Life in Israel: February 2021

Feb 28, 2021

Gafni complains about anti-Haredi selections

Had I not already posted a qotd today, MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ) would have won it.

Regarding the reports of police selectively allowing non-Haredim continue on their way to Jerusalem while stopping Harehdim and turning them away (whether true or not I do not know, but these are the reports) sight of seeing hundreds or thousands of people walking to Jerusalem due to the road closures, Gafni said "the selection being done at the entrance to Jerusalem between Haredim and Chilonim will bear an expensive cost to the people in government making the decisions."

I would point out that Gafni and his peers have all, once again, signed loyalty commitments to Netanyahu and the Likud for the upcoming elections, and they have stayed fiercely loyal to Netanyahu all along. That is a perfectly fine political decision, but it makes me wonder what he is talking about when he says things like this will cost them dearly. They regularly complain about the government decisions that they perceive to be skewed against the Haredim, yet still remain completely loyal to Netanyahu. And then you can wonder about the fact that they themselves are senior members in the government making these decisions, meaning they are part of the decision-making process as well, yet complain about the decisions.

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Aliya LaRegel on Purim

While some people reported being able to get through to Jerusalem today to celebrate Shushan Purim there, most people trying have not been able to get through. The roadblocks have caused tremendous traffic jams on all roads leading to Jerusalem. We tried earlier and Waze took us through some extremely roundabout route and we still got turned around as we got to a roadblock relatively near to Jerusalem.

We only saw a couple of people walking by foot on our route, but reports are coming in from some of the other more mainstream routes that hundreds of people are walking alongside the highways in order to be able to celebrate Shushan Purim with their relatives and communities.

Seeing some of the pictures and videos on Twitter made me think of what "aliyah laregel" must have looked like, in some way.

Though, as admirable as their dedication is, I wonder how important celebrating Shushan Purim with their families in Jerusalem really is that they put themselves and even children in danger walking alongside a busy highway. Unless maybe the roads are empty because of the roadblocks and there is no danger, but that does not seem to be the case. The only time there is a mitzva of aliya laregel is Pesach, Shvuos, and Sukkos - not Purim. Being so desperate to get to Jerusalem to celebrate Shushan Purim, when it isnt even a holiday for them (because they all live outside of Jerusalem) seems weird to me.

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Quote of the Day

I believe Israel has become the world's lab right now because they are using only our vaccine at this state and they have vaccinated a very big part of their population, so we can study both economy and health indices

-- Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla

We used to be called "Start-Up Nation". Now we can be called "Vacci-Nation"

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Headlines Podcast: 2/27/21 – Show 312 – Can we buy and sell the schar of Mitzvos? A portion in Olam Haba? Does Michael Steinhardt owe Dovid Lichtenstein $100k? (audio)

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Effie Herzki interview about Tindr profile (video)

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MK Bennett on Ofira and Berkovitch about his strategic spot (video)

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Miriam Peretz - Israel's next president? (video)

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Lenny Solomon Live (video)

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Girls Like You - Purim Parody | Purim Song (video)

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Feb 26, 2021

Eli Levin ft. Pumpidisa - Halelu (Purim Remix) (video)

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Purim Sameach from Bibi (video)

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Feb 25, 2021

Interesting Psak: mishloach manot with the wrong hechsher

Kikar is reporting on an interesting Purim-related psak given by Rav Avraham Yosef Scwartz. I don't know who this rabbi is or anything about him, but the issue he discusses is interesting.

The question posed to Rabbi Schwartz was if people preparing mishloach manot to send to others on Purim should be with food items that bear whatever hechsher is acceptable to the specific recipient or can you not worry about that and just send whatever you want, as long as it is kosher? The presumption that you have to take into account the acceptable list of hechshers of the recipient could make things complicated as you could have to potentially buy or prepare different products and different ingredients for different people.

Rav Schwartz answered explaining that mishloach manot is meant to accomplish two objectives:

1. ensuring the recipient has food for his Purim meal

2. to increase love, friendship and comradery among people

So, Rav Schwartz says, if you were to send food to someone with a hechsher that the recipient doesn't accept, you haven't accomplished the first goal of providing food for his meal, as he won't eat it, but you have accomplished the increasing friendship as the "giving" aspect is more important for this. While it would be better to send food that the recipient will eat but nowadays with so many hechshers on the market it isnt always possible to know what each person relies on and which he does not.

