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Leading up to Tisha B'Av there has been a lot of talk about the future. What life would be like if we got the Third Beis HaMikdash, what life would be like under the rule of Mashiach, etc. Would we really want to live such lives. Do we know what to expect. Etc.

A number of blogs wrote about it, Mishpacha magazine wrote about it, Ynet ran an article about it, and more.

Now, as we head into Tisha B'Av, as our annual mourning ritual, much of which is just purely ritual for many of us without any actual understanding of what life was like back then and what life would be like if we got it back, comes to the climax of reading Eicha and the kinos, I feel like adding my two cents.

I don't know if life would be better or worse under Mashiach's rule. Would there be more infighting or less (at least initially)? I have no idea what life will be like then, and I have no idea if we will then prefer the life from before or the life then.

I don't even consider it worthy of discussion.

Any discussion on what life will be like under the future rule of Mashiach and/or the Temple, is based purely on speculation. We have no idea what life will be like then, and therefore have nothing but guesses to base any opinion on whether it will be good or bad, better or worse.

Even among the commentaries there are so many opinions as to what will be, and we really have no way of knowing. I avoid "What If" questions like the plague, because it is pure speculation, and trying to predict the future is also pure speculation with no basis provided for any possible opinion.
I don't know what it will be like in the time of Mashiach. I was raised to believe that everything will be better, and that is good enough for me. What will actually be? I have no idea. Will we have steak 3 times a week? Will we work for a living? Will we have the energy and level fo concentration to learn Torah all day? Will we disband all secular education facilities? Will the yeshiva system be changed?

I have no idea what will be. And it doesn't matter. We will deal with that when the time comes. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I believe it will be better, but in what way I have no idea. And t really does not matter to me, nor does it trouble me to worry about.

Yes, in what has been dubbed "The World's Largest Concentration Camp", also known as Gaza, they opened a mall.

Here are some images from the grand opening:






Gaza is the first concentration camp ever to have a luxury mall.

Here is the Gaza Mall website, run through Google Translator.
And here is the news report on the grand opening from paltimes.net run through Google Translator.

1. Between JM and TLV asks an unusual question...

2. Esser Agaroth on his shawarma during the 9 Days experience.

3. Lulei Dmistafina on George Steinbrenner and tshuva

4. Reb Akivah with images from the Menorah funeral

5. IDF Armor with some images and story from the Yom Kippur war

6. Catriel comments on Assaf Wohls article about rebuilding the Temple

[The conversion bill] create a rift among the Jewish people

-- PM Netanyahu

I dont know if the bill is good or bad, but in the current makeup of our country, I don't see who else can be authorized to control conversions (or marriage or divorce) besides for the state authorized Rabbanut.

It is not like they would be giving control to the Eida or other similar groups. It would be under the control of the Rabbanut. What is the point of having a Rabbanut if the State doesn't trust them to act properly?

As long as we do not have a constitutional division between shul and state, I don't see who else can be authorized to control this. It might not be the best solution, but tell me who else it would be reasonable to give the authority to..

For those of us who were skeptical if the secular consumer boycott (cherem) against companies bearing the badat'z eida hechsher on its products would be effective, there are signs indicating that it has been noticed.

According to Globes, Nestle, who recently made a strategic decision to switch all of its products to be certified under the hechsher of the Eida, has started a new campaign for a line of ice cream and they don't mention the hechsher at all, unlike previous campaigns that mention, or point to, the Eida very boldly.

Those running the campaign are taking it to indicate that their boycott has been noticed and felt, and Nestle is trying to get around it by not being so open about who gives the hechsher.

I, for one, was skeptical that this boycott campaign would be effective, and the Eida dismissed it completely (at least publicly) as being nothing to be concerned about, but it looks like I was wrong about it...

On another, related, note, could this be part of the reason why the Eida changed its tune at the end of this past week and started calling for no hafganot in Jerusalem, no youth at hafganot, banning the "sikrikim" and other pronouncements to try to tone things down? Perhaps they are starting to feel the pressure, not just socially but also financially? hmmmm

ORRRRRRR, it could just be that this new line of products does not carry the Eida hechsher... who knows?

According to the newspaper today, June has been officially recorded as the hottest month. Ever. In the whole world.

It sure felt like it.

I try to avoid going into bookstores.

I am addicted to books, all books - Jewish, not Jewish, historical, biographies, fiction, etc, and have been known to way overspend on books whenever I walk into a bookstore. I try to avoid them. I don't even have that much time for book reading right now...

Like today I passed a bookstore and walked in out of curiosity. I ended up buying 3 books, and had to really control myself to not buy more than that.

It seems the wife of Turkish PM, Mrs. Erdogan herself, was insulted by the lies of Shimon Peres. They even made her cry.

