מתוך פרסומת בהמודיע: הגרפיקאי נאלץ לערוך את שם המסכת ולטשטש אותה בגב הכריכה. הסיבה: רחמנא ליצלן קוראים למסכת 'נדה' pic.twitter.com/QLtUJyIwm7

— אברהם גרינצייג (@avigrin10) June 20, 2019

Avishai Greenzweig, haredi journalist, tweeted:
From an advertisement in Hamodia:
The graphic artist was forced to edit and change the name of the tractate of gemara, and also to blur it off the outer binding.
The reason: the name of the tractate is masechet "Nida"

did you get that? an advertisement for a set of gemaras had to be edited to take the name of the gemara out because it isnt modest enough and is not fit for public consumption.

If you thought that ad with the cholent being taken out because Thursday night cholent is too "streety" was just silly and maybe humorous, this is what Hamodia has become. Now names of our holy books cant be mentioned in public in Hamodia.

As a side note, someone (I dont recall who first pointed it out - perhaps Ben Waxman) pointed out that this editing has caused the editor to misplace masechet Bava Kama in Seder Kodshim! The only problem is that Nida is in Seder Taharos, so I dont know why that says Kodshim, or if it indicates something else here is going on as well.

I can see it now - food trucks selling cholent parked on the streets near parks in Haredi neighborhoods, near business centers and outside the stadiums hosting sporting events. Maybe they'll pour the cholent into those paper cones, or maybe into tacos, or the classic paper bowl.

A car company wanted to advertise an event in the Hamodia paper. The event was going to be some sort of sale on Thursday night, and an added selling point was free cholent for attendees of the event. The ad bore the image of a car, and next to it was a pot brimming with hot steaming cholent. The image actually looks more like an ad for cholent than for cars.


I would point out, to paraphrase the words of the hadran, they run and we run - they run to nonsense and we run for Torah, by mentioning that while the secular and non-Jewish world advertise their cars for sale with images of scantily clad pretty women, we advertise our cars for sale with pots of cholent! מי כעמך ישראל!!

The Hamodia censors filtered out this ad and rejected it, explaining that the phenomenon of Thursday night cholent is too "streety" - rechovit in Hebrew.
source: Kikar

There's an old joke that women are like computers.. there are actually several versions of this joke, and some of them are less "kosher" than others..

Anyways, as the jokes go, here are some of the ways in which computers are like women (I left a few out):

• They are expensive.
• They are never specific about problems.
• They are difficult to figure out and crash inexplicably about once a month.
• Try to shut down one part and the whole system shuts down.
• Extremely complex. Must learn a lot to work with it successfully, and you keep on learning.
• If you do not do the necessary maintenance, you have to wait a long time for it to open up.
• It actually works better when handled with care.
• Once you think you have figured out something, always surprised to find that there is something else.
• Never forget to save or it may be lost forever.
• Never give up on the first, second, third tries - you'll get it.
• And those help screens - you have to know something before they can really be of any help.
• It runs better when it is up-to-date.
• The more time you spend with it the more rewarding it is.
• Sometimes the system jams. Give it more space.
• No matter how it looks, it's what's inside that counts.
• Even your smallest mistake is stored immediately in memory, only to be a problems later on - when you're not expecting it. 
• Their internal language - that they use for communication between the two - NO ONE else is able to understand but themselves. 
• When you've finally decided to have one you'll know you spend lots of money on accessories for it. 
• Anyway... you have to admit the fact once you've had one you wouldn't like to live without it.

There is a new way in which women are like computers..

According to Kikar, some (at least one major one, for now) frum newspapers are now starting to blur/pixelate out computers from their images, just like they do with women..



The picture is from the city council meeting in Elad, and while Hamevasser (the Shlomei Emunim affiliated newspaper) printed the untouched photo, Hamodia (the Gur/ Agudas Yisrael affiliated newspaper) scrubbed out the computer..

Please enjoy the following correspondence between Rabbi Shalom Gold and the Hamodia newspaper.

