My prediction was wrong. Goodbye Haim Ramon. No more politics for you. Prison for three years.

Somebody I know who is in the newspaper business told me that he is horrible. There are a number of other women who have had similar and worse stories with Ramon. When asked why they do not come forward, one of them told his reporter that she does not need it. She has a husband and kids now and she does not need to be in the news and ruin her family. It is hearsay, but it is good he is being locked away.

And the dominoes begin falling. Today an investigation of other member of Knesset from Kadima was launched for fraud, bribery and corruption...

Today the courts will be handing down the verdict in the case against Haim Ramon.

My prediction is that he will be exonerated. I think that the case has almost no merits and is ridiculous. And I do not even like Ramon as a politician.

He might be exonerated with some criticism, which might make it difficult for him to return to his old post as Justice Minister. He might need to take up a new position in the government, which is why Olmert has waited for the ministerial shakeup he has been talking about for a while now. He is waiting to see what he can give Ramon.

And on that note, there have been some calls that if Ramon is found not guilty that would "require" the Attorney General Manny Mazuz to resign. The logic behind this is if he brought such a case to court against such a high ranking public figure and there is no basis to the case and he is found innocent, then manny Mazuz must resign. He will not be able to continue working in his position, as he would have to work closely with Ramon who would return to his position as Justice Minister.

I disagree with that position. Just because he felt there was enough evidence to indict and convict does not gaurantee a conviction. Guilt has to be proven in a court of law and the fact that the prosecuters did not successfully do so should have no bearing on Mazuz's position.

introducing Windows Vista..

Check this out.

A 22 year old yeshiva student was late for his plane. When he got there they already closed the terminal and would not let him on. He said, in an attempt to convince them to let him on, that his brothers funeral was the next day and he had to be on the flight (the article does not say if this was true or not).

The employee did not let him on, so he went to a phone and called in a bomb threat.

He was sentenced to pay a $1,000 fine, wear an electronic monitoring bracelet while confined to his home for six months and perform 200 hours of community service.

Talk about stupid.

The following is a guest post by a frequent reader and commenter, whatsinaname.

The topic is Ami Popper. In case you are not familiar with the case, Ami Popper in 1990 killed 7 Palestinian Arabs. He was sentenced to life in prison and that was later reduced to 40 years based on his good behavior. Ami Popper was recently on a type of weekend furlough and went to Eilat for a weekend vacation with his family. He was involved in a car accident and his wife and two of his children were killed. I have heard some conspiracy theories about what happened, but nothing good enough, or interesting enough to post.

Whatsinaname knows the family from Har Nof and had the following thoughts he wished to share with the rest of us. Enjoy. Any changes I made were only for editing grammar.
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My thoughts about Ami Popper

The following is a mixture of my own thoughts and various facts that I have learned and picked up. I hope it is all true, and I think it is. If any of it is not, I hope someone will correct me.

In the year 1990 a chiloni man by the name of Ami Popper went and brutally murdered about seven arab men who were waiting on the side of the highway. When asked why he did this, he gave two answers. His second answer was that as a child he was raped by one of the arabs. He was immediately given a life sentence, and sent to jail.

In jail he was what is commonly termed “well behaved” thereby earning him good treatment during his term. At some point he was sent to the prison used by religious inmates and slowly began to change himself. Within the course of only a few years he went from a convicted chiloni prisoner to a well behaved religious prisoner. He studied under some rabbaim, one of which was very close to Rav Chaim Kanievsky, shlita.

Around his third year of his term, a woman, who’s family were signed members of the K”CH movement, meant with Ami Popper. Their relationship blossomed and soon they considered marriage - him behind bars, she giving him a second chance at life. With the blessing of Rav Chaim himself, the two wed and began a somewhat unusual family life. Due to his continuing good behavior, he built the trust of the justice system, and his sentence was lowered to 40 years and was soon allowed to visit his family outside the prison for hours, sometimes days at a time. Soon enough their first child was born, a boy, and Rav Chaim came to the prison to be sandak for the new baby.

