here is a headline that is as misleading as probably any I've ever seen..

NRG is reporting: Hysteria in the Jordan Valley: Crocodiles are taking control over the area

that is really the headline. see it for yourself.

When I saw the headline I thought this would be a compelling story, somehow crocs got loose from the croc parks and are breeding and eating pets or sheep or even threatening humans... I even wondered to myself for a moment if there would be any danger running the Tiberias Marathon next week (a few years back there was a crocodile on the course of the marathon, so the thought was not actually so far-fetched).

Another thought was, if crocodiles are taking over the Jordan Valley, maybe we should just give that area to the Palestinians and let them deal with it.

Then I read the article.

It is actually quite boring.

Basically the croc population in the area has grown so much and they can no longer handle it. The crocodile is a protected species and they cannot kill them, meaning the current population of about 1000 crocodiles is becoming a problem. That number of crocs lays about 600 eggs per year, most of which hatch and bring to the world new crocodiles. A couple of years ago 70 crocodiles broke out of the park. In addition some have been stolen and either let loose or just held in captivity.

Maybe they should give them away as pets. Or ship them out of Israel. Sell them to zoos, collectors, drop them in the wild in Africa or Egypt or wherever. Maybe start a crocodile park in the Palestinian Authority and donate the Israeli crocs to them...

I guess Bet Shemesh is just like any other city. We have our share of both heroes and crooks..

in Bet Shemesh news today, we have a hero featured and a crook.

The hero is a soldier in the IDF from Bet Shemesh. Rotem Shabbat was on duty at a checkpoint in Jerusalem near Shuafat. While checking the Arabs passing through the checkpoint, one seemed suspicious to her and she took him aside for further examination. It turned out that this Arab fellow was the suspect of a manhunt as info pointed to the fact that he was planning an attack.

When the border police searched him, by Rotem's orders, they found a large knife and learned that he was planning to commit a stabbing attack in Jerusalem.

Rotem Shabbat, from Bet Shemesh, has now averted two terror attacks during her service at the Shuafat checkpoint.
source: Shemeshnet

and we don't just have heroes here in Bet Shemesh, but we also have our share of crooks...

Some guy from Bet Shemesh with a metal detector went and raided an archaeological site. After initially denying involvement in the theft, police discovered over 800 ancient coins in his house, along with other bronze materials such as jewelry, stamps and other items, the fellow admitted to his guilt. The loot was from the end of the Persian rule, and into the Hellenist, Roman and Byzantine eras up until the Ottoman era.
source: NRG

This Israeli election season has not failed to surprise with crazy news and influential events happening on a daily basis, sometimes even more frequently than that.

This does not take the cake, and it is nothing like what happened yesterday, but it is big news and surprising.

If the Haredi parties did not have enough trouble this election season already, and if they were not already facing tremendous obstacles in these elections, another wrench just got thrown in. And somehow it comes from Bet Shemesh.

Kikar is reporting that a new Haredi party has officially registered for the coming elections, and it is a party that is based in Bet Shemesh.

The name of the party is "Perach - shefa, bracha, chaim v'shalom". The party is registered by a list of 10 people, all Haredim living in Bet Shemesh. The names listed are, both men and women; Bracha Malka Nueman, Malka Rosenbaum, Rachel Ednan, Shalom Eliezer Herbst, Shlomo Steinberg, Yehudit Steinberg, Yitzchak Shag, Chana Shag, Asher Weinreich and Fraidy Weinreich. I looked up a few of the names in the local directory and they live in the neighborhood of kneh Bosem, a.k.a. Heftsiba, which is a completely Haredi neighborhood.

No list for Knesset seats is mentioned yet, so I don't know if this new party will be including women on its list, but the women are at least involved in the establishment of the party. In the little information mentioned about it, women as MKs or in any capacity is not mentioned as its goals, but economic issues are.

The party says its focus will be on establishing a list of a thousand basic items that will have their prices slashed by half (they call this the shefa aspect), bringing down cost of housing (the bracha aspect), doubling the wages of soldiers (the chaim aspect), and promoting territorial exchange for true peace (the shalom aspect).

