G'mar chasima tova, or in Hebrew - g'Mar chatima tova, to you all...

Between now and Yom Kippur there are various ways to conveniently donate tzedaka and kapparos to your favorite "Smart Chesed" tzedaka organization, Lema'an Achai:

I am going to propose a new law here right now. Send it to your favorite politician for consideration and submission to the Knesset.

I recently picked up a hitchhiker (I admit I do not do so often) and brought him to RBS with me. This hitchhiker was fairly talkative and he starts talking about the local elections. He is a yeshiva student learning and dorming in a local yeshiva, though he hails from a different city. He tells me, while we are driving, about what he thinks of the elections. Then he tells me that in his yeshiva, they are all registering with the Misrad Hapnim to change their addresses in their identity cards to indicate Bet Shemesh as their places of residence.

This is completely legal, by the way. No scam is being pulled. Students in a city from elsewhere, if they are living in the city, are allowed to change their address to that city and be considered a resident of the hosting town. I am sure certain requirements must be met, but overall it is a simple process.

Now here is the kicker. This student tells me that they are all changing their address to Bet Shemesh for the elections, but then a month later will be changing their addresses back, each one to whatever city he actually lives in (or, I should say, each one to the city in which his family lives).

I did not get that, and asked why rush to change it back? What's the big deal, especially if you are in Bet Shemesh anyway?

He tells me they will be changing it back shortly after elections because their families get discounts in arnona in whatever city they live in, and part of the calculations for arnona discounts is how many people live in the home.

Also perfectly legitimate by law.

It seems there is some loophole in the law. Even though everything being done looks to me to be legal (I am no lawyer, nor am I an expert in the relevant laws, so it looks to me to be legal, but maybe somebody else will find a problem with the process), it seems to me there is a problem here. Something like this should not be allowed. People should not be allowed to change addresses so flippantly, just for a specific benefit like this.

I propose a law that in general people should not be able to process a change of address to a different city more than once a year. The law can include exceptions, such as if a request is made it must be accompanied by proof of actual residency or whatever exceptions might be necessary to include. If someone wants to change his address, say to Elad, so he can vote for a specific candidate there because in his own town his vote doesnt matter, he should know that he is doing so at risk of losing his arnona discount or whatever other benefits he might lose by not being a resident of his real city of residence. Fates of towns with people living in them should not be dependent on who can play the game better and take advantage of such loopholes changing address this way and that way. Pick where you want to live, and live with your decision. If you want to live in Bet Shemesh, don't try to get an arnona discount in Bnei Braq or Elad or Modiin Ilit, and vice versa. A student can change his address to indicate the town in which he is studying (assuming he meets the requirements) and then vote in that towns elections - but then don't change it back right after elections to continue getting benefits elsewhere. it is one town or the other.

So, I propose a law be written that limits the frequency of changing address when moving from one city to another, with exceptions. Pass it along to your favorite politician. He or she will only support it if he is not involved in such a deception himself..

In appreciation of.. getting my pre-Yom Kippur kappara yesterday while playing sports.

A minor injury turned out to be even more minor than originally thought, though it was unusual. Hopefully it provided me with the kappara I need for Yom Kippur...

Then again, if it would only really be that easy...

I heard the strangest conversation this morning on the haredi radio station Radio Kol B'Rama. They provide great entertainment on their morning show with Mordechai Lavi, though unfortunately I usually only get to listen to small portions of it on any given day.

Today, when I was listening, they were focusing on the municipal elections in Elad, and were also talking about Bnei Braq and Jerusalem. Lavi had I think 4 Haredi (Shas and UTJ) politicians on the line at the same time for the conversation and they were talking about the complexities of who is running in which towns. And then Lavi went on the attack and took an approach that was almost akin to scoffing at them, which is unusual for him when interviewing Haredi politicians and is usually reserved for his interviews with Dati Leumi and secular politicians.

Mordechai Lavi

The problem is, if you read the Haredi news sites (or, the sites that focus on the haredi parties in the upcoming elections), you will see daily news items of which politician is moving to which city to become the senior representative for which partyy. One day Meir Porush is moving his son to Elad, another day Aryeh Deri is moving someone to Elad, another day Degel is moving Menachem Shapira to Bnei Braq, another day someone else is moving to Jerusalem to run the list, then Deri is moving someone else somewhere else, someone (Amar) from Ashdod is being moved to Modiin, etc. etc. etc.