But life was not so sweet for Sara Popper. She raised the three boys herself, and it was not an easy feat. The boys were very active children, and she herself had a lot of trouble with the life she laid out. I once saw her in har nof; she was terrified because some men were yelling at her and calling her names. I’ve heard her sons quoted as saying how difficult a time they had at school because of their father and his situation. Nevertheless, he continued to come home, she did her best and the family blossomed into 3 children and Sara and Ami doing all they could to keep it together.

I met Sara 2 or 3 times, each time the stress was visible in her eyes and her situation was clearly not a peaceful one. However, I also saw something else in her. A strength and kindness rooted deep behind the defense shields she always had to fight to keep up. Before his last release from prison, Sara made an order from the local butcher for meat for shabbos on Wednesday, but looking forward even more to a much needed vacation with her whole family the following day. She did not make it back the next morning.

I’ve heard a lot of questions about whether she was buckled, whether the children were, why was he driving if his license was expired? These questions don’t really matter though, because when Hakadosh Baruch Hu is ready to take his children home, He brings them, regardless of who is driving the car.

I’ve heard chilonim at work talk about the irony of the situation. Ami killing arabs and then killing his own wife and child. It is a fearsome analogy to make, much less to say it in the kitchen of an office next to the water cooler.

However, the more I think about this horrible tragedy the more one question kept arising in my head. Why would a young woman with her whole life ahead of her, want to marry someone locked in jail?

I think that the answer is the fact that we all get a second chance. Ami was a young kid, and he made a mistake (I don’t know if he admits to that or not). But somehow I have a gut feeling that had he been frum when he was younger, I doubt he would have done the same thing. Sara Popper gave this man a second chance to live another life. Albeit not the paradise we all dream of, but the opportunity to raise a family teaching Torah values.

Oh yes, I can hear some of you crying, what kind of values comes from a murderer? But I know what kind of values. The kind of values that teach your children not to make your mistakes. If we never learn from our sins, how can we grow? Sara Popper, in my eyes, did an incredible chesed that I can only dream about. She sacrificed her own life to give a chance to someone else.

Sadly there are only two boys left, but they are now going to a wonderful family. One, from what I hear is one the most giving and Ahavas Chesed families in Har nof. Fitting isn’t it? At the funeral I was told that Sara’s brother spoke of the great hardships she had in her life and noted that she is in a better place now. I have no doubt, and I pray that she has paved enough of the path that her children and others can learn that there is always an opportunity for a second chance, to anyone.

Last week I received an email alert about a psak from Rav Elyashiv. The psak was regarding the status of Eilat in regards to how many days of yom tov would one need to observe in Eilat (it also referred to Antalya, Turkey, a popular vacation spot for Israelis, but that is not relevant for my post).
The question is based on the fact that Eilat is not halachically considered part of Eretz Yisrael and does not have kedushat haaretz, the various agricultural laws of the Land of Israel do not apply to Eilat.
Rav Elyashiv paskened that Eilat is not part of Eretz Yisrael and it has a Jewish community. Therefore, just like in other places in the diaspora, an Israeli found in Eilat for the holiday must observe the second day of the holiday as they do in the diaspora.

The Chief Rabbi of Eilat, Rabbi Hecht, argues the point and says they keep one day of holiday just like in Israel.

I am not sure what the logic was behind Rabbi Hechts position, as the article did not elaborate.

I suspect that Rabbi Hecht is simply stating the facts. Israelis generally keep one day of yom tov even in America, except the most haredi of them. In Eilat for sure the majority of Israelis are only keeping one day for the holiday. It is not really a halachic position, rather a statement of facts.. I am not sure if that is the case or if he is of the opinion that Israelis should only observe one day of yom tov. The article was unclear.

Sometimes we need our enemies to remind us of who we are and what we need to be doing. It was said about the holocaust (and many other tragic events in our history) that our enemy did not allow us to assimilate. No matter how hard we tried, they always remembered and reminded us that we are Jews and cannot avoid it.

