Nice One...

Thought for the day...............   One day, long, long ago, there lived a woman  who did not whine, nag, or pester.                                            But it was a long time ago, and it was just that one day. The End

 

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Live Links to Meron - Lag B'omer 2009 [UPDATED]

Tens of thousands of people are currently making their way to Har Meron in honor of Lag Ba'Omer. All are eagerly awaiting the "Hadlakah" by the Boyaner Rebbe Shlita - which is just moments away.Below is a live link to the festivities which are going to be taking place shortly at Meron. Please be advised that this link is in no way affiliated with YWN, and we are not responsible for any technical difficulties that may occur. Please note, that due to the tremendously high volume of people logging on the same time, the link may not work that well.

Link 1: Click HERE
Link 2: Click HERE
Link 3: Click HERE
Link 4: Click HERE
Link 5: Click HERE
Link 6: Click HERE
Link 7: Click HERE
Link 8: Click HERE
Link 9: Click HERE

Link 10: Click HERE

 

Live Links to Meron - Lag B'omer 2009

Choose from 4 locations http://omer.bneybraki.co.il/

Media Player Link http://meron.mediacast.co.il/

Four Live Clips Here http://www.bhol.co.il/news_read.asp?id=9418&cat_id=1

Here also http://rashbi.eu.pn/

A Glimpse Into the Life of a Bochur in a Japan Prison Cell

A Glimpse Into the Life of a Bochur in a Japan Prison Cell

Please continue to pour your hearts out in Tefilah for Yoel Zeev ben Mirel Risa Chava, Yaakov Yosef ben Raizel and Yosef ben Ita Rivka.

 

Tokyo, Japan - Yossi's Brother Speaks Up About Sentencing and What the Family Went Through

Published on: May 7th, 2009 at 01:22 PM

News Source: VIN News By Ezra Reichman | Mishpacha and Sha'ah Tova

Tokyo, Japan - Israeli Charedi Hebrew newspaper Sha'ah Tova printed an interview with Yosef ben Itta Rivka's older brother Yona, who returned to Israel a short while after Yossi was sentenced in Japan last Friday for smuggling drugs to Japan. He had been conned into this deed unwittingly by a respected member of his chassidus 15 years his elder.

For the past year, the families of the three bochurim incarcerated in Japan have refrained from giving interviews. This is the first interview with a family member which intimately touches on what this brother has been going through, the suffering of his family, their feelings after the sentencing and their hopes for a miracle.

"The sentence," says Yona, "was the lesser of two evils. It involves a lengthy prison sentence, but everyone involved are happy to be over this point. Now we can start doing things to relieve Yossi's prison conditions by applying for his transfer to Israel.

The family believes that the boys had been set up already in Holland. Yona says, "Something didn't smell right. The boys were given electronic tickets with a reservation for the Hilton hotel in Tokyo -- which was cancelled even before they reached Japan. Apparently, their senders realized they were going to get caught. We're aware of a few other signs which show that it was doctored. The travel agency through which the reservation was made provided the details after the judge forced them.

"Yossi was placed in the Chiba prison. Over the past year my parents visited him a few times, and I did too. We rented a one-room apartment in Chiba for the 'low' price of $1,700 a month. For Shabbosim, we travel to Tokyo so we can daven with a minyan at the local Chabad House.

"The first time I saw him, several days after he was imprisoned, he looked terrible. He was still being interrogated daily, with some of the sessions lasting 12 hours. When they brought him to the room to meet me, he was sure he was being taken for another interrogation. He almost hadn't slept 15 days. When he saw me, he was sure he was seeing a heavenly apparition. Until today he doesn't stop saying how important that moment was for him. He didn't even know if his family in Israel knew what condition he was in. When he heard from me that thousands are praying for him every day, it greatly encouraged him. Before then, I had never heard of Japan and had no idea how serious the affair was. It was nightmarish. Yossi, who was then 17 years old, looked like a sack of bones.

"All we could give him was 5 pieces of white bread. That's all he has been eating since he was incarcerated last year. Avraham Schwartz (a Jew who lives in the area) has been visiting him every day and buying these pieces of bread from the prison to give him. Everything else was treif. Besides being treif, he's not used to Japanese food. Once they brought him fish and he couldn't even approach it because of the smell. Besides the bread, he is allotted a fruit once every two weeks. For Pesach, he was given a large amount of matzos, but whatever was left over was taken from him right after the holiday."

"He is in a small cell, most of which is taken up by a futon placed on the floor. He is woken every morning at 7. He has to fold the futon and can't sit on it during the day. He can either sit on the floor or stand. If he was sitting and just placed his hand to lean on something, the guard were already shouting at him to sit straight. They have tough discipline there. Only at noontime is he permitted to rest on the futon for an hour.

"Twice a week they take prisoners out to the yard for 10 minutes. If it's cloudy, they don't let them out. Sometimes it was several weeks until Yossi could move his limbs.

"When I came to visit him, I could only speak with him through a glass," Yona recalled. "Yossi was put in the worst building of the prison, without heating in the winter or cooling in the summer. When I saw him last, he told me, 'Summer is again approaching. The heat was scorching. Do what you can to get me out of here because I can't bear another summer here.' They only allow taking showers twice a week, and the prison cell is crawling with bugs and other animals."

Winter was no picnic either. Yossi had ice on the walls of his cell. His hands were blue from the cold. Because they didn't give enough blankets, his family provided him with 5 coats which he used to sleep in.

"We managed to bring him many seforim as well as chareidi newspapers from Israel. Yossi is angry at the papers who mentioned his name; after all, he was a minor. I buy him all the chareidi papers in Israel and send them to Japan. Avraham Schwartz brings them to the prison. Most of the time he learns Torah, davens, and studies sifrei chassidus. He's gotten much stronger in his Yiddishkeit."

Yona has only good words for the Israeli ambassador to Japan, Nissim ben Shitreet and consuls Ms. Shavit and Ms. Friedman, who have helped them through the crisis in every way. On the last day Yona was in Japan, the Israeli embassy had a party (Yom Ha'Atzma'ut?) and invited the Satmar family to join them. The Israeli officials told Yona and his family that they would do the best to help them, 24 hours a day. "They helped us whenever we asked," Yona says in sincere appreciation.

Other people who greatly helped the family and Yossi through the crisis was Rav Menachem Mendel Shafran, a dayan from Ashdod strongly involved in askonus, and Rabbi Mendi Sudkevitch, the Chabad shliach in Tokyo. "Whenever we called them, even 4 a.m., they would always answer. I never saw such mesirus nefesh, all completely voluntary."

Yona also lauds Dr. David Buxbaum, who pro bono led the Japanese legal team and the defense strategy. "He's not a young man; he's 76. But he is dynamic and fresh like a young man. He is a well known lawyer in China, and has offices all over the world. He came a few times to China to help Yossi. He was available at all times and ready to do anything we requested. I have no words to thank him. May Hashem reward him generously."

The family was allowed 20-minute sessions to spend with Yossi. "Besides the moral support it gave him, it afford him the chance to sit on a chair. Yossi also took advantage of the privilege to get a "hair-cut" every two weeks, even though he didn't need it. Anything to just get out of his jail cell for a few minutes.

"We knew that the maximum sentence for a minor was 10 years in prison. We hoped for a miracle. In Japan, it's impossible to be acquitted. The reality is that 99.3% of the accused are guilty in the end." Yona has dozens of clippings from Japanese newspapers of sentences given for drug smuggling. All of them ended with stiff prison sentences.

Yossi was acquainted with all the details of his defense. His family and lawyers spent months preparing for it, and Yona believes that the outcome would have been worse without the vast preparation that went into the case. In the days before the final sentencing, Yossi recited the entire Tehilim and thousands prayed for him.

Two days before the sentencing, the prosecutor was changed, and the new prosecutor gave Yossi his passport, identity card and other documents. "We began to hope that a miracle was going to happen," says Yona. "No one could explain that gesture, not even the Japanese attorneys. When I heard the relatively stiff sentence, it was a sudden, harsh blow."

Yossi was brought to court for his sentencing, accompanied by two guards, with his hands handcuffed and tied behind his back. When he entered the court, the guards removed the handcuffs and he was told to sit down.

"The final sentence was given in the presence of the family, the askanim who had helped out, many Japanese attorneys who we didn't know, and the police interrogators. The Japanese were fascinated by this case, which was part of the problem. Because they made such a sensation of it, the judge couldn't let Yossi get off without a tough sentence."

"At the sentencing, Yossi broke out in heart-rending sobs. Luckily, that day he was to be taken to shower, and they give showers in a building which is heated. When he came out of his shower, his spirits had lifted and he told me, 'I'll deal with this. I have the Ribono Shel Olam with me. But how you will calm Mama?"

The family is hoping Yossi will now be transferred to a prison for westerners or minors, where the conditions are relatively better. "The judge sentenced him to forced labor. I don't know what kind of work that entails, but I hope it will be for minors, which will be easier. Yossi himself wants to work. He can't bear being in that room anymore. He told us, 'I don't care what I have to do; the main thing is to get out of here.'"

Yona has seen the kind of work that prisoners do -- making shoes, tissue boxes from wood, plates, etc. "I hope he's not sent to the Foji prison, which is the worst one. I don't know if this depends on the judge. Our lawyer is working on it."

