Facebook Status of the Day

the following post on Facebook, by CityPass, the company running the Jerusalem Light Rail, is boring on its own. What makes it deserving of FSotD is really in the comments of the post, and I am posting the screen shot of the relevant comments after the post..



and the winning comment thread..

Yedidya Hasson comments on the benign post asking why they give out crazy fines even to people with monthly passes if they forgot to swipe the card... to which CityPass responded that according to the law and directives of the Ministry of Transportation every passenger must swipe their rav kav pass, even if the passenger has a monthly pass, and anyone who does not swipe is liable to be fined. CityPass then adds to the comment saying if the laws of the country are not enough to justify it, perhaps you would be interested in knowing that the Rashba (one of the Rishonim) says in Bava Basra that the city residents are allowed to impose a fine on someone who transgresses a communal decree. Safe Travels!

CityPass quoting the Rashba to end a payment dispute!

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Proposed Law: regular wages for Shabbos employment

The current law says that an employee must get paid 250% salary for employment on Shabbos. The purpose of that is to discourage working on Shabbos, as no employer will want to pay that unless the work is critical and absolutely necessary.

According to resigning minister Yaakov Litzman, this actually encourages people to work on Shabbos, even when it has nothing to do with pikuach nefesh, and earn more money by doing so. People choose to work on Shabbos, Litzman says, because it is worth it to lose that day off and get paid so much more than on a regular weekday.

Litzman has proposed a law that would have employees of public (i.e. controlled by the government) companies will only earn the regular wages on Shabbos and not the 250% value. Litzman says this will take away the benefits of working on Shabbos and people will not agree to give up their day off for no benefit.
source: Kikar and Haredim10

This is not a bad idea but it will only work if employees have the "choice" to work or not work on Shabbos. If they do not really have a choice, and I do not mean they are being forced by the employers which is illegal, they will continue to work anyway but will lose the salary. Litzman (apologies but I am not sure if he is called MK or Minister right now) might be hurting the employees rather helping them and hurting than the employer. Meaning, if the Rail Authority, for example, is going to have the work being done on Shabbos, some employees will choose to work anyway - maybe they have nothing else planned or they want the additional day of wages. The Rail Authority, for example, is going to get the work done anyway.

There is no shortage of workers who will work. The Rail Authority, for example, will just have to pay less for that work, while the employees will earn less for the same work.

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refusing to wear prison uniforms

this is funny.

Many young men have been arrested recently while participating in the Peleg protests.Some were released relatively quickly while some were discovered to be AWOL and then transferred to the IDF and sent to military jail.

 According to this report on Kikar, the rebellion continues. Not necessarily in the streets via public protest, but now also in the IDF jails. The young men arrested are saying they are refusing to don the prison uniforms.

The IDF prison wardens have decided to separate the prisoners from each other  so they will not be able to coordinate further actions.

If they are not wearing prison uniforms, what are they wearing? I assume prisoner's regular civilian clothes gets taken away upon entry into the prison. I find it strange that these yeshiva boys would prefer to walk around the jail naked rather than in uniform, even as a protest, but maybe...

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book review: Ari Barak and the Free-Will Paradox

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: Ari Barak and the Free-Will Paradox, by Shaul Behr

I admit that when I first received the book "Ari Barak and the Free-Will Paradox" for review I was skeptical. The author is promoting the book as the Jewish version of Harry Potter, which is some pretty big shoes to fill. I never believe marketing like that and it just makes me skeptical.

Anyways, I was wrong. I don't think it is too similar to Harry Potter, but I really enjoyed the book. Ari Barak and the Free-Will Paradox was a lot of fun to read.

Ari Barak and the Free-Will Paradox is a Jewish, kosher, novel in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. I must say that I surprised myself by liking it so much and finding it so much fun, considering I am not a fan of this genre.

Ari and Howard find themselves to be students in an unusual, and unique, yeshiva located in RBS, and experience the craziest mind-blowing experiences with, and without the Rosh Yeshiva. Some of it is so fantastical, all of it really but that can be expected for the fantasy portion of it, that you wonder how all this could happen in just the first few days since they arrived and how they could stick with it, considering.

In addition to the fantasy aspects and the wild story, you will be interested in the ongoing discussion of how free will works and its ramifications, so it is not all just fun and games.

Ari Barak and the Free-Will Paradox is a fun read, a "kosher" novel, the author has a wild imagination as far as some of the adventures they find themselves on (I did not write about them so as not to spoil the story) and anybody in the frum community with some background in Torah will be enraptured with the adventures, and not least of all it is set in RBS! 

You can also get a free sample of Ari Barak and the Free-Will Paradox from the author..

buy Ari Barak and the Free-Will Paradox 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.

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One on One with Alan Dershowitz - Nov. 23, 2017 (video)

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What's the best street food in Israel? (video)

they clearly have not experienced Crave..

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MK Eichler reads from Biyalik's letter about Shabbos (video)

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JIMM WEBISODE 11 SEASON 1 RABBI AKIVA (video)

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Hallel: Modeh Ani (video)

kol isha alert..

a women's choir from the Shomron

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UN Palestine partition plan VOTE 1947 (video)

70 years ago today...

