Interestingly, you can now take a tour of the Beit Hamikdash using Google Maps..

Minister Aryeh Deri is proposing a law, that probably won't pass, that he thinks will "solve" the conflict at the Kotel with the demands for accessibility by the Women of the Wall.

Deri's law will prohibit the Women of the Wall from praying in the main plaza of the Kotel but will give them their access in the southern section that has come to be known as the "Reform Kotel".

While the order and decorum at the Kotel was put into a set of regulations dating back to 1981, it was never actually set into law. This means that while things normally function smoothly, at times there is conflict. Deri therefore wants to put the regulations into actual law that will organize and set the rules for prayer service in the prayer plaza of the Kotel, while protecting the status and holiness of the entire Kotel area.

The law, if passed, will define what the Kotel area includes, the rav appointed over the Kotel area, the customs of the place, and what actions are prohibited in the area.

According to the proposal:
the Kotel area would include the Kotel itself and the plaza, along with any structures and pathways, above and below ground, who's access is via the Kotel plaza.
The rav would be the rav appointed by the Minister of Religious Services with the agreement of the Chief Rabbis of Israel.
The customs would be according to din torah as determined by the rabbinical courts and as established by the rav appointed over the Kotel.
The prayer plaza would be the area delineated on the map as the plaza of the Kotel and the prayer section of the Kotel.
Prohibited behaviors and actions are also delineated in the proposal, such as desecration of Shabbos and partitions between men and women, among other things. It would be prohibited to perform any ceremony, religious or otherwise, that does not follow local custom and is harmful to the sensitivities of the public praying there. As well, any such ceremonies that might disturb the prayers of those praying there. In the women's section any ceremony including the use of a Torah scroll, blowing of a shofar, and wearing tallis and/or tefillin, would be prohibited.

Punishment for anybody breaking this law would be subject to 6 months imprisonment or a 10,000nis fine.
source: Kikar, Walla News, INN, TOI

This proposal, as of now, is not expected to pass. Moshe Kachlon already said he opposes it and will fight it. Others will as well. UTJ is very good at threatening to get their demands met, but Shas hasn't been so good with that recently, and this is a Shas initiative.

A point that seems strange to me is that after they came up with the Kotel deal giving the Reform and Women of the Wall access to and control over the southern section, the Haredi MKs retracted their approval (for various reasons) and spoke very harshly against it and against giving what would become de facto recognition of the Reform in Israel. And Deri's law would do just that as well. So it is getting hard to keep up with all the flip-flopping about how they deal with the Reform.

Another interesting point to me is that Women of the Wall have responded saying that this is another step towards turning the State into a Halachik State, and would lead to running the entire State in old-fashioned ideas while erasing human rights and democratic rights from others. This is interesting to me because it seems by using the warning of "halachik state" they are admitting that their actions are against halacha while until now they insisted that they were within the bounds of halacha even if not within the bounds of current custom.

A concern of mine, or perhaps a curiosity, would be that pretty much every ceremony taking place at the Kotel disturbs the prayers of the people there. Army induction ceremonies with thousands of people in the plaza, State ceremonies (such as on Yom Hazikaron among others), yeshivas and hassidic groups that go there and have gatherings or make dance circles, even the nightly daf yomi shiur could be thought of by some as a disturbance, the bar mitzva ceremonies with darbuka drums,   among many others that happen on a daily basis, and even ceremonies such as the public menora lightings on Chanukka, could all be seen to be disturbing the prayers of those at the Kotel - will they all become illegal? Would the law get shot down because of this as people would appeal that some disturbing ceremonies are being allowed while other are not?

Rav Avraham Yosef, Chief Rabbi of Holon, has spoken out against singers who officiate at wedding ceremonies, calling for them to be arrested and brought to trial.

Rav Yosef does not like the trend of people hiring performers for their weddings and have them also lead the services of the wedding chuppa. It is illegal, as they are [often] not certified by the Rabbanut to perform weddings, and they should be prosecuted for this..

