Normally people eat chametz until the time on Erev Pesach that one is obligated to stop eating chametz and then people dispose of it and burn the chametz...this year because Erev Pesach is on Shabbos, and one cannot eat matza on Erev Pesach, and we need a way to dispose of our remaining chametz after eating the challa (in whatever form you might have it) but unable to burn it because of Shabbos, it is common for one of those methods being flushing the remaining chametz down the toilet.

The rabbanim of Bet Shemesh, whoever they are - I havent seen a list of the 30 names signed on the letter - issued a psak that people should not dispose of their remaining chametz by flushing it down the toilet on Shabbos, whether it is just the chametz itself or even if the chametz is wrapped in a vessel of some sort such as a bag. In previous years when the situation was similar with Shabbos being Erev Pesach, people flushed things down the toilet and it caused problems with the pipes getting stuffed up and even caused chametz to come back up, and sometimes also into neighbors houses, on Pesach itself. This is therefore a mitzva of disposing the chametz being done by causing damage and even causing people to have chametz present, and it is a mitzva being done via an aveira.

It sounds horrible and disgusting. I dont know why any homeowner would flush bags of chametz down the toilet or drain. I can understand crumbling up bread into small pieces, that seems ok, but big pieces and doing it with bags or other containers seems worse than negligent and a recipe for disaster. Do they really not think it might cause a blockage of the pipes and have a sewage backup over the holiday?

Besides for the damage being caused to everyone in the area, I am not sure there is really a chametz issue. once the food has been sitting in the sewage system it doesnt seem like it retains its status as edible food. And anyway, if I am the neighbor and have someone else's chametz coming up through my pipes, it still doesnt belong to me so I havent violated the prohibition of having chametz on pesach. EVen the fellow who flushed it down was mafkir it and did the annulment of chametz so it is stupid to do this, it is damaging to do this, but I dont think it is a violation of the rules of chametz nor is it causing others to sin.

The rabbonim signed on the letter suggested an alternate solution. They suggested throwing any remaining chametz into the street, into the public thoroughfare. The Municipality has no intention to acquire that chametz and will make all the garbage cans hefker before Shabbos, so chametz can be disposed of in city garbage cans.

It is not uncommon here for people to refuse to dispose of old bread in the garbage cans, even wrapped up, and instead just put the leftover bread (all year round) on top of walls near the garbage cans or on top of the garbage cans. I wonder how they will do this before Pesach rather than putting it in the hefker bins...

If the city if making all the garbage bins hefker, I wonder what they would do if somebody would take ownership of some of these bins and take them home...

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This past week as Qatargate stepped up a level found people debating whether Qatar is an enemy of Israel or not. People who used to say Qatar is an enemy State are now saying Qatar is complex or Qatar is complicated but not an enemy. People who previously did business with Qatar are now saying Qatar is a hostile entity or an enemy of Israel.

To me the question of whether Qatar is an enemy of Israel or not is besides the point. Pointing out the fact that Qatar is one of the main financiers, if not THE main financier, of Hamas, is beside the point.

I dont think anyone other than the State of Israel should be funding salaries in the Prime Ministers Office, or any other government office or Ministry. Not even Israel's greatest friends and allies in the world. If I heard the USA was paying the salaries of the aides of Israel's Prime Minister, I would think that is a problem. If I heard Hungary was paying the salaries of aides of the Defense Minister of Transportation Minister, to me that would be a serious problem. 

In my mind it does not matter, for this issue, if Qatar is an enemy or not - no foreign entity should be paying the salaries of people in the government (Knesset included) of Israel. If Qatar is an enemy state that makes it worse, but if they are not an enemy it is still not ok.

The government has been pretty busy at times over the past year getting upset (even to the point of passing laws about this) that foreign money is funding leftist protest movements in Israel and anti-government activity, when it turns out that foreign money was also funding people in the government itself.

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the 2nd half is about Israel and Gaza

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not too impressive

🚨 WATCH: Witkoff to Fox News: “I Was Duped by Hams” ..."We need to be clear who the aggressor is here, and that is Hams.” pic.twitter.com/1EfuAAXVHM

— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) March 23, 2025

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The Opposition isnt doing anyone a favor, and is not protecting democracy by defending him. They are simply opposing the government, which is actually their job but in this case it is not a good cause. I think their defense of the Attorney General is fine - whatever you think of her, firing her is more complicated legally, she isn't responsible for the October 7 failure (at least not directly or explicitly), and her work and defending her can be seen as defending democracy.

