Some secrets were meant to be kept, and some secrets were meant to be leaked.

I don't know how long this secret has been kept under wraps, but considering the release of 104 terrorists was only announced a few days ago, the secret deal between PM Netanyahu and Habayit Hayehudi cannot have existed for very long.

It seems that they had a secret arrangement by which Habayit Hayehudi would support the release of the 104 terrorists, in exchange for the construction in Judea and Samaria of thousands of additional housing units.

Habayit Hayehudi has not confirmed the secret deal, which was given an awful lot of exposure for something so secret, and has said that they are constantly demanding continued construction of additional housing in Judea and Samaria, and they voted unanimously against the decision to release terrorists. Other anonymous Habayit Hayehudi officials said that the secret deal is what allowed the release to pass fairly quietly - even though Habayit Hayehudi voted against, they did let it pass quietly without making much of a ruckus.

The exposure of a secret deal like this is surely not going to be viewed upon favorably by those working on peace negotiations, specifically John Kerry who has done a lot to bring the Palestinians to the table, nor to the Palestinians themselves, who will likely exploit this to halt the negotiations (even though there never was an official building freeze since the 10 month freeze a few years ago) that have hardly begun, and the Left wing politicians in Israel who point to it as an indication that the PM is trying to undermine the negotiations right from the start - even though no building freeze was made conditional for the start of negotiations.

Either way, some people just can't keep a secret. Unless they never intended to..

Some people are just idiots.

Some people just were not raised right.

photo taken from Gil Tevet's twitter account

picture on all Israeli news media today

The first picture posted above is of some idiot not raised right who is having a barbecue on the monument established in memory of Udi Goldwasser and Eldad Regev , soldiers who were abducted by Lebanon-Hezbollah that led to the Second Lebanon War. Not only is he barbecuing and picnicking on the memorial site, he is using the metal parts of the memorial itself to open his bottle of beer. Maybe his being such an idiot is the reason he is out picnicking all by himself...

The second picture above is of a group of teens (some news sites say families, but I only teens in the picture), also idiots - even bigger idiots than most teenagers - swimming in the memorial established in memory of the 73 victims of the tragic helicopter crash in the village of She'ar Yashuv 16 years ago. The plaques in the water bear the names of the victims.

According to reports, passers-by told the swimmers that the place is a memorial and they should be sensitive to the emotions of the families of the victims and stop swimming there, to which the one of the swimmers responded that they know what the place is and they have no problem swimming. The proper memorial is to light candles and say tehillim, which is what we do, while water does nothing to lift up the neshama of the dead and there is nothing holy about the site. He then told the kids to continue swimming, saying "I pay taxes just like you and will do what I want here".

In another instance, the other day a woman was reportedly spat upon in Ashdod when passing near a yeshiva while dressed immodestly. The yeshiva is located in a general area, not the center of the haredi neighborhood (not that that would justify it either, but in this instance she was in her own area).

The incident has been defended by people saying she was wrong for walking that way, even though she is there every day, according to reports, taking her sister to the kindergarten nearby, because once the yeshiva was built in their neighborhood, everybody around has to conform to favor the preferences of the yeshiva. According to some people, only religious people have rights, which they rightfully demand to be afforded, and must be treated with respect, but other people do not have the right to be treated with basic human dignity.

Some people are just idiots.

This might just be the craziest story of the day, probably even of the week, maybe even of the month and year..

A Kenyan has filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice in The Hague against Italy and Israel for the wrongful death of Jesus.

From the Jerusalem Post:

