In what is perhaps the strangest edition of "Jew or not a Jew", Bugs Bunny, yes, the cartoon character, has come up as a candidate..

David Yehuda Sterm, the "Rosh Chinuch" at a Reform synagogue in the UK called Alyth along with holding a degree in Film and Television Studies, speaking at a Limmud session in the UK posited that Bugs Bunny is Jewish - actually not quite Jewish, but designed on Jewish features and characteristics.

Stern said that Bugs Bunny was first produced in the 1940s by Leon Shlesinger Productions, founded by a Jewish man, and the voice of Bugs Bunny for many years was Mel Blanc, also a Jew. In addition, though this seems a bit flaky, Bugs Bunny had an accent that might be considered Jewish - considering his voice was the voice of a Jewish voice actor, it is not surprising that Bugs Bunny's voice sounded possibly Jewish, whether it actually did not not.

Also, Bugs Bunny grew up on the Lower East Side, a haven for Jewish immigrants at that time. Bugs Bunny was regularly targeted for elimination and eradication, but somehow always survives using his wiles and his wit - just like the Jews..

And who was the bad guy? Porky Pig. The most impure animal in the eyes of the Jewish people.

And "Rabbit" was taken, probably, because it sounds like "Rabbi".
(source: NRG)

It's a humorous discussion that will probably never have a definitive answer, but Stern makes a good case for it. I wonder if it is enough to count Bugs Bunny in a minyan...

Are you the owner of an iPhone or do you have unfiltered Internet access? You already know the various things you can't do - be chazzan, blow shofar, hear shofar in certain shuls, etc..

The latest is now announced in the name of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, and this is a real shocker. All the previous announcements are upsetting and frustrating, but this one has actual ramifications.

According to what is being said in the name of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, such a person cannot be a witness at a wedding or at a divorce, and one who did act as such a witness will invalidate the proceedings, even bdieved. The wedding should be performed again, and the get should be given again.

This means that there are thousands of adulterers, eishet ish, mamzerim walking around out there without even knowing it.

Rav Feinhandler, director of the committee for purity in communications and the person quoting Rav Kanievsky, also said that such a person cannot build a mikva (i.e. do the hashaka process of connecting the mikva water pit to the mikva pool), and a woman cannot supervise the immersion in the mikva if she has an iPhone.

And, he adds, in many places, such as in Jerusalem, mikvas are built by, and weddings and divorces or officiated by, the Rabbanut and religious councils, and they don't ask such questions, so they cannot be relied upon - i.e. their mikvas, weddings and divorces must be assumed to be invalid.
(source: Kikar)

So, we have eishet ish, mamzerim, passul mikvaot, boalei nidda and children of unions with nidda.



pretty much all marriages are going to be invalidated by this. Yes, even in the haredi community, though maybe in slightly lower percentages. This psak would destroy the family unit. Any marriage after the invention of the iphone is dissolved. Divorces are dissolved, making a big mess of who is married to whom.

It turns out Yossi Beilin did not really like Yitzchak Rabin, though of course he was upset at the assassination (he says he cried when he heard news of the assassination, even though he did not like Rabin). In a recent interview, Beilin even gave some backhanded support to the settlement movement, in his criticism of Rabin.

Beilin said on a recent radio show that Rabin had a short fuse and said things regularly without thinking first. Beilin said that is not appropriate for a prime minister. An example, he gave, is how Rabin treated the settlers. He says Rabin did not deal with the settler situation properly, but he would "stam" attack the settlers. If you want to evacuate thousands of people from their homes, you have to do so with sympathy.

I would point out that Rabin never advanced any plans for mass evacuation of people form their homes, though that very well might have eventually happened. the person who did it was Ariel Sharon, not Yitzchak Rabin. From Beilin's words it seems as if Rabin was actually planning such an evacuation.



Very interesting revelations. It seems nobody can be left-wing enough for Yossi Beilin...

interesting..

this is very cool.. it was filmed on the Jerusalem Light Rail during the snow storm

the start of a new career?

An Indonesian choir from Padjadjaran University performs some Jewish songs... Hinei Mah Tov, HaBen Yakir Li, and Hava Nagila..

I scratch my head as to how this happened...

1. Rav Shmuel Eliyahu on the snow

2. what's a rabbi doing on a show called "Church Rescue"?

3. Jewish elders lift 6000 year ham ban (the onion)

4. the truth about the draft of Haredim

5. dear sir: this may be why you are not married yet

6. lies, damned lies, and the Taub report

7. empathy, snow and Moshe Rabbeinu

8. Satmar rebbe is honest about draft for haredim

9. the flipped beit medrash

10. Manning's monumental marks

11. 10 days on the ipad

12. freedom of irreligion

13. Neshama Carlebach: "aliyah" to Reform Jewry  and still no longer an Orthodox Jew

14. bring morality back into entertainment

15. ultra-orthodox service in Israel

16. cell phones have plans. people dont have plans

17. where have all the modern orthodox teachers gone?

18. let's call them modern chassidim

I received the following notice and perhaps it might be of interest or relevance to someone here..

MDA in Jerusalem is recruiting civil service people to a variety of positions (e.g. ambulance, office, hotline, etc.).
Somebody interested in this should contact the civi; service coordinator, Moshe Rozmarin, at 054-849-0054.
This Civil Service is designated for yeshiva students above the age of 22 years old, whether married or single.
Two tracks are available:
1. full service - 12 months, 8 hours per day
2. partial service - 24 months, 4 hours per day

No previous training necessary. Over the course of the year, the civil servant will undergo a paramedics course, for free. 

I don't know any more than what is in this notice. If it is relevant to you or to someone you know, best of luck. And, pass it on.

The decision of the court in the Bet Shemesh election fraud case is due at the latest by the end of the day tomorrow. That is the final deadline for a ruling. Of course, after the ruling, either side, whichever loses, will have the ability to appeal to the Supreme Court.

So, you have just one day left to place your bets and guesses as to what the court will decide...

Funny story at the Kotel...

According to Ladaat, the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, visited the Kotel. As is the local custom, Yi donned a kippa for his visit. He donned one of the white kippot distributed at the entrance to the Kotel to bare-headed visitors.

Yi asked Rav Shmuel Rabinovitch, rav of the Kotel, if he could keep the kippa as a memento. Rav Rabinovitch allowed him to keep it, and added that the kippa was made in China and now is being returned to its country of origin.

Minister Naftali Bennet should be proud.. Increasing the imports-exports to Chhina, one kippa at a time...

Have you been wondering what the main topics of discussion in the frum community have been the past few weeks?

The top discussion, I think, based on my observation alone and not on any scientific study, has been: zumba - good or bad

The Zumba issue should not have been more than a blip. It is so unimportant. You feel you need to weigh in go ahead, make your comment, write your article, and move on. The community has focused on it, for about 3 weeks, and the discussion has not abated.. giving it way too much false importance. I am actually amazed watching people fight back and forth, again and again, about Zumba.

It does seem to finally be waning a bit, but I am amazed at how much staying power this topic had, and how it engaged so many people.. Baruch Hashem it is clear we don't have any real issues to worry about.

A woman from among the passengers told me there is a backpack on the bus. I asked whose bag is it. When we realized it didn't belong to anybody I told everyone to get off the bus at the station, and about 10 minutes later the bus exploded. I am not a hero.

  -- Michael Yoger, bus driver

a modest hero

this is a bit weird..