The police deserve some kudos.

They arrested some members of the Waqf on Har Habayit for attacking archaeologists that were there looking around.
source: Ynet

While the Waqf people should have been arrested long ago for harassing visitors to the site, it took some archaeologists to get it done. For whatever reason, religious Jewish visitors weren't enough. But, hey, at least it happened now.

And now we just have to wait for the courts to release them due to "lack of evidence" or after Jordanian intervention, or threats of rots, or lack of public interest....

Translation:
look at this picture. It is an image of our lives. And don't make a mistake: this woman, who has already seen a thing or two, is the only one there enjoying.

what a horrible father...

Yesterday we made our way down south to a dusty little, and sparsely populated, army base to participate in the concluding ceremony of our son's combat medic course.







While waiting for it to begin, they had us wait in a nearby structure that was air-conditioned, and it turned out to be the base synagogue (actually, one of the synagogue's. we passed another one on the way out). In the synagogue they have a tallis and tefillin gemach. I would note here that while my son is in a Haredi unit, the base they were on for the medics course was a regular base that they took a part of. The base is not set up as a Haredi base, so the shul and the tefillin gemach were especially interesting to see.



The ceremony was small - just the small group of young men in the course and a few family members. We were surprised to find out just moments before the ceremony that our son was selected as one of the two soldiers who excelled and were given special certificates. We learned that there are two versions of this - one boy received the certificate of "hitztayen" and the other, our son, "lamofet".

The two that excelled had their medic pin pinned to their uniforms by the important guy with the lighter uniform (sgan aluf I think, but not sure. I dont understand or know how to identify the rankings).











Had a nice dinner afterwards in Beer Sheva and now he gets a bit of vacation before going back to his regular base for advanced training.

One more interesting incident - while walking out of the restaurant in Beer Sheva, a woman walked by. I noticed that she seemed to hesitate and was looking at us, but I didn't think much of it, and kept going towards the car. She called out to me and when I didn't respond, as I didn't realize she was calling me, she came back towards me. When I turned around she gave herself a bracha, or a wish, that her family should be like ours, our family looks so nice. I was a bit stunned and just responded amen and God willing, and then she went on her way, as did we.

this was a recent documentary report on Israel's channel 1. The report is led by a relative of his, and many relatives are spoken to in the video. This is a very interesting report and approaches with different angles than what you are used to seeing about him.

this video was made as a response to the recent documentary series on the Haredi women that portrayed the women in the light of being suppressed and controlled...

the vote was unanimous.. :-)

the clip is set to music..

Translation:
57 years to since the death of the Chief Rabbi, the Gaon, Rav Yitzchak Isaac Halevi Herzog, zt"l.
In this rare picture form his funeral at the cemetery of Sanhedria in Jerusalem, standing next to the Chief Rabbi Rav Yitzchak Nissim, you can see the rosh yeshiva of Lakewood Yeshiva, the Gaon Rav Ahron Kotler, zt"l, who also gave an emotional eulogy.
There was a time when they knew to live and respect, even if the had differences. I wish that for us, in our days.

Amnon Levi's newest report/documentary looks at 3 popular "machzirei betshuva" - talks to them, follows them, debates them, analyzes them - each employing a very different style...

MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ) with the other Haredi MKs have been working to prepare and pass a new law that would give the Rabbanut more control over the public mikvaot. They were concerned about more encroachment of the Reform and Conservative into Israel, as they have been by the Kotel, and were worried about Reform conversions being performed in public mikvaot.

Despite the fact that we believe that a Reform conversion is meaningless, their use of the mikva as part of the process does not damage or ruin the mikva in anyway. However, the Haredi MKs are worried about the Reform attaining some sort of foothold in Israeli society, and some sort of legitimization in people's eyes, so despite the mikva not being ruined, the Haredi MKs don't want the Reform using it. The Supreme Court even decided that the Reform and Conservative have the right to use the mikvaot for their conversions.

So, they have been working on putting together a new law. Some initial drafts raised the ire of many groups, as they tried to give the Rabbanut too much control and too much micro-management ability over who can use the mikva.

They finally came up with the final version of their new law and passed it. According to The Times of Israel, the new law is that Reform and Conservative people will not be able to use the mikva at all. The mikva management (I assume via the mikva lady) will have the right to turn people away from using the mikva.

I don't know how anybody will know who is Reform, who is Conservative, who is simply not religious or whatnot. Plenty of not-Orthodox people have used the mikva until now, and I hope they won't get turned away because of this new law.

