It is interesting that in Tel Aviv it is trendy to elect an experienced candidate time after time. Good job, Ron. Very trendy, very nice.

  -- PM Benjamin Netanyahu blessing Ron Huldai on winning the mayorship in Tel Aviv again - for the fifth consecutive term, ironically commenting on those who suggest he has been Prime Minister for too long.

Mazel tov to both the new and returning mayors around the country, and to all the city council members. Hatzlacha to those of you who still have to wait for results or campaign for a second round of voting. May you serve the people of Israel faithfully.

On October 14th, 2018, Koolulam partnered with King David Schools, Johannesburg, South Africa, and gathered 3,500 South Africans to celebrate the 70th anniversary of King David Schools and the of establishment of the State of Israel. Within 45 minutes, they learned a new arrangement of OneRepublic's "I Lived". Thank you to Granville Michaels who joined us as a solo singer. Koolulam is a social-musical initiative aimed at strengthening the fabric of society. The project centers around mass singing events in which large groups of non-professionals come together to form a collaborative musical creation. Koolulam brings together people from all walks of life to do one thing: stop everything for a few hours and just sing – together.

I don't know if Yossi Deutsch will win in Jerusalem or not, and the numbers have never been in his favor, but this clip is amazing..

כזה עוד לא ראיתי pic.twitter.com/TKa2D5MWSB

— Chaim Levinson 🇮🇱🇺🇸🇺🇸⚽️ (@chaimlevinson) October 30, 2018

According to news reports (that I saw on Twitter - for example, one of many), representatives of Degel, Aguda and Shas around the country are complaining of being harassed with massive amounts of bogus telephone calls, essentially shutting down their phones and ability to communicate and work effectively on this election day. To that end they have filed official complaints with the police and election officials.

Considering the massive amounts of spam phone calls these same people have harassed the general public with over the past few days and weeks, I find it ironic that they don't like it when it happens to them...

perhaps a symbol of how strange these elections have been - Moshe Abutbol, incumbent mayor of Bet Shemesh who used to head the municipal Shas party in Bet Shemesh but now heads the municipal UTJ party has voted for Shas

I am not sure why he is speaking about Yossi Deutsch in the Knesset, but he spoke nicely..

some history, on election day..

In what, I think, is the last exciting pre-election move in Elad, Shas has called upon its supporters to support the only registered opponent, Barak Tzuberi, to incumbent Yisrael Porush for mayor, while Degel Hatorah has decided to not support Tzuberi but to tell its supporters to not vote for either candidate but to use a blank voting slip for mayor. Degel Hatorah reps have said that they have decided to put the mayoral race behind them as they admit defeat and now will only concentrate on the race for city council.

I don't know what's going on there, but it would have cost them nothing to continue to oppose Porush by supporting Tzuberi, even if they think it is a losing proposition. They also could have struck a deal with Porush to support him and get some promises of positions and power in return.

Instead, with a just several hours left, they are going to spend their efforts on promoting their ticket for city council. Whatever that means. I don't know how they think they can do anything in just one night when most parties have been campaigning for weeks, but good luck to them.

Watch out and ride your electric bikes safely. Specifically, wear your helmet, in addition to other safety precautions.

Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz has proposed a law that will require all riders of electric bikes to wear safety helmets while riding. This law will apply to anyone, of any age, riding an electric bike, on any type of road or path at any time. The law will levy a 1000nis fine on a person riding with no helmet.

The proposal passed its first reading today in Knesset and will  now go to committee to be prepared for final passage.

The current law requires the wearing of helmets only when riding on intercity roads. On city roads it requires helmets for riders over the age of 18. And the fine for not wearing a helmet when required is 250nis.
source: JDN

I jusr received the following sms from the campaign headquarters of Aliza Bloch, candidate for mayor of Bet Shemesh



The message says:
in the elections tomorrow, for city council vote for Gimmel, Shas or Etz, and you can still not vote for any mayoral candidate. That is allowed and is legal.

I find this sms to be short on information and difficult to understand, unless you already know what they are telling you.

