Ann Frank

Anti-Semitism: Anne’s father works at his family’s bank. Her mother takes care of everything at home. It is a carefree period for Margot and Anne. They have many friends in the neighborhood where they live. However, their parents are worried. Adolf Hitler and his party have made the Jews the scapegoat for all of Germany’s social and economic problems. The anti-Semitism in the country grows.

Dictator: At the beginning of 1933, the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP or Nazi party) comes to power in Germany. Adolf Hitler, the leader of this party, becomes Chancellor. He is responsible for the new government. Before very long, there is discrimination against Jews. Germany changes from a democracy into a dictatorship. Anne’s parents no longer feel safe. Otto Frank’s bank is also in financial trouble because of the worldwide economic crisis. Otto and Edith Frank decide to leave Germany.

The Frank Family Margot, Otto, Anne and Edith Frank on Merwedeplein in Amsterdam, 1941.

Discrimination: The Frank Family feels free and safe, until the German Army invades the Netherlands on May 10, 1940. The Occupation of the Netherlands begins on May 15, 1940. The discrimination against the Jews begins then as well: Jews may not own their own businesses, Jewish children have to go to Jewish schools, all Jews have to wear a yellow star, and countless other restrictions. There are even rumors that the Jews will be packed off to Germany…

Diary:On June 12, 1942, Anne Frank celebrates her 13th birthday. She receives a diary as a present. It is her favorite gift. She begins writing in it immediately: “I hope I will be able to confide everything to you…and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.”

To the Hiding Place:
The rumors that Jews must go to Germany are true. Just like thousands of other Jews living in Amsterdam, Margot Frank receives a call-up on July 5, 1942. The Nazis plan to send the people they have summoned to work camps in Germany. The entire family will be arrested if Margot does not report.

Her parents have expected such a call-up: the secret hiding place is almost ready. Not only for their own family, but also for the Van Pels family: Hermann and Auguste and their son Peter. Hermann van Pels is co-director of Otto Frank’s company. The next day, the Frank family immediately leaves for the hiding place. All of them carry bags filled with their things. Naturally, Anne brings her diary. Much later, she will look back and write: “My happy-go-lucky, carefree school days are gone forever.”

Source: Anne Frank.org

#1 Have a reason. “Prisons are filled with bad liars,” says psychologist Charles Ford, author of the book Lies! Lies! Lies!. “The good liars are out running HMOs.” So what’s the big difference? Basically, says Ford, the trick is to lie as little as possible – only when you actually have something to gain. “Pathological liars can’t stop themselves from lying, so they tell a lot of little lies and wind up getting caught,” he says. Truly expert fabricators, on the other hand, save their ammunition – they don’t bother to lie unless it’s going to get them something they really want.

#2 Lay your groundwork. Don’t wait until you’re under the interrogation lamp to start putting your story together. A 1990 study by psychologist Bill Flanagan showed that liars who had worked out the details of their stories beforehand had significantly more success than those who hadn’t. As in everything, practice makes perfect. “It’s easier to catch someone in lie the first time they tell it,” says psychologist Dr. Cynthia Cohen

#3 Tell the truth, misleadingly. The hardest lies to catch are those which aren’t actually lies. You’re telling the truth, but in a way that leaves a false impression. Technically, it’s only a prevarication – about half a sin. A 1990 study of pathological liars in New York City found that those who could avoid follow-up questions were significantly more successful at their deceptions.

#4 Know your target. Good liars have the same gift as good communicators: the ability to get inside the listener’s head. Empathy not only clues you in to what your subject wants to hear, it will help you avoid stepping onto trip wires that will trigger their suspicions. “To make a credible lie, you need to take into account the perspective of your target,” says Carolyn Saarni, co-editor of the book Lying and Deception in Everyday Life. “Know what they know. Be aware of their interests and activities so you can cover your tracks.”

#5 Keep your facts straight. “One of the problems of successful lying is that it’s hard work,” says psychologist Michael Lewis. “You have to be very consistent in doing it.” That means nailing down the details. Write down notes if you have to. “One of the things that trips people up is that they give different information to different people, who then start talking about it and comparing notes,” says Dr. Gini Graham Scott, author of The Truth About Lying.

#6 Stay focused. “When I’m trying to catch a liar, I watch to see how committed they are to what they’re telling me,” says Sgt. John Yarbrough, interrogation expert with the LA Sheriff Department’s homicide bureau. “If I accuse someone of lying, and they’re not very committed to the statement they just made, a red flag goes up.” One of the reasons most people make bad liars is that they find lying a deeply unpleasant activity. Fear and guilt are evident in their facial expressions. They want to get the process over as quickly as possible, so they show relief when their interrogator changes the topic. That’s a dead giveaway. Really good liars, on the other hand, actually enjoy the process of deceiving other people. “The best liars don’t show any shame or remorse because they don’t feel it,” says Cohen. “They get a thrill out of actively misleading others. They’re good at it, and they enjoy the challenge.”

#7: Watch your signals. It’s folk wisdom that people fidget, touch their noses, stutter, and break eye contact when they lie – the proverbial “shifty-eyed” look. But research has shown that just isn’t so. In his 1999 study of high school students, Feldman found that nonverbal signals were crucial in determining who got away with telling lies. “The successful kinds were better at controlling their nonverbal signals, things like the the amount of eye contact and how much they gestured,” he says.

#8: Turn up the pressure. If your target has clearly become suspicious, it’s time to raise the emotional stakes. “The best liars are natural manipulators,” says Sgt. Yarbrough. He cites as a perfect example the scene in Basic Instinct where Sharon Stone is brought to the cop station for questioning and winds up flashing everyone a glimpse of her Lesser Antilles. “She was turning them on,” Yarbrough explains, “and that’s a form of manipulation – using sexual or emotional arousal to distract the interviewer.”

#9: Counterattack. The fact is, just as most of us are uncomfortable telling lies, most are uncomfortable accusing others. This discomfort can be used in the liar’s favor. “You’ll often see politicians respond to accusations with aggression,” says Stan Walters, author of The Truth About Lying: Everyday Techniques for Dealing with Deception. “What they’ll do is drive critics away from the issue, so they’re forced to gather up their resources to fight another scrimmage.”

#10: Bargain. Even when the jig is up, liars can often escape the worst by using a process psychologists call bargaining. “You want to soften, alleviate, or totally eliminate feelings of responsibility for the lie,” explains researcher Mary DePalma. “If you can decrease responsibility for blame and the anger that goes with it, you’re really looking at a much better outcome.”

Source: Psychology Today

Miss Feldman was part of a group of 237 girls and their teachers from Tomer Devorah High School in Borough Park taking a trip to Old Sturbridge Village, a recreation of an 18th century farming village, and decided on Wednesday to stop for a walk in the woods.

The two-hour stop quickly went awry, with many students becoming lost in the woods. Two girls made their way to a road, where a motorist drove them back to the park. Another group returned to the bus two hours after they were expected. Suri, who was carrying a lunch, was the only one who did not return.

School officials repeated that the students had been properly supervised by the 12 chaperones with them, adding that older girls had been paired with younger ones.

During the class trip Miss Feldman had inadvertently become separated from her classmates. The thin, slight teen-ager had wandered along forest roads more than three miles from the point in Bigelow Hollow State Park where she became separated from her classmates. She was still a mile and half from the nearest human outpost, the Sturbridge town dump and recycling center.

This drama became big news all over the United States , and people all over America were praying that Suri be found safe and well. The searchers, more than 1,000 according to the police, had picked up clues — an empty container of kosher vanilla pudding, a fresh tissue — that Suri was alive and in the woods rather than the victim of violence.

The search attracted more than 600 Hasidim from as far away as Montreal and Washington, bringing truckloads of kosher food that they shared with non-Jewish volunteers. “It says in the Bible that to save a life is to save the entire world,” said Isaac Fortgang of Boston, explaining why he traveled so far to help.

Searchers mapped out grids for different groups to explore, and this morning one group of police officers found a fresh footprint near a swamp on the border between Sturbridge and Southbridge. Southbridge Police Officer John Mulcahy then noticed a road not shown on any of his maps and headed down it with his colleagues. Within 500 yards, they spotted Miss Feldman at 10:34 A.M. at the side of a tree. He told reporters that he called for her but she did not answer because she was praying.

