Feiglin and Shaked and the Likud and being a sellout

so word has it that Moshe Feiglin and PM Netanyahu have come to an agreement that will have Feiglin drop out the elections and rejoin the Likud. In exchange it seems he will receive a ministerial position for Zehut (him or someone else, not sure), promise of pushing legislation for cannabis legalization and something about paying off Zehut debt, or some of it.

There are claims it might be political bribery, and there is precedent on the municipal level for such a claim, but we'll let that play out and I wont deal with it. I will assume their lawyers are good enough to write out the deal in a way that won't be illegal. And, it very well may be that it is only illegal if actually implemented, not just by the offer itself. Since Netanyahu probably can't be trusted to actually pay up, he'll almost surely find an excuse (he might even say it is illegal) to avoid it, it might not even be illegal in retrospect. And then whatever happens, happens.

Two interesting, for me, points:

1. A lot of people online are scoffing and sneering At Feiglin and his supporters for coming to this deal. Feiglin is a sellout. Feiglin is only looking out for himself. Feiglin went back on his promise to not take a deal. etc etc etc

My comment would be that all these people, until today, have been screaming about how Feiglin should drop out and he is wasting votes and he will be the cause of a left-wing government. Yet now that he is dropping out they are calling him a sellout and a hypocrite and selfish. They just want to complain about Feiglin no matter what he does. It is all under the guise of election behavior and responsibility, but they just want to take pot shots at Feiglin, no matter what he does.

2. When Ayelet Shaked recently tried to get back into the Likud, Netanyahu and his cronies pushed her away with two hands. they even said at one point that Shaked is undesirable because she is a party-jumper like Tzipi Livni. Yet here Netanyahu goes and brings in Feiglin, who was in the Likud and then left and formed Zehut. Netanyahu has brought others into the Likud as well from Kadima and other parties who would all qualify as party-jumpers.

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Let My People Go (not the women though)!

I love this.

Menachem Toker announced that the nxt step in the fight against the secular attempts to tell the haredim how to live and not let them have publicly-funded concerts that leave women out of the audience will be a new concert.

This new concert, this coming Motzei Shabbos, will be in a rented hall in Binyanei Hauma in Jerusalem, with Mordechai Ben Advid  and other performers. The concert will be for men only. The proceeds will go to funding court expenses for the battle over this issue.

(note: it seems to meet the rules laid out recently by being a fully private event, so I think it should go off without a hitch, but you never know)

I love this fight.

You tried to tell us what to do. You tried to tell us we can't discriminate against our women. Oh yeah? We'll show you! We'll discriminate against our women even more! We'll make an even bigger concert, an even better concert, and we won't let our women go! Yeah, we'll really show those secular people that they can't control us...

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Quote of the Day

If we won't have any other option we will leave the coalition of Aliza Bloch. the Haredim were in Bet Shemesh before the Chilonim

  -- MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ), regarding the ongoing struggle of the Haredi community to be granted plots and buildings in the Bar Ilan neighborhood for their schools and shuls

1. that is either rewriting history or not knowing what world he is living in. the Haredi community was in Bet Shemesh before the chilonim?
2. what is the relevance as to who was there first? either they deserve it or they do not deserve it based on current circumstances. I would note that Abutbol didn't give them what they wanted either. I do not know what they deserve or do not deserve and am offering no opinion on that, but I dont see the relevance of whether haredim were in the city first or second
3. whether haredim were there first or last in Bet Shemesh there is no dispute that in this specific neighborhood it was "secular" until the past several years when haredim started moving into it

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Baruch & Chesky Leibowitz - Elokai [Official] (video)

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Eli Yishai in exchange for nothing

reports have it that Eli Yishai is once again negotiating to give his support to a political party in exchange for a ministerial appointment.

The other day, Shas reps met with Rav mazuz in an effort to obtain his support but when he insisted on Eli Yishai being involved Shas decided to forgo any further talks.

So Eli Yishai is now talking to UTJ about throwing his support to UTJ, as he did last elections. Yishai claims they had an agreement last time that if UTJ would achieve 8 seats, Yishai would be appointed as minister. They got the 8 seats, with Yishai's support (maybe or maybe not because of it), but no government was formed so nobody was appointed to any positions, though UTJ never explicitly admitted or confirmed such an agreement or that they would appoint him to such a position. Now Eli Yishai wants an explicit statement that they'll give him a ministerial position in exchange for support.