So, Rav Schwartz says, you should buy products that bear good kashrut certifications and send them. And especially on Purim when the goal is to increase love and friendship among people, we should receive any mishloach manot given to us happily and gratefully, while at the same time instructing household members to check carefully before eating anything received to make sure what was given is acceptable in your house.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci on US, Israel Vaccine Rollouts in Interview with i24NEWS (video)

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NBC Needs To Apologize For Their Libelous Portrayal of Hasidic Jews In “Nurses” (video)

I think this issue is somewhat worse than the stupid joke that was on Saturday Night Live recently that caused some furor...

1. it isnt comedy

2. stupid narrative that has no connection to reality

3. poor depiction of the Jewish characters

Even though it is slightly worse, I wouldn't get worked up. This is classic Jewish portrayal on the screen since forever (though recently we've seen less of it).

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street survey with Oded Menashe: who are you going to vote for? (video)

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Six13 and Friends: Al Hanissim (video)

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Ishay Ribo - Sibat Hasibot (video)

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Feb 24, 2021

Chazzanut concert for Adar (video)

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Quote of the Day

Yamina will not sit in a government led by the Left, including Lapid as Prime Minister... he can say what he wants, even that he is a kangaroo. We will not sit in a government led by the Left. We have no problem with Lapid sitting with us in a government.

-- MK Naftali Bennett (Yamina)

responding to a question if Bennett would sit in a government led by Yair Lapid who claims he is not Left but Right

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Interesting Psak: getting drunk on Purim during Corona

Kikar is reporting on an interesting psak issued by several rabonim from Bnei Braq, including Rav Yitzchak Zilbershtein, Rav Shimon Baadani, Rav Sariel Rosenberg and Rav Yehuda Silman.

The psak the rabbonim issued says that because of Corona people should not get drunk this year on Purim.

What's the connection between Corona and getting drunk on Purim, you might ask?

During Corona if someone gets drunk and clouds his ability to make good decisions he might end up not being careful with the necessary care to be taken to protect oneself from becoming exposed to Corona. This will also cause the infection numbers to rise and will cause a danger to the public.

Additionally, the rabbonim add, this year with Purim on Friday, getting drunk can possibly lead to chilul shabos.

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Book Review: The Israel Bible Scroll of Esther (Megillat Esther)

NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.

Book Review: The Israel Bible Scroll of Esther

I know it is close to Purim already, but you should really do whatever you can to get your copy of this version of the Megillat Esther, The Israel Bible Scroll of Esther, published by Israel365 and Teach for Israel. I just got my review copy last night, so apologies for the last minute review. As soon as I opened the package and took it out I was struck by how stunning it is.

The megilla is Megillas Esther, and I am sure most of you are familiar with it. I am not going to comment on the translation, but it is from The Israel Bible and that was really well done. The layout makes reading it easy and comfortable, with the Hebrew and English test side by side, accompanied by an interesting commentary below the text. Any verse that has commentary on it below the text is also fully transliterated so it will be easy for people (some of whom might not have strong Hebrew skills) to understand and identify key passages.

The book, Scroll of Esther, was published and dedicated in memory of Esther Horgen. Esther was murdered by a terrorist this past December while running in the woods near her house. Esther worked as a therapist but was also an artist. You can read about her elsewhere, but after she was murdered the articles about her showed a special person was taken.

Not only is this version of the Megillat Esther dedicated, aptly, to the memory of Esther Horgen but it is decorated with her artwork as well. I didn't know Esther or anything about her until she was murdered, but her artwork in the Scroll of Esther leaves me with the impression that she was a soft, joyful and tasteful person. If her art could define her, that is what I would assume. The colors are pleasant and soft, and the designs intricate but clear and not overly busy. The blend of Esther's art along with the clear text really makes this an appealing publication. I am including below a few samples of her artwork adoring the pages of the megilla.

The book is written with letters from the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and President of Israel Reuven Rivlin. It includes an introduction from her husband Benjamin Horgen and a foreword by Rabbi Tully Wiesz. After the megilla there are a couple of articles about Esther (both Esther Horgen and Queen Esther), followed by various charts, maps, prayers and other pages of interesting information, including information about the Esther Horgen Memorial Forest and Park. (where you can plant a tree in her memory).

"buy" The Israel Bible Scroll of Esther on TheIsraelBible.com ("buy" is in quotation marks because, as you'll see on the website, it is really free with a donation)

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Rafi Reshef follow-up interview with Efie Herchik (video)

she is fabulous. I hope she enjoys her 15 minutes of fame, and I hope it lasts longer than 15 minutes....

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street survey with Oded Menashe: who are you going to vote for? (video)

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Black guy asks Hasidic Jew to sing (completely unexpected) (video)

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Moti Weiss - Machshavot Tovot (video)

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Feb 23, 2021

Kashrut Alert: Fuse Tea from Georgian Coca Cola plant

The following kashrut alert seems important.

We've discussed numerous times the reliability of Coca Cola (and related products) imported form countries without a hechsher. There are different opinions on this. And not too long ago the factory of Coca Cola in Ukraine started to be certified by the kashrut of Machzikei Hadas, Belz kashrut - and regarding this too some say it is reliable and some say it is not.

The current kashrut alert is regarding a Coca Cola product, not Coca Cola itself, manufactured in Georgia.

Funnily enough, the main Coca Cola headquarters is in Georgia, but in the State of Georgia in the United States of America. That plant and headquarters is perfectly fine and certified kosher. The problem, or the alert, is with the Coca Cola plant in the country of Georgia.

The specific product in the alert is peach flavored Fuse Tea. The import label of this product bears the hechsher of Belz, Machzikei Hadas, along with the confirmation of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

Machzikei Hadas put out an alert stating that the Coca Cola of Georgia (the country) factory is not under their supervision and certification and they do not certify any drinks produced there. The label on that product is fraudulent..

The problem is on the import label, which is not uncommon. The import labels are printed by the importer, and the importer can put whatever he wants on it. There is no oversight or supervision on the import label.

Be aware.

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The Bloc Loyalty

Channel 12 News has reported that PM Netanyahu has once again signed his potential coalition partners on a loyalty document saying that after the elections they will only negotiate together as a bloc, and each will not go off on its own and support any candidate other than Netanyahu for Prime Minister.

Shas, Likud, and UTJ have signed this loyalty pledge.

I am not quite sure what the purpose of it is, other than to give Netanyahu a slightly better night of sleep.

If Netanyahu can put together a coalition after the election, these parties are in anyway, as they are part of the coalition. If Netanyahu can't manage a coalition of 61+ MKs, this document is meaningless. If Saar, for example, successfully manages to get 61 MKs to support him, will UTJ or Shas really not try to also get into the coalition? Same if Bennett succeeds. Maybe not if Lapid succeeds, but the other two - I don't see why not. And I dont see why UTJ or UTJ would go to the Opposition with Netanyahu just because it is Netanyahu.

Here is what is reported to be the text of the loyalty document.

I don't see how it does anything except ask the people to support them.

And what will happen if Netanyahu is close to 61 but does not manage to cross that minimum for a governing coalition. if he then tries to entice Labor or Kachol Lavan (Gantz) to join and push him over the top, he will have broken the loyalty commitment of forming a government together that is truly Right.

This document does nothing except make them all look like Netanyahu's lapdogs jumping at his every whim.

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Quote of the Day

I call upon the Haredi community to feel comfortable not allowing yeshiva bochurim collecting money to come into the house, even if they are vaccinated.

-- Corona Czar Professor Nachman Ash

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Interesting Psak: Kever Rachel, Bethlehem, and Purim

Kol Hai News is reporting on an interesting psak issued by Rav Shmuel Rabinovitch, rav of the Kotel and other Holy Sites regarding Purim in Kever Rochel.

In the past, ages ago, Kever Rochel was within the city of Bethlehem and Purim in Kever Rochel was celebrated on the 14th of Adar, as it is in all cities outside of Jerusalem (and a few select others). In recent years, Kever Rochel was separated form Bethlehem by a security wall, and in more recent years it was connected to Jerusalem by a wall and even with an extension of the Jerusalem eiruv. Municipal services in Kever Rochel are provided by the City of Jerusalem - such as the water supply and electricity. Kever Rochel is now in all ways connected more to Jerusalem than to Bethlehem.

The question is that while nobody lives in Kever Rochel and the question of which day to celebrate in Kever Rochel is not relevant to any residents, there are police forces that stay there regularly and they need to know what the status of Kever Rochel is so that those who wish can celebrate properly on the right day. The commanders of the police force asked Rav Rabinovitch what to do about this.

Rav Rabinovitch paskened that Kever Rochel should now be treated like Jerusalem, with Megillat Esther to be read on the 15th of Adar. This year because of the 15th being on Shabbos, in Kever Rochel they should do as Jerusalem does with the Megilla being read on the 14th along with giving the Matanot Laevyonim, and the meal on the 16th with the delivery of Mishloach Manot, on Sunday.

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Ichud Hatzala requiring Covid-19 vaccination to volunteer

Kikar is reporting that Ichud Hatzala management has made a major decision.

Until now most of the major discussions of forcing vaccinations has been via the government - in the education system, in various capacities such as tourism servers, government clerks, there was a situation in the religious courts (the batei din), etc. the private sector hasn't really been discussed much, except by people wondering what might be.

Ichud Hatzala management has announced that all Hatzala volunteers must be vaccinated by March 7 with both doses in order to continue volunteering in the organization. Any volunteer not vaccinated by then will not be allowed to continue in Ichud Hatzala.

Eli Beer, head of Ichud Hatzala, said the decision has been made in order to safeguard the health of the patients, the volunteers and their families. It hurts to have to remove volunteers from the system, but it will hurt more if anyone else will get sick or die because of refusing to take the vaccine.

Beer also hopes that other organizations will follow in his footsteps on this issue and make similar decisions, and hopes that the government will require vaccinations for all volunteers and government workers. This is the only way to prevent unnecessary deaths.

This is a big decision. The only fault I see with it is that the date given, March 7, is less than 2 weeks form today. If a volunteer hears this announcement even today and immediately runs out to get vaccinated so as to not lose his ability to continue volunteering, he or she would not be able to be fully vaccinated by March 7. It takes 3 weeks from dose 1 until you can get dose 2, and then it takes another week to ten days for the immunity to become maximal.

Obviously after the deadline people can get vaccinated and become volunteers, but it seems that the date of March 7 for losing status doesn't give current volunteers a fair chance to keep their status.

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Amazon Frum Sellers Being Hurt by Amazon

Selling merchandise on Amazon, Ebay and other similar website portals has become a very popular business over the past decade. Like any other group, a lot of frum businessmen and businesswomen are involved in such online businesses and selling through Amazon.

TOI is reporting on a new policy implemented by Amazon that could cause a major problem for frum sellers on Amazon.

Amazon's new policy is that all sellers delivering from non-Amazon warehouses through Amazon Prime will have to fulfill orders six days a week. Sellers can choose Sunday instead of Saturday, btu that creates a shipping problem as Fedex and UPS only offer limited shipping options on Sundays. So with no options for shipping on Saturday, because of Shabbos, and a very difficult shipping situation on Sunday, it is going to be nearly impossible for frum sellers not using the Amazon warehouse to continue to sell on Amazon. or they might have to fill the orders from the Amazon warehouse, which entirely changes the terms of the business arrangement.

No solution has yet been found. According to TOI, StandWithUs proposed a solution that would allow sellers to turn off Prime for Shabbos sales, but Amazon has not yet responded to the proposal.

Unless a solution is found, this is going to hurt a lot of people, including many in the frum community.

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Purim with Mayim Bialik | You Know How I Know? (video)

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Behind the Bima - BRS Rabbis and Rebbetzins Edition (video)

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Protecting the Health of the Kotel stones (video)

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Lenny Solomon Live (video)

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Isaac & Rubenstein - Shomer Yisrael - Live Lounge Sessions (video)

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Feb 22, 2021

Picture of the Day

caption contest!

1. even the Kotel is getting vaccinated

2. the Kotel meets the age requirements for priority vaccination

3. in a week the Kotel will finally be safe from all the people who keep touching it

4. Kotel still needs to wear its mask!

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pointless curfew might be coming for Purim

The government is strongly considering applying a curfew for the Purim holiday - it would likely start this Thursday night and be in place until Sunday morning. The curfew would be from something like the hours of 8 or 9pm until 5am. And maybe also a full closure on red cities.

The purpose of this curfew, should they pass it, would be to put a stop to Purim parties that would be operating against the guidelines.

Based on past performance, it seems likely they will only announce a decision at the last minute.

Unfortunately this is likely going to be meaningless.

First of all, even with a night curfew, people will be able to do whatever they want by day. Even if everyone were to keep the rules of the night curfew, which is a big if, they'll just move their parties to the daytime hours.

Second, if the enforcement of the curfew will be as light as it has been over the past couple of closures then this will just be a waste of time, effort and goodwill. Goodwill? Meaning, the government could earn some goodwill making a gesture to the people - tell the public that the numbers are trending down, so we are not going to lock you down, but please be responsible and follow the guidelines for being and keeping others safe, but it is mostly on you. Now, with curfews that will hardly be enforced, the same will be accomplished, or be not accomplished, but with resentment instead of goodwill. Not that goodwill is overly important, but if they are hardly going to enforce the rules anyway, why make everyone angry and resentful by setting a frustrating curfew?

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electronic ankle bracelets to track quarantine breakers

Because of the difficulties involved with the stifling of the CoronaVirus mutations entering Israel while granting of exceptions to the airport closure and allowing 2000 or so people into the country daily.. the government is looking for alternative methods. An additional factor is that it seems only about 35% of people entering Israel actually spend their quarantine in the Coronatels (Corona Hotels) - the rest find ways to get out of it and get excepted via committee and do their quarantine at home.

According to the news, the Ministry of Health is proposing, and I stress this is just a proposal for now and has not been approved or passed yet into law, to offer each person two choices - either spend quarantine in the Coronatel or spend it at home but with an electronic ankle bracelet so the government can track you and make sure you are staying home.

The problem with letting the people stay at home for quarantine after entering Israel is that so many people do not keep the rules of quarantine and go out anyway thinking the risk of getting caught and fined is very low. If some of those people have CoronaVirus, especially one of the mutations, and go out of their quarantine because they dont want to be stuck at home and are not afraid of getting caught outside, the virus spreads, against the best efforts of the government.

Requiring an electronic tracking device is not going to go over well and is just going to embolden the people who are involved in the conspiracy theories about government control, world orders, depopulation, government stealing freedoms, the vaccines being trackers and the like. While that alone might not be enough of a reason to scrap a proposal that might work - the conspiracy theorists will always find something to jump on, whether it is this or something else - tagging people with electronic tracking bracelets is going to make people feel like criminals. Even if it is understandable, as the need for tracking exists and there is no intention of treating them like criminals, it is still treating them like criminals no parole or making them feel like that.

We really don't want or need our little state to become a prison state... I really hope this proposal doesn't pass. It should have been withdrawn as soon as it was suggested.

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Rafi - are you married? (video)

this is so great I decided to add another clip today

Rafi Reshef interviews 81 year old "new immigrant" who went back to her gym for her regular workout... hilarity ensues...

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Gafni, Saar, Bennett interviews (video)

here are some recent political interviews for the upcoming elections - Moshe Gafni, Gideon Saar and Naftali Bennett...

and two in English...

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Palestinians: If Israel apologized for 1948, would you accept them? (video)

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BIL of Osnat Ben Shitrit z"l: I am against forced vaxx but now am unsure of myself (video)

tragic

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Bardak: yeshivas collecting on Purim (video)

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Meilech Kohn - Nichnas Yayin (video)

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Feb 21, 2021

Lapid threatens to hound Chabad

Nachum Barnea reported the other day that Yair Lapid threatened Chabad - if they would vote for Smotritch and Ben Gvir's party, he would hound them. That would be the end of the large chanukiyot in public places and at Chabad houses around the world. It would be the end of their reputation of "ahavat yisrael".

That report, a couple of lines in a broader article, led to an outpouring of anger, rejection, and also of support for Chabad.

Chabad probably owes Lapid a debt of gratitude for the outpouring of support for Chabad his reported threat caused.

Lapid denies making the threat, though he is concerned about Ben Gvir getting into the Knesset.

The background for this is the wide support Ben Gvir has among Chabadniks, who are not traditional Haredi voters (they are not traditional Haredi anything, despite the black jackets and hats). Lapid, or at least the report, believes that wide support from Chabadniks might push Ben Gvir over the top into the Knesset.

Even if true 100%, and even if Lapid will win the elections outright and easily form a leftist coalition, and even if everything possible falls into place for Yair Lapid in these upcoming elections, I can't even think of what Yair Lapid could possibly do to Chabad and how he could hurt them and hound them and shut down their Chanuka ceremonies or their other public work.

The Chabadniks don't put up their menorahs because they found favor in the eyes of the Prime Minister nor in the eyes of any specific MK. They market really well and pull a lot of strings and play every legal move, and do amazing work for Jews all around the world, especially not religious Jews. They have developed tremendous public support and goodwill over the years. They don't need Yair Lapid to like them or agree with them or approve of them for them to do what they do.

If true, this is probably the weirdest, and possibly least effective, threat ever.

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Tweet of the Day

Ben gets it (rather than the original itself) because he saved me the work of translating or summarizing it in English

Family of the pregnant woman who died of Corona: We opposed vaccinations, now we understand the price. We had set up a large Facebook anti-vaccination group. We've shut it down.

h/t @DavidBrofsky pic.twitter.com/GjF1WkmRUy
— benwaxman (@benwaxman) February 21, 2021

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we won't sit with them and we won't sit with them

The latest "we won't sit in a coalition with.." statement was made by the Haredi parties, as per my previous post, referring to labor due to the fourth slot on the Labor list being held by Reform Rabbi Gilad Kariv.

This gets added to a long list of parties or people different parties already won't sit with.

A bunch won't sit with Ben Gvir, and maybe Smotritch's party (if the factions split off after the elections).

Some might not sit with the Likud because of their support for getting Ben Gvir into Knesset (if it happens).

The Haredi parties won't sit with Lapid (though recently some are changing their tune on this, so it remains to be seen), and they won't sit with Lieberman.

Lieberman won't sit with the Haredi parties.

Obviously many will not sit with the Arab parties, as has always been the case.

Some won't sit with the Likud , because of Netanyahu (assuming it is Netanyahu forming the coalition - if not they'll be happy to have Netanyahu sit in their coalition).

This is going to make forming a coalition exceedingly difficult.

I don't think anybody expects Netanyahu to be able to form a full right wing coalition. The numbers make this seem unlikely, especially if everyone keeps their promise, as per the above.

Even if he could, I am not sure he would. In the past he has formed his coalitions using Left or Center parties and leaving out right wing parties. If his coalition was dependent on Bennett and/or Ben Gvir, would he form this coalition rather than try to bring in Labor or Lapid? I am not so sure he would, despite his campaign against others who might sit with Center and Left parties - Netanyahu always has.

And if he doesn't or can't have a full Right coalition, he is going to have a hard time pulling in a Center-Left party if his coalition partners won't sit with them. If the Haredim (specifically Litzman) won't sit with Lapid, and if they won't sit with Labor, how does Netanyahu form a coalition?

It looks like a lot more political chaos is ahead of us.

And I like that. I Have taken a strong liking recently to political chaos, and this makes it difficult for me.

Who do I vote for?

My voting strategy going into this was going to be vote for the party that will lead to most chaos. But now I don't know which party that will be. Should I vote for one of the Haredi parties, who will blacklist Labor and Lapid? Should I vote for either Labor or Lapid? Should I vote for Netanyahu? Should I vote for Gideon Saar? Should I vote for a party that will not sit with the Haredim? Should I vote for a party that the Haredim won't sit with? I don't think voting Bennett will help increase chaos but it seems almost definite, at this point, that he will be the kingmaker, which on its own is somewhat chaotic.

Such a dilemma!

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he can't be part of the coalition or mincha

This is pretty funny. Times of Israel is reporting that the Haredi MKs, from both Shas and UTJ, are writing off the Labor party as future coalition partners.

Why?

Because the fourth slot in the Labor list for Knesset is a Reform rabbi, Rabbi Gilad Kariv.

That's not the funny part of this though.

The funny part is that they said not only will they not sit with him in a coalition, but they also won't count him for a minyan in the Knesset shul. They said they won't throw him out of the shul (would they even be able to if they wanted to?) but they will make sure they have ten men, a minyan, without him, and he can be the 11th and on.

So, no coalition with the Haredi MKs and no mincha either.

Haredim not counting the Reform as part of a minyan is nothing new, so this isn't surprising, but it is cute how they linked the two.

More coming, in the next post, on the coalition issue.

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we just do what we want

There were several articles in the news last week about the various rabbonim who said the yeshivas should not send out, or allow, the boys to go collecting this year for Purim as they do every year, but it should all be done by telephone this year.

Just last night, the beginning of the Purim collecting season, we had 3 different groups of yeshiva boys knock on our door, collecting for their yeshivas "tatim".

Personally I was not giving them enough money to justify tcheppering them with questions as to why they are not listening to the gedolim that said not to go around collecting. I just gave them each a small amount and sent them on their ways.

But they, or at least some, are not listening.

Nothing new. I believe that most of us listen or follow the rules, social, societal, communal, legal, when it is convenient and when not, not. Higher callings and ideology - that is just something we pass the buck on. It is easy to say I am just following orders, this is what the gedolim say, passing responsibility to others. We all, for the most part, just do what we want.

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Headlines Podcast: 2/20/21 – Show 311 – Brisk : Reb Dovid Soloveitchik ZT”L (audio)

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street survey with Oded Menashe: should Israel give vaccinations to the Palestinians (video)

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Trump's Impeachment Lawyer David Schoen explains YarmulkaGate (video)

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Lone Soldiers surprise their families (video)

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A Yid - Benny Friedman (video)

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Feb 18, 2021

the Reform kiddush in Mea Shearim

Remember this video from a couple of weeks ago that had some Yerushalmim singing and having a kiddush in shul, depicting the scenes of a shul? It was a really well done production.

It turns out that some people are upset about this, and even tried to disrupt the filming of the video when it was being produced.

I saw some grumbling online about it being a desecration of a shul and minor kvetching like that. I sort of see the point, but so many shuls have a kiddush in the main sanctuary, and halachically it is not difficult to find a justification or allowance for that, that this did not bother me and I did not see it as a serious issue.

A short while ago pashkevilim went up in Haredi areas condemning the Kiddush video.

The pashkevil condemns the video and its producers calling them leitzim, scorners, making fun of holy Jewish minhagim of a kiddush, a shalom zachar and the birth of a daughter, and even dressed in the garb fo Yerushalmim with the shtreimels, caftans, etc and even had some real ones participate as well. It notes the inappropriate level of consumption of alcohol and meat and wine while singing Shabbos songs - and they look like the Reform who sang in shul and did things of pleasure.... They call this an unprecedented bizayon and desecration of the holiness of Shabbos.

All that is nothing compared to the main complaint which is in larger bold letters. They complain about the serious prohibition of producing even "kosher" movies and videos because of what it leads to...

They say they brought the producer before the beis din and warned him about this and he promised he would not spread his merchandise, but now has not kept to his word.

They put out their call with a last chance, though I am not sure what they want him to do or not do. It is not clear to me what they expect, but they say especially during such a difficult time when we need mercy from Hashem he should not take upon himself this responsibility for such actions that just make things worse.

It even made the news the other day.. see the video here

סערה במאה שערים: מאבק נגד קליפ חסידי שמציג את טקס הקידוש. המתנגדים מאשימים את היוצרים בכך שהם עושים צחוק מהקידוש, ואפילו טוענים – המשתתפים בסרט נראים כמו יהודים רפורמים @Eli_Bitan @romy1n #חדשותהלילה pic.twitter.com/SKqdZSDcmT
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) February 17, 2021

I was surprised to see that even during the production they tried to stop it and tried to invade the shul in Mea Shearim to put an end to it. I wonder how they were able to keep going despite the efforts of a mob like that.

I particularly appreciate the comment that these people must have never seen Reform people or a Reform shul if they said that the images in the video look like the Reform... The Reform never had a kiddush like this, besides for the singing.

