One of the AIPAC map presentations, as part of the current AIPAC conference...

HaBayit HaYehudi leader MK Naftali Bennet had promised to reach out to the English speaking community with a series of regular videos. This is the first..

1. When politicians take emotional positions

2. Dr. Shkop of Hebrew Theological College Tries to Suppress Openness About Abuse

3. Eilat - this brief description shows how Eilat is changing and is nothing like how it used to be described, or thought of..

4. haredi use of the term "torah world" is insulting - I never thought of ti like that. I have noticed the scorn and derision and exclusion in other points of speech, but I never thought of it in this very-frequently used phrase...

5. Running for their lives

6. Bezalel, marathons and a healthy Israeli society

7. Beyond the law no more

8. fearmongers

9. Friends I've never met

10. Promoting Judaism: Playing by Secular Rules

11. Chabad, 770, and the Israeli postal service

12. The good, the minor bad, the Jerusalem Marathon! - my post on the Jerusalem Marathon experience

If you live in Bet Shemesh and read the Haredi weekly newspaper Chadash, you might have been surprised to see page 2 in the English section.

Page 2, the inside of the back page, was an entire page of information of how to protect one's children from sexual predators. In a Haredi newspaper! The world is definitely changing. Slowly, but surely.

To me the page looked like an ad, rather than an article. But even if so (I asked Magen if they ran this as an ad, and the response I received was that they had not, had nothing to do with it, and had no knowledge of it), it was an ad that the newspaper accepted and published.

Unfortunately, I only found this page on the English side, and found no equivalent in the Hebrew section of the paper. Obviously it is not just English-speakers who need to be concerned about such things. Perhaps they were simply not "daring" enough to try to sneak it past their Hebrew censors, while maybe the English side has more leeway. Still, despite not being in Hebrew, a start is a start and for the first time they actually published something on this very serous issue!

This psak is hopefully not relevant to most of us, but it is interesting and definitely is unique - I have not seen this question, or any like it dealt with publicly until now.

Rav Yuval Cherlo was asked a halachic question by someone describing himself as a religious homosexual who is "mitchazek" - becoming more religious, becoming stronger in religion. He says he is being more careful about a number of mtizvos and aveiros..

This fellow explained that he accepted upon himself to be shomer negia, avoid touch generally applicable with the opposite gender but this fellow applied it to men because that is the gender he is attracted to, and not touch other males. This leads to a problem in shul, and other social settings I presume, as he will not shake hands with his fellow congregants and they at times get insulted. He asks Rav Cherlo what he should do.

Unusual question. Interesting self-application. Interesting "chumra" for him to take upon himself.

Rav Cherlo's response was that his acceptance of being careful to not touch other males need not prevent him from shaking hands. Shaking hands, Rav Cherlo says, is a technical matter with absolutely no sexual implications. Even having accepted such behavior on oneself would not require him to enter such problematic situations, as he could still shake hands.
(source: Kipa)

This psak is in line with Rav Cherlo's psak with shaking hands with members of the opposite sex. Rav Cherlo has said, to much criticism, that shaking hands has no sexual implications, and nobody must refrain from shaking. Applying it to man-man is an interesting application, but is in line with his general psak.

Rav Cherlo explained his rationale further to Ynet. He explained that shaking hands with women has no sexual meaning and is not prohibited between man and woman, and between homosexuals it is even more permissible. Giving sexual meaning to acts that have no sexual meaning, Rav Cherlo explains, is itself immodest and destructive to the holiness of the Jewish nation. What is prohibited, is prohibited. What is not prohibited - one should carefully consider the reward of [creating] the prohibition vs the loss [created by said prohibition.

It looks like the price of matza is going to go up again this year. I don't see how it cannot.

According to Bechadrei, there is a new process that has been added by the factories to the matza baking process. The purpose of this is to improve the quality of the matza - as any producer of any product, matza factories constantly look for new ways to improve their product, as they should. The result of this is that the Badatz Eida HaHareidis has responded by requiring the placement of an additional mashgiach to inspect every single matza as it comes out of the oven, in addition to the general mashgiach supervising the process.

The new process is one by which as soon as the matza is removed from the oven it gets dried by a special blower. This makes the matza more crispy and supposedly improves the taste dramatically.

According to the Badatz, the new stage in the process is potentially problematic. The warm air generated by the blower is clearly at a much lower temperature than the heat of the oven. If the matza comes out not completely baked and then blown on with this blower, it will be the blower doing the baking and in the process it can become chametz due to the lesser heat being used.

So, the Badatz has decided that they will need to place an additional mashgiach in the factory standing at the oven. He will inspect each and every matza as it is removed to ensure that it has been completely baked. If he sees one that is still a bit too soft and underbaked, he will instruct the guy manning the oven to put it back in for a few more seconds.

So, we can all expect the price of matza to rise. How can it not, if the number of mashgichim is going to be doubled? The question is by how much will it go up?

The Haredi public is prepared to accept these understandings [of the need for a broad coalition], but the main reason I have not succeeded yet in my mission is due to bans. Who should understand that more than the settlers community that suffers from bans every day. In our history we have gone through many tragedies as the result of baseless hatred and fighting among brothers. Now, as we look around ourselves and we see the great challenges around us, security challenges, challenge of managing a responsible diplomatic process, these challenges are in my estimation obligating us to unite our forces and not to divide our strengths.

  -- PM Benjamin Netanyahu when requesting an extension from president Shimon Peres for building a coalition

at the Jerusalem Marathon 10km race, the sheep showed themselves to be highly competitive.. (from Shvoong, photographer: Shai Amir)

Even in the most Western of countries in the region, sometimes we get clear reminders that we are in the Middle East...

funny, but a bit too long...