There has been a dispute going on between Bet Shemesh and it's neighboring regional council of Mateh Yehuda. The dispute is one that is happening in other parts of the country as well, but I am more familiar with the one happening in my area, so I will reference that, but it applies elsewhere as well.

Bet Shemesh demanded/requested the annexation of some land from the rgional council for the purpose of building more industrial zones. Businesses that would open in these areas would pay the local land tax, which is very important for a city, and this new land would be very important for a city under expansion.

Eventually the Ministry of Interior approved the request, granting Bet Shemesh 3000 dunam of INdustrial Zone that had been developed by Mateh Yehuda.

Mateh Yehuda was not going to take that sitting down. They put money into developing these areas and they were counting on that arnona as well. They appealed the decision and it has been a fight ever since.

A few months back Moshe Abutbol and a group of other mayors in similar situations created a forum called mayors for rightful distribution. They have held conferences and have petitioned the government claiming that they deserve to annex lands from surrounding areas because most of the population lives in the cities, but most of the land is controlled by the regional councils, and that is not right.

Back to today. Globes has revealed that a few days ago Moshe Abutbol has sent his next claim on behalf of the forum to Minister of Interior Eli Yishai. The forum now wants a new law passed that any business operating within 15 kilometers of a city will have to pay the city's rate of arnona.

The city rate of arnona is much higher than the regional council rate. That is why many businesses in cities with regional councils so close, like Bet Shemesh, choose to open in industrial zones of the regional council rather than the city.

The forum claims that many of the proprietors of these businesses, sometimes even in industrial zones built very close to the city, are city residents, and many customers are as well. The city then loses the arnona, but is really the one supporting the business, providing all the customers, and sometimes the owner and employees as well. Raising the arnona rates to be equal to those of businesses in the neighboring city would level the competitive playing field.

This is like a governmental tent protest. Instead of going out and developing your own business areas, the tactic has become to take from others, to have others subsidize you...

Quote Of The Day

I do not believe that in the short term we will be able to make peace with the Palestinians and provide them with a response to all their claims, but what is needed and is possible to be done is to formulate a package that will allow the sides to open negotiations. Negotiations should be held behind closed doors since if they are open they will not succeed.

  -- President of Israel, Shimon Peres

Moshe Braun Custom Ketubot

Kol Yisrael Radio Pre - 6 AM Moshe Chovav Reciting Shema Yisrael

For many years I would listen to this in the morning in the car to work.. it was definitely an endearing part of the day...

If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem.. Im Eshkacheich

"We will not negotiate with terrorists"

That is a common refrain among many western governments. We will not negotiate with terrorists.

Of course, they almost always do. Just not publicly. They often don't really have a choice.

It is a bit more unusual when such a refrain comes from a private business.

The Ohr HaChayim bookstore in Geula has been targeted by the thugs (they call themselves the sikrikim). They have been incessantly attacking the store, breaking windows, damaging merchandise, gluing shut the locks and harassing customers and the store owner. This has been going on for a long time. Ohr HaChayim is not the only store in Geula - Mea Shearim that has been attacked. Others have as well, some caved and closed, some did not.

This group of thugs has been trying to get Ohr HaChayim to agree to commit to a series of terms. Such an agreement would bring quiet to the store. Ohr haChayim has been refusing to agree, saying they will not negotiate with terrorists.

There might have been a breakthrough this week. The thugs claim, with the backing of the Eida (if they ever deny their association with the thugs this proves that denial is a lie and just used when convenient), that the owner of Ohr HaChayim has signed the agreement. His commitment says that he agrees to four conditions:

1. he will hang a sign in the storefront saying people should be dressed modestly when entering the store.
2. he will have a mashgiach from their committee of "purity of the camp" to oversee the books sold in the store (again, sounds like another protection racket).
3. a sign will be hung in the store saying it is not a library
4. He will actively discourage the yeshiva bochurim from hanging around and reading books, turning the store into a hangout and meeting place of sorts

This is an interesting concept someone came up with. The new Jerusalem light-rail has come under criticism for being extremely slow. One person, a local Jerusalem resident, decided he would test how slow it actually is. he decided to race the train.

This fellow, Michael Spivack, is an amateur athlete. According to the article, this means that he runs 5 minutes per kilometer or slower. To compete with the train, he had to run at about 5 minutes per km. The run was a total of 13.8km, or 8.5 miles.

Spivack won the race, coming to the end of the route 4 minutes before the train.

To be fair, the train still has to stop at various stops and let passengers off and on, which slows it down, both in speed between stops but also at the stops.

I guess this means they need to work on the system to speed up those trains.

or else it means the people of Jerusalem might as well start running or jogging, because many of them will be able to get to their locations quicker that way than by using public transportation. And they will get healthier in the process!

I do know that I run considerably slower than 5 minutes per kilometer. if I had tried this the train would have run me over. it might be a good training session though, as the train bearing down on you might make you run faster. Do it often enough and you have found a great method of increasing your speed.

A Guest Post by Dr. Harold Goldmeier

I don't know whether Erdogan is motivated by religious/personal hatred of Israel or is trying to reestablish the once prominence Ottoman Empire throughout the Middle East on the backs of Israel's Jews; undoubtedly much of what he does is to curry favor with the other Muslim States in the region.

