In previous years before Pesach we have seen stores selling the most banal of items that could easily be made at home with almost no effort - such as packages of 10 small pieces of bread for bedikat chametz. Such as hard boiled eggs. There was also packages of crumbs for the birds sold for Shabbos Shira. And pre-prepared salt water has been sold before as well.

The current version of pre-prepared salt water being sold is making the rounds right now.

 

It is pretty easy to make salt water. This isn't one of those things that should really have much of a market. Maybe if they were using mineral water it would at least be similar to people who buy bottled water rather than drinking from the tap. 

This year with the seder on Motzei Shabbos and the need to prepare the salt water in advance, this might be an easy solution, if not a bit expensive, to avoid forgetting to prepare it until it is too late.

According to some tzniyus pamphlet distributed in Bnei Braq and other Haredi areas (surely it will be coming to Bet Shemesh soon, if it hasn't already) that has taken the fight against wigs to another, yet more extreme level.

according to Kikar, the pamphlet describes how 37 avreichim in Kiryat Sefer all had the same dream on the same night in which they all saw Rachel Imeinu showing them that in the upcoming war all women wearing sheitels will be slaughtered. Tens more people around the country had this dream as well.

Further, the pamphlet says, in the past year the chief commander of ISIS instructed his soldiers how to differentiate between Jewish women and Muslim women, so as to be able to avoid killing Muslim women, to check the hair and if it is a wig she must be a Jewish woman and be slaughtered.

ok.

Besides for the extremist crazies cozying up with ISIS, I am not sure what they are trying to prove - that ISIS says the way to identify a Jewish woman is by her wig? That would mean that Jewish women wear wigs and it is normal! Just because ISIS identifies Jews like that and does not like it, means Jewish women should not wear wigs? Maybe Jewish women in ISIS-controlled territories should not wear wigs out of the danger to their lives presented by ISIS, but I do not see why the fact that ISIS wants to slaughter women with wigs should have any effect on what Jewish women wear.

Also, ISIS does not want to slaughter Muslims? Besides for the fact that ISIS has been almost completely defeated and wiped out, more than 99.9% of the people they have slaughtered have been Muslims, so I highly doubt this little factoid published by the tzniyus crazies has even a kernel of truth to it.

The police should open an investigation, if they have any investigators available among all the investigations into Netanyahu's affairs, into finding and arresting whoever published this drivel and the implicit threat to the Jewish sheitel-wearing women 

Crazy story.

A young man and woman got married last week (to each other) and found themselves walking 8 hours to get to Sheva Brachos on Shabbos.

According to Behadrei, and they say the crazy story has been corroborated multiple times from various, on Friday the young couple missed the hasaa arranged to take them from Ramot to Bnei Braq and were unsuccessful in finding a ride and in their attempts to hitchhike.

At 15:45, or 3:45 pm, they got a taxi from Ramot. The driver was an Arab driver an they got stopped at Macabbim junction on the 443. Due to the late hour, they abandoned the taxi and they left their stuff in a yishuv near Modiin and began to walk the rest of the way to Bnei Braq.

Obviously in Bnei Braq nobody knew what was going on and everyone was concerned for their welfare.

At 3am the chosson and kalla arrived at their parents home, to the relief of the parents and eventually everyone else when they found out later that morning.

One of the friends explained that the chosson is an eccentric "iluy" who enjoys going on long walks, so the story is not surprising.

A posek was asked (by Behadrei) about to do in a similar situation and said that they would have to stop at the first house in the city of Bnei Braq and stay there the entire shabbos, because of the issue of tchum shabbos. They would be allowed to send a message to their family, to allay their worries and concerns. The need to get to sheva brachos is not important enough to override the tchum shabbos issue and missing it does not affect anything.

Being that the chosson and kalla went all the way to the parents house, unless the parents lived in the first house in Bnei Braq, makes it seem unlikely they knew what they were doing and followed the rules properly.

I would point out that if this guy was really an iluy it seems unlikely he would not know what is one of the most basic rules of tchum shabbos, though perhaps he just had no idea how to apply it as it is so uncommon nowadays.

It also makes no sense that the family arranged transportation but then left without the chosson and kalla because they were running late.

the takeaway from this would be, for me:
1. we live in a really small country and everything is within walking distance, if you have the time
2. don't wait until the last minute to leave for Shabbos when you are going away, especially to another city!