Yona is also critical about how the press in Israel reported the Japanese treatment of the yeshiva bochurim. "I have to say that the media circus caused damage to the whole process. You have to know that every clipping, every newspaper, everything that was written about the affair in Israel was translated in Japan and is sitting on the prosecutor's desk. It's a mazal that Yossi wasn't able to see the early media reports, which were filled with false stories."

"After everything he went through, I think Yossi can be a lawyer himself," Yona says with an ironic smile.

The effect on Yossi's family has been immense. "All 12 of us brothers and sisters went through a very hard time. Our lives have changed over the past year. But thank G-d, we've reached the stage where we've finished the trial. "The real work will begin in the coming weeks. If the lawyers decide not to appeal the sentence, and to work on transferring him to Israel, we have lots of bureaucracy to wade through. There was a recent similar story of an Israel who was imprisoned in Japan for 6 years. It took 10 months to transfer him back to Israel.

"Yossi has become stronger. He's not the same Yossi from a year ago. He has become steeled. At first we were in shock. We didn't dream that such a thing could happen to Yossi. He entered the prison like a child and today he is an adult who is sensibly thinking everything out. We're continuing to support him and pray for him, together with the thousands who are davening for his salvation and the salvation of two of his friends.

Dr. David C. Buxbaum, Yossi's lead defense, is an Orthodox Jew and professor of international criminal law who has lived in China for several decades. He received his legal education in New York University and University of Michigan, and was the first American lawyer to move to China after President Reagan unfroze relations with the Chinese. Many of the top lawyers in Japan, including those working on the case with him, were his students in university. He lives the Asian culture and is able to bridge between it and western culture.

"The chance to transfer the bochur to Israel to carry out his punishment depends on the degree of cooperation provided by Israel," explains Dr. Buxbaum.

He says that the judges realized that the boy was innocent, but issued a harsh ruling according to the law's stipulations. "Despite him violating the law, the facts still remain that he did it unknowingly and was completely innocent," Dr. Buxbaum avers.

Live Links to Meron - Lag B'omer 2009

ALL TESTED & WORKING @ 15:15GMT TIME 11/05/09

Choose from 4 locations http://omer.bneybraki.co.il/

Media Player Link http://meron.mediacast.co.il/

Four Live Clips Here http://www.bhol.co.il/news_read.asp?id=9418&cat_id=1

Here also http://rashbi.eu.pn/

MONEY SAVER: Family railcard for 14 months and 12 months YHA Membership for £13!!!!!

Sign up for the free two month trial of the family railcard and then buy at the discounted price of £13 for a further 12 months, HOWEVER, when you buy your full railcard it entitles you to join the YHA for free at the same time.
A great offer for families looking for cheap getaways by train this summer, OR a cheaper way of getting a family membership of YHA even if you dont use the railcard.

Details of railcard offer

Until midnight on Wed 13 May you can sign up for a free trial of the Friends and Family that lasts until 31 July. The card cuts a third off an adult's ticket and 60% off kids' tickets when you have at least one adult and one child travelling. You can have up to four adults and four kids travel on one card.

At the end of your trial you'll receive a special code to allow you to buy a 12 month Family & Friends railcard at 50% off. The card currently costs £24 yet is rising to £26 on 17 May so will cost you £13 with the code. You'll only be able to buy the half price railcard between 24 July and 21 August.

This offer was originally part of a National Railcard promotion with the Daily Mail, it's only available online at Family & Friends Railcard web page.

The Railcard can't be used on weekday morning peak services entirely within the London and South East area. If you're unsure when these times are, as they differ according to the route, then check with your local station or call the National Rail Enquiries line on 08457 48 49 50. Yet very occasionally some special fares (e.g. cheap London to York/Edinburgh below) undercut it so check, but for regular train travel it's great.

On previous occasions a similar offer's been on some people waiting until the last day to register have experienced problems so it's advisable to do it earlier rather than later (and that means your trials longer too).


Details of YHA offer


Buy your Railcard online and get FREE YHA Family membership valued at £22.95!
Family & Friends Railcard and the YHA have joined forces to help you and your family travel further and pay less to stay!

YHA is offering FREE Family membership to all new Family & Friends Railcard holders who have purchased their Railcard online. YHA membership gives you great discounts in over 200 locations in England and Wales and thousands more around the world. You can come and go as you please with private rooms and make the most of the great child-friendly facilities.

Full details on how you can claim this offer will be given to you in your confirmation page once you have successfully purchased your Family & Friends Railcard online.

For further information about YHA visit www.yha.org.uk

Not open to existing YHA members or renewals. Check Terms and Conditions before applying.

