The Haredi parties are continuing to press on the Tel Aviv shops being open on Shabbos issue. They are continuing to threaten to bring down the coalition. It feels, for now, like they are treating it like a real crisis and that they will go all the way with their threats.

The question is, why did they not shut it all down when they had the power to? The Supreme Court decision came only because Minister Deri did not give his own decision on the issue before the deadline arrived. If they are so serious about the issue, why did he not give the decision when it was in his hands to do so?

I understand it was not a good decision to have to make. No matter what he would decide, many would be upset. Deciding to reject the Tel Aviv bylaw would turn it into a religious issue, and accepting it was not really an option but doing so would upset the religious and Haredi. It was thought he intentionally waffled in order to let the Supreme Court take the decision away from him - but then why did he fight to get the power to decide on this issue returned to him, and why are they so upset now that his plan worked and the Supreme Court decided for him.

It seems to me that had that been his plan, any protest would have been superficial at best and would have passed quickly.

So, I don't get what is happening. It seems real, and if so, why did Deri not decide on the issue when he was able to?

Maybe it just backfired? Maybe that was the plan and Shas would have been ok with it, but UTJ turned it into a bigger issue than Deri had expected or planned for?

Do you have any thoughts?

Halbertal is always good for saying some crazy controversial things...

clarification:

I think I have not been clear as to my intentions regarding the Lag bOmer on Saturday night posts. This is based on a few comments on previous posts that indicate to me that something was not clear. Perhaps it was not even clear to me.

I see two directions the discussion can go:
1. the Haredim should not be holding such celebrations on Saturday night because of the chilul shabbos it causes. The celebrations should be postponed until a later time that will not cause, or at least minimize, the chilul shabbos.
2. I don't care what the Haredim do. Let them celebrate when they want. They want to celebrate on Saturday night even though it will cause chilul shabbos - go ahead and party. Just stop telling the rest of the country how Shabbos is so important and that they can't do what they want on it.

I am more in tune with option #2 - let them do what they want, just stop telling everyone else what they can and cannot do. Though I do admit that if #1 happens I would be satisfied as well. I am not sure which of the two options is more or less likely to happen.

Melech Zilbershlag goes out to check..

yay Canada!

The Women of the Wall are expanding their activities. Sort of.

Until now they mainly focused on bringing a group to daven at the Kotel once a month on Rosh Chodesh. We all know what happened every month when the WoW people showed up.

Anat Hoffman, director of Women of the Wall, has announced that tomorrow's Rosh Chodesh Iyar services at the Kotel will be in the theme and focus of Yom Haatzmaut. They will say the Prayer for  the State of Israel and sing Hatikvah and wave many Israeli flags. They will be bringing 250 students from various army-prep schools.
source: INN

They should have announced an additional visit to the Kotel in addition to the monthly Rosh Chodesh visit. They should have announced a special prayer service for WoW to be held at the Kotel on Yom Haatzmaut. Going on Yom Haatzmaut might even attract less of a fight, as on Rosh Chodesh many people, especially in the Haredi community, go to daven at the Kotel, but Yom Haatzmaut is, at least for most Haredim, just another day and it does not necessarily draw the masses to the Kotel (unless they are called to go special to oppose WoW). The Women of the Wall might have been able to get away with a quiet service, and with potentially little opposition might have been able to accomplish praying how they want to pray.

But is that really what they want? Maybe they only want to go on Rosh Chodesh when it will be a bigger fight? Maybe they do want to go Yom Haatzmaut but can't draw enough people for a second visit.

I don't know. It just seems silly to me to focus Rosh Chodesh service son Yom Haatzmaut instead of having a special service on Yom Haatzmaut.

But, hey, if Barak Obama could have a Pesach seder weeks before Pesach, and Chanukah parties weeks before Chanukah, and if the Rabbanut can push Yom Haatzmaut off by a day and celebrate on 6 Iyar instead of 5 Iyar, then WoW can celebrate Yom Haatzmaut a few days early.

MK Eichler (UTJ) spoke about the issue of Lag bOmer/Meron/chilul-shabbos and had something interesting to say.

