The irony is so thick it can be cut with a knife.

This is in two parts...

very difficult situation..

This is a complicated issue and there are varying viewpoints and piskei halacha on the matter, just as there are in any issue but especially complicated ones.

Actualic is reporting on a psak from the beis din of Beitar Ilit regarding the issue of event halls that were set to host events - weddings, bar mitzvahs, etc - that had to be canceled or postponed due to Corona - what happens with the money from those bookings? People held weddings and bar mitzvahs on their porches and in their living rooms and in the streets instead of in the halls they had booked. It was nobody's fault - Corona did not allow it to happen as planned. it is not a matter of blame, but why should people pay for events in halls that did not happen, and on the other hand why should the halls lose out on the money for an event that was booked (and paid for, at least in part via the deposit) and they were willing to put on?

Generally, for the most part, people who contacted the halls to ask for their deposit back were turned away.

The beis din of Beitar Ilit sat to discuss the issue and has issued a psak as to what should be done in these cases. They dealt specifically with halsl in Beitar. The psak might or might not be similar for such issues outside of Beitar.

Regarding:
1. Wedding Halls:
The two halls in Beitar each operate differently, so the psak is different depending on which hall had been booked.
Regarding Ulam Hagefen, all money needs to be returned, partly in cash and partly in credit. Any monies over the amount of 2500nis should be returned in cash within 2 months. Any amount less than 2500 can be returned via credit to be used for another simcha (and can be transferred to other people).
If affected people do not have an opportunity to use the received credit by Elul 5780, the beis din will decide what to do at that point.

Regarding Ulam Golden Sky:
The owners rent the building from a landlord so in this situation they must return all monies paid above 1500nis within two months. the 1500nis itself is still up in the air and more information is needed for the beis din to rule on.

2. Regular halls
Other halls in town that are used for bar mitzvahs, sheva brachos, etc that are usually operated by various local institutions (shuls, etc) rather than businesses..
The hall management must return all monies paid within 30 days.
The sums paid in these types of halls are generally much lower, and any credit given will be difficult to use (presumably because new simchas will be booked quickly and will make the hall unavailable to be used for such credits).
Obviously, these halls cannot now cash any "head checks" they have already been given, nor can they try to collect any additional money for those events.

3. Regarding caterers:
The agreement with caterers is an agreement for providing a service. This is affected by what is categorized as "makat medina" - a countrywide plague - something that has affected everybody equally, and is also an "onnes", so the caterers must return all monies received.

4. Regarding transport arrangements (such as paid transport for schools):
These are considered service agreements and because they could not provide the service they cannot collect money for it.

However, because these transport companies have arrangements with the schools for the entire year, and base don those arrangements they invest in vehicles with significant investment (that often involve leasing vehicles, taking loans, etc), a compromise should be reached.

With both parties being damaged by the situation, the damages should be divided equally. Regarding the period that is normally Pesach vacation, the transport companies should be paid in full - every year they are paid for this period without providing service, so this year should not be different. Payment for other days should be set at 25% of the normal price.

5. Regarding School Transport arrangements:
Transport companies that do not work for the schools but via private arrangements with the parents
Some schools and institutions have their own drivers rather than outsourcing to a transport company. These drivers are like any other employee of the institution, and that issue has already been dealt with privately.

6. Day Care:
Day Care institutions working under the government arrangements must follow the instructions and decisions of the Ministry of Economics and Employment (that is responsible for day care). Their decision was that no money could be collected for the days the day care was shut.
These institutions have generally been compensated generously by the government and have received a majority of the monies they normally get.
They cannot collect any money for Pesach vacation either, that normally gets paid for, as such were the instructions from the Ministry.

7. nursery schools:
officially licensed nursery schools:
where the teachers were sent on employment furlough or those who were granted compensation (as freelancers), as long as they received payment above 50% of normal wages, the parents are exempt from paying any more for the shuttered months. For Pesach vacation they must pay as normal.

private gans:
for the month of Adar, full payment must be made. For Nissan, only payment for Pesach vacation should be made. For Iyyar, we cannot obligate people to pay, for numerous reasons, for the days on which no activity was held, but parents are recommended to pay 20% for those days.

8. Rentals of stores, yeshivas and institutions
if the rentals are for places that cannot be used for living they are exempt for part of the payments due during the months they could not function in a reasonable way. The landlords should deduct a significant percentage. If they cannot come to an agreement together, the beis din will make a decision in each relevant case.

