December 20, 2007 | 1:26 pm

Young Jewish male takes ‘crak’ at mah-jongg

Posted by Jay Firestone

Sure, mah-jongg is a game classically known for its appeal to old Jewish women, but so is bingo and scrabble.  And I love those games, so why not mah-jongg? 

But a 23-year-old nudnik playing mah-jongg?  I know, that’s almost as crazy of as an 83-year-old yenta playing Donkey Kong.

Unfortunately, these stereotypes only prevent our culture and society from enhancing and evolving.  For that reason (and because I don’t think we’ll ever witness an 83 year-old playing Donkey Kong), I decided to do something unheard of.  Something no 23 year-old would even think of doing. I decided to learn mah-jongg.

Check out my experience in the video below.

Also be sure to read the full mah-jongg story at JewishJournal.com

December 16, 2007 | 10:27 pm

Moses: I Googled myself and all I got was 31,700,00 results

Posted by JewishJournal.com

Four-seven percent Internet users Googled themselves last year, not counting those who Google themselves secretly under a sheet or something.

That’s the report from the Pew Internet Life Peeps:

NEW YORK - More Americans are Googling themselves — and many are checking out their friends, co-workers and romantic interests, too.

In a report Sunday, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said 47 percent of U.S. adult Internet users have looked for information about themselves through Google or another search engine.

That is more than twice the 22 percent of users who did in 2002, but Pew senior research specialist Mary Madden was surprised the growth wasn’t higher.

“Yes it’s doubled, but it’s still the case that there’s a big chunk of Internet users who have never done this simple act of plugging their name with search engines,” she said. “Certainly awareness has increased, but I don’t know it’s necessarily kept pace with the amount of content we post about ourselves or what others post about us.”

Which begs the question: What would Moshe Rabbenu do?

Well, Googling for Moses gets 31,700, 000 results, King Solomon scores just over a million, and Theodor Herzl clocks in at 360,000.

You’ve looked yourself up, right?  What did you find?

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December 13, 2007 | 10:16 pm

Thanks to the Intelligent Designer, evolution is speeding up!

Posted by JewishJournal.com

You’ve probably seen video bytes of the YouTube doofus whose question about belief in the Bible (King James version) was featured in a CNN presidential-wannabe debate. 

Mike Huckabee gave a good response:

We’re running an article this week highlighting the answers to the same question from some rabbis:

Does belief in Torah mean every word is true?

Rabbi Richard Hirsh, Executive Director, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association:

I don’t like the way the question is worded. It is, as Lenny Bruce might have said, a “goyish” question. First, whether traditional or modern, Jews assign different degrees of sanctity to the Torah than we do the entire Tanakh (gee, I’d love to hear that in a debate: “Rev. Huckabee, do you believe in the Tanakh?”).

The prophets and the writings contain sacred literature, but tradition does not claim Sinaitic origin for them.

Second, Jews don’t “believe” in the Torah, we try to live by it as it is interpreted and applied. The whole point of halacha (Jewish law) is to spell out what it means—for example, to honor one’s parents, or to observe the Sabbath, or what constitutes “murder” as in “Thou shalt not murder” (note to those who can’t read the Bible in the original language: It’s “murder,” not “kill”).

Third, since the Tanakh is an anthology of collected writings of human beings over a period of 1,000 years, we should not expect and will not find consistency, and we often find contradictions, which sort of makes it hard “to believe” in every word.

And last, there are parts of Scripture from which I happily dissent, such as stories that imagine God commanding the Israelites to commit genocide (see Deuteronomy 20:17) or parents to stone a rebellious child (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).

A better question would be: What rights and respect should a president ensure for those Americans who do not believe in this book?

Those wacky Reconstructionists!

The joke is that they pray “to whom it may concern!” 

Anyhow, most rabbis agree we are to interpret the words of the Torah.  Here’s the Orthodox view:

Rabbi Avi Shafran, Director of Public Affairs for Agudath Israel of America:

I believe that every word in that book (assuming it’s a Hebrew Jewish Bible) is holy. The Torah represents the word of God as transmitted to Moses. But if by “believe every word” you mean “believe that all of its words are intended by their Author to be taken literally or in their simplest sense,” then no, I do not believe that.

Because my belief—the Jewish belief since Sinai—is that in addition to the written law of the Torah, there is an indispensable oral law that accompanied it and has been handed down by Jewish scribes and scholars through the generations. That oral law acts as the key to unlocking the intent of the written word, and its teachings underlie how Jews like me endeavor to live their lives to this day.

