Chanukah Celebration!

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Aharon's Ark

Aharon's Ark: "Aharon's Ark This Vessel is being created to preserve what is good. The World rests on three pillars: Torah, Service to Hashem (G-d) and Acts of Chesed (kindness)"

National Geographic magazine: February 1999 @ nationalgeographic.com

National Geographic magazine: February 1999 @ nationalgeographic.com: "water throughout and around the Everglades is managed and controlled by two agencies, the South Florida Water Management District and the Army Corps of Engineers. Water, which naturally would have flowed throughout the park, is held in reservoirs, channeled in dikes, and, above all, prevented from spilling into bordering farms and the suburbs of Greater Miami. To water managers, say Pimm and Bass, the drying western prairies of the Everglades in the spring look like an excellent place to dump excess water, which is what happened for several years beginning in 1993. While this protected some homes and roads, it has proved a disaster for the sparrow and, the biologists suspect, for other species, including many wading birds, such as egrets and herons whose nesting patterns have also been disrupted. “We’re losing the sparrow and probably other species just because of water management decisions,” says Bass on the flight back to the airport. “Admittedly, it is a big problem managing the water here, especially in stormy years. But all it takes is holding off a couple of months, as the agencies did last year, to let the birds nest and rear their young. It’s a matter of making the right decision.” If the Cape Sable sparrow’s nesting grounds are not flooded, Pimm and Bass think their population will begin to increase. For other species, though, no decision will change their fate; they are simply doomed to disappear from Earth. "

The Action Blog - Blog Action Day » Blog Archive » Why Bloggers Will Change the World, and How You Can Help

The Action Blog - Blog Action Day » Blog Archive » Why Bloggers Will Change the World, and How You Can Help: "Freedom of speech. Blogs allow ordinary citizens to exercise the power of the freedom of speech in ways that have never been possible before. Sure, we were always able to get on a soap box and spout off, but until now, there was no way to really be heard. And sure, even now it’s hard to be heard with so many blogs out there, but there’s no question that it’s much easier to be heard by a global audience now than it once was. The freedom of speech is a powerful tool, and one that is taken for granted by many people in the industrialized world. Blogs make that tool even more powerful. "

Kapporas To Swing And Slaughter Or Not To Swing And Slaughter

Opinion of the Authur, Aharon Moshe ben-Dovid (AhMbDvd):

The ritual slaughter of Chickens is a well established custom for jews prior to Yom Kippor. It is a simple ritual that when performed properly gives one a deep sense of how extreme a harsh judgement from Hashem can be.

Kaparos: The individual (a male takes a male chicken, female a female chicken, and a pregnant women takes two female chickens, and one male chicken) and recites a short passage of scripture three times while encirling a live chicken above one's head. The person doing the Kaparot then witnesses the slaughter of the very same chicken.

As far as any possible controversy there really should be none. The kosher slaughter of the chicken has never been questioned by any animal rights groups. Probably the biggest element which provides for an incredible amount of controversy has to do with using the actual slaughtered chicken itself as Tzeduka. Because if you personally do not wait around until the chicken which you witnessed being slaughtered is fully processed (multiply this by a number proportionate -even if its say 10%- of the ortthodox population in Brooklyn) then you could well imagine that the bodies of the dead or dying chickens begin to pile up quickly, which is exactly what happened in http://crownheights.info/index.php?itemid=7711&catid=3 Crown Heights in 2006.

The most simple, understandable and normal thing to do after personally witnessing the kosher slaughter of the animal that was specifically intended to serve as a substitute for a negative judgement from Hashem, would be to wait for your slaughtered animal to be further processed in a kosher manner and take it home to be cooked, and eat it!

Any issue regarding how, or when to eat the chicken which was personally slaughtered for you, in your name, as a partial atonement, or reminder of you aveiras (sins) can alaways be handled. However the thing that you (if in Brooklyn you represent an individual amongst thousands) need to keep in mind, elect not to take the kosher, freshly slaughtered chicken home to cook and to later eat, is that you are now contributing and yes creating a situation where there will bound to be a surplus of thousands of chickens (including the one slaughtered in your name) which will not be subsequently and efficiently fully and humanely processed for consumption in accordance with kosher halacha.

AhMbDvd-Passaic NJ http://findinsight.blogspot.com/
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