Free Maher el-Gohary and his daughter Dina el Gohary!

MUSLIM PRESSURE OR CUSTOMS CAUSES EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT TO HOLD THIS FAMILY HOSTAGE!!!

ARE CHRISTIANS BEING HELD PRISONERS IN THEIR HOME IN EGYPT?

Few  Americans are aware of a man in Egypt who is being held prisoner for becoming a Christian.  It’s bad enough that the government has  barred the family from leaving ; but the family has been forced to go into hiding out of fear.  Who are they afraid of?  Well, it seems that they are afraid of Muslim conservatives who they feel will kill them.  I suppose there isn’t a lot of religious freedom over there.

This story made international news when fifteen   year old  Dina el Gohary wrote President Obama to ask for help.  It is amazing that so many Muslims can get permission to move to America a Christian dominated country and Christians cannot.

It is shocking that there is no religious freedom in modern day Egypt!  That is a total shock.  According to published reports Maher el-Gohary made Jesus Lord and Master of his life thirty five years ago; but just recently applied to legally change his religion to Christianity.

I usually don’t talk about the Muslims; and I confess that I have my reasons but that in no way means that I condone extremism.  I do not understand how any Christian could convert to being a Muslim; but if they did….they do not deserve to have to go into hiding.  That is absolutely bizare and archaic.   I would be greatly ashamed  if  I were a Muslim.   Certainly, it is a prayer issue and it would be nice to see or hear about Muslims stepping up to the plate to support this family’s human rights!

What I will do is pray.  I will pray.  Prayer changes things.  It releases the power of Jehovah Jireh; God our provider.      I urge you all who are Christians to do the same.    It is my prayer that God will move on the hearts of leaders to intervene.  Be that leader President Obama; I do not know.  But, I pray for compassion.    I will take this matter to corporate prayer!

Onnne is the Loniest numberrrrr

“Let My people go” the Lord said.

When they were let go, Moses led

Through the sea and through the sand

Starting, stopping at God’s command.

Glad?  They were rebellious instead.

          – eab, 9/8/7

]]> http://questionentertainment.wordpress.com/2009/04/19/mixmusic/ Sun, 19 Apr 2009 03:09:20 +0000 questionentertainment http://questionentertainment.wordpress.com/2009/04/19/mixmusic/

I am a parent of children under the age of 3. Thus much of the “entertainment” I question is for them. There is a “kids book” post on its way, but for now… I make mix cds for them in the car. I want to use the cds to have fun in the car as well as exposing them to many stiles of music and giving them lyrics that are innocent to good for them. (Some times it’s just clips of things I think it would be fun if they started saying.) All while making sure it is nothing that will make me retch.

Thus it also ranges from kids music to “regular” music, so there may be something for everyone here.

This is the track listing of the disc that just went in the car:

Let us know what you think.

1. Dragnet intro
2. The Shortest Song in the Universe
   

   Rhinoceros Tap

   Sandra Boynton

3. Joshua 24:15
    
4. books of the Old Testament Song
5. books of the  NewTestament Song
6.  Gingerbread man by Tunebuggy
7. klaatu barada nikto from
   

