I was a a sfardic bar mitzva last night (more on that a bit later). Here is a short clip form the singer, Avi Ben Yisrael - a star sfardi singer. he sang his hit single "Mechakeh l'nes" (waiting for a miracle) a few times over the course of the party, by demand of the crowd...

1. Haemtza has a very interesting guest post about how the mitzva of tzedaka on Purim is specifically for matanos la'evyonim, and way too much money is being given for other tzedakas on Purim.

2. The Way has an interesting question about kashrut and cooking on shabbos that he is looking for an explanation for...

3. Somehow Frum has an interesting question about Artscroll...

4. Shomer Shekalim explains the Israeli pension system

5. WBM hosts Israel Pride Week.

You have gained a year, and the peace process has lost 20 years. We have returned to the days of indirect peace negotiations of the days of former Prime Minister Yitzchak Shamir.

--- MK Taleb A-Sana (Raam T'al)

There have been a number or protests recently against the mehadrin bus arrangements. The court has recently given the State 60 days to respond regarding why they have not recommended how to stop the violence on the bus system and what their plans are for the future if it would be allowed, as per the recommendation of the Ministry of Transportation.

In a protest against the mehadrin buses, in which they hung signs on mehadrin buses in various areas around the country, one of the organizers of the protest said something very interesting. he said, "The separate lines exist in many cities around the country and between many cities, and not just within haredi population centers. We are protesting the statement of the Minister of Transportation Katz and Egged ignoring the degrading treatment of women that are sent to the back of the bus - sometimes with the use of violence, both verbal and physical. The mehadrin bus lines are serving the general mixed public and not just the Haredi public, and that separation is being forced upon the general public." (source: Ynet)

If he is to believed, it sounds like even those opposed to it are really ok as long as it is limited to internally within a specific haredi community. The problem is when it spreads out to areas that are more mixed and then the general public is affected.

I was just recently talking to somebody, a very wise man, and somehow the conversation turned to talking about Rabbi Dr. Lander a"h who recently passed away. The wise man I was speaking with said something to me that was very interesting, though I don't remember now if he was quoting this to me from someone else, or if he was telling me what he had said to someone previously.

Regardless, this is what he said. He was comparing Touro College and Landers Insititute to Yeshiva University. He said that the difference between YU and Touro, making Touro more acceptable, is that Dr. Lander had made havdala - he separated the kodesh from the chol. Both are necessary, and he effected oyur learnign both, but with a separation between the kodesh and the chol. YU, on the other hand, was making kiddush - mixing the two.

That is why, he explained to me, Touro was always more acceptable among the yeshivish crowd than YU was.

What do you think?

Mayor Moshe Abutbol had picked a fight with the Minister of Education, Gideon Saar, over the Minister's decision to not shut down the School for Languages and Cultures in RBS, and his promise that if necessary he will reclassify it as a super-regional school.

Abutbol claims that the decision to close the school and merge it with other schools had been arrived at by professional teams from the ministry, and he would not accept any decision he called "politically motivated" by the minister that ignores the professional recommendations.

The minister, who does have the final word, basically told him to jump in the lake. After Abutbol screamed loud enough, it is Israel after all, Saar agreed to come down to Bet Shemesh and see the school and the situation for himself.

Yesterday was the day. Saar came to Bet Shemesh and was given the grand tour of the half empty school building and the nearby set of caravans housing hundreds of cramped kids.

Did it impress him to change his mind? That is the one thing the article doesn't say. The article in Kikar Shabbos, describing the events, goes to great lengths describing how Abutbol and Greenberg gave him the grand tour. It describes some of the words of Saar - he condemned the recent death threat anonymously sent to the mayor, and he spoke about the need to solve the crisis the Haredi school shave with a serious shortage of classrooms and promised the ministry would work hard to solve that problem and approve building more.

Yet not one word about him changing his mind or anything from Saar about the specific school he came to discuss.

That leads me to suspect that Saar was not convinced and did not change his mind. Abutbol's screaming got him to come down to Bet Shemesh, which is always good and beneficial for a city to be visited by a minister, but it seems like that's all he got. Of course, this might be wrong. Maybe Saar really is looking into it, and maybe their establishment of a professional committee is serious. It just seems to me, more from what wasn't said than from what was, that Saar basically told Abutbol to take a hike.

