MK Yigal Guetta (Shas) put out an unusual, but very important, call to the public. I say "unusual" because this is not something I would have expected to hear from a Shas MK, but "important" because it is (assuming his information is correct).

Guetta put out a public call asking movie-goers and film lovers to boycott Johnny Depp after it has been revealed that for years he had beaten his wife.

True or not, I dont know - I have not been reading the gossip columns, so I don't know if these are accusations, suspicions, truth or whatever. If this is true, Guetta is making an important request of the public.

Either way, perhaps Guetta's call should apply not just to movie actors who are violent to their spouses, but to anyone who is violent to his (or her) spouse. And anybody who violates sexual crimes, such as pedophilia and molestation. Why just boycott movie actors - we can and perhaps should, boycott anyone who is violent like that. I would include teachers, rebbes, rosh yeshivas, mashgichim, and anyone else.

With a few recent cases becoming public knowledge of important Haredi leaders involved in such cases, will Guetta expand his call, or is it only the violence of movie actors that concerns him?

You hit the Haredim in order to gather mandates, you've pushed the Haredim outside of the camp. Learn from me: when you approach the Haredim as friends, you can reach achievements. The Haredim by you are second class. Why, for God's sake, did Yair Lapid say that a 6 year old Haredi child can't go to day camp because he does not learn core curriculum? What is the connection?
My policy regarding the core curriculum is ... the bulldozer approach does not work. I will tell you a secret - before you came around, there were increasingly more haredi students joining [academic studies] each year. Suddenly Yesh Atid shows up and that decreases.
You love to use the brute-force method against the Haredim. My approach is, I am not canceling the core curriculum requirements...I am dealing with it together with my beloved deputy minister and each year you see more Haredim. I believe in dialogue and not with beatings..


  -- Minister of Education, directed at Yesh Atid

another horrible tragedy happened yesterday with a child dying after having been forgotten and left in a closed car for 3 hours...

this is an important reenactment, and you should do whatever necessary to ensure that you don't forget your child in a car ever...

not a major sampling size, but interesting nonetheless..

caption contest!

my submission:
the tefillion will strike fear in the hearts of the enemy, because those weapons definitely won't!

Wow. Netanyahu is really having a bad streak right now. Between the coalition crisis and now the charges against his wife Sarah, and whatever else might be happening....

Yitzchak Rabin resigned for less, and that did not stop him from continuing his career in politics and even becoming prime minister again, though other prime ministers did not resign when criminal affairs involved them or their families - I am thinking Sharon, Olmert and even Netanyahu.

Perhaps this is a welcome distraction to the coalition crisis.. or maybe the coalition crisis is a welcome distraction to his personal crisis.

A PSA guest post from a fellow dog owner

It will be specifically Habayit Hayehudi that will vote against a nationalist government?

  -- Minister Zeev Elkin

who will blink first? It remains to be seen. It seems ironic that an attempt to expand the government from a narrow coalition might be the cause of bringing it down and ushering in new elections. Netanyahu might actually use this crisis to call new elections in order to avert the formation of a party that polls say could very well threaten Likud rule. If he fires Habayit Hayehudi ministers and calls new elections now, Gideon Saar, Moshe Yaalon and other unnamed disgruntled Likudniks won't have time to form the theoretical party that is being discussed and compete in elections.

spotted on a bus on the way up to Meron for Lag b'Omer...

A photo posted by TheYeshivaWorld.com (@theyeshivaworld) on May 26, 2016 at 6:14am PDT

in my opinion, good for him. Better that he should deal with this on his own, even if it makes him look strange, than to force others to alter their attendance for him...

There is an article in Yeshiva World , or maybe it is an advertisement - I am not sure, for supporting the Hai Rottel of Meron.

The article describes the great and surely important work the head of this organization distributing Hai Rottel does to improve the entire distribution system and help more people going to Meron for Lag b'Omer. All very nice.

There are a few points in the article that made me smile, but the one that takes the cake is the following:

Lag Beomer 2007 was the first time in history that women were also considered human. It was the very first time that they received cold water just like the men.

that one made me laugh.

המפסידה הגדולה מהצהרת נתניהו שהוא ספרדי זו בתו החרדית. עכשיו לא יקבלו את ילדיה לישיבות. על שידוכים אין בכלל מה לדבר...

