1. Lag b'Omer in Batei Rand - a different type of lighting ceremony (Hebrew post, mostly pictures)

2. Why I dislike Lag b'Omer

3. is this 2013 or 1947?

4. Lag b'Omer was bigger, but was it better?

5. What could it be?

6. stealing in order to help others

MK Rosen: Why relate to the terror attack?

 -- INN

At the opening of the Knesset committee meeting today dealing with the Women of the Wall issue, Chairwoman MK Miri Regev (Likud) opened with an expression of shock and sorrow regarding the terror attack this morning in which one Jew was killed at the Tapuach Junction in the Shomron and expressed her condolences to the family.

MK Michal Rosen (Meretz) asked why she needs to relate to the terror attack that happened earlier in the day, as it seemingly has nothing to do with the topic under discussion.

This is an interesting story and raises an interesting question:

From DNAinfo.com:

An Australian couple known for their hospitality is butting up against a Central Park West condo board full of hostility.
Gavin and Jodi Samuels, who rent out two apartments on the fourth floor of their doorman highrise, regularly host large Shabbat dinners, special cooking classes and rent their place out to guests for over 30 days at a time without board approval, according to a new law suit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Now the Olmstead Condominium board wants a judge to put the married couple's guerilla bed and breakfast out of business, claiming that it violates the building bylaws, disrupts the other tenants and taxes the building's elevators.
Jodi, a former business advisor for Australia National Bank who now runs a non-for-profit organization catering to ex-pat Jews, seems proud to share her home. On Metroimma, a website for Jewish mothers, she boasts that she has so many guest she calls her place "Camp Samuels."
"We have the travelers, the new arrivals, the sacred, the lost and the lonely," she wrote. "There is always someone in our home and often more than once."
And the professional couple seem to be making out nicely from their hospitality.
"As usual, we rent out our New York apartment at a premium...it actually pays for us to go away," Jodi wrote on the website.
But the foot traffic in the hallways appears to be bothering the other tenants.
Lawyers for the board point out in the lawsuit that city looks down on internet apartment subletting like Airbnb.com and Homeaway.com that has recently become popular.
In January, condo boardmembers with time on their hands dug through those sites and found the couple had rented out their space five times in 2012, usually for less than two weeks.
The board claimed that the couple also charges $25 to $30 per person for Shabbat dinners, which they claim draw about 40 people a meal or about 1000 guests a year. Neighbors not only have to put up with the guests, there is and increased burden on the staff and elevators, they said.
A regular Shabbat cooking class that is held in their home brings in $15 per person, the board claimed in the suit.
Even after they asked them to stop with the bed and breakfast the couple continued, earning them a $5,500 fine from the board.
The suit has asked a state judge to force the Samuelses to end the party and make the couple fork over $25,000 for their violations.
The couple could not be reached for comment.

If they are actually breaking conditions of their contract, there would probably be no question. If the contract says no subletting, they should not be allowed to sublet, and doing so would be a violation. It should not even be much of a dispute. If the by-laws talk about not bringing in x amount of foot traffic, not selling meals, not bringing in over a certain number of guests, that might be an issue.

the way it is described, it sounds like neighbors are angry, perhaps justifiably so, but if no conditions are being broken, I don't see what they are doing wrong. It says their behavior is against the by-laws, but does not reference what the by-laws are that are being violated. It sounds like that is a bluff and they just want these people to stop. Or else the article is simply lacking important information.

I wonder if this couple had guests for free rather than for money would the neighbors still care as much.

They definitely should be more considerate of their neighbors, and perhaps they should offer or be made to pay a higher building maintenance fee due to their higher usage of floor traffic and elevators, but I do not know if they are actually doing anything wrong..

The age for obtaining a drivers license is being lowered in Israel. As of July 1, the new age will be 16 years old and 9 months.

The Economics Committee has approved the plan of Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz to make it possible to get a drivers license at the younger age. The age is only being dropped by 3 months, but the new age will come with other changes as well.

In Chicago when I got my drivers license, we were able to get a learners permit at the age of 15. We could only drive with escorts over 18 who had their own licenses for over x number of years. We then took a drivers ed course, and at 16 we could go for the license exam.