Wow!

Just a few short weeks ago there was a report about how the IDF closed off entry to the Arab village of Husan thus preventing the residents of neighboring Jewish town of Betar from entering to do their business there. The cause was the increased stone throwing incidents coming from the youth of Husan on to passing vehicles on the road below. The residents of Husan were upset as they stood to lose a lot of business, as Betar residents enter Husan to have their cars fixed, along with buying building materials, among other things. The residents of Betar were upset because they would now have to spend more money elsewhere to do the same things, and more time to pick up their equipment or get their cars fixed at other places farther away.

It looks like the IDF plan worked. The residents of Husan have published a letter they sent to the people of Betar apologizing for the stone throwing and expressing their intentions to pay and recompense for any damage caused.

In the letter they blame the issues on local youth that are out of control and are bored as they are not in schools and then get involved in things the local community does not approve of.

They express their desire to keep the good relations and the working relationship between the communities. They want to continue entering Betar to build the new houses and dont want to be kept out and lose their source of income.
sources: Kikar and Jewish Press

This is a fascinating turn of events. If they actually put forth the effort to stop the kids from throwing stones and keep the road safe, the IDF plan will have worked. "Economic Peace" works, at least to some extent.

According to a report on Kikar, the people of the Arab village of Husan, along with some people from the neighboring Jewish town of  Beitar, are upset that the army has decided to try to put an end to the recent increase in stone throwing incidents from Husan on cars passing on the road below the village (375). To that end the IDF has now prohibited the entry of Jews into Husan, and IDF tractors blocked the egress from Husan to the road forcing locals to use an alternate bypass road.

The Husan people are upset that they are now losing all the Jewish business [mostly] from Beitar, and say it will have the opposite effect from the desired effect. They say it is kids doing the stone throwing, urged by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, and they have no control over this no matter how much the IDF punishes them. The say the IDF knows who is responsible and can punish those families alone and not everyone collectively, but they prefer to have the village leaders do the dirty work, though it will be ineffective.

The Beitar people are upset that now they will have to pay more for construction materials and for getting cars repaired because they cannot go to Husan to take advantage of the cheaper prices.

1. they basically support and confirm the concept of economic peace that many, including Bibi, have spoken about. Meaning, as long as they are making a decent living, they won't want to get involved in all that fighting that often hurts them economically. The people of Husan are saying exactly that. It i sjust kids. We just want to make a living. Hurting our bottom line by banning the Jews will just radicalize more people.

2. weird how despite the regular terror inflicted on the Jews, both local and others just passing through, [some of] the people of Beitar are still upset at the thought of having to go somewhere else and pay more money to fix their cars and buy goods. They'd prefer to support the people throwing stones on them then to pay extra elsewhere.

3. they all claim to know better than the IDF what security measures will and will not work.

4. Maybe Israel should just build a wall around Husan.

this was taken at an event in which the city of Beitar arranged for the sale of weapons to residents at discounted prices so people could defend themselves if necessary. Anyone buying a gun was first given training in how to use it.

thoughts:
1. good for them
2. awesome that the Iryah of Beitar arranged this
3. no women? women don't need to defend themselves?
4. suddenly Toirah does not protect?
5. the obvious associaion that comes to mind when seeing these pictures is comparing it to the shuk arba minim and the way they inspect the esrog..
6. that main guy in focus in the first picture - looks to me like the older son in Shtissel
7. I really hope we do not see a sudden spike in gun accidents in Beitar..

In Beitar the police uncovered a marijuana lab in someone's machsan - storage room.

In the raid they discovered 56 marijuana plants being grown, including a full lab with lighting and heaters and ventilation...
source: Kooker

At least it was all matza menutak and did not have any problems with shmitta, according to most poskim.

if you heard someone was arrested for growing marijuana and had to guess where this was, you'd probably guess Tel Aviv, or maybe on a moshav with farmland...

Probably Beitar Ilit would not be the first town that would come to mind.

Well, according to Kikar, a 40-something woman in Beitar, from a "well known" family, was arrested for growing marijuana in her house.

I think marijuana should be legalized, as long as tobacco and alcohol are legal. But that is beside the point. If you think it is not out there, or it is someone else's problem, you are wrong. This is everywhere, in every community.

There has been a funny ruckus in Beitar. Not really funny, but I find the whole story a bit humorous.

Someone threw a kiddush for a baby. He is the owner of a local Beitar paper, and he also published photographs from the kiddush in the paper. He wrote, alongside the pictures, that the pictures were photographed via a "shabbos goy". He added that the goy was not asked to do so and had photographed the event entirely on his own initiative, and therefore the pictures can be enjoyed and used, and they are being published with this disclaimer.

Highly unusual.

Is Shabbos observance only something to insist on being done properly in Tel Aviv and by secular government officials, but we, the religious, can find loopholes and ways around things? Do we now have a way to photograph our shabbos events?

With the arguing and accusations going back and forth, the goy has finally spoken up and confirmed on the radio that he did it all on his own initative. Not only that but the goy even said that he photographed the event by employing a shinui, though he did not explain how or what he changed in the process to qualify for a shinui, not that a goy needs a shinui at all...
source: Kooker

I think the funniest part of it is the goy claiming he did it with a shinui. He is a talmid chochom too! not just any old shabbos goy!

I dont know if it matters or indicates anything one way or the other, but in the pictures posted it looks like people are even posing..



I wonder if this will be the next big thing - pictures from shabbos events - kiddushes, bar mitzvahs, sheva brachos, etc...

With the election material giving me a headache and waiting impatiently for it all to be over in just a few more days, I am looking far and wide for "lighter" and more entertaining news items.. I had to rub my eyes when I saw this one..

In Beitar Ilit, some vaad hatzniyut, one comprised of women without even any official stationery or name to their group - just 3 women, have penned a letter and sent it out to local relevant stores. In their letter they demand adherence to certain standards of modesty, with a list detailing their issues:


some of it is fine and seems to be a repetition of rules, or perhaps standards, already in place in many ultra-orthodox communities. The one that had me scratching my head is #2 saying that items, referring to undergarments, sold without packaging must be kept in drawers that do not slide open but have handles that twist open. Why? What difference is there in what type of drawer they are kept?

The part that had me laughing is the demand mixed through a few of the numbers that the undergarments must be traditional, clerks are not allowed to recommend any undergarments to women, especially brides, in colors other than  only white, beige or black, and a demand that a variety of colors and styles not be sold.

I don't know how realistic or serious this is. Do these 3 women have any authority to enforce these rules? And if the stores don't accede to the demands, what will happen - will anyone care? Will these 3 women boycott the local stores and go shopping in Jerusalem or Bnei Braq instead for their undergarments?

Also, some have been saying that there is a ban on colored lingerie in Beitar, and that is not accurate if you read the letter, but it is not all that far off.

Either way, news like this provides a refreshing break from election dirt.



-------------------------------------------------------------
Donate to the Schneider Hospital so I can run the Schneider benefit marathon..

If you enjoy zumba, you might not want to live in Beitar.

The rabbis of Beitar Ilit have decided to ban zumba from within the confines of Beitar. They have publicized a letter saying that recently exercise groups have started in Beitar using the Zumba method.. which is in opposition to the ways of the Torah and to the holiness of Israel.. so it is prohibited to participate in such groups and any questions and doubts should be directed to the beis din.
(source: Bechadrei)



Truth is that I did not really know what zumba was until just now.. I just thought it was a highly intense exercise dance that all these women like to go (based on the local advertisements I see) to nowadays to burn some calories.. but after seeing the news item about the ban I was curious why it would be banned - what could be so bad?

Here is a [men's only] zumba video I found.. I see why they do not approve.. some of those moves can easily be described as inappropriate for Bais Yaakov girls and yeshiva bochurim (though I doubt there are too many zumba chugs for guys in Beitar).. There are plenty of other types of exercise the good girls of Beitar can still do while keeping their neshamos holy and pure.



I would surely fall on my face if I even attempted this exercise class and dance... I am not nearly coordinated enough for this..

I do not know if banning is the way to go about these things. Bans don't often work - they cause more resentment. They would probably do better teaching their residents why zumba is inappropriate (in their opinion) and should be avoided. I do "get" what their problem is, and while I am not sure I agree with the approach, I do not think they are too far off the mark on this one.....

Kol Hakavod to Eli Tabib for an important decision and a kiddush hashem.

Tabib is the [relatively] new owner of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team ("football team" for the non-Americans).

Eli Tabib

Tabib just announced last night that he has come to an agreement with the broadcasters that Beitar Jerusalem will no longer play games on Shabbos, but will play them from now on on either Saturday night, Sunday or Monday. And in Tabib's words, coming to this deal successfully is like " bringing home the championship".

Tabib's big drive to do this was for fans of the team - Beitar Jerusalem has a very large contingent of religious and traditional fans who have always wanted the team to play on days other than Shabbos - both so as not to be involved in chillul shabbos, but also so they could enjoy watching the games and going to the games.

Charlton, the official broadcasting company of the league, confirmed the decision and arrangement, saying "We are doing everything in our power to help the fans of Beitar Jerusalem and to help the team Beiat Jerusalem, and we hope that this is a process that will help the team and the fans."
(source: One)

Now go out and win another championship (in addition to the championship of not playing on Shabbos!)

And hopefully they will be an example to other teams, and maybe be the start of a trend...

Today the government was set to make changes to the list of towns included in the list of "areas of national priority". Some towns would be removed, while others would be included.

Being included in the list of "areas of national priority" means residents of the town receive benefits in the areas of housing, infrastructure, education, culture and defense, taxes and others.

The big news being mentioned by the various outlets, especially the Haredi outlets, is that 2 Haredi towns are being removed from the list, while 15 settlements are being included in the list. The 2 Haredi towns being removed from the list are Beitar Ilit and Harish. In addition to the 2 Haredi towns being removed, some non-Haredi towns are also being removed...

I have no problem with Beitar being removed - Beitar is now a town of 40,000 people with complete infrastructure and very little new construction (unfortunately). The government does not need to give incentives to people to move to Beitar. It is attractive in its own right.

Harish, on the other hand, should be included in the list of priority. The government is building a practically brand new city, and it should be included in order to make it more attractive and to entice people to buy and move there.

It should be noted that not all Haredi towns have been removed from the list - I did a brief search and see that Modiin Ilit is in the list, and the news is not saying that town is being removed...

At the same time, 15 towns are now being included in the list, some of which are closely associated with Habayit Hayehudi. The full list has over 600 towns that receive different levels of benefits and stimulus packages to attract residents.

That is the benefit of being close to the pie. The Haredi parties know that very well, as well as any other political party, which is why they made sure to be close to the pie for so long. It did not work out this time.

It is unfortunate that Harish is being removed. The government should really include it to make Harish especially attractive to buyers.

One additional point, the Prime Minister said at the opening of the Cabinet meeting this morning that beyond the list of towns being approved, Jerusalem will be included as well - Jerusalem will always be given national priority and will receive the same and more benefits that any of the other towns get. He said whatever will be decided today for the other towns will also automatically apply also to Jerusalem!

I don't know the details of what is going on over in Beitar, but there is some serious investigation into the possibility of a municipal-controlled and funded modesty squad - vaad hatzniyut - that used violence to enforce its rules.

The frum world's approach to new technology is sometimes understandable, but sometimes it is confounding.  

The latest announcements, and there are two of them specifically, coming out of the frum world regarding technology are more of the latter rather than the former.

1. Some organization, or group of people, in Beitar Ilit has been putting out notices around Beitar announcing that because the plague of the iPhone, Blackberry and other similar items that have been prohibited by the gedolim has been spreading through our camp, so much so that people are even pulling them out in the shteiblach and in other public places, without any shame, they have set up this organization to fight against this breach in any way possible.
Some steps they plan to take include things that they intend to shock the foundations of the haredi society, including:

1. having people appointed in every shul and beis medrash that will approach any person who brings such a device into the shul and will demand that the person leave. Such people will not get called up to the Torah, they won't be allowed to lead services on the day of a parents yahrtzeit. 
2. they will report to the schools which parents are holding these devices, so that "there children will not learn with our children", and they will also publicize which schools do not cooperate with them, against the wishes of the gedolim.

This is definitely unusual. A haredi yeshiva in Jerusalem has founded a youth soccer team that will compete in the city league and tournaments.

Mynet reports that Yeshivas Darchei Torah of Jerusalem, founded a few years ago by Rabbi Yoni Yisrael, for the purpose of learning while training the boys in vocational skills, has founded a soccer team. The team has been practicing for a city-wide tournament starting next week. As Mynet says, the team players wear their black yarmulkes, tzitzis and peyos, and have the support of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team.

