The problem with the comments of "Arthur Seyss-Inquart" and "David Greenglass" wasn't that they were overlong and failed to simply link -- the problem was that they were abusive beyond the point of social acceptability in linking the author to a Nazi war criminal and to a convicted spy.  (BTW, do the editors not know who Arthur Seyss-Inquart and David Greenglass were?)  If there are any civility limits to posting here, those comments should be taken down entirely, not left up with suggestions to link.

The stunning illogic of Hannah Schein's dismissal of the use of animals in medical research, and the evasiveness of Philip Schein's response to the "bad but still necessary" question about whether animal lives are to be equated with human lives, are two reasons why _anything_ from PETA is highly suspect, and why serious religious Jews should not rush to honor these folks.

It wasn't clear from your rebuke of the (other) anonymous whether you objected to the harshness of his correction or to his concern for correct use of the language.  If the former, you have a point, though you should clarify.  If the latter, sorry, but some of us do care that words be used properly.

Love the Hebrew errors -- classic!

    Also:

    Check spelling of names on benchers.  We know a case (for a bar mitzva, but the issue is the same) where "Zeev" was spelled without the alef, which means "ooze" or (worse) "gonnorheic."

    Instruct the chair-hoisters to make sure that they lift the front of the chair higher than the back.  You really don't need to have the bride or groom slide off the chair. 

Tamar, your reply says that you don't see the justice here.  Actually, a trial of Demjanjuk  on the Sobibor charge would (presumably) serve justice, and your post didn't really contest that.  Your argument was really that this justice wasn't worth the resources, or that it should be outweighed by mercy for an aged and disabled man. 

Your ketuba is already such a document. Read it -- it's not a flowers-and-sunrises expression of the rapture of love. It's a financial settlement, whose amount becomes payable in a divorce. Recognizing the divorce rate isn't Hollywood; it's reality. And it makes people act in a really ugly way. A woman who has absolute faith that she and her fiance will never get divorced, or that, if they do, he will never withhold a get, is a naive fool.

David Kelsey:  The fact that Birthright alumni are more likely to feel connected than are unaffiliated Jews who have not gone on a Birthright trip is _not_ a major success.  Birthright participants are self-selecting, so, even before they go, they're more likely to feel connected than unaffiliated folks who haven't gone.  (Also, if the comparison is as described in the PresentTense article -- of Birthright participants with those who applied but were rejected -- the comparison may be more disturbing.  What do you have to do to be rejected by Birthright?)  Further, as Tamar's article pointed out, Birthright seems to be drawing some folks who would otherwise have gone on a longer trip under the auspices of USY, NFTY, BBYO, or othere group, and _those_ folks are particularly likely to feel connected, even without the Birthright trip. 

Anonymous 6/2 4:30pm:  No, part of Tamar's point is that Birthright is not only serving the unaffiliated and less committed; it's also taking kids away from more substantial Israel (and Jewish) experiences.  To say, "The high school programs should find more ways to subsidize their trips just as Birthright has" ignores reality -- Birthright is the creation of a very few folks with very deep pockets, and they did this on their own, without having to consider the unintended side-effects on existing programs that are worthwhile. 

David Friedman:  What's the relevance here of this paean to creationism?  (And the statement that "I would not promote the idea of God as Creator in the science classroom" is contradicted by the continuation that you _would_ promote "the facts of science which point to design.")

ThorsProvoni:  What is this shtuyot?

You say, "McCain does not offer a critique of the settlements, instead identifying Hamas’ rocket attacks on the Israeli town of Sderot as the most pressing problem."  This distorts what McCain really said:  

"JG: Do you think that settlements keep Israel and the Palestinians from making peace?

"JM: There’s a list of issues that separate them, from water, to the right of return, to settlements. Look at the Oslo Accords, which basically laid out a roadmap for addressing these major issues. And settlements is one of them, but certainly one of the issues right now is the shelling of Sderot, which I visited. As you know, they’re shelling from across the border. If the United States was being rocketed across one of our borders, that would probably gain prominence as an issue."

    McCain actually acknowledges that the settlements are an issue, but he's not willing to give an answer that implies that they are the chief obstacle to peace.  And, in a time when criticism of Oslo is rife, McCain actually has positive things to say about it.  

    As for Roth, yes, Roth is a greater writer than Wouk, and having a President with discriminating and cultured preferences in literature would be nice, but there are more important concerns.

You've identified a serious intellectual (and spiritual) problem for those of us who do not accept the Tanach's accounts as literally historically true. You could even push the problem earlier than the Flood -- what about creation itself? Sure, we can understand Shabbat as response to and imitation of God even if creation extended for eons, but it works better if creation took 144 (6 x 24) hours.

We need not (and should not) follow the fundamentalists (in part MO as well as haredi) and ignore what science, history, and archeology tell us because those lessons would cause tension with religious life and doctrine, but we do have to acknowledge that those tensions exist.

Weren't the severely disabled eliminated even before the Communists?  In any event, that target should be included among the others you've listed, as it's in their case that the value difference is so great -- we think "Kol ham'kayyem nefesh ahat" applies to them also.