NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.
Book Review: Rendezvous with God, by Rabbi Nathan Laufer
Rendezvous with God, by Rabbi Nathan Laufer is a book that sets out to "reveal" the meaning of the Jewish holidays and their rituals. The premise this book works on is that the holidays are markers during the year that retell the story of the Jewish people, in a way similar to the stories of a family. The stories of a nation retell its narrative and contain its raison d'etre. He compares the Jewish holidays, in this sense, to the American holidays of Memorial Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Veteran's Day, and others.
In Rendezvous with God, Rabbi Laufer explores the holidays of Pesach, the Omer, Shvuos, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkos with Shimini Atzeres and Simchas Torah, Shabbos and Rabbinic and Modern Holidays (i.e. Yom Haatzmaut, Yom Hazikaron, etc).
The holidays actually tell a story, the story of what happened [mostly] during the honeymoon year after leaving Egypt, and run from one to the next in order, with the Jews first leaving Egypt, Pesach, and then Shvuos to the revelation at Sinai, Sukkos as they traveled through the desert in huts, etc...
I skipped around a bit to get a feel for the book and his premise, but I really wanted to start with the upcoming holidays of Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkos, which I have been reading fully. I am very impressed with his thought process. Rabbi Laufer asks a series of questions that all touch on the basis of the holiday as is commonly understood and then goes on to offer his explanation of the holiday, in a way that all the questions are answered. The questions are not just answered, but the entire picture is understood and you wonder why you did not realize or think of that before.
I was truly impressed with Rabbi Laufer's explanations. In retrospect they seemed so obvious, but I had never before seen the holidays looked at and approached in this manner.
If you want to think about the holidays and consider a new way of looking at and understanding them, and thereby also get a full picture of how the holidays are not just rituals to commemorate specific experiences but a thread woven through the fabric of our nation and in essence our history, Rendezvous With God is a book you should pick up.
You can buy Rendezvous with God on Amazon.com NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.
Being that our community baruch hashem has become a large community and continues to grow, and among them are some who go out to work and go to support themselves, there are others who undermine them and say "these are the new haredim". These are not new haredim. These are the haredim that were with the Chasam Sofer. These are the Haredim that adminstered the communities alongside the rabbonim, that supported Torah, that supported the outlook of Torah. I, too, am a working Haredi....
Education Minister Naftali Bennett and President Reuven
Rivlin this week greeted 30 education ministers invited to Jerusalem for the OECD
Global Education Industry Summit. In a hauteur manner posing a big smile for
the cameras, Bennett proclaimed, “We can transform the world….In this room we
have the world’s real security council: the education security council.”
Laughter, applause, and a lot of backslapping ensued.
What a sham.
·Israel does not have
adequate numbers of full time teachers in schools
·They are highly committed (80
percent return year after year) but not paid a livable wage
·It is reported more than a
quarter of teachers are part-timers and temps
·Many teachers are inured to
terrible pay and resigned to holding second and third positions to make ends
meet
·Female teachers earn ten
percent less than males in the system
·Funding cuts (and the
government’s refusal to place Arab teachers in Jewish schools crying for staff)
for Arab
schools are deeper and more widespread leaving a pool of 11,000 unemployed Arab
teachers in northern Israel
·Teachers earn an unlivable
wage on average of nis6,800 to 10,438 per month; haredi teachers earn half that
amount.
Almost ten years ago, an OECD report found Israel’s teachers
among the lowest paid in the world. Not much has changed. An OECD report,
Education at a Glance 2016, confirms Israel spends significantly less on
education, less per student, and less across all education levels in comparison
to the average spending among OECD countries. Here’s how the premium site
financial Globes, that reports on the
economic health of Israel,presented
other findings on September 22, 2016:
·Israeli teachers worst paid
in OECD
·Israeli elementary school
teachers earn less than all others
·Israel ranks at the bottom
of teacher pay scales with one report putting Israeli teacher salaries below
Turkey, Chile and Mexico
·Other nations spend more
than $9,000 on salaries per pupil per year, while Israel spends $1,912 per
pupil per year.
