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Jerusalem like you never seen before (video)
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The Biblical Museum of Natural History (video)
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Cantor Ari Schwartz sings Jewish prayer of fallen (video)
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Yerachmiel Begun & The Miami Boys Choir - UT UT (video)
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Sep 27, 2015
HaPaitan: 2nd Quarterfinal, Shabbos songs (video)
special guest judge, Chaim Yisrael
we've heard from Bruce Springsteen before. in this edition, Mariah Carey gets referenced
we've heard from Bruce Springsteen before. in this edition, Mariah Carey gets referenced
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Sep 24, 2015
OBD esrog rate differences
There is something I don't understand, and would like (serious, preferably) answers and explanations, if possible..
Most of the esrogim on the market this year are shmitta produce and are being sold through the Otzar Beis Din system.
Being sold through Otzar Beis Din means the esrogs have kedusha and have to be treated properly. More specifically, being sold through the OBD system means there is a uniform price for esrogim, as you are not paying for the esrog, rather for the labor costs involved - checking, transporting, packaging, etc.
So, my question is, why are vendors selling these OBD esrogim using different rates for the different levels.
Does it cost less for the kosher-level esrog to be checked and transported than for the aleph-aleph level esrog to be checked and transported? They only know what level each esrog is after it is checked anyway. It seems to me that all OBD esrogim, no matter the kashrut level rating, should be priced the same.
Can anybody explain to me please how this sytem works for esrogim?
Most of the esrogim on the market this year are shmitta produce and are being sold through the Otzar Beis Din system.
Being sold through Otzar Beis Din means the esrogs have kedusha and have to be treated properly. More specifically, being sold through the OBD system means there is a uniform price for esrogim, as you are not paying for the esrog, rather for the labor costs involved - checking, transporting, packaging, etc.
So, my question is, why are vendors selling these OBD esrogim using different rates for the different levels.
Does it cost less for the kosher-level esrog to be checked and transported than for the aleph-aleph level esrog to be checked and transported? They only know what level each esrog is after it is checked anyway. It seems to me that all OBD esrogim, no matter the kashrut level rating, should be priced the same.
Can anybody explain to me please how this sytem works for esrogim?
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A Peaceful Yom Kippur
After every Yom Kippur we get to enjoy the pictures posted online of the highways empty of cars, highways that are normally busy, and often bumper to bumper, with automobiles.
It is a serene image, and shows the respect even secular Israelis have for Yom Kippur, the holiest and most sacred day on the Jewish calendar.
Here is a popular one from this past Yom Kippur, yesterday:
I'm not sure why "peace" is their theme for a Yom Kippur message on an empty highway, but I guess it does show that Israelis pine for peace. Maybe it is because of the memories of the Yom Kippur War?
As I commented elsewhere on this picture, partially in jest, the highway might be empty of cars, but the cameras were working just fine.
May we all have a peaceful year.
It is a serene image, and shows the respect even secular Israelis have for Yom Kippur, the holiest and most sacred day on the Jewish calendar.
Here is a popular one from this past Yom Kippur, yesterday:
I'm not sure why "peace" is their theme for a Yom Kippur message on an empty highway, but I guess it does show that Israelis pine for peace. Maybe it is because of the memories of the Yom Kippur War?
As I commented elsewhere on this picture, partially in jest, the highway might be empty of cars, but the cameras were working just fine.
May we all have a peaceful year.
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Picture of the Day
oops
trying to make a nice gesture, WGN tv in Chicago was pointing out the Yom Kippur holiday Jews celebrate. Unfortunately the stock photo they used as a symbol of a Jewish day was a yellow star from the Nazis..
at least they quickly apologized...
trying to make a nice gesture, WGN tv in Chicago was pointing out the Yom Kippur holiday Jews celebrate. Unfortunately the stock photo they used as a symbol of a Jewish day was a yellow star from the Nazis..
at least they quickly apologized...
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Will the F-35 change the face of the IAF? (video)
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The Real Tomb of the Maccabees? (video)
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Non-Observant Jews Try Going Kosher For A Week (video)
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Sarit Hadad performign Adon Haselichot and Borei Olam at Me'arat Hamachpela before Yom Kippur (video)
beautiful to have such a performance at Me'arat Hamachpela before Yom Kippur
kol isha alert
kol isha alert
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Sep 22, 2015
Picture of the Day
Today, on Erev Yom Kippur, a taxi driver, not wearing a kippa, stopped near a booth from a tzedaka organization, performed kapparos and made a donation
Gmar Chasima Tova!
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Hamadregot - Haaderet Vehaemunah (video)
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Sep 21, 2015
HaPaitan: quarterfinals, selichos edition (video)
even Bruce Springsteen somehow gets an honorable mention in this episode...
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Sep 20, 2015
sell your sins
I have heard the stories, using hassidic in nature, of the person who tries to sell his soul, or his portion in the Garden of Eden, because he does not believe in it anyway. I seem to remember that someone tried to sell his soul on ebay a few years back, but ebay took the auction down once some complaints were registered. Then there is also the stories of people who tried to buy someone's mitzva, or the reward for an unusual mitzva..
And now we have this, though it seems to be less of a hassidic story and more of a crazy person...
someone is advertising the following:
do you want to get rid of your sins from the past year? for fair payment I will agree to take upon myself all the sins you committed.
He even states that he is a kosher Jew and is doing this to help save people.
The sale will be done via a legal contract. Why wait to suffer in the Next World, just call now!
1. I am impressed that most of the tags of phone numbers were taken by seemingly interested people. He must be flooded with calls.
2. He is only a kosher Jew before he buys the first set of sins. After that he is fair game just like the rest of us, as who knows what type of sins he purchased?