The rosh yeshiva says he decided to do this because the yeshiva boys love following the Beitar Jerusalem team. They founded the team and were put in contact with the fitness administrator of the youth department of Beitar Jerusalem  He began training them, and they have developed a special relationship. They have even been allowed to train on the teams home field, and the team has considered donating equipment to the youth team. The trainer says these boys show more respect for the trainer than the average teams.

In Beitar Ilit they are very worried, as they are in many areas and communities, that the construction freeze can and might be renewed at any given moment. With a debilitating housing crisis happening, and the freeze causing tremendous loss of money to people who signed on houses, along with losses to kablanim, a solution was needed to avoid, as much as possible, the possibility of everything being frozen again at a moments notice. Not only that, but the plot in question was originally under construction by the Heftsiba company, that eventually went bankrupt a few years ago and the property remained untouched, despite the buyers having paid for their homes.

The kablanim got permission, due to the exceptional situation, to build at unusual hours - all night long. This despite the fact that the noise is keeping people awake at night, and is normally illegal at the wee hours of the night.

Residents who are disturbed, and whose children are disturbed by the noise and cannot sleep, also went to the city beis din and requested the kablanim be told not to build during those hours.

The beis din considered the situation and the claims, and came to a decision that they publicized. The beis din paskened that the neighbors should take into account the families who are in crisis, who are at risk of not having a roof over their heads, and they should accept the burden of the disturbance with understanding, and they should not do anything to prevent the work.

The beis din continued that the unusual work is only short-term, for a week, and the knowledge that carrying this burden for this period of time will definitely help tens of families who have suffered for a few years with concern about the houses they bought.

The building freeze has everyone up in arms. Even the normal Yesha council "collaborators" are calling for everyone in Yesha communities to build. There has never been a building boom like the one going on now during the current freeze.

Unfortunately it is likely to be temporary, like to the tune of a couple days. I expect the government will start cracking down on people breaking the freeze in the near future.

Aside form just telling people to build, different communities are doing whatever they can to circumvent the orders in legal ways, such as finding loopholes, having construction started to the stage that it is not included in the freeze, requesting an exemption, etc.

The haredi communities in yesha are no exception. They have gone to 2 claims that in the past have brought them partial success in circumventing general work stoppage orders.

1. The order affects them far worse than any other community because of their high level of growth - lots of kids, weddings, etc.
2. They are not living in Yesha for ideological reasons, but practical reasons.

While I never understood why reason number 2 would ever be a cause for the authorities in question to grant the exemption, if ti works it is fine by me. Whatever excuse they can find to get those in charge to let them build is great.

The mayor of Beitar, Meier Rubinstein, made an appeal to the Obama administration, because it is they who are behind the freeze, to grant Beitar an exemption:

"They pushed us to come here. They gave us no other choice. We did not necessarily want to settle in a place beyond the Green Line. But we had no other options inside the Green Line.

"Even in Beit Shemesh secular Jews are trying to stop us from living there," added Rubinstein, referring to recent controversy surrounding building tenders reserved for haredi-only residents.

"America does not want us either. They won't give us a Green Card. We are in a worse situation than Sudanese refugees. They don't want us in Israel they don't want us in America, where are we supposed to go?"

[...]

Rubinstein said that his family and others who made up the seed of Beitar Illit came to the Land of Israel long before there was a state and lived for generations in Jerusalem.

"We are true Zionists. We came because of our religious faith, we are not ideologically motivated."

Beitar Illit and Modi'in Illit are the nation's two largest haredi-only towns and both are positioned just beyond the Green Line.

Both towns also have the highest fertility rates in Israel and one of highest in the entire world.

A mother in Beitar and Modi'in has on average eight children, according to a report entitled Patterns of Fertility in 2006, released last week by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

"What can we tell a family who bought a small two-room apartment ten years ago as a newly-wed couple and who now has eight children," said Rubinstein.

"They can't even expand their existing apartment, let alone build another apartment."

Rubinstein said there were dozens of families who will be financially ruined by the present building freeze.

"People have already paid building contractors and were planning to enter their new houses in coming months. They signed rental agreements or even sold their homes in with the expectation that they would soon be moving in.

"Where will all these families live now?"