – Kiwanis International, Rotary International and Lions Clubs International; book clubs; the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts; bowling leagues; music societies; and, of course, churches – to provide Americans with friends and to provide the neediest Americans with help. But as government has gotten ever larger, many of these non-governmental groups have dwindled in number or simply disappeared. Another set of values is what is referred to as "middle-class" or "bourgeois" values. These include getting married before one has a child; making a family; getting a job so as to be self-sustaining and able to sustain one's family; self-discipline; delayed gratification; and patriotism. All of these have been under attack by America's elites, with the following results: * One in five young Americans has no contact with his or her father (not including fathers who have died). * In 2011, 72 percent of black children were born to unmarried mothers. In 1965, it was 24 percent. In 2012, 29 percent of white children were born to unmarried women. In 1965, it was 3.1 percent. * The majority of births to millennials are to unmarried women. Yet, according to a 2018 Cigna study, single parents are generally the loneliest Americans. * Marriage and family are the single greatest sources of happiness for most people. Yet, the percentage of American adults who have never been married is at a historic high. More Americans than ever will not get married, or they will marry so late they will not have children. In 1960, 9 percent of blacks ages 25 and older had never been married. In 2012, it was nearly 40 percent. And I haven't even mentioned the biggest problem: the loss of meaning in young people's lives. I will discuss that next week. | | Tris Speaker Tristram Edgar Speaker (April 4, 1888 – December 8, 1958), nicknamed "The Gray Eagle", was an American professional baseball player. Considered one of the best offensive and defensive center fielders in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB), he compiled a career batting average of .345 (sixth all-time[1]). His 792 career doubles represent an MLB career record. His 3,514 hits are fifth in the all-time hits list. Defensively, Speaker holds career records for assists, double plays, and unassisted double plays by an outfielder. His fielding glove was known as the place "where triples go to die."[2] After playing in the minor leagues in Texas and Arkansas, Speaker debuted with the Boston Red Sox in 1907. He became the regular center fielder by 1909 and led the Red Sox to World Series championships in 1912 and 1915. In 1915, Speaker's batting average dropped to .322 from .338 the previous season; he was traded to the Cleveland Indians when he refused to take a pay cut. As player-manager for Cleveland, he led the team to its first World Series title. In ten of his eleven seasons with Cleveland, he finished with a batting average greater than .350. Speaker resigned as Cleveland's manager in 1926 after he and Ty Cobb faced game fixing allegations; both men were later cleared. During his managerial stint in Cleveland, Speaker introduced the platoon system in the major leagues. Speaker played with the Washington Senators in 1927 and the Philadelphia Athletics in 1928, then became a minor league manager and part owner. He later held several roles for the Cleveland Indians. Late in life, Speaker led a short-lived indoor baseball league, ran a wholesale liquor business, worked in sales and chaired Cleveland's boxing commission. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937. He was named 27th [3] in the Sporting News 100 Greatest Baseball Players (1999) and was also included in the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. | | This Israeli doctor's revolutionary discovery could end the need for kidney dialysis Will kidney dialysis become a thing of the past? Israeli researcher discovers evidence that kidneys can be rejuvenated. Prof. Benny Dekel By Roland Metzger A groundbreaking study has shown that it is possible to rejuvenate damaged kidneys and improve their function, a procedure that could reverse chronic kidney disease, offsetting the need for dialysis. This is the first breakthrough in decades to combat this disease, often precipitated by hypertension and diabetes, and which affects a whopping 10% of the population worldwide. The study was conducted by Professor Benjamin Dekel, head of Pediatric Nephrology and the Pediatric Stem Cell Research Institute in the Edmond and Lily Safra Children's hospital at Sheba Medical Center, and published this week in the prestigious Cell Reports medical journal. In past studies, researchers discovered that the adult kidney constantly renews itself over time through the activity of colonies of cells that replace lost and degenerated cells in the kidney. Prof. Dekel and his team have now developed an innovative technology that involves the extraction of such healthy kidney cells from diseased kidneys. These cells are then expanded into large numbers within a laboratory environment. By generation of three-dimensional cultures called "kidney spheres," the cells show improved function to generate new kidney tissue and replace lost cells. The new cells are then reintroduced into the kidney where they rebuild it, positively influencing neighboring cells and improving its function (see diagram below). One of the most significant aspects of the discovery is that the newly developed technology uses the patient's own cells, thereby circumventing the need for immunosuppression as well as problems associated with immune rejection. Thus far, the method has been tested on mice, where the cells have shown their ability to generate new renal structures, associated with an ability to be retained for a long time once administered into the host kidney. The treated mice displayed improved renal function. By focusing on improving and stabilizing renal function, this treatment has the potential to help millions of patients with chronic kidney disease and who have yet to require dialysis treatment. These astounding results will be studied in clinical trials on patients with renal failure by the KidneyCure Bio firm, which commercialized this technology. Prof. Benjamin Dekel, who led the project said, "The breakthrough in this technology, which was developed at the Sheba Medical Center, is not only in the ability to maintain the kidney-renewing cells outside the body, but also in the ability to multiply them and generate large numbers of cells and make them function properly using the 3-D cultures. This is important news for patients with chronic kidney disease, who hopefully will benefit from these discoveries in the coming years. The ability to generate new kidney tissue (to replace the damaged tissue) could help millions of patients worldwide who suffer from kidney disease." The trailblazing research was carried out by senior researchers Dr. Orit Harari-Steinberg, Dr. Dorit Omer, and Ms. Yehudit Gnatek from the Pediatric Stem Cell Research Institute, under the leadership of Prof. Dekel. Collaborators include: Dr. Zohar Dotan, Head of Uro-Oncology Service from the urology department at Sheba Medical Center; Dr. Tomer Kalisky and co-workers from Bar Ilan University; and Prof. Yaron Fuchs and co-workers from The Technion. | | | David Jeffries Garrow is an American author and democratic socialist. He wrote the book Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. One of the great challenges of being a modern historian is interviewing multiple people who were all there for something, some event. No one's version matches up 100% with other people, even if it's three or four people on a conference call. David Garrow King would certainly be overjoyed by Barack Obama's inauguration, but we must avoid, and indeed reject, any careless claims that Obama's swearing-in marks the fulfillment of King's dream. David Garrow I think American life would be better without Twitter, and I think we'd have a better country if the president was not on Twitter. What people say in a bar or a pub doesn't necessarily merit being memorialized. David Garrow | | There's a new sexual orientation category called heteroflexible — and it brings health issues that need to be addressed by Darcel Rockett Chicago Tribune While looking for health disparities between heterosexuals and sexual minorities, two researchers found a new sexual orientation category that they believe should be considered alongside heterosexuals, bisexuals, and homosexuals. Labels, categorization, boxes. There are some, if not many, who don't want any part of identifying themselves by others' characterizations. But, according to Nicole Legate, an assistant professor of psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology, some categorization is vital when it comes to addressing health disparities in sexual minority groups (groups other than heterosexuals), including higher levels of distress, lower levels of self-esteem and unprotected sex. It was while looking for those health disparities between heterosexuals and sexual minorities that Legate, with co-author Ronald Rogge of the University of Rochester, found a new sexual orientation category that they believe should be considered alongside heterosexuals, bisexuals and homosexuals. That category is heteroflexibles — men and women who identify as heterosexual but who are strongly attracted to or engage in sex with people of the same sex. Legate said this group does not identify as bisexual, which is why these individuals should be in their own unique category. | | See you tomorrow bli neder Love Yehuda Lave | | | |
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