UTJ's response, for now, is basically that they are happy to have his support but have no intention of giving him any appointment from their allotment. To quote senior UTJ officials, "why should we have to give him any position? let Bibi give him something."

Well, the reason is because he is telling his supporters to support your party and give you an extra boost. If that isnt valuable to you, so don't make an agreement.

It is a funny thing to make an agreement, as if this is the normal way, where one side gives everything he has and the other gives nothing. He isnt negotiating with bibi, so why should Bibi give him anything. He is negotiating with UTJ, not Bibi, but they think they owe him nothing for his support and any job should come from Bibi rather than them. In the end Yishai will probably agree to it without anything in return, as he did last time, because he does not really have any options. It seems he has positioned himself in a way that nobody wants to be involved with him.

If UTJ tells him no in the end, I think he'd be smart to go to Otzma instead. To them he might actually be valuable, as he might push them over the threshold. And, with two of their main people disqualified, he could be valuable. And, while Bibi might not want classic Otzma people in his government because of their extreme positions and affiliations with Kahane and racism, he might be more willing to bring them in with Eli Yishai as their government representative (though I am sure Aryeh Deri will still try to veto it).

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Tweet of the Day

lol

One trip to Israel and J-Lo already flipped out. pic.twitter.com/OXDZvClgNb

— Avital Chizhik Goldschmidt (@avitalrachel) August 25, 2019

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Picture of the Day

in a surprising election parlay, MK Amir Peretz (Labor) shaved his iconic mustache in order to be able to say "read my lips, I will not sit with Netanyahu in the government"

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Video posted by COGAT about a soldier from Chicago (video)

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Israelis: How would you react if you had a black neighbour? (video)

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Exclusive: Baseball Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera Explains Why He Stands with Israel (video)

a little too much yoshke stuff for my liking, but he supports Israel...

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Synagogues of Spain (video)

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Pumpidisa - Modeh Ani (video)

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the show must go on,. despite the courts saying no

The court hearing the case in Haifa against the Kumzitz for men by Mordechai Ben David and Motti Steinmetz has decided, based on the recommendation of the Attorney General Avihai Mandelblit to disallow the event.

The court basically said that if they want to have an only men event and not meet the criteria set by Mandelblit, they should fund it themselves and not have it sponsored by the Irya from public monies. Mandelblit had set criteria for gender-segregated events that the Irya must be able to defend sponsoring the event by showing that women have an equal (but separate place) - meaning, if the event is separate and women are treated equally, with a mechitza but not squashed into the back or somewhere they cannot see or hear, that would be fine. if the event is for men only, the women are being left out. If the women don't have a similar event for them, the women are being left out.

When Mandelblit announced his support for gender-segregated events, meeting the criteria he laid out, the Haredi askanim were happy that their needs were being recognized. Now that an event not meeting the requirements is being canceled, they are once again upset that their needs are not being met and the Haredim are being left out of the public sphere. Really all they need to do is make their events to treat men and women equally, but separate, as they supposedly wanted to in the first place, and Mandelblit says it can happen. Now they don't want to do that either and still want it to be able to happen.

(update: the producer of the event says he is insisting the show must go on at any cost and they will forgo the Irya funding and put it on fully private, and people will buy the tickets, and they are even willing to take a financial loss to make sure it happens)

The responses have been sharp from the haredi askanim, but, as always, none as sharp as MK Yisroel Eichler (UTJ). Eichler said if we are weak, the judges from the North will come to us in Jerusalem as well. When you want to make a bris for your son, the court will not allow you to make it separate seating.

It is a cute and funny attack, as per Eichler's normal style, but he, as he often does, is convoluting, probably intentionally, what is going on. The only time the court might not allow you to make your bris separate is if somehow you get the Irya to sponsor your bris. And even then it might get a religious exception, the way prayer services get. Again, the courts are not saying, at least not yet, private events cannot be gender-segregated. They are syaing public events cannot be segregated and even public events can be segregated if care is taken to give equal space to men and women.

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Shas jumps on the black bandwagon

MK Ran Ban Barak (Kachol Lavan) said something today that is being attacked as racist. I love how these Kachol Lavan guys, and others more to the Left, play right into the hands of Bibi so close to the elections, as if they are trying to hand him a victory on a silver platter.

