Translation:
After 2000 years, we now have a red heifer.
She is kosher and is being raised in the Golan Heights. Now we are just waiting for her to recah the correct age so we can fulfill the burning of the heifer and have the ashes necessary for becoming purified from impurity from contact with death.
The Temple Institute has already prepared for this with a trial burning of a heifer with all the specifications required by halacha, in anticipation of the great day on which the red heifer will reach the age of two years. The trial burning will be publicized on the coming Wednesday, the 6th of Av, at the annual conference of the Institute that will take place at Heichal Shlomo in Jerusalem
May the Temple be rebuilt!

A rabbi in Argentina sent a pressing question to Chief Rabbi Dovid Lau. They are facing a dillema regarding the upcoming elections in Argentina. The elections will take place on Tisha B'Av.

Rabbi Shaul Said asked Rabbi Lau that if Mashiach does not come by Tisha B'Av and we must mourn for the Beis Hamikdash, people want to know if they are allowed to go vote in the national elections on Tisha B'Av, or would that be prohibited as it will take away from a person's focus on mourning. Complicating matters is the fact that elections in Argentina are compulsory, meaning every citizen is obligated to vote.

Actualic reports that Rav Lau responded that people mistakenly think there is a difference between the mourning before mid-day and after mid-day but really there is no difference except for being able to sit on chairs after mid-day and wearing tallis and tefillin at mincha. Some communities have a custom to clean the house in the afternoon, in anticipation of greeting the Mashiach. Besides for that, everything else is the same.

Rav Lau said that the mere fact that people have to vote in a country in the Diaspora for a foreign government, on this date without any recognition of the date, this itself is a reminder of the pain of the exile.

If possible, Rav Lau concludes, people should go to vote at night, after the fast is out, after the day has ended. If that is not possible, because of the great importance of the matter, one could go to vote during the day.

This afternoon a group of people, kannoim - extremists - went to RBS C2 (gimmel 2) to hold a protest on the property of someone who was digging out in his yard for the purpose of adding ona room to his home.

The reason for the protest, as reported by Kikar, is that they claim there is a very high probability of burial caves being present beneath the property, making expansion impossible without desecrating the graves. They also claim the kablan built around that problematic section and marked it off in the zoning as not being usable due to high probability of graves.

They went on to his property to protest, police were called in and put a stop on the entire thing.

Yes or no, I have no idea. Are there graves or not? No idea. Should he be able to dig and build (and presumably stop if he finds graves), I have no idea, nor do I care. I just want to know how the heck these kannoim found out about it! Every time someone takes a shovel to some dirt something beeps in the main office of the kannoim? I would guess a neighbor upset with the expansion plans, probably unauthorized and without taking the neighboring apartments into any consideration, reported it, but generally they report things like this to the Iryah, not to the thugs.

The students of Rav Tau are talking with us. We will happily want them with us. It has been made clear to them and to Eli Yishai that we will not be able to put any additional representatives on the list for Knesset, but any other form of cooperation is up for consideration. Shabbos is a fight we will not give up on. I heard that the goal of Deri is 10 mandates, so we expect no less.

  -- Deputy minister Yaakov Litzman

they struck gold last time garnering Eli Yishai's support without actually giving him anything, and if they can do the same with Rav Tau, that would be amazing for them.

credit: Kikar, Hattip: Yaak

That's Jon Bon Jovi at the Kotel, really "Living on a Prayer"...

can you come up with a better caption than yaak's Living On A Prayer?

Google is commemorating, and honoring, the yahrtzeit of Chiune Sugihara today.

Worth noting.

Otzma Yehudit and Zehut, especially Zehut (Moshe Feiglin) are upset that Shaked and Bennett came to a final agreement for a merger with the United Right and left them out int he cold. Otzma Yehudit is saying "forget it, we will go with NOAM now", and Zehut is saying they will run alone. And they are laying the blame on Ayelet Shaked for their running alone, and for any eventual right-wing votes that will be wasted as a result.

Personally I see no problem with her first working on the deal with the main party, United Right, and only going to the smaller parties after. A deal with Feiglin in advance could have complicated negotiations with the United Right and that deal was far more important, to Shaked, to Bennett, to Smotritch, to Peretz and to the Right, than a deal with Feiglin or Ben Gvir.

And Shaked has said that now that this deal has been finalized, she will spend the coming days working on bringing in Zehut and Otzma. So another deal may, or may not, work out anyway, but she did the right thing by moving first to work out a deal with Peretz and Smotritch.. 