3. How many people is he willing to buy from?
4. How many can he take? If he takes too many, or the wrong sins from the wrong person, does he suddenly die or go into deep suffering?
5. how do we know he is a kosher Jew? does he come with some sort of hechsher as to his status?
6. I saw online a funny comment about waiting for a Groupon for this next year
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Concentration Camps being recycled as refugee housing
last week, with the flood of refugees and migrants into Europe, there was a news item that was interesting and strange.
Refugees are being housed, seemingly for lack of other options, in Buchenwald, Dachau, and maybe other locations that were once concentration camps.
source; Ynetnews, The Guardian, and many others
This honestly aroused in me conflicting thoughts and emotions, as well as some tasteless jokes.
1. how could they put these structures to use housing refugees and migrants? They are there to remind us of the atrocities and horrors of what happened during the Holocaust? now they are being used for this, what will they be used for next time - housing for Olympic athletes or maybe the Ice Capades?
2. at least something good is being done with it. Nothing can make up for the evil done there, but perhaps some good deed like housing refugees can be some worthwhile balance and effort.
3. I understand Germany is just waiting for the shipment of Zyklon B to arrive in the mail and they can get back to their work. Everything else is already in place. It's a tasteless joke, but Germany deserves it. They always will.
Refugees are being housed, seemingly for lack of other options, in Buchenwald, Dachau, and maybe other locations that were once concentration camps.
source; Ynetnews, The Guardian, and many others
This honestly aroused in me conflicting thoughts and emotions, as well as some tasteless jokes.
1. how could they put these structures to use housing refugees and migrants? They are there to remind us of the atrocities and horrors of what happened during the Holocaust? now they are being used for this, what will they be used for next time - housing for Olympic athletes or maybe the Ice Capades?
2. at least something good is being done with it. Nothing can make up for the evil done there, but perhaps some good deed like housing refugees can be some worthwhile balance and effort.
3. I understand Germany is just waiting for the shipment of Zyklon B to arrive in the mail and they can get back to their work. Everything else is already in place. It's a tasteless joke, but Germany deserves it. They always will.
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Picture of the Day
kapparos being performed (in NY) in the face of opposition by protesters of PETA and other animal rights activists... this hassidishe bucher not only waved the bird [around his head] but also flipped the bird to the protesters...
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Haredi community in Jerusalem against yeshiva high school allocation
whenever election time comes around, the UTJ representatives work overtime trying to "bring everyone back home", trying to get all those upset at the party to feel like they have a place within UTJ and are part of the community. Each time it is a different tactic, but at the end of the day it is all the same. This past elections they went with a strong campaign talking about how there is no such thing as "working haredim" - they are just haredim, and their kids need schools and institutions that befit them.
And so far, in every elections, they get their point across and all these people who for years have been upset at UTJ, get made to feel guilty and go "back home" and vote UTJ. If someone is really upset and refuses to vote UTJ, he is at least made guilty enough to give his vote to Shas instead of to either a secular party or a party dubbed as being anti-gedolim.
This happens in both national and municipal elections.
And when it is not election season we get news stories like this:
Kikar reports that the yeshiva high school "Chochmei Lev" had been allocated a building in Ramat Eshkol, 3 years after they were initially allocated a place in Ramot but chased out by the Haredi community there, but Haredi representatives and rabbonim against the institution are meeting in an attempt to thwart the allocation.
Here are the comments of Chochmei Lev, via its Rosh Yeshiva Rav Betzalel Cohen...
translation:
2. I am sure the above point will be used against it by those opposing this institution
3. Full disclosure: my son learns in this school
4. It really is a very good school with great staff. We are very happy, so far, in the one month our son has been there, with what we see spiritually, educationally and socially.
5. come election time, will anybody remember such fights and vote against the party and activists that oppose such institutions, or will people forget and buy the line that there is room for everybody?
6. this is not a fight over a piece of property and a school building. The fight is not because they want the building for a different school. The opposition waged against the school was due to the style of the school and its very existence.
7. This brought to mind the ongoing fight in Kiryat Yovel. Kiryat Yovel was a purely secular neighborhood in Jerusalem. A few years ago haredi families started buying apartments in Kiryat Yovel and moving in. It became a fight as secular residents tried to make it difficult for the incoming haredi community. They fought potential allocations of land or buildings for haredi institutions, they fought the establishment of shuls and kindergartens in apartments, they cut the eruv lines, and found other ways of making it very uncomfortable for haredi residents to live there. And the haredi community fought back. And they fought back, rightfully so, an the rights of anyone to live wherever they want and have their needs met.
Haredi families living in Kiryat Yovel, or anyone else, deserve a school that fits their needs. They need a mikva and a shul and whatever else they need.
And they are right.
Yet in Ramat Eshkol, and previously in Ramot, and we have seen it elsewhere as well, the Haredi community does the exact same thing that is done to it elsewhere and it complains about. They oppose the opening of an institution that isn't theirs or to their liking. And Ramat Eshkol is not even a haredi neighborhood. it is a mixed neighborhood. Until about 15 years ago it was a neighborhood mixed between dati leumi and secular, and then young haredi families also started moving in. Now it is fully mixed.
8. I hope that secular and dati communities around Israel and in places like Kiryat Hayovel, don't look at this fight and use the Haredi tactics against itself. After all, if the Haredi community can discriminate against institutions it does not like, why can't other communities do the same against Haredi institutions they do not like?
And so far, in every elections, they get their point across and all these people who for years have been upset at UTJ, get made to feel guilty and go "back home" and vote UTJ. If someone is really upset and refuses to vote UTJ, he is at least made guilty enough to give his vote to Shas instead of to either a secular party or a party dubbed as being anti-gedolim.
This happens in both national and municipal elections.