Now in Israel there will be a similar system of a learners permit of sorts. At 16 and 9 months, one can get a license (as of July 1) by going to take an initial test. the license given will only allow, for a period of 6 months,  driving with an escort. The driving with an escort period will also bear additional requirements - it will require a total of 50 hours driven, over the course of the 6 months. Of those 50 hours, 20 hours will have to have been on city roads, 15 hours on intercity roads, and 15 hours at night. The first 3 months of the period will require the escort both by day and night, while the latter 3 months will require the escort accompaniment only at night.

At the end of the 6 months, the driver will have to bring a signed statement from the escort (and signed by himself as well) stating the completion of the 50 hours. Upon completion, the driver will be granted his permanent license.
(source: Reshet TV)

One might question whether it is smart to lower the minimum driving age, but I think when coupled with increasing the requirements and time period for driving with an escort, it is a good idea. Statistics have shown that young drivers are involved in less accidents when driving with the escort than when driving without. Extending the escort period to 6 months, might do a lot in helping to teach the young drivers about driving responsibly.

In the committee meeting deciding this, the representative of the students council expressed his opposition. One would think the younger age would be attractive to students, but they do not like the increased requirements of driving with an escort. The rep said that it is already difficult enough to find the time to drive with the escort - parents have such little time available, and the requirement is currently only 3 months. Finding 50 hours over 6 months will be impossible, he says.

Others opposing the concept claim the State will have no way of enforcing these escort rules, and the entire thing will be a big bluff. There is also the question of who will be considered a valid escort. Perhaps people with serious traffic violations should be excluded, but it seems they have no way of excluding such people and anybody over the age of 24 bearing a license for at least 5 years will likely be considered a valid escort.
(source: Ynet)

As a teenager I would love this change. As a parent of teenagers, I think it is good, but I hope my kids do not see this news announcement (or blog post).

In an interesting development, MK Shuli Moalem-Rafaeli (Habayit Hayehudi) decided to ascend Har Habayit in protest of the banning of MK Moshe Feiglin from the Mount. She specifically said in her announcement that she went up to pray, but I did not hear of any incidents with the police or Arabs, so I assume she prayed privately and not publicly.

Moalem said that she could not bear the shame of the prevention of MK Feiglin from Har Habayit. She further said that she is distressed over the manipulative use in the name of security in order to prevent Jews from praying on Har Habayit and to walk there freely without fear of foreigners.

Moalem announced that there will be a discussion about Har Habayit in the Knesset today, specifically about the issue of the Women of the Wall, in conjunction wit the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women as well as with the Committee of the Interior. She said that at this meeting she will raise the issue and state that conclusions reached regarding the prayers of Women of the Wall at the Kotel will also be relevant to the prayer of Jews at Har Habayit. I watched [part of] the meeting, and Moalem did indeed demand the right to pray on Har Habayit just as the WoW are deserving of the right to pray in their way.

I think Moalem's ascent is fairly similar in nature to the recent participation of MKs Tamar Zandberg (Meretz), Michal Rosen (Meretz), and Stav Shafir (Labor) in a Women of the Wall service at the Kotel donning their tallitot for the services. That soolidarity displayed by the MKs seemed to push the agenda forward. I do not think Moalem's solidarity visit today on Har Habayit will do the same, at least not directly. However, it can have a similar effect via her promotion of the issue in the Knesset meetings.

I think other MKs should do the same, with solidarity ascents of their own. Maybe even MKs Zandberg, Rosen, and Shafir should ascend Har Habayit, in line with their concern they displayed when showing solidarity with Women of the Wall. As a matter of fact, MK Shafir's statement explaining her participation fits perfectly well with showing solidarity with Jews praying on Har Habayit as well. Shafir said, at the time, "it is my honor and duty to stand here and protect the rights of all Jews from around the world to pray as they desire and believe.."

I have volunteered to be a drop-off point, so you can drop off all your Israeli shekel banknotes by me to join the protest..

The Arab League offer is Auschwitz borders with minor adjustments

  -- Minister of Tourism Uzi Landau, regarding the Arab states announcement that they would be willing to make peace with Israel using the 67 borders with minor land swap adjustments

35 is:

• Tony Esposito 
  
• basic film for photography
• Herod had the High Priest (also his brother in law) Aristobulus III drowned
• convoy killed in '48 war while supplying Gush Etzion kibbutzim
• tonight's Omer

#CountOmer: today is 35 days, being 5 weeks to the Omer

1. Lies, damn lies, and Pallywood

2. Lesser known facts and aspects of Lag b'Omer

3. a fortuitous phone call

4. a lesson in kindness from Satmar chasidim

5. Tel Aviv the beautiful

6. bring back an old prohibition

7. Avraham and Sarah's 3800th wedding anniversary

8. Waqf orders, Bibi folds, Feiglin barred from Temple Mount

9. Artscroll achieves another addition

10. Carlebach tyranny

11. Bet Shemesh: pride and promise

12. women on the wall

13. we are all Gil Student

14. Iyar top ten

15. good question on Rabbi Broyde's latest controversy

16. donate to the Lev HaTorah race to benefit Lemaan Achai for my registration

17. rabbonim meeting about youtube uploaded to youtube

As the issue of forbidding Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount makes more and more waves...

As just today, none other than the Prime Minister himself intervened to ask police to forbid an MK (Moshe Feiglin) from even entering on to the Temple Mount...

As we will be celebrating in just a few days, the famous "announcement" of "Har HaByit BeYadeinu" ...

Aryeh Sonnenberg has decided to go public with his own story, from a week ago today:

Minister of Internal Security Yitzchak Aharonovitch has proposed a new law that would allow the police under certain circumstances to walk into your house, with no court order or warrant, and pass judgement on their own.

According to Aharonovitch, most calls to the police, especially during the summer months, are regarding the neighbors making too much noise, and usually the problem is with music - a party with a DJ that is too loud or someone blasting a stereo at ridiculous decibel levels... Aharonovitch's law, if it would pass, would allow the police to come into the house, with no warrant or court order, and confiscate the offending stereo or equipment.

Aharonovitch says currently the problem with the law is that too often the offending neighbor refuses to open his door to the policeman that had been called to the scene, and there is little the policeman can do in the face of a closed door. This law will give the policeman the power to actually rectify the problem at hand and put an end to the offending noise.

The law proposal has passed the initial stage of preparation and debate in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, and will now head to the Knesset for further readings, debates, adjustments and voting.
(source: Ynet)

I don't expect the Knesset to pass such a law. It gives the police way too much power - to just walk into someone's home, someone who is not suspect of having done anything to the level of being criminal, and confiscate belongings. It will be too similar to a fascist state.

The scenario I saw in my head when I read about this proposal is that of a baby with an ear infection or one who is colicky. The kid is driving his parents crazy, screaming all night long. The neighbors are going crazy from the noise. The police get called, and at 3 AM the police bang down the door and take the baby to the police station. The parents might actually find some relief from that situation, and let the police take care of the baby until the morning!

UTJ MKs: Probe Transportation Problems at Meron

  -- INN

I am not sure how much there is to probe.. have you ever been to Meron, or anywhere in that area? Have you noticed the system of roads to the area? When you try to bring 400,000 people to one little village in one day, it is understandable that there will be a pretty bad traffic jam... tens of thousands of buses, cars, pedestrians, and then throw in a chefetz chashud here or there (one friend told me they were held up 2.5 hours in traffic caused by a chefetz chashud, as the police had to clear the area of thousands of people before the sapper could deal with the abandoned package).

It does not seem like rocket science to me...

Two days of vacation from school for Lag b'Omer has been over the top. It might have been the straw that breaks the camels back. As working parents got extremely upset at having to figure what to do with their bored kids, they turned their anger towards the Ministry of Education. Why are the kids given a senseless vacation day while parents have to work - what are the parents meant to do?

The problem is not really that kids have vacation at times when the parents do not. That happens a lot. The kids get about 3 months of vacation over the course of the year, and the parents generally are able to deal with it. Most of the vacation is during the summer months. Parents find camps for the kids, and parents take a few days or a week off of work to spend with their kids on a vacation. it might be a difficult, and camps might be expensive when you have to pay for a few kids, but it is something parents can usually deal with (though personally I think the summer vacation is way too long).

The problem is more with the random vacation days in the middle of the year. A day here, a day there, and the parents don't know what to do. Take a day off from work? We do not get that many vacation days as it is!

An interesting solution has been proposed by new blogger Yama VeKedma. The thrust of it is that the kids would not have school on Fridays in exchange for all those random vacation days and if necessary a short part of the summer. Most parents do not work on Fridays anyway, so the bulk of the people would not need to take vacation days or have a dilemma about what to do with the kids.

It turns out that the Minister of Education just announced that he is considering such a solution. New blogger Yama Vekedma hit the mark with his first post!

