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Smotritch said "I consider it very reasonable to levy taxes at a very high level on these very high profits, especially in order to prevent the banks from having the motivation to achieve them, and to cause them to pass some of those profits back to the public using tools available to them..". Smotritch explains that they should cut their unreasonable profits somewhat by paying out a higher interest rate to savings accounts as well, and the high tax on these profits would encourage that as banks would pay out the higher rates in order to be obligated in paying less tax.

The banks are pigs. Or how did the old saying go? Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered. They are a fine line away, if they didnt cross it already, from being hogs with the people's money, and the people have no choice but to continue using the banks. I have no problem with Smotritch slapping them with a massive tax. I just worry it might not solve the problem.

Smotritch thinks that if he slaps them with a massive tax they will pass on some of their profits back to the public in order to cut the profit form the bottom line and avoid the tax. Personally I think it is more likely they will cover their tax by increasing their already unreasonable fees they charge customers for every time they breathe in the vicinity of a bank. Smotritch says slapping them with this high tax will motivate them to pass it back to the public. I think it will too, but not in the same way he is thinking. The banks will just add their charges on customers to cover the tax.

I think a better move, maybe in tandem, would be to open the banking market to more banks. More competition means better rates and the public benefits.

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  -- Minister in the Education Ministry, Chaim Biton

this is amazing. Besides for the blatant lie as there are plenty of studies from all around the world including Israel that prove that on average educated people are more successful in earning a living (yes, we all know stories of people without classic education who became wealthy, but we are talking about "on average", not the exceptions or the individuals), it is amazing that a minister int he education ministry can openly talk about there being no need for education...

He should have just stuck to the normal Haredi talking points that even if it helps, we dont care, it is our right to educate our children how we want, for pure unadulterated torah studies and future parnasa is not high on our list of priorities..

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  -- Justice Minister Yariv Levin

Behadrei brings a story from Rav Gershon Edelstein. Rav Edelstein fell ill during the holiday of SHvuos and had to be taken to the hospital Maayanei Hayeshua in Bnei Braq (Refuah Shleima!).

As Friday progressed and it became clear Rav Edelstein would be staying in the hospital through Shabbos, if not longer, he got concerned. He had made an eruv tavshilin on Thursday, erev chag, in his house, and now being stuck in the hospital nobody would be lighting candles in his home for Shabbos or cooking. Without any melacha to do on Friday in preparation for Shabbos, the Eruv Tavshilin bracha would be considered in retrospect to have been in vain. This greatly disturbed Rav Edelstein..

The problem was solved as the hospital administration had a pot of soup brought to Rav Edelstein's room and he stirred it, thus assisting in the cooking for Shabbos on Friday afternoon, turning the eruv tavshilin he had made on Thursday into an actualized bracha. All's well that ends well, as they say.

Now, what I do not understand is that I thought the purpose of the Eruv Tavshilin is to ALLOW one to do a melacha in preparation for Shabbos should it be necessary, and it almost always would be necessary for the lighting of the Shabbos candles at minimum. I do not recall learning that one MUST do a mleacha if having made an Eruv Tavshilin or else it would be a bracha levatala..

Was Rav Edelstein concerned due to a chumra of some sort or is it actually an obligation and if not fulfilled it would be a bracha levatala? Is this an interesting psak that a melacha must be done if one made an Eruv Tavshilin or is it a chumra?

The Legal Counsel of the government is opposed to this, and, more understandably, the Haredi parties oppose it as well.

The proposal was supposed to be approved by the government today in its session, but due to the opposition as stated above, it has been delayed until the meeting of the heads of the coalition where it will be worked out and discussed between the parties.

I am not sure what the ramifications of such a decision (I dont think it is to be passed as a law, but a guideline of sorts for the government) will be for this or any government. Isn't any decision made by any Israeli government by definition "Zionist" or guided by Zionism? And if not, who determines what a Zionist ideal is that the government would have to follow and use as guidance rather than another policy to be determined as not Zionist or not Zionist enough? What would change by such a decision passing, practically speaking?

Roger Waters revealed himself this past weekend as an average antisemite, perhaps with a bigger platform, and not as the anti-Israel activist he has claimed to be. At a concert in Berlin Waters donner a "Nazi style uniform", though with an emblem of crossed hammers rather than a swastika, along with other Nazi imagery.. supporting the Nazis is simply anti Israel behavior?

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interesting discussion

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Every day seems to have at least one, if nor more, person saying something crazy as if he/she is just looking for a way to upset millions of people, today's craziness was by Gafni, but I am going to leave that stupidity alone.. and choose a pair of statements made by MK Tzvika Fogel (Otzma Yehudit) that seem to contradict each other...

  -- MK Tzvika Fogel (Otzma Yehudit) said those two contradictory statements  today, leaving me perplexed as to what their position really is...

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this version was created for anyone who did not want to watch Noa Kirel's version of this song out of concern of shmirat eynayim...

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et tu Brute?

After we went to bat for you? After we arranged global boycotts of the parent company, after we arranged financial pressure from investors in the United States, after we fought the BDS movement on your behalf like we never fought for any other product or company before. and this is how you repay us? by increasing your prices?

for shame, as my South African friends would say!

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

I think we can now get Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield back on this situation..

This post-Eurovision statement created a bit of a diplomatic stir. Poland got really upset by this statement of Kirel's.

Polish politicians criticized the week Holocaust education in Israel if young people in Israel think Poland was behind the Holocaust or partners with Germany in the Holocaust rather than as the victim they were. 

The Polish government said they are going to be inviting Noa Kirel to Poland to understand better why she thinks about Poland this way (as part of the team of perpetrators of the Holocaust), and them to explain, and for her to see for herself how the Nazis were cruel to the Poles and to the Jews...

If I understand it correctly, Kirel's family was from Austria but they perished in Auschwitz which, as we all know, is in Poland. 

I would suggest that Poland misunderstood her intention. She did not say Poland killed her family, but they were all killed in Poland. I dont know why she had to bring it up at all, the Holocaust has nothing to do with Eurovision. If she had to bring it up, she could have accused the Germans of still being anti-semites for giving her 0 points after killing her family if she wanted to refer to the Holocaust... I wonder how many points Poland will give Israel next year after this snafu..

חרדים לא מוצצי דם, שמאלנים לא בוגדים, דתיים אינם פאשיסטים. יריבים פוליטיים לא צריכים ללכת לעזאזל או לקפוץ לנו. חילונים יכולים להיות בעד הרפורמה המשפטית ודתיים יכולים להתנגד. לשרת את העם זה ערך עליון ולימוד תורה הוא יסוד קיום העם היהודי. השיח הציבורי והפוליטