The never-ending saga of Israeli Football on Shabbos continues, at a not particularly opportune time.

Until now the Haredi politicians largely avoided picking a fight with Israeli sports enthusiasts. Despite the Supreme Court even declaring football on Shabbos to be illegal, the Haredi politicians never pressed the issue. They always allowed the temporary permits to be issued, even until today.

The tightest situation came when Aryeh Deri was the minister in charge of giving the permits. Instead of rejecting the permit, he passed the responsibility off to others and then changed his ministerial position..

Now, in the midst of the fights and pressure about working on the train line son Shabbos with the Haredi politicians increasing the pressure weekly, the issue of Israeli Football on Shabbos has returned. Bad timing for the Football people. The Haredi politicians almost cannot allow it to pass now, in the middle of the other fight.

According to Walla News, PM Netanyahu wants to give a permanent permit to the football league to play its games on Shabbos, instead of continuing the procedure of them needing to request a new permanent permit every year or two that has been automatically granted. A permanent permit for Shabbos activity would avoid the issue of the Supreme Court declaring the games illegal and prejudiced against religious athletes. The Haredi politicians oppose this change and even canceled a meeting with Netanyahu that had been scheduled for today because of this new issue. They consider it a serious breach in the Status Quo and say that they cannot allow a government in which they are a part of to grant official status to chilul shabbos.

I wait to see how this will be resolved. Netanyahu cannot afford to let Israeli Football be canceled, even temporarily, over religious issues, and the Haredi parties cannot afford, at this point, to continue ignoring the situation. Israeli Football is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

This is amazing.

According to a report in Ynet, doctors in Shaarei Tzedek Hospital successfully dissolved a large growth with Coca Cola.

The 71 year old patient had a 7cm (diameter) growth in his stomach and it was causing a blockage and a deterioration of the stomach's ability to function properly.. The patient had already lost a lot of weight and was suffering from other problems caused as a result of this. Doctors had already tried to break up the growth unsuccessfully. He would now have needed a serious surgery to remove the growth.

The doctor then decided to try dissolving the growth using Coca Cola. There is a precedent for this, as a Greek doctor did something similar in 2002, and there have been other reports of success since then.

2 days after the patient began drinking the cola, the growth began breaking up. On the third day it disappeared completely. It is actually 3 years later now, and the patient is still clean.

Doctors do not often recommend drinking Coca Cola. It contains a lot of sugar. and this procedure requires the drinking of a lot of cola. It actually made me think of the stories people say of using coca cola to remove rust from pipes. While Coke might not be healthy in general, I guess it does have some benefits!

This also takes me back to the history of Coca Cola that was created by Dr Pemberton and was effective in curing a number of various ailments.. Coca Cola is still living true to its original intentions!

Rav Adiel Asyag of Kollel Eretz Chemda issued a psak by which under certain circumstances a woman who immersed in the mikva with "rastot", or dreadlocls, in her hair, the immersion could be considered valid.

Jack Sparrow can now go to the mikva!

Normally dreadlocks would be considered a chatzitza and would invalidate the tevila. The braids are tied very tightly and that is a problem. However, Rav Asyag says, that if the rabbi knows that if he says no she simply won't go to the mikva, or in a situation such as a baalas teshuva that might reconsider because of such a problem, there is room for leniency and to allow her to immerse even with her dreadlocks intact.

Rav Asyag qualifies it by saying that she must clean the braids very thoroughly and ensure nothing is stuck inside them. As well, such a woman should stay under the water for a bit longer than normal to give the water more of an opportunity to get though the tight braids.
sources: Kipa and Srugim

Brazilian singer Micha Gamerman is back with his forth animated music video. He released the first this past Purim with a Purim Medley off his latest hit album Moadei Yisrael Im Micha Gamerman. In the four week’s since its release, the animated video garnered over 186,336 views on Youtube alone.

With the fast approaching holiday of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, Micha released his new video the “Yamim Noraim Medley” which is sure to thrill both kids and adults alike. The medley was arranged by the talented duo of Eli Klein and Yitzy Berry.

Moadei Yisrael Im Micha Gamerman consists of six medleys, one for each of the major chagim; Purim, Pessach, Shavuot, Yamim Noraim (Rosh Hashana/Yom Kipur), Sukot and Chanuka. This album has so much energy and flavor that the Chaguim come alive for everyone, both young and old. 

This Back to School sale, buy 2 and get 1 free, seems a bit strange..



unless it is the parents who are meant to enjoy the vodka in celebration of the kids finally going back to school!

My intention is that by the coming Hanukkah there will already be less vacation days. There is a great desire among the parents to lessen the number of vacation days and lessen the payments [for daycare during vacation]. We have done a lot this year and saved parents a lot...My intention is that by the coming Hanukkah already there will be less vacation days in Israel. That is the goal.

  -- Minister of Education Naftali Bennet

yay!

Shufersal, or Supersol as they are commonly known, has come out with its own line of cola.

What is particularly interesting about it is what is being described as an attempt to compete with Coca Cola. To that end, Shufersal made their new line of drinks to appear very similar to Coca Cola drinks, product placement in the store will be very close to the shelves of Coca Cola, the price is significantly cheaper, and they are bearing a hechsher of Kehillos (a hassidic hechsher).
source: Behadrei

First of all, Coca Cola might not appreciate the attempt and might fight back - not by dropping prices but by lawsuits and pressure. If the packaging and appearance is similar to that of Coca Cola, they might sue for trademark or copyright infringement. If that does not work or they do not, they might pressure Shufersal to move the two drinks away from each other. I am sure Shufersal does not want to lose the Coca Cola account, and that can always be threatened.

Second, many before have tried competing with Coca Cola. Some have done very well for themselves, even if they did not become actual serious competition for Coca Cola. I have a hard time seeing how a supermarket thinks its private line can actually be competition for Coca Cola.

Third, if they think the hechsher Kehillos will give them a boost over Coca Cola's Rav Landau, they really do not get the marketplace. Kehillos is known as a good hechsher, but so is Rav Landau. And if Pepsi's Badatz Eida could not do it to Coca cola, and RCs Rav Rubin hechsher could not do it to Coca Cola, Shufersal's Kehillos does not stand a chance. At most they might do some decent business selling their cola as a low end cheap drink, similar to Crystal and other such cheap drink brands...

The continued fight over the kashrut status of the Braekel chicken continues to be very strange. The only part of it that makes any sense to me, and the only part of the debate that I really appreciated, is what was said by Rabbis Meir Mazuz and Moshe Mordechai Karp.

Both of these rabbis are of the opinion that the chicken is perfectly fine and kosher just like the "white" chickens. Rabbi Mazuz spoke about how this was the basic chicken and when they first came to Israel they had to rely on the Ashkenazim for a mesorah on white chickens, as they had never seen them before. Rav Mazuz brings some proofs as to the status of the chickens and added his comment that there is no need to keep adding unnecessary chumros and arguments.

Rav Karp, Rav in Kiryat Sefer, commented on a poster that claimed in the name of many gedolim, including Rav Elyashiv under whom Rav Karp studied, that one should preferably not eat the Braekel chicken but should eat Turkey instead. Rav Karp is disturbed by the claims, as a result of the Braekel debate, that eve regular chicken are problematic and he says that Rav Elyashiv and Rav Kanievsky ate, and still eat, chickens with no concern. Rav Karp says he has no knowledge specifically about the Braekel chicken but then criticizes all the time new halachic decisions are announced that were never discussed by the gedolim and definitely never issued public psak on the matter. He says someone who wants to be machmir for himself and not eat something is fine and good but should not go about announcing it and warning the public. Now they are prohibiting chickens that was always eaten by the gedolim and tomorrow they will prohibit eggs, and it is as if there is no torah and mesorah and there is nobody to protest this.
sources: Kikar, Haredim10

I particularly appreciate the railing against the searching for chumros and prohibitions...

Legal Counsel of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel has announced that it is going to be holding a disciplinary hearing against former Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger to deal with the question as to whether or not they should revoke his title of "Rav" because of his conviction for bribery. If they decide to revoke, they will be revoking his various titles and qualifications, including "neighborhood rav", "city rav", and his certification for officiating at weddings.

They plan to do the same for Rav Avraham Yosef, Chief Rabbi of Holon, because of his indictment, but will only do so after a conviction. There has already been a plea bargain announced in that case, so presumably, unless something changes drastically, that is going to happen at some point.

Regarding Rav Yoshiyahu Pinto, no action will be taken because he does not have any semicha certification from the Rabbanut.
source: Kikar

If they go down this road they will be pretty busy dealing with all the rabbis in the prisons, especially with the politicians from Shas. At least they will mostly only have to deal with one prison, as that is where most of the criminal rabbis get sent to.

I have heard the claim that the direction in which most people pray by the Kotel, that is most people pray in front of the Kotel standing with their faces facing straight ahead, is some sort of proof that the area under the Dome of the Rock is not the actual site of the Kodesh Kodashim. If it were, we would be praying at an angle directing ourselves towards the Dome. Because we pray straight and not angled, clearly the actual site was further south, opposite the area of our Kotel.

I don't think that is much of a proof as naturally most people will always daven straight when facing a wall. I have seen it in shuls in which the angles are wrong and the aron kodesh is off to the side but people still daven straight ahead. It is natural positioning.

This has now turned into the subject a psak.

Rav Avraham Kahana, one of the rabbonim of The Temple Institute in Jerusalem, has issued a psak that the masses of Jews praying at the Kotel have been facing the wrong direction and should instead angle themselves more towards the Northeast and will thereby actually be facing the site of the Kodesh Kodashim.

Rav Kahan brings various proofs as to the necessity to daven in the correct direction and therefor concludes as to the importance of angling oneself properly when at the Kotel.

Rav Kahan is "melamed zchus" on the masses who daven facing straight ahead with two points:
1. the Yerushalmi says that in jerusalem one should direct himself towards Har Habayit (i.e. rather than specifically the Kodesh Kodashim)
2. bdiavad one can rely on the fact that the Divine Presence is everywhere no matter which direction one faces.
Source: Srugim

I am happy he found a way to be melamed zchus and qualified his psak with that. Personally I don't like it when any person or rabbi comes out and says everybody else is wrong.

Also, I think nowadays with almost everyone facing that direction, even if it is not accurate, it might be a problem of "poresh min hatzibbur" to face a different direction.

And, I must wonder when the opposing piskei halacha will be issued, with fights over whether or not we know where the actual site of the Kodesh Kodashim is and what direction we must face as a result of that knowledge or lack of knowledge.



.

If you plan on doing your kapparos with a chicken, you had better plan to do it almost anywhere besides for Petach Tikva. Petach Tikva is once again joining Tel Aviv in banning the practice of kapparos with a chicken from its streets, due to the "tzaar baalei chaim" involved in the practice.

City Hall of Petach Tikva is actually only banning the slaughtering of the chickens, but the practice of kapparos with a chicken without slaughtering it will be allowed but only with a permit from the veterinary services. Permits for this should be requested no later than September 9. I am not sure what people with permits are going to do with the chickens after the kapparos if they will not be allowed to shecht them, but I guess they'll figure something out.

City Hall recommends changing your minhag to do the kapparos with a donation of money to tzedaka instead of using the chicken.
Source: Srugim

It must be Elul already....

The Knesset Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs held a meeting on June 5th, 2017 to learn about the important work and impact of the Genesis Prize (www.genesisprize.org), often referred to as the Jewish Nobel.

What if a trend-savvy PR company in 2017 had marketed the epic First Zionist Congress of 1897?

120 years ago, Theodor Herzl convened the Zionist Congress and transformed the 2000 year-old-dream of the Jewish people to regain sovereignty in their indigenous Land of Israel into a modern political movement.

What if it had today's technology? Spoiler: results may have included kittens, Snapchat filters, and the Harlem Shake...

There is a new app called "Tikkun" (in Hebrew), by which one can request a bracha on a variety of issues from a selection of rabbis. The selection of a specific rabbi will affect the price of the bracha, as will the selection of how the bracha should be transmitted - by video message, by audio clip or by a simple written note.

The variety of issues for a blessing request includes issues such as for finding a spouse, for health, , for "the month f Elul", against Ayin Hara, a priestly blessing, parnassa, fertility, business success, and more.

The selection of rabbis is also broad, though it seems to be dependent on what your issue is. I installed the app and it seems each issue has a different selection of rabbis to choose form. I guess each has his own specialty. In the options on the various issues I saw names such as  Breslav messengers in Uman, rabbonim by the grave of Rashbi in Meron, Baba Baruch Abuchatzeiram rabbonim and Mekubalim from Shtefnesht, the rabbonim of Kupat Ha'Ir,  Rav Baruch Dov Povarski, Rav Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi, among others.

According to Kipa, the prices range from the cheapest bracha at 101nis all the way up to 1500nis.

It seems the idea was adopted from another system (I am not sure if this was via an app or via some other service) in which people were requesting blessings and good wishes from celebrities, such as receiving a video from Bar Rafaeli wishing congratulations for a birthday or whatnot.

The people behind it say this is far more popular than the wishes from celebrities was. And, they have 20 Haredi programmers working on the app - after they spend the morning hours learning Torah in Kollel, in the afternoon they work on developing the app.

The Conservative and Reform representatives are now saying that because the Haredi politicians backed out of the Kotel deal and had the entire thing canceled, from their perspective they are pulling back from the compromise as well and they will now demand equal representation on the administrative board of the entire Kotel area and an equal place of prayer for egalitarian services at the Kotel.

They explain that they only agreed to the Ezrat Israel area as a compromise, not as if it was an ideal situation. It did not satisfy their demands and it caused conflict within their own community. But they felt it was worth compromising to resolve the situation. Now that the government pulled back from it, they have no reason to agree to stick with the one minor aspect of it that the government left for them and they'll go back now to the original demands.

I am not quite sure what they are saying, as all along anyway they have continued to fight for services at the Kotel area, even at the height of the deal. Had the deal gone through maybe they would have stopped the conflict and used the Ezrat Yisrael, though we will never know, but because the deal did not go through it seems they are now threatening something they have been doing all along anyway.

A major kashrut fiasco happened in the army with Haredi units (Netzach Yehuda and others) reportedly having been served food that was cooked with both meat and milk.

Spending a week in Latrun for coursework, the units ate in a local restaurant and were served a pasta dish that contained both chicken and cheese. Perhaps each individually were mehadrin, but together the dish was most definitely not! When the soldiers noticed the problem they stopped eating and left the restaurant.

Of course, according to the reports, everybody involved blames somebody else for the mistake.
sources: INN, Behadrei, Srugim

Weirdly enough, the problem as reported is twofold: 1. the were served non-kosher food and 2. they were served non-mehadrin food. As if the mehadrin issue is an issue when dealing with non-kosher.Sort of like, had the "treif" food been mehadrin, this would not have been so bad...

Also weirdly enough, the shocking report seems to only be shocking because this happened to a Haredi unit. Non Kosher food being served, by mistake, to anybody who wants to keep kosher, Haredi or not, should be equally shocking and upsetting.

Anyways, mistakes happen, and they happen to the best organizations and to the worst organizations, and kashrut mistakes are no different. Halevai they should never happen, to anybody, but they do. Whether you keep mehadrin or regular kashrut, whether you are Haredi or not. Hopefully lessons are learned so such mistakes do not repeat themselves.

#ConanIsrael

we will try to follow COnan's antics here...

A Guest Post by Dr. Harold Goldmeier

Another son of ours and his family thrive in Israel. After some 20 years they have no intentions of moving anywhere else. But it hasn’t been easy. Both sons, as I reported on Life in Israel  (June 19, 2017), are poster boys for the consumer debt rising at a rapid pace approaching “out of control,” according to the Bank of Israel supervisor.

Our emigrant son had respectable jobs in Israel, several at the same time to make ends meet, but failed to unshackle himself from Israel’s immersive low wages and pitiable purchasing power. He was told not to put on his resume he is a graduate of Northwestern University fearing to appear too smart and high priced.

“Dad,” he told me when it came time, “I gave it my best shot. I tried to do everything right. I spent a full year in ulpan. I took low paying teaching jobs just to break into the world of work. I made eight good friends, and built a small but close social network. Every one of my friends returned home including the two doctors. I drained my American savings to support us. I have to do what’s best for my family.”

the fighter with the tzitzis is a boxer named Steve Cunningham. He fought an undercard match last night against Andrew Tabiti (Cunningham lost despite the tzitzis), leading up to the much more hyped Mayweather vs McGregor fight. He wears techelet too! I guess the "shmira" provided by wearing tzitzis doesn't apply during a boxing match, or maybe without the four cornered garment.....

This week Iryat Bet Shemesh announced the advancement of the construction of "Park Yarmuth" to be located in between the neighborhoods RBS M3 and RBS G2.

The first level of the park will spread out over 200 dunam of land and will include an ecological lake! The cost just for the first stage will be 30,000,000nis. They claim it will be ready and open with a year.

The park will include a number of section of park equipment appropriate for various ages, each section separated from the others. There will be walking paths and bike paths, which will also connect the two neighborhoods together along with the upcoming RBS H and the shopping/business district being built below as well.. The lake will be based on underground water springs located in the area.

There will be areas of the park designated for picnics and barbecues and will be lit up at night. There will also be an area designated for a communal garden in which residents will be able to get individual small plots to grow vegetables and plants.

The park will also include a section for preserving some of the archaeology in the area. As well, there will be a petting zoo of some sort.
source: Shopping Bet Shemesh

peek-a-jew at the ballgame

When you're starting to get worried the game won't be over by shabbas pic.twitter.com/sXRmEU6zbV

— Cespedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) August 23, 2017

As the fighting and conflict between Degel and the "Peleg Yerushalmi" rages on, the Peleg people have opened a new school down south, in the town of Tifrach.

Without getting too involved in the differences and taking sides in this, the major difference between the two regarding the schooling issue is the taking of funding form the government and allowing the government to dictate even just a small amount of what happens in the schools. The Peleg people have moved very close to the positions of the Eida and Satmar in this regard, against what the classic Litvishe Haredi position has been historically.

