ok..

wow, interviewee on kol b'rama refuses to say his name b/c of ayin harah. said that as long as ayin harah doesn't know his name, he's safe
— Ben Waxman (@benwaxman) April 30, 2014

before Pesach I posted about a package of bread crumbs that had been purchased with the label already stating it was baked after pesach 2014. Some people considered that perhaps, instead of deception or a mistaken label, perhaps the label was just being read wrong. They suggested the "baked after" was referring to last Pesach (2013), and the date was the date of expiry of the product.

Did not seem realistic to me, but ok. maybe.

here is an image that just came in to me of a different product with a similar problem. but the labeling on this is much clearer.

you be the judge:


from the sticker on the top right corner it is clear they are claiming it was baked after Pesach 2014. From the sticker on the top left corner one can see that they were selling these on erev pesach at a special price..

once again, a product baked after Pesach that was miraculously being sold before Pesach...

And, another comment, it clearly is not just an Israeli issue. These "chocolate bites" are an American product being sold in the USA...

a new entertainment center is being built in Jerusalem.. Planet YES. The owner of the complex says it WILL be open on Shabbos. The mayor says this will not affect its policy regarding Cinema City - Cinema City is built no State land and the City can prevent it from opening on Shabbos, while Planet YES is being built on private land and the City can do nothing about it.

this is very cool

with musical accompaniment..

• What really happens in synagogue on Shabbos morning.
• INSPIRED by LES MISERABLES & 40 YEARS OF SHUL
• WRITTEN & DIRECTED by DAVID COLEMAN
• LIVE MUSIC: SANDRA FRIEDMAN & JOSHUA NESBITT
• LIGHTING: MARTIN KISNER & GARY NESBITT
• SOUND: RICK SARSON
• PRODUCTION & EQUIPMENT: PARAMOUNT PRODUCTIONS
• FILMING: UNATTENDED CAMERAS
• CAMERAS KICKED by WANDERING AUDIENCE MEMBERS (BLESS)
• EDITED by DAVID COLEMAN

SYNOPSIS
A family which doesn't go to synagogue very often, arrives to celebrate the son's bar mitzvah. But, alas, the boy was taught the wrong parsha (reading). Mum is dressed inappropriately and Dad's mobile phone gets involved at the wrong moment.

Every kosher food item imported into Israel must undergo inspection by the Rabbanut of Israel and receive their approval and certification of kashrut, despite already bearing the kashrut certification of foreign entities, no matter how "accepted" or stringent the foreign certifying agency may be.

Some say that this certification process by the Rabbanut on imported foods is redundant, superfluous and costly. Why not rely on perfectly acceptable foreign kashrut organizations that are accepted by even the most Ultra-Orthodox groups abroad rather than run the process from scratch, or from close to scratch, a second time?

A proposal is being explored by which the Rabbanut would no longer certify imported foods that already bear kashrut certification. This would cut import costs by as much as 35% (such as on hard cheeses), and those savings would be passed on to the consumer (mostly, I guess).

source: Haaretz (premium link)

The Finance Ministry is currently in talks with Deputy Religious Services Minister Eli Ben Dahan (Habayit Hayehudi), in an attempt to reach a groundbreaking agreement that would liberalize the requirements regarding the recognition of food imported into Israel as kosher.
The move follows other efforts by the government to lower customs duties on some imported food to increase competition in the local food sector, and in the process lower food prices. Strict standards imposed by the Israeli Chief Rabbinate when it comes to recognition of food as kosher (meaning that it complies with Jewish dietary practice) are considered a major obstacles to the importing of cheaper food.
Currently, the Chief Rabbinate insists on recertifying imported food that has kashrut certification from rabbis abroad, meaning that without such approval, the merchandise will not be sold in kosher supermarkets. Although nonkosher food is also sold around the country, the largest supermarket chains sell only kosher merchandise. A major exception is Tiv Taam, which has carved out a niche as a nonkosher food retailer.
In the current contacts between the finance and religious services ministries, the possibility is being explored of enabling the Chief Rabbinate to accept foreign kashrut certification without requiring that the Rabbinate itself confirm that products are kosher. Sources close to the negotiations say it is absurd for the Chief Rabbinate to insist on recertifying the kosher status of imported food, when even the Health Ministry relies on the approval of foreign agencies when it comes to imported food or medicines rather than sending representatives of its own abroad. As an example, they cite the fact that ultra-Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn eat cheese from Philadelphia that was certified kosher in the Pennsylvanian city, saying the same should apply also to consumers in Israel.
Major cheese importers cite instances in which kashrut supervisors have inspected the cowsheds from which milk is produced abroad rather than sufficing with an inspection of the dairies that produce the cheese. Such inspections are expensive and involve extensive bureaucracy, to the extent that many dairy product producers abroad simply prefer not to sell in Israel. That in turn limits the range of kosher food available in the country and curbs competition in the retail food sector.
The kashrut inspection requirements for the importation of hard cheese increases the cost of the cheese to the Israeli consumer by some 35%, Israeli cheese importers say, and as a result they are not sold at prices that provide competition with locally produced hard cheese.                            

