Good news for new immigrants to Israel, and for many other people..

Yisrael Katz, the Minister of Transportation, has announced new reforms in the transportation industry. A number of these reforms might be thought of as a big deal for a lot of people.

The reforms include issues such as:
 - extending the age of the drivers license to 70 instead of requiring it to be renewed every ten years. Once the driver reaches 70, he or she will have to renew it every 5 years until the age of 80 and then every two years.
 - adding more automated machines around the country, called RishyoMat, from the current 50 to the eventual 100. This makes it easier to print licenses and pay fees without having to step into the DMV and wait in line
 - providing more DMV services via the post office. nobody really wants to wait in line at the post office either, so I am not sure this is a big deal, but maybe even the post office is better than waiting at the DMV
 - installing an appointment system for the DMV
 - new DMV offices around the country in cities that until now never had one
 - more hours open to the public at the DMV
 - and more
 - and perhaps the biggest reform for many of the people I know... new immigrants will no longer need to go through the same bureaucracy when coming and converting the foreign license to an Israeli license. Until now new immigrants had to take a lesson and a test. This was basically part of the same scam the entire licensing procedures follow, just to get more money out of people while not necessarily producing better drivers. Now new immigrants will just be able to go to the DMV and convert their valid foreign drivers license to an Israeli license without going through the lesson and test procedure. The foreign license will have to have been valid for at least 5 years in order to be converted like this. this one is a big deal.
There are still a lot of uncertainties and questions as to how this will work, but hopefully that will be cleared up soon. Will it apply to people who have already gone through the procedure and failed the exam - will they now be able to get the Israeli license without further testing or are they up a creek because the failed exam is on their record? Will this apply only going forward or also to new immigrants already here under the old system?

This will ease the pain for many people, and thank you to whomever lobbied to get this done.

don't say you weren't warned...

Oftentimes, or at least sometimes, divorces can get pretty nasty. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, one spouse might use dirty tactics to get an upper hand, such as making false claims against the other that can result in restraining orders.

The beis din in Tel Aviv has issued a psak that would take away her "kesuba money" and her alimony for making a false claim against her husband.

The specific case they were dealing with involved a Real Estate Broker and his wife a Veterinarian, with two children.

Mr Real Estate filed for divorce, and Mrs Veterenarian filed to reject divorce and demand shlom bayit counseling, as a tactical move to get the upper hand, as if she is willing to stay married and work out the issues, when she really was not.

At some point she filed a complaint (probably that he was abusive, but it does not specify what her accusation was) with the police and he was removed from the house for 5 days, which she then had extended by the courts for 90 days.

After some investigation by the police, the case was closed against him due to lack of any evidence. They also discovered that she has previously threatened to make false claims against him. And they discovered that in the past she had demanded a divorce numerous times, so they realized her demand now for shlom bayit counseling was simply a tactical move - to get a better financial settlement in her favor.

With this background, the beis din decided that she should be punished for making false claims against her husband. The punishment is that the divorce must happen and she loses her alimony and her "kesuba". A beis din in Haifa recently also decided similarly that if a false claim is made by any party in divorce proceedings, that party is causing significant damage and will lose out.
source: Haredim10

many Arabs are still protesting the installation of magnetometers at the entry to Har Habayit and are refusing to enter to pray. to that end, they held prayer services just outside the entrance.

Pretty soon they'll have their own version of the Kotel and insist it is a holy site for prayer and worship. Or maybe they'll demand ours.

A divorce case in beis din between a haredi husband and wife revolved around the usage of a smartphone.

It seems the husband does not like that his wife allows their son to use a smartphone, and for that he is divorcing her.

Husband says boy (11 years old) is addicted to the smartphone, and it is his wife's fault.
Wife, a clinical psychologist, says boy is not addicted to the phone, but he simply uses it like any normal child. She says it enriches his life. He uses it for his homework, and he uses it all the time as any child does. He eats with it and he sleeps with it.

her claim that this is normative does not sound reasonable to me - she says he uses it like any normal kid, while he eats with it and sleeps with it. That isn't a sign of being addicted? especially for a young boy that does not sound healthy. If he isn't addicted to it yet, it is surely heading down that path.

Husband stands strong and says the smartphone is poison to intellect and to faith and it must be cut off.

Wife claims that even in parts of the Haredi community, filtered smartphones, kosher smartphones, are allowed, and she has this phone monitored and controlled as to what he has access to and what he does not have access to.

At some point Husband asked the neighborhood rabbi to intervene and pasken to the wife that she must cooperate and put the child in therapy to break the smartphone addiction. Wife refused the demand, said the rav should educate his own kids and not her's and that she won't throw away money on that.

This fighting over the child's use of the phone led to the filing for divorce. Beis Din so far isn't allowing it, as she wants to go through "shlom bayit" counseling and the husband also says she is a good wife besides for this specific issue. Beis Din therefore says that there must be a way to resolve the issue of the phone and divorce is not an option right now.
source: Maariv

It seems like divorce is the extreme nuclear option here, and in truth it would not even help, as she could still give her son the phone to use when he spends his time with her (whether it is most of the time or even if only half the time)...

It is a shame that a good marriage, that they both seem to say they have, has to be destroyed over such an issue and the two can't find a way to work out some sort of compromise...

interesting..

Operation Good Neighbor is a mission of compassion for those in need and of hope for a better, more secure border between Israel and Syria. Over the past six years, we’ve seen war destroy the lives of Syrian civilians. We couldn’t stand by and watch. While carrying out Operation Good Neighbor, we’ve had the honor of meeting our neighbors and hearing their stories.

this is a picture from yesterday, not from last Sukkos.

I had seen a flyer last Shabbos for the "hilula" of Shimshon HaGibor. It would be commemorated by a group of mekubalim with a ceremony including circling the grave with the 4 species (lulav, esrog, hadasim and aravos).

I do not know why - not why in general (ie.e why circle a grave with lulav and esrog) nro why specifically the grave of Shimshon (i.e. I have never seen this ceremony, or it advertised, by other graves).

Nor do I know where they can even get a lulav and esrog in Israel at this time of the year.