Anyways, in this article in Kikar about the issue of the school, one activist in support of the school is quoted as having said that if he had children that age, he would send them to this school because "originally they thought the administrator of the local organizations was strong enough to oppose the temptations of the Ministry of Education in their attempts to influence the educational content in the schools, but recently he began teaching the children about brushing their teeth - and then we all understood that we can no longer rely even on him!"

I think this is hilarious. He wont send his kids to a school because they teach about brushing one's teeth. They think teaching about brushing one's teeth means government intervention.

"looking for a young lady for a shidduch, a 30 year old good Haredi woman. The young man is full figured"..

how does one swipe right or left?

There is something funny about this, despite the main aspect that arouses anger and opposition.

The fight against Haredim and the army, with the attacks, verbal or otherwise, focusing on the chardak campaign, has already made its way to the USA, for the most part in Lakewood. Yesterday an avreich in Lakewood who has been vocal in saying Rav Shteinman must be supported and adhered to in his opinion on the matter was targeted by the thugs behinf the chardak campaign there.

They tossed piles of flyers with epithets against this guy outside his home.

The funny thing about this is that they just took a pack of paper and wrote some nasty things on each page and threw the pack outside his house. Talk about cheap. Put your money where your mouth is. They even got some lunch stains on the paper..

Behadrei has the pictures..

here are a few samples for your viewing pleasure...











so unprofessional

The following advertisement was placed in an an advertising circular in Bnei Braq:


The ad is searching for a 65 year old woman and her 35 year old daughter.

why?

The ad says they were involved in an incident 13 years ago on the bus returning from the separate beach of Herzliya. The incident involved a dispute between these women and a group of ten year old girls. The woman said to one of the girls during the argument that she will later have a difficult time in shidduchim.

 Behadrei went looking for more details and reports that the age of the women is how old they were back then - though I am not sure ten year old girls can accurately asses age to know that this is true, but if correct today they would be about 78 and 48.

They were arguing about the seating on the bus and it expanded to fighting about other issues as well. At some point the lady said "if this is how you behave, you might have a problem with shidduchim. The young woman searching says that her sister to this day has still not found her soulmate, and she herself (the one who responded to Behadrei) has been married 8 years but has no children. They thought that maybe it is because of this lady's "kpeida" that they have had these issues and are looking to ask forgiveness and remove the kpeida. She says she knows where the woman lived and hopefully the woman will see the ad, as she is not sure if she would recognize her just by knocking on doors or walking up and down the street.

Crazy story!

I hope she finds the lady or her daughter and gets the closure she needs, and if she does that it should help them in their personal lives.

Also the "Kipot Srugot" today, in very large communities, mostly in the center of the country, are already borderline Reform. Anyone who knows how their shuls function and their prayer services - very drastic changes.. true, there are more with kippot, and they are more Israeli, but it is borderline Reform..

  -- Minister Aryeh Deri

I am not quite sure what is going on here besides this group of African Christians being in Ben Gurion Airport dressed "azoi"

There are moments in our lives that when we look back at them we say "that was when my life changed forever". To witness such a moment is a privilege and I was honored to be part of the experience with Nefesh B'Nefesh​. Thank you! 

Have you ever sat down in your car and used Waze, or even to put in an address while driving, maybe while sitting at a red light or while sitting in traffic, and got that annoying pop-up warning you not to use Waze if you are the driver and forcing you to confirm that you are the passenger, even if you are driving?

Rav Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of Tzfat, was asked if it is permitted to click on the button in Waze stating you are a passenger when you are the driver or is it considered lying.

Rav Eliyahu responded that this falls under the prohibition against lying just like any other time, even though you are not lying to another person and it is just clicking a button and in an app. Rav Eliyahu responded saying you are not allowed to lie because it is a lie. You cannot lie to Waze, you cannot lie on the computer, you cannot lie on the Internet. You cannot lie to yourself. Lying has nothing to do with anybody else. Not lying is for yourself. Don't teach yourself to lie.
source: Srugim

I hope his prayers were answered!
caption contest!

wait for it..

 A chassidishe Rebbe vacationing in Italy tells his chassidim that the purpose of his travels is to gather that the sparks of tumah around the world and turn them into sparks of holiness. (source: Kikar)

Come on. Just say you need to get away for a bit and relax. There is nothing wrong with getting away for a little R&R...

In our generation there is a new phenomenon..a person goes to sleep at night, wakes up in the morning and suddenly he is a "Baba", a miracle worker... Then he oublicizes himself and everyone begins to go to him, some giving money and some not. Stupid people go and get blessings and pay money...

  -- Rav Dovid Yosef