— ישראל בלק (@1BlackIsrael) May 25, 2016

translation:
The biggest loser of Netanyahu's declaration that he is Sefardi is his Haredi daughter. Now they won't accept her children into the yeshivot, and forget about shidduchim!

Meir Kalmanson has started his own version of the carpool karaoke series...

funny guy..

This situation, crisis of sorts, in the coalition between Bennet and the Likud-Netanyahu over his demand is a strange one.

Bennet is demanding that the security cabinet members be more informed about issues they need to vote on in wartime, rather than vote blindly according to the demand of the Prime Minister. He is insisting on some form of reform in the working makeup of the cabinet to that effect.

It is strange that such a demand must be made. People get appointed to the security defense cabinet, but then don't get told the issues they need to make decisions on? They need to trust one or two people blindly when they say vote yes or vote no? Isn't the purpose of such a cabinet to discuss issues and look for better solutions or find the problems in the proposed solutions that maybe were not considered previously? Why have a cabinet at all if this is how it is going to function. Effectively, the person running such a cabinet (Netanyahu, for the most part) is basically a dictator.

It seems to me that if such a demand must be demanded, it seems pretty reasonable.

Yet, and this is also strange, this has turned into a crisis. Netanyahu is refusing to agree to this demand, and the headlines are saying that Netanyahu and the Likud are even refusing to discuss it. In other words, they want their dictatorship mandated and consider it unreasonable for anyone to suggest otherwise.

Very strange. Strange this needs to be an issue, and strange how they respond to the issue.

This crisis can end in a few ways:
a. Netanyahu can acquiesce.
b. Bennet can give up his demand and vote for the government expansion despite not getting hsi demands met
c. Netanyahu can fire Bennet
d. the government can collapse over this

Yisrael Beyteynu is a party of 6 seats, essentially bumping the new coalition up to 61 from the previous 61. However, one of the Israel Beyteynu MKs says she is resigning from Yisrael Beyteynu as she refuses to join the coalition, and is taking her seat elsewhere. If she does not give up her seat, that makes the expansion sit at 66.

Habayit Hayehudi is a party of 8. If they leave, or get fired over this, the government still collapses, despite the expansion. Bennet holds the cards here. If he holds strong in his demands, this is something that Netanyahu would classically fire him over, but in this case it meas going to new elections, as what happened when he fired Livni and Lapid from the previous government. He might give in, to avoid new elections, though it is hard to imagine him just walking away from a demand he made so strongly - perhaps he'll be offered something else in exchange.

Israeli politics is never boring.

City of Hall of Modiin Ilit has published some instructions and guidelines for the Lag b'Omer celebrations.




As you can see by the circled item, City Hall is warning the residents to not throw rocks and boulders at the firemen who will be driving around to ensure everyone's safety.

On the one hand, it is troubling that such a statement needs to be made.

On the other hand, "good on them" - kol hakavod - it did need to be said, and they said it. Hopefully people will listen.It might be more effective if they put out pashkevilim with rabbinic decrees to that effect, but small steps, as they say, small steps.

from the Drops of Light project..

The soon to be released all-star album featuring some of the brightest luminaries in the Jewish music business may well turn out to be one of the most intriguing stories to hit the Jewish world in a very long time.

Shirei Pinchas features 11 original compositions by Pinchas Wolf of Detroit. While his songs have been featured both by Yehuda Green and Yonasan Schwartz on their most recent albums, Shirei Pinchas is the first time that Wolf, who is turning 70 this fall, has made his music available to the public.

Wolf, who was born in a DP camp, spent most of his formative years in Montreal. A student first at the Klausenberger cheder and then at the Lubavitch cheder, Wolf began composing music at just ten years old. He credits that lifelong passion for Chasidishe niggunim with his return to religious observance after a brief crisis that left him struggling on a personal level. In more recent years, having been told by a surgeon that he was humming a tune while undergoing surgery and sedated with general anesthesia, Wolf decided it was time to share his music with the public.

“It was a turning point for me,” said Wolf. “It made me realize that Hashem wanted me back and he wanted my nigunim to get out there.”

The Detroit Chazan said that he continues the practice he began as a Bochur of composing a new Nigun each week in honor of Shabbos.

