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  -- Ofer Vinter

Vinter has been a bit of an unknown and enigma and I have seen much assumed about him and those assumptions have made him well liked, including in the more right wing part of the Haredi community... Vinter is going on the attack here as he camppaigns for the upcoming elections... we'lll see what the fallout is for going ont he attack against the Haredi representatives, even if what he is saying is true (and it is, obviously)

Rav Yitzchak Zilbershtein, rav of Ramat Elchonon neighborhood of Bnei Braq was asked if the groups of people who go to the hospitals top bring cheer to patients by playing music, singing and dancing can contiue doing so during the Nine Days or if they should not play live music during these days of mourning over the destruction of the mikdash?

Rav Zilbershtein responded that the gemara says nothing is more important than pikuach nefesh, and bring cheer and joy to sick people is a great mitzva. Also, we find that joy and happiness helps the healing process.  So it is a great mitzva to go tot he hospitals and play music and sing and bring joy to the patients who have serious illnesses even during these difficult days of mourning...

source: Haredim10

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We have seen in some previous elections attempts by new political formations in the Haredi community. A new party will form and run in the elections and the traditional Haredi parties will push hard against them leading to combinations of social threats against the people behind the new party along with pressure to drop out so as to not waste votes and to not take away votes from the traditional parties. In the past, with just a small number of semi-recent exception, the new parties do not even make it to the finish line and drop out well before the elections. TOV and DERECH were the exceptions that I can think of offhand and they continued to run all the way to the end (and even won some mandates) in municipal elections but not in national elections, and there was a Hared women's party that ran to the end of but ended up very weak after a tough campaign against them and beyond their actual existence did not really accomplish anything significant with their run achieving a very small pool of votes.

There has been talk in recent monthsof several new Haredi parties being formed. I saw one that would compete directly with Shas being formed by a Rav Abergil. I am aware of another that seemed to me to be a yeshivish anglo (or maybe part anglo) party, though I havent heard anything about them recently. I am hearing of another party being formed by groups like Rav Betzalel Cohen and others he is working with. We'll see what comes of all these and if they can withstand the pressure that will surely be levied on them. These are the traditional formations of parties and what normally happens to them as the elections approach.

There is a new campaign out there right now an dit is different than the traditional.

Instead of forming a new party and trying to garner support and withstand the pressures that are certainly coming, Motti Leitner, a municipal politician from Bet Shemesh (from the DERECH parrty) is now running  a 2 million shekel campaign for the upcoming elections. He formed a faction, called "HaTzibbur Hacharedi"  - the Haredi Public, and instead of campaigning for this as a party looking for support, he is campaigning right now to push the traditional Haredi parties to take him in as a representative of his facton. According to the current campaign, UTJ and Shas are both made up of various factions, and Hatzibbus Hacharedi would simply be another faction in the umbrella and would be given a specific slot on whichever list accepts him to represent his faction. His campaign is not seeming to target UTJ or Shas specifically but I think naturally it would be more in line with UTJ, though practically I think Shas might have a higher chance of adopting him (not that they will but that the chances are higher in my opinion).

Leitner's campaign is pointing out that yeshiva bochurim have become targets, the honor of Torah has been trampled, families are being crushed under financial burdens. These are traditional Haredi issues and technically exactly what the traditional Haredi parties supposedly deal with... so why is this new faction necessary? They say new blood needs to be infused into the traditional parties, more representation of the younger generation.

source: i24 News

Interestingly, DERECH, the party Leitner heads in Bet Shemesh, did not run a municipal campaign on traditional Haredi issues but seemed to represent the community called the "modern Haredim" which are young couples ansd families many of whom work and are not learning in yeshivas and have concerns other than things like the traditional concern of Haredi draft and money for yeshivas and the like, so I find it interesting that they are moving away from that and trying to bring the traditional campaigns to the younger crowd they claim to represent. I look forward to seeing how this develops..

Interestingly, the original Alligator Alcatraz did not have a moat with alligators but it was located the Everglades of Florida where alligators are commonly found in the wild. More interestingly, it did not work and Alligator Alcatraz, the original, was shut down.

