Just recently, two things happened in Tel Aviv. Two things that are seemingly polar opposites of each other and maybe even make Tel Aviv seem bipolar.

One thing that happened in Tel Aviv is that the relevant municipal committee expanded the allowance of kiosks to open on Shabbos. While previously permits for operation had been given to 164 kiosks and shops, they have now approved increasing that number and have issued 273 permits. Not a great thing, to put it mildly, from a religious perspective.

The other thing that happened is the City of Tel Aviv came up with a plan for all shuls in the city to be able to get renovations done that would resolve safety deficiencies in the shul structures. The city called on shuls to register for the new program so that the municipality can get all the issues renovated and resolved before the upcoming holidays, to ensure people will be safe during the holiday rush in the shuls.

After just over a day, 55 shuls in Tel Aviv (out of 450 registered shuls in the city) had already filed to take advantage of the program. As part of this program, the City of Tel Aviv will fix tiling repairs, fencing, adding benches and trash receptacles, cleaning courtyards and pruning trees.

The mayor, Ron Huldai, said that shuls in Tel Aviv should be accessible and taken care of and safe. Even though the city does not own the shuls, it does find it important to provide this service to help tens of thousands of residents of the city. Pretty good from a religious perspective.

Seemingly opposite ends of the spectrum, but it shows the coexistence that is possible.

  -- MK Betzalel Smotritch (Hatzionut Hadatit)

The Corona Cabinet comes up with policy and makes decisions on how to fight the spread of CoronaVirus and imposes, or releases, regulations on the people to that end.

For senior members of the cabinet to not participate in the sessions in somewhat of an abdication of their responsibility to the people of Israel. 

On that much I agree with MK Aryeh Deri (Shas) and others who have spoken up about this over the past several hours.

I think the situation is far worse than just that though.

I believe, unlike most of the Opposition MKs, that Yair Lapid is extremely talented, creative and capable. Whether I agree or not with all his policy and ideas is besides the point. he has been creative and he has proven himself capable. He has put aside his idea to achieve his goals, several times in the past couple of years, and he was the creative architect behind the putting together the current government against all odds. 

The Opposition MKs like to scoff at Lapid for not ever having accomplished anything, for not finishing his bagrut and high school, for serving in the army in a cushy position. It is even somewhat funny that the opposition is so upset that Lapid has not participated in the Corona Cabinet. According to what the Opposition MKs believe, we might be much better off without him there than with him. While the details of all that might be true that does not mean Lapid is not creative or capable. I think he has shown himself to be both, along with having a lot of common sense.

In my opinion, not only is Lapid (and Lieberman?) abdicating responsibility by not participating in these meetings but by his lack of participation he is withholding from the People of Israel the possible creative ideas he might come up with and the common sense for not placing nonsensical restrictions on the citizenry. The Corona Cabinet, and the People of Israel, would likely be much better off with Lapid's participation. 

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I happen to already have been a "fan" of Rabbi Wildes, rabbi of the Manhattan Jewish Experience (MJE), as I have been listening to his weekly podcast for quite a while now, so I knew a little bit about this book and of Rabbi Wildes work.

This book, The 40 Day Challenge, by Rabbi Mark Wildes, is an interesting project. Building off the idea that from Rosh Chodesh Elul we have 40 days to prepare for the High Holidays, specifically Yom Kippur, Rabbi Wildes put together this project to prepare ourselves, to help us find ways we can improve ourselves. this project actually began during the Corona pandemic as a way to keep his people connected over Whatsapp and other methods of communication, and has now turned it into a book.

There is nothing about this book that is specific to the High Holidays, other than the 40 day time period. These essays can be used any time during the year, to help one focus and improve his attitudes and approaches to various issues and traits. 

The essays in The 40 Day Challenge are peppered with anecdotes and quotes from all sorts of places - from Rene Descartes to Abraham Lincoln to Eleanor Roosevelt to Rabbi Shniur Zalman of Liadi to Rabbi Aryeh Levin and much more. This keeps it modern and relevant and relatable. Rabbi Wildes talks about issues such as gossip, wholeness, smiling, silence (wisdom), consistency and more. At the end of each essay there is a place to do some self-reflection and work on the issue of the essay, with a question posed and a few lines on which to write the answer, making the book more personable. Obviously you don't have to write your answers in the book, but for full effect you might want to or at least write them on a piece of paper somewhere else or at least just reflect on the question and your answer internally.

I think this book is a valuable set of essays for self-improvement and can benefit most people. 

• buy The 40 Day Challenge on Amazon.com
• 
  

NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.

What began just weeks ago with a handful of positive infections coming in to the country is now up to over 3000 per day.

They should be suing this model to teach exponential functions in our school system

  -- PM Naftali Bennett

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Yes, I have seen, or heard about, the occasional police in a store fining people for not wearing masks, but it is a drop in the bucket.

Right now there is no deterrence at all. There is nothing pressuring the people to keep the rules set for CoronaVirus.

And my opinion has been and still is that if the government is going to make rules and make life difficult on the citizens (albeit for a good cause), they should at least enforce the rules. There is no point in upsetting the entire population with crazy rules (and some that are reasonable) if they are not going to be enforced. There is no benefit to anyone, and it does not stop the virus from spreading.

That being the case, the government upping the ante with stricter rules is useless. If they are not going to enforce the rules at all, not the lighter ones and likely not the stricter ones, there is no point in imposing them on the nation. Most people won't keep to them anyway, and the government isnt bothering to enforce them. So why?

And that is before we even get to the issue of a possible lockdown in September. yes, if people would keep the rules, if more people would vaccinate and/or get their boosters, if more people traveling would keep to the rules of quarantine, we probably would not need to come to a lockdown, but if we do, people, including public figures and journalists, are already saying now they will not adhere to a lockdown in Tishrei over the holidays. People are openly flouting the rules, and the future rules, and they can because nobody cares.

I am fine with nobody caring. But if nobody is going to care, then don't bother making the rules that nobody cares about and nobody is going to enforce.

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While in the moshav, the following incident occurred:

this fellow saw the Haredi people looking at property in his moshav and went ballistic.

The guy is obviously sick and will likely die young of a heart attack or ulcer. Such anger! And he thinks the person who screams loudest wins - like a 9 year old kid! 

There are some sick people in this world. he does not have to like Haredim, but he is allowed to act like a human being around other people. 

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The Rebbe reportedly said that he is concerned regarding the resurgence of the CoronaVirus and the hospitals in the USA filling up again. The Rebbe asked the community to daven - to daven that there should not be another lockdown that would prevent the Jews from going to shul, both in the coming days and in the upcoming holidays of Tishrei.

Personally I would have said, or at least also added, to daven that people should not get sick, the community should be protected, should suffer few or no deaths, and the like.

I guess we have different priorities. Or maybe he assumes nobody from the community will get sick this time around because most already had the virus...