The Show Must Go On, by Queen, is probably Mayor of Tiberias Ron Kubi's theme song.

Kubi had his hearing today in the Supreme Court as he appealed Minister of Interior Aryeh Deri's right to hold a disciplinary hearing foir Kubi with the potential of relieving him of his duties and appointing a committee to run Tiberias due to Kubi's failure to pass the budget. The decision of the Supreme Court was to delay the hearing until the end of September, after the upcoming national elections, essentially giving Kubi more time to pass the budget. Being that the city council of Tiberias has dispersed, the Supreme Court recommended Kubi continue to serve as mayor along with a committee made up of State employees who will function in the capacity of a city council. Minister Aryeh Deri requested a week to consider the Court's decision and recommendation.

Kubi, representing himself, basically presented two directions to argue his case:
1. Aryeh Deri cannot sack him due to Deri being a representative of a transition government. A transition government waiting for elections is basically stuck in a holding pattern and legally can do very little. So, Kubi argued, that Deri right now does not have the authority to fire and replace him

2. Deri did not act in a professional manner with regards to Kubi and Tiberias. because they were diametrically opposed to each other, Deri acted unfairly towards him and conspired with the city council to make sure the budget doesn't pass and to therefore have Kubi removed. Basicall a conflict of interests. To this end Kubi satisfactorily proved by presenting statements made by Deri against Kubi. Kubi also showed protocols of the city council meetings that showed that budgetary issues were never debated or argued and discussed, but when he was trying to pass the budget, the opposing city council members basically tried to filibuster, wasting time talking and arguing about all sorts of other things in order to avoid the ability to vote.

The court basically accepted Kubi's arguments over Deri's and now we await Deri's response in a week. I don't know what happens if Deri rejects the court's proposal, but I suspect he will accept it. He does not really have much of a choice, and he does not want to give Kubi even more fuel for Kubi's upcoming campaign for the elections.

For Ron Kubi the show must go on, but now it seems he is going to have run the city, pass the budget, again with people appointed by Deri, presumably, and campaign for the national elections. Whether he can pass the budget or not, he will try to ride this right into the Knesset. If he gets in, he drops Tiberias anyway. If not, he probably will be out of Tiberias shortly after that. But for now we still get the sideshow called Ron Kubi.

This does not seem to be a major chiddush, but basic halacha. It is interesting in the sense that someone felt it was important, or significant, enough that it needed to be published. It also points to a major cultural issue as well.

The question presented is regarding a major cultural trend in haredi areas of "Thursday night cholent". Guys get together at a cholent joint and sit around late Thursday nights eating cholent and kugel, beer and challa, and maybe a Hungarian will have some galla/ptcha. So, the question is, with Rosh Chodesh Av falling out this Thursday night-Friday, can the regular weekly "Thursday night cholent" events take place as usual or must they be skipped this week due to the advent of the Nine Days when eating meat is prohibited?

Rav Shabsi Yagel, rav of Bnei Hayeshivos in Ranana, responded that with the hope that this will no longer be relevant by Thursday night as by then hopefully the exile will be finished and we will by then have merited the geula, but if not, there is a difference between sefardim and ashkenazim in this regard.

There are different minhagim regarding eating meat during the Nine Days. Ashkenazim stop eating meat from Rosh Chodesh Av, meaning from Thursday night this year. Sefardim have other minhagim that allow eating meat on Rosh Chodesh, and some allow it on Motzei Shabbos as well (and some allow it all week and just prohibit eating meat and drinking wine during the week of Tisha B'Av itself). Yemenites allow eating meat throughout the Nine Days and only prohibit it at the seuda mafsekes right before Tisha B'Av.

That being the case, Rav Yagel said that in his shul in Ranana they have a weekly Thursday night shiur and they serve fleishige cholent with coca cola every week/ This week, because of Rosh Chodesh Av, they will be serving pareve cholent.

And, while some will suggest making a siyyum as a solution to be able to eat meat, Rav Yagel says such a siyyum cannot be scheduled for the Nine Days for the purpose of being able to eat meat, but if one's learning happens to come to a siyyum during the nine Days that is definitely something to celebrate and would be allowed to eat meat. Rav Yagel even relates a story in which arestaurant in herzliya contacted the kollel in Ranana and offered a proposal by which each night the kollel would arrange an avreich to go to the restaurant and make a siyyum so the customers of the restaurant can eat meat. In return, the restaurant would donate a percentage of the profits from those days back to the kollel. Rav Yagel says the Kollel rejected the proposal.