Rabbi Gold wrote to the Hamodia newspaper after reading the following article.

before I post the letter from Rabbi Gold, I will just point out that on Shabbos when I read this editorial in Hamodia I was disgusted and felt it was very inappropriate.

Here is Rabbi Gold's letter to the editor:


To their credit, while Hamodia said they would not publish this letter, they did write back to Rabbi Gold with a response:
Thank you again for giving attention to this important matter.

Rabbi Shalom Gold penned the following letter and sent it to the Hamodia newspaper for publication. Being that they did not print it, Rabbi Gold has given permission for it to be published and passed around.

This was very strange... our Hamodia newspaper today was delivered in a plastic newspaper sleeve of Globes..


So:

• Does Globes own Hamodia?
• does Hamodia advertise for Globes?
• is there some business connection between the two?
• did the delivery guy, who delivers for a bunch of papers, put it in the sleeve so it wouldnt get wet but it indicates nothing?
• something else?
• should I care?
• should anyone care?
• is there anything to be curious about?

Just the other day the government passed a decision to build a few new towns in the southern region of Israel, including one called Kasif that would be designated, planned and designed specifically for the Haredi community.

Yesterday, the Haredi community, as per the editor of Hamodia newspaper, said thanks, but no thanks.

I don't have a copy of the newspaper, but according to Kikar, Hamodia ran an editorial called "Kasif, no thank you" in which the editor explains why they are not interested and why this solution will not work. He says that prior to planning a city they should first check if anyone would even be willing to live there.

The editor points to the new city being built up north, Harish. Harish, he says, is great - it is very close to the Road 6 cross-country toll road, with established cities nearby and not too far from the center of the country. Many people would be happy to live there. Elad as well - it is near other cities like Bnei Braq and Petach Tikva, it is near Road 6, and people want to live there.

In Kasif, however, nobody wants to live - even the Bedouin have abandoned the land in that area. It is not near anything, it is isolated and distant. It itself is going to take a long time to plan and build, along with fighting the legal challenges that will come up along the way such as from environmentalists... By the time the residents of Harish are celebrating the bar mitzvahs of the first kids who will have been born there, only then will Kasif maybe be ready.

The editor then accuses the relevant government ministries of a cavalier attitude towards the haredi community, treating them like an ancient tribe they can send wherever they want like a herd of sheep..

On the one hand, they want the government to make cheap housing available to them, but seem ungrateful when it is - they only want the cheap housing in certain places. On the other hand, if the location is really inappropriate then it is both stupid to invest so much money in a place to which nobody will move but it is also insulting to the target community.

Looking at a map I do not see what the big complaint is about. True, it is not near Road 6, but there are other highways and roads. It is also fairly close to both Arad and Beer Sheva - both large (sort of) and established cities with resources and infrastructure, along with the many other towns in the southern region, such as Ofakim, Netivot and others.. Saying it is isolated, inaccessible and in the middle of nowhere is a bit disingenuous.

The following Letter to the Editor in this past week's Hamodia struck my fancy..

On Mehadrin Buses

To the Editor:
I would like to recall a historical fact that can be checked out by anyone.: If you remember, a few years ago it was frightening to ride on buses in Eretz Yisrael. Suicide bombers would get onto buses packed with innocent people and blow themselves up, killing and maiming hundreds. Nothing could be done about them; the army was helpless.
Then it was decided to launch mehadrin buses. As soon as these chariots of kedusha started running, the suicide bombers stopped.
unfortunately, the Supreme Court came out against mehadrin buses. Whereas before, women could enter through the back doors of the bus, now they have to enter through the front door, making it necessary for them to pass through the men. At one point, I read in Hamodia that Rav Kav "readers" (like they have on trains) would be installed on buses so women could enter through the back, but this never came about. Why don't we insist on this?
Also, there are signs on every bus saying that one traveler cannot tell another one where to sit. I have been told that one can end up in jail even for politely asking people to move. But why should anyone have to be told to move in order for the bus to be modestly segregated? The mehadrin buses pass through "our" neighborhoods, and each individual should be looking out for the kedusha of Am Yisrael, concerned about protecting his family and neighbors.
How long does a bus ride take? Must couples sit together when it is compromising the security of everyone, including themselves? (You can always talk when you get home.)
Please, I beg you, men sit in your part of the bus and women sit in yours. The safety of our nation depends on this.
May we be zocheh - in the zechus of showing Hashem that we care about His Torah and His having asked us be kadosh - that the redeemer should come to Tzion in mercy, very quickly.
With Torah blessings,
Rav Shmuel Littmann

