HAPPY PURIM TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND READERS
CONGRATULATIONS TO PRESIDENT OBAMA-YES YOU HAVE IT RIGHT-FOR HIS ACTIONS YESTERDAY REGARDING STEM CELL RESEARCH.
Jewish law does not regard these stem cells as human "lives",and the enlightened leadership in our Rabbinic community have endorsed this move.Of course we do not know what if anything positive will result,however as long as we stay within ethical boundaries,we must do whatever it takes to save lives and ameliorate suffering.
The President is right that cloning of human beings is not an ethical or moral endeavor,and the full penalty of the law should be instituted to prevent scientists both government and privately funded from moving in that direction.
This morning while reading the megillah,I was taken by the sentence that Mordechai knew that one does not approach the palace in "sack-cloth".In other words,when you appear before royalty,it is incumbent to dress properly.
In everyday life,those who attend synagogue come before "royalty" to make their case.Sadly,one sees mature men wearing shorts,sandals without socks and all type of beach wear, sometimes with tzizith (fringes) flying.Of course it is against Jewish law ,but against common decency.
Which brings me to the incoming Speaker of the Knesset,Reuben Rivlin (Likud) who has announed that he will once again allow jeans in the knesset,removing the ban by Speaker Dalia Itzik.
I have spent many many hours in the halls of Congress and when you walk through the Knesset, you feel a sense of less than pride in the dress and demeanor of the staffs and the visitors.
