Hilarious!

I owe a lot to the Peleg Hayerushalmi. I will never forget that I got into the Knesset last only because they did not vote for the Haredi parties 

The Haredi media is labeling all the infighting comments as threats.

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.

Interestingly, Mayor of Bet Shemesh Aliza Bloch has signed a coalition agreement with the Eitz party (aka the political branch of the Peleg Yerushalmi), represented by Malachi KiTov. In exchange for joining the coalition, Eitz will be granted the position of Deputy Mayor (without pay) and in charge of the Chen Charedi portfolio (in charge of cultural affairs for the Haredi community).

This is another position that had previously been held by Degel Hatorah and they are upset is not being held for them and is using this as a sign that Degel is not wanted in the coalition, as they said regarding the portfolios given to Agudah in their agreement with Bloch.

Basically, you snooze you lose. The longer they wait and delay coming to an agreement, the fewer positions, and less significant positions, will be available to them. They know how this works and have done the same exact thing to other parties previously, and is involved in the same issues in other cities.

Shas is also saying now that they are basically out and will be in the opposition. They are saying Bloch has "sold the city" to the Ashkenazim and have given ashkenazim all the important positions, leaving nothing of significance for them. Again, you snooze you lose. They seem to have thrown their hat in with Degel around the country and did not seem able to come to an agreement on their own here.

The bit of irony here is that with Eitz, Peleg, being in charge of the budgets for Haredi cultural events, it will be interesting to see Degel-affiliated communities and organizations asking for budgets from the Peleg people for events over the coming years, and it will be interesting to see how the Peleg people decide to treat such requests... There has been such animosity between Degel and Peleg/Eitz that this could become a difficult situation.

The Peleg Yerushalmi had a serious dilemma what to do in the second round elections in Jerusalem - support Moshe Lion or Ofer Berkovitch. While one might make a slam dunk case for one side and say there is no story here, the dilemma is interesting.

Moshe Lion is a candidate backed by Avigdor Lieberman who has pushed the IDF draft law that would possibly draft an increasing number of yeshiva boys. Ofer Berkovitch is a secular/traditional candidate that has had a hand in bringing/increasing secular culture in Jerusalem and has opposed some Haredi-backed policies.

So what to do? It looks like they are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Peleg today announced through its newspaper, HaPeles, that everyone must do whatever it can to oppose the candidacy of Moshe Lion and vote against him. They did not explicitly say to vote for Berkovitch, but being that that is the only way to oppose Lion, Peleg is essentially supporting Ofer Berkovitch for mayor of Jerusalem.

I imagine part of the consideration is also to oppose the Degel candidate, as in most cities, especially Jerusalem, Degel and Peleg fight with each other and do whatever they can to hurt the other.

It still sounds funny for the Litvish extremists who can often be found in the streets protesting, sometimes violently, to be supporting the secular/traditional candidate as the way to "bolster the holiness of Jerusalem". 

sources: Kikar and Actualic

Kikar is reporting that after the court decision last night invalidating Yitzchak Pindros from running for mayor of Elad, Degel Hatorah activists called for protests, and hundreds of yeshiva bochurim went out to do so and even got somewhat violent. Degel activist Moishi Rebber was arrested for calling for the protests. Degel is now threatening to "burn down the city" if Rebber is not immediately released.

The right to protest is a basic human right, and especially living in a democracy, the right to protest is sacred.

That being said, the right to protest does not give anyone the right to get violent.

In addition, the right to protest generally means getting the protest approved and authorized by the police with a permit and planning it in a way that does not disturb public safety.

I never really understood the fighting between Degel and the Peleg Yerushalmi. Unless you just write it off  to being a power struggle, the other possibilities make no sense - not for such hatred and for such a violent division. The hashkafic differences between the two groups are so minor. After all that, Degel now shows that the two groups are even closer than previously thought. Violent protests, threats of violence to release violent activists from prison. I think that unless it is all really just a power struggle for power, money and jobs, they should easily be able to work out their issues and differences and get back together.

this is cute. Motka Bloi, a leading Degel Hatorah activist, enjoys the elections jingle just released by Degel..



and the the competing "Etz" party called Bnei Torah from the Peleg Yerushalmi coopted the video and overlayed it on their own jingle, making it seem as if Bloi is enjoying the Bnei Torah jingle..