This is helpful, meaning we’re not stuck with trying to justify the existence of a 6000-year old Earth versus the dinosaur fossil record, etc.

“Intelligent Design” and other creationist crapola need not apply.

And it’s timely, too, because science not only votes for Darwinian evolution, but is also proud to announce that the process of evolution is actually speeding up!

Human Evolution Speeding Up, Study Says
John Roach
for National Geographic News
December 11, 2007

Explosive population growth is driving human evolution to speed up around the world, according to a new study.

The pace of change accelerated about 40,000 years ago and then picked up even more with the advent of agriculture about 10,000 years ago, the study says.

And while humans are evolving quickly around the world, local cultural and environmental factors are shaping evolution differently on different continents.

“We’re evolving away from each other. We’re getting more and more different,” said Henry Harpending, an anthropologist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City who co-authored the study.

For example, in Europe natural selection has favored genes for pigmentation like light skin, blue eyes, and blond hair. Asians also have genes selected for light skin, but they are different from the European ones.

“Europeans and Asians are both bleached Africans, but the way they got bleached is different in the two areas,” Harpending said.

He and colleagues report the finding this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Based on the gigantor sizes of the people in my office building—tall and growing taller—I sort of suspected there was something going on.  And what are those blinking metallic-looking growths on their ears?

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December 11, 2007 | 11:03 pm

Tzedakah or genetics?  Hebrew University identifies possible ‘generosity gene’

Posted by JewishJournal.com

You give because it’s a mitzvah, your religious side says (because it’s the right thing to do, adds your inner ethicist.)

That’s what we like to think—it’s certainly what we tell ourselves.

But what if all our self-congratulation covers up the real truth?  Check this out (from ScienceDaily.com):

Generosity May Be Genetically Programmed

Are those inclined towards generosity genetically programmed to behave that way? A team of researchers, including Dr. Ariel Knafo of the Psychology Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, believes that this could very well be the case.

Through an online task involving making a choice whether or not to give away money, the researchers found that those who chose to give away some or all of their money differed genetically from those involved in the exercise who chose not to give their money away.

The scientists conducted the experiment with 203 online “players”. Each player could choose to keep the equivalent of $12 he was allocated, or to give all or part of it to an anonymous other player.

Those involved also provided DNA samples which were analyzed and compared to their reactions. It was found that those who had certain variants of a gene called AVPR1a (photomicrographic image above) gave on average nearly 50 percent more money than those not displaying that variant.

You can read more here.

Do variants in the AVPR1a make kavanah/intention less valid, replacing instinct with intent? Surely good instincts can’t be bad?

And what of free will?

All things to ponder next time you see a tzedakah box, or get that phone call.

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December 11, 2007 | 10:25 am

Eight days of Chanukah candle lighting - Day 8: The great donut finale

Posted by Jay Firestone

Its been a long week, but now I can finally say that my life is complete, thanks to the Chabad of West Hills, the Chabad of Woodland Hills and the New JCC at Milken…and also about 300 donuts.

Thanks for watching our Chanukah Special.  Check out JewishJournal.com for more great videos and inspiring articles. 

HAPPY CHANUKAH!

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December 10, 2007 | 11:07 am

Eight days of Chanukah candle lighting - Day 7: Taglit Birthright party

Posted by Jay Firestone

Throughout this week, I’ve made latkes (or at least attempted to), gone to school musicals and even mastered the art of the dreidel.  Now, for the 7th day, its time to party, Chanukah style.  Thanks to the help of Taglit Birthright Israel, Jdub Records (in addition to the support of the Progressive Jewish Alliance), we can light candles with class, drinks and girls.

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December 9, 2007 | 9:11 am

VideoJew’s Eight days of Chanukah candle lighting - Day 6: The Melech of Rock and Roll

Posted by Jay Firestone

If you’ve ever wanted a Jewish Vegas wedding, this may be your lucky day - thanks Jelvis. 

Celebrating the 6th night of chanukah with me, Jelvis lights up the show as the two of us say the blessings. 

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December 8, 2007 | 12:23 pm

VideoJew’s Eight days of Chanukah candle lighting - Day 5: Adam, the dreidel wiz

Posted by Jay Firestone

What’s Chanukah without a little dreidel? Better than mario kart or guitar hero, dreidel is not only fun, but its a game about equality…because it requires absolutely no skill at all - everyone’s on the same level.  I learned, however that the classic game can be pretty boring.  That’s why I sat down with Jewish Joural Senior Editor Adam Wills, a dreidel expert.  Together we learned basic play along with a new game…upside-down dreidel. 

After the game, as always come light the Chanukah candles with us.

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