And, Rav Yagel concludes, the beis hamikdash is worthy of being mourned for, even if it means forswearing meaty foods on Thursday night and making do with kugel and other pareve foods.
(source: Srugim)

Personally this discussion seemed very straightforward with no unusual or controversial chiddush to make it noteworthy. As mentioned above, I think what makes it noteworthy is the cultural aspect of people being concerned regarding Thursday night cholent.

Kikar has the story of a 28 year old chassidishe bachur who has been having trouble finding his soulmate. This fellow has been "in shidduchim" for 8 years now but has yet to find success, and says he hardly even gets shidduch recommendations, despite being what he describes as a "normal bachur".

Not only that but he says that he and an entire group of friends are all in the same boat. The entire group of them have been trying for a long time and are all suffering the same difficulties.

Mr Single, Naftali, has a theory. Naftali recalls an incident from 8 years prior in which he was going on a Friday from yeshiva in Bnei Braq to his family in Haifa for Shabbos. His friends were going with him to spend Shabbos with his family. Naftali describes that a woman was sitting in the front section of the bus, behind the driver. he describes her as a 40-something woman.

Naftali says they didn't really have anything to do so they started picking on her and bothering her to move to the back of the bus. They said we are yeshiva bochurim and it is inappropriate for you to sit here in the front. She didn't move her seat and they bothered her the entire ride, taking pictures of her, threatening her to put out pashkevilim about her, etc. He says that she ignored them most of the time and when they got off the bus she started crying.

Naftali says he never saw her again, but since then he and his entire group of friends have had trouble with shidduchim. When he tries to figure out why, this incident always comes to mind. He is concerned this woman might have a "kpeida" on him and his friends and that is causing their difficulties.

He thinks, or so he was told, that the women was a teacher in the "Rapaport" school in Jerusalem, though he is not sure. Either way, he asked that anybody who can help him locate the woman should please call him at 052-706-0840. He wants to apologize for his behavior.

What a story!

I have said before that possibly the worst part about the fights regarding the army draft and the Peleg and whatnot is that young men suddenly feel they can attack, verbally or even physically, older men, rabbonim as well, because they have a different opinion. Even forgetting the fact that this is a woman they harassed demanding she sit in the back of the bus, here you had a group of 20 year olds who felt perfectly fine harassing a woman twice their age. Such tremendous chutzpa.

Besides for that, the other issues are well known, and while it is a shame he only feels the need to apologize because he cant get a date and assumes it is this story in his past that is preventing it, but at least he is trying to apologize. Perhaps that story and how bad he feels because of what he did, will be what causes him to treat people, women and men, with more respect. Also, maybe just like he treated that woman so poorly and disrespectfully, maybe he has a reputation for bad behavior and treating others poorly and disrespectfully. Maybe the issue is bigger than this one incident. Maybe his difficulty is because of a reputation he has developed for himself that others are aware of and stay away from him because he is not a good person (at least by reputation).

they even put a mezuza on the door of the command and control center!

@regev_miri למה את מופתעת שאוסרים את הדגל שלנו בעולם...אפילו המקום הקדוש ביותר שלנו, בהר הבית, אסור להרים דגל ישראל!

— Joshua Wander (@votewander) July 25, 2019

A mule walks into a bar.... actually an airport.

A mule wandered into Ben Gurion Airport yesterday right past the bewildered security guards... maybe he had a flight to catch/ Or maybe he was the ride for some incoming tourist...

here's a clip of the incident (the ynet clip has the animal described as a horse rather than a mule, while a different video I saw, not shareable, has it entitled a mule)... let's just hope they are not so lackadaisical about letting terrorists in as they are with letting in mules...

For such a small nation, Israelis, even outside of Israel, really tend to take up a disproportionate percentage of the news...

An Israeli woman in Cambridge Massachusetts was out for a jog. A man indecently exposed himself to her. Twice. She turned around and chased him down and tackled him and threatened him.

good for her! Hopefully he'll think twice before doing that to anyone else...

