one of the items that used to be customarily used for kapparos on erev Yom Kippur is a plant.

That led me to wonder, and thus the relevance to this group, can you do kapparos with a plant during the shmitta year? indoors? outdoors? if it has a hole in the bottom of the pot or if it doesn't?

What say you?

This really is not anything new, but NRG thinks it is, or maybe it is becoming more popular..

for those addicted to caffeine, via the daily mug of coffee, or maybe the 3 daily mugs of coffee, Yom Kippur is a day some people dread due to the withdrawal headaches... The basic advice often heard is to cut down on caffeine a few days before Yom Kippur.. The other advice is mainly to suck it up and deal with the headache.

Another, less popular, solution is caffeine suppositories.

NRG says that the suppository is not certified by the Ministry of Health and is sold in stealth. Some pharmacies are more open about it, while others are secretive and don't want to get caught selling this stuff. It even says this is more common in the American-Israeli crowd. There are two types of suppositories - 1 that has just caffeine and a second that has caffeine and codeine and acamol all bundled within to give a more powerful punch.

NRG says some rabbonim allow it, some say it should only be used by someone with great difficulty fasting...

this reminds me of the joke.. a few days before Yom Kippur Reuven goes into the pharmacy and asks for 200 caffeine suppositories. The pharmacist asks what Reuven could possibly need so many suppositories for. Reuven answers that in a few days it will be Yom Kippur and he is sponsoring the kiddush in shul...

and here is a funny video about caffeine suppositories..

The Rabbanut seems to not necessarily work on any given set of standards.

In the case of shmitta, the Chief Rabbinate has decided to allow the use of hetter mechira produce and deem it a shmitta solution. Some local city Rabbanuts have decided that despite the official Rabbanut position, they don't want hetter mechira to be used in their cities.

In Netanyah and Herzliya, the Rabbanut administrations have instructed local hotels to not purchase vegetables from hetter mechira produce, but to buy produce from abroad (often this means a bit from Europe, some from neighboring countries like Jordan and Egypt, and more from Palestinian Arabs in areas like Gaza and elsewhere).

This upset many people, specifically the farmers association. If the Rabbanut, and the army already announced it will be doing so, will be directing purchasers to imported produce, that would be a major blow to Israeli agriculture and local parnassa.

It almost seems like what's the point of the hetter mechira, which was meant specifically to avoid causing tremendous economic damage to Israeli farmers, if the Rabbanuts wont allow its use anyway and will make the major purchasers buy from the competition?

Chief Rabbi Dovid Lau responded saying he has instructed all the local rabbanut offices to approve the use of hetter mechira produce, for normal basic kashrut levels (meaning, a hotel or restaurant that is mehadrin kashrut, will buy imported produce or some other type but not hetter mechira, but hotels and restaurants under regular rabbanut should be using hetter mechira).

Even more interestingly, Rav Lau announced that any place that has a complaint that the local rabbanut is not authorizing the use of hetter mechira, the situation will be looked into. While the situation is being analyze,d which can sometimes take time, in order to avoid the hotelier to be hurt by the process, as what will he do in the meantime, Rav Avraham Yosef will be appointed to be able to circumvent the Rabbanut and give a temporary hechsher on his own to such places until the issue of the rabbanuts approval will be worked out.
source: TheMarker

That's pretty cool. Instructing the Rabbanut what to do, and then setting up a channel to circumvent them when they won't listen (i.e. he knows in advance there will be some who won't listen to the rules).

Perhaps, seeing this, this is why some people are so worried about the possibility of local rabbinates, made up of rabbis certified by the chief rabbinate and following the basic guidelines of the rabbinate, being given authority over conversions. If there is no set of standards that must be followed within the organization, then any city rabbi can do whatever he wants and demand or allow whatever he prefers. If the Rabbanut officially allows hetter mechira but any city rabbi can decide he doesnt allow it, then perhaps the same can happen in conversions..

An interesting BDS dilemma..

the South African government is considering the purchase of an Israeli device that will literally save lives. The device is one used in circumcisions, and it will save lives of young South Africans who might otherwise die from botched circumcision ceremonies.

On the other hand, they feel they must boycott anything that comes from Israel.
source: Yahoo News

hmmm.. BDS or save lives?

I wouldn't be angry if they showed some integrity and said they cannot make an exception. Unfortunately it would mean more needless deaths... It is easy to boycott products you don't need anyway. The boycott is only really effective if you boycott the products even when you do need them.

