According to reports, Satmar in NY will be supporting and encouraging the fights of the Peleg Yerushalmi in Israel and paying anybody forced to sit in jail for being  deserter from the IDF to the tune of $100 per day.

Two heroes have already been granted the first awards; Zvi Dov Friedman from Bet Shemesh was awarded $7400 for sitting 74 days in jail, and Yisrael Toledano was awarded $6300 for sitting 63 days in jail. Each was granted the money upon their recent release from jail.
source: Ynet, Srugim, INN, Walla News

This is significantly more money than what kollel brings in, so I think a significant percentage of people in the relevant groups might consider this a strong incentive.

BH there is a lot of money in the Jewish community, enough for everyone to support the causes dear to their hearts. At least the recipients of this award will be just a few less people they will be knocking on our doors to support. Unless you give your donations to Satmar who will need to fundraise to pay the awards...

looks like Rav Shmuel Auerbach is making changes to the extreme, and not just regarding appearing before the IDF draft board.

Rav Auerbach instructed a boys school under his authority to relieve all female nursery school teachers (ganenet/ganenot) from their duties and replace them with male rebbes instead.

The surprised parents complained to the principal who went back to Rav Auerbach for clarification. He asked Rav Auerbach to clarify as the situation is one of very young children, even prior to learning "aleph beis" and it not being a situation of women teaching torah but just relating stories form the parsha, and the women are God-fearing..

Rav Auerbach answered definitively that they must be replaced with male rebbes as having female teachers for boys is a new reality that was never before acceptable and the influence even at such a tender young age is immeasurable.

It is a matter of hashkafa and not specific to this or that teacher, as fine as they might be.
source: Haredim10

I would hope his girl schools do not have male principals or teachers, as the influence of inter-gender teaching and  mingling goes both ways...

(as an aside, I would like to see his history books to see what else is considered new and never before acceptable)

I admit to not being an expert on the nuances of Satmar, but this statement put out by one of the Satmar Rebbes (Rebbe Zalman) is surprising to me..

The Rebbe said that it is obvious that one is allowed to go to the draft board in order to get his exemption from the IDF. He also said that the Divrei Yoel (Rav Yoel Teitelbaum) also said the same, and it is too much mesirus nefesh to not go at all and it would be very difficult to say going to the board is prohibited.
source: Haredim10

What is more interesting about this than the little item and understanding about Satmar is the revelation that the Peleg Hayerushalmi people led by Rav Shmuel Auerbach are seemingly being even more extreme than Satmar on this issue

Kikar is reporting that Rav Shmuel Auerbach went to pay a shiva call to Rav Shalom Cohen, who is sitting shiva for the death of his sister.

Kikar reports that among the conversation, Rav Cohen asked Rav Auerbach what to do to bring peace and stop the fighting and division.

That appears to me to be the height of irony. He asked Rav Auerbach how to stop the fighting and division. Rav Auerbach's people (let's give him the benefit of the doubt and say it is only his people and not him) have been fighting for the past few years with the main part of Degel Hatorah. They have split to divisions called Bnei Braq and Jerusalem, while some call them haters and terrorists. They have split from each other in municipal elections, and have threatened to split for national elections. They have caused fights among families, yeshivas have split up, there has been violence...

Is he really the person to ask advice from about keeping things peaceful?

This is just too funny. You can't even make this stuff up!

According to Mynet it was reported in the HaPeles newspaper that the Yerushalmi litvaks led by Rav Shmuel Auerbach are now saying that they refuse to show up at the lishkat giyus, the IDF draft offices, even to receive their army exemptions, because there are female soldiers there. They are supposedly demanding that the IDF not station any female soldiers in the offices of the draft board, so that when they go to do their paperwork they will not need to encounter any females.

In addition, another problem is that they are worried that while in the draft offices the boys might be seduced to signing up for the army - either by brochures or other materials present, or by looking around the building, or by soldiers talking to them and trying to persuade them to sign up.  To counter this concern they are supposedly demanding placement of a mashgiach who will supervise the process and ensure soldiers do not talk to the yeshiva boys.

As of right now, as far as I know, nobody is allowed to accompany a draftee into the draft offices. Only the potential draftee is allowed to walk through the doors. Stationing a mashgiach would be a big move. And it would be the beginning of a new business - soon we will see army exemptions certified by the Badatz Eida, exemptions certified by the Rabbanut, by Rabbanut Mehadrin, by Rav Landau, by Rav Rubin, by Chassam Sofer Bnei Braq and Petach Tikva, by Rav Mahfoud, etc.

As I said, you cannot make this stuff up.



By the way, I have to rely on Mynet for this report because I do not read HaPeles. Why not? Because the gedolim are against HaPeles, because of it being associated with the people of Rav Auerbach. For example, Rav Chaim Kanievsky just said that parents should not send their boys to a yeshiva in which the rosh yeshiva reads the HaPeles newspaper. (source: Kikar)
Also, someone asked Rav Chaim Kanievsky if he can go to a family wedding of a bochur who was learning in a yeshiva affiliated with Rav Shmuel Auerbach. Rav Kanievsky told him he could go because it is family, but he should avoid eating the food. (source: Bechadrei) The story is now being denied, so it might not be true. (source: Bechadrei)

The new party will win at least 5 mandates...

  -- Netzach party spokesperson Yaakov Friedman

It looks like the threats and bluffs are just about over, and Degel has split into two parties. The new party, Netzach, directed by Rav Shmuel Auerbach, has announced that they have come to the final decision to run for Knesset on a separate list. It still might just be a bluff until tomorrow, but they claim the decision is final. I have no idea where they think they are getting 5 mandates from, when the full UTJ list, which is mostly still intact, has always gotten 5-6 seats, and this party is only taking a percentage of that..