Ben Barak said, "Likud is against equality. It makes a clear distinction between Jews and Arab citizens of Israel. It harms the High Court, it in fact espouses tyranny of the majority. It says: ‘If I have 61 Knesset members, I can do whatever I want and the courts don’t interest me,'” he said, echoing criticism — frequently expressed by rival politicians — of Likud rhetoric against Arab parties, attempts to push reforms in the judiciary, and efforts to legislate a clause enabling the parliament to overrule decisions by the High Court of Justice. So that’s the difference between us and Likud. Do you want to call it right and left? Call it right and left. Do you want to call it black and white? Call it black and white. They are black and we are white.”

Not really racist but it could be portrayed to be so, and it has been. Nonstop. All day today.

What is even more interesting though is that while Ran Ben Barak was attacking the Likud and saying this possibly racist statement against the Likud, Shas has jumped on the bandwagon and is running a campaign about being a proud black, the way the Likud has always done in the past when leftists called Likud voters derogatory names, such as mezuza kissrs or tchachtchachim.

Deri and others from Shas have been talking about it all day, it is now the banner of their Facebook page, they are posting the image all over.

So, is Shas saying they are Likud voters? Is Shas "taking a tremp", jumping on the bandwagon, in a fight not theirs to rile up emotions and grab some votes? Ot maybe it is legitimate because even though Ben Barak said Likud and Likud voters, he really also meant Shas?

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Quote of the Day

I hope the Likud won't attack us - we are natural partners of the Likud - but only the small parties that won't pass the minimum threshold. The religious community needs to understand that every vote for a party that does not pass the minimum threshold is like a vote for the Left..

  -- Ayeley Shaked, head of Yemina

this is the pot calling the kettle black...

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Headline of the Day

Against the backdrop of the economic crisis and an attempt to prevent escalation: Abbas agreed to receive NIS 2 billion from Israel

  --Haaretz

1. thanks for agreeing. nice guy
2. I would take less
3. there we go paying protection money again...

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8/24/19 Safety in Halacha ***Guest Hosted by Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer - Rav, Dayan, and Mechaber Seforim, Yerushalayim*** (audio)

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Underdos: the separate beach (video)

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Jewish Music Challenge 2 (video)

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toda, next - Ariana Grande (Jewish Parody) (video)

In honor of Tu B’Av the Jewish holiday of love, the long anticipated Jewish parody featuring JSwipe is here! Inspired by Ariana Grande’s “thank u, next”, this all-female produced and directed music video introduces strong female character leads and a diverse character body made up of young Jews from all different backgrounds and levels of observance. Meet Your Producers: Sarah is a dancer and owner of DanceMotivators, an agency which supplies high-energy dancers for bar/bat mitzvahs and other special events all over the Tri-State Area. She is also passionately involved in Israel education and activism. Inna is the founding attorney of the Law Offices of Inna Vernikov, PLLC, a board member of Americans Against Antisemitism https://www.facebook.com/AmericansAA/, a Next Generation board member of Tikva Children’s Home https://www.facebook.com/TikvaChildre..., a Legion Chair and Cadet https://m.facebook.com/LegionSelfDefe..., and a proud Zionist.

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Havdalah - Live from Jerusalem (video)

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Kabbalat Shabbat Tel-Aviv Port - wonderful world (video)

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men teaching women about being women

The following announcement for a lecture was posted online this morning:

It strikes many people as funny, as ironic, even as inappropriate. Two men are going to lecture a room full of women about how great it is to be a Jewish princess? can they be more patronizing? can they be more patriarchal?

Somebody later made a spoof, a parody, of the ad, in order to highlight the absurdity of it. I don't know who made it but I am told it was not either of the two women in the spoofed ad. And here it is:

It is really funny, and the juxtaposition of the two ads really makes one wonder.

But one thing bothered me about the entire discussion.

the one thing I dont get about all the shock and irony expressed in these two rabbis giving a talk to women about a womanly topic is that most of the women who will be in attendance went to high schools and seminaries where most of the teachers talking to them and lecturing to them about every topic under the sun including topics about women and judaism were almost all male. So suddenly it is ironic? suddenly it is inappropriate? This is the system in orthodox judaism where the overwhelming majority of the teachers are male. maybe that should change, but do they really deserve so much scorn?