On the other hand, the entire boycott is silly, and they probably use plenty of Israeli products they most likely are not even aware of.. such as chips in cellphones, laptops, plenty of other medical devices, etc.

a guest post by Dr. Harold Goldmeier

amazing!

I have absolutely no idea or understanding how this show works, but I am happy to see Eyal Cohen is doing well and advancing...

Hanoch Daum posted this image saying it was sent to him from someone in Eilat... it seems the hospital in Eilat is the final destination..

פרסום בינלאומי ראשון: ג׳ודי מוזס ״ אני נכנסת לפוליטיקה ורצה לראשות הליכוד״ הילארי ג׳ודי מאחורייך pic.twitter.com/geYuKctOJH
— Ayala Hasson (@AyalaHasson) September 29, 2014

Judy Mozes is entering politics and wants to run for head of the Likud.. wouldn't it be funny if she surpassed her husband, Silvan Shalom, right out of the blocks?

Lemaan Achai

Shabbos is her Club Med...

this is hilarious

Good news regarding Tzahronim - afternoon day care for young children, for working parents.

To remind you, the budget was slashed in an effort to avoid raising taxes after the war. The Minister of Education applied his budget cut to the tzaharonim system. This raised an outcry, as working parents suddenly were stuck with either no afternoon daycare for the little kids or daycare that was too expensive to be worth the income.

After a debate in the Knesset committee responsible, a decision was arrived at that the tzaharonim should be reopened after the Sukkot holiday.

Today, Minister Shai Piron announced that the tzaharonim will be reinstated after Sukkot vacation, though in a slightly altered pay format.

To be brief, instead of being free as it was last year, the tzaharon will cost 90nis per child per month, totaling 900nis for the year per child. More details regarding the new format after Sukkot will be decided in the coming days.
source: TheMarker

With shmitta now upon us, there is still a lot of confusion about the different options available during the shmitta year for buying fruits and vegetables. I found the following article online, on the Kosharot website, written by Rav Moshe Katz, and decided to translate it (and add a few words for clarity in the translation - any mistakes are mine). This article is very clear in its layout and explanation of the various option for keeping what he calls "shmitta laMehadrin".

NOTE: I am not writing this here for psak. Any psak mentioned is from Rav Katz and Kosharot. Feel free to disagree or follow your own rabbi. My purpose here is not to publicize a specific psak, but for the clarity of his explanation of the possibilities.

Shmitta LaMehadrin?
[...]
To begin, one must stress that today shmitta is rabbinic in nature and unfortunately we do not merit today to receive the blessings in full that are written in the Torah, that the 6th year will produce enough produce to last for three years. Therefore, we need to find other solutions to the question what we will eat during the shmitta year.

There are 7 possibilities before us:
1. (Isum Shishis) stored from the 6th year - these are produce that gree before the shmitta year began
2. Otzar Beis Din - produce that grew with kedusha of the shmitta year in a way that was permitted via messengers of beis din
3. grown in hothouses, detached from the ground (matza menutak) - shmitta laws do not apply
4. produce grown in the southern Arava region - the area of the southern arava is outside of the halachic broders of Eretz Yisrael for shmitta purposes and thus the produce grown there does not obtain kedusha of shmitta.
5. imported from abroad - imported, not from Israel, thus shmitta does not apply
6. hetter mechira - produce grown, bhetter, during the shmitta year on land that was sold to a non-Jew
7. non-Jewish produce - produce grown in Eretz Yisrael during the shmitta year via non-Jews

each method has its benefits and detriments, we will review them all briefly.
1. 6th year storage - a wonderful solution closest to the solution given by the Torah. The problem is that there is not enough to supply the entire country with produce, especially as there are not many fruits and vegetables that can be stored for long periods of time

2. Otzar Beis Din - it seems, this method is good and worthy, but there are poskim who hold that Chazal did not intend at all for such a form of a business transaction (which includes working the land via a messenger of beis din), but they allowed an organized distribution of the hefker fruits that remained in the field after everyone who wanted to already finished taking. Another problem is with 7th year vegetables, as according to the Rambam these vegetables remain prohibited under the category of sfichin. One using this will rely on the opinion of the "Rash" who allows these vegetables to be eaten.

3. hothouses, detached from the ground - an excellent solution, but from a halachic perspective one is obligated to grow such produce only in a hothouse. This significantly limits the types of vegetables that can be grown using this method (especially as there are poskim who hold that a hothouse is not considered a roof and one would need an actual walled structure). As well, this solution does not provide a solution for all the types of field produce (e.g. potatoes, carrots, onion, etc)

4. southern arava - according to many poskim these areas were not captured by the Jews who came up from Egypt, and therefore for shmitta their status is like the Diaspora and one can grow fruits and vegetables as normal. There are poskim who argue about this, so it is not a complete solution according to all opinions.

5. imported produce - this method has no problems at all of shmitta. The biggest problem of it is that it hurts local Israeli agriculture, which as we have said has yet to merit the abundance of the blessing promised by the Torah and can not yet be an alternative to imported produce.

6. hetter mechira - as its name implies, so it is - a hetter and not preferred from a halachic perspective. The poskim who created the hetter mechira, 2 shmitta cycles prior to Rav Kook arriving in Eretz Yisrael who based his hetter on those who allowed it before him, saw this as a temporary solution based on the economic situation in prior years, and it was deemed a dangerous situation of pikuach nefesh for the people of the new settlement. There is no doubt that today the situation is different, with agriculture in Israel being a small percentage. Still, even during this shmitta year the chief rabbis have paskened to use the hetter mechira.

7. non-Jewish produce - this is produce from Arabs living in Eretz Yisrael. It seems to be an excellent solution, as the prohibitions of shmitta do not apply to them and they can grow produce and sell it to us. However, this causes serious harm to Jewish farmers who need for their parnassa to use the hetter mechira, along with serious ramifications of strengthening the strong grip on our land, whether by Israeli Arabs or by Arabs from Judea, Samaria and gaza, Also, this method goes against the halachic preference of buying from Jews as a fulfillment of the commandment of "Your brother should live with you".  

To summarize, these issues have broad and deep debates and discussions. We have been brief here presenting these topics. In practice, according to Rav Elyakim Levanon, the president of Kosharot, all options presented here are allowed from a halachic perspective. The order of preference brought at the beginning of the article is the order of preference from a halachic perspective.

I thought this was a very good, brief, review of the topics and options for fruits and vegetables. Again, for practical purposes, consult with your own rav, or learn the topics more thoroughly yourself,  about each and any of the solutions you might want to consider eating and require an actual psak about. Rav Katz was very brief and there are many more details and arguments about each and every one of the topics discussed.

The one thing I dont get is that he calls this "shmitta lamehadrin". If he includes every possible option of shmitta produce under the title of mehadrin, what does he consider regular, non-mehadrin, shmitta solutions?

a Rabbi claims to have been kicked out of a restaurant in Jackson, Mississippi, after the owner discovered he was Jewish.

Rabbi Ted Riter also claims that the owner of the restaurant made a disparaging comment about Jews being cheap when he tried to order a salad.

It has come down to he said, he said. the rabbi says the owner insulted him with a racist comment and then threw him out, the restaurant owner says he doesn't know what anyone is talking about and nothing of the sort happened.
source: USA Today (with video)

Far be it from me to decide what happened, but I would suggest that if the good rabbi was thrown out (or even if he just thinks he was thrown out) of a treif restaurant 2 days before Rosh Hashana, perhaps he should not complain so much and consider that perhaps God was sending him a message...

We read a lot of stories from Jewish chaplains in the US army and how they served, and what they did, the Jewish soldiers they encountered, in all sorts of parts of the world...

I was not previously aware of this, but I just discovered, according to a book I am reading, that until Abraham Lincoln came along, only Christians could be chaplains in the US army.

Abraham Lincoln is known for bringing about an end to slavery and the emancipation of blacks, now known as African Americans. In reality, Lincoln was about emancipation of everybody from racial discrimination.

Upon encouragement from a Rabbi Arnold Fischel, President Abraham Lincoln was made aware of the law allowing only Christians as chaplains in the US Army. When Lincoln found out about this law, he moved immediately to have it changed, and was successful. This process began in 1861 ad was completed in 1862.

Due to Lincoln's involvement, and Rabbi Fischel's raising of the issue, the law was changed and now Jewish servicemen are able to get the religious leadership and direction they were not able to at one time. And it was not just Jews, but anybody besides Christians were in the same situation, until Lincoln.

And since then, we have Jewish chaplains who provide a tremendous service, to Jewish servicemen, but also to the US Army, as stories tell of the heroism and their dedication to the troops.

I was not aware of this until now, so I thought I'd share this piece of history.