It seems they must be hearing that some Haredim are hesitant to vote for Aliza Bloch because they support Gimmel or Shas or Etz, and those parties are supporting the incumbent Moshe Abutbol. People seem to think that if they vote Shas or Gimmel or Etz they also have to vote for Abutbol. The message is saying that this is not the case - they can still vote for Gimmel, for example, for city council but not for Abutbol for mayor. And if people don't want to vote for Abutbol because they do not like him but are also uncomfortable voting for Aliza Bloch, for whatever reason, then just vote for city council and not for mayor at all.

Personally I dislike this message. I dislike discouraging people from voting, even though it is legal to not vote for mayor but to vote for city council. Since it is legal, I don't really have much of a complaint, but I don't like it.

I also think the message is very unclear. Many people probably won't know who it is from and what the sender wants from them. It says nothing about who to not vote for, or for whom to vote, and many might not know who the "Aliza" in the name of the sender is. I am familiar with the message, so I understood it, because the other day I answered one of the many spam phone calls I receive throughout the day about elections from various parties and candidates and Aliza Bloch's chief of staff spoke about that very message. Had I not already heard it from them I probably would not have understood the sms.

So, now you know, in case you got this message and had no idea what it was talking about.

Deutsch is a bit of an enigma. I like him. He seems decent, even if I think some of his plans and responses are silly and childish. He seems like a mentsch, and he is surprising and refreshing in his style.

here he went down to Mahane Yehuda shuk with a tent and opened up a live session to answers questions posted to him via Facebook and from people just walking in and asking

אל תהיו קקות 💩 - לכו מחר להצביע! pic.twitter.com/7agQL4iiQd

— 🔎 תומר אביטל (@TomerAvital1) October 29, 2018

A lot can be said, and a lot has been said, about the lack of respect and civil dialogue between political parties and their supporters, especially among (but not limited to) the Haredi parties. Anybody who thinks differently, supporting a different party or different faction, is evil, does not listen to daas torah, is bad, their signs must be torn down, their property must be defaced, sometimes their supporters must even be treated with violence.

The worst of it though, and I think I said this last time around as well, is that people treat the elections like a holy war to the point that young adults and kids think they have the right to treat their elders who are political opponents, even rabbonim and respectable community figures, with tremendous disrespect.

For example, Rav Menachem Carmel was just attacked, physically, in Bnei Braq by yeshiva bochurim. He needed medical attention after the attack. I dont know this guy personally and have no affiliation with him, but I do not know how young bochurim, anybody really but especially young bochurim, feel they have the right to physically attack, or even just scream at, an older adult well into his 60s.

This political holy war has trained our youth to be tremendously disrespectful, in addition to the general violence.

The custom to daven for one's needs by a bris when the baby cries is well known and has been considered a segula. The idea, that I have heard, is that Eliyahu Hanavi is present at every bris and when the baby cries it arouses God's mercy and in Eliyahu's merit, or with him as a messenger, one's prayers will be answered.

Someone just asked Rav Benzion Mutzafi what the source is for this custom.

According to a report on Kikar, Rav Mutzafi responded that there is no source. Rav Mutzafi said the entire thing is made up - it is not a custom and not a segula - there is no source for it. Even more so, the opposite is actually true - those present at a bris merit to receive an extar neshama (similar to on Shabbos, I guess), but when the baby cries and feels the moment of pain, all the guests lose their neshama and all that remains is the nefesh. In order to get the neshama back, Rav Mutzafi says, the people at the bris make the bracha on besamim, similar to what happens on Motzei Shabbos.

I must say, that does not sound better and more reasonable to me.
1. Even worse - at Ashkenazi circumcisions they do not normally pass around spices or herbs to bless and smell. Do the guests at an ashkenazi bris not get their neshama back until the coming Shabbos?
2. Why should the baby's cries make all the people present lose their neshamas?
3. It sounds like those present lose both neshamas. Do people really not have a neshama until the spices come out or is it only the extra one? At the end of the bris, does the extra neshama leave on its own? What does the extra neshama do while it is with us?

And a word to my fellow American Jews: This president makes this possible. Here. Where you live. I hope the embassy move over there, where you don’t live was worth it.

— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) October 27, 2018

Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Friday the Israeli prime minister has returned from a visit to the Gulf state of Oman, where he joined the country’s leader in the first meeting of its kind in more than 20 years. The office said in a statement Friday that Netanyahu had been invited by Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said after lengthy communications. Israel and Oman do not have diplomatic relations. The meeting was the first between leaders of the two countries since 1996 and former Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin made a similar surprise visit to Oman two years earlier. The sultanate has long had a quiet role in fostering negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians and has openly called for the need for a Palestinian state while also acknowledging a need for an Israeli state. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also paid a three-day visit to Oman earlier this week. While historic, the meeting did not immediately signal a breakthrough in peace efforts because Oman does not have the clout or leverage of nations like Saudi Arabia to strongly advocate for, or push the two sides closer to the negotiating table. Netanyahu and his wife were joined on the trip by the head of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, his Foreign Ministry director, and other defense officials. Netanyahu has repeatedly stated in recent years that Israel has developed good relations with several Arab states, despite a lack of official ties. The two leaders issued a joint statement saying the two sides “discussed ways to advance the Middle East peace process and discussed a number of issues of mutual interest to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East.” Oman, which sits on the southeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, with Saudi Arabia to its north and Iran to its east, has a long record of being a quiet broker in the region, opting to stay on the sidelines of the rivalry between the two regional powerhouses. Although it is a member of the Saudi-led six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, it did not join in the kingdom in its boycott of Qatar or the war in Yemen. Its foreign minister made a rare visit by an Arab official to the West Bank earlier this year.

And Elad elections continues to supply the entertainment...

After the failed petition to the Supreme Court to order the elections postponed, the minister tasked with making the decision about the timing of the elections, Tzachi Hanegbi, has decided that the claims are not good enough to justify rescheduling the elections, so they will be held on the original date. Now it is expected that Shas and Degel will petition the Supreme Court again, this time against Hanegbi's decision.

All this instead of spending the last week before elections campaigning for the alternate candidate.

Or perhaps this is the best form of campaigning - riling everyone up so they will have to take a side in this holy war. While before many would have followed the rabbi's instructions in how they vote, many might not have, either out of complacency or having no hope or just not caring. Now, everyone wants to be a part of the fight and voting against Porush will become a mitzva for so many people...

Keep it going Elad.

MK Betzalel Smotrich (Habayit Hayehudi) has proposed a law that would allow the beis din to limit and prevent someone who has been deemed as refusing to give a gett to his wife from using or getting a credit card.

This would be another level of pressure, of making his life difficult, to persuade him to relent and give the gett and release his wife.

By law a gett refuser is already prevented from using checks, but this limitation has become less useful and less influential than it used to be with the usage of checks on a steady downtrend anyway as people continue to use their credit cards more and more.

The Knesset Legislative Committee has approved the proposal and it will be prepared for passage in Knesset. The Chief Rabbinate and the beis din administration has given its approval to this law proposal.
source: Haredim10

Most kashrut organizations have an easily recognizable and identifiable logo printed onto the label of the food product. The benefit is obvious, as the kosher consumer is able to quickly and easily spot the hechsher and decide whether or not to buy the product (based on the hechsher, obviously there are other considerations as well).

The Rabbanut, for reasons unknown [to me] has, until now, never used a logo for their hechsher and only put the words into print on the label, often near the list of ingredients, stating the product is under the certification of the Rabbanut of whatever city headed by whatever rabbi.

Sometimes, oftentimes, the Rabbanut hechsher has been difficult to find. Sometimes the text on the label is printed very small, or there is a lot of flowing text and it just blends in, and the kosher consumer has a difficult time finding the information. Some Rabbanuts have used logos, but there was never any uniformity, so even with the logo it was often difficult for the kosher consumer to figure out who the certifying agency is.

To that end, the Rabbanut has announced that it will now start using a new logo for its kashrut certification and this logo will be printed on labels and it will be across the board for all the various Rabbanuts from different cities.
source: Maariv



Better late than never.

this was fun

While this law, should it pass, would be too late to help Yitzchak Pindros (this time around), it could help many mayoral candidates in the future, especially among the Haredi parties where it is common to move potential candidates from city to city at the last moment.