And when it is not election season we get news stories like this:
Kikar reports that the yeshiva high school "Chochmei Lev" had been allocated a building in Ramat Eshkol, 3 years after they were initially allocated a place in Ramot but chased out by the Haredi community there, but Haredi representatives and rabbonim against the institution are meeting in an attempt to thwart the allocation.
Here are the comments of Chochmei Lev, via its Rosh Yeshiva Rav Betzalel Cohen...
ישיבתנו - ישיבת "חכמי לב" אשר נמצאת כעת רק בתחילת שנתה השלישית, מוצאת את עצמה היום פעם נוספת שלא ברצונה בעין הסערה.הישי...
Posted by חכמי לב on Thursday, September 17, 2015
translation:
our yeshiva, Chochmei Lev, in the beginning of its third year of existence, finds itself once again against its will in the eye of the storm.1. I find it very interesting that they are using and encouraging the expanded use of Facebook and other online platforms in its fight. There have been a lot of fights in the Haredi communities, no less in recent years than ever before, and I cannot think of a time that an institution that called itself Haredi and insisted it was part of the Hared community, used the online community as a natural part of its fight.
The yeshiva is meant to allow Haredi youth, who for whatever reason are not interested in and not appropriate for the standard format of yeshivot ketanot where only gemara is learned form morning to evening, to integrate spiritual excellence with excellence in limudi kodesh alongside excellence in general studies to the point of accomplishing the matriculation exams (bagrut). It was established after a deep examination of the need for such a model, following discussion with rabbonim gedolei torah, rosh yeshivas and educators, parents and youth. With the understanding that this can prevent the broad dropout rate from the yeshivot, which comes along with a spiritual and normative dropout alongside the educational dropping out.
The opposition to the yeshiva in general and to those behind it specifically began before it was even established, but it got worse about a year ago when the yeshiva was set to move into caravans in Ramot. Then, about 20 rabbonim from Ramot put out a sharp letter against the yeshiva containing false accusations.
The yeshiva is dealing with physical and finacial situations that are not easy. It is under the ownership of the "Organization for the Advancement of Education", headed by... who have spared no efforts to create a quality solution for these youth.
The yeshiva has the support and encouragement of the Ministry of Education, and a commitment from the Jerusalem Municipality headed by the mayor, Nir Barkat.....
[...]
With the great need for the yeshiva, we are witnesses to the constant growth in the numbers of those approaching the yeshiva, of intelligent youth, God fearing, with good character traits, curious and with high motivation for higher education. To our great pleasure, they advance very nicely in all the fields, with personal maturity and taking responsibility for their actions, and their spiritual level.
The struggle that has been forced upon the yeshiva, as a result fo the decision of the mayor to allocate a plot in Ramat Eshkol, is being run by people who have not bothered to fulfill the obligation "hear the case between your bothers and make a righteous judgement between brothers". If they would have bothered to listen to the claims of the yeshiva administration, the staff, the parent body and the students themselves, there is no doubt they would not continue in their struggle and opposition to the yeshiva entering their neighborhood.
[...]
Whomever the idea of this yeshiva is dear to, along with its existence and its message, will find a way to express his position, whether in the virtual online world or in the physical world..
I suggest as a first step taking advantage of the platform available via Facebook, share this post, have your friends "like" this post and the page of Chochmei Lev, and express your opinion of the necessity of this institution and of, with God's help, many more similar institutions.
[...]
2. I am sure the above point will be used against it by those opposing this institution
3. Full disclosure: my son learns in this school
4. It really is a very good school with great staff. We are very happy, so far, in the one month our son has been there, with what we see spiritually, educationally and socially.
5. come election time, will anybody remember such fights and vote against the party and activists that oppose such institutions, or will people forget and buy the line that there is room for everybody?
6. this is not a fight over a piece of property and a school building. The fight is not because they want the building for a different school. The opposition waged against the school was due to the style of the school and its very existence.
7. This brought to mind the ongoing fight in Kiryat Yovel. Kiryat Yovel was a purely secular neighborhood in Jerusalem. A few years ago haredi families started buying apartments in Kiryat Yovel and moving in. It became a fight as secular residents tried to make it difficult for the incoming haredi community. They fought potential allocations of land or buildings for haredi institutions, they fought the establishment of shuls and kindergartens in apartments, they cut the eruv lines, and found other ways of making it very uncomfortable for haredi residents to live there. And the haredi community fought back. And they fought back, rightfully so, an the rights of anyone to live wherever they want and have their needs met.
Haredi families living in Kiryat Yovel, or anyone else, deserve a school that fits their needs. They need a mikva and a shul and whatever else they need.
And they are right.
Yet in Ramat Eshkol, and previously in Ramot, and we have seen it elsewhere as well, the Haredi community does the exact same thing that is done to it elsewhere and it complains about. They oppose the opening of an institution that isn't theirs or to their liking. And Ramat Eshkol is not even a haredi neighborhood. it is a mixed neighborhood. Until about 15 years ago it was a neighborhood mixed between dati leumi and secular, and then young haredi families also started moving in. Now it is fully mixed.
8. I hope that secular and dati communities around Israel and in places like Kiryat Hayovel, don't look at this fight and use the Haredi tactics against itself. After all, if the Haredi community can discriminate against institutions it does not like, why can't other communities do the same against Haredi institutions they do not like?
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Tzippi Hotovely on US-Israel relations (video)
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Palestinians: Why is peace a "dirty" word in Palestine? (video)
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with profile 21, they volunteer with high motivation for IDF (video)
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Schizophonia: Cantorial Recordings : Ya'aleh Tachanunaynu (video)
weird
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Sep 18, 2015
HaPaitan: episode 4, final auditions (video)
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Sep 17, 2015
The day the Lubavitcher Rebbe met Rebbe Nachman..
this image from Uman is really cool, because it shows that even the Lubavitcher Rebbe himself goes to Uman for Rosh Hashana, despite not being a Breslaver...
it is funny that in the heart of Breslav-ville they would set up a Beit Chabad at all! and then they sell it like this is just weird...