Family and Friends Railcard Terms and Conditions apply.

MONEY SAVER: Free Family & Friends Railcard (valid until 31st July 2009)

Free Family & Friends Railcard (valid until 31st July 2009)

This offer is only available online until midnight 13th May 2009. To register for your trial Family & Friends Railcard in conjunction with the Daily Mail, we need you to fill in the details below. You will receive your trial Family & Friends Railcard in the post, and you will need to have it with you to purchase and travel with discounted train tickets. Demand for this offer is high but we will endeavour to get your Railcard to you as soon as possible. Your trial Family & Friends Railcard will be valid until 31st July 2009.

http://www.familyandfriends-railcard.co.uk/H2CUUP

 

MONEY SAVER: FREE Nitty Gritty comb from your GP NHS Prescription

Nitty gritty combs are the best on the market to get rid of those horrid little critters from your darlings locks.

Editors Note: I paid a tenner a few weeks back!

But what most dont know is you can get this for free from your GP although chemists will not give this info out as they want you to pay £10 for it.

Its listed under Electronic Drug Tariff on NHS website and if you go to the nitty gritty website they have a letter you can print off to take to the GP to show them you mean business as they dont like to give them away.

Make sure they write the prescription under your childs name .

well worth the fight for it as it will rid you of nits within a few uses.

 

How to get a Prescription

The Nitty Gritty NitFree Comb is available on
NHS Prescription (free of charge to Under 16's)

More and more family doctors all over Britain are discovering that it works much better than any other comb or chemical treatment, and is much more cost-effective to the Practice budget too.
No multiple or repeat prescriptions are necessary.

All you have to do is ask your GP, prescribing nurse or health visitor (or prescribing pharmacist) whether he or she will prescribe a Nitty Gritty NitFree Comb for you and your family. It has been approved for NHS prescription since 2004, and it conforms completely to the latest NHS guidelines.
Unlike any other comb, however, our award-winning comb removes 'live' eggs before they can hatch as well as head lice and unsightly nits.

Please Click here to print out a letter to take to your GP.

It will tell your family doctor, nurse or health visitor all they need to know in order to prescribe a Nitty Gritty NitFree Comb. If they have any questions about our products, or about head lice and nits in general, we would be delighted to hear from them via: nhs@nittygritty.co.uk

Just one comb is all you need to check and protect a whole family. It works brilliantly with any ordinary hair conditioner, or even better with our natural Aromatherapy Solution and we will replace it free of charge if it ever breaks.

What if your GP hasn't heard about the Nitty Gritty NitFree Comb yet, or offers to prescribe another product in its place?

If your GP hasn't heard of the Nitty Gritty Comb yet, or prefers to prescribe ineffective and costly chemical pesticides, firstly let him or her know that the comb is listed and fully approved for NHS prescription.
You could offer to provide some constructive and unbiased feedback on the performance of the comb if he/she will prescribe it for you.
Point out that other products call for repeated treatments, as they only remove the live lice, not the unhatched eggs, whereas the Nitty Gritty NitFree Comb is guaranteed to remove not only even the smallest head lice but also unhatched 'live' eggs and unsightly nits (empty egg cases) quickly and easily.

If still unwilling to prescribe it for you, we will be happy to send your family doctor a complimentary Nitty Gritty Comb so he or she can evaluate it. All your doctor has to do is email us at nhs@nittygritty.co.uk and we'll send a complimentary comb out to the surgery by first class post.

So one way or another, we'll make sure you get the best comb in the entire world… because we are mums, and we know that your children, just like our children, deserve the best comb in the entire world.

SUMMARY OF USEFUL INFORMATION
Nitty Gritty NitFree Comb Prescription Details

• As a one-off prescription, one Nitty Gritty NitFree Comb will keep a whole family nit-free - and chemical-free. This means not just removing all head lice, but also the 'live' eggs that cause any ongoing infestation.
• It is listed in Section IX A of the NHS Drug Tariff in the Appliance section under sub-category:
  Head Lice Device, Nitty Gritty NitFree steel nit comb with micro-grooved teeth.
• It can also be found on the Electronic Drug Tariff on the NHS website
  Be sure to click Enter on the The Electronic Drug Tariff before typing in Nitfree or head lice in the search box.
• The Nitty Gritty NitFree Comb is also approved for prescription by Prescribing Nurses.
  Pediculosis (head lice infestation) is one of the conditions listed for which Nurse Prescribers are allowed to prescribe, under the guidelines on Nurse Prescribing in Part XVII.
• Prescribing Health Visitors and Prescribing Pharmacists are also able to dispense the comb.
• The PIP ordering Code for the Nitty Gritty NitFree Comb is 294 6366. (useful for your pharmacist)