As an aside, I would note I am in favor of such change. I advocated for more female teachers and administrators in seminaries and girls high schools many years ago on this blog, especially from a tzniyus perspective (with there being so much stress and focus on tzniyus) as it seems to me somehow a tzniyus problem to have the male principal and teachers around these young women all day long and probably in many inappropriate situations. That is besides for the issue of the young women needing more frum female role models.

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charging to go into a shul

The news is reporting about an army unit on tour in tel Aviv that wanted to go into the Great Synagogue. Upon entry they were asked to pay 10nis each, which they refused and were thus refused entry.

The president of the shul was asked on the radio about the incident and he explained that the shul cannot afford the expenses of maintaining the shul so they charge a 10nis entrance fee to help defray costs. He later added that they will consider giving a discount to soldiers or possibly waiving the entire entrance fee.

I get it. A shul is not cheap to maintain, especially with a dwindling congregation. Personally if I go to a shul to daven I try to always make sure to give a shekel or two donation in the pushke, and of course I am a member of my regular shul and pay membership fees. That shekel or two that I give is a donation, sort of a thank you for being available for having the lights on, for having air conditioning or heating, for having the water running in the bathrooms - it is not and should not be an obligation.

Do they have the right to charge for entry? Sure, I guess so. But, charging an entrance fee to go into a shul is one of the surest ways to stop people from coming to shul. Charge for the High Holidays tickets - that is normal, even if nowadays it is trendy to not charge because millennials think they should not have to pay even for that, charge membership fees for people who come regularly. Charge for turning on the air conditioner. Charging for walking through the front door is just a bad idea. And if you are going to charge for just walking in, it better be worth it. Whatever is behind that door better be an amazing show.

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Bet Shemesh Bar Ilan protests continue (video)

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Palestinians: What do you think of Osama Bin Laden? (video)

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The Mount of Olives - German Hospital, Biblical Sites and Rock Hewn Tombs | Jerusalem (video)

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SHMUZIK Episode 1 Featuring Benny Friedman, Uri Davidi & Levy Falkowitz (video)

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Al Naharot Bavel – Freilach Band ft. Mordechai Shapiro (video)

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Time for Rabbi Lau to Dig Up Momma

Yesterday Rabbi Lau pressured a gett refuser to give his wife a gett by refusing to bury the guy's dead mother. Being in another country, the guy agreed to give the wife her gett after the burial, with some sort of financial bond placed as a gaurantee.

I, and many in the Jewish community, gave kudos to Rabbi Lau for his innovative solution in finding this woman a way out of her chains.

It turns out that our fears were in place and today the shmuck announced that he will not give his wife the gett and the entire announcement was a lie as he never agreed to it. So the kudos to Rav Lau are for trying. Unfortunately he trusted someone who could not be trusted.

Perhaps Rav Lau should order the chevra kadisha to dig up momma, as her burial turns out to have been performed as a mekach taus - an arrangement under mistaken terms.

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Quote of the Day

I think any Jewish people who would vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty

  -- US President Donald Trump

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Jesse from Bet Shemesh supporting the United Arab List (video)

I have heard this logic before, the need to support the weakest party - being the Arab party, though I do not think it is common...

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‘BDS Is a Bullsh*t Purity Test’ for Democrats: Bill Maher Rants Against Boycott Israel Movement (video)

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Avi Ilson Interview On Tzofia News (video)

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David Berg Poteach (video)

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Kudos to Rav Lau

Kudos to Chief Rabbi Dovid Lau who today helped free an aguna from her chains.

the mother of a man refusing to give a gett to his wife died, and Rabbi Lau ruled that the mother would not be allowed for burial until the gett is given, or arrangements made.

Reports even have it that the chevra kadisha, unsure of what to do with the body of the mother waiting for burial, asked Rav Chaim Kanievsky about this and he said Rav Lau is correct in his instructions and the body should not be buried until the case is resolved.

I don't know the details of the case, but I would assume, based on Rav Lau's instructions, that the mother approved of what her son was doing and assisted him despite the fact that he was chaining his wife, and therefore it was ok to involve her in death in obtaining the gett at the expense of her burial.

At the end of the day, this man caved and agreed to give the gett, freeing up mom for burial. He supposedly had to commit in writing and give a large financial deposit. He lives abroad so the gett could not be given immediately. Hopefully this person won't get his mother buried and then retract his commitment.

Kudos to Rav Lau for taking even extreme measures like this to resolve the hopeless plight of this woman.

