This is the latest tzedaka ad in the Yated for the Kupa of Bnei Brak. They are a making a "historic" trip to the grave of the Shunamit woman. Rav Chaim Kanievsky is not joining them so it is only "with is consultation and guidance" and Rav Kanievsky will be saying tehillim and names at the same time they are at the grave.


They make everything so dramatic. What is so historic about going to the grave of the Shunamit woman? It is a grave that is open to the public on a steady basis. Even if it is a place that has special power - I have heard it is specifically a segulah to daven there for children and the ad says it is as well - why is it so historic?

I must say they did top the ad (both in size and in drama) on the previous page of the Yated for the tzedaka of the Vaad Harabbonim who are only going to the grave of a chassidishe rebbe in Tiberias (one I never heard of) and to the grave of the Shelah in Tiberias...

The latest trend in park equipment is outdoor gym equipment. The cities get what is basically low level workout equipment, versions of equipment you would see in a gym if you visited one (which i religiously avoid), and stick them in parks.

Israel has been installing such equipment in parks all over the country over the past year. At first I thought it was strange - why would someone want to work out on equipment like that in public, waiting in line with other people, etc.?


I still don't know why, but I have gotten used to it. You can drive (or walk) by many parks anywhere in Israel and see adults and kids enjoying the exercise equipment. I personally have never used them, as I hate waiting in line, and the lines are always very long. I don't think my kids use them either.

Anyways, on erev chag, while everyone is busy with Birkat HaChama, burning chametz and general Pesach preparations, the mayor of Bet Shemesh found it to be the opportune time to send a tractor in to one of the RBS parks and remove the gym equipment. This was done without any discussion in the City Council and with no debate or vote, and no prior announcement to the local residents. Unfortunately for the mayor, this was also done a few days after he successfully removed the equipment from the central park in RBS. Unfortunately for him because people saw what was happening and ran to stop it. A group of people literally stood in front of the tractor and would not let him pull out the equipment.

After a lot of screaming, police and council members getting involved, the mayor agreed to leave the equipment in place and open a discussion after the holiday about removing it.

The reason given for removing the equipment is safety. It seems a number of children have injured themselves on the equipment, someone [with connections] complained and possibly threatened a lawsuit, and the mayor reacted with a decision to remove the equipment.

People in the know, including a number of council members including at least one from the haredi party UTJ who is unhappy with the direction things have gone, have confirmed that the real reason, perhaps in tandem with the safety issue, is that a number of local rabbonim have been pressuring Mayor Moshe Abutbol to remove the equipment. The pressure has been incessant and their reason for pressuring him to remove it is that they consider it not tzniyusdike to have the equipment in the park - perhaps one can see girls exercising, perhaps because it is boys and girls mixed in close proximity, depends who you ask you will get a different explanation of what is not tzniyusdike about it.

It is very difficult to ascertain what the real reason is. It is probably a combination of the two. It is a fact that the rabbonim and a few kannoim have been pressuring Abutbol to remove the equipment, and it is a fact that a number have kids have suffered injuries on the equipment. It seems likely that the city took the opportunity of a recent injury to the child of someone "well connected" to also relieve the pressure from the rabbonim and just get rid of the equipment.

Abutbol has taken the stance that it is purely a safety issue and has nothing to do with pressure form kannoim and rabbonim. So his spokeman, Mati Rosenzweig, says while comparing it to a bottle recycling crate that was unsafely installed in the neighborhood which fell on a young girl killing her a few years ago. So says his top adviser and assistant Asaf Metri.

The truth is that nobody wants unsafe equipment in the park. if the equipment is unsafe, it should be made safe. I don't know that it is unsafe - it has passed all the standards requirements and is placed all over the country. there is no reason it is any more unsafe in RBS parks than it should be considered anywhere else in the country.

Perhaps some adjustments need to be made. Perhaps parents should be responsible and not let their younger kids on the equipment (the equipment has signs saying that it is unsafe for kids under the age of 14). Perhaps the iryah needs to make adjustments to the equipment or to their location to make them safer. Fencing them in to a specific area was a suggestion being considered by the mayor. Distancing them from general park equipment where young kids play is another suggestion. Perhaps there are other solutions.

Another point is that I know kids that have gotten injured on the regular park equipment as well. My own kid lost two teeth a number of years ago on regular park equipment. Other kids have fallen off of monkey bars and broken arms, there are slides in parks that the slide is cracked and can seriously injure sliders, kids fall off swings, kids get their heads banged as they walk under see saws, etc.

It is also unusual that out of the whole country, out of the whole Bet Shemesh, the only place the equipment is being considered unsafe is in RBS.

Removing the equipment "like thieves in the night" raises serious doubts whether the real reason is the safety issue (if the issue is real at all) or whether it is caving in to local extremists. All safety issues should be addressed, and removing the equipment is not the solution. On the new equipment along with the old equipment. All parks should be safe for kids. All over Bet Shemesh and all over Israel. But if the issue is really the "tzivyon" of the neighborhood, I protest the removal.

