In the past day there have been two specific news reports that were reported separately and are seemingly not connected to each other. I think it is very likely they are conected.

The two stories:
1. The OU, for the first time ever, is now giving kashrut certification on [medical non-smokable] marijuana.
source: NBC News
2. A Haredi woman in Bet Shemesh was arrested for growing marijuana (and for neglecting her kids)
source: YWN

So, how are these connected?

I would suggest that this woman in Bet Shemesh was probably opening the Israeli division of the medical marijuana company. And OU Israel was going to certify it.

This entrepreneurial endeavor was ready to break out internationally, though it seems that with her arrest the timing is going to be thrown off a bit

The question is, with some people not accepting the hechsher of the OU Israel as authoritative and reliable, would we have a situation in which some people would eat from the American division certified by the OU but not from the Israeli division certified by the OU Israel?

The fight by Haredi leadership against Internet use among the Haredi public is picking up a notch.

According to Kooker, despite their best efforts with campaigns and protests and rallies, the use of smartphones, and internet in general (i.e. via computers) continues to spread even in the Haredi community.

To that end, they are picking up the campaign and going to run campaigns in communities around Israel against the dangers of technology. The two interesting points in the upcoming campaign are:
1. they are going to stop focusing on smartphones and expand the reach to laptops. From now on, people who need computers (to write their divrei torah) and are given a hetter to use one will only be given a hetter to use laptops that will be kosher laptops -like they made kosher phones with certification, they'll do the same for laptops.
2. members of Haredi communities will be asked by the rav of the community to sign that they do not have smartphones, and if they do have internet access what the purpose is. The rabbonim will also somehow be authorized to verify that and ensure reports signed on were true and not falsified.

Regarding #1 with kosher laptops... somebody (an askan) is going to make a lot of money disabling internet access on thousands of laptops or manufacturing laptops for this market. Where do I sign up to do the work and get authorized to issue the kosher stickers? The askan can take his percentage, but I'd like to make some money off it too.

I cannot imagine DELL, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba. Fujitsu. Asus or any other company agreeing to make a few thousand laptops with less technology, and to keep making new ones each year.

Regarding #2, they tried that, or something very similar, already in Bet Shemesh a year and a half ago. The Haver program was sold with a massive marketing campaign, and when it came down to reality, it fizzled out. I don't know if they just didn't get enough people willing to sign or if they lost their energy and just didn't manage it very well in the follow-up or if they just weren't capable of doing what they had planned at the time, but they disappeared very quickly.

I would suggest that if the campaigns until have not really been effective, as they admit the use continues to spread, perhaps more of the same, doubling down with the same strategy, is not what should be done. I  think the campaigns have been pretty successful - having a kosher phone is standard in the Haredi community, bu tit seems likely that many either ignore it or buy a smartphone in addition to the kosher phone, so while an askan somewhere is making his money, the people still have their internet access.

So, instead of doubling down, and trying to do the same thing with computers, in what will surely be another failure (assuming the first really was a failure of sorts), maybe it is time to try a new approach.

Instead of ramming this down the communities throats and banning and threatening, and all that, maybe they should try something else. If they asked me, I'd suggest education. Teach the community to use the Internet responsibly. With filters as well. Maybe there are other ideas people have. Maybe they need to bang their heads together and come up with a new idea, but when something doesn't work, doing it even more usually isn't the solution.

very cool!

our favorite Jew, Israeli, in the NBA had a monster night the other night...

Apparently when Netanyahu spoke of ‘all’ Jews in November 2015, he forgot that women make up half of all Jews. No Israeli Prime Minister has the right to take away Torah from half of all Jews. It is our hope that Netanyahu will not ban women from reading Torah, however if he does bend to the pressure of the Haredi parties, Women of the Wall will continue to read Torah in the women's section of the Kotel. Even if we must hide our Torah scroll and smuggle it past the guards, we will do so just as Jews have been forced to do so many times before us in exile

  -- Women of the Wall spokesperson, upon the news that Netanyahu will support the Haredi position and not allow the WoW group to read from the Torah at the Kotel..

yes, women make up half of Jewry, and half of all humans, but they surely cannot claim to speak for 50% of Jewry. Just because 50% of all Jews are women does not mean 50% want that right to read from the Torah at the Kotel. Many, very many, do not agree with WoW on this. Let's also not forget how small of a group they actually are. They are misrepresenting the situation with their self-appointment as representation for all women...

interesting speech

for the upcoming anniversary of the attack in the Hyper Cacher in France...

Netanyahu Family Requested State Pay for Dog Food

  -- Mako News (among many others)

the request, by the way, was denied.

I am not sure why this is a news item. Employees regularly request expenses to be covered by the employer. Sometimes they are ruled to be covered, and sometimes they are considered personal and not covered. So Netanyahu requested. Big deal. A story would be if he found a way to get the State to pay for it despite the State saying no. There is nothing wrong with asking.

Considering that the boys suspected of perpetrating the arson and murder in Duma:
1. are supposedly being tortured by the Shabak interrogators
2. have supposedly not revealed any information at all to help move the investigation along and the Shabak still does not have a shred of evidence,

I would recommend the Mossad immediately recruit these boys as agents. the Mossad should then send these boys on missions around the world in the most dangerous locations. They have already proven they can withstand the most horrible torture and keep their mouths shuts. These boys would be the perfect agents.

Justice Rosen is rude

  -- Yirmi Olmert, brother of former PM Ehud, after Ehud was sentenced to a shorter sentence of just 1.5 years. The Olmerts think Ehud should have been completely vindicated, not just let off with a lighter sentence.

I have no problem with Yirmi Olmert's statement above. I do not think the courts and judges are beyond reproach and criticism. I would like to see if the media and politicians throw a hissy fit about his statement and call it undemocratic and an attempt to dismantle the justice system as they do any time someone in the camp of the right-wing says something critical of the courts...

Much of Israel got nervous/sad yesterday when rumors spread the Shimon Peres had died.

It turns out it was a misunderstanding. Peres released a notice that he is alive and well. It turns out someone else with the same name had died. That guy was probably much younger than our former president.

I do think though that Peres's office should have included in their press release a picture of Peres holding up the day's newspaper, to dispel any further rumors. Just saying he is alive doesn't mean much without visible confirmation. Maybe he is really off in hiding with Yitzchak Rabin, Elvis and JFK... only a picture of him, holding the day's newspaper like hostages do to prove life, would work.

Yes, this is a joke. To think Peres would pass away and it would not make the news but only spread via rumors on Whatsapp is silly

איך הפכה הרבנות למונופול על חשבוננו from M I on Vimeo.

Sara Netanyahu is going to be interrogated under caution regarding her behavior in the PM residence.

I've said it before - I think Benjamin Netanyahu has been PM long enough. I think it is time for him to announce this as his last term in office and that he will be retiring from politics after the term concludes.

Despite my thinking that Netanyahu should be doing other things besides for the job of Prime Minister, I don't think this investigation should be taking place right now.

If people in the Netanyahu family are suspected of crimes that are related to the functioning of the Prime Minister - such as taking bribes, treason, corruption, and the like - then it should be investigated, even while he is in office,and he, and/or any involved family members, should have to answer whatever questions are asked in an investigation.

An investigation like this, though, is not relevant to the office and its functioning. This can be a major distraction to the prime minister (and he also holds the roles and responsibilities of multiple ministers in his own government) , especially as he is functioning in such a tumultuous time (though when isn't it), and this is too much of a distraction. This type of investigation can wait until the Netanyahus are out of office. Put in safeguards so that whatever they are suspect of cannot happen again, but this investigation should be put on hold until a later date.

What is this world coming to?

Al Arabiya, a media outlet based in Dubai and owned by a Saudi, is praising a Jew for donating money to the benefit of Syrian refugees.

According to Al Arabiya, Sash Baron Cohen and his wife, both Jewish actors from England, are donating $1,000,000 to the benefit of Syrian refugees, split equally among money to Syrian children in Syria that need measles vaccinations, and to countries in the area that have taken in Syrian refugees for the purpose of helping them get medical care and shelter.

Barriers are breaking down before our very eyes. A Jew is donating a lot of money to help Syrians displaced by the civil war, and the Arabs are praising him.