אשכרה עירית ירושלים מכבים את המוזיקה ונותנים דוחות בשוק מחנה יהודה בגלל תשעת הימים pic.twitter.com/1oM7WossV9

— אלי (@sakranovsky) July 17, 2026

translation:

I posted this because it went somewhat viral and the suggestion in it is interesting and cute, but it is wrong. The Jerusalm municipality twitter/x account responded that their shutting of the music and distributing of fines had nothing to do with the Nine Days. They were shutting down music and giving out fines because of municipal bylaws being violated in the playing of loud disruptive music during the "quiet hours", aka siesta hours, of 2-4pm, and also the business owners had put their music guy making all that noise out in the public walkway without a permit rather than inside their own premeses...

it is easy to assume even something as ridiculous as what was originally posted. It is good to get the true story.

While it might be against halacha to play music during the Nine Days (yes, there are different minhagim, and also different interpretations of what is considered prohibited music in regards to the Nine Days), as far as I know there are no laws against it in the legal books of Israel (other than wedding halls being shut down, and I dont think that is a law rather a directive from the Rabbanut kashrut authorities)...

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I assume this law will be shot down by the Supreme Court pretty quickly. I do not see how you can pass a law to exempt some people from arrest for the same crime that other people are being arrested for at the same time. 

I do not know why they did not propose an easy solution of freezing arrests of all deserters for the same period. That would provide equal application and would perhaps give it more of a chance of sticking (though I am no legal expert so may be entirely wrong about that). 

Behadrei is reporting on a dispute in a building in RBS D. The building is 8 stories tall and residents living on the upper floors (including an elderly resident) want to use the Shabbos Elevator that was included in the building by the original kablan, which they iostensibly planned to benefit from when they bought their apartments, and everyone who purchased in the building knew this was an included feature which their apartment price included. They say they purchased the right to use the Shabbos elevator. Preventing them form using it will prevent them from being able to be mobile in general and even from going to shul sometimes on Shabbos and holidays.

Other neighbors oppose the use of the Shabbos elevator in the building in which they reside. They make claims of it being harmful to the education of their children, damaging to the spiritual atmosphere of the building and neighborhood.

Unable to resolve the matter amongst themselves, they agreed to go to a beis din for a decision.

The beis din heard both sides and their positions, and after weighing the matter has come to a decision.

The beis din stressed the issue of the holiness of Shabbos, the special charchter of Bet Shemesh and the sensitivity of the Haredi community to the operation of electrical systems on Shabbos, while also taking into consideration the the rights of the residents who purchased this ability when they purchased their apartments and that the shabbos elevator was installed as an original part of the building (rather than them requesting to add it at a later stage).

The beis din came up with a plan for a comprise by which the Shabbos elevator would be operating on a limited schedule, only certain hours of the day rather than over the entire Shabbos, and some other limitations (I imagine only stopping on the upper floors and the ground floor but not on the lower residential floors). Efforts will be made (nothing is specified so I do not know what the efforts are in real life) to minimize the sense of harm to the charachter of Shabbos, while filling the needs of the residents on the upper floors.

in the case that I was familiar with 25 or so years ago the rav they went to said the Shabbos elevator cannot be relied upon (he did not like the shabbos mode and considered it halachically problematic even bdieved) so the Shabbos elevator was not allowed to go into operation and the fellow above had to stay put on Shabbos and yomtov.

דו״ח שלום עכשיו. רגע של נחת על הבוקר 😌 pic.twitter.com/dKrm3A233N

— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) July 14, 2026

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On Kol BeRama radio Rav Ahron Butbol was asked a quesion about this type of behavior.

A listener asked if it is ok to register for Likud membership so as to support a specific candidate who is religious in his candidacy for a slot on the Likud list. the questioner mentioned that until now he has refused to do so so as to avoid strengthening a secular political party, but ont he other hand perhaps continuing to refuse actually leaves the field open to anti-religious elements and leaves it open to the opposite of what he wants - he wants the Likud to get closer to more religious positions, but leaving it because it isnt a religious party (at least officially) leaves it to be more influenced by anti-religious...

