In a shiur recently, Rav Yitzchak Zilbershtein mentioned that Bnei Braq is a safe city, the safest in the world, and the residents do not need to worry, as the Chazon Ish promised, and it was supported later by Rav Chaim Kanievsky, that bombs will not fall in Bnei Braq.

We have already seen Minister of Transportation Merav Michaeli's attitude to the idea of a new road leading in and out of Modiin Ilit to ease the traffic problems, and danger, there. She is opposed, if you didnt read the original when the issue was raised about a month ago. Michaeli thinks people should use cars less and public transportation more and that will solve most of the congestion problems.

I dread having to go to Modiin Ilit Thankfully it is only a rare occasion that I need to go there.

It only took about 7 years. An entire shmitta!

Back in 2012 I commented on a news report about an archaeological park being developed in the Haredi town of Modiin Ilit. It had been decided that when the park would open it would only be open to the Haredi public and would operate based on guidelines set by a Haredi committee - they would determine how the history would be presented. The Haredi community would set the narrative of the place.

My objection back then was with the Haredi community, especially that of Modiin Ilit but not only, fighting almost every summer with neighboring cities to allow Haredim entry into their parks, it is hypocritical to then design (with public monies) and operate a public park and not let in your secular neighbors. Don't do unto others what you would not want done to you. You don't want to be banned from their parks, don't ban them from your parks.

I don't know when the park officially opened, but Kikar is reporting that just today the mayor of Modiin Ilit, Yaakov Guterman, had all the fencing around the park removed and said that the park will be open to anybody and everybody. He specifically said that when they are demanding to be allowed entry into the Park Anabe in Modiin and fighting over that right, they cannot then go and ban the residents of Modiin (and other places) from their parks.

Good job. It was obvious seven years ago, and the friction was unnecessary, but better late than never.

Behadrei reported yesterday about Rav Meir Kessler, Chief Rabbi of Modiin Ilit, stating his opinion, published in a letter to city residents, that opposes courses in secular studies for children int he Haredi school system.

Since the "cheiders" in Modiin Ilit do not teach secular studies, he is referring to private classes taken after school hours, chugim, that are meant to give the children some basic tools for the future and possible future work skills. Rav Kessler wrote very harshly against it and encourages parents to only raise interest and encouragement for more Torah studies in their children, and not secular studies, so that in the future they will grow to be God-fearing Torah scholars.

This letter from Rav Kessler caused a bit of a stir. Many are criticizing him for opposing secular studies and concerned parents giving the kids a chance in the future, and even MK Yair Lapid (Kachol Lavan) commented on what Rav Kessler said.

In my opinion, Rav Kessler has done nothing wrong beyond stating his opinion. He is a rabbi in the extreme mainstream Litvishe community, and he is a rabbi of an extreme Litvish city. What do people expect him to say or his opinion to be? The mainstream Litvishe (and maybe others as well) believes children should only be learning Torah with no secular studies, so Rav Kessler has not said or supported anything he, along with hundreds of other rabbis, does not already support. I am not sure what people expected his opinion to be that this shocked and upset them

Actualic is reporting (and I received it in a news alert, posted below) about a change in policy made by the "Spiritual Committee" of Modiin Ilit. This committee is made up, I believe, by a group of local rabbis. The change of policy seems to have upset many around town.

The new decision, the policy change, states two points:
1. local papers are not allowed to accept or print any advertisement for cosmeticians that are larger than 1/4 page.
2. that no advertisements for the company "Debbie Wolf" can be accepted at all.

No reason given, but presumably they are worried about tzniyus issues with too much publicity and lifestyle promotion for cosmetics and cosmeticians and beauty.

The second issue, why a specific company cannot advertise at all while others can, is even less understandable - what have they done more wrong than any other fashion company? They advertise without using pictures of girls and women, even though they are selling girls and womens clothes - in the ads I have seen they generally use pictures of little boys (I never understand how they sell girls clothing by showing pictures of boys dressed nicely, but that is their marketing strategy).

According to Actualic, many locals are upset about this, saying it will hurt their parnasa, the rabbonim did not hear them out and did not take any of their concerns into account, complaining about all sorts of ads that were rejected by the rabbonim because they mentioned body parts - such as eyebrows - and the body parts were even abbreviated and not said out fully, an ad using a picture of a watermelon rather than a woman, was rejected - I wonder what the advertisement was for that she felt appropriate to replace the woman with a watermelon, and more. They say the rabbonim are turning people into idiots and not taking their concerns and needs into consideration.

