The Chief Rabbinate has decided to facilitate the sale of chametz, for free, to the public via a new website at Chametz Sale. You simply have to fill out the form, by no later then this Friday, and your chametz will be sold.

I am embedding the form here for you, and you can either fill out out here or go right to the Chametz Sale website and do it there.

Interestingly, in the intro to the form, they write that it is preferrable to go to a real-life rabbi and sell it through him, but if you cannot arrange to do so then you can use this form and sell it via the Chief Rabbinate. Yet, the entire reason they did this is because Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef just paskened in a recent shiur that one can sell his chametz lechatchila via the Internet. So, it is possible lechatchila but should only be done if you have no other option? That does not really make sense to me.





fgh

this Pesach video was named Best Pesach Music Video but then the judges realized that they had opened the wrong envelope..

I recently went up to Har Habayit, after about 8 months since my last visit. While Har Habayit is the same, there is a lot different in the situation of Har Habayit.

The police officers controlling the area have been changed. While the procedures were more or less the same, the police were pleasant and we were not made to feel like criminals. While we waited to be allowed up the police officers chatted with us and smiled and said a number of times that the more people that come the more we will see improvements and were very encouraging to get more people to join the groups. The police processed us quickly instead of making us wait behind the tourists, and they were barking orders at us about different things.

On the Har itself the polcie were friendly, though they enforced the rules and did not let anyone pray. There were more police surrounding us than I ever remember from previous visits, and also more waqf agents. At one point I counted 21, police and waqf agents, around us, that I could see. And they stayed with us and surrounded us very tightly.

The changes have largely been for the better and I hope the situation for Jews on Har Habayit continues to improve.

A large Pesach program in a hotel in Greece just suddenly canceled the entire program, leaving its subscribers in the lurch.

I don't know if they'll get their money back or not (I hope they do), but from what I understand this is the fourth such hotel program to shut down in the past few days, and we are just a week before Pesach. That adds up to a lot of people who are being left, at practically the last minute, without plans for Pesach.

If they stay home now, if they cannot find an alternative program that they can afford that has space, they will have to clean and buy supplies and cook, all at the last minute. Many might not be able to, due to disabilities or timing, which is why they try to go away in the first place. Many might not have enough space for their extended family they were planning on traveling with..

I don't have solutions for them, but I do feel bad and extend my sympathies.

Chief Rabbi of Israel Rav Yitzchak Yosef has issued a psak saying that it is prohibited to shake hands with a woman in a senior position of authority as a sign of respect.

Rav Yosef explicitly disagreed with rabbonim who say it is allowed. He said we have to go according to halacha and not just say "muttar, muttar, muttar" to things. Not everything is allowed -some things are prohibited according to halacha.

Rav Yosef brought as an example an incident from when his father, Rav Ovadia Yosef, was set to receive the prestigious Israel Prize on Yom Haatzmaut in 1970. At the time the Prime Minister was Golda Meir and she extended her hand to shake his hand, but Rav Ovadia was worried especially because it would be photographed and seen all over so he made a motion with his hand and did not shake but gave her a warm blessing and everything was fine.

Rav Yosef also brought his own example of having traveled to many places around the world and having met with many important women in government. A female ambassador came to meet him once and extended her hand to shake. Rav Yosef says he gave her effusive blessings and she completely forgot about the handshake that did not happen.
source: Kikar

I like how he brings personal examples to make his point, as if that strengthens the halacha. 

and the original "Gold" by "Static"

In the budget of the Palestinian Authority it says that they transfer 1.1 billion shekels - that is over $300,000,000 - to the families of terrorists for their killing of Jews.

That's a lot of money.

MK Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid) has joined forces with other MKs from across the benches and ha sproposed a law that would deduct the monies paid by the PA to terrorists from the total amount of tax money Israel transfers to the Palestinians on an annual basis. This is money that belongs to the Palestinians from imports that pass through Israel's ports - Israel collects the taxes and eventually passes them along.

The idea is that the funding of terrorism is a breach in the Oslo Accords, so deducting these monies from the monies to be transferred by Israel is a natural result. Israel regularly complains to countries around the world about sending money to the Palestinians that gets used to fund terror, but Israel never put a stop to transferring such money to the PA itself.

according to Kipa this law was proposed before, though it does not say why it did not pass then. I would guess that the issue with it is more international pressure than internal issues, as it has support from both coalition and opposition parties, and is a logical proposal.

This program will double the size of Bet Shemesh. It is a tremendous accomplishment. I see this city becoming a large city in central Israel. It is developing at a very fast pace... There are Haredim, secular, ashkenazim, sefardim, new immigrants - we are all obligated in every part of the land that brothers will live together - שבת אחים גם יחד. I am aware of the problems, my ministers are aware of the problems, but with cooperation we can solve them. This land and this city belong to everybody and there is place for everyone. We are planning to create a wonderful future. I see Bet Shemesh reaching half a million residents -and we must invest together.

  -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at a ceremony signing the agreement for further construction of housing and new neighborhoods in Bet Shemesh

half a million people! that's a lot of people. major city.