Rav Yosef also suggested a public campaign to inform the public that it is illegal and that people present at such affairs or aware of such affairs should inform the Rabbanut and then the Rabbanut should begin legal proceedings against the offenders.
source: Kikar

1. maybe Rav Yosef is just looking for a cellmate for when he goes to jail. Rav Yosef was indicted for breach of trust for abusing his power as City Rabbi to benefit the private hechsher (Bet Yosef) of his family.

2. Rav Yosef might be going down the rabbit hole here. What they are doing is illegal, and he is right about that. But once it goes to court and becomes a public issue, who is to say that this will not be the start of yet another anti-establishment, anti-Rabbanut movement claiming that the Rabbanut is once again just using power to enforce its monopoly. The kashrut industry has been shaken up ever since the Rabbanut went down the path of chasing down people with private hechshers and is not yet sure what will happen when it arrives on the other side. Who is to say that this won't happen with life-cycle events in the same way, with the courts establishing that it is time to open up the market to other service providers besdies for the Rabbanut?

Meir Kalmanson is so kooky...

This is related to my post from yesterday regarding the law proposed by Deri about decorum in the Kotel plaza area... this FB post makes a novel suggestion as to the dilemma that arises from the law..

בשבוע הבא יפגשו החכים החרדים עם כחלון ויבקשו פתרון למצוקת הדיור החרדית. אפשר לחשוב שבמגזר הכללי הוא מצא פתרון. כמו לבקש תרומות מפושט רגל

— יעקב ריבלין (@arivlin1) November 28, 2016

Haredi journalist Yaakov Rivlin says that next week the Haredi MKs will be meeting with Kachlon and will demand a solution to the Haredi housig crisis. One might think that he has already found a solution for the housing crisis of the general public. This is like asking for donations from someone who went bankrupt.

Visit the birthplace of monotheism and the roots of Israel and the Jewish people - Hebron! In this video, you will view never-before-seen aerial footage of the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, hear exclusive testimony from one of the only living people to enter the actual Machpela Cave, and walk the same 4,500 year old steps that the biblical Abraham ascended himself. Come visit the place where it all began!

this performance has created quote a stir, and is quite shocking... even stranger that the music for the performance was from Israeli singer Achinoam Nini, and the female skater was Vladimir Putin's wife..

The appointment of Rav Eyal Karim to the position of Chief Rabbi of the IDF is now final and moving forward. The Supreme Court has withdrawn its opposition to the appointment because it has become clear that Rav Karim's statements were misquoted as he submitted a statement saying that he had never said what he had been quoted as having said.
source: Kikar

This, in my opinion, does not change at all what I said the other day about the case. They are not withdrawing their opposition because they feel they overstepped or because they realize that a controversial statement is not grounds or anything like that, but because they now believe he never said what they don't approve of. Meaning, they still do not allow freedom of speech and do not approve of rabbonim paskening certain ways, but in this case he only said things they approve of they can now approve of his appointment.

A married woman has to have her kesuba in her possession at all times, or at least know where it is.. if she loses it, the married couple cannot live together until they write a new kesuba.

The recent fires in various parts of the country have created a problem for many relationships.. according to some rabbis.

According to the Rabbanut, specifically Rav Mordechai Avramosky, rav of Zichron Yaakov and responsible for signing marriage certificates for the Haifa region, hundreds of couples who's houses were destroyed in the fires, along with their ketubot, will be living in sin until they write new ones.

There is a difference between Sefardic couples and Ashkenazic couples. The problem stated above is specifically relevant to Ashkenazic couples, but sefardim are ok as Rav Ovadia Yosef has paskened in the past that becuse today the Rabbanut keeps a copy of every kesuba in its archives, they should get a new one but are not living in sin without it. , .

Personally I am not sure why Rav Ovadia's psak is being used only for bnei sefard and not bnei ashkenaz. It is not a difference between the Rama and Bet Yosef, but he is ruling based on the existence of the kesuba in the Rabbanut archives, and that should be good enough for ashkenazim as well, but that's what Rav Avromosky said.