It has gotten so prevalent that Lavi asked the various politicians on the phone lines, one by one, which city they are changing address to for the coming elections.. A couple of them answered the question and a couple tried to avoid answering. Those who avoided answering used the justification that our politicians know best who is appropriate for which city and where and who will get the job done best.

At the end of the day, they are just worried about which of their friends they can give jobs to. If someone wont do well in one city, they move him to another city where they do not know him. Can someone come in and really run Elad without knowing the town? At least can he run it better than people who have been there for years and know the town well?

Maybe sometimes an outsider is a good idea - someone can come in with a fresh perspective. But to be doing this in towns all over the country, moving people around daily, reeks of protexia and power-mongering rather than really looking for the concerns of the residents. Should our cities be the private fiefdoms of the politicians, allowing them to do what they want, put in place who they want whether or not it is good for the people? That behavior should be rejected. Even if you are a supporter of those parties, you should tell them loud and clear that you want people who will be concerned for the welfare of the residents and not just people who are being taken care of by their buddies.

photo credit: Yaakov Lederman

1. standoff at the Kapparot Corral
2. Chicken vs Dog
3. Why did you cross the road?
4. the great kapparot escape
5. They wanted to use you too for kapparot?

The Zionist Stork captured last week in Egypt was determined to be not guilty of spying for the Zionists, but the initial reports said that it was unclear what had happened to the stork.

After a nationwide manhunt, or storkhunt actually, with its picture posted on milk cartons all over Egypt, the trail of storksteps has finally been picked up on, seemingly by a Bedouin tracker. It seems that after the stork "was released into a conservation area in southern Egypt but flew to an island in the Nile where it was caught and eaten." (INN)

I wonder if Zionist storks taste any different than Egyptian storks...

Thus ends the dramatic story of another Zionist animal spy.

Shai Abramson always does a fabulous job...

an appropriate song before Yom Kippur..

1.  coming to Israel for the holidays or for a visit during the long winter?  Nes Mobile for your cellular phone and mobile internet needs

2. 5773 sure was a year of squabbles

3. and they got it all wrong..

4. the Weiner incident in the kosher bakery

5. a short story for Yom Kippur

6. photos from our army's magazine

7. turning them on!

8. let them swing their chickens - I agree

9. the Newark Bears Orthodox batboy

10. erev yom kippur in Jerusalem

11. k'negged kulam

in appreciation of.. so much of Judaism is available now in ways that it has not been for hundreds and even thousands of years. Even if things are not perfect, we have a flourishing land, we can go to Har Habayit, we can go to holy sites around the country with ease, we can live as Jews concerned about our Judaism.. Even if I do not go up to Har Habayit as much as I would like, or as often as I used to, today a group from Bet Shemesh did go up to Har Habayit, and I can join them any month I please to, or I can go on my own any day I prefer.

I remember reading in a book about Jewish members of the mafia about a mafiosa fellow nicknamed "The Rabbi". He was given this nickname because he tried to avoid killing on the Sabbath. And when he could not avoid it, he would first put on his tallis and pray a bit before murdering his target.

I was reminded of this when I saw this article about a ring of 5 Orthodox drug dealers who close up shop for Shabbos. It seems they would send out messages to clients letting them know not to come between sunset on Friday evening until sunset on Saturday evening. The group of men has been indicted - they have been arraigned this week, pleading not guilty, and most are out on bail.
(source: The Forward and Ladaat)

It's a funny thing, but even way back in the time of the gemara, and later in the time of the Shulchan Aruch, we find that it is common that people very religious can have a problem with one specific vice - and they would be completely trustworthy in regards to everything else except the one area in which they have a weakness. It is strange to call such a group of men "orthodox". Maybe just by being involved in pushing drugs a person has given up on being associated with Orthodox Jews. However, when that is how they act and present themselves, even if they have their one or two vices that are pretty bad, it is not wrong to still call them "orthodox".

Racheli Ibenboim dropped out of the municipal race due to threats, but she is not the only courageous Haredi woman in town.

Maseda Porat is now running for Jerusalem City Council, and she says she is withstanding the threats.

Porat is running on the party list of new party "Ometz Lev", or "Courageous" headed by Naomi Tzur (currently deputy mayor of Jerusalem).. Ometz Lev is a party made up of women from a cross of sectors of Israeli society. The Muslim woman on the list has backed down due to threats to her life, but Porat says she is staying in the race.

Prat thinks her situation is different than Ibenboim's because Ibenboim is from a fmaily of Gur hassidim who start up with unusually difficult rules abotu a woman's place in society. With her, Porat, not being Gur but being sephardic, she does not start off with the same limitations as Ibenboim. Despite that, Porat too has received threats and intimidation, though she says she will not give in to them.

