JEWISH WISDOM

On Passover we
Opened the door for Elijah
Now  our dog is gone.

Jewish Buddhism:
If there is no self,
Whose arthritis is this?

Beyond Valium,
Peace is knowing one’s child
Is an internist.

After the warm rain
The sweet smell of camellias.
Did you wipe your feet?

Her lips near my ear,
Aunt Sadie whispers the name
Of  her friend’s disease.

Today I am a man
Tomorrow I will return
To the seventh grade

Testing the warm milk
On her wrist, she sighs softly
But her son is forty.

The sparkling blue sea
Reminds me to wait an hour
After my sandwich.

Jews on safari —
Map, compass, elephant gun,
Hard sucking candies.

The same kimono
The top geishas are wearing:
I got it at Loehmann’s.

Mom, please!
There is no Need
to put that dinner roll  In your pocketbook.

Sorry I’m not home To take your call.
At the tone
Please state your bad news.

Is one Nobel Prize
So  much to ask from a child
After all I’ve done?

Today, mild shvitzing.
Tomorrow, so hot you’ll plotz
Five day forecast

Quietly murmured
At Saturday Synagogue services,
Phillies 5, Red Sox 3.

Be here now.
Be someplace else later.
Is that so complicated?

Drink tea and nourish life; With the first sip, joy;
With the second sip, satisfaction;
With the third sip, peace;
With the fourth, a Danish.

Wherever you go,
there you are.
Your luggage is another story.

Accept misfortune as a blessing.
Do not wish for perfect health, or a life without problems.
What would you talk about?

The journey
of a thousand miles
Begins with a single Oy.
Zen is not easy.
It takes effort to attain nothingness.
And then what do you have?
Bupkis.

The Tao does not speak.
The Tao does not blame.
The Tao does not take sides.
The Tao has no expectations.
The Tao demands nothing of others
The Tao is not Jewish.

Breathe in, Breathe out.
Forget this and attaining Enlightenment
will Be the least of your problems.

Deep inside you are ten thousand flowers.
Each flower blossoms ten thousand times.
Each blossom has ten thousand petals.
You might want to see a specialist

Be aware of your body.
Be aware of your perceptions.
Keep in mind that not every physical
Sensation is a symptom of a terminal illness.

The Torah says, Love your neighbor as yourself.
Buddha says there is no self.
So, maybe we’re off the hoo

https://www.monterafuneralhome.com/obituaries/Errol-Daniel-Rappaport?obId=42922954

Errol Daniel Rappaport

March 28, 1944 – June 13, 2025

Errol Daniel Rappaport passed away on June 13, 2025, at Mount Sinai Morningside in New York City. He was 81.

Born in Brooklyn, NY on March 28, 1944, Errol lived a full, dynamic life. He worked in public relations in Los Angeles and Acapulco, later becoming a television and music producer in New York City. He also contributed regularly to Black Tie Magazine and Wonderama Television. A passionate philanthropist. Errol was widely known as the “Goodwill Ambassador” — a role he lived every day by connecting people from all walks of life. Gregarious, funny, with dashing movie star looks He made everyone feel connected. His motto was, “ My reality is most people’s fantasy.” Errol was the epitome of positive energy, life and love.

He served as a medic in the U.S. Air Force during Vietnam and worked closely with legendary acting teacher Lee Strasberg as his assistant. His sense of style — including bright orange Iris Apfel glasses, slicked back hair, and a rotating collection of scarves — made him instantly recognizable wherever he went.

The son of fashion designers David and Frances Rappaport., Damon and Francesca of Damon were featured in major department stores and boutiques nationally. The couple lived for decades in their iconic penthouse at 200 Central Park South.

When their health began to decline, Errol returned from Los Angeles to New York to care for them. After his father’s passing, Errol continued to support his mother until she was placed under guardianship. Errol’s fight to protect her and others caught in similar situations is chronicled in Diane Dimond’s book, We’re Here to Help: When Guardianship Goes Wrong.

Errol co-founded QuinntEssential Productions with his partner and best friend, Quinn Lemley. The two created the talk show Secrets of the Stage on Manhattan Neighborhood Network, Black Tie Magazine, and Spotify, and produced the big band album Remembering Rita, which will be released this Fall.

He is survived by his brothers, Michael and Richard Rappaport, and his godson, Jorel Roth.

Donations in Errol’s memory may be made to the National Meningitis Association., which has now merged with, and is https://www.immunize.org/donate/  based in Florida.

A Celebration of Life service will be announced

Errol Rappaport will be remembered for his zest for life, positivity, and unwavering love for his friends.

The post Jewish Humor Dedicated to Errol Rappaport appeared first on Good News!.

The mysterious and little understood system called guardianship, or conservatorship, burst into the public consciousness in 2021 with the case of pop star Britney Spears. After living under court-ordered restrictions for nearly fourteen years, Spears finally spoke out about her plight: she had been stripped of her civil rights, forced to work, involuntarily medicated, denied the right to freely travel or spend the money she earned, and rejected when she wanted to marry and have a baby.
Britney isn’t the only adult who has lost crucial rights through the guardianship system. An estimated 1.5 and 2 million Americans are currently living under similar court-mandated circumstances. Many of these arrangements for so-called “wards of the court” work out well. But after a yearslong study of the system, author Diane Dimond discovered the number of predatory players appointed by the court to control the life and finances of wards is astounding, and the number of victims is staggering. As Dimond writes in We’re Here to Help, “Consider that every year new guardianships and conservatorships place more than $50 billion under the control of others, and with the average case lasting about six years. . . . Informed critics estimate that predatory players illegally divert multiple billions of dollars from this monstrous cache of money each year.”
Dimond insists that “the sheer numbers of these abusive cases—reported by loving family members and worried friends across the United States—screams for attention to be paid.”

We’re Here to Help reveals that:
• Anyone can file a simple petition with a state court asking that a guardianship be established. Petitioners can be family members, angry business associates, neighbors, former lovers, or total strangers.
• Those at risk include young people with inheritances; individuals who’ve won sizeable workman’s comp or medical malpractice settlements; veterans with attractive pension payouts; and victims of mental illness or brain injuries who, even after they recover, find it nearly impossible to break free from the system.
• Divorce attorneys in contested cases have counselled male clients to petition for guardianship of their uncooperative wives—and judges have complied. The cases highlighted in the book were found in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and Florida.
• Women are most affected by guardianship. As elderly widows they become ripe for conscription and their caregivers are most often their daughters, not their sons.
• Guardians give presentations at senior centers and nursing homes urging audience members not to saddle their children with caretaking responsibilities. Guardians may share contact information for those interested with estate and elder law attorneys, who pursue court ordered guardianships.
• Lawyers, guardians, and conservators operating in the guardianship field can charge between $250 and $600 an hour for tasks as mundane as opening mail, paying bills, or answering an email. They can hire any number of assistants, including financial advisors, in-home health care, cooks, landscapers, and personal shoppers. The ward’s estate pays for everything.
• Jurists often allow the guardian to ignore a ward’s will, power of attorney, and other legal documents.
• While some states are enacting reform bills to regulate the current system, there have been no proposals to overhaul it. Congress has known about guardianship’s systemic problems for nearly half a century, but no definitive legislation to curb the exploitation has ever been passed.
By highlighting a multitude of real-life stories, We’re Here to Help explains this secretive process step-by-step. Readers will come to understand how family squabbles over what to do with an at-risk relative can spiral into a complicated nightmare of unwanted court intervention.
Dimond includes chapters about alternative programs a judge could establish, and protective legal steps readers can take to help safeguard their families.

Five Questions for Diane Dimond
Qz; What is guardianship and why write a book about it? Guardianship, or conservatorship, is a system that was set up in the late 1800s and it was designed so that any citizen who couldn’t care for themselves got help from the state.
Traditionally, it protected elderly people with dementia or those with profound physical or intellectual disabilities and had no family to care for them. They became a “wards of the court.” But I discovered the system has morphed over the years into something almost sinister. Judges routinely declare all sorts of people as “incapacitated” and assign strangers—lawyers and guardians—to take control of wards’ personal lives and money. These appointees have enormous power because once a person is declared “incapacitated” they lose all their civil rights. Realize, wards can’t hire a lawyer, vote, write a check, or decide where to live or travel. They can be isolated from loved ones and, most shockingly, overmedicated to keep them compliant. Guardianships or conservatorships must be approved by a judge.
Q: Do “petitions for guardianship” state why the person in question needs to be guardianized?
Yes, but frequently a judge accepts whatever claims a lawyer has made in the petition. These might be exaggerations or outright lies; I found that’s not uncommon in these petitions. But these judges don’t have the staff or the time to vet the contents. They take the word of the officer-of-the-court and approve the guardianship. And, once a person is caught up in the system it’s very expensive—and almost impossible for their family to get them out. Court appointees love the fight because it means more time in court and more hourly fees they can charge.
Q: You’ve been writing about abusive guardianships since 2015. There have been other print and TV exposés about it. Why is it that a majority of the public doesn’t know about this system?
Because most guardianship/conservatorship proceedings are conducted in secret. The court and the players—the lawyers, the guardians, and all the rest—say the outside world cannot be privy to the inner workings because of federal HIPAA laws that protect the privacy of a person’s medical information. There have been some great exposes written and aired on individual horror stories—but never a big-picture, in-depth investigative look at the system as a whole.

Q: How did you obtain such detailed information about this secretive system?
In short, very brave family members came forward—at the risk of contempt-of-court charges and hefty fines—to tell me what their loved ones were going through. They shared horror stories about exploitive and abusive guardians: wards being isolated from the family or forcibly overmedicated, outright theft, even allegations of physical and sexual abuse. Most importantly, these relatives provided me with court documents to back up their allegations. And then they steered me to other families that had similar stories to tell. Throughout the book, you emphasize the role judges play within this system. Why should judges bear special scrutiny? To my mind, the ultimate responsibility for these obvious abuses begins and ends with the judge who ordered the guardianship in the first place. If judges need more training to truly understand what can happen after they establish a guardianship, or more money and staff to get the job done in a compassionate way, then their state legislature needs to step up. If a judge is found to be taking campaign contributions from those they appoint to these very profitable positions (and yes, I discovered that has happened), then that cash flow should be made illegal. If there are repeated complaints against a particular judge, then the state judicial board needs to seriously investigate and consider removing that judge. Think of it this way: most people plan where they want to live, travel, and how to spend their retirement. One judge shouldn’t be able to take all that away under the guise of “protection.” Some people really do need help living their life, but that doesn’t mean they should lose their civil rights or be subjected to humiliating and even criminal behavior.

The post Not Just Britney: More About We’re Here to Help by Diane Dimond appeared first on Good News!.

The post Oppenheimer…Science that went wrong…. appeared first on Good News!.

Today is World Happy Husband Day.
Let us keep 2 minutes of silence and read some quotes of great personalities.

First quote
After marriage, husband and wife become two sides of a coin, they just can’t face each other, but still they stay together.
– Al Gore

By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you’ll be happy. If you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.
– Socrates

Wife inspires us to great things and prevent us from achieving them.
– Mike Tyson

I had some words with my wife, and she had some paragraphs with me.
– Bill Clinton

There’s a way of transferring funds that is even faster than electronic banking. It’s called marriage.
– Michael Jordan

A good wife always forgives her husband when she’s wrong.
– Barack Obama

When you are in love,
wonders happen.
But once you get married, you wonder, what happened.
– Steve Jobs

And the best one is…

Marriage is a beautiful forest where Brave Lions are killed by Beautiful Deer.
– Brad Pitt

World Happy Husband Day !! ??????
Laughter Therapy ????

While getting married, most of the guys say to girl’s parents,
“I will keep your daughter happy for the rest of her life”.

Have you ever heard a girl saying something like this to the boy’s parents like “I will keep your son happy for the rest of his life”????

Nooo…. because women don’t tell lies! ??

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A small argument between a couple turns violent.
Husband says: Don’t let the animal in me come out!
Wife replies: Who’s afraid of a mouse??

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If wife wants husband’s attention, she just has to look sad and uncomfortable.
If husband wants wife’s attention, he just has to look comfortable & happy.

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A Philosopher HUSBAND said:- Every WIFE is a ‘Mistress’ of her Husband…
“Miss” for first year & “Stress” for rest of the life…

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Do you remember the tingling feeling when you took the decision to get married?
That was common sense leaving your body.

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Son: Dad, l got selected for a role in a play for annual day!
Dad: What role are you playing?
Son: A husband!
Dad: Stupid, ask for a role with dialogues!

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Man outside phone booth: “Excuse me, you are holding phone since 29 minutes and you haven’t spoken a word”.
Man inside: “i am talking to my wife!”

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A very intelligent girl was asked the meaning of marriage.. She said- “sacrificing the admiration of hundred guys, to face the criticism of one idiot.”

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Position of a husband is just like a Split AC, No matter how loud he is outdoor, He is designed to remain silent indoor!

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Husband to wife: U should learn to embrace your mistakes…..
She hugged him immediately.
—–
????
Share to make others smile…laughter works like medicine!

#Husband #Day #quotes #marriage #wife #together #happy #bad #philosopher #good #love #couple #feeling #forgives #wrong #argument #uncomfortable #Socrates #Bill Clinton #Michael Jordan #Barack Obama

The post Today is World Happy Husband Day. appeared first on Good News!.

A father said to his son: “You graduated with honors, here is a car that I acquired many years ago … it is more than 50 years old.
“Before I give it to you, take it to the downtown used car lot and tell them I want to sell it and see how much they offer you.
The son went to the used car lot, returned to his father and said: “They offered me $ 1,000 because it looks very worn out.”
The father said, “Take it to the pawnshop.”
The son went to the pawnshop, returned to his father and said, “The pawnshop offered $ 100 because it was a very old car.”
The father next asked his son to take the car to a car club and show them the car.
The son took the car to the car club, returned and said to his father: “Some people in the club offered $ 100,000 for it since it is a Classic Mustang and highly sought after among the members of the club”
The father said to his son, “I wanted you to know that the right place values ​​you the right way!”
If you are not valued, do not be angry, it means that you are in the wrong place. Those who know your value are those who appreciate you, and never stay in a place where no one sees your value!!”
http://goodnewsplanet.com/good-news-bug/

The post Know Your True Value!! appeared first on Good News!.

Measuring blood pressure is one of the most common procedures performed at a medical office. Yet, studies have shown that numerous mistakes are made when taking readings.

For example, if you’ve ever had a conversation while getting checked you may have added an additional 10-15 mm Hg to a measurement. Having a full bladder can tack on 10-15 mm Hg, while putting the cuff over clothing, rather than a bare arm, can add 10-40 mm Hg. These errors may lead to higher readings, which may lead to a misdiagnosis.

In this interview Dr. Michael Hochman, Spokesperson for the American Heart Association, shares the most common mistakes (whether taken at home or at your doctor’s office) and 7 simple tips to ensure an accurate blood pressure reading. Dr. Hochman will also talks about the updated high blood pressure guidelines and what to do if your numbers are now borderline. In addition, Marcus Whitehead, a police officer and high blood pressure patient shares how not knowing his numbers almost lead to serious health complications, and what he now does to stay in a healthy range.

The post Dr. Michael Hochman & Officer Marcus Whitehead, Know Your Numbers: Is Your Blood Pressure Being Taken All Wrong?, Click Here for Video & Podcast… appeared first on Good News!.

The post Thought for the Day… appeared first on Good News!.

“There are hundreds of paths up the mountain,
all leading to the same place,
so it doesn’t matter which path you take.
The only person wasting time
is the one who runs around the mountain,
telling everyone that his or her path is wrong.”

The post ~ Hindu Proverb appeared first on Good News!.

RICHARD BELZER
“Dead Wrong”

Friday, October 5, 2012
6:00 PM
Milton Berle Room

Do you still believe that
Marilyn Monroe overdosed on drugs?
Or that Sirhan Sirhan killed Robert Kennedy?
If the answer is yes, then keep reading.
For years the government has put out hits
on people who were “talking too much,”
covering up government assassinations
with drug overdoses and mysterious suicides.
In Dead Wrong: Straight Facts on the Country’s
Most Controversial Cover-Ups the most
historic government conspiracies
are finally revealed.

Friar Richard Belzer and David Wayne
prove, by examining the sheer evidence,
that the allegations on some of the
most famous deaths in history are,
quite simply, impossible.

Join Belzer for cocktails and
hors d’oeuvres and hear the real
stories behind the coverups.

http://www.friarsclub.com/members/event%20pdfs/RichardBelzer-DeadWrong-10-5-12.pdf

The post “Dead Wrong” appeared first on Good News!.

Excerpt from The ABC’s of Homeschooling

By Laura Ann Huber

My husband and I don’t always see things eye to eye. We have had many disagreements and arguments, mostly because I have what I like to call “Momma Bear Syndrome.” Momma Bear Syndrome is an instinctive, unthinking act to defend the cubs at all costs. If Poppa Bear disciplines more harshly than Momma Bear deems appropriate the claws come out, and Momma Bear is on the attack. Watch Out! This can cause confusion and disruption in the den. Parents must quietly go behind doors if this happens and talk about what is wrong or right. Try to find middle ground. Sticking together is very important. Sometimes it’s hard because men and women see things so differently. Once a decision is made, go out and talk to the kids together. If a punishment is needed now is the time to explain it to the child. Let them see you are now on the same page. You must stick together, or your children and the outside world will—wear you down.

Our decision to homeschool our children was not made overnight, nor was it blissfully blessed by both of us at first. The idea was first introduced to us when my husband met a colleague’s son, named Josh. The boy seemed so bright and out-going, able to speak and talk to adults better than any other child my husband knew. Every day he would come home from work bragging about Josh and the fact that his mother homeschooled him. I was really intrigued, but in my own small thinking brain the thought that I could homeschool my children never occurred to me.

When it was time to sign our oldest child up for kindergarten I was having a very difficult time. He was still so little and young; I just couldn’t imagine sending him off into a world that didn’t include me or his family. I prayed and prayed about it without my husband knowing how I was feeling. The year I was supposed to sign Keith up for kindergarten happened to be 1999. On Tuesday, April 20, 1999, the unthinkable happened in a high school named Columbine. Two high school seniors went on a murderous rampage, killing thirteen students. It sickened every parent in America and frightened every student who heard of the horrific event. My heart had been telling me for quite some time I should homeschool Keith, but being inundated with the culture and society we live in I just didn’t feel I was qualified. I felt that he needed to go to school. Even after the tragedy, I still thought it best that he attend school. After all, that’s what everyone else was doing.

But my spirit would not let the issue rest. I lay in bed every night praying for an answer. Finally, I expressed my feelings to my husband, “You are always coming home and talking about how well rounded and what a great kid Josh is. I thought maybe I should homeschool Keith.” His answer echoed my own feelings of self-doubt and he said, “But you’re not a teacher. Josh’s mom is a licensed teacher.” Sad and dejected I decided to sign Keith up for kindergarten.

I made arrangements to talk to some kindergarten teachers and visit some classrooms. First I would be going to the public school, and then to the private Catholic school I had attended as a child. Since my nephew, Ethan, was in first grade and attended the public school I would be visiting, I decided it would be fun if I could take him to school that morning. We started off around eight. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining brilliantly, and I couldn’t help noticing he would really rather be playing outside. He took me in through the front doors of the school into what I perceived as total pandemonium. Having attended a Catholic school all my life, I had never witnessed children running from here to there in the hallways. I put it aside because Ethan was excited about me purchasing a mechanical pencil for him to use that day. After visiting with a kindergarten teacher, I was more confused than ever. I told her I had been considering homeschooling and asked her opinion, expecting her to convince me sending my children to school was the best thing for them. She answered me honestly saying, “If you can homeschool, your children will be better off. My sister homeschools her children. She offers them way more than any teacher could.” This was a lot to consider.

Next it was off to my old alma mater. Here the children were treated totally the opposite of what I had witnessed at the public school. Discipline ruled as the kids walked out of church in quiet lines like little soldiers. Neither school was what I wanted for my children.

Perplexed and confused I went to a store before going home. As I was making my purchase the woman behind the counter asked me in a shocked voice, “Have you heard about the bomb threat at

Brookville Elementary School?” All I could see was my precious, little blond headed, blue-eyed nephew whom I had just dropped off less than an hour ago. My heart aching and my stomach churning, I longed to go back into the school and pick him up and take him back to his safe home, but this was not in my authority. I had no right to do that. Only his parents could. I did, however, have a say about my own children.

That afternoon I called a neighbor who homeschools her children. She is not a licensed teacher and her children were learning just like everyone else’s children. It could be done. I approached my husband that night about how I was feeling. The shootings. The threats of bombings. The pandemonium. The discipline. The words of the kindergarten teacher. He took a long deep breath and said he would think about it. We were both unsure, but we both agreed that no matter what we decided to do, we would stick together on our decision. Supporting each other through thick and thin.

Finally we both agreed that we would give homeschooling a try, at least through Keith’s first year of kindergarten. After that, each year we would re-evaluate making sure we were doing the right thing. Back in 1999 if you were homeschooling your child many people questioned your motives and the well-being of the child. Some people were supportive, some were not. One thing is for sure, when you decide to homeschool your children, many people become experts in giving advice on raising them, even if their kids didn’t turn out to be successful well-rounded adults, they now know what is best for yours. Even if a person doesn’t have any kids, some still think they know what’s best for yours.

That happened to me a lot back then. I took most of the flack because I am the children’s primary care giver, and my husband is the bread winner. He always seemed to be at work or in another room when people questioned me. Sometimes I felt as if I had to defend my position like Grant defending the Union. But my husband, Bryon, always had my back, and if someone would sneak in from the left flank when my defenses were down—he was on guard and there to protect me. Once a close friend of Bryon’s was questioning me about homeschooling after Bryon went out of the room. He was getting madder and madder at the fact that we weren’t sending Keith to school; not now and not any time in the near future. Neither of us knew that Bryon could hear his every word. I was feeling overwhelmed and was really getting upset, when Bryon came in like the knight in shining armor he always is for me. He sat down banging his fist on the table and saying, in a rather commanding voice, “If anyone has anything to say about our decision to homeschool, they need to come to me and I will answer any questions they may have.” No one questioned us much after that. Everyone knew we had made a decision and were sticking together and sticking to it. This meant more to me than words can say. It gave me confidence in myself, our decision, and our marriage.

Each of us is a different individual raised in different home environments with a variety of discipline techniques and belief systems. When you marry and have a family you must take the best from both sides and leave the rest rumbling behind, creating new values and new ideas. George Washington once said, “I have always considered marriage as the most interesting event of one’s life, the foundation of happiness or misery.” Keep a loving and respectful open mind toward your spouse’s views and opinions.

Encourage him to do the same for you and you’re most likely to experience happiness and not misery. The country music song by Diamond Rio, Meet in the Middle, tells us how to stick together and avoid arguments. It goes like this, “I’d start walking your way, you’d start walking mine. We’d meet in the middle ‘neath that old Georgia pine.” Sometimes, it’s not quite the middle where we have to meet. Sometimes one spouse has to walk a lot farther than the other. Once a decision is made, stand by your spouse. Be proud of each other. Your family will be much stronger and you’ll create a home that no one can divide.

Laura Ann Huber is the author of The ABC’s of Homeschooling and the proud parent of three children.More information about their adventures can be found at: www.laurahuber.com.

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