Miss Feldman, who is not quite five feet tall, was wearing the same clothes as when she became lost: a blue plaid shirt decorated with pink flowers, a long blue skirt and a windbreaker. Officer Mulcahy said that her first words to them were: “Are you taking me back to Brooklyn?” Scared Most of the Time

She told her rescuers that she walked the paths of the state park and the surrounding forest during the day and stayed in one place at night, pulling her windbreaker tight to keep warm. She did not remember sleeping and said she was scared most of the time.

“She looked wonderful,” said Ms. Bourassa. “She was standing and she had a little smile on her face.”

One police officer put a police cap on her head. Miss Feldman was brought out of the woods in a four-wheel drive vehicle and taken to Ms. Bourassa’s ambulance, and in that was driven to Harrington Hospital. There Dr. Rose Tharakian, a pediatrician, said, “The fact that she was well provided for with food and a jacket helped.”

While Displaying survival skills that impressed local people familiar with the outdoors, Suri Feldman had carefully rationed her sandwiches so that they sustained her for the two days and two nights she was lost. She found ledges to keep her dry during occasional drizzles. When search helicopters flew overhead, she tried to signal them with the flash on her camera.

Suri told the officers who found her that she had refrained from shouting for help because she was worried she might attract “bad people.” A Walk in the Woods

News that she was alive and well set off jubilation in her neighborhood in Brooklyn and by the mixture of black-suited and bearded Hasidim and local volunteers who had searched the woods for her. At a firehouse that was the command center for the search, the Hasidim began dancing in a circle, holding high an umbrella-shielded Torah that they had brought in case they had to stay in the area during the Sabbath.

“I cannot pay the community for what they’ve done,” her father said later. “But hopefully God will repay them.” “I can’t remember the first thing I said when I saw her,” Mr. Feldman told reporters later. “I was too excited. But when I heard I just said, ‘Thank God.’ I am a pessimist. I don’t believe in miracles but I do believe in God.”

“The study provides strong evidence that a daily consumption of 40 grams [1.4 ounces] during a period of two weeks is sufficient to modify the metabolism of healthy human volunteers,” wrote the researchers, from the Nestle Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland. The chocolate also appeared to help correct other imbalances in the body that are related to stress.

But won’t chocolate make people gain weight? That’s certainly possible, but the scientists pointed out that dark chocolate contains antioxidants, which are beneficial to health, and other substances that appear to reduce the risk of heart disease and other conditions.

But until now, the researchers wrote, not much has been known about how chocolate affects stress.

News Source: US News

1. Exfoliate lips at least once per week. Remove dry skin with a light brushing with your toothbrush before bed, or this serious lip treatment, then cover your lips with an emollient-rich lip balm. This will help your skin restore itself and heal overnight, and the lip balm will infuse your lips with essential nutrients that promote cell recovery.

2. Use a moisturizing lipstick. Skip the lip gloss for the cooler months in favor of a moisture-rich lipstick instead. You’ll need the bolder colors for the season, and the ingredients in the lipstick will keep your lips kissably soft and smooth.

3. Apply a clear gloss as a sealant. If you want your lips to stay silky smooth for several hours, add a thin coat of clear gloss on top of lipstick so that it acts as a sealant. Use a gloss that’s infused with B-vitamins and emollients for extra protection this season.

Some other important tips for maintaining a picture-perfect pucker this fall…avoid licking your lips whenever possible, because this only zaps away moisture and makes it difficult for your lips to hold onto the lip balm and other products you’re applying. You can carry your favorite lip treats with you so that you can add another layer as needed.

It’s also a good idea to drink plenty of water throughout the day to avoid dehydration. Coffee, tea and other caffeinated beverages can put you at risk for dehydration and chapped, flaky lips.

Finally, if you’re not planning on wearing any lip color, be prepared to layer up with a clear gloss – preferably with SPF – so that your lips can stay soft and smooth all season long!

