Chief Rabbi Rav Yitzchak Yosef yesterday in his weekly shiur related to the start of bein hazmanim with an interesting psak.

There is a law on the books that says that it is illegal/prohibited to bring glass bottles to a beach. Searching online I have found many complaints from people, going back several years (so it isnt anything new), on various forums about this law being enforced when the abuser gets slapped with a 750nis fine.

SHARK! GET OUT OF THE WATER!

The Constitution, Law and Justice Committee of the Knesset just approved a new directive. 

The next issue in Ashdod is an unexpected one. We have come to expect fights over public Shabbos-observance, over kashrut, over conversion, over allocation of public resources such as buildings for schools and shuls, plots for construction and the like... who knew that wifi in a secular area would be a problem?

Let''s start off like this.. Many many years ago I used to leave my wifi open and available with no password. I was basically leaving it accessible for my neighbors thinking the impact on my usage was nominal at worst and I could easily do a chessed with any neighbors near enough that wanted it (and some did). Eventually I started to see people, often kids but not only, sitting outside for extended periods of time and I realized they were using my wifi. After that I secured it with a password and that was the end of that.

Just the other day someone asked me about his wifi that has no password and the signal reaches outside strong enough for Internet surfing to just one spot - and he often sees people, usually hassidic men, parking their cars right there in his parking spot under his porch and using his wifi. Because of that he decided to secure it with a password.

So, the story, as reported by Actualic, is that the City of Ashdod has decided to install free public wifi along the beachfront for the benefit of the beach-goers.

The free wifi will be available along the entire beachfront by the regular, mixed, secular, beaches, but will not be next to the separate beach that the Haredim use, as the Haredi leadership does not want it available.  can't tell if this was just assumed or if it was requested. Or maybe they just did not want to do it by the Haredi beach.

But no, the complaint is not that wifi is being provided along the entire beach but not by the Haredi/religious beach. The complaint is that free wifi is being provided - by the secular beaches.

Haredi askanim in Ashdod are complaining that the free wifi access will attract Haredim as well to the beach area, to the secular beach area. The free open wifi itself is a problem, as anybody wanting to use internet will just go down to the beach area and immediately have access to unfiltered Internet and be able to access anything they want. In addition, being near the secular beaches will expose them to immodesty and inappropriate views and atmosphere.

The askanim are pushing Haredi leadership to work to thwart the plan as it still needs to pass final approval in City Hall.

A plan for secular residents, to be implemented in secular areas, cannot happen because Haredim might go there to benefit from it as well.
a. maybe let people choose what they want or dont want to do.
b. if it is so bad, educate your people to not partake in it.
c. stop moving to secular areas and then trying to control their lives
d. if you want to move to a secular town, and that is your right, stop complaining how you don't like what they do.

A seasoned surfer was out surfing off the coats of Herzliya the other day when he wiped out and injured himself on the rocks. A hassidishe fellow, some reports say he himself is a surfer that had chosen not to surf that day after seeing the rough waters, saw the incident and jumped in and saved the surfers life.

Kudos to photographers Dror Ezra and Nisim Aton who got pictures of the incident and publicized it.

seems like he lost his kipa while rescuing the surfer

this has made a tremendous kiddush hashem, but more importantly he saved a life...and gave us some great pictures while jumping in to the water in full hassidic garb..

I was not aware of this, but it seems that in recent years some beaches have been designated as "haredi family beaches". 

What is a Haredi family beach? A haredi family beach is one in which families are allowed to all be present and swimming as long as the women are wearing tzanua swimsuits (a.k.a. burkini, frumkini, robes, etc). I dont know if there are also restrictions on the men, such as men must wear a tshirt.

Rav Bentzion Mutzafi was recently asked if it is ok to swim on such a beach, or rather, if not, could the rav publicly express his discontent with the issue and the current situation.

To that end Rav Mutzafi expressed his shock and dismay that Haredi men would go swimming with is wife and children when there are other families present and swimming.