Eichler doesn't agree with the accusations against the Haredi community for making the police desecrate the shabbos. According to Eichler, the police always desecrate Shabbos, so why suddenly now is it a problem?

Eichler said, "It has happened many times before that Lag bOmer came out on Motzei Shabbos - and what happened then? Every Shabbos you can go out to the street and see police desecrating the Shabbos. Anything to do with police and security is  a qestion for the rabbonim to decide what to do on Shabbos. No policeman who wants to keep Shabbos will have to desecrate it. It is demagoguery and hypocrisy at a level we have not seen in a long time.. are there no policemen at the Kotel on Shavuos? Suddenly the police keep Shabbos?"

Interesting how when official State bodies don't keep shabbos he gets upset, but when they want to he dismisses them.

And the issue is not that the police want to keep Shabbos. The police will do whatever they need to do to secure any event, especially an event so massive like the bonfires in Meron. If it requires chilul shabbos, they will be mechalel shabbos. The police aren't demanding the right to keep Shabbos. The public is raising the outcry how the Haredi community, a community that holds Shabbos so dearly and is regularly upset around the country when chilul shabbos happens, can be the cause of chilul shabbos for a celebration that is not a mitzva.

Shavuos at the Kotel is different. It is not such a mass event, with hundreds of thousand sof people. It does not bring thousands of security forces from other cities. Shavuos is a commandment, and Lag bOmer is not - though going to the Kotel is not part of the Shavuos commandments. The only people going to the Kotel are people in Jerusalem, walking - not traveling from around the country.

Again, it is not the police that suddenly want to keep Shabbos. It is the Haredim who are suddenly ok with being the cause of chilul shabbos.

For me it isn't so bad. It is a bit of vacation from work.

  -- Yoelish Krausz, after being indicted for tax evasion/fraud to the tune of 1.5 million shekels

I saw this on JHC

I am a bit late on this but it is still cute

After the virality of "Eating Twinkies With God" Dari Alexander, a reporter and news anchor from Fox 5 News reached out to do a piece on the video and future video projects. It's so awesome to see mainstream news covering stories that are about positivity and happiness! 

There is a famous story related about Winston Churchill.

When Lady Astor, the first female MP, (or Bessie Braddock, depending on the report) said to him, "you are 'disgustingly drunk'", the Prime Minister responded: 'My dear, you are ugly, and what’s more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly.'

Waking up sober does not actually solve all the problems of having been drunk.

It definitely did not help the guy who's wife filed for divorce after about a year of marriage. His wife had enough of his excessive drinking.

At the beis din she pulls out her ketuba and shows the dayyanim, to the shock of the husband, that he had promised her in the ketuba a sum of 5,000,000nis (yes, million), in case of his death or divorce.

Mr. Moneybags responded that no way did he promise that much and fraud is involved. He accused his wife and her family of having taken advantage of him and the fact that he was already drunk at the wedding when he signed the ketuba. He claimed that they added a 0 after the fact, and even the original sum of 500,000 was taking advantage of him and he had not intended to agree to.

The beis din found in favor of the wife and said he owes her 5,000,000 unless he hires a private investigator and proves that he had been drunk.
source: Kikar

Proving that probably should not be too difficult, if it is true, as they can probably go look at the pictures and video and see more or less what happened. If all he needs to prove is that he was drunk, the pictures and video should be enough. If they need to prove fraud, it might be more difficult.

Either way, the moral of the story is probably to not sign on to financial commitments when drunk.

We didn't take that possibility into account

  -- anonymous member of NTP organization, after a Palestinian who entered Israel as part of a joint Israel-Palestinian event under its auspices went ahead and stabbed four Israelis

oops

The Haredi councilmembers in the Tel Aviv municipality have left the coalition because of the Supreme Court decision about the local bylaw allowing the markets to remain open on Shabbos.

How quickly will they rejoin the coalition?

If not for the issue depending on national-level politics, I would assume quickly. Leaving the coalition is a publicity move. It does not threaten the coalition or hurt anybody but them. Normally they would make their statement and then move on, and quietly rejoin after a short period, or after the next major issue takes over the news cycle. Really only the Haredi parties suffer from such a move, as they distance themselves form the pie.