   The Day the Earth Stood Still

8. The Cheese Rap
9. Tiger by William Blake from
   

   Poetry Speaks to Children

10.  William Blake by Erin Echo from
    
    When Worlds Collide: A Tribute to Daniel Amos
11. Symphony No. 41 in C, 
    

    Baby Einstein 

12. Gavotta. Non troppo allegro – Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
13. Barnyard Dance LISTEN
    

    Rhinoceros Tap

    Sandra Boynton

14. Snuggle Puppy sung by Eric Stoltz LISTEN
    

    Philadelphia Chickens

    Sandra Boynton

15. Lordy Child (Say ABBA) (Romans 8:15)
    

    1956 Soul Junk

16. Books I like to read from
    

    Fascinating Creatures

    Frances England

17. Frodo’s Song in Bree READ BY J.R.R. Tolkien! from
    

    Poetry Speaks to Children

18. Elephant Swing by Beau Young from Wild Aninmalz
19. Not much of a tail
20.  Screen Door (Rich Mullins cover)
    

    Emperor’s New Band

    This Train

21. Red Will Dye These Snows of Silver
    

    The Otherly Opus

    Joy Electric

22.  Fur Elise, Woo 59 -
    

    Baby Beethoven

    Baby Einstein

23. old testement bible dance WTB – Amnesia CD – Old Testament
    

    Walk Thru the Old Testament

24. Gospel Bible Dance (This was a free MP3 down load. I am still trying to find the link again.)
25.  Trust (Reprise) (Proverbs 3:4-6)
    

    The Best of Sixpence None the Richer

26. Three Little Birds -

    

    You Are My Little Bird

    Elizabeth Mitchell

27. But for You Who Fear My Name (Malachi 4:2)

    

    Welcome To The Welcome Wagon

    The Welcome Wagon

28. Barve Strong Song

29. Speed Turtle Brian Wilson LISTEN

30. 

    Blue Moo

    Sandra Boynton

31. Conjunction Junction

    

    Schoolhouse Rock!

32. The Four-Legged Zoo

    

    Schoolhouse Rock! 

33.  I Don’t Know Why -

    

    The Jamaican Persuasion

    Israelites

34. peoplego.mp3
    Moses: RAMESES!! LET MY PEOPLE GO!!

35. Moses

    

    Fourth from the Last

    The W’s

36. No Not One

    

    Emperor’s New Band

    This Train

37. may my toung be stuck up on the roof of my mouth (Colossians 2:20-22)

    

    1955

    Soul-Junk - 1955

38. my soul does magnify the Lord (Luke 1:46-55)

     

    filled the hungry with good things

    Download MP3 from http://souljunk.com/

39. What We Have Learned

    

    Veggie Tales

A forgotten rare Soul gem Didn’t I by Darondo is a classic sure to make it’s way to the top of your playlist.

  Download/Stream–>http://www.zshare.net/audio/61711627417b67b0/

BS”D

Today is 19 Kislev, the 209th anniversary of the liberation of the release of the founder of Chabad Chassidus, the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liady, from Czarist prison, to which he had been unfairly and improperly condemned on a false charge of sending funds to the Ottoman Empire, a bitter enemy of Imperial Russia to which Liady belonged.

And his release meant that he was free to return to his life of explaining and disseminating the teachings of the first masters of Chassidic philosophy – the Baal Shem Tov and Maggid of Mezritch, in his special, intellectual yet heartfelt, way, that Jews of all backgrounds, from simple craftsmen to Talmudic scholars, found so appealing. And as Chabad Chassidus spread to more and more Jews and communities, more and more people experienced spiritual liberation that was parallel to the physical liberation that the Alter Rebbe experienced on that first 19 Kislev.

Today, 209 years later, we celebrate the day by rededicating ourselves to the teachings of the Alter Rebbe as we begin a new cycle of study of the Alter Rebbe’s seminal work, the Tanya, which is the very foundation of Chabad Chassidus.

There are days when the daily study can seem as if it is just another daily obligation.

After all, we are but humans and we are so caught up in so many other daily routines, from eating and daily hygeine to work and paying bills, that we are tempted to consider yet another daily obligation to be but an imposition that we just rush through to “get it done with”.

At times. we feel that the daily learning schedule is but a part of dues to be paid to maintain our Chassidic identity as opposed to an opportunity to uplift our souls on a daily basis.

Actually, learning Chassidus every day according to a set schedule is the ultimate in liberation from the often grinding daily routine of life. It is not a payment of dues; it is a spiritual vitamin supplement that allows us to connect with the Eternal in measured, easy to comprehend, lessons every day. And combined, as Chitas, with the recitation of tehillim and review of the weekly parsha, it reminds us who we are and that we are connected to Hashem every day and every minute of every day.

