Leave the Korean peninsula. Why are we still there, 50 some odd years later? The Koreans are grown up people who can handle their own problems. What are they going to do, nuke their own families? Literally.

but haven't stem cells been associated with tumors? I remember reading, (but I can't remember the source, sorry), that the research done with rats has created tumors. If this pans out, wouldn't that be ironic?

I'm an Orthodox Jew who tries his best to live according to Torah. I don't care, and it's none of my business, what other people do in the privacy of their homes. As someone who has studied the Bible and its commentaries in Hebrew and Aramaic, 3 points:

1) According to Torah, a woman's life takes precedence over her fetus's. Period.

2) Up to the 40th day of gestation, an embryo has the status of water (i.e., none).

3) Tolerant people, please remember this when nutjobs try to ban circumcision and/or kosher slaughter. Thanks.

One thing that your translation is lacking, aside from the silly use of Medieval English, is that it is understood that the city mentioned in D'varim has never occurred, nor will it ever. Why is it in Torah? Good question, out of scope for here.

If you don't want to take the time to learn Hebrew and Aramaic, the best translation of Torah into English is R'Aryeh Kaplan's "The Living Torah".

It may be beautiful medieval English, but it is absolutely awful. It is misleading, often purposely so. Throw it away and/or pulp it.

"So, uh... unless Christianity says that the Old Testament is irrelevant and only the New, Kumbaya Testament should be followed, then this seems like an instruction to Christians to kill the heathens. Kind of like a jihad?"

First of all, I'm an Orthodox Jew, so I don't know what Christians believe. Second, there is a companion to the 5 Books of Moses (i.e., the Written Torah) called, in English, The Oral Torah, which explains and elucidates the Written Torah. You cannot understand one without the other.

Your questions are very valid, but can't be answered with just a lousy English translation of the Hebrew.

Global warming will do us in before oil shortages do. And besides, with enough money, you can burn coal cleanly. We do have a lot of coal left.

Is it just being up in the air? I don't get it. Based on your articles, my father, who drove a NYC bus for 20 years, had a much better job. He certainly made more money, and didn't worry about layoffs and furloughs; he has an extremely nice pension; in 1990, when he retired, he was making over $60K/year. What is there to love?

Yes, heterosexual unions by definition involve both men and women, boys and girls, but one of the salient facts about human beings is the utter and complete asymmetry of the reproductive process. While the double standard may not be "fair", it is not completely irrational.

Even in Manhattan...I've heard that coyotes are starting to eat the Canada Geese, which are certainly overdue for a predator.

An interesting (to me, anyways) story about coyote. Me and my now ex-wife were living in upstate NY, in the summer, without air conditioning, so we left the windows open. At about 1:30AM, we both bolt upright in bed, eyes wide open, ready to run--coyotes were singing right outside our window! I imagine that they were chasing deer or something, but it's good to know that we have this instinct, and that it still works, should we ever need it!

Dumb!

but it really wasn't that funny. It was wonderful, fantastic, about time, all the superlatives, except for funny (at least to me). And it is too much to expect for people who were mercilessly mocked, devastingly mocked, to have anything good to say about the experience. Colbert basically told the people in the room that they were all worthless, that the world would have been a better place had they called in sick.

Also, how much anybody wanna bet that the Politburo sent out the word that any word of this and their vaunted "access" would shrivel away.

Or maybe not, maybe they didn't need to.

You'd think that there'd be some mention of us, considering that almost all the characters in the Greek Bible are Jewish. Just a thought.

Oh, and Cat, we have our own story of Yeshu ben Miriam, but he lived about 100 years before the Gospels' time frame. No reliable (to us, Flavius Josephus was a traitor) Jewish source mentions the guy the Gospels talk about when they talk about him.

"Convergence would also strike a blow to the Palestinian dream of having East Jerusalem, including crucial Muslim holy sites, as the capital of their state. While returning parts of East Jerusalem to Arab ownership, a fixed border would divide neighborhoods and families, and the Jewish state would retain control over the Old City. These are red lines for both Palestinians and Muslims worldwide." (my emphasis)

As well as for Jews. What Jew would allow the Palestinians to resume their destruction of Jewish Jerusalem that was interrupted in 1967 (and continues at the Temple Mount, under the Waqf)? There is no chance for peace in our lifetimes, nor our children's lifetimes, without a miraclous intervention. Give up hope. The Israelis have, which is why there is the unilateral strategy.

Most people don't realize that there is an Oral Tradition in Jewish thought that explains and elucidates the Hebrew Bible. Proverbs does not give permission, let alone approval, to child abuse.

This is what happens when you learn the Bible in English.

as Frum (i.e., Jewishly Observant), I too encountered what I call the "bigotry of the tolerant". It seems that it is hard for many people to eat their own cooking. Remember bubbeleh, no one walks in your shoes but you.