I clearly don't know what they are offering differently than any other party. All this can be done as lobbyists or pressure groups from outside the Knesset. Do these 10 people think they have the solution for peace that everyone else has not been able to discover? cost of housing or cost of living? It could be that they do, but this seems to me, right now, to be a silly little enterprise. I wonder where they will get their support from. And, I wonder what they really want - it is hard for me to believe they really plan on running. I would expect they are looking to pressure a different party to take one of their people or to put something from their platform at the head of their focus or somethign similar..

Also, no name of a rabbinical adviser or who their rabbinical guidance is, which is strange for a Haredi party..

Anyways, if the Haredi parties weren't hurting enough, this is going to be another thorn in their side, and at least a distraction.

#IsraelElex

this is an amazing view and description of the construction of Highway 1 to jerusalem. Both from an engineering discussion and from a biblical discussion.

The Rabbi and Gypsy Lady recently became a bit of a local Internet sensation when a video of them playing a Led Zeppelin song hit Facebook and went viral. That clip is not on Youtube, but these other clips are...

as we've seen over the past few days, there is no shortage of fighting and dishonesty, weak morals, underhanded behavior, corruption, in politics.

That is why this post from Yehuda Glick gets today's FSotD:




To sum it up in English, Glick gives kudos to his opponent in tomorrow's Likud primary (Glick is running for a slot on the Likud list under the yesha position). Tzachi Dickstein, his opponent, called Glick today to with him good health and good luck in the primaries tomorrow. in return, Glick wished him the best of luck and a quick recovery to his wife who was recently injured in an accident.  Glick says he is happy that in their competition for the race they spoke about each other with respect and has no doubt that whichever of them will win the spot tomorrow will give his best efforts to serve the people of Israel...

Microsoft has announced that they will be scrapping Internet Explorer. Spartan will be their now browser, and it will be more similar to Chrome and Firefox.

Big news. it probably makes most of us happy.

I think though that this must be an anti-Israel decision. Perhaps even an attempt to overthrow our government.

I mean, how will our government continue to function without Internet Explorer?  All government websites that allow user interaction, for paying bills, for downloading and uploading form, issuing payments, etc. all require Internet Explorer.

I can see the government collapsing over this. I can see civilian uprisings, as we will no longer be able to do our government business online, but will have to go stand in line at government offices. I see chaos.

I did not know that Microsoft was so anti-Israel. Until now.

(this post should be taken with a grain of humor)

I am especially impressed with how he has stayed so "on message" with the line they chose for this campaign. Every time he opens his mouth he mentions that he won't apologize.

Rav Amar, Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, visited the Knesset yesterday. He took a tour of the premises with Rav Alexander Hochman, rav of the Knesset, and some other rabbis involved in kashrut in the Rabbanut and in the Knesset. The focus was on the kitchens and the eating areas.

He said the funniest thing as a result of his tour.

Upon conclusion of the tour, Rav Amar was asked, by MK Eliezer Mozes, about the level of kashrus. Rav Amar responded by saying the Knesset is one of the most kosher places he has ever visited.

It is a funny thing to say about the Knesset. One of the most kosher places. With all the vile behavior, the vulgarity, the machlokes, the lying, the backstabbing, the deception... with all that, the Knesset is the most kosher place around... .what a turn of a phrase!

(yes, I know he was referring specifically to the kashrut of the kitchen and food, but reading this last nightin the midst of what is going on with the arrests, corruption, allegations, fighting, etc. it was just a strange expression)

MK Merav Michaeli tweeted out the following criticism of PM Benjamin Netanyahu acting as Minister of Communication in his allowing Channel 10 to close rather than bail them out. She calls it harming democracy.

ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו מגבה את שר התקשורת בנימין נתניהו בסגירת ערוץ 10. כשפועלים לביטול הדמוקרטיה לא צריך כלב שמירה.
— Merav Michaeli (@MeravMichaeli) December 28, 2014

In response to this tweet I pointed out to Michaeli that as a Member of Knesset who voted in favor of a law to shut down a newspaper it is hypocritical to be upset about the closing of Channel 10 which is really happening due to financial mismanagement and the government is simply not bailing it out and calling that damaging to democracy.

I still await a response.

Truth is though, it is not just the tweet above, or Meirav Michaeli. It is many politicians upset at Netanyahu and the government for not bailing out Channel 10, while many of them were in favor of the Israel Hayom bill.

Santa was delivering presents to Israel this year at the Bilin protests... in the forms of rocks hurled at our soldiers..




and here we have the other face of Santa..

if you have not yet heard the leaked video of Rav Ovadia talking about what he thinks of Aryeh Deri and how he does not want him to come back to lead Shas, here it is:



more interesting though than what he actually says about Deri is what it means in all its forms. The fact that the video exists, was recorded possibly without his knowledge, the clips that are being released in which he expresses the opposite opinions, that there are opposite clips that were also recorded, what it shows about how these askanim and rabbonim function where basically the rabbonim are forced or pressured to do and say what the askanim want. So, after saying all this, did Rav Ovadia really bring Deri back because he loves him so much and wanted to return the deposit to him or was he pressured to with threats? Did he say this because this is how he really felt or was he pressured to by Yishai? When he said the opposite was he pressured by someone?

If this is really a glimpse at the "behind the scenes" of how the rabbonim and askanim make their decisions, it is really sad.

and, as my friend Dani Waxman tweeted out today,

The most shocking part of the Shas tapes is that at about 7.5 minutes in there is a clear sound of a ringing iPhone.
— daniwaxman (@daniwaxman) December 29, 2014

He refers not to the clip above, but the one at http://www.kikar.co.il/159834.html

recently a rabbinical student (in YCT) from Sharon Massachusetts, Avishai Gebler, was on Jeopardy!

People switch sides in politics all the time. Realities and time change the way people think about different issues and right-people sometimes move leftward, and left-people sometimes move rightward.

And then sometimes there are extremes. Such as, the Haredi woman (Tzvia Greenfield) who was involved with Meretz for a while. Yuval Steinitz who became a hard-core Likudnik after years of being a Peace Now activist. Those are the two that immediately come to mind, but there have been others. These are more shocking than the more normal and common simple adjustments.

That's why the news this morning of Dr. Anat Roth deciding to run in the primaries of Habayit Hayehudi for a spot on the list is particularly surprising.

From INN:

Dr. Anat Roth used to be an activist with the leftist Peace Now organization and an advisor to former Labor leaders Ehud Barak and Amram Mitzna, but now has had a “change of heart”.
Roth announced on Saturday night that she would be running for the Knesset with the Jewish Home party.
She will be taking part in the Jewish Home’s primaries and will be competing for the spot that is reserved for a woman on the party’s Knesset’s list.
According to Dr. Roth, "The Labor movement and the Israeli left have stocks in the creation of Israel and the Zionist enterprise, but the facts have changed and reality has set in, and the Labor party cannot handle them. The last decade shows us that the desire for peace was and remains a thing of the Israeli side only, and that the processes in the Palestinian Authority and around us show that an Israeli withdrawal from land will lead to the establishment of a terrorist state.”
"Jewish Home is the only party that is correctly reading the map and the processes that take place around us, and is not selling illusions to the public. It connects between secular and religious, and not just talks about unity, but works to strengthen our common ground, our connection to Israel and the Israeli and Jewish and Zionist identity among the people,” said Dr. Roth.
"These are the issues with which I’ve dealt with in the last decade, and I hope I can continue to work for them in the Knesset, with the excellent Knesset members of the Jewish Home," she added.
Jewish Home chairman, Minister Naftali Bennett, welcomed Dr. Roth to his party on Saturday night.
"Dr. Anat Roth, who came to us from Peace Now, represents the awakening of the left from the dreams of land for peace - and to a powerful Jewish identity and values of religious Zionism. Her joining us, along with many other talented women, makes the Jewish Home the party with the most female candidates. I wish her luck along with the rest of the candidates,” he said.

Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner Adopts Jewish Godson To Prevent Him Turning Into A Werewolf

  -- Huffington Post

ok.

I would rather use firewood or even set myself on fire, but I will never import Israeli gas. We should not use the Jordanian deficit as a pretext to justify dealing with Satan. They want to starve, enfeeble and exhaust our people...The Jordanian Kingdom has had dealings with Satan since 1994, but where has it gotten us? 

-- Jordanian MP Hind al-Fayez

who can get her a match?  Just make sure it is not an Israeli-made match

The International Space Station people posted on their Facebook page the following stunning images of our little slice of land from way up there...

Maan News is reporting that Israeli forces have destroyed a dairy factory in Hebron today.

The article does not give any reason for it, and I am not familiar with what happened from any other sources [yet].

So, for now at least, I can only offer my best guess as to why the dairy factory was destroyed.

I would guess it was because the dairy was producing milk that was not cholov yisroel.

Garbage time in #Israel elections campaign. Failed politicians announce they're retiring while uninspiring candidates join the fray.
— Anshel Pfeffer (@AnshelPfeffer) December 25, 2014

in some political parties, and seemingly Yisrael Beyteynu probably leads this list of parties right now, you have to pay people off to get appointed to important and influential positions.

In other political parties, and seemingly Shas leads this list of parties right now, you have to be related to people to get appointed to important and influential positions.

Aryeh Deri recently created a womens council to advise the leaders of Shas on a variety of issues. The womens council consists of two women - Adina Bar Shalom, Rav Ovadia's daughter, and Yaffa Deri, Aryeh's wife.

Last year Aryeh Deri fired Meir Lugasi from his position as head of public inquiries, and appointed his son Yanky in his place.

Now, Kikar is reporting that  Aryeh Deri has just appointed his daughter, Shifi, to position on the welfare committee of the City of Jerusalem.

Impressive and surprising.

Impressive that Aryeh Deri can just go ahead and do all this, without a care in the world.
Surprising that there are so few qualified people among the Shas ranks that the Deri family members seem to be the only ones, or at least the main ones.
Even more impressive is that Shas and its supporters has let him use the party as his personal fiefdom like this.

During Chanukah, the IDF Spokesperson twitter account posted various images of soldiers lighting Chanukah candles. The posted photo was accompanied with a short description of what the soldier does - e.g. plays tuba by day, lights candles at night.

This one seems to have upset some.

He operates drones during the day, and lights #Hanukkah candles at night. #HappyHanukkah from the IDF! pic.twitter.com/epy3rbFBuZ
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) December 22, 2014

Haaretz is claiming that it "creeped out the international audeince". Despite saying that , Haaretz fails to actually quote any diplomat or other member of the "international crowd" complaining about the imagery or symbolism of the image.

Neurosurgeon and possible 2016 US presidential contender Dr. Ben Carson speaks with "Tour Guide Eve" about their day together in Gush Etzion; his (spoiler alert!) positive impressions of Israel; and what he sees is Israel's "unique" relationship with the US

this is pretty funny. kudos to Danny Danon for a great video...

Tzippi Livni worked very hard to get herself a good deal in running a united list with the Labor party. She got decent to good reserved spots for all her 6 MKs, even though her party, Hatnua, has been polling to not pass the minimum threshold.

Livni will be using her spot, as will Amir Peretz.

Amram Mitzna resigned today from politics

Elazar Stern resigned the other day from Hatnua and is looking for something new. Ostensibly because he was not willing to join Labor, but it is probably more complicated than just that.

Dovid Tzur also resigned from Hatnua yesterday.

Maariv is reporting that Meir Shitrit is planning to resign tomorrow from Hatnua.

