In light of Minister Neeman's statement about introducing Jewish law into the Israeli lawbooks, I wonder how it would work. I don't know what his intentions were, and I do not know if he meant to redesign Israel into a "Halachic State" (whatever that is), or if he just wants the State law to be more inclusive of Jewish law in society.

Regardless of that, the response has been quick to come. The various secular MKs and others have been quick to condemn Neeman's statement claiming it will lead to religious coercion and all sorts of other problems inherent in a "Halacha State".

After seeing a few condemnations, I decided to pose a hypothetical question on Twitter.

I asked why is it ok to impose law on people not interested or against their beliefs as long as the law is secular but if we adopt religious law and make that the law of country than they would consider it consider it coercion?

Meaning, if we make a law that one is not allowed to eat pork, for example, someone secular and opposed to such a law would consider it religious coercion, and therefore opposes the implementation of a lawbook based on halacha.

But if the law says that one is not allowed to cross the street against the light, for example, I am not allowed to oppose that law. Can I call it secular coercion?

Why is it legitimate for the secular state have the right to impose its laws, thereby imposing its set of values, on religious Jews, while a religious state (or call it a halacha state) would be considered religious coercion?

The ensuing discussion was interesting, though mostly off topic. It started out discussing the idea that if a religious law is "bad" it cannot be changed, because the law is imposed on us and we have to accept it as is (by definition of "halacha state" I assume), whereas with State law or "secular" law (for lack of a better word), if a law is deemed to be bad it can be changed. From there the discussion became one of mostly whether circumcision is good or bad and if it is wrong to main ones children.

What do you think about the original question - why is it ok for one set of laws to be introduced, with no opposition about coercion, while another set of laws is considered inherently wrong?

NOTE: I already ran a QOTD, but this one is better. So I am taking the liberty to associate this mornings QOTD with yesterday (since I didn't post one yesterday) and this one will be for today..

Recently, people have been thinking that for every thing they need to make a hafgana. They make a hafgana for everything that happens that they don't like. They don't understand that a hafgana is a weapon, and you don't use your weapon at all times. This weapon needs to be saved for spiritual things, or alternatively, when the time really requires it and there is no other option.

--- Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman, shlit"a

some avreichim from Kiryat Sefer and Beitar were organizing a hafgana against the construction freeze. they decided to ask Rav Shteinman for his approval. He refused. In addition to the quote above about the use of the hafgana weapon, he also said that he thinks it is not the right time for a hafgana because it will cause bittul torah for the avreichim who participate, and who knows where it will lead to.. At least now, Rav Shteinman said, the time is not right to approve this.

This new pashkevil plastered around Mea She'arim is an attempt to get people to stop crossing the street against red lights.

Way to go. I hope it helps.

...Step by step we will bestow to the citizens of Israel the laws of the Torah, and turn the halacha into the obligating law in the State.... we must bring back to the State of Israel the legacy of our forefathers, the words of Torah of the rishonim and acharonim, that in them can be found the solutions to all the issues we are dealing with..

----- Justice Minister Yaakov Ne'eman

The picture is of the store front window of the chain clothing store Zara from a mall north of Haifa.

If you look at the picture, you might notice that they have "Merry Christmas" splayed across the window, along with the display consisting of Christmas holiday colors and Christmas trees.

The only problem with this situation is that the store, as mentioned, is located in Israel. Not in Spain where the main headquarters is, not in Europe or the USA, not in a Christian country, but in predominantly Jewish Israel.

It is a shonda that a store in Israel has such a display. Even if there excuse is true, that they are dictated by the main office in Spain what to display (and all stores have uniform displays), it makes no sense that they would not adjust the display to the local market. Even if they insisted in Christmas trees for the non-Jewish market in Israel, they are foolish for not catering to the much larger Jewish market and putting in symbols of Hannukah, like menorahs and dreidels.

It makes no sense, and was likely done without thought. But after the first few hundred calls of customers complaining about it, they should have removed the display right away.

I hope people "punish" Zara for the stupidity, and for their insistence on remaining stupid instead of taking it down right away after the first few calls, and shop elsewhere.

What kind of excuse is "We wanted to allow our customers to enjoy.. the atmosphere of the holiday and the internationality..." anyway?