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Proposed Law: Splitting jerusalem

The Knesset legal committee has advanced a The Jerusalem Bill law proposal.

The Jerusalem Bill would require a majority vote of 80 MKs to allow the transfer of any part of Jerusalem to a foreign entity, and that would apply to Jerusalem as its borders are delineated today. Meaning, even if certain areas are taken out of Jerusalem municipal borders at some later date, thee transfer of those areas would still be limited by the Jerusalem Bill.

The vote passed in committee 9-7 and will now advance for its final readings in the Knesset plenum
source: Kooker

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Israelis: What do you think of Western and Eastern cultures? (video)

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Orthodox Jewish All Star, Chaim Lebovits, Biotech Pioneer Seeking To Cure ALS (video)

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Bringing Jewish education through music to the 4 corners of the world (video)

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protecting your home (video)

wait for it... wait for it...

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Alle Chassidim (video)

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everything is within walking distance

Crazy story.

A young man and woman got married last week (to each other) and found themselves walking 8 hours to get to Sheva Brachos on Shabbos.

According to Behadrei, and they say the crazy story has been corroborated multiple times from various, on Friday the young couple missed the hasaa arranged to take them from Ramot to Bnei Braq and were unsuccessful in finding a ride and in their attempts to hitchhike.

At 15:45, or 3:45 pm, they got a taxi from Ramot. The driver was an Arab driver an they got stopped at Macabbim junction on the 443. Due to the late hour, they abandoned the taxi and they left their stuff in a yishuv near Modiin and began to walk the rest of the way to Bnei Braq.

Obviously in Bnei Braq nobody knew what was going on and everyone was concerned for their welfare.

At 3am the chosson and kalla arrived at their parents home, to the relief of the parents and eventually everyone else when they found out later that morning.

One of the friends explained that the chosson is an eccentric "iluy" who enjoys going on long walks, so the story is not surprising.

A posek was asked (by Behadrei) about to do in a similar situation and said that they would have to stop at the first house in the city of Bnei Braq and stay there the entire shabbos, because of the issue of tchum shabbos. They would be allowed to send a message to their family, to allay their worries and concerns. The need to get to sheva brachos is not important enough to override the tchum shabbos issue and missing it does not affect anything.

Being that the chosson and kalla went all the way to the parents house, unless the parents lived in the first house in Bnei Braq, makes it seem unlikely they knew what they were doing and followed the rules properly.

I would point out that if this guy was really an iluy it seems unlikely he would not know what is one of the most basic rules of tchum shabbos, though perhaps he just had no idea how to apply it as it is so uncommon nowadays.

It also makes no sense that the family arranged transportation but then left without the chosson and kalla because they were running late.

the takeaway from this would be, for me:
1. we live in a really small country and everything is within walking distance, if you have the time
2. don't wait until the last minute to leave for Shabbos when you are going away, especially to another city!

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the agreement allowing chilul shabbos

I now really do not understand what any of this crisis was about. Perhaps it was all simply to allow Litzman to not be a minister but a deputy minister, as he originally did not want to but had to to be allowed to work in that capacity.

The Prime Minister and the Haredi parties have come to an agreement to avoid a coalition crisis over the Shabbos work. According to the various news reports, the agreement includes allowing Shabbos soccer games to continue, allowing markets in Tel Aviv to remain open on Shabbos and allowing Minister Chaim Katz to continue deciding what rail work is allowed to happen on Shabbos. And it includes an attempt to change the law to allow someone (i.e. Litzman) to be a deputy minister with full responsibility.

So basically the Haredi parties agreed to allowing everything to continue to function on Shabbos.This whole crisis was to allow work to continue on Shabbos?

The only difference seems to be that Litzman gets to be a Deputy Minister instead of full Minister.

Either we are not being told the full story or there was some misdirection involved. I am not sure how anyone was defending the honor and sanctity of Shabbos if this was the agreement they came to... It seems more directed at defending the honor and sanctity of Litzman.

I suspect we have not heard the end of the story yet

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United States of America should move its embassy to Jerusalem (video)

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Israelis: Why are Jews called "Jews"? (video)

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Professor Rael Strous, director of Psychiatry, Maayenei Hayeshua Hospital Nov 26 2017 (video)

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Synagogues of New York (video)

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Jonathan Links - Gam Zu Letova (Official Music Video)

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Headline of the Day

Amazon is preparing to begin sales activity in Israel

  -- Calcalist

According to the article, Amazon is looking to open a sales and shipping center in Israel and join the local Israeli market. Something similar to Amazon.co.uk in the United Kingdom and Amazon.de in Germany, among others. This would probably destroy local businesses, both online and brick and mortar, but would be great for the consumer. It might give us access to Amazon Prime, and as Amazon knows how to do best, would give us access to everything in one place at competitive prices.

No more looking for people traveling from the USA just to save money on shipping. Access to products not sold in Israel might still be a reason to shop abroad, but I think Amazon might make available most of what Israelis like to buy. The question of reasonable pricing remains open, but it will have to be better than the current situation.

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good for Litzman

good for Yaakov Litzman, following his rebbe's instructions and resigning from the government because of the chilul shabbos. Whether or not it is the right move, from a social perspective does not matter - the Haredi parties say they are beholden to the wishes of their various rabbonim, and this is what his rav told him to do. The question is why now - the chilul shabbos has been going on forever it never before prevented the haredi parties from joining the coalition, nor did it prevent Litzman from accepting the job of minister when the Supreme Court said he must. What changed now that it has come to this now at this point?

While the Admor of Gur's decision, and Litzman's follow through, is not binding on the other Haredi ministers and MKs, whether from the same faction, party or whatever, I cannot see how they can sit aside and let him resign over chilul shabbos and they would remain in the government. They will lose any respect they still have and be seen as less concerned about shabbos. Whether it happens immediately or within the next few days, it has to happen.

And even if they do not do it n their own, or the rabbis instructing them do not require it immediately, at some point the public outcry will be great enough that they will have to. similar to what happened with the Kotel agreement.

The interesting thing, to me, is that this makes Yair Lapid somewhat responsible for the fall of two governments, assuming this will bring about elections in the near future, which has yet to be seen. His demands and threats in the previous government led Netanyahu to firing him and calling new elections. And after the elections, Lapid brought Litzman's deputy situation to the Supreme Court that led to the decision "forcing" Litzman to become minister, which led to the situation that Litzman would not any longer agree to be partially responsible for chilul shabbos and resign from the government. This was probably Lapid's most successful move, especially from the Opposition.

I would point out some possible sort of conspiracy the news media sites are mentioning that might be worth considering. They point to how calm Netanyahu has been about this. They point to how Likud leaders have publicly pointed out very energetically at every opportunity that there was chilul shabbos and Litzman's threats could not stop that. They point to the fact that Netanyahu is holding on to the Health Ministry  portfolio for now, and keeping Litzman's staff in place - in the hope that Litzman will either return or at least return in some capacity. It seems they think this too is a manufactured crisis - Netanyahu needs to keep Lapid at bay and giving in to Litzman on this would boost Lapid's popularity in the general public and hurt the Likud. So, the Likud gains from this resignation and Lapid does not. Is this true? I have no idea. The problem with it is that nobody knows where it will end and if it will play out as its engineers expected, and that is a big risk to take.

Another point is that Litzman resigned from his position as Minister of Health, but he has not pulled his seat out of the coalition or resigned from the Knesset, so really nothing changed, yet, except for his ministerial position and the level of responsibility he thinks he has for the chilul shabbos. I would note that being that the only real threat to the coalition and defense of Shabbos is if he, and UTJ, and others perhaps, pull out of the coalition.Staying in the coalition and letting it all continue is not really defending the sanctity of Shabbos.

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The manufactured crisis

The crisis with Deputy Minister Tzippi Hotoveli over her criticism of American Jewry is what I am calling a manufactured crisis.

What she said is irrelevant. It was not anything so bad or critical nor was it particularly harsh. PM Netanyahu took advantage of an opportunity to come out as a friend of American Jewry after he came out as their enemy in regards to the Kotel arrangements affair.

Netanyahu's other coalition partners have said much worse about non-orthodox American jewry in recent months and Netanyahu did not come to their defense then, did not criticize those who made harsh statements against the Reform and Conservative Jews. It was understandable as had he done so then, he might have lost his government coalition. Tzippi Hotoveli presents no threat to him or to his coalition, so he can feel comfortable criticizing her for it. He could have just as easily ignored it as he has done until now, but this presented an opportunity with no, or very little, downside. Netanyahu manufactured this crisis to his advantage and that's the end of the story.

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Israeli Frenemies - Nov. 24, 2017 (video)

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Bank of Israel Governor visits Machane Yehuda to introduce new bank note (video)

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In Conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu (video)

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In Search of: The Wild Challurkey (video)

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Magen Avos מגן אבות - Music Video by Tzvi Silberstein (video)

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2017 IAC National Conference: Havdalah with Cantor Netanel Hershtik (video)

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Tweet of the Day

it is not what he said, but how he said it...

דחוף שיפור האנגלית!

— yehudah glick (@YehudahGlick) November 23, 2017

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Interesting Psak: buying online

With Black Friday imminent and Cyber Monday on the horizon, this "interesting psak" is timely.

Someone asked Rav Shabtai Yagel, rav of Bnei Hayeshivos community in Ranana, specifically about Black Friday and Cyber Monday but also relevant year round in general, if purchasing goods via the Internet, especially from abroad, is a problem is hurting the livelihood of other Jews. Traditional storekeepers are little by little losing their market and customers and their sales numbers continue to decline. What right do we have to hurt their parnasa like this?

Rav Yagel responded that the issue of "יורד לאומנותו של חבירו" - harming someone else's trade - is an issue of opening a store near someone else's similar store and by opening yours in the proximity of the other person's you will harm his business. There are serious issues involved to be discussed, such as is the storeowner a local or from somewhere else, will his sales go down or will he have to close the store, and more.

The case in the question presented is different. Buying goods online has nothing to do with the issue of harming someone else's business. The way of the world is that one item replaces the previous one. One method of commerce comes along and replaces the previous one. Merchants need to adapt to new realities. For example, electric bicycles are harming the sales of traditional bicycles. Should one not buy the new electric bicycle in order to protect the old bicycle market? Obviously not.

With more and more commerce taking place online instead of in traditional brick and mortar stores, merchants need to adjust, as this is the way of the world.

However, Rav Yagel adds, there might still be an issue with giving preference to Jewish merchants over non-Jewish merchants. There is definitely a halachic preference to doing so, but that does not apply when either the non-Jew is selling it at a significantly cheaper price or if the quality-level is very different. As well, if it causes you more difficulty, you do not need to go to the Jewish shopkeeper - buying online is much easier than going to a store across town. And, many poskim say that this preference, even when it applies, is not halachic but a good thing to do.

It is good and honorable to help a Jew, a religiously observant Jew, earn a living.
source: Srugim

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The conspiracy theory of Jews working on Shabbos

I hardly ever listen to the radio nowadays. I got tired of the repetitive banter and fighting. I find my attitude is so much more pleasant since I stopped and switched over to listening to podcasts instead.

This morning as I was getting into my car I heard the talk show host talking to Minister Litzman about the Shabbos ultimatum, so I kept it on for a moment before switching to my podcast.

Litzman said that there was no chilul shabbos by Jews last Shabbos, because of his ultimatum. When asked about the claims repeated by other politicians that Jews did also work, he responded that it is not true and everyone knows that no Jews worked. Litzman continued that it is just one person behind the claim that Jews worked, he refused to say the name though he says he knows who it is and that it can be discounted and ignored and this person is only pressing this claim in order to pressure the Haredi parties to leave the coalition..

This isn't the most titillating conspiracy theory ever produced, but it isn't bad. Where is Barry Chaimish when we need him???

I guess Litzman gave himself his own ladder to climb down. No matter what happened, everyone knows no Jews are working on Shabbos.

I am not sure, if that is the case, why he needs to continue giving ultimatums, if no Jews are working on Shabbos.

Political Talk Radio can be pretty entertaining, but I do not intend to go back to it anytime soon...

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102 Year Old Holocaust Survivor Meets the Nephew he Never Knew he Had (video)

Eliahu Pietruszka shuffled his 102-year-old body through the lobby of his retirement home toward a stranger he had never met and collapsed into him in a teary embrace. Then he kissed both cheeks of his visitor and in a frail, squeaky voice began blurting out greetings in Russian, a language he hadn't spoken in decades. Only days earlier, the Holocaust survivor who fled Poland at the beginning of World War II and thought his entire family had perished learned that a younger brother had also survived, and his brother's son, 66-year-old Alexandre, was flying in from a remote part of Russia to see him. The emotional meeting was made possible by Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial's comprehensive online database of Holocaust victims, a powerful genealogy tool that has reunited hundreds of long-lost relatives. But given the dwindling number of survivors and their advanced ages, Thursday's event seemed likely to be among the last of its kind. "It makes me so happy that at least one remnant remains from my brother, and that is his son," said Pietruszka, tears welling in his eyes. "After so many years I have been granted the privilege to meet him." Pietruszka was 24 when he fled Warsaw in 1939 as World War II erupted, heading to the Soviet Union and leaving behind his parents and twin brothers Volf and Zelig, who were nine years younger. His parents and Zelig were deported from the Warsaw Ghetto and killed in a Nazi death camp, but Volf also managed to escape. The brothers briefly corresponded before Volf was sent by the Russians to a Siberian work camp, where Pietruszka assumed he had died. "In my heart, I thought he was no longer alive," Pietruszka said. He married in Russia and, thinking he had no family left, migrated to Israel in 1949 to start a new one. Then two weeks ago, his grandson, Shakhar Smorodinsky, received an email from a cousin in Canada who was working on her family tree. She said she had uncovered a Yad Vashem page of testimony filled out in 2005 by Volf Pietruszka for his older brother Eliahu, who he thought had died. Volf, it turned out, had survived and settled in Magnitogorsk, an industrial city in the Ural Mountains. Smorodinsky tracked down an address and reached out to discover that Volf, who had spent his life as a construction worker, had died in 2011 but that Alexandre, his only child, still lived there. After Smorodinsky arranged a brief Skype chat, Alexandre decided to come see the uncle he never knew he had. Smorodinsky, a 47-year-old professor from Ben-Gurion University in southern Israel, invited The Associated Press to record Thursday evening's reunion at his grandfather's retirement home in central Israel. Upon meeting, the two men clutched each other tightly and chatted in Russian as they examined each other's similar facial features. "You are a copy of your father," said a shaking Pietruszka, who has a hearing aid and gets around in a rolling walker. "I haven't slept in two nights waiting for you." Throughout the meeting, Alexandre swallowed hard to hold back tears, repeatedly shaking his head in disbelief. "It's a miracle. I never thought this would happen," Alexandre, himself a retired construction worker, kept saying. It did, thanks to the Yad Vashem database of pages of testimony, whose goal is to gather and commemorate the names of all of the estimated 6 million Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide. The Names Recovery Project has been Yad Vashem's flagship mission in recent years. The memorial's very name — Yad Vashem is Hebrew for "a memorial and a name" — alludes to its central mission of commemorating the dead as individuals, rather than mere numbers like the Nazis did.

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new money in Mea Shearim (video)

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the 13 year old Yemenite bride (video)

this looks to be from a while back, but it is an interesting discussion

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Synagogues of New York (video)

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BERI - LETS TALK #7 - Episode One (video)

Jump right into it with BERI and journey through the streets of New York to discover the many meanings of 7even!

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when the jokes all come true

When the Bank of Israel announced that over the coming years it would be printing new bills and the selected images to grace the faces of the bills would include famous female artists, such as Rachel the Poetess and Leah Goldberg, everyone joked about how in Mea Shearim (and RBS B) they will deface the bills by ripping them or blacking out the faces or simply refuse to use them.

And now the joke is becoming reality.

The Bank of Israel will be putting the new 20 and 100 bills into circulation at the end of this week. Actualic reports about how in Mea Shearim they are saying they will not use these bills and will refuse to accept them as payment. Yoelish Krausz says it is not such a big deal as many in Mea Shearim continue to use dollars rather than shekels anyway. He says if they get such bills without realizing it, they will simlpy pass them along to other people - i.e. they will use the money as it was intended, by passing it along and using it to pay for goods and services rather than hanging it on their walls and looking at it longingly.

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Picture of the Day

check out her hat

I have no idea where this is or who took the picture, so credit to whoever deserves it...

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Bet Shemesh Mayor Moshe Abutbol on The Kaveret, responding to questions on all topics (video)

interesting interview

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Palestinians: Do you believe in evolution? (video)

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PM Netanyahu's Remarks at the Knesset Plenum marking 40 years to Anwar Sadat's visit to the Knesset (video)

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Rabinical Alliance Of America Urge Knesset To Hold Sanctity Of Western Wall (video)

I admit, much of this makes me about as uncomfortable as the performances of the Women of the Wall..

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Shir Gadasi on Hakochav Haba (video)

a religious guy, Shir Gadasi, on Kochav Haba, got tremendous praise for his performance to win the spot to represent Israel in Eurovision..

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Proposed Law: Pharmaceuticals everywhere!

MK Oded Forer (Yisrael Beyteynu) has proposed a law that would allow people to fill their prescriptions in any pharmacy to his or her choosing. The proposed law would do away with limitations placed by the various Kupot Cholim forcing patients to fill many prescriptions using the "in house" pharmacy and would allow the prescriptions to be filled at external pharmacies, including private pharmacies and those managed by other Kupot Cholim.

The purpose of this proposal is two-fold:
1. to allow the patient more choice and flexibility in filling the prescriptions.
2. to protect the private pharmacies who are hurt by the limitations of exclusivity placed by the Kupot Cholim

With the Kupot Cholim doctors often giving digital prescriptions, accessible only by "internal" pharmacies within the network, this law would also force the Kupot to also give regular old-fashioned prescriptions that can be taken to external pharmacies.

If this law passes it will cost the Kupot a lot of money. They will need to reimburse the external pharmacies the monies above the government coverage and the patient copay at higher rates than they normally pay for the medicine at the discounted rates they receive for the internal pharmacies. They also might lose their discounted rates as they will not be buying the same large amounts of medicines as patients will be going to other pharmacies.

They will also lose out on the upsells - patients forced to go to Kupa pharmacies also buy other items that are sold at the same time, instead of going to a second store to get them. If the patients can go to other pharmacies for the medicines, they will have no reason to go to the kupa pharmacy and not only will the kupot lose out on the medicines, they will also lose out on the various upsells.

They oppose this proposal because they say it will cause them a catastrophe from a financial perspective.
source: Behadrei

It remains to be seen if this will pass, bu the kupot seem to have some serious claims. I think most of the issues can be worked out. Increased competition is always better for the consumer. The consumer would be able to choose where to buy his or her medicines based on convenience and price and whatever other factor the patient takes into account. The kupot will have to carry more medications to have available for a broader base of customers, as their own pharmacies will no longer be accessible to only their own patients but also to patients of other kupot. This could be a win win, if they can make adjustments to the proposal to satisfy the kupot a bit more.

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Facebook Status of the Day

interesting piece of history...

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Quote of the Day

We must hold the protests with all the strength and all the brazenness, it is the most important mitzva, and whoever does not participate in the protests for whatever reason, it is worse than not putting on tefillin. 

  -- Rav Tzvi Friedman, one of rabbinic leaders of the Peleg Yerushalmi group and head of the Peleg-affiliated beis din

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UTJ issues the Robin Williams ultimatum

According to Actualic, UTJ has offered an ultimatum to the Prime Minister - if he does not resolve the Shabbos work crisis, they will begin voting against the coalition.

Let's not forget that Litzman issued an ultimatum last week threatening to quit the coalition if work would be done. Work had been done and he did not quit.

Basically they are threatening with an ultimatum and if their demands are not met they'll issue another ultimatum. It reminds me of the Robin Williams skit about British police that only carry nightsticks and not guns - when they approach a criminal they shout at him - stop, or I'll say stop again! UTJ is telling the Prime Minister - stop, or I'll say stop again!

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Israeli Frenemies - Nov. 17, 2017 (video)

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first Haredi hackerthon (video)

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talking to olot chadashot (video)

this is funny, comparing the life abroad to post-aliyah..