I wonder what they learn together - Tanya? Likutei Moharan? Chitit? Garden of Emuna? something else?
it is funny that in the heart of Breslav-ville they would set up a Beit Chabad at all! and then they sell it like this is just weird...
I wonder what they learn together - Tanya? Likutei Moharan? Chitit? Garden of Emuna? something else?
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Picture of the Day
this is horrible. It reminds me of the pictures I've seen from Europe, specifically Kirstallnacht and other similar programs and times of trouble... something must change
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newest invention out of Israel
According to the New York Times, a Jewish man died as rocks pelt his car in Jerusalem.
That's right. Nobody threw the rocks. The rocks just pelted his car. All on their own.
self-throwing rocks. Amazing.
this solves so many problems.
With the new law that would harshen the punishment against stone throwers, now there will be no stone throwers, as the rocks throw themselves.
In some other communities that throw rocks, or used to throw rocks now that there is this invention, this can also now solve potential chilul shabbos issues, by using the new self-throwing rocks.
How do these Israelis come up with these amazing creations? These amazing innovations.
.Will proponents of the BDS boycott use of the self-throwing rocks?
That's right. Nobody threw the rocks. The rocks just pelted his car. All on their own.
self-throwing rocks. Amazing.
this solves so many problems.
With the new law that would harshen the punishment against stone throwers, now there will be no stone throwers, as the rocks throw themselves.
In some other communities that throw rocks, or used to throw rocks now that there is this invention, this can also now solve potential chilul shabbos issues, by using the new self-throwing rocks.
How do these Israelis come up with these amazing creations? These amazing innovations.
.Will proponents of the BDS boycott use of the self-throwing rocks?
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Quote of the Day
Al-Aksa is ours and so is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They have no right to desecrate them with their filthy feet. We won’t allow them to do so and we will do whatever we can to defend Jerusalem.
-- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
filthy feet? really?
-- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
filthy feet? really?
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Ami Horowitz: Do liberals even know what's in the Iran deal? (video)
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Proud to Present and Distribute Wine from YESHA (video)
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Rosh HaShana Temple Mount Riots (video)
it is insane what is going on around Har Habayit, in the Old City and in East Jerusalem right now. something has to change...
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Tzippi Hotovely on the BBC (video)
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Postcard from Israel: Ashkelon (video)
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Sep 16, 2015
Facebook Status of the Day
I want to wish L'Shana Tova to everyone celebrating Rosh Hashanah -- the Jewish new year and a moment to reflect on our...
Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, September 14, 2015
I don't know what Mi Shebeirach he is referring to that says this (anybody?), but I like the sentiment from Zuckerberg and the Jewish post...
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"rabbi" killed in Utah
(Hattip: Yaak)
musings:
1. I tried to do a little research (truthfully, very little) about this but could not find any background info. strange
2. was the name "the rabbi" an anti-semitic one? because Jews have horns?
3. referencing MBD's famous song from his early days, we chased them from Jerusalem back to Utah overnight, so they decided to kill the rabbis in Utah in exchange?
4. looking at the picture, maybe it was called "the rabbi" because its antlers look like hands held up heavenward in prayer?
5. why was there no outrage, like when that dentist killed the lion? because this was only a rabbi that was killed?
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Feature: Meet the US Marine Corps' 'Vengeance' Squadron (video)
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Native Americans Dance in the Israeli Parliament (video)
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Israelis: How has the conflict impacted you? (video)
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Startup Aliyah (video)
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Minyan Shelanu presents -Xtreme Loifer (Xtreme Runner) ft. Dr. Dreizich (video)
hilarious
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Sep 13, 2015
Preparing for the Holidays with Musician and Educator Shlomo Katz (video)
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Shana Tova to and from IDF soldiers (video)
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HaPaytan: episode 3, auditions (video)
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ShofarPella: Avinu Malkeinu
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Sep 12, 2015
The World Made Havdallah with Maccabeats and Naftali Hershtik (video)
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Sep 10, 2015
this year we are doing kapparot with money
The Ministry of Agriculture, led by Minister Uri Ariel, put out the following video as part of its campaign to encourage people to do kapparot between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur with money that would be given to charity rather than with chickens.
I found this video very funny.
While I found this video very funny and enjoyable, and I do personally agree with the sentiment conveyed, I did also find it strange, considering something else recently done by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Every year in the past few years we get a anti-chicken-kapparot campaign in the months leading up to Yom Kippur. They issue directives that would force the limitation of the use of chickens. I remember directives banning slaughtering of chickens outside of official slaughterhouses, how the chickens would need to be cooped up and fed in ways that would not work well with the kapparot system, among other directives.
This year we did not have such a campaign. There was no (at least not yet) big media blitz against kapparot with chickens. Just a couple of weeks ago the Ministry of Agriculture announced it would not create any difficulties for those who perform kapparot with chickens, though they would recommend against eating chickens slaughtered outside of an authorized slaughterhouse.
source: Ladaat
So, it seems strange they would decide to ease the restrictions against using chickens, but then pay for a campaign against using chickens.
According to Ladaat "the Haredi sector" is upset at Minister Ariel for this campaign. They say this campaign is meant to weaken the tradition of using a chicken for kapparot.
I found this video very funny.
