I Love America - Joe on the 2nd Amendment

Joe the plumber, whose real name is Samuel Wurzelbacher, is running for Congress. I am amazed by this video campaign...


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PM Netanyahu Meets with Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara




I heard the president, Mr. Alassane Ouattara speak about the economy of Africa at the President's Conference yesterday. Here are a couple of pictures I snapped of him as I walked right by as he was talking to a reporter on his way out of the conference...






I have 2 questions:
1. all those people around him - are they aides and assistants or are they Sudanese and Eritrean migrants?
2. Did Israel take advantage of the presidents trip to Israel and send back 150 or so migrants on the plane with him back to Africa last night?

That was meant to be humorous, for anybody who might not have picked up on it...

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Donated all of his Bar Mitzvah gifts to "Keren Hashvi’is"




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Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger Affixes Mezuza On Doorpost Of New Jersey Supermarket

Note, Rav Metzger says the bracha without Hashem's name. Because it is a place of business and not a living quarters, there is a machloket whether it requires a bracha, and Ashkenazim tend to follow the opinion of not making a bracha under these circumstances..


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In today's day and age, in Israel, something like this should never happen. This is the Jewish state, the Jewish country, and Judaism should be accommodated to, taken into account.

תמונת אילוסטרציה

To be brief, a religious competitive cyclist has not been able to compete in the national road cycling championships, as it is is an event that is held annually on a Saturday. he has requested in the past that the day be changed, due to religious observance of Shabbat, but they refuse. Various organizations and bodies, including the Ministry of Sport, has tried to persuade them to make the change, but they refuse.

It seems mayors and councils refuse to agree to close roads for races on weekdays. The police also seem to object to closing the roads on any day other than Shabbat. This opposition is despite doing so for marathons and even for shorter races all over the country on a regular basis. The one situation they might reconsider is if there would be a significant number of religious cyclists potentially competing.
(source: Haaretz)

I don't know how many there are besides for this one, but I guess the number is not high enough.

Sports on Shabbos is very old school Israel. Religious Jews did not participate much in sports, except as spectators, so it was never much of an issue. Until recently. Suddenly there are religious athletes involved in all sorts of sports, and most of the relevant organizations have been accommodating and try to adjust when they can to allow the participation of the religious athletes. While a few serious running events are still held on Shabbos, most have been moved to either Thursdays or Fridays. The soccer and basketball leagues have made changes to the schedules for some teams.

The Cycling Federation is really stuck in a nasty box by refusing to accommodate. This is Israel, the Jewish state, and the Jewish religion should be accommodated for fuller participation.



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Kikar is relating a story worth reading:
(my translation)

A shidduch was made in a hassidic community in chutz laaretz. Shortly after the shidduch was made, the groom discovered he had a serious illness. It was thankfully caught early, and a series of treatments was able to cure him.
The grooms family went to the family of the bride and offered them to back out of the shidduch - they would understand not hold it against them or bear a grudge.
The kalla, surprising everyone, said she refused to back out of it, as such a disease is not up to him. She could back out, find a new chosson, and who knows what will happen with him, how long he will live...
The chosson's family were happy to hear this, but still insisted she back out. they said that her agreement to continue is because of her sensitivity, but really she has the right to, and she should, back out of the shidduch.
Not being able to come to a decision agreeable to everybody, they decided to go to the beis din of Rav Wosner in Bnei Braq. When Rav Wosner heard what the case was about, he was so amazed that they would bring such a case to be debated that he said he insisted on sitting in the panel of judges hearing the case, despite not having done so for  along time already.
The families flew to Eretz Yisrael and appeared before the beis din, led by Rav Wosner himself.
Each side present told over the story and their perspective. Rav Wosner then said that because the kallah is healthy and the chosson went through the terrible experience of the sickness, clearly the shidduch was not made with the knowledge of the sickness in mind, so the kalla has the right to back out without any second thoughts.
The kalla got up and asked if she is obligated to dissolve the shidduch or only she can if she wants to. Rav Wosner answered that of course she is not obligated to back out, and if she insists on continuing with the shidduch she would be allowed to.
She said that if that is the case, she wants to continue the shidduch, but that she wants him to bless them that the shidduch should be successful and that the chosson should have a long and healthy life.
Rav Wosner broke down crying and said that a kalla like this "does not need my bracha". After such a heroic incident, "I dont need to bless you, but I want you to bless me that I should live long and merit to continue disseminating Torah."

When you consider that being in the hassidic community, and probably something close to Satmar if they flew to hear this in Rav Wosner's beis din, they probably had not met for much more than a very short time and probably only a couple of times (aka dates), it is unlikely their relationship was already at the point where she loved him, or respected him tremendously seeing his great potential or qualities.

To her he was probably a guy with a nice shidduch resume, maybe some yichus and a good reputation. She probably could have walked out and gotten more offers of guys very similar to him. She stood by him anyway.

She showed tremendous commitment and sensitivity in her decision.

I wish him good health and them a long life of happiness and fulfillment together.



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A new aerospace center is being built in the Arab town of Taibe. The center is being built by the Ilan Ramon fund, in cooperation with the Science Ministry and the office for Economic Development in the Arab Sector.

MK Ahmed Tibi is upset and wants the name changed to not include the name of Ilan Ramon. Tibi says using Ramon's name is an insult to Arabs.

What Tibi does not like about Ilan Ramon is not Israel's attempt, through Ilan Ramon, to occupy outer space the way she occupies Palestine. That would really be strange.

Rather, Ilan Ramon was a fighter pilot who took part in combat in the Lebanon War and attacked Arab countries, such as when Israel bombed the nuclear reactor in Iraq, and having a center named after such a person is what Tibi considers an insult to the Arab community.

Science Minister Hershkowitz rejected Tibi's demand saying if he does not want it named after Ilan Ramon, they won't get an aerospace center at all.
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CNN: Hasidic Child Sex Abuse Allegations

CNN ran this report on child abuse, sexual molestation, in the hassidic community of New York. The number they mention is 1 out of every 5 kids. I don't know if that number is the result of a scientific study or if it is just an estimate, or a guesstimate, but even if that number is wrong, the true number is too high, whatever it might be.

I am actually aware of a claim, by someone involved in the situation, that the number is more likely even higher, in the range of 1 out of 3. That sounds very high to me and is almost unbelievable, but he claims it to be so. You can read more about that at haemtza, here and here.

On to the report....



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PM Netanyahu met with Google Chairman Eric Schmidt




and here is the image of the picture doodled by Netanyahu



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MK Yaakov Katz Talking About The Secular Becoming The Minority




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"Kids of Courage" New York Boys Choir feat. Dovid Moskovits



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I went this evening to the 4th annual Presiential Conference in Jerusalem, hosted by President Shimon Peres. The theme of this years conference is "Facing Tomorrow 2012" - designing a better future.

The conference is going to run through Thursday evening and has a tremendous lineup of speakers and panelists, with a few special sessions for bloggers. I don't know how much I will be able to go the next couple of days, but I went tonight and it was really an amazing event.

To be brief, the evening started off with some excitement. I was invited with some other bloggers and members of the press to a news conference of Shimon Peres meeting the Chairman of Google Eric Shmidt. After registering, a few of us went up to where it was. We got to a security post and had to wait to get special permission to pass and be escorted through. We went upstairs, only to be stopped at another security post. After some waiting and clearing things up, we were allowed to pass, only to be stopped yet again. After being allowed to pass the third security post, we were stopped at the fourth and not allowed through. After a few minutes the manager of the security detail came out and said no, and then added it does not matter because they are finishing already anyways. Instead of a press conference, they only held a photo shoot and it was just about finished already.

Picture courtesy of Real Jerusalem Streets

Another fascinating speaker was Keren Leibovitch, a paralympic swimmer who holds a number of world records, has won a number of gold medals and world championships, and is the mother to two sets fo twins. She described her experiences becomign a champion swimmer, and her main message was to not be afraid of failure, as that is the stepping stone to success.

Other fascinating speakers were Yuri Millner, Professor Daniel Kahaneman and Google chairman Eric Shmidt.

After a break, the main session was lef by Shimon Peres opening, and presenting a new medal, the Israeli Medal of Distinction, to Dr. Henry Kissinger, for his great work throughout his career on behalf of Israel and on behalf of humanity.

After laying out some thoughts and visions, along with some interesting and humorous vignettes, Peres presented the medal to Kissinger. Kissinger said that at 89 it is strange to say but he wishes his parents would have been there to see this - he said they would have appreciated this more than any of the awards and honors he had previously received.

Tony Blair closed the session out with his vision for the future, with much praise for Shimon Peres specifically, and for how far Israel has come. A main point made by Blair was when he said "We have no option but to stay engaged in this part of the world. Democracy is not just a way of voting. It’s a way of thinking. It’s about freedom of expression, freedom of the media and freedom of religion."

The sessions for the coming days look intriguing and fascinating. I hope I will be able to attend some parts of it.

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All the local papers, or most of them at least, had features about the cut-throat competition in the supermarkets that we are suddenly experiencing in Bet Shemesh since the opening of the Osher Ad supermarket.