I have heard that tonight there will be a meeting between concerned residents and the mayor at the Matnas in RBs at 8:30pm. Anyone concerned should try to attend. Of course, be aware that attending and requesting the equipment be returned will also likely mean your kid will get thrown out of school (if he or she is in a haredi school), so I guess there is no real point to the meeting because not too many people will stand up and protest the removal. Because of that, this fight will be led by the Dati Leumi community and will then be depicted as a DL-Haredi fight, when the truth is that most local regular haredim have no problem with the equipment. Depicting it like this will then force many of the normal haredim to take sides, and they will be forced to side with removing the equipment. That is a shame.

The opening ceremony commemorating, with the focus this year being on the 1.5 million children who were murdered, Yom HaShoah at Yad Vashem can be seen at the Yad Vashem website.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a powerful speech at the ceremony. You can read it in English in this word document from the PMO website.

[...] Yurek was only 14 when the Warsaw Ghetto was established. He turned from child into adult overnight. He smuggled food into the ghetto and his life was under constant threat. Yurek survived. He immigrated to Israel, fought in the War of Independence, started a family and built a home at Kibbutz Meggido. He lost his son Eitan during the Yom Kippur War, but found the fortitude to overcome this tragedy as well. He continued living, continued building and continued inculcating his legacy into thousands of youngsters.

His life story and activities are, to a large extent, a mirror of the Jewish people's transition from exile to liberty – a story of suffering, supreme heroism, construction and renaissance; a story of bereavement, faith and independence.

Yurek may have survived the inferno, but close to a million and a half Jewish children did not survive and perished in the Holocaust. I think the human mind cannot grasp this fact. We always see before us the famous picture of the frightened Jewish child, raising his hands in front of the barrels of German rifles. But this child was only one out of a million and a half children, a million and a half pairs of frightened eyes. Each one of them was an entire world of hopes and dreams, a mother's love and a father's concern, a world transformed instantly into one of terror, suffering and death.

Some of them survived for months and years, hiding in dungeons and forests, freezing in the snow, or starving to death. Children of ten or twelve years-old, escaping like persecuted wild animals from the Nazi hunters hunting them down in order to kill them. Some of these children found shelter in churches and convents, separated from their parents, torn by their longings, sometimes found shelter in the homes of the best of humanity, non-Jews, Righteous Gentiles who risked not only their lives, but also the lives of their families to rescue them from death.

Some of the children, like Yurek, in a reversal of roles became children defending their parents. Children of eight or nine years-old who risked their lives daily to bring food into the starved ghetto and a piece of bread for mommy and daddy. Little heroes, awarded a medal by no one. The majority of them left behind them neither a name nor a trace. The Nazi beast devoured them and their parents, and there is no one to tell of their tale of heroism.

However, even in moments of the most terrible despair of our people’s history, in the final moments of the Warsaw Ghetto, Jewish youngsters from all streams fought an unparalleled war of heroism against the Nazi oppressor. By doing so, they marked the great transformation that was about to occur in the fate of our people several years later, with the establishment of the State of Israel and the Israel Defense Forces.

Distinguished Guests,

"In every generation they rise against us to destroy us; and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand". He saves us through the living spirit in our people and its representatives – judges, prophets, kings, Maccabim.

However, in the case of the Holocaust, the rescue came late, too late for six million of our people, and a new flame was rekindled in our remaining survivors only with the establishment of the State of Israel in the Land of Israel.[...]

Survivors chosen to light the torches, including the twin sisters who suffered under Mengele, spoke briefly of their stories.

Rav Lau spoke as well, comparing to Moshe being thrown into the Nile. Batya, the first "chasidei Umot HaOlam" saw him crying - saw rather than heard, because Jews have a natural instinct to cry silently so as not to give up those around him in hiding. And Batya knew that he was Jewish because he was crying like that. Rav Lau decribed how when they were in hiding and the Nazis were looking for them, his mother put cookies in his mouth as a child to make sure he would be quiet and not give them up. Rav Lau says he told his mother that there is no need because he knows that he must be quiet.

Rav Lau says our children need to appreciate what we have here - a national house, a country, freedom, the ability to stand tall. We should kiss the ground of this land that gives us the merit and Jewish identity and full life in our own home.

The ceremony concluded with the army chazzan chanting the Kel Moleh.

On another note, The Jewish Week published an article by Isaac Steven Hershkopf about growing up among survivors and how they lived, concluding with a fascinating, very personal, story about Rav Moshe Feinstein.