So they are upset that the rabbonim have gotten a little more extreme than they already were and that was considered acceptable. That's the way the community seems to work. As time goes on, one extreme limit just gets moved to a further extreme, little by little. If they don't like accept that the rabbonim will not change. So, either change the rabbonim or move out. Move elsewhere to a community you consider more normal or reasonable - each deciding for himself and herself what that is and how it is defined. It is sad, but I don't see how they can change anything in such a lifestyle. Everybody wants to be extreme, but everybody thinks this extreme is normal and anything more extreme than that is crazy.

Online I have seen many complaints that the rabbonim are dealing with these types of issues rather than dealing with sick cases of sexual and physical abuse - someone was arrested just today in Modiin Ilit for abuse, and a few weeks ago the rape of a 7 year old girl was publicized. I do not think they are mutually exclusive, but many people are not happy. They think the rabbonim are dealing with trivial matters rather than the important ones. They should stop talking anonymously and raise these issues in public in their town. Or else nothing is going to change. Yes, they will be chased out of town for doing so, and perhaps someone, a few people, planning on leaving anyway should be the ones to do it and make the waves, but nothing is going to change without it. Even that is unlikely to do anything. That is what most of the people there seem to want.

This is a very strange story..

The head (mayor?) of a Palestinian village, Dir Kadis, married off his son on Thursday night. AMong the guests were several people from Modiin Ilit. In the pictures and video, at least some of them look to be Breslavers, but not all of them.

I don't know that this is the first time this has happened, but it was turned into a big deal. Some Palestinians got upset about it, claiming proof that the mayor, Radi Nasser, is in favor of normalization of relations with Israel and Israelis. The Palestinian Authority got very upset and wants the mayor to resign. The mayor himself denies any involvement, claiming others invited the Jews, not him, and as soon as he saw them he stopped the dancing and had them banished from the party. Supposedly Fatah has banished Nasser from being a member.
sources: Ynet, Actualic and Behadrei and more

I see nothing wrong with such participation. If they have become friends with him over time, probably by sending their cars for repairs to garages in his town or using his services in other ways (such as construction or whatnot) and they feel safe going there, more power to them, but only they are responsible for their own safety.

Perhaps it is a sign of some sort of normalization. And maybe it is not a bad thing. Just the fact that they got out of there alive and without any security incident or crisis is already a good sign!

At the funeral for the victims of the horrific bus accident yesterday, Rav Meir Kessler, rav of Modiin Ilit, exhorted the crowd in what type of behavior they should work to improve upon. Rav Kessler pointed out two problems that need improvement and work:
1. the women talk on their telephones while on the bus, loudly and with no shame, and they talk about everything, even personal matters and shidduchim, and the entire bus has to hear it all. As well, he called upon the women to improve their level of modesty in dress.
2. The men were exhorted for allowing their children to talk lashon hara and evil gossip and get involved in machlokes - parents must scold their children for getting involved in machlokes. It is a tremendous danger that destroys the entire environment around us.
source: Kikar

Rav Shalom Cohen, in his shiur, related to the bus accident and seemed to blame it on the bus line in Tiberias operated on Shabbos by Mayor Ron Kubi - we have to scream against this as Shabbos is the source of all blessings and if we desecrate the Shabbos, how can we have any blessings?
source: Haredim10

While perhaps it was implied, but Rav Kessler does not seem to be blaming the bus accident on these issues, just using the opportunity to exhort the public on points in the community that need work.That is the rav's job. It is interesting that the women have a problem and the children have a problem but the men seem to be perfectly ok..even though the kids talk about the machlokes that the men are actually involved in. The machlokes is fine, it is the talking about it that is the problem.

Rav Cohen seems to use the concept of arvus. The Jewish community is all connected, so blatant chilul shabbos in one place can affect other communities negatively as well. Besides for wondering how anyone can know definitively the reason or cause for anything happening in this world, I have no problem with a rabbi using a tragedy to try to strengthen Shabbos observance - that is the classic job of the rabbi.

That being said, wouldn't it be more fruitful and productive for a rabbi or teacher to tell his students and listeners in what they could improve and strengthen their observance, and not just talk about other people's problems?

Can we really improve our society by always pointing out other people's faults and never looking at our own?

The latest racket is coming out of Modiin Ilit and it has the local rabbis forcing all the local barber shops to obtain certification on their barber shops from the new supervisory committee for hair cutting and shaving issues.