A Kenyan lawyer has filed a petition with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, suggesting that the trial and crucifixion of Jesus Christ was unlawful, and The State of Israel among others should be held responsible, Kenyan news outlet the Nairobian reported on Friday.
Dola Indidis, a lawyer and former spokesman of the Kenyan Judiciary is reportedly attempting to sue Tiberius (Emperor of Rome 42 BC-37AD), Pontius Pilate, a selection of Jewish elders, King Herod, the Republic of Italy and the State of Israel.
"Evidence today is on record in the bible, and you cannot discredit the bible," Indidis told Kenyan Citizen News. 
Yes, those he suggests should have been convicted during the original trial have not been alive for more than 2000 years, however Indidis insists that the government for whom they acted can and should still be held responsible.
“I filed the case because it’s my duty to uphold the dignity of Jesus and I have gone to the ICJ to seek justice for the man from Nazareth,” Indidid told the Nairobian. “His selective and malicious prosecution violated his human rights through judicial misconduct, abuse of office bias and prejudice.”
Indidis apparently named the states of Italy and Israel in the lawsuit because upon the attainment of independence, the two states incorporated the laws of the Roman Empire, those in force at the time of the Crucifixion.
He is challenging the mode of questioning used during Jesus' trial, prosecution, hearing and sentencing; the form of punishment meted out on him while undergoing judicial proceedings and the substance of the information used to convict him.
The case was first filed in the High Court in Nairobi, but was rejected. Indidis had then applied to have it heard at the ICJ, which, the Kenyan news website Standard Media (SDE) reported constituted a pre-trial panel that would consider his case.
Indidis says he wants to establish what crime Jesus was charged with and prays that the court decides “that the proceedings before the Roman courts were a nullity in law for they did not conform to the rule of law at the material time and any time thereafter.”
“Some of those present spat in his face, struck him with their fists, slapped him, taunted him, and pronounced him worthy of death,” Indidis also told SDE.
When Jesus died, Indidis insists he was not given an opportunity to be heard. "I am suing as a friend," he said.
Indidis insisted on the validity of his case, saying "I know with a matter of fact and truth we have a good case with a high probability of success and I hope it is done in my lifetime."
When asked about the case, a spokesperson from the IJC told legal news website Legal Cheek, "The ICJ has no jurisdiction for such a case. The ICJ settles disputes between states. It is not even theoretically possible for us to consider this case."

This Kenyan should continue to beat us at marathon running, and forget about the courts and 2000 year old cases... this whole thing is ridiculous and silly...

He is suing Italy and Israel because these two states adopted the Roman legal system? That makes two states that did not exist at the time of the crucifixion responsible for it?

In an update from the Ministry of Transportation about new train lines and schedules, one of the items is of particular interest to those of us from Bet Shemesh and Jerusalem:

The Jerusalem-Tel Aviv line, which passes through Bet Shemesh, is being upgraded and an additional four trains per day are being added to the schedule. There will also be an express train along this route that take just 1 hour and 7 minutes to travel from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv! No details of this express train yet; time of day, will it stop in bet Shemesh but not at the other stops or will it not stop at all, how many a day, but it is something to look forward to!

According to Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz, this route has seen an increase in passengers by 90%!!

Modiin people might also be interested to know that an additional train was added to the morning schedule (at 7:25 AM), and an additional train is being added from Tel Aviv to Modiin in the evenings at 16:58.

For more details of updates on other lines, see the MOT update.

Minister Katz said that the train Authority has continued to see consistent growth in use of the train systems, by 12% per year. He considers it a national objective to encourage mor epeople to use public transportation rather than private cars. Traffic jams cause millions of work hours to be wasted each year, terrible pollution, traffic accidents, parking problems, and people arrive at their destinations calmer, healthier and more productive.

I never heard of Dr. Oz until now... but welcome to Israel!

a new Maccabeats production..originally performed by Sara Bareilles

1. Where is Cinema City in Jerusalem?

2. goodbye, Bet Shemesh

3. I am anti-religious, she says

4. marry us, America

5. the Israeli half-shabbos

6. a proposal for Modiin's future - a proposal about the Chief Rabbi position that needs to be filled in modiin now that Rabbi Lau is Chief Rabbi of Israel

7. the distraction of our phones in shul

8. kashrus alert from Rav Efrati

9. why we are taking our son out of cheider

10. does coffee need a hechsher? - not real coffee, but "the coffee room"..

11. the source for 'yomin al yemei melech' song for gedolim

12. I am rooting for Bennet this fall

13. tell a yeshiva boy thank you for your service

14. why do Orthodox Jews refuse to serve in the IDF?

15. tell me something good..

16. Esser Agaroth on the Maccabiah Games

17. new rules of inheritance for Chief Rabbis in Israel

"Kosher Style"..

Kosher style refers to food that is not kosher, but it could be, or, it is similar to food that is kosher just made differently. We've all seen the restaurants in the United States that are kosher style. Some states have even banned use of the term "kosher style" in their advertising because it has been deemed to be misleading, as people don't always realize kosher style is not actually kosher.

