The Israel Football League season has begun. This is not the standard flag football league that has been here for a while. This is full blown tackle football. The league has four teams and they just played their first games...Here is a review of the first football games...

This is a very unusual occurrence. The ball hits the goalpoast, bounces down and hits the extension of the bottom of the goalpost and then bounces out. After a call and then a review and then another call, it was ruled kosher...

The political situation reminds me of the old book "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. In The Giving Tree, the boy befriends a tree and the tree provides the boy with all his needs. Fruit, shade, vines to swing on, branches, etc. The tree gives the boy everything he asks for. The tree even allows the boy to cut it down so he can have wood to build a boat.

Here we have a government giving the Palestinians everything they want and ask for and Israel asks for nothing in return. And anything the Palestinians promised to give Israel has been ignored and forgotten.

I have no problem with the government negotiating and giving away land and releasing prisoners and receiving security and other things in return. I should preface that and say that theoretically I have no problem with it. I think this specific government has no legitimacy due to its corruption and its failures, so this government has no right to do so.

I might not want it, as I believe all the Land belongs to us, but I understand it and accept the fact that to resolve the conflict we will need to negotiate and give away land in order to receive security. I also do not believe we have a reliable and trustworthy partner, so I believe that the only way such negotiations are acceptable and I would be resolved to them is if we did have a reliable partner. As long as our "partner" is using the negotiations as a tool to destroy us and not to live peacefully with us side by side, then I will still not be resolved to the situation.

Back to the situation, we have already given the Palestinians plenty of land. Some of it unilaterally while destroying Jewish families and homes in the process, and some of it under agreement. We have released many prisoners, some as part of negotiations and some as goodwill.

We keep doing things for the Palestinians and getting nothing in return.

Qassam rockets still rain down daily on Israeli cities. A soldier has been kidnapped and no contact with him has been allowed, even for humanitarian purposes (yes a tape was released of him but there was never any confirmation as to the timeframe of the tape). Terror reigns (we have not had suicide attacks because the Israeli security stops them, not because the PA security stops them). We hardly ever are allowed to go to holy sites in Arab areas. The PA textbooks in their schools still ignore the existence of Israel and the desire for the destruction of Israel is still taught. Palestinian militias have never been disarmed.

Basically we are the giving tree for the Palestinans.

Now we are going to Annapolis which will be opening up a new page in our negotiations with the Palestinians. And instead of making the PA keep and fulfill all the promises they have made until now but never fulfilled, and instead of saying you want x, y or z, let's negotiate and let your demands be part of the negotiations, we offer all that in advance.

Olmert has now announced a freeze in settlement building, even on natural growth expansion. Israel announced it is going to free 500 more prisoners as a gesture before Annapolis.

I see no reason why these should not be deferred to negotiations. Israel should say, you want settlement freeze? let's negotiate. Why do we accept that as a precondition?

Israel is The Giving Tree. The question is are we going to keep giving even until we allow the Palestinians to cut us down to a stump?

I am not a big Facebook user. I basically registered with Facebook after a bunch of people told me I should. Since it is free (that shows I am Jewish whether or not I like cholent) I registered. However I have never become a major Facebook user. I am not really sure what it is for, other than for picking up girls, which is something that is not for me.

I check my Facebook page once or twice a day. Generally that is after I get an email saying I have a message from somebody or somebody's Zombie attacked me and I laid the smack down on them (clearly this is the best part of Facebook so far in my opinion).

But now it looks like Facebook is becoming the new frontier for political activity. Some Israeli politicians have recognized the popularity of Facebook and have registered themselves as users and started political groups. They recognize this as a method of contact and communication with the younger electorate and are embracing it. So far, I know of two MKs that have already registered and both are now on my Friends list...that is along with another non-MK politician that has been using Facebook for a while already.

I registered these two new users as friends even though I am not supporters of theirs (one is from Labor and one is from Yisrael Beiteinu) because they have taken the first step and I find it to be an intriguing new venue for the communication of ideas and politics. So what if I do not agree with them on some of their issues? This is a way they can suggest ideas, and I and others can argue or suggest other ideas. Hopefully the link between the politicians and the people will become tighter and the politicians will be more aware of the various ideas and concerns among the various sectors of the people.

I hope this trend becomes popular and more of the MKs register and embrace the new methods of communication. And hopefully they will register and not just use it to pick up girls like most people do or let their pages stagnate with no activity, rather they should sell their thoughts and policies to the public via the new medium.

And anyway it's free, so why not?

it is up at Yid With Lid. and mazel tov to him as well...

1. A group of Arab MKs have announced that they are drafting a document declaring their rejection of Israel as a Jewish state.

