Post-Shiva: Catching Up on The News

This morning I just got up from sitting shiva for my mother.  It's a strange coincidence that today is the seventeenth 17th of Tammuz and the Jewish World is entering the very sad period of the Three Weeks which commemorates the destruction of our ancient Holy Temples.  So I'm not the only Jew not celebrating, not listening to music etc.

During the seven days of shiva for my mother and the days from the announcement until the funeral I pretty much ignored the news.  Now, I'm trying to catch up. I only got on the computer to check emails and I blogged about my mother, her funeral and shiva.  I also kept a journal at the advice of David Bedein, after I had complained of boredom especially due to the restrictions in reading subjects.  According to Jewish Law, especially in the shiva and pre-funeral status one isn't supposed to read pleasant subjects and occupy oneself with things unrelated to the burial and mourning, watch television programs etc.

Now that I'm up from the most intensive stage of mourning, it's time to see what has been going on in the world.

I had planned on attending the Shimon Peres President Conference, as I had done last year.  It's not that I'm a great fan and admirer of Israel's President Shimon Peres, but last year I discovered that there are some very interesting sessions. It's not good to isolate oneself from those of other opinions.  G-d willing I'll attend next year's.

After over a week of not watching, reading or listening to the news I don't think I missed anything.  Today's article in the Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu urges Palestinians to start talks, and stay at them , is just too similar to those I've been reading for years. 

Western diplomats tell Israeli media PM willing to release prisoners, freeze settlement building in return for Abbas giving up demand to start talks based on '67 lines; Erekat denies report, says PA won't give up preconditions.

As it is written in Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, "nothing's new."

One of the first things I checked after getting up was Caroline Glick and her Latma broadcast.

Latma interviews the new moderate Iranian President and celebrates with Shimon Peres among other topics.

I had also missed Ruthie Blum's latest article.  Here it is,Jordanian teens give honor killings high ratings:

A new study released on Thursday by Cambridge University’s Institute of Criminology is getting a lot of publicity for what it suggests about societal norms in Jordan. The study, conducted by Professor Manuel Eisner and graduate student Lana Ghuneim, reveals that a large number of teenagers in the Hashemite Kingdom not only consider honor killings to be legally just, but advocate them on moral grounds.

Read more: http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/right-angles/2013/jun/22/jordanian-teens-give-honor-killings-high-ratings/#ixzz2XEYGagsk
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So if this is the prevailing culture in Jordan, what can we expect from the Arabs here?

Dent left by shooting on the bus

Samaria Regional Authority