A very familiar sight around Haredi neighborhoods in Israel is the empty pot of yerushalmi kugel sitting in some corner outside a shul waiting to be picked up by the supplier. A shul having a kiddush on Shabbos will almost always have, at minimum, a pot of Yerushalmi kugel (cut into triangle slices) will order it from a supplier (often a "yerushalmi" yid) who will drop off the put of kugel and after shabbos will swing by and pick up the empty pot (though it might sit there for a few days until the guy comes to pick it up)...

The Eida Hachareidis has put out an announcement about dairy donuts for Chnukah in light of the fact that nowadays there is a proliferation of dairy sufganiyot, relative to what used to be mostly pareve sufganiyot.

The Badatz Eida Hachareidis does not like the new arrangements at Meron for the upcoming Lag B'Omer celebrations. 

Sometimes I hear people say they will not eat this or that hechsher and they will point to a mistake that had been made as the reason, saying that it shows they are unreliable. I always respond that mistakes happen with all the hechshers, and just because a mistake happened is not a reason to avoid any specific hechsher, but perhaps if there are many mistakes in one hechsher, or their response to the mistake and what they do to fix the fault is inadequate, that would be a reason, but the fact that a mistake happened isnt a good reason on its own.

While there was some talk and a few calls for a boycott against Doritos due to the Doritos ad in support of same sex marriages, there was not actually anything organized and coordinated, or a concerted effort to actually boycott the brand. Maybe some people stopped buying, but there was no official boycoot and no mass protest.

According to Hamechadesh, the owner of the cell phone store in Geula-Mea Shearim that has been the site of many protests, some violent, might be giving in.

I am not sure if this is quite like "cutting off your nose to spite your face", but it can't be too far off.

The Eida HaChareidis has put out a notice regarding the chumra or hakpada that has become trendy over the past several years of abstaining after Pesach from consuming chametz that was sold over pesach. People who follow this custom insist on seeing on the packaging of the food item a notice that it is made from flour ground after Pesach.

Nobody said raising children is easy. The most we can hope for is that our children grow up to be good people - mentschen. They will be independent and at some point will choose their own paths. We, more often than not, cannot control that. And at times they will choose paths different, even very different, than the path in which they were raised. It happens in the best of families, and in the most prestigious of families.

The City of Jerusalem announced, on its Facebook page, an initiative to try to give a boost to local restaurants and other businesses in the entertainment industry, by turning the "hot" streets downtown into a boardwalk at night so that restaurants can put tables out in the streets to have more seating. Live music will also be out at different spots. On the Facebook page the list of streets and exact times are listed, and it starts tomorrow and will run through August.

The issue is that restaurants have been allowed to open, but people are hesitant to go to restaurants and eat indoors. The restaurants mostly do not have a large enough area indoors with enough seating to do reasonable business, so even though they were allowed to open, business in this fashion is still extremely difficult. This nighttime arrangement is meant to give them a big boost for their businesses, and with the added entertainment and boardwalk style, should be a big draw for people to go enjoy.

To me it seems like a nice initiative to help businesses get back on their feet and get people out again.

Not everyone agrees. But I guess that is not a surprise. You can't make everyone happy all of the time.

Kikar is reporting that the Eida Hachareidis is calling for this to be shut down or face protests that
will shut the city.

The Eida believes that this initiative is a major breach that will turn the streets of Jerusalem into a boardwalk with entertainment with the most serious of sins along with a major unbearable source of pain for the haredi neighborhoods that are nearby and their houses and neighborhoods will be turned into a den of thieves.

The Eida says they cannot allow this to happen, to desecrate the holy city and to turn Jerusalem into a breached city with no wall, and to ruin the little that is left after all the breaches that have happened previously.

They call on the city to cancel these plans or they will do everything possible to put a kibosh on them and prevent the desecration. A spokesperson for the Eida threatened serious protests that will shut down the city.

The City of Jerusalem responded with wonder wondering what their problem is as the intent is to give a boost to local business and help people with their parnassa after the disaster from Corona.

In recent years they have mostly been ineffective with their protests, and my guess is that this is just lip service and we won't see any significant hafganot over this. I am not sure what serious sins take place by a couple sitting to have dinner while listening to music and seeing a performance. These might be regular sins, as they happen all the time in many places. I do not know what about this turns it into a serious sins. While some individual places might be worse than most , my guess is the serious sins were happening in those places anyway even before this.

This is interesting. Kikar is reporting that the Eida Hachareidis is protesting the plan of Defense Minister Naftali Bennett to take over some hotels and convert them into holding centers for people with light cases of CoronaVirus and cases of quarantine due to exposure. the people sent to stay in these hotels will, presumably, have to stay a few weeks while they recuperate and then be released.

Some of the people placed in these hotels are Haredi, and according to the complaint, the hotels have not been prepared in an appropriate way for frum people, especially with Pesach coming.

The Eida is requesting, form anybody who is in a position to help, that separate hotels should be prepared for frum people requiring it. These hotels will be prepared in a way appropriate for them, with mehadrin standards of kashrut, especially for Pesach during which people adhere to extremely strict standards. Additionally, the atmosphere is a problem and it should be ensured that the atmosphere be appropriate, especially since the Eida has no oversight over these places.

They conclude their letter saying that they will only tell, instruct, people to go to these hotels if the demands are met and these arrangements made.

I actually think that last part is the kicker. They want the business or supervising these Mehadrin Hotel Coronas, and that is what they are angling to get.

Whether or not that is correct, the request itself is interesting, though not unusual. The Eida, and most of the Haredi community, has made their lives all about self-isolation from the broader community. They don't want that to change. The request they are making fits right in with that.

That being said, instructing people to not go to such hospitals if the demands/requests are not met, is problematic. The country is dealing with a serious situation. You can make a request, but you are going to prevent people form getting treatment if the request is not agreed to? You are demanding the State put out more resources for this and are going to gamble with pikuach nefesh to force their hand? Regarding kashrut I am sure the State will agree to provide mehadrin kashrut - they do everywhere else this becomes an issue. Arranging separate centers is a much bigger deal.

The dreaded Corona Virus has countries around the world,  including Israel, wary and making preparations in the event that it should make its away across the border.

In China the death toll and the infected toll continue to rise at a rapid pace. If you don't trust the Chinese government to release true numbers, as I don't, it might have disaster potential, if it isn't already a disaster.

The Eida Hachareidis has called for a prayer rally against the globally spreading virus. They set the day for Erev Rosh Chodesh Adar and called upon people everywhere and anywhere they might live to daven on that day to remove all illness and to do teshuva.
source: Ladaat

I am impressed that the Eida has called for a prayer rally even though the virus has not yet hit Israel or other Jewish communities. Good for them.

Big news in the food industry in Israel!

In honor of International Women's Day, to be celebrated on March 8, 2020, Osem has announced it is releasing its flagship product, bamba, with new packaging.

Alongside the classic package of bamba with its iconic bamba baby will be packages of bamba with a new image - a bamba baby girl!

The new bamba baby girl is displayed wearing a pink shirt with orange hair and eyelashes.

The new packaging with the girl baby will only be on shelves for a limited time, from now until mid-March, and only on the 60 gram and 80 gram packages.

I am actually surprised this has not already been done, and on a permanent basis. Osem has come under pressure in the past for packaging on some of their other products. Also, once they are adding the baby girl, why not just keep it and use both images?

Ynet asked some questions of Osem and Osem responded that the regular bamba baby is not male or female, just a baby and is an iconic image. The new girl image was a cute idea as a tribute to International Women's Day, but not because girls do not like the regular baby image. They did add that if they see people really like it and want it to stay, they might consider keeping the image in use.

Another question that is interesting was if there is any concern of blowback from the Haredi community, using an image of a girl on the packaging? Osem says there was no issue with this. They say the new package bears the Badatz kashrut, just like the regular packages do and they expect no trouble.

Being that we all know the Badatz does require companies to change packaging for products certified by the Eida, when necessary, the fact that they put their hechsher on this package with the baby girl image means they are ok with it. It does not mean other people will not make trouble about it, but generally things should be fine.

There are a couple of humorous anecdotes in this article on Kikar about Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef refusing to meet with the Gaavad of the Eida Hachareidis, Rav Tuvia Weiss.

According to the article, and in a news blurb I saw elsewhere, Rav Weiss called Rav Yosef to  secret meeting, yet Rav Yosef refused to go to him for the meeting. Rav Yitzchak Yosef said, in his weekly Motzash shiur, that Rav Weiss called him in to talk about why Rav Yosef recently said that the Eida is the worst of the hechshers on meat and Sefardim should not eat it at all. Rav Yosef said, he called him in and said he is willing to accept me to talk about it - thank you, he wants to tell me the hechsher is ok. Rav Yosef repeated that the Eida is the worst [on meat]. Rav Yosef previously said people should rely ont he Rabbanut hechsher and strengthen the Rabbanut and not add on with other hechsherim (specifically the Eida, but if he says Rabbanut is good and we need to rely on it and strengthen it, he must mean against all other hechshers as well, not just Eida. Even his own family's Beit Yosef hechsher).

Another thing he said is that Rav sent a messenger beckoning him to come for a meeting at midnight with no cameras. He said he refused - what do I need to go for so after they will put up signs about me?

Another interesting anecdote related is not about the Eida, but about its close cousin, Satmar. Rav Yosef said that one of the admorim of Satmar came to him but was worried about the meeting being made public and it would end with him being attacked as a Zionist. Rav Yosef says he responded that you have nothing to worry about because the position of Rishon Letzion has existed for 350 years [and has nothing to do with Israel or Zionism] - if you would meet with the Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi, then you should be concerned because that position is a State-mandated position.

That last one is funny. As if he was not appointed by the politicians and rabbinic leaders of the State of Israel to this position. As if his chief rabbinate position is not an Israeli office with budgets and salaries paid by the Zionist state, with authority granted by the Zionist state. As if the Sefardim in general, including the rabbis and him and his family, are less Zionistic than the Ashkenazim.

I always wondered about Rav Nosson Kopshitz in bet Shemesh. He is rav of the Kiryah Hacharedis and is officially associated with the Eida Hachareidis. Yet, despite his association with the Eida and their position of not getting involved in politics and governance in Israel as they reject the State of Israel and all its trappings, Rav Kopshitz is also the leading rav among the rabbinic leadership for the local faction of UTJ. His name is on their signs and proclamations, and if you read the local press you'll see him directing UTj in how to act visa vis local government issues. This was always a conundrum to me, and I simply assumed I did not understand the nuance of his position within the Eida or within UTJ.

Kikar is reporting that the Eida has had enough of Rav Kopshitz's shenanigans, as he recently participated in a local UTJ prayer service regarding the "Bar Ilan" situation, and wants him to finally pick a side. If he is part of the Eida, he cant lead UTJ. If he is going to continue being involved with UTJ, he wont be able to continue representing the Eida.

That kind of clears it up. There is no nuance other than Rav Kopshitz trying to play both ends of the court. He probably is really Eida (his whole family is, so that's is really where he comes from), but he is also somewhat practical and pragmatic, and a bit of a "strange bird" who does things his own way, so he tries to improve the local haredi community with his leadership and direction.

If the Eida is serious Rav Kopshitz will have to finally pick a side. They are warnign him that he has to decide which side he is on and this cannot continue.

A couple of months ago Chief Rabbi Rav Yitzchak Yosef spoke out against the hechsher of the Eida Hachareidis. At the time he said that the Eida hechsher is the lowest quality available for meat and one should prefer other hechshers over the Eida.

Kikar reports that in a recent shiur, Rav Yosef once again spoke about the Eida hechsher. Rav Yosef was talking about the case of a get refuser, someone censured for withholding a get from his wife against the instructions of beis din. This "avreich haredi", in his description, is sitting in jail for withholding the get but is demanding food only from the Eida hechsher. Rav Yosef said that he wrote a response ordering them to not supply him with Eida food but only with Rabbanut food, as he is Haredi and this will hurt him - the Rabbanut hechsher is not good for him.

That led Rav Yosef off on to a tangent. Rav Yosef started questioning why people think the Rabbanut hechsher is not good. He said the hechsher of the Rabbanut is actually very good. He said he himself checks out the shechita of the Rabbanut and it is excellent as it is on many food products. For meat, Rav Yosef admitted, it is worth being more machmir, but for everything else the Rabbanut is excellent. People have this craziness of only eating Eida, thinking it fell from heaven.

Back to the guy in prison with only Rabbanut food, after a few weeks of not eating because he would only eat food with the Eida hechsher he gave in and gave the get.

Once again, Rav Yosef does not explain what is wrong with the Eida hechsher, which policy, what the shortcomings are, etc. This time he goes more from the opposite side saying there is no need for the Eida as the Rabbanut is excellent and there is nothing special about the Eida.

Eat whatever you prefer, at your own risk.

I always find kashrut discussion interesting. I have a particular affinity for the topic.

Kikar brings us a clip from the recent shiur of Chief Rabbi Rav Yitzchak Yosef in which he says explicitly that the hechsher of the Eida Hachareidis is the lowest quality of all the hechshers regarding meat. He says there are many hechshers, ben porat yosef, but the hechsher of the Eida (on meat, not regarding chicken) is the lowest of them all.

Unfortunately he just says it is no good but does not explain why. I always like to hear why. People say things about all the hechshers - this hechshe risn't good, that hechsher isn't good, but rarely does anybody know what the problem is with any given hechsher. it is all word of mouth and rumors. By saying the Eida is no good for meat but not saying why, he is leaving his statement as basically a rumor and perhaps (i.e. meaning, someone would have room to suggest that it is) somewhat "politically" (the word often used regarding kashrut-disputes) based.

So, while the Chief Rabbi has gravitas when he says something, he also has the interests of at least two other hechshers in his mind - the Rabbanut and his family hechsher of Bet Yosef. An explanation would have been valuable, but he did not offer one.

Interestingly, when YWN posted about this they added something Rav Yosef never said - they put words in his mouth (instead of Eida meat), claiming he said Eida is the worst hechsher "for Sefardim". He never said that. Also, even if one might say that is what he meant because he was talking to a Sefardi crowd, he still needs to explain why Eida would be worse for sefardim than any other ashkenazi hechsher (such as Rubin or Landau or Kehillos or many others)...

So, is the Eida hechsher on meat not reliable? I know people who believe so, including followers of the Holminer Rebbe, and now Rav Yosef says so, but we do not know why.

Here is a good example of what some people call politics in kashrus, or the kashrus mafia, but is at minimum some sort of underhanded behavior..

The Rubin hashgacha announced a few days ago, during Pesach, that they removed the hashgacha from a pizza shop in Har Nof, Jerusalem that had been under their hechsher. The reason given is that  it was discovered during the holiday that there was activity in the shop, so they immediately removed the hechsher.


I dont know who would buy pizza in Har Nof during Pesach, but that's the announcement.

A few days later, the following gets publicized:


The Eida Hachareidis announced that they are giving a hechsher to that same pizza shop in Har Nof. The one that just a few days before had been accused of "activity" during Pesach.

The following letter was published, the same day the original hechsher was removed, by a group of local rabbonim in order to clarify:




basically, to be brief, before the holiday they had already decided to switch hechshers from Rubin to Eida. During Pesach a worker went into the shop to do some work checking the equipment and making sure everything was ok for the upcoming switch. They mention this is frequently done and it happens under all the hechshers and often permission is given for such activity. They recommend the Eida continue with the process of giving its hechsher.

I have no problem with a hechsher announcing in some way that it is no longer giving the hechsher on a restaurant that had previously been under its supervision. It must do so, so people will know. People can decide on their own whether or not to rely on the new hechsher. But to turn it into a scandal as if the pizza shop was in business on Pesach and therefore the hechsher had to be removed, that is deception. They lost a customer. I am very sad for them. Maybe if they would treat their customers, or former customers, with more menschlichkeit, they would get more business than they lose..

A week or two ago there was a news article that became a bit of a sensation... it was about a wedding in Bnei Braq during which the bride went up on the stage and started playing the drums for a bit. Obviously this was a bit unusual and exciting. Personally I did not think much of it - I have seen similar at many weddings (sometimes it is the drums, sometimes the keyboard or the guitar, and I have seen it with the violin), even though it is a bit unusual and exciting when it happens. While fun and exciting, it does not seem overly newsworthy to me.

The news item went viral and some in the Haredi community got very upset about this saying ti is immodest and inappropriate and it made some waves..

Today it was announced that in light of that incident new rules are being put into place to avoid such situations in the future.

The Eida Hachareidis is requiring the band that allowed the bride to play the drums to sign a letter of apology with a commitment to not allow such a thing to happen again. They have agreed, and made a "kinyan" to that effect, that if it should happen again they agree in advance that it can be publicized to prohibit hiring them as a band for events.

This seems a bit draconian. I am not quite sure how this is so different than the "mitzva tanz" so common at Haredi, especially hassidic, weddings. The Eida should ban the mitzva tanz as well, insist all hassidic rebbes and groups not allow such incidents and not participate in them as it is immodest for the bride to appear and dance in front of the men. The kalla should not be allowed in front of the men at all. They should have a stand-in at the chupa, cancel the mitzva tanz and all weddings should be men only - let the women stay home and have a little get together in the house while the men go to the wedding hall to celebrate.

I am also not sure what the Eida's involvement here is. Perhaps they give a hechsher to the wedding hall the specific wedding took place in? I am not sure why they are involved at all and what power they have here over the band?

Regardless of that, the band is now enjoying, for the moment at least, the ability to tell people they are currently the first, and so far only, band to be playing with the hechsher of the Eida Hachareidis...perhaps this means the Eida is about to branch out and now require all bands be approved by them (or other organizations) and create a new hechsher for bands...