This morning's news was highlighted with a wonderful tidbit about some fellow in the Ramat Gan Safari. This shmegegie got out of his car and jumped the barrier and entered the alligator enclosure. I am not quite sure why - in the attached video it sounds like he is saying he wants to free to alligator, but I am not sure I am hearing it correctly. The viewer can see the interloper taunting the stoic alligator with screams, gesticulating hands and kicking dirt in its direction. 

הנהלת הספארי: הגשנו תלונה במשטרה נגד האדם שסיכם את עצמו ונכנס לחצר התנינים. כך זה נראה (באדיבות https://t.co/0ctBgfFvkz) @n12news pic.twitter.com/F30twHtH7K

— אור רביד | Or Ravid (@OrRavid) February 20, 2022

תיעוד: גבר נכנס לאזור התנינים בספארי ברמת גן @uri_sela pic.twitter.com/aCfBjlfV85

— וואלה! (@WallaNews) February 20, 2022

what a strange day it was yesterday.. it must have been a full moon all day, even though it obviously wasn't.. the full moon, though, always draws out the crazies and weird phenomena...

in Georgia all the wild animals escaped from the zoo during flooding. They had crocodiles, bear, hippo, tigers, lions and more wandering through the city...

Oded Kotler, an artist/actor, called the million Likud voters "animals following the herd". He was busy criticizing Miri Regev when he said this. On another, connected, note, for some reason only leftist governments are allowed to establish policy, but rightists are not allowed to.

It was announced that a film is being made about Yigal Amir's life in prison. Miri Regev is trying to have it banned, or quashed. Let's see if people scream about censorship. I'm not sure why she does not just pull funding, like she did for the documentary about the Arab terrorist, but I guess we will see what happens. I'm not sure why the producer thinks enough people are interested in a movie about Yigal Amir in prison to think that this is a good idea.

As I said when it happened last week with Haredi families disrespecting an IDF monument honoring fallen soldiers, this video capturing secular families barbecuing on a monument for fallen soldiers from the Israeli Navy also shows that some people are just idiots and not raised right, and it crosses all sectors. Too many people still need to learn how to respect others in even the most basic ways...

Some people are just idiots.

Some people just were not raised right.

photo taken from Gil Tevet's twitter account

picture on all Israeli news media today

The first picture posted above is of some idiot not raised right who is having a barbecue on the monument established in memory of Udi Goldwasser and Eldad Regev , soldiers who were abducted by Lebanon-Hezbollah that led to the Second Lebanon War. Not only is he barbecuing and picnicking on the memorial site, he is using the metal parts of the memorial itself to open his bottle of beer. Maybe his being such an idiot is the reason he is out picnicking all by himself...

The second picture above is of a group of teens (some news sites say families, but I only teens in the picture), also idiots - even bigger idiots than most teenagers - swimming in the memorial established in memory of the 73 victims of the tragic helicopter crash in the village of She'ar Yashuv 16 years ago. The plaques in the water bear the names of the victims.

According to reports, passers-by told the swimmers that the place is a memorial and they should be sensitive to the emotions of the families of the victims and stop swimming there, to which the one of the swimmers responded that they know what the place is and they have no problem swimming. The proper memorial is to light candles and say tehillim, which is what we do, while water does nothing to lift up the neshama of the dead and there is nothing holy about the site. He then told the kids to continue swimming, saying "I pay taxes just like you and will do what I want here".

In another instance, the other day a woman was reportedly spat upon in Ashdod when passing near a yeshiva while dressed immodestly. The yeshiva is located in a general area, not the center of the haredi neighborhood (not that that would justify it either, but in this instance she was in her own area).

The incident has been defended by people saying she was wrong for walking that way, even though she is there every day, according to reports, taking her sister to the kindergarten nearby, because once the yeshiva was built in their neighborhood, everybody around has to conform to favor the preferences of the yeshiva. According to some people, only religious people have rights, which they rightfully demand to be afforded, and must be treated with respect, but other people do not have the right to be treated with basic human dignity.

Some people are just idiots.

Last week a picture went viral, and received many derogatory comments on many of the sites on which it was publicized. If you have not guessed yet which picture I am talking about, it was the picture of the kohen sitting on an airplane ensconced in his seat while wrapped in a sealed plastic bag to protect him from the impurities arising from the Jewish cemeteries below.