Source: Zappos

Coke is actually kosher for Peasach. The reason why is that many jews refrain from eating corn and its derivatives during Passvoer and Coke is made with high fructose corn syrup. So at Passover they make special batches that are made with real sugar instead. It’s not that the high fructose corn syrup is not kosher, it’s that it is not specifically kosher “for Passover”

In mid-to-late March -to- April each year in the U.S., Beverage giant Coca Cola goes back to the future so to speak and produces a limited amount of “The Real Thing,” which is the company’s original Coke soft drink beverage made with pure cane sugar or sucrose (sugar refined from sugar beets) instead of high-fructose corn syrup, which is the sweetener it’s used in all of the carbonated sodas it produces and sells in the U.S. and most everywhere else in the world except Latin America (and particularly Mexico) since 1985.

Prior to April, 1985 when Coca Cola announced it would switch to using high-fructose corn syrup in its flagship Coke brand, along with its other brands of soft drinks, the beverage maker used sugar in all of its sodas sold throughout the world. Coke was the first soft drink-maker to switch to using high-fructose corn syrup, primarily because it’s cheaper than sugar, and the other U.S.-based soda pop makers followed the leader.
Those real sugar Coke days also were when the beverage giant created its popular “The Real Thing” marketing and advertising campaign. “Coke; it’s The Real Thing…Coke is.” That very popular tag-line, which became part of the American lexicon, went away once Coke no longer was sweetened with sugar but rather with corn syrup instead.

Many U.S. consumers crave “The Real Thing.” So much so in fact, that a huge market exists in the U.S. for Coca Cola produced in Mexico using sugar. The “Real Thing” is then shipped across the border into the U.S. for sale at stores which primarily cater to Hispanic consumers.

But the world’s number one carbonated beverage maker and marketer does make an exception to its high-fructose corn syrup-only as the sweetener of choice policy in the U.S. once each year. From mid-to-late March to April each year in the U.S., Coca Cola produces limited runs of its Coke soft drinks using sugar instead of the corn syrup during the three weeks or so leading up to the Jewish Passover holiday. (PepsiCo also produces a limited run of its Pepsi brand carbonated brand soft drink sweetened with sugar for Passover.)

Among the foods Observant Jews aren’t allowed to consume during the Passover holiday period include any food or drink made with chamez. High-Fructose corn syrup falls into this category since anything produced from refined corn it chamez as stated in the Torah. Observant Jews must follow all of the proscribed Passover dietary restrictions as laid out in the Torah. The punishment for eating chametz during Passover is karet (“spiritual excision.”)

Since Coke doesn’t want to lose sales from Observant Jews during Passover, it’s been producing the soft drinks made from either sugar cane or sucrose (sugar refined from sugar beets) for years since it stopped using sugar completely in Coke produced in the U.S. and most elsewhere in the world in 1985.

“Real Coke” for Passover is generally only available during the religious holiday in large metropolitan areas with high populations of Jewish consumers such as Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore-Washington D.C., Miami, Atlanta, San Francisco and Houston, Texas. Since Coca-Cola’s system is to have local bottlers produce all of its soft drinks, the local bottlers in those regions are responsible for making and selling the Passover sugar-sweetened Coke.

Selling the Passover Coke isn’t a problem however. The beverages fly off store shelves as soon as they’re stocked–and it’s not just Observant Jews who are buying the “Real” Coke to drink during the eight key days of Passover. Indeed, consumers of all stripes and religious backgrounds who prefer the taste of the sugar-sweetened Coke to today’s high-fructose corn syrup version, stock up on the limited-run soda pop as soon as they see it in stores.

The Passover Coke is certified by local Rabbinical councils as “Kosher for Passover,” which is the designation required in order to satisfy Jewish dietary laws during the religious holiday observance.

Watch this informative interview with a doctor specializing in hypothyroidism in women to learn more about symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment.

The advertising executive got in touch with a Jewish philanthropist and sold him on the idea. It cost almost two thousand dollars a week. But he did it.

And for the next five years, each Friday, Jews around the world would see ‘Jewish Women: Shabbat candle lighting time this Friday is …’.

Eventually the philanthropist had to cut back on a number of his projects. And in June 1999, the little Shabbat notice stopped appearing in the Friday Times. and from that week on it never appeared again.

Except once.

On January 1, 2000, the NY Times ran a Millennium edition. It was a special issue that featured three front pages. One had the news from January 1, 1900. The second was the actual news of the day, January 1, 2000. And then they had a third front page, projecting future events of January 1, 2100.