MK Michael Malkieli (Shas) is proposing a law to prevent in the future a situation similar to what just happened in Elad. Malkieli is proposing that the obligation of a potential candidate to make his adopted city the central place in his life to only become an obligation after the candidate wins and takes office, and not in advance in order to become a candidate.

Malkieli explains that the right to elect and to be elected is a basic right that without it takes away all value from the democracy. The obligation for the candidate to be living within the place he wants to run for office is so that he will have familiarity with the residents of the town and their needs - for this it is enough to make the town your central home when the candidate takes office. The extra 30 days prior to elections (when the deadline for filing for candidacy takes effect) does not give him any additional familiarity with the needs of the town.
source: Kikar

On the radio Malkieli explained further that 30 days isn't even enough for this and if the candidate really needs to be familiar with the town and its needs he should have to live there for a year before being allowed to run for office.

I actually think the opposit eof what Malkieli said is the better idea. Because 30 days is not enough time to get familiar with the needs of the office, a candidate should have to live there for a year before being allowed to run. If he is right, more time is needed, not less. Why should a candidate get into office and only then start getting familiar with the town and its needs?

Last time Bet Shemesh held the the title of most interesting, and confounding, municipal elections. This time around Elad has taken the title and continues to hold onto it dearly.

After the last minute attempt to throw in a strong candidate against the incumbent mayor, Yitzchak Pindros was invalidated from running. After challenging the decision in the Supreme Curt, the decision was upheld.

Now Degel and Shas have arranged a petition to be signed by a significant number of residents requesting the elections be delayed in Elad because a candidate supported by a majority of residents isn't being allowed to run and the election would be considered unfair.

The Minister of the Interior, in this case Aryeh Deri from Shas, has the legal right to put a hold on elections in extreme cases. It should be noted that the only time this happened previously was during the Yom Kippur War.

With the conflict of interest being obvious, the decision on this matter was taken out of the hands of Deri and transferred to Tzachi Hanegbi.

Whatever happens happens, whatever they decide they decide. It is just great that Elad (especially so because it is not Bet Shemesh this time) keeps supplying us with such great headlines and news.

Besides for all the crazy activity itself, the petition amuses me a bit:
1. The petition claims a majority of residents want a candidate that is not being allowed to run. What the majority wants really remains to be seen in the elections.
2. The fact that this candidate did not fulfill all the requirements of declaring candidacy invalidated him, so it should not matter how many people want him. There are rules and requirements for declaring candidacy and one cannot just claim everyone wants me so let me run.
3. The specific candidate was moved to Elad by party leadership at the last minute so he could file for candidacy. This is not a candidate desired by the majority of residents, but by party leadership. He was not even capable of running until 5 minutes before he field for candidacy, so it is not like the residents of Elad have been dreaming of this mayor for years. The party leadership sent him there just because they do not like the other candidate and thought they could take over the city leadership through him. While there isn't really anything wrong with that on its own (though personally I don't like it), it is far from the claim of "the majority of residents want him".

Keep it going Elad. Find new ways to entertain us.

It used to be, way back when, until 2005 when the law was changed, that if the police wanted to indict a Member of Knesset for an alleged crime, they would issue the indictment and the MKs immunity would immediately take effect protecting the MK from prosecution. The Attorney General would have to go to the Knesset and request the removal of the MK's immunity.

In 2005 the law was changed. Since 2005, the Attorney General would issue the indictment, after which the MK has the ability to request from the Knesset immunity - within 30 days of the indictment. The Knesset, via a committee decision, will either grant or not grant immunity, depending on the circumstances.

MK Miki Zohar (Likud) wants to change the law back to the way it was before 2005. This would give the suspected MK extra protection from prosecution. As soon as the MK is indicted he or she would automatically be granted immunity from prosecution and the Attorney General has to go try to get the immunity removed. Additionally, the head of the committee would not be obligated to make a quick decision - whenever he or she feels like it he could have the committee meet and work on the issue and make a decision. With Miki Zohar being the current head of the committee, he would, should the law pass, not have the committee meet to remove Netanyahu's immunity until the Supreme Court might force him to.