However, other rabbonim have disagreed with Rav Avromosky. Rav Elyashiv Knohl says that we can definitely rely on the Rabbanut copy for at least a short period of time, giving them a grace period to write a new kesuba.

Rav Bentzion Kook, a rosh kollel in Jerusalem, has also paskened that ashkenazim and sefardim can be treated the same in this situation. Rav Kook's reasoning is that the Rema paskens that because nwoadays we are limited by the "cherem drabbeinu gershom", one can be lenient regarding the kesuba, as it is not easy to divorce a woman any longer, which is what the ketuba was meant to protect against. And even though the minhag is not to just drop the kesuba but we do write them as we always did, it is enough to rely on, even ashkenazim, for this situation for a period of time until they can write new ones.

Others weighing in on this issue were Rav Moshe Shternbuch who said that affected couples have to at least make a new kinyan immediately in front of witnesses as to the obligations in the kesuba and the Rabbanut copy is not enough. Until the kinyan is made, the husband and wife cannot live together.

Rav Tzion Buaron paskened about a case form neve Tzuf that it is not urgent to rewrite the kesuba because the Rabbanut holds a copy, and there is no difference between sefardim and ashkenazim. Rav Buaron adds that because of the above stated Rema the ashkenazim are in an even better situation than Sefardim who do not adhere to the "cherem drabbeinu gershom" rules. He did say that a new kesuba needs to be written, but they dont need to rush to do it right away.

Rav Yitzchak Yosef, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, also says it is not a problem that needs to be dealt with urgently, for all the reasons mentioned above, and while a new kesuba should be written, there is no need for panic and can continue to live together until it is written. Rav Yosef seems to not have differentiated between sefardim and ashkneazm and even mentioned cherem drabbeinu gershom as a reason, making it seem clear that it is for ashkenazim as well.

sources: Kikar, Kipa, Kipa, Kikar, Kikar, Kikar

I would like to see rabbonim from the Rabbanut, and other rabbonim, do more than just pasken publicly for these couples who are dealing with having lost everything and having to deal with a lot right now. I would like to see them making an effort to actually help these families get new kesubas. Set up a shop for a few hours a day with a group of rabbonim, where these affected couple can come and get their kesubas rewritten. Don't just throw anothe rburden on their heads and give them another thing to worry about, but actually go help them take care of it.

Yonina has become an Internet sensation in the Jewish world...

firefighters, fighting fires for days now and saving lives, and homes, all over Israel, are true heroes..

The courts in Jerusalem issued an interesting decision.

A driver was stopped for holding his cellphone in his hand. He was slapped with a 1500nis fine and 14 days suspended license.

The driver tried to defend himself saying that he was not using the phone, just happened to take the phone out of his pocket, as it was bothering him, and was putting it down on the side.

The court decided that it is irrelevant whether or not the driver is actually using the phone, as long as he is holding it in his hands it is a problem. The prosecution has no need to prove what he was doing with the phone, if anything, just simply that he was holding the phone.

Interestingly, the judge said that the fact that the driver did not have both hands on the steering wheel is enough to fine him. I find this interesting because I was not aware that by law one must have both hands on the wheel at all times, even though that is how we learn to drive (think 10 and 2). They could be stopping and fining almost every driver on the road at some point - even though I mostly keep both hands on the wheel, there are plenty of times where I do not.

Another interesting point is that the court also decided that the purpose of the law is to prevent using the phone while driving, and even though the original law was written specifically regarding the usage of talking and sending messages, the law has since progressed automatically and any use of the phone that takes away the focus on the driving from the driver is illegal usage, even if the phone is not in his hand but in a hands-free unit.