The new government has very quickly begun to formulate plans and strategies for economic and commercial reforms.. It started with the Open Skies program for air travel, and they already have announced that the ports will be next. In addition, Minister of Economics Naftali Bennet is also working to put together plans for lowering costs of living in more direct ways - finding products that can immediately have their prices cut. While each item itself might only save you a little bit of money, together it all adds up.. Especially unusual in the 2nd video is that it is filmed with Bennet walking through the corridors of his office building, and while getting into the elevator. He either must be working very hard or else maybe he wants everyone to think he is.

The ports:


Lowering costs of registration fees for day care:

it starts with Morocco, but then moves to Israel.. looks cool...

34 is:

• Walter Payton 

  Sweetness would have counted Omer.. maybe..

• the year organized illegal Jewish immigration to Palestine began
• years of Herod rule after capturing Jerusalem
• tonight's Omer 

#CountOmer: today is 34 days, being 4 weeks and 6 days to the Omer

burn, baby, burn!                  photo credit: 0404

This bonfire was built in Rechasim, and is being touted as the largest Lag b'Omer bonfire in the world. It was built from 1800 pallets of wood. It took 8 trucks to deliver all these pallets. They have some video of it being lit on the 0404 Facebook page.

Mishpacha (Hebrew newspaper) mentioned an interesting idea being floated as a response to the attack on the yeshivas - the canceling of budgets, and the canceling of various benefits that have been given until now but in the future will/might be linked to a persons employability, such as arnona discounts, subsidies for day care, discounts in housing purchases, etc..

The idea is that the yeshivas and kollels will all become businesses. The kollels and yeshivas would all register as research institutions specializing in ancient Jewish texts and Judaic research, or something like that. Instead of paying the avreichim a stipend, they would pay the avreichim a salary. It also mentioned as part of the plan, though I am not sure why this is necessary, after 9 months the yeshivas/kollels would fire all the "employees" who would then go to the Unemployment offices to collect unemployment.

I think it is an interesting idea, and definitely something worth considering.

the problems I can think of are:

• as businesses with employees, the avreichim would all have to be paid minimum wage. that is far more than what the yeshivas would have to pay in the current system. if they are worried about the finances of yeshivas with the current level of stipends, how will they deal with salaries that are considerably higher?
• there might be overtime issues - by law, employees must be paid extra for overtime. will that happen? businesses can often find ways around that, usually at risk of a lawsuit, but I rarely hear of such suits. Maybe this would not be a problem.
• Going to the Unemployment offices might be a threat of a way to get government money for the avreichim, but it is not a very good part of the plan. First, It would mean wasting a morning of learning Torah every week. You have to go to the Unemployment offices, wait in line, meet an agent, go through lists of available jobs, and it is limited in how much time they give it to you. Second, it would be risking being forced out of kollel - to collect unemployment you have to accept any job they offer you. If you are an academic (meaning you have a college degree), then they can only offer you jobs in your field, but that would not apply to a kollel guy. They would be forced to take a job in a factory or a bakery or whatever or forgo their unemployment money..

a speech full of Jewish pride... given by a rabbi celebrating his bar mitzva

new projects in RBS A..

they aren't the Blue Angels, but still pretty cool...

33 is:

• arsenic
• vertebrae of human spine
• Scottie Pippen 

  Scottie says you better remember to count Omer!

• miners trapped in 2010 accident
• Lag b'omer
• tonight's Omer

#CountOmer" today is 33 days, being 4 weeks and 5 days to the Omer

Shabbat Shalom!

I just realized this evening, that with many people celebrating Lag b'Omer on Motzei Shabbos, as per the calendar, and many people celebrating Lag b'Omer on Sunday afternoon/evening, as per the Rabbanut's instructions, it is going to be, in some communities (like RBS, for example) like two days of Yom Tov...

Isn't "two days of yom tov" one of the things we thought we left behind when we left chutz la'aretz?

If you are not delaying Lag b'Omer celebrations until Sunday evening, as per the call of the Chief Rabbinate...
And, if you are not going to be spending your pocket change on a helicopter to transport you to Meron for the bonfires on Motzei Shabbos...
you might be one of the many thousands of people trying to find a room, or even just a bed, for rent in the area of Meron. Unfortunately for you, the chances of you finding such an available room or bed is negligible.

There is still one way you can avoid the Lag b'Omer traffic nightmare. Though that might become unavailable as well..