And this comes after the rare praise Israel received last week from Arabs regarding the hit on Samir Kuntar, as it was assumed Israel was behind the hit,

A strange story was related regarding Rav Shteinman.

the story goes that when Rav Shteinman was a young man and went out on a shidduch date with his eventual wife, he wore a shmatta covering his eyes. When asked why he did this, Rav Shteinman supposedly answered that he was concerned that maybe the young woman he was going to meet would not want to marry him, and then he will have seen her for no reason and "impurified" his eyes for no purpose. He had decided that if she would say she wants to marry him, he would then remove the cover from his eyes and look at her momentarily, as he would be required to see his wife before marrying.
source: Kikar

I am not really sure what the purpose of this story is. Is it true? Is it not true? Is it hadracha - is this how we are supposed to act, or a level we are supposed to try to achieve? Is this just a story of something extraordinary by somebody extraordinary for us to admire but not really learn from on a practical level? I am not sure what the point is.

It does seem to be another moment in the hassidization of Litvishe rabbonim, though to be fair - the story was being told by a hassidishe rav.

Rav Shteinman is a great man, rav, leader. He doesn't need stories like this. They don't make him greater. If it really happened as it was told, I don't think this is one of those stories we need to know or are meant to learn anything from.

this is an Israeli invention, being promoted on Indiegogo

Silent Partner is a SmartPatch that elegantly tackles what other products don’t – the snoring noise.

Silent Partner’s pioneering approach quiets the noise at its source creating a Silent Zone around the person wearing it, giving you and those around you a better night’s sleep.

The students of the Akiva Trip, run out of Aish Jerusalem, were treated to an impromptu concert featuring chart-topping super star Alex Clare on the balcony of the Aish HaTorah building overlooking the Western Wall.

MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) has proposed a law that would prevent ministers and deputy ministers from using the official government-issued automobiles on Shabbos as long as there is not adequate public transportation available to the public on Shabbos.

Zandberg says she is proposing this law in response to the new "Shabbos Law" proposed last week by MK Miki Zohar that makes it more difficult for businesses to operate on Shabbos.

Zandberg says that only if we stop the ministers from using their cars on shabbos will they finally understand how people without cars are stuck on Shabbos, unable to go anywhere due to the lack of public transportation.
source: TheMarker

This might be a reasonable idea in theory, but it has no chance of passing - even though a significant percentage of ministers and deputy ministers in the current government are religious and don't use their cars on Shabbos. Meretz is in the opposition, and the coalition will never let this pass. The one question is if and how the religious ministers will support allowing ministers to drive on shabbos in government-issued automobiles...

According to the courts, Texas Hold Em is gambling like anything else.

The courts ruled on the case of a woman who hosted Texas Hold Em games in her house. She had 13 players, and they were playing for money.

The court case revolved around the debate if this was considered gambling as the winning came from luck, or if there is skill involved.

The court ruled that the game is gambling and based on luck rather than skill. The higher court rejected the appeal. The hostess was convicted to 4 months jail time and a 5000nis fine.
source: Srugim

People all over the world play poker, and they usually play for money. I am surprised this would turn into a criminal case. I could understand it if she was not just hosting a local friendly game for some money but was running a quasi-casino in her house. Then it would mke sense, and perhaps that is the situation.

Either way, if you have a local poker game and you play for money, you might want to post someone on the street to keep an eye out...

this is a bit unusual. I was asked to review a game, and I don't usually play games. I was skeptical going in, as I don't have much patience for games...

But it turned out pretty good.

The game is called Torah Bingo.

It is pretty much BINGO, but adapted to work with a theme of the parshat hashavua.

Instead of just picking numbers out of a large bowl and filling out a BINGO card, you go through  questions from a sheet of questions on the parsha. Based on the number of the question asked and answered, the players fill out the BINGO card covering the relevant number.

While we played the traditional way with the players covering the numbers and then calling out BINGO when filling a row, the games instructions have the winner completing the outer perimeter of numbers.

The game, Torah Bingo, was surprisingly competitive, and each kid really had a good time trying to answer the questions before the other kids.

We found Torah Bingo to be a good source for reviewing the parsha with the kids, and having a fun time while doing it.

Gafni is always interesting..

The Mir Yeshiva administration recently forbade any of its students to attend the protest/rally against the new IDF draft law for Haredim that was set to take place after 10 Teves this week.

In response, the Satmar community is calling on their followers to not attend the Mir Yeshiva dinner set to take place in Boro Park next week.

Mir Yishva Didn't Let The Bucherm Attend the Atzeres Remember Don't Attend the Mir Dinner Next week in BP pic.twitter.com/mEbStf2sPK

— Breaking Satmar News (@BreakingSatmar) December 22, 2015

This made me wonder - how many Satmar hassidim normally attend the Mir Yeshiva dinnners and fundraising events? Is this a major threat that will make the Mir Yeshiva quake in its boots?