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JIMM WEBISODE 10 SEASON 1 YARMULKE (video)

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Son of a Rabbi-The Rumble (music video)

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Quote of the Day

If a spaceship would crash in space, [MK Elazazar Stern] would blame it on the Rabbanut

  -- MK Yisrael Eichler (UTJ), in a discussion about Rabbanut giving kashrut certification to imported products in light of the import reforms, responding to Stern's attack that the Rabbanut is just an institution for connected people to hold jobs

Recent history has been amazing in the sense of the level at which the Haredi politicians support and defend the Rabbanut, when the Haredi community does not rely on the Rabbanut for anything and the Haredi community used to be the first to consider the Rabbanut not reliable, trustworthy or worthwhile. And the Dati community (at least large portions of it) now continues to attack the Rabbanut, disparage it, talk about how unreliable it is (while largely continuing to rely on it), while they used to be the main  supporters of the Rabbanut. My, how the tables have turned

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Bet Shemesh politics starting to wake up

Bet Shemesh is an interesting place, from a political perspective. There is always something intriguing going on.

Municipal elections are just a year away. That really makes it too early to start openly campaigning and announcing candidacy, but jockeying for position and misdirection has already begun.

The big questions seem to be:
 * will Moshe Abutbol run for a third term?
 * Will Degel Hatorah, or UTJ, field its own candidate?
 * Will the Degel candidate, if they field one, be Moshe Montag or Shmuel Greenberg, or someone else?

Recently the mayor, Moshe Abutbol, did something very unusual. He announced that he has not yet decided to run, but if Moshe Montag will be the Degel candidate then he, Abutbol, will support Montag and not run.

That is obviously weird. Why would a sitting mayor, contemplating his own run, announce support for a different potential candidate? There are a lot of theories. They don't really matter.

Moshe Abutbol has now announced, seemingly because Degel has not made a decision yet, that he will be running for mayor. Moshe Montag is upset, and the Degel people are upset at Abutbol for trying to influence the Degel decision, and there is a lot of talk as to who is doing what and why.

All I have to point out is that none of this matters. It is all a smokescreen that makes no difference. These are all low level politicians. They are all entirely dependent on what those above them tell them what to do. The decisions as to who will run and which party/parties will support which candidate will be made at a much higher level, between the various national party leaders and the relevant rabbonim.

They can squabble and fight and jockey for position now, but at the end of the day Degel leadership will decide who their person was, and all this squabbling will come to an end. They will talk to Shas leadership and work out their deals as to who will support whom in which cities, including Bet Shemesh, and that will be the end of all this.

This is all just low level noise.

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Did the crime, do the time

Last night's renewal of the Peleg protests were in response to some of their people having been arrested and their detention being extended for relatively long periods of time.

I have no problem with people breaking the law. That is, as long as when they do so they know they are taking the risk of being caught and arrested or fined or whatever. If they know that and want to take the risk, more power to them. If the person gets caught, he should be willing to pay the price - he took the risk knowingly for some benefit.

The Peleg people break the law (both in terms of not registering for the army and the road blockages) for ideological reasons. I have no problem with that. Part of the ideology has to be willingness to sit in jail and pay the price if caught. It even strengthens the ideology.

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the Shabbos morning wedding

Have you ever gone to a wedding on a Shabbos?

A couple got married last week, on a Monday night, in Bnei Braq. On Friday night, after sheva brachos, the kalla was talking to her sisterand told her a funny story about how the ring they had ordered had been a mistake - the wrong ring had come. The store made a mistake.

Sure enough one tells the other and someone says it is a problem and the marriage might not be good. Perhaps the kalla did not have intention to accept the marriage base don this ring and the chosson did not intend to marry with this ring. The rav decided that the couple could not stay together that Friday night, as perhaps they are not married. The Shabbos morning sheva brachos could also not be performed, as there is no chosson and kalla.

On Shabbos morning, with a small group of people, he performed the wedding for them again in his office, using an old ring of hers.Weddings are not normally performed on Shabbos, but they relied on the Rama who says in great need it is possible.

It also seems that at the original wedding itself they had to do the ring ceremony twice because the witnesses had said they did not hear the "harei at" the first time so the rav made them redo it.
source: Behadrei and Kikar

1. Mazel tov! Many times over, mazel tov!

2. it would seem this couple is destined to have many challenges to overcome..

3. I would guess that they did not notice the difference in the ring until after the fact. Had they noticed before the wedding, I would think that they had accepted this ring as the ring and decided to marry with it, and it should be fine. The fact that the question is if they intended to marry with this ring surely means they only noticed after the fact.

4. did they have to start sheva brachos over again starting from Shabbos?

5. how did the rav write them a new kesuba on Shabbos morning? They could not use the original one, as the date in it is wrong. I wonder what they did about that. Without a kesuba they would not have been allowed to stay together until after shabbos when it could be written.

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Former MK Dov Lipman about the Israel-Diaspora Rift (video)

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Arab Israelis: What do you think of the BDS Movement? (video)

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Deputy Minister Tzippi Hotoveli on Gav HaUma (video)

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Two Observant Jews Receive Recognition For Hurricane Relief Efforts (video)

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more kosherfest 2017 (video)

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Who is an avrech?

There is another "minor" drug scandal gong on in the frum community, though it is not getting much press that I can see.

