Excited to have just received my copy of The Belly Art Project by Sara Blakely. Make sure to get your copy today!
” Mothers are one of our planet’s greatest resources and we need to do everything we can to support them! Created by Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx and the Sara Blakely Foundation, this is the book that will inspire everyone to paint a belly and help a mom!”
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
-Lao Tzu
This weekend I watched an HBO special about Fran Lebowitz, Public Speaking, and enjoyed it SO much I want to recommend it. She is quite a funny and provocative author and thinker.
Shimon Peres was the last of his kind
By Ari Shavit
Unlike other Jews who succeeded him in power, Peres always knew that to be a Jew also meant to be universal and moral; to be on the correct, enlightened side of history.
True, he founded Israel Aircraft Industries (1953), made the decision about the Entebbe Operation (1976), saved Israel from hyperinflation (1985) and got the army out of most of Lebanon (1985). He tried the London agreement (1987) led the Oslo process (1993), and succeeded in turning himself from a controversial politician into a beloved president (2007).
But the real contribution Shimon Peres made to the Jewish state was the amazing work he did in Paris in the mid-1950s that led to the construction of the nuclear reactor in Dimona.
Against powerful counterforces, David Ben-Gurion’s sorcerer’s apprentice succeeded in spreading the strategic security net that assured Israel’s existence. Against all odds, the 34-year-old kibbutznik erected above us that invisible glass dome that allows us to lead almost sane lives in this crazy place.
But Peres was never really a kibbutznik. He was a child of the Jewish Diaspora who arrived from Europe before the disaster to the Ben Shemen Youth Village and tried all his life to become an Israeli. He was the beloved grandson of the grandfather killed in the Holocaust, and all his life he tried to flee the past into the future.
John Oliver is hilarious, but the issue he explores is very serious. Not only are hundreds of millions of dollars being wasted because of the perverse incentives to sensationalize scientific findings, but also these “findings” end up harming humans’ health and progress in untold ways. Perhaps we need to start funding a Fact Checking Award or some form of incentive to discourage abuse and to encourage investment in true science.
Mount Herzl
Jerusalem, Israel
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Zvia, Yoni, Chemi and generations of the Peres family; President Rivlin; Prime Minister Netanyahu; members of the Israeli government and the Knesset; heads of state and the government and guests from around the world, including President Abbas, whose presence here is a gesture and a reminder of the unfinished business of peace; to the people of Israel: I could not be more honored to be in Jerusalem to say farewell to my friend Shimon Peres, who showed us that justice and hope are at the heart of the Zionist idea.
“Be silly, be honest, be kind.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
I am really saddened to lose Shimon Peres, a leader that was among the greatest statesmen of the 21st century, an inspiring voice of reason and wisdom not just for the Jewish people and for the Israeli people, but for humanity. Shimon Peres was one of the last living pioneers who established, built, secured, and strengthened the State of Israel. He was also a visionary, philosopher and diplomat with extraordinary insight into the human spirit. I was scheduled to meet him on my last trip to Israel on the afternoon when he suffered a stroke. My thoughts are with his wonderful family, including my dear friend Mika Almog, his amazing granddaughter, and his son Chemi and daughter Tzvia, all cut from the same cloth of wisdom and warmth. May Shimon’s incredible contributions to the Jewish people, to Israel, and to the world be a source of strength to you and to all of us during these difficult times, and may his words of wisdom guide all of us for years to come. Below you will find a beautiful statement from President Obama: