Up and running

Hi everyone. It's good to be back in Toronto. The leader's assembly in Georgia was an overwhelmingly positive experience and I learned a lot, but there's nothing like sleeping in your own bed!

The U of T Hillel site is coming together quite nicely. Be one of the first to see it at uthillel.blogspot.com.

There is a lot of programming that needs to be done, and I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into it this week.

Stay cool.

- Avi

A Letter from the Road

I spotted this farm from a parking lot today.

A letter to you:

I’m currently tucked into a little town that straddles the ‘borders’ of Pennsylvania and New York. It feels nice to be close to Mr. T, even though I can’t see him.

I spent a leisurely afternoon by the outdoor pool – writing a review for a manga book a publisher was kind enough to send me. Shopping for food at the Super Wal-Mart was a nice little experience too. There are so many more products with hechshers here than in Canada.

The air is so much sweeter here. Possums, bears, and elk are plentiful and I’m situated at the foot of a forested hill. There is a health warning, so I can’t swim in the lake, but it is still nice to look at.

I have an ever-growing backlog of photos/videos to share with you. The photos from St. Agathe are lush. My photos from my Meiji University Family Day are terrific. I spent an incredible eleven and a half hours with two Japanese economics students that are currently studying English at York over the summer. We went all over downtown Toronto, from U of T to the harbour of Lake Ontario. I got to see the city through new eyes, and they got to witness it through mine.

I hope you enjoy the remainder of your summer.

- Avi


Which one is the cardboard cut-out?

This Year's Shirt

Alright gang, here it is - a world premiere. This year's U of T Hillel t-shirt. I designed it using good ol' Photoshop, just like last year. While this is the design that the board approved, there were many other possible shirts that were rejected. I've included some of the cooler ones below. Please note that the colours were not final - it was just the designs that I was showing off.

Oh, and this year's shirt will be double sided. The back will look like this:

Now on with the rejected shirt parade!

This little ditty was my top fave, but I've since decided that I really like the dove. The word 'cooper' is the name of the font I used.

The gothic 'h' in the spiky circle is just so bad-ass! Perfect for the skate park.

This isn't your bubbie's Hillel!

You are getting sleepy... Very sleepy.

There were a bunch of other designs, but Blogger is getting a little screwy so I'm going to cut this post short. The other shirts are now doomed to obscurity. They will now disappear into the AviVault, never to be seen again.

Oh, and if you ever want to hire me to design a shirt for you, contact me at the address towards the bottom of this page.

Shul Bulletin, Vol. 6

• It looks very likely that on Sunday I'll be taking two Japanese students from York around town, giving them a tour of the city. We are encouraged to make conversation in English.
• There is a great video about media fraud at Aish. It has a bunch of great examples, and the Mickey/Minnie Mouse trick is especially devious.
• Mr. T saw 'The Devil Wears Prada' recently, and he highly recommends it. He was recently spotted in Long Island. Ben-Zi's whereabouts remain a mystery.
• My journey to Georgia will not be overly affected by the new airport security policies. I just can't bring liquids on board.
• When celebrating Noam's birthday, Coby jammed some cake in Noam's face. Noam chased Coby down the street, and Coby hasn't been seen since.
• I know someone who knows someone that has Natalie Portman's cell number! Yay.
• Kevin Smith's next movie will be a horror film. Not a comedy-horror, just straight-up scares, gore, and nudity.
• The U of T Hillel board has decided on this year's frosh t-shirt design. It will have a dove on the front with the word Hillel in English, and on the back it will say 'Toronto' in Hebrew. They will be about $10 each and one of them is being set aside for a certain G.I. Joey
• Snoopy's band, (currently titled) Green Citron, has been recording in New York for the last couple of days. Their demo is much anticipated, and I'm hoping we can offer up some samples at Shul of Rock in the near future.
• Little Miss Sunshine is a fantastic movie, and you should go see it right away. It got a lot of praise at Sundance, Soph and I loved it, the audience applauded, and even AICN offers its praise. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a rating of 91% !
• Update: The video I referred to in a previous post regarding Cynthia McKinney's anti-Semitic supporters can be found here.

BBC's anti-Israel Bias

Watch this BBC report and try to tell me that the BBC is not biased against Israel. Journalists are given guided tours by Hezbollah, being shown only what they are allowed to see. No-one ever asks why Hezbollah is operating in areas full of civilians. No-one questions their despicable use of human shields. For shame:

Cynthia McKinney, anti-Semite?

(Updated at bottom)

I was just watching the news on TV, and it was reported that former American Senator Cynthia McKinney (GA) lost her primary election to her opponent. She was surrounded by the new Black Panthers, a militant group. They called the white media 'crackers' and one of them shouted "You got your Uncle Tom now!". But that's not the bad part. The lead thug said "Is this Israel? Do I look Lebanese to you? Back off", followed by some insults against 'the Zionists'. The lead Panther singled out the (Jewish) producer from Fox News, and told him to go put on his yarmulke (Jewish skull cap).

I'm glad she lost.

I just looked up info on her, and I found this excerpt from an article written two years ago:

McKinney, who did not return repeated calls for an interview for this article, earned her reputation as a provocateur over several years in the House. Some of her post-Sept. 11 remarks not only cast suspicion on the president, but also earned scorn from Jewish groups, many of whom contributed to the campaign of primary opponent and current U.S. House Rep. Denise Majette.