Joining Wolf in his musical odyssey and giving voice to his compositions are several prominent Jewish music stars including Benny Friedman, Dovid Gabay, Shimmy Engel, Yoely Greenfield, Shlomo Simcha and Mordechai Shapiro as well as a soon to be named child star soloist.

An 89-year-old Holocaust survivor has fulfilled her longtime wish to sing the U.S. national anthem at a Major League Baseball game.

Hermina Hirsch sang Saturday at Comerica Park in Detroit before the Detroit Tigers played Tampa Bay.

The Czechoslovakia native lives in Southfield, Michigan. She was 17 when her family was split up and sent to concentration camps in 1944. According to her granddaughter, Andrea Hirsch, Hermina Hirsch and her older sister were shuffled between five concentration camps, including Auschwitz. She was liberated in January 1945.

WWJ-TV has reported that Hirsch has been a Tigers fan since she moved to the Detroit area more than 60 years ago. Hirsch has been singing the anthem for years during Holocaust survivor meetings in the Detroit area.

kol isha alert, I guess, but it is acapella for sefira...

The original is also in there, in Hebrew, but I posted Ben's, as he already did the work of summarizing it in English, so that saves me a few minutes..





I do not know "messianic look in his eyes" means..

As things drag on, it makes me wonder why things had to go down the way they did. Why did anything semi-official have to be said about who is getting what? Why did Yaalon have to resign now, with negotiations under way - why not wait until it was a done deal, a signed deal? NEgotiations happen regularly for all sorts of things, and often they don't work out. Yaalon resigned as if Lieberman was going to be sworn in 5 minutes later - clearly that did not happen. Did Yaalon make a mistake? Was he too hasty? Was he simply insulted by the fact that Netanyahu was talking about replacing him?

With the current hiccup in  negotiations does Yaalon now regret resigning so quickly?

Not only did Yaalon perhaps make a mistake, but why was the deal presented as a fait accompli before the details were worked out and agreed upon?

And, if they cannot come to an agreement on all the issues, or if perhaps this was a ply by Lieberman to make Netanyahu think he was about to have a deal and then Lieberman would pull the rug out from under him and probably lead to new elections, who would Netanyahu appoint as Defense Minister? With Yaalon having resigned from the Knesset, that door is shut. Would he give it to Bennet, who has wanted it in the past? Is there someone in the Likud that can take the Defense Ministry?

This hiccup in negotiations really opens up a lot of questions.

I am in touch with senior Likudniks and it is very possible that there will be a political explosion in the upcoming elections..

  -- Eli Yishai

LOL
Eli Yishai, who couldn't get a significant number of votes when competing against a smallish party, is warning Netanyahu that Likudniks are going to bolt the Likud and join him in a party that will compete with the Likud. I'd like to hear his explanation as to why he thinks those senior Likudniks need him at all, and how he plans to do to Netanyahu what he could not do to Deri...

this is a clip from their chol hamoed pesach performance..

Today we are voting no-confidence in the government. If I would be able to, I would submit along with it a vote of no-confidence in the Opposition.

  -- MK Yair Lapid

this is a family in Bet Shemesh..

On May 18th, FDD's Vice President for Research Jonathan Schanzer moderated a conversation with Knesset Member and chairperson of Yesh Atid Yair Lapid on various issues related to regional dynamics in the Middle East. 

The Amish are building a replica of Noah's Ark in Kentucky. Very cool...


and here is some explanation of what they are doing... very cool, and only a moment of Christianity-talk..

An interesting question is being discussed by various poskim.

The question is - someone in New York, an older single fellow, asked his friend to travel on his behalf to Eretz Yisrael and daven for him by th e grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in Meron, so that he should find his bashert. In return, he promised to pay him for the service.

For whatever reason, the friend changed his plans without discussing it first with his buddy in New York and instead of traveling to Eretz Yisrael and davening by the Rashbi, he traveled instead ot Lizhensk in Poland on the yahrtzeit of the Noam Elimelech and davened there for his friend to find his soulmate.

Shortly after, his friend actually found the woman of his dreams and they engaged to be married.

When he returned from his trip he went to his friend and asked for the money he had been promised. The chosson refused to pay up, sayign that he had appointed him to go to Meron and daven by Kever Rashbi, not to go to Lizhensk, and therefore the task he had hired him for was never done, and he is not obligtaed to pay.

