-- Rav Yitzchak Yosef, former Chief Rabbi of Israel

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel

------------------------------------------------------

I admit the first thought to pop into my head when I heard of the direct hit in Bnei Braq was about the promise of the Chazon Ish. Supposedly the Chazon Ish had promised that rockets would never land in Bnei Braq and itis considered safe. Rav Chaim Kanievsky had reaffirmed that several times over the years.

Now that promise seems to have expired and the citizens of Bnei Braq might have to be concerned about the same laws of nature as the rest of us.

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel

------------------------------------------------------

A great miracle happened when this missile fell. 

the rav of the local eruv went out to fix what he assumed would be a destroyed eruv, sensing that the eruv poles and wires in that immediate area would have been damaged by the explosion. When he got there with his tools he discovered the eruv was fully intact having incurred no damage at all.

A miracle!

5 people got injured, but the eruv wire didnt tear and that's what is important.

This was such an amazing miracle that the rabbonim of Bnei Braq went out to see the miracle for their own eyes and expressed that in the merit of shabbos observance of the people of Bnei Braq it protected the city and I guess it protected the eruv that helps them observe shabbos.

This is a tremendously busy area. There are skyscrapers there alongside large malls and businesses, with almost permanent traffic jams. A large missile hit the area, did not hit any of the large buildings , caused some damage to a couple stores and a bus but it didn't knock down any of the skyscrapers it narrowly missed, didnt destroy tens of people in their cars on those busy roads, injured only 5 people in an area that could have seen tens of injured or killed...

But the eruv is the big miracle.

אִם ה' לֹא יִשְׁמָר עִיר - שָׁוְא שָׁקַד שׁוֹמֵר

Rav Zilbershtein was asked if the promise of the Chazon Ish extends to Modiin Ilit and other Haredi towns.

Rav Zilbershtein responded that while the Chazon Ish himself never said so about any place other than Bnei Braq, and he himself (ie Rav Zilbershtein) cannot stand in the place of the Chazon Ish to extend the promise, but it is clear that the promise was based on the Shabbos observance of the residents of Bnei Braq. Any place that observes the Shabbos - the promise and security applies equally to that place, and bombs will not fall there.

source: Hamechadesh

If it provides people some comfort and calmness, more power to him!

I would note, that there are plenty of towns across Israel that are fully shomer shabbos, and it isnt just limited to Bnei Braq and Modiin Ilit or even just to all haredi towns, though I would note that just this past Thursday a rocket landed and exploded in Beitar Ilit, a fully Haredi and shomer shabbos town, with several injured (thankfully nobody was killed). If Rav Zilbershtein is correct, they should all have this protection of the promise of the Chazon Ish, and I hope they all do.

I do wonder if the protection of the Chazon Ish promise requires the entire city to be shomer shabbos or can neighborhoods within a city get the promise applied as well if the entire city isnt necessarily shomer shabbos but some neighborhoods within area. I suspect it does. Even Bnei Braq isnt fully shomer shabbos, though today the bulk of it is. In the time of the Chazon Ish there was a significant portion that was not, such as the Pardes Katz neighborhood, among others. Even today, while Pardes Katz is more frum than it used to be, it still isnt fully Haredi.

Rav Mazuz was asked if one is obligated to sleep in the sukka in light of the possibility of rats scurrying around in the dark.

Rav Mazuz, after comparing it to a lengthy halachic discussion of the obligations in the sukka when extremely cold or with other annoyances paskened that in regards to the presence of the rats in the area, one would be relieved of the duty to sleep in the sukka. One would still need to eat in the sukka and make kiddush, etc, but one would be exempt from sleeping there. A live and awake person does not need protection from rats according to the gemara as his living presence being awake is enough to keep the rats away from him, but a sleeping person needs protection form the rats, so it could be dangerous at night, thus exempting him from the obligation.

source: Hamechadesh

Bnei Braq has not had real elections, at least not in a long time. the Degel and Aguda parties had an arrangement, officially agreed upon, by which they would divvy up the municipal offices, with a rotation arrangement, including the mayor's office. No need for elections as only one candidate would run for mayor each time.