This fictional page included things like a welcome to the fifty-first state: Cuba, as well as a discussion as to whether robots should be allowed to vote. And so on.

And in addition to the fascinating articles, there was one more thing. Down on the bottom of the Year 2100 front page was the candle lighting time in New York for January 1, 2100. Nobody paid for it. It was just put in by the Times.

When the production manager of the New York Times – an Irish Catholic – was asked about it, his answer was right on the mark. And it speaks to the eternity of our people. And to the power of the Jewish tradition and its women.

The production manager explained: “We don’t know what will happen in the year 2100. It is impossible to predict the future. But of one thing you can be certain, that in the year 2100 Jewish women will be lighting Shabbos candles.

Source: Jewish Mom

Somnambulism, or sleepwalking, occurs during partial awakening from deep sleep. Sometimes sleepwalkers carry out complex actions; at other times they simply pace or sit on the edge of the bed performing repetitive behaviors. They can be difficult to awaken and typically have no memory of the episode in the morning. There have been reports of somnambulists committing murder, although this is extremely rare. Fortunately, episodes of sleepwalking are usually brief and benign, with few people endangering themselves or others. Scientists used to believe that sleepwalkers were acting out their dreams, but experts have determined that sleepwalking does not occur during dreaming.

Sleepwalking is common in children and probably occurs because their brains have not mastered regulation of sleep and waking. The tendency seems to be inherited. Although people are more likely to sleepwalk when they’re anxious or fatigued, there is little correlation between somnambulism and psychological problems. If the condition continues beyond puberty, the individual should be evaluated to determine whether sleepwalking is the result of nighttime epilepsy or a reaction to medication, extreme stress, or another sleep disorder. Cases where the disorder presents a risk of injury may be treated with medications such as benzodiazepines.

Somniloquy, or talking in one’s sleep, is nothing to worry about. People are more likely to talk in their sleep during times of stress or illness. Talking can occur during any or all stages of sleep. When awakened, people who talk in their sleep rarely remember what they said. Only occasionally can someone who talks in his or her sleep hear and respond to what someone else says.

Source: Everyday Health

Now; imagine how we would feel and respond if the GPS was programmed to progressively inject a harsher tone of voice and raise the volume each time we missed a turn in unfamiliar territory.

Would it help or hinder us if instead of “Recalculating,” we heard things like, “Would you PLEASE listen next time?” or “Don’t you know anything at all about driving?” What if there were four passengers in the car, all of whom were listening to the GPS criticizing your driving?

The affection that we all feel regarding our children is most certainly a positive component of our relationship with them. However, precisely because we love them so much, we are often too passionate to calmly help them grow and learn from the inevitable mistakes they make.

Our chazal (sages) teach us that there are profound lessons to be learned from all new developments in our world. Perhaps we ought to take a page from the makers of GPS and do our very best to gently, privately and constructively help our kids “Recalculate” the next time they take a wrong turn or two.

Source: Rabbi Horowitz

Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovitz, Rosh Yeshiva of the Jerusalem Kollel and a respected posek on contemporary halachic issues will be both the featured speaker and religious advisor to the conference. The event will be for women only, but all sessions will be recorded and made available to the public. Kishor whose motto is “Successfully Building Homes and Careers LeSheim Shamayim”, meets monthly in Jerusalem, providing its members with the opportunity to share their thoughts and provide support to other observant working women.

The first part of the conference will feature Rabbi Berkovitz, giving a halachic perspective on the ramifications of using social media in business. He will be followed by Rebbetzin Holly Pavlov, founder and director of She’arim College of Jewish Studies for women in Jerusalem, who will discuss the topic “What Place Does Social Media Have in a Torah Society?” Afternoon sessions will be hands on workshops geared to three separate groups: parents and educators, newcomers to social media and professional social media users. Sessions will discuss how to make the internet a safer place for professionals, children and students, as well as the most effective use of social media in today’s world.

Social Media Marketer Esther Ohayon of Kishor told VIN News that from a business perspective, “You can’t ignore the internet anymore. If you are not online today, you don’t exist. Given that some Rabbanim have forbidden using the internet altogether, people are afraid to use it and there are many experienced businesswomen out there who are unsure how to proceed. Rabbi Berkovitz will speak about how to use it. If you should use it. There is good and bad in everything. You just need to know the parameters.”