When Netanyahu first ran for Prime Minister, the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah decided to support him because his party is the closest to traditional Judaism. The Likud doesn't reprove anyone with a platform that is anti-religious. This is why we will support only Netanyahu

  -- Deputy Minister Meir Porush

what was was, but recently the Likud representatives have become the biggest supporters of public transportation on Shabbos. And according to a recent interview with Yaakov Litzman, there used to never be road works and rail works done on Shabbos, let alone public transportation, and all the work being done now on Shabbos is all very recent. So with the Likud leadership and government being behind the ever-increasing public chilul shabbos, you'd think UTJ would reconsider that position. In light of that, is the Likud still really the closest to tradition?  Maybe despite the chilul shabbos they still are because the others are much worse?

I like how he calls this a natural union between Zehut and New Right...

We are not interested in how many mandates Lieberman has, since in light of our campaign he is only taking votes away from Blue and White and the anti-Netanyahu camp, not from the Likud. He can even get 11 mandates, as long as it is from the coffers of the left bloc, it does not bother us..

  -- MK David Bitan (Likud)

maybe. or maybe he is dreaming. I guess we'll eventually find out


 

A couple of months ago Chief Rabbi Rav Yitzchak Yosef spoke out against the hechsher of the Eida Hachareidis. At the time he said that the Eida hechsher is the lowest quality available for meat and one should prefer other hechshers over the Eida.

Kikar reports that in a recent shiur, Rav Yosef once again spoke about the Eida hechsher. Rav Yosef was talking about the case of a get refuser, someone censured for withholding a get from his wife against the instructions of beis din. This "avreich haredi", in his description, is sitting in jail for withholding the get but is demanding food only from the Eida hechsher. Rav Yosef said that he wrote a response ordering them to not supply him with Eida food but only with Rabbanut food, as he is Haredi and this will hurt him - the Rabbanut hechsher is not good for him.

That led Rav Yosef off on to a tangent. Rav Yosef started questioning why people think the Rabbanut hechsher is not good. He said the hechsher of the Rabbanut is actually very good. He said he himself checks out the shechita of the Rabbanut and it is excellent as it is on many food products. For meat, Rav Yosef admitted, it is worth being more machmir, but for everything else the Rabbanut is excellent. People have this craziness of only eating Eida, thinking it fell from heaven.

Back to the guy in prison with only Rabbanut food, after a few weeks of not eating because he would only eat food with the Eida hechsher he gave in and gave the get.

Once again, Rav Yosef does not explain what is wrong with the Eida hechsher, which policy, what the shortcomings are, etc. This time he goes more from the opposite side saying there is no need for the Eida as the Rabbanut is excellent and there is nothing special about the Eida.

Eat whatever you prefer, at your own risk.

I have always been a big fans of zoos. I find the animals fascinating - how they look, how they interact, how they behave, everything. And I know I am not unusual in this. People are tremendously fascinated by the animal kingdom, between zoos and aquariums and wildlife documentaries and the like.

Generally zoos try to get new animals for a variety of reasons. Largely to be able to increase education to the viewing public. Also for more entertainment, and to be different, more unique, or better than other zoos in the area. 

The zoo in Bnei Braq does things differently.

There is a small zoo at the edge of the Ramat Elchonon neighborhood of Bnei Braq. According to Kikar, Rav Yitzchak Zilbershtein, the rav of the neighborhood, had asked the people in charge and the mayor to try to bring an owl to the zoo. It took some time, but they finally were able to obtain an owl, and they have now installed it in its new home in the Bnei Braq zoo.

Why did Rav Zilbershtein want an owl in the zoo?

Rav Zilbershtein wanted an owl so he could say the bracha of "meshane habriyos" - the bracha upon seeing an unusual creature. The bracha is commonly made on a monkey, but according to many it can also be made when seeing an owl.

Yesterday, Rav Zilbershtein went with local schoolchildren to the zoo, along with the mayor, Avraham Rubinstein, and discussed the halachic issues. They then looked at the owl and Rav Zilbershtein led the group by saying the relatively rare bracha.

I like that reason. it puts things in perspective. We do things for good reasons - education, entertainment, curiosity, appreciating nature, and all sorts of reason. Another very good reason, maybe the best of all, is to be able to appreciate God's creations and recognizing His hand, and to serve God better.

That's Sheldon Adelson visiting the Ponevezh Yeshiva.
I guess he is considering building a casino there :-)
just joking. Adelson actually said during his visit that the reason Jews all over the world are so successful in tech, science, business and whatever they do is because of Torah learning.

