The Islam in Jewish eyes

After almost a century of wars between Arabs and Jews we should stop and ask ourselves some questions.

Is this a religious or political conflict or a political one or a mishmash of both?

What would happen if 100 Rabbis would gather and would accept Muhammad as a Prophet?

He didn't claim to be the son of God. The Muslims are circumcised like the Jews. They don't eat pork and have a special ritual to slaughter animals the proper way.

There is nothing in a mosque what opposes the Jewish law and in the synagogue is nothing against the Islam.

There are no Muslim laws that are against the Jewish ones and there is no Jewish law that forbids to accept Muhammad as a prophet.

Now imagine Judaism would accept Muhammad as a prophet, then the Muslims would have to think again if Jews are there enemies or upgraded themselves from being Cousins to Brothers.

Judaism would be a special part of the Islam and Salaam Aleikum - Peace will be on you.

That would spoil the whole reason of being wars between the two sides.

Just think of it.

Till then let's wish our Muslim cousins Ramadan Karim - a happy Ramadan.

The danger of Dr. Internet

We all feel sometimes bad.

The baby doesn't react "according to the book".

The child has symptoms of an unclear disease.

An adult has some pain without any clear reason.

Our parents' health is not like it used to be.

Too often we find ourselves consulting with "Dr. Internet" and get the most frightening or unclear information.

Internet offers us an exiting new world with a wide spectrum of information.

But Internet does not give us a tool to digest the information professionally.

We find ourselves with information we cannot verify and use.

That is a danger. There are no shortcuts, one has to eat healthy food and live in a healthy way. If questions rise see your physician, ask him / her tough questions and if you are unconvinced get a second opinion.

Dedicated to our physician Dr. AbdelAziz Jum'ah in honour of the month of Ramadan

رمضان كريم - كل عام وانتم بخير

Eating Kosher

Eating Kosher is an issue most people on this World are unaware of.

Religious Jews eat Kosher food and even early Christians, including Jesus, who were religious Jews ate Kosher.

Even Muslims eat Halal food, which has much in common with Kosher food.

So what is this Kosher thing? In principle it is a set of rules that defines what a Jew may or may not eat. Pork meat is a big no, Rabbits the same, Giraffes and Camels likewise. A Jew may not mix meat and milk too.

My Grandfather who lived in Galicia, which was first Austro Hungarian, later Polish, than a part of the Soviet Union and now a part of Ukraine had to travel often. As he kept the Jewish law he couldn't eat just anywhere, so usually he ate only fruit and vegetables. I never knew my grandfather as he was killed by the Nazis, but my father told me about him. He always took a silver spoon with him when he was on the roads and would order a soft boiled egg to eat it with his spoon and that was Kosher.

Many years later my friend R. and I were young kids and members of the Zionist youth movement Habonim, a sort of a scout movement.

R.'s family were members of the Orthodox Synagogue and we were Liberals.

Once when we were on our way to a meeting we were hungry, so we bought something to eat. I am vegetarian, so I opted for French Fries and R. took an egg salad. We walked on and I noticed that R. was taking bites and than was spitting something. I thought that this is a special Orthodox way of eating, but it still intrigued me, so I asked him why he spits while he eats.

His answer struck me: There is Pork in the salad and that is not Kosher ......

Then I understood that Kosher for one is not necessarily Kosher for another and sometimes people make up their own rules.

R. is now a member of a Kibbutz in Northern Israel and I guess he is not too worried anymore about eating Kosher anymore.

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European Heaven & Hell

When I read Only for Love of "Greenpeace", I saw this joke, it is an old one, but it is nice and shouldn't offend anybody.

Heaven is where the police is British, the cooks are French, the mechanics German, the lovers Italian and it's all organised by the Swiss.

Hell is where the chefs are British, the mechanics French, the lover's Swiss, the police German and it's all organised by the Italians.

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Flight 1549

I just saw "60 Minutes" with Katie Couric about Flight 1549.

This flight took off from LaGuardia Airport on January 15th, 2009 on way to Charlotte NC.

The plane's engines broke down and landed in the Hudson River.

The plane's crew: Captain Chesley Sullenberger, 1st officer Jeffrey B. Skiles, flight attendants Donna Dent, Doreen Welsh and Sheila Dail are real heroes and made a perfect landing saving all passengers.

A Holocaust survivor wrote Captain Sullenberger in a thank-you letter:

"He who saves one soul it's as if he saved the entire world."

כל המציל נפש אחת כאילו הציל עולם ומלאו

Captain Sullenberg saved 155 souls and many more on the ground in Manhattan and New Jersey.

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