A Haredi askan commented about this that in the USA the Reform don't have any mikvas and have no use for them, so there is no reason they should need them here. The only reason they want to use the mikvaot here is as a tool to gain legitimacy and an opening into society via conversions.

I don't know how many mikvaot the Reform operate in the USA, but a quick Google search shows that they do have some. I don't know how frequently they use them, or for what, but the statement made above is obviously wrong. Besides for that, Haredim do things differently in Israel than they do in the USA, so why can't the Reform?

Another issue I see is that if someone Reform (more likely Conservative) wants to keep taharat hamishpacha and go to the mikva, why should anyone have the right to prevent them from doing so?

I thought the final law would specifically deal with preventing conversions by Reform, but they opened it up and said any immersions by Reform and Conservative are not allowed. Maybe they will only ban people who converted Reform or Conservative - but I don't know how a woman entering the mikva will be identified as a convert, let alone as a Reform convert.

I learned something interesting this morning in the non-stop talk about the repealing of the core curriculum (in Haredi schools) law.

It seems that the Haredi leadership is not really against studying English and math (and some other subjects). as the various spokespeople said. They point to the many schools that teach these courses at some level or another.

They say it is up to each school to decide (based on consultation with its rabbonim and the gedolim) what is the appropriate curriculum to teach based on its parent body's wishes and needs. Some teach more, and some teach less. And each person can decide what school to send his kids to - nobody forces anybody to send to a school that does or does not have the extra topics of study.

What they don't want, and what they won't accept, is the government telling them what to do and what to teach. They do not want the government involved in the pedagogic decisions of the Haredi schools. Even if today all they are demanding is something that is really acceptable, like English or math, tomorrow they might make other demands of things that are not acceptable. And, as Motka Bloi said, if we wanted to teach gemara "Eilu Metzios" and the government told us to start teach gemara perek "Hamafkid", we would refuse, as it would be a "gezeira" from the government.

The Haredi opinion, it seems, is that specific topics of study might or might not be ok, but the government telling them what to study is never ok and they will always oppose whatever the government tells them to study, no matter what it is.

This has got to be one of the funniest things I have read in a long time.. at least from serious news media.

in 1917 Arthur Balfour wrote a letter in which he expressed the United Kingdom's support for a Jewish national homeland in Palestine and sympathy for the Zionist aspirations. This was a significant moment and eventually led to the State of Israel being established, with many other important moments along the way.

The Palestinians are now preparing a lawsuit against the United Kingdom because of that Balfour Declaration.

According to the Times of Israel, the PA is saying that the Brits are responsible for all Israeli crimes since the end of the British Mandate in 1948.

I don't know what they would expect to get out of such a lawsuit - reparations from the British government? a reversal of the original declaration?

I figure that if they are now moving on to blame someone else for their troubles, that is good for us. Let them concentrate their efforts in England, start their intifadas there, and leave us alone.

I wonder if they will sue the United Nations next for voting in favor of the establishment of the State of Israel.

Rav Betzalel Cohen is the rosh yeshiva of a yeshiva high school called "Yeshivat Chochmei Lev"

As I have said before, in my opinion, having a party like Shas in the Knesset, by its very existence, perpetuates racism/discrimination against Sefardim. As they work to supposedly rid society of racism against Sefardim, they enhance it and they effect more racism in practice.

This time it comes out in a side effect of the repealing of the core curriculum law that would have forced the Haredi educational system to teach core curriculum subjects or risk decreased funding from the government.

The side effect is in another part of the same law that was also repealed at the same time. The clause stated that it is illegal to discriminate against Sefardi young women in the various seminaries and schools. That has been repealed as well, and now it is legal to discriminate against the Sefardi women and not accept them into the schools.

That means, the Haredi parties, both UTJ and Shas, supported changing the law to make it legal to discriminate against Sefardim (in the instance of Sefardim women in seminaries).

The interesting thing about this is while intended, I am sure that the final result is not what they want. They say, and I heard this on the radio from both MK Menachem Eliezer Mozes of UTJ and MK Yaakov Margi (Shas), that of course it is bad that it is no longer illegal to discriminate and they must deal with now. However, they explained that their goal was to rid the lawbooks of everything that had been put in by Shai Piron, Minister of Education at that time - whether it was something bad or good. They don't want anything from Piron on the books affecting them and telling them what to do or not to do.

