Wednesday, June 23, 2021

A New Theory of Western Civilization

 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/10/joseph-henrich-weird-people/615496/

 Could a marriage policy first pursued by the Catholic Church a millennium and a half ago explain what made the industrialized world so powerful—and so peculiar?

 One culture, however, is different from the others, and that’s modern WEIRD (“Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic”) culture. Dealing in the sweeping statistical generalizations that are the stock-in-trade of cultural evolutionary theorists—these are folks who say “people” but mean “populations”—Henrich draws the contrasts this way: Westerners are hyper-individualistic and hyper-mobile, whereas just about everyone else in the world was and still is enmeshed in family and more likely to stay put. Westerners obsess more about personal accomplishments and success than about meeting family obligations (which is not to say that other cultures don’t prize accomplishment, just that it comes with the package of family obligations). Westerners identify more as members of voluntary social groups—dentists, artists, Republicans, Democrats, supporters of a Green Party—than of extended clans.

Chief Rabbi: ‘Exhume Christian missionary from Jewish plot’

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/chief-rabbi-exhume-christian-missionary-from-jewish-plot-671767

Chief Rabbi David Lau has said that “every effort” should be made to exhume and rebury a Christian woman and covert missionary who was recently buried in a Jewish cemetery in Jerusalem.

The woman in question was buried in a multistory burial chamber above a Jewish woman, since she was believed to be Jewish at the time.
Jewish law prohibits Jews to be buried alongside non-Jews, and since the woman’s husband refuses to allow her to be exhumed and reburied, questions have arisen as to how to handle the situation. Amanda Elk was the wife of covert missionary and Messianic Christian Michael Elk who together posed as ultra-Orthodox Jews in the Jerusalem neighborhood of French Hill for at least five years.

Senate Republicans block Democrats' election bill

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57570587 

 The huge bill - which sought to make it easier for Americans to vote - ended up deadlocked 50-50 along party lines.

Mr Biden said the issue was the "fight of his presidency", but some Democrats accuse him of not fighting hard enough.

Advocates say the bill would have been the most far-reaching election measure since the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

It comes as Republican-led states advance proposals - which Mr Biden has depicted as racially discriminatory - to tighten election laws, and as former President Donald Trump, a Republican, continues to peddle unfounded claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

The Democrats' For the People Act passed the House of Representatives in March in a near party-line vote, with one Democrat joining all Republicans in opposing the bill.

Chief rabbi: Missionary’s remains should be moved from Jewish Jerusalem cemetery

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/chief-rabbi-missionarys-remains-should-be-moved-from-jerusalem-jewish-cemetery/

Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau suggested in a letter on Tuesday that the body of a Christian missionary who posed as an ultra-Orthodox Jew should be removed from a Jewish cemetery in Jerusalem.

“In order to respect all the Jews who purchased a plot of land with the knowledge that it is a cemetery of Jews and were buried there based on this belief, every effort must be made to remove [her] to the area of non-Jews,” wrote Refael Altman, the head of Lau’s office, in the name of the chief rabbi.

The letter suggested that if it is not possible to remove the body, “then a fence… must be built between the plot and the Jewish deceased” surrounding the grave.

 

Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Lapid orders pride flag displayed at Foreign Ministry, sparking ire on far-right

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/lapid-orders-pride-flag-displayed-outside-foreign-ministry-sparking-ire/

 Foreign Minister Yair Lapid ordered the pride flag to be displayed outside the Foreign Ministry office in Jerusalem on Monday in honor of Pride Month — but not everybody was thrilled.

What the Delta variant could mean for Covid-19 in the United States

 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/22/health/covid-variant-delta-gamma/index.html

A coronavirus variant first spotted in India is poised to become the dominant one in the United States, where infectious disease modelers say it could cause a "resurgence" of Covid-19 later this year.

And it may already account for 1 in every 5 infections nationwide, experts say.
The Delta variant, as it's now called, has swept across the UK, all but replacing the Alpha variant first identified there late last year. 

Two New York City kosher restaurants send Pride emails, then apologize

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/two-new-york-city-kosher-restaurants-sent-pride-emails-then-appologized/

Restaurants say emails offering Pride Month discounts sent out by external marketing and promotions company, vow to ‘educate’ them.

Israel pushes vaccines for teens as fast-spreading Delta variant stokes fears

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-pushes-vaccine-for-teens-amid-fears-over-fast-spreading-delta-variant/

The Health Ministry on Monday urged rapid vaccination for teens and began working on measures to curb COVID-19 infections linked to international arrivals, amid signs that the extra-contagious Delta variant is spreading in Israel.

Ministry officials strongly recommended that 12- to 15-year-olds get vaccinated against COVID as soon as possible. The vaccine has been available to that age group for several weeks, but until now the ministry stopped short of recommending teens receive the shot.

Ra’am MK says party will vote against the Palestinian family reunification law

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/raam-mk-says-party-will-vote-against-the-palestinian-family-reunification-law/

Without the backing of Ra’am and several MKs from the left-wing Meretz and Labor parties, the coalition currently lacks a majority to extend the law. Most lawmakers in the opposition also back the legislation in principle, but many have indicated that they will nevertheless vote against it to undermine and embarrass the new coalition.

 A source within the coalition told Channel 12 that the only potential solution to the impasse would be to offer Ra’am something significant, such as a freeze of demolition orders in Arab communities, in exchange for their votes.

'Shabbat Driver' found to be missionary targeting haredi women

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/308510 

 Following reports of missionaries targeting the haredi community in Israel, the Yad L'Achim anti-assimilation organization has reported that a non-Jewish woman who drives expectant haredi women to the hospital on the Sabbath is in fact a Christian missionary.

The problem came to light last week when a yeshiva student in Jerusalem called Yad L'Achim asking for help. His wife had seemed worried and distracted for several weeks and finally revealed to him that she was on the verge of converting to Christianity.

When he pressed for details, he learned that a Christian missionary by the name of Jan Comeaux had taken advantage of his wife's distress and fragile condition in the wake of recent trauma to get her to convert.

הרב הראשי: להוציא מהקבר את גופת המיסיונרית שהתחזתה

 https://www.bhol.co.il/news/1240270

בהמשך לסערה שהתעוררה לאחר הגילוי כי משפחה באחת השכונות בירושלים התחזתה ליהודייה, הורה הגר"ד לאו לעשות כל מאמץ להוציא אותה מקברה. "מדובר באשה שאינה יהודייה שהתחזתה לחרדית והייתה מסיונרית ואף ניסתה להעביר על דת ישראל"

Amusing Ourselves to Death | Apr 8, 2013 | Appel Salon

Neil Postman - The open mind Interviews (1985-99) Education, politics, Language, narratives

1984 vs Brave New World ► Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death [Orwell & Huxley]