Kikar has an article about a couple of Haredi women from Beitar Ilit who are in prison (Neve Tirza)  for child abuse in their work as nursery school teachers. The article is about a claim made by their lawyer saying that the women were treated poorly in jail and made to remove their hair covering and to wear "training" pants - against their religious beliefs and lifestyle.

The lawyer, Tali Gottleib, says that despite she herself being secular there is nothing more shocking than such a serious breach to the honor of a woman or to a person and her right to her faith.

I think it is horrible that their human rights were trampled. Even prisoners deserve to be treated fairly and are deserving of having their faith and religious sensibilities considered and protected. That being said, I do know something more shocking than the trampling of these women's basic rights of faith and religious beliefs - that is, beating up on little kids in their care is far more shocking than the fact that the prison guard made them uncover their hair.

A few years ago, Avraham Fried introduced the world to a famous saying from the Kotzker Rebbe ZT”L through a song. The song titled “Ich Bin Ich”, featured this tongue twister in Yiddish, which was a unique and unusual way for the Kotzker Rebbe ZT”L to say, “Just Be Yourself”. Now with the three weeks upon us, Avraham wanted to take this opportunity and make this amazing message more universal. He chose this time of year when it is more important than ever to remember to be the best “you” and love your fellow friend like they were you. When tasked with how to turn the original track into acapella for the 3 weeks, Avraham approached Zemiros Choir’s director and arranger Yoily Polatseck to take the reins. Zemiros and Fried have worked together many times over the past ten years, so it’s no wonder they sound so good together. Gershy Schwarcz who recently joined Yoily and his team at the Zemiros Choir, is also a producer and mixing engineer at Edgware Studios in Monsey. Together, both Yoily and Gershy worked tirelessly night and day, and created a phenomenal sound. Yoily with his magical touch was able to add a beautiful and modern vocal twist to the song while still keeping the Yiddish “Taam”. Being that no real instruments were used in the process of this arrangement, Gershy added his touch both sonically using his engineering skills and vocally together with Yoily, by imitating the instrumentation vocally to perfection. Now all that was needed was the visual element to really drive home the theme of the song. That is where veteran video producer Menachem Weinstein came in. He took the simple idea of the song and what Yoily and Gershy created with the vocals, and weaved his magic, creating a vibrant video in which everyone will be reminded to be the best they can be. Enjoy! #JBY (Just Be Yourself)

So, how many more times is Ehud Barak going to apologize to the Arab community for the events of the year 2000? Does he expect his apology to be accepted and all forgiven just because he said it? Why did he feel he needed to apologize again - if his first apology years ago was not enough, what made him think this apology would be any different?  His apology actually seems pathetic to me, insincere, groveling and as if he has no idea what the relevant and important issues are in the year 2019  when there are other issues and nobody is even thinking about the year 2000.

I want to relate, once and for all, to the issue of [assassinating] Haniyeh. I submitted an organized plan to the Security Cabinet. My position was clear and the one who stopped all plans, the one who prevented every initiative for an attack, was Netanyahu... everything we do, instead of initiating and leading, we respond and get dragged into things. More than once I brought requests and plans and recommendations to the Cabinet to act, to return to the policy of targeted assassinations. I am sorry to say, the one who stopped it, the one who blocked it, was Netanyahu

  -- MK Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beyteynu)

as far as I know, this is the first time Lieberman is commenting on his unfulfilled promise to assassinate Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas within 48 hours of becoming Defense Minister - a promise that has become somewhat of a national joke. And suddenly he is blaming it all on Netanyahu. I'd like to hear responses form other Cabinet members, but I doubt anyone would say anything, let alone the truth.

According to this report, MK Motti Yogev has confirmed that Ichud Hayemin is opposed to Ayelet Shaked heading the list only because she is not religious and not because she is a woman. To prove that Yogev revealed that they approached Dr Aliza Bloch, mayor of Bet Shemesh, and offered her to head the list for Knesset.

Yogev does not say what Bloch responded. Presumably she responded the same way she responded during the previous elections when she rejected a similar proposal saying that her work right now is in Bet Shemesh.

On the other hand, perhaps this would be the perfect opportunity for Bloch to relieve herself of the tzurres of Bet Shemesh. Recently it seems to have gotten to be a headache as the attacks on her and her regime have increased after an initial relatively quiet period.

I have not heard otherwise so I am assuming she is staying in Bet Shemesh, but anything can happen!

looks good. the chef looks super young, but he looks like he knows what he's doing!