I could not have been more than 4 or 5 when I asked her. It seemed to me, at the time, to be an innocent, straightforward question: “Mommy, when do I get my number?”
I was, of course, upset when she burst into tears and ran out of the kitchen, but I was also confused. This was Washington Heights in the 1950s. It was an enclave of survivors. Every adult I knew had a number. Even my teenage sister had one in blue ink tattooed on her forearm.
They were as ubiquitous on the benches of Riverside Drive as they were on the footpaths of Fort Tryon Park. If you saw an adult with some sort of hat on his head, he invariably also hada number on his arm. In the summer, when the community traveled en masse to Catskill bungalow colonies, or to Rockaway beaches, the numbers came too.
I presumed it was a ceremonious part of becoming bar mitzvah, or perhaps graduation from Breuer’s or Soloveichik, our local yeshivas. No one appeared to be embarrassed by their number. ARG! I never saw anyone try to cover it up when they went swimming. It seemed to be a matter of fact part of life.
When, as children, we would ask our parents why there was a “Mother’s Day” and a “Father’s Day,” but no “Children’s Day,” the automatic response was “Every day is ‘Children’s Day’!” In Washington Heights, in the ’50s, every day was Yom HaShoah.
Ironically enough, at the same time, no day was Yom HaShoah. The commemoration, as it exists today, was not around then. Breuer’s and Soloveichik consisted almost exclusively of children of survivors, yet neither school had any assembly, or recognition of any type, of the Shoah.
[...] One summer I was spending a week with my aunt and uncle in upstate Ellenville. Uncle David and Aunt Saba, survivors themselves, as the doctor and nurse in charge of the concentration camp infirmary, had managed to save the lives of innumerable inmates, including my mother and sister. After “the War” they had set up a medical practice in this small Catskill village, where, I discovered, to my amazement, they had one celebrity patient — Rav Moshe.
My aunt mentioned casually that Rav Moshe had an appointment the next day. Would I like to meet him? Would I? It was like asking me, would I like to meet God.
I couldn’t sleep that night. I agonized over what I should wear. Should I approach him? What should I say? Should I mention that his son-in-law was my rebbe? Should I speak to him in English, or my rudimentary Yiddish?
I was seated in the waiting room, in the best clothing I had with me, an hour before his appointment. It seemed like an eternity, but eventually he arrived, accompanied by an assistant at each side. He didn’t notice me.
I was frozen. I had intended to rise deferentially when he entered, but I didn’t. I had prepared a few sentences that I had repeatedly memorized, but I sensed that my heart was beating too quickly for me to speak calmly.
My aunt had heard the chime when he entered and came out of the office to greet him: “Rabbi Feinstein, did you meet my nephew Ikey? Can you believe a shaygitz [unobservant] like me has a yeshiva bochur [student] in the family?”
Rav Moshe finally looked at me. I was mortified. My aunt was addressing him irreverently. She was joking with him. She had called me Ikey, not Yitzchok, or even Isaac.
Then it got even worse. She walked over to him. Surely she knew not to shake his hand. She didn’t. She kissed him affectionately on the cheek as she did many of her favorite patients. She then told him my uncle would see him in a minute and returned to the office.
Rav Moshe and his attendants turned and looked at me, I thought accusingly. I wanted to die. In a panic, I walked over to him and started to apologize profusely: “Rabbi Feinstein, I apologize. My aunt, she isn’t frum [religious]. She doesn’t understand...”
He immediately placed his fingers on my lips to stop me from talking. He then softly spoke two sentences in Yiddish that I will remember to my dying day: “She has numbers on her arms. She is holier than me.”
Rav Moshe had understood what I had not. Our holiest generation was defined by the numbers on their arms.

We held our regular Yom HaShoah ceremony in the office commemorating the victims of the Holocaust.

After the siren, some tehllim, mishnayot, and the Ke-l Maleh, we sang the famous tune Ani Maamin composed by a Modzitzer Chassin in a cattle car.



the story of the song, as retold on the Modzitz website, is:

Although he was centered in Otvoczk, Rebbe Shaul Yedidya Elazar of Modzitz had Chassidim throughout the major towns and cities of Poland. One of these was Reb Azriel David Fastag, who became noted for his exceptional voice throughout Warsaw. Many came to the shul where Reb Azriel David and his brothers, who were also blessed with lovely voices, would daven on the Yamim Noraim [High Holy Days]. Reb Azriel David was the ba'al tefilla [led the prayers], while his brothers accompanied him as a choir. His crisp, clear and moving voice had a profound effect on all who heard him.

He lived simply, supporting himself from a small dry goods [clothing] store, but his happiness and fulfillment came of another source - the world of Negina. His moving tunes made their way to Otvoczk, where his Rebbe, R. Shaul Yedidya Elazar appreciated them immensely. The day a new niggun of R. Azriel David's came to the Rebbe was like a "Yom Tov" for him. [One of his most memorable compositions is "M'heira Yishama," a wedding tune.]

Dark clouds began to cover the skies of Europe - the clouds of Nazism. In spite of the terrible decrees, the yellow patch and the ghettoes, most Jews could not fathom what was about to befall them. Only a few "read the map" correctly and managed to escape the clutches of the Nazi occupation to safe havens. One of them was the Modzitzer Rebbe, Rebbe Shaul Yedidya Elazar, whose Chassidim made a tremendous effort to save him. As the Nazis entered Poland, the Chassidim smuggled him out of Poland to Vilna [Lithuania], and from there he made his way across Russia to Shanghai, China, eventually arriving in America in 1941.

Meanwhile in Poland, tens of thousands of Jews were being 'shipped off' daily to their death in cattle cars that were part of the railway system. Aroused from their warm beds in Warsaw, husbands were separated from their wives, children from their parents. The elderly were often shot on the spot in front of their loved ones. Then the Jews were gathered and sent off in these trains to a place where their existence would no longer trouble those dregs of humanity known as the Nazis - to Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek, etc. What did it look like in one of those cattle cars of the "death train"?

What could one expect to find other than people in their death throes - gasping, sighing and crying? One could hear the stifled cries of children, crushed together and trampled upon by the spiked boots of the evil, cruel Nazis.

However, in one such car, it seemed like a "tone" of life managed to emerge from these crushed people. What - people on their way to the slaughter, singing??? Is this not some cruel Nazi joke? Let us look a bit closer...

An elderly Jew, wrapped up in his ragged clothing, his face white as snow, makes his way over to his neighbor on the death train, begging him to remind him of the niggun the Modzitzer Rebbe sang on Yom Kippur for the Avoda, to "Ma'areh Kohen."

"Now - now - all you want to know about is niggunim?" answered the other, with a hard look at the Chassid, thinking that maybe all the suffering had caused him to lose his mind.

But this Modzitzer Chassid, Reb Azriel David Fastag, was no longer paying attention to his friend, or to anyone else on the train. In his mind, he was at the Amud HaTefilla [prayer stand] next to the Modzitzer Rebbe, and it is he who was the baal tefilla before all the Chassidim.

Suddenly, before his eyes, the words of the twelfth [of thirteen] Principle of Jewish Faith appeared: "Ani Ma'amin b'Emuna Sheleima, b'vias HaMoshiach; v'af al pi she'yismamaya, im kol zeh, achakeh lo b'chol yom she'yavo - I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Moshiach; and even though he may tarry, nevertheless, I wait each day for his coming." Closing his eyes, he meditated on these words and thought, "Just now, when everything seems lost, is a Jew's faith put to the test."

It was not long before he began to hum a quiet tune to these words. Amidst the heavy atmosphere of death and despair on the train, Reb Azriel David's dveykus [attachment to Hashem] took him above it all.

"How can one of us be singing at such a time?" wondered his fellow Jews on the train. And with such a sweet voice! It must be, that from Heaven they are accompanying us, in mourning, to our death... But listen, what is it that they are singing? You're about to be slaughtered, shot, poisoned or burnt and what are they singing? -- I believe!!!"

The Modzitzer Chassid was completely above it all, a pillar of song, bringing out of his bloodied lungs the song of his life -- the song of the eternity of the Jewish People. He was unaware of the silence in the cattle car, and of the hundreds of ears listening attentively in amazement. He also didn't hear the voices as they gradually joined his song, at first quietly, but soon - growing louder and louder! Meanwhile, he made sure to write out the notes of the newly composed song...

The moving tune, with its holy words, had penetrated the hearts of the Jews on the train, and had joined to the pure emuna [faith] in their hearts, which burst out from them in the form of this great song. The song spread from car to car. Every mouth that could draw a breath from those congested cattle cars, filled with live "corpses" and pungent with the odor of people crowded together, joined in a piece of "Ani Ma'amin - I believe." It became a wonderful, amazing symphony unto itself.

An elderly Jew, close to his death, asked for an explanation. His neighbor screamed to him, "We're singing the Jewish People lives - chai - lives! You too, sing with us - the Jewish People lives, Ani Ma'amin!" Closing his eyes, the elderly Jew clenched his fists and sang with his remaining strength - "the Jewish People is alive, I believe that Moshiach Tzidkeinu [the Righteous] will come quickly," and expired.

As the train neared the death camp, the railway workers wondered: from where is this amazing song coming? Could the Jews be singing their own burial service tune?

As if waking from a dream, Reb Azriel David opened his eyes to the sight of the singing train. His eyes were red from crying; his cheeks, wet with tears. Deeply moved, he yelled to whomever would listen, "My dear brothers! This niggun is the song of the Jewish soul. It is a song of pure faith, for which thousands of years of exile and troubles cannot overcome!"

Then, in a choked voice, he continued, "I will give my portion in Olam Haba [the World to Come] to whomever can take these notes of my song 'Ani Ma'amin' to the Modzitzer Rebbe!"

A hushed silence descended upon the train. Reb Azriel David lifted himself up by the ends of his thumbs, searching through the crowd that surrounded him. Two young men appeared, promising to bring the notes to the Modzitzer Rebbe, at any cost. One of them climbed upon the other, and in the small crack of the train's roof that only he knew of, made a hole from which to escape. Poking his head out under the open sky, he said, "I see the blue Heavens above us, the stars are twinkling and the moon, with a fatherly face, is looking at me."

"And what do you hear?" asked his companion.

Turning white, the young man answered, "I hear the Ministering Angels singing the Ani Ma'amin tune, and it's ascending to the seven firmaments of Heaven..."

Bidding farewell to their brothers and sisters on the train, the two proceeded to jump off, one after the other. One was killed instantly from the fall, while the other survived, taking the notes of the song with him. He eventually found his way to Eretz Yisrael [perhaps to the Rebbe's son, the Imrei Aish, who was in Tel-Aviv], and the notes were sent by mail to Rebbe Shaul Yedidya Elazar in New York.

Upon receiving the notes and having the "Ani Ma'amin" niggun sung, the Rebbe said, "When they sang 'Ani Ma'amin' on the death train, the pillars of the world were shaking. Hashem said, 'Can it be that My Torah is a fraud? No! But whenever the Jews will sing 'Ani Ma'amin', I will remember the six million victims and have mercy on the rest of My People.'"