Sometimes we get so involved in the minutiae that we forget the big picture, which is often just as important.

As a friend of mine said to me today, "If there was a suicide bombing there, it is clear that it is part of Erets Yisrael."

Our enemies recognize that Eilat is part of Eretz Yisrael, yet we are arguing whether it is or is not. It seems to have been very prescient that this argument about the status of Eilat just occurred and almost immediately was followed by a sharp reminder by our enemies.

Maybe, perhaps, though this pains me to suggest, Eilat suffered today's suicide attack, after hardly ever having been affected by terror attacks, precisely because of our haste to deny it status as part of Israel. We want to throw it out, so Hashem, with the aid of the terorists, threw it back at us and said this is just as much Israel as Jerusalem, Sderot, Tel Aviv, Haifa and everywhere else..

I often hear the complaint that new chumros are instituted fairly frequently and usually with great fanfare. If someone does not follow the new chumrah, he is often socially made to feel inadequate at best and barely frum at worst.

The follow up to these chumros are that often we find a situation where the chumrah hits the haredi street running and takes off like wildfire. Yet, after a period of time, be it a week or two or even a couple of months, it suddenly dies down and is forgotten about by all other than a few people.

Take for example the wigs made from Indian hair scandal from a couple of years ago. The pronouncement that sheitels should not be worn until the situation is clarified hit the street running. People did not wait for lists to be made or decisions to be announced. Rather they felt it heinous to hold on to possible avoda zara in their homes and ran to burn them in the streets. It was not just a rumor. I witnessed my neighbor burning his wife's sheitels.

If you (or your wife) continued wearing your sheitel at that time, you could forget about your daughter getting any shidduch dates. Your level of commitment to frumkeit was seriously questioned. Forget about applying for your daughter to get into a Bais Yaakov.

Yet, a few months later, after much money was wasted by poor avreichim burning their wives sheitels in an expression of religious haste, no word of the problem can be heard. Nobody made an announcement to not burn sheitels. Just the opposite, we heard from the most fanatic circles that it is assur to hold the sheitel in your house and it is a mitzva to burn, ala u'viarta ha'ra mi'kirbecha. Yet when everything was declared to be ok did we hear any big announcements? no. it just died down and a few lists were published that included practically every sheitel on the market and that was the end of the story. I still know people who have sheitels they put away in the closet weaiting to hear what to do with them and they are still in the closet because they never heard the follow up.

That is one example, but haredi society is rife with examples similar to the above.

The common complaint people have is that we always hear the chumrah but nobody talks about cancelling it. Who wants to cancel a chumrah? Nobody wants that on their name because they look less haredi.

I think it is not a situation limited to the haredi world, nor one limited to the chumrah phenomenon.

Rob in his post here commenting on a book about fads and their cycles notes a very similar experience.

He says fads are quick to be adopted. It is the sign of living in a society that believes that change can make things better. It means the society embraces new ideas. Society believes in improvement and is willing to therefore try new ideas.
And when it dies down with no fanfare it is because nobody likes to announce their failures. The fad at its beginning is something new and exciting. By the time it does down, it is not interesting to anybody. It is old news.

Sounds eerily similar to the frum world. The only difference is that the frum world today is open to change, but only change l'chumrah, which is not always for the better. We almost never hear today of a change in frum society that makes life easier or better for people.

Check it out in alphabetical order, by Chaim from Life of Rubin

Another book has been banned this past week. This ban for some reason mostly flew in under the radar, probably because the author is dead.

The Tzitz Eliezer, Rav Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg, was one of the gedolei haposkim of our generation who passed away recently. He wrote a monumental work called the Tzitz Eliezer, after which he was "nicknamed", along with a number of other books. He was 89 when he passed away and was a contemporary with Rav Elyashiv, as they sat on the same beis din together for a long period of time, among many other connections.

His only son served as a Rav (affiliated with the Badat'z) of a neighborhood in Jerusalem until his own death last year.

