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.

The Supreme Court issued an important decision today that significantly changes society. Or maybe it reflects a significant change in society.

The Supreme Court today decided that divorced parents of children (between the ages of 6-15) will both need to pay child support and split it each according to his or her financial capabilities.

Until now the father always paid child support to the mother, no matter if the mother had greater financial means or earning power than he did, or not.

To me this makes sense and fits today's world far more than it did previously. Today women work and often the wife might earn more money than the husband (about as often as the husband earns more than the wife), and it makes sense that the wife should contribute equally (from a sense of equal responsibility) as the husband.

As has been pointed out, this is not just making the women pay, but it is recognizing their role, or at least another stage in recognizing their role, in society today as being equal to men and not just as a recipient from her husband.

A[nother] sad day in the [Israeli] rabbinate.

Rav Avraham Yosef, Chief Rabbi of Holon, has come to a plea arrangement with the prosecutors and has agreed to step down from his position as well as removing himself from his position in the Rabbanut Religious Council. As well, he agrees to not submit his name for any public position for a period of 7 years. To remind you, Rav Yosef was convicted of promoting his families kashrut business over others using his position of chief rabbi to pressure people to take on that hechsher, thus his conviction for breach of trust. This was actually his second conviction for the same issue, as his first, for the same breach of trust, was during his days as a municipal politician on the city of Ohr Yehuda.

Rav Yosef gives a wonderful halacha shiur on the radio, and that is my exposure to him. For a long time I listened to that shiur regularly, and it is very interesting and he has a clear expertise and control of the materiel according to various customs and not just for sefardim (or for any one specific group). And he speaks nicely and is pleasant to listen to.

This is another stain, in a long line of recent black marks, on the [Israeli] Rabbinate.

Sometimes it happens that a city rabbi dies or retires and no new rabbi is appointed for a very long time. Sometimes this happens because of fighting among the politicians involved as to the identity of the new rabbi, and other times because of apathy to the issue or even because of finances as a city that might feel less of a pressing need for a new rabbi prefers to save that salary.

MK Betzalel Smotritch (Habayit Hayehudi) is proposing a new law that would require elections for a new city rabbi within 6 months of the post being vacated. The process would have to begin within 60 days of when the local council head approaches the Minister of Religious Affairs, kicking off a four month election process.
source: Srugim

There are debates raging as to which political party this would benefit most in future rabbinical appointments.

Whichever party that might turn out to be, the debate itself is an indication that the entire process is faulty. The city rabbi is meant to be there to help the residents and the city, not the politicians. If the appointment process is being done in a way that is something for the politicians to fight over and benefit from, there is something wrong with the process.

Coming soon to the 2017 Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal (July 26-29 2017), Elon Gold chatted with Jewlicious about Comedy and Jews. And bagels. And circumcisions. And Jewish babies! 

Naftali Bennett posted the following story from Galit Itchoub (sp?):
It is exactly 9:24am. I go down to the Binyamina train station, and this is the picture in front of me. I go down to the station to wait for my bus and before me I see another woman photographing something and out of curiosity go look to see what is happening. I ask her what is happening and she tells me the soldier over there noticed that this elderly woman is holding up a newspaper to provide some shade form the hot sun, and she is tiring out form holding it up over her head. So the soldier decided to take the paper and stand there and help her, despite it causing him to be late to returning to his army base. Despite the fact that he too is hot. Despite the fact that he too is tired., And, he decided to wait there until her bus would arrive and only then go on and do what he needed to do.
Galit continues that she was speechless and got very emotional. She says, I don't know who you are but you are surely a good and fabulous person and there should be many more like you!
Bennett himself adds compliments to the IDF and its soldiers.

I am really not sure what to do with this. It is a prime example of misusing "halachic" (for lack of a better word) decisions for political purposes.

In light of the decision by Israel to add metal detectors to the Muslim entrance to Har Habayit, the Muslims have been protesting and refusing to go on to Har Habayit and conduct their prayers. In addition, the Mufti of Jerusalem, in an attempt to strengthen the position of the boycott, announced his "psak" that anybody who concedes and goes through the new security measures of Israel and agrees to be checked by the metal detectors and then goes on to pray, his prayers will have been blocked by the metal detectors and will not be accepted by Allah.

The Mufti has since retracted this statement or said he was misunderstood or he did not say quite that...

In the meantime, anonymous people in Israel's government have said the Arabs should take the same position regarding the metal detectors stationed at the entrance to the Bituach Leumi offices and should refuse to go in and collect their money.