I don't know if this is good or bad. The Rabbanut's goal is to ensure at least a minimum standard of kashrut. Can they really contract that job out to other agencies? If they do, why not do the same within Israel as well? Why require double-kashrut on Israeli made foods, such as if a manufacturer or restaurant wants a Badatz hechsher, it is required to first obtain a Rabbanut hechsher and then it can add the Badatz (for example) in addition to that of the Rabbanut? Why rely on the OU or the Chaf-K but not Rabbi Rubin, Kehilot, the OU Israel or Rav Mahfoud (among others)?

Obviously they would have to come up with a list of acceptable agencies abroad (perhaps they can use the CRC's recommended list as a guide). Not every kashrut agency is reliable and they could not just make a rule to accept foreign kashrut as a given - just like they keep a list of which rabbis are acceptable to declare the Jewishness of a person applyng for aliyah, or a list of rabbinical courts abroad that perform acceptable conversions, they would have to work out a list of acceptable kashrut agencies. Any food imported with a hechsher from an agency not on the approved list would require the Rabbanut to check out the product and certify it independently of the foreign agency.

What do you think? Can it work? Is it a bad idea?

Yeshiva University Mens' Tennis Team Makes it to NCAA Playoffs

  -- INN

Congrats to the YU tennis team!

interesting story..

MISSION CAPRA from DANIELROOSFOTOGRAFIE on Vimeo.

Egged made a nice gesture. They often do. All on their own. No obligation, not required by the State or by the details of their contract..

Around holiday time Egged often puts nice messages on their bus displays wishing the public happy Pesach, a good week, a happy Sukkot, etc.

This year they came up with a new one. They were displaying on [some of] their buses the daily count of the Omer.

Very nice. A nice small touch that gives a Jewish atmosphere in the public sphere. It is also a nice reminder for someone who might have forgotten to count, but mostly it is just a nice touch.

After an article appeared on News1 criticizing Egged for the sefirat haomer display, Egged has decided to pull it.

Idan Yosef wrote "Yosef wrote that Egged needed to avoid presenting “irrelevant information” on its digital signs. “Public transportation cannot be allowed to present information that ignores entire populations,” he wrote. “Including a message that says 'Happy Holiday'” is problematic, “but it can be accepted, as long as it appears on Israel Independence Day and is shown on buses in hareidi population centers."
 source: INN

It is a shame that:
a. one stinking article can generate enough noise to make Egged decide to withdraw the program.
b. that some people are so against anything that appears too Jewish in the public sphere.

If a specific community does not want the signs, they can approach egged and have it stopped in their areas. There is no religious coercion involved.

In the meantime, you can write to Egged, if you are so inclined, on their contact page. And, someone started a Facebook page calling on Egged to bring back the Omer count on the buses.

The only question left open, perhaps for rabbinic consideration, is if they decide to restart the Omer display, can they do so with a bracha or only without because they missed a couple of days?

As you can see, the JPost has gotten so good at reporting, they even now can report things before they happen!

(it is not photoshopped. an intrepid reporter (SB) sent this to me before 10am)

looking through the various websites today, one can see that the national pasttime is in full gear, and everyone is participating.

The secular media is looking for religious and Haredi people who did not treat the day (Yom HaShoa) with proper respect, either via barbecuing in the park somewhere or not standing for the siren... and the religious press is looking for secular people who did not treat the day with proper respect, via playing basketball in the park or not standing for the siren or whatever.

It is good to see the annual national custom of Yom HaShoah has not been abandoned.

Like the story of the shul that every year the membership would argue whether the custom of the shul is to sit or stand when the Ten Commandments were read from the Torah. Eventually an observer said let's find the oldest guy who was a founder of the shul and ask him what the minhag is.

They locate Yankel in a nursing home somewhere and pay him a visit. The gabbai asks old Yankel if he remembers the original custom.

Yankel asks what happened in shul last week. The gabbai describes the scene - they stood up and the others screamed at them, the others remained seated and the standers screamed at them..

Yankel thought for a moment and said - that is the minhag! We fight about it every year.

some music, some tefilla, some Holocaust survivors

While the hat-box mount is cool, I am surprised by it - I mean, since when do Chabadniks take their hats off?

an initiative for a new Israeli tradition - 10 days of thanks, in the ten days leading up to Yom HaAtzmaut...

I had plenty of respect for MK Ruth Calderon (Yesh Atid).I lost it all after this.

I have not known what to do with this information. I have been sitting on it for a while now, considering it, since it was publicized right before Pesach, but I haven't known what to say about it.

Here it is.

A survey was conducted, by Israel's top pollsters, about haredi-hiloni relations. The results are found to be astounding by some, though it barely generated any discussion. Mishpacha dealt with it intensively in their Pesach edition of their newspaper-magazine, but besides for that, it went almost unnoticed.

Here is the salient points of the poll, courtesy of Channel 10:
* 90% think the Jewish identity of the State needs to be safeguarded
* 48% wouldnt care if their daughter married a gentile
*27% think their is nothing positive about the qualities of the haredi community
* 6% pointed out about chessed of the haredi community being unique
* 77% think that the lifestyle of the haredi community does nothing to help safegaurd the jewish nature of the State.
* 73% think Yair Lapid has not targeted the haredim in any way
* 85% are aware of the "million man rally" of the haredi community but nobody could identify the point of the rally
* 49% think the educational system doesnt do enough to safeguard the Jewish identity of the State
* 89% want their kids to know more about Jewish tradition and ancient Jewish values
* 63% think a minister in the government should not refuse to sit with haredim
* 82% of secular employers say they would hire haredim
* 93% think there should be dialogue between haredim and hilonim
* 77% of secular say they personally know a haredi person. 85% of those people have a positive impression of that acquaintance.
* 62% of workplaces dont have any haredim
* 62% of secular would not mind living in the same neighborhood as haredim
* of those that already live near haredim, 77% see no problem living near haredim

Mishpacha had publicized some more details from the survey, and they all pointed to the same trend. Most people are basically ambivalent to the Haredim. People care about them very little. there is very little hatred towards them. Mostly ambivalence and unfamiliarity.

I have not known what to say because this poll basically supports everythign I have always said about haredi-hiloni relations. The hilonim, largely and with exception, don't hate haredim. They don't know about them, they don't think about them, they dont care about them. But they dont hate them.

This reminds of something I was once told in the name of a Reform Rabbi who personally became Orthodox (in Chicago). He was asked what, from hsi days as a Reform rabbi, they had thought of the orthodox community. His response was that they rarely thought about the, He said the Orthodox are such a small percentage of the Jewish population that they are basically irrelevant. At times, issues came up, but on a day to day basis, people just did not think about them.

Mishpacha dealt with the ramifications of the survey, exploring the whys and hows of what to them was surprising information. They did come to one interesting conclusion - that almost all haredi pr and publications are only internal - nobody else is getting the message. All that Haredi PR is almost completely "patting ourselves on the back".

A lot of blame for perceived hatred was heaped on the media and some activists.

One thing I think they did not broach, and I think this might be a large part of why the haredi community thinks they are always under attack, is politics. Specifically haredi politics.

To explain briefly, I have been in Israel over 25 years. I do not remember a single election in which the haredi politicians did not campaign on the theme of this being the most important election ever with the entire israeli system ready to attack the haredim and their lifestyle and everyone must rally around the haredi party to protect the community. I think, in addition to blaming others who have some part in the role of the perception of hatred and anger, haredi politicians bear some blame as well. They rile things up, even if just internally, creating an impression of victimhood, in order for people to rally around them.

sometimes you hear a story, maybe follow it for a while, and then you don't hear the ending. Often you don't hear the ending. This post is nothing more than the ending of an old story.

A few years ago, Life in Israel followed the story of a haredi couple that competed on "The Biggest Loser". The stated goal of Fishi and Mali Berkovitz was to lose enough weight to conceive a child. They competed, even under much communal criticism, and made it to the late rounds of the show.

And that was the story. After they were eliminated, we never heard from the again. Or at least I didn't. Like most contestants in reality tv shows, they went their way and were quickly forgotten.

The end of the story just came in. I saw a notice online somewhere that Fishi and Malki just gave birth to their first baby, a boy, after 10 years of marriage.

Mazel tov.

In what is perhaps one of the most insane things I have seen in a fairly long time, extremist thugs went berserk and destroyed a shul in Bet Shemesh.

If I leave it at that, you might be left with the impression that it was the shul hosting a womens minyan, or perhaps a shul of "amalekites" - aka dati leumi, or perhaps the shul of some egalitarian group.. but that would be wrong. They destroyed a haredi shul, hassidic shul specifically, in the haredi neighborhood of Nahala uMenucha (a.k.a. the kiryah haharedit).

According to Kikar, here is what happened...
The "Nitra" shul, formerly a Satmar shul, is a shul used only on Shabbos. For some unknown (to me) reason, this shul has been targeted by some local askanim as one that should be shut down.

According to the claims, the shul was being used during the week, unofficially of course, by bochurim who would sit there surfing the Internet on their iphones and other non-kosher cellphones. At some point, one of the askanim got the keys and decided he would make surprise visits to see what was going on and catch them in the act.

The other day, this askan went into the shul on one of his surprise visits and caught a group of bochurim using a laptop.

I find the rest of this irrelevant, because what exactly they were doing makes no difference in whether or not he was justified in vandalizing, actually destroying, the shul. But, to continue the story, they claimed the laptop had no internet access, and was actually the personal laptop of the Admor of Nitra - they claim to be doign work for the admor, organizing his divrei torah.

The askan reportedly went berserk when he saw them on the laptop. When they showed him what they were doing, he screamed at them that they are ruining the neighborhood and all the tragedies that happen are because of them. He then went berserk and smashed windows and destroyed the entire shul (you can see some video in the Kikar article).

The Admor of Nitra, when he heard about the incident, cried about it and cursed the people who destroyed the shul with an "unusual death".

Best comment I heard? On Facebook, from DK:

They came for Orot, and noone protested, then they came for Satmar, and there was no one left to protest...

As well, from Ben, maybe it is time some rabbonim consider the weight of their words when they talk about how bad iphones are. This is over the top, and is, at least partially, a result of the demonization of the iphones and their users..

Hopefully this will be the straw that breaks the camels back and maybe their own community, or those right around it, will finally do something about it...

it looks like even Yair Lapid, who threatened to leave the coalition if the peace negotiations would not be consistently in motion has come to the realization that the Palestinians are not really interested...

sefira alert, though I consider this "tefilla" rather than "music"

Modiin has had its share of up and downs in its relationship with its haredi neighbors of Modiin Ilit... Famously, Modiin tried to ban non-residents (i.e. haredi residents from nearby Modiin Ilit) from its beautiful park, Park Anabe, though that did not work out too well.

Leading up this Pesach, Modiin announced that the park equipment in Anabe would be closed to the public for safety reasons (as per the instructions of the Standards Institute)- some of the equipment had been damaged and was falling apart and had yet to be repaired.

Sure enough, some idiot has come up with a theory that "safety" was really just a ploy to keep haredim out of the park. By the end of Pesach vacation, the warning signs had been removed, prompting the theory that the entire time there were really no safety issues but was simply an attempt to keep haredim out of Modiin.
source: Kikar

The person quoted with this conspiracy theory asks if it was a safety issue, why couldn't the city fix it in time for the holiday vacation. Little does he know, that is not how cities work. They fix things a) when they get to it and b) when they have money for it. Not necessarily when it would make sense to fix. We have park equipment in Bet Shemesh for years that has been broken and remains unfixed, despite multiple vacations coming and going where it would have been nice to have those items fixed in time. Eventually the city gets to it.. or it does not.

Most surprising in this article is that it was written at all. If the fellow was an engineer or a safety expert and was making such a claim, that would be one thing. But he is not, or at least he is not quoted as being an engineer. This fellow is just an average person who probably knows nothing about equipment safety and had no opportunity to inspect the equipment. Yet he made his claim. And Kikar turned it into an article, validating his claim (to a certain extent).

