[backhoe]

"At Aish.com there's a place to have a prayer placed in the Western Wall.
You just write your prayer, hit the send button, a Jewish student will put it in the wall in Israel. "

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Done, and I thank you for the information. Link:

http://www.aish.com/wallcam/Place_a_Note_in_the_Wall.asp

[pickyourpoison]

And thank you, I've started sending a prayer there daily.

There's also a cam at the wall and you can watch the people praying and leaving the prayers in the wall.

[Republic]

That is really a wonderful idea. I was unaware of that web site...kind of the students to do this.

I find it extraordinary that the Pope has had a feeding tube inserted just yesterday.

AWESOME.

How remarkably basic and necessary this makes the dreaded (floridian style), artificial feeding TUBE appear to the world.

God Bless the Pope, what a remarkable man, and THANK YOU GOD for always loving us!

[ZinGirl]

Thank you for the link to aish.com. I've never heard of it before, but spent a few minutes this morning checking around their site....came across this...didn't know if you had seen it:

THE CASE OF TERRI SCHIAVO

Let us take the example of Terri Schiavo. She is not brain dead nor is she terminally ill. She is brain damaged and remains in what appears to be a persistent vegetative state. All of her bodily functions are essentially normal, but she lacks the ability to "meaningfully" interact with the outside world (although her parents claim that she does minimally respond to their presence and to outside stimuli).

To remove the feeding tube from a patient whose only impairment is cognitive is simply murder.

Her impairment is cognitive and Judaism does not recognize any less of a right to treatment for one cognitively impaired than one mentally astute.

It is a denial of the Jewish ideal of the fundamental value of life that drives the forces that wish to remove Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. While Judaism does recognize quality of life in certain circumstances (such as the incurable terminally ill patient in intractable pain mentioned above), the Torah does not sanction euthanasia in any situation. To remove the feeding tube from a patient whose only impairment is cognitive is simply murder.

We must ask ourselves when we view images of cognitively impaired patients such as Terri Schiavo whether the pain that we feel is Terri's or whether it is our own. While we may suffer watching movies of the severely brain damaged, it is our own thoughts of the horror of a life without cognition that drives us to project that pain onto the victim who may not be suffering at all.

The key to analyzing any situation is to realize that good ethics start with good facts. One must provide the posek (halachic decisor) with an accurate, honest, and thorough assessment of the patient's medical condition. Only then can a halachically valid and ethically proper decision be made.

Adapted from an article that appeared in Viewpoint: National Council of Young Israel, Winter 1996 entitled: "HALACHIC ISSUES REGARDING FUTILITY OF MEDICAL TREATMENT: Applications To Nutrition And Hydration In The Terminally Ill Patient

[pickyourpoison]

Anyone wanting to place a prayer,in the Western Wall in Israel.

link is at post # 3497