A strong viable teacher corps is essential to national
economic growth, productivity and national security. Israel’s vaunted hi-tech
sector boasts salaries topping nis24,000 per month, because techies are
essential to exports and national security. Teachers are not considered on par.
But the hi-tech sector is shrinking and dire. It suffers
from a shortage of computer engineers and scientists. Israel’s competitive edge
is in a state of erosion. University professors in science, engineering, technology,
and math report they cannot fill enough slots with qualified students coming up
through the education system.
Minister Bennett recognizes the problem. In a recent
announcement, improving science, math, and English studies are among his top
four targets for curriculum attention. Nevertheless, in November 2015 the
Knesset passed a budget allocating an additional NIS6.7 billion to the Education
Ministry, but by August 2016 the two years budget passed for 2017-2018
allocates far less
in both years and little for bettering teacher salaries. By 2017 thousands of
teachers are anticipating being fired, perhaps as many as 7,000. They are
already looking for jobs outside teaching.
If only education had an advocate like MK Litzman
is for healthcare: Litzman, according
to an August 16, 2016 Jerusalem Post article by Judy Siegel-Itkovich, promises ‘war’ to expand health basket.
I know another young man who left teaching (three jobs) in
Israel, out of frustration and unable to support his family on the pay.
Another, an English teacher
blogs how welcoming the staff and children in two schools were to her (both
part-time employment). “I felt like a rock star.” However, “month after month
there was no sign of pay—instead, the schools and the Ministry of Education
threw more and more random paperwork at me while I patronizingly told to be
patient…. I have only experienced a similar level of chaos in third world
countries limping along on non-existent economies.”
Bennett and Rivlin ginned up the Israel hasbara of doing good deeds, being a lighthouse in a sea of Middle
East turbulence, about new and innovative teaching curricula and methods, safe
learning environments, and skills training.
But they keep forgetting how little the teachers are paid who are doing
all the heavy lifting, while the politicians are gamming and posturing before
foreign dignitaries and cameras. It’s time for political blather and prattle to
end and appreciate the Shel Silverstein sigh for Israel’s teachers: “Talked my
head off. Worked my tail off. Cried my eyes out. Walked my feet off. Sang my
heart out. So you see, there’s really not much left of me.”
After Danny Danon got the United Nations last year to recognize Yom Kippur as an official UN holiday, Danon is working to make the UN more Jew, or Israel, friendly.
Danon has sent a letter to Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations, saying that despite the numerous Jews working in various capacities in the United Nations and Jewish diplomats from various nations, there is no kosher food to be found in the United Nations cafeteria. All citizens of the world should feel desired in the UN.
In addition, Danon also requested that the UN give approval to more than just the one kosher caterer it approves of for catering kosher events within the UN complex. Because there is only 1 approved caterer, costs of catering kosher events cost the Israeli delegation 40% more than other [non-kosher] caterers in the complex. More approved caterers will mean cheaper prices.
source: Ladaat
Good for Danon. I have no idea how many people go through the UN that would benefit from this, but if he is helping any Jew keep kosher while at work there, that is a good thing.
Who knows? soon the UN might actually be a Jew-friendly organization!
A short while ago an Egged bus driver was caught on camera berating a Haredi soldier who was a passenger on the bus. The driver was rude and was cursing the passenger. This soldier serves in the media department under the Galei Tzahal broadcasting station, and was carrying a permit to wear civilian clothes rather than an army uniform, and still travel via public transportation with the benefits of a soldier rather than as a civilian.
The driver though tthe soldier, who appeared as a civilian, had not paid and called him out for it. The soldier showed him his permit to wear civilian clothes and still ride for free. The driver began cursing him, while the soldier pulled out a camera and recorded him.
After the report was initially publicized, Egged said they would investigate and the driver would undergo a disciplinary process.
Today Egged announced that the driver has been fired.
source: Haredim10
Nowadays, with everyone carrying cameras and video cameras and recorders in their pockets, people would be wise to, at least in public, act more like decent human beings and remember that they could be recorded without even knowing it. this guy in particular seems to have been such an idiot that he even knew he was being recorded but acted as he did.