That being said, Bar's firing has been frozen by the courts until the Supreme Court hears the petitions against the firing. As much as the Netanyahu government is trying to force a constitutional crisis, I don't think Bar's firing is going to bring it. I don't see the Supreme Court canceling the firing of Ronen Bar. I think they will let it pass. The law, and granted I am the furthest thing from an expert on this, seems pretty straightforward and it does not seem complicated to fire him and I think the Supreme Court will allow it. Of course the Qatargate investigation might be the one impediment, but I think it will be allowed. If they try it with the Attorney General and don't make do with just a witch hunt hearing and a statement of intentions but go through with it, then the Supreme Court would likely intervene as firing the Attorney General is far more complicated. We probably have to wait for our constitutional crisis until they try it with Gali Baharav Meara. 

All that being said, I still find it reprehensible and highly hypocritical the way the government has chased everyone involved in October 7 out of office while they themselves refuse to acknowledge responsibility and resign and go to elections. As much as the security forces bear responsibility, the government does as well. Every claim they have made about the various individuals in the security forces applies equally to the government. Can they get away with? Obviously yes, as they have until now, but I still find it highly hypocritical and reprehensible. 

The government should resign and go back to the public with elections for the public to renew its faith in the government, in all the politicians, or say who else they want to lead the country to finish the war or to rebuild the nation.

And, in addition, I think the government should wait for all these reforms and changes, which are highly divisive, until after the war. Greater unity is needed during wartime. Especially in a war that seems to be never-ending,  so far 17 months long with no end in sight, in which the numbers of people reporting for more and more reserve duty has been decreasing, in which many people, rightly or wrongly, feel the government is simply extending the war to keep itself in power without needing to face the public, the government should wait for all these changes that cause protests and fighting. Concentrate on the war and save everything else for later. Yes, the government has the technical right to make these various changes. One can question if they have the moral right considering their responsibility for October 7, but they at least have the technical right. But even with the technical right, I dont see it as the smart or wise thing to be doing right now.

Since then members of the Likud (and maybe other coalition parties as well) got upset. There were calls, all from within the coalition, for Goldknopf to be fired for this, for taking away housing designated for the general public and illegally redirecting it to the Haredi public, while the Haredi public already has a lot of housing being built for it [in Bet Shemesh]. The blitz against Goldknopf was led by Minister Amichai Chikli. Chikli said the coalition is large enough and stable enough and they can and should fire Goldknopf, they dont need a minister who cares nothing for the miluimnikim, the Reservists and other soldier.

After a torrent of criticism in today's government meeting, Goldknopf issued an apology. Goldknopf said that he apologizes for the way he spoke at the conference last Wednesday. "To remove any doubt, the Ministry of Housing acts in accordance with the law, and in opposition to how people with personal interests tried to explain his words, nothing was done against the rules. The Ministry acts to benefit all sectors and populations in Israel and I apologize for how I presented my words".

So he says he didn't break the law but he does not say he did not redirect the housing from the general public to the Haredi public. Funny apology, but it seems to have been accepted. Sorry for getting caught, forgetting that other people might hear this. Nobody explained his words like that  - he said it explicitly and there is video all over the internet of him saying it. We'll see how this progresses - will it die down and go away or will the heat increase?

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Bar deserves to go home, and technically PM Netanyahu has the right to fire him. Obviously I am not taking Qatargate into account and the conflict of interest it creates, but if that is not a legal impediment, there is nothing technically wrong with the firing, and Bar does not deserve the backing of the Opposition.

The Opposition, and the people, should attack Netanyahu. He deserves to go home just like Bar does.

Bar does not deserve the backing of the Opposition. It just makes them look bad.

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While tefilla is always good, I have another suggestion for them that might work more immediately, and it is a solution they themselves came up with, suggested and have bandied about for many years already...

That would be, leaving the government because what they were promised has not been given. 

the Haredi parties have been threatening this government time after time since it was formed a little over two years ago that if the Draft Law they want is not passed by a variety of deadlines, they would collapse the government. And every time Netanyahu calls their bluff and fails to pass a draft law for them by each deadline, they decide not to collapse the government because they want other things as well that they would have to risk losing by collapsing the government. So the government continues to think they are not serious and keeps promising the passage of the law and just regularly moving the goalposts, and the Haredi parties continue to just accept it despite their regular threats (though recently they have also stopped threatening, and only Minister Goldknopf has continued with the threats).

If they would carry through on their threats they might be taken more seriously next time. And also, collapsing the government would give them more time and kick the can a little further down the road, which is something they have been doing for a long time.

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  -- Minister Betzalel Smotritch

to note, I am favor of everyone involved with any responsibility resigning and going home, leaving public life. That includes heads of the military, heads of the various security services, and heads of the political leadership. Everyone. 

