Everybody has their preferences for the type of community they want to live in. Some people want a more diverse community, some want a more tolerant community, some want a more religious community, some a less religious community, some a Haredi community, some a Dati Leumi community, some a secular community, some want more yeshivas, some want more parks, come want more community centers and basketball courts or soccer pitches, some want more shuls and schools, some want more Hassidic, some want mroe Litvishe, some more Sefardic, some more Ashkenazic, some want a more "anglo" community, some a less anglo and more Israeli community, etc. 

The classic Israeli dress was always kind of informal, comfortable, and even a bit shlumpy. Suits and ties in Israel is relatively new (not including in the Haredi community where suits were always popular). Besides for suits becoming popular, in both government and in the professional scene, in recent years, the general dress code has also spiffed up significantly and is at least no longer shlumpy, though it is still fairly informal.

After posting the story of Rav Ahron Kotler and mafia boss Joe Bonanno, someone sent me another fascinating story of a connection between a rav and the mafia used to save Jews.

A MESSAGE TO OUR COMMUNITY from Studio 7 Productions on Vimeo.

A person can be Jewish without being a Rabbi, but can a person be a Rabbi without being Jewish?

Jpost has a funny error in the title of an article that reads:

98 Jewish rabbis fly to Argentina to certify kosher meat

Usually gentile rabbis go to certify meat? Normally Jewish non-rabbis do the certification? The "Jewish" in the title should probably say "Israeli", making another, subconscious, case for the blurring of lines between Israeli and Jewish..

To the article itself, it says 98 rabbis went from Israel to Argentina to certify the slaughter of meat when normally 15 rabbis go twice a year and stay for a few months.

It is not clear why they needed so many more rabbis now but I think the explanation is that with possibly not being able to go regularly and stay for extended periods of time, they are trying to get much more slaughtering done now in a shorter period of time so need more certifying rabbis to be present at the same time.

Kikar reports that Rav mutsafi is upset that rabbonim are giving shiurim to women. He even somehow connects this to the spread of the Corona virus, saying that the deadly virus is spreading around the world and the Heavens are signalling with every alarm "you want to go to the women?"..

Rav Mutsafi says that never before did rabbonim give shiurim to women, but women were int he womens section of the shul and heard the drasha just like the men - suddenly the women cant hear the drasha in the shul?

Rav Mutsafi then refers to, and criticizes, some rabbonim who say they go to give such shiurim but when they enter and leave they close their eyes so as not to see the women. He calls it a joke, even worse - leitzanus. Women should be giving shiurim and surely there are enough learned women who can speak before women!

Rav Mutsafi further asks, are all the men taken care of? the issues of the men have all been dealt with that all that remains is the women? Have you checked if the men are davening? and how they daven? Are they learning regularly and consistently?  they aren't out smoking a bong and chewing gat? Look how they attack the food table at different events, he says!

Honestly, many many years ago I remember commenting similarly about girls schools and seminaries that are run by men with many male teachers. In a community where we are so strict about separating genders and tzniyus and are strict about not creating situations where men would look at women, it is strange that when ti comes to these schools so many men are administrators in these schools and teachers. Yes, now many such schools have many female teachers and even some women running the schools, but there are still many men involved in many of the schools for women.

I find his comment about there still being enough work  for teachers with the men to be funny. I commiserate with his issue, somewhat.  I am not against men teaching women, per se. I just think we should teach consistency. If you believe there should be no contact between men and women [who are not married to each other], then men should also not be teaching women. Nowadays there are many women who are educated and scholarly and knowledgeable who can, and do, teach. And yes, I know [of] rabbis who do not give shiurim to women only.

While there are some programs that train young men to go out and become rabbis and community leaders, beyond just the semicha aspect of it, all too often rabbis have been hired to take over shuls and communities after spending many years learning Torah and achieving semicha. The job of a rabbi is so much more than just answering if the spoon needs to be kashered after being used with the wrong pot of food or if a pet dog can be walked on Shabbos and giving the local daf yomi shiur - the job of rabbi includes social work, marriage counseling, financial advice, medical advice and more. More often than not, a community rabbi is more of a therapist than a posek or maggid shiur. Yet so many rabbis are untrained in so many of the areas they have to deal with.