It is told that on the first Yom Kippur that the Rebbe sang the "Ani Ma'amin," there were thousands of Jews in the shul. The entire Kahal [congregation] burst into tears, which fell like water into the pool of tears and blood of the Jewish Nation. The tune soon spread throughout Klal Yisrael [world Jewry].

"With this niggun," said Rebbe Shaul Yedidya Elazar, "the Jewish People went to the gas chambers. And with this niggun, the Jews will march to greet Moshiach."

Because of the ensuing saga of the NY Jets scheduling problem with Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, Jimmy Kimmel interviewed one of the players on the team to hear his thoughts on the issue....

Watch as the world loses its mind....

David Brooks, in his NY Times column, writes about Israel as the "Loud and Promised Land".

Brooks writes

Israel is a country held together by argument. Public culture is one long cacophony of criticism. The politicians go at each other with a fury we can’t even fathom in the U.S. At news conferences, Israeli journalists ridicule and abuse their national leaders. Subordinates in companies feel free to correct their superiors. People who move here from Britain or the States talk about going through a period of adjustment as they learn to toughen up and talk back.

Ethan Bronner, The Times’s Jerusalem bureau chief, notes that Israelis don’t observe the distinction between the public and private realms. They treat strangers as if they were their brothers-in-law and feel perfectly comfortable giving them advice on how to live.

One Israeli acquaintance recounts the time he was depositing money into his savings account and everybody else behind him in line got into an argument about whether he should really be putting his money somewhere else. Another friend tells of the time he called directory assistance to get a phone number for a restaurant. The operator responded, “You don’t want to eat there,” and proceeded to give him the numbers of some other restaurants she thought were better.

...

This culture of disputatiousness does yield some essential fruits. First, it gives the country a special vividness. There is no bar on earth quite so vibrant as a bar filled with Israelis.

Second, it explains the genuine national unity. Israel is the most diverse small country imaginable. Nonetheless, I may be interviewing a left-wing artist in Tel Aviv or a right-wing settler in Hebron, and I can be highly confident that they will have a few things in common: an intense sense of national mission, a hunger for emotionally significant moments, an inability to read social signals when I try to suggest that I really don’t want them to harangue me about moving here and adopting their lifestyle.

Most important, this argumentative culture nurtures a sense of responsibility. The other countries in this region are more gracious, but often there is a communal unwillingness to accept responsibility for national problems. The Israelis, on the other hand, blame themselves for everything and work hard to get the most out of each person. From that wail of criticism things really do change. I come here nearly annually, and while the peace process is always the same, there is always something unrecognizable about the national scene — whether it is the structure of the political parties, the absorption of immigrants or the new engines of economic growth.

A country of Jews. We each know better.

Last night was the annual entry to Kifl Harith, or by its biblical name "Timnas Heres" to celebrate the yahrtzeit of Yehoshua bin Nun and daven by his gravesite. Buried nearby is his father Nun, and Calev ben Yefuneh.

The arrangements were slightly different than in the past. They changed some of the road in the immediate area, and paved the entrance to the village. So what used to be used as the staging area for the army and a parking lot for the visitors no longer exists in a usable fashion, for the most part. So the police and army with a cadre of "sadranim" direct visitors to parking nearby across the street.

Another difference was the time of entry. I remember in the past it was open from 12 until about 5 or so. This time they opened up relatively early - they scheduled entry from 10pm. The actual entry was not approved until about 10:45, but it is still better than only starting at 12.





After parking and finally being allowed in, we walked from the entrance of the village all the way to the graves, first encountering the gravesite of Calev. I saw no sign of the shuttles that were advertised. That being the first site, it was packed as everyone crammed in there right away.

While in the room with the grave of Calev, in walked Baruch Marzel escorting Rav Yaakov Yosef (the son of Rav Ovadia Yosef).




Later, outside the grave of Yehoshua, I saw Ichud Leumi MK Michael Ben-Ari.

By Yehoshua, he is supposedly buried under the wall of the room. It is not a proper grave-headstone. So many were just davening outside. the room inside is very small and cramped. With tens of people packed in at the same time davening, the air gets very scarce. The davening was intense, and of course there was the Breslav wail every few minutes. If you see a picture on other sites of Rav Yaakov Yosef in Joshua's Tomb, you might see me as well. Inside the tomb of Joshua I was standing right next to him davening as we entered at about the same time.

Most of the buzz int he area was outside of Joshua's Tomb. there was a class of 5 year olds who arrived with rebbes and were dancing. I think there was an upsherin as well. The tables of refreshments were there. This was the central area.





There were thousands of jews of all types, affiliations and styles who came out to daven. It seemed much busier than I remember it from the past. While I initially thought we would be in and out quickly because of the early start, I was wrong. The large crowds, the dark and the long distances to walk made it take much longer than expected. We got out at about 1am and got home a bit before 2am. needless to say, my boys slept in this morning and went to school late.

By now you cannot be a regular reader of Jewish websites and blogs and not be familiar with the "strawberry infestation".

They say that this year strawberries cannot be eaten, at least not whole. The reason is because of an unusual infestation. Normally the bugs in strawberries hang around and party near the top of the strawberry - in the leafy part. As long as you cut the top off, and wash the rest of course, you are good to go.

This year, they say, the strawberries are infested to the point that the bug party is not just at the top by the leaf, but all over the strawberry - by the seeds in the wall of the berry - thus making it impossible to clean properly and eat (unless perhaps if you would peel the strawberry - not very practical).

Why are the strawberries infested so much worse this year than normal? The only reason i have seen offered is because of the shmitta year - Jewish farmers for the most part did not grow strawberries this past year, because of shmitta. Most strawberries were grown by the Palestinians, and they use dirty water for their irrigation and watering. The use of dirty water caused the strawberries to grow, supposedly, completely infested.

Personally I have always held like the opinion that if you cannot find the bugs and cannot see them with the naked eye (looking well when necessary - not just a cursory glance), they are not considered a problem.

If these bugs are so tiny that you need a powerful microscope to see them, it does not seem to bother me. If we would inspect the air we breathe with a microscope and magnifying glass, we would also say it is assur to breathe because of what we are taking in.

Just for kicks, I bought strawberries on Friday for shabbos. I took a couple of random berries from the bag and inspected them very closely, but only with my naked eye. I pulled out the little pips and inspected them, and under them. I inspected the whole berry very thoroughly. Yet I was unable to see any creepy crawly or clingy buggies.

So what do you do about strawberries and other such fruit and veggies with "bug problems"? Have you stopped eating them?

Yossi Elituv is a haredi journalist. He recently wrote an article in the Maariv newspaper about the reality television program "Survivor".

Elituv was upset that during an episode of "Survivor" broadcast during Pesach the contestants were seen eating chametz. Elituv says that it is a shame everything is done for the ratings and advertising money and nobody cares about jewish values - while if a show would display something hurtful to a foriegn culture, there would be protests [from the elite of Ramat Aviv] against the insensitivity. It is only Jewish values that the broadcasting authority feels they can trample without consideration.

While Elituv does have a point, I personally feel he has no place discussing reality television and its problems. He is not a minister in government or an official of the Israel broadcasting Authority that would give his opinion possible influence to change things for the better. He is a journalist writing mostly in haredi newspapers with the occassional article in Maariv.

The Haredi community has for the most part eschewed television. The haredi household that has a television is a rare breed. Elituv has no business commenting on the phenomenona of reality tv when his main readership is haredim. The only thing articles like that do is cause people to want to watch the show to see what he is talking about. So either they will be frustrated and curious, or they will put out some effort to get a hol do fthe show to watch - either on the internet, or go to the house of someone who does have a tv.
Elituv is doing more harm to his public than good. Of course if he was in a position of influence and his opinion would have the chance of making a difference I would be ok with voicing his opinion. But he is not in such a position, and not every stupid thing done needs to be protested by haredim.

Of course this is also in addition to the ridiculousness of his claim - Elituv is upset about chametz on Pesach. I don't think they necessarily ate chametz on Pesach - the show is not broadcast live. It was recorded earlier and only broadcast on Pesach. Also, by protesting the chamtez on pesach, is Elituv saying the chillul shabbos, the eating if bugs and crabs and non-kosher animals, the traipsing around in bikinis all day, and all other items are ok? Only chametz on pesach is enough to protest?

From the website of the New York Jets.... (emphasis mine)

04/16 — The Jets have formalized their request to the NFL regarding the team's schedule, announced Tuesday night, to move the kickoff of the Jets' Sept. 27 home game against Tennessee from 4:15 p.m. to 1 p.m. to avoid conflict with the Jewish observance of Yom Kippur.

The club has been in behind-the-scenes communications with the league office for the past two days. Today, Woody Johnson, the Jets chairman and CEO, sent a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

"I understand the challenges and complexities associated with creating the NFL schedule each year," Johnson said in his letter. "However, I am extremely disappointed with the League's decision to schedule us to play at home on consecutive Sundays that are in direct conflict with the Jewish High Holy Days. There has long been an understanding that neither the Jets nor the Giants fans should have to bear completely the brunt of this issue since we are in the largest Jewish market in the country."

The Jets owner explained that the club feels the best solution is to change the time of the Titans game. "This would give our Jewish fans the opportunity to arrive at home before sundown for Yom Kippur," he said.

"Those who suffer most are our fans," Johnson concluded. "The NFL has been the leading proponent of improving the fans' gameday experience. I feel making this change will further that goal."

Of course it is purely a business and marketing decision and not one based on religion or love for Jews.... but still, you gotta love it...
It does bring to mind the gemara that Hillel obligates the poor because he studied despite the great destitution, so that cannot be used as an excuse. Reb Elazar ben Charsom obligates the wealthy by his not letting his business decisions and concerns divert his attention from Torah study. Yosef HaTzaddik obligates the handsome because despite his attractivess he did not let it get in the way of his righteousness.
So do the New York Jets now obligate the Jewish sports fans?