Rav Butbol said that on election day voting for a secular party is a problem because that strengthens a secular party, but the request here is not to actually vote for the Likud but to register so as to vote in the primaries and support a religious candidate. It is problematic to do so because the Haredi public is committed and obligated to vote for the Haredi and religious parties. However, registering for internal elections is a tool to influence the identities of their representatives and is not necessarily considered supporting the platform of the party.

Rav Butbol points out there were three Likud MKs who torpedoed the progress of the Draft law. The PM could not do anything about it. They were elected to Likud slots in the Likud primaries. If the public with a connection to tradition would be more involved in the internal elections in the Likud, candidates who keep tradition and religious values can be elected and the Likud could be turned into a party that protects the Torah world more. 

Before continuing I would note that MKs Edelstein and Ilouz are both religious and still chose to oppose the law that was being presented.

To conclude, Rav Butbol paskened that if the candidate is recognized as a good decent person with a strong and true connection to religion and tradition, there is a strong reason to register to help him be elected. This would not be considered "assisting a chilul hashem" but the exact opposite - strengthening the Torah positions in other political strongholds.

A few days ago there was a report in the news that the World Cup is affecting the IDF fight against terror.

According to the news report, the World Cup, aka Mondial, competition/tournament that is ongoing is very popular in the Arab communities (this is well known and is not the point of the report or a surprise) and the Arab Muslim fighters against Israel, the terrorists are staying up late at night to watch the games, and then they sleep late in the morning. They are currently far more focused on the World Cup matches than on fighting.

The adjusted schedules of the terrorists has forced the IDF to adjust its schedule of activity and fighting.

The above has been reported about the fighting in Judea and Samaria, as well as in Gaza and in Lebanon. They might watch up to 4 matches a night and the are too tired in the morning to fight.

So how did this bring me back to high school?

I remember my 9th grade rebbi talking about us following baseball and other sports teams and he said that the baseball game is good for getting 40,000 goyim in the stadium and more tens of thousands watching on tv at home off the streets and not attacking or bothering the Jews. That is all it is good for.

I guess he is still right, even with Hezbollah and Hamas terrorists.

Maybe Israel's security forces should explore the possibility of creating additional global tournaments that will draw the attention and focus of the terrorists and  we will have to spend less time and energy fighting them. 

I responded asking about the possibility of the primaries being canceled entirely. While I still dont think that is going to happen and is only being used to pressure Likud leadership to give Netanyahu the maximum number of  "shiryunim" as possible, it is still on the table.

We'll see what he responds, if anything. 

The obne thing that does come of this is that it indicates election season is finally officially here and open!

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The Spokesman of Ichilov Hospital revealed last night in an interview that Erdogan, the President of Turkey, had some bad cancer and Israel sent, with PM Netanyashu's approval, via the Mossad a specialist doctor to turkey to treat him and the team saved his life. 

The specific doctor's name has not been revealed.

Erdogan has for years been threatening Israel and speaking militantly about Israel. And PM Netanyahu has considered Erdogan an enemy and a dangerous threat for years. And specifically now over the past few days with Erdogan trying to buy F35s from Trump, Netanyahu has been speaking very harshly against Erdogan. 

So, why does Israel keep saving our worst enemies? Erdogan (unknown when this happened), Sinwar (2006ish) and Mahmoud Abbas (in 2018) all saved by Israeli doctors sent by Israel (were there others we don't yet know about? but this revelation makes me wonder...)... It makes me wonder if the harsh talk, maybe on both sides, is just for show

Doritos in Israel has come out with a couple new flavors in "limited edition"... the two flavors are Shawarma flavor and Pickles of the Shawarma flavor.

I had the Shawarma flavor chips last week to try. It tasted fine and similar enough to shawarma flavor, but honestly I was not impressed. That is not what I am looking for when I eat chips - it was not satisfying in the way chips normally are.