So, what exactly did Tzippi Livni fight for and conduct all those negotiations over? And, did she not talk to her own people about their plans before agreeing to merge or unite with another party? I wonder if Labor feels ripped off, as they expected these big-name politicians to be working for them come elections time, and now all they have is Livni and Peretz. I also wonder, will Livni now be looking for some names to stick into her reserved spots on the joint list?

Hatnua means "the movement", but it seems like the movement is really in the direction of out the door.

The Likud Comptroller today ruled against Benjamin Netanyahu. He disqualified Netanyahu from running in the upcoming primaries for party leadership. Why? for using party funding for his own primary campaign.

Wow! This might be the most significant news in the entire elections, if it sticks.

I'd bet right now that both Moshe Feiglin and Gideon Saar are regretting their respective decisions to not be candidates in the upcoming primaries..

בימים ההם בזמן הזה pic.twitter.com/4rBtrYsr28
— hasidic (@hasidic1) December 23, 2014

Background: from Algemeiner:

Europe’s largest menorah is erected in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, a site once marked by hatred and racism where Nazi rallies took place.
“In the center of Germany, Europe’s largest menorah and one of the largest menorahs in the world stands tall at over 30 feet saying that light will always at the end prevail,”said Rabbi Yeuhuda Teichtal, head of the Chabad Lubavitch orthodox community in Berlin. “The message is today, with all the challenges we face, with all the anti-Semitic acts we unfortunately have to experience, nevertheless we are here and we will continue with acts of goodness and kindness.”

I have heard someone say the Wall will stay in our hands. I want to ask you, how exactly will the Wall remain in our hands – as an enclave inside Palestinian territory? And, how exactly will we get to it? In convoys, by helicopter, perhaps in armored personnel carriers? We did not return to the Kotel after 2,000 years in order to reach it by armored personnel carriers. On this day I say to you here, on the last night of Hanukka, that the Kotel will stay in our hands, and Jerusalem in its entirety will remain in our hands forever, under Israeli sovereignty

  -- PM Benjamin Netanyahu

and so it begins.. a bus ad was defaced in Jerusalem almost immediately after it was put up.


No, it was not an advertisement with a depiction of a woman. It was an ad for Eli Yishai's new political party.

source: Ladaat

SNL Funhouse - Christmastime for the Jews from Bix Pix Entertainment, Inc. on Vimeo.

Superintendent Uri Sadeh, Head of Crimes against Children Investigations at the Cyber Crime Division, Israel National Police and formerly Coordinator of INTERPOL’s Crimes Against Children Unit in Lyon, France will speak on Motsei Shabbat 27th December in Beit Shemesh about “The Globalization of Pedophilia”.

in Judaism we do a lot of things that seem kooky. sometimes even mitzvos, but especially minhagim. Off the top of my head I can right away think of the minhag of klopping aravos, people who whip themselves before yom kippur, kapparos as pretty kooky, especially to an outside observer.

here is one that definitely would rank up there as one of the kookier looking minhagim, though it does look like it would be fun to participate in.



They are throwing things at the guy lighting the menorah in shul.

I dont know anything about it, but I was told a reason for the minhag and that is, to distract the focus from the fellow lighting, so that he should not actually fulfill his obligation to light, but can then go home and light at home for his obligation. Halachic sources actually deal with this issue and conclude that lighting in shul does not fulfill one's personal obligation of lighting, so this seems like all this raucus in shul would not really be necessary for this purpose.

If anybody has any knowledge about this custom, I'd be happy to be made more knowledgeable..

great job!

this is a video put out as part of a campaign of a private organization called Shishi Israeli that is trying to promote some sort of Israeli culture that includes Jewish traditional things among Israeli cultural things. They have billboards up around the country merging a soccer ball with a challa - saying Friday soccer (football) is an Israeli tradition, and kiddush is an Israeli tradition. According to the Shishisraeli website, the people behind this are secular businessmen trying to promote family values and unity. Needless to say, some people are upset about this promotion.

you can't reject or belittle the details of the report. You cannot feed the children and elderly who are starving with declarations. We are taking the future from our kids. If we do not put this at the top of our priorities, we might win the battle but we will lose our children. These are our soldiers of the future and these are the people who grew up with us. Just as we knew how to raise money for security and war, we are also obligated now to raise money to deal with poverty.

  -- Shimon Peres

he's right, but he has never really done anything about it either, in all his years in leadership positions. Not even when he was spending tens of millions of dollars on his annual birthday bash.

I'll take products you don't expect to have an OU for 600 pic.twitter.com/0SJWvUlWOa
— Rav Burg (@RavBurg) December 21, 2014

my comment on this from elsewhere:
its funny because of the name, but it is just a sauce. like duck sauce doesnt have duck in it, baby food doesnt have baby in it and coke doesnt have cocaine in it

I am beginning to wonder if there is some sort of conspiracy going on regarding the splitting of Eli Yishai from Shas and the formation of his new party. My suspicion goes so far as to think that it was a planned split with the goal being an eventual merger of sorts, or some sort of agreement to work together at minimum, between Yishai's new party and Shas.

Over the past couple of days, I keep seeing Rav Mazuz, Eli Yishai's new "maran" and rabbinic council, talk about the new party not poaching voters, or targeting them, from Shas, but only from the Dati Leumi parties of Habayit Hayehudi and Tekuma. When the deal with Tekuma fell through, Yishai said he will next approach Ben Ari and Otzma people. Now Rav Lior and Rav Levanon are announcing their support for Eli Yishai, even though Tekuma is not moving over, as if they think they will have any say in what goes on over there.

If he is not taking away [much] from Shas, but only from the Dati Leumi, what is he really offering? Why does he want to lead a community that is not his? The only thing I can think of is that by doing this he will be bringing, or trying to bring, a bit more power and seats to the Haredi parties from communities that would not normally have voted for Yishai or Shas.. Shas could not attract them even under the best of conditions, but maybe the new Eli Yishai party can...

hmmmm

I don't quite understand how this works, but News1 is reporting that the Ministry of Transportation has approved Superbus to operate some bus lines on Shabbos.

This Shabbos will be the first time since Superbus began operating bus lines in 2002 that it will be operating lines on Shabbos.

Especially unusual about this is that much of Superbus's existing operations are in areas with Haredi populations.

This is unusual because we all know how the Haredi community takes to chilul shabbos, and breaking of the status quo, and reacts by boycotting even the non-chillul shabbos parts of such companies (like AM:PM and Shefa Shuk).

The affected lines are in the cities of Afula, Kiryat Tivon, Yokneam and Haifa. The lines operating on Shabbos will be in areas that did not previously have public transportation on Shabbos, and even going into areas with religious populations, so this is a big change in policy. Personally it makes me wonder why they approve these new lines but have refused to approve such lines on Shabbos in very secular areas like parts of Tel Aviv that have been working for years to get public transportation on Shabbos.

I wait to see how the Haredi community will react, and if they will boycott Superbus in other areas, such as Bet Shemesh, as a result. It is a tough boycott to create, considering how reliant the community is on public transportation, but I cannot see this passing quietly.

From the latest revelation in the Deri-Yishai spat I think we can all learn that politicians, specifically Deri and Yishai in this case but it is probably true of most, if not all, politicians, treat their public like idiots to be used.
see Kikar for details of the above

All is good as long as the politician can keep it under wraps that he thinks his voters are idiots to be used.

Once it gets out and the people know what their beloved politician actually thinks of them, there is no guessing what kind of fallout there will be. In this case, it should be exciting, and painful, to watch over the coming days...

Weird.

The other day, the police and authorities would not allow the Women of the Wall to cnoduct a menora-lighting ceremony near the Kotel. Yet, yesterday, they did allow Tzippi Livni (along with Yitzchak Herzog) to conduct such a ceremony. And not just a side ceremony with a small menorah, like the WoW wanted to do, but the central lighting on the main menorah.



What's the difference?

From the perspective of the Women of the Wall, they should just grant Tzippi Livni honorary membership and declare it a victory.

