The fight over women's prayer at the Kotel continued this Rosh Chodesh with the Women Of the Wall trying to get their monthly Rosh Chodesh services in at the main part of the Kotel rather than at the designated area further south.

The story is generally pretty dull by now, as the same thing happens every single month - they try to meet and pray, some protest, some get arrested, and the world moves on. This time though, I learned something new.

One woman, Deborah Houben, was arrested because she was wearing a male-style tallit, a black and white tallit, rather than a woman-style tallit which is colorful and worn draped around the neck. According to the police, it is illegal for women to pray by the Kotel wearing a male-style tallit, but they can wear the female-style tallit.

I never heard of such a thing before. Men's tallit vs womens tallit? I know plenty of men that wear a colorful tallit - are they wearing women's tallit? Is it dependant on draping it around the neck? What if she had worn a black and white (aka mens) tallit but draped it around her neck?

Anyways Rav Shmuel Rabinovitch, rav of the Kotel, denies this and says it is illegal for them to wear any tallit. He says all the women wearing tallitot should have been arrested, and not just Houben.
(source: Jpost)

I sometimes wonder if the more extremist groups/people at the Kotel would, instead of fighting them every single month rather embrace them and welcome them, if perhaps their group would shrink instead of grow. With all this fighting, they are motivated to keep coming back every month. the group continues to grow. Perhaps conflict is a bad tactic from the haredi point of view, in this instance. Maybe if they would be allowed, many of them would lose interest...

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

Did you know tomatoes are Christians? I wonder what is considered a Hindu vegetable, or a Buddhist one.. What about Jewish - which veggie is a Jewish vegetable? And what about Muslim? And is there a differenrce among Christians regarding their vegetables - I mean, is the tomato Catholic? What about Anglican? Episcopalean? Southern Baptist? Does each group have their own veggie?

According to the Facebook status update of the Popular Egyptian Islamic Association, tomatoes are offensive to Muslims because they are Christians. if cut a certain way they can show the shape of the cross.
(source: INN)

I don't know. You can go into prety much any restaurant in Israel and order a "Salat Aravit" - an Arabic salad, and it will be mostly diced cucumbers and tomatoes.

Funniest is this paragraph:

A writer for The Blaze categorized most news coming out of the Middle East as "intriguing, bizarre and unceasingly concerning," but said the forbidden tomatoes story "actually crosses into a comical sphere."

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

The country of Slovakia has decided to honor the Chasam Sofer. The National Bank of Slovakia has minted a new coin commemorating the 250th year of the birth of the Chasam Sofer.


As you can see, the front side and the back side each bear half of the Jewish Star, and were they to be combined they would make the full Jewish star, the Magen David.

The front side of the coin also bears the image of the Chasam Sofer (or the Chatam Sofer as they write it) atop a 7-branched menora laid within the scroll of a Torah, along with the years he lived.

The background, as written by the Coin Update website, is:

The National Bank of Slovakia has issued (18^th June) a new coin which marks the 250^th anniversary of birth of Chatam Sofer (1762 - 1839) one of Europe’s most noted scholars of the Talmud and founder of the Bratislava Yeshiva which continued as a primary institute of Hebrew education until the outbreak of World War II. Born in Frankfurt, Sofer traveled to Boskovice, Moravia (now part of the Czech Republic) as a scholar in 1782 where he became recognized as an authority in the teachings of the Talmud. The Yeshiva he founded in Bratislava in 1806 eventually became the most influential institute of Hebrew studies.

The coin, a 10 EURO silver issue, is the work of designer Pavel Károly and depicts a portrait of Sofer inspired from an Oil painting by Ber Frank Halevi's original drawing. The depiction is placed within a triangle, one half of a traditional Star of David, and a menorah is positioned below the portrait. His year of birth and death, 1762 and 1839 is seen on either side of the menorah. The text “CHATAM SOFER” is placed around the upper left edge and the same – in Hebrew letters is positioned on the right side.

The reverse design includes a scenic depiction of Bratislava during the time of the founding of Sofer’s yeshiva within a triangle, in opposite position along with the coin’s face value of “10 EURO” seen on the left side and the year “2012” seen on the right. The text “SLOVENSKO” appears above the primary design along the top edge. The coin is struck at the Kremnica Mint in both proof and FDC or UNC quality. Both versions are minted in .900 fine silver with a weight of 18 grams and a diameter of 34 mm. Mintage figures for the proof version is authorized at 7,900 pieces and the FDC version has an authorized mintage of 5,800 pieces.

That is very cool.
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

Stephen Colbert: Egypt's Presidential Election & Hosni Mubarak's Health

Judaism makes a surprise cameo...


------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

Celebrating 13 Years: A Birthright Israel Timeline



------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

Malcolm Hoenlein: Time to Get the Youth Excited About their Judaism




------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

NACHAS - Toiv Vehameytiv - Behind the Scenes




------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

Interesting Posts #390

(sorry for the more than average amount of posts linked - its been more than a few days without a roundup, and they have been building up..)


1. Can We All Get Along?


2. The So-Very-Jewish Peter Beinart


3. Punctuality: Yekkes, Stereotypes, Minhag Ashkenaz, and Bein Adam Lachaveiro


4. Will The Real Stan Please Stand Up


5. Rav Mordechai Gifter on Kannoim


6. I Have A Filter On My Computer


7. Building A Shul With A Whole Lotta Love


8. The 2 Times Rebbetzin Kanievsky Lost her Cool


9. The Future of Israel According To The Israeli presidential Conference 2012


10. A Steamroller in Jerusalem


11. The Paradigm Shift


12. The Yek Wedding - I had a mostly "yek wedding", and I dont think it is as uncommon as Dov Ber makes it out to be. but he asks an interesting question at the end...


13. Too Funny For Words


14. What's the Point Of This Blog?

15. Peter Beinart and Zionism

16. The Ropshitzer Explaining Shelo Asani Isha - To His Wife





------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

The State Comptroller report on the Carmel fire was expected to be a disaster for Minister of Interior Eli Yishai. It was expected to lay the bulk of the responsibility on him (jointly with Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz) and call on him to resign or be removed from his position as minister.

People don't like Eli Yishai. That is for sure. Sometimes it is the Right, sometimes it is the Left, sometimes it is Ashkenazim, sometimes Sephardim. Sometimes it is those "more religious" and sometimes it is those "less religious". Sometimes it is the Litvishe haredim, sometimes the masoratim, sometimes men, sometimes women, etc,. It all depends on who he is upsetting with his positions on any given issue.

Many people were looking to the Comptroller report with great expectations, as if this would finally solve our Eli Yishai problem. The Comptroller would call for his removal, and off with his head. We would be finally be rid of him, as if the PM would actually fire him or as if he would actually resign just because the State Comptroller recommended it.

Sure enough, the Comptroller released his report, and while still laying a lot of blame on Yishai, he did not call for Yishai's removal.

If people were relatively consistent, they should have bowed their heads in submission and said maybe next time.

Yet, since the Comptroller report has been released, people are upset the report didn't call for his resignation/termination, and they are publicly calling for it anyway. What's the point of an investigation and a report if the conclusion is foregone and pre-determined. And what is the point of the investigation and report if the report will be ignored and the desired outcome called for anyway?

I am convinced that instead of using democratic tools to run the country properly, people are just using them to advance the platforms, agendas and/or people they like, and to knock down those they don't. When the results aren't in sync with what people want, they ignore the results and promote their desires anyway.

I am no big fan of Eli Yishai, but the report didn't lay enough blame on him to demand his termination as minister. That's it. Maybe next time.


------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

Green Israel on CNN

this program on CNN is running in conjunction with Israel...


------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

Herzl Museum Presents: The 1st Interactive-Zionist Wall



------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

Former Ambassador to the US: Israel Should First of all Decide for Itself



------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

Kol Berama By Simcha Leiner in memory of the Fogels



------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

Yedid Nefesh




------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

The President's Conference is over, and I must say I greatly enjoyed the parts I was able to go to. I found it thought provoking, fun and educational.


President Shimon Peres has found a gracefulness as president that he never had as a politician. Peres was always brilliant, he was never short for words, he can speak forever on any topic without any notes, and get involved in minute details of the topic at hand. As president though, Peres has discovered an aura of respectability, gracefulness and wisdom.

We had a bloggers session with the President. For the first time that I can remember, I had the opportunity to really see Shimon Peres up close, in a fairly intimate setting, to hear him speak in a conversation rather than just saying a speech.

Perhaps it is his age, perhaps the three days of a conference were wearing on him, perhaps it is a combination of a bunch of other factors, but despite his warmth, wisdom and thoughtfulness, I noticed a change in Shimon Peres. I noticed that he seemed disoriented at times, he had a hard time hearing or understanding questions that were asked of him, and he seemed a bit off balance. When someone asked a question, almost every time he leaned over to his aide and asked what the question was. When he stood up he seemed a bit clumsy and disoriented. His mind was as sharp as ever, but it just seemed to me that his age is perhaps starting to catch up with him.

Despite that, the event with President Shimon Peres was a wonderful opportunity, and I thank him and the management team of Ruder Finn for arranging it.

The President even invited us all to get together around him for a group picture at the end of the session..




------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

A Guest Post by Dr. Harold Goldmeier

Israel's special forces soldiers gearing up for an attack on Iran

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------