It is also a stark reminder, right before our judgement day, that there is always Someone recording us and ready to play back our deeds, probably at the worst possible time and when we would like it the least...
Naftali Bennet, Minister of Ecuation, brought education ministers from the OECD to see Yeshivat Chevron in Jerusalem. Bennet explained to them what they were seeing, what yeshiva is all about, and said that it isn't matriculation exams or core curriculum, as important as they are, but the torah learning that makes us unique as a nation.
The City of Tel Aviv has decided to allow the minhag of kapparos to be fulfilled in the streets of Tel Aviv but they are banning the slaughtering of the chickens in the streets.
According to Behadrei, the city spokesperson said that they will not allow slaughtering or harming of animals in the public and open spaces of the city. Tel Aviv is a city that leads the way in the protection of animal rights and will do whatever necessary to prevent the harming of animals and damaging their rights. They also, therefore, do not allow the use of animals in circus performances in the city.
The Haredi representative in Tel Aviv rejected the claim that Tel Aviv is working to prevent the performance of the kapparos minhag, explaining that they are allowing kapparos to be done just not allowing the shechita to be done in the streets - indoors, in a private house, a butcher shop or in a shul is perfectly fine though. To quote Natan Elnatan - "there is no halachic oblogation to shecht the kapparos chicken in the street".
Elnatan also said that the fact that in Mea Shearim they take the coops out to the street and shecht there does not mean that it has become a tradition from our forefathers. In Bnei Braq also, he says, the merchants have taken over Rabbi Akiva street and you cannot pass by because of the shechting of chickens - not in Tel Aviv.
MK Yair Lapid has come out against the "3rd apartment tax" of Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon. Lapid's reasoning to oppose it is, as he said, that this tax will cause some apartment owner in Dimona with 3 small apartments to pay this tax while a wealthy owner of a 30 million shekel apartment in Tel Aviv won't have to pay any tax. And Moshe Kahlon is upset about Lapid's opposition and has called him out for it.
source: Behadrei and Kikar
This logic comparing the two is faulty because the 30million shekel apartment owner might also own other apartments and also have to pay tax. And the Dimona guy won't have to pay very much tax on a small apartment that is not worth all that much.
But that is not the main point I want to make. And that is, Yair Lapid is mostly irrelevant. He is a member of the opposition and has no influence on any of the coalition members. Some coalition members consider him an enemy and will not follow him at all, while others see him as a rival trying to take votes.
Yair Lapid can oppose any coalition-proposed law he wants, and that is even part of his job being in the opposition, but he has almost no influence and has no ability to block this law from happening, if the coalition wants to pass it.
So, when Moshe Kahlon chooses to attack Lapid for his opposition to the tax, it is disingenuous, and even a bit wily. Kahlon is a smart guy. Kahlon knows that Lapid's opposition is meaningless. He chose to attack Lapid instead of the MKs in his coalition who are even more vocally opposed to the tax, for very good reasons:
1. attacking coalition members could put the coalition at risk
2. By pitting Lapid as the opponent to the tax, he is putting the Haredi MKs, the more problematic (for Kahlon) opponents to the law, into a difficult situation - if they continue to oppose it, they are basically taking a line with Lapid - something they are averse to doing. Kahlon, by pitting Lapid as the main opponent, might be trying to pressure the Haredi MKs to remove their opposition to the law.
Kahlon is a smart guy. I can't wait to see if his strategy works or not.
JTA and Yediot are reporting about a statue, a piece of art, located, on loan, in Ramat Gan that has become a focal point of women looking for divine assistance in conceiving a child and giving birth.
The piece of art in question is a piece entitled "Birth" and is a statue in the shape of a woman laying down with a smiley face on her tummy. The artist, Menashe Kadishman, died last year at the age of 83.
The report says that women gather around the statue and take turns laying down on the statue and reciting chapters of tehillim and other things.
How do these things begin? How did women think, and how did word spread, that this statue has mystical powers and the ability to somehow help them conceive?