Behadrei has reported on a a drug bust involving an avreich as the ringleader dealer, and 3 yeshiva boys as the mules. Among the 3 mules, 1 was actually a mule, 1 changed his mind at the last minute and did not agree to carry the suitcase, and the 3rd acted as some sort of agent bringing them together.

According to the claims of the prosecutor, this group was involved in smuggling tens of thousands of ecstasy pills into Israel.

Whatever the details of the case may be, if they are innocent or guilty, I don't know. They claim they thought they were smuggling watches, not drugs, or whatnot, they were taken advantage of. Maybe, maybe not. It does not interest me that much.

What I find interesting in all this, is how Behadrei describes the ringleader as "a kollel avreich who is the father of a young daughter, who works in a store in Bnei Braq".

Well, is he an avreich kollel or does he work in a store? Is everyone who wears a hat and jacket automatically an avreich? 

The description "avreich" is often used to imply a certain naivete and purity, someone untouched and uninfluenced by the outside world. Someone who has dedicated his life to sitting in the beis medrash and avoiding the influences of the outside world.  I submit that they are using this term to describe this fellow to portray him as innocent, as someone taken advantage of. He might very well be, but the avreich and yeshiva community might not be so maligned if the "powers that be" would stop calling every Haredi male an avreich or a rav just because they wear a hat and jacket and have a beard.

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Proposed Law: people can't think you are kosher without a Rabbanut hechsher

The game legal "ping pong" between th Rabbanut and its adversaries such as Hashgacha Pratit might soon come to an end, if this new law proposal will pass.

A law proposal submitted by a number of MKs from various parties, including MKs Yoav Ben Tzur (Shas), Moshe Gafni (UTJ), Betzalel Smotrich (Habayit Hayehudi), Menachem Eliezer Mozes (UTJ), David Amsalem (Likud), Miki Zohar (Likud) and others, calls for not allowing a business to present itself as kosher even just by presenting some sort of demonstration that it is kosher even without using the word "kosher" and even if they explicitly say they are not certified by the Rabbanut.

This is to support the Rabbanut as the law says only the Rabbanut (along with the IDF Rabbinate and local city rabbis) is authorized to certify kashrut. They say this will protect the consumers from fraudulent kashrut claims.
source: Kikar

I do suspect that the ping pong game won't actually be finished. Even if it passes, it is hard to imagine that this won't be shot down by the Supreme Court. I cannot see how anyone can make it illegal to imply kashrut. It is way too vague. What one sees as an implication of kashrut, another will see as benign. And even if it does pass and does not get shot down, Hashgacha Pratit, and others, will probably find a way around this too.

Instead of continuing to try to protect their monopoly, they should see the writing on the wall and improve their system so that people will be proud to use their services and people will be proud to rely on them and the good service they provide for a fair price will be enough to keep the competition at bay. These regular lawsuits and law proposals for every new workaround by Hashgacha Pratit seems like desperation.

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was Litzman's bluff called?

The issue of work on the rail lines on Shabbos continues to be a big issue. Just when we got distracted by other issues, Health Minister Yaakov Litzman issued a threat to the government. Last Wednesday Litzman threatened the government coalition that he would withdraw from the coalition if any work would be done on the lines this Shabbos.

The heads of the coalition went into overdrive to resolve this and came up with a compromise that was publicly agreed upon by Litzman. They agreed that this Shabbos all work would be done by non-Jews, and for future work the issue would be revisited and resolved calmly.

Was Litzman threatenign on behalf of the entire UTJ or just for himself (and perhaps MK Eichler who sort of followed suit)? Was Litzman bluffing or did he intend to carry out his threat should it bee discovered that Jews worked on Shabbos on the rail lines?

Right after Shabbos the news reports all claimed that Litzman was basically saved. He was taken seriously and only non-Jewish workers were employed on Shabbos, except for one Jewish worker who was a sub-contractor. Even though there was that one Jewish guy, he was basically off the hook. That is, until Minister Chaim Katz, responsible for the maintenance work on the train lines, went on the radio this morning saying that only non-Jews (except for one Jew) were used in the work in the Dimona station. Elsewhere in the country Jews were working on the train lines as always, and if Israel wants to continue to have trains this will have to continue to be the case.

So far not a peep from Litzman. Did Chaim Katz call his bluff? Is Katz looking to force Litzman's hand? He had basically given Litzman a ladder to climb down from with everyone thinking that non-Jews had been used, but then Katz speaks up and puts Litzman back in the bind. Will Litzman lose his status as the national sweetheart over this and just be seen as a regular politician - whether he pulls out or if he backs down from his threat?

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Facebook Status of the Day

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Miriam Ballin, of Hatzalah (video)

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Orthodox Jewish All Star, David Mazouz, Teen Star of Fox's Gotham (video)

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anti-Badatz Eida campaign (video)

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Synagogues of New York (video)

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Dudi Knopfler - Mi Yodea (video)

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You Had One Job

I always enjoy that series of images under the title of "You Had One Job.." of something that should have been so obvious but was done completely wrong..