This has got to be the best deal available for buying the 4 minim, the lulav and esrog (and others) for sukkos... it is a great price, depending on the quality of the merchandise of course, but it even comes with a one year warranty!

on Walla Shops

and, not only that, but you can split the 39nis price into 5 interest-free payments, or 36 maximum payments with interest! That is either 7.8nis per month for 5 months, or a little over a shekel a month (plus interest) for 3 years!

The deal is limited and will expire soon, so don't waste time.. decide quickly.. at this price, what could possibly be a reason not to buy?

Shana Tova uMetuka, dear readers..

we'll be back after the holiday, and I hope you will be too..

enjoy and repent!

Last week the Rabbanut announced it had performed the hetter mechira of State lands in advance of the onset of the shemita year. The lands were sold to a non-Jew from the Ukraine, living in Israel, named George Streichman.

Interestingly, there is more to the story...

Chief Rabbi Dovid Lau presided over a beis din in which, for the first time in supposedly 2500 years, granted official status upon Streichman as "Ger Toshav".

Streichman is the grandson of a Jew, but he himself is not a Jew. Streichman moved to Israel unde the Law of Return, due to his grandfather being Jewish. Streichman is a "ben noach" - he is a non-Jew that believes in the God of Israel, and was therefore chosen to be the buyer of Israel's land for the hetter mechira.

This move was meant to further mitigate any problems of "lo techaneim" in the process of the hetter mechira. Not only was the buyer not a non-Jew of the "idol worshiping religion", i.e. a Christian, but he is a ben noach, and a ger toshav to boot.

The process of the sale went down as such:
the farmers participating in having their lands sold transferred ownership rights to the Chief Rabbinate. The Chief Rabbinate transferred ownership rights to the Israel Lands Authority. The director of the Lands Authority, Bentzi Lieberman, then sold all the lands, the State lands and the relevant farms, to Streichman.
source: NRG

Those who oppose the hetter mechira by ideology won't change their opinion because of this, but it is clear that even more improvements have been introduced to the process to make it more and more reliable.

Haredi councilmen in Jerusalem are upset over some holiday services planned by the Reform synagogue in bet HaKerem...

The synagogue sent out an invitation for participation in Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services, and it includes some other events, such as tashlich by a spring, and it tells the invitees to bring food and make a picnic.

Being that the services are going to be held in a public building, a community center, there is some sort of implicit support by City Hall, though the City denies any involvement in the programming or the funding..
source: Kikar

Personally I think they are getting upset about nothing. There is no statement about bringing barbecues and publicly roasting meat on Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur. it just says to bring food to tashlich. Maybe that is potato chips and sandwiches or cut up vegetables and fruit.

However, if it is a barbecue, and becomes something more of a public display of chilul rosh hashana or eating publicly on yom kippur (though the invitation makes no reference to food, music and yom kippur), then I dont see why it should be treated any differently, at minimum, than the people who ignore sirens on Yom HaShoah and bbq in the park - and they get attacked annually in the media.

We cannot always control what other people do.. and I don't know why we want to...

Like always, some people like the latest decision by the Supreme Court, and some hate it. The court decided to annul parts of the law that dealt with the migrant workers.

The law allowed the government to put the workers in a gated compound for up to a year without any legal proceedings.

Among others complaining, Gideon Saar expressed his feelings that the Supreme Court should be limited in their authority over laws such as illegal migrant workers. Others also lobbed criticism at the Supreme Court for its making an open invitation for illegals to enter the country with no ramifications. the current law has dissuaded migrants from coming,, and the number of those leaving Israel has tripled since last year because of it, but this will likely stem that tide.

I just want to note that when others reject Supreme Court decisions, or those of other courts, they are lambasted for rejecting the rule of law.

Everybody seems to do it regarding laws that they are interested in, or more directly affected by.

silly but cute

want to work for the Mossad?

Peres always had a good sense of humor...

from Yuli Edelstein:


and from his deputy, Moshe Feiglin:

the system for afternoon day care is pretty complicated. And each year it seems to get even more complicated, while ever remaining under the threat of being cut for budgetary reasons.

Israel wants to promote afternoon day care, tzaharonim, for little kids. To that end it subsidizes the cost for qualifying parents, in different ways. Israel wants the tzaharonim to function because it then encourages more people, especially women, to join the workforce.

I am not talking about private day cares. These are generally very expensive. They are a solution for some people, but for other people the cost is too prohibitive - they sometimes do not make enough money to justify the expense.