Two aspects of that are interesting, and I wonder if the driver could even appeal this decision:
1. the law automatically updates itself to include anything that takes away focus? the law is written to make two very specific acts illegal but automatically includes other undetermined acts? that does not make sense. If they want it to include everything and anything, the law should be written in a way that does, not to include only two specific acts.
2. I was wondering about usage of a phone in a dashboard mount - is it considered hands free just to click on something, as it isn't in your hands, or is it illegal as part of using the cellphone while driving even though you are not holding it in your hands? I guess this provides the answer, though I wonder if it is appealable if someone gets fined or his license suspended for clicking on the mounted phone (let's say to bring up a phone number to make a call, even while sitting at a red light) because the law talks about not holding the phone. and why would this be any different than changing the radio station, changing the air conditioning level or doing anything else in the car, which I dont think has led to fines and suspensions?

source: Kikar

The post says:
The City Council meeting of Bet Shemesh unanimously approved the establishment and operation of a new modern advanced baseball field.

The diamond will be built near Gefen Park at a cost of 13 million shekels that will be raised from various sources such as Sportoto, KKL, etc.

Mayor Moshe Abutbol said:the new modern baseball field will serve all the residents of the city and specifically the Anglo-Saxon immigrants who are accustomed to this sport, as part of the policy of the municipality to improve the absorption of new immigrants.

"I want to thank all the partners to this important initiative, led by Deputy Mayor Meir Balaish appointed over the sports division of the city, English-speaking adviser Dr. Ephraim Rosenbaum, Director of the City Meir Chuta, Legal counsel Miki Gastwirth, director of the Sports division Itzik Knizo, who all worked a lot for a long time to advance this initiative", said the mayor.

....

view from a drone of some of the destruction of Haifa from the recent fires..

Bruriah is Thankful from JEC on Vimeo.

Feldheim is running a campaign promoting a new book for women called Parsha in Pink written by Rebetzin Mindy Bodner-Lankry.

The book is packaged in what might be called traditional stereotypical packaging for a woman.. a pink-trimmed book cover..

While some people have found that to be disparaging, as if they will buy the book because it is pink, I don't care about that and found a different aspect of the campaign interesting..

The Feldheim online campaign leads to a landing page that appears like this (I took a screenshot in case they change it):


"Finally something for you, Imahos of Klal Yisroel"

As if there have been no books about Torah topics published for women until now. And forget about the possibility that general Torah books might also be read and studied by women. Forget other publishers - has Feldheim never before published a book that was targeted towards women?

They presume that this is the first book of Torah topics targeted to women. I find that funny.

From what I hear, one of the most difficult aspects of Israelis being called up for reserve duty in the army is leaving the wife alone to deal with everything - the house, the kids, her job, etc.

MK Moti Yogev (Habayit Hayehudi) along with some other MKs has proposed a new law that would give some assistance in lightening the load from the spouse at home when the spouse is called up for reserve duty, but only in a time of emergency, such as being called up for a war.

According to the proposal, in such a situation, a spouse who's spouse was called up for reserve duty in a war would be granted time off of work, if they have a child under the age of 13, or special needs children.
source: Kipa

I am not sure how much time the spouse would be granted off of work. It sounds from  the article like a set amount of time each day to take care of whatever responsibilities are necessary.

It sounds like a good proposal. I am not sure how this will be received by the commerce organizations. Who will pay for this extra time off? Will the army or Bituach Leumi reimburse employers? Will the employers lose out because of it? I am sure this will be a fight, but they should be able to work it out.

It seems the Ministry of Religious Services is working on a project to make it a bit easier to locate graves a person might be looking for. they are calling it the Waze of cemeteries.

It seems that many cemeteries in Israel grow and change at a very rapid pace, and in just a short time it can be difficult to locate a grave, even if you used to know where it was, let alone if you weren't familiar with it in the first place.

This cemetery waze project would map out graves and direct you to the grave you are looking for.
source: Ynet

I think that is very cool. Unfortunately the article does not say when the project is expected to be ready to be launched.... I imagine such a project will take an awful lot of data entry, converting decades or even centuries of records from the various chevra kadisha organizations and digitizing them...

this advertisement is from a Toronto Jewish newspaper.... I love that they can print "don't freeze your beitzim off"... while others say this is just a frummer way of trying to sell something that has been in other cities, like Chicago, for over 30 years already..

hopefully it is all kosher..

I think that the role of a woman is to be a mother and to bring children into the world..

  -- Hero of Israel from his service in the IDF as a commander of the Tank Brigades, Avigdor Kahlani

that's correct. It was not a religious or Haredi activist or MK that said that. It was Avigdor Kahalani, an Israeli hero. Kahalani was asked what he thought about the possibility of women joining and serving in tanks...

Mazel tov to our Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has now become the longest serving prime minister in Israel's history in a consecutive term.

Netanyahu just passed David Ben Gurion, serving from 2009 until today (and still going strong), besting Ben Gurion's previous record of 2790 consecutive days in the position of PM.

Ben Gurion still holds the record of longest PM in israel's history when taking into account even the non-consecutive terms, and Netanyahu needs another 2.5 years or so as PM to top that.
source: JTA

mazel tov, but we really need term limits

According to The Times of Israel, there are two importers of Jack Daniel's whiskey, and the two are both importing the whiskey from the same factory abroad.

The importer Paneco, who sells the whiskey at a cheaper price than the other, official, importer (119nis to 149nis), has had its kosher certificate for the product revoked by the Rabbanut. They have appealed to the Supreme Court claiming that the revocation is based on nothing but business issues that the Rabbanut as a monopoly can enforce, rather than any kashrut or religious issues.

Paneco points to the fact that they are importing the same exact whiskey from the same exact factory as the other, yet they lost their certification for the product while the other did not. the only difference between the two is the higher price charged by the other importer. Paneco claims that the Rabbanut is using its monopoly strength to force them out of the business and only allow the importer with the higher prices, and therefore higher profits, so that their people can earn more money. Paneco says that the Rabbanut is using its certification as a tool to affect the markets and drive up prices.
source: Times of Israel

The article does not bring a response from the Rabbanut, which is a shame and therefore the article seems incomplete.

As well, the article claims that by law no food product can be imported into Israel without the approval of the Rabbinate. I do not know if this is true or not, but there are plenty of food items on the shelves of various supermarkets and makolets that are imported with no certification from the Israeli Rabbinate. There are some items that are kosher but are imported without the Rabbanut certification, and there are many food items that are not kosher at all that get imported as well, obviously not through the Rabbanut. So, I don't know if that statement in the article is accurate or not. It is possible all those other importers bringing in food without the Rabbanut's approval are breaking the law, though it is such a large magnitude I find that difficult to believe.

Either way, if it is correct that the Rabbanut is just flexing muscle for financial reasons rather than kashrut reasons, it is another example of why their monopoly on kashrut needs to be broken. The Rabbanut's concerns should only be kashrut, and not financial benefits for specific importers. Monopolies are bad for everybody except for the monopoly holder.

Bet Shemesh, among other cities, was awarded the prize of 5 stars of beauty for being a beautiful city in Israel.
When Haredi journalist Aryeh Ehrlich posted this to Twitter, he added his own comment calling this an award ceremony reminiscent of Salah Shabati, and said it is just a shame that the residents of these cities do not actually get to benefit from a reasonably clean city.

A number of people, not just from Bet Shemesh, responded to Ehrlich with comments and pictures showing how cynical this prize is considering how dirty the streets of some of these cities are...

I would add that the City of Bet Shemesh posted the award to its Facebook page and gave some background. It is too long to translate in full, but I will point out the following part of it..

"Mr. Goldberg, in charge of the department of city beauty and cleanliness, detailed the plans that were prepared by professionals for revamping the city after many years that care was neglected in the budget and in manpower. ..

Mr Goldberg described the new equipment purchased for this purpose, municipal cars that travel around the city from early morning until late at night, the manpower situation that has been increased, and a description of the intensive activities performed by the city employees in double shifts prior to the holidays. The judges were impressed from the details presented and agreed that for many years Bet Shemesh did not place well from the perspective of investing in cleanliness.

The judges stressed that even though the "revolution" has not yet come to fruition clearly in parts of the city, and despite the fact that there is still vast room for improvement in the general appearance of the city, the program that has begun and is goign forward at a satisfactory pace speaks for itself and shows that the issue of city cleanliness takes its worthy place in city administration."