According to MK Aliza Lavie (Yesh Atid), the reason why Poland banned shechita is because when the Prime Minister was there with his delegation, he did not insist on eating kosher food, i.e. he was fine eating non-kosher meals. When the Polish people realized kashrut is not a big deal or very important and the Jews don't really care about it, they decided they have nothing preventing them from banning it.

Somebody who had been a part of the PM's delegation on the trip to Poland denies Lavie's version of the trip and says that the food served, as always, was "kosher style", he says they ate fish (besides for people who ordered actual kosher meals), and had no connection to being the cause for the Poles banning shechita.

In his words:

“The whole visit was done, as is usually done, kosher-style. I distinctly remember we were served fish. For those members of the delegation who asked for it, and there are quite a few [in the PMO], there was proper kosher food under rabbinic [supervision].”
The kosher food was served “on separate plates, and a rabbi present made sure it was really kosher,” the official recalled.
“That’s been the standard for decades,” he noted.
The official also rejected Lavie’s suggestion that Israeli officials’ level of observance was connected to the Polish decision to outlaw kosher slaughter. “I don’t see any basis in these claims,” the official said.

I must say, "Kosher style" is not a very good defense against the accusation of eating non-kosher food, as kosher style by its very definition means the food was not kosher. Whether it actually had anything to with the Polish ban on shechita or not I have no idea. I highly doubt that with all the religious Jews and Jewish organizations that had spent many months and resources fighting the upcoming ban a delegation from Israel eating "kosher style" food is what sealed the fate.

MK Aliza Lavie

On the other hand, it seems pretty stupid for Israel to send a delegation to fight a possible ban on kosher slaughter while they themselves are eating not kosher food. Just for the spirit of what they were there in Poland to do should have been enough of a reason for them to eat only kosher food on that specific trip.

Overall it seems to me to be a non-issue. Israeli prime ministers were never careful as a policy to eat only kosher food, even when on official state business. Even if they tried to not make a big deal out of it and downplay it instead, as Yehuda Avner related about a trip Yitzchak Rabin took and tried to keep his non-kosher food out of the attention of those around to avoid a coalition crisis, they did always eat non-kosher food. They just tried not to draw attention to it. Netanyahu did no differently, as stupid as it was for the reason mentioned above.

I do find it interesting that this criticism about Netanyahu's delegation not insisting on kosher food, and blaming the shchita ban on it, came from a Member of Knesset from Yesh Atid, a party accused of being anti-religion (at best), rather than from one of the explicitly religious parties...
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NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.

Book Review: A bit of Wit, A World of Wisdom, by Yehoshua Kurland

A Bit of Wit, A World of Wisdom, is a small book in page numbers, but a big book in content. From beginning to end it has only 162 pages, but each page is a gem.

The book is easy to read and accomplishes its goal. Each essay begins with a short witty piece, and then a longer piece of wisdom expressing a lesson on life - the two pieces, the wit and the wisdom are generally connected, though in some essays more loosely than in others.

We have a rule in Judaism about starting a speech or a lesson with words of humor and wit. The humor and wit opens the readers heart and mind to then absorb the coming lesson. The wit draws the reader in and makes him or her open to further discussion. This book uses that formula. And it works. The witty pieces were very enjoyable, even though I was familiar already with some of them, and I was always curious as to what lesson would be expressed in the vein of the story or joke that had just been related.

The wisdom portions are truly wise, and even though some of them contain ideas many of us probably already know or have heard before, Kurland expresses them with a clarity and style that makes the reader open to absorbing them.

A Bit of Wit, a World of Wisdom by Yehoshua Kurland is definitely worth a read, and it will be an enjoyable and thought-provoking one!

buy A Bit of Wit, a World of Wisdom on Amazon: $13.63

buy A Bit of Wit, a World of Wisdom on Gefen: $18.95

Why does the state invest so many resources in chasing after, catching and trying terrorists, if they all go free in the end anyway? Why bother? Isn't it a shame to have to waste more money in the end on the paperwork and the buses that take them back to where they are going? Instead of raising VAT, let's just cut the defense budget....
But you should know: for every murderer who is freed, dozens of new homes will be built, in our Land of the Bible, in Judea and Samaria. That is how it is, from the dawn of Zionism: we build, they kill. Each side does what it knows best.

  -- MK Ayelet Shaked (Habayit Hayehudi)

The following image from Oliver Weiken/EPA was featured was on NBC's "This Week in Pictures".


A blast of publicity for kissing the holy ground, Jews moving to Eretz Yisrael! What a kiddush hashem!

Nefesh b'Nefesh is not mentioned, but this the result of the great work they do!

during road works by the Shar Ha'Gai interchange, supposedly a couple of graves were found. While, from what I have read, it is not yet known if they are Jewish or not (it seems other graves found in the past in the area have been determined to be Muslim), the Asra Kadisha wants to control the situation and a few of its people went down to protest and to try to stop the work..



I was impressed how the thing that scared off the protesters the most was the female police officer. I was impressed that she kept her distance and did not grab him when she was able to, just stayed in front of him to keep him back...

cute. not hilarious... truth is I did not even know people were still making these kinds of videos...

about Matti Shriki

I have a hard time defending the category of "Torasam Umanusam" when yeshiva students are seen outside of yeshivas or even in inappropriate places of entertainment. Some yeshiva students enjoy watching Euroleague basketball games of Maccabi Tel Aviv in public places, and when asked as a Haredi to explain this, I truly have no answer.
There are Thursday evenings during the winter that for specific reasons, from the city of my birth Tel Aviv, suddenly the kiosks that have colorful screens fill up, and for some reason a majority of the viewers around are from the community where many of them have hats and jackets, and some with just a shirt, but most of them have tzitzit out and black kippot. Even my [kashrut] mashgichim are ashamed to go there during those hours.
What's the difference if the blacks who are paid in Tel Aviv beat the blacks who are paid in Greece?
Also, the young haredim who are filling the intersections and tremping stations, like the Shilat junction near Modiin, even during the normal learning hours of yeshiva. How many times can I say they are on their way to hear a "chaburah"? We need to be careful. I am not talking right now about any prohibition, I am talking now about how it looks, chas v'shalom. We are in a difficult time, and you do not know how it looks to the public. If the yeshiva students would not be busy outside of the yeshiva but would show the public that learning torah really fills their lives, then most of the questions of the opponents to torah learning would not be practical.

  -- Chief Rabbi Dovid Lau, in a speech at the camp of Yeshivas Beit Matisyahu

I sure am glad that I did not vote Habayit Hayehudi in the last national elections... while not voting for them provides no guarantee that I would be saved from a trip to Hell after death, according to Rav Shalom Cohen had I voted for them I definitely would have been guaranteed that trip to Hell.

Since I will most likely end up there anyway, for one thing or another, for some period of time, maybe I should have taken advantage and voted for them!

Two weeks ago, Rav Shalom Cohen, the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Porat Yosef and a senior Shas rabbi, said in a shiur that kippa sruga people are Amalek. Many were upset and disturbed by such a statement, and Shas went on a campaign to "explain", or soften, when Rabbi Cohen said. Some politicians apologized for the misunderstanding, the words were out of context, it is not what he was referring to, he only meant the politicians, he only meant this or he only meant that. There was a symphony of explanations and apologies as to what Rabbi Cohen meant by his words.

The truth is that I find it almost insulting that they feel the need to apologize for him and to finds way to explain his words. He is being treated almost like the old senile uncle at a family affair - nobody knows quite what to do with him when he says or does crazy things, so people just smile, maybe grimace actually, and apologize. I think it is demeaning - as an important rabbi he should be responsible for his words, he should be considered to say what he means. If he thinks his words were misunderstood or taken out of context, he should explain them. He should know he is responsible for his words and be careful about what he says, or be held responsible for what he says.

So, after all the apologies and explanations, Rabbi Cohen has made them all moot, basically saying he meant what he said and he said what he meant. Rabbi Cohen has been recorded saying that anybody who voted for Habayit Hayehudi will go to Hell. And, he has no problem assuming everyone with a kippa sruga supports Bayit Yehudi, because that is how they associate themselves, unless he is told otherwise that someone did not (referring to a letter of protest he received, about which he said he would want to ask what party she voted for but assumed it was Bayit Yehudi)
(source: kikar)

In brief, stop apologizing for him and the other Shas rabbis who insult and curse everybody they do not like. Either fall in line and promote that agenda openly, or disassociate yourselves from people who say those things.

As in all previous election campaigns, despite my supporting a specific candidate, Eli Cohen in this case, for mayor of Bet Shemesh, I invite the public to write articles in support of the candidate they support and I will be happy to post them.

