The following two "pashkevils", or maybe advertisements, are spoofs of what a Kupat Ha'Ir advertisement to raise money might look like this week upon the advent of Christmas. They are being sent around (i.e. I do not know what/who the original source is), and I thought they were pretty funny, so I am sharing them with you...




One says that on Nittle Nacht the gedolei yisrael and rabbonim will play backgammon, that is famous for it's segulos,  in your merit. The second says that for just 99 NIS a minyan of talmidei chachomim will stop learning Torah for 12 hours straight, on Nittel Nacht.

The residents of Jerusalem generally send their children to live in Bet Shemesh, where we are building 25,000 housing units. But, a small minority of them prefer to continue living in Jerusalem, yet there are not enough apartments available. For them, I am happy to vote in favor of this plan. 1500 apartments will be enough for them, the rest can all come to Bet Shemesh.

  -- Moshe Montag, Bet Shemesh city councilman, and member of regional for planning and construction of Jerusalem region, upon voting approval for the construction of 1500 apartments in Ramat SHlomo neighborhood in Jerusalem. (quote taken from Chadash newspaper)

this made me laugh. it looks like a funny incident...

interesting interview. this is the one that has made waves recently, where Bennet has been accused of calling for refusing orders. The hot spot is at about 27 minutes. He talks against throwing people out of their houses, but he clearly says he would not call for a refusal of orders, while personally he would not be able to oppose his conscience and would ask to be relieved of such duty.

There is always interesting things happening in the various political parties come election time, but that is especially true in regards to the more colorful parties, like Koach L'Hashpia, Rav Amnon Yitzchak's party.

Besides for some of his recent statements of what they plan to do, such as legislate bread to be priced at 1 shekel, and raising the speed limit to 140 kmph, even greater is his most recent admission - he himself is not going to vote for his own party.

Obviously he is not running for a Knesset seat, but will be directing the party both spiritually and in the decision making, much the way Rav Ovadiah Yosef leads SHAS. So, not voting for the party is not directly not voting for himself, but it still seems pretty strange.

Why won't Rav Amnon Yitzchak be voting for the party he founded and leads? Because Rav Amnon Yitzchak is very extreme in his vews regarding the State of Israel. He is very close to Satmar in his views. He believes the secular State is passul and one cannot vote in the elections.

So, what about running a political party and participating in the democratic process of governance?

He has no problem with that, because while he himself does not vote, he does not have a problem asking people who do vote to vote for him, and he has no problem saying he wants to help, via the government,  those people who need his help.

As a matter of fact, he explains that the reason Rav Shteinman supported his opening this new party is because he has a public, outside of the haredi public, that wants to vote for him. It is a mitzvah to get those votes - better they should vote for Rav Yitzchak's party than for who they would have voted for. This approach fits in very well with his approach on voting - he himself won't but he is there to help those who will that at least they should do it right and get helped.

(sources: Kikar and Srugim)

Yes! A way has finally been found to keep women at home and off the streets! No longer will women need, or be allowed, to walk outside! Finally our streets will be all-male, free of women and the pitfalls they bring.

According to NRG Yahadut, booklets were recently passed out to women, in Tel Aviv of all places, for the Haredi woman, called "The Guide to Kosher Parnassa", explaining and giving practical solutions of how to live successfully without stepping foot out on the city streets.

The explanation for this ridiculousness comes in the next paragraph when it is explained that the guide was published by an organization called "b'Nafsheinu" that is connected to the kat ha'shalim - the veiled-women cult people.

Here is my free-translation recap of the article:

According to the report,  the booklet has two sections - the first being divrei torah about the greatness of women who stay home, and the second being a practical guide how to overcome the seduction of going outside.

According to the booklet, Hashem wants women to hide herself, not just by dressing modestly but to actually  hide themselves as much as possible.
Before a woman goes outside, she should be doubly sure that she actually needs to, whether it is for going to the supermarket, or taking the kids out for a walk. It says that it is always best for a woman to sit at home and never go outside. Every time a woman goes out of her house, she puts herself at risk - perhaps at that moment she is missing her chance to fulfill her mission in this world, and therefore best not to go out at all.

Going out is dangerous, and much more so when it is done regularly on a daily routine. And going out with jewelry is much worse. Working in a workplace with men, even "kosher men", causing great difficulties, even if not wearing jewelry, especially today when employers often demand their employees come to work looking respectful, so that adds on to all the other problems.

Advice given includes that if a woman should need to go out, she should find alternatives - make ones purchases via the telephone, send children to their schools via paid carpools, one can hear shiurim from home, pay bills by credit card, and these should be done even if it will incur greater expense. Similar to the Lulav and Esrog that cost a lot of money, as well as other mitzvis that we know how to invest in hiddur.

The guide also says that if a woman has to go out, it is prohibited to wear jewelry, not to use perfume or makeup, and obviously not to wear any skin-colored clothing. Avoid any deodorants or things that cause a nice smell, no soap or shampoo that smell nice.

I don't know where they get this stuff from, but more power to 'em! The more they stay indoors, the less we will have to see them!

Banking reforms are the next thing we need to deal with, after the reforms we implemented in the cellular and television markets.The weak have no power to argue, to scream and to influence. The strong are the ones who get the cheapest prices..... The banks profit a billion shekels every quarter. This money comes from the interest that the public pays. If they profit 100 million, would that not be enough? This money comes from you, and from your parents, and not justly. We see now in the banks that if someone has money he gets interest rates of 1.5%, and if he does not he gets rates of 6% - 7%...
We can do this differently. In the past 60 years no new bank has opened up in Israel, no competition has been created, this is very troubling and is not understandable to me. By bringing in more banks, we will pay lower interest rates and lower commissions. The same is true with the food industry and with every aspect of our lives..

 -- Minister of Communications and Minister of Social Services Moshe Kachlon

If Kachlon is eyeing the banking industry for the next sages of reforms, does that mean he is looking for either a ministerial appointment or some other form of being appointed to implement reforms? Perhaps this means his time-out from politics does not mean a time-out from working for the public.

I am assuming this is some sort of a joke but I don't know...

Interesting story being reported on Kikar.

A hassidic fellow, described as being from a hassidut that normally does not visit the kotel, was at the kotel and found an envelope full of money. The envelope contained checks totaling 1.9 billion dollars! That's $1,919,000,000!

The fellow found the envelope containing 507 checks, originating form many different countries. He immediately left the Kotel with the envelope. the next day he went to a lawyer to figure out what to do. They discerned that it most likely belonged to a Christian, and somehow they determined that the checks were somehow obtained via the Nigerian banker scam..

They brought the checks to the police, who opened a file under the fraud division, and later transferred it to the lost and found division.