In other words, it is like the Nobel Prize Obama won immediately after winning the presidency before he actually did anything - it is being awarded for potential rather than for actual accomplishment.

the debate about women serving in the army, and in what roles, has raised itself again. The debate is even stronger when it relates specifically to women from the religious community. Here is an interview with a female officer, Tair Rich, in the IDF who is religious who talks about her service and how being religious affects it and whether tzniyus has been a problem as a religious female soldier..
..

very interesting discussion..


Q & A- “I’m asking for from Agudath Israel on Vimeo.

CNN has since apologized for the banner describing the interview as a discussion of if Jews are people..

today's POTD is actually a few pictures..





I wonder - were they just thirsty and thought that was a drinking cup? Did they think it is some sort of holy water? Were they expecting something to happen as a result - healed from some illness, or whatnot?

I say to the Reform - establish your own political party and run it in elections. It is incomprehensible that we, the heads of parties, work hard, bring votes, and then when we want to carry out initiatives, they wake up..

  -- Interior Minister Aryeh Deri

interesting statement - they usually refer to Lapid and his party as the party of the Reform. I guess they don't really believe that.

7 years ago I had to spend a Shabbos in Hadassa Hospital (Ein Kerem) in Jerusalem with a child. I then discovered an amazing chessed being performed, week in and week out, of a childless couple coming every Shabbos with a team and preparing food and serving to people who might be stuck in the hospital for Shabbos.

I remember at the time that I had asked how I could make a donation and they refused to give me any details and said this their chessed and what they do to help people who find themselves spending Shabbos in the hospital.

Rav Yitzchak and Sima Peretz, the people behind the weekly chessed at Hadassa Hospital, both 49 years old,finally, after 30 childless years of marriage, gave birth to a baby girl, their first child. The baby was born in Hadassa Hospital.
sources: Kikar, Behadrei

Mazal tov!

one doesn't think soft-drink makers innovate in technology, but it seems they do. And, it comes out of Israel.

Coca Cola Israel has come up with a new innovative marketing campaign in which the drink is contained by a selfie bottle. When the drinker tilts the bottle 70 degrees, the bottle takes a picture of the drinker, and then uploads it to the Coca Cola social media pages (Instagram, Facebook, etc). It also comes with a USB port so you can transfer the images to your computer.

This gadget was invented for the Coca Cola Summer Love promotion.

Refinery29 says the images are automatically uploaded, while Engadget says the goal is to get users to upload the images. Engadget makes more sense, to me, as I don't see how the selfie bottle would connect to the Internet on its own and upload the images.

Stupid or not, I don't even own a selfie stick, it is innovative...

Being that the Coca Cola Summer Love event took place in July, I'd be curious to see if they were happy with the results. Did people use them? Did they upload the images? Did it create a buzz and get people buying more coca cola for this purpose?

Lipa looks like a mushroom here.. or else he has a challa on his head..



Who Ben Zion Shenker Was

MinskConference of European Rabbis 2016. 
Video filmed and edited by Menachem Schloss.

The Supreme Court has frozen the appointment of Rav Karim to the post of Chief Rabbi of the IDF. They are freezing the appointment until he issues a statement to the court retracting his opinions previously stated that they consider problematic. Rav Karim had previously said something about the topic of "Eishet Yifat Toar" that was taken to be perceived as if Rav Karim condones the rape of non-Jewish female captives. as well, Karim has said that women should not be joining the army, and that women should not sing at army events, as these are both against halacha.

Regardless of his opinion and what I think of it, I see no place for the courts to freeze his appointment based on this. He did not do anything illegal, he has not committed any immoral act nor incited anybody to act in a certain way - the courts are now acting as thought police and deciding that people who hold certain beliefs are to be banned form certain positions.

I do not even want to get into whether his opinion is valid or not. Whether it is or is not, the courts freezing his appointment is wrong.