When Lieberman will fulfill his promises regarding assassinating Haniyeh within 48 hours [of taking control of the Ministry of Defense], then I will start to take seriously his promises against the Haredim

  -- Deputy health Minister Yaakov Litzman

Haha! This is great!

That is Ayelet Shaked at the press conference announcing the agreement between her and Naftali Bennett to run together under the platform of Hayemin Hechadash again, this time with her leading the party from the number 1 slot and Bennett at number 2. And in the background Bennett looks on with a beaming smile, obviously happy with the way things are turning out.

Bennett is deservedly getting a lot of praise for standing down and letting Shaked take the top spot int he party - something generally not easily done by politicians.

Interestingly, in advance of the siyum hashas of the current Daf Yomi cycle, Agudath Israel of America has decided to withdraw the siyum app they recently released.

The siyyum app was mean to encourage and facilitate learning of the daily daf by bringing shiurim and other tools and aids right to your smartphone.

After some rosh yeshivas complained about the appearances of Agudath Israel of America being behind such an app, it seems to give a hechsher, a gushpanka, to people using smartphones, and that is bad and damaging.

After receiving the complaints, they conferred with the gedolei yisrael and decided that despite their good intentions, the right move is to pull the app.
source: many websites, but here is the announcement on Baltimore Jewish Life with the text of the letter from AIoA and not just the image

It is a shame, though understandable. they really cannot just do whatever they want against their own official policy. This could have been an opportunity for education, to show that smartphones can be used for good, for Torah learning, for education, for positive uses and not just games, Internet surfing and pornography. I get it though.

Interestingly, the process is strange. For an organization that prides itself on daas torah and consulting with the gedolim before doing anything, here they created and released an app, a good app, a positive app encouraging more torah learning, received complaints and instead of saying we have the approval of the gedolim because we asked them first, they said, we hear your argument, let's go ask the gedolim. So, they had such a major decision facing them that would require a significant change of policy and they did not bother asking the gedolim for guidance before making a decision. Hmmmm.

I dont normally share the Rabbi Orlofsky Show podcast episodes here but because this is acapella season, I figured this one is worth sharing..

Lies have been published saying that I was a big part of the idea for the isolated Haredi hassidic sects to come to our city. I want to clarify in a very clear manner, I was not in any way part of this. Just the opposite - I am the one fighting to prevent them from coming here.... I am trying to advance alternate housing solutions for the isolated Haredi hassidic sects in other cities, and to that end I have recruited government offices that are willing to help.

  -- Mayor of Harish Yitzchak Keshet

Keshet is referring to the debate over to let groups such as Toldos Aharon move into Harish. Keshet is against it, as he has said before, saying that while general Haredim are fine (and Keshet himself is a haredi-ish baal teshuva), bringing in a group from sects like Toldos Aharon is just asking for trouble. The solution generally seems to be let them be someone else's problem. Instead of solving the problem somehow, building them their own community or integrating them successfully in some way, just send them to someone else's town and let them cause trouble there instead of in my backyard... I get why. Being from Bet Shemesh, I totally get it. Just sad that they could make themselves so hated and that nobody in any position of influence is really working on solving the issue rather than just kicking it a little more down the road.

The new Bet Shemesh Haredi anti-Bloch website Aspaklaria is reporting about an allocation of land granted to Yeshivat Hakotel for the formation of a Mechina Kdam Tzvait - an IDF prep school.

The allocation is in the area of Rashi St, near Yeshivat Reishit.

I would note that the allocation is temporary, for one year with an option to extend for up to another two, as can be seen in the Iryah notice. 

According to Aspaklaria, the allocation has been approved. They also say that the Haredi residents of nearby Bar Ilan St are upset that an allocation is being granted to an institution from outside the city while they continue to fight for approval for allocations to open nursery schools for their children - the children of local residents.

the Haredi news media on Twitter, Haskupim, also announced this issue on Friday. They described the location of the allocation as being "near a mitchared neighborhood".

So, the complainers feel not only do they deserve first rights to allocations in the Haredi neighborhoods, which is surely a good argument, and also in mitchared neighborhoods, which might be a good argument but is at least debatable, but now also they have first dibs on anything near mitchared neighborhoods! Nobody else gets anything. Anything near where a Haredi person might one day live has to go to them first!