The following advertisement was placed in an an advertising circular in Bnei Braq:


The ad is searching for a 65 year old woman and her 35 year old daughter.

why?

The ad says they were involved in an incident 13 years ago on the bus returning from the separate beach of Herzliya. The incident involved a dispute between these women and a group of ten year old girls. The woman said to one of the girls during the argument that she will later have a difficult time in shidduchim.

 Behadrei went looking for more details and reports that the age of the women is how old they were back then - though I am not sure ten year old girls can accurately asses age to know that this is true, but if correct today they would be about 78 and 48.

They were arguing about the seating on the bus and it expanded to fighting about other issues as well. At some point the lady said "if this is how you behave, you might have a problem with shidduchim. The young woman searching says that her sister to this day has still not found her soulmate, and she herself (the one who responded to Behadrei) has been married 8 years but has no children. They thought that maybe it is because of this lady's "kpeida" that they have had these issues and are looking to ask forgiveness and remove the kpeida. She says she knows where the woman lived and hopefully the woman will see the ad, as she is not sure if she would recognize her just by knocking on doors or walking up and down the street.

Crazy story!

I hope she finds the lady or her daughter and gets the closure she needs, and if she does that it should help them in their personal lives.

I knew crocs have been in style for a few years now, but this seems like taking the trend just a bit too far..

According to the Head of Local Council Of the Jordan Valley, they are tring to get rid of the alligators in the area and have 1000 alligators looking for a home. They have dedicated 3 million shekels to the efforts to give away 1000 crocodiles. He also says he has no idea what it costs to buy a croc, but they just want to get rid of them..

I guess if you have always wanted to buy crocs but never bothered, now might be your opportunity to get crocs and get paid for taking them! Just lease don't put them on your feet!

ראש מועצת בקעת הירדן מספר אצל #אראל על 1,000 התנינים המחפשים בית חדש: "מנסים למצוא את הדרך להיפטר מהם ללא הצלחה" >> https://t.co/aepPfdxBaG pic.twitter.com/dDGzT4E6Sj

— גלצ (@GLZRadio) August 8, 2017

3 מיליון ש"ח הוקצו למסירת 1000 תנינים - ראש מועצת בקעת הירדן מספר אצל #אראל: "אין לי מושג מה מחירו של תנין. מנסים למצוא דרך להיפטר מהם" pic.twitter.com/euAoniKQ8k

— גלצ (@GLZRadio) August 8, 2017

Erik Claster wants to be the first Israeli to take part in a dogsled competition in the North Pole...he wants to fly the Israeli flag up there..

I have no idea how he trains for this, as crazy as he seems from his various posts online, but he does remind me of the Jamaican Bobsled Team that competed in the Olympics...

Erik does not need any money from you, but he does not your vote. It seems like that is how the qualification is met. He is doing pretty well in the voting, but he needs to do better. Help Erik fly the Israeli Star and Stripes farther north than ever before and vote for him to compete..

Voting for him at Erik's entry page... http://polar.fjallraven.com/contestant/?id=950

This Shabbos is Shabbos Shira. The custom is to feed the birds some crumbs, for a variety of reasons: either because they did not eat the manna that was out for the Jews in the desert, or because we "borrowed" their ability to sing when we sang after the splitting of the sea, or for other reasons.

The custom used to be to feed the birds on Shabbos, but in more recent years it became more common to feed the birds on Friday, due to a concern regarding the halacha of not feeding wild animals on Shabbos.

Anyways, if it is too difficult for you to gather some crumbs and pieces of challa to throw to the birds, you can now purchase a pre-prepared set of crumbs for the birds...



I'll assume the hechsher is on the bottom of the container, otherwise this might be a terrible michshol..

this goes up there with the jars of salt water for the seder and with the packages of 10 pieces of bread for bedikas chametz..

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.

in Judaism we do a lot of things that seem kooky. sometimes even mitzvos, but especially minhagim. Off the top of my head I can right away think of the minhag of klopping aravos, people who whip themselves before yom kippur, kapparos as pretty kooky, especially to an outside observer.

here is one that definitely would rank up there as one of the kookier looking minhagim, though it does look like it would be fun to participate in.