According to Kikar, chicken farmers in Moshav Meron have been converting their chicken coops into large group hotel rooms - well one large room filled with beds, actually. They have turned their coops into large tents and filled them with as many beds as they could squeeze in, and are renting the beds at a relatively cheap price.

The Chicken Hotel of Meron

Unfortunately for those counting on this cheap solution, the police today informed the chicken farmers that the situation is very dangerous, and there will be a hearing today at which it will be decided if they will have to immediately shut down these facilities and clear out the beds.

My first thought was that the issue was a health issue. Cramming a bunch of people into a chicken coop, that probably was not cleaned thoroughly, does not seem like the healthiest of situations. The problem really is so many people in an unsecured structure.

The Haredi MKs have gotten involved and are trying to find solutions by which the police will allow the Chicken Hotel to stay open - possibly stationing firemen in the area, and installing sprinklers and whatever else might be necessary to mitigate the danger.

they probably counted Omer on Masada

31 is:

• Fergie Jenkins
• Greg Maddux
• Masada fortress completed 
• Aristobulos IV son of Herod died
• almost haircut time
• tonight's Omer

 #CountOmer: today is 31 days, being 4 weeks and 3 days to the Omer

Moshe Feiglin gets today's FSotD..


Translation:
Regarding the Haredim and the attempt to force upon them the Core Curriculum, I am completely on the side of the Haredim.
The responsibility to educate is upon the parents, not the State. The State will decide to whom it will give a graduation certificate, and he who chooses to forgo that, that is his right.
Tomorrow Porush will be the Prime Minister and will force you to learn a page of Gemara as part of the Core Curriculum - what will you say? He thinks it is more important than English (and between us, I also think so).
If he will try to prevent you from receiving budgets if you do not learn Gemara, I will come out against him. But if he says that without Gemara there will be no graduation certificate, that will be his full democratic right.
I do not want, and it is prohibited for me, to tell Ahmed Tibi what to teach his son, or Litzman, or Dov Chenin. 
Obviously personally I think that these studies are important - and in general all education is important and also that a person is obligated to teach his children a trade - meaning, refraining from teaching the Core Curriculum is according to me approaching an actual halachic transgression. But it does not matter what I think, it depends what each parent thinks. They are not criminals, and they are allowed to think differently from me and from the Minister of Education..
And please don't confuse everybody with "fine, they won't learn but they also won't get the budgets". The State is not doing anybody a favor/ The money it gives is money that first it takes. Meaning, when the State gives out money, it is really returning the money. So, if they say the State will now not take taxes from the Haredim or form other groups - than there will be a place for this type of totalitarian statement. But to take and not give, to take (forcibly) form one side - and to condition the exchange with the adoption of your worldview - that is already deterioration to the most dangerous totalitarianism. A real thought police. That reminds of the thug that robbed my friend of his jacket on the subway in new York (in -20 degree weather) and then asked for $5 to get it back.

Minister of Environmental Protection Amir Peretz has announced that his ministry is putting together a plan to form a new unit that will function under the National Service plan. This unit will be comprised of hundreds of citizens from the Haredi and Arabs sectors.

Peretz has told the administration of his ministry to prepare a plan to absorb 500 new people from these sectors. The tasks these units will be tasked with will include supervision over extermination in cities, preventing illegal exterminations that could cause health problems, and, this is the best, supervision of the coast and beaches...
(source: Ynet)

I can see it now - Haredim running to volunteer for Sheirut Leumi to supervise the beaches. There will be rabbis in suits and hats wandering up and down the beaches of Israel. filled with bikini-clad females sunbathing.. While I know some people who might love such a job, I can't believe they expect this to work with this crowd as the target of volunteers..

I don't post the image of every pashkevil put up in Mea She'arim or RBS B by extremists. I don't usually want to give them a voice. I only post the ones that are either so unique or if I have something unique to say about it.

The following pashkevil is very unique. It even made me laugh a bit.

photo credit to INN

As reported on INN, the pashkevil posted in Mea She'arim is protesting that Egged employs female bus drivers.

the pashkevil states that Egged is well known for its mistreatment of the haredim and of everything holy to religion, whether by abominable pictures on huge advertisements or by mass chillul shabbos just to anger God - l'hachiss.
Now, to add a serious sin to their other sins, they have taken the counsel of Bila'am to cause the masses of travelers to sin by replacing male bus drivers with immodest female drivers... they will do everything in their power to ensure that these lewd buses will not enter our holy neighborhood.. we will use all means to push them out of our camp..

this pashkevil made me chuckle...

