Interesting Posts and Articles #306

1. On the Main Line on how a fake Japanese Christian tried to learn Hebrew pronunciation from Jews. One interesting tidbit, among others:

   From the book itself we can see that some were skeptical. For example, in the Second Preface he lists many objections people made to him, like that his historical account "of Formosa differs yet more from what all others have told us than his Geographical; surely then that must be false that has so many witnesses against it." To this he replies ". . . should I be such a Fool to invent an Alphabet, and a Language, purposely to lessen my own Credit?" In other words, the very fact that much of his account contradicts known accounts should be taken as convincing proof of the genuineness of his.

   This reminds me of the argument (discussed here and here) that the Zohar must be authentic, for are you going to assume that Rav Moshe de Leon was such an "idiot" as to make these sorts of errors?
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2. Kabbalah, the movie:
   
   So, so bad.
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3. Revach with a teshuva of whether you should wake up someone sleeping in the wrong position.
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4. Thanbook on the practice of turning in Lecha Dodi.
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5. The New York Times on JC Penny and search engine optimization. Reminds me of this joke:

   So this SEO expert walks into a bar, grill, pub, public house, Irish bar, bartender, drinks, beer, wine, liquor

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6. Rationalist Judaism about Rav Shlomo Zalman Aurbach's mistake, and suckers for Orthodoxy.
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7. Mekubal regarding the psak din about mashiach:

   Here I am uploading a Psak Din circulated by Lubavitcher Hassidim, in which it asserts that based upon his own words, the late Lubavitcher Rebbe is a Navi as well as the Mashiach.  I have personally spoken with Rav Yaakov Yosef(one of Rav Ovadia’s sons), whose signature appears upon this paper.  He claims that he thought he was signing a Psak Din denouncing these heretical beliefs, and is astonished to find his signature transferred to a document in support of them.  You will also find that some non-Lubavitch Rabbanim managed to sign this posthumously, quite impressive.  Thus I would say that only the signatures on this that should be considered reliable are those of Lubavitch Rabbis and Roshei Yeshivot.  For English translation please go here. Considering the sheer number of Chabad Roshei Yeshivot that signed this document, it seems to me to be very hard to claim these views are not mainstream within Chabad.

   
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8. A pesak that it is better to pray in an airport mosque than at home with no kavvanah.
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9. 
   Life In Israel about sushi-gate, relating to a report from Jerusalem Kosher News, here and subsequently updated here.
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10. DovBear about whether Rav Chaim Kanievsky is selling magical salvation wine. Also, a series of posts (one, two, three, four, the general proclamation) to protest certain efforts taken by an individual to ban Vos Iz Neias.
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11. Here on parshablog, mor deror as musk.