Here's an interesting psak from Rav Shteinman, as quoted by Rav Kolodetsky in the [DL affiliated] parsha sheet "Matzav Haruach"...

The psak was given in reference to a shul in Bnei Braq that used to be a Dati Leumi shul but was eventually taken over by the Haredi community. Haredi members of the shul asked Rav Shteinman what to do - must they continue saying the prayers for the State and for the IDF, along with the Yom Haatzmaut, Yom Yerushalayim and Yom Hazikaron prayers.

It seems that Rav Shteinman paskened that they must continue saying these tefillot so as not to abandon the minhagim of the place.

And, according to Rav Kolodetsky, the shul continues to say the various tefillot and the Haredi members invite people from the Bnei Akiva branch in Bnei Braq to lead the special services on Yom Haatzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim, and even participate in the traditional flag dance in the shul after davening and say hallel with them.

According to Rav Kolodetsky, the one thing they don't say is the prayer for the State. He explains that the original DL community itself had stopped saying this prayer in the wake of the Disengagement from Gaza.
source: Kooker

As bad and extreme, and perhaps potentially violent, as these extreme right wing teenagers might be, I am not quite sure how the claim that they are a threat to the very existence of the State can possibly be true.

20, 30, 50, even 150 violent teenagers do not and cannot pose a threat to an entire country.

The security forces are invited to arrest all these extremist kids that are so dangerous and put them on trial for their crimes, whatever they may be. But are we really supposed to believe that these kids are the greatest threat to the State?

MK Betzalel Smotritch (Habayit Hayehudi) has proposed a law that will surely not pass, and will likely upset some people in the Knesset and make for an entertaining Knesset debate.

Smotritch has proposed a law that will allow Jews to pray on Har Habayit.

Smotritch has added signatures to his proposal from other Habayit Hayehudi MKs along with some Likud MKs.

The law would actually allow any member of any religion to pray wherever he wants. He says this improves on the current law which only explicitly allows free access but doesn't explicitly say freedom of worship. Smotritch says this is a basic human right  and the courts have supported that many times in the past.

Smotritch says he thinks the law will pass, as he doesn't see how those on the right can not vote for it and how those on the left wouldn't vote for it for human rights reasons
source: Walla News

I can't see the Haredi MKs voting for it. That's a nice chunk of the coalition. The Arab MKs obviously won't vote for it. The Machane Hatzioni and Meretz MKs probably won't so as not to upset the Arabs or harm the peace process or some other excuse like that. Much of the Likud won't so as not to damage the coalition, and under the normal threat of not upsetting the Arabs and damaging the peace process and now is not the time, etc.

Another thing - this law sounds like if it would pass we'd see Arabs showing up in shuls around the country and wanting to pray there. Jews looking to make trouble would show up in mosques around the country to daven mincha. Anybody can pray wherever he wants in his religion. It would start religious chaos.

Who knew that Ron Dermer, Israeli Ambassador to the United States, was such a funny and ironic guy?

Here is Dermer's tweet:

This year I decided to send a gift for the holiday that would also help combat BDS pic.twitter.com/43haadtzvm

— Amb. Ron Dermer (@AmbDermer) December 21, 2015

Ambassador Dermer sent holiday greetings with gifts around town, including to the White House. The gift Dermer sent was packages of products made in Judea and Samaria - items that the BDS movement targets and that the EU has decided to label for easy identification (for potential boycotting).

Takes a bit of chutzpah.

Had he been in the EU it would make some sense. Sending it to US diplomats and politicians, people who have opposed the BDS and the labeling movements, makes less sense.

Still - it takes a bit of chutzpah.

sources: Times Of Israel and Huffington Post

points:
1. public schools shouldn't really be involved in teaching religion anyway, in the United States of America
2. I am happy she is a proud Jew and did this in the face of everyone opposing her
3. I'm not sure this was a great idea, when it is just one kid ruining it for everyone else, as it is going to engender a lot of anger at Judaism. Meaning, if there were a whole bunch of Jews, then maybe. But one kid ruining it for everyone? can't be all that great an idea...

facinating

You cannot control everything. You just cannot.

