Parents have long been concerned about ways to make Internet access safe for their kids. Even if you can put a stop to annoying and offensive pop-ups and spam, one typo in an innocent web address can open up a very different picture from the one you were expecting.

ICANN (the International organiztion which decides on domain names) suggested grouping pornography websites under a new domain (.xxx instead of .com) as a way of filtering innappropriate websites. Sadly, this approach was recently rejected by the Bush administration. Blogger Nicholas Carr presents his problems with unfiltered access to pornography sites.

In the meantime, one partial solution to this problem was created by . They have installed a "SafeSearch" feature as part of their Base database. While apparently there were some minor glitches found in Safe Search at first, my husband (here's a little plug) just wrote about the  potential for Base's rapid growth (for the financial-minded among you!).

Bloggers Michael Eisenberg and Orthomom recently wrote about trying to shield their children from being exposed to revealing pictures placed in very public places. Is it possible that the more we accidentally come across innapropriate material on-line due to lack of filters or limits, we are indirectly contributing to society's growing lack of sensitivity toward keeping some things private or hidden from our children?

I am all for conserving water, but the title of this article seems a little inflammatory when in fact, only one paragraph focused on how mikvah's can contribute to this worthy cause.

A sad but inspiring article about a successful career woman putting her life on hold to move back home and help her mother care for her father who is sick with Alzheimer's, featured in the NY Times.

I just came across a midrash about Rivka and Sarah which struck me as interesting (Hebrew below) (Bereshit Rabbah 58:2):

"The sun rises and the sun sets..." (Ecclesiastes 1:5) Rabbi Abba said, "Don't we already know that the sun rises and the sun sets? Rather [it comes to teach us] that before God sets the sun of a righteous person, God raises the sun of his friend [another] righteous person. [For example] On the day that Rabbi Akiva died Rabbenu [Rebbe Yehuda Hanasi] was born... On the day that Rabbenu died, Rabbi Ada bar Ahava was born... Before God caused the sun of Moses to set, God raised the sun of Joshua..."

Rabbi Yochanan said, "like an innocent calf [follows it's master]. Before God caused the sun of Sarah to decline, God raised up the sun of Rebecca. First it said, 'Milcah has born children...' and in the end it said, 'And Sarah's life-span came to...'."

The first half is a midrash which Rashi cites when discussing the passing of leadership from Moses to Joshua and from Eli to Samuel. It interprets the verse from Kohelet in a somewhat allegorical sense, the sun referring to the many cycles of tzaddikim (righteous people). However, the statement of Rabbi Yochanan both builds on the previous midrash and adds a new layer of meaning to it.

First, Rabbi Yochanan compares the relationship between the student and his/her mentor to an innocent calf following it's master (this is based on the notes in the Theodore-Albeck edition of Genesis Rabbah, see discussion in comments on this post for further thoughts). Rabbi Yochanan establishes that Rivka's sun rose before Sarah's sun declined because of the smichut, closeness, of the Torah's accounts, first of Rivka's birth and then of Sarah's death. This aspect of the midrash, which emphasizes uninterupted continuity between these two great matriarchs, may also relate to other midrashim about Rivka replacing Sarah in her tent, and continuing  to have a Shabbat candle which remained lit all week long (see Bereshit Rabba parsha 60).

Second, Rabbi Yochanan uses the same language and imagery in discussing the relationship and role of Sarah and Rivka as Rabbi Abba applied to prophets, military leaders and Talmudic sages. This analogy portrays Sarah and Rivka as leaders and teachers of Torah, two great suns as well.

Update: I had a very interesting discussion with an anonymous commenter below, which explores this dvar Torah and it's sources in further depth if you are interested.

Hebrew:

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