They are throwing things at the guy lighting the menorah in shul.

I dont know anything about it, but I was told a reason for the minhag and that is, to distract the focus from the fellow lighting, so that he should not actually fulfill his obligation to light, but can then go home and light at home for his obligation. Halachic sources actually deal with this issue and conclude that lighting in shul does not fulfill one's personal obligation of lighting, so this seems like all this raucus in shul would not really be necessary for this purpose.

If anybody has any knowledge about this custom, I'd be happy to be made more knowledgeable..

you think trying to get the government to split Bet Shemesh into 2 cities is crazy and unrealistic?

what about splitting the State of California into 6 states? that's right. there is someone out there lobbying to get the US government to split California into 6 states, saying it would provide for its residents better like that, be more representative, and more accountable He says "California needs a reboot"..

Billionaire in push to carve up California into six states

so, will the US flag go from bearing 50 stars to 55 stars? things looking unrealistic doesn't seem to stop people from promoting their ideas... and if one or the other works, they can consult for the other initiative...

and if it works, we can arrange a new twinning - Twin Cities between Bet Shemesh and Califrnia. Or maybe we should call it septupliting.

Rabbi, Student Arrested For Trying To Slaughter Donkey As Sacrifice For Sins

  -- Jpost

Intrigued?

here's the story:

Jerusalem police arrested a rabbi and his student on Friday for trying to slaughter and sacrifice a female donkey.
The 54-year-old rabbi and his student aged 24, were arrested near the of the Tomb of Samuel the prophet which is located in the West Bank north of Jerusalem. 
The two suspects purchased the female donkey, or jenny, from a local Palestinian and were later caught on camera by another local trying to slaughter the animal, police said. The man filming the incident alerted the police.
The suspects, residents of Jerusalem, confessed that they were slaughtering the jenny as a sacrifice for their sins.
The Jerusalem Magistrates court was deciding Friday whether to remand the suspects into custody. 
The donkey was brought to a Ministry of Agriculture facility in the Jordan Valley. 

This might just be the craziest story of the day, probably even of the week, maybe even of the month and year..

A Kenyan has filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice in The Hague against Italy and Israel for the wrongful death of Jesus.

From the Jerusalem Post:

A Kenyan lawyer has filed a petition with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, suggesting that the trial and crucifixion of Jesus Christ was unlawful, and The State of Israel among others should be held responsible, Kenyan news outlet the Nairobian reported on Friday.
Dola Indidis, a lawyer and former spokesman of the Kenyan Judiciary is reportedly attempting to sue Tiberius (Emperor of Rome 42 BC-37AD), Pontius Pilate, a selection of Jewish elders, King Herod, the Republic of Italy and the State of Israel.
"Evidence today is on record in the bible, and you cannot discredit the bible," Indidis told Kenyan Citizen News. 
Yes, those he suggests should have been convicted during the original trial have not been alive for more than 2000 years, however Indidis insists that the government for whom they acted can and should still be held responsible.
“I filed the case because it’s my duty to uphold the dignity of Jesus and I have gone to the ICJ to seek justice for the man from Nazareth,” Indidid told the Nairobian. “His selective and malicious prosecution violated his human rights through judicial misconduct, abuse of office bias and prejudice.”
Indidis apparently named the states of Italy and Israel in the lawsuit because upon the attainment of independence, the two states incorporated the laws of the Roman Empire, those in force at the time of the Crucifixion.
He is challenging the mode of questioning used during Jesus' trial, prosecution, hearing and sentencing; the form of punishment meted out on him while undergoing judicial proceedings and the substance of the information used to convict him.
The case was first filed in the High Court in Nairobi, but was rejected. Indidis had then applied to have it heard at the ICJ, which, the Kenyan news website Standard Media (SDE) reported constituted a pre-trial panel that would consider his case.
Indidis says he wants to establish what crime Jesus was charged with and prays that the court decides “that the proceedings before the Roman courts were a nullity in law for they did not conform to the rule of law at the material time and any time thereafter.”
“Some of those present spat in his face, struck him with their fists, slapped him, taunted him, and pronounced him worthy of death,” Indidis also told SDE.
When Jesus died, Indidis insists he was not given an opportunity to be heard. "I am suing as a friend," he said.
Indidis insisted on the validity of his case, saying "I know with a matter of fact and truth we have a good case with a high probability of success and I hope it is done in my lifetime."
When asked about the case, a spokesperson from the IJC told legal news website Legal Cheek, "The ICJ has no jurisdiction for such a case. The ICJ settles disputes between states. It is not even theoretically possible for us to consider this case."

This Kenyan should continue to beat us at marathon running, and forget about the courts and 2000 year old cases... this whole thing is ridiculous and silly...

He is suing Italy and Israel because these two states adopted the Roman legal system? That makes two states that did not exist at the time of the crucifixion responsible for it?

A story like this just makes me scratch my head and wonder..

According to INN, some group has placed the curse of the Pulsa dNura on an Arab MK. Until now the pulsa dnura people have generally been Israelis. This group is described as an "American rabbinical group". I guess the loopy is not limited to this side of the ocean.

INN says:

An American rabbinical group on Monday declared that it was placing a “pulsa dinura” (“lashes of fire”) curse on Arab MK Masoud Ganaim (Ra'am-Ta'al). The group, calling itself “the Great Pulsa Dinura Committee,” said that Ganaim deserved the curse because he refused to stand when Israel's national anthem, Hatikvah, was played at a recent event, and for ripping up in the Knesset a copy of a law to regulate Bedouin settlement of the Negev.
In a statement, the “Pulsa Dinura Committee” said that it had deliberated on Ganaim's actions, and had determined that it had no choice but to impose the curse. Once the curse is placed, the Committee said, there is no earthly power that can remove it. As a result of being cursed, the statement said, Ganaim can expect to suffer serious illnesses and injuries.
Beginning in August, the group said, Ganaim will contract a mysterious illness from which he will not recover, or, alternatively, fall from a high place and badly injure himself, or be the victim of a serious traffic accident. The only way to avoid this fate, the group said, was for Ganaim to leave Israel, and take 100,000 of his Arab supporters with him. The statement gave him 20 months to leave.
Ganaim told Channel Ten that he had been told by a representative of the group that they targeted him “because they said I incite against Israel, and because I refused to honor the state by standing for Hatikvah. Instead I left the Knesset plenum when the anthem was played. In the envelope that contained the letter there was another enclosure that included two seeds, apparently from melons. They said that this was a 'sign of death,'” Ganaim said.
Ganaim said he did not take the threat seriously, but that he has filed a complaint with police anyway. “These people are racists and fanatics. I have been threatened before, but not like this. In their letter they mentioned how Yitzchak Rabin was killed and Ariel Sharon was put into a coma because of a 'pulsa dinura.' But I am not afraid,” he said.
The “Pulsa Dinura” is the name of a ritual ceremony with supposed kabbalistic roots, which has been used on occasion in Israel to call for the downfall of prominent public figures. It is not even clear if it is a part of normative Judaism, and most rabbis dismiss it as a fiction.

They are giving him 20 months to leave? he has to convince 100,000 others to leave with him? Why not just put the pulsa dnura on all the Arabs? Just because he did not stand for Hatikvah - will they be putting it on the many fine Jews who do not exactly respect Israel's national anthem?

There might be some serious ramifications for not standing in shul for the Prayer for the State... be very careful!

This criminal is a real winner - of the Darwin Awards..

According to Globes, a criminal broke into an apartment in Ranaana. He went through the apartment wreaking havoc, causing a lot of damage. All the efforts he exerted causedhim to be so tired that he decided to take a nap. He went into the bedroom and fell asleep on the bed.

The homeowner came home at some point, saw the state his house was in  and went to check what was stolen. You can imagine his surprise at walking into his room and finding the crook taking a little beauty rest.

The homeowner called the police who came and woke up Sleeping Beauty. Upon awaking, the crook asked the police for a cigarette..

If you are not friends with me on Facebook and do not follow me on Twitter, you might have missed this yesterday...

Hands down, the best product I have found on the market for Pesach up to this point, is this package of 10 pieces of bread prepared for bedikas chametz.
Each individually wrapped piece of bread comes in its own ziploc bag and is numbered, so you know which ones you have found when searching for chametz and which ones you must still look for. I hear that engineers are working on version 2.0 for next year that will include GPS tracking devices that will be embedded into each of the 10 pieces of bread, so not finding one will not be an option.

The price of the bedikas chametz bread pieces is $1.99. That comes to about 7.3 shekels. For the same price I can buy a loaf of sliced bread in the makolet, though their permanent sale price is 2 loaves for 12 shekels ($3.2). Throw in the cost of 10 ziploc bags, and it is closer to being worth it, financially.

If you live in Israel, you might want to think twice before ordering. According to the shipping calculator on the website, United Parcel Service Worldwide Expedited will cost $104.44 , and Worldwide Express Saver shipping will cost $109.98. At those prices it just is not worth it. Even including the Ziploc bags.

It has already become standard practice that the haredi press will not print images of women, facial shots, body shots, or barely even mention their names. The haredi online sites have already started moving away from that behavior, but the old-style haredi media (I won't call them mainstream media, MSM, because they aren't by any means) has just increased their strict approach to this behavior.

It has gotten to a point that is so ridiculous that it is already funny. I don't see any other way to look at it. the foolishness that has taken over is just funny, in a sad way.

A young child, a 1 year old baby, in Jerusalem opened up a cabinet door that prevented the room door from being opened. That meant the kid was stuck in the room. The parents called the Fire Station, who sent a team out that dismantled the door and rescued the child. Good job.

The funny part comes next.

Hamodia (Hebrew edition) reported the story yesterday, but altered the picture that accompanied it. They did not remove the image of the child's mother - she was not in the picture anyway. The  picture showed the child laying on the floor next to the open drawer. The drawer had various pairs of shoes in it. One of those pairs was a pair of womens shoes. Hamodia removed the shoes from the image.

They weren't even a pair of high-heeled sexy shoes, or anything like that, that their removal might be understood in some sort of crazy way. This was simply a pair of beat up old flats - nothing enticing or provocative, just a pair of beat-up old shoes.

Here are the pictures:

the original:
the Hamodia version:

I don't know what there is to say other than it is so sad that it is funny how ridiculous they have gotten (though they did miss the womens black shoes just above the brown ones - thanks Yaak for pointing it out)......

(this issue was seen mentioned in Bechadrei, Kikar, Ynet, NRG)

Consider this a PSA - a public service announcement for the upcoming summer vacation. or just have a good laugh.

Bechadrei reported the other day on an announcement publicized by the Rabbinic Committee for Transportation. They publicized that those people, families, who will be travelling over the summer should make sure to gear up with the special mechitza that will help prevent their having to deal with tzniyus issues, and with watching movies during the flight. The problem is especially serious on flights to Europe, as those flights have central screens (rather than personal screens) on most flights, but personal screens on flights to America are also a tzniyus problem..

They say they have distributed (sold?) 1000 mechitzos. As well, as long as it does not disturb other passengers it is a kiddush Hashem. if a person is ashamed by it, that he has to put up a mechitza in the middle of a plane, he has something within himself he has to fix, and we can't resolve that. Usually there are no problems with these mechitzas.

I love it! It's just too bad they did not post the contact information for distribution.
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Overheard-

Rebbi: Your son missed some yeshiva because he went to take care of a donkey...

No matter how advanced Israel is, it is still in the Middle East...

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Did you know tomatoes are Christians? I wonder what is considered a Hindu vegetable, or a Buddhist one.. What about Jewish - which veggie is a Jewish vegetable? And what about Muslim? And is there a differenrce among Christians regarding their vegetables - I mean, is the tomato Catholic? What about Anglican? Episcopalean? Southern Baptist? Does each group have their own veggie?

According to the Facebook status update of the Popular Egyptian Islamic Association, tomatoes are offensive to Muslims because they are Christians. if cut a certain way they can show the shape of the cross.
(source: INN)

I don't know. You can go into prety much any restaurant in Israel and order a "Salat Aravit" - an Arabic salad, and it will be mostly diced cucumbers and tomatoes.

Funniest is this paragraph:

A writer for The Blaze categorized most news coming out of the Middle East as "intriguing, bizarre and unceasingly concerning," but said the forbidden tomatoes story "actually crosses into a comical sphere."

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A Message To Blacks and Jews From Grand Rabbi Mark Charles Hardie

I want a little bit fo whatever this guy is smoking...


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