This Letter to the Editor published in the Hamodia newspaper irked me when I first read it. After that a few people pointed it out to me. As it seemed to be "not just me", I decided that it deserved to be pointed out and made famous (if only I had that ability..).

Ahavas Yisrael for Everyone?

To the Editor:

I would like to raise a point regardubg a letter in Hamodia June 13th, where Mrs. Risha Deitscg says the mitzva of ahavas yisrael applies also to the non-religious. 

I would like to refer her to Q and A with Rabbi Avigddor Miller, z"l. He clearly states at the beginning of a chapter entitled Loving the Jewish Nation, that loving a Jew only applies those who share the commitment fo the Torah, ve'ahavta l'reiacha kemocha means those who are like you, in that you both serve Hashem. He further makes a harsh comment that people who say they like to also have ahavas yisrael for members of other Jewish movements, it's enough of a job loving our real brothers and sisters. He also notes that people who are not loyal to Hashemare not loved by Hashem even if they are a tinok shenishba. Says Rabbi Chaim Brisker, zt"l, "Nebech an apikores, is fort an apikores."

I am also not sure about your assumption of tinok shenishba, since these people know about yiddishkeit and choose to look into other things. I don't, however, want to stretch the letter and will rather just refer you to the sefer which we have talked about.

The message is clear that there is no mitzva to love these possible reshaim, and as it is mentioned in many gemaras, we may not make up our own mitzvos

With warmest regards,

DY, 

Golders Green

It has already become standard practice that the haredi press will not print images of women, facial shots, body shots, or barely even mention their names. The haredi online sites have already started moving away from that behavior, but the old-style haredi media (I won't call them mainstream media, MSM, because they aren't by any means) has just increased their strict approach to this behavior.

It has gotten to a point that is so ridiculous that it is already funny. I don't see any other way to look at it. the foolishness that has taken over is just funny, in a sad way.

A young child, a 1 year old baby, in Jerusalem opened up a cabinet door that prevented the room door from being opened. That meant the kid was stuck in the room. The parents called the Fire Station, who sent a team out that dismantled the door and rescued the child. Good job.

The funny part comes next.

Hamodia (Hebrew edition) reported the story yesterday, but altered the picture that accompanied it. They did not remove the image of the child's mother - she was not in the picture anyway. The  picture showed the child laying on the floor next to the open drawer. The drawer had various pairs of shoes in it. One of those pairs was a pair of womens shoes. Hamodia removed the shoes from the image.

They weren't even a pair of high-heeled sexy shoes, or anything like that, that their removal might be understood in some sort of crazy way. This was simply a pair of beat up old flats - nothing enticing or provocative, just a pair of beat-up old shoes.

Here are the pictures:

the original:
the Hamodia version:

I don't know what there is to say other than it is so sad that it is funny how ridiculous they have gotten (though they did miss the womens black shoes just above the brown ones - thanks Yaak for pointing it out)......

(this issue was seen mentioned in Bechadrei, Kikar, Ynet, NRG)

It is almost always the season for hotel advertising in the frum newspapers, and though these advertisements seem to bother some people they do not bother me. I recognize it as something people want to do so the newspapers accept ads for such trips. I don't believe it is the newspapers job to decide what is allowed and acceptable for society and what is not, though things that are clearly prohibited or immoral should be taboo. I would not expect pornographic material in Hamodia or Yated, nor would I want them advertising gambling or ponzi schemes. Vacations don't seem to me to be so bad, even if they are vacations I would not go on or cannot afford, even if they are not necessarily in the spirit of ruach yisrael saba.

Now, with Pesach approaching, it is always humorous to see the vacations advertised in the frum newspapers, offering people to leave Israel and go to exotic places like Greece, Switzerland, Italy or many other places (I even saw an ironic ad one year for a Pesach vacation in a hotel in Cairo!). Despite that I prefer to stay in Israel for Pesach, I do not begrudge anyone their vacation and recognize the ads are targeting people who want to go on them.

Hamodia ran the following ads for Pesach vacations in hotels and resorts. The ads themselves are not what I am pointing out, but the disclaimer they ran. Hamodia seems to feel guilty taking money for advertisements that officially go against their morals or preferences. They justify the advertisements, as you can see in the disclaimer, by saying there are people who justifiably must go away for Pesach. The examples they give are elderly people who are unable to make Pesach in their own homes or people with health problems. They also state in their disclaimer that they are not stating, via the ad, an opinion on the halachic issues of leaving Israel nor do they take responsibility for kashrus or tzniyus issues.

Of course, if this really bothered them, they could only take advertisements for simpler vacation packages, perhaps only for hotel packages in Israel. After all, just because someone has a health issue or is elderly and therefore cannot make Pesach in his or her own home does not mean they must travel to St. Moritz, France, Italy or anywhere else. Yet somehow, all these elderly people and people with health issues must travel abroad to deluxe resorts. Again, I don't mind that they do, but Hamodia's disclaimer is a joke. They know perfectly well that the issues they raise are not the subjects of the ad - if it really bothered them, they should not give ridiculous justifications.

And one more thing - I want to know if these elderly and sick people who cannot make Pesach in their own homes are the ones who are going to be going skiing in the Alps and using those ski-lifts, or if they will be going "snow tubing" or ice skating as the ads below promote....




The Hamodia disclaimer is a joke. They should have just run the ads, or not, and not added commentary that just reeks of hypocrisy.

There was an interesting ad placed in the Hamodia newspaper (Hebrew) today:


and if that is too hard to read, here is a close-up of just the specific ad:

The ad is of a person requesting forgiveness for something he had done 40 years ago. He says that 40 years ago he caused grievous shame to a shliach tzibbur when the fellow refused to begin the repetition of the Shmoneh Esrei and he refused. At that point, the writer stepped up to the amud and took over the repetition. The chazzan was shamed and left. The writer is asking that the victim from 40 years prior forgive him, and that he do so verbally.

I imagine that if he still remembered this specific incident 40 years later, it must have gnawed at him all this time. Probably every time he davened for the amud, as well as every year before the High Holidays and he was thinking what he must repent for, and probably plenty of other incidents that might have cropped up and reminded him of that old one in the back of his memory...and it drove him crazy. I wonder if the victim, the apologee, remembers it as much as the apologer and has it burned in his memory as such a significant incident - not that it matters.

How else can one try to beg forgiveness from someone whom he doesn't know where to find besides for placing an ad in a popular frum newspaper and hope he sees it? Perhaps he should have at least made it a slightly larger ad, maybe a full-page ad, so it would at least be more noticeable..

A few weeks ago there was an advertisement in the Yated for a family that wanted to sell the rights to name their upcoming baby. They were going to use the money to cover some debts that had piled up.

Now, the next stage is an advertisement in Hamodia (Hebrew) offering the sale of being the sandek at a bris.

I would suggest it might be the same people - selling the name, and now the sandekaus, but this is being sold by an organization as a fundraiser. They probably have a bunch of couples registered with them, they probably pay the couples a percentage and the bulk of the money goes to the organization. Plus, they would more likely have advertised again in the Yated. Unless maybe they did not get any good offers from that ad and decided to try it through Hamodia this time, and through the organization..

The organization is the "Committee For Purity of the Camp", and they say that their work consists mostly of improving tzniyus in Eretz Yisrael - separate roads to the Kotel, mehadrin bus lines, getting rid of immodest pictures in advertisements in bus stops, etc. Someone who would buy the sandekaus, they say, is not only being part of a great mitzva, but is also giving tzedaka to an important cause.

The cost of buying the sandekaus, specifically for a bris coming this Tuesday, is $35,000 and it includes being the sandek and holding the baby when the brachos are recited. The payment, by the way, can be divided into 70 payments - so no worries if you don't have the $35k ready and available by this Tuesday.
(source: Mynet)

One could look at this as an investment. It is well known that being a sandek at a bris is considered to be a segulah for wealth..

This too would have made a great eBay item. Maybe the haredi papers should be looked at as being frum alternatives to eBay...

I am starting to think of what other things can be sold and used as income generators... I am getting all sorts of crazy ideas in my head, but don't want to commit them to writing just yet. Feel free to add your own suggestions!

The best part of the ad is the bottom line that this does not endorse or condone personal/home email/ internet use. Funny.

Hamodia has been running a series of articles on what Jewish poverty looks like in this generation with the economic downturn, people losing jobs or having salaries cut, etc.

In this past weeks Hamodia there were two letters to the editor about a certain facet of one of the most recent article. They were both comments on a picture posted of an elderly man rooting through the garbage searching for food.

One letter said "the pictures brought home the message in a way that really touched my heart...picture worth a thousand words..."

The next letter said "...but I was very disturbed by the pictures you used to illustrate your article...if poor people know that someone out there is taking pictures of them trying to find food in dumpsters, they will no longer do so fearing that one day they will appear in.."

As they say - you cannot please all the people all of the time...

Hamodia has joined the late 20th century and now has a website!

Chaptzem is upset at Hamodia because of a perceived hypocrisy in the sense that Hamodia has, first of all, always been so anti, but more so because until now they have rejected advertisements that contained websites. And suddenly they are starting their own site!

(Thanks to Parshablog for pointing them out)

If you look at the comments there, it looks like people generally agree with those sentiments.

I disagree. I think we should praise Hamodia for finally having the courage to take the jump. So they used to be against it? Nobody changes their mind? Circumstances are different now. Maybe they see that they will not succeed without a website. Maybe they see the web is so prevalent, they already lost that battle.

About the ads, I am not sure what Chaptzem is talking about. Pick up the paper of any week (in English) and you will see ads with websites. They got rid of that policy (unofficially at least) a long time ago.

So, we condemn them when they oppose the internet, and now we condemn them when they accept the internet. What do we want from them exactly?

I think Hamodia made a good move starting a website. I hope it helps the marketing of their newspaper.

About a week ago the story broke that the Chief Rabbi of the IDF had supposedly desecrated the holiday of Pesach (the story actually said he desecrated the shabbos, but alert readers pointed out that the timing means it was really the holiday), and the Haredi press had written about it very critically demanding an explanation and his resignation, as they claimed there was no need for him to be there and therefore no need for him to get in the car.

For some reason, Rabbi Ronsky, the Chief Rabbi of the IDF, felt it necessary to try to clear his name and provide an explanation. Yesterday he sent a letter to various Rabbis of the IDF in which he provided an explanation for his actions.

He wrote, "The IDF rabbi is an an inseparable part from the fighting unit. Just as he puts himself in danger when he goes out with the unit to the front lines, so too if the unit has to be mobilized on Shabbos, the Rabbi must join the unit."

Ronsky compared the IDF Rabbi to the way the Torah describes the Kohein who was appointed to go out with the people to battle. He writes, "The Kohein would meet the soldiers before they went out to battle, and he would lift their spirits. He would then go out with them to the battle.
The main job of the Unit Rabbi is to raise the morale of the soldiers. Strengthening them in this way is an important job in ensuring their success in battle, for, as is known, assault before an enemy is not natural for a person, and definitely not for our young soldiers. Therefore a Rav who is integrated thoroughly with his unit, who participates and is present during their exercises and their operations, can help them overcome their distress and crises that are charachteristic in these situations."