Rav Zilbershtein relalted to this issue and said the resolution depend son what the chosson had claimed - if he says he only believes in the ability of Rashbi to provide such salvations as the Arizal and others testified about the power of the Rashbi, but not by other kivrei tzaddikim and he does not believe the salvation came form the prayers offered on his behalf in Lizhensk, then he does not have to pay, as he specifically wanted the Rashbi. However, if he also believes in the power of the Noam Elimelech and agrees that it is possible the salvation had come from those prayers, but claims that the messenger did not do as he was employed to do, then he has to pay.

Other rabbonim, specifically Rav Mordechai Gross, Rav Yaakov Meir Stern, and Rav Moshe Shaul Klein, argue and say he cannot be obligtaed to pay, as the messenger did not fulfill his obligations. And, even if he does believe in the powers of kivrei tzaddikim like that of the Noam Elimelech to work its magical powers and send the shidduch, he still does not have to pay, as he still might believe there is a difference between kever Rashbi and other kivrei tzaddikim, as he specifically wanted kever Rashbi. As well, the power given the response via the channel of the Noam Elimelech is different than that provided via the channel of the Rashbi, and he specifically wanted the influence of the Rashbi.

Others, such as Rav Shmuel Eliezer Stern and Rav Shamai Gross, said he has to pay. They reason that there is no gaurantee by davening at any grave, even by kever Rashbi. Yet, since the prayers were clearly answered, it should not matter to him which grave the fellow was at. And sure if the messenger had spoken toh im first and said he'd prefer to got ot the kever of the Noam Elimelech instead, he for sure would have agreed, as he just wants to already have his shidduch.
source: Behadrei

1. interesting debate
2. It is clear that they say that it is a matter of what the guy actually believes about what is happening. Meaning, it is in each person's mind, and that somehow affects reality. One person might believe, and the next person might not, and each would get different results because of it. And if he believes at a more micro level, not just grave sin general but also which specific grave has more power, that also affects his reality.
3. The last argument quoted is strange. it is a bold assumption to assume that he would have been ok with a change in plans because he does not really care, just wants results. I am not sure why they are so sure they can assume that.

There is no need to boycott the Remorm, and it would not hurt if the Chief Rabbis would meet with them. We need to strengthen everybody. The Reform are Jewish and they deserve human rights as Jews... The official body authorized over halacha in the State of Israel is the Rabbanut,  but it seems to me that the Rabbanut also needs to take into consideration the entire public, within the bounds of halacha. We need to integrate the Reform proportional to their percentage of the population in Israel.  I think the Reform movement needs representation in Israel.

  -- Yehuda Glick, incoming Likud MK

If you thought Yehuda Glick was just some right wing extremist religious fanatic settler, as the media has spent years painting him to be, you've got another think coming...

Reports have J-Street having been a recipient of some $576,000 from the Obama administration in order to be an advocate for the nuclear deal with Iran.
source: INN

So, are they just mercenaries? Can they claim to be honestly advocating for what they think is best for Israel when they are being paid to do so? Is it all about the money, or maybe if the money is there anyway and it matches with what they would be doing anyway, why not take it?

Does this revelation make J-Street look any worse than they already did in regards to their "pro-Israel" work?

amazing



and if you don't know who Yehuda Glick is, he is about to become the Likud's newest MK...

this might be kol isha, if you consider rapping to be singing... either way, it is really cool and they clearly have some talent...

Palestinians: Lieberman in cabinet means no Israeli partner for peace

  -- Haaretz

as if until yesterday, for the past year, or even 20 years, there has been a partner for peace...

Yes, Ahmad Tibi gets this honor today..

כנסת 2016: במקום שהאופוזיציה תפיל את הממשלה, הממשלה מפילה את האופוזיציה.

— Ahmad Tibi (@Ahmad_tibi) May 18, 2016

An ice cream company in Beer Sheva decided to honor its local football (soccer) team by creating a new flavor by which local fans will support the team in the current tournament in which it is competing.

The flavor is called "Hapoel Beer Sheva flavor"
source: Srugim

Anybody out there know what a football team tastes like, and therefore what this ice cream tastes like? Anybody out there taste this ice cream? I wonder if it tastes like sweat, mud and grass, or something else.

There is a horrible story from Yerushalayim culminating right now in the arrest of a mashgiach of a yeshiva for abuse and molestation of his own children.