There has not been much to write about it, as the strangeness of the picture and surely of the incident for anyone on the airplane who saw it happen, spoke for itself. Ynet searched the fellow out and got some background for what happened. The article is worth translating, so here it is:

The fellow insisted on remaining anonymous, but he did send Ynet in the direction of his rav saying that all he did is what his rav told him to do.

This anonymous fellow is a kohen with a long and rich background in the army and has served in many very sensitive positions. He is a chozer b'tshuva, and in a very unusual move his commander in the Air Force game him a gift - 2.5 years of learning in yeshiva fully funded by the Air Force - he received his full salary throughout the period. At the end of the 2.5 years of yeshiva learning, he returned to the Air Force for an additional ten years. 

Rav Yosef Bruk is s rosh yeshiva and the rav of this fellow. Bruk was very critical of the public response to the image, and he says he is convinced that all those who responded critically are not on the personal or the intellectual level the kohen is on.

Rav Bruk heads a yeshiva for baalei teshuva, and has been involved with this fellow for over two decades. This fellow is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserves and has filled many senior positions in the Air Force. Before Pesach this fellow flew back to Israel, and due to complications with the flight, he found out that the flight would be flying over a cemetery. He called me, his rav, to consult as to what he should do, as despite the airplane being a closed place, flying over a cemetery is a problem as there is impurity above the cemetery. To deal with it, he had to get into a position that is called in halacha "tzamid ptil" - a tight-fitting cover on an earthenware vessel...

Rav Bruk says that what appears to the public as sophistry, something made up and an attempt to circumvent halacha by coming up with innovative methods - that is the halacha, and people should consider how they would feel when their values cause other people to throw looks of derision and wonder. Every issue of Jewish halacha turns into a party of slurs. Everything connected to our heritage and is not understood is approached with derisive and defamatory attacks. The rule is that the less you know, the more you scream and that is true in this instance as well. 

If a person from the Zulu tribe would see me talking on my telephone, he would think I went crazy, as he would not understand how voice waves could travel hundreds and thousands kilometers. He has no understanding what electromagnetic radiation is, because he cannot see it with his eyes.

The same is true with the spiritual system of purity and impurity - we do not have the ability or the tools to identify and know how it works. So I say to all those who responded, if you don't know anything about the topic, in your kindness, please just leave us alone and treat us with respect and politeness. Just as people who understand the Muslims that remove their shoes before entering their mosques and don't scoff at them, just as they understand the Christians who remove their head coverings when they enter their church, relate to Judaism with at least a minimal amount of respect.

The kohen who starred in the picture said that during his learning he learned in two places - he learned in Belz, that is considered a humane and moderate hassidut, and was very close with the Admor. And he learned in Netivot Olam (Rav Bruk's yeshiva) in which very respectful and honorable people learn, and along with him learned another 4 pilots. As well, during the same period of time, he says, he became very close with Rav Shach.

this picture was sent to me by a few people, and has since also appeared on Facebook by a bunch of people and on forums. As far as I can tell it is real, but I take no responsibility for it, and unfortunately I have no idea whom to give photo credit to.

While it looks like this might be the carry-on bag of the fellow sitting in the next seat, it is actually a person who is a kohen flying from Cyprus to Israel. It seems all flights coming to Israel from Cyprus fly over a Jewish cemetery of Gush Dan and this fellow received a psak that he could take the flight if he seals himself up in a bag upon the approach to Ben Gurion. I have no idea how he is breathing in that bag, assuming it is hermetically sealed as is required, but if it is just for a few moments maybe it is not a problem.

The issue became "hot" a few years back, but I never actually saw a picture of someone doing this (or using a body bag as some of the stories mention)...

In a ridiculous story, worse than ridiculous really as lives were in danger, a woman in Jerusalem refused to go to a hospital to give birth, or even after birth for examination and care, because she was in the middle of a taanis dibbur -  a speech fast -at the time of birth.

According to this report on Kikar, on this past Motzei Shabbos MDA and the police were called in to deal with a woman who had given birth earlier in the day but refused to allow herself to be brought to the hospital for care. Her husband called the authorities. he claims to not have been home at the time of birth, but at some point during the day he had come home and discovered his wife in the bedroom holding the newborn baby that was still attached by the umbilical cord.

