And You Thought Your Parent's Were Cheap...

Image by www.ericcastro.biz via Flickr

My mother and father were always showing me new ways of saving money. "Thou shalt not buy retail" was a standard 11th commandment in my household. My father would often employ a number of crafty tricks to save money, most of which he probably learned from his parents. A fond memory of grandmother's home is drinking from her "special" glasses. Ever drank orange juice out of an old Yahrtzeit candle? I have. But the other side of the family was truly king at squeezing out the "last drop" from consumer products. My mother's mother would often have a drawer in the bathroom full of old unusable soap bars which she would one day melt down and make into a special "super soap". My grandfather on that side owned a garage and whenever he would replace a set of tires they would be retrofitted onto my mother's vehicle, "they will still last a few more miles, anyone who throws these GOOD tires away is talking bull ****!"

So, I get my cheap-Jewness honestly, and you can imagine my excitement at the below video:

Tweet Your Prayers

Image via CrunchBase

A while back I started Twittorah and began Tweeting words of Torah for all my followers to enjoy. I mused, here on frumhacks, about the potential of Twitter for Judaism. Well I would like to announce the newest cool Twitter/Judaism Mash-Up...Tweet Your Prayers. Tweet Your Prayers is a way to send a Kvitel to the Kotel via Twitter.

Image via Wikipedia

Check out what Mashable had to say about it:

There are a zillion things you can do on Twitter – which makes the service so powerful – but every now and then a new idea sprouts up, managing to surprise us. The last one on the list? Twitterprayers.

The Western Wall in Jerusalem (also known as the Kotel) is a place where believers place notes with their prayers. But what if you’re far from Jerusalem? This problem is solved by an Israeli student called Alon Nir, which opened a Twitter account, twitter.com/thekotel, where you can send prayers which will then be posted to the Western Wall.

A really cool idea! Keep up the great work!

5 Tips for an Easy Fast and a Meanigful Tisha Be'Av

1. The Last Meal
• Avoid Overeating
• Contrary to popular opinion, you cannot "make up" for the food that you don't eat over a fast, all you do by overeating is expand your stomach and leave a larger, emptier cavern.
• Avoid Difficult to Digest Foods
• Again, to go against common wisdom, you don't want food that is going to stick in your stomach and make your body work to digest it, you want foods that give you the most "Return on Investment", or give you the most energy while expending the least energy. (see next)
• Eat Protein and Complex Carbs, as well as Some Oil or Fat
• Proteins and Complex Carbs, like fish, pasta and potatoes are the kinds of things that stay in your body and give you energy throughout the course of a day, as opposed to simple carbs which get burned up instantly or converted to fat. A little oil or fat in the meal will allow the feeling of fullness to last longer.
• Hydrate!
• This is perhaps the most important tip of them all, make sure you drink plenty of water in the day leading up to the fast, your body needs water more than food and most of us are under-hydrated anyway.
2. Decaffeinate
• Caffeine Dehydrates You
• Avoid alcohol, tea, caffeinated coffee, chocolate and salty foods, these foods and drinks cause your body to LOSE water.
• Caffeine With drawl is One of the Worst Parts of the Fast
• Caffeine with drawl is a bad one, try to slowly ween yourself off caffeine a few days in advance to avoid headaches, and nausea associated with with drawl. If you forgot to do this in advance, I have a friend who prefers to drink a lot of caffeine right before the fast begins to keep it in her system until after the fast, this, however, is a bad idea because of the above reasons.
3. Let There Be Light!
• Wear Light and Loose Clothing to Avoid Perspiring
• White and light colors keep you cooler than dark colors will, loose clothing (especially cotton) allows for better air circulation and reduces sweating.
• Stay Out of Direct Sunlight
• Duh, stay cool to hold onto your precious water and energy.
• Have a Light Pre-Fast Meal
• See Above
• Go Light on Activity
• Do not treat the day like any other, you are not taking in food, try not to expend energy that you don't have.
4. The Day Of...
• Keep Busy
• Go to shul, it is the point of the day and it also eases your fast by keeping your mind distracted
• Nap
• In the afternoon, it definitely helps to take a nap, your body can recharge and you can get your mind off food for a while
• Sniff
• No, not the Bnei Akiva afternoon group, smelling spices has shown in medical studies to reduce hunger pains, and it is also a good way to make sure that you say 100 brachot a day
5. Think About The Day
• Don't Just Try and "Get Through It"
• Tisha Be'Av is supposed to be a day for us to mourn, the goal is to really feel the mourning...not just fast. (see next)
• Make It Personal
• The destruction of our Holy Temple was not an event that occurred thousands of years ago, it is and event that occurs every time a tragedy occurs to the Jewish People or to the World. Click here for an amazing article on this.
• Embrace the Halachot of Mourning
• The Halachot of Mourning are deep and wise methods of allowing emotions to seep into our hearts, ignoring our personal comforts and reactions allows us to focus on the tragedy. Try to avoid greeting people, washing or changing clothes, make an effort to sit on the floor and not wear shoes. These amongst the other halachot allow us to internalize the context of mourning.