The Tzitz Eliezer wrote a set of books in 1952 called "Hilchot Medina" - halachos of the State [of Israel], dealing with issues involving Medinat Yisrael and rulership.

The book has been out of print for a long time now and is considered fairly rare. In honor of the completion of the shloshim (30 day mourning) period of Rav Waldenberg's passing, the 3-volume set has recently been reprinted, to the dismay of the family. They feel that the original sefer should remain out of print due to the conflict it effects with their Haredi lifestyle. They do not wish to be portrayed, nor for the Tzitz Eliezer to be portrayed, as anything but Haredi, but this book being reprinted threatens that image.

The Bada"tz has assured the book, possibly at the urging of the family members against it, and has banned it. In addition, they have sent out enforcers to local bookshops in Meah Shearim-Geula and in Bnei Brak to make sure the reprinted books are taken off the shelf.

Let us not forget that in the time of the Rambam they banned his books and even burned them because they did not like his style. Only later were they able to look back objectively and realize he was a gadol b'torah and his books have taken the place they deserve in the Jewish world.

I am not a big fan of book bannings. Unless a book was written with mistakes and has no founding, there is no reason to ban a book. Let the readers decide whether they like and agree with the thoughts presented in the book or not.

Yet now the Badat'z has banned the book of a gadol, because they did not like the way it portrayed him. Rav Waldenberg, as a Rav dealing in practical halacha, felt it important to write a sefer dealing with the halachic issues involved in running a jewish state. Yet that conflicts with the anti-Israel stance of the Badat'z and therefore they ban it.

Does that mean the book is assur to read? Are they objectively banning a book because they say it is mistaken and will lead someone astray? Is it just against their worldview and they have to ban it?

As a simple person, how am I supposed to deal with such bans?

I am a product of the yeshiva world. I spent my whole life until the age of 26 in yeshiva. As a result of that I naturally trust the gedolim. I have a problem when people say, gadol x is influenced by the askanim around him, gadol y never actually said what has been attributed to him, gadol z signs letters that he has no idea what they are about, gadol q bans books without reading them, etc.

I have a hard time believing that these gedolim are so great yet are so easily influenced and have no idea what is going on around them.

I am torn when I see something from a big Rav (gadol) that makes absolutely no sense and then people say he had no idea, or he never really did/said that.

I do not know how to deal with that situation.

Yet here we have a sefer being banned just because it puts some people into a dilemma because it makes it look like the State is something that has halachic consequences.

Do we trust these great Rabbis that there really are problems with the book in question (otherwise they could have simply ignored it) or do we say that they are influenced by subjective motives?

And this is just the latest example. Every letter that gets put up on the walls of Yerushalayim assuring something or somebody in the name of Rav Elyashiv or Rav somebody or other puts me in the same dilemma. Are these bans real and to be taken seriously or does somebody just have an identity crisis?

Do the gedolim really know what is going on or are they really so easily influenced and so quick to sign their names on pieces of paper without actually paying attention what the agenda is?

I am torn with no good answers.

We spent this morning in the shopping area having a bagel breakfast, along with running some errands. It was a pretty busy Friday morning, as usual, and I was standing outside a store (I was shopping with my wife - she was inside shopping and I was outside waiting for her to finish) enjoying the beautiful weather with the baby.

I saw an old friend from yeshiva who is in town for a relatives wedding. I saw some other people I know. Basically just enjoying a pleasant shopping trip outside the store watching the people go by. Suddenly I see a police car stopping by a double-parked car.

This car was double-parked in a way that was blocking two parking spots. The 2 spots were empty, so I am not sure why the lady driving the car did not pull into the spots, and if they were full when she double-parked how they got out of the spots.

The police car stopped behind the car and on the loudspeaker called out, "The driver of the Suzuki license plate #123456789 come to your car." Nobody came and he called this out a few times. Eventually a woman shows up and was oblivious to what was going on. As she is getting opening her car door to put her bags in, the policeman calls her over.