But this time might be different, because national politics are at stake.

Shas is now threatening to leave the government coalition. There is going to be an attempt to pass a new law to circumvent the Supreme Court decision. There are a lot of moves happening that the Tel Aviv councilmembers are not acting independently of. They might be out for a while...

A lot is made about the unity of the day on Yom haShoah. Millions of people, over 6 million Jews, stand in unison and remember, think about, those who perished, just for being Jewish. We put aside our differences, for just a moment, and stand side by side to give honor to the victims of the Holocaust.

Hearing something about the unity today reminded me of a conversation I had once with a friend. This friend goes every year to Uman for Rosh Hashana, despite his not being a Breslaver hassid, and he encourages other people to go.

I asked him once, a bunch of years ago, why he goes, especially being that he is not a hassid of Rebbe Nachman. "What do you find so special about it?", I asked.

He responded that in Uman on Rosh Hashana you are with and you daven with tens of thousands of other people, and everyone is so different and nobody cares about the differences. Everyone is just friendly to each other and happy with each other. There is so much Jewish love in Uman. Hat, he said, is what makes it so special, and, he said, that is something you don't get anywhere else, especially in Eretz Yisrael.

I responded by saying that there is no mitzvah to hate and to fight with other people in Israel. If you go to Uman because everyone likes each other there, why not just act like that in Israel as well. As a matter of fact, most of the visitors to Uman travel to there from Israel, so it mostly the same people that are normally in Israel. Why do they have to all hate and fight with each other while in Israel but love each other in Uman? Just act nicely to each other in Israel as well!

photo by Ariel Schalit, AP

we've all seen the pictures of the people in the streets standing for the memorial siren on Holocaust Day and on Memorial Day. We've seen the pictures of the bus stopped and people standing. We've seen the various normal pictures that all evoke some emotion and pride. I don't think I have ever seen a picture of the surfers stopped and standing for the siren on Yom HaShoah...

Rav Rami Berachyahu, rav of the Israel Police, has, in light of the public discussion regarding the bonfires in Meron on Lag bOmer night which will be on a Motzei Shabbos, publicized the psak he issued to his police forces.

Rav Berachyahu wrote a tshuva about this and it has received the approbation of talmidei chachomim.

According to Rav Berachyahu, he says he has no choice but to instruct the police that they should travel on Shabbos, at 2pm, to arrive at "Kever Rashbi" in Meron and to secure the area. Pikuach Nefesh is involved, and even though the pikuach nefesh is only going to be later, on Motzei Shabbos, it requires such preparation.

Rav Berachyahu points out that it would always be better and preferable to postpone a mass event that is scheduled to take place so soon after Shabbos that requires security and advance preparation including on Shabbos. Something that involves a mitzva that must be done on Motzei Shabbos, or an event that the organizers refused to postpone it even though they should have, would permit the police to do what they need to do to secure it.

Should the police, perhaps, prepare in advance by going to Meron on Friday and staying there over Shabbos instead of traveling on Shabbos? No, Rav Berachyahu says, as that would disturb each police officer's own Shabbos meals with his family and cause him extra tircha.

In conclusion, Rav Berachyahu says the bonfires must be pushed off to later to avoid causing the chilul shabbos of the police, which would become muttar if the event is not pushed off. However, with the masses going up to Meron, the only real solution would be to push everything off until Sunday evening, because with the security situation as it is, the police will have to be out working security.
source: Kikar

I don't think anybody has a complaint against the police. Everything said by Rav Berachyahu sounds right. They have to provide the security and are not at fault for deciding when the event takes place. They are forced into the situation, and must do what they need to do. The people responsible for the event itself are the ones causing the security forces to work on Shabbos, and they are the ones the public is pressuring. I would add, the pressure seems to be starting to work, as various Hassidic groups have announced slight delays in their bonfire lightings in order to lessen or minimize any chilul shabbos.


I would add that the police do have the power to permit or not permit an event from taking place. They do it all the time, deciding certain protests, for example, cannot take place in certain places or at certain times. Security can shut down an event that it thinks might cause problems or be a security risk. Technically the police can refuse to give a permit to the Saturday night bonfire events and say they will only give the permit for later on Sunday. Perhaps "chilul shabbos" is not a valid excuse for the police to reject a permit?

A couple getting engaged added a clause to the tennaim regarding the purchasing of an apartment for the couple. The clause stated that the groom's father would give his son 250,000nis towards the purchase of an apartment for the couple, and the bride's father would give 500,000nis towards the purchase, and if necessary the young couple would complete the necessary sum on their own by taking a mortgage on any balance.

The couple got married and the parents each fulfilled their commitment, and the couple were the proud owners of an apartment. The apartment actually cost them 850,000nis, and the couple had taken a mortgage on the balance of 100,000 beyond what the parents had given towards the purchase. The apartment was registered in the names of the young couple.

Two years later, the couple decides to get divorced. The beis din decided that the two sides should each split the value of the apartment equally, despite the fact that the investment into the apartment was not equal. The wife claimed she shoudl walk away with 2/3 of the value, as per her father's investment into the apartment.

Upon appeal to the Higher Court she claimed that she deserves 2/3 because her father put 2/3 of the money in, as per the parents investment, yet the original beis din decided to split it equally because of the extra 100,000 mortgage.

The majority of the rabbonim on the beis din hearing the appeal decided to reject her claim and uphold the original decision, saying that the money given by the parents originally was a gift. As soon as the apartment is registered in the couples own names, it is theirs alone and the percentages originally invested are no longer relevant.

The minority opinion of Rav Igra saying that she keeps her fathers investment was rejected, and they split the apartment 50-50 despite the initial 33.3-66.6 breakdown.
source: Kikar

The Haredim in Central Tel Aviv see everything. They see young women walking in, baruch hashem, immodest clothing according to Haredi concepts. They see the entire Jewish nation, but the Haredim in Tel Aviv specifically are very happy. Why? Because nobody bothers them.

  -- Mayor of Tel Aviv, Ron Huldai, speaking on Kol B'Rama radio station about the Supreme Court decision..

I am not sure what the "baruch hashem" in the middle of that is - is it baruch hashem the Haredim see these young women dressed that way or is it baruch hashem the women are dressed that way? I don't know. Either way it seems to me to be a weird statement.

I happen to agree that Tel Aviv is very good for religious people. In Te Aviv anyone can do anything, live hsi or her life in whatever way they choose, and nobody cares. Everybody does what is good for them, and nobody bothers them.

Huldai went on to talk about how the Supreme Court didn't allow them to open businesses, but basically confirmed a situation that already exists. As well, Huldai stressed that he follows the law and if the Haredi parties successfully change the law, he will follow whatever the law becomes. As well, Huldai stressed that massive illegal chilul shabbos happens around the country, but in Tel Aviv they follow the law and all businesses are closed and only a small number of stores are open in accordance with the law. Huldai said out of 20,000 businesses in the city, only 200 shops are open.

And here is what can throw the selling of chametz into a bad light and make people want to not rely on it, or maybe their rabbi needs to explain to them what it means to sell something, even chametz....

Supposedly on the first day of Pesach in Williamsburg, the goy who bought the chametz of the through one of the rabbis of tens of families in the area decided he wanted to collect.

It seems this was a "new" goy that bought the chametz this year as the regular goy was not available. This new goy did not really know the process and what is really happening, that this is a halachically mandated sham of a sale and while it is legal and he could go pick up his half loaf of bread, he isn't really expected to.

Anyways, the goy paid his deposit for his chametz and then on OPesach he decided he wanted to pick up his stuff. He looked at the list of people he had bought from and picked one, randomly I guess, out of the list. He went to the house and said he wants his chametz and asked how much is there - can he load it into his car or does he need to bring a trailer?

The family panicked. They tried to warn him off saying things like he might be punished from heaven for this, or this is an issue of holy rabbis and he shouldnt get involved, etc.

Mr. Goy understandably got upset that his chametz was being withheld from him and went to the rabbi for clarification. The rabbi convinced him to come back later, on Chol Hamoed. At that time the rabbi explained to him what the sale actually is and how it works, and the goy understood and left them alone.

The story concludes with a request by the family to not have their name published so people shouldnt talk about them and question if they actually sold their chametz or not.
source: Behadrei and Matzav

The funniest part of the story, for me, is the last part - how they wanted to keep their name out of it so nobody would question their kashrus. As if the public perception is more important than the actual potential kashrus problem.

Yes, the sale of chametz is a halachically mandated sham, as everyone involved knows nothing is being transferred, but the halacha explicitly allows it to happen. That being said, if a goy comes to claim his chametz, I am not sure why anybody would get nervous about that and refuse. Just give it to him and collect your money. They probably thought if the goy takes it it will mess everything up somehow..

Masada Will Not Fall Again. The Fate of Netzarim is the Fate of Tel Aviv. Never Again.

Those are some of the great Israeli expressions, or idioms.

Add to the list, "Meron Will Not Be Tel Aviv!". It does not have quite the same ring to it, but it is pretty good.

Rav Mordechai Halpern, Director of the Meron Committee, announced today that Meron will not be Tel Aviv and they will not allow mass chilul shabbos in Meron or on the routes leading to Meron in preparation for Lag B'Omer has has happened in previous years.

Halpern said that this year they will keep the gates to Meron closed and locked until after Shabbos concludes and nobody, be it the security forces or hassidic groups, will be allowed to access the town's infrastructure and the site unless they guarantee complete loyalty to Shabbos in their preparation for the Lag b'Omer bonfires.
source: Kooker

So what does he expect? he'll open the gates after Shabbos and all chilul shabbos will have been avoided? the police and visitors will not have traveled and done their preparations on Shabbos and just waited outside for the gates to be opened?

The only way to avoid any chilul shabbos is to to delay the bonfires to either Sunday daytime or even to Sunday night/Monday.

That won't happen, and the haredi askanim and MKs are too busy screaming about secular chilul shabbos to deal with religious chilul shabbos

The Iryah of Modiin along with the SprinTeam club has organized a memorial run on Yom Hashoah in memory of the 6 million Jews that perished in the Holocaust. The run will be a 6km run, 1km per million Jews. They specifically request participants wear white shirts, as I guess they consider that more appropriate and respectful.



I know different people commemorate things in different ways, and there is no shortage of memorial styles for just about anything including the Holocaust...Is this appropriate or not? While it feels inappropriate to me, I cannot seem to put my finger on what is wrong with it - anything can be done as a way to make people think about the Holocaust, or about any death or tragedy, and having a 6km run at 6am does not exclude participation in other, perhaps more traditional, memorial events.

What do you think?  Is this inappropriate?

After Minister of Interior Aryeh Deri did not come to a conclusion with what to do regarding the request of Iryat Tel Aviv, the Supreme Court has decided to allow the City of Tel Aviv to approve the opening of more kiosks and supermarkets on Shabbos

Deri got the government to transfer the power to decide on this issue back to him, after a previous minister transferred it to a committee due to a supposed conflict of interests. Deri requested more time right before the deadline for his decision, but the courts never agreed and Deri let it slide, supposedly thinking they would approve it at the last minute.

Now Deri, and his peers in the Haredi parties, are upset with the court decision. They are threatening to design and pass laws that will circumvent the Supreme Court decision and ban the commerce on Shabbos.

I don't have a concrete opinion on this Shabbos law - for or against. In general I think religious laws do more harm than good, but I understand the Jewish nature of the State needs to be protected somehow - I just don't know how and am not sure passing secular laws forcing secular people to keep religious laws is the right way to go about it.

Either way, no matter which way I lean on that issue on any particular day, I do not feel bad at all for Deri and his co-parliamentarians. They had the power in their hands, and they let it slip through their grasp. I don't know if he is expressing his anger for show, and he is probably more relieved than angry that he did not have to make a decision, either way, that would surely anger so many people, or if he is sincere in his anger post-facto.

Either way, no matter if he is sincere or not, this is his fault. While I am not sure if he did the right or wrong thing, his tears now are more of the crocodile variety, because if he really cared and opposed it he would have declined the petition when he had the ability to.

this episode of CNN's "Believer" series goes to Jerusalem and takes a look at the Haredi community.. and they go to Bet Shemesh as well.. and when Aslan joins up with a group of Na Nachs it is a riot..

I think this should have a sefira alert despite the acapella group Shir Soul being involved...

Health Minister Yaakov Litzman paid a visit to Rav ELiezer Berland who is ill and under house arrest in the motel adjacent to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital after pleading guilty to charges of rape and other charges of sexual misconduct.


Berland reportedly has cancer, and in response to criticism regarding the visit, Litzman's office put out a statement saying that he paid a bikur cholim visit and they assist everyone in need.

I have no problem with Litzman helping Berland and visiting him to see what his needs might be. The Minister of Health is responsible for the health issues of convicts and prisoners just like he is responsible for the health issues of all citizens of Israel. The problem would be if Litzman and his office are not doing anything to help convicts in general or visiting them to assess their needs, but made an exception for Berland. If he has only gone to visit and talk to Berland, then this is a visit that is poor in taste. I don't know if he visited other rapists and criminals or not, so I will refrain from levying comment on it beyond what I already wrote - there is nothing wrong with it if he is helping and visiting others as well, but if he is not helping others and only Berland, that is a problem.

There was a cute meme going around social media before Pesach about Ivanka Trump Kushner asking her father, President Donald Trump, to buy her chametz from her for Pesach.

This story reminded me of that.

Shortly before Pesach, the Beis Din of Haifa performed the annual ceremony of selling the chemtz of their people to a gentile.

This year's goy for Pesach in Haifa was actually the father of the goy the Rabbi used to sell the chametz to.

Over the course of the past year, the previous goy completed his process of converting to Judaism. Being that he is now a Jew, this young man, Ron, could no longer be the guy goy who buys the city's residents chametz, but he himself needed to sell his own chametz. The rabbi sold all the chametz, including Ron's, to the young man's non-Jewish father.
source: Kikar

This is far better than the stories we sometimes hear about discovering the goy who bought the chametz is actually a Jew...

Avraham Cohen, the brother of Eli Cohen - aka "Our Man in Damascus" based on the name of the book written about him, revealed a new and fascinating tidbit about his deceased hero of a brother..

Avraham Cohen has been gathering every morsel of information he has been able to find about his brother. As you surely know, Eli Cohen was a spy for Israel in the Syrian government in the 1960s, and much of Israel's success in the Six Day War on the front with Syria can be directly connected to information passed along to Israel by Cohen about war preparations, as well as his influence within Syria setting them up for Israel.

Cohen revealed a never-before-known incident about his brother, and how he was moser nefesh to eat matza on Pesach even in Syria.

Eli Cohen operated in Syria under the name Kamel Amin Thaabet and posing as a successful businessman he made strong connections at all levels of the Syrian government.

Avraham heard the following story from a Syrian-Jewish woman who told it to him after having made aliyah to Israel. She claims to have been a witness to the story as a child in her father's shop.

Early on in Cohen's career in Syria, in 1962, shortly after he arrived in Syria, he went through a market in Damascus. This woman's father operated a shop in the market. Cohen approached him and said he is very hungry and needs food. The man, her father, responded that because it is the Jewish holiday of Pesach he does not have any bread or pita but only has matza available. Thaabet, aka Cohen, responded that he does not know what this matza is, but he is so hungry and needs something to eat, whatever it may be. Her father gave him the matza, and, she related, Cohen took his food to the corner of the room, mumbled something to himself and ate the matza, before leaving.
source: Kol Hai News, among other sources

very cool..

this report on Reuters includes a bit on the practice run of the korban pesach...

This morning I got in a nearly 8km run. Weather was nice, sunny and pleasant temperatures. With all this overeating due to the Pesach holiday, it has been very important to me to stick to my running schedule. Hopefully the running has kept my overeating, especially of matza, in balance

YWN posted a very harsh letter that had been sent in to the editorial board. It basically expressed glee at the cancellation of flights to Florida from New York and the cancellation of hotel Pesach programs that left many people in the lurch at the last minute.

The anonymous author of the letter is happy about their suffering because s/he thinks these people need to be taught a lesson, as does the community. The author references people that s/he knows go into serious debt in order to participate in such programs, as well as traveling for Sukkos or summer camps, and the like.

The author writes:

I was thrilled to learn that many flights from NY to Florida were cancelled on Erev Shabbos. I was also thrilled to learn that at least two Pesach hotels pulled the plug just a few days before Yom Tov.
Why am I thrilled?
Because I just collected money (more than $10K) for a family whose Flatbush home was slipping into foreclosure and friends got together to save them. So this was a thank you (spit in the face) to those that helped them out. They used credit cards to go to an upscale hotel for Pesach.
Now some may say “thrilled” is the wrong word, and of course it is not my wish that these people lose large sums of money, but yes I am thrilled that maybe just maybe the world will finally be exposed to this sickening phenomenon that is destroying so many families in our midst.
How reckless have we become? When did lose our minds in this insane fashion.
I know of a family that BORROWED $80,000 (yes, you read correctly – 80 THOUSAND DOLLARS) to fly their family to a Pesach hotel across the United States.
These are the same people that borrow money to purchase their summer homes in the Catskills (because you MUST); who take their kids to Miami on mid-winter vacations (because you MUST); who go on a vacation or two a year (because you MUST); who spend Sukkos in Israel every two years (because you MUST)….
So yes, I am thrilled that some people might Nebach have to spend Pesach in their homes. I am thrilled that instead of sharing their most precious family time with strangers, waiters and swimming pools they may enjoy a beautiful and uplifting seder around their very own, plain, boring dining room tables.

While I understand the point being made, and don't disagree with it and of course think that people should not go into heavy debt for such things - essentially just to keep up with the Joneses, or Cohens, I think his point is overly harsh the way s/he makes it. How people spend their hard earned money is really only their business. While some people go into debt for these things, some people do not. Some people work hard all year and save their money to go away on a vacation or for the holidays. And the people who did not go into debt for their vacation are also losing their money. Some people cannot make Pesach at home, due to circumstances out of their control and sometimes going away is their only solution. In addition, it seems cruel to wish that these people who took on debt to celebrate the holiday, rightfully or wrongfully, with or without a plan to pay it back, will lose all their money just to teach them a lesson and now have to pay back debt that they did not even get to enjoy.

I also find it noteworthy that the author seems to make a point that people who make the seder at home have a "beautiful and uplifting seder" while those who go away do not. I would posit that many people have a beautiful and uplifting seder at home, but many do not. Some people are alone and just go though the motions or others have a seder full of fighting among the kids and even adults who do not get along with each other. And people who go away can also have a beautiful and uplifting seder, with guidance from inspirational rabbonim who lead the seder in hotels, with loving family members they don't get to see to often, with everyone around the table including parents who are not too tired from all the preparations to also enjoy the seder. One need not over-stress his imagination to consider the multitude of scenarios in which one can imagine people who go away having a wonderful seder and people staying at home having a less than wonderful seder. Juts because these people are forced to stay home now does not mean they will automatically have a beautiful and uplifting seder, though I hope they will.

In the shiur of Chief Rabbi Rav Yitzchak Yosef last night he paskened that there is no need to purchase special cigarettes with a special hechsher for Pesach. Rather, one could buy any cigarette and smoke it on Pesach, even "American cigarettes" - whatever that is.

Rav Yosef mentioned a rav who said that you cannot smoke cigarettes on Pesach because they are all chametz. He attacked him for arguing against something his father, Rav Ovadia, had written and said you don't just start learning halacha at age 50!

Rav Yosef explained that cigarettes are ok because they are not edible for a dog. He did clarify and say that one who does not smoke at all is even better because it is dangerous, but someone who does smoke does not need to look for a KFP hechsher on his cigarettes.
source: Kikar

Mariners to offer toasted grasshoppers at Safeco concession

  -- ESPN

I guess the Mariners have also decided to open a kosher concession...

to increase engagement, I have included the picture from ESPN as well..

mmmm

"Normal Kosher" - the new category in kashrut....

Minister of Interior Aryeh Deri has announced that he has approved an amnesty plan by which people who owe a lot of money for old arnona bills they never paid will be able to pay "pennies on the dollar" - local authorities will be empowered to offer such people the option of paying up all their arnona debt at up to 50% off.

