In a strange announcement that seems to have upset some people, Kosher Today announced in it's newsletter that kosher consumers in California will not be able to enjoy Coca Cola this Pesach, as they had to change the formula in order to meet new California regulations regarding one of the ingredients, and the new formula will not yet be Kosher for Passover. Even in other places where it will be Kosher for Passover, it will be limited to regular Coke and diet, and no other versions.

California is not alone in the tzurres of a First-World country - the same newsletter also informs us that in Chicago there will be confusion in the supermarkets as Pepsi Cola is offering its kosher for Passover drinks under two different kashrus certifications - the Kof-K and US Kosher. I don't know if one is more or less reliable than the other, but people who want to rely on one and not the other will need to pay attention when they go shopping for Pepsi.

To quote Kosher Today:

Los Angeles…Kosher consumers here that were expecting to find Coca Cola for Passover on supermarket shelves were disappointed to learn that the coveted beverage would not be available this year in the State of California due to a quirk in the law that would make the ingredients unacceptable. In a statement, Coca Cola said: “We will not be able to offer Kosher for Passover products in California this year. We expect to offer Kosher for Passover products in 2013.” Coca Cola explained that “the new alternative process caramel required to meet the State of California’s guidelines related to Proposition 65 does not meet the Kosher for Passover requirements. We believe it will in 2013.”

Meanwhile in Chicago, products produced by Pepsi Cola had two different kosher certifications, the Kof-K and US Kosher, based in California. The latter was distributed by independent wholesalers while the company itself distributed the Kof-K products.

But even in states where Coca Cola is available with an OU-P for Pesach, it will only be available in Regular and Diet flavors (not even a Caffeine-Free version). Aside from the New York metropolitan area, Coke will be available in Boston, Baltimore-Washington, Miami, Atlanta, Houston, and Philadelphia. This year, in New York, Coca Cola items will be made with an OU-P in 2 liter bottles.

Several retailers reached by KosherToday said that customers were growing increasingly frustrated at the slim pickings offered by Coke. Pepsi on the other hand was offering Kof-K kosher Passover beverages that included a Caffeine-Free version of regular and diet Pepsi. In addition Pepsi was also producing Passover versions of Seven-Up, Sierra Mist, Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Lemon-Lime Seltzer, Mandarin Orange Seltzer and regular seltzer. It was also offering a variety of Dr. Brown’s flavors.

My thoughts on this are about the same as the burning desire to change the minhag (not from an academic perspective) and eat kitniyos on pesach, or to complain about the lack of chametz foods and how unbearable it is for the week.

That would be - Pesach is only a week long. Get over it.

You can live without rice for a week, you can live without barley in your cholent for a week, you can live without Sprite for a week. There are so many things to be upset about, to be depressed about, to be confused about, in todays world, be it the economy and the Jewish community members who suffer because of it (along with the broader community suffering), be it the terror, be it the Iranian threat, be it whatever serious situation we find ourselves in at any given moment - missing Coca Cola for a week is not a reason to be depressed and confused.

First-World Problems, as we say...

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I just remembered a conversation I had this past week with someone. he had wanted me to post his comment as a post, while I kind of wrote his comment off - laughed at it and moved on. His thoughts were not acceptable, and I thought they were more designed to make trouble than to actually be thoughtful.

After a week of the news centering on Jew - Jew fighting, Bet Shemesh, haredim, violence, sexualization of women, etc. I decided to post it. Maybe he has a point. Maybe we need a new approach. At least I want to hear what people have to say about it.

This fellow said to me that the source of all our problems here in Israel, the Bet Shemesh issue just as much as any other issue that comes up (as there is always something we are fighting about in the Israeli public forum), is that Jews are in charge. Jews, he said, are not meant to be leaders.

[He also said this about blacks, specifically black people leading white people (black over black is ok according to him, but not black over white) and women as well, but let's not go there (and yes, he even said he knows he is a bigot, but he said he believes it to be true and practical).]

Jews are not meant to be leaders. Moshe Rabbeinu, Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt, he says, was the exception. Moses was divinely appointed to the job and that was the exception. Even when the Torah talks about appointing a king, it is only after it is demanded by the people, but is not considered the ideal situation. Jews in leadership positions, he says, do not command respect, and often create more divisiveness. This is why he says he would never vote for a Jewish candidate running for president of the USA.

To impose that thought over our situation, there is so much dissent in Israel over every issue that enters the public discussion because nobody respects the leaders. The Jewish leaders do not command the respect of the people. In the Diaspora, be it the United States of America or Great Britain or France or Australia or anywhere else, Jews don't act with such dissent the way we do in Israel. And it is because, this fellow claims, we are under Jewish leadership in Israel. Non-Jews can be leaders and command respect of the people. Jews cannot. It is just not part of our nature to be leaders in that sense.

We Jews can lead the way in academics, in innovation in many other things, but not as social leaders of movements and in politics.

Knowing this does not solve the problems we are having, unless we would be willing to stop Jewish leadership in Israel and only elect imported non-Jewish leaders (or local Christians and Muslims), but it at least identifies it.

What do you think?

No, I was not at a bris ceremony today. But I thought of the title phrase when reading about the issue of the foreign workers and the attempt to derail their deportation.

The problem of the foreign, illegal, worker, from Sudan, and other countries from that region, has grown to serious proportions. Israel wants to deport them, yet they say that they just want to stay, their kids, many of whom were born here, don't even know any different reality (as if that is a reason to grant them the right to stay here)...

While the government had plans to deport them, many people are protesting that decision. Human rights and why should the kids suffer, etc.

The longer we delay finding a solution, the greater the problem will be and the harder it will be later to find a reasonable solution. That is the meaning of the title "Zeh HaKoton Gadol Yehiyeh" - this small problem is only going to become a much bigger problem later.

We have enough problems in our little country. We don't need another one, especially one that has nothing to do with us.

I have no problem providing temporary refuge for a distressed people in need of help. As a temporary solution. I see no reason they should be let alone to live here on a more permanent basis. Let somebody else, it could be a country more connected to the "refugees", a country with more resources, or a country with less of their own problems, deal with these problems. It doesn't have to be us.

Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, one of the leading Rabbis in Israel today and Chief Rabbi of Ramat Gan, has a problem with the way the recent hostage deal went down. He says that the government withholding information from the public as to the status of the soldiers, just so it can more easily pass the deal it was working on, is very serious deception. To put the citizens at risk so as to allow freedom to terrorists, most of whom will continue to be involved in terror is practically criminal.

If there was no knowledge as to their status then there is more reason to allow it, even when there is a certain risk to the public. After all, Karnit Goldwasser was facing a life of uncertainty and being an agunah - to release her from that burden, Rav Ariel says, the added element of risk is still worthwhile. However, if the government really knew the fate of her husband, she should have been told and she would not be an agunah, then the hostage trade would not have been necessary at the price it commanded.

To resolve this problem in future situations that should, chas v'shalom, arise, Rav Ariel has proposed we go back to the system King David used when sending soldiers out to battle. The soldiers of David would write a get and give it to their wife on condition that if they did not return from battle, they would retroactively be divorced. Then if the fate of the soldier would be unknown, she would not be an agunah, but would be a divorcee.

Rav Ariel has proposed that all soldiers going out to the front lines should give their wives the get of Dovid, or a get on condition, and that would resolve any future incidents and prevent wives from being agunahs.

So far his proposal has been rejected for reasons of possibly hurting morale. Yet Rav Ariel says that just as soldiers give fingerprints and DNA and other things "just in case" for identification purposes, when joining the army, so they can also give a get and it should not harm their morale.

I like the idea. I find great appeal in taking things from our history, biblical history, and finding ways to implement them as solutions today.

Whew! That was close! We were almost in for a versy serious water shortage this summer.

Good thing we have innovative public officials who could come up with an efficient solution to resolve the problem quickly.

the solution: They simply lowered the red line again, so now there is no problem, because we have not hit the red line. Really. I am not kidding.

If I go to the Israel Railways website and check the train schedules for the details of the trip between Bet Shemesh and Tel Aviv (Merkaz), I would get the results that the train departs from Bet Shemesh at, for example, 7:27 am and arrives in Tel Aviv (Merkaz) at 8:12 am. A 45 minutes ride.

The train used to run on the schedule of 7:46 from BS and arriving in TA at 8:31. The train was almost always on time, and at worst it would be a minute or two late. They changed the schedule to the current schedule and have since suffered tremendous delays.

When they fist changed the schedule, we only arrived in Tel Aviv Merkaz at about 8:35 on average (remember that according to the schedule we should be arriving at 8:12). It took a few months, but now the situation is much better and our average time of arrival in TA Merkaz is about 8:23 or so. Still unacceptably late, but better than it was.

The cause for delays is generally a spot between Bet Shemesh and Ramle that has only one set of train tracks. That means that before getting to that point, the train has to wait a few minutes for the train traveling in the opposite direction to finish that section. If the trains are not synced well, the wait could be anywhere from 3 minutes to 15 minutes, and sometimes in more than one spot.

So the situation has improved but is still not good. The people running the Railways Authority (or whatever they call themselves) have decided that the delays are still a problem and it looks bad for them that this route is consistently arriving past its deadline. They have committed themselves to resolving the problems of this route.

And now the moment you have all been waiting for - the resolution. After much brainstorming and committee work and many sleepless nights drinking coffee trying to find a solution, one has finally been found. U'Va L'Tziyon Go'el!!

They just announced that they are making some more changes to the route, one of which is changing the times. An astute friend and reader noticed that the train will now (starting March 15) leave Bet Shemesh at 7:23 and arrive in Tel Aviv Merkaz at 8:13.

Get it?

Instead of figuring out what is the cause of the delays and making it more efficient by getting rid of the source of the delays, they have decided to build the delay into the travel schedule of the train. They advanced the time of departure by 4 minutes, they extended the arrival time by another minute, adding a total of 5 minutes to the schedule. Now they expect the train to arrive on time! (I wonder if they will now adhere to the schedule or if the arrivals in TA will still be late)

There you have today's lesson in problem solving...