It seems that in UTJ the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.

According to Kikar, MK Yaakov Litzman (UTJ) has decided it is time to attack PM Netanyahu as being responsible for the budget cuts and other issues hat will impact the haredi community in a way that UTJ is opposed to. According to Litzman, Netanyahu has at least an equal part in the evil decrees, as he formed this coalition, and he has ultimate responsibility for the government's decisions and actions..

Just yesterday another MK from the UTJ ranks, MK Menachem Eliezer Mozes said in an interview on the Knesset Channel that UTJ does not see Netanyahu as being responsible for these decrees. He formed this coalition because he really had no other choice. Mozes said UTJ would continue to support Netanyahu in the future because they recognize he was stuck this time with no options, and they wont blame Netanyahu for the actions of Lapid-Bennet. Here is the video:





They UTJ faction will probably function much more effectively and successfully if they all get onto the same page...

In the Jewish Journal, Anat Hoffman, chairperson of Women of the Wall, expresses an idea, a solution, I have never before heard, to the issue of women davening in an egalitarian service at the Kotel. I don't see it working, and perhaps it reflects on the true intentions of their actions.

Hoffman expresses support for the resolution arrived at by Natan Sharansky. She just does not believe it is actually going to happen. There are too many obstacles for it to actually come to fruition, she says.

Her own plan is much simpler.

Hoffman has a simple solution for women to pray at the Western Wall. "Let's share time," she suggested. For six hours a day the Wall will be a national monument, open to others but not to Orthodox men, she said.

Really? for 6 hours a day the Kotel should be open to everybody except Orthodox men? Suddenly discrimination is ok? Nobody bans Reform women from going to the Kotel at any hour of the day - the ban is on them holding certain types of services with certain activities - agree or not, it is not the same as banning them from the area for periods of time.

And, who is going to be trained to "check the tzitzit of males" walking into the Kotel area? How will they determine if someone is Orthodox or Traditional? Will the ban be only on "ultra-orthodox", or also "Dati Leumi Orthodox"? Will it be based on the color or style of the kippa or tallit?

And, why only ban Orthodox men - why not Orthodox women as well for x number of hours per day? Will there even be Reform visitors to the Kotel during those 6 hours on a daily basis?

Israel's Channel 10 did an investigative report into the Beit Yosef hechsher. This report is not about the standards of kashrut and level of supervision, but is about the administration of the hechsher and how they use the hechsher for the purpose of generating jobs and money for the family and friends of the Yosef family. It was not all that exciting, as most people, I think, already know that all the hechshers function in this manner.

Check out the full list of the Algemeiner Jewish 100..

Minister of Economy and Commerce Naftali Bennet is moving on to reforms in the commercial areas. His plan, as you can see in the video below, is to change the way the Standards Institute of Israel works. Instead of requiring every item to go through intensive analysis by the standards institute, even if it is being imported from countries that have already put the product through its own high level of standards certification, Israel will do away with that, and certain products from certain countries will be approved on the basis of the foreign standards institutes. This is expected to spur more imports and bring down prices.

It sounds strange to me. Israel has its set of standards that should be checked here. Does the USA or England accept the certification of the Israeli standards or do they check imported products on their own? Importing and producing more products should be encouraged, and perhaps the way the Standards Institute works, the cost involved and the amount fo time they take to analyze each product, should be changed, but I am not sure doing away with the need for the SI to analyze products for the Israeli market is the way to go.

Did Herod kill Hyrcanus because he missed  a night of the Omer?

30 is:

• tracks on The White Album (Beatles)
• Hyrcanus killed (by Herod)
• Cleopatra committed suicide
• hours to haircut
• tonight's Omer

 #CountOmer: today is 30 days, being 4 weeks and two days to the Omer

According to the Child Protection Center in Jerusalem, Lag BaOmer has become an annual nightmare – it is the worst night of the year for child abuse.

The reason for this is OPPORTUNITY.

With thousands of children out-and-about, generally with minimal or zero adult supervision, often sleeping in the open, or wandering around till the morning hours – there is plenty of opportunity for perpetrators to attack children.

Here in Beit Shemesh/RBS Magen has received numerous reports regarding suspected perpetrators - highlighting the need for increased awareness and vigilance in the community.