Pointing it out on Facebook to friends in Modiin, it turns out the equipment was really unsafe, had been closed for a bit before Pesach, and already during Pesach it was reopened to the public and plenty of Haredim were there enjoying the equipment. As well, a number of other parks with wooden playground equipment were also shut down by the Standards Institute for being unsafe.

So, it seems this guy in Modiin Ilit had a bad day, picked the wrong day to go to the park, came up with a silly theory, and Kikar ran with it.

I had not realized how bad the situation had gotten in Tzfat, with the secular and Haredi communities opposing each other.. until recently the heated pool was opened on Shabbos. This led to protests by the Haredi community.
source: Kikar and Kooker

When that happens, everybody hunkers down in their positions, and the fight escalates. Eventually, a solution and compromise will most likely be found, probably with the pool being closed on Shabbos, but in the meantime it is a fight.


The fighting has even gotten bad enough that the police have arrested one of the members of the Committee for Safeguarding Shabbos, for possible incitement.
source: Ladaat

Will Tzfat become the "next Bet Shemesh" with sectors fighting each other over their lifestyles?

Many articles, starting with the Jerusalem Post and followed by Matzav, YWN and VIN, have written about the Har Habayit "riots" over the holiday that caused Jews to be removed from Har Habayit and basically closed the site to Jews.

Pointed out was that Rabbi Meir Yaakov Soloveitchik, Rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel, was visiting on Har Habayit with Rabbi Chaim Richman at the time and had to be evacuated after just two minutes.

What was not pointed out, and is more interesting to me, is that a Soloveitchik was on Har Habayit!

The Soloveitchik family is one that is very careful and connected to its traditions. This is true of both the American branch of the Soloveitchik family and the Israeli branch.

The Soloveitchik family, along with many of their followers, is famous for its approach on the Kotel area, where they stay away from har Habayit and don't even touch the stones of the Kotel, lest they inadvertently "enter" Har Habayit by even the slightest amount, due to the indentations of the stones or the angle of the construction (with Har Habayit beginning at the point most outward with the stones being built slightly further in, at each higher level).

That means, that Rabbi Meir Soloveitchik made a very significant move away from that tradition, which is very unusual. I don't think it is bad, and I definitely respect his decision to visit Har Habayit, but I find it interesting that he did - and this interest was was my first reaction when seeing his name associated with Har Habayit.

I find this aspect of the visit far more interesting than the discussion of how long his visit was or that he was evacuated from the Mount.

I did email Rabbi Soloveitchik about this curiosity, and await his response.

It has been reported, first by Haaretz (at least, first from among the articles that I have seen), and now by others including INN, about a newly fascinating archaeological discovery of an ancient chisel that was likely used in the construction of the Kotel, the Western Wall.

From INN:

An astonishing archaeological discovery has been made at the feet of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The find is an ancient chisel, which apparently was used by the builders of the Western Wall of the Second Temple.
Archaeologist Eli Shukrun, who managed the excavations and found the rare tool, told Arutz Sheva that the chisel is "a moving discovery." He noted that the ancient chisel, which is made of metal, is 15 centimeters (six inches) long.
"For the first time, after 2,000 years, we have a tool of the builders of the Kotel (Western Wall)," remarked Shukrun, who has dug in the City of David and the Temple Mount area for the Israeli Antiquities Authority for 19 years.
The find was reportedly made under the Davidson Center Archaeological Park right by Robinson's Arch, just to the south of the Western Wall Plaza, reports Haaretz.
Shukrun has been digging in recent years in tunnels that lead from the City of David, go under the Old City walls and end at the Western Wall, which were essentially drainage tunnels for the Temple Mount.
The chisel was likely dropped by a builder working higher on the Western Wall according to Shukrun, who found the tool in a quarry refuse heap under the Western Wall.

While the find was made nine months ago, the Antiquities Authority has reportedly not publicized the find yet until final results are received.

"The Antiquities Authority is waiting for the research results on the material as is done with the rest of the finds made in excavations. When solid and firmly based results are received, the Authority will address the matter," added the statement.
However, Shukrun was certain of his find.
"I have no doubt that this is connected to the time of the Kotel's construction. We found it at the base of the Kotel, roughly six meters (20 feet) below the main street of Jerusalem at the time of the Second Temple," remarked Shukrun.
"The coins we found in that area and the ceramics point to the period of the building of the Kotel. The chisel itself was found in a refuse quarry which was made for chiseling the Kotel stones," added the archaeologist.

While it sounds like an exciting discovery, it doesn't actually sound quite as dramatic as they are making it out to be.

I am sure the archaeologists know what they are talking about, but from the published information, it sounds like they are basing their statements largely on assumption and guesswork. They found a chisel so they are assuming it was from someone on a scaffolding who dropped it. Nice assumption, but maybe it was also from a worker doing work down below, or maybe work on a structure near the Kotel, in the marketplace along the side of the Kotel or from a number of other options. I wish they would publish more significant information about their conclusions rather than just assumptions.

Israeli TV's Channel 1 news has been running a daily "sefirat ha'omer" clip of about 2-3 minutes with a daily explanation of some aspect or custom of sefirat ha'omer.

here is a sample video:


and another:


I think they are nice clips.

The "Yisrael Chofshit" organization has protested the airing of these clips, saying it is religious coercion and is insane that State TV is airing this.. as if the ayatollahs have taken over television. The focus was on one clip that discussed the customs of not performing weddings during [some of] the days of the Omer period, while most of the clips are more historical in nature and less "halachic".

Personally, even if they all contained some point in halacha or custom, I would see nothing wrong with State TV airing these clips. A very large portion of the citizens of Israel are religious or traditional, and there is nothing wrong, in my opinion, (as long as there is no separation of shul and State in Israel), with State TV dedicating a few minutes to a timely issue, even if it is religious in nature. State TV did not make demands of the populace to count, to refrain from getting their haircuts or whatnot - it just ran a clip explaining a timely custom. Some people will be interested in the 3 minute clip, and some people will not be interested and will suffer the 3 minutes of Jewish culture.

I don't see it as anything worthy of protest.

In the end, the head of Yisraelk Chofshit apologized, after being lambasted on the radio and "losing a debate", though he said he had not looked into the entire program but was especially upset about the specific clip that discussed the customs of refraining from marriage during that time period - and he should not have criticized the entire program.
source: Srugim

While the apology and retraction is a start, I disagree with him even on that point. Even on the clip explaining some of the halachic customs, there is nothing wrong with transmitting some Jewish culture and explanation to thousands of religious and traditional viewers. And maybe there are even some non-religious viewers who are interested in learning more about Jewish culture.

this is from last year, but relevant to every years sefirat haOmer.. and funny..



If you want interesting daily reminders for sefira, you can follow my twitter feed or friend me on Facebook. At some point during the night I post an interesting reminder, using the #countOmer hashtag

Here is a story with two take-aways:
1. Bnei Braq miracles are the best!
2. until recently it was very rare for a yeshiva student to grow a beard. After a bochur got married and joined a kollel, growing a beard was always common - but as a bochur it was rare (not including in Hassidic yeshivas). Now it is not only common to see yeshiva bochurim sporting beards, but it has almost become a "must".
3. it looks like Litvish boys now date like Hassidic boys
4. perhaps we have a new solution for the shidduch crisis in America...

Here is the story, as reported by Kikar:
During the week before Pesach, the mayor of Bnei Braq, Chanoch Zeibert, went with a group of people to pay a visit to Rav Chaim Kanievsky. Included in the group was Deputy Mayor Avraham Rubinstein and sons. Rubinstein asked for a bracha for one of his sons to find his bashert.

According to the story, Rav Kanievsky looked at the relevant son and asked him why he was not growing a beard. The young man replied that he is, but his hair is very light so it is barely noticeable.

Rav Kanievsky took a closer look and then gave him the bracha that if so, then Hashem should help him get engaged very soon.

Sure enough, within the week he was engaged!

Kikar continues with another story of a French businessman whowent to Rav Chaim Kanievsky for a bracha to find his bashert. Rav Kanievsky looked at his smooth-shaven face and asked if in France they don't grow beards. After he promised to grow a beard, Rav Kanievsky gave him a bracha to get engaged very soon.

No word on whether or not this fellow got engaged yet...

Baruch Hashem we have solved all our problems and can busy ourselves with fighting over the color of the cloak of this or that rabbi.

Either that or the haredi commentators have added a "style column" to their repertoire.

At last night's "mimouna" celebrations in the Moroccan community, [former] Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar made his appearances wearing his honorary robes, as former Rishon lTzion. What has everybody in a tizzy, and I feel almost like TMZ right now, is that he wore his robes that are embroidered with the, sit down, gold threads, rather than the robes with the silver threads!

The problem? Not really sure, but they say that he has only worn the silver robes in recent years, so this looks like he is planning something bigger.

The questions are why? what is he aiming for? is he making a move to be the next Maran? Is he trying to bring the new Chief Rabbi down a notch?

Rav Amar, of course, denies all this. Even says he has worn the golden robes at various functions over the past few years.

And sure enough, someone even went and checked that. They probably had to sift through hundreds of pictures, but they did! They discovered that, at least in public fundtions, he only wore the silver robes in recent years.
source: Kikar

Baruch Hashem, our big concerns are now gossip-column material. "Fashion and Style of the Gedolim" is going to be the newest feature in Haredi newspapers.

Here is a bunch of articles of interest that I have been collecting in the past couple of weeks and just have not gotten to posting... I am just posting this now to clear my browser tabs...

1. man skips seder to go to casino, wins $1million

2. Portland drained 38 million gallons of water, because one person peed in it - what would they do with the Kinerret???

3. Let my people work by MK Rabbi Dov Lipman

4. pair acting suspiciously near Kate and William - Jews or only dressed up as Jews?

5. a moment of truth for Haredi leaders

6. the bias against black-hatters

7. Chicago also headed into Passover with a shortage of gefilte fish

8. 14 anomalies found only in Israel

9. kosherZumba craze in Brooklyn

10. leadership lessons learned in the IDF

11. a wafalafel - really? where do I get it?

12. an ultra orthodox perspective on army service

13. to my haredi brothers

14. a rabbi makes aliyah

------------------------------------------------------

in Gaza they also put out a version of the Happy dance...

funniest part is how the shopping cart is lined with aluminum foil!

Tsfat Ladies Get Ready for Pesach from aviva spiegel on Vimeo.

The erev pesach of the Samaritan community happened to fall out very close to our erev pesach, so on Sunday night the Samaritan community held their korban pesach ceremony, and I went to see it.

I did not ask a rabbi in advance (or since) if it is ok or if it is a problem to watch this, as I do not see any halachic problem with it, though I might be wrong about that. Obviously, I was there as a tourist and not as a participant.

The Shomronim, or Samaritans, live in mostly two communities - one in Holon and the main community being in the Shomronim village near Shchem on Har Grizim. The community altogether numbers 800 people. When asked how they can survive with just 800 people, and in 50 years won't they be completely gone, they answered that in 1917 they were just 150 people and people said the same thing then, but now in 2014 they are 800 people.

We got there early enough to wander around a bit. There are some misconceptions about the Shomronim. For example, in the past I had seen pictures from other people who went, and one thing always pointed out is the "mezuza" on the outside wall of the house - a flat tablet embedded into the wall with something engraved on it. That is incorrect, according to what we were told on Sunday afternoon. We noticed such a tablet on the wall outside a house, and said, that is the mezuza. One of the Shomronim passing by said that is not correct. he explained the mezuza is inside the door, not on the outside. That tablet is similar to a "birkat habayit" - he read it to us and, according to what he said it is a blessing for the house and says who built the house (not the kabblan, but who the head of the house was) and in what year.

The Shomronim are very friendly people and very happy to talk about their customs, traditions, and lifestyle. We spoke, throughout the evening, in great length to a number of different Shomronim. Most Shomronim speak 4 languages: English, Hebrew, Arabic and Shomronite (ancient Hebrew which sounds like a mixture of Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic). Their books and Torahs are written in Hebrew, but using ancient Hebrew script - they never made the switch to Ashurit script like we did. They read the religious texts in ancient Hebrew which sounds like some mixture of Arabic and Yemenite - if you listen carefully you can make out some of the words. They are fully integrated into Israeli society, in the sense that they serve in the army, they go to school, they work in most professions.. they say they have no crime rate in their community and no intermarriage with non-Jews, though some do marry Jews (though not many).

When we asked "Ata Yehudi?" - are you Jewish? - the answer was not a straight yes or no. The answer was - do you know why you are called "yehudi"? It is because you are from the Tribe of Judah. We are not yehudim because we are not form Yehuda, they each answered. To explain, they claim to be from the tribes of Menashe and Efraim (in addition to their Kihanim and Leviim from the tribe of Levi), and are therefore part of bnei yisrael, but not yehudim.

They do not wear tefillin and tzitzit, at least not on a daily basis. They are not against it, but consider it too spiritual. They do separate truma and maaser and give it as obligated, to the kohen, levite, etc. It was strange as I always thought they are pure "written torah" people, but it seems they do have some traditions of their own that are oral traditions, on how to do things.

They claim they stuck with the original torah and they perform it exactly as described in the torah, and have done so for thousands of years, while it is us, the yehudim, who changed things. According to them, "your rabbis" made changes when they wanted to - for eexample, King david was from a Moabite woman, as the rabbis explained a Moabite cannot become Jewish and marry into the community, but a Moabite woman can, because it says "Moavi" and they darshan "moavi v'lo moavia". So, the Shomroni said, is your wife allowed to have an extramarital affair because it says "lo tinaf" but does not say "lo tinafi"?

They shechted their korbanot pesach in what was like a ditch lined with stone. They said that is the mizbeiach. When I asked how come the altar isnt a raised structure, they explained that there are different types of altars. some are structures, like the mizbeiach haktoret, while the mizbeiach adama is like this. On the other hand, they did use large skewers made of pomegranate wood for holding and burning the slaughtered lambs, which if I am not mistaken is only mentioned in tradition and the oral Torah. They also smeared a dab of blood on their foreheads immediately after slaughtering the korban. I asked why and did not get a good explanation - something about being similar to the smearing of blood on the lintel and doorposts.

The people we spoke to were very smart and knowledgeable. they knew Tanach better than me (not saying much) - they knew it perfectly, quoting from all parts. They also knew many of our traditions (of the ones that came up in the discussions) and sources for them.

They believe that that area is holy. Har Grizim is where the brachot were given to the children of Israel, and obviously that makes it holy. There is no mention in the Torah of Jerusalem, and no mikdash. Har Grizim is the holiest place mentioned in the Torah.

feel free to ask questions about the Shomronim in the comments, and if I have answers I will respond. We chatted with a number of them over the course of the evening and got a lot of information, so I might be able to tell over what I heard, and it might answer your questions.

Here are pictures from the event, in no particular order. I did not take pictures of the shechita. I could not see it well as there was a large crowd and everyone was standing for that and I did not have a good view of it at that point.

this is the "sgan kohen gadol" posing with me for a picture

3652 years since leaving Egypt

the following fellow, I think he said his name is Yefet, chatted with us for a long time after the slaughtering.. he says many years ago he learned in Ponevezshe Yeshiva, and Rav Shach knew he was a Shomronite. He also had a story about having met Rav Kanievsky , and Rav Kanievsky had wanted him to return to show him a document (I did not understand the entire story, so unfortunately I cannot retell it).. He also told us a story about how Rav Goren visited them and was supposedly impressed with their korban ceremony and had said that the Jews will have to come to them to learn how to do the korban pesach when it gets renewed.





this fellow, also a "tourist", happened to be standing right there listening to our conversation. When he heard the name Rav Shach, he mentioned he is the doctor that operated on Rav Shach when he had cancer (colon? intestinal?).




 it might be hard to see because it is a small piece, but this is their matza. it is thin and looks like matza, but it is soft and flexible. This is one of the examples of tradition they have. He said they bake it in less than 18 minutes (but not always - sometimes it might take as much as 20 minutes)










the segan kohen gadol talking to some tourists

taxi! some kids offered a ride in this wagon calling it a cab...

before the event, a couple kids were walking around selling things. this kid was selling bottles of tehina from Har Bracha

small world. even bumped into a friend there

this fellows name was Yissochor, but his nickname is Shuki. explained a lot to us

some elders sitting beside the altar

this is what they use for maror. it is called "chasa matzpen". It happens to be that a couple of my friends who have researched marror, independantly, have each come to the conclusion that this is the proper marror and have grown it in their yards to use for Pesach. I tasted this and it is very bitter. not sharp, not sweet - but bitter.

Shachar was also very knowledgeable and explained a lot to us

its hard to see, but the kohen gadol is sitting in the middle-front of the crowd, with a tallit over his head...