hard to believe this description of behavior is really an issue.. and then people wonder why there is a shidduch crisis....

A father of a newborn baby in the hospital of Maayanei Hayeshua in Bnei Braq insisted on visiting his new baby in the nursery. Sounds wonderful. A devoted father.

Well, he kept it a secret at the time that he had measles. He was already sick but did not tell the nurses that he was.

This wonderful doting father exposed over 80 newborns, preemies and full-term babies,  including his own, to measles.

When it was discovered, the hospital administration decided to vaccinate the 24 preemies in the ward and the 60 full-term babies.
source: Israel Hayom

If a person wants to be an idiot about himself and not vaccinate himself and his family, and stick to himself, that's one thing, as bad as it is. To go out of your way to expose other people - babies, with no immunity? That is criminal. This person should be arrested.

At least it happened in Maayanei Hayeshua, where the promise and bracha of the Chazon Ish is present that no tragedy and death will occur there. Perhaps that extra protection is what made this person figure he can walk in with such a disease.

With word going out that Attorney General Avihai Mandelblit will soon be announcing his decision regarding possibly indicting PM Benjamin Netanyahu, even before the upcoming elections, Netanyahu and his people are going on a full-scale offensive against Mandelblit and a possible announcement.

Netanyahu attack is based on his idea that this is tampering with the elections and democracy and is unfairly going to influence voters. Netanyahu says any decision should only be announced after the election, not before.

All information about public officials, and those wanting to become public officials, competing in elections, is relevant to the voters and should be disclosed. Not disclosing information to the public is as much influencing the voters and disclosing information is. Voters have a right to know.

Even more than that - Netanyahu called for early elections in the shadow of a possible indictment hanging over his head. His expectation was to use the possible indictment, with the current police recommendations for one, as a mandate from the public to rule despite the recommendations against him. This seems to be a cynical exploitation of the public. Netanyahu wanted the benefits of the police recommendations to indict, but not the detriments - the actual indictment.

A theory that came to me is that Netanyahu's goal in calling elections was to delay an indictment. Meaning, Netanyahu knew that the walls were closing in and an indictment was due soon. By calling for elections, he thought he could perhaps pressure Mandelblit to delay the indictment, as it would be "interference" in democratic elections in some way.. Mandelblit seems to be a straight shooter, and does not care about these games - it seems he does what his job requires him to do, and Netanyahu also now sees that.

This is a PSA for my readers in the Bet Shemesh environs..

Mayor of Bet Shemesh Aliza Bloch has publicized the following clean Bet Shemesh event to take place this Tuesday.


The poster itself announces the event calling on residents, schools, community centers (matnasim), factories, hi-tech entrepreneurs, municipal employees, and each and every one of you, to join together for a day of cleaning the city, painting, and beautifying the face of Bet Shemesh, with special surprises and attractions.. a list of meeting points is included, so residents and participants can choose where to go to receive equipment and to participate. The event will be this Tuesday, January 8, 2019, from 7:30am to 5pm (17:00). Every participant will receive a gift.

In addition, Bloch herself publicized the event saying that we the residents are the key to success and cleaning the city and on Tuesday we will take responsibility and go out for this cleaning Bet Shemesh campaign...

I would add that I saw elsewhere, when the campaign was first announced, that the purpose of this is to begin changing the culture regarding cleanliness of the city, and getting people involved in the process will begin that process.

this gemach notice appeared in a local ad booklet..

HatTip to Shui Haber

this raises a number of questions in my mind..
1. what is an amber gemach - what is amber, and how does it prevent jaundice?
2. Let's make a deal - isnt giving out 9000 frum songs for free stealing? Are the various artists getting paid for this music? Have they all agreed for their music to be distributed free of charge for this lofty purpose?
3. does it matter how many non-Jewish music files I have? if I delete 10 songs, will I still get 9000 frum songs or is it on some weighted scale?
4. what does "also applicable if you own only Jewish music" mean? - what am I supposed to delete to get the 9000 frum songs? delete all my Avraham Fried songs to get them back plus more?

Gideon Saar is the more interesting part of the show, and I am a fan of Saar. His interview begins at the 30 minute mark..unfortunately, this version of the clip gets cut off right before the end, as he talks about his relationship with Rav Chaim Kanievsky.

a classic!

קרולין גליק? באמת, נפתלי ואיילת? אתם באמת מניחים שיש איזה כוח אלקטורלי לתת-הזרם המשעשע תמיד של ישראמריקאים מחפופים שהגיעו לכאן ממולדתם - שבה ספק אם היו משיגים ג'וב שאינו כולל את השאלה "תרצה צ'יפס עם זה?" - כדי להיות דניאלה וייס עם מבטא? נו, בהצלחה שיהיה לכם.

— Raanan Shaked (@raananshaked) January 2, 2019

Rav Menachem Perl, Director of the Tzomet Institute, has issued a psak that people working the meteorological services are allowed to measure the levels of rainfall on Shabbos.

After being asked what is allowed and in what way, Rabbi Perl went to the national forecast headquarters in Bet Dagan to see how the measuring of rainfall is accomplished. The people measuring the rainfall use some sort of device that catches the rain and directs it via a metal pipe into a bottle. They then pour the collected rain water, in the morning, into some sort of measuring container, record the numbers, and report it to the national headquarters.

Rabbi Perl decided that even though Chazal say it is prohibited to measure on Shabbos, lest it cause you to write the measurements down, or possibly as being similar to work done during the weekdays, filling the bottle to be measured after Shabbos was never prohibited. Because measuring rainfall is a public necessity, as the rain levels are used to determine climate issues and then extrapolated to agriculture and all sorts of other public needs in settlement, economics and whatnot, this is considered a public need and a necessity for dealing with mitzvos.

So, rabbi Perl concluded, the people measuring the rainfall can put their empty bottles out on Friday and replace it on Shabbos morning with another empty bottle. Tranfering the collected water to the measuring container should be done after the conclusion of Shabbos and only then report it to headquarters.
source: INN

I don't know who this "Admor of Mezhibez" is or anything about him. I never heard of him before, so I know nothing about him, but this mitzva tansz is far different and more leibidige, with the bride far more involved, than any I have ever seen before....

Rav Chaim Kanievsky definitely has a good sense of humor...

what do you think - is this a good candidate or a bad appointment? She definitely gives them a strong right wing appearance, but she's also a little bit overboard in the eyes of many.. does this hurt them or help them?