The guy interviewed in the news show called it authentic and real. I don't like that so much. I think we tend to think any scene of an activity performed by a Yerushalmi is "authentic". Personally I have never seen a shul like this where the davening and the kiddush lead one into another and intermingle like that. Normally davening finishes and the people go to the kiddush room. Even if the kiddush must be in the sanctuary itself, they finish davening and set up the kiddush. The singing as well is not normally the way they sing in a Yerushalmi shul. This is a production, not an authentic scene of davening and enjoying comradery at a kiddush. Even the amount and style of the singing at the kiddush is done well beyond the norm. This is not to say that such a shul, such a scene, does not exist in real life, but this is not the norm or the authentic shul experience.

Anyway, my point was going to be that you can find something to complain about no matter what. A clip of a scene inside a shul of frum people singing and having kiddush has been turned into the worst thing, the greatest frum accusation calling someone Reform....

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Tweet of the Day

Mahar Ibrahim, a nurse in a Corona ward, was treating a dying patient. The patient's family was stuck in traffic. Mahar took a siddur and began reading "Qriyat Shema" with the patient. "I understood that this is an important moment in Judaism and didn't want him to die w/o QS". https://t.co/W2GGGhyv29
— benwaxman (@benwaxman) February 18, 2021

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Quote of the Day

I have got 3 today and don't want to choose between them. so here they all are. 2 from MK Moshe Gafni and one from Agudah's representative on the electoral oard, Avraham Yustman (so all 3 are from UTJ people, and on 3 different topics).

1. We always abstain from voting in the electoral committee, because we do not believe that political representatives can decide such things - all votes there are really political, and one day, we are concerned, it will turn against us such as over the issue of female representatives not on the party list

-- Advocate Avraham Yustman, Agudath Israel member on electoral committee, explaining why they abstained in the vote regarding voiding candidacy of some extremists in the upcoming elections

2. The face of this irresponsible person has been revealed, and I am warning you, if these elections will remain undecided and [Gantz] passes the minimum threshold, he very well could still become Prime Minister. That would be a tragedy for Haredi Judaism and for the Nation of Israel, as he is not even worthy of being a Member of Knesset

-- MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ).

Wow

3. There are many Sefardi girls that learn in our seminaries. A sefardi family whose children learn by us and we take care of their budgets and needs, you don't think they should vote for UTJ? Why do they come to learn by us? There are hashkafic differences between Shas and UTJ. The proof is, why do they want to send their children to our institutions, why do avreichim want to learn by us. The reasons are very clear, and I won't expand on it.

-- MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ)

maybe it isnt due to hashkafic differences but because of [perceived differences in] style or quality of Torah teaching and learning, and/or due to perception of level of prestige of an institution, or for other reasons. And maybe some of it is hashkafic for some people. How sad though that the institutions of Torah are so political and not just torah and education. (though I am not arguing his point about who they should vote for - he has a right to try to get them to vote for UTJ)

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A Conversation With Orthodox Jewish Baseball Star, Elie Kligman (video)

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street survey with Oded Menashe: which politicians should be banned from elections (video)

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Gideon Saar interview on Ynet: Netanyahu is afraid of me (video)

I am not sure Netanyahu is really afraid of him...

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Lenny Solomon Live (video)

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Sruli Brochner with Meir Green: Adeloyada (video)

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Feb 17, 2021

Picture of the Day

Mayor of Jerusalem Moshe Lion enjoying the snow with residents of the city in Gan Sacher. Photo credit to City of Jerusalem

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dealing with the dead during Corona (video)

fascinating

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Rudy Rochman LIVE With Nissim Black (video)

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street survey with Oded Menashe: what grade should Education Minister really get (video)

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Valentine's Day - American Jews and Israelis (video)

cute

and at least they are all Jewish...

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Shalom Project (video)

Shalom Project from Vision & Hart on Vimeo.

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Feb 16, 2021

PSA: Bad Weather Coming

Due to plummeting temperatures expected in many places around Israel to reach freezing or near freezing levels during the coming nights, the water authority is recommending people leave a faucet dripping overnight to prevent pipes and water tanks from freezing.

The electric company has announced they have added and activated generators to be available for backup if systems should potentially overload (from heaters running at full capacity, etc).

Ministry of Education has said that activities of schools planned in open areas (in red and orange cities) are canceled for the coming days.

We all already know to expect power outages (despite the generators) and internet outages, as happens in every storm (and in most light rains). Be patient.

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