Perhaps he should never have been appointed, and that is on those who appointed him. However, being that he was appointed, not liking something he said, especially in his role as a rabbi and what he said not actually being radical in any way - but even if it had been, I see no place for the courts to get involved just based on him having stated what he understood to be the halacha and decide that he cannot have the job.

I see this as a sad day for Israel. This is something that will be damaging to the freedom of speech, it will be damaging to rabbis and clerics who will be afraid to state their real opinions on various matters thinking it might come back to hurt them one day, and it will be damaging to the public that accepts such thought police as acceptable. And it is the "Left" applauding their victory by employing the thought police, when the Left are the ones that are supposed to be defending freedom of speech - meaning, they are surely allowed to have opposed the appointment, but using the courts to freeze the appointment just based on something he said rather than on him having broken a law is something the Left should never have gotten involved in..

Ynet has posted the interesting results of some sort of survey. I do not know how accurate this poll or survey is, but even if not 100% accurate, it at least shows a good trend.

"Survey Says", to quote the various hosts of Family Feud, that 58% of Haredim in Israel regularly participate in some sort of fitness activity. Surprisingly, only 34.2% of the general population participates in some sort of regular fitness program. Female Haredim participate at a higher percentage than the men, and Bnei Braq specifically has the highest percentage of fitness participation of all the Haredi cities. 80% of Haredim also, according to the survey, are concerned with eating some sort of a healthy diet - 33% eat very healthy diets and 46& eat moderately healthy diets, while Hassidic Haredim are more careful about eating healthy than any of the other streams of Haredi Judaism.

I'd like to see some numbers that show the ramifications of the above survey, assuming ti is even close to accurate - the percentages showing usage of health care services, mortality rates, and the like. Do the numbers match up in some way?

caption contest?

seems like an important issue for religious soldiers and they should know about this so they can get help when such situations arise...

it is upsetting how they just go along with it, hearing that this is for attacking innocent civilians, for wiping a nation off the face of the earth...

I hear the argument from both sides:
1. it seems not tzanua, even though they are fulfilling the requirements of dress. It might be short on the spirit of tzniyus.
2. they need to express themselves with fashion so at least they are doing it in a way that is within the requirements...

Benzion Shenker, one of the greatest composers of Jewish music, died last night. Here is one of his compositions...

MK Masoud Ganaim (UAL) told NRG today that despite the ban, from the Prime Minister's Office, on MKs going to Temple Mount, the Arab MKs continue to go, and he himself has gone a couple of times and prayed there. Ganaim says they have tried to get the ban revoked, unsuccessfully, and have since just ignored the ban. With no repercussions to them.

That being the case, I would recommend that either the ban be entirely lifted, and the Jewish MKs (i.e. Yehuda Glick) also be allowed back on the Mount, or else Ganaim should be censured for breaking the ban, along with any other MKs who have broken it. And the police officers in charge of the area should be punished for letting him on, or for letting him stay on.

According to the various news sites, 3 people have been arrested in Bet Shemesh for having attacked and harassed an IDF officer.

Good job, but, again, for some reason, we only see them go through with arrests when the violence is perpetrated against members of the security forces, and not when they act like thugs around the city to other residents.

Either way, we can all be pretty sure that these arrests will cause riots among the extremists local supporters and peers, and will eventually, sooner or later, lead to the arrestees being released, as they almost always are...

But, in the meantime, good job getting them off the streets, for as long as it might last.

I really don't get this mannequin challenge thing...

In video address to Jewish leaders, PM also calls to end public pressure on him by American Jews to fully implement deal on egalitarian prayer at Western Wall

I enjoyed seeing the new Pesach products by Manischewitz..


and here is another clip from Kosherfest..Sights & Sounds At Kosher Fest

recently a tallis-tefillin bag was thought to have been stolen, but it was discovered via security cameras that they had simply fallen right into the garbage can right next to the cubbies it was stored in..


a search party has been working to locate the tefillin from the dump.. I am impressed they have such a tracking system for garbage..

one of the classic Israeli foods is "shoko v'lachmaniya" a little bag of chocolate milk with a roll. Israelis eat this all summer long, and also at special occasions. It can be a Rosh Chodesh treat. You can see little kids eating it for a meal or a snack, and you can see construction workers and bus drivers and anybody else downing a bag of shoko..