1. Tzedek-Tzedek says slavery is still going on...

2. Yeranen Yaakov has an interesting story on the background of the Bostoner rebbe zt"l..

3. Haveil Havalim #246 at me-ander..

4. Bat Aliyah comments on the recent drasha of a rabbi who said there is no need for anyone from America to make aliyah..

5. Yeranen Yaakov on whether an FFB can be mashiach....

6. Mystical Paths has a message from the mayor of a town in the West Bank.

7. Oy My Valve talks about the fallacy of the construction freeze

The budget numbers have been released, and the public was made aware of how much income the city has from arnona, and which discounts are being given out and which sector receives how much of that.

The Collections department of the Irya is run by a UTJ guy, and he released the numbers in a way that indicates that the haredi community does not receive the discounts at levels up until now thought or implied. The document shows the haredi community receiving discounts totalling about 26% of all the discounts.

the Chadash, who ran the item as the ir lead article, used that number to incite against the rest of Bet Shemesh. Basically, they say that this number refutes the long-standing claim that the secular community has been supporting the haredi community. According to the numbers, so Chadash says, it is really the haredi community supporting the secular.

Chadash went on, with M. Shottland writing the article (he is a regular hateful columnist for the Yated), claiming that not only is it clear that the haredi community is currently supporting the seculars, but basically the haredi community moved in 20 or so years ago and saved Bet Shemesh from being a city of vandals, drunks, drug addicts and primitives.

First of all, to get it out of the way, both secular and religious and haredi all take advantage of discounts offered. If they are offered within the framework of the law, and they are truthfully applied for and granted, I have no problem with it. no matter who is the recipient. You want a discount for learning in kollel and dont like that someone else receives it and you don't, so go learn in kollel and you will get it as well.

I remember that, when the child allowance grants were at their original levels before being cut, I used to hear the claim that the haredim take advantage of the child allowance, etc. The same was said about money for learning in kollel. My response was that it is there for anybody who qualifies. Have more kids and your child allowance grant will increase proportionally. They are not stealing anything, and the government does not give the grant to the haredim, but they give a certain amount of money per kid - you want more money, have more kids. The kollel stipend is just that - you want it, go ahead. It is not for haredim only - go sit and learn torah in a registered yeshiva/kollel/Bet Midrash program.etc. and you will be given the stipend as well.

As long as it is within the law, there is nothing wrong with it being actualized.

Second, regarding the numbers. I am no expert int he numbers, I have no inside information on the truth of the numbers, and I am not even any good with numbers. I cannot even balance my own bank account. But the fact is that the only numbers released were those that are meant to make a certain point.

They have no way of knowing who takes advantage of what discounts. All they know is who takes advantage of the kollel discount, and even that probably is not 100% correct. So 26% of all discounts are for the haredi avreichim. Yet haredim can also take advantage of other discounts that are offered, some of which are also almost completely used by haredim - such as the discounts for large families (they have different discounts depending on how many kids), or income based discounts, etc. Also, not every haredi is an avreich, and not every haredi gets these discounts.

So I have no idea what the truth of the numbers are, but I know that the truth was not displayed in the document that was publicized, or in the way it was analyzed.

Regarding the 26% - the paper said that the fact that only 26% of the discounts are for haredim, yet the haredi community is over 40%, meaning haredim take far less of the discounts than what would be representative of the community.

I don't know what the actual percentage of haredim living in Bet Shemesh is, or how they would calculate it. 40%-45% is the number being used based on election turnout.

Using such a number though for these purposes is really disingenuous. True, that is the number base don elections, but we are not dealing with politicial power right now. We are dealing with an analysis of who actually lives here. You can't decide that based on who voted. You can decide who has more power based on who voted, even when it sometimes means the power is skewed. Haredim vote in very high percentages, while the general community votes in very low percentages.

So if the haredim accumulated 40% of the political power, it means the actual percentage of haredim in the actual bet Shemesh community is much less than 40%. because they vote in high numbers, and the secular vote in low numbers. Again, for political power, the haredim gain by this fact. But when analyzing social issues, looking at the 40% political number is mistaken.

Is the actual number 25% or 35%? I have no idea. But it is far less than 40% I suspect.