I now got hold of the Pickles of the Shawarma flavor..

This was a little better than the Shawarma flavor chips but actually pretty similar, though not as heavy a flavor. It was not so easy to identify pickle though - more shawarmey and not so much pickle.

I was wondering why call it the pickle of the shawarma rather than pickle of the hamburger or pickle of the cornbeef on rye or dill pickle or kosher pickle or any other type of pickle... and why/ how come up with that specific pickle of shawarma flavor at all...  I guess once making a shawarma flavor, pickle of the shawarma was just needing a minor adjustment and you get the cuteness of the name for marketing...

if you buy it, enjoy

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I dont know how realistic or exaggerated this clip posted by CBN about summer in the Bungalow Colony is, but from what I can tell from the chatter online, many think it is pretty realistic...

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  -- MK Yaakov Asher (UTJ)

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Names are very important in halacha. Not just what the name is but also how the name is spelled. And not just names of people but also names of places. 

I always found the specificty of how names of places or even names when being transliterated from a foreign (ie a language other than Hebrew) language to be somewhat inane as the entire spelling is really made up so as long as it sounds accurate, does it really matter halachically if it is spelled with an aleph here or there, an aleph or a hei or an ayin, a tet or a tav, etc? is one really more right than the other? I am not talking about names that are Hebrew names that have sources for the spelling (though someone might create a name that is a derivative of a name like that and spell the new name slightly differently...), but names that are really foreign names being spelled in Hebrew.

Despite my feeling that being specific regarding the spelling of names that are not originally Hebrew is inane, halacha and batei din place great importance on the "correct" spelling of names, including the spelling of non-Hebrew names being written in Hebrew. This is important in beis din for all sorts of contracts and ketubas, and even treated with greater importance regarding the writing of a gett, the divorce document.

Tiberias has been an inhabited city for over 2000 years. It is a question or debate if Tiberias has the status of a walled city from the time of Yehoshua, Joshua, when the Jewish nation entered the land of Israel (though it might have existed under a different name back in those days, with the more modern city of Tiberias been built later on the ruins of those more ancient towns, whatever - point being, it is a very old city and has been around since biblical times in some form or another).

The Eida Hachareidis is, reportedly, now debating and coming to a conclusion as to the proper spelling of the name of the city Tiberias. According to Bechadrei, they began debating if the properlys pelling in Hebrew has the word ending in an aleph or hei - טבריה  or טבריא... how has it been spelled until now? how were gittin and kesubas written in Tiberias until now? I don't know but suddenly it became a question for the Eida.

To cut to the chase, Rav Avraham Yizchak Ulman, a dayan of the Eida, concluded after much research that it should be spelled with a hei, טבריה.

According to the article, with the recent expansion of the Haredi community in Tiberias the discussion of the proper spelling has been renewed and discussed, with Rav Ulman now coming to the above conclusion. 

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sorry but that Israeli burger is more of a kebab than a burger

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The announcement made by the committee says that all Jewish students in all the cities of our beloved homeland Iran are able to request assistance from the secretary during the exams on Shabbos. There will be people available appointed by the schools to assist the Jewish students on writing the exams. There will be no cost involved and no authorization letter will be needed - just request it and a goy will be provided. Any Jewish students who might wish to avail themselves of this service should request it in advance from the school administration so the appropriate number of goys available can be arranged.

Obviously they will not help with supplying the answers but to accomplish the writing task, the schools will have shabbos goys available for any Jewish students that need one.

  -- MK Yinon Azulai (Shas), directing his ire at the team of the Attorney General and went on to say that the aggressive arrests and enforcement are not achieving their goals but are creating the opposite effect of locking the Haredi community down even more as they circle the wagons to oppose it and it raises the antagonism in the Haredi community towards the State and the IDF...

He is right, but it takes two to tango. The reps of the Haredi community have also not been flexible. They also need to look at what is happening, recognize the gravity of the moment, and be flexible. Maybe if both sides show a little bit of flexibility perhaps we can come to a reasonable resolution.

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