The conference is organized by the Kishor Women’s Professional Networking Group, whose mission statement is “Successfully Building Homes and Careers LeSheim Shamayim”. Kishor provides a monthly forum in Jerusalem for members to meet, brainstorm, and provide support to other religious working women who share the same challenges and interests. While Kishor has just begun taking reservations for this conference, it is already half sold out and Kishor has received requests to repeat the program in other locations around the world.

Should we take her out of school and let her immune system build up and put her back in school at age 5, or is there an underlying problem that her pediatrician is missing?

A. Andre, you are describing a phenomenon that I commonly see as a pediatrician. Children in day care and in preschool often get many infections each year. Infection is especially common at this young age because children often put things in their mouth and have not built up the immunity to fight off many common viral infections. It is actually normal for a young child to get an average of eight to 10 colds per year.

If your daughter is getting typical infections such as colds and stomach infections, then she is dealing with common infections that all children, even those with good immune systems, get when they are exposed to new viruses and bacteria. Some young children even get pneumonia, which is also normal if it happens only once. If, on the other hand, your daughter is getting recurrent pneumonias, recurrent skin infections, infections in her blood, or multiple infections that require hospitalization, then you should have her evaluated more carefully for a possible immune problem and consider delaying school until she is a little older.

In general, the best way to prevent infection is consistent and thorough hand-washing. Teach your children not to put their hands in their mouth, rub their eyes, or pick their nose. Mouths, eyes, and noses are all ways that bacteria and viruses can enter a person’s body.

If you have any specific questions about her general health, you can have her evaluated by her pediatrician. Her doctor may want to order a complete blood count to make sure everything is normal and consider testing to see if she has made antibodies to her vaccines, a sign that her immune system is likely functioning well. I would certainly recommend that you speak with her pediatrician before you decide to take her out of school because of all of her infections.

Learn more in the Kids’ Everyday Health Center.

According the the CNN expert in the video below it is not. Unless you are the very disciplined type who actually has the money and will pay off the balance immediately. Then the 10 percent may be worth if especially if you have a large purchase. Check out the video and share your thoughts…

Tens of thousands of graves on the mount have already been mapped and incorporated into a database, in the first-ever attempt to restore the graves and record the history of those who were buried there. The project includes the creation of a Web site (www.mountofolives.co.il) that aims to raise awareness of the City of David and to honor the memory of those buried in the cemetery, as well as to inform about the tours and activities available.

Additionally, the Web site tells stories of the people buried in the cemetery and, through a simple search window, one can locate the documented graves by name.

“We hope that this Web site will give people all over the world the opportunity to remove the dust of generations from the graves of their loved ones, and to both restore and reveal the stories buried underground,” Udi Ragones, the public relations director for the project, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

“There’s so much history there, so many stories, that this project is fascinating both from a personal perspective as well as an historical one,” he said.

While more than 20,000 gravestones have already been documented, organizers estimate that there are between 200,000 and 300,000 in the cemetery, which leaves an enormous amount of work left to be done.

Burial on Har Hazeisim dates back around 3,000 years, to the First and Second Bais Hamikdosh periods, and continues to this day. Under Jordanian rule, from 1948-1967, the cemetery was badly vandalized. Tombstones were destroyed, broken and uprooted and many were used to pave the floors of Jordanian army encampments.

During this time, a road was paved from the top of the mountain southward, and the road to Yericho was widened, all on top of graves.

After the Six Day War, the cemetery was slowly restored. Yet until now, there has been no major effort to map and record the graves and to decipher and restore the names on all the tombstones.

The number of grave-sites listed on the Web site continues to grow, as workers identify them and pinpoint their location on the map. The site allows users to visit the cemetery through the use of a zoomable aerial photo of the Har Hazeisim and a photo of each grave.

Every name listed includes the available information about that person and a photograph, with the option for the user to upload more data and photos about their loved ones and acquaintances who are buried on the mount.

The Web site also lets visitors create a tourist map and route of the graves that they wish to visit that can be printed complete with driving and parking instructions.

Source: Jpost