The first step was the barber shops all closing for a few hours one day recently to go to a conference in which halachic issues related to the hair-cutting industry were discussed so they could learn the proper halachic way to give a haircut.

The next step is having every barbershop commit to following a list of guidelines with a commitment to only giving kosher haircuts. At that point the local rabbis will give every compliant barbershop certification.

The rabbis explain that just like one would not buy meat from a butcher with no hechsher, regardless of how God-fearing the butcher might be with a beard and peyos and praying every day at sunrise, so too with the barbershops...  sometimes the barber does not know all the relevant halachos of what can be cut and what cannot be cut, and even if he does know the rules, sometimes the clients put too much pressure on the barber...having certification will help as the barber will have committed to learning the relevant halachos and also he has the certification to point to in order to be able to stand up to the clients demands..
source: Behadrei

sounds like buying mafia "protection"... creating a new vaad, creating a new "hechsher" on something that never existed before, and forcing the local businesses to subscribe to it or else they'll basically be put out of business.. it is just a matter of time until it spreads to other neighborhoods and towns...

The Haredi media reported the other day of a weird situation in Modiin Ilit. It seems that the rabbonim in Modiin Ilit have instructed Kavim, the local public bus service, to not operate lines from Modiin Ilit to Tel Aviv or even to nearby Modiin.

According to Kavim, they do not operate such lines upon orders from the local rabbonim. The rabbonim do not want the town's womenfolk to spend their time in secular cities such as Modiin and Tel Aviv. They definitely do not want to be "responsible" for providing the opportunity for the women to go to such places and do who knows what or be exposed to who knows what.

It can be nice to live in a ghetto. The problem with this is that the women are complaining. Being that so many of them need to go to work to support their families, as the husbands are avreichim, they need to be able to travel to their workplaces in Modiin, Tel Aviv, and other places. The way it is know they waste a lot of time and money on multiple buses to get where they need to go, as they need to go from Modiin Ilit to Jerusalem, for example, and then transfer to a bus back to Modiin, or other such combinations of bus lines - Modiin Ilit to Bnei Braq and then bus lines from Bnei Braq to Tel Aviv.
source: Actualic

These women just don't know their place. Such a shame. If they are already being moser nefesh so their husbands can learn, they should not be complaining about a little extra transportation required of them. And maybe they should not even take jobs in secular cities and only accept jobs within Modiin Ilit or Bnei Braq (or other Haredi cities). Sad. So sad. 😖

There is an interesting debate going on in Modiin Ilit. Some people want to change the name of the city to Ayelet Hashachar, named for the seforim of Rav Shteinman. Others opposed it considering it disrespecful to Rav Shteinman, as every garbage can would have Ayelet Hashachar painted or inscribed in it, and people would talk about other negative things in Ayelet Hashachar.

The city council decided they would first vote on the issue and then look into the legality of the name change. The vote to change the name passed unanimously. It happens to be that they think the legal aspect will be a problem and the name change will not be approved as a different yishuv already bears the name Ayelet Hashachar.

That part of the story is less interesting (to me). Call it this, call it that. I dont really care.

The part that is interesting is this.. the rav of Modiin Ilit, Rav Mordechai Kessler, has opposed the name change. Rav Kessler explains that changing the name will cause many problems with all the marriages and divorces that happen in the city, just as there were difficulties when Kiryat Sefer changed its name to Modiin Ilit.
source: Actualic

I am not sure what the problems were in Kiryat Sefer when it changed to Modiin Ilit, and I am not sure what the problems would be now if Modiin Ilit changes to Ayelet Hashachar. However they solved it back then should work now as well and they can use the same solution, as that first name change did go through, and people continue to get married and divorced there. I would guess they write the name "modiin ilit" in the kesubas and gittin now, even though they used to write "kiryat sefer". and if they change the name again, they'll start writing the new name. It is an interesting approach, but if they've done it once and overcome they'll be able to do it again.

This reminds me of a story that happened in Chicago. When the CRC was looking to move its offices they had found an appropriate new location, but out of the city, in one of the suburbs with a large Jewish community. At the time Rav Gedalya Schwartz, the av beis din, said they cannot move out of Chicago-proper. His reasoning was that if anybody goes looking to contact the Chicago Rabbinical Council to ask about a gett they had performed, or anything else, but cannot find them in the Chicago phone book, they will suspect the organization and bring into question the integrity of all its gittin and other work. After that the CRC found a new location within Chicago-proper.

I was not aware that Modiin Ilit had any significant problems with extremists. Basically the entire city is borderline litvish extremist, but they don't really seem to have the yerushalmi extremists and the problems with them like we have in Bet Shemesh or they have in parts of Jerusalem. At least it does not make it to the news, more than the occasional tidbit.

It turns out they do, though clearly still far less than in other places.

After a number of problems, a police outpost was recently opened in Modiin Ilit.

The extremists are now protesting this, with protests outside the home of the mayor and by throwing their pashkevils all over the town. They are threatening to step up the protests as well.

The extremists consider it inappropriate for there to be a police station, even a communal station rather than a formal station, to be situated in a Haredi town.
source: Kikar

I am not quite sure what the problem is, though they describe it as bringing down the walls separating between secular and Haredi. Perhaps it is really a protest against having police close enough to arrest them when they make trouble or to stop their protests and attacks against innocent people.

Chief of Police Roni Alshich has called upon the rabbis and community leaders in MOdiin Ilit to discourage the local residents from bringing their cars for servicing and repairs to Arab mechanics from the nearby villages. According to Alshich using their cheap services encourages increased car theft - if I understood correctly because they need spare parts they send their people out to steal cars to create a supply of parts for them.

I do wonder if this is part of a sting operation in which they convince the rabbis to talk out against using the services of these Arabs and then the media flips out against these racist rabbis and the police are encouraged to arrest someone for something he said, official rabbis get fired for saying something racist, and the like.

As they say, just because you are paranoid does not mean they aren't after you..

The City of Modiin Ilit has published its tzniyus rules for its employees. The list of rules is interesting.

Some are making a big deal of their demand that women sit in the back of any transportation vehicles. I'll skip that for now as I find other items in the list far more interesting.

Some of the items include:
 * male and female employees not talking to each other at all after work hours, even about work-related issues
 * even during work male and female employees should not talk to each other about anything other than work-related issues
 * male and female employees should not call each other by their personal names but only by family names, preferably with honorifics, such as Mr Mrs Rabbi, etc
 * a manager wishing to praise an employee for a job well done can praise the work but not the person
 * families of employees cannot get together- no shared meals or trips together, etc.
 * no providing any service or favor for another employee, not including if it is someone's turn to do something for the entire office or department, etc
 *  women should not go to work in nice clothes but only in regular clothes that adhere to the rules of the halach
 * if someone makes a simcha unless the entire office is invited, any specific invited employee should not attend (even with his or her spouse, even if the event is completely gender-separate)
sources: Kikar, TOI

they are basically taking away the humanity of the people and the work-place. No talking, no doing favors, no sharing simchas, etc

In most places around Israel, with some exception, Hatzalah refuses to accept women as EMTs. They follow direction in this regard and have been told not to due to problems with tzniyus - men and women riding the ambulances together, bonding through the treatment of wounded and dealing with serious situation, women treating men, and the like.

At times using only male EMTs can also be seen as being a problem, such as with dealing with women in labor. While it clearly is not a halachic problem, many women feel uncomfortable with their neighbors or other men they might know from the area delivering their baby or taking care of them and treating them in these situations. I know that in some places at least they try to send men from other parts of the neighborhood for such situations, to minimize the likelihood of them knowing each other. It will never be perfect, but they try to do their best about that and minimize any possible potentially uncomfortable situations.

There have been some initiatives, mostly abroad, to create all-women teams of EMT volunteers to be able to deal with female patients. I have no idea how successful those initiatives have been and how active those teams of women are. The Facebook page of Ezras Nashim has not been updated in over a year and a half. That might not mean anything, or maybe it does.

It looks like Hatzalah finally might be giving in.

In Modiin Ilit there is an initiative to form an all-female team to be available to help women in labor and with other needs so the local modest avreichim volunteers do not need to be the ones dealing with these situations out of lack of options.

They have rustled up the support of Rabbanit Kolodetzky, the daughter of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, and she has asked her father about it and says that he supports the idea as well and gave his bracha.
source: Kikar

Good luck to them. It is an important initiative and if they can pull it off, it can lead to good things. It is interesting that Modiin Ilit might be the first town with a Haredi population to break this taboo..

City of Hall of Modiin Ilit has published some instructions and guidelines for the Lag b'Omer celebrations.




As you can see by the circled item, City Hall is warning the residents to not throw rocks and boulders at the firemen who will be driving around to ensure everyone's safety.

On the one hand, it is troubling that such a statement needs to be made.

On the other hand, "good on them" - kol hakavod - it did need to be said, and they said it. Hopefully people will listen.It might be more effective if they put out pashkevilim with rabbinic decrees to that effect, but small steps, as they say, small steps.