Without discussing the merits, or lack thereof, of this specific allocation and institution, as I do not know why it was decided they deserve the allocation more than any other institution requesting it, nor do I know if any other institution was requesting this plot of land, nor do I know anything about this specific situation, I would say this this land is not in a Haredi neighborhood. It is not far from a neighborhood that some Haredi families have moved into in recent years and has become known as a "mitchared"neighborhood, a neighborhood in the process of becoming haredi, but this plot is not in that mitchared neighborhood, and I would say they deserve it no more than any other institution. Maybe if the plot under debate was actually in their neighborhood then I would have mroe sympathy for their complaint, but this is a plot in a different neighborhood that is nearby and actually seems to fit very well with the overall character of that neighborhood.

Should a plot be allocated to an institution from outside the city while their are already internal needs waiting to be dealt with? That question is above my pay-grade, but I would note that the local Haredi press never complained before when allocations were granted around Bet Shemesh to Haredi yeshivas from outside the city as an enticement to move to the city.

Also, they are only external/foreign institutions until the day they move in. Once they move in to Bet Shemesh, they are now a local institution, so I am less sympathetic to this complaint. Plus, in this instance, it is not a foreign institution, but a new institution being built and formed, albeit by a parent institution from outside the city. Should nobody be able to move to Bet Shemesh, open businesses and open schools and institutions until this or that person or community gets all his needs met?

Overall I have no general problem with this allocation or institution, and while the residents of Bar Ilan St might have a complaint about their needs not being met, those concerns and fights, justified as they might be, have nothing to do with this allocation.

It seems a Lubavitch man applied for a job on McDonald's (not kosher, in the USA). McDonald's responded that if he wanted the job he would have to shave his beard. The applicant offered to keep his beard in a net, but he could not shave it off as it goes against his religious principles. McDonald's said that will not work for them and did not give him the job - the applicant claims only because of the beard, as he says was told by the manager that he would have the job if not for that policy violation.

The applicant is now suing McDonald's for violation his religious freedoms and denying him a job for a reason that goes against his religious principles. He applied for the job, and was rejected, in 2016, so he is suing now, in 2019, for back wages for the 3 years he would have been employed by them had they not violated his religious freedom.
source: Newsweek

One fact I left out is that he had applied for work as a maintenance worker, not as a food server or as a cook. I can understand the beard policy with no compromise for someone in a position handling food, but as a maintenance worker changing lightbulbs, fixing leaky sinks, touching up the paint job, adjusting loose chairs, and the like, I do not see why they cannot compromise on this policy in situations of religious needs. I guess the New York Yankees (now known as the New York Savages) also have a strict no facial hair policy with no compromises ever given, so maybe there is something more to it then a loose hair falling into the food and more of a uniform clean look as part of their corporate image.

I have seen online in social media many people claiming this guy is a fraud and he simply found an easy lawsuit he is looking to make money off. There is no way, they claim, that a frum guy would apply to work, for real, in a McDonald's, so the entire application was just a scam looking to build a case for an eventual lawsuit.

I have no way to know this guy's motives, but I do not see why that has to be true. Today in the USA pretty much anybody can work anywhere with no real limitations. This guy was not applying to serve or prepare treif food, that might be a halachic problem and surely he would not want to do that, but to work in the maintenance department. I doubt there is anything halachically inappropriate about working in McDonalds or in other treif restaurants in a non-food capacity, such as cleaning the toilets, changing the lightbulbs, painting the walls, and all the other issues that require the attention of the maintenance people. In the Land of the Free, in the land of opportunity and freedom, in the current millennium, people can pretty much find ways to do almost anything with few, if any limitations.

While I can understand why some frum people might look at this as a scam and an easy lawsuit, I see no reason this cannot be legitimate. 

Translation (taken from Stu Schnee who translated it to a closed FB group):

Reports have been saying that the "Shabbos bus" in Tiberias yesterday only had two passengers - Ron Kubi himself and an assistant.

Whether that is true or not, I don't know. The report is about the beginning of the line at a specific time. Maybe at other times of day there were other passengers, or maybe not. Maybe at other stops other passengers got on, or maybe not. I don't know, but the report says only two passengers were on the bus, Kubi and an assistant.

Kubi should not feel bad and should not force the issue. If people are not using the bus, it means there is not enough interest to justify it, from a financial perspective. Maybe it needs time to build up or to get people aware of it running and the schedule, to get people used to its availability and to use it? Maybe, but with the loud marketing he has done for it it seems fair to assume most people know about it. If they are not using it, just kill it. If people complain that he stopped running the bus, he can just point to the fact that they were not using it. If he wants to keep it running, ostensibly because the people want it to be available,  he should warn the people that if they don't use it he wont operate it any longer.