What did bother me was the tone and content of the article. Shottland, and Chadash, made it sound like until the haredim came to Bet Shemesh, the city was a backward village with rampant crime. All kids were on drugs and were getting involved in thievery and thuggery. The natives were primitives.

It was only the haredim who came along and saved the city, providing jobs and services for everyone else to get rich off the backs of the haredim.

Yes, it is true. Bet Shemesh was always a lower income town. Old Bet Shemesh still is. Even during Vaknin's days it was well known that many vatikim form old Bet Shemesh dont bother paying arnona. They were always cousins of someone, etc. Collections were not enforced. They received discounts because of economic status. The whole gamut of reasons were applied.

It is probably still true, and I dont know if it has improved or not.

Yet, that does not mean we have the right to consider them primitives, drug addicts, criminals, and the like.

Haredim can take advantage of the kollel discount and any other discount they qualify for. Anybody who wants to apply for a discount, is welcome to, and if they qualify, more power to 'em. I wish I qualified. Unfortunately I don't qualify for a discount (that I am aware of at least) - if I did, I would apply for it.

According to this sign, placed around RBS B, the Eida rav, Rav Rosenberger, has found a solution to the increasing levels of break-ins taking place on shabbos in the neighborhood.

They have decided to hire a security company to patrol the area on Friday night. They will use a goy to do the patrols who will be paid b'havlaa - i.e. not directly paid for his work on shabbos, but for work done during the week that will also include the Friday night patrols.

Notice that the Eida has found it acceptable to use a goy to do melacha on shabbos when it is in their interests, yet when it was proposed in the negotiations with Intel in an effort to minimize, or stop, chillul shabbos, the Eida rejected it and considered such a solution nto acceptable.

What are the Eida's true intentions and goals?

The building freeze has everyone up in arms. Even the normal Yesha council "collaborators" are calling for everyone in Yesha communities to build. There has never been a building boom like the one going on now during the current freeze.

Unfortunately it is likely to be temporary, like to the tune of a couple days. I expect the government will start cracking down on people breaking the freeze in the near future.

Aside form just telling people to build, different communities are doing whatever they can to circumvent the orders in legal ways, such as finding loopholes, having construction started to the stage that it is not included in the freeze, requesting an exemption, etc.

The haredi communities in yesha are no exception. They have gone to 2 claims that in the past have brought them partial success in circumventing general work stoppage orders.

1. The order affects them far worse than any other community because of their high level of growth - lots of kids, weddings, etc.
2. They are not living in Yesha for ideological reasons, but practical reasons.

While I never understood why reason number 2 would ever be a cause for the authorities in question to grant the exemption, if ti works it is fine by me. Whatever excuse they can find to get those in charge to let them build is great.

The mayor of Beitar, Meier Rubinstein, made an appeal to the Obama administration, because it is they who are behind the freeze, to grant Beitar an exemption:

"They pushed us to come here. They gave us no other choice. We did not necessarily want to settle in a place beyond the Green Line. But we had no other options inside the Green Line.

"Even in Beit Shemesh secular Jews are trying to stop us from living there," added Rubinstein, referring to recent controversy surrounding building tenders reserved for haredi-only residents.

"America does not want us either. They won't give us a Green Card. We are in a worse situation than Sudanese refugees. They don't want us in Israel they don't want us in America, where are we supposed to go?"

[...]

Rubinstein said that his family and others who made up the seed of Beitar Illit came to the Land of Israel long before there was a state and lived for generations in Jerusalem.

"We are true Zionists. We came because of our religious faith, we are not ideologically motivated."

Beitar Illit and Modi'in Illit are the nation's two largest haredi-only towns and both are positioned just beyond the Green Line.

Both towns also have the highest fertility rates in Israel and one of highest in the entire world.

A mother in Beitar and Modi'in has on average eight children, according to a report entitled Patterns of Fertility in 2006, released last week by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

"What can we tell a family who bought a small two-room apartment ten years ago as a newly-wed couple and who now has eight children," said Rubinstein.

"They can't even expand their existing apartment, let alone build another apartment."

Rubinstein said there were dozens of families who will be financially ruined by the present building freeze.

"People have already paid building contractors and were planning to enter their new houses in coming months. They signed rental agreements or even sold their homes in with the expectation that they would soon be moving in.