Erdogan has effectively wiped out the secular democratic influences within Turkey by destroying its free press and the influence and independence of the Armed Forces of Turkey. Several points re: the recent comments by political observers on Turkey's downgrade of diplomatic status with Israel.

The UN report, which Turkey did not want released, concludes Israel rightly and legally acted in self-defense in boarding and stopping the Gaza flotilla. While Israel should have used more restraint, Turkey should have made sure the passengers boarding in Turkey had not taken weapons on board.

Second, just recently Turkey killed over 150 Kurds with bombs and rockets in her continuing war to suppress Kurdish demands for an independent state. Meanwhile Turkey has forcefully occupied half of Cyprus following an invasion and war, because Turkey wants to; she claims Cyprus, an independent nation recognized by the UN, as Turkey property.

Finally, Turkey's efforts to ally with repressive Syria came crashing down when Turkey could no longer tolerate the slaughter by Assad of his own people. Turkey backed-off from this alliance, and is swamped with refugees streaming across the border from Syria. America better realize that having fundamentalist Muslim governments stretching from The Black Sea to the Mediterranean down The Red Sea on both sides of the Gulf of Aden is more of a threat to maritime shipping, self defense for Europe from missile attacks, and in the long run a greater theater for terrorist trainees than Asia. China understands this potential seat of power should the Muslim countries ever be able converge their ideologies if not their politics.

Picture Of The Day

Quote Of The Day

We'll fight for another 20 years, until they get rid of the girls. We'll do something different every day, until they say they've had enough.

--- Moshe Friedman, one of leaders of kannoim/thugs harassing OROT to take over their school building

Considering the recent story from Bnei Braq of the fruit store owner who was harassing his neighboring store to sell the location to him and refused to go to beis din when summoned, and how he met his demise in an untimely and supernatural fashion, it might be worth considering summoning this Moshe Friedman to Rabbi Wosner's beis din...

Billy Joel Talks About His Jewish Background

Whether or not Billy Joel was Jewish was one of the biggest debates we had as kids. Some knew he was (and were extremely proud he, a Jew, was married to Christie Brinkley) and some knew he wasn't.

500 People in 100 Seconds!

I thought this was pretty cool



500 people holding more than 1,500 (!!!) developed pictures all around Israel, creating a smooth music video within their hands

Dov Lipman Speaking about equality in Beit Shemesh

Interesting Posts #298

1. A Beloved Israeli Moment 

2. Israeli School Supplies Guide

3. OROT Banot Jungle Book

4. Ein Mabua

5. They Don't Write Like This Anymore..

A spooky story reportedly happened in Bnei Braq recently.

According to Kikar's report, the City of Bnei Braq has been cracking down on shop owners who display their merchandise on the streets. This caused many stores to keep all their merchandise inside, to avoid fines, crowding the store. This is especially true of fruit and vegetable stores.

One such fruits and veggies shop made an offer to a neighboring store to buy his space so he could expand. Since he could no longer put his merchandise outside, his store was not big enough. Buying the neighboring store would allow him enough space to operate.

Despite various pressures applied by the fruit guy, and by known crime families on his behalf, the store owner refused all offers.

Eventually he could not take the threats any longer, so he went to Rav Wosner and laid it all out before him, describing the threats. Rav Wosner told him to open a case with the beis din and send a summons to the fruit guy.

The fruit guy refused to appear before the beis din, despite having been summoned a few times. All the while, he continued trying to put pressure and threats on the neighboring store to sell.

Rav Wosner's response to the refusal of the fruits guy to appear before beis din while continuing his harassment was to say "don't worry. If he refuses to be judged on this below, there is also a judgement up above."

A few days later the fruits and vegetables guy died of a heart attack.

This reminded me of the famous story of Rav Akiva Eiger, and Kikar compares it as well.

The story goes that Rav Akiva Eiger summoned a fellow who was refusing to give a get to his wife. The fellow came to hear Rabbi Eiger out, but he kept refusing to give the get. Rabbi Eiger told him there are three ways a man can marry a woman, by money, by contractual obligation and by sexual obligation, while there are only two ways to release a wife from marriage - by divorce or by death of the husband.

Supposedly, the story goes, that the fellow died of a heart attack on his way out of Rabbi Eiger's house.

I also know a modern-day story that happened a few years ago very similarly. A certain rav in America had a similar problem. he eventually got the fellow to agree to come talk, hoping he could convince him to give his wife the divorce. he continued refusing. Eventually the rav told him the story of Rav Akiva Eiger, and the fellow still refused. A few days later the fellow died.

Quote Of The Day

We are talking about a group of scaredy-cats who know how to scream at little girls in first-grade and harass them. Such mighty people. When the police came they ran away like rabbits.... 
We need to compile a list of volunteers that will be able to come on short notice to balance against the haredim. All residents of Bet Shemesh, religious and secular alike, need to show strength and make a balagan. It can't be that this small group will tell us what to do.

  -- Bet Shemesh City Councilman Moti Cohen

Cohen said this after about 50 of the kannoim/thugs showed up outside the OROT Banot school screaming while holding bricks