When two cars crash into each other, accident investigators sometimes have trouble finding sufficient evidence of just what happened. Similarly, although scientists suspect that black holes occasionally crash into each other as they make their way through the universe, they have yet to find direct evidence of such a crash. But if a new paper by Drs. Jeremy Schnittman and Julian Krolik of Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University is right, the evidence from tens or even hundreds of thousands of these collisions should be available to anyone with a radio-telescope and a little bit of luck. "The Infrared Afterglow of Supermassive Black Hole Mergers" predicts a specific signature radiation pattern that any black hole collision should yield. If anyone in the observation community finds one of these signatures, which the Mosi Blog calls "Schnittman Objects" in honor of their primary describer, then cosmic accident investigators will finally be able to show that accidents do, in fact happen on this grand scale.

This is an official Mosi Blog scoop.

If you have a portable MP3 player of some sort and ever spend time with your hands and eyes busy but your ears and brain idle, such as in the car, on the treadmill, or at the kitchen sink, then I strongly recommend that you try out  one or both of Yeshivat Har Etzion's (YHE's) daily Torah podcasts. Through the Virtual Beit Midrash program, YHE produces an English podcast called Ki Mitzion Teitze Torah (KMTT) and a Hebrew podcast called Kol Shidurei Torah (KeSheT).

The content on the two podcasts is mostly different, but the format is the same: one shiur each weekday, approximately 30 minutes long. Each weekday is assigned to a different ongoing series, taught by a different rabbi or teacher. New series start with each new z'man, or semester, at the Yeshiva. The 12-week Winter semester started this week, introducing the following lineups:

Weekday	KMTT Teacher	KMTT Topic	KeSheT Teacher	KeSheT Topic
Sunday			R' Binyamin Tabory	The Jewish Family in Halakha
Monday	R' Moshe Taragin	Tefila	Staff	Parashat HaShavua
Tuesday	Staff	Parashat HaShavua	R' Yaaqov Medan	Megillat Esther
Wednesday	R' Binyamin Tabory	The Jewish Family in Halakha	R' Yitzchak Barth	Halakha and Modern Life
Thursday	R' Shlomo Dov Rosen	Sefer Mishlei	R' Itamar Eldar	The Stories of R' Nachman
Friday	Staff	Erev Shabbat Program

I have only heard some of these classes so far, but the lineup in general looks intriguing, as usual. Not listed in this lineup but frequently present as "Staff" and in other semesters is R' Ezra Bick, the coordinator. Whenever he talks , I feel like we're having a conversation. In general, the teachers all speak very well, and the production values are impressive. This isn't a static-filled shiur taped in a crowded classroom; the recordings are made specifically for the podcast, and that makes them much easier to listen to.

I just listened to the first class in Halakha and Modern Life. It's given by a rabbi who is also affiliated with Machon Zomet, the organization that develops solutions to technological/Halachic problems of modern life, particularly in the Jewish State. Even though the teacher is Israeli-born, I found the Hebrew to be not too hard to follow, and I even learned some new technological words from context.

Also good for learning Hebrew is The Jewish Family in Halakha. R' Tabory is American-born, so his Hebrew inflection is a little easier on American ears. Also, you can listen to the same shiur in Hebrew and in English each week, using one to reinforce the other.

If you are into rigorous close reading of the Torah, with assistance from the commentaries, you will enjoy the Parashat HaShavua classes. I think it's a good sign when it seems that every other sentence in a Parasha shiur is a quotation of the actual words in the Parasha.

So, there's my plug for KMTT and KeSheT. If you can, go listen. It's a great way to spend a commute. There are instructions for podcast novices on both sites. Also, if you just want to listen to individual shiurim on your computer, you can go to the associated blog pages and download them manually.

I got pretty angry after reading Robert Novak's column in today's Washington Post, as you can see from the letter I wrote to "my" representative, copied below. To see how your representative voted in last weekend's pork preservation drive, click here. The link is to the voting record for pork opponents' last valiant attempt to strip a little piece of misappropriation from the big Defense bill, so Ayes are votes against pork, while Nays are votes for it.