When a rabbi is involved in creating the story, like the story of the chair of Rav Kaduri in a shop in Ashdod, at least it is somewhat understandable why some people ascribe spiritual power to it. In this instance, nothing is mentioned as to why people believe this or how it began.
At what point does it become avoda zara, and at what point does it become cheating on one's husband?
Israeli agricultural technology is revolutionary, and we find them creating new strains of vegetables and adjusting the details of existing vegetables all the time.
The latest is a "seedless" pomegranate that is both sweeter and more pleasurable to eat.
It is not really seedless, unless you believe the headlines in both NRG and the Jewish Press, but the seeds have been altered and are softer and more edible.
If the headlines were accurate, would you eat them on Rosh Hashana as a siman for a year filled with mitzvos "like the seeds of the pomegranate"? There might become a "hiddur" to find the old fashioned pomegranate. Thankfully these pomegranates have seeds, but they are softer. Problem averted.
I wonder if they will even sell them locally or just export them all for sale abroad.
This law proposal was not actually proposed in the Knesset, yet, but it is interesting. This proposal comes from the Council of Torah Sages of Agudas Yisrael and they encourage the Haredi Members of Knesset to pass this in Knesset.
The issue of Shabbos, and other religion-State issues, is all dependent on what is called the "status quo agreement". This was a communal agreement between David Ben Gurion and Agudat Yisrael regarding how to deal with religious issues in a secular State. This never had a real legal standing, and it is amazing that for the past 70 or so years it has actually held up and continues to direct the sensitive decisions in matters of religion and State.
The Moetzes has decided that it is time to move beyond the letter and turn it into actual law. They want the Haredi MKs to pass the various points in the status quo agreement into actual law.
source: Behadrei
on the one hand, the status quo agreement is unofficial and fairly flimsy, and any government can decide to not follow it any longer, so turning it into law solidifies it.
on the other hand, turning it into a law means any other government can overturn the law, the way each government overturns other laws passed by previous governments. So turning it into law puts it into actual risk of one day being rejected. But then again, not as a law it is also at risk of being rejected. But as a law it can be officially rejected.
Anyways, as until now the Status Quo has pretty much reigned supreme, I do not see it being too difficult to pass if the MKs decide to try and pass it.
besides for going against the original agreement between the Rabbanut and the RCA in which the RCA converts would be accepted by the Rabbanut, any organization that would not accept as valid the word and decision of Rav Gedaliah Dov Schwartz and Rabbi Willig, two of the greatest and most well-respected American rabbonnim of the generation, is not worthy of being in this business.
After the release of the video of Eli Cohen's execution, the Syrian rebels are reportedly now saying that they will be returning Eli Cohen's body (bones) to Israel.
A report appeared in Lebanese news saying that the Syrian rebels have access to and will be returning the remains of Eli Cohen to Israel. The report was removed a short while later.
source: Walla News, NRG
I have serious doubts as to the veracity of this report, though I do hope it will come to be true.
While I normally avoid large, mass, events in my old age, this is a funeral I would try to go to.
I hope it happens. Eli Cohen deserves an honorable Jewish burial.
On the one hand, I commend this fellow for finding a solution to a common problem. On the other hand, it rubs me wrong, just a bit, though I am not sure why - it seems on the face of it that this is harmless.
Behadrei found a notice someone posted in Hamodia in which the writer is informing the public of a solution he has come up with.
The problem being, often with kapparos - you know, that waving of the chicken over the head ceremony done between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur - the chickens that have been used already and filled with someone's sins often get mixed back into the pack of unused chickens (or even more previously used chickens), get taken to the next location and then get used again. And maybe they get reused more than once, being taken from location to location filling up with so many people's sins that these chickens' souls must turn deep black before they ever get shechted.
So this fellow has come up with a solution to the problem. His solution is to bring along a can of black spray paint to the kapparos center. After he waves his bird and relieves himself of his sins, he then sprays a bit of black on the chicken so that the chicken will be easily identifiable as having already been used. A used chicken.