No harm no foul. There need be no shame in saying that people have alternate methods of transportation and don't want to use that bus he has provided.

Mr Gantz, it is a shame you are being pulled along after Lapid. Though you are couching it in nicer words, it does not conceal your dangerous intentions to destroy the status quo that is in existence for decades, to arouse hatred and division, and to turn the holy day of rest for every jew to rest with his family into another weekday.

  -- Minister Aryeh Deri, responding to Gantz's statement earlier today saying that a way to operate public transportation on Shabbos respectfully for those cities that want it should be found.

Most interesting thing about this is that Deri has not said anything similar about the Likud leadership that has been saying, and doing, this very thing that Gantz talks about as a theoretical in the off-chance he becomes prime minister..

one thing I have learned from this series, interesting as it has been, is that screaming, ambushing CEOs at conferences, sticking cameras in people's faces, arguing, barging into offices without appointments, does not work. Even for a famous person.

the highlight (for me) is Nissim Black..

The haredi media is reporting about a visit  two anonymous Jewish friends of Donald Trump paid this week to Rav Chaim Kanievsky.

According to the reports, they introduced themselves as friends of President Trump and they delivered warm regards from president Trump to the rav, as he had heard great things about the rav's influence on world jewry.

It seems Rav Chaim was slightly amused but not really interested and he asked them if they have anything further to ask or discuss. It turns out they did.It turns out the burning question on Trump's mind is to find out from Rav Chaim Kanievsky when Mashiach is due to arrive. They asked him that in the name of President Trump.

Bemused, Rav Kanievsky responded turning it back on them asking what they have done recently to hasten mashiachs arrival - have they moved to live in Israel? When they answered that they have not, Rav Chaim instructed them that they should move to Israel and then we will soon see the final redemption.
sources: Behadrei, Actualic

Kashrut in Israel can sometimes be complicated, especially if you only rely on mehadrin hechshers, and the more restrictive you get limiting your reliable kashrut list to fewer and fewer kashrut agencies the more complicated it can become (objectively speaking - determining which agencies to accept and which not to accept).

Why is it so complicated? In my opinion what makes it complicated is that standards are generally not published, and rumors abound. People talk about this or that hechsher being not reliable, and few people actually have a reason for saying that other than that being what they were told. They often don't know what policy is held by that organization that makes someone consider it not reliable or not preferable, while some people might be perfectly fine with that policy.

One of the hechshers that fall in the above category has been Rav Auerbach's hechsher on Oaf Tov chickens. Many people who eat mehadrin would say that this brand of chickens is not reliable. Rarely would I get an explanation as to why, though I have heard one or two theories over the years as to why it is not "really" mehadrin and not acceptable.

Anyways, be that as it may, Kosharot, the kashrut agency that does not supervise products or companies but raises awareness of kashrut issues and seeks to educate the public about standards of different organizations, policies and issues, has announced today that Rav Auerbach's kashrut certification on chickens has now been moved and added to the recommended list. Below is the letter published by Kosharot.

The letter states that the hechsher of Rav Auerbach on of Tov is now recommended, and the details are:

1. We have been in touch with the staff of the Of Tov slaughterhouse for several years already and have been tracking the level of kashrut, In the visits and meetings, it has become clear that welcome  changes have been implemented int he slaughterhouse to improve the kashrut level.
2. We have been deeply impressed by the positive and serious changes implemented in issues that have been submitted over the past few years
3.  It is important to note that giving complete freedom of action to the rabbonim of the slaughterhouse regarding all kashrut issues is the basis, from our perspective, for recommending this product as kashrut mehadrin.
4. Ergo, we have decided at this point to add the product of this slaughterhouse, unprocessed chicken and turkey products, to the Kosharot recommended list.
5.  If there will be negative changes in the standing and process of the slaughterhouse, or the freedom of action for the slaughterhouse rabbis will be curtailed, or if our continued entry will be limited, we will remove the slaughterhouse from the recommended list without warning.

They don't really say what changed, besides for freedom of action for the slaughterhouse rabbis, whatever that means, so we don't know what was done before that was unacceptable to Kosharot and what is being done now that Kosharot approves of. Either way, if you accept Kosharot as a source in kashrut you can now consider Rav Auerbach's hechsher on unprocessed chicken and turkey products as mehadrin.