I don't know where everybody I wen to school with, or just grew up with, is nowadays and what happened to all of them over the years, but every now and then I hear about somebody from my past and something they have done, something standout...

For example, I have someone I grew up with who spent time in jail for tax fraud or evasion and real estate fraud. Another who is in jail for being a "Jewish terrorist". A few have done exceptionally well in business, one or two who have become well-liked and admired yeshiva or school administrators or rosh kollels, many who have raised beautiful families and are productive members of society...

One yeshiva-mate of mine, a former roommate and friend - who actually lives right around the corner from me, just announced he is running for mayor of Bet Shemesh. He actually announced it a few weeks ago, quietly, but the campaign just started so now the streets are plastered with his image and message..

Meet Malachi Ki Tov, candidate from the Etz party in the upcoming elections for position of Mayor of Bet Shemesh.



What have some of the people your grew up with gone on to do to make themselves famous?

You have to have at least some respect for a person who puts his money where his mouth is and is dedicated to the cause he believes in.

Ahro Biale, a regular participant in the Peleg Yerushalmi protests, has become somewhat famous and a subject of regular Internet memes with a lot of fans. Biale is an American yeshiva bochur learning in Eretz Yisrael in Rav Shmuel Auerbach's yeshiva, and Biale has gone hardcore Peleg.

Last year Biale decided to make aliya for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the opportunity to be AWOL from the army and stick it to those Zionists. So, for 5 months now Biale has been AWOL. Now that he tried to leave Israel to go visit his parents for the Pesach holiday in Lakewood, NJ, he was arrested in the airport and will be spending 20 days in a military jail, though he has made a request for a lightened sentence that is being considered.

He definitely got what he wished for when he made aliyah. Only some new immigrants can say as much about their own aliya experiences...

these Peleg protesters are pretty stupid. In yesterday's protests they escalated the conflict by attacking police with pepper spray and tear gas. I don't really have a problem with that as they are fighting with the police, the police spray them with "boash", which I am not sure how to translate but is some sort of skunk fragrance spray, and water cannon and use other methods of aggressiveness, so the protesters act in kind. It is part of the process. Even though I would not condemn it, I do think it is stupid.

They may think they are cool right now and they got the upper hand on those cops, at some point escalating and attacking the cops will cause the cops to escalate. I would not be surprised if at some point we see the police start shooting rubber bullets into the mass of protesters, and maybe even eventually live fire. It seems to me to be the natural progression of such escalations.

Remember the guys from the Peleg group that were arrested for being AWOL and were saying they were going to refuse to wear uniforms while in prison?

It seems this has not worked out too well for them... they showed up in court the other day in full IDF regalia..

For all the details, see the Behadrei article about what is going on..

Interesting details:
They seem to have made friends with the soldiers guarding the prison.
They do what they can to avoid contact with females.
They sometimes refuse to wear the uniform and then get sent to solitary confinement for bit. They say they prefer it because there are less women there, and the additional quiet is better for learning.
The thing they miss most, they say, is Thursday night cholent
They say they learn a lot in jail, even more than in yeshiva - even up to 11 hours a day

According to a report on Haredim10, students went to the grave of Rav Shteinman at the conclusion of the shiva only to discover that the temporary headstone on the grave had been smashed and defaced.

I am not one to say every person, even if just every person in the Haredi community, has to follow one specific rav, gadol hador or not. You don't like this rav's approach, follow a different rav.

Destroying a headstone on a grave is not quite the same thing as not following a specific rav. You can disagree with the rav, you can dislike his approach on this or that matter. The greatest anti-semites in history have defaced and destroyed Jewish gravestones. Real haters destroy gravestones (whether Jewish or not).

One is allowed to disagree without turning it into hatred and vandalism and even anti-semitism. You don't like Rav Shteinman or wan to honor hsi memory - don't go visit his grave, don't learn in his memory, don't participate in events to commemorate his death... but don't destroy his grave . That is beyond the pale.

this is funny.

Many young men have been arrested recently while participating in the Peleg protests.Some were released relatively quickly while some were discovered to be AWOL and then transferred to the IDF and sent to military jail.

 According to this report on Kikar, the rebellion continues. Not necessarily in the streets via public protest, but now also in the IDF jails. The young men arrested are saying they are refusing to don the prison uniforms.

The IDF prison wardens have decided to separate the prisoners from each other  so they will not be able to coordinate further actions.

If they are not wearing prison uniforms, what are they wearing? I assume prisoner's regular civilian clothes gets taken away upon entry into the prison. I find it strange that these yeshiva boys would prefer to walk around the jail naked rather than in uniform, even as a protest, but maybe...

We must hold the protests with all the strength and all the brazenness, it is the most important mitzva, and whoever does not participate in the protests for whatever reason, it is worse than not putting on tefillin. 

  -- Rav Tzvi Friedman, one of rabbinic leaders of the Peleg Yerushalmi group and head of the Peleg-affiliated beis din

Last night's renewal of the Peleg protests were in response to some of their people having been arrested and their detention being extended for relatively long periods of time.

I have no problem with people breaking the law. That is, as long as when they do so they know they are taking the risk of being caught and arrested or fined or whatever. If they know that and want to take the risk, more power to them. If the person gets caught, he should be willing to pay the price - he took the risk knowingly for some benefit.

The Peleg people break the law (both in terms of not registering for the army and the road blockages) for ideological reasons. I have no problem with that. Part of the ideology has to be willingness to sit in jail and pay the price if caught. It even strengthens the ideology.

Yehuda Glickman, formerly one of the heads of the "bnei yeshivot" division of the IDF and involved in the drafting of Haredi young men,  successfully sued some of the leaders of the Peleg group for their involvement in the "shaming" campaign, known as "Hatzayadim" - "The Trappers" - that caused him so much damage.

The suit was against 3 people and the court ruled that 3 of them are each obligated to pay Glickman 600,000nis compensation, while a fourth was found innocent and Glickman was obligated to pay 15,625nis for his court costs and lawyers fees. In addition,The three found guilty have to pay 30,000nis in court costs and 65,000nis in lawyers fees.

The courts ruled in Glickman's favor saying that the publication of the "Hatzayadim" brochure led to a wave of negative publicity against him, and abusive behavior against him that caused him much anguish and suffering.

This was all put together by private investigation funded by Glickman. Glickman responded to the decision by saying this is one of the first court decisions clarifying that the Haredi community is no longer closed and the blood of Haredi soldiers is not free and their honor is holy.
sources: Kikar, Haredim10

According to a report in Actualic, some wealthy Satmar hassidim from the USA and the UK have committed to paying off these fines.

Sadly this had to be done privately. For whatever reason the police and the IDF could not figure out how to discover who was behind the campaign and only a private person with some private money was competent enough to do so. The police need to deal with law enforcement. The IDF needs to protect its soldiers and deal with law enforcement in relation to the soldiers of the IDF. If they weren't going to chase down the perpetrators and find them, at least now that they have been found I hope those responsible for law enforcement will deal with the guilty perpetrators on a more public responsibility level.

As expected, the Haredi parties only give lip service to rejecting the Peleg people but don't allow legislation that might actually do something about it.

Minister Yaakov Litzman made sure to strongly oppose the proposal to revoke funding from any yeshiva calling for its students to evade the IDF draft. The proposal came up in committee today, but Litzman ensured it would not pass and at least be postponed for two more weeks before being discussed again. I am not sure what is supposed to happen in two weeks, but these delays usually mean the proposal will be shelved.
source: Behadrei