The New York Times is running an interesting piece in its "Room for Debate" feature.

7 journalists have each written a piece on the issue of Vise President Joe Biden's visit and being blindsided by construction in Jerusalem, that was announced while he was trying to mediate both sides back to the negotiating table.

Well worth a read...

What can a prime minister do when he needs to discipline a minister in the type of government Israel uses?

Netanyahu has called in Eli Yishai to tell him off about the timing of granting the final approval of the massive construction of housing projects in Jerusalem.

But what can he do? if he disciplines too heavily, Shas might get upset and leave the government. Yet he needs to stress his leadership and exert his authority. he cannot have chaos with ministers doing whatever they want whenever they want, just because he needs them.

That is, if Yishai did that really without Netanyahu knowing. It could be all just for appearances sake, so Bibi can impress on Biden and the Palestinians that he was blindsided, while he gains from the construction as well.

A new paper has come to town. "Hashavua", a religious paper based in jerusalem and Bnei Braq, run by "Kav L'Itonut HaDatit" has been opening up satellite newspapers in various communities around the country, and this past week their Bet Shemesh branch issued its first edition of a local religious/haredi newspaper.

Of course, they are stepping on some people's toes in the process. The local haredi paper, "Chadash" is the most affected by this, and cannot be happy about their new competition.

Some businesses are complaining that they are being pressured and threatened to not advertise in the new newspaper. Local rabbonim are also being brought in to tell people not to advertise, despite the fact that the new newspaper was opened with the halachic permission of Rav Shteinman and Rav Kanievsky (supposedly).

I have no problem with Chadash fighting against competition they might consider as unfair or as taking a piece of their pie.

If they have claims of "hasagas gvul", take them to beis din. Fight it by giving better rates on advertising, improve the quality of the newspaper (in my opinion since they added the English section the quality has only gotten worse which was a difficult feat considering how bad it already was), make it more professional, etc.

Stop mixing the rabbonim into your business issues. Go to them with the shailos, bring your case to beis din, but stop calling on the rabbonim to help you pressure potential or past advertisers. Stop using the rabbonim as your askanim. keep the business apsect of it in the realm of business, and not in the realm of rabbinics.

When you mix the rabbis into these issues that they have no place being involved in, it only causes, in the long run, a degradation of the honor of the rabbis and of the respect and esteem in which the rabbis are held.

The rabbonim should not become askanim of businessmen. They should remain rabbonim. Ask them if such a campaign is allowed, ask if you can fight against the competition, ask if it is hasagas gvul, but don't get them mixed up in dealing with advertisers.

Shimon Peres toured Bnei Braq yesterday. He visited Ponevezsh Yeshiva, he met with Rav Shteinman, and he visited one of the hi-tech office centers for haredi women.

At the offices of IROX, Shimon Peres spoke and said. "I would say half-jokingly, and if I truly had the ability, that all Jews should honor the Shabbos, and that they should only work 6 days of the week, as the Torah commands."

Gentlemen - heed your president!

In addition, Peres said that the secular need to make their offices and workplaces more appropriate for the Haredim, by having separation between men and women and setting time available for davening. Peres went on to praise the religious saying many not religious go to the gym, the yeshiva is a spiritual fitness center. You teach your brain to think and deal with challenges.

Peres is very encouraging of people going out of their way to hire haredim. I don't know that the reason haredim aren't looking for work (I know plenty who are, so I don't know where this whole issue comes from) is because the office is not "mehadrin", but Peres thinks that if managers would redesign their office and arrangements, there would be a sudden surge in applications from the haredi community.

I don't think he is right about that, but it remains to be seen. Perhaps offices for men only can be opened similar to the offices that hire only haredi women. From my experience, these offices are used simply as career starters. The women start off thinking they can't get a job in the outside world, and it is not appropriate. After they work in one of these centers for, usually, about 2 years (sometimes less), they realize they are being paid far less than what they could be making "on the outside", and then they look for jobs in the regular workforce. From my experience I have been mostly impressed with the women who did this - the women I knew and worked with were all high level quality programmers or whatever else they were doing.

There are probably some women who stay in these environments - some for retaining the belief that the haredi woman should not be in a regular office environment with non-religious people, with men, etc, others because the hours work out for them as they need to be able to be home for the kids, others because it is close to home, or for other reasons. But I have found that generally, after about 2 years, they try to move on.

So, I think, these haredi workplaces are good starting points, but people eventually realize that such arrangements are really holding them back and they want more once they realize they can have it. And once they realize that, they mostly forgo their mehadrin requirements.

I wonder up yo what weight it holds, before it collapses....

Israel injures or kills one person, tragically, in a mistake while defending civilians from attack, or as part of a raid against a terrorist cell, and the whole world is in an uproar.

In Nigeria yesterday, Muslims murdered 400 Christians for no particular reason. They shot gunfire to get peoples attention. When they came to see what was going on, they just cut them down with machetes - small children, old men - whoever could not run away. As well, they destroyed 300 churches.

Muslim gangs attacked three villages in central Nigeria and killed up to 400 Christians in pre-dawn attacks on March 7. “The shooting was just meant to bring people from their houses, and then when people came out they started cutting them with machetes,” said one witness. Another added, “We saw mainly those who are helpless, like small children and then the older men, who cannot run, these were the ones that were slaughtered.”

Some 300 Christian churches have been destroyed in the area around Jos during the past four years. In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos described his efforts to have friendly relations with Muslims, the effects of the local imposition of Sharia, and the caution with which he catechizes potential Muslim converts, some of whom “come just because they want to infiltrate.”

No public condemnation, no UN sanctions or threats, no UN Council discussion, etc. I guess nobody cares about them.

Shas has really turned it around the past few years. I am duly impressed with Shas recently - Eli Yishai has now pushed through a housing project in Jerusalem of 1600 units. The final approval came through yesterday while Joe Biden was in Jerusalem.

Yishai's response to the criticism is that he doesn't really care. The approval had nothign to do with Biden's trip. It was technical, and has been in the works for a few weeks already. The clerks who were working on the paperwork had no idea if or when Biden would be coming to Israel and they simply finalized the approval when the plans and paperwork were completed. And anyway, Jerusalem was never included in the construction freeze.

And now, reports have it that another 1000 housing units in Ramot are in the final stages of getting approval.

Way to go!

It seems Israel has a fetish with using Barak Obama's image in advertisements.

Some hat store has pasted its advertisements all over Jerusalem. The ad places images in a sequence, with the first being the image of Barak Obama with the words over him saying "The Blackest".

Do these businesses have to pay him for use of his image in advertising or is his image considered part of the public domain?

Pinati is one of these chain restaurants that attach themselves to gas stations all over the country.

I always thought the guy in the ad looked a bit strange. Now, Pinati has revamped it's logo and has started replacing the signs at the restaurants. The new face of Pinati looks awfully like Barak Obama.... It seems like Barak Obama has launched his newest career as a face model.. I wonder if they also serve his favorite food....

I was at a wedding many years ago in which a real horse was brought into the wedding hall. Not a buggy though. It was not pretty. The horse kept slipping on the tiled floor and at one point it could not get back up. They had to maneuver it outside where it could get a footing again. At least it did not break its leg.

Another wedding I was at, on a kibbutz, they had a tractor with the scoop filled with hay, scoop up the chosson and kallah and ride them off to the yichud room after the chuppa...

--- Haaretz

As if the peace talks haven't already ended a long time ago. Every time something happens, they say that is the end of the peace talks. yet when nothing happens, they still aren't willing to talk peace

Are religious people more moral than secular?

I don't know, but some new polls conducted on behalf of the upcoming International Women's Day show clearly that most religious people think so.

It seems like it is obvious - just look at a secular school with the metal detectors and weapons, fights, gang rapes being discovered that we keep reading about in the news.

Obviously nobody is perfect, and no community is perfect. The religious community also has crime, but usually it is mostly financial crimes and the like, with small amounts of violent crime. Regarding abusive crimes, I think all communities are affected pretty much the same. Clearly there are moral lapses in the religious public as well.

Does it mean somebody will become religious and immediately become more moral? Perhaps it has nothing to do with religion and more to do with living an ideological lifestyle, and whatever ideology you choose you will be motivated to be more moral?

Ynet published many of the results of the polls, many of them interesting things to consider...

What do you think?

The "peace camp" is now requesting a radio station, from the Bolshevik government that has to control the airwaves, and wants similar conditions to the recently approved "settler radio station" that is regional to the residents of Judea and Samaria.

Two points to ponder..

1. I wonder how quickly their request will be approved, relative the many years it took for the government to approve and allow a right wing radio station to run.
2. The left-wing peace camp already has every radio station on the band, and every newspaper (except for one) in the newsstands. It is disingenuous that they feel maligned and need to ask for another as if they don't have an opportunity to have their voices heard. Every station on the radio is left wing and supportive of the left-wing peace camp.
   

Rav Ovadia Yosef was asked about eating "gebrokchts" and making cakes and rolls and stuff from matza meal that looks like regular rolls and cakes.

Rav Yosef says Sefardim and most Ashkenazim eat "Matza Shruya", aka "Gebrokchts", and it was mostly the Hassidic communities that stopped eating matza shruya as a chumra.

As far as the Pesach cakes and rolls made from matza meal, Rav Ovadia said that there is an opinion of a sefardi posek that disallowed it based on "maaris ayin", as people will see the cakes and not realize they are not chametz as they look just like the chametz cakes. Most poskim however have allowed it, and we do not find any such decree against it from the Geamara, so we should not make our own decree against it.
(source: Kikar)

I hate Pesach cakes anyway, including the ones made from matza meal. And why go through all that hard work to make something that is barely edible anyway...

In my opinion it would have been no loss had he prohibited it, but I agree (as if he needs my agreement) that it is allowed. I personally don't like it as it doesn't "feel" pesahdike (aside form the taste), but everyone gets that warm fuzzy feeling based on the foods they are familiar with from when they were growing up, so that is a very subjective taste.