The kosher cellphone market in Israel is already past the tipping point in the Haredi community. i don't think they need to promote it, among the communities that are targeted. Anyone buying a cellphone who pays attention o these things, and unless he has strong needs otherwise, buys a kosher phone. Those who don't want to listen or feel the kosher phone doesn't meet their needs, won't buy it.

Those who feel it is important, such as rabonim and askanim, need to keep it going, but as far as from a promotional perspective we are bombarded far less about it today than we used to be.

Now it seems this is not enough.

until now, people bought the kosher phone, often for social reasons. Schools required it of parents, socially in some places they had to be seen with it, shidduchim, etc. Anybody who was only buying it for social reasons but really wanted a regular smartphone found a solution. Either they would get a second phone, or they'd buy a fake kosher phone, or a dual-sim phone, or some other solution.

Now they want to control the stores even more than before. the stores authorized to sell kosher phones need mashgichim. It has been discovered that these sellers have also been selling treif phones "under the table", and having mashgichim checking the stores will put an end to that.
source: Mynet

It is probably true. Mashgichim checking the stores might be effective and put an end to the under the table black market. But do they really think this will stop the phenomenon of people getting that treif phone they really wanted (out of need or just want)? f they can no longer get it at the local cellphone shop in their own neighborhoods, they'll go out to the adjacent neighborhoods or places further away and find the shops there that sell the phones.

There is no point in having mashgichim check the shops. The people who follow the rules will buy the kosher phones. Th epeople who want to buy the treif phones under the table will continue to find ways to do so.

The only point I see is to give a few more people a parnassa. And at the end of the day, it will be the consumers of the kosher phone market that will be paying for it.

Now, with mashgichim joining the industry, there is probably room for competition at different levels. One hechsher might have a mashhgiach temidi in their stores, while another hechsher might have a mashgiach nichnas v'yotzei...

Woman removed from mikvah premises by police after demanding to immerse alone

  -- JPost

oy, what the police have to deal with!

I wonder what the dispatcher was thinking when he got a call to extract a woman from the mikva....

Minister of Education Naftali Bennet announced yesterday that he is working to establish the first Arab college in Israel and it will be loated in an Arab town.
source: INN

I am not sure what an Arab college is. Arabs already attend all the regular Israeli universities and colleges. Will this be for Arabs only, with Jews not allowed? Will they teach in Arabic instead of in Hebrew? If it is ok to have an Arab-only college, is it also ok to then turn [some of] the existing colleges to Jews-only?

It seems to be overall a good idea. I think providing them with an education is important. Sure, they can already get it in the Israeli colleges and some can go to the Palestinian ones or colleges abroad, but this makes education more accessible to more people.

As well, the Arab colleges (in Palestinian areas and abroad) are known to be very radical and radicalize many of the students. If Israel controls the college, it can perhaps prevent some of the radicalization. I doubt it will be too effective, as even in Israeli colleges, the Arab groups are relatively radical, though nothing like the colleges in the Palestinian areas.

strange that he tells us he has an alibi but doesn't tell us the alibi.. hmmm

interesting.. some are calling this an emerging trend among the celeb scene..

We have a concept from the gemara that says regarding situations that are possibly life threatening on Shabbos, one who is quick to go help is praised, one who stops to ask whether he can or cannot is like a murderer, and the one who is asked is despised.

Rav Dov Lior recently issued a psak regarding the young men incarcerated as suspects in the case of the Duma attack on an Arab home in which an 18 month old baby died, followed by the death of the parents shortly after. The psak related to the revelation of the torture the suspects have been undergoing at the hands of the security forces, to the point where one of the suspects has even expressed the possibility of committing suicide rather than undergo more torture.

To that end, Rav Lior paskened that the situation of these young men is one of pikuach nefesh, and lawyers who need to go on Shabbos to help them are able to (using a non-Jewish driver). His psak was not for lawyers to go help them get out of a fine, or to debate whether to allow them to stay in jail another day or two but to get the courts to put an end to the tortuous level of interrogation.

Rav Eliyahu Shlezinger, rav of Gilo in Jerusalem, has rejected Rav Lior's psak and has said that the lawyers of these boys have no allowance to be mechalel shabbos, as it is not clear that they can actually help. The allowance for chilul shabbos in [safek] pikuach nefesh situations is that the person has the ability to help. Rav Shlezinger is not sure if the lawyers have the ability to help and does not think it is a pikuach nefesh situation. Rav Shlezinger adds a caveat that perhaps Rav lior is aware of more details and aspects of the case than he is and therefore was able to say ti is pikuach nefesh.
source: Srugim

I don't know one way or the other and have no inside information, and offer no definitive response to the discussion.

All I can ask is, aren't the concerns of Rav Shlezinger exactly the concerns of the gemara that says in a situation of possible pikuach nefesh, the one who waits and asks is like a murderer but the one who thinks he can help and quickly acts is praiseworthy?

Rav Shlezinger admits that the situation isn't clear [to him] as to whether it is pikuach nefesh or not, or if the lawyers can help or not. Isn't that the definition of a safek pikuach nefesh - the possibility that it might be? And if the lawyers think they can help, perhaps they can get the courts to order a stay in the interrogation or order that methods used should be changed - doesn't it behoove them to try, even on Shabbos, lest they be considered murderers for not trying?

I am unclear as to the objection of Rav Shlezinger, as his very words seem to suggest the opposite of his actual conclusion.






.

There are some hechshers, specifically for chickens, that just have a bad reputation in the Ashkenazi Haredi community.

Even though 99% of the people, or more, don't know what is wrong with them, if anything. They just know that they have heard it is a "bad hechsher". Some of them will refuse to eat it because their rav told them not to eat it, which, in my opinion, is better, because they are then listening to their rav rather than rumors or unfounded claims, even if they do not know why their rav says not to.

To varying degrees, common in that list are hechshers/brands like Beit Yosef, Fleish (OU Israel), Rav Auerbach (Tiberias), and others.

I am not here to tell people what to eat and what nto to eat. I am not going to say any of these are good or bad hechshers. Each person should find out as much as he or she can and decide his or  her own acceptable standards, and/or consult a rav. Far be it from me to tell you what to do. It does bother me to hear so many people say hechsher x is a bad hechsher but when asked why they have no idea and stammer that that is what they heard. Hechsher x might be a bad hechsher, but I would like to know why. It might be standards I don't accept, they might be unreliable, perhaps untrustworthy, perhaps someone there is running a scam - but I would like to know why and then decide if it is good for me or not.

To that end, the Chief Rabbi, Rav Yitzchak Yosef had something interesting to say about these hechshers on chickens. Personally I think it is particularly interesting considering his family is behind the Beit Yosef hechsher. It is particularly interesting for two reasons:
1. Beit Yosef is in the list I mentioned above as beng a hechsher many ashkenazi haredim do not accept
2. his statement could be seen to be supporting the family business, but also supporting the competition.

Rav Yosef said that for chickens all the hechshers are acceptable. As Rav Yosef said, chickens dont have issues of glatt (chalak), chicken is simpler to deal with (I assume he means in regards to the shechita and bedikos). Most of the hechshers are perfectly ok, even for avreichim and yeshiva students, and we do not have two Torahs - one for avreichim and another for everyone else. These hechshers are all good for chickens for everyone, according to Rav Yosef.

Rav Yosef also added, that by chickens there is really no need to be machmir, even if one normally is in other areas, and he backs it up in halacha showing example of chumrahs by chickens being unnecessary.
source: Kikar

Most of the people he is directing his words to, the avreichim for example, won't listen, because they don't want to drop such a chumra. Though, some might, if they are financially in bad shape. I am not sure if he is biased, as he is perhaps trying to get Beit Yosef out of the ashkenazi doghouse, or if he is being objective, as he is opening up his own hechsher to more competition.

As to the title, he did not single out Auerbach chickens, but he did say generally they are all ok.

I am sure in the coming days he will most likely issue a clarification, as he will probably be flooded with comments and challenges.

The Likud is leading the religious coercion and has turned into more of a Haredi and extreme party than UTJ.... the government's decision to support the law proposed by MK Miki Zohar of the Likud that will actively prevent the opening of businesses on Shabbos as was acceptable until now will cause great damage to hundreds of thousands of families, both those who enjoy taking advantage of their day off in these places, and also those who benefit from running the businesses that make their living from that... this is another stage in which this government, that is already under the control of the Haredim, is turning the State of Israel into a halachic state, via betrayal of the immigrant and secular communities..