Dear Representative,

After reading Robert Novak's column in today's Washington Post, entitled "House of Corruption?," I am disgusted by the determination of mainstream Democrats and Republicans to sustain the corrupt culture of self-serving pork appropriations. In addition, I am ashamed to have as my representative a man who went along with this flow of taxpayer dollars into the pockets of Congressional sweethearts. As a taxpayer and as a believer in open, just government, I can not support any would-be representative whose actions indicate that he represents Congress instead of representing me and the rest of the American people. Please clean up your act by 2008, or I will do my best to see you replaced.

Thank you,

Me 

I just sent this letter to Smithsonian Magazine. I couldn't resist, given that this week is Parashat Chukat .

I was surprised to read in "Prophet on the Mount," Andrew Lawler's June 2007 sidebar about Jebel Haroun, that "the Old Testament relates that, at God's command, Aaron was left naked to die of exposure at the top of a mountain for a lack of deference to the Lord." Neither an objective reading of the verses that this statement presumably refers to, Numbers 20:22-29, nor the traditional Jewish understanding of this story, indicate that Aaron was degraded in this manner. While God commanded this death just short of the Israelites' long-awaited entry to the Holy Land explicitly as a punishment (Verse 24), He also designed a dignified and even bittersweet departure for the High Priest.

Verse 28 contains important clues about the nature of this episode.

"And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his [Aaron's - IM] son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount; and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount."
(JPS 1917 Translation)

First, this verse and the verses surrounding it say nothing about Aaron dying of exposure. Second, it seems unlikely that Aaron's escorts would wait to descend the mountain while Aaron died of exposure. Finally, it is quite clear from this verse and from the summary of the event in Deuteronomy 10:6 that the reason that God had Moses strip Aaron's garments was so that he could immediately pass them on to Eleazar. This was a literal and symbolic passing of Aaron's mantle to his son, Eleazar, who inherited his role as the High Priest.

According to Jewish tradition, Aaron's death was the most dignified and gentle one possible. The father of Bible commentary, Rashi, relates the following poignant account in his commentary to God's command in Numbers 20:26:

" ... of his garments ..." [That is,] the uniform of the High Priesthood. Clothe him [with them] and then strip him of them in order to place them on his son in his presence.
[Moses] told him "Enter the cave," and he entered; he saw a made bed and a lit candle.
He told him "Go up on the bed," and he went up.
"Relax your arms," and he relaxed [them].
"Close your mouth," and he closed [it].
"Close your eyes," and he closed [them].
Immediately, Moses craved that sort of death.
(Translation mine) 

Thank you for your recent letter regarding our article "Prophet on the Mount" by Andrew Lawler, which appeared in the June 2007 issue of SMITHSONIAN magazine.

We greatly appreciate your taking the time to send us your comments and are forwarding them to Mr. Lawler and his editors.

 

Sincerely,

Carolyn McGhee
Reader Services
SMITHSONIAN

How Aaron Died

In the article "Reconstructing Petra," the sidebar about Mount Aaron says "the Old Testament relates that...Aaron was left naked to die of exposure at the top of a mountain." This misrepresents what is described in Numbers 20:23-29. Verse 28 says, "After Moses had stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar, Aaron died there on the mountain top. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain" [New American Standard, Updated]. The garments in question were the ceremonial robes of the high priest under which additional clothing was worn (Exodus 28:42). Moses placed the garments on Aaron's son Eleazar to show the transfer of the office. The text is clear that Aaron did not die alone, but rather in the presence of his son Eleazar and his brother Moses.

John R. Davis, D. Min., Rapid City, South Dakota

 

For a few years now (see last year ), HonestReporting's been running this free raffle. The cost of entry is signing up to their mailing list (reports of anti-Israel media bias) and staying on at least until the drawing date (June 1 -- tomorrow!). The grand prize is two tickets to Israel plus a week of hotel stays. The second and third prizes are $2000 worth of Judaica and a video IPod.

As an incentive to get people like me to do things like this, they give you an extra raffle ticket for each person you refer. So, I figure, why not? I might as well ask. If you already get their emails, or if your spam filter catches them (as, it seems, some do), it really won't cost you anything. All they demand is your name, email address, and city. If you're interested, please go ahead and click here . (I automatically get credit if you enter the raffle by clicking this link; you don't have to put in my name anywhere.)

Here's another fun search term that someone recently used to find Mosi.