In light of the  recent vandalism in the shul in Jerusalem in which sifrei torah were desecrated and thrown on the floor, many people were shocked by the images.

A question was raised if when people arrived in the morning, and those who took the pictures, should they have left the torah scrolls on the floor, as they did, in their continued desecration, or should they have rushed to pick them up and clean them off and show proper respect? The police had told them it is a crime scene and nothing should be touched until it can all be dusted for fingerprints and other signs that would point the police toward the perpetrators, but perhaps it would be more important to pick the torah scrolls up as soon as possible and not let them lie there in that state.

The question was brought to Rav Chaim Kanievsky. His response was that this is the kavod of the torah in such a situation - to leave them in their place so the police can do what they need to do to find the perpetrators, and thereby prevent similar desecration in the future..
source: Kikar

and Shalva makes it through to the finals!
Yesterday the relevant authorities announced that they have refused to approve special consideration for Shalva to use a taped performance for the Saturday rehearsal. That means, if true and final, that Shalva is expected to drop out of the competition. The Israeli representatives to Eurovision (via Kan Broadcasting) have said they are still working on possible solutions, but it seems the chances of it happening are infinitesimal.





it was close, but here is the voting..


and here is a news report.. they went down to Shalva to see the band in its headquarters..

Sweden TV's nice hat-tip to the four Israeli Eurovision winners...

A short while ago, this afternoon, Ron Kobi, mayor of Tiberias, announced the start of public transportation on Shabbos in his city.

Kobi, energized from continued success of his program to turn Tiberias into the recreational center of northern Israel, after bringing over 20,000 people from around Israel to Tiberias to celebrate and enjoy the day on the boardwalk, once again with snow trucked in from the Hermon, is now movving ahead with this next step. Too many people can't enjoy because they are stuck at home with no way to get down to the boardwalk, as they do not have cars of their own and there is no public transportation on Shabbos. So this will help them enjoy as well.

The bus service will be run by a private organization, a non-profit, and will operate free of charge on Shabbos.

Here is a video of him announcing it. The strangest part is how he darshans that this is ultimately the best way to keep Shabbos..

for today's QOTD we get a double...

We'll start off with MK Moshe Gafni's comment regarding the chilul Shabbos involved in building the Yehudit Bridge. Gafni is witty with a sharp tongue, and can always be counted on for something "picanti".. and we'll end with Tel Aviv City Hall's response, giving as good as they got..


[Huldai] is acting like the last of the gentiles wanting to damage the Jewish nation. He is happy that they have to work on Shabbos. He thinks he will gain something from this..

 --MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ)

Every Shabbos there are tens of people working on the rail lines with the approval of the government that Gafni is a member of, so his self-righteousness over a few individual workers building the bridge is not clear..

  -- Spokesperson for City Hall of Tel Aviv

The good news is that the political party Zehut, led by Moshe Feiglin, has finally made its first appearance in the polls as crossing the minimum threshold. Even if you do not support Zehut, it is good to see that so many votes will, hopefully, not just be wasted, if the polls are any actual indication of what to expect.

The publication of this poll by Israel Hayom on Friday has generated a lot of interesting reactions.

Zehut supporters and activists were overjoyed on social media and posted exuberantly about the polls finally show Zehut passing the threshold. Zehut opponents and others who have insisted on not voting for Zehut so as not to waste votes responded with comments such as the polls not being correct or there is no chance it will happen or other reasons not to vote for Zehut.

I find these both interesting.

Zehut supporters and activists have all along said they do not pay attention to polls and do not care about them. They wrote off Zehut not appearing in poll results explaining that pollsters do not know how to poll for Zehut, as Zehut is using new methods of campaigning and politicking never before seen in Israel. They said the polls do not know how to read the map with Zehut, so they are worthless, at least in regard to predicting Zehut's future success.

Suddenly the polls are starting to show Zehut passing the threshold and they are overjoyed, as if the polls are important and do know how to read Zehut.

So all along, they really did care about the polls but had to convince themselves the polls are not important to justify their continued support for, what was then, a failing party.

And the opponents of Zehut who have all along argued against voting Zehut so as to not waste votes on another party that will not cross the threshold, generally argued this. I am referring to people who are potential supporters of Zehut, in the Zehut wheelhouse - not political opponents. Like any political party, there is a multitude of reasons some people might support a party and others might oppose it. I am not referring to people who oppose Zehut because they disagree with the platform or dislike the leadership and other personalities behind it. I am referring to people who could be supporters of Zehut, within a similar ideological "Venn Diagram" but opposed Zehut and argued against solely because of the concern that Zehut would not cross the threshold and would be a wasted vote. These people should theoretically now see the new poll and say that perhaps it deserves reconsideration, or they should express their support.

Instead, even these potential supporters who insisted all along that they won't vote Zehut because of the wasting of the vote, are now suddenly giving other reasons why not to vote for Zehut. So all along, their opposition to Zehut was really just opposition to Zehut. Their excuse of the wasted vote was just an excuse, perhaps an easy brush-off of annoying Zehut activists.     

According to reports, a yeshiva in Jerusalem was vandalized on Friday night. The yeshiva is Yeshivat Tiferet Yisrael, located in the Diskin building in the Givat Shaul neighborhood. The vandals did not desecrate the sifrei torah this time, but they desecrate the seforim, sets of tefillin and megilla scrolls.

After taking keys, they were able to get into the aron kodesh, but they didn't desecrate the torah scrolls, though they did steal the silver "hand" pointer along with a silver torah crown.

I really hope this is not becoming a thing. On the one hand, it seems to me to be different than the incident this past week in Kiryat Hayovel. This looks like frustrated thieves, whereas the incident in Kiryat Hayovel looked like they were out to cause damage. On the other hand, new methods tend to snowball and take on a life of their own...

I admit, the way this is portrayed makes me a little uncomfortable..