I think this statue/doll of Michael Jordan in Cinema City in Jerusalem falls under that category...

from Mynet Jerusalem

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Quote of the Day

I am the most ready and qualified to replace Netanyahu... It is no secret that many people come to me and tell me, come, let's get organized and establish something. I also hold a poll, one that I don't know who initiated, , but to the question "if you could have a direct election ad Netanyahu and Barak were running, who would you elect?", in the secular community I win, though in the general public he wins, though neither of us achieve 40%. 35% of the people do not know for whom they would vote, while Bibi is Prime Minister and I am just a citizen tweeting.

  -- Ehud Barak

too bad for Ehud Barak that:
a. elections include more people than just the secular community
b. Israel still does not have direct elections
c. he can't take over the Labor party. They already had primaries and selected a new chairman. Establishing a new party might be exciting for him, but it likely will not place him in direct competition with Bibi.
d. he is relying on the results of a poll that he does not even know who initiated. One of the surest ways to achieve disappointment

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Families reunite as 82 Bnei Menashe immigrate to Israel (video)

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Tzipi Hotovely vs Meirav Michaeli at the IAC (video)

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Michael Rapaport is discouraged by the downfall of the Jewish athlete, but can Josh Rosen help turn things around? (video)

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Kosherfest 2017 (video)

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Eliran Elbaz Ft Roy Yadid Medley HaOlam Gadol (video)

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Tzniyus problems in Lakewood

If you've got a problem with other people's level of tzniyus, when you complain about at least tell us what the problem,in your eyes, actually is...

This reader-submitted complaint on The Lakewood Scoop is rich but ambiguous. She won't let her son go to the grocery store to do the shopping because of the tzniyus problems even in Lakewood, but she doesn't say what the problems are. Are they long sheitels? Is it tight clothing? Skirts that are too short? Are some women not wearing tights with the appropriate level of denier? Is it something more ostentatious like the cars or the brand name clothing and heavy bling?

I am not asking for pictures, but at least tell us what the problem is.

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PM Netanyahu meets MMA Fighters (video)

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Daniel Gordis on the Balfour Declaration (video)

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Holocaust Survivors Celebrate Bar Mitzvahs at Western Wall (video)

More than 70 years after World War II ended, 45 Holocaust survivors in Israel finally got a chance to celebrate their bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies for the first time yesterday, Monday morning, at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site. The survivors reached bar or bat mitzvah age during the war or immediately afterwards, but because of their circumstances never got to participate in the ceremony marking a Jewish boy’s or girl’s entrance to adulthood. Alexander Buchnik, one of the participants in today’s event, said: “All my life, I felt that I missed it so much. I am so excited and happy.” The Western Wall Heritage Foundation, Israel’s Office for Social Equality, and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) sponsored the moving ceremony. Eighteen of the survivors also receive financial assistance throughout the year from IFCJ. The survivors and their families joined Monday’s event, which included a tour of the tunnels under the Western Wall. The men put on Tefillin and read from the Torah, while the women participated in another ceremony at the Western Wall Tunnels Hall. The group ended the celebration dinning together. All now elderly, many of the survivors said they’ve long felt that because they’d never had a bar or bat mitzvah, something was missing from their Jewish identities. Aspir Ravicher was 11 when the war began. Her family fled from their homes in Ukraine to Russia. Throughout the war, they lived on the run, focused solely on the need to survive each day. “We ran away with nothing but the clothes we had on us. We had nothing, we were hungry all the time, we lived in a crowded place – I remember that it was mostly cold and I was very hungry,” Ravicher recalled. A bat mitzvah “was not something we could have done.” Hiding their Jewish identity to survive was necessary not only during the war but also during communist rule in the years that followed. Semyon Liebman was a young boy in St. Petersburg when the war broke out. Together with his sister and mother, throughout the war years they were forced to leave their homes and wander. After the war, the family returned to live in the St. Petersburg area. “When we came back, it was forbidden to talk about Judaism or anything about the bar mitzvah, so we did not talk about it at all,” he said. “I feel like a little boy today! I’ve been eagerly anticipating this day throughout my life.” Alexander Buchnik reached bar mitzvah age immediately upon the liberation of Moscow from the Nazis. When the war ended, the family returned to the city. “But we could not celebrate my bar mitzvah,” he said. His mother “was busy surviving and keeping us alive―we could not think about it at all.” In 1994, Buchnik immigrated to Israel with his family and said that he had long been waiting for the moment when he would celebrate his bar mitzvah. “I thought about it during the course of my life, and all my life I felt that I missed it so much.” The Western Wall Heritage Foundation said that the ceremony was among the high points of the Western Wall’s history. “Light and darkness are mixed here, but hope is absolute, and there is concrete evidence of the eternity of the Jewish people,” the foundation said in a statement. “The event leaves its mark on the participants and symbolizes revenge against the Nazi enemy in the form of a return to the Jewish tradition and proof that it is never too late.” IFCJ’s founder and president, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, said: “I find it difficult to think of anything more inspiring than elderly Holocaust survivors who receive a late bar and bat mitzvah celebration in the holiest place for the Jewish people, after surviving the terror of the Nazis and having their childhood stolen from them. “These survivors are heroes,” Eckstein said of today’s group. “I am so grateful to be part of this momentous experience for them. We help these survivors throughout the year and I welcome the opportunity we have been given to be part of this exciting event.” Video Credit: Daniel Bar On, IFCJ

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