PLEASE sit down with your kids before Lag Ba’Omer to calmly warn them about the nature of the risks and to give them practical tools and ground-rules.

Some examples:

1. On Lag BaOmer do not walk or hang-around by yourself. Stay at all times with one or more friends.

2. If someone who is not a part of your family or group, who is older (eg. more than 2 years your senior), even if they look frum, invites you to go with them, even to do a big mitzvah (eg. to help them with something, or to find an object or location), or with the offer of a present, firmly reject the offer and tell the person they should find an adult to help them.

3. No touching or revealing areas of your or other people’s bodies which are normally covered. Just say No and get away.

4. Tell your parents. Especially if anyone tells you NOT to tell something to your parents, you must tell your parents straight away.Your parents will not be angry with you.

5. Fix a to-be-home-by time. There is no positive purpose in children being out all night. Perhaps tell your kids “You can blame your parents” if they are uncomfortable leaving their group at the designated time.

It can be very helpful to roll-play, presenting your kids with various scenarios.

If you have questions, concerns or reports - please call Magen Hotline: 02-9999.678; cell: 050 8489001.

1. a non-Jewish, British liberal Zionist. deal with it.

2. reacting to scandal: a guide for rabbis

3. Israeli culture of busybodies

4. interesting ads - a window into the charedi world

5. John Kerry' broken moral compass

6. sharing the burden

7. invitation to a bris

In Meron the bonfire will be going on as originally planned, on Saturday night (though I think it will be starting late), and not on Sunday as requested by the Rabbanut.

If you plan to go to Meron for the central bonfire, but hate dealing with the annual balagan of traffic and crowds, and a very long drive, and the extra problem of it being after Shabbos, there is a new initiative that will get you here quicker - in just an hour or so, and avoid the crowds. You won't avoid the crowds by the kever Rashbi, but you will avoid the crowds on the way to it.

For $800 round-trip, or $450 in one direction, you can go by helicopter from Jerusalem!




Bechadrei contacted the fellow behind the initiative to ask a few questions..

Pinni Rosenberg says that there are such problems with the traffic, and on a Saturday night unless you are staying in a hotel near Meron chances are you will miss the lighting of the bonfire that using a helicopter to get there quickly is the best solution.
Each helicopter can hold 13 passengers, and if necessary they might be able to get some more, smaller, helicopters as well.

The price is reasonable and affordable, and this not a luxury flight. it is meant to help enable as many people as possible to get there in the most convenient way. Obviously we are not talking about hundreds or thousands of people, and the spaces are limited, so first come first served.

nobody has yet to actually reserve a spot, though there has been a lot of interest. He does guarantee that they will be flying copters over for the bonfire lightings of Boyan and Toldos Aharon, as well as for the vatikin services...

Enjoy!

Have you already made plans for this coming Motzei Shabbos? If not, you might want to save the date, and not make any specific plans just yet. If you already have made plans, you might want to consider canceling them.

It seems that some rav in Jerusalem from Neve Yaakov has been predicting, or prophesizing, for over a month already that this Saturday night, the night of 18 Iyyar (the article says the 17th, but that is Shabbos itself, not Motzash), there will occur an apocalyptic incident that will spur on the birthpains of mashiachs arrival, and only those who cling to the Torah and mitzvos will survive it. The rav is described as a Litvishe rosh kollel. Many of his students are taking these words seriously, and are preparing for the end of days.

Kikar went to speak with the rav, whose name has not been publicized, to heardetails of what is going to happen. The rav says that he has been seeing the events already for two months, through his tefillos. This is the date it will happen because according to the Gemara, the 17th of Iyyar is the date on which the flood began (in the days of Noach). this rav says he does not know exactly what is going to happen, but he saw a number of times that it is going to be big and will clearly be the onset of the birthing pains of mashiach, and that this will be the final awakening for us, shaking us up, prior to our receiving mashiach, and this is not a punishment but the process of redemption. The way to be saved, he says, is to be very strict about humility (maybe the reason he did not want his name published..), and people who have not kept Torah and mtizvos should run to keep Shabbos, family purity and kashrus as much as they can grab right away.

with less than 3 days to go, and only 1 Shabbos, time is running out to do what needs to be done to be saved!

The rav qualifies his statements, knowing that many before have made similar predictions that did not actually come true, by saying that if it does not happen, people should not lose their faith or allow it to weaken. if it does not come true it must be because of his own mistake in understanding the date that he saw, but the process of final redemption has clearly begun.

