This is the last reminder I will post for you to submit articles for tomorrows edition of Haveil Havalim.
I will soon be going to sleep. I will wake up in the morning and at some point go through any posts that were submitted overnight. I will then publish Haveil Havalim.

Do not wait for late Sunday to submit your posts. You will miss this weeks HH if you do.

Post early and post often, to paraphrase something we used to say in Chicago.

This is almost the last call for Haveil Havalim submissions. This is going to be a big one, and you do not want to be left out!!

I am almost ready to go and plan on publishing in the morning hours of Sunday. Don't wait till the last minute and miss the boat. Send me your links either via the widget, via soccerdad or to my email israeli.jew at gmail dot com

does anybody know a contact email address for an administrator at jrants.com ? I think I have loked through the whole site but have not been able to find one, and I ned to contact the administrator of jrants.

Anybody?

We went to a shiur tonight by Rav Lazer Brody. It was about preparing for Pesach and shalom bayis. It was phenomenal, as Rabbi Brody always is.

Unfortunately I had to leave in the middle, but my wife got to stay to the end and even speak to him for a few minutes after it was over.

He opened the shiur with the following amazing thoughts about the murder of Erez Levanon two weeks ago. He posted it today on Lazer Beams and it is worth your going over to take a look...

The JIBS (Jewish and Israeli Blog) awards are on their way... check out the new site that will be used for managing the upcoming award process at jibawards.com

There are some differences in how it will be run this year. Go to the website, read the info, and be a part of it.

There is a group of jbloggers who took it upon themselves to manage this one. Dave from Israellycool , the founder of the original JIBS, has approved of the whole process.This group is hoping to improve the process from previous years so it will be more enjoyable by all and provide more exposure for the various blogs.

Nominations are scheduled to open right after Pesach (Passover), running April 12 - April 19.

For the rest of the schedule and awards, please go to the website.

This site has potential!!!

(HT: whatsinaname)

According to this article in haaretz, it looks like my prediction the other day was correct. At least in the sense that that is what Olmert is trying to do.

According to the article, Olmert is trying to portray the Comptroller as a liar and as someone simply with an agenda to bring down Olmert.
It is good this is what Olmert is busy doing, instead of running the country. He is sitting in the seat of Prime Minister and spending the whole time worrying about how he can save his own neck.

This is especially worrying in light of the recent polls and stats that were published today. These indicate that only 3% of the population support Olmert. 58% want new elections immediately. 70% want Olmert to resign immediately.

Tired of receiving all those email requests to say tehillim for someone who might have died 5 years ago because nobody ever follows up on these emails? Or maybe the person got better? Or maybe someone is sick but you do not want to receive 10-15 emails a day asking you to say tehillim for various people?

Well, this new website probably will not help that. As long as email is free, people will still send those tehillim requests to you, along with the request to forward the email from AOL and Microsoft to earn $1000 or the virus warning.

However, this website is still a great idea. Using CholimList you can keep track of cholim, create and use public and private lists of cholim,break down tehillim into sections for dividing tehillim up among various people, email reminders, and more!!

Check it out and register to use it...

MK Yaakov Litzman did a great job today. He played his best hand and won the round.

As part of the coalition agreement between Kadima and Yisrael Beiteinu, Yisrael Beiteinu is supposed to be given control of the position of Chairman of the Finance Committee. This is one of the most powerful committees in the Knesset.

Amazingly, this position has, until now, been held by Litzman of UTJ. I say "amazingly" because UTJ was not part of the government coalition. UTJ has been sitting in the opposition, as they say their demands in exchange for joining the coalition have not been agreed to.

PM Olmert, in an attempt to keep the members of UTJ happy and thereby hopefully keep the negotiating table open to them, has allowed Litzman of the Opposition to hold onto this position until now. He did this along with not having appointed a Minister of ocial Affairs, which he said he was holding for UTJ as well.

Olmert finally could not wait any longer. He was pressured for more positions by Yisrael Beiteinu. He was under pressure from the public and from the courts to appoint a Minister of Social Affairs. He could no longer delay. He gave UTJ an ultimatum which they rejected. Olmert went to his next option of a ministerial shuffle. This included transferring the Ministry of Social Affairs to the Labor Party, transferring the Ministry of Tourism to Yisrael Beiteinu, and proceeding with the appointment of Majdale of Labor to the position of Minister of Science, Culture and Sport.

The problem is that the whole shuffle is dependant on Litzman evacuating his seat. He will not go down without a fight and he proved it today. He says he holds no illusions and knows eventually the coalition will succeed in getting rid of him, yet he has decided not to resign, as has been requested of him by the chairman of the coalition, rather he is forcing them to vote him out.

Litzman is, for some reason, popular among the committee members. They seem to like him and say he does a great job at the position. A number of the members refuse to vote to remove him because they are calling it petty politics behind his removal and consider it shameful to remove a successful chairperson for these reasons. Eventually this obstacle will be overcome and he will be replaced. It is unavoidable.

In the past I have not been a big fan of Litzman. He is considered very "kochani" - he uses political aggressiveness and power moves to advance his positions, both in the Knesset and in his party, UTJ.

However, in his latest move I applaud him. I think he played this one out masterfully, showing how tenuous Olmert's position and leadership really is. Now they will have to go through a messy attempt at removing him, as members who voted today against are saying they will not support such a vote unless Olmert gives them x, y and z (money for their interests).

Kol Hakavod to Litzman for playing this one quietly and masterfully.

I see Olmert gaining some popularity in the near future. I see him having played this whole "spat" with the State Comptroller, Micha Lendenstrauss.

This whole thing has blown completely out of proportion. According to Lindenstrauss, Olmert has ignored his opportunity to respond to the report the Comptroller has been preparing on the failures of the government and the IDF in the past Lebanon War.

Lindenstrauss was ready to file the draft of the report. Olmert blew up as if he is being persecuted. I might add the only reason he is being persectued with investigations is because there is so much to investigate, as he has done so much wrong (at least allegedly).

Anyway, Olmert is now generating an image of being the victim of a witch hunt of sorts, who is not being allowed to do his work because of insignificant and self-interested parties. Olmert is a master at political spin.

I predict we will start to see his favorable percentage points begin to slightly rise, as he plays on the persecution for a while. Ultimately it will not help, but in the short term it will give him some more political stability.

My apologies. I am working on putting together a well rounded edition of Haveil Havalim for this coming Sunday... and my head still hurts from Purim.

Bloggers - this is a friendly service reminder. Haveil Havalim is coming up this Sunday.. This is a double edition, as there was no Haveil Havalim this week. Don't forget to submit your best posts...

This is rare footage of the Hazon Ish...

of the many Hamans hanging around town

my son, the popcorn machine, distributing popcorn to kids in the street

Head over to the Muqata for this years Purim Podcast

While I generally do not like to attribute much meaning to natural events, as they occur regardless of timing and regardless of any meaning, I would like to point this out.

Last night/this morning there was a full lunar eclipse. I find it timely and appropriate to consider this message. Purim is a time where we commemorate the miracle of salvation from an evil decree. The miracle took place in a completely "natural" style, with Hashem's hand in the matter hidden from general view. One needs to look deeper into the megilla and into the events to discern Hashem's part in the events.

The lunar eclipse was timely. On Purim itself we saw the moon disappear. One had to look harded in order to see it. And then the moon came re-appeared.

Just like the moon became hidden by a course of natural events, so too did Hashem's presence in Shushan, and so too often in our daily lives. We have to look beyond the surface of events. We have to look beyond the "natural" events. And the time will come when, just like the moon re-appeared, so too will the clarity of seeing Hashem's presence in our lives.