I am not really sure how a rejection like that works. The took some sort of oath when they joined the Israeli government. Do they have the ability to reject it while at the same time serving in its government?By definition, they must accept Israel and the Jewish state simply by their participation in its governance.

Let us not forget - the Declaration of Independance upon which the State of Israel was founded says, "ACCORDINGLY WE, MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ERETZ-ISRAEL AND OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT, ARE HERE ASSEMBLED ON THE DAY OF THE TERMINATION OF THE BRITISH MANDATE OVER ERETZ-ISRAEL AND, BY VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT AND ON THE STRENGTH OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, HEREBY DECLARE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-ISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL."

"Israel" and "Jewish State" go hand in hand from the inception of the State. If you serve in the governance, and take an oath to uphold its laws and be faithful to the State, by definition you accept it. How can you then reject it? If they had any integrity and really rejected the State, should they not resign their seats? And if not, should they not be thrown out of the Knesset, for serving in bad faith or something?

2. The fight between the Justice Minister and the Supreme Court is continuing and even heating up. JM Friedmann wants to impose new reforms on the court. The court feels threatened and rejects the unilateral reforms. It has turned into a real fight.

While I have no opinion on the specific reforms, as I do not understand them or what the ramifications of these reforms are, I always enjoy a good fight. The Supreme Court had it coming. They are an elite group and the selection of justices for the bench are conducted not by any publicly elected body or committee, rather by the justices themselves. They have been accused of being separate from the people and overstepping their boundaries considering everything to be within its purview and authority. Friedmann has been looking for ways to limit the courts power.

I particularly enjoyed this quote from Aharon Barak, the retired former President of the Supreme Court in which he says, "The way to do this is by instigating public debate, and promoting the reforms in the spirit of our legal culture. It is possible that the High Court has gone too far in extending its jurisdiction, although I beg to differ. But this needs to be debated rather than imposed from above by the legislature. This is wrong."

I like that - he says there must be public debate on the issue. Maybe the court has taken too much power, but that power should not just be taken away. There should be a public debate. Hmmmmm, when the court took the power, did they hold public debates? Did the courts ever embrace public debate on the issues relating to the court? Not that I remember. Public debate was always rejected as being incitement and anti-democratic. Now that their heads are seriously on the chopping block, public debate seems to be a good fallback...

3. The middle and high school teachers strike trudges on. It has been running for over a month and there is no end in sight. Friday looked good when Olmert publicly discussed the issue for the first time saying he supports serious wage increases for the teachers. That optimism that statement brought was quickly dashed when the representative of the teachers union went to meet with Olmert to discuss Olmert's proposal and Olmert refused to meet with him.

Last night the teachers and their supporters held a large rally in Tel Aviv with "tens of thousands" in attendance showing their support. Knowing these teachers, they probably took roll call...

4. This past week yet another criminal investigation was opened up into Ehud Olmert. This one for illegal campaign funding... Somehow he still manages to hold on to his seat... This is more of a critique on those who sit in his government for them letting the most corrupt politician Israel ever had as PM to continue negotiate away unhindered.

5. Meir Sheetrit, the Interior Minister and a leading member of the Kadima party, has announced that the municipality of Sderot is in his sights..

Sheetrit has ordered an investigation into the affairs of the municipality, claiming it is run with corruption. The mayor of Sderot, Eli Moyal, has been under investigation and relieved himself of his duties for four months to allow the investigation to run its course. This past week he came back to work due to no progress in the investigation. Now this new investigation was announced with no specific details. It is probably just because Moyal has been so outspoken against the government and the lack of protection provided to the city of Sderot and its residents.

Supposedly in a recent visit to Sderot, Sheetrit met with local activists of the Kadima party and at the time promised them that he intended to disband the municipal government and appoint a new one. Clearly he intends to put "yes men" in power who will not criticize the government so much. We will see how this one plays out...

And if Sheetrit is really so worried about corruption and bad governance, he should be figuring out how to replace the leaders of Kadima who have all been indicted, under , multiple investigations, convicted and yet are still allowed to run the show. Work on disbanding them before you go attack the already beleaguered city of Sderot.

5.

My friend asked me to upload this for him. It is Rav Kahane confronting left wing activists at Beth El in Newton in 1985... a small slice of history... (my friends brother is in the video)

The city of Beitar, a.k.a. The City of Torah in the Judean Hills, is a haredi settlement in the Gush Etzion area. Beitar's population is comprised of the whole spectrum of Haredi Jewry. They have got sfardim, litvish, and almost all the different hassidic groups. Beitar is generally a quiet city and has really developed nicely over the years.

Recently Beitar went through municipal elections. The election season in Beitar was unusually vociferous, for what is normally such a quiet harmonious city. The factions fought with each other. Rabbonim were involved. Dinei Torah were involved.

Very briefly, to explain, the Haredi political parties in the Knesset generally run together under the name UTJ (United Torah Judaism). The haredi bloc is made up of Degel (the Litvishe party) and Agudah (the Hassidic party). How they figure out party placement and divide up the jobs is done by roation. The rotation always includes not just the reps in the Knesset, but also municipal reps in haredi cities.

The Haredi parties see no need for battles for mayor that turn ugly. It is better to submit a joint candidate agreed on in advance. So, for example, they might say that in Bnei Brak this election we will submit a Litvishe candidate while in the next election the candidate will be Hassidic. And at the same time they might say that in the city of Modiin Ilit this time will be Hassidic and next time will be Litvishe. This is true whether it is in a Haredi city and doing so let's them avoid elections altogether, such as in Beitar or Modiin Ilit (for example) or if it is in a mixed city (such as Jerusalem) and allows them to present a joint candidate supported by all (or most of at least) haredim to run against a different candidate.

However they negotiate the various cities and agree on candidates in advance does not really matter, the fact is they come to agreements, and obviously part of the agreement is that the other side will accept the candidacy and not submit their own candidate separately.

Agreements are nice and can cause a quieter simpler campaign where each group overall attains its goals. The problem is when one of the sides feels they are being manipulated or abused and feel the agreement is not being kept by the other side. That is when it gets noisy and unpleasant.

And it happens often.

Beitar had a mayor named Yitzchak Pindros. he has done a phenomenal job over the past 5 years since he became the mayor. Everybody, from all the groups, love him and nobody felt slighted by him. he really did a good job according to everybody.

the problem is that 5 years ago he was elected to the position of Mayor of Beitar by a deal. Part of the deal was that he would serve his one term and then the Hassidic party would get the next candidate. In the interim, the Hassidic party would get the assistant mayor position and when the Hassidic guy takes over the Litvishe will get the assistant position (if they want it).

It does not matter how good a job he has done over the past 5 years. A deal is a deal. The Hassidim decided they wanted to run their own candidate and not accept Pindros for a second term. After all, a deal is a deal and an agreement must be honored (a position I agree with).

The Litvishe party claimed that the deal is null and void for technical reasons (based on something the hassidic guy had said well before election season about his intentions (or should I say lack of) of running for the position of mayor).

The whole thing became very messy and turned into a big fight. Each side brought the other to beis din. Each side went and got signatures from rabbonim supporting their position. It got loud and messy and anyone who followed it (I only followed it peripherally) was shocked out how quiet, united Beitar had turned so messy and divided.

In the end the Hassidic party candidate (named Meir Rubinstein) beat Pindros in the election and things have now quieted down.

The sfardim have a very big presence in Beitar. Shas took the position in the elections supporting the Hassidic candidate, which definitely helped Rubinstein win.

This past week we have witnessed the beginning of Haredi political revenge.

The Litvishe party (Degel) took a big hit by losing such a loud election in such an important Haredi city. the pundits are talking about how the model run by the Hassidim in Beitar might be used in upcoming elections in other Haredi and mixed cities and the Hassidim may wrest control of the Haredi political balance from the Litvishe.

Degel is scared and angry. Not only are they angry at the Hassidim, but they are angry at Shas. Tensions were already high between Degel and Shas due to recent budgetary spats and an inflammatory political cartoon published in the Yated newspaper (associated with Degel). Now that Shas has supported Aguda (the Hassidim) to bring down Degel, tensions are even higher.

Moshe Gafni is an MK in the UTJ party. He is from the Degel faction of UTJ and is an important person in Degel (obviously).

The sfardim often complain they they are held back from studying in Litvishe schools and yeshivas. They get upset that the schools make quotas limiting acceptance of sfardim to 2 boys per class (or whatever the quota may be).

Often a sfardi parent trying to get his kid into a litvishe school will end up using protexia (connections) to get the kid in. If he has no personal protexia, he might go to the Degel offices and plead with them to assist him. Until now, the Degel offices treated everyone equally and assisted sfardim in getting into schools just like they assisted people form their own public.

Since the Beitar elections have passed their has been reported a new phenomenon in which Sfardim are turned away from receiving assistance from Degel or they are at best told that they can help but only later. They are given lower priority and have to wait behind other requests.

Moshe Gafni was asked why this is so and what changed. His response was that every political party is given a budget for the purpose of community affairs. It is called "staying in touch with the electorate". Degel, as all other parties do, use much of this budget for the purpose of helping its constituents. Degel does this in the form of helping people get their kids into schools, neighborhood issues, among other things.

Shas is a much larger party than Degel and receives a budget for this purpose 8 times that of the budget Degel receives. It makes no sense, Gafni says, for Degel to be using its paltry budegt to help voters of Shas. It always has in the past without saying anything, because they always were willing to help anybody who approached them. However in light of what happened in Beitar where we (Degel) see that Shas does not return the favor and goes instead to help the Hassidim, we see no reason we have to use up our budget on Shas voters. Let them go to Shas for assistance, or let them go to the Hassidim.

I happen to agree with that thought. Why should Degel use its budget to help people who vote for other parties? Why should Degel use its budget to help people who in return do not help them? By helping these people Degel is really neglecting its own voters, as it has less budget money available for them and less time for them.

Also, I always thought that the sfardim should be proud of their own schools and build them up to be better or at least equal in quality to the Litvishe schools. There is no reason they should feel as if they have to grovel to get into a litvishe school. It is not like the Litvishe schools are so great anyway, so the sfardim have no reason to feel second class.

A large part of the sfardi renewal in Shas was "ha'chazarat atarah l'yoshna" - returning the crown to its former glory. Are they returning the crown to its glory by begging ashkenazim to let them study in their schools?

Willie Sutton was a famous bankrobber for about 30 years between 1920 and about 1952. His career included knocking over about 00 banks and three prison escapes. There is a famous phrase attributed to Sutton. Supposedly he was asked by a reporter why he robbed banks. His answer, according to the legend, was "Because that is where the money is."

This is really urban legend because later in his life he wrote an autobiography (partly ghostwritten) in which he denied ever having said that phrase... and a reporter probably made it up...

Regardless of the urban legend and real source of the phrase, it still lives on and is associated with Sutton.

Tonight I heard on the news about someone who had tried to rob a branch of a bank about a month ago had been caught. (He had been caught right away, but th police just now allowed the media to release the info).

Maybe 60 - 80 - 100 years ago robbing banks and getting away with it was fairly easy. The country (America) was wide open. There was no instant communication to send out pictures and alerts, there were no video surveillance systems and hi-tech security... So if someone wanted to rob a bank, and planned it well, maybe he could make his escape and get away with it, at least for a number of years until it eventually caught up with him.

But nowadays? Why would anybody rob a bank nowadays? I doubt there was a single bank robber (in Western countries) in the past 20 - 30 years that got away with it. They all get caught. the level of surveillance and security make it impossible. And if somehow you successfully broke into the bank and got away, your capture is quick in coming. The police email your image to all neighboring states. They stop flights or at least pass your image around airports and bus depots and every other form of transportation. Television flashes your image wherever they want to show it.

People simply do not get away with bank robberies anymore. Not only that, but the banks do not even hold that much money on site like they used to.

Is it really worth it? Why, nowadays, do robbers rob banks? Sutton's (supposed) answer does not work...

I just received this letter with an update as to the status of the lawsuit I participating in as a plaintiff in the criminal case against the WAQF for destroying archaeological and historical Jewish relics on Temple Mount:

I am translating (not word for word, but most of it) a letter that was printed as an ad in the Hebrew Yated Ne'eman newspaper recently. The letter ad was placed by a man who is a sofer - a religious scribe - who feels he has wronged his clients inadvertently.

This is an announcement for people buying [tefillin, mezuzos, etc.] in Israel and abroad:

For many years I have written Sta"m [acronym for sefer torah, tefillin and mezuzos] on parchment with no hechsher. I have no found out that all these parchments were invalid because of halachik problems due to the merchant having been caught receiving from trucks filled with parchments from Arabs. There are more than half a million parchment factories [worldwide] owned by non-Jews and sofrim purchase from them 80% cheaper. There was already an issur from the Merkaz Sta"m in Poland in 1935 that was signed by 86 gedolim to write on parchment with no hechsher.

I, a simple person, believed in and relied upon my teacher and the merchant. As well, when I received my certification to write, nobody told me the parchment had to have a hechsher. When I sold items, the buyers never requested to see a hechsher. So I have stumbled.

I asked my Rav and he paskened that in order to fulfill my obligations towards heaven, I must return the money to all those who bought from me. They relied on me and bought from me paying for tefillin and mezuzos that were kosher l'mehadrin.

(the Rav told me as well that according to halacha merchants have no reliability unless they have a hechsher. He also said that if I do not return the money to my clients, and they do not go out and buy new tefillin/mezuzos because they do not have money to do so, and he continues to don the tefillin that I sold him for the rest of his life, and then gives it to his kids, grandkids, etc. I will be responsible for all those years of him and his kids who inherit it not putting on tefillin, theft, deception, invalid blessings, etc [he goes on to list a whole bunch of other things as well and quotes sources].