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Quote of the Day

I saw the response of the Likud and it made me laugh. Netanyahu signed a deal of submission with  Hamas. I signed a vote-sharing agreement with Kachol Lavan. It seems to me my agreement is better.

  --MK Avigdor Lieberman (YisraelBeyteynu), after coming under strog criticism from Likud and other right-wing parties for signing the vote-sharing agreement with Kachol Lavan

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Interesting Psak: riding the trains after Shabbos

Rav Moshe Shternbuch has issued an interesting psak about riding the trains in Israel after Shabbos.

Ladaat brings the psak of Rav Shternbuch, Raavad of the Eida Hachareidis, that one should not ride any Israeli train that runs on any line that was worked on on Shabbos until the time of "kdei sheyaasu", the amount of  time it takes to have done that specific work not on Shabbos, wuill have passed. Only after that time has passed will it be ok to ride the trains.

Unfortunately he does not say how much time that is, but he gives the general rule of not riding the train until the amount of time that it went into operation was advanced by the work done on Shabbos has passed.

Rav Shternbuch adds that the authorities should be told about this, as doing so prevents future chilul shabbos as they would try to avoid any boycott, as has happened in other areas in the past.

Interestingly, Rav Shternbuch says there is a discussion about whether something produced via chilul shabbos should be prohibited forever or only for the same amount of time it took to produce on Shabbos. The example given is of someone who dug a grave on Shabbos and that is prohibited forever, but the question is if that was specific for that case but in other scenarios "the amount of time" would be enough or if by other things as well the prohibition is permanent. Rav Shternbuch brings sources that the permanent prohibition was only in that scenario of the grave but not in other cases. Normally "kdei sheyaasu" is all you need.

And therefore, he concludes, riding the train is ok but only after "kdei sheyaasu" will have passed, and to calculate that amount of time one has to be able to figure out how much additional time would have been needed to work on the rail lines had they not worked on them on Shabbos.

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nobody wants the Palestinians

Maariv has an interesting report from an anonymous senior diplomat saying that Israel has offered the Palestinians the ability to leave Gaza and emigrate to anywhere else int he world, even using a southern Israeli airport to do so. Israel would also help them arrange flights and shuttle them to where they need to go and would pay any relevant costs as well.

The only condition being that they have to find a country willing to take them in.

According to the report, 35000 Gazans have left for greener pastures in the past year without any involvement from Israel.

The senior diplomat added that attempts to find foreign countries willing to take them in, including other Middle Eastern countries, failed, as none of the countries approached were interested or willing to help on this matter.

What is interesting about this?
1. It seems the Netanyahu government is adopting in some form the proposal of Moshe Feiglin and Zehut, after scoffing at Feiglin for proposing such an unrealistic plan. Feiglin wanted to offer payment to families willing to emigrate as encouragement.

2. No country wants to take them in, Not much of a surprise there. Individuals might find willing countries, but a country willing to take in a large amount? What country wants that on their head? They all have enough problems of their own without importing more.

3. If Israel is serious, they should offer more than just arranging the flight and offer some sort of incentive for the potential foreign government to make it worth their while to say yes, or to at least consider it seriously.

4. Regardless, it is hard to imagine any significant number would be willing to leave their homes for anything more than temporary refuge.

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Tweet of the Day

Hey @RepRashida and @IlhanMN, Do you know who can't visit their grandfather? My children, because my father Richard Lakin was murdered by Palestinian terrorists who were paid TWO MILLION DOLLARS by the Palestinian Authority.  Were you planning on suggesting they be given a bonus? https://t.co/5xAcun8qEj

— Micah Avni | מיכה אבני 🇮🇱 (@micah_avni) August 17, 2019

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Bet Shemesh sues Ministry of Transportation over lousy bus system (video)

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being a good neighbor (video)

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Meet Zalman's hotdogs in Jerusalem (video)

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Synagogues of Slovakia (video)

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Pinny Schachter "Make it A Million" Original Song for "Tu B'Av Together" (video)

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Sara Netanyahu disposes of bread and creates crisis

There is a tradition in the Ukraine to greet world leaders, any important guest really, with a loaf of bread and salt, Korovai, on a rushnyk - some sort of embroidered ritual cloth. The guest, the honored world leader, is supposed to take a piece of the bread and eat it.