The most fascinating part of the story is that, as far as I can remember, for the first time such an incident is making the top headlines in the religious and even in the Haredi media.

Add to this the publicity of the recent case in Monroe that "ended" with an FBI raid.

In the past, such cases rarely made the frum news. When they did they were either relegated to a minor column with little information placed in a place hardly anyone would notice it, or they were attacks on the accusers for creating a chilul hashem in going to the police or about accusing falsely an innocent man.

Are the days of sweeping these things under the carpet really behind us?

So many people are upset and disturbed about the impending deal to get Yisrael Beyteynu to join the government coalition with the offer of the Defense Ministry for Avigdo Lieberman.

From one perspective, the views he has regularly espoused in the past has people worried about what he might do, but also even before he does anything, the further isolation his appointment will cause as the Western world is repulsed by him and his statements. Let us not forget - when Lieberman was Foreign Minister he was basically banned form Western countries and spent most of his efforts in Eastern European countries, while Netanyahu dealt with the Western countries.

From a second perspective, the way he has spoken about Netanyahu over the past year and a half, at least, and his repeated refusals to even consider joining the coalition, makes it surprising that he was offered this now and that he is accepting.

From a third perspective, thi sis what he initially demanded to join the government after the previous elections. Netanyahu refused to give it to him back then, so why now?

Personally I think Lieberman's bark is worse than his bite. He thinks he is a tough guy like Putin who can roll tanks over anyone he does not like and get away with it, but what has Lieberman ever done to deserve that comparison. All he does is talk big. it is easy to talk when the keys to the tank are not in your hands. I suspect he might try something, somewhat minor, pretty early on, but will get handcuffed and reprimanded by Netanyahu and others, and that will put an end to that.

What does bother me about this is what it shows about the political system and, again, the need for reforming the electoral system. Whether Netanyahu did this out of desperation to save a failing coalition or out of strategic maneuvering for the future or out of sheer responsibility to the country, this is a symptom of a bad system. He could only do this because of the bad electoral and parliamentary system we function in. And until the politicians change the system, these types of maneuvers will continue to happen. Netanyahu is not the first to lay with strange bedfellows in order to stabilize a coalition, and he won't be the last - unless the politicians change the system.

This looks like an awesome sale price! So much savings to the consumer!



you only have 10 days to take advantage of this amazing sale price, and then it jumps back up to the original.

Hard to believe this actually works...

I just discovered this project called "Bet Sfer lAchdut".. here are a couple of the recent videos they produced.. Rami Levi and Rabbi Lau

and today's musical interlude (a capella, sefirah compatible, of course) is brought to you by some Thai guy who obviously works in a Jewish business and hears this song too often...

A Guest Post by Dr. Harold Goldmeier

I have no way of guessing what is going to happen with the possible formation of a unity government - will it happen or not? Which parties will join and which will not? Which parties will leave the coalition and which will stay? Which ministries and positions will be taken from which parties and be offered to whom? These are all questions, and we will find out the answers soon enough. I believe that the announcements and declarations made in public over the past few days by all the various parties are all smoke screens and give no indication of what is actually happening.

The one interesting statement I heard was from Minister Aryeh Deri. Deri said that Shas will not give up anything, any of its positions and ministries, to make room for any incoming parties. Any seats that will be transferred to any of the joining parties will have to be taken from other parties, according to Deri's statement.

That is a bold statement. He must be just posturing to put himself in a position to give up as little as possible. The coalition is built with a set of ministries per number of seats held. No party can continue to hold on to the same number of seats when the "key" is changing and other parties have to give up some seats and hold less positions for the same number of seats. Plus, Deri himself has been pushing, supposedly, for a long time to bring in more coalition partners. He cannot seriously now insist that Netanyahu do so but only at everyone else's expense.

I am sure he is hoping to be forced to give as little as possible and this is a negotiating tactic. He surely also realizes that, depending on exactly who joins and how large the new coalition becomes, his party will have become as expendable as any of the other small parties, and insisting on too much could lead to him being on the way out...

interesting clip, but I was not aware that their conversions are already taking place and are recognized in Israel. I thought they were fighting for that right.

UPDATE: I have been told that the Interior Ministry recognizes such converts as Jewish, but the Rabbanut does not. The political and social fight happening in Israel over this is whether or not to force the Rabbanut to recognize these converts as Jewish.