First he tells her to pull the car into a spot, which she does. He then calls her over again and they argue a bit. I do not know what was said, they were out of ear-shot from where I was standing. I did not see him give her a ticket, though. They finished the conversation and she moved on to check her car and then went on to continue shopping.

I went a bit closer to see what was going on by her car and I see that someone, probably the owner of one of the cars that had been blocked in, had smeared plastalina, playdough, all over the drivers side of her windshield. She was pretty frustrated as she tried quickly to wipe it off, with no success. It basically just smeared some more. She went off in a huff to continue shopping.

This incident took place outside of a toy store. The driver blocked in probably went in to the toy store, bout a package of playdough and smeared it all over her windshield.

She deserved it. I hate it when people double-park. I hope she learned her lesson.

I have a number of points to make regarding the situation with President Katzav:

1. President Moshe Katzav must resign.

Saying the above does not mean I presume him to be guilty. He has the right and the responsibility to defend himself and prove his innocence. I hope that he did not do what he is accused of, simply because of the disgrace it would be if it is found out to be true. But if he is guilty, it will be proven in court with him having an opportunity to defend and he will then suffer the consequences.

Regardless of whether he is innocent or guilty he needs to resign from the presidency. He needs to and will concentrate the immediate future to defending himself in a court of law and in the court of the minds of the Israeli and world public. Being that he will be busy doing so, he should not be sitting in the seat of the Presidency. Israel needs a president who can dedicate his time and energies to the job. Moshe Katzav will not be able to do so.

That is aside from the disgrace this has brought to Israel and the presidency. For this, too, he should resign.

2. PM Olmert called on Katzav to resign. He declared in no uncertain terms, "In these circumstances there is no doubt in my heart that the president cannot continue to fulfill his role and must leave the President's Residence,".

Talk about calling the kettle black! The President has not yet been indicted. His situation is not that different from the one in which Olmert himself is found, other than the crimes under discussion and the stage of the investigation. Katzav's investigation is nearer the end with recommendations having been made, while Olmert's is only close to that point.

Olmert would do well to not stick his foot in his mouth and put himself in a precarious position later. When any of the investigations come to the point where they recommend he be indicted, will Olmert follow his own advice and resign? I would hope so but nothing indicates that he will. His style until now has been to publicly ignore all things going on in those regards and simply spin things to distract the people.

His bold statement yesterday will probably come back to bite him in the tush when his time comes and he refuses to step down.

3. The race to replace Katzav has (more) officially begun. The candidates are lining up. They include Shimon Peres, Collete Avital, Dalia Itzik, Reuven (Ruby) Rivlin and possibly Rabbi YM Lau.

My position on this is that the President needs to be elected by the people, not by the current system of the Members of Knesset voting. Voting open only to MK means they are subject to political pressures, coalition pressures, personal relationship pressures and the like and only we, the people, lose out because the limited number of voters do not have the courage to vote for the best candidate.

Another position I have on this is that the candidates need to be taken from the general public. People who have contributed to society in various realms. Not politicians, and for sure not currently active politicians.

This would mean the only candidate I would support in the above list of front runners would be Rabbi Lau. I think Rabbi Lau is a wonderful and inspiring person and he is deserving of the Presidency and would bring back honor to Israel if he filled the position. That being said, I would like to see more candidates from the general public - accomplished scientists, professors, mathematicians, men of spirit, etc. who would challenge Rabbi Lau for the spot. I do not know that Rabbi Lau is the best man for the job, but in the list of candidates above I consider him the only worthy one.

Another position I have on the elections for president is that the ballot remain secret. if we are already limiting the voting to 120 MKs who are subject to political pressures and other pressures, at least the voting should remain secret and closed ballot, so at least to keep the slightest vestige of honest voting and not one big political deal and maneuver shafting the rest of the country.
Which leads us to....

PM Olmert and the Kadima Party is going to be pushing perennial candidate Shimon Peres as its candidate for the presidency. Supporters for Shimon Peres are pushing to change the voting system to an open ballot. They fear that the only way Peres can win is by open ballot, where pressure will force a majority of the 120 voters to vote for him. They are probably right, which is the greatest example of why the voting must remain closed. Not to ensure Peres does not get elected. Rather, to ensure that the limited 120 voters get to vote for who they think is best, not just the candidate who can put the most pressure on them. If in a closed ballot they vote for Shimon, that is fine.

Of all Olmert's mistakes, this one might be his biggest. His pushing Peres as the candidate, if Peres wins, is definitely a major mistake. The president is an honorary position in Israel. The president is not meant to discuss or get involved in politics. He is meant o be dignified and develop relations around the world and represent Israel to the world.

Shimon Peres would be great at that. He is dignified. He is respected. He is probably more or less clean from the various criminal activities plaguing Israeli politicians nowadays. However, Shimon Peres is a man of action, not a man fitting for an honorary position. He would immediately make the presidency one from which he pushes whatever political agenda he has on his mind at the time.

Peres is famous for his backstabbing and political maneuvers, and he would use the presidency for the same goals he has used politics for until now. Why would a man like Peres want this position anyway? He cannot get involved in the peace process, his baby, and other national interests from the Presidents Mansion. It is not in the job description.
The only reason is because he wants it in order to further his goals and ideals. he wants to use the power of the presidency to push his agenda in the political sphere.

Ehud Olmert should beware of Shimon Peres and not be so eager to push him into the presidency. the first person to be back stabbed by Peres will be Olmert.

The interview I posted about earlier is now under Rabbinic advisement and awaiting a decision if and how to continue it.

If you already posted questions, do not worry, they are not deleted. I have them saved elsewhere and will use them if the interview continues.

The interview I posted about earlier is now under Rabbinic advisement and awaiting a decision if and how to continue it.

If you already posted questions, do not worry, they are not deleted. I have them saved elsewhere and will use them if the interview continues.

It is well known that Petah Tikva follows most of the minhagim of Jerusalem. The reason for this is the founders of Petah Tikva were all religious pioneers from Jerusalem, who went there about 130 years ago to start a new community. They, being Jerusalemites, founded Petah Tikva with the minhagim of Jerusalem. It was their way of remembering Jerusalem, instead of taking the minhagim of the rest of Israel.

An example of such a minhag is candle lighting time on Friday afternoon. Most of Israel, and most of the world, lights candles 18 minutes (some light 20 minutes) prior to the onset of shabbos. Jerusalem, and other places that keep the minhagim of Jerusalem, light candles 40 minutes prior to the onset of shabbos.

That is, most other places that keep the minhagim of Jerusalem.

I just found out Petah Tikva is an exception.

Petah Tikva keeps minhagim of Jerusalem, for the most part. However, regarding candle lighting for shabbos, they do something unique. This was the first I have heard of this minhag, and it shows how they kept Jerusalem at the forefront of their minds and thoughts.

The editors of Torah Tidbits noticed some discrepancies in the listed candle-lighting times of Petah Tikva. They could not understand why the listed times looked like they were a few minutes different than what they should have been. While Petah Tikva famously lights 40 minutes prior to sunset, their sunset is a couple minutes earlier than the Jerusalem sunset. 40 minutes prior to sunset in PT should be a few minutes earlier than 40 minutes prior to sunset in Jerusalem.

So why were the listed times equal to those listed for Jerusalem?

The editor called the religious council representative of Petah Tikva and asked him for the resolution to the discrepancy.

The response was that the minhag of Petah Tikva for candle lighting times does not follow the minhag of Jerusalem, being 40 minutes prior to the onset of shabbos (sunset). Rather, the minhag of Petah Tikva is to light the shabbos candles at the exact time they light in Jerusalem!

That makes them light candles 37 or 38 minutes prior to sunset, but it was a unique method of keeping Jerusalem in their minds!

"אם אשכחך ירושלים תשכח ימיני"

I promised you a while back that I would write this post. After a number of posts (on this blog and on other blogs) describing some disturbing incidents that had taken place in RBS, some readers asked if there is anything good about RBS, and some of you asked about Israel in general. I mentioned that there is plenty of good in RBS and that I would one day write a post in praise of RBS.

I got caught up with some other issues, and was not really sure where to begin with this one, so it got delayed. I now offer to you this post.

The purpose of this is not to try to convince you to move to RBS or tell you that it is the greatest neighborhood in the world. There are plenty of great neighborhoods and you have to find one that is right for you. Every place, RBS included, has its problems and its benefits. I, and many other blogs, have ranted plenty on the problems of RBS, now is the time for some positive.

RBS is a beautiful neighborhood in the hills of Bet Shemesh. The area is rich with history. I can drive for about 5 minutes or so and get to the location (give or take) where David slew Goliath with his slingshot. Bet Shemesh was the home of many battles between the ancient Israelites and the Philistines. Shimshon lived "just down the block" and a five or six minute drive will take you to his grave, along with to the locations of many of his battles and incidents mentioned in Tanach. That is only a very brief description of the history of the Bet Shemesh area. There is much more.

The location of Ramat Bet Shemesh is very convenient. RBS is comfortably nestled in the hills between jerusalem and Tel Aviv. We have good public transportation, including a train station in BS along with a full range of Egged buses to the major cities. This makes it a prime location for the working class crowd, who can reap the benefits of real estate prices that are lower than Jerusalem but are still within a reasonable commute to jerusalem or Tel Aviv, be it by car or public transport.

The city of Bet Shemesh has expanded tremendously over the past 10 years. It has gone from being a backwater town of about 15,000 to 20,000 people to about 80,000 residents currently (though some people still consider it backwater). Such growth has its problems. City services have a hard time keeping up with the growth but overall the city is beautiful with an abundance of parks and green areas.

Yes, we have our kannoim, but most people are not like that. Most people are normal people just trying to concentrate on doing their own thing, whatever that might be. There is tremendous diversity in Ramat Bet Shemesh. You can find people of all types, which is one of the reasons we moved to RBS nearly 8 years ago. You can find Haredi (of all types), Dati Leumi, Secular. You can find Anglo expats, native Israelis, Ashkenazi Jews, Sefardic Jews, Yemenite jews, Russian Jews, Ethiopian Jews. We are practically our own Benneton poster. You can walk down the street and see so many different types of people. Most of the time, nearly all the time, everybody gets along with each other and people have friendships and relationships crossing the cultural differences.
And one of the most exciting and dynamic aspects of this is watching Israel grow. Every time Nefesh B'Nefesh brings a planeload of people to Israel, RBS gets to watch Israel grow, as a nice percentage choose RBS as the place to live. Yet this is also true for olim from other areas, not just America. Russian Jews, French Jews, South African Jews, etc. There are constantly new building projects going up to fill the needs of the throngs of people moving to Israel. We literally watch the rebirth of Eretz Yisrael in front of our eyes on a daily basis.

That diversity of people creates a diversity in religious and social services. For every type of person living in RBS there is a shul in the neighborhood (and often more than one) catering to his style, including some who try to cater and attract all of the types together! We have a matnas (community center) with a full range of activities that kids can take advantage of. There is a wide variety of schools to choose from, each with its own style and attraction.

There are tremendous capabilities for growth. We have tremendous talmidei chachamim (scholars) in the neighborhood, alongside phenomenal Rabbonim, along with highly educated people in the secular studies. There is every possible type of shiur you could be looking for.

There is a great shopping center with practically every type of store you could possibly need for your day to day life, ensuring that your need to leave the neighborhood is minimal. Practically everything you could possibly need is within a few minutes of your house. We have as many eruvin and mikvaot as you could possibly try to rely on, to accomodate the demands and needs of different types of people.

Sure, we have our problems. What neighborhood doesn't? Rantings generally are more interesting to write, read and fight about, so they get more press time. Don't take the rantings of us bloggers as a sign that all is foul in RBS. Things are generally great.

And we will welcome you with open arms if you do choose to move to Israel, and RBS in particular.