This fellow writes to the public, via Hamodia newspaper letters, that they should:
1. pay attention when you do kapparos and make sure you are picking up a chicken that does not have any black spray paint on it
2. if possible, bring your own spray paint with you when you go to do your kapparos, and give your own chicken a little shpritz as well. The more people doing this, the less likely the chickens will get reused.
I actually laughed when I first read this. I hope he doesn't bring the wrath of PETA down upon him for this...
the rebels in Syria have uncovered this 52 year old video clip of the execution of "Our Man in Damascus" Eli Cohen, and have publicized it.
I don't usually watch or publicize "snuff" videos, but Eli Cohen has always fascinated me. This video clip makes me both sad and in awe. Sad for what we are seeing, how Eli Cohen, a great hero who saved thousands, tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of Jews from being killed. Yet we are seeing the face of a Jewish hero. Not just in an old book or picture, but an actual video of him. We are looking at greatness, at a martyr.
The Vilna Gaon was one of the strongest and most vocal "misnagdim", opponents to Hassidic Judaism.
I wonder what he would think if he found out that he would one day be treated like a Hassidic Rebbe...
That's pretty much what is happening with this trip by "the Greatest Torah Luminaries of Israel" as they travel across Eastern Europe praying by gravesites of past gedolim for a good year for donors...
The "National Shabbos Goy" trend is not just coming to the rails authority for the purpose of performing line upgrades on Shabbos. Now the Rabbanut will be jumping on that train as well and using the National Shabbos Goyim for the purpose of body removal on Shabbos.
During the week if someone dies, the Chevra Kadisha takes care of the body removal as part of the free package every citizen is entitled to upon death. If the same person dies on Shabbos, body removal is no longer free (though the same person can't die on Shabbos if he already died during the week, nyuk nyuk). Someone who dies on Sahbbos, let's say at home during Friday night dinner, will have to either stay there until after Shabbos, despite the discomfort and mental trauma and sadness it might cause the family members, or the family will have to pay a lot of money for someone to remove the body.
The Rabbanut has decided that the Chevra Kadisha will begin using non-Jews to do body removal on Shabbos, and will provide this as part of the free service it always provides. They will open a hotline, also operated by non-Jews, for this purpose.
The Chevra Kadisha says that this is a situation that repeats itself every Shabbos in places around the country. The situation until now has forced people to call private ambulances to remove the bodies, only to later find themselves strapped with bills of thousands of shekels, along with other "macherim" that got involved and took advantage of the affected families and charged a lot of money.
source: Kipa
Soon we are going to run out of shabbos goyim, between all the ones employed by private organizations and people around the country and between the ones soon to be employed by the government to run the country on Shabbos... soon we might even see the argument over public transportation on Shabbos resolved by making use of Shabbos Goyim as bus and train drivers, and then all those markets in Tel Aviv and elsewhere that want to stay open will also start doing so by hiring Shabbos Goyim to get away with it. We are on our way to having a 7-day "active" week - 6 days by Jews and 1 day by goyim.
I think that what I see from here is exactly what I saw from there. I have only become more convinced...
-- Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, in contrast to the common expression "what I see form here is not what I saw from there" that has been used to explain Prime Ministers who finally got to the office and then did not act based on policies they promoted all along prior to that...
I feel bad for Kiryat Gat in general, and for its chief rabbi, Rabbi Moshe Havlin, in particular.
Rabbi Havlin is a Chabad rabbi and rosh yeshiva. In his role within Chabad he negotiated an agreement with the army for young men of Chabad to be able to study and travel to 770 and perform their army service at a slightly older stage.
That upset the crazies, goons and thugs from the Eida. Suddenly the Eida people became so concerned with the spiritual viability of Chabadniks and went into a tizzy. A group of thugs went to Rav Havlins home and threatened to beat him up while vandalizing his home. He was ok after some treatment, but his wife fainted and suffered some trauma and continues to suffer and require treatment.
Since then the Eida has sent its avreichim and goons out to Kiryat Gat to protest the rabbi.