The government runs day cares that are subsidized. They are operated by the schools or by certified day care providers via a tender. The subssidy comes from, and therefore the authority in charge of the tzaharons is, either the Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Commerce. I am not quite sure how it works, but in the past cities could choose under which authority they wanted their tzaharons to operate, and each has benefits.

Some cities chose to operate under the Ministry of Commerce. The benefits of this is that the Ministry of Commerce wants the tzaharons to function and considers it a priority. They subsidize to a point, dependent on a person's finances on a scale. The problem with this system is that there is a minimum cost of 300nis per kid per month to the parents. It is not a lot of money, but it is much more than the other option.

The other option is via the Ministry of Education. The cost of the tzaharon is much cheaper, free or almost free, and no need to prove income levels or anything like that - if your child goes to an approved school or system, that child can benefit from the free tzaharon as well.

Recently, the government decided to cut some budgets. The war was expensive. One of the budgets cut was that of the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education, in turn, turned around and said the tzaharons are the bottom of the list of priorities for us, and slashed the tzaharon budget.

That means any city operating tzaharons via the Ministry of Education has not had subsidized tzaharons since the beginning of the school year. Jerusalem, on the other hand, and probably other cities, has had tzaharons because they operate via the Ministry of Commerce.

No tzaharons means:
a. working parents have to pay private tzaharons, costing a lot of money and headache
b. working parents have to find a way to get their kids form their kindergartens to those private tzaharons, also costing more money and often not reliable
c. working parents consider quitting their jobs, often the mother, as the cost of the private tzaharon often makes their low paying job not worthwhile.
d. operators of tzaharons have to possibly fire many employees throughout many cities, as the public tzaharons have not been operating

It has been a fight. Parents have been calling public officials, both on the municipal and national levels and complaining and threatening and warning.

Today, the Knesset education committee met to discuss the issue. It seems the decision to slash the tzaharon budget was taken on the fly and did not even go through due process. According to amram Mitzna, head of the committee, the idea was never proposed to the committee and then debated and approved. It just happened. Today the committee debated the issue and came to a decision that right after sukkot holiday the tzaharons will re-open, in a slightly altered format.

Stars of the show were MK Yaakov Asher who argued that the tzaharons provide hot meals to kids, some of whom do not normally get such meals, Mayor of Bet Shemesh Moshe Abutbol who said the parents are ready to revolt in the streets soon if this does not get resolved, a mother from Beitar who described how much she has bene paying for private tzaharon since the beginning of the year and described how difficult it was to every day have to try to figure out how to get her kid to tzaharon, among others.

so, it looks like the tzaharon saga might finally be over.. for now..

sources: Ynet and Kikar

The show must go on!

Good news. The mayor of Bet Shemesh, Moshe Abutbol, just announced that the Bet Shemesh Festival will happen this year, on Monday Occtober 13, the fourth day of Chol Hamoed, at the "Ampi" in Bet Shemesh.

Singers in this years festival will include Udi Davidi, Yosef Chaim Shwekey, Lenny Solomon, and others..

The festival is being produced under the auspices of the office of the City Spokesman, Mati Rozenzweig,and is the result of a number of departments working together to allow the festival to continue...

Whatever it was, or all the different efforts by different people together, worked!

Enjoy!

Update:

it is worth adding the following from Shemeshnet:

Abubtol is upset at MK Lipman, and his open letter published last week about the cancelation of the festival. Mayor Abutbol said that he does not have a good working relationship with Lipman, who takes every opportunity to smear the city leadership. Abutbol said "I am not his employee". When he begins to speak to the point and apologizes for his part in certain incidents that inflamed the city, there will be what to discuss..

Regarding the festival, Abutbol said the decision is in the hands of people responsible. Each department makes its decisions, and he backs them up. The decision regarding the festival was in the hands of Deputy Mayor Meir Balayish and Itzik Kazino.

Mati Rozensweig, the city spokesperson, is running the show this year. The festival is on but in a minimal format. Udi Davidi, Lenny Solomon and Yosef Chaim Shwekey are scheduled to play, and as of now that is it. There is no budget for the festival, and basically he is going to try to get some more local performers to join the program (for free?) like Ari Goldwag. Eli Friedman, and the Gat Brothers.

Interesting that the spokesmans office is now involved in putting on events, rather than the departments responsible for these things... but it is what it is..

This Facebook post probably captures better than anything else the warped sense of priorities some people give to traveling to Uman, and that is assuming he is going with the utmost sincerity of spiritual and inspirational goals...