Yesterday I took my family to The Biblical Museum of Natural History.

The museum is in the Bet Shemesh [Northern] Industrial Zone and is a gem.

The entire family (we were a group of about 25 family members from under 3 years of age until mid-60s) enjoyed the visit to the museum.

The museum was founded and is operated by Rabbi Natan Slifkin. While some might worry about the old cherem on some of his works, they can rest assured that he has kept all controversial materials out of his museum in order to keep the museum in the consensus, and so that everybody can enjoy and learn..

The tour starts with a presentation by Rabbi Slifkin in which he talks about some of the issues the museum deals with, the types of animals and displays, some of the biblical discussions of animals, and the like, and ends with a video of Rabbi Slifkin "in the wild" with the king of the animal kingdom.

From there the tour moves on to the room with all the displays. On display is a variety of taxidermied animals alongside live animals and pieces of animals, as well as his famous display of exotic shofars. He has some items on display that is just mind-boggling how he got those items, at all, and specifically to Israel.

Rabbi Slifkin leads the tour through the displays, stopping at each item and explaining its history, its relevance in the Tanakh and often some discussion around it, such as analysis of the name, how the animal came to Israel or how it was indigenous to Israel but no longer is, debates over names of animals on the Torah and what they might refer to, and the like. Some of the displays can be held by the people, such as snakes and reptiles, as well as some others. The tour is both exciting and fascinating.

At the end, they have a small petting zoo of rabbits and guinea pigs and chicks outside that the kids can play with for a while.

Everybody had a great time.

Not only should you include a visit to the Biblical Museum of Natural History on your touring itinerary, but schools should make this site a regular visit on their annual schedule of educational sites.

Here are some pictures from our visit:

and here is Naomi Shemer's song based on Maoz Tzur which she wrote in 1969 after visiting IDF outposts near the Suez Canal. Shemer saw the soldiers lighting a unique handcrafted menora made from used mortar s

Just  over a week ago I was "surprised" to read about someone from Beitar Ilit arrested for growing marijuana.

Little did I know, I would be even more surprised by more details of this story that just came to light.

Not only was this woman a resident of Beitar Ilit, but she is someone involved in the "non hashgacha" "anti-rabbanut" hashgacha called "Hashgacha Pratit", run by Rabbi Aaron Lebovitz.
source: Srugim

It does not bother me in a moral sense that she grew marijuana, as I don't consider it a bad thing, but it is, at least right now, illegal and she was caught and has to pay the price. She was arrested, she has been put out to pasture by the hashgacha pratit people, at least until she is found guilty or innocent, and that's that.

So, my additional surprise is not that someone involved in anti-rabbanut activity would break the law. My additional surprise is that someone from beitar is involved in this hashgacha pratit organization that wants even less kashrut supervision than what the rabbanut provides.

MK Elazar Stern has announced his leaving the Hatnua political party. He is looking into his options, including possibly joining a different party. His reasons are the way Tzippi Livni came to her arrangement with the Labor party, along with some other reasons.

Personally, I don't care much for Stern. For me at least it is not particularly sad to see him go. He was definitely disruptive to the system, and I like that, but I did not like him, his style or his goals.

What I find interesting about this is not his leaving the party, but something else he says in his letter to Livni. He decided to not take his portion of the government funding to the party with him to wherever he goes next, despite having consulted with legal experts and being told explicitly unanimously that legally and morally he is well within his rights to take the money. Stern says that every single person he consulted with had no problem with his taking the money, except for one. That person was Tzippi Livni, who wanted him to leave his money in her hands.
source: NRG

That I find interesting. Tzippi Livni who has jumped from political party to political party and has made sure to take her portion of the funding along with her wherever she went, as was her right, objected when someone else wanted to do the same to her, as per his rights.

With Tzippi Livni, what's good for the goose is not good for the gander.

Watch and listen to Former NFL Player and Professional Wrestler, Bill Goldberg honor those Rabbis killed in Har Nof