tzniyus alert

This is just too funny, and childish..

Haredim10 is reporting that someone, anonymously, has recently been ordering hundreds of pizza pies and orders of falafel for delivery to the Viznitzer Rebbe. As well, this person has, or these people have, ordered various service technicians to the Rebbe's house to provide some unnecessary and undesired service. The Rebbe's son has been harassed with fake calls to security and emergency services to rush to his house.

The Rebbe, without making a public issue of it, has been paying for all these deliveries and services.

I don't know who is fighting with whom (maybe it is Bobov's retaliation for the Viznitzers "pogrom" on Bobov last week?), but this is just too funny. It takes some cojones to do this to a rebbe..

Or maybe the Rebbe and his family just like pizza and falafe...

According to the report in The Jewish Press (based on Nana), the Ministry of Education is considering doing away with 12th grade in the Israeli school system. Basically they consider it unnecessary and a waste of a year.

It would not just cancel the year, but that education time would be made up in the previous years by shortening summer vacation by a month starting in first grade.

After 11th grade students will be given a number of options, as they are normally too young to enter the IDF at that point which is what most do after finishing 12th grade, including a year of community service, early enlistment opportunities, possibilities for academic degrees, etc.

I don't think it is a bad idea except for the concern that having a full year with no structure would be bad for kids at that age. They need to be in an official program, and not just be allowed to do whatever they want, as most/many will drop out, sleep late, hang out, stay up late, etc and not commit to doing anything they are not actually obligated to do. If the MoE can make that year have some sort of responsible program, with options and variety, that is mandatory participation, then it might not be a bad idea.

The fact that my two sons finished 12 years of school in the State of Israel with any person sitting with them and showing them what a page of gemara looks like is a tragedy, as this is their heritage. This is their history. It is not anybody else's. It does not belong to the Haredim. It does not belong to Religious Zionism. It does not belong to Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav. It belongs to every child in the State of Israel.

  -- MK Yair Lapid

The Eida Hachareidis has been involved in a kashrus issue for a bit of time now that might finally be coming to an end.

It really hit the public eye when the heads of the Eida and its kashrus division met with Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel. Considering the Eida being an anti-Zionist organization, this meeting raised eyebrows. The Eida people responded that they have always believed in "shtadlanus" and that's what this meeting was about, for a specific purpose.

A while ago an Eida shochet publicized that many of the problems with Eida chickens being treif from problems in the "tzomet hagidin" - the sinews and ligaments found in the lower leg (i.e. the polkie) - were caused by the method and content of vaccinations employed by the Eida. The way they vaccinated did not allow the substance to get absorbed in the flesh of the chicken but trickled down in the body and caused problems in the legs. The Eida uses a different method than other kashrut organizations for the vaccinations, and because of that it seems they are the only ones affected in this way.

That caused a bit of a stir that eventually died down a bit, but the issue in general recently came to the forefront, and it seems the Eida is looking into alternatives to this method, and that was the focus of the meeting with the Israeli minister. They are specifically looking into the possibility of vaccinating using some sort of aerosol spray. Minister Ariel agreed to look into the matter and after consulting with the chief veterinarian has decided to approve of a pilot to test the viability of this method.

The problem might be solved, or at least near a solution.

A new problem has now been raised by a number of shochtim and rabbonim, as a result of this. They suggest that the Eida's investigation into an alternative method is basically a de facto admission into the fact that until now they have been selling [many] treif chickens as kosher (mehadrin at the top level). Otherwise they would reject the idea of change and double down saying this is the mesora and accepted way of doing it. While kudos for looking into makign a change, the change means the previous method was no good. The rabbonim suggest that people who buy Eida chickens, and that includes caterers and restaurants and private people and many more, might very well have to kasher all their pots and dishes.
source: Behadrei

We wait for more information.

Whether you trust them anyway or whether you do not trust them or whatever your position is on the Eida, my point is that mistakes and mess-ups happen with every hechsher, from the "best" to the "worst" (however one might define those categories), and what really interests me in a hechsher is how they learn from their mistakes and work to fix them and prevent them in the future. If you only eat a specific hechsher because they never make mistakes, it just means they are not telling you about their mistakes and you have no idea if they are being worked on and if they are working to improve their methods..

Reportedly, Israeli NBA athlete Omri Casspi has agreed to terms and signed a deal with the Champion Golden State Warriors.

Obviously Casspi will be a bench player, but he might become the first Israeli to "bring home the gold" from the NBA..

Mazel tov and hatzlacha!

even though today is Wednesday...

That is the recently-pardoned-from-prison Yoelish Krausz, celebrating the birth of his newborn baby boy.

Krausz said on the radio that he is considering naming the baby Reuven in honor of Reuven Rivlin who granted him a pardon. That and he probably doesn't have too many names left in the arsenal, considering that this is #17.

Mazel tov!

MK Yoel Rzvazov (Yesh Atid) has proposed a law that is described, by Ladaat, as populist (rather than out of a true concern for the beneficiaries).

The proposal is that any attack on a soldier would get a harsher punishment than the normal law already on the books and would be subject to up to 10 years in prison, depending on the nature of the attack - if attacking with a weapon, if attacking with multiple assailants, or if the soldiers is on active duty when attacked.

Yesh Atid says making this punishment harsher will create a deterrent.

Yesh Atid says that under the current law, attacking a public servant, among which is included a soldier, is punishable by up to 7 years, but nobody ever expected a situation in which soldiers would be attacked like they are today and this would need to be dealt with, but today there are sectors of extremists that violently attack soldiers found in their areas or nearby, whether on duty or not. Therefore, it is necessary now to separate soldiers from the regular public servant law and make the offense bear a harsher punishment.

Of course we all know this won't pass, as the Haredi parties will not allow the coalition to support such a law proposed by Yesh Atid. And, they have never before supported any similar proposal, despite saying they oppose violence against soldiers.

However, in their defense, if the assailants do not care about a potential 7 year prison sentence for attacking soldiers, it is unlikely turning it into a potential ten year sentence will make any difference. In a certain sense they are right - there is a law already on the books that is not being enforced. Instead of writing new laws, just enforce the laws that are already on the books.

And then the Haredi askanim and politicians need to stop working to get anybody arrested for such things released.

the [Kotel] deal was not formal recognition [of the Reform movement] and it was cancelled because of a group acting like Bet Shamai

  -- President Ruvi Rivlin