1. Is the Torah really for terror victims?

2. Listen to the mothers

3. Marathoners Unite Religiously Diverse City

4. Hamas Targets Sea-Dwelling Jews

5. Notes from a Tel Aviv Rooftop

6. Jon Lovitz Stands Up for Israel

7. Celebrate Thanksgiving

8. Kiruv Rock

9. The ride - Im Tirtzu, If you believe

There are various possibilities of what is protecting Israel from harm, despite the onslaught of rockets being shot out of Gaza by Hamas. Obviously we know Hashem protects us, and we do our physical hishtadlus to effect that protection. The physical hishtadlus consists of having an army and mobilizing it as necessary, defense systems similar to Iron Dome, and others. But sometimes one wonders what, of all the various actions we take, has more of a direct affect on matters.

Let's go through the options (in no particular order):

1. Iron Dome. Iron Dome has done a tremendous job knocking rockets out of the air. It is not perfect, it has missed some, but it has done a tremendous job with a very high percentage of success. To that end, we'd have to include Amir Peretz (as Ynet has started a campaign to thank him, probably reviving a possible political comeback) for being the man behind the original creation and promoting it into reality. As well, RAFAEL, the defense contractor who actually created it. Of course add to the list the army, the politicians and the people of the USA who largely fund it.

2. Prayer. Prayer is, perhaps, a spiritual version of the Iron Dome. We have so many people around the country davening, whether personally saying tehillim, or shuls saying tehillim, or special prayer sessions like the mass prayer yesterday at the Kotel.

3. Kabbalistic activity. Perhaps this should be categorized as part of prayer, but it is not prayer that the average person bombards the heavens with. It is a unique form of prayer and activity, thus qualifying for its own category. A group of Kabbalists went to Meron to say special prayers, then on to Kever Rachel, Hebron and the conclusion of the series of special prayers for a time of war that were said in Beer Sheva.

According to Ladaat, the special tefillot that were said in Beer Sheva were said by Rav Kaduri at the time of the Gulf War, and prior to that they had been said by mekubalim as the Germans were preparing to invade the Holy Land.

4. Torah learning. Torah learning can be such a strong protective force that Rav Chaim Kanievsky said the safest place to be is in Bnei Braq due to the high amount of Torah learning done there. Rav Kanievsky said that the Chazon Ish had promised that Bnei Braq would not have explosions, and the Chazon Ish is great enough that we can rely on him and his promise today as well. (source: Kikar)

While Rav Kanievsky recently said that residents (yeshiva students) from the south should go to Bnei Braq for safety, perhaps Bnei Braq should prepare to receive residents from the south until as north as Tel Aviv and Gush Dan and provide them with safe harbor..

Rav Shteinman is also being flooded with questions from people concerned and looking for answers as to what they should do. According to Bechadrei, Rav Shteinman, though considering each question anew is generally telling people that learning Torah is the best form of protection. Rav Shteinman said that if there should be a siren during davening, during shmoneh esrei, or during learning, they should run for cover. On the issue of Bnei Braq, it doesn't seem, to me, that Rav Shteinman is quite as definitive as Rav Kanievsky is. Rav Shteinman said there is no chazaka that rockets will not fall there, as there is no chazaka on the future. Chazaka only defines the past. Bnei Braq has a chazaka that rockets have not fallen there, but there is no such chazaka that rockets will not fall there in the future.

5. Tzaddikim. A few months ago Rav Chaim Pinto, the rav of Kiryat Malachi, according to Mynet, said that Kiryat Malachi is protected by the special graves of tzadikkim that are buried there.

Rav Pinto has been saying that special, very powerful, tzadikkim are buried in Kiryat Malachi. Some of them (or maybe all of them) are buried in his office (below his office? I am not sure what exactly his claim is, but that is what he said). These tzadikkim provide protection to the city to the point that there is no need to even take cover, if one is in the middle of davening, when the sirens blare announcing an incoming rocket. In other places like Ashdod, one should interrupt his tefilla and take cover, even though we have the protection of Iron Dome (making a direct hit unlikely), but in Kiryat Malachi one should not interrupt his prayers.

Rav Pinto has not revealed the identity of of the tzadikkim buried there, but he hinted that Rav Chaim Vital is buried there, among others including the grave of Rav Chaim Pinto (presumably his own ancestor).

Rav Chaim Vital was buried in Syria, though rumors have persisted for a long time that Rav Pinto secretly moved Rav Chaim Vital's grave to Kiryat Malachi many years ago. The same rumor also claims other graves of ancient tzadikkim were moved as well. The only other name I have ever heard in reference to this rumor was that of Rebbe Nachman of Breslav.

At the time Rav Pinto pointed to the fact that despite a series of escalations no rocket had falled in kiryat Malachi to indicate that he was correct that the tzadikkim buried there provide protection. If he was correct at the time, one must wonder what changed, considering the recent rockets that fell in Kiryat Malachi, including one that killed three people (and they were not mechalelei shabbos, as is explained in Bnei Braq when explaining how a rocket did fall in Bnei Braq despite the promises that no rockets fall there).