With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a two day visit to the Ukraine to try to poach voters away from Avigdor Lieberman, he and Sara were greeted with the traditional Korovai bread as they deplaned. PM Bibi is a pretty good sport and he took a piece of the bread and ate it. Sara, on the other hand, is a bit more picky. Bibi handed her a small piece of the bread, to which she upturned her nose and dropped it tot he ground and cleaner her fingers of it.

Let's go to the tape:

This is a causing a little bit of an international stir, with Ukranians upset at the snub and disrespect, and some Israelis upset at Sara's continued spoiled brat behavior (I will not even discuss the reports from the airplane trip to the Ukraine...)

In an attempt to judge Sara favorably, I will suggest that she did not want to eat the bread because it is not kosher. She knows every time an Israeli official eats non-kosher food at an official ceremony it becomes a crisis back home in Israel with the religious and Haredi parties threatening the Netanyahu government, so she chose to abstain rather than eat non-nosher food and cause a problem. Little did she know, she was not supposed to throw the bread on the floor and treat the bread with such disrespect. Rather, she was supposed to put it in a bag and put it on a wall not far from a garbage can so it would rot on its own without being put in the garbage or treated disrespectfully in some other manner (eg being thrown on the ground). So, she averted one crisis but caused another.

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the bar mitzva prison reunion

Kikar is reporting about a bar mitzva in Bnei Braq that turned into a prison reunion.

A lawyer, a Haredi fellow named Elyashiv Rabin, made a bar mitzva for his son last night. Mazel tov. Much nachas.

According to the article, this lawyer is a powerful guy, formerly an activist for Shas and then for Eli Yishai, but also hobnobbed with the rich and famous. I didn't look it up but it seems he was also somehow involved in the Holyland scandal that ended up sending Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to jail - I think his brother went to jail over it as well and he was one of the witnesses against Olmert.

Either way, this Rabin fellow made a bar mitzva and invited all his buddies from the Maasiyahu prison. Ehud Olmert was there as was former Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, his brother Meir Rabin, and Eli Samchayoff..

There is nothing important here. I just thought it was funny that the guy invited all his prison buddies and turned the bar mitzva into a reunion for them.

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Instagram Post of the Day

this is Adam Richman, a former host of the travel show Man vs Food. He was great on the show, eating every restaurant challenge in the USA, such as humongous hamburgers, large plates of super hot wings, and all sorts of treif foods that were either extremely oversized or over-spiced or whatever. Richman and his mom are in Israel now and he posted this to Instagram...

View this post on Instagram

At first, I was not sure how I felt about my guide capturing this moment on camera. It was, after all, a private moment. It was also a moment I have been waiting for since 1987. My grandfather had wanted to take my family to Jerusalem to have my Bar Mitzvah at The Western Wall. A terror attack months before scrapped the whole idea. I was unprepared for the scope of emotion.. I kid you not-the moment I laid my palm upon the bricks, I began to weep. Being there, at the western retaining wall of the Temple mount, so close to the observance of the Tisha B’Av holiday, where we commemorate the destruction of the temples, you could feel, even among the other worshipers, that this was a very special time. When I first began to pray, there were people of every shape and color on either side of me I put on my t’fillin - the prayer boxes on my head & arm, as Id done for years in Hebrew school - yet this time it felt different. This time it felt vital, important, ancient, HOLY. I felt connected to the traditions of the past, and to the spirit of the Holy Land-not just for Jews, but for Christians and Muslims as well. I took one of the prayer books they had there, and prayed passionately and fervently. I did, as many worshipers do, press my face against the bricks, feeling the warmth of the stone in the afternoon Jerusalem sun, and began to whisper my own prayer directly into the wall. Praying not just for myself, but for my family - and all of you guys as well. Giving thanks for the health & success I have, and for all those who support & believe in me. I then put the note that I had written with my prayer upon it, into one of the many cracks in the wall like thousands of people before me. I can only say I walked away from that wall feeling very different then the man who had walked up to it barely an hour before. So ultimately, I am grateful that this moment was captured. And I am ever thankful for all of you for joining me on my journeys, supporting them, and finding inspiration within them to embark upon journeys of your own. May all your dreams come true, and may your life be full of everything you wish for yourself. ‎!עם ישראל חי

A post shared by Adam Richman (@adamrichman) on Aug 12, 2019 at 2:27am PDT

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cameras in polling stations and invalidating parties from running

The Likud has been trying to implement a plan to install cameras in election polling stations in Arab neighborhoods, claiming this will prevent fraud that is widespread in those areas. This has bene hotly debated and is going back and forth between the electoral board officials between those who support it and those who do not. Some say it will prevent fraud while others say it will dissuade people from voting.

Personally I have no problem with cameras in the polling stations. We have cameras following us our entire lives nowadays, why not also in the polling stations? I would be fine with it as long as it does not harm the authenticity of the secret ballot - meaning, the camera cannot be installed in a way that would remove secrecy from the actual vote and reveal what the voter is voting. As well, the cameras should not be installed in selected areas, chosen by one party or by one side of the political map. If cameras are to be installed, they should be installed in polling stations throughout the country. Let everybody come under the same scrutiny, and if there is a suspicion or accusation, the cameras can be checked.

On another note regarding elections, there have been numerous attempts to appeal to the electoral board to invalidate various party lists form running in the elections, for a variety of reasons, usually claiming some sort of racist bias held by the party in question.

I think there should be a cost to appealing against another parties validity to run. If you can prove that they are invalid and your claim is accepted, all is good. If, however, your claim is rejected and you did not "make your case" well enough to invalidate the party you were trying to invalidate, you should be fined somehow - not monetarily but some sort of black mark on your own party - maybe lose a spot, someone gets knocked off the list, or something like that. It should cost the party something to attack another party like that.

What made me think of this is the attempt to invalidate Otzma Yehudit. Initially it was fine, but after the case was lost and the electoral board said Otzma can run, now parties are appealing the decision and still trying to invalidate them. And there are other parties appealing against other parties just because they don't like them, not for any reason that is likely to be accepted.

The parties are using the electoral board as a tool to tie parties up and keep them busy with nonsense, and this should not be allowed. You want to appeal against another party? Fine, but either make your case or you will lose out so it better be worthwhile and not just a way to distract each other.

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Lakewood Shadchanim talk about the shidduch crisis (video)

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Israelis: What do you think of the Persian Gulf countries? (video)

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Brooke Goldstein on Fox News discussing why Israel was smart about Omar, Tlaib (video)

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Synagogues of Scotland (video)

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LIBI // Yitzchak Meir ft. Levy Falkowitz (video)

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Picture of the Day

with UTJ putting the image of Rav Chaim Kanievsky on billboards around the country as part of their election campaign, there is a phenomenon happening, perhaps even a trend, of people, religious and non-religious alike, climbing up to these billboards to kiss his picture.
source: Kikar

Hopefully nobody will get hurt in the process

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Tweet of the Day

this guy is funny!

Rep. Tlaib wrote a letter to Israeli officials desperately wanting to visit her grandmother. Permission was quickly granted, whereupon Tlaib obnoxiously turned the approval down, a complete setup. The only real winner here is Tlaib’s grandmother. She doesn’t have to see her now!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 16, 2019

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8/17/19 Summer Halachos: Visitng Beis Hakavoros & Kivrei Tzadikim, What to know about Kashrus when you are away, Shabbos in hotels and much more (audio)

my only comment is that if Rav Moshe held "Chalav Hacompanies" has the status of chalav yisrael, which many hold and understand from Rav moshe, then there should be no issue of neder and hataras nedarim,

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Israelis: Why were Jews expelled from so many countries? (video)

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the Haredim who recently drafted, some despite parents oppositions (video)

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Deep Frying Chocolate Bars! | Chef Eitan Bernath (video)

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Simche Friedman - Lo Lefached - (Official Music Video)

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Netanel Hershtik’s rendition of Mikdash Melech composed by Mordechai Sobol (video)

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Blog-Vacation, sort of

Apologies for the erratic postings. The blog is officially on summer vacation. I don't want to keep posting about the same stuff over and over again, and almsot all the interesting news happening involves either Ron Kubi or the elections (or both together).

So, I will be posting, but not on my regular schedule. Whenever I feel like it, which I guess is how I always base my posting schedule but now it will be more sporadic.

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Picture of the Day

After the court reversed the earlier decision and allowed the Afula concert to proceed as planned (which was later overturned by the Supreme Court, though not in time to stop the concert)... as Yair Sherki wrote posting this picture, when the uproar over gender-segregation meets real life...

