Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Weather It Is (Hotter and Cooler, Showers?)

Good Morning:

With all this talk about earthquakes, I suppose it only appropriate that the weather has been "acting" a bit unusual.  I'm not used to see fast moving clouds in summertime, or even to exclaim: "was that a drop of rain?"

Despite the recent cool weather, the mid-week period will turn quite hot, with Thursday being the hottest of the three, as high pressure builds eastward from Africa.  What we seem to be missing this summer is a very strong heat low over the desert to our east. Instead there is a anomalous area of cold air over west-central Russia (or north of Kazakstan).  This will help to create an atmospheric flow pattern that will allow for unusually cool summer air to drop down over the eastern Mediterranean at middle and lower levels of the atmosphere as we head into the Ninth of Av (fast).  The models are actually shown showers over northern and central areas as Shabbat moves into Sunday's fast.

Those who work in the field of atmospheric sciences are much more fortunate than those who study plate tectonics, and dream of some day predicting earthquakes.  Earthquakes are very hard to predict, even when they are happening! (See: https://www.popsci.com/earthquake-harder-to-predict-than-we-thought).  They are also very difficult to predict before they happen because the data required to do so is not complete and hard to get (earthquakes can start 30 km beneath the surface! See: http://theconversation.com/why-it-is-so-hard-to-predict-where-and-when-earthquakes-will-strike-40873).  There are other issues to contend with.  For instance, the equations that describe the ebb and flow of the atmosphere are well-known (although errors in initial data do lead to errors in the forecasts, as well as for other reasons).  Earthquakes can happen when one plate moves below another or to the side.  The action occurs suddenly, which is equivalent to a "Step-Function" in mathematics that is simple to write, but hard to formulate  (like when a bridge or dam suddenly collapses due to a build up of pressure or weakening of the supports).

Others have more obvious predictors.  Shall we blame the strange weather on the plan to possibly build a mixed prayer pavilion at the Western (Kotel) Wall? Or, shall we only blame the recent bout of earthquakes (see:https://www.timesofisrael.com/ultra-orthodox-mk-suggests-earthquake-was-due-to-western-wall-mixed-prayer-area/) on such plans?

Perhaps there is a more obvious reason.  My "Me Am Lo Ez" Torah Anthology (Exodus-II Redemption; translated by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan) notes that one of the reasons the Jewish people were redeemed from Egypt was because they didn't speak LaShon Hara (gossip or say bad things about others).  But, here we have the Knesset lawmaker blaming the Reform movement for Earthquakes.  Then we had a "Kashrut" authority revoke Barkan Wines certificate for employing Ethiopians.  The Eda Haredit claims that there is not enough proof that Ethiopians who immigrated to Israel are actually Jewish (so they are not allowed to touch the wine while it is being prepared).

Widespread questioning of someone else's Jewishness or the Jewishness of Converts is strictly forbidden in the Book of Jewish Law (the Torah).  Yet, here we have a group claiming to be a "congregation of God-fearing" people engaging in actions anathema to proper Jewish Observance.

In my opinion, the best way to demonstrate your goodness as a person is to be kind to others.  Striving for that extra strictness based on the most extreme measure of Jewish law is actually based on selfishness (hoping for extra "brownie-points"), and not charitableness (among which giving money to those is needs is also an important responsibility).

Barry Lynn

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Weather It Is (Hmm Weather)

Good Afternoon:

It's the kind of summer weather that makes you want to say "hmm."  It's not super hot, but it's not exactly pleasant either.  In fact, the northwest flow has brought some broken clouds in off the sea.

The hot, sultry weather is courteous of strong high pressure over Africa combining with low pressure over Syria.  Both systems are fairly stationary, and the results is the northwest flow.  But because the air originates in both Africa and the desert areas to our northeast, we just end up hot and a bit on the humid side.

Without much to look at in the sky, I have taken to noticing what's going around me at eye-level.  The other day there was a long line of cars passing through the open lane of the check-point on the way to Gush Etzion.  I was in that line when I noticed a person speed down the adjacent lane, headed towards the unopen gate at the check-point.  I wondered what this person thinks about before making his move. Considering that this person could not have seen whether the lane was open before he took the plunge, he really made a bold move.   For instance, if the rest of us are dumb, he'd sail right through past everyone else.  But, if the lane is closed, he'd have to go back to the end of the line -- right?  No,  he just cuts in and goes ahead of everyone else.

What about the person that goes around the speed bump, crossing the yellow line, just so he (or she) doesn't have to slow down.  Does that person think: "I bet I can outsmart that speed bump," or is it: "they're not going to make me slow down, even if I have to break the law."

In The Times of Israel, there is an article entitled: "Will the West Cede the Golan to a Psychopath?" (https://www.timesofisrael.com/will-the-west-cede-the-golan-heights-to-a-psychopath/) The authors mean: to Bashar Assad. When the editor wrote the headline did they try to convey how illogical that would be or did they purposely try to convey that Israel does not own the Golan?  After all, if the Golan is part of Israel then how can other nations turn it over to Mr. Assad?

The Israeli Knesset passed a law deducting Palestinian payments to murderers in Israeli jails from tax obligations (https://www.timesofisrael.com/knesset-passes-law-freezing-pa-funding-over-terror-payouts/).  Supposedly, the law sends a message to the Palestinian that terror doesn't pay. The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas instead called prisoners in Israel jails "Political Prisoners" -- not terrorists -- and "victims of the 'Occupation.'" Ironically, he went on to say that the same prisoners are not the "creators of the occupation."  It's a great line, but does he really believe it?  Until the war in 2000, Israel had vacated Area A (under the Oslo Accords), and offered most of the area  west of the Jordan River and east of the old "Green Line" (Armistice Line)  (and Gaza) to the Palestinians for their own state, including parts of Jerusalem.  So, who is the creator of the "Occupation?" It's the Palestinians -- no Israel will in his or her right mind cede land to a people that pays its citizens to murder others.


Barry Lynn