The purpose of this law is to somewhat protect PM Benjamin Netanyahu from prosecution, in the various cases he is being investigated with possible indictments n the way. This would also somewhat protect other MKs under investigation, especially two other Likud MKs currently under investigation for other crimes.

Zohar says the purpose of his proposal is to protect public servants from political witch hunts.
source: Walla News and Maariv

As always, I am against new laws formed just to help or hurt a specific person. With this law being formed just to help Netanyahu, I consider it a bad law. The legal system and our democracy is not a toy in the hands of the lawmakers just to help their friends and hurt their enemies. If the would would be proposed with a clause stating it would not be applied to any current MK already under investigation, that might be another story.

from Lahav Harkov on Twitter: Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Caption Contest!

My submissions:
1. compared to his wall he's probably not too impressed by our wall!
2. is that a Borsalino or a Chinese brand hat?

he seems like a decent guy, even if I find some of what he says ridiculous (such as his solution for the housing freeze in Jerusalem).. it seems a shame that he has almost no chance to win because of the numbers against him..

The discussion isn't about Pindros. The petition was submitted against all the gedolei yisrael. Now the discussion is if the Supreme Court will have the zechut to honor the Torah and let everyone know that the kavod hatorah was victorious, or not.

  -- Moshe Miller, assistant to Yitzchak Pindros about the Supreme Court hearing regarding whether to allow Pindros to run for mayor in Elad or not (as an aside, the Supreme Court upheld the original decision to invalidate his candidacy)

or maybe it is just a discussion about whether the original filing for candidacy followed the rules and is valid, or not. There's no need to make it about more than it is

A quick reminder to his Majesty: Annex 1 deals with the border. Annex 2 deals with water from the Jordan River that is transferred to Jordan. I have a feeling that you need that water more than you need a few dunams of land. https://t.co/g9e6Quxylg

— Ben Waxman (@benwaxman) October 21, 2018

MK Oren Hazzan (Likud) has proposed a law that would stop many from visiting Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli prisons.

Hazzan's proposal is that any terror organization holding Israelis as prisoners and does not allow visitors - family members, representatives of Israel or humanitarian organizations - to visit these captives, will not be allowed to have visitors to its members, or those who associate with them, sitting in Israeli jails. The minister in charge will be allowed to grant exceptions when deemed necessary.

Hazzan explains that the State of Israel deals with terror organizations threatening the citizens of Israel everywhere and anywhere and all the time, but because Israel is a democracy it has to adhere to the rules of international conventions and agreements for human rights - rules the terror organizations are not obligated by. So the terror organizations use this as a strategy and abduct and hold Israelis and do not allow visitors, harming the morale, and the strength, of Israel. While Israel holds members of these organizations in jail, it does allow visitors, and this will make the dealings equitable between the sides.

The proposal has passed the vote of the Ministerial Legislative Committee.
source: Walla News

While I like the proposal, I do not like the explanation. It bothers me that we say that we are going to act like them. Explain it a different way, not as a tit for tat, they do this and can get away with it so we will treat them the same. Talk about strength and power and mitigating terror and the like - I don't like that he says we will treat them the way they treat us. 

Perhaps the earliest sound footage of Jerusalem filmed from November 9-19, 1929. These scenes were taken with early Movietone sound cameras. This footage is very raw but it captures all sorts of city atmosphere. In the first section they seem to be documenting landmarks in Jerusalem for English and French audiences. As always the casual passerbys are the real star of the show. Condensed/worked on footage and sound

All Jews are one family, I'm 18 yrs old from Johannesburg South Africa, and composed and performed this song in tribute and memory to the late Ari Fuld - Lion of Zion. I was deeply moved and touched by the very emotional hespedim ( eulogies) delivered by Ari's wife, children, and family that inspired the writing of this song. The female voice clip at 15sec is that of Ari's daughter during her eulogy. "My dad always told me and it stuck with me forever...If life is easy, you're living it wrong .." May Ari's love and self-sacrifice for the Jewish People, for Torah, and for Eretz Yisrael, be a shining light and example for all of us, and may Hashem bring Nechama (comfort) to his entire family. Calev Freeman calevfreeman@gmail.com This song was performed and recorded LIVE as a single take.