The main focus of the articles was actually looking at the devastating results of the competition on the city shuk that operates right across the street from Osher Ad twice a week. The shuk merchants are suffering terribly from the below-cost prices being offered in the supermarkets, along with the problems of the shuk itself that the city has been negligent in dealing with for so many years, leaving it dirty, hot, and with not enough parking. The city leadership has discussed for years the need to find a new and improved location for the shuk, yet it has done nothing to actually locate and prepare a location and effect a move. It was very painful to read the stories of how these merchants who were already having a difficult time because of the poor conditions of the shuk are now completely devastated with barely a customer coming to buy in the shuk.

The city really does need to find them an alternate location with decent conditions, and give them a chance to compete and do business respectfully.

There was one more interesting article. In the Tmura newspaper they had a brief interview with Miki Naimi, the entrepreneur behind the mall under construction in which Osher Ad is already operating.. Naimi said that he has decided to forgo management fees and rent from Osher Ad to the tune of 400,000 NIS per month (!) until further notice.

Naimi is doing thsi to give Osher Ad breathing space, to make a dent in the market and solidify their presence.  In order to be able to allow Osher Ad to continue offering rock-bottom pricing on products, thus effecting the overall dropping of prices in other supermarkets as well. This, Naimi says, will be remembered in the long-run by the customers.

Along with that, Naimi  is also the owner of a company dealing with housewares and other goods, and says they will sell supply to Osher Ad at cost, thus ensuring further bottoming of prices.

Using this long-range vision, as Naimi puts it, will ensure that the Naimi complex will be a success for a very long time and serve the city and its residents for a very long time.

That revelation by Naimi almost makes it seem as if the competition, or war as Naimi puts it, is on an unfair playing field. Despite the massive size of the shop, they are still functioning on minimal overhead.

On the other hand, it is hard to imagine how Osher Ad, a chain of supermarkets with about 8 locations, if I am not mistaken, can outbuy at cheaper prices other supermarkets like Shefa, Yesh, Shufersal (aka SuperSal), Mega, Kimat Chinam and others. The other supermarkets have chains of tens of stores each all around the country. their buying power should be far greater than that of Osher Ad. And the prices in Osher Ad are right now a bit better than in other Osher Ad stores, but still, Osher Ad is considered very cheap even in its other locations.

Why is that?

Naimi is definitely offering them a great perk that lets them cut costs and keep prices unusually low, but they have shown the ability to offer their cheap prices elsewhere as well, while other larger-chain supermarkets with better buying power kept prices inflated. So the difference is not just the rent, but more in the attitude of the store. Osher Ad is looking to bring the customer low prices (while obviously profiting more on quantity and volume), while the others are using low prices on some items to bring customers in and get them to pay high prices on many other items.




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As the ultra-Orthodox community continues to get more and more stringent, and restrictive, in what is considered acceptable behavior, the crazy gets crazier and more interesting.

The latest in the hyper-tzniyus craze comes from the Kiryat Belz neighborhood of Jerusalem. They have now hung up a notice in the area around the main shul directed at women. The notice tells the women that they should make sure to hurry home so as not to be outside in the streets at all when the men come out of shul, as the honor of our women, the princesses of Israel, is internal.
(source: Mynet)

The Belzers actually put to shame the Eida people of the Kirya Haredit of Bet Shemesh. In the Kirya of Bet Shemesh they only asked/demanded that women cross the street and not walk right outside the shuls, while Belz tells them to go home and get off the streets completely. It says a lot when one can actually outdo the extreme Eida community of Bet Shemesh.


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There were a couple of interesting law proposals yesterday debated and voted on in the Knesset.

1) About a month ago, the ministerial committee for laws approved the proposal of a new law by which the minimum marriageable age would be 18, instead of the current 17. The committee approved the proposal, kicking the proposal up to the Knesset for voting into law.

Yesterday, the Knesset passed the proposal in its first reading. The law is meant to protect minors, and bring the law in line with the accepted Western standards on this issue. (source: Globes) The proposal will still need to pass two more readings before becoming law.

2) The Health Committee voted and passed a proposal to the Knesset by which live organ donors will be bumped to the head of the line for an organ donation should they ever need one. God forbid. By this law, if it should pass, there will be n difference of the donor donated his, or her, organ to a stranger or if he donated to a relative.

As of right now, only people who sign on organ donor cards (EDI) get bumped to the front of the line. Organ donor cards, however, are for donating organs after death. People who donate organs while alive have not been given the same treatment.

The law is meant to encourage people to donate, as they will receive a clear benefit by doing so.

This law should be called, it it passes, "Eiver Min HaChai Law".



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Quote of The Day

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