As a result of the above, I have sold my house and I am in the process of selling the houses of my seven children. The Rav told me to publicize this so people will know to not buy any Sta"m without a hechsher on the parchment, just as you would demand when buying a piece of meat.

Thank God now there are at least 10 parchment factories with a hechsher

Because I stumbled, I request from everyone to make others aware not to use parchment with no hechsher. That should be at least my partial kappara.

Anybody who bought from me should call me and I will return to them their money. And by that I will have saved my soul.

Signed by Asher Green sofer sta"m cellphone:0524025830

------------------Paid Advertisement----------------------
The National Jewish Outreach program is running a contest in which you can win 2 free tickets to Israel (the contest is only open to residents of the US).

The contest is called Judaica Across America and it is really pretty simple. All they want is for you to send them a picture of a piece of Judaica, any Judaica - a menorah, candlestick, mezuza case, torah scroll, tzitzis, shofar. whatever - and tell them the story behind this piece of Judaica.

NJOP will judge the various images and their stories and select the ten best, of which they will select the winner of the Grand Prize trip to Israel for 2.

The deadline is December 31, 2007 so get looking for that old set of candlesticks used in the basement of a house in Russia avoiding the KGB or your grandfather's tefillin that he smuggled into a concentration camp to use or the old bell your great uncle used to wake up the townsfolk for services in the shteibel. Take your pictures and write up the stories. You could be on your way to Israel, for free!

And when you get here, feel free to stop in by me and say hi...
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Rav Ovadia Yosef wrote an interesting psak halacha this past week in one of the publications associated with Shas. I do not have the original article, but I saw it quoted in the Maariv newspaper and have an image of the article.

Rav Ovadia Yosef is well known for being a supporter of the idea that the sefardic customs following the Beit Yosef (Rav Yosef Karo) should be the predominant minhag of Eretz Yisrael. He explains that the sfardim were always the majority in Eretz Yisrael and anybody coming to the Land should drop his own customs that he has brought from foreign lands and adopt the prevailing custom, which should be the custom following the Beit Yosef.

Needless to say, everybody else disagrees. I have pretty much found that any Rabbi discussing whether it is ok or even preferable to change one's custom will always say it is ok or preferable to change your custom to the one that specific Rabbi follows, as that custom is accurate and sourced in early Jewish tradition while others came later, while changing away from that Rabbis custom is always wrong.

Maybe I am being too general, but in the various responsa I have seen on topics of people asking about changing their customs, that is pretty much what I have found.

Back to the psak - There is a Morrocan custom that after a person gets called up to the Torah in shul, he walks around and kisses and gets kissed (double cheek kisses) by the other congregants.

Rav Ovadia said that this custom of kissing and being kissed is wrong and should be stopped. He does say that the custom to kiss in shul the hand of one's father and the Rabbi and other people who one has an obligation to honor is worthy and proper. But to kiss other congregants, even just to kiss their hands and not their cheeks, is improper and the custom should be discontinued. Kissing the hand is a sign of honor and respect. because we are commanded to show honor to the Rabbi and our fathers (and certain other people), so kissing their hands in shul is allowed and is a mitzva. But to kiss other people in shul is improper and should not continue.

An unnamed Morrocan Rabbi is quoted as responding that the custom is worthy and should continue. He explains that when others kiss the person who had been called to the Torah, they are showing their love and respect for the Torah. This is in addition to creating an atmosphere of love and camaraderie among the congregants.

The opinion of the Morrocan Rabbi reminds me of an article I just recently read about the source for the custom of pointing at the Torah during hagbaa and some even kiss the finger. There were many suggestions as to the source of the custom and I will not go into it here (mostly because I do not remember the specifics offhand - I have a bad memory) and there were others who were against the custom explaining how it developed and how it is mistaken completely devoid from the original intention. Regardless, there were such opinions, similar to the one above, that because it is a sign of respect and honor for the Torah, therefore it is a good custom.

The article, by the way, says nothing about whether this is limited to the mens section of the shul or if one can go to the womens section as well for the kisses... :-)

Sounds like it would probably be a good deal doesn't it? Not if they have a starting bid of $350,000 with $125 shipping fee....
But then again, they are not just any glasses.. they are the glasses worn by the Bobover Rebbe for over 20 years! Bidding is not restricted to people with the same prescription... so bid away!

This is an "unaired pilot" of the hit show 24 from 1994. This would be how Jack Bauer would be saving the world using the technology back then...