According to an article on Actualic, Degel activists are not happy with the decision to support Moshe Lion for mayor in Jerusalem rather than Yossi Deutsch. Earlier Degel leader Rav Baruch Soloveitchil was also quoted as saying he does not understand the decision to support Lion rather than Deutsch but that's what the rabbonim decided... now the activists are upset, calling it political suicide. They are murmuring and even saying that Lion and Berkovitch will likely make it to the second round of voting and they suspect the Chassidic groups will support Berkovitch in the second round as revenge for Degel not supporting Deutsch. The activists basically feel that supporting Lion is a flawed decision that has no chance of success.

None of us are prophets and nobody really knows what will happen next week. The most anybody can do is guess and make assumptions based on what they think will happen and based on the numbers they believe in.

What will or will not happen is not the point here, as I do not peddle in prophecy. I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet.

My point is that I find it interesting that the party activists are openly upset and talking against the decision made by the political leadership upon consultation with the rabbonim. I do not remember any such behavior in past elections, even when some decisions were potentially questionable. I think it points to the leadership void since the deaths of Rav Elyashiv and Rav Shteinman. And maybe also the move away from taking everything the rabbonim say as the final word and "torah misinai"

Kikar is reporting about an interesting psak from Rav Yitzchak Zilbershtein regarding the ne wtrain line from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Rav Zilbershtein was asked that with the new train line now in operation, the fact that it was constructed with horrible chilul shabbos, are we allowed to use the train line - perhaps because for the first 3 months it is free of charge maybe it is allowed as nobody is profiting or benefiting now and only later when they begin charging for riding the train will one have to stop using it for as many shabbos days as those that were desecrated, or perhaps even now when it is free it cannot be used until "kdei she'yaasu" - the amount of time against the amount of shabbos desecration - has passed?

Rav Yitzchak Zilbershtein responded that perhaps one could find a hetter to use the train, as it isn't clearly know how many shabbatot were desecrated to speed up the train line construction, and perhaps it even caused all the problems the train is now experiencing. Still, a God-fearing person will avoid using the train whose lines were built on Shabbos...

Rav Zilbershtein explains further that it seems to be allowed because nobody can cause land allocated for public use to become prohibited.

Rav Zilbershtein concludes that some think that this train line, bringing the masses of people to Jerusalem quickly is a sign of the impending arrival of Mashiach, though the truth is that when Mashiach arrives he will cancel these disgusting train lines that were built via chilul shabos. How is it possible that one can think that we will travel to the Mikdash via a train that was built via chilul shabbos??

there are some dramatic headlines in the news about Jordan canceling a couple of clauses in the peace agreement contract with Israel.

I saw the Hebrew headlines and did not really understand the issue, but hoped that if Jordan is unilaterally canceling some of the clauses Israel would respond in kind.

I looked on the main English news sites and did not find an article about this until I found one on Arutz 7. It turns out from the article that the cancellation of the clauses are actually part of the agreement.

According to Arutz7, Israel gave some farmland in the Jordan valley and Naharayim areas to Jordan as part of the peace agreement. Jordan agreed to lease the land to Israel for 25 years so Israeli farmers could continue working that land. The agreement allowed either side to back out of the lease, giving one years notice. Now, 24 years later, with one year left on the lease, Jordan has informed Israel that it will not be renewing the lease in a year from now.

I don't know what their reasons are, and it does not really matter, even if it is a shame, and even if the farmers would love to continue the lease (which I do not know to be true or false). The agreement gives them the right to decide not to renew the lease. Basically, the headlines are dramatic, but this is what Israel originally agreed to.

I never heard this before..