לא מדבשך ולא מעוקצך 

Not from your honey, and not from your sting, as God told Balaam when he couldn't curse the Jews so asked permission to bless them instead.

The same attitude has been in effect in their work to reverse everything put in by Lapid.

I don't recall the same attitude regarding previous Education Ministers such as Shulamit Aloni and Yossi Sarid, or other Ministers like Avraham Poraz, Tommy Lapid, and others who were considered strongly anti-Haredi. I don't even think Yair Lapid is as anti-Haredi as some of those others, yet the approach to dealing with him is generally much harsher than I remember how the others were dealt with.

Is Yair Lapid seen as the most anti-haredi ever? Is this a new approach because whatever they did back then wasn't effective enough?

Another interesting thing I noticed is that while they each spoke about the issue and about how bad it is that the discrimination exists and that the problem must be resolved, neither of them said anything about formulating a new law to replace the repealed law. Much of what was legislated by Yesh Atid a couple of years ago has been repealed and replaced with new laws more to the liking of the Haredi parties. This they repealed without replacing it with a new law formulated by them.

great interview. Kachlon was funny, attacked back, and took some hits gracefully...

while the initiative looks interesting, the lead up sounds like an extreme left strategic plan..

and anybody know who that American-sounding rabbinic-looking fellow is in the middle of this?

KOLture Shock si a mixed acapella group, so watch out for any possible kol isha...

The government of Israel wants to take from an entire generation the ability to support itself... 

  -- MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) responding to the news of the vote in the government to revoke the law passed by Lapid that would have forced the Haredi educational institutions to teach core curriculum subjects

Lapid is wrong with this because Lapid is passing the buck to the government and blaming the government for the bad decisions of a specific community. The blame for this should all go to the leadership of the Haredi community that has fought against teaching core curriculum subjects. I understand they don't want to be forced into doing anything, but they alone are at fault for the educational system they promulgate to their people. Let them bear the blame for their flock living in destitution, large percentages of them unable to make a decent living, and children who fail out of the system with no other options made available to them.

I think we all know that even had the government not repealed the law and elft it on the books that they have to teach these subjects, the Haredi community would have found a way out of it...

Next Friday, August 5, will be the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Rio De Janeiro.

Minister of Sport and Culture Miri Regev has announced that she will be skipping the opening ceremonies due to being a representative of Israel, the "sole Jewish State on the planet" and it being inappropriate to desecrate Shabbos in that role. Attempts to house her close to the event failed when security said they could not guarantee her safety with those arrangements.

Kol Hakavod to Miri Regev for taking this stance. Regev is traditional, but not religious and not normally Shabbos observant. I am sure it was not an easy decision to make. How often do you get to represent your country on an international stage as big as the Olympics? Regev chose to represent Israel in a different capacity -as one who is sensitive to Jewish culture, specifically Shabbos observance, despite everyone's, including her own, personal decision whether to observe or not.

I am assuming she is not stopping the entire Israeli Olympic team from participating but made the decision for herself alone. If the decision included the entire team, I am sure we would hear sharp criticism of her in the news.

If Regev were religious this would be more expected and less noteworthy. Being that she isn't, that makes the decision even more difficult to have arrived at and more praiseworthy.

MK Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid) has proposed a law by which there would be rules set for hostage negotiation, should it, God forbid, ever be necessary.

Stern's proposal has two elements to it:
1. hostage negotiations to exchange Israelis captured by enemy for terrorists in Israeli jails would be on the basis of 1 for 1. No more trading thousands of terrorists for one or a few Israelis. 1 for 1, and that's it.
2. As soon as an Israeli is taken hostage by the enemy, Israel will harshen the terms of imprisonment for terrorists in Israeli jails. This would apply to terrorists associated with the organization behind the abduction.
source: IBA

The worst part about this law proposal is that it is being proposed by a member of the Opposition, and specifically Yesh Atid. They don't get along too well with coalition members right now, so I see it as having a high chance of being rejected. Hopefully they will approach it on its merits and garner enough support to put it through the process.

Translation:
a halachic question I was asked: There is a concert during the Three Weeks of a band that previously had cancelled a performance in Israel because of the boycott on Israel, but now are defying the boycott despite threats and will be coming to Israel. The questioner does not like the band or its music and does not enjoy it, and only wants to go to the concert in order to support them in their decision to come to Israel.
Is it allowed?
The truth is that beyond my enjoyment of the question from a technical halachic perspective, I enjoyed the thought process behind the question... how fortunate you are, Israel!