A Guest Post by Matan Bloch, supporting Aliza Bloch for mayor

The upcoming elections in Beit Shemesh are critically important for the future of the city. After years of mismanagement and a failure of the city to “grow up” and come of age in terms of the levels of services provided to the citizens and standards of governance, we have a unique opportunity of unity of the religious Zionist and secular communities. There is a will and determination to get it right and put one candidate forward who will be charged with turning the city around. There is a true feeling that this is our last chance to get it right and everything is resting on who gets the vote in next week’s phone survey and becomes the one candidate against Moshe Abutbul.

This is an interesting discussion I had on Twitter yesterday (in Hebrew). Tell me by the end if I was wrong or right in my line of thought.

It began when some fellow wrote, cynically:
Bringing down prices of apartments by 50% is impossible because it will hurt the wealthy, but releasing tens of thousands of Haredim to compete with the poor for lousy jobs at minimum wage?

To that I responded with two comments:
1. knocking real estate values down by 50% will also hurt regular homeowners who already bought apartments, not just the wealthy
2. do you therefore prefer Haredim not working and collecting welfare money from bituach Leumi? and, Haredim are a large percentage of the poor you refer to!

Regarding my 2nd point, he only answered with a brief comment, so I will mention that first. He said:
I never said that, but working in Israel today does not take one out of the cycle of poverty, even with both spouses working.

To which I agreed, and let it drop, though he did not actually respond to my point that he seems to have a problem with the fact that the government will hurt the poor by bringing Haredim into the workforce. He seems to prefer Haredim stay out of the workforce and keep collecting welfare so he can then complain that his taxes are paying for the chosen poverty of the Haredim.

The main thread developed from my first comment. I had said:
knocking real estate values down by 50% will also hurt regular homeowners who already bought apartments, not just the wealthy

to which Nitay responded:
I do not understand how this hurts a couple who bought an apartment to live in, besides for upsetting and frustrating them.

I then said:
you have reduced the value of my apartment by 50%. I have lived in my apartment for 15 years and tomorrow maybe I want to sell it and buy something a little bigger. But I cannot because my apartment is worth only half of what it was worth yesterday.

to which Nitay said:
it is worth less than when you bought it?

to which I responded:
if you bring down real estate values by 50% it will be. that is what will happen!

to which Nitay said:
considering the way home prices have risen in the last 15 years in Israel, that is not logical. and even if, the prices of the new apartments will also be cheaper by 50%, no?

to which I said:
perhaps, but maybe they will only lower property values on new and small apartments, for young couples. Also, why should I, and how would I, pay back my mortgage on a house that is now worth half the value?

to which Nitay said:
like before. your ability to repay it has not been harmed. it is upsetting, but possible.

to which I said:
you do not understand. If my apartment cost 750,000 NIS, and I took out a mortgage of 500,000 NIS, and now you deduct the value of my apartment to say 380,000 NIS, why would I pay back my mortgage? I would go bankrupt!
I should pay back a 500,000 NIS loan on a house that is now worth much less than that? I will default on my loan and let the bank foreclose my house. the whole system will crash, like it did in the US.

After that he no longer responded.

so, what do you think? did I get it right or wrong?

This is how I have seen the problem with the social protests and the demands for the government to lower housing prices drastically. I feel bad for young couples starting out, and maybe the government should depress prices a bit. They should release land for construction all around the country, which will bring prices down in a natural way rather than artificially depressing them. The demand that the government slash housing prices though is something that might be good for young couples, but will destroy everyone else in Israel who already own a home and holds a mortgage. It would force people to default on their loans and the banks would crash from having to write off all those loans.

there is an increasing number of houses in RBS B that have such signs hanging outside them, stating iPhone owners, or owners of other phones, are not welcome in this house...

please, please, please, let me in! Photo courtesy of Ephraim Gopin

every time I pass by such signs I wonder:
what is so desirable in this house that makes them think iphone owners are interested in going in to see? Why do they think I am interested in going in, that they feel they must explicitly uninvite me?

Now, I might be tempted to go in if they had unfiltered internet access available for everybody who dropped by. But, assuming that they do not, they have yet to tell me what I am missing, and what I would gain from their house if I would be willing to give up my phone..

hang in there for Yishai Fleisher...

This video was made at the Beit Knesset Beit Tefillah Yona Avraham 8th annual Yarchei Kallah learrning in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel and 1st annual Cook-off of the bunks of Camp Landau High. It is a parody on Yahoo's Blue Ribbon Hunter.