According to Deri, outstanding arnona debt in Israel stands at 30,000,000,000nis (that's right, billion).

To qualify, a person's arnona payments for the years 2015 and 2016 have to be paid up in full, and the amnesty only applies for years of debt until the end of 2014. Paying in one payment, cash, will qualify for a 50% discount, while paying in 12 monthly installments will get a 45% discount. The plan will go into effect on June 1 and will remain open for a period of 6 months.

Minister Deri said that the amnesty program will allow many people to come out from the dark as they can now take care of their debt, and all residents will benefit from improved municipal services, as the municipalities will have more money coming in..
source: Kol Hai

It is good to have an amnesty program every now and then. People get caught up in their debt and it compounds itself making it very difficult to get out of the mess. This allows them a way out. But it shouldn't happen too often, or people will plan around it and avoid paying knowing that later they'll be able to pay less.

I am telling you now - I have sinned. There is no need to punish me any further.

  -- former, disgraced, Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, to the courts while appealling the rejection of the plea bargain agreement the court nullified recently

ahh, if only it was this easy. The judges and courts would have much easier jobs if all the criminals were supposed to say was "I sinned, no need to punish me"...

Rav Yaakov Ariel, Chief Rabbi of Ramat Gan, has an interesting approach to the various problems in the kashrut industry in Israel.

Basically he blames all the problems on the various "Badatzim".

How goes?

Rav Ariel explains - 90 years ago Rav Kook established the Rabbanut so that there would be one address for people to turn to, to rely on. The various Badatzim, for ideological reason, said they don't want to cooperate with the Rabbanut but each one decided to make its own kashrut organization.

But that has boomeranged. Now there are people who want to destroy the Rabbanut kashrut entirely and say that if the Badatzim could go off on their own and create a private kashrut organization, why can't we as well, and even do it relying on just the restaurant owners for supervision?

Rav Ariel then went on to criticize another aspect of the private Badatz kashrut organizations. He said that they have created a situation in which people think the Rabbanut is no good, which is not true. The Rabbanut is a fine hechsher. People can choose to be machmir on issues and be "mehader" - try to do things better - but the Rabbanut itself also gives such options, with two levels - regular kosher and mehadrin. Even if the Badatz wants to add more mehadrin on top of it, that is fine - but not to say that the Rabbanut is no good or not kosher and disparage them.

There are more differences between a national hechsher and a private hechsher, for example with kitniyos. The Rabbanut gives its hechsher for everyone to use so they also give a hechsher for kitniyos products, clearly labeling that the product contains kitniyos so someone who does not eat kitniyos will know not to eat it. However the Badatzim simply don't give a hechsher to any factory that also produces kitniyos. They make it seem as if they are being mehader, doing something more, but they are not.

The criticism of the Rabbanut, he said, for their mistakes is also exaggerated. Yes, there is corruption, and sometimes in the Rabbanut as well. they found a mashgiach that was corrupt so they fired him and sent him to jail. In the Badatzim there is no corruption? Of course there are problems, but the Badatzim also have similar problems. In a private house are there never any problems - it does not happen that someone might put a dairy spoon into a fleishige pot? in a normal house things happen, and questions arise. In factories as well. Every now and then there is a problem, so we work to resolve it. But because of that to disparage them?
source: Srugim

right on the money. and he does not even mention the problems that former employees of the various Badatzim, including and especially the Eida, sometimes point to within those organizations...

Horseradish Explosion


Man vs Matza


The Hillel Sandwich Challenge


The Four Cups

I just saw, and decided to not take a picture, an electric bicycle being used as a family car.

This fellow was riding his electric bike through the streets, in and out of the shopping area of RBS. He was holding shopping bags in his hands and hanging from the bike handles. He had a daughter in a bike seat behind him, while he was on the bicycle seat, and he had another, younger daughter, seated in front of him on the bar of the bicycle.

At least they all had helmets. They looked pretty unstable, so I just hope the helmets don't actually get put to use!

Netanyahu is the Prime Minister but the day he finishes his task I intend to compete for the leadership of the Likud and for the position of Prime Minister, and I am convinced I will be elected. There have only been 4 leaders of the Likud party, and I intend to be the fifth.

  -- Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz