I had no idea my tallis is really just an "Elegant Sunscreen Scarves Sun Block Shawl Scarf Beach Shawl Towel Clothing Accessories for Women Judaism (Blue)"

And it isn't just MKs Litzman and Gafni and their peers who think they have the authority to determine people's membership status in the Jewish tribe.

We see this again and again. Haredi MKs telling others MKs or Ministers with whom they have disagreements that they aren't Jewish, or aren't religious, and should take off the kipa from their heads.

After the initial attacks after the formation of the new government have settled down somewhat, last night in a special Knesset session for discussion of the new tax on disposable paper goods MK Yaakov Litzman (UTJ) attacked MK Gilad Kariv (Labor). Litzman said Kariv, a Reform rabbi, is a priest, not a rabbi, and should take off his kipa, he is a goy.

First, humorously, plenty of priests also wear a kipa. Just look at the Pope.

Second, agree or disagree with whoever you want on policy or lifestyle or whatever, but what Litzman said, and what other Haredi MKs have said several times to Bennett and others in the government since it was formed, "take off your kipa" or "you are a goy", shows, I think, exactly why they needed some time away from controlling the religious services of the country, or even their influence on the government. They feel that only they get to decide what Judaism is, how it is defined, and who qualifies to be a member. Disagree with Kariv, disagree with Reform Judaism (as has always been the case), disagree with Bennett, disagree with Matan Kahane, but you dont get to decide who is a Jew, who is a goy and who gets to wear a kipa. The Haredi community, or the Haredi politicians, aren't the owners of Judaism and don't get to decide who can be a member and who cannot.

I am not sure where this is originally from, where it originally ran, but it is going around...

I havent really understood what the big thing is about Trump's executive order about Jews being a nationality, nor why so many Jews are upset about it. Here is an explanation from Ben Shapiro..

Learning about Judaism and excelling in it is more important in my eyes than learning maths and sciences.... we need to be a spiritual powerhouse as well and export spiritual knowledge to the entire world. This is the next stage in our Zionist vision. This is how we will return to being a light unto the nations. For From Zion the Torah will go out, and the word of God from Jerusalem...

and then after some criticism for saying that, he added:
It astounds me that there is some sort of phobia, some sort of fear to know what is "shalom aleichem", what is kiddush, or to know what is candle-lighting. This is ours. Without knowing Tanakh we don't have any existence as a Jewish State. This is our foundation and God forbid a generation should arise that does not know these things..

  -- Minister of Education Naftali Bennet

Remember the red heifer discovered on a farm near Lakewood recently? It made a splash int he Jewish world media and rabbis from all over went out to inspect it and declare it a valid heifer for a para aduma candidate.

The excitement was palpable - people thought it was a sign the arrival of mashiach was imminent and the Beis Hamikdash would be rebuilt before the end of the year. Herb, the farmer, even reportedly turned down an offer of a million dollars to buy it.

It turns out that the red heifer recently became invalidated as a para aduma. She gave birth to a little cute baby (not red but black), and that put an end to everything.
sources: Kikar News and COL

Somehow all these people, including professionals, missed that this cow was pregnant. Somehow, despite having the most important cow on the planet (not including any cow in India, to the Indians), they did not keep it isolated and protected or only with other cows of the same gender. It seems they guard wheat better than they guarded this red heifer.

I wonder if Herb regrets not taking that million dollars now...

I had a thought when reading Jeffrey Goldberg's write-up of his interview with President Barak Obama.

In the interview, Obama explained that he loves Israel and he criticizes it so much because he holds it to a higher standard than he does other countries. He will criticize Israel when it does not live up to her standards that she was founded upon, and when she does not live up to the values and teachings of Judaism.

SUddenly the thought struck me. Whenever Israel has tried to pass or discuss a law promoting Judaism at a higher level of standing in the country than it currently has - giving it priority in certain matter, such as nationality, such as in Hebrew law as becoming the foundation for the legal system, or in other manifestations, we get criticized for making, or trying to make, Israel too Jewish and less democratic.

So, on the one hand, if we are too Jewish it is bad, on the other hand, if we do not live up to the high Jewish standards it is bad.

Which is it? do you want us more Jewish or less Jewish?

I am not sure what was lacking before... when I want to go to the mikvah I do, or at least i can, and when I want to go to the gym I do, or at least I can. I cannot think of a single time I needed or wanted to do both at the same time.

Yet it seems there is some market for that. Gym with a mikvah. Mikvah with a gym.

According to INN:

I am not sure what this adds, but why not. Personally I cannot imagine wanting to dunk in such a mikvah, considering the sweaty people who would be using it, but if others want to...

Will they do this for womens mikvah and gyms next?

what hybrid name could we call it? Gykvah?

It used to be that a kosher gym or a mehadrin gym was a gym that had separate hours for men and women. Now it will refer to a gym with a mikvah. how will we know what a gym advertising itself as kosher or mehadrin will mean?

The government took n historic decision yesterday and announced the formation of a new non-governmental body that will focus on strengthening the relationship between the Jews of the Diaspora and Israel. This new body will be funded to the tune of over half a billion shekels over the coming years, in addition to non-governmental monies.

The initiative will work towards strengthening ties of world Jewry with Israel, fighting assimilation, strengthen Jewish identity, and all sorts of other good things..

An interesting aside is that Finance Minister Yair Lapid was the only one in the government who opposed the plan. Lapid's reasoning is that Israel should not spend so much money on Jews outside of Israel rather than on Israeli citizens..
source: JPost and NRG

I think it is very nice. but considering the fact that the prime ministers own son is dating a gentile, perhaps they should also consider working on strengthening Jewish identity in Israel.... and then perhaps even Yair Lapid would agree to the plan..

We know that MK Swaid had petitioned the Speaker of the Knesset, Yuli Edelstein, to have a Christmas tree placed in the Knesset, in order to commemorate the holiday with the Christian citizens and MKs (only one, Swaid himself).

Edelstein rejected the petition and said he would not put a Christmas tree in the Knesset. No explanationm was supplied at the time.

We now know that in fact no Christmas tree was placed in the Knesset for Christmas. And now Yuli Edelstein has explained why not.

Edelstein today explained that the symbol of the Christmas tree would evoke bitter memories for many Jews. There are other ways to wish local Christians a happy holiday. Furthermore, Edelstein said, the Arab MKs are regularly trying to push the envelope and see the limits of how they can change the status of the Jewishness of the State of Israel. Edelstein said that if he would allow the Christmas tree, the next day another request would come in to place a cross and a moon next to the Knesset menorah.

So:
1. Christian symbolism would be hurtful to many Jews
2. the Arab MKs are using this is a red herring to harm the Jewish character of the State.

Yuli Edelstein is a good and smart man.

Hey - maybe the Arab parties (or any that do work to undermine the jewishness of the state) should be banned under the new law, if it will be passed, to ban organizations that undermine the Jewish character of the state...

Have you been wondering what the main topics of discussion in the frum community have been the past few weeks?

The top discussion, I think, based on my observation alone and not on any scientific study, has been: zumba - good or bad

The Zumba issue should not have been more than a blip. It is so unimportant. You feel you need to weigh in go ahead, make your comment, write your article, and move on. The community has focused on it, for about 3 weeks, and the discussion has not abated.. giving it way too much false importance. I am actually amazed watching people fight back and forth, again and again, about Zumba.

It does seem to finally be waning a bit, but I am amazed at how much staying power this topic had, and how it engaged so many people.. Baruch Hashem it is clear we don't have any real issues to worry about.

And I thought this only happened with baseball cards in an old shoebox in the basement... not old Jewish manuscripts (a haggada)

from the BBC:

A 300-year-old manuscript found in rubbish during a house clearance is expected to fetch a six-figure sum at auction next month.
The 18th Century handwritten Jewish religious text was discovered in a cardboard box in a garage in Macclesfield.
The unique work is attracting attention from Jewish communities in the US and the Middle East.

The Israeli Post Office has put out a beautiful set of new stamps.

They have recently published stamps in honor of the Olympics, with various sports displayed on series of stamps, and there have been series of stamps displaying various popular tourist sites like the Dead Sea among others. And now with the holidays coming up, they have published some stamps in honor of the holidays.

For Rosh Hashana they have a stamp depicting the tashlich services:


For Yom Kippur the stamp depicts Kol Nidre:


For Sukkos the stamp depicts the waving of the Lulav and Esrog:


I was looking back on the Post Office website at some of the other recent stamps, and I noticed this stamp that was published recently in the series of stamps depicting images of the stones of the Kohen's breastplate:



Really beautiful artwork, and it is special that they depict these images on the stamps...

Now the question is how many people still use stamps at all and why they bother publishing new ones... :-)

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I was always fascinated by the historic debates, actually the background of those debates rather than the arguments themselves, about Judaism, such as the supposed debate written about by Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi between the king of the Khazars and a simple Jew, such as between the Ramban and Pablo Christiani, among others. The idea of a debate in which everything is on the line is exciting.

This debate is not quite at that level, where everything is on the line, where the victor might be at the threat of death or banishment, but it is interesting nonetheless. This is more of the modern day type of debate where a couple well-versed people get together to see who can present better, or maybe who knows a little more than the other. This debate almost reminds me of the great book jointly written by Reform Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch and Orthodox Rabbi  Yaakov Yosef Reinman in which they publish a debate about the major issues in Judaism that they discussed via email.

Rabbi Moshe averick, author of the book, "Nonsense of a High Order: The Confused and Illusory World of the Atheist" about the flaws of atheist ideology, has invited a proclaimed ideological atheist to a debate about atheism and Judaism.

Averick extended the invitation, er challenge, to Shauli Grossman, via his article in The Algemeiner a few weeks ago:

[...] Under “religious views” he wrote: “shul [synagogue] of the flying spaghetti monster.” For those who are unaware, “the flying spaghetti monster” has become a standard atheistic metaphor used to mock religious beliefs as in “you believe in something as ridiculous as angels, I believe in the flying spaghetti monster.” While the “shul of the flying spaghetti monster” might not be conclusive, the following does not leave much to the imagination: In “People Who Inspire Shauli” he has listed three of the most prominent “new atheist” ideologues: Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Richard Dawkins. It would seem reasonable to assume then that Mr. Gross is a committed ideological atheist himself. He also described himself as “A puS**Ter yid” – poking fun in a vulgar sort of way at the common Yiddish expression “A Poshitah yid” which means “A simple Jew.” Interestingly enough, I recently posted a song on YouTube that I wrote and recorded in Jerusalem called “Just A Simple Jew.” (It hasn’t gone viral yet, but I’m still hoping)

As I explained earlier, I have no intention of expressing any opinion on Shauli Grossman’s personal experiences or the particular lifestyle he has chosen to lead. However, the ideology of atheism as expressed by writers like Hitchens, Dawkins, and Harris interests me very much. All three are discussed in my book (whose title does not leave much to the imagination as to where I stand on these issues), Nonsense of High Order: The Confused and Illusory World of the Atheist. It is one thing to make personal choices; it is another to mislead people with ideas and ideologies which are utterly false. If Mr. Grossman is inspired by these people and is prepared to go on national TV to express his opinions, perhaps the following challenge will be of interest to him:

Dear Mr. Grossman (R. Shauli): As we both know, Talmudic literature is filled with metaphors comparing the arguments that took place between the sages regarding Jewish law and thought, with the idea of warriors battling one against the other. I respectfully invite/challenge you – from one “simple Jew” to another – to articulate and defend your new-chosen atheistic ideology in the arena of the intellect. Let us meet and debate the issue in a proper forum. I think the best place to start would be at the very beginning (always a very good place to start). I suggest “Does the Origin of Life require the existence of a Creator?” I look forward to hearing from you. May the truth win out.

While I don't know if either of them are an authority on the matter, or in general in any way, I am not sure that it matters. Must one be a national leader of sorts, or the head of a large movement, in order to hold a serious debate? Not at all. The only thing is that when it is just two guys arguing about something, the results don't matter much to anybody else. Maybe this one lost because he just was not well-versed enough, or maybe the other guy was a bit more charismatic or boisterous. Without a large following of people who will act on the results of the debate, the debate is just a simple discussion between two people. Nice, but does it matter?

Either way, even if there are no ramifications to the actual debate, if it happens it will be interesting to  keep an eye on. I have not seen any response yet from Grossman regarding the debate invitation, but I am hoping some interesting reading will come out of this..


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A female soldier was recently killed in a hit-and-run accident outside of Yokneam. A group of rabbonim from the Tzohar organization decided to hold a modern-version of the "egla arufa" ceremony in it's wake.

What is the modern-day version of egla arufa?

It's actually a bit disappointing. They went to the gas station next to where the soldier was killed and held a prayer session and made a public call to be more careful on the road, along with a public protest against the moral injustice of hitting and running.

The rabbonim involved in the ceremony made do with the prayer and protest, and did not break the neck of a calf beside the river. They explained that it is incomprehensible that blood can be spilled like this and the public should not have to answer for it.... "We have responsibility for blood spilled in traffic accidents. We have responsibility for the blood of the youth that is spilled in stupid fights. [we have responsibility for blood spilled] of women killed by their husbands. We have responsibility for blood spilled in the murders that fill the pages of our newspapers. When talking about people's lives, we cannot shirk our responsibility....". "We cannot get used to it, and we cannot say it is part of life. We must take responsibility for the blood spilled."
(source: Srugim, among others)

Interesting.

There are always people selling interesting and weird stuff on eBay. The latest eBay item of interest to the Jewish world is somebody selling a stone from the Western Wall.

This is probably a scam, as I doubt anyone is chipping away stones from the Western Wall, and I don't think he is selling any stones that weigh 10 tons...

Various news sites (Bechadrei, INN and Mynet) are reporting about someone claiming to sell stones from the Western wall on eBay. he is not doing what others have done before - selling stones or dirt from nearby the Wall. he is claiming to be selling actual stones from the Wall itself. Rabbi Rabinovitch, the rav of the Kotel and holy sites, has sent a complaint to eBay demanding they cancel the sale, calling it sacrilegious, a serious offense to Judaism, and a violation of Israeli law.

Rabbi Rabinovitch also claims it involves fraud, as there is no blessing in obtaining such a stone, rather a curse would befall such a person. To support that, Rabbi Rabinovitch bring sin his book about the Western Wall a story related by Rav Zilbershtein in which a woman fell seriously ill. Someone told her husband that he should put a piece of stone form the Kotel under her pillow and it would be a blessing for recovery. As soon as he did, she died.

I did numerous searches on eBay and could not find the stone from the Western Wall being offered. Maybe they took it down.

Pastor converts to Judaism and becomes orthodox rabbi

After the RAMBAM's original manuscripts were recently digitized and made available online, it is now the turn of the Dead Sea Scrolls.



The Israel Museum has been running this project to make the Dead Sea Scrolls available online, and they are finally available for your reviewing.

I opened the Jerusalem Post main website earlier today to see information about the terrorist attacks. The site must have crashed because I was taken to an error page.

The Jpost has a very Jewish themed error page for their website. Or maybe they were hacked. Either way, here it is: