David Sarna

Prof. Ruth Wisse is a Jewish Polymath. She is  a unique figure among American Jewish leaders. She bridges the worlds of Yiddish and American culture, of literature and politics, and of Israel and the Diaspora. After teaching for many years at McGill, Stanford, New York, Hebrew and Tel Aviv universities, she taught at Harvard from 1993 until she became Emerita in 2014 .
Prof. Wisse originally made her mark in Yiddish studies, But she is much more than a scholar of Yiddish and the range of her writing is prodigious.
Perhaps most importantly, Dr. Wisse has fearlessly spoken out on issues of importance to Jews. Prof. Wisse has confronted evil all her life. She is strongl;y pro-Israel and staunchly anti-Communist.

Why was Kosher wine sweet?
Is it Sacramental?
What makes it kosher?
Was Kosher wine always made in Israel? What is its history?
Are there any good kosher wines? Who makes them, and where?
What is Yayin Nesech?
What is Yayin Merushal, and what is the controversy?
What wine is best for Kiddush?
These and other questions are addressed in this two-part series.

Medical students working in pairs are more likely to arrive at a correct diagnosis. Collaboration corrects errors, fills knowledge gaps and corrects reasoning flaws, a research paper in JAMA found.
They discovered the classic Talmudic method of study, the Chavruta, the ancient reciprocal, peer-guided buddy system for studying the Talmud.

"Two scholars sharpen one another," notes the Talmud.

The chavruta method has been practiced for at least 1,500 years. Because it works.

The reasons include the:
1.  Efficacy  of practice, repetition and review,
2. Benefit of social interaction on learning,
3. Interactive debate sharpening and clarifying issues.

“Possession,” the old common law adage goes, “is nine points of the law.”
But the important underlying question that the adage does not address is how do I acquire possession?
In the Talmud, possession takes place through an act of acquisition, in a process called “kinyan.” For animals, the preferred way is mesira (handing over) or by meshicha (delivery), Rabbi Simeon ruled that the preferred act for the acquisition of an animal is by lifting it, called kinyan hagbaha.
But does size matter?

This issue troubled the rabbis in relation to acquiring possession of an animal. In Kiddushin 25b-26a, the Talmud explores this question. It considers how to acquire an elephant.


The Tosafists suggest that the idea is to hang the vines from a high place. The elephant, seeking food, will see the vines and jump up, performing hagbaha on itself.

Can a cheeseburger be kosher?
This paper uses stem cells from a cow to grow to synthesize meat  as an example of how Jewish Law (halacha) analyzes technological issues not explicitly anticipated.
This article discusses basic Jewish laws of Kashrut derived from the Bible, and then explores whether a lab-grown(cultured)  burger can be kosher, and if so, may it be eaten with dairy products.
In the burger discussed, myosatellite cells, a kind of stem cell that repairs muscle tissue, were taken from a cow neck and put in containers along with fetal calf serum which is the medium. In early 2015 , a way to produce it that doesn't use fetal calf serum was accomplished.

The article concludes that properly prepared and supervised, such burgers could be kosher and considered parve (non-dairy and non-meat).

Other vegan-grown products are compared and contrasted.