---

Update: I am told by somebody involved and knowledgable about the meeting yesterday that my evaluation is basically correct. The issue has been shelved, Saar said he is not closing the school, but is, sort of in exchange, compensating the mayor by agreeing to build many more classrooms for the haredi children who have been learning in caravans until now.
The school will remain for the coming year, and they will probably fight about it again next year, depending on how the registration goes for the school in this coming year.

Purim at the Kotel and can lend itself to some pretty strange imagery....

Kesher im HaTzeebur is an expense account that Members of Knesset have in the annual budget - as it means, for the purpose of staying in touch with the public. In the past, the Knesset has publicized yearly how much the different MKs used of their budget and what they used it for. It raised an annual outcry when people saw that the MKs were wasting tons of money on ridiculous items that seem to have no connection to maintaining contact with the public.

As a result, the Knesset changed the process and permission is required for purchases. I guess that is why in this years report nothing crazy stands out.

The onyl thing noteworthy is the top and bottom spender.

The top spender for this expense account is a Yisrael Beiteinu MK named Lia Shemtov who spent over 95,000 NIS. That is well over her budget, of about 69,000 NIS, but they claim that she carried over part of last years budget (which should not be allowed in my opinion) that had not been spent.

Another standout is the bottom of the list - Minister Benny Begin spent 0 NIS. That's right - he spent nothing of this expense account. I don't even know how that is possible. He has expenses and needs and unless he is simply not interested in staying in touch with the public, I don't know how else he is doing it. I guess it is possible that since he is a Minister without Portfolio, perhaps his actual office budget is way beyond what he actually needs and then he just buys his "kesher im hatzeebur" stuff through his office instead of using the expense account. Benny begin is considered one of the most honest and trustworthy people in Knesset, so I trust he is doing whatever it is through proper means. It just seems strange.

--- INN

the recent rains pushed the Kinneret above the lower red line for the first time in nearly two years!

The Ben-Gurion website to check flight arrivals only works with internet Explorer. To me that seems like a major failure. In this day and age to run a major website that does not work with Firefox or Chrome? And to still refer to minimum requirements of Internet Explorer 5.5 (rather than 7 or 8)?

In twitter talk we would say #BenGurion #FAIL

I, once again, have to give a lot of credit to Minister of Housing Arial Attias (Shas). If there is one guy in the government who is actually focused and concentrating on his ministry and doing the work he is meant to be doing, it is Arial Attias.

He has completely turned the housing industry around. He has moved it from stagnation to a vibrant office, pushing projects all around the country. This is all despite the construction problems brought about by the political process. Attias ignores the fact that in a large percentage of the country he cannot build right now, and instead pushes major projects in the parts where he can build. He is thinking big, he is creating big projects, and he is getting the job done.

Today up for final approval is a project down south near Arad called Kasif, which is meant to be a Haredi city of 10,000 housing units, estimated for 50,000 people. In addition, Harish-Katzir up north is moving along in the planning stages, along with thousands of other units around the country in places like Lod, Bet Shemesh, Tiberias, Nazereth Ilit, and other places.

Arial Attias is working hard, focused on running his ministry and I am very impressed with him.

I don't know how it was for you, but for me this Purim actually turned out to be one of the best Purim's I remember in, at least, the past few years.

I am not a big fan of Purim - the costumes, griminess, constantly feeling like I need a shower, and some other things.

But this Purim was pretty good. The rain was fun, mishloach manot was low key, between parties and seudahs on Sunday and Monday I drank probably less than one cup of wine altogether, we did not paint the kids faces, and more.

Purim was far nicer this year than I remember it in recent years (maybe it is because I dont remember much of it from previous years because of too much wine...)...

What a riot! and that young Adam Sandler making an early appearance...


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(Picture, courtesy of HNN.co.il, was taken in Atarot, Jerusalem yesterday)

Former MK Shlomo Benizri who is sitting in jail for corruption and bribery is going through a crisis. Because of it, he has asked the President for a presidential pardon.

While I don't see how he "qualifies" for a pardon - doesn't everybody in jail have a hard time? - he definitely has the right to request it. I wish him luck in his request, and whether it is approved or denied, I hope he gets through the difficult period with his well-being intact. It can't be easy, though jail was not meant to be, and I wish him well.

So the Chief of Police of Dubai issued a statement to the head of the Mossad, Meier Dagan, to "Be a Man" and admit that Israel is behind the assassination.

As if assassinating a world class terrorist under this police chief's nose without leaving any evidence behind isn't manly enough...