McKinney alienated Jews by making what they allege were anti-Semitic remarks, taking donations from Arab organizations and showing support for Palestinians during a time of heightened homicide bombings by Palestinian terrorists in Israel. Perhaps the most high-profile incident, shortly after hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center, was McKinney's verbal slap at former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (search), who returned a $10 million donation for the city to a Saudi prince who had suggested that America's Mideast policy was to blame for the tragedy.

If you search "cynthia mckinney anti-semitic" on Google, you'll find a lot of coverage.

I mean, Mel Gibson I can understand. But an elected government official? Oh wait... I forgot about Hitler, Ahamadinejad... etc.

Stop hatin' people. We've stuck around for 3000 years. Give up and make nice.

Update! Here's the scene I described above.

Dr. Love's Music Video

It was only a few years ago that Dr. Love was a student in a northern Ontario college. In between his studies, the good doctor took the time to entertain the ladies. Enjoy this video that was made by Doc Love. Please excuse the lack of production values - it was shot on a webcam.

Kindly direct all compliments and criticisms to Doctor Love, c/o Mr. T.

War Crimes

Courtesy of CNN

The Lebanese FM was crying at a press conference the other day because, as he reported, 40 people had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. He later reluctantly informed the media that it was in fact only 1 person that had died. Rest assured that the majority of the Arab media continue to tout the original number.

In other news, Reuters, the world news agency, has just admitted that one of its photographers had doctored images in order to portray Israel in a bad light. Adnan Hajj sent in a picture of an airstrike in Beirut, and he sloppily used the 'clone' tool in Adobe Photoshop in order to make the smoke look more excessive. He is also responsible for a photo of an Israeli jet firing flares. The jet fired one, but our buddy Hajj tweaked the image, making it appear to be three flares.

Remember to stick to reputable news sources only.

Movie Watch: Beerfest

I just watched the trailer for 'Beerfest'. It's a comedy from the creators of 'Super Troopers'. Apparently there is an underground beer drinking competition in Germany that goes back many years, and some American guys have to defend their drinking abilities against some snarky German guys, while also beating out the rest of the competition.

What caught my eye was that one of the main characters is wearing a kippah (yarmulke) at all times, and Will Forte has a cameo. The movie looks like some semi-mindless fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing it when it gets released.

Grad school?

Thinking about continuing after your undergraduate studies? Here's a list of interesting books that are available on Amazon.ca that may be of service to you:

Graduate school: Winning strategies for getting in with or without excellent grades (Paperback) by David Gerald Mumby
CDN$ 16.93 Click here for more info.

The GED For Dummies (Paperback) by Murray Shukyn
CDN$ 16.71 Click here for more info.

Getting What You Came for: The Smart Student's Guide to Earning an M.A. or a PH.D. (Paperback) by Robert L. Peters
CDN$ 14.40 Click here for more info.

Remember, you get free shipping if you spend $39 or more. I'd recommend taking a look at your local good used book store first, though.

GEDs? I'm scared.

Tisha B'Av

Are you looking for some meaningful online content while you make your way through the fast? The official Artscroll website has some great PDF files for viewing.

• First, there is the special 'Kinnos for our Time' which has been excerpted from the complete Artscroll Tisha B'Av service. Click here to view.
• Torah study is prohibited on this day, but there are certain items that are permitted. The Talmudic section Gittin 55b-56a is one of them. Here is a great excerpt from the Schottenstein Edition of Talmud Bavli.
• Finally, if you want to recite some psalms to support the state of Israel, click here for the download page.
• Basics about this day can be found here.

Send this page to anyone you know that would benefit from it.

Exclusive: Images from Toronto's Mega Israel Solidarity Rally

The host was movie producer Robert Lantos, and the keynote speaker was former UN General McKenzie. Over 5000 people filled multiple halls and spilled out onto the streets.

And the Shul of Rock news team was there.

Our crack team of photographers included Snoopy and myself, and we have shots from the outdoor crowd at Mel Lastman Square (Snoopy's shots), as well as images from the main hall and the overflow room (my shots).

It was an incredible feeling to be standing with thousands of fellow Israel supporters as we all reaffirmed our belief that the only true democracy in the Middle East has the right to defend itself from terrorists.

Rather than throw all 35 pictures up on this site, I have included a link to my Flickr page, where you can watch a slideshow. Just keep in mind that the slideshow includes not just the rally shots, but all my Flickr images. Also, for those reading this in the future, if you access my Flickr photo stream, just jump to images that were uploaded on Aug 2nd.

Some select shots:


The general speaks from the podium.


Standing proud.


Snoopy's incredible post-card shot.


Snoopy captures the crowd.

See everything here.

Back in the Saddle

Hi gang. I'm back in Toronto after a delightful time in St. Agathe, Quebec with Sophia and her family, extended family, dog, and crazy neighbour.

The picture you should be seeing here is untouched. It is just some of the beauty I witnessed through my lense while shooting around Lake Manitou. Gorgeous stuff, it is.

I 'owe' you pics from the Israel rally, as well as images from 'la belle province'.

In other news, a crate showed up at my door today with half-a-dozen manga books for me to review. As I signed for them, I thought a kindly 'eat your heart out, Mocchin!', but upon realizing that since he is the world traveller, it should really be I that does the heart eating.

Oh, alright. Here is another shot from St. Agathe. You'll have to click it to enlarge:



Mel Gibson is a rabid anti-Semite? I had no idea!