Kikar is reporting that after the court decision last night invalidating Yitzchak Pindros from running for mayor of Elad, Degel Hatorah activists called for protests, and hundreds of yeshiva bochurim went out to do so and even got somewhat violent. Degel activist Moishi Rebber was arrested for calling for the protests. Degel is now threatening to "burn down the city" if Rebber is not immediately released.

The right to protest is a basic human right, and especially living in a democracy, the right to protest is sacred.

That being said, the right to protest does not give anyone the right to get violent.

In addition, the right to protest generally means getting the protest approved and authorized by the police with a permit and planning it in a way that does not disturb public safety.

I never really understood the fighting between Degel and the Peleg Yerushalmi. Unless you just write it off  to being a power struggle, the other possibilities make no sense - not for such hatred and for such a violent division. The hashkafic differences between the two groups are so minor. After all that, Degel now shows that the two groups are even closer than previously thought. Violent protests, threats of violence to release violent activists from prison. I think that unless it is all really just a power struggle for power, money and jobs, they should easily be able to work out their issues and differences and get back together.

this has been brought up before and nothing came of it in the past, but Deputy Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman has just raised the issue again..

In an interview today with Walla News, Litzman said, in regards to the "outbreak" of measles and the continued spreading of the disease, that he will take into consideration the negation of rights from parents who refuse to vaccinate their children.

I am not sure what rights he is considering negating of such parents. Perhaps child disbursements (ie kitzvat yeladim) as a start. I am not sure what else can be taken away. Would he have social welfare services remove a child from such a home? Would the right to make medical decisions be taken away from them? What other rights might come under consideration?

I am skeptical that Litzman will do anything about this beyond making some implied threats. He has made the same threats in the past and did nothing about it. Even more so, a large percentage of the people refusing to vaccinate their children are members of his own [extended] community. It is not limited to his own supporters, but they are a large part of the anti-vaccination people. I would hope that medical considerations would be at the forefront of the Health [Deputy] Minister's considerations, but he has waited long enough, and his term in this capacity is already nearly finished (though he might get the same responsibilities again after the elections whenever they might be), that I wonder if that is the case.

I always like a little political chaos. It keeps things interesting.

Degel Hatorah was just thrown into a major municipal crisis last night, as if the troubles between them and Shlomei Emunim and Agudat Yisrael weren't enough.

Last night Yitzchak Pindros, the Degel candidate for mayor in Elad was invalidated by the courts. After all that fighting between Degel and Shlomei Emunim about that position, it all became moot when the court said Pindros can't even run, for technical reasons. The decision is not open to appeal, but Degel says they will go to the Supreme Court about this.

After that, the courts invalidated the candidacy of Degel's preferred mayoral candidate in Haifa. This was also for technical reasons, but different ones.

The court still has to decide about the candidacy of Moshe Abutbol in Bet Shemesh, as there is a petition claiming the process of his filing for candidacy was improper and after the deadline. It doesn't really sound like this case has a solid basis, and I expect it to be rejected, but you never know with the courts and legal details.

Degel has taken a big hit in the past day. It throws things up into a bit of chaos and havoc just two weeks to elections...

The worst of it is that a good Degel politician, Yitzchak Pindros, who seems to be well respected and liked in the previous positions in which he functioned, has to take the brunt of it. Pindros had to quit his job in city council in Jerusalem in order to run in Elad. He also had to move his place of residence to Elad, and take himself off the Degel list in Jerusalem. Now Pindros cannot run in Elad, and he also cannot go back to running in Jerusalem. Pindros is stuck and is out of politics for now, all because of Degel's shenanigans and their fighting with Porush.

Abutbol says a number of very interesting things in this interview...

We Love Jewish Food from Harris Bookfor on Vimeo.

HAHA!

A missile fired from Gaza hit a home in Be'er Sheva last night.

The missile seems to be a new upgraded stealth model, as it avoided detection by the AP, Reuters, and other media organizations.