It is a reminder that, no matter what we are doing and how busy we are, our first responsibility is to our Jewish neshomos.

While other routines tie us down, the routine of Chitas liberates our souls so that we can find a connection to the Eternal no matter what we do the rest of the day. When we truly study the teachings of Chassidus, we are liberating ourselves, not by escaping from the often petty realities of daily life, but by seeing that even in those daily routines there is a Divine spark. We are indeed energized by realizing that even the most routine chore or happenstance is elevated to Divine service.

Of course, it is sometimes difficult to take the time to really internalize what we learn every day, and it is not easy to replicate the feelings we often had when we first encountered Chassidus. But when we remember that the purpose of our daily learning is to teach us how to raise our entire lives to the highest level, the level of Divine Service that is our birthright as Jews, we are truly liberating ourselves.

After all, when Moshe told Pharaoh, in the name of Hashem, to “let My people go!” he followed it with “so they nay serve Me”.

And when we learn the Torah which Hashem gave to Moshe on our behalf, illuminated with the teachings of Chassidus which show us the inner dimension of Torah, we are truly liberated – for the whole purpose and definition of freedom is the freedom to serve Hashem. The daily study reminds us that everything we do can be and is elevated to service of Hashem, even though it may not always seem that way.

Therefore, today we are liberated yet again, by being given the opportunity to liberate ourselves anew not only today, but every single day of the year.

This year the Latke Ball is getting some competion in town. Jewish singles in the San Francisco area, will have two big parties to chose from this year to spend their Christmas Eve together. This year, Let My People Go & J-Date are bringing “The Ball 2008” to San Franciso on December 24 as well. The Ball has been going strong for 13 years in NY and other cities, this year they’re expanding, bringing the Mega Party to San Francisco.

Check out a video from The Ball 2007 (not in SF)

Times are tough. It seems like you can’t fashion a welfare check into a crude paper airplane and throw it without it poking an unemployed person in the eye. With the jobless rate nearing an all-time high and an economy that’s in the dumps, we here at the Trendliest think the best course of action regarding the running of “the rat race” is to simply quit it. That’s right, rather than scanning the want ads for a job in the service industry or as a backup quarterback-that you have no desire to fulfill- the friendly and trendy thing to do is announce your retirement!

Moses Gives An Impassioned Retirement Speech to A Throng of Shocked Followers

Retirement has been an alien concept for the majority of civilization. In ancient times, most professional careers ended at the onset of a public stoning, enslavement by invading parties or leprosy. The first influential retiree was none other than Moses, who upon leading the Jews out of Egypt; parting the Red Sea for them; and giving them The Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, decided that he’d already done his relatively thankless job to the best of his abilities, and that there was nothing left to accomplish as God’s instrument. He happily handed his hebrew leading reins over to Aaron who took them the most of the rest of the way to the promised land.

Brett Favre Gives an Impassioned Retirement Speech To Frenzied Fan Base

The story of Moses’ retirement still carries some weight today as it was the inspiration for Brett Favre’s decision in March of ‘08 to retire as the star quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, whom some have dubbed “the Hebrews of the NFL.” Favre had led the Packers out of the unholy land of mediocrity (although they occasionally returned to visit) having done his job to the best of his abilities while surpassing all of Moses’ passing records. His retirement effectively handed the reins of the team to Aaron Rodgers and allowed Favre the opportunity to fade quietly into the past whilst perched happily atop the NFL’s version of Mt. Sinai (a sure induction into the Hall of Fame).

Aaron 2008!

As trendly as quitting the rat race can be, if you find your AARP membership benefits to be unrewarding, you always have the option of asking for your old job back provided you had a job in the first place. While there’s no guarantee that your employers haven’t moved on to the new hotshot CEO or Janitor, the odds are if you act disgruntled enough they’ll “trade” you to another job where you’ll be unjustifiably hailed as that company’s new savior despite the fact that you were totally overrated at your old company and you’re getting up there in years. Hey, sometimes it’s just nice to be wanted…and there’s nothing trendlier than tricking people into thinking you’re worth the trouble.

Michael Reagan has written an article that expresses my thoughts – right down to being Irish and wondering where my restitution is!! Alas, my audience is small – but his is large.

Sez Michael:
It’s Mea Culpa Week
By Michael Reagan
August 1, 2008

Like altar boys who used to strike their breasts and mutter “mea culpa” (“through my fault”) during the beginning of the Latin mass while confessing that they had sinned, Democrats are in full confessional mode, apologizing for every real or imagined sin against a particular group they believe their country once offended.

I hope you will take the time to read the article in its entirety here.

On a similar note, I am thinking of petitioning Congress for restitution not only for the treatment of my Irish ancestors that came to this country (legally, might I add!), but for the treatment of those of my relatives who helped with the Freedom Underground Railroad that ran through Ohio, and Indiana. Don’t you know they were treated badly too?

Underground Railroad (NOT tracks, BTW) routes of 1860

Holy guacamole, it’s been a long time since I’ve done this. And the longer I delay, the worse it becomes. My music consumption has not dissipated one bit. I’ve accumulated at least 50 albums since the last entry. But I refuse to give up. If I finish this list, I’ll be halfway through the freaking year. Here goes, nose a la grindstone.

• Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Lay Down in the Light  Someone’s been on a roll lately. It’s a shambling and shimmering sound. Perfect summer album for this guy. Beardy continues the very nice formula of dueting with a quirky indie female vocalist (Faun Fables lady on “Let Me Go” and Meg Baird on “Ask Forgiveness”). But this time it’s my personal fav Amber Webber (of Black Mountain and the canonical Lightening Dust) with a set of pleasant–even cheerful–songs.  And did I hear a jazzy clarinet? The public fellatio tune aside, of course. 
• Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Ask Forgiveness  I’m a sucker for cover albums, and still for Will Oldham albums, so this one had me on the Tuesday it came out. Meg Baird of the great freaky-deaky Espers and her own efforts (who I think I would really like) joins Beardy this time. So this should be much more awesome than it is. I don’t think Bill is good at covers. That Tortoise cover album was terrible. This one’s not as bad, but you can hear it’s lost potential more clearly. It seems like Meg’s parts were kind of tacked on. She doesn’t even get to do the duet on the lamey version of the best Bjork song ever. Instead, Bill sings both the Bjork and Thom York parts on “I’ve Seen It All”. What does that make the song about? And btw, that song title is an appropriate response to the R. Kelly cover. Did you know he played a cop in one of those gross ”In the Closet” episodes?  
• Cloud Cult – Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)  Another ecstatic ensemble celebrating life as it is, I think. Still, it’s pretty great. They live in a commune.
• Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles  “Crimewave” to me represents the best of electronica or whatever this genre is. Repetitive, incomprehensible, and vaguely robo-erotic. I’m down, but this makes feel old.
• Crystal Stilts - Crystal Stilts  This one hits me just right. Nothing groundbreaking. Sounds like I should have been listening to this with my The Clean album.
• Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours  I don’t think I would have got this if they weren’t going to be at the Pitchfork Festival. It’s kind of cheesy. But it’s playing on that newly discovered love of 80s synth pop exploited better by Glass Candy in March. I never liked New Order or any of that in their heyday, but now I’m digging the imitators. Maybe they’re better dressed.
• Darondo - Let My People Go  I think Darondo is/was actually a pimp, I’m told. So was Al Green, of which he sounds like a cracked-out version. And I’m no hebrew scholar or nothing, but Moses kind of seemed like a pimp. So it makes sense.
• Extra Golden – Hera Ma Nona  I swear to you on my life that I only long for Extra Golden to punk the hell out of Vampire Weekend at this year’s Pitchfork Festival. I don’t care how they do it. Maybe by washing the Vampire cardigans in hot water. Or midway through Weekend’s set of the most offensive appropriation of a heritage (they’re the hipster Jar Jar Binks), they could like throw blood on their loafers. Or they could just completely blow them out of the water with their sound so superior to the VDub’s Gap Ad-version. And they do the “Obama” song.
• No Age - Nouns  Somewhere along the way, I got it in my head that these guys were a garage band. Maybe it was the picture of  garage (or is it a storefront?) on their album cover. Whatever. My expectations were defied and I refused to listen further. But they kept creeping back in my zune shuffle (oh wise Shuffle) and forced a reconsideration.  This one is better from the pretty good “Weirdo Rippers.” And their’s something to be said about the packaging (I actually bought the CD old school), which is pretty worthwhile. “Teen Creeps” is my summer anthem.
• Jay Reatard - Blood Visions  I love it. 2 years old, but still kicks ass. Like my son*. Appropriately on the same label as the morekickassing Reigning Sound. That should be enough. Cover’s a little gross, though. 

To be continued…

*Artistic license…I really want to use this simile, but I don’t have any children, nor do I know any two-year-olds that can kick ass with any particular skill. I assume mine would, though.

Links:

• offizielle Webseite
• MeshuggaMel´s Youtube-Chanel
• Meshugga Beach Party bei Myspace

Wer das mag sollte sich auch noch mal die “Leopold Kraus Wellenkapelle” anschauen!

I settled on Let My People Go’s The Ball.  My friends nearly bailed on me, and I didn’t want to go all alone, but they came through.  Would it have mattered if I showed up alone?  Probably not, since within 10 minutes I found myself chatting up and dancing with a hottie that I spend the rest of the night with.That being my main objective, I’m happy.  And though I was focused more on the girl than the rest of the room, I could tell there was a hot party going on around me.  The club (we started at Hiro) was packed when we arrived shortly after 11.  It wasn’t until I looked up after an hour of dancing that I noticed the acrobats swinging above my head.  My friends had migrated to Cabanas (swanky lounge in the Maritime Hotel above).  Vibe was great, crowd was jewlicious as well, but at that point I was just saying hi and heading to my car before my date and I lost momentum.

Though while I had a bang-up night, these parties are not without their detractors.  My friends checked out The Park but the rest of their night was unventful.  Better uneventful than being hit on by a pretentious professor with self-proclaimed fertile sperm and this Israeli who didn’t know quite how to read the mood or his audience.  What’s your xmas eve ball horror story?

JDatersAnonymous pans the concept of the NYC X-Mas Eve Jewparties on the whole as all “frighteningly similar and unexciting.”  She sat the evening out, but the post comes after listening to a JTA podcast of two ambitious gents who stop by all (or most) of the parties.

Her post prompts a pretty strong rebuke from Let My People Go founder Jeff Strank.  He “bombastically” boasts about the merits of The Ball.  Boast on Jeff!  For me, The Ball lives up to its accolades.  My complaints are that I found a cute girl too early and was so caught up enjoying Hiro that I didn’t get to check out the other venues.  So, yeah, they don’t really count!  So, unless I somehow sit out 12/24/08 to celebrate a one-year anniversary, I’ll see you at the next ball!

When you google Matzo Ball NY, the first few results are not for the Matzo Ball at all, but for The Ball, put on by Let My People Go.  It bills itself as being the Nation’s Biggest Jewish Single’s Event 12 years in a row and sprawls out over 5 Meatpacking district hotspots.  Don’t like one scene, roll to the next.  People in the pictures look pretty cute.The Matzo Ball comes off as a bit defensive (and lame) to me.  Pictures from years past, meant to impress, show a sparsely filled dance floor and unexciting crowd.  It “has been called the #1 holiday party in the nation” they say, but by who?  And how long ago (it’s their 21^st year).

Apparently there was even more to choose from.  Heeb Magazine put on Heebonism at Knitting Factory.  The flyer features a choking man coughing up-what else-a matzo ball-and promises a 1 hour open vodka bar and strip poker led Kinky Jews.  Hmmmm.  On the floor of the Knitting Factory?  Gross!

J-Dub Records screens Wet Hot American Summer at Cafe Steinhoff in Park Slope.  Umm, okay.

And one friend suggests skipping it all and hitting up a fancy club we couldn’t otherwise get into, claiming that they’re packed anyway with Jews that don’t feel the need to go to an explicitly Jewishly organized shindig.  I find this hard to believe.  And with this selection, why would you go anywhere else?

Dear Friends, 

These last few months have truly been a landmark period in Ariel’s development, a time of building, of laying new cornerstones, both literally and figuratively. As we enter 1990, we see the opening of a second commercial center for Ariel, a new high technology industrial park, the first stages of construction of two new sports centers and the Ariel Cultural Complex, groundbreaking for a new Torah Center, and the most welcome addition of all, the advent of hundreds of new immigrants from the Soviet Union. 

These are only some of the signs of the strength and optimism of Ariel. We have gone through a difficult two years of “intifada”, and yet Ariel has grown by leaps and bounds. With the change in area commanders, there had been a major decrease in violent activity in this area. Though the brutal murder of Arabs by Arabs continues, incidents involving Jewish settlers or Israeli soldiers have been drastically reduced. Ties between the resident of Ariel and the IDF forces serving in the area have strengthened. In fact, the city and its residents have recently “adopted” the division serving in this area and organized a great number of activities to express their appreciation to the soldiers and to make their service more pleasant.

Moreover, we recognized that Ariel could answer the specific needs of so many families, that we had the facilities and services and most importantly, the human resources, to make newcomers feel welcome in our community. And so we came forward. We did not wait for others to do for us. We initiated. 

Several years ago, we set up an independent Municipal Aliyah & Absorption office so that we could welcome South Africans and South Americans. In essence, we made Aliyah Ariel’s number-one priority. Now, when everyone is merely talking excitedly about the wave of Russian Aliyah, we are ready. We have just opened our sixth ulpan class for the study of the Hebrew language. We set up a network of volunteers to act as adoptive families and to help these newcomers thought the early and sometimes difficult stages of integration. We opened our hearts and our homes to our brothers from the Soviet Union. 

This has been no easy accomplishment. We have no official absorption center in Ariel, nor do we receive any assistance from either the Jewish Agency or the Jewish Federations. We are, in fact, the victims of a political boycott. This will not stop us. We have prepared the groundwork for the most successful, efficient and warmest kind of absorption of these new immigrants, and we are confident that not only will they benefit from all that we have to offer, but that our community will be enriched by their presence. 

There are some hard, cold facts that simply cannot be ignored. We are facing one of the most serious sequences of events in the history of the Jewish people – a danger to the very existence of the Jews of Eastern Europe. The stories of anti-Semitism that we have been hearing from recent arrivals from the Soviet Union are truly frightening. Glasnost and Perestroika have, among other things, brought to the Russians the freedom to express their hatred of Jews. It is time for every for every one of us, both here and abroad, to put aside his political biases. We must not allow internal conflict to distract us from this most vital of all missions. First and foremost, we must ensure the speedy release of every Soviet Jew who wishes to come home. And then, we must facilitate their resettlement in those places that are best equipped to absorb them. 

This task does not rest with Ariel alone. It is a responsibility shared with Jews everywhere. Now is the time for industrialists from every country around the world to open branches of their businesses in those cities that are absorbing Russian Jewry, so that more places of employment are created. Now is the time to stretch our budgets to their very limits to ensure the successful integration of the Soviet immigrants. Ariel has undertaken the construction of 1,000 additional homes for our brethren from the Soviet Union, and we are counting on your assistance and support. 

This final decade of the 20^th century brings to Ariel – in fact, to all of us – new tasks and new objectives. If we meet these challenges with courage and efficiency, if we explore new ways to make this new wave of immigration a path way to the fulfillment of the Zionist dream, then we will not only have succeeded in persuading the leaders of Eastern Europe to “Let My People Go”, but we will have truly brought them home. 

Sincerely,

Ron Nachman

Mayor