While I found this video very funny and enjoyable, and I do personally agree with the sentiment conveyed, I did also find it strange, considering something else recently done by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Every year in the past few years we get a anti-chicken-kapparot campaign in the months leading up to Yom Kippur. They issue directives that would force the limitation of the use of chickens. I remember directives banning slaughtering of chickens outside of official slaughterhouses, how the chickens would need to be cooped up and fed in ways that would not work well with the kapparot system, among other directives.
This year we did not have such a campaign. There was no (at least not yet) big media blitz against kapparot with chickens. Just a couple of weeks ago the Ministry of Agriculture announced it would not create any difficulties for those who perform kapparot with chickens, though they would recommend against eating chickens slaughtered outside of an authorized slaughterhouse.
source: Ladaat
So, it seems strange they would decide to ease the restrictions against using chickens, but then pay for a campaign against using chickens.
According to Ladaat "the Haredi sector" is upset at Minister Ariel for this campaign. They say this campaign is meant to weaken the tradition of using a chicken for kapparot.
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It is ok to break the law for soccer
The Israeli football (soccer) leagues playing on Shabbos continues.
Recently a labor court judge ruled that it is illegal for them to be playing on Shabbos (as part of the league). The case was brought before the court by religious athletes.
Since then the news and media have been debating non-stop whether the leagues should or will, or not, be given a special allowance by the Minister of Commerce to play on Shabbos. The league has also threatened to stop functioning altogether if it isnt given the special allowance.
One of the problems with this is that the Minister of Commerce is Aryeh Deri, a frum Jew who is not going to be so quick to sign on an allowance for desecration of Shabbos, especially when pikuach nefesh is not involved.
According to Ladaat, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has issued an order to allow the league to continue playing on Shabbos, despite the illegality of it. Weisntein explained that because the law has not been enforced until now, since the inception of the State, there is no reason to begin enforcing it now.
I'm not a lawyer, but I do not like the sounds of someone like the Attorney General saying a law does not need to be enforced just because it has not been until now.
Are the law books filled with laws that we can selectively choose which we want to keep and which we do not?
Besides for Weinstein, I would like to know if anyone knows why historically the league never asked for an allowance? Many operations have - I saw a list that included Bezeq, the Electric Company, and many others. Why did the league never ask for it?
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Picture of the Day
in Bnei Braq yesterday they held a parade and celebration to honor the farmers who kept Shmitta according to the dictates of the Torah, letting the land rest and lay fallow for the year.
yes, there are solutions and workarounds, there are hetterim and loopholes. Some accept these, some accept those, and hopefully everybody has enough to eat at reasonable expense, and everybody has reasonable parnassa for the year. These farmers chose to follow shmitta the way it was meant to be followed, without employing the hetterim, allowances, loopholes, and whatnot - they just let their land lay fallow for the year.
And thousands of people went out to honor them for it.
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Interesting Psak: go to beis din
The rabbinic organization "Bet Hillel" has released a psak.
Bet Hillel has decided that people with financial disputes or civil lawsuits should first bring their suits before a beis din, and only if the other party refuses to appear before the beis din can you then go to the secular courts.
source: Srugim
Thank you Bet Hillel for paskening like the Shulchan Aruch and every other halachic source from throughout history.
To be fair fair to Bet Hillel, they are dealing with a thought process that might consider the secular courts of Israel might have the status of "Mishpat HaMelech" - the kings court, and that would mean one could go to be judged before the secular courts without first going to Beis Din.
Bet Hillel has decided that people with financial disputes or civil lawsuits should first bring their suits before a beis din, and only if the other party refuses to appear before the beis din can you then go to the secular courts.
source: Srugim
Thank you Bet Hillel for paskening like the Shulchan Aruch and every other halachic source from throughout history.
To be fair fair to Bet Hillel, they are dealing with a thought process that might consider the secular courts of Israel might have the status of "Mishpat HaMelech" - the kings court, and that would mean one could go to be judged before the secular courts without first going to Beis Din.
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Hapaitan, episode 2 (video)
I don't like the name "Hapaitan" for this show. These are singers singing other peoples songs. A Paitan is someone who writes his own poetry and prose. But I like the show
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Chief Rabbi visits Kibbutz Beit Hashita and meets Hanoch Albleck, singer of legendary 'Unetane Tokef.' (video)
this is beautiful
from INN:
and here is the original sung by Hanoch Albleck and Givatron:
and the rendition from the IDF Chief Chazzan Shai Abramson:
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from INN:
The Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi David Lau, visited the northern kibbutz Beit Hashita as part of his extended trip leading up to the High Holidays.
During the visit the Chief Rabbi met 80-year-old Hanoch Albleck, a member of the kibbutz who formerly sang with the band Givatron.
Albleck sang the classic song "Unetane Tokef" [Let us speak of the grandeur], as composed by Yair Rozenblum. The song was written in memory of 11 Irgun fighters from the kibbutz who were killed in the Yom Kippur War.
and here is the original sung by Hanoch Albleck and Givatron:
and the rendition from the IDF Chief Chazzan Shai Abramson:
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Sound a Tekiyah! Happy Rosh Hashana from Singapore (video)
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Rogers Park- Golden Crown (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
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Six13 - Starting Over (a song for Rosh Hashanah) (video)
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Sep 9, 2015
Minister Yaakov Litzman celebrates Independence Day
According to Ladaat, Minister Yaakov Litzman has been appointed by the Government of Israel to be the official Israeli representative to the celebrations of Independence Day of Brazil.
Litzman didn't go to Brazil for this, but participated in the local celebrations in Israel that took place in the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv.
I think the questions and comments that arise from such an event are fairly obvious... will Litzman participate in Israel's Independence Day celebrations, as he did in Brazil's? Is this one of the things that prevented UTJ reps from taking ministerial positions until now, and now they will see the dilemma up close? Will Litzman have to participate in an official capacity, because he is a minister, whether he likes it or not? Is this another step in the integration of haredim into general society? That can't not have an affect on the community.
Litzman didn't go to Brazil for this, but participated in the local celebrations in Israel that took place in the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv.
I think the questions and comments that arise from such an event are fairly obvious... will Litzman participate in Israel's Independence Day celebrations, as he did in Brazil's? Is this one of the things that prevented UTJ reps from taking ministerial positions until now, and now they will see the dilemma up close? Will Litzman have to participate in an official capacity, because he is a minister, whether he likes it or not? Is this another step in the integration of haredim into general society? That can't not have an affect on the community.
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Picture of the Day
this is a NASA satellite image of the Middle East from yesterday showing the sand storm.
All those maps people get upset about that have removed Israel, such as Harper Collins, Air France, Egypt Air, Fanta, among others? Looks like now NASA has joined the crowd and just wiped Israel right off the map.
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Must read on the abuse of Jews on Har Habayit
Lahav Harkov, a journalist for The Jerusalem Post, went up to Har Habayit yesterday, for the first time. She went partially as a reporter, but also as a private person, and without her press badge.
Here is her report of her visit... definitely worth a read.. some of it is shocking, some of it I have experienced myself, though I haven't gone recently enough to have experienced as bad as it has gotten recently..
(follow Lahav on Twitter)
From The Jerusalem Post:
and in other Har Habayit news from yesterday, a Jew was arrested, sorry - detained, for making a bracha before drinking some water.
"According to a witness also visiting the Temple Mount, the detainee requested permission from a police officer to drink from the water fountain on the site. When the officer refused, another policeman offered the youth a bottle of water.
Here is her report of her visit... definitely worth a read.. some of it is shocking, some of it I have experienced myself, though I haven't gone recently enough to have experienced as bad as it has gotten recently..
(follow Lahav on Twitter)
From The Jerusalem Post:
I didn’t intend to write about my trip to the Temple Mount Tuesday morning. Having written about politicians visiting the site and arguing about it in the Knesset so many times, I felt that I was remiss in never having been there myself, and simply wanted to get a sense of what it’s like.
However, since I wasn’t there to cover news, I decided not to wield my press pass and to visit like any other Jew on a tour of our religion’s holiest site. I mentioned the idea to my parents, who had met Temple Mount Heritage Foundation chairman Yehuda Glick earlier this year, they called him, and he helped organize our tour with guide Eyal Sapir.
As I said, my plan was to get some background information, but I’ll be honest, I’m a religious Zionist, so I was also very excited to visit the Temple Mount from that aspect, though I knew that I couldn’t pray there.
The moment my group arrived at the security check at the bottom of the Mughrabi Bridge, it became clear to me that this was going to be a humiliating ride – although I didn’t know how degrading it would get. The strange thing is that both Sapir and the police said it was a relatively uneventful, quiet visit, leaving me to think: Really? The norm is for Israeli Jews to be treated like dangerous criminals just for wanting to walk around? In the State of Israel? I suppose I knew from what people like Glick and other activists have said, but to experience it was jarring, and that was what changed my mind about writing about my visit.
From the start, the sense was that the police work for the Isalmic Waqf, which manages the site, and not for the citizens of Israel. They treated us with disdain, and catered to and tried to anticipate every inane complaint by Waqf staff.
“Don’t make this a hard day for me,” the police officer sneered at us. “No praying. No bowing. No lying on the ground. No singing. No dancing.”
At the top of the Mughrabi bridge, a police officer looked me up and down and murmured something about my clothes. I’m religious. I know how to dress at a holy site. I wore a head-covering, a longer skirt than usual, and a shawl covering my elbows.
“Your skirt,” the police officer said.
“It completely covers my knees,” I responded, invoking the rules of every religious school I attended.
I was frustrated. I’m not used to be treated like I’m guilty for existing. I took to the one outlet I had to express my outrage, twitter: “On the way to the Temple Mount, not sure who's treating me with more suspicion and disdain - the police or the Arabs.”
Soon a Waqf employee showed up to express his outrage at the collective calves of myself, my mother and my sister, who is so tall that most maxi skirts are midis on her – that’s a lot of calf. Several more Waqf men closed in on us. Sapir calmly let us know that we don’t have to listen to them, but the police had other ideas, and made us wait at the entrance until they procured long shawls that my mother and sister wrapped around their waists. I tugged my skirt down a couple more inches.
After that inauspicious beginning, we started the tour, with Sapir showing us remnants of Second Temple columns. He kept calm, despite the hubbub behind us. As Sapir talked, we heard shouts in our direction of “Allahu Akbar” by the infamous “Morbitat,” women in black paid by the Islamic Movement to harass Jews visiting the Temple Mount, who were a few meters away. In the past, they would get right up in visitors’ faces, but recently, the police has required them to keep their distance. At the end of the trip, we saw more of them by the Chain Gate, where police were not letting them enter the compound, so once again, they yelled at us from a short distance, loud as ever.
Waqf guards followed us every step of the tour. Not only followed us; surrounded us in every direction. There were 12 of them, 16 of us and three police officers. Some of the guards were dressed just like Shin Bet guards; others wore polo shirts with Waqf insignia. I smiled at them; they stayed stony-faced at all times, except for when we committed some mysterious offense.
During the tour, we were constantly yelled at for doing things that tourists, or at least people who didn’t look like religious Jews, were doing, first by the Waqf officials in Arabic, and then by police translating into Hebrew. Things like stopping too long (whatever that means) to take a picture or sitting on a ledge.
I wasn’t stopped from taking pictures, probably because the Waqf was unaware of my running commentary on twitter, but they were not happy when I took a picture of the Waqf officer who was taking pictures of the group. (“Say cheese!” I tweeted.)