— Tzvi Zucker (@TzviZucker) October 17, 2018

We need to set an example for the secular how we respect each other even when they do not think like us.. we are now in the period of elections and it can be a blessed thing, something to cause jealousy of wisdom, good competition to see who can do better for the public. Or it can be a cause for argument and hatred.
Unfortunately, in our community, we do not know how to respect each other. People consume each other, others who think differently from us, we excommunicate them, we threaten them, we scare them away...this is not the way of the Torah - we need to respect other people, to be an example for our brothers the secular who will otherwise say why should we respect them if they do not respect the Torah and do not understand each other. Just the opposite, we should praise each other and say what is good about other representatives, how he tries to help other people, and then each person can vote for the candidate who is good for him.

  --Rav Meir Mazuz

After the horrific tragedy in Beitar recently in which two young children died in a fire, an avreich from the community went to Rav Chaim Kanievsky to ask if they should be installing smoke detectors or fire extinguishers in the house, just in case of other similar fires, God forbid.

Rav Chaim Kanievsky responded, according to the report on Kikar, that people who learn Torah do not require any additional measures of protection beyond the Torah learning. The Torah protects. Ergo, each person should improve and increase his learning as much as possible.

I don't know how this stuff works, but we know traditionally that this is true. The question is how much Torah does a person have to learn to get this level of protection. I guess each person has to decide for himself and herself  if his/her learning is at that level that they can rely on it for protection and not take care of obtaining external forms of protection.

this is interesting..

this is cute. Motka Bloi, a leading Degel Hatorah activist, enjoys the elections jingle just released by Degel..



and the the competing "Etz" party called Bnei Torah from the Peleg Yerushalmi coopted the video and overlayed it on their own jingle, making it seem as if Bloi is enjoying the Bnei Torah jingle..

Great-grandmother, 93, Crowned 'Miss Holocaust Survivor' in Israeli Pageant

  -- Haaretz

really? a Miss Holocaust Survivor beauty pageant? I guess whatever brings some joy to a Holocaust survivor is a good thing, but this is very strange...

I pray that the day after the elctions are over Hashem should grant us that the Angel of Forgetfulness should come and everyone should forget what is about to happen now..you will all soon be very confused and you will reveal that Tommy Lapid is a tzaddik compared to me..

  -- Mayor of Elad Yisrael Porush, gearing up for contentious elections in Elad

this is horrible. What kind of human being goes and physically attacks someone else, unprovoked in any way, especially an elderly person?

How did the pastrami sandwich become such an icon of American Jewish food? Learn more from The Nosher.

A study performed by the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine on 20 Jewish men has discovered that putting on tefillin daily, for a duration of 30 minutes each day, has cardiovascular health benefits.

Dr. Jack Rubinstein led the research group and gather 20 Jewish men for the study - 9 who don tefillin daily and 11 who do not. All the men were in good health and between the ages of 18 and 40. They recorded baseline information of the participants and then again more data after laying the tefillin for 30 minutes.

To quote:

The usage of tefillin, also called phylacteries, dates back to scriptural commandments in the books of Deuteronomy and Exodus urging the faithful followers to comply with religious law and to "bind them as a sign upon your arm.” Rubinstein says the binding of the arm and the discomfort users often report may serve as a form preconditioning and offer a substantial degree of protection against acute ischemic reperfusion injury (a section of the heart is deprived of oxygen and then damaged when re-oxygenated) that occurs as a result of a heart attack.
"One of the ways that protection occurs is through pain,” says Rubinstein, also a member of the UC Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute. "Feeling pain is actually a preconditioning stimulus.
"We found people who wear tefillin in either the short or long term, recorded a measureable positive effect on their blood flow. That has been associated with better outcomes in heart disease,” says Rubinstein.
Blood flow was higher for men who wore tefillin daily and improved in all participants after wearing it just once as part of the study, explained Rubinstein. Men who wore tefillin daily also had fewer circulating cytokines—signaling molecules that can cause inflammation and negatively impact the heart—compared to non-users, suggesting that near daily use elicits an effect similar to that observed with other methods of eliciting remote ischemic preconditioning-like effect.
[...]
Rubinstein says there are studies out of Israel that have found Orthodox men have a lower risk of dying of heart disease compared to non-Orthodox men. This protection is not found in Orthodox women who usually don’t wear tefillin.

There you have it. Wearing tefillin daily makes your blood flow better.