Minister f Health Yaakov Litzman has been running a campaign to get people to eat healthier, and he has been putting in new regulations into schools to ensure that children are eating less junk food during school hours.

Litzman's newest effort is focusing on the classic shoko lachmaniya. He is saying that he is going to prohibit the distribution of "shoko lachmaniya" at any State-supervised camps and activities. Litzman called these bags of chocolate milk "garbage". This program is not in effect yet and is just a statement of intentions - he has to work it out with the Ministry of Education before he can actually do anything about it.

While Tara and Strauss both produce versions of shoko without sugar added, Tnuva does not (though they do produce a version with less sugar added).
source: Behadrei, TheMarker

The article only talks about the shoko. Will they get rid of the lachmaniya as well? Turn it whole wheat?
While shoko is a delicious drink, and it would be a shame to get rid of something that has become part of the identity of a nation, anything that promotes healthier eating is good work.

Bet Shemesh Mayor Moshe Aboutbul says he can advise @realDonaldTrump about dealing with demonstrations against election legitimacy... pic.twitter.com/gjRiHm0YHM

— Amihai Bannett (@israelconnect) November 15, 2016

MK Yogev's law proposal to put an end to the muezzin blaring at all hours of the day and night and causing a disturbance to residents sometimes even many kilometers away, had passed the initial vote in the Ministerial Legislative Committee and was scheduled to be brought to the Knesset today for further voting. That law proposal is now at least postponed if not off the table entirely.

Minister Yaakov Litzman has filed an appeal against the proposal, forcing it to be stalled in the process. MK Eichler has joined in to the appeal, though for different reasons. And MKs from Shas have spoken in opposition to it for their own reasons.

Litzman is upset about the ramifications the law might have for the Shabbos sirens, as we have already seen a complaint voiced in Arad for that very reason. Litzman claims that if the proposal can be reworded in a way that would clear the Shabbos sirens from any risk, he would pull his appeal. PM Netanyahu has reportedly called Litzman to request he withdraw his opposition to this law, and it seems it will be up to the Council of Torah Sages to decide how to respond.

Eichler is opposed to the law because he says it is an unnecessary provocation against billions of Muslims and could ignite the entire region.

An unnamed senior member of Shas has said that this law is unnecessary and the problem could be resolve dusing laws that are already on the books - it just needs enforcement. If they don't enforce the current law and just pass a new law that they also won't enforce, all that has been accomplished is attacking the honor of many citizens. Minister Aryeh Deri has said he supports the appeal against the proposal, but he has yet to actually sign on it.
sources: NRG, Kooker, Kikar

Regarding the issue of Shabbos, I do not see why this should be a problem. It should be easy enough to reword the law. They could easily limit the ban on the noise to either above a specific decibel level, along with banning it at certain hours - during the night and early morning hours but allowing it during the day.

It also makes me wonder how important the siren for Shabbos is that it has to become an issue. While it is nice to have a siren announcing the entry of Shabbos, and it has sources going way back to Temple times when trumpets were blown in a similar manner, how necessary is it really? Is there an obligation? Can't people simply use their own clocks and reminders? In many places around the world such sirens do not exist and the Jewish communities survive and thrive just fine without it. In some places it can even be annoying with multiple sirens crossing and blaring at uncoordinated times, making a real racket for those within earshot. Is the siren so important that it has to become an impediment?

Despite my question, I still see no reason that this should be overly complicated to reword so that the Shabbos sirens could continue, in some form or another. It seems the problems the muezzin sirens cause, waking people in the middle of the night and early morning hours, is far worse and this law should not just be dropped.

Yariv Oppenheimer, left-wing activist and former director of Peace Now, is serving in miluim, reserve duty, and asks how during this drill he was chosen to act as the enemy out of all the possible roles to play...