From what I have read, abbi Havlin and the mayor of Kiryat Gat have worked very hard to keep Kiryat Gat peaceful and have the various types of people live together respectfully. This includes the past few years when Kiryat Gat has experienced a population boom with massive construction and many religious and Haredi communities being built and populated. Rabbi Havlin even said that they have worked very hard to avoid anything similar to what has happened in Bet Shemesh and have been successful.
This fight now has nothing to do with that, as the protesters are not local, and the fight is not one among locals fighting for control or resource allocation.
Yet, while the fight is different, the goons are still ramping up their efforts and making the trek to Kiryat Gat to spend their days protesting. Maybe eventually they'll get bored and find something else to keep busy with, but these things have been known to change a city.
I feel bad for them because it seems that they really have worked hard to keep the city peaceful and together in harmony, and now these outsiders are coming in and messing that all up. .
With the trains being taken offline for 8 days for work on the tracks for the high-speed train, some questions seem to remain unanswered...
1. if the trains were going to be "down" for 8 days anyway, why couldn't that work that was "necessary" to be done on Shabbos be done during this planned outage instead?
2. while the rail administration supposedly did a good job of arranging shuttles and coordinating with bus companies to have more buses available at the canceled lines, where were the parties offering to arrange rides for soldiers as was done when the Shabbos work was canceled?
3. what's with the 8 days? Should we expect some sort of "Hanukkah miracle"? in reverse maybe it will be finished in 1 day, or maybe it is really 1 day of work that they are stretching into 8 days.
NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.
Book Review: The Koren Sacks Sukkot Mahzor
When I first opened the new Koren Sacks Sukkot Mahzor, the first thing I noticed were the pages. The mahzor is printed on a strong, durable paper. This stood out to me because the Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur mahzorim had been printed on a very thin, soft, yellowish paper. From what I understand, those mahzorim used Bible Paper, while this one does not (I would assume the mahzorim of the other holidays are the same, but I have not seen them) - my guess would be that Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are just a day or two, so the wear and tear on the books and pages is relatively minor, so they preferred the more professional type of paper, while the holiday mahzor is for 7 or 8 days of use, increasing many-fold the level of wear and tear, so they used stronger paper. But that is just my guess.
The Sukkot Mahzor uses the same style as the other mahzorim, with the Hebrew on the left side and the English translation on the right side.
The mahzor includes an introduction by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. He is always enjoyable to read, with his broad philosophical points and the stories and examples he brings from world leaders to help make his point. Along with that is Rabbi Sack's translation of the prayer text.
The mahzor includes what is necessary for bnei chutz laaretz - for those people who must daven in accordance with the ""two days of yom tov" from the diaspora, along with halacha guides in the back for the holiday. Rabbi Steinsaltz wrote the translation of Mishna Sukka that is included, and there is also Kohelet with a new translation.
It should go without saying that the Koren mahzor includes the prayers for the State and the IDF, as they include it in all their other siddurim and mahzorim, which is relatively uncommon in most mahzorim today.
The order of the services can sometimes get complicated with mahzorim, as they try to keep it from getting too large and they tell you to go to different pages where certain prayers have already been printed. Sometimes it can get confusing what page you have to turn to. While it isn't sukkos yet so I have not actually davened from it, the order of services does look very intuitive and seems to flow easily.
This is another beautiful mahzor in the Koren lineup of mahzorim. If you like to daven from a mahzor instead of a regular siddur on the holidays and have everything in one place, the Koren mahzor is one that you should be using.
NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.
The first Orthodox female rabbi has been appointed to a shul rabbinate position.
Mazel tov to Rabbi Lila Kagedan who is the first woman bold enough to insist on taking the title "Rabbi" rather than the alternate "Rabba" that a few trailblazers before her have already taken as a "compromise" to not shake the boat too much.
The shul is the Mount Freedom Jewish Center located in Randolph, New Jersey, and self-defines as "open orthodox" - a description that is currently at the heart of an ongoing debate as to its status and its membership under the umbrella of "Orthodox".
Some might say that by definition the shul must not be orthodox if it hired a female rabbi.
CNN says the Rabbi Kagedan hopes to normalize women in leadership roles. In general I think that it is praiseworthy, though I don't know about specifically in the role of rabbi... Theoretically I don't see any real problem with it, but it would definitely take some getting used to. She won't be able to get shlishi, shishi or the maftir aliyot in shul, and she won't be able to lead services. I see nothing wrong with a woman giving speeches and answering halachic questions and counsel families and individuals under her care. While perhaps the rabbi does not need to get aliyot or lead services to be an effective leader, I am not sure a leader who is curtailed like that can really be effective - just like I would not consider a male rabbi effective if he was a good speaker and had the ability to lead services but had no ability to counsel couples under his care or was not knowledgeable enough to answer halachic questions and give guidance.
Whether this becomes a focal point of a big fight or not, I do think that one day this will be considered a watershed moment in the history of Orthodox Judaism...
The government has approved a new duty free status in Eilat, temporarily.
The airport in Eilat, Uvda, is meant to be replaced next year by a new international airport being built in Timna.
For the meantime, until the new airport is completed, the government has approved Yisrael Katz's plan to declare the Eilat airport as one that is free from any duties on flights. This is meant to encourage tourism to Israel and specifically to Eilat. The airport services internal Israeli flights, as well as flights from Europe and other areas.
This exemption from duties will eventually apply to the new airport in Timna when it opens.
As well, Israelis will be able to benefit from the area and purchase items in the duty free region in the ports there, similar to the way Israelis can buy duty free products in Ben Gurion Airport. This is meant to encourage Israelis to vacation in Eilat rather than travel abroad.
source: Ynet
It is a great idea, and if it encourages more tourism and brings more money into Israel, that would be great.
Regarding duty free for Israelis, I am sure it wont cause more Israelis to vacation in Eilat over travel abroad. Israeli's who travel abroad for cheaper vacations in Eastern Europe won't spend more money to vacation in Eilat just because they can save a small amount of money on whiskey and cigarettes. I do expect Israelis to figure out a method of benefiting from the duty free status in the Eilat ports without actually bothering to spend too much time in Eilat. I should note, this does not apply to all Israelis. Plenty of Israelis do vacation in Eilat, and hopefully those numbers will also increase. I just do not think the duty free will be what causes Israelis who dont prefer Eilat to suddenly prefer it for their vacation spot.
In most places around Israel, with some exception, Hatzalah refuses to accept women as EMTs. They follow direction in this regard and have been told not to due to problems with tzniyus - men and women riding the ambulances together, bonding through the treatment of wounded and dealing with serious situation, women treating men, and the like.
At times using only male EMTs can also be seen as being a problem, such as with dealing with women in labor. While it clearly is not a halachic problem, many women feel uncomfortable with their neighbors or other men they might know from the area delivering their baby or taking care of them and treating them in these situations. I know that in some places at least they try to send men from other parts of the neighborhood for such situations, to minimize the likelihood of them knowing each other. It will never be perfect, but they try to do their best about that and minimize any possible potentially uncomfortable situations.
There have been some initiatives, mostly abroad, to create all-women teams of EMT volunteers to be able to deal with female patients. I have no idea how successful those initiatives have been and how active those teams of women are. The Facebook page of Ezras Nashim has not been updated in over a year and a half. That might not mean anything, or maybe it does.
It looks like Hatzalah finally might be giving in.
In Modiin Ilit there is an initiative to form an all-female team to be available to help women in labor and with other needs so the local modest avreichim volunteers do not need to be the ones dealing with these situations out of lack of options.
They have rustled up the support of Rabbanit Kolodetzky, the daughter of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, and she has asked her father about it and says that he supports the idea as well and gave his bracha.
source: Kikar
Good luck to them. It is an important initiative and if they can pull it off, it can lead to good things. It is interesting that Modiin Ilit might be the first town with a Haredi population to break this taboo..
After the next elections we will recommend Netanyahu as Prime Minister to the President. Even if Lapid will become the largest party, we will go with Netanyahu - we have no other partner.... Lapid has not stopped chasing after us. He understands that without us he has no coalition. We are now saying with a clear voice: Lapid is not even a consideration, from our perspective. We would not say the same thing about Buji Herzog.... If you are asking what will happen if Lapid succeeds in putting together a coalition of 61 MKs even without us and receives the mandate to form the coalition? I am telling you honestly that I do not know. And if Litzman tells you that no matter what he will remain out of the coalition, he is not telling the truth.