(I am curious as to what he answered the questioner)

interesting idea..

The first Israeli-American Shark Tank, an initiative of the Israeli-American Council (“IAC”) and the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation (“MFF”), is inviting entries that represent the most innovative new project ideas for our first annual competition: 
How can Israeliness help connect American-Jewish community members to Israel and to their Jewish heritage?
Up to five (5) finalists will be invited to present their concepts in a plenary session at the third annual National Israeli-American Conference, to be held in Washington, D.C., from September 24- 26, 2016. The judging panel, comprised of leading philanthropists, will interview the contestants and decide how much funding to invest in the projects. Up to $100,000 will be awarded to support the development and execution of the concepts presented at the plenary session.
All finalists (one person per team) will be awarded:
• Full coverage of their travel expenses
• Free conference registration

this is a really great interview with Nissim

Yishai Shlissel Aressted From Prison Under Suspicion of Planning to Attack Participants in Pride Parade

  -- Maariv

The police announced that Yishai Shlissel, the man serving more than a life sentence in jail for the murder of Shira Banki during his attack on the Pride Parade last year, has been arrested, from his jail cell under suspicion for planning an attack on this years parade.

It seems he was in talks with his brother to plan an attack. His brother and some other family members had been picked up by the police earlier this week.

Can someone already in jail be arrested? Also, I am amazed at his determination to do harm to the paraders, even from his jail cell.

The following sign spotted on Emek Refaim street in Jerusalem offers a moment of irony..


The sign, placed on a tree that has been chopped down, warns residents of the area that if the light rail train route will be approved it will mean all these trees will be chopped down... (the sign calls for a meeting to plan the residents response)

The sign might have been better placed on a tree that was not yet chopped down, warning that these beautiful trees could be lost.

Anyways, I say chop em down. Progress. The city has done very well with design and style and I am sure that as part of the plan they will replant the trees and make the area pleasant and beautiful, as they have done in so many other parts of the city. The best part is that it will make that part of the city more accessible to more people. It will bring more business to the area and reawaken the Emek, that people have complained about in recent years, the way it did to the area of Jaffa Road and downtown Jerusalem.

and, yes, this reminded me of the Matisyahu song Chop 'em Down, from his album No Place To Be... back in the days he was still frum and it was cool to listen to his music...

This is awesome!

Yediot is reporting that Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz has approved the extension of the Emek train route to include an express leg from Afula to Tiberias. This will also allow for an express train route between Tel Aviv and Tiberias - the ride would take just an hour. This will also allow for a train route between Tiberias and Haifa, via Afula.

Here is the press release:


This is great. It will bring the outlying cities and towns "closer" to the center of the country. This will make it easier for people to travel to Tel Aviv region, or Haifa, or pretty much anywhere, for work or for personal reasons, but especially for work. And the improvement of transportation for touring purposes will be amazing! It takes anybody traveling to the Tiberias region by public transportation hours to get where they want. They have to transfer between trains and buses that do not run frequently, and go via different cities that they have no need to be in. This will make touring easier and cheaper, in addition to the work opportunities it will provide.

Yisrael Katz is a bulldozer, as they say, and he has done a great job as Minister of Transportation. He has been probably the most effect minister in government in the past 7 years (and probably even longer).

this session happened a month ago but the Knesset account just uploaded it to their channel

When he gets asked about the housing crisis and the lack of solutions for the Haredim, he mentions Bet Shemesh (during two different questions). After answering about other solutions, he jokes that they should say tehillim.

I like these sessions.

I would so go on this tour...

maybe an Israeli undercover agent should go and set charges to destroy the tunnels..

this new archaeological find proves without a doubt that even Adam and Noah ate cholent...

MK Dovid Bitan, the Director of the Coalition, had MK Ohana's law proposal for protecting LGBT people from harassment removed from the floor. That means it was not voted on. This was after Minister Litzman threatened a coalition crisis over the law. Ohana has attacked Bitan for giving in to Litzman's demands.

Bitan explains that he had two choices:
1. let the proposal continue to voting in the Knesset today, wher eit would fail as too many people opposed it
2. removing the proposal from the agenda and giving Ohana time to rally support for the bill and raise it again later after he has enough support

My following question might be due to a lack of understanding of the process, so I would appreciate anybody who could both answer the question and explain the process.

My question is, why does UTJ get to threaten the coalition every time they want to pass a aw that goes against the natural beliefs of, say, Likud MKs and insist that coalition discipline is in effect and everyone must vote in favor of their bill. And they do. Yet, when a bill like Ohana's goes up (or bills from other Likud MKs that were not supported by the Haredi parties) we do not see the Likud telling its coalition partners that they must vote in favor of the bill with coalition discipline in place. Bitan somehow has the power to tell him muster the support yourself. Why doesn't this work in both directions? Why can't the Likud put its weight behind its place in the coalition and its proposals?

I understand coalition politics, but I don't understand why it pretty much always goes in one direction. Just like Likud, for example, has to support bills it does not necessarily favor because of its coalition partners, so UTJ, for example, should also have to do the same, yet we rarely see them supporting a bill they don't like.

I do think the religious and Haredi community has a long way to go in changing attitudes about how to deal with homosexuality. For example I think it was unnecessary, and even wrong, for Minister Litzman to turn a proposed law to protect members of the LGBT community from harassment into a coalition crisis in order to have it taken off the table (as he did today to MK Ohana's proposal).

Despite that, I think it is wrong of the LGBT community to provoke the religious and Haredi community. The court recently upheld that in Beer Sheva when they wanted to have their parade through a religious neighborhood, and the courts said no. I think it was wrong of them to be provocative and hang their flags outside of the Great Synagogue today, and it was good of the mayor of Jerusalem to order them removed, upon Rav Stern's request.

The LGBT community avoids the Muslim areas of Jerusalem so as not to hurt the sensitivities of the Muslim community, and there is no reason they cannot do the same for the Jewish religious community, even if I think the religious attitude should be changed.

It seems there is a movement to officially grant the status of "minority" to the Haredi community.

The Haredi community would no longer just be considered Israelis with a different set of priorities. They would legally be able to run their communities how they like, with separate cities and schooling controlled how they want it, and probably all those tzniyus signs would suddenly become legal, etc.

They would be a minority population, just as the Druze and Arabs are, among others.

According to Arutz 7 the concern of granting such status is that others, like the Dati Leumi, might also want this status, along with all the benefits that come with it.

I am not sure why that is a concern. And if they want it, why not grant it? Why grant it to the Haredim and oppose it for the DL - what's the difference? Though, I am not sure they will actually want it - the DL community prides itself on being part and parcel of Israeli society - taking minority status, if they could, would probably harm them in some way.

I see nothing wrong with giving the Haredim minority status. They already get most of the benefits anyway, by efficient use of political influence, so why not give them the status and make it official?

The biggest problem is I see is the demographics issue, especially if the demographics regularly touted by the Haredi community are correct. They often talk about how the high percentage (I dont remember the number thrown around, but it is high) of children in school being Haredi and how by year whatever the country will be mostly Haredi... How does minority status fit in with that? What happens as we get closer to approaching that day when Haredim are no longer actually a real minority?

Or else maybe the biggest problem would be coming up with an actual legal definition of who is Haredi. Would someone be able to qualify for the benefits simply by putting on a black kippa? If it requires having gone to Haredi schools, that might exclude baalei teshuva. I think granting such a legal status would require them to finally come up with actual qualifications to be included in the Haredi community, and that won't be an easy task.

What do you think?

Soon By You, episode 2 can be seen here

Jewish hipsters...

We have seen new parents offering for sale the right to name their baby.

I think this might be a little bit stranger. Kikar is reporting on an advertisement in a newspaper (they don't say which) in which a person says he cannot fast on 17 Tammuz and therefore is looking to buy the right to be sandek at a bris. Being that a sandek would not have to fast, he is willing to pay up to $1000 for this right.



Supposedly they called him and he confirmed it, and added that he will only considering buying the sandek rights from a shabbos-observant family. I don't know what is wrong with being sandek at the bris of the baby of a non-shabbos-observant family, as such a sandek still would not fast and it would be the same "segula" and honor, but that is what he wants.

It is definitely a unique way of getting out of a fast, albeit expensive. He probably also figures it is worth spending a lot of money on as being sandek is  considered a segula for attaining wealth. He probably just figures he'll get his money back sooner or later.

Unless this is a 13 year old child fasting for the first time (or avoiding fasting), I wonder if he has done this before or if he has fasted before. And, what does he plan to do on Tisha B'av and Yom Kippur that are even longer fasts and this solution won't really help.