That being said, I find it, once again, highly hypocritical of Smotritch and of many others in the government to be strongly pushing all these resignations and/or firings for everyone else, and also pushing to get investigations and conclusions finalized, while they themselves sit tightly in their own chairs and refuse to allow an investigation to even begin into the entire picture and into the political side specifically (ie army investigated itself but didnt look at the political side, shabak investigated but didnt look at political, etc). And specifically saying the above, what a lack of self-awareness. Bar wont quit so it is a targeted strike on personal responsibility? Maybe it is but Smotritch also hasnt quit, and he even said a few times they in government including himself are all responsible.  he is right about Ronen Bar but he is being super-hypocritical, as is everyone else in the government who pushes this all on everyone else while refusing to allow the government to be looked at. 

Even Amit Segal posted the image with the description of it being embarrassing.

Netanyahu should have resigned when indicted. He should have worked to clear his name, and if he would he could then run again for politics. Deep state, blah blah blah. Others were indicted and resigned.

rabbi talking Torah to a group of ascendants on Har Habayit, protected by a visibly religious Jewish Israeli policeman

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Dr. Goldmeier teaches at Touro College Jerusalem. He is an award-winning entrepreneur receiving the Governor's Award for family investment programs in the workplace from the Commission on the Status of Women. He was a Research and Teaching Fellow at Harvard. Harold is a Managing Partner of an investment firm, a business management consultant, a free public speaker on business, social, and public policy issues, and taught international university students in Tel Aviv.

 

Another Holocaust survivor has passed away; this 96-year-old was a Jewish war hero. Melvin (Meinhold) Mathias was 7 years old when his family fled Germany and made their way to America before the US State Department locked the entry gates from 1930 to 1939. The current political kerfuffle is not the first over immigration. Neither was Mel the only immigrant/refugee to contribute more than his fair share to the American people. Mel was a family man, Israel advocate, affable friend, businessman, and a distinguished service medal-winning US Army veteran.

Mel’s family were German Jews for two centuries or more during which Germany and civilized society became synonymous until the rise of fascism. Mel was not a displaced person like my wife who was born in a DP camp. He knew his place in life was to be the best American Jew possible, proud of both his heritage and the country that took in his family. He read American and Israeli news every morning and evening.

Growing up, Mel lived in a family-owned, two-flat apartment building. In a unique twist, the family consisted of two brothers who had married two sisters. Each couple had one child. They all lived in one three-bedroom apartment. Mel and his parents (Erich and Kathinka) lived with his uncle, aunt, and cousin (Ernest, Lena, and Sidney). Mel and Sid forged an unusually strong bond akin to brothers rather than cousins. Mel was sworn into United States citizenship on July 7, 1943, and about seven years later was sworn into the US Army. In the 79 years we knew one another, he never spoke about his honorable and award-winning military service to the country he loved so deeply.

Mathias served in the Korean War until 1953. There were not many Jews so Mel stood out. He earned but never bragged about his

• Korean Service medal,
• National Defense Service medal,
• United Nations Korean Service medal,
• Republic of Korea War Service medal,
• The Korean Presidential Unit Citation medal,
• “Ambassador of Peace” medal from the South Korean government, and
• In recognition of his service, the Chicago Honor Flight in 2016 to honor the veterans at the Korean War Memorial.

Later in life, Mel agreed to be a test subject for the first use of titanium in knee replacements at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

 

Mel spent more than two decades supporting veterans as commander, quartermaster, and communications chairman of the Jewish War Veterans Pvt. Sam Neivelt Post 407. He also served as corresponding secretary for the Wally Burns Post 8077 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

After I moved to Israel, we spoke on the phone a few times a year. Mel was up on the news from Israel, and it disturbed him deeply. He and other German Jews were shaken but not shaped by the twist of the world’s most civilized society into one of barbarians. He never understood the Korean Civil War in which he fought. It left one half the same people to flourish, share their culture with the world, and become a global leader in information and telecommunication technologies. The North rapidly turned inwards, choosing a path of isolation, consumed and spreading fear and loathing. He and I would share our disappointments with Israel’s Arab neighbors and Palestinians. They once blessed the world with knowledge and a cultured life during the Islamic Golden Age. Now, their notable claim is to be the world’s worst terrorists, jihadists, and destroyers of modern civilization.

Mel spoke with a happy note in his voice about any subject. Once, he ruminated that all three civilizations crashed in his lifetime. He and I were scared for America, where hate and antisemitism are on open display. He always closed our conversations with queries about my grandchildren in the IDF and wondered what might have been had there been a Jewish army in his childhood.

Survivors include his daughter, Linda Mathias Kaskel (Bruce Kaskel), and his son, Larry Mathias (Sue Haas Mathias); grandchildren Beth Kaskel (Michael O’Neill) and Julie Mathias (Nick Meyer); great-grandchildren Mason and Florence O’Neill; cousin Sidney (Rita) Mathias; and sister-in-law Ruth Berman (late Barry Berman).

 

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