It is always fun to watch God's accountants in action...

Recently Rav Amnon Yitzchak explained why we have merited to have missiles being shot at Tel Aviv. Rav Amnon Yitzchak explained that missiles were shot toward the most disgusting city in the world because of the sins performed within it. He specified the Pride Parade and homosexuality and said Tel Aviv is the most famous city in the world for homosexuality (which I doubt is true).
source: Walla

Yated Neeman has now gotten into action as well. Yated ran an editorial the other day in which they said that the sirens in Tel Aviv are because of the chilul shabbos in the city. Yated writes that people wanted to be busy on Shabbos, but the sirens wail and the streets of Tel Aviv are empty on Shabbos.
source: Kikar

Maybe they (one, the other, or both) are right, or maybe they are wrong. I have no way of knowing.

But if that is how this works, that we can attribute sirens and rockets overhead to specific things, perhaps we should also wonder why there are now sirens being blared in Modiin Ilit and Bnei Braq, and even missiles over Bnei Braq with shrapnel falling in the city.

What say you? What are your best reasons for the sirens in the frum cities?

It will be difficult to explain the sirens in Bet Shemesh, as everyone by now knows "there are no gays in Bet Shemesh", and also there is no chillul shabbos in Bet Shemesh because we have a haredi mayor. So why else could we possibly have sirens and missiles?

Jerusalem should be easy. There is enough chillul shabbos and tzniyus problems there, especially by the old Train Station with the beach, the recent zumbathon, etc. for an ample supply of missiles and sirens.

Modiin Ilit? Bnei Braq?

I heard someone say in the name of a rav (I will not say the name because I dont know if he actually said this or not) that the pieces of missile that fell in Bnei Braq did so because of the "Tachlis" supermarket that was located nearby where the missile fell.

For those of you that don't know, Tachlis si a new supermarket opened by Dui Weissman. Weissman is the part-owner of AM:PM that is open on Shabbos in Tel Aviv. He was also the owner, or part-owner of Shefa Shuk (Zol bShefa), and that was the reason for the (unofficial?) ban on Shefa Shuk by the haredi community. So now he started a new chain called Tachlis, and that, supposedly, perhaps, caused the missile in Bnei Braq.

So, let's all play Gods accountant and come up with good reasons.. come on - I want to laugh. come up with some good stuff.

The promise of the Chazon Ish is already famous - that missiles will not fall in Bnei Braq. Rav Chaim Kanievsky has quoted and used this promise in practice regarding questions of safety in Bnei Braq, in more than one war...

and now this promise has been extended..

Rav Chaim Kanievsky said regarding Modiin Ilit that the Chazon Ish's promise surely applies to that city as well. as it is a city mostly of Torah - yeshivas, kollels, schools, and the same promise surely applies there as well - missiles will not fall in Modiin Ilit.

Rav Kanievsky clarified that this is not a new promise of his, but it is the words of his uncle the Chazon Ish.
source: Bechadrei

Halevai it should be true. BH, so far so good. The Iron Dome has let very few missiles slip through at all, and none in Bnei Braq and Modiin Ilit,  so the promise has been working.

I think the people of Beitar, Rechasim, Beit Chilkiya, and any other charedi town (maybe even Bet Shemesh), should go to Rav Kanievsky and get the promise extended to their towns as well,  considering all such towns are largely centered around Torah institutions.... Theoretically it should also apply about towns that are Dati Leumi and focused around Torah as well, and perhaps he should also be asked about such towns...

According to this story on Kooker, and I have no idea as to the veracity of the story, the owner of a store selling cellular phones in Modiin Ilit has been summoned to beis din for a disciplinary hearing.

The beis din is the beis din for issues of technology, meaning they are behind the enforcement of bans on iphones, smartphones, internet, and the like.

the reason for the hearing is because it was discovered that he had sold an iPhone to an 11 year old boy. When his parents discovered it, they complained to the beis din.

There is a ban in Modiin Ilit against selling on non-kosher phones, and this storekeeper broke not just the ban but he sold it to a kid.

What does not make sense is how a kid could spend upwards of 3000NIS or more on a phone.. where'd he get the money for it? And, how could any store sell such an expensive item to such a young kid without the parents involvement? And, if he also bought a phone line, that means he had to give a credit card - where did an 11 year old kid get a credit card? If he did not buy a phone line, what was he buying the phone for - did he already have a [non-kosher] phone line and was just getting himself a new phone for it?

Strange. Something is missing.