An illustrated, readable and accurate guide to all aspects of death, burial and mourning in the Jewish tradition, beginning with the terminally ill and imminently dying, and then describing all aspects of the process after death, the role of the Chevra Kaddisha (Holy Society), Shmira (watching), Tahara (purification), levaya (funeral), kevura (burial, and avelut (mourning), including sitting shiva (the first week of mourning), the shloshim (30 day mourning period), erecting a headstone, saying Kaddish, and observing Yartzeit (the anniiversary) and Yizkor (the memorial prayers). Few English-language books discuss the purification, burial, and funeral process.Includes sources, a bibliography, and a detailed index. An Appendix provides all texts in Hebrew and in English translation.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Life is About Living
The Right to Heal
The Guiding Principles in Matters of Life and Death
How to Die Jewishly
Death and Mourning in the Jewish Way
The Jewish Way of Death, Burual and Mourning is
Different
End‐stage of Life
Never Hasten; No Need to Prolong
The Terminally Ill (Goses)
When May Therapy by Withheld?
Dying Imminently ‐ the Jewish Way
Persistent Vegetative State and Alzheimer’s
PVS Is not Imminent Inevitable Death
The Terri Schiavo Case
Patients Have a Degree of Autonomy
Judge Upholds Jewish Law for not Withholding Ordinary Care
Alzheimer’s is Like PVS
Resuscitation
Is “Do Not Resuscitate” an Acceptable Order?
Extubation
Artificial Heart
The Moments Prior to Death
Death Rattle
When the End is Near
Brain Stem Death
After the Soul Has Departed
Immediate Steps Following a Death
Every Deceased Requires Watching (Shmira)
Respectful Practices after Death
Acknowledging God’s Just Judgment
Autopsy and Organ Donation
Prompt Interment
Kriya – Rending a Garment
Manadatory Mourners
Tziduk Hadin (Acceptance of Judgement)
Respect for the Deceased
Simpler is Better in the Jewish Way
Rabban Gamliel’s Doctrine of Simplicity
Tahara – A Holy Act
Met Mitzvah ‐ An Abandoned Corpse
Tahara is a Holy Act
Brief Summary of the Tahara Process
Have Everything Needed for Tahara Ready in Advance
Usually, Three to Seven Perform Tahara
Highlights of the Tahara Process
The Washing Process
Shrouds ‐ Tachrichim
After Tahara
Tahara in Exceptional Cases
The Coffin (Casket)
Onanut – The Pre‐burial Stage
The Jewish Funeral (Levaya)
No Flowers; Charity Instead
Cohanim Remain Outside
The Funeral Service
The Ancient Memorial Prayer
At the Cemetery
Jewish‐Owned Cemetery
Sheimot – Worn Out Holy Books
Graveside Kaddish
The Line, Condolences, and Leaving the Cemetery
Se’udat Havra’ah – The Meal of Consolation
Sitting Shiva
Services During Shiva
Additional Prayer Customs at a Shiva House
Ending Shiva
Mourning After the Shiva
Mourner’s Kaddish and Other Customs
Erecting a Monument (Hakamat Matzeva)
Yartzeit and Yizkor
Visiting the Grave
It’s Not “My Way or the Highway”
Judaism is For Life
Further Reading
Appendix: Texts
Vidy Confessional Prayer
Chamol Prayer
Chamol for Men
Chamol for Women
Rosho Ketem Paz Prayer
Amar Rabbi Akiva Prayer
Declaration of Purification
Prayer On Dressing the Deceased
Prayers After Dressing the Deceased
Tziduk Hadin (Justification of the Divine Judgment
Writing from experience, the Author, David E Y Sarna, is a writer living in Northern NJ. An active member of a well-known Chevra Kadisha, he is the author of eight books and hundreds of articles published in major publications.
Modern Jewish Press

This paper discusses my experiences in receiving a kidney transplant facilitated by Project Renewal (http://life-renewal.org/) at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, how it changed  my life, and the amazing way in which the Almighty arranges things.

In the U.S., an estimated 26 million people -- about 13 percent of the population -- now have chronic kidney disease.
• There are currently about 125,00 people waiting for lifesaving organ transplants in the U.S. Of these, over 100,000 await kidney transplants. Transplantation is superior to long-term dialysis.
• Well-matched live donor kidneys typically last twice as long (ten versus twenty years) compared to transplants from cadaver kidneys.
• The median wait time for an individual’s first kidney transplant is 3.6 years and can vary depending on health, compatibility and availability of organs.
• In 2014, about 17,000 about kidney transplants took place in the US. Of these, 12,000 came from deceased donors and about 5,000 came from living donors.
I'm one of the very lucky ones. I had no suitable relative, but I received a live kidney, donated by an anonymous altruistic donor and facilitated through Renewal, a not-for-profit that matches donors with recipients and encourages altruistic donations.
Kidney transplantation is life-saving. We all have two kidneys. We only need one. God gave each of us a spare. Anyone who is healthy is urged to consider giving the gift of life to someone who desperately needs a kidney.

As Brandeis University looks for its ninth president, it’s time for a reboot and a clear identity. One school of thought believes that Brandeis should continue to deemphasize - meaning forget - its Jewish origins, and become a small, high-quality, left-leaning university – a small Berkeley in the East. Its point of difference, such adherents argue, would be its small size, high focus on research and social activism.
I would like to see a diverse, but still largely Jewish student population, led by a strong, well-respected, and committed leader with a well-articulated vision, clear backing of the Board of Trustees and the tenacity not to be side-tracked while executing his or her vision.
I can only hope and pray that a new president will be selected who will honor the legacy of my distinguished teachers, many of whom gave the best years or their lives to Brandeis.