Bechadrei has posted some interesting questions about vacation asked of Rav Shteinman in the past days..

 - Can someone who has a non-kosher cellphone (iPhone and the like) or unfiltered Internet access at home be counted for a minyan?
 Rav Shteinman: even a mechalel shabbos can be counted for a minyan

  - What to do in order to merit not having a spiritual decline during the vacation?
 Rav Shteinman: learn a lot every day and plan to finish a small tractate during the vacation

  - Grandparents of married grandchildren that invite the entire extended family over for Shabbos, should he make a mechitza and keep men and women separate?
 Rav Shteinman: cousins are according to halacha able to marry and are not considered related, so they must be kept separate.

  - An avreich who was in a public area and a secular fellow attacked him and was beating him up - can the avreich scream curses mentioned in the Torah at the secular guy in order to chase him off?
 Rav Shteinman: of course it is allowed.

  - A kohen that lives in the center of the country where the priestly blessing is said daily, finds himself in the north where the priestly blessing is not said daily by ashkenazim - what should he do?
 Rav Shteinman: go to a Sefardic shul and do the priestly blessings there.

No matter how hard it tries, things are not falling into place for Tel Aviv's attempts to officially enable chillul shabbos.

It started with the damage to their image of being a city that doesn't stop - when the courts said that the City of Tel Aviv must do more to enforce the law and shut down the supermarkets that remain open on Shabbos. Tel Aviv has not yet complied, under the guise of "reviewing the decision", but eventually they will either have to comply or change the law, a task that won't be so easy.

Now, the petition that had been filed to try to promote the operation of public transportation on Shabbos in Tel Aviv is being pulled.

MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) was the one who was behind the petition with the Ministry of Transportation. She has now pulled it because of the City's decision to stop pursuing the operation of bus lines and to make do, for now, with the compromise solution of operating taxi vans to drive the bus routes.

Zandberg insists that despite pulling the petition she has not changed her opinion on what needs to be done in Tel Aviv on Shabbos, it is just an attempt to re-evaluate the legal procedures at use.
(source: Ynet)

Call it what you will, but the fact is that for now Tel Aviv has taken a big hit in its attempts at officially mandating chillul shabbos.

Yuri Foreman, the Lion of Zion, is back to his winning ways!

Orthodox Boxer Yuri Foreman had another bout last week in which he dominated his opponent, Jamaal Davis, and won. Foreman is making a comeback after 2 years off recovering from a knee injury, and he wants to make a run for winning his world title back.

from Brooklyn's Daily Eagle:

Unbeaten in his first 29 career fights, Brooklyn's own Yuri Foreman felt his right knee buckle in the ring in the biggest bout of his career.
It was the seventh round of his WBA super welterweight championship defense against Miguel Cotto during the headline event of the first boxing card at the new Yankee Stadium on June 5, 2010.
Though he was more than game to continue fighting on one leg, Foreman's trainer Joe Grier had seen enough, throwing in the towel during the eighth round.
Following the defeat, Foreman was asked if he hoped to continue boxing.
"I'm a world champion – now a former world champion – and you don't just quit ... A world champion needs to keep on fighting," Foreman insisted.
True to his word, the 32-year-old product of our borough's historic Gleason's Gym has done just that, and with impressive results.
In his third fight, and first eight-rounder, since taking more than two years off due to the knee injury, Foreman scored his latest decisive win in the ring, taking a unanimous decision from Philadelphia's Jamaal Davis on Wednesday night at Manhattan's Roseland Ballroom.
By winning each and every round, the former champion put himself into position to move back into the upper echelon of 154-pound pugilists, though he has not yet indicated whom he'll be fighting next.
Since losing to Cotto, Foreman, known as the first Orthodox Jew to hold a world title in the ring since Barney Ross in 1935, has won a pair of local bouts, including a six-round decision over Brandon Baue in New York City back in January.
In his first fight after his knee surgery, Foreman (30-2, 8 KOs) lost to Pawel Wolak at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. But even that defeat didn't stop the former New York Golden Gloves champion from pursuing his lifelong dream.
Now boxing under the flag of DiBella Promotions, Foreman hopes to continue his quest to recapture a world title in the coming months.
Remembering how bravely he continued to fight on one leg against Cotto that fateful night in the Bronx, it's hard to bet, or root, against the man with the Star of David emblazoned on his trunks.