So, I don't know which of the above do a better or worse job. Maybe it is a combination of all five, and only together does the protection work most effectively.

There are so many great pictures to choose the potd from, it is very difficult to pick any specific one over the others...

Iron Dome in action, shooting down a rocket

explosion in Gaza

Iron Dome taking down two incoming rockets

This image was sent to me yesterday. It is being passed around described as a Kassam rocket that was shot to Israel. The body of the Kassam rocket was made from a pole of a bus stop or light pole that was cut and stolen from Bnei Braq, and the Hamas rocket makers somehow forgot to remove the tzedaka boxes that were welded on before making and shooting the rocket into Israel.

this Kassam rocket sponsored by Kupat Ha'Ir

It is a pretty funny story and picture, and worth posting just for the laughs.

Clearly it is a "photoshopped" picture. There is no way they could have not noticed the tzedaka boxes, or forgotten to remove them. And leaving them on, while I am not an engineer, I do not believe there is any way such a rocket could have been shot, let alone travel with any accuracy or distance with that unbalanced extra weight on it...

Still, it is pretty funny.

The Iron Dome has done a phenomenal job..

I am not a supporter of Bayit Yehudi, but I so far like everything I have seen of its new leader Naftali Bennet.

1. Beer, not bombs

2. Sending the soldier from shul

3. Where I come from

4. Sirens in Tel Aviv

5. We are not ALL bad

6. Sirens in Jerusalem

7. Hamas Reveals Danger of driving in the Middle East

8. The pernicious BBC

9. A number of websites are live-blogging the war (or operation), but none do it as well as Jameel.

10. Charedi leadership tone-deaf?

11. why yeshiva students dont serve in the army

12. Letter to Mr. Netanyahu

13. Passion, Love and Hope

14. Stella's Army Bracelets - the process

15. The treasurer vs the people - my bill is wrong!

16. praying at the kotel

17. Gaza Strip dangerously low on fake blood

Depute Health Minister Yaakov Litzman recently fired the head of Abu Kabir - the forensic institute of Israel, Dr. Yehuda Hiss. Hiss had headed the institute as chief pathologist for a very long time, since 1988. Much of his career as head of the institute was mired in controversy and conflict, both directed from the religious community and from the non-religious community. Under Hiss's watch, the institute was discovered on multiple occasions having mixed up limbs among dead bodies, improper burials, unnecessary autopsies that were not always authorized, and more.

At least in much of the religious community Dr. Hiss was considered evil incarnate. Willing to do anything for his own agenda, no matter whom he hurt.

I dont think too many people were disappointed or distraught when Hiss was recently removed from his position by Litzman.

With Hiss gone, the position of director of Abu Kabir is open and accepting applications.

An interesting, and perhaps surprising, applicant for this position is Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, the director of ZAKA. There is just one problem with Meshi-Zahav's application - he has no education.

Meshi-Zahav asked the director of the Health Ministry to open the application process also to people without an education in the field, so that he would be able to apply. Meshi-Zahav claims to have the support of Yaakov Litzman for the position.

Obviously as head of ZAKA he knows an awful lot about death and dead bodies. Does that mean he knows enough to run the main forensic institute in Israel? he thinks it does. Meshi-Zahav says that Hiss himself who was educated and an expert had managed to fail time and again in the position, and what is needed is not expertise in forensics, as there are pathologists working in the institute, but a good leader and manager is what is needed.

Meshi-Zahav says that he is the perfect candidate because as someone already known for his sensitivity to the dead, his care for kvod hameis, he is the only one who will be able to restore the trust and faith in the institute that has been lost in recent years among the broader public.

One goal Meshi-Zahav has in taking over the institute is in promoting the use of a digital MRI system for analyzing dead bodies. He says these systems today can detect almost all causes of death, and there is no reason the institute cannot operate according to halacha, as halacha allows solutions to all the situations possible - such as with the new MRI systems.
(source: NRG and Bechadrei)

Become director of Abu Kabir with no education? If anyone can do it, Meshi-Zahav can. I am not sure that he can, but if anyone uneducated could possibly do it, it would be him.

We bless with warmth the soldiers, and we are praying for them that they should go out in peace and return in peace.... The army needs to take lesson from the Syrians how to slaughter and crush the enemy..

  -- Rav Yaakov Yosef

There will be a "mass-tefilla" gathering at the Kotel today at 4 PM, to daven for, in the words of the announcement, "arousing heavenly mercy through mass-prayer" and to cry out to Hashem to say we have had enough of our troubles and that he should save us from the troubles and distress...

If you can be there, or daven at the same time, the situation is serious enough that it is warranted...

running for cover from an incoming rocket, hassidim helping an elderly woman in the process