Because of all sorts of broken deals around the country, mostly starting with Elad, Shas is upset at Degel and has decided they want a piece of the pie in Bnei Braq as well. They supposedly offered to join the rotation agreement and making it a 3 way rotation, but has so far been refused. So, Shas decided to run its own candidate, Uriel Buso, currently a Shas MK and formerly a deputy mayor in Petach Tikva.

Supposedly the numbers indicate that Shas could take up to about a third of the votes in Bnei Braq, though I am not sure there is any accurate count, considering no municipal elections have been held there in ages.

If Degel and Aguda continue their arrangement, a third of the votes (and that is if they maximize their vote) is not going to get Buso the victory.

However, as Kikar reports, Buso is actually polling much higher and seems to have a good chance of winning the race, if the polls are to be believed. That makes this an interesting and watchable race. If Buso wins that means Bnei Braq, the stronghold of the Haredi community, the stronghold of UTJ, not just is no longer, but it would also mean that the public is no longer listening to the gedolim. For Buso to win it means [some of] the Ashkenazi residents, a fairly significant amount, will have to ignore the instructions of the rabbonim and vote for the Shas candidate instead of the Degel-Aguda candidate. That makes this super interesting. I do wonder if we are seeing a major drift in the culture of the Haredi community where people start to vote for what they think is best rather than for whom they are told to vote...

While we have lots of protests nowadays, some of them blocking roads in various places around the country, this one is different. 

An Egged bus driving its route through Bnei Braq was stopped when it pulled up to a stop and the waiting passengers refused to get on the bus because the driver was female. Instead of getting on the bus they saw the driver and decided to protest, standing in front of the bus in the middle of the street to protest the indecency of being sent a bus with a female driver.

This is weird. They could have just waited for the next bus. What did they expect to happen by protesting and blocking traffic? Was an alternate driver going to appear out of thin air?

Residents of a neighborhood of Bnei Braq sent a letter to Rav Yitzchak Zilbershtein, rav of Ramat Elchonon neighborhood, asking what to do about a rat infestation their neighborhood is suffering - what segula could they perform to get rid of the rats, as exterminating them has not worked. They asked, what segula should we do and what ( ie of our failures and bad character traits) should we repair to rid our neighborhood of the rats?

Hamechadesh brings the response of Rav Zilbershtein to this question.. Rav Zilbershtein said there are several known segulas to rid one of a rat infestation (he doesnt mention it but one of the popular ones today is hanging the picture of Reb Shayale of Kerestir in the area), but now, he says, is not the time for segulas but the time for action. Rats go to areas that are generally dirty and where they have food in abundance, especially from garbage, and water, and old disposed of furniture they can hide under. 

Rav Zilbershtein said the presence of the rats in this area is a chilul hashem because it means these areas in Bnei Braq, which is the city of Torah, are filthy, while streets and courtyards in the areas nearby abutting Bnei Braq are clean and do not have rats.

Rav Zilbershtein says the idea that they should be more concerned about spirituality than about physical beauty and cleanliness is not true. There is a mitzva to beautify Eretz Yisrael, especially areas where talmidei chachomim live. And not being clean does not just result in an area not being pretty and clean but it also brings infestation and disease, and scares children and women. Before looking for segulas, clean up the filth! Rats naturally will be attracted to such a filthy area. Possibly they should also look at the presence of the rats as a sign from Heaven that they should clean up.

Rav Zilbershtein advised a campaign, in coordination with the municipality to encourage and fund the campaign to spruce everything up and clean the courtyards and buildings entrances, but not just clean but actually upgrade everything and make it look nice, plant grass or astroturf, cleaning campaigns for the courtyards, set up a neighborhood committee to administer all this, etc...

I love it - they ask the rabbi for a segula to get rid of rats and he tells them to just clean up their mess.

a gutten shabbos

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel

------------------------------------------------------

Some people are upset about that. In Bnei Braq there are two different approaches formulating and debating how to best respond - some say let's greet the protesters with drinks and cakes, or cholent and other delicacies for a Thursday night protest, along with smiles and warm greetings and handing out candles for Shabbos and other things.. Others are upset and are considering this an attack on Bnei Braq, an attack on Haredim, inappropriate and should be met with dirty diapers, rocks, rotten food thrown at them and counter demonstrations. I am reading it online and people are very passionate about this and very upset and really considering themselves as being under attack and saying to leave Bnei Braq out of it.

While I am not quite sure the efficacy of protesting specifically in Bnei Braq, I do not see why anyone should think Bnei Braq is inappropriate for protests like this and out of bounds. Bnei Braq is part of the country just like any other city, village and town. They get involved in politics in a big way they cant just wash their hands and say they have nothing to do with it. The Bnei Braq residents are nto at fault for anything, but they are as much part of the country and system as are the residents of Tel Aviv, Petach Tikva, Jerusalem, Bet Shemesh and every other town. If people want to protest in Bnei Braq, no Bnei Braq resident needs to take it personally as an attack. Bnei Braq is not an autonomous entity and need not be treated any differently than any other city. Just because it has a unique demographic doesn't mean it is out of bounds.

People refer to Tel Aviv as "The State of Tel Aviv" in a derogatory way as if it is treated and has a personality of a completely separate entity from the rest of Israel. The truth is Bnei Braq is not so different and is treated by many as "The State of Bnei Braq".

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel

------------------------------------------------------

I am not a mystic, but coming shortly after the death of Rav Chaim Kanievsky one must wonder if he and his promises really did provide the city with protection from attacks of all sorts as many have said...

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel

------------------------------------------------------

Minister of Interior Aryeh Deri put together a plan to assist people in financial need. After some initial hiccups it finally got worked out and the pay cards were sent out to recipients to be used in select stores to help them buy food and grocery items.

The program was funded to the tune of 700million shekels. According to the news, about 200,000 families around the country qualified to receive this support program. Each will receive a different amount loaded onto the card, dependent upon the specific financial situation plus number of family members and their ages.

According to Hamechadesh, residents in Bnei Braq who received the loaded card are upset as to what they discovered. Two issues seem to be upsetting people:

1. in the list of approved stores for using the card are included AM:PM and Tiv Taam. Bother stores are stores that sell treif food and/or are open on Shabbos. Additionally, some of the other stores included in the list are minimarkets that sell at higher prices.

2. They spoke to someone who received the card loaded with 1000nis, and on March 18 it is supposed to be reloaded with more money. The catch is that it will only be reloaded if the first grant of money is used up. So they are complaining about the need to spend 2400nis within just several days.

Regarding the stores, the person quoted in the article "was shocked" to discover that they were given the option of buying in stores that desecrate Shabbos and sell treif. Shocked!

Nobody is making anyone buy food in any specific store. They are given the option to. A "tender" was published and a slew of stores was on the right to sell groceries honoring this card. You don't want to buy in any specific store - don't. Go to a different store. Not only that but for the people of Bnei Braq to buy from AM:PM they would have to go to Tel Aviv to do their shopping. While anyone who chooses to certainly could, it seems like not such a big deal for people who aren't interested.

Deri's response was that it is a tender and those stores are among the many that won the rights. And, there are many non-Jews who received the cards as well and have no problem buying treif or in stores open on Shabbos.

Regarding the issue of how much they have to spend how fast - is that really a problem? Just go shopping twice. It is almost Pesach. It does not seem to me like it would be so difficult to use up all that money on Pesach groceries. As a matter of fact, I am pretty sure it could be really easy and soon they will be complaining that it was not enough money.

Poor people complaining about free money that could be spent in stores they don't go to anyway and that they are being given too much at the point of the year where spending is highest (right before Pesach) seems like "first world problems" to me.

  -- MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ)

or the proof is in the pudding...

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel

------------------------------------------------------

With the numbers of vaccinated among the Haredi population remaining relatively low, the authorities are trying to figure out ways to encourage people to vaccinate. Ideas are being floated about incentives and punishments, or ramifications of not being vaccinated, and here is the best one yet.

Ariel Elharar, a reporter for Kikar Shabbat, is reporting that the City of Bnei Braq has come up with the winner of a plan to get its local yeshiva bochurim and avreichim to vaccinate.

According to Elharar, the City of Bnei Braq will distribute tomorrow, Thursday, to each yeshiva bochur and avreich getting the vaccine a bag that will include a portion of cholent, a bottle of cola and a roll.

The cola will probably be something like Crystal, so no big deal. But cholent for a vaccine? Will it be pareve cholent or will it include a nice dollop of kishke and a healthy portion of meat? If it is pareve cholent, it might not get the job done. Pareve cholent works in a pinch, but they need to hit a home run for the vaccine exchange.

I knew I should have held off longer...