Even ESPN gave Foreman a good review and says he is ready for a comeback and is back to his peak performance level.

.. this week we also passed in the Knesset, it's first reading, the "Sharing the Burden" law. The Haredim, understandably turned the discussion into a circus, during which they sang and danced, blew shofar, tore their shirts, and at the height of the event MK Porush chained himself with handcuffs to the Knesset podium. The ushers worked hard and were able to release him, but I want to say as a liberal supporting the rights of citizens, I protest that strongly. If Porush wanted to chain himself to the podium with handcuffs, he should have been left there...

... I admit that I was not especially involved in the elections for the Chief Rabbinate, but the selection of 2 Orthodox rabbis disturbs me. There are other streams in Judaism - Knitted Kippa, Reform, Conservative and others - it is a shame that now we will have 10 more years of stagnation

  -- Minister of Finance Yair Lapid, in his weekly update to Yesh Atid members

the first paragraph I quoted is just funny. the second is interesting in that he relates to the Kippa Sruga community as being not-Orthodox, as being an alternate stream of Judaism. He probably should have used the word "Haredi" instead of "Orthodox", but that is what he said..

Zionist sharks, Zionist seals, Zionist eagles.. the Arabs regularly seem to think that Israel has mobilized the animal kingdom to work on its behalf. Now they caught a Kestrel they suspected of being a Zionist spy.

A Kestrel is a type of bird from the Falcon family.

This small kestrel flew into Turkish airspace and was picked up by enraged Turks. They suspected it of being an Israeli spy because it was tagged with a metal band with the words "24311 Tel Avivunia Israel". The bird was immediately arrested.

According to some Turkish newspaper, authorities conducted x-rays to determine if the bird was carrying any secret microchips. After no microchips were discovered, the bird was cleared of any crime and was set free.

Turkish authorities have cleared a renegade bird captured in the Ağın district of the eastern province of Elazığ of suspicions of working for Israel's state-of-the-art intelligence agency.
Residents of Altınavya village became suspicious that the little kestrel could be more than a bird that lost its way when they found it wore a metallic ring stamped with the words "24311 Tel Avivunia Israel," and delivered it to the district governorate. 
Local authorities submitted the bird to careful medical examinations to ensure that it did not carry microchips. An X-ray test carried out at Fırat University in Elazığ finally convinced the authorities that the bird was just a simple specimen of Israeli wildlife. However, the X-ray showed the initial degree of suspicion, as the bird had been registered under the name "Israeli spy" by medical personnel.
Tagging birds is a common practice in ornithology as it helps scientists track bird migration routes.
Following the tests, the authorities decided not to press official charges and the falsely accused bird was free to fly away.

The big question is if they are going to try to start convincing all sorts of animals to avoid Israel as part of the BDS movement.

I don't get it.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu just announced that he will be releasing 104 terrorists from Israeli jails. These are terrorists with blood on their hands. He will be releasing them as a gesture to get the Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

While I think this is a bad idea, that is not the point of my post. The newspapers and digital media are full of explanations as to why this is a bad idea, why it won't lead to peace, why it is paying such a heavy price with receiving nothing in return, etc.

My point is this - Last week Netanyahu let everybody know that he had made a demand from the United States. Netanyahu demanded/requested in exchange for releasing Palestinians in Israeli jails to jump-start negotiations, that they release Jonathan Pollard. The United States said no.

I said that I hoped Netanyahu then would have responded by saying so we won't release Palestinians. Obviously he did not.

Netanyahu is clearly not a very good negotiator. if he is going to give up the entire prize with getting nothing in return, what was the basis for his demand from the Americans to start with? What was he offering them in return for Pollard's release if he was going to free the Palestinians anyway, regardless of their answer to his demand? Was his demand just lip service? Did he bring it up only so he could then come back to show the upset Israelis that at least he tried? I don't even call that trying.

I hope when they all come back and sit around the table and start negotiating again that Netanyahu will do a bit better of a job making demands and responding to demands. If this is an indication of how he is going to negotiate, the results are already known - Israel will [offer to] give up a lot and demand nothing in return. Our only hope is that the Palestinians continue to refuse as they have consistently done in the past with only achieving a number of goodwill gestures along the way.

A Guest Post by Rav Yakov Horowitz, cross-posted

bowling, or as we say it in Hebrew - bowwwwling, is coming to Bet Shemesh?