  -- MK Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beyteynu)

I am not sure if legislating Shabbos is a good idea or bad one (both the legislation that has already been on the books and the new legislation), though it seems to me more likely to be bad overall and will cause a backlash, but I think Lieberman's statement is a bit of an exaggeration and employs a decent amount of hyperbole

These guys are dropping like flies.

On the one hand it is horrible that people, especially people in positions of power and leadership, turn out to be people of unsavory character...

On the other hand, it is good to finally see the societal norms are changing and such behavior is no longer acceptable.

Goodbye, Silvan Shalom. And more importantly, let everyone else take lesson from him, and from Yinon Magal and from others, and keep themselves in check... everything comes out in the end, so best to keep it all in to start with...

we steal from them, they steal from us..

I wonder how they even found it...

very cool

If the reports are correct, I am not sorry. He was a disgusting person. Perhaps the Finish intelligence agencies were at work here..

  -- Minister Yuval Steinitz, while keeping the ambiguity of Israel's possible involvement in the killing of arch-terrorist Samir Quntar

sure, Finland. uh huh

the Rabbi and the Gypsy are back!

North of Tel Aviv, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, there is a unique hospital and rehab center.
Its patients are treated for swallowing hooks or for injuries sustained when caught in a fishing net.
This is the Israel Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center.

Its purpose is not only to help sea turtles survive and release them back to sea, but also to raise awareness, educate the public and involve them in their care.

Unfortunately the discussion turned into a political and populist discussion, but the gas deal is crucial to the security of the State of Israel. This gas was given to us as a gift from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the gas depots that turn us into an international force with great capabilities, and they are below the ground.

  -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, upon signing the gas deal

Honestly, I haven't understand the big deal with the gas issue, for or against, and the various opinions as to what should or should not be done.

There is still a lot of heat on this boring issue of Bennet meeting with the Conservative school and the Chief Rabbi criticizing him.

I want to focus on a different aspect of that.

In response to the Chief Rabbi's criticism, some people have been trying to catch the Chief Rabbi by looking at his old meetings and looking for a way to call him a hypocrite.

So far I have seen in the general news that they have found 2 incidents of similar meetings of  the Chief Rabbi that enabled them to call him out as a hypocrite:
1. a little while back the Chief Rabbi went to meet with a school in Washington DC. The school is non-denominational, and has children from all streams of Judaism studying within, ranging from Orthodox to Reform and Reconstructionist and others.
2. A new discovery found that the Chief Rabbi last year had a private meeting with the Federation in the USA, and present at the meeting as representatives of the Jewish Federation were people affiliated with the Reform and Conservative movements.

The media therefore called out the Chief Rabbi as a hypocrite, as he himself has met with such people.

In defense of Chief Rabbi Lau I would say that neither of those meetings makes him a hypocrite.
1. The school was non-denominational. Even though it had students who come from families from the Reform and Conservative movements, the school itself is non-denominational. Rabbi Lau gave the Reform and Conservative movements no "legitimacy" by visiting this school.
2. The meeting with Reform and Conservative people in a Federation meeting also gave the movements no legitimacy. It was a Federation meeting, not a Reform meeting. His meeting with them was under the banner of the Federation, not the Reform movement.

The  "ban" on meeting or cooperating with Reform and Conservative was always, as far as I know, at the level of clergy and organization, and not on the level of individual people. As long as he did not meet with these people under the banner of the Reform or Conservative movements, and they are not clergy or in some other way being actively representative of those movements, his meetings with them do not make him a hypocrite when calling out Naftali Bennet for his meetings, which were on an organizational level.

People who want to criticize the Chief Rabbi, or anyone else, for his actions and words, should at least keep the criticism on topic and relevant.

enjoy the best show in town...

A Debbie Gilbert posted this image to Facebook.

Gilbert explains that when she went to the post office to send a package to Mexico, she was surprised to see that the package did not weigh what she had expected based on the weight she determined it to be on the scale in her house.
So, she took a kg bag of rice and weighed it on the scale in the Post office. Lo and Behold, the 1kg bag of rice actually weighs 1.86kg!

I hope this scale problem is limited to that specific branch she went into and is not a problem across the board in all the post offices.

On the other hand,, maybe Sugat got the packaging wrong on their rice.

What do you think is the right policy?

Until now, medical teams responding to a terrorist attack would treat victims first and only after that treat the terrorist.

Due to an appeal by the Physicians for Human Rights, the Ethics Bureau has decided to make the Medical Association change its policy.

Now, according to the new policy, medical teams will have to treat the worst injured first, no matter who it is, including the terrorist.
source: Jewish Press

So, what do you think?

I understand that it is difficult to put the decision in the hands of a EMT, and different EMTs or paramedics or doctors might make different decisions as to who should be treated first, if the decision is up to them. The medical teams should only be concerned with medicine, and not trying to figure out who did what and were they right or wrong, justified or not.

On the other hand, the terrorist should not be given priority over his victim. No matter how badly injured he is. No victim should have to wait for treatment because the terrorist is taking up the resources of the medical team.

After the victims are treated - sure, then treat the terrorist. But not before.

I think I lean towards the old policy, that of treating the victims first, though I do see the difficulty in having a medical official make a decision to not treat someone for moral reasons.

What do you think?

According to reports, there is a phenomenon of married couples getting a divorce, a fictitious divorce, so as to get various benefits from the State that divorced people and single parents benefit from.
source: Globes

This really is nothing really new. I have met people in the past that never officially got married, or rather, never registered their marriage with the State. They did so in order to benefit from single parent welfare payments. I never actually heard of fictitious divorces for that purpose, but it is not so different.

I think a Libertarian would say that it is not the State's business whether or not I am married, and if I don't want to tell them that I am, I shouldn't need to. Divorcing fictitiously seems to be more of a problem because by doing so you are actively stealing from the State taking budgets you shouldn't get (not really different than not registering a marriage but seems to be more proactive to me).

The bigger problem, I think, is the chaos it will create. People living as married but registered as divorced. Who is married? Who is not? There might also be halachic issues or future marriage issues with children born after "divorce".

Also, while I hope this wouldn't happen I do wonder what if such a couple does decide to eventually part ways, how would they then go about dividing up assets and dealing with custody issues? Supposedly they had already been divorced and theoretically dealt with it during the divorce. Can they now go to court to fight about such a division of assets that was already agreed upon differently during the initial "divorce"?

Yaakov Gutterman, mayor of Modiin Ilit, has an interesting position on Haredi housing.

Gutterman thinks it is wrong to build Haredi cities and towns. Rather, Haredi neighborhoods should be built in existing cities. Cities should be given [tax and other] incentives to build housing and attract Haredim.

Gutterman explains the problem is that people think that Haredim do not work and are not creative and do not pay arnona, and that being the case they obviously do not want to bring such people to their cities. As well, anybody possibly bringing many Haredim to his city is worried that by changing the demographics he is putting his own position as mayor at risk in future elections.

Gutterman says the only thing that will work is to give tax incentives, as well as working to abolish the stigma, and instead of thinking Haredim will ruin their cities, they will realize that Haredim will bring blessing to their cities.
source: Kooker

Gutterman is right, but only partially, I think. Those are concerns, and they should be dealt with. Haredi communities should join other cities, in addition to having their own cities that are [mostly] Haredi.

What Gutterman does not mention is another concern city officials have when approached about building for Haredim, and I've heard this a number of times - they are worried that the Haredim will change the style and culture of those cities. They are worried that if they bring in neighborhoods of Haredim they will suddenly find themselves with signs about tzniyus, women being censored, problems on the buses with women being intimidated or sent to the back, roads closed on Shabbos, and in some places maybe fights over businesses on Shabbos and kashrut issues, etc. etc..

In other words, there are more concerns than just demographics and arnona. They are often concerned about changing the atmosphere and bringing in people who will act against the lifestyle the previous residents want and always lived by.

To that end, whatever can be done to educate the relevant mayors and people as to how and where those concerns are unfounded should be done. However, it is also, at least partially, true. Haredim live a different lifestyle, and bringing in significant numbers will naturally effect change in the city -0 change that they may see as undesired.

Breaking stigmas and changing attitudes should not just bea one way street. According to Gutterman, the cities, the mayors, the secular, should be made to understand that Haredim are good and productive. And of course paying them off with tax incentives also helps. According to Gutterman, it is incumbent on everyone else to get used to the Haredim. I would say it is also incumbent on the Haredi community to learn to get along with everyone else. Find a way to convince others that you can be good neighbors, that you wont demand closing their streets on Shabbos, that you won't throw pashkevilim all over the streets every Friday afternoon, that you won't harass their women about tzniyus, and whatever else.

It takes two to tango.
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