The rav referenced a gemara that even just passing by such a place would be cause for someone to lose his portion in the world to come. if I remember correctly, the referenced gemara refers to passing by the area of the river where the women were busy doing the laundry and the person was passing by with intent to gaze at the women wading in the water laundering their clothes.

The rav also made a connection between some recent tragedies and these mixed beaches, though I dont know that the tragedies happened on mixed beaches - one he referenced happened in a hotel swimming pool. He also expressed shock that this would be an issue just 3 weeks away from the month of Elul and the beginning of selichos season.
source: Kikar

With all that, I am most surprised at the allowance of mixed swimming to the point that some beaches have been designated for this. You can often see such behavior when on a tiyul up north and all sorts of people are in the rivers or streams, but I have never seen it with formal swimming.

While the past few years most beaches in Israel have had free entry, a number of beaches had held out and continued to charge entry fees.

That has come to end, at least for the foreseeable future.

Entry to all beaches in Israel along the Mediterranean coast will now be free.

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri has signed an order abolishing all entry fees to beaches for the coming summer season, and says he will continue it for the coming years as well. As Deri says, everybody will now be able to enjoy Israel's natural resource equally.
source: Globes

A few years back when they made most of the beaches free, some of the beaches began charging instead for parking at premium rates. Some of the parks (e.g. Park Ranana) have done this as well after they were told they cannot charge entrance fees. The Interior Ministry should also prohibit the local authorities from spiking up the price of parking and at most allow it to be the same price of parking anywhere else in the city's paid parking areas, if not make that free as well.

But, until then, at least the beaches are free!

(I do not know if this applies to other beaches such as in Tiberias where some of the beaches are considered "private")

I just came across this file that details the schedules for the various separate beaches around Israel, and thought it might be useful to somebody out there..:



NOTE: I take no responsibility for the accuracy of the information presented...

Mynet reports that the UTJ city councilmen of Jerusalem, led by Elazar Rauchberger, has submitted a request to the Regional Council of the Dead Sea region to create a "separate beach" in the northern part of the Dead Sea region for the religious public.

I completely support the idea. The religious public that wants separate swimming is a very large community and there is no reason they should not be able to enjoy the Dead Sea like anybody else can.Creating a separate beach for the religious public would not harm the public that is not interested in separate beaches - there are plenty of regular beaches spread all over the shores of the Dead Sea.

What I don't agree with is the reason given. They turned it into a manipulation attempt. they should have just asked for a separate beach for the religious community.

Rauchberger explained that the general public has many options very close to Jerusalem for relaxation and to enjoy a beach. The general public can go to the man-made beach in Jerusalem, and the many beaches all along the Dead Sea that are within a reasonable distance. The Haredi community, on the other hand, has few options available - the Haredi community has to travel very far to find a separate beach that is appropriate. The separate beach by the Dead Sea is in the southern end, which is over 100 kilometers from Jerusalem - very far. He further justifies the idea by saying bringing 200,000 new visitors will strengthen the local economy, which is a very good point and a fabulous benefit and reason to approve the idea, if just doing it for such a large public isn't enough of a reason..

The reason I dont like his reason is because Tel Aviv is closer than the Dead Sea, and there is a separate beach there, along with others up and down the Mediterranean coast. If it is simply a matter of proximity, don't complain, just go to Tel Aviv. On the other hand, as a public communal issue, they have a justified request.

I guess it does not really matter, at the end of the day. Even the given reason, even though I think it is not as good a reason as what they should have said, is a fine reason. It is just the thought process that I am commenting on.

beach in Jerusalem? There is not any body of water in Jerusalem, so how can there possibly be a beach???

Once again, the Iryah of Jerusalem is planning big for the summer and will be creating a "beach" in a city with no body of water. They will import sand and install a 2000 square meter beach in the area between the old train station complex and the Old City.

They have done this in the past, as well as having held beach volleyball tournaments....

This has upset the haredi askanim, both connected to the local haredi political parties and the people of the Eida.

These people, who regularly tell Israeli society to mix out of trying to change or influence the haredi community and all we want to do is to be left alone to live our own lives the way we want to, and that we choose to live in our own self-made ghetto, feel that only goes one way. Leave us alone, but we can tell you what to do. Or maybe it is only because general society does not leave them alone that they feel they have a right to mix in to the activities of general society? which came first - the chicken or the egg?

Anyways, they are calling this beach the "chof hatoeiva" - the abomination beach - and are promising to do whatever they can to stop it from happening.
source: Bechadrei

As mentioned a number of times already, it looks like it is going to be a very hot summer...

I do have a solution to propose - maybe they need to make a second beach, either by sectioning off part a small portion of the beach or perhaps an entirely separate one closer to the Mea Shearim area or maybe in Ramot, that will be a "separate-swimming", or separate-sunbathing, beach, and that will keep everyone happy.

It cannot be that the beaches will be only for the rich. The vacations are for everybody. We need to do everything possible so that in July and August people will be able to go to the sea without having to spend a lot of money. We need to give people options to tour and enjoy at reasonable prices.

  -- MK Miri Regev, at a discussion in the Knesset about the state of the beaches around Israel and the possibility of entrance fees

Minister of Environmental Protection Amir Peretz has announced that his ministry is putting together a plan to form a new unit that will function under the National Service plan. This unit will be comprised of hundreds of citizens from the Haredi and Arabs sectors.

Peretz has told the administration of his ministry to prepare a plan to absorb 500 new people from these sectors. The tasks these units will be tasked with will include supervision over extermination in cities, preventing illegal exterminations that could cause health problems, and, this is the best, supervision of the coast and beaches...
(source: Ynet)

I can see it now - Haredim running to volunteer for Sheirut Leumi to supervise the beaches. There will be rabbis in suits and hats wandering up and down the beaches of Israel. filled with bikini-clad females sunbathing.. While I know some people who might love such a job, I can't believe they expect this to work with this crowd as the target of volunteers..

The Israeli Institute For Sea Research (המכון לחקר ימים ואגמים) has announced today in its weekly report that  the beaches are now fine for swimming as the beaches are free of jellyfish.. the large jellyfish population has left the shores of Israel, and the Mediterranean beaches are now free of jellyfish.

When I first read that in Ynet, my initial thought was that the jellyfish have filed a complaint with the UN, and the council will be passing a resolution against Israel occupying the shores and displacing the jellyfish creating a terrible refugee situation. The jellyfish want a state of their own and are threatening to take the demand to the UN for a vote, unless Israel gives them all the land prior to said vote.

Yesterday morning I went on an adventure. I took the morning off to join my friends Victor Ofstein and Rabbi Natan Slifkin, the Zoo Rabbi and author of Rationalist Judaism, for a trip to Chof Dor to search for the murex trunculus snail, recognized by some (many?) as being the source for the techelet.

I have not gone over the material of, both for and against, the murex in a number of years, so I would not say I remember all the arguments, but when I did research it, and spoke to a number of rabbis, I was convinced that there is at least a very good chance of this being the correct species, and more likely it is. So, I chose to wear techelet in my tzitzis.

I have been to the techelet factory and taken the tour, seen how they produce it, a number of years ago. Ptil Tekhelet, the manufacturers of the techelet (or as they spell it "tekhelet"), also run a snorkeling tour at Chof Dor, the beach where the murex trunculus can be found. I never got around to going snorkeling for the murex. So, when they invited me to join them for the morning trip, I decided to go for it. Though this trip was not going to be snorkeling with Ptil Tekhelet, but we were going to go snorkeling by the beach on our own.

Chof Dor is a beach in the vicinity of the town Zichron Yaakov. The beach is beautiful, with soft sand and rocky reefs.

I have never been snorkeling before, so it took a few minutes to get used to it, and a few tries to get it right. I now kind of get the idea what waterboarding is like. It was not pleasant getting either a noseful of sea water, or a mouthful of sea water. The initial snorkeling experience was tough, as i found ti difficult to force myself to breathe only through my mouth. When I caught myself trying to breathe through my nose, and getting no air, I would force myself to breathe out through the snorkel, and then I would be able to breathe in. I got used to it after a few minutes and settled in to the snorkeling experience.

The Murex Trunculus

The rocks of the reef (I am not sure of it was coral) were very sharp, and I got a few cuts from them. It was time to snorkel! I found a murex snail fairly quickly, only to discover that it was just the shell, and a hermit crab had moved in and taken up residence within. There was no snail. We continued snorkeling, moving around to different sections of the beach, along different sides of the reef, and found a few more murex shells, and a lot of other snails, both shells and actual snails. Along the way we saw fish, and underwater flora. It was really a cool experience.

We decided to go back to the other side of the reef, as we had found a few murex shells there but nothing significant where we had moved to. This time we struck gold, as along with a few more shells, this time Rabbi Slifkin had the fortune of finding a couple live murex trunculus snails as well. Sure enough, just then the waves started bringing in small jellyfish, and one of us got stung. It was time to go anyway, so we called it a day.

We got our stuff and headed into the kibbutz of Nachsholim which is adjacent to the beach, and found some people who were nice enough to bring us some vinegar to apply to the sting.

Some additional highlights were finding the rotting carcass of a large sea turtle. This was interesting until the top was moved, exposing the rot and creating a horrible stench of rotten carcass. Another highlight was chatting with the elderly lady from the kibbutz who brought us the vinegar. She moved to Israel 49 years ago (I don't remember from where), straight to this kibbutz, and seemed to be a special character.

Jerusalem is a landlocked city. Yet, somehow, beach volleyball is coming to the beaches of Jerusalem.

Not quite sure how Jerusalem has a beach? Not quite sure where the beach is?

Well, the beach is located, for 2 days only, today and tomorrow, right outside the Old City near Sultan's Pool at Gan Chutzot HaYotzer. Sand was imported to Jerusalem, a volleyball court was constructed on top of the sand, and the international tournament is under way. (source: mynet)

Maybe next year they will bring water as well and make it into a real beach rather than just a sandbox.

That's right. The beach in Jerusalem. I had to rub my eyes twice when I saw the article.

The City of Jerusalem is making a beach. That's right, a beach.

There is a 2 day volleyball tournament in mid-June, and to create the feel, they are creating a beach. They are trucking in 140 cubic meters of sand from the real beach and dumping it in Gan HaPaamon. It does not say anything about bringing in water, and considering our water shortage I cannot imagine such a thing would be acceptable.

Mayor Nir Barkat is quoted as saying, "Jerusalem is becoming the capital of culture and sport in Israel...We will not allow such trivial matters, like not having a beach [get in the way]...

They will not just be setting it up for the volleyball competition, but will be turning it into a full service beach (sans water I assume) with hundreds of beach chairs, umbrellas, and everything else found on a beach, along with the classic beach foods such as igloos, artiks, ice cream, beer, etc.

Sounds like fun. Can't wait for the hafganot to start...

Here is a funny article. In Ashdod they are considering setting up a beach that will be for haredim only. It is not enough to have a mehadrin beach where some hours/days are for men and some for women. Now they want a beach where only haredim can go swimming. (NOTE: the request to do so has been made and is being examined by the municipality - I guess for feasibility and legality issues)

In a document obtained by Yedioth Ahronoth's economic supplement, the head of the real estate division at Minrav, Chanan Bartal, writes to the manager of the economic company in Ashdod, "Following our discussion with haredi entrepreneurs and several meetings in your office, it is clear that they are interested in building a haredi resort village, but a precondition is a municipal arrangement for restricting bathing to the haredi public in the piece of shore adjacent to their plot."

How will they filter non-haredim out? What about a bathing suit gives a person away as to whether he is haredi or not? Will they just ask people who are trying to come in - Are you haredi? Will they start distributing "Haredi Membership Cards" in all haredi neighborhoods around Israel?