Porat has expeience in being a trailblazer. Porat is one of the first haredi female journalists. She says that just like 20 years ago there were no women in the Haredi media, and people would say the womans place is at home or in school, yet today there is not a media source in the haredi media that does not have women. Porat says she wants to make it possible for other women, and open the window for them. She says there are many women who want to be active but are too afraid.

Porat says she has the backing of rabbonim, though as always in these situations it seems she is more courageous than her rabbinic backers as they remain anonymous.

(source: Kikar and NRG)

The Ometz Lev website is still under construction (though I am told that within the coming days the content will be available), so not knowing anything about this party or what they plan to focus on, I went looking and found their Facebook page. I wrote to Naomi Tzur, head of the party, and she directed me to the following information. Ometz Lev will be focusing on the following 7 issues:

1. a democratic Jerusalem: increasing transparency and making the municipal information available to residents..
2. making Jerusalem accessible and keeping it flowing: public transportation, advancing "green" transportation, to all parts of the city. making public transportation more efficient. making the city more accessible to older people and people with special needs...
3. a clean Jerusalem:  allocating resources and fighting the relevant forces to significantly improve the level of cleanliness and care for the streets and parks...
4. a green and healthy Jerusalem: increasing recycling, minimizing waste, education about environment, encouraging use of new energies and conserving water...
5. Jerusalem with equality: strengthening the standing of all Jerusalem's residents, and integrating women in influential spots and decision making positions of the city
6. kids at risk: working to rehabilitate kids at risk and preventing the risk... leadership training..
7. encouraging business and tourism: increasing municipal and governmental support for business both new and old, advancing Jerusalem as an advanced city n the realm of green business in hi-tech and biotech...

Remember the opposition to the DST extension due to it causing a problem with davening times and people needing to get to work? A possible solution had been presented to allow employees adversely affected by the DST change to arrive half an hour late to work.

Well, it is official now. The State of Israel is mandating that the need to daven is a valid excuse to arrive late to work, under certain conditions, and such an employee cannot be punished for it.

Minister of Commerce and Trade Naftali Bennet has sent out a notice of new instructions to employers instructing them that on days when sunrise is later than 6:30 AM, any employees whose work shifts begin between 7 and 8 AM will be allowed a davening break prior to work instead of during work hours (as is the normal law).

In order to not harm employers while looking out for the employees, the employee will have to make up that time either at the end of the day or at another time during the month (as per the employers decision).

I checked the law regarding the need to provide prayer time during work hours. the wording of the law is a bit complex, but basically it says that an employee who wishes to pray due to his religious, time must be allocated for the employee to be able to do so. However, that time is not deducted from the employees work hours. The employer can give 30 minutes or 45 minutes, or whatever, but he does not have to pay for that time - assuming the employee wants to not have this time deducted from his salary, and the employer wants a certain amount of work done, and time spent working, the employee can spend time praying, but must make up the work hours at other times. And that is being applied in this new situation as well - the employer will have to accept that the employee is late due to religious prayer, but that time will need to be made up at some point.

It is good to see Israel protecting both the employee and the employer and being considerate for the needs of the religious.

I am not a big fan, to put it lightly, of the mass exodus to Uman for Rosh Hashana.

That being said, yesterday someone (who goes, and went, to Uman) gave me the best reason I have heard to date positive about going to Uman.

He described a scene where a very well-respected and important rosh yeshiva was together with someone not religious, maybe traditional, who would normally be thought of maybe as a gang member - a tough-looking character. The two of them were friendly with each other, chatting and davening together. In Israel they would not be seen near each other, probably would never be caught in the same room with one another, definitely not in a chummy and friendly way. When asked about it, the rosh yeshiva said that here we realize that the difference between us is negligible compared to the differences between us and God.

That is a beautiful sentiment.

I don't know why you have to go to Uman to get that sentiment, but if that is the experience people who go to Uman have, that they can look at their brethren as not enemies but as brothers in a similar boat, then maybe it is worth it.

Why go to Uman for that sentiment? Why not think of other Jews, in Israel as well as anywhere else, even the kind you normally do not associate with, as brothers of some sort? Maybe because in Israel it is religious Jew against non-religious Jew, while in Uman (or elsewhere) it is Jew against non-Jew.... but you don't have to consider life in Israel to be me against you. You don't have to go to Uman, or Moscow, or New York or Portland or London or wherever, to find a common ground with the other - you can have that attitude in Israel as well.. Just saying.