A very strange story has come to light in which a convert was discovered to never having actually been circumcised during his conversion.

And no, we are not talking about a conversion performed by some renegade or maverick beis din, not some open orthodox or other type of defamed-by-the-rabbanut beis din (e.g. such as Rav Haskel Lookstein's). This happened in the prestigious beis din in Bnei Braq led by Rav Nissim Karelitz.

The story, as reported by Radio Kol Hai, is seemingly not one of fraud or deceit, but of a mistake. This fellow went to the beis din to convert, and at the end of the process when it was time to get the circumcision, a student mohel was appointed to perform the rite of passage. This student mohel did not do what he was supposed to do, but the convert was registered as a convert.

This was discovered when he went to the Rabbanut to register for marriage, and they wanted to confirm his conversion. During the investigation they somehow discovered that he was not circumcised.

The Rabbanut mohel says that this fellow refused to be physically examined when requested. However, he said, and I heard him say this on the radio, the refusal was not because he was hiding anything but because his conversion had been confirmed in the past by multiple rabbis and he thought another examination was improper and wrong, and it was probably confusing and upsetting for him to be put through this and to have his conversion suddenly called into question.

Eventually he was persuaded to participate, by realizing that he would not be allowed to marry if he did not participate, and the mohel realized that there was a problem, as he was not circumcised. A new circumcision was performed, his conversion was confirmed and he was allowed to marry.

Supposedly, there are many stories like this in which people are given geirus certificates without having actually completed the circumcision requirements.

This is a very strange story:
1. Rav Karelitz's beis din has a reputation of being very thorough, and thusly very well respected. I don't understand how this can happen.
2. How does a mohel perform the bris but not actually perform the bris, without realizing, and give the approval?
3. how does a student mohel perform circumcisions without supervisions and oversight? especially in a beis din like that of Rav Karelitz...
4. when a convert applies for marriage do they really ask him to drop his pants? why did they suspect this convert and not just accept Rav Karelitz's confirmation paper?
5. Will incidents like this affect the standing and acceptance of the private batei din in the Rabbanut?

The Knesset just passed some laws in their final readings and advanced some others. Here are a couple of the more interesting ones:

  -- The flag law was passed in its final reading.
This law intends to protect the sanctity of the flag (and other State symbols). According to the law until now, someone desecrating the flag would be liable for a fine of up to 300 lirot - yes, lirot - a currency that no longer even exists. According to the new law passed, that fine has been changed to being up to 58,400nis, along with the possibility of up to 3 years in prison.

As well, anyone caught burning the flag shows by his actions that he "does not want to be a citizen of the State" and will lose some of his or her benefits from the State they so despise. Examples of benefits they might lose are bituach leumi stipends and allowances, health care subsidies, academic stipends and subsidies, etc.
source: Knesset website

It is going to be interesting to see if this actually gets applied in practice and if the threat of the law minimizes the inclusion of flag burning in the multitude of protests and riots held by various communities on a fairly regular basis.

   --- the law allowing a division of "nursing hour" between fathers and mothers in the workplace was passed unanimously (by 42 MKs).

Until now a new mother back to work has been allowed, by law, to take an additional hour over the course of the day to be used for nursing her baby. This daily hour is limited to the first four months after returning from maternity leave.

The new law will allow both parents to divide this hour between them and decide whether the mother will use it to feed her child, whether the father will or whether they will split the time between them. The term "nursing hour" would be changed to be called "parenting hour".
source: Knesset website

This reminds me of the gemara that describes a man whose wife died, leaving him a newborn baby to care for. He was too poor to be able to hire a wet-nurse, so he davened to Hashem for a solution. Sure enough, he grew breasts like a woman and began lactating, thus he was able to feed his baby (the amoraim of the gemara debated whether this was a good thing or a bad thing).

That guy would have been able to fully take advantage of this law, even without changing the name to "parenting hour".

Regardless of that, it is a good thing to allow both parents the opportunity to spend the bonding time through feeding with the baby.

When I was in yeshiva I had a rebbe who said that professional sports, such as football and baseball, is really a good thing. He explained that football and baseball games keep hundreds of thousands of people off the streets, busy and distracted with these sports games. If not for the daily baseball game, if not for the weekly football game, many of those people, whether the athletes or the fans in the stands and watching on tv or playing it themselves and trying to emulate the athletes, would be turning their attention to the Jews. Basically, professional sports keep thugs and anti-semites off the street and distracted.

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman wants to channel that sentiment and apply it to the Palestinians.

According to Galei Tzahal News, Lieberman is planning to build ten football (soccer) fields in the Palestinian areas. Lieberman is hoping that having nice football fields to play in will keep them busy and distract the Palestinian youth and take them away from violence and attacking Jews with stone throwing at Jewish cars in the streets.

Lieberman plans, in general, to use the carrot and stick method - he plans on coming down with a hard hand on areas from which violence emanates, and be generous and supportive of areas that are cooperative and maintain the quiet. He says that the football fields is just one initiative he is planning, but there will definitely be more and the Arab areas that keep law and order will be rewarded with better lives.

I don't know if ten fields is enough to make a significant difference, but it is, I think, a good idea, and at least a good start. Maybe he should also section off sections of professional stadiums and encourage Palestinians to watch the professional sports, which would naturally encourage the kids to spend more time playing and following sports, distracting them from the streets.

And. considering their highly developed throwing skills (from throwing all those rocks), Lieberman might consider building them baseball fields as well and teaching them how to use a baseball bat. Or maybe putting another potential weapon in their hands is a bad idea.

If you build it they will come.

the Knesset held a question-time session with the Prime Minister - the first one with him, though question-time has been held before with other ministers.

I don't know what they changed in the process, but the Religious Council of Bat Yam has sped up the process of registering for marriage and cut out a lot of bureaucracy. They say it takes 4.5 minutes under the new system to register.

if they are making the system better and more palatable to the people, more power to them!

and it is a cute video.

Rabbi Wolf gave his blessing and left, without saying anything personal or political. Probably very smart in the current climate (the one that forced Rabbi Lookstein to reverse his decision about this)

this is a nice idea.. people fly all over and have stopovers for several hours in cities they might never see.. these two people want to guide you in figuring out how to take advantage of those few hours and show you what you can see...

MK Yoav Kisch (Likud) and MK Betzalel Smotritch (Habayit Hayehudi) have proposed a law, signed on by many other MKs, by which the State would annex Maaleh Adumim and apply Israeli sovereignty and law over the area, equating Maaleh Adumim with the rest of Israel-proper.

Minister Ayelet Shaked said that everyone thinks that this is correct. I would bet that not everyone thinks so, but it is mostly a location that has a broad consensus in agreement that it should and will remain Israeli even if a peace deal should ever be reached in which Israel gives land to the Palestinians.

Shaked further said that this is a n issue that should be on the table and should be open for discussion, both internally among the Israeli people and externally toward the world.

This law, should it pass, will allow Israel to develop Maaleh Adumim further than it has been able to until now.

source: Srugim

Maaleh Adumim deserves it, if any place does. And it is good to see some actual initiation of projects, even if controversial, rather than just reactive behavior and stagnation.

Weither Dubois, a 24 year old student from a village near Brussels, Belgium decided to take a trip to Israel. He decided not to take the easy way out, like most of us, and book a flight on an airplane and get here within a few hours... Rather, Dubois decided to walk to Israel.

Yes, you read that right. He decided to walk to Israel.

Walking from Belgium to Israel took him 4 months. I'd say he cheated because he decided to walk through Italy and then hopped on a boat from Cyprus to Israel, rather than walk all the way through Turkey (he was worried about the security situation there). I'd say that, but instead I'll just say he must really not like El Al.

Dubois says the first 20 days were difficult, but after that his body got used to it.

Dubois says he was following in his fathers footsteps who came to Israel many years ago (though he does not say if his father also came by foot, though that is implied). Dubois arrived in Tel Aviv and will spend 2 weeks wandering around the country as a tourist.



  

if any party tries to force a conflict on Israel , any conflict will have to end with a decisive conclusion. We have to wipe away all motivation by our enemies to try us a second time, if they try us once.

  -- Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman

He entered the office with much fanfare but has been pretty quiet ever since... this is his opening shot, I guess. Maybe it is his attempt to avoid another summer war by scaring the enemy into not starting trouble...

it is a small sample size,  but, despite that, I am a bit surprised by the overwhelming responses in one direction...

Smotritch does a good job holding his own...  Smotritch speaks his mind, speaks well and intelligently, and isn't afraid to argue and defend his opinion.. it is pretty obvious why he just came out number 2 behind Bennet in a poll of Habayit Hayehudi MKs theoretical placement in theoretical primaries...