"The soldier is comparable to a choleh she'yesh bo sakana - a sick man whose life is in danger. Such a person we even bring his family to his bed, because it can help his situation. We find that even Torah decrees would eb waived to bring his family in this situation. How much more so, in this situation, to strengthen the morale of the sodliers - something that will directly affect the success of the operation, that is of invaluable importance."

I guess his classification of the Rabbis role would be a point of debate, but at least he has a reasonable explanation (as I wrote before, that I did not doubt from the start). Even if others do not agree with his opinion, it is not necessarily their place to instruct him how to behave, when he is fully qualified to make such decisions.

This is a Letter to the Editor printed yesterday in the Hamodia newspaper.

To the Editor,

I recently returned for a lovely ladies' vacation at Kinar to the headlines that Olmert is ready to give up the Golan Heights to Syria in a peace deal. There are a few points I would like to make. First of all, Kinar itself is actually on the east bank of the Kinneret, i.e. it's on the lower part of the Golan Heights. Olmert's peace deal would mean saying good-bye to Kinar.

Second, the bottom part of the Golan, where everyone likes to climb and where tiyulim converge, is also where all the nachalim are, creating an ideal natural climate for growing the most mehudar Chazon Ish esrogim, which are unlike chasalot produce that grew in Gush Katif and anywhere else in artificial climate-controlled green-houses. Olmert's peace deal would consign a large supply of mehudar esrogim to the curse of yesamhu alehah oiveichem.

These are the best reasons I have ever heard for not giving up the Golan in a peace deal. My vacation to the Kinar hotel will be ruined. I will have to find a different resort to vacation at. And the esrog growers will have to find a different place to grow their esrogs!

How dare Olmert even consider giving back the Golan heights! Does he not realize these disastrous ramifications such a deal would have!

Shooting in Utah!
Another disgruntled teenager (this one 18 years old) shoots up a bunch of random people.

Good think an off-duty cop was in the mall having dinner with his wife. He confronts the guy then teams up with another police office and they put an end to the kids miserable life.

CNN brings us the story of the cop who was off-duty but still carrying his gun who got involved.


The funny thing is, when I hear stories like this, such as reading them in the Hamodia hashgacha pratis article, I tend to roll my eyes, nod/shake my head, or mouth a cynical 'wow'. Yet when CNN prints a similar story by a non-Jew, the cynicism is gone and, at least my initial reaction, I am impressed.

Why am I, or why are we (if you do the same), more cynical about these things when it comes to frum Jews? Or am I just an aberration?

Was Abraham Lincoln Jewish?

I doubt it, but there are such theories.

Hamodia ran a piece last week about Abraham Lincoln possibly being Jewish. They raised all sorts of circumstantial evidence which, they say, indicate his affiliation to the Jewish people.

Such evidence includes letters of correspondence between him and people of the Hebrew faith, assistance he provided as President to issues of concern to people of the Hebrew faith, the lack of any clear religion in his background, and a town in England named Lincoln that at some point had a sizable Jewish population.

They offered no real proofs to the suggestion.

They did not claim that Abraham Lincoln hailed from Lincoln, England. They simply mentioned the town in England with some of its Jewish history.

They did not show that Lincoln assisted and tried to solve requests by Jews any more than requests by other people. They simply showed examples of Jews having made requests of Lincoln and his responding positively.

They did not show that Lincoln corresponded more with Jews than with people of other faiths. They simply mentioned that he corresponded with Jews, and brought some examples of such correspondence. I will assume (rightly or wrongly) that he also corresponded with people of other faiths. If he corresponded with a Mormon would that prove (or even indicate) that he was a Mormon? Would correspondence with Muslims make him a Muslim? etc.

As President of the United States of America, and preceding that as an aspiring to the presidency, it is likely there were plenty of people of all faiths who sent letters to him. Many of these letters would have contained requests of assistance on various matters of concern. Like any politician he would have tried to help when he could.


To use such baseless evidence as possible proof of Lincoln's Jewishness is a disgrace and an embarrassment. The Hamodia newspaper is treating its readers as morons and people lacking intelligence.