The Jewish Link has been running a series of articles about the differences between the Rabbinical Council of America and Yeshivat Chovevai Torah on Torah min Hashamayim and the Ordination of women.  I'd like to shed a little light on the issue from a perhaps unexpected source, my teacher, the great Gaon, Prof. Saul Lieberman, (May 28, 1898 – March 23, 1983), long-time Rector at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

In this chapter, we look at the economics of cloud computing, and the tools of capacity management needed to ensure adequate performance without overpaying.
We consider demand, queueing theory, response times, resources, and an innovative predictive technique called Key Volume Indicators

Yeshivish (or Frimlish as some call it, based on Polish Yiddish for frum, devout), is somewhat analogous to Ebonics but also quite different in many important ways. Yeshivish is a sociolect of English spoken by Yeshiva students and other Jews with a strong connection to the Orthodox Yeshiva world.

Yair Lapid  advocates passionately for equal rights for all Jewish denominations. He says there is no freedom of religion in Israel.  In my view, he is not historic and his views are utterly indefensible.

Issues of personal status, particularly of marriage and divorce, relate directly to the existential questions relating to maintaining Israel’s character as a Jewish state, about which there is appropriate debate and no unanimity.  Changes are not to be made hastily, and have profound implications.

Lapid’s proposal – to lead a “struggle” for equality of Jewish denominations – and in effect to enact more laws and more government, is intemperate, totally wrong-headed, against his other policies, and will only exacerbate conflict.

This unusual and engaging memoir describes the author's experiences while growing up  Conservadox, a never-never land supposedly to the left of Modern Orthodox Judaism and to the right of Conservative Judaism, as a scholar's son at the Jewish Theological Seminary during its heyday, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He recounts studying one-on-one with the great Saul Lieberman, Susannah Heschel's quest to have a Bat Mitzvah at the Seminary, and other never-before-published stories about the Seminary's then world-renowned faculty, and their wives.

The book is illustrated, replete with hyperlinks to hard-to-find sources, indexed, and offers suggestions for further reading.

Table of Contents:
Foreword
My Father, Nahum M. Sarna
Early History of JTS
Relocating to Morningside Heights
There Was a Rule About It
The Telephone Rings Incessantly
Rabbi Jacob Kret and the Seminary Cafeteria
The Seminary Synagogue
Rank-Ordered Seating
Decorum During Services
The Women's Section
Seminary Children
Students Barely Tolerated
Studying with Professor Lieberman
Seminary Women
Boundaries of Feminism at JTS
Strict Observance of Jewih Law
Then and Now
About the Author
Index

In this chapter,we discuss the basis for queueing theory and performance and capacity analysis, look at the economics of cloud computing, introduce key volume indicators for more accurate forecasting, and present the tools of capacity management needed to ensure adequate performance without overpaying.

Google, Inc. (search). SIGN IN SIGN UP. What makes a GUI work? Authors: David EY Sarna, George J. Febish, Published in: · Journal. Datamation archive. Volume 40 Issue 14, July 15, 1994 Cahners Publishing Company Newton, MA, USA table of contents. 1994 Article. ...

Google, Inc. (search). SIGN IN SIGN UP. Catch the Internet by the tail. Authors: David EY Sarna, George J. Febish, Published in: · Journal. Datamation archive. Volume 41 Issue 7, April 15, 1995 Cahners Publishing Company Newton, MA, USA table of contents. 1995 Article. ...

Ruth Wisse, Jewish Polymath,  is a unique figure in American Jewish letters. She bridges the worlds of Yiddish and American culture, of literature and politics, and of Israel and the Diaspora.
Prof. Wisse originally made her mark in Yiddish studies. But she is much more than a scholar of Yiddish.

The range of her writing is prodigious.
Perhaps most importantly, Dr. Wisse has fearlessly spoken out on issues of importance to Jews. No shrinking violet, she pulls no punches.
Books like “If I Am Not for Myself: The Liberal Betrayal of the Jews” (1992) and “Jews and Power” (2008), dedicated to its then-editor Neal Kozodoy (now editor of Mosaic and the Library of Jewish Ideas) established her as a conservative on social, cultural and political issues. Edward Alexander wrote of her in 1993, “Ruth Wisse is worth a battalion,” a statement he ascribed to a colonel in the Israeli army he dates to 1988.
Prof. Wisse has confronted evil all her life.  “Nothing," she says , “is more antithetical to Judaism than communism and its brutal use of tyranny to enforce its ideology.”
Today, she says, our enemies focus on efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state, and that must be the focus of our counterpunching.