Tag Archives: Israel

Moi « asingleletter

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Moi « asingleletter.

Moi

Blogging should be intelligently done. Anyone with a computer and half a brain (not to mention a dose of narcissism) can create a blog and critique or rant. I critique, rant, hypothesize, observe, reflect–about almost anything worth mentioning.

Who am I? “I” am part of the under-25 set and, simply put, I like to think. And write. I try to do this in a non-look at me, I’m so smart and cool and alternative way! because I can’t stand when people try to pose as something.

thespectatorssport.wordpress.com  —My other blog, this focuses solely on the Middle East, particularly the cultural issues that occur there. I am fascinated by the Middle East, and lived there for a brief but memorable 2 months with my amazing habibi. :)

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Happy Hanukkah

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Hanukkah.

Hanukkah began 12/20/2011 at sundown.

Hanukkah or Chanukah (Hebrew for “dedication”), annual festival of the Jewish people celebrated on eight successive days. It begins on the 25th day of Kislev, the third month of the Jewish calendar, corresponding, approximately, to December in the Gregorian calendar. Hanukkah is also known as the Festival of Lights, Feast of Dedication, and Feast of the Maccabees.

Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem by Judas Maccabee in 165 bc . Rededication was necessary because Antiochus IV Epiphanes, king of Syria and overlord of Palestine, had profaned (defiled) the temple. In 168 bc, on a date corresponding approximately to December 25 in the Gregorian calendar, the temple was dedicated to the worship of the pagan god Zeus Olympius by order of Antiochus, who forbade the practice of Judaism. An altar to Zeus was set up on the high altar. When Judas Maccabee recaptured Jerusalem three years later, he had the temple purged and a new altar put up in place of the desecrated one. The temple was then rededicated to God with festivities that lasted eight days (see 1 Maccabees chapters 3 and 4). According to tradition, only a one-day supply of nondesecrated olive oil could be found for the rededication, but that small quantity burned miraculously for eight days. Jews commemorate this event by lighting candles for the eight nights of Hanukkah. The principal source for the story of Hanukkah is the Talmud.

The principal feature of present-day Hanukkah celebrations is the lighting of candles, one the first night, two the second, and so on until eight candles have been lit in a special candelabrum called a menorah. A Hanukkah menorah has eight branches and a holder for an extra candle that is used to light the others. (A seven-branched menorah that also has its origins in biblical times is now a symbol for the state of Israel.) A blessing is said each night as the Hanukkah candles are lit.

Hanukkah is a festive family occasion, with special foods and songs. Children generally receive small gifts or money, known as Hanukkah gelt (money), each evening after the candles are lit. Foods fried in oil, such as latkes (potato pancakes) and doughnuts, commemorate the miracle of the oil. Sweet foods also are popular, and children may receive chocolate coins in place of Hanukkah gelt. Songs also play a part in the festivities and remind the family of the events commemorated.

Hanukkah

Lighting of the World’s Largest Menorah

When:Tuesday December 20, 2011-Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Time:Various Times (see below)
Where:Grand Army Plaza
Fifth Avenue and 59th Street
Manhattan, NY 10019
Cost:Free

Celebrate the Festival of Lights with the lighting of the world’s largest menorah, at Grand Army Plaza (at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, across the street from The Plaza hotel). Watch Hanukkah tradition come to life with a 32-foot-high, gold-colored, 4,000-pound steel holiday menorah. Every evening during Hanukkah, a candle will be lit. For the Sabbath, the lighting will be at 3:30pm on Friday and 8:30pm on Saturday (on all other days, a candle will be lit at 5:30pm).

Schedule
Friday at 3:30pm, Saturday at 8:30pm and 5:30pm on all other days

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Organ-Trafficking Is Said to Rise in Egypt

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Organ-Trafficking Is Said to Rise in Egypt 

CAIRO—Egypt’s year of political upheaval has left a shortfall in some law enforcement, and that has been a boon for criminal organizations that traffic in human organs, a human-rights group says.

On Monday, the Coalition for Organ-Failure Solutions, a nonprofit international health and human-rights organization, is to release a new study that shines a spotlight an underground trade that world health experts say thrives here and affects thousands of African refugees in the country.

The report, titled “Sudanese Victims of Organ Trafficking in Egypt,” includes video testimony of corroborating victims, as well as documentation of ultrasounds, and records from transplant …