"Where will all these families live now?"

Tonight Mayor Moshe Abutbol will be marrying off his son. Mazel tov.

I wonder if the parents will be buying the kids an apartment, as is the common custom. I actually wonder if they will be registering the kids for an apartment in the upcoming project of RBS C.

Or if, in light of his call on Friday for the secular to move en masse to Bet Shemesh, he will be looking for an apartment elsewhere for his kids...

Either way, Mazel tov to the young couple.

The New York Times relates a situation with the Chabad rabbi in Montana.

The police brought in a dog from israel to join the force. The problem was when they realized the dogs had been trained in hebrew and could not understand their commands in English, or their mangled attempts at Hebrew.

So the police brought in the Chabad rabbi to teach them how to talk Hebrew to the dog.

The menorah was lighted and Hebrew prayers chanted, while the officer watched from a distance with his dog. He figured he would let it all go down and then move in when the ceremony was done. The dog sat at attention, watching the ceremony with a peculiar expression on its face, a look of intense interest. When the ceremony was over, the officer approached the Hasidic rabbi.

“I’m Officer John Fosket of the Helena Police,” he said. “This is Miky, our security dog. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

Miky, pronounced Mikey, is in a Diaspora of his own. He was born in an animal shelter in Holland and shipped as a puppy to Israel, where he was trained by the Israeli Defense Forces to sniff out explosives. Then one day, Miky got a plane ticket to America. Rather than spend the standard $20,000 on a bomb dog, the Helena Police Department had shopped around and discovered that it could import a surplus bomb dog from the Israeli forces for the price of the flight. So Miky came to his new home in Helena, to join the police force.

The problem, the officer explained, was that Miky had been trained entirely in Hebrew.

When Officer Fosket got Miky, he was handed a list of a dozen Hebrew commands and expressions, like “Hi’ sha’ er” (stay!), Ch’pess (search!), and “Kelev tov” (good doggy). He made flashcards and tried practicing with Miky. But poor Miky didn’t respond.

Officer Fosket (who is not Jewish) suspected he wasn’t pronouncing the words properly. He tried a Hebrew instructional audio-book from the local library, but no luck. The dog didn’t always understand what he was being ordered to do. Or maybe Miky was just using his owner’s bad pronunciation as an excuse to ignore him. Either way, the policeman needed a rabbi.

And now he had found one. They worked through a few pronunciations, and the rabbi, Chaim Bruk, is now on call to work with Miky and his owner as needed. Officer Fosket has since learned to pronounce the tricky Israeli “ch” sound, and Miky has become a new star on the police force. The two were even brought in by the Secret Service to work a recent presidential visit. [...]

But the big winner is the rabbi, a recent arrival from Brooklyn who is working hard (against tough odds) to bring his Lubavitch movement to Montana. He has been scouring the state for anyone who can speak Hebrew, and is elated to have found a German shepherd he can talk to.

I wonder if the rabbi thought he would be teaching people to talk to dogs when he was debating to move out to Montana...

By now you all know that the Bostoner Rebbe passed away over Shabbos. The Rebbe was a warm and compassionate person, a leader of Judaism in many areas and various realms in which he was involved, and commanded respect around the world for his integrity. Baruch Dayan HaEmes. His flock will surely miss him, as will all of Klal Yisrael.

The Neturei Karta put out a statement announcing his death as well. Their statement is one that is mevazeh talmidei chachomim. They can argue and not approve of his way. Different people, different groups, can have different opinions and styles. Argument is legitimate.

What is not legitimate is denigrating a great person, or anybody for that matter, just because he does not follow your way.

The Neturei Karta statement said that he was a Zionist who promoted and supported the rebellion against the world nations, and also said Hallel on their holiday which was a curse and blaspheme against the One who created the world. Upon his death, all the impure media of the Aguda broke out in cries and wails - how fortuante are those who fear God and are faithfull to the Torah and do not get impressed by the various titles of human honor, and we breathe easier for the loss of that old Apikorus dressed in the clothes of an Admor. And upon the downfall of an enemy we should rejoice.

My fingers trembled as they wrote this post, fearing they were contributing to the publication of such vile slander. I felt it important to protest the words of the Neturei Karta denigrating the Bostoner Rebbe, zt"l.