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Barstool Pizza Review - MEZZE Kosher Pizza (Forest Hills,NY) Bonus Sushi Review (video)

funny guy

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Secular Israelis: Get religious people on both sides to solve the Israeli/Palestinian conflict (video)

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Who is coming to the Sea? (video)

another great Netanyahu production...

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R’ Yossi Green - New Song, "Tu B'Av" in honor of Tu B'av Together (video)

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Yishai Ribo with Amir Benayoun and Amir Dadon: Nitzachta Iti HaKol (video)

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do Haredim really demand and need gender-segregation?

The sight is very familiar. Summer vacation. Bein Hazmanim. Everyone is touring around the country at the same time, mostly up north where it is slightly cooler and the trails are peppered with rivers to hike through and/or  cool off in, along with other water experiences such as river rafting, the Kineret, and many other activities. it is a fun time of year, but the attractions are all crowded with people - the entire rainbow of the Israeli public.

Here is a picture from the entrance to the Abu Kayak rafting site along the Jordan River from earlier today. It was posted to Facebook commenting on the need for appropriate entertainment opportunities for the Haredi community and that the Haredi community deserves to be serviced equally as everyone else is. The suggestion being that the current situation is inadequate with just several days over the summer designated at such sites for the religious public. Being a day designated for the religious public basically means people are requested to come fully dressed and not scamper around shirtless or in bikinis. As you can see in the picture, it does not mean the morning is hours for men only and the afternoon hours are for women, or Mondays for men and Tuesdays for women.

posted by Leah Aharoni

Now, something here makes no sense to me.

A concert in the park must be 100% separate. Even a compromise (recommended by the judge but rejected by all parties involved including the Haredi parties) to have a mens section, a womens section, and a family section is not good enough, but the Haredi community demands the event to be completely 100% separate seating.

Yet, a water park, rafting on a river, where people are swimming int he water and splashing and getting wet and soaking their clothes, that is perfectly fine to be mixed, family style.

That makes no sense.

I'll tell you what the difference is, as I see it.

The difference is that one event, the water park, is populated by people who want to go have fun. By their own initiative. Most people in the Haredi community, not everyone of course, want to have fun and do thigns with their family. They go out to concerts and sit mixed seating with their families. they go to the parks all over the country and are fine with the crowds being mixed. They go to hikes on trails, they go bowling, they hike through the river, all with mixed crowds. At the annual Sukkos concert in Bet Shemesh with no official separation (there is a sectioned off area for separate dancing), hundreds of Haredim show up to enjoy. No separation necessary. Most Haredim want separation at weddings and in shul, and that is mostly it.

The other event, the concert in Afula, is arranged by askanim. Askanim like to tell people what to do. According to the askanim, the Haredim need 100% separation. Nobody is even willing to speak up and say "I am perfectly fine with family style seating", probably because they are worried about the askanim getting them thrown out of shul and their kids thrown out of school. People are only rarely willing to oppose askanim publicly.

I think it is a shame that the community cannot have events catered to their needs and desires. I understand the legal claim against it, but I do not understand the limit of the opposition. Yet, with everyone upset that this womens lobby that appealed against it, and the judge that ruled against, claiming that they are patronising and telling the Haredim how to live their lives - I just want to say that most Haredim are perfectly fine with mixed, family-style, events, and had this concert been planned this way to start (not including Motti Steinmetz who personally would not sing at such a concert but other performers would and do), nobody would have said boo except a few askanim. As much as the womens lobby and the judge wants to tell people how to live their lives, the haredi askanim are equally as guilty of this.

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Picture of the Day

From Dov Lipman's FB page

170 new families, about 550 people, from the United States are making aliya to Bet Shemesh this summer.. many of them on the Nefesh BNefesh flight that landed this morning..

Welcome!

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Foreign Soldiers Try Hummus for the First Time (video)

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Synagogues of Scotland (video)

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Tzemed Yeled: cover, Mishehu Iti Kahn (video)

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Ayelet Shaked in the stronghold of the Likud (video)

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running a country is not a job for presenters (video)

classic Netanyahu election video. nobody is as good as him at this..

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THE LENNY SOLOMON SHOW WEBISODE 3 PARODY WRITING! (video)

In this Episode, Lenny takes you inside the head of parody writing. What are you aiming to do? Plus in Stories from the Road, he shares far-out places that he spent Shabbat! please like, share, subscribe, and tell all your friends!

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Synagogues of Russia (video)

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