Holy Shidduch Brings FML to the Shidduch Scene

Many of us may have heard of FML, or MLIA and other such spin offs. Well now all you shidduch dating boys and girls can join in on the fun! Holy Shidduch is a place where people can share their ridiculous shidduch stories in a short, almost poetic manner. Check it out and add your own stories!

I once picked up a girl for a first date and went to the airport since it's a nice public place. After talking for about twenty minutes she got up and said needed to go. I stood up and started walking towards my car, she turned and started walking to the gate. When I glanced at her questioningly she said, "My friend told me you brought her here on a date last week. I just needed a lift, so I told the Shadchan yes." HS!

Amazing!

[Update: FULL DISCLOSURE, didn't realize that the site was created by, old friend and colleague, Dr. Eliezer Jones...way to go EJ!]

Hilarious! #myrebbessoshtark hashtag on Twitter!

It's always nice to have something funny to read motzai shabbos. This week, I was greeted by some of the funniest Jewish humor I have read in a while...check out the hashtag, #myrebbessoshtark on twitter and be prepared to LOL. For your reading pleasure, find my favorites below...Enjoy!

bukin86: #myrebbessoshtark he checked the kidneys he sold on the black market for mumim first

kenlane613: #myrebbessoshtark the wool that his tallis is made from was spun from Chuck Norris' beard.

msolsyd: #myrebbessoshtark He thinks Hashem is an apikoiros

tjctv: #myrebbessoshtark scientists try to ban him.

sperel_: #myrebbessoshtark he learns Gemara Yomi, not just Daf Yomi

rw970: #myrebbessoshtark that he would never have eaten the fruit from the eitz hada'as without checking for bugs first

rw970: #myrebbessoshtark that when Rabbi Akiva sat in on his shiur, he cried because he could not understand it

noahroth: #myrebbessoshtark He cleans out the cookies on his computer before Pesach.

yonitdm: #myrebbessoshtark the Torah kisses him as it goes by

GilStudent: #myrebbessoshtark My rebbe's so shtark he's both a gavra and a cheftza

noahroth: #myrebbessoshtark That he puts his e-siddur in a subfolder within a subfolder in case he takes it into the bathroom

bukin86: #myrebbessoshtark My rebbe is so shtark Hashem needs to work on his yiras my rebbe

mikeage: #myrebbessoshtark that the internet bans him

bukin86: #myrebbessoshtark his rebbe card has a piece of worn talis in it

tjctv: #myrebbessoshtark that agnostics aren't sure if he exists

makeforyourself: #myrebbessoshtark he would not allow me to be his chassid

MarkSoFla: #myrebbessoshtark she doesn't use the microphone on shabbos.

noahroth: #myrebbessoshtark he put your rebbe in Herem.

Travelling To Israel With Your Laptop?

Image via Wikipedia

Ah, the summer...Vacation time! And for many of us, that means a nice trip to the Holy Land. But in a thoroughly modern world, however, there are many tech gadgets that will end up traveling along with us. The most complicated is, of course, the laptop. How often have I fielded questions from my parents and their friends regarding voltage and taxes and who know what else...So of course, I welcome PC World's guide to international laptop travel.

Check it out.

Online Etiquette, "Zeh Keili v’anveihu"

I often wonder about the details of etiquette as they relate to email, Twitter, Facebook, etc. and I just read a very interesting article on Cross-Currents that I think really elucidates some of these issues:

A famous letter of R Yerucham Levovitz zt”l castigates a talmid for sending him a letter that seemed to have been written hastily and carelessly. R. Yerucham argues that the halachic requirement of “Zeh Keili v’anveihu”/ embellishing and adorning mitzvos applies to interpersonal mitzvos as well. In writing a letter, he says, this requirement calls on the writer to find good paper, to write neatly, and to choose words carefully, all of which will enhance the experience of the recipient.

I think we can all learn something from this article, take something to our personal lives and how we relate to those around us...

Here is the link.