--- Minister Aryeh Deri, regarding the theoretical possibility of Yair Lapid becoming the next Prime Minister
Fashion Week’s craziest moment wasn’t at the Kanye West show — it was in Brooklyn Supreme Court, where a drug suspect who had been banned from reading Talmudic quotations at a pre-trial hearing showed up in an outfit made entirely out of religious texts. Aaron Akaberi donned a shirt Wednesday that he had personally fashioned from newsprint pages covered in the holy Hebrew writings of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. He accessorized with a hat made out of white paper bearing religious passages, including the Ten Commandments, which, in an apparent nod to this spring’s minimalist trend–and The Seven Laws of Noah– had been edited down to just seven. The ensemble wasn’t meant to impress Anna Wintour — it was a rebuke to Judge Martin Murphy, who had refused to let Akaberi read passages from his Jewish texts into the court record at an earlier pre-trial hearing.Modal Trigger“The Judge wouldn’t let me read my ‘Chayenu’ in court, so I decided to wear it, said the 30-year-old Akaberi, 30, who is charged with possession of cocaine, LSD, marijuana, MDMA, and other “dangerous substances.” “There’s a new ‘Chayenu’ each week, so I have to reconstruct the piece for each appearance.” While Akaberi later told The Post he was simply “silently” reading his texts as he waited for “courtroom pomp and circumstance,” court sources disputed that account–confirming he had recited passages before the judge. Despite being all dressed up, Akaberi had nowhere to ago, as his hearing was adjourned to a later date. The Brooklyn man has a colorful history of being involved in bizarre incidents. He was booted from the United States Air Force Academy because of his strict adherence to “Aaronism,” had prevented him from participating in training, sources said. Akaberi then made headlines in 2006 when he went on a a 12-day hunger strike at Binghamton University to protest not being given food complaint with the Rastafarian faith — which was his next religion of choice. He even got mocked in segment of the “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart. Law enforcement sources now describe Akaberi as “extremely dangerous” and a “manipulative psychopath.” Akaberi declined to discuss his current legal situation with The Post, only reiterating that he pleaded “not guilty.”
Rendezvous with God, by Rabbi Nathan Laufer is a book that sets out to "reveal" the meaning of the Jewish holidays and their rituals. The premise this book works on is that the holidays are markers during the year that retell the story of the Jewish people, in a way similar to the stories of a family. The stories of a nation retell its narrative and contain its raison d'etre. He compares the Jewish holidays, in this sense, to the American holidays of Memorial Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Veteran's Day, and others.
The piece of art in question is a piece entitled "Birth" and is a statue in the shape of a woman laying down with a smiley face on her tummy. The artist, Menashe Kadishman, died last year at the age of 83.
The latest is a "seedless" pomegranate that is both sweeter and more pleasurable to eat.
That upset the crazies, goons and thugs from the Eida. Suddenly the Eida people became so concerned with the spiritual viability of Chabadniks and went into a tizzy. A group of thugs went to Rav Havlins home and threatened to beat him up while vandalizing his home. He was ok after some treatment, but his wife fainted and suffered some trauma and continues to suffer and require treatment.
The mahzor includes an introduction by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. He is always enjoyable to read, with his broad philosophical points and the stories and examples he brings from world leaders to help make his point. Along with that is Rabbi Sack's translation of the prayer text.
As well, Israelis will be able to benefit from the area and purchase items in the duty free region in the ports there, similar to the way Israelis can buy duty free products in Ben Gurion Airport. This is meant to encourage Israelis to vacation in Eilat rather than travel abroad.
There have been some initiatives, mostly abroad, to create all-women teams of EMT volunteers to be able to deal with female patients. I have no idea how successful those initiatives have been and how active those teams of women are. The Facebook page of Ezras Nashim has not been updated in over a year and a half. That might not mean anything, or maybe it does.