They tried to persuade her to allow them to bring her and the baby to the hospital, but she refused to communicate with them.

They brought the rav who released her from her taanis dibbur and told her that it is a mitzvah for her to go to the hospital to be checked, but she still refused, not allowing the MDA team to examine her or the baby.

The police ended up forcing the situation and gave the MDA team an opportunity to check the baby, who was fine and healthy, and then she finally agreed to be taken to the hospital.

When she got to the hospital, she broke her taanis and thanked the MDA team.

All around weird.


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The "Idiot Of The Day" award goes to some guy in Tzfat who threw his television out his window onto the street - from the third floor.

Nobody was hurt, the tv did not land on top of a car or cause other damage besides for the shattering of the tv itself.

The fellow was arrested. His defense in court was that he was listening to a rabbinic command to get the television out of his house. (source: bechadrei)

I don't imagine that the rabbi who gave him that command actually told him to throw it out his 3rd floor window. He could just as easily have listened to his rabbi by taking his television down to the garbage can by using the building elevator or staircase, and disposing of it like a human being. "Get rid of your television" does not mean throw it out the window endangering anybody and anything that might be anywhere below the third floor. I even feel bad for the unnamed rabbi who is being blamed by his follower for such a stupid act, as if the rabbi actually told him to do what he did.


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It used to be that you would hear stories of sad and unfortunate, but crazy, wedding stories. Specifically of crazy circumstances or incidents that happened or were revealed under, or immediately after, the chuppa. And that would be the end of it as far as the public was concerned. After the initial splash, the initial revelation, the couple would go away quietly and either work out their issues or get a quick divorce.

Nowadays we sue.

Kikar is reporting about a wedding, a haredi wedding which is why Kikar is reporting on it, in Beer Sheva, in which immediately after the chuppa the chosson disappeared from the wedding hall and ran away.

As the chuppa concluded he told his kalla he needed to step out, wash his face and get air for a moment. When he didn't return after a bit, people started looking for him. They found his suit jacket thrown aside in the bathroom, but he was nowhere to be found.

For weeks she has been looking for him, unsuccessfully. She finally found him (I would like to know where he was hiding out, though the article does not say), only to be told that he ran away because he felt it was a mistake to marry her.

She is now suing him for 1 million shekels, due to the anguish and distress he caused her on her wedding day.

He should have just broken it off before the wedding, or gone through with it and then a quiet and quick divorce. I don't know if she will get a million shekels, as Israeli courts are notoriously not big into large awards for intangible damages, but it will cost him a pretty penny.

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Just to add, while I am not sure why this story is so big, perhaps it is taking on the proportions of the dog stoning story as a human interest story, but this story is now running in Bechadrei, NRG and Srugim as well. It is not nearly as crazy as that dog story, so I doubt it will be picked up by the international news the way the dog story was, but locally it is making the rounds. I guess the news of Aryeh Deri returning to politics isn't big enough on it's own...

I saw in the paper this morning that explorer and treasure hunter Bill Warren is planning on spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to search for Osama Bin Laden's body.

Warren does not believe that Obama gave enough proof that they actually killed Osama Bin Laden, so he is going to go look for it himself. He will be engaging specialized hi-tech equipment and several boats in his search for the body.

It sounds ridiculous. It is like searching for a needle in a haystack. the body could have drifted anywhere, could have been devoured by a shark or other feeders, and he thinks he can find it? They took 10 years to find him when he was alive, let alone now that his body has been tossed into the ocean...

I don't expect him to find anything. Maybe President Barak Obama will release more proof, the picture or other information, before Warren gets too out of hand and before he wastes too much money.

They did not change their names, their language nor their style of dress. These are the three ways in which Jews have always been unique, and why we merited leaving Egypt, and presumably many other salvations we have experienced through history. So we are told.

In the post-Royal Wedding era, after the world has seen the fairy tale style wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, somebody, an Israeli, was so inspired, so moved by the wedding, that he decided to change his name. he was going to change his name to a combination of names from 10 different monarchs.

According to Ynetnews:

The names he requested be listed on his identification card are: Henry, William, Phillip, Charles, Frederick, Michael, Louis, George, Edward, and Robert.


The clerk who accepted the man's plea was somewhat skeptical, but said he would check if the request was legally plausible, according to the man's account.


A few days later he received a call saying the change was not possible, the explanation being that it would "mislead the public".


The clerk then proposed a compromise, asking the man to choose just three of the 10 names for his ID.


"Thousands of people change their names each year in Israel, some of them at the advice of a rabbi and others at the advice of psychics, in addition to those who want Hebrew names, but we've never seen such an odd request," the Population and Immigration Authority explained in a statement.


"We see many requests that derive from a desire to be special or unique, and only in extreme case in which we feel that the public will be offended do we veto the request."

Perhaps another good thing about the State of Israel is that the government encourages our remaining unique in these ways, not allowing crazy people to change their names like that..

Another thought is to employ the talmudic rule of "Tafasta Meruba Lo Tafasta". When you try for too much, you don't get anything. Had he chosen just a couple of names, perhaps 3 as the clerk suggested, his request might have been immediately granted. yet he chose 10 names, which was too much.

I'd say this is something that could happen only in Israel, but it would not be true. Yet this specific craziness just happened in Israel.

An Israeli couple named their newborn baby "Like". Like, as in, or should I say like, the ability to click the "Like" button in Facebook.

Yahoo News has the story:

Stumped for an original name for their newborn daughter, an Israeli couple took inspiration from social networking site Facebook and named her "Like," Israeli daily Maariv reported on Monday.
The parents lifted the name from the popular feature on the site, which allows Facebook users to click on the word "like" and give the thumbs-up to comments, links and pictures posted by other users.
"We named her Like because it's modern and innovative," father Lior Adler told the mass-circulation paper. "I checked that the name does not exist elsewhere in the country, that was the main condition for me," he said.
"In our opinion it's the modern equivalent of the name Ahava (Love) he added. "It's just my way of saying to my fantastic daughter, 'love.'"
Adler and his wife Vardit have in the past strayed into unusual territory in naming their offspring.
The pair share a love of cooking and so decided to name their other daughters "Pie," using the English word for the name, and "Vash," Hebrew for "Honey," Maariv reported.
As might be expected, the couple's newest arrival was quickly announced to their friends and family on Facebook, where she was an instant hit, her father told the paper.
"When I posted her picture and name on Facebook I got 40 'likes,'" he told Maariv. "Considering that I have only a little more than 100 friends on the network that's a lot."

Like, Vash and Pie. Talk about crazy. What is going to happen with this girl in 20 years, when Facebook is a thing of the past and she tries to explain her unusual name. They might think it is cool now, but later they will think of it as pretty stupid. I mean, what would you think if you ran into someone named a term from MySpace?

Though if they were so inspired by Facebook, "Like" seems like a better choice than naming the kid "Mark Zuckerberg"...

This is taking the title "the Facebook Generation" just a little too literally!

What is considered appropriate dress at a wedding, or any simcha? You know, when you get that invitation to a simcha with that request on it to come dressed "appropriately" or according to tzniyus standards.. So what is considered appropriate will really depend on whatever the person doing the inviting had in mind, as every person will have a different set of standards in mind.

MYNET is reporting on a wedding of a couple from Mea Shearim with an unusual wedding invitation. While it has become fairly common to see on wedding invitations a small announcement that guests should come dressed modestly, sometimes with details of what is appropriate, that small announcement is now being ramped up.

The next level is here. As it happens, when people move to the right and think of new chumras and demands, eventually it becomes mainstream. Now it is standard enough to request tzanua dress at a simcha, and the next level is to request (actually demand) that [female] guests come wearing "shals" (like a shawl, but a bit different. in Hebrew it is spelled שאל). Now it is just a small number of people, but if they keep it up, it will catch on more and more (many people will begin to feel inadequate and less frum, so they will follow suit), and may eventually become standard as well.

So the report goes that they printed on the invitation that guests should come dressed tzanua, and wear the shal. It also added that doing so will please the holy shechina, and in the merit of the righteous women we will be redeemed.

According to the guest who spoke to MYNET, this was put on the invitation despite the fact that all the invitees themselves are Haredim, so there is no issue of the women being dressed inappropriately, and the venue for the wedding is one where the men and women are in completely separate halls, plus they covered up all the windows in the womens hall, so no men would see the women anyway.

As an aside, MYNET notes another interesting Mea Shearim wedding coming up where the bride, the kallah, is 22 and the groom, the chosson, is 17. The reason it took so long for this alte maidel to find her zivug is because of her demand that after she marry she would insist on wearing a shal and a raala (a.k.a. a burqa).

Over the top.

This year, this Chanukah season, is the second annual sufganiyah eating contest being run on twitter.

This is a crazy development in the conflict between Rav Amnon Yitzchak and the religious singers.

On Monday, the police arrested Shlomo Saklersky, a 40-year-old resident of Bnei Brak, on suspicions of extortion.

Saklersky is suspected of having shown nude pictures of the attorney associated with Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak in order to coerce him to withdraw his opposition to concerts before concerts with both men and women in attendance.

Saklersky allegedly sent the lawyer nude pictures of him and threatened to spread them should he not capitulate to his demand to cease pressuring haredi artists not to perform for mixed audiences. Saklersky denied the allegations, but admitted to speaking with a third suspect in the affair who was also arrested on Monday.

Tel Aviv Magistrates' Court extended Saklersky's remand by two days.

Saklersky has an existing criminal record that includes violent offenses. He said during his investigation that he was merely trying to mediate between the two sides because of his previous acquaintance with Rabbi Yitzhak.

Though the lawyer only recently filed a complaint with the police, the alleged incident occurred a number of weeks ago.

The investigation material reveals that Saklersky arrived at the offices of the Shofar organization headed by Rabbi Yitzhak where he presented the compromising photographs while noting that the rabbi is associated with people who are not mindful of modesty standards.

It's so crazy, I just had to share it with you..

I was out running early this morning, and saw a a couple of firetrucks driving through the neighborhood with their lights flashing.

Different (divorced) people have different ways of trying to get out of paying child support..

A Near North Side man who has a criminal record that includes 80 convictions and 14 arrests is hospitalized with two broken legs and other injuries after having jumped out of a third floor window to elude arrest on a warrant for unpaid child support.

Ronald “Boobie” McIntyre, 35, of the 1300 block of North Hudson Street, was wanted for failure to pay $5,979.66 in court-ordered support for his children, according to a release from the Cook County sheriff's office. Court records show he has been arrested 14 times and has 80 criminal convictions unrelated to this warrant.

Deputies with the Cook County Sheriff’s Child Support Enforcement Unit attempted to take McIntyre into custody Tuesday afternoon.

When they arrived at a third-floor apartment where they heard he was staying, they announced their office and were greeted by a woman who said she didn’t know where he could be found, the release said.

But she invited them inside and as they searched the premises, a juvenile pointed to a window. The deputies walked to that window, looked down and saw McIntyre lying on the ground below. Though it appeared he landed on grass, it was actually artificial turf covering concrete that he landed on.

Deputies ran downstairs, but a wrought-iron security gate prevented them from immediately arresting McIntyre, who was still attempting to elude them by crawling away, the release said. Deputies ordered him to give them his wrist to be cuffed, but he replied by cursing at them. However, McIntyre landed close enough to the gate and struggled to move, so deputies were able to reach through the gate, grab his wrist and handcuff him to the fence until building security arrived to unlock it.

An ambulance was called and deputies learned McIntyre suffered multiple compound fractures to both legs, among other injuries. He remains hospitalized Wednesday, but a judge ordered him to remain free until his next court date, which is set for Oct. 19.

and then there is the legal claim of getting out of child support as seen in case #2...

This is a crazy story:

The man, who was not identified, called his wife while she was travelling in Europe to tell her he was returning to their home country and taking all the furniture, the online edition of the Yediot Aharonot newspaper said.

The woman rushed back to Israel only to find their home empty. Even her clothes, jewelry and cats were gone. Her husband cancelled her credit card and medical insurance.

But she told YNet what hurt most was the loss of her 40 cats and two dogs.

She filed a theft complaint with the police.

40 cats? That is what they are fighting over - he took them and she wants them back. That is the main fight here? Crazy people. 40 cats? Really?

Governor Paterson is not happy about the recent reports of him sporting a red bendel.. He claims the reports are like "throwing dung at a cross or stomping on a Star of David"..

Even funnier is this:

Paterson said he decided to wear the bracelet this spring after feeling "touched" during a visit to the Queens tomb of revered Orthodox rabbi, Jacob Joseph. It's tradition for visitors to put on such bracelets, he said.

tradition? what a crock someone sold him!