As I said above - if you haven't made plans, don't, and if you have, maybe you should consider canceling them....

I have to admit, I was excited by the conversation with the soldiers from the Netzach Yehuda battalion. They epitomize the connection that we’re aiming for. We have a difficult mission, but this is doubtless a historic decision. Countless people and countless committees have debated this over the past 20 years – the time has come to make a decision. I am certain that we will need to get things going, and we will, gradually, while maintaining the value of Torah.

  -- Minister of Science and Technology Yaakov Perry, as head of the Committee for Equality in the Burden of Service, after a meeting with haredi soldiers to hear the issues they have to deal with.

The Chicago Jewish community has always loved Ken's Diner. It has become one of the landmarks of Jewish Chicago. Now, not only do they make great burgers and steaks, but Ken and Daniel Hechtman are also heroes.

Briefly, when driving home after a long day of work, the Hechtmans were right behind a serious accident on the highway. With a car having burst into flames and a woman stuck under a truck with her hair and clothes on fire, the Hechtmans sprang into action. Running to the scene, despite the risk of an explosion and the serious danger they were putting themselves into, they went and saved lives.

From the Chicago Tribune:

The Hechtman brothers had closed up their Skokie restaurant Sunday night and were driving home when the semi-truck in front of them swerved on the Edens Expressway near Tower Road, struck another car and burst into flames.Without thinking, Ken Hechtman stopped his car and the two brothers ran toward opposite ends of the truck. With each step, they could feel intense, searing heat and see the dark smoke in the air turn thicker. They also heard the truck explode twice, Ken Hechtman said in an interview today.
Daniel Hechtman, 54, ran toward the front of the semi and helped pull a passenger out of the fiery compartment. He carried the passenger’s limp body to the side of the road. The man started shaking, as if he was having spasms, Daniel Hechtman said.

Meanwhile, the elder Hechtman ran toward the back of the truck, intending to stop traffic. Instead, he heard voices calling for help underneath the truck.
"I heard the screaming and there was nothing else in my mind (but) to run toward the voices,” said Ken Hechtman, 60. “There was no time to think. It’s adrenaline. It’s all adrenaline.”
As he walked toward the truck, he saw a car underneath with a woman and young girl lying next to the vehicle. The woman’s hair was on fire and flames covered the back of the girl’s jacket, Ken Hechtman said.
Somehow, he managed to grab the two from underneath and put out the flames, he said. He carried the little girl across the expressway as cars whizzed by.
“It’s one thing to see people standing and watching,” said Ken Hechtman as he recalled the scene. “It’s another to have these senseless people trying to drive around this flaming truck. The truck could have exploded.”
Illinois State Police said the accident happened around 9:10 p.m., when a truck traveling northbound near Northbrook struck a car as the truck merged from the right lane into a center lane. The truck driver then veered sharply to the right, striking a second car before losing control and smashing into a wall on the left shoulder of the highway, police said.
Two witnesses pulled the victims from the burning vehicle, State Police District Chicago spokeswoman Trooper Elizabeth Nanai confirmed.
Four people were hurt, one critically, according to the Illinois State Police. One of the truck's gas tanks caught fire after the crash.
One person sustained third-degree burns and is in critical condition at Loyola University Medical Center, police said. Another motorist was taken to Loyola and two were transported to Evanston Hospital, all three with minor injuries.
Among those injured, a girl, age 10, and a woman, age 39, suffered life-threatening injuries,  Nanai said. A man, age 49, and a woman, also 49, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Nanai said.
Police have cited the truck driver for improper lane usage, lack of insurance and failure to display a medical card and log book.
The Hechtman brothers, both of Buffalo Grove, co-own Ken’s Diner in northwest suburban Skokie. They thought they’d be home by 9:40 p.m., but arrived at their houses after 1 a.m.
Ken Hechtman said he doesn’t consider himself a hero. Everything just happened so fast, he said.
“Everyone keeps talking about ‘Hero, hero, hero,’” he said. “Now that I think about it, it was stupid. Who runs toward a flaming truck that’s exploding?”
Illinois State Police are still investigating the crash.

Great burgers, and Jewish heroes. It brings new meaning to the hero sandwich. Corny joke, I know, but maybe they can add something like that on their unique menu with uniquely named dishes...