Poor baby. We have been having to deal with Shimon Peres' lies for 62 years now... Get over it. You should have seen him as a politician. His lies as an apolitical president are nothing!

Governor Paterson is not happy about the recent reports of him sporting a red bendel.. He claims the reports are like "throwing dung at a cross or stomping on a Star of David"..

Even funnier is this:

Paterson said he decided to wear the bracelet this spring after feeling "touched" during a visit to the Queens tomb of revered Orthodox rabbi, Jacob Joseph. It's tradition for visitors to put on such bracelets, he said.

tradition? what a crock someone sold him!

And Now Governor Paterson of New York is wearing a red string on his wrist. He thinks he can use every bit of help he can get..


But, oops, according to the New York Daily news it seems to not be working, likely because he is wearing it on the wrong hand.. what's that all about? Hey - maybe he is a lefty, so it would be proper to switch the red string to his right hand - the tefillin hand? Which side of the plate does he bat on?

Gov. Paterson is counting on a Madonna-blessed higher power to lead him out of the mess in Albany.

The lame-duck governor has begun wearing a red string kabbalah bracelet - just like the Material Girl - in an eyebrow-raising bid to deflect ill will.

"It was explained to the governor that the red string is a symbol of protection [that] wards off problems and tribulations," Paterson spokesman Morgan Hook said.

"His attitude was that he'll take all the help he can get."

Paterson could be forgiven for turning to a little divine protection.

In the past six months he's found himself under investigation, dumped his reelection bid as a result, and wrestled with the Legislature over the state budget.

So he's apparently trying his luck with the trendy talisman favored by followers of the mystical Jewish discipline. But unlike Madonna, Demi Moore and Britney Spears, Paterson is not yet one of the devoted, a spokesman said.

"Kabbalah didn't change his life, just to be clear here," Hook said.

Either way, Paterson may not be getting all the spiritual backup he hopes for - the bracelet is customarily worn on the left wrist, while the governor is seen in photos wearing it on his right.

1. The Menora tragedy and funeral: Yaak, RHM, Zev Shandalov

2. When Anastasia Michaeli attacked Zoabi in the KNesset the other day, she was quoting from Sokol's work.

3. Reb Akiva has a major warning..

4. Parsha blog on the 8 legged camel

5. Frum N Flippin and her 10 minute friend

And here is Moshe Gafni's response to Aryeh Deri's call to dismantle the Haredi political parties, along with all sectoral parties, and go to a similar electoral system that the US has:

Deri's suggestion is delusional. A mixed party with both secular and haredi MKs could not survive. A secular MK, who is not exceptional and needs a boost inthe primaries, will open a paper one day and see an editorial about how the author received a call from a haredi rav that somethign he had written about is correct and necessary. That MK will immediately run and submit a bill to create a law for whatever that is as it will have broad support. Then, in the opposing party, another secular MK will propose another law that he thinks is even better. And they will compete about "what is good" for the Haredim. Who will explain anything to them [about what the haredim really need]? The gedolim who said, according to Deri's proposal, to vote for a secular party?

{NOTE: Gafni clearly doesnt understand how this works.. the idea would be exactly that - the competing parties would compete to create better legislation for minorities and interest groups. It would be in their best interests to come up with the best laws, so they could get support from those interest groups and minorities. That is a good thing, not a bad thing. The way it works now is th haredim propose something, and some need the haredim so they support it, and some hate the haredim so they oppose it. And it depends on numbers and the media. If the party is interested in getting support of haredim, they will always look to do things that benefit the haredim or other interest groups. But Gafni is missing the point thinking that this would be bad to have different parties competing to do good things for them.

Also, the parties would not be "secular". They would be general, mixed with secular religious and haredi MKs}

Gafni continues defending the Haredi parties and says:
If we dont stand gaurd day to day, the traditional community will fall prey to a group of people that control the justice system, the media and the academic institutions. This is a war. It is our obligation, the co-gaurantor of the Jewish people, to be concerned for them..

Ahhh.. so now Moshe Gafni is saying that the Haredi MKs are really fighting not for the haredim [alone], but for all the traditional people of Israel. Right. Sure. Thanks a lot.

This is amazing. He must have photographic memory and a strong work ethic of studying.

On Monday the Rabbanut held its day of testing for semicha. One of the participants taking the tests was a 14 year old boy, about to enter the 9th grade.

This young man knows Shas, Rishonim, Achronim and and poskim by heart.

Rav Shmuel Eliyahu himself tested this young and brilliant phenom. He was duly impressed. Rav Eliyahu was disappointed that he could not confer upon the young man semicha, due to his age, but expressed his amazement at the boys accomplishments, saying that in every generation of the Jewish people there have been special people like this who the rabbonim would treat with extra care as they would flourish and grow into gedolim in Torah..

Amazing. Ko Lechay.