Meanwhile, the Waqf men could smoke and throw their cigarette butts on the ground without a problem. The amount of garbage spread around the area was not only offensive to my religious sensibilities, but was mind-boggling considering that they must have a lot of staff with little to do if 12 of them were needed to stalk us.
At one point, my family took a photo together in front of the arch, and we were shouted at for touching. It didn’t matter that I told them the man with his arm around my shoulders is my father. No touching. The cop at the beginning forgot to tell us that rule.
The most Kafkaesque moment of the trip was Sapir stopped at a pathway that led to where the Holiest of Holies was and talked to us about the Temple. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine what it would have looked like then. I was reminded of the prayers describing the State of Israel as the “first flowering of the redemption,” and that here, in this litter-strewn plaza full of unfriendly people, is where that redemption will, God willing, come to fruition. Sapir’s guiding moved me to tears – though the distress the Waqf guards were causing me, along with the ongoing sandstorm probably helped – and I took my sunglasses off and wiped my eyes.
Suddenly, I heard shouting in Arabic and saw one of the Waqf stalkers pointing right at me.
A policeman turned to me: “You can’t close your eyes and cry. That’s like praying.”
For the rest of the tour – this was midway through – it seemed I had my own Waqf guard who stayed close to me and took pictures of me. My sister managed to take a great picture of me with a big smile, next to my personal guard scowling.
Looking back at the trip, it seemed fitting that crying was the offense I was reprimanded for.
As the prayer says, our forefathers sat by the rivers of Babylon and wept while they remembered Zion, and there I was, weeping for the same reason at the Temple Mount.
and in other Har Habayit news from yesterday, a Jew was arrested, sorry - detained, for making a bracha before drinking some water.
"According to a witness also visiting the Temple Mount, the detainee requested permission from a police officer to drink from the water fountain on the site. When the officer refused, another policeman offered the youth a bottle of water.
The youth thanked the policeman, made the blessing over water and drank, whereupon he was informed by police officers that he was being detained on suspicion of making a blessing. "
source: INN
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RAMAT GIVAT ZE’EV BUYER BEWARE!
A Guest Post by Michoel Rubinstein of Givat Zeev
RAMAT GIVAT ZE’EV BUYER BEWARE!
The city council, המועצה מקומית גבעת זאב has requested zoning changes, and this has now resulted in a court battle that affects Ramat Givat Ze’ev. The laws in Israel are very different than the laws in America, and you might not be covered.
Let us start by examining the following map:
If you notice, there is a large brown area in the valley that is set aside for use for public land (“Community Mosdos”). On the original zoning map, there are no altitudes labeled. There is a massive “green” area that was shown to every person who signed a contract, and were told it would be a massive area for a massive park. There is no public park area in Agan HaAyalot, and probably only small ones in Ramat Givat Ze’ev.
Years ago, HaYael Street was pushed even deeper into the valley due to a request from the City Council that happened after the apartments were sold.
The city council requested to change the zoning to add a large area to the “Mosdos” and take away 40% of the park (and to split it into 2 areas), as well as to reduce the area between the houses to the area from 10 meters to 4 meters. The zoning requests, as well, that that area be higheroff the ground, which means that certain buildings on HaYael Street will now be effectively completely underground. In addition, they want to build 3-story buildings close to the housing zones.
This was done without notifying the residents.
In order to raise the area, they have to add thousands of trucks of dirt and rocks.
Where did they get all of this dirt? It was brought from Ramat Givat Ze’ev. The city council decided reached an agreement with Chish Nofei Yisrael, and Chish agreed to spend “millions of shekels” to make the area “stronger.” There have been 1000s of trucks that have dumped dirt on this area over the past several months (and they continue to do so, even after we have officially started our protest). Just remember that to move the dirt to another location out of Givat Ze’ev would cost them many more “millions of shekels,” than what they are doing now.
The dumping is done illegally, and even if they are stopped, it may take years until they agree to remove it. Much worse, they might actually get the zoning changes and remove your park.
Suburbia does not need more commercial areas. It needs more parks.
In other words, nobody is safe from the City Council or from Nofei Yisrael’s quest at monetizing even the smallest area at the expense of the residents. In order to encourage you to beware, here is what is being fought in court between Givat Ze’ev HaChadasha and the City Council:
1) The present-day shopping store (makolet) is zoned to be a park. There is a request to change zoning to be a commercial area (hardware store). A very large shopping area (supermarket, health clinic, etc.) in the “middle” (see the map – the bottom, towards the right). There arezero parks near that area of Agan Ayalot, and Nofei Yisrael and the City Council don’t care (Nofei Yisrael has rights to build the commercial areas in both places currently). The present-day location of the Beis Yaakov is supposed to be a large shopping area – they moved that area to the middle, and are changing zoning to prevent opening another supermarket, closer to Ramat Givat Ze’ev. Instead, they want offices. More commercial.
2) The City council was able to change zoning once despite the laws in Israel. The have to legally publicize their request in 3 newspapers, and they publicized it in 3 non-religious papers, and never in the local newsletter that goes to every home in the neighborhood. They were able to almost double the space shopping area at the expense of, you guessed it, a park.
3) The city council has promised the park for years, (there was a publication from the mayor before the last elections) and has done nothing towards it. Now we know why. Promises mean nothing, if they can monetize it.
4) There are signed agreements between the city council and Nofei Yisrael to dump the dirt in the “new” area of the mosdos, before getting a change in zoning laws, illegally. They continue to dump despite the start of a legal battle. They built the supermarket too large before zoning changes were requested.
5) We were lied to by the building committees in the city council who and where the dirt from coming from. They told us “The Office of Housing,” then they said, “No, we’re just changing the zoning to take out the Sport Arena to add more mosdos (schools).” We were lied to multiple times by many people to distract us.
You, the residents of Ramat Givat Ze’ev, do you want your park destroyed? Do you want the city council to tread on you like grass whenever they want? Don’t say “they won’t do it to us.” An ounce of prevention….. NOW is the time to stand up and speak out! Contact your lawyers. Nobody is safe. And there are few checks and balances in place.
For more information, please contact us at agan.ayalot@gmail.com
K’svia v’chasima tovah, and a gut g’betched yor.
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The Bedouin Tracker Who Saved Naftali Bennett's Life (video)
Naftali Bennet related this story during a shiva call paid by a Bedouin friend... Bennet is sitting shiva upon the death of his father...
what a story!
what a story!
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Time To Know: Israeli Innovation Improves Classroom Literacy (video)
As we celebrate International Literacy Day, here's an Israeli innovation from one of the world's most literate nations, that is improving literacy in classrooms around the world.
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Benjamin Netanyahu - you won't hear this in the new (video)
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Palestinians: What do you think of the Palestinian Authority? (video)
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The Yeshiva Boys Choir - "Ki Avi (Chazak)" (video)
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Sep 8, 2015
He missed his flight, so other people have to pay for him to go to Uman
Here is another crowdfunding page of someone trying to get to Uman for Rosh Hashana.
The first guy I actually felt bad for. He seemed heartfelt. He has a personal difficulty he is dealing with and hoping to be able to pray for a positive resolution. He seemed like somebody I might want to help, even though I don't think Uman is the solution.
This next guy collecting to go to Uman is just an irresponsible adventurer. He missed his flight so has to buy another ticket if he wants to get there. And he does.
I am impressed and surprised that people give money to send these people, especially the second one, to Uman... He raised the money. I hope they got him a one way ticket.
The first guy I actually felt bad for. He seemed heartfelt. He has a personal difficulty he is dealing with and hoping to be able to pray for a positive resolution. He seemed like somebody I might want to help, even though I don't think Uman is the solution.This next guy collecting to go to Uman is just an irresponsible adventurer. He missed his flight so has to buy another ticket if he wants to get there. And he does.
I am impressed and surprised that people give money to send these people, especially the second one, to Uman... He raised the money. I hope they got him a one way ticket.
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Interesting Psak: It isn't necessarily a duck. or a chicken
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is probably a duck.
But not necessarily.
Rav Mahfoud goes on an annual visit to Rav Chaim Kanievsky to pay his respects before Rosh Hashana and to discuss the latest kashrus questions that have been raised within his kashrus organization.
This time another visitor tagged along with Rav Mahfoud.
A chicken.
But not just any chicken. A new chicken. A chicken with no feathers.
This featherless chicken was recently developed to grow like this, along with some other alterations.
The ancestor oof this strain of chicken was a strain of chicken that was developed over 100 years ago and is more red in color. The rabbonim of 100 years ago already paskened that that chicken is muttar to be eaten and is included in the "tradition" we have for chickens.
This new chicken is a grandbaby of that chicken, but altered further to also grow without feathers.
It also turns out that somehow this chicken is sturdier than your average chicken. It has less health issues, less treifa problems, less problems with the sinews in the legs, and can handle the heat better.
Rav Mahfoud brought along the chicken to ask Rav Kanievsky:
1. Is this called the skin having peeled, which is a treifa, or is this ok because it grew like this?
2. is this included in the tradition or not, and are we allowed to alter chickens to grow differently than the traditional way?
Rav Kanievsky paskened that we should not alter chickens away from their traditional way of growing, and even if it looks like a chicken in every other way, we cannot accept it as acceptable within the tradition of kosher fowl.
source: Ladaat
I don't know why he said we are not allowed to make alterations from the traditional appearance of a chicken. I can follow saying an altered chicken is not included in the tradition, but we alter all sorts of things with our food and farm sciences nowadays - some might be kosher and some might not be because of those alterations. I would have liked some additional explanation as to why this is not included in the tradition, and more so why are we not allowed to alter chickens from their traditional appearance.
But not necessarily.
Rav Mahfoud goes on an annual visit to Rav Chaim Kanievsky to pay his respects before Rosh Hashana and to discuss the latest kashrus questions that have been raised within his kashrus organization.
This time another visitor tagged along with Rav Mahfoud.
A chicken.But not just any chicken. A new chicken. A chicken with no feathers.
This featherless chicken was recently developed to grow like this, along with some other alterations.
The ancestor oof this strain of chicken was a strain of chicken that was developed over 100 years ago and is more red in color. The rabbonim of 100 years ago already paskened that that chicken is muttar to be eaten and is included in the "tradition" we have for chickens.
This new chicken is a grandbaby of that chicken, but altered further to also grow without feathers.
It also turns out that somehow this chicken is sturdier than your average chicken. It has less health issues, less treifa problems, less problems with the sinews in the legs, and can handle the heat better.
Rav Mahfoud brought along the chicken to ask Rav Kanievsky:
1. Is this called the skin having peeled, which is a treifa, or is this ok because it grew like this?
2. is this included in the tradition or not, and are we allowed to alter chickens to grow differently than the traditional way?
Rav Kanievsky paskened that we should not alter chickens away from their traditional way of growing, and even if it looks like a chicken in every other way, we cannot accept it as acceptable within the tradition of kosher fowl.
source: Ladaat
I don't know why he said we are not allowed to make alterations from the traditional appearance of a chicken. I can follow saying an altered chicken is not included in the tradition, but we alter all sorts of things with our food and farm sciences nowadays - some might be kosher and some might not be because of those alterations. I would have liked some additional explanation as to why this is not included in the tradition, and more so why are we not allowed to alter chickens from their traditional appearance.
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