Dear Friends and Family,

Much has happened in the world this week such as the revenge killing of innocent Jewish children in France, the earthquake in Mexico and the continued republican primary. But this Israeli storycaught my eye as it exemplifies Israel’s normalcy even in the shadow of Southern City Rocket Fire and Looming Iranian Menace. With Israel’s concern for women’s heath, she has become the FIRST country in the world to ban ultra-skinny models from Ads and Runways. This means, prior to a photo shoot or fashion show, all employed models must present a current medical health report indicating a body mass index of 18.5 or above (meaning not malnourished). 2% of girls in Israel suffer from extreme eating disorders (which is comparable to other developed counties) and hopefully this new ban will demonstrate healthy looking models as apposed to… should I say… holocaust days. By the way, this means Kate Moss (BMI 17.3) and Naomi Campbell (BMI 15.8) could NOT work legally as models in Israel. In addition, any digital manipulation of photos to make the models look thinner must be clearly disclosed. Let’s hope this is a trend.

The (now deceased) terrorist/jihadist from al Qaeda is responsible for killing Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, Arieh Sandler (age 5), Gabriel Sandler (age 3), Myriam Monsenego (age 8) and 3 French soldiers. The murderer stated he was taking revenge for Palestinian children and the French army’s Afghanistan presence.  Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad condemned the actions calling it a “cowardly terrorist attack” and also stated “It is time for those criminals to stop exploiting the name of Palestine through their terrorist actions”. The rabbi and the children were all buried in Israel this week.

Mitt won hands down in Puerto Rico but do you think it had anything to do with Rick’s offensive remark to the citizens with an attack on their heritage and his fabrication of a language law. Mitt also won Illinois this week bringing him to 563 delegates. He is 9 short of the halfway mark of 1,144 needed to win the nomination, but he might want to put away his Etch-a-Sketch.

Appreciation rises proportionally to the diminishment of the appreciated source. In other words, it feels great to regain your health after nursing an illness over the weekend.

Someone needs to knock some respect into Aharon Friedman (senior adviser to Congressman Dave Camp) for forbidding to give his wife, Tamar Epstein, a GET (Jewish Divorce) so she can move on with her life. He doesn’t seem to care that every rabbinic organization finds him in contempt of human dignity and righteousness.  I am only including the fact that he works for Dave Camp as to why this case is so public. In fact, there are far TOO many similar and unknown abuses of this type that need resolution. These abusers should be shunned by their community so they too feel the pain they have caused by their stubbornness.

Have your heard about the May 30th Global March on Jerusalem (GMJ, more like Global Menace for Jews)? This is a flat out Anti-Semitic, Anti-Israel movement with ties to Iran and those who want to totally eliminate our homeland. Please read this eye-opening article by David Harris that explicitly details their full intent. http://blogs.jpost.com/content/”global-march-jerusalem”-if-it’s-not-about-israel-it’s-not-about-us

March 22nd was World Water Day. Did you know the process to create one glass of wine take 32 gallons of water? One avocado is 154 gallons of water and one pair of jeans is 2,900 gallons of water. Yikes. Good think Israel is perfecting Water Desalination Technology (Thanks JNF and Technion).

Now for something fun. Please enjoy this humorous explanation by Jon Stewart about the true story of Jew Pond. http://www.aish.com/j/mm/Jew_Pond.html

Wishing you and your loved ones a Sweet and Peaceful Shabbat Shalom,

Lisa