May he be a meilitz yosher for all of klal yisrael, just as he was in life.

If you are interested in knowing more of the background of Jack Teitel, Ellie Fischer researched and investigated and wrote an article for The Jewish Week about Teitel.

Fischer spoke with me and I shared with him my scant memories of Teitel and my impressions. As he says in the article, I was in email contact with a few old friends to see if anyone had remembered anything more. The impression I had from my memories and from chatting with a few different friends was that Teitel had kind of just passed through. Stayed for a couple of years (nobody was even sure for how long, but we all thought that it was about 2 years or so), but then moved on. He had not made any lasting relationships or connections. Perhaps he was a loner, perhaps it was just not enough time for a kid to make a lasting relationship.


Some interesting excerpts:

Tytell’s arrest has brought scrutiny to population groups that are identified with him: settlers, ultra-nationalist religious Jews, and Orthodox American immigrants to Israel. And while much is now known about Tytell’s years in the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel, where he moved in 1999, almost nothing has been revealed about his upbringing in Orthodox communities in various cities in the U.S. (In fact, nearly all published reports, and even his Wikipedia page, spell his name “Teitel,” an adequate transliteration of the name from Hebrew, but incorrect.)

But in interviews with more than a dozen former classmates, camp counselors, teachers and others who knew him and his family during those formative years, a portrait is beginning to emerge of the young Jack Tytell.

Described by some as a “loner” who had trouble making friends, Tytell was on the move for much of his childhood as his U.S. Navy dentist father took the family from posting to posting. He is said to have developed a certain fascination, or even romance, with guns and weapons. But the picture is complicated by the fact that Tytell never seemed to bully anyone or exhibit any violent behavior.

And whether in his teenage years religious or political ideology helped shape him, or provided the framework for his later alleged acts, seems an open question. When he heard of Tytell’s arrest in October, Ed Codish, who taught English at Akiva when Tytell was there, wasn’t surprised, he told The Jewish Week. But thinking back to the high school kid he knew in Detroit, Codish concluded that the alleged crimes were probably “pathological, not ideological.”
[...]
Although the parents wanted to fit in with the various Orthodox communities they joined, their transience, coupled with their relative newness to observance in general, appeared to make it difficult. They were not antisocial or non-communal, although they exhibited some social awkwardness, according to family acquaintances. They had affinities toward the more haredi end of the American Orthodox spectrum and lived in more “black hat” neighborhoods in Chicago and Detroit, but they were unabashedly Zionist. Their choice of schools for their children reflects the same ambivalence; they sometimes sent their children to Modern Orthodox co-ed schools and sometimes to more haredi single-sex schools, even occasionally switching from one school to another in the same community.

Read Fischer's full article here.

(thanks to the many people who sent me the link to the article)

I heard that Dmitriy Salita would be fighting in the UK for the welterweight title on Saturday night. I did some research and found a few links that might be streaming the fight.

Turns out, Salita was to be fighting a British Muslim named Amir Khan, a.k.a King Khan. Khan has already defended his title once before, and is considered a serious level up. A level up that Salita was trying to move up to.

You had to be quick, because the whole match lasted 76 seconds. I remember there was a boxing match with Mike Tyson way back when that last something like 60 seconds.

Salita and Khan came out trading a couple of soft jabs. Then Khan floored Salita with a clean punch to the chin. Salita staggered and got up. After being punched down a couple more times, and he was hardly able to stand by then, Khan had him on the ropes in the corner as he was pounding him with punches. Salita could not continue and the ref called the match.

I hope Salita can pound the gemara better than he pounded Khan tonight...

1. The Muqata excerpts an interview where the interviewee said the most intimate thing a prime minister had told her was Ariel Sharon's dream.

2. Geulah Perspectives discusses why Jerusalem.

3. Cosmic X discusses the recent engagement of Chelsea Clinton to Marc Misnevsky...

4. Lion of Zion has an Israeli shadchan directory

5. Geshmak Dvar Torah has a nice explanation of the story of Yaakov fighting with the angel of Eisav...

6. If you are Israeli, West Bank Mama says you can vote on renaming the Hebrew name of 2 planets...