"This decision harms freedom of worship, and it is actually the entrance of the rightist pyromaniacs that should be banned – not the entrance of Muslims,"

---- MK Ahmed Tibi on the decision to bar Muslims under the age of 50 from entering Temple Mount today for prayers out of fear of riots in response to calls for allowing Jews to pray on Temple Mount.

Note, it is people like Tibi and his friends who threaten to riot whenever the issue of allowing Jews to pray on Temple Mount is brought up. And he is worried about "freedom of worship"....

A Guest Post by Moshe Burt

I started using Superbus service for my local Beit Shemesh travel in mid-January when their tender over a number of formerly Egged routes began.

It was with much trepidation that I went into their Beit Shemesh office, the day before their deadline for issuance of free "smart-cards", and was processed for a card.
Why trepidation? Consider what Nadia Matar and others have said and written about institution of technical identification databases here <http://www.sefer-torah.com/blog/2006/12/19/hi-tech-id-of-yesha-jews-at-checkpoints-preparing-yehudashomron-for-yudenrein/> and here. <http://www.sefer-torah.com/blog/2008/08/03/israeli-leftist-regime-animal-farm/> In short, "smart-cards" are another sign of Animal Farm, of Big Brother, of Israeli thought police and the state's surveillance of its citizens. But *Superbus' secrecy and deception and/or failure regarding providing customers of a full accounting, upon demand, of all blocks of rides bought, paid for and posted to their "smart-cards" shows that Big Brother, i.e. Police and Shabak surveillance of citizens is but a part of the problem.

*There were/are monetary incentives to using the "smart-card", i.e. that one possessing a Teudah Zacha'ut, for example, saves 11.50 NIS per 15 ride block by purchasing Superbus rides on their "smart-card." My understanding is that for pensioners, the saving is greater yet.

On the first full day of the Superbus takeover, I bought a block of local Beit Shemesh trips. After a period of time, I had run down the trips to where there were 3 or 4 left and went to buy another block.

American Anglo common-sense tells me that upon buying the second block of trips, the next bus receipt would show the total number of trips remaining that had bought and paid for, i.e. 19 (New block of 15 and balance of 4 trips remaining in the first block). Not!

Instead, on the next ride on Superbus, their computer terminal showed that there were but 3 rides remaining after deducting the current ride. What happened to the new block of rides which I had just purchased? I didn't know at the time that one could request a full accounting of everything on one's "smart-card."
Fortunately, when the old rides were used up, the new rides kicked in.

So then I ran down the rides on this block to 4 and then bought the next block, seemingly secure in the notion that the Superbus terminal would be consistent and again run down to old block of rides to zero before charging the new block of rides. Again, Not!

Instead, the Superbus computer terminal began running down the new block of rides instead of the old one. At that time, I raised a fuss and the driver printed me out a full accounting of the rides remaining in both the old and new blocks.

It concerned me that Superbus was not being consistent in the accounting for passenger rides. On Egged, it was very simple -- you paid your money, bought the denomination of trips and then the driver simply punched your card each time you rode. You knew, at all times, exactly how many rides you had remaining,
On Superbus, you place your "smart-card" on the spot on the terminal and the driver hands you back a receipt slip with your card. The problem is, that the terminal receipt only shows the how many trips are left on the block of rides being deducted from. Nowhere does it show how many total rides you have bought, paid for and have remaining. Nowhere on that receipt slip does it give a full accounting of what is still on your "smart-card."

Further the *drivers have begun deceiving their passengers by prentending that they don't know what the passenger is talking about when the passenger asks for a balance statement.* They continue their deception even when the rider shows them the previous balance statement document and they claim that they don't know what the statement is called in Iv'rit.

You try to ask for a cheshbon -- Not! You ask a friend who is in Israel longer than you and converses freely in Iv'rit and he tells you; Peirut (Pey, Yud, Reish, Vov, Tet) -- Not! One of the other passengers on one of the buses suggested the loshen "Duch" which I understood a long time ago to mean report. Once again -- Not! Meanwhile, one of the drivers who feigned not to know what I was talking about when I was asking for a balance statement double-charged me for the same trip.

Further, Superbus drivers deceivingly keep pointing to a Superbus office in Ramat Beit Shemesh, an office which has not existed for weeks.

Meanwhile, another individual who detected the same problems that I did spoke with *a Superbus supervisor* who checks to be sure everyone on a bus has paid. The supevisor *told him that we passengers have a right, on demand, to a balance statement of everything on our "smart-card."

*Finally, this morning (Sunday) I visited the Superbus in Beit Shemesh. A supervisor, Avi, who greeted me with a little bit too cheery Mo'edim B'Simcha, as if patronizing and condescending toward me, commenced to tell me that the drivers don't have to help passengers in any way, i.e. with a full balance statement of the contents of a passenger's "smart-card." He tells me that when there are other customers getting on the bus,* the driver has no obligation at all to provide such a statement upon a passenger's request. What that means is apparently that the driver can refuse to give you that which you have a right to.* Further, he told me that *the driver does not have to know what a card balance statement is.

*I told him that *Superbus' secretiveness and deception concerning balance statements leaves wide open the possibility of them lopping off blocks of rides from their computer* on passengers, poor passengers, mothers who travel on the bus with babies, strollers, often entering the bus piled down with groceries and just want to pay their fare and who probably lose their receipt slips most the time. If such lopping off blocks of rides on passengers, which these passengers had previously paid for but not used, were to occur, it would directly impact Superbus' bottom-line with excess, illegal, ill-gotten profits.

After heated words, I told Avi that I was unsatisfied with his answers. I told him that I believe that Superbus is hiding something by their deception of customers and that I have already informed the major RBS chessed organizations of a potential serious problem impacting poor people.
I did manage to get one piece of information out of Avi. I asked what the loshen is for the balance statement and he told me *"Meida (Mem Yud, Daled, Ayin) B'Cartis"* (pronounced Mayda). I strongly advise that passengers who have multiple blocks of rides on their "smart-card" begin requesting "Meida B'Cartis" as often as possible. And if something is not right, question it immediately. And if the driver doesn't or won't give you a satisfactory resolution to your question, do not hesitate to take it to the Superbus office in Mercaz Beit Shemesh.

For todays tiyul we decided to go back to hurvat Midras. The other day, by the time we got there we were tired and had no energy or time to crawl through the tunnel. My kids were disappointed, so we decided to make a small tiyul today to go into the tunnel and to see the pyramid.

The tunnel is a small crawl space in which the jews lived during the Bar Kochba revolts against the Romans. It is amazing that a) they dug this out b) they crawled through it regularly and hid in it c) they lived in it. There were parts of the tunnel I could not even crawl through but had to scoot on my belly.

We went through and then my kids wanted to do it again. Once was enough for me, so they went the second time and I waited outside cooling off in the 95 degree (f) weather (sharav today).



After we were done with that, we hiked a few minutes over to the Pyramid. the pyramid is supposedly the only such structure in Israel. It was made for burial purposes obviously in a cave beneath it (we could not find a way in to the cave).




Not quite as impressive as the pyramids in Egypt (which I have only seen pictures of), but pyramids nonetheless...

Hag Sameach!

No pics for this post - sorry. We did not take too many, and what we did snap was just images of the kids.. nothing to do with where we were...

We started out the afternoon in Park Britania. Park Britania is just a few minutes out of Bet Shemesh and is a prime location for visitors from all over the country because of the beautiful grounds, park equipment for kids, and abundant picnic areas and benches. There are also multiple trails originating inside Park Britania, so those who wish to hike will have plenty of options.

We found a spot that was reasonable. It was all pretty similar, with crowds of people in all the sections, but we located one that the tables seemed a bit more spread out and there was a decent open area there for us and our extended family to enjoy.

After getting settled, we first inaugurated the day by shooting off a rocket. As we were preparing it, we saw a hawk in the sky above us hovering. We did not see the hawk again after that, so maybe the rocket hit the hawk and killed it. Truth is, we did not look for the hawk again, and I doubt the rocket hit him. It was a small rocket and disappeared fast. It was a one time rocket that breaks apart so we did not try to retrieve it. We were a bit worried about starting a forest fire, but I could not remember Smokey the Bear ever warning us from shooting rockets in the forest, so I figured it must be ok.

Then we got the bbq going. We built two fires. One for hot dogs and potatoes, and one for the steaks. The hot dog fire seemed to require more work, but thankfully there was plenty of wood available in the forest for burning (without even needing to cut down any trees!) so we got it going nicely.

After a long lazy lunch, all we did was relax in the park. My handy 12 year old son built an Omega (in English that would be a zip line) with the help of his brothers. They hung rope between the trees with knots and hooks. When they eventually finished, the only kids daring enough to actually try it were my 16 month old daughter and 3 year old son. And we were the only parents willing to let our kids go on it. It did not have much zip, but they seemed to enjoy it anyway.

Eventually it was time to go and we started packing up. As I am loading up the car, my son comes running that he needs a bottle of water. He found a shepherd with sheep in the mountainside beneath us and the shepherd had run out of water. I gave him one and then he comes back a short while later with a cup of milk. He tells me that because he gave the shepherd the water, the shepherd let him help milk a sheep and take the milk. Does a 12 year old boy have the ability to make milk into Chalav Yisroel by his supervision of the milking process (and assistance) or do you have to be bar mitzvah? I have no idea but nobody wanted to drink this milk anyway - we were all fleishige from lunch and the milk was starting to smell as the time went by.

So I took some of the other kids down to see the sheep. The shepard (Bedouin I think) was friendly. He even pointed to a turtle crawling in the grass for my son to take, but when he picked it up it urinated on him so he decided he did not want it... The shepard told us that he was from Beer Sheva. He comes to this area with his sheep and stays for about 2.5 months letting them graze. the grass in the Bet Shemesh area is much better than in the Beer Sheva area... This discussion reminded me about the fight between the shepherds of Avrahama and the shepherds of Lot about whether to allow the sheep to graze in the pastures of other people... In the meantime, he lives in a tent he pointed out to us in the distance. He had 250 sheep with him.

Eventually we went home. Later in the evening I had a softball game to play in Kibbutz Gezer. Most of the family came to watch and cheer me on. We won the game, I played ok with two hits and 3 RBI..We got home close to midnight and conked out...