A follower of Baba Elazar zt"l, “Nobody had so much in body & spirit & such discipline in serving God"

JPost

The sudden and traumatic demise of Rabbi Elazar Abuhatzeira, who was stabbed to death overnight Thursday in his Beersheba yeshiva, has left thousands of his followers mourning and perplexed.

What made Abuhatzeira, known as the Baba Elazar, so special to the scores of people from all walks of life who sought his blessing and advice?

“He had intuition, or the holy spirit; he had something going on. I attributed it to his family lineage, and his holy lifestyle,” said Chaim Cohen, an educator from Jerusalem.

Abuhatzeira was a scion to a famous Moroccan rabbinic dynasty. His grandfather was Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira, the Baba Sali, believed by his followers to work miracles.

As for the lifestyle, Cohen said that Abuhatzeira trained himself to suffice with only two hours of sleep a night, with short naps during the day. That way, he could spend the whole day studying Torah and helping people. He also covered himself, and never looked at women. He would fast the entire month of Elul, and was a great Torah scholar.

“Nobody who had so much in body and spirit had such discipline in serving God, that’s why he had the gifts he had,” said Cohen, “which he used to help people.” [...]

The chareidi man behind the Anti-Shariah Movement

NYTimes

Tennessee’s latest woes include high unemployment, continuing foreclosures and a battle over collective-bargaining rights for teachers. But when a Republican representative took the Statehouse floor during a recent hearing, he warned of a new threat to his constituents’ way of life: Islamic law.

The representative, a former fighter pilot named Rick Womick, said he had been studying the Koran. He declared that Shariah, the Islamic code that guides Muslim beliefs and actions, is not just an expression of faith but a political and legal system that seeks world domination. “Folks,” Mr. Womick, 53, said with a sudden pause, “this is not what I call ‘Do unto others what you’d have them do unto you.’ ”

Similar warnings are being issued across the country as Republican presidential candidates, elected officials and activists mobilize against what they describe as the menace of Islamic law in the United States.

Since last year, more than two dozen states have considered measures to restrict judges from consulting Shariah, or foreign and religious laws more generally. The statutes have been enacted in three states so far. [...]

Chareidi Internet cafe opens in Israel

YNet

The ultra-Orthodox city of Modiin Illit has got its own Internet café for the very first time. The café, an initiative of haredi businessman Yehuda Weisfish, was opened after he received rabbinical approval.
 
The new experimental store is called "Gilad Net" and is strictly kosher. For the haredi public this is a real revolution, as the Internet has been considered abominable by rabbis for years.

Every passing day, Weisfish says, proves that progress cannot be made without the worldwide computer network. "We are becoming a small global village, and one can no longer do with just faxes and telephones."

Every passing day, Weisfish says, proves that progress cannot be made without the worldwide computer network. "We are becoming a small global village, and one can no longer do with just faxes and telephones." [...]

Crisis in medical care: Hundreds of doctors rally at Knesset

YNet

Hundreds of doctors, medical residents and interns from hospitals around the country marched Sunday from Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center to the Whol Rose Park near the Knesset, where they held a mass rally demanding "to save the collapsing health system."

During the rally, Israeli Medical Association Chairman Dr. Leonid Eidelman urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who also serves as the health minister – to intervene.

Finance Minister: Growing calls for reform could lead to 'anarchy' in Israel

          Haaretz

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz hit back on Sunday at the growing national protests over the rising cost of living, saying some reforms being demanded might lead to economic crises like those besetting parts of Europe and the United States.

The warnings followed marches by some 150,000 demonstrators, the resignation of a top treasury official and questions from leading commentators over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ability to ride out a revolt by the middle class.

"We see the talk about the debt crisis in Europe. We are even hearing talk of a possible default in the United States,"Steinitz said. "My supreme duty is to ensure we do not reach this situation in the State of Israel."

He rejected calls for the authorities to curb industry leaders who are often accused of artificially inflating the price of consumer goods through cartels tolerated by Netanyahu and his predecessors.

Shocking discovery! Psychology doesn't always help & sometimes makes it worse

 NYTimes

Some given treatment undoubtedly benefited, researchers say, but others became annoyed or more upset. At least one commentator referred to therapists’ response as “trauma tourism.”

“We did a case study in New York and couldn’t really tell if people had been helped by the providers — but the providers felt great about it,” said Patricia Watson, a co-author of one of the articles and associate director of the terrorism and disaster programs at the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress. “It makes sense; we know that altruism makes people feel better.”

But researchers later discovered that the standard approach at the time, in which the therapist urges a distressed person to talk through the experience and emotions, backfires for many people. They plunge even deeper into anxiety and depression when forced to relive the mayhem.

Crisis response teams now take a much less intense approach called psychological first aid, teaching basic coping skills and having victims recount experiences only if it seems helpful. [...]

The hidden beauty of pollination