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel has issued, for the first time ever, an ethical code for rabbis. The objective of this ethical code is that rabbis should fulfill their duties in their roles as rabbis and community leaders while preserving the honor of the rabbinate, setting an example, being mekadesh shem shamayim.

Rabbis are instructed not to get involved in politics, avoid situations in which there would be a conflict of interest, and not to protect people who break the law.

Under the category of doing good is a list of ideas that are self-explanatory, such as honesty, working towards peaceful situations and solutions, dedication to the task, responsibility, humility, setting a personal example, and the like.

In more detail the guidelines then instruct not to use the Torah as a hatchet to dig with - not to abuse his role and power, to use his authority in a reasonable and responsible manner, not to get involved in issues he has no expertise and experience in but to involve relevant professionals when necessary. Not to have side hustles that might harm his appointed role as rabbi.. not to do things that might cause him to be suspect of inappropriate behavior, be extra cautious from conflict of interest situations such as hiring family members in kashrut organizations under their authority or certifying food establishments his relatives have standing in. Rabbis should not take financial remunerations for themselves or for their friends and relatives and their institutions that he is connected to.

Rabbis should use their resources efficiently and conservatively and only within the guidelines the resources were given. A rabbi should not misuse, abuse, information he obtained in his role as rabbi that is not public information, and the rabbi should keep confidentiality.
source: Ynet, Kipa

This is a big change in the industry. They should also have workshops, courses and other forms of guidance, especially for young rabbis just starting out.

The first line I wrote in the description of guidelines, "Rabbis are instructed not to get involved in politics, avoid situations in which there would be a conflict of interest, and not to protect people who break the law." is a list of a few things I don't see will ever be adhered to, as these are probably the most egregious of "violations" that are already most common in the field.

interestingly, in the last few days the DL online news media has published a number of articles about the upcoming elections for the head of the Shomron regional council. The candidates for the position have been Yossi Dagan and Gershon Mesika.

The specific news articles I am referring to were reporting about announcements from Rav Shmuel Eliyahu and Rav Dovid Abuchatzeira, and perhaps some others. These rabbonim announced that Yossi Dagan should continue in his position of head of the council.

Fair enough.

What is interesting about this is that the Dati Leumi regularly states that they do not conduct their affairs the way the Haredi community does. They ask the rabbonim, but more as a consultation rather than as a psak of daas torah, and they do not feel obligated or committed to follow the [political or social (rather than halachic)] announcements of the rabbonim. If their rabbinic leadership says something, they take it under advisement, but do not necessarily act accordingly. The DL rabbonim do generally say who or what they support in various political elections or other affairs, but, again, it isn't binding on the DL public and they don't really take center stage in these issues and discussions.

So, what is interesting is that in this case, the DL went very Haredi. Not only were the rabbinic positions given center stage, Mesika even pulled out of the race because of it. I don't know if it is a trend or a one-time affair, maybe this specific issue was more "Chardal" to start with, or maybe it was something else. Maybe someone who follows this community and its trends more astutely might weigh in with an explanation...

The issue of women serving in the IDF has been a hot one for a long time. Back in the days of the Chazon Ish it was a hot topic and one that caused much friction and tension. After the agreement back then it went quiet for a while, but not it has gotten hot again as more and more women choose to serve, as more and more combat units are integrated with females, and again as the method of exemption for religious female soldiers is revisited.

The various rabbonim have pretty much all weighed in saying that women should not be drafted and not to combat units and about how bad such a thing would be from a religious perspective.

While others disagree, I have no problem with rabbis stating their opinion on this matter. I consider it part of the job of a rabbi to weigh in on spiritual issues, even including the issues of the IDF. That does not mean the IDF or the government has to agree or listen, but I think they have the right to speak up and voice opinions and how they define the relevant halachot.

That being said, Rav Aryeh Stern, Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, just spoke up about the issue informing the Chief of Staff that integrating women into combat units is not just a religious issue but would also harm the fighting capabilities of the IDF (source: Srugim).

I think Rabbi Stern has the right to, and even the obligation to, speak up about the various relevant religious issues involved with women fighting. I do not think it is his place to talk about the professional capabilities of the IDF and the effect on those abilities by integrating women into mixed combat units. Leave the professional concerns to the relevant professionals. They know what does and does not harm or improve the fighting capabilities from a professional perspective. I think having the rabbis get involved in that part of the discussion only makes their relevant opinions and arguments (ie those regarding the halachic and religious issues) less effective.

The IDF has one chain of command - just one. Rabbonim are not part of the chain of command of the IDF. The place of the rabbonim is in the community, the shul and the yeshiva.

  --MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid), about the rabbonim who have recently spoken up regarding the issue of drafting women to the IDF

הגענו למצב עגום, שבמדינת ישראל הרבנים נחלקים לשתי קבוצות, אלו שהמשטרה תפסה ואלו שעדיין לא.....

— meni dekel (@menidas1) September 6, 2017

Translation:
we have gotten to a sad situation in which the Rabbis in the State of Israel are divided into two groups - those the police have already arrested and those that have not yet been arrested.

this is referring to the news report of 4 rabbis around the country that were arrested today for falsifying records in their attempt to participate in elections for city rav (each in his own city, one of which is Bet Shemesh)

An article on the OU website by Rabbi Jack Abramowitz gave me an idea. Actually, when I saw the headline I assumed what we he would propose in his article, and was surprised to read it and find an entirely different direction.

Rabbi Abramowitz writes in "Should Jewish Criminals Be Literally “Defrocked?" " about criminals continuing to wear religious attire or changing their mode of dress so as not to be hypocritical. I actually agree with his sentiments that it makes no sense to expect someone just because he is lax in one area of halacha to stop dressing with a religious appearance or to be lax in all areas.

Abramowitz does not refer to it in his article, but I saw criticism of some of the women who were recently arrested when a picture appeared of them in jail and they were seen with towels wrapped around their waist over the prison jumpsuit, thus wearing a makeshift skirt. The criticism was something to the effect of it being hypocritical in their stealing but being makpid in tzniyus, and it all being insincere, etc. Abramowitz is right - just because they did something wrong, if they did, and committed the fraud they are accused of, does not mean they should not be makpid in tzniyus. If any of us would falter in any halacha, would that obligate us then to stop keeping shabbos, or to eat treif or to stop following the laws of tzniyus? Obviously not, and these people should also not be expected to do so.

However, what Rabbi Abramowitz actually made me think he was going tow rite wit his headline was something else.

There are some yeshivas that famously give out semicha to qualifying students but they make it conditional. Somehow within the text of the ordination they leave themselves wiggle room in case at some time in the future the ordained rabbi would make embarrassing statements or be involved in actions against halacha, they reserve the right to rescind and retract the semicha ordination.

I thought Rabbi Abramowitz was going to propose this in his his article - a different type of defrocking.

I have no idea if it actually happens, though a quick search online does point to a couple of relevant cases, and I remember discussion about encouraging a yeshiva to do so for one of its former students that took up a role in public life that seemed to garner the disapproval if his former yeshiva.

Perhaps the rabbonim and organizations that grant semicha should consider "defrocking" former students involved in such chilul hashem. I doubt that would be a deterrent, but it would at least be a response form the community at large saying we don't want any part of it and don't want to be led by such people...

The Ministry of Religious Affairs is reportedly trying to force the Chief Rabbi of Kfar Saba, Rav Avraham Shlush, to retire. Rav Shlush is 87 years old and they have discovered through reports and investigation that he is hardly functioning. It seems that he only goes into his office once a week for a short amount of time and he does not even live in the city - he lives in Jerusalem.

The problem is that despite the fact that the law was changed a while back limiting city rabbis to a maximum age of 70 with the possibility of an extension to 75, Rabbi Shlush is grandfathered into the old system of the appointment being for life. And the law now is that a city rabbi must live in the city he is rabbi of.  A further problem is that Rabbi Shlush was never formally appointed to the position, but started functioning in it unofficially in the 1950s and it just became his.

So they want to push him out, but the Minister of Religious Affairs, David Azoulai, is fighting to keep him in place, as it seems he and his family want him to retain the position.

In my opinion, this is the biggest support for the forcing of a retirement age. Here you have a rav not functioning and the city suffers because of it, but there is really nothing anyone can do about it. I do think that because he is grandfathered in, he should not be forced out and taken to court. He is a remnant of the old system, and that's the way it is, and this is the reason the law was changed. He should be pressured to retire with perhaps some coordination regarding the granting of an honorary position and title that might make him happy. Surely he and his family can be persuaded that for the good of the city it is time to move on and let a younger rabbi take this leadership position.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs has proposed a law that would allow a city rabbi to be fired for not functioning properly.

Currently a city rabbi is appointed and serves until he reaches retirement age. A city rabbi can currently only be relieved of his duties if he violates some ethical or disciplinary transgression. If, however, a city rabbi loafs around and does not do anything, or makes bad decisions or just doesn't fulfill his duties, he can have an easy life collecting his salary and doing nothing else.

The proposed law would change that and would have a committee appointed for the purpose of making recommendations about city rabbis in such positions. Based on the recommendation of the committee, the minister in charge will have the authority to fire the non-functioning rabbi.
source: Radio Kol Hai news

I guess it is a good thing. It sounds good. I just hope this is not used as a way of getting rid of rabbis with whom the minister simply does not agree, either politically or halachically, but is only used to get rid of rabbis taking advantage of their life-term positions to do nothing for the people they are meant to serve.

The first Orthodox female rabbi has been appointed to a shul rabbinate position.

Mazel tov to Rabbi Lila Kagedan who is the first woman bold enough to insist on taking the title "Rabbi" rather than the alternate "Rabba" that a few trailblazers before her have already taken as a "compromise" to not shake the boat too much.

The shul is the Mount Freedom Jewish Center located in Randolph, New Jersey, and self-defines as "open orthodox" - a description that is currently at the heart of an ongoing debate as to its status and its membership under the umbrella of "Orthodox".

Some might say that by definition the shul must not be orthodox if it hired a female rabbi.

CNN says the Rabbi Kagedan hopes to normalize women in leadership roles. In general I think that it is praiseworthy, though I don't know about specifically in the role of rabbi... Theoretically I don't see any real problem with it, but it would definitely take some getting used to. She won't be able to get shlishi, shishi or the maftir aliyot in shul, and she won't be able to lead services. I see nothing wrong with a woman giving speeches and answering halachic questions and counsel families and individuals under her care. While perhaps the rabbi does not need to get aliyot or lead services to be an effective leader, I am not sure a leader who is curtailed like that can really be effective - just like I would not consider a male rabbi effective if he was a good speaker and had the ability to lead services but had no ability to counsel couples under his care or was not knowledgeable enough to answer halachic questions and give guidance.

Whether this becomes a focal point of a big fight or not, I do think that one day this will be considered a watershed moment in the history of Orthodox Judaism...

.

The franchise-owner of the Cofix branch in Ramat Hasharon was going to be making some upsetting news over Pesach. He was planning to kasher his shop for Pesach only on Thursday, and not on Wednesday as per the instructions of the Rabbanut..

the Rabbanut told all the businesses that by Wednesday they need to be kosher for opesach. This branch of Cofix said that this would present a problem for them, as on Thursday they would have nothing to sell, as the Cofix supplier would only be kashering on Thursday. The Rabbanut said that if they don't kasher by Wednesday, they would lose the hechsher.

The owner of the branch was worried about a tremendous loss of money, with almost nothing to sell on Thursday.

The rabbi of the town, Rav Yaakov Edelstein, decided it was too important to not set a precendent and allow an exception to the Rabbanut's rule, so he wrote a check to Cofix for 3000nis to cover the financial losses due to his decision.

The fellow saw this and gave in and accepted his losses. He refused the check and agreed to kasher the shop on Wednesday. All he wanted after that was a bracha from the rabbi.
sources: Behadrei and Kikar

The mashgiach of a yeshiva in Hadera, known to be associated with the "Peleg Yerushalmi" - I do not know if that is relevant or not but it has been mentioned many times on the radio so I suspect it might be - has said something that sounds, to me, totally insane.

Rav Tuviah Novick has spoken out against vaccinations, though not the normal way with unfounded claims about vaccinations causing autism or anything like that. Rather he claimed that the vaccinations are really just the State pulling the wool over our eyes. According to Rabbi Novick, vaccinations, and he mentioned polio specifically, are really just made up of baking soda and bleach, and nobody has any way of knowing otherwise.

Rabbi Novick also said that if God forbid a typhus plague would break out... it is impossible to imagine the disaster and panic that would accompany it..
source: Kikar

I hope parents pull their kids out of this yeshiva and switch them to another one. They should not let their children be educated by such a person.

God forbid if a typhus plague would break out... Does he not realize that the reason we no longer have typhus plagues breaking out is because of the vaccinations that prevent it (along with our having clean water). Does he not realize the reason we no longer have polio around us (and I grew up with a friend whose mother was confined to a wheelchair because of polio) is because of those vaccinations? Does he think that these diseases and plagues went away on their own?

I hope this idiocy is not indicative of his approach in any other aspect of his life, but I would not want my kid to be educated by him.

Rabbi Shalom Arush today announced that he will not be receiving women any longer. He says the yetzer hora of rabbonim is even greater than that of regular people, and therefore rabbonim cannot receive women for guidance and questions. He called on other rabbonim to follow suit.

This is a result of the scandal going on up north in Tzfat with a popular rav, Ezra Sheinberg, being accused by many women of having taken advantage of them and their vulnerability.

I don't know if this is a good idea or a bad idea. I understand his concern, but women need guidance, inspiration and answers as well, just like men do. If the rabbonim will not receive women looking for guidance and inspiration, to whom can they turn?

A couple of interesting ideas I heard that might solve the problem:
1.  the offices of rabbis should not be regular walls with doors, where the debate becomes keep the door open or closed, locked or unlocked, can a secretary or other shul member walk in at any time or not, and the like.
Rather, the offices of rabbis receiving women should have glass walls, or at least glass doors. This way they can be seen from the outside without somebody needing some level of brazenness to walk in and interrupt the rabbi. Women might not like that as they would be visible while talking to the rabbi. It invades their privacy to a certain extent, as well as exposing them to the public - people outside the office will see their body language, their reactions of crying or anger, and they might not want to be seen like that, though it would protect them somewhat from being assaulted.
I say "somewhat" because I doubt all meetings happen in the office, so the women would still be vulnerable when meeting outside the office.. It is a good suggestion, but I do not think it solves the problem entirely, and some women might not feel comfortable meeting in such an exposed room.

2. the development of more women trained in rabbinic-like authority positions.
If rabbis are going to stop receiving women for guidance and inspiration, someone will have to fill that void. It is only natural, and makes sense, that women can and should fill this role. There are already women rabbis or rabbi-like women doing this, but it would have to be expanded.  There are some women rabbis in the Modern orthodox circles, but even in the Ultra-Orthodox there are some female rabbi-like figures such as Rebbetzin Yemima Mizrachi, Rebbetzin Kanievsky used to be one when she was alive, and there are others.
If women are going to need to look for alternatives to the regular make rabbi, more of these inspiring female leaders need to be cultivated and trained.

And no, I do not think Rabbi Arush's suggestion of women needing advice sending notes with their husband is a good or realistic idea.

This Rabbi Berland guy is amazing.

He's been hiding out and running from country to country avoiding extradition to Israel to stand trial for  alleged sexual crimes for a long time now.

What is amazing about him is that one day the news reports have him sick and practically on his deathbed, while the next day reports have him once again missing and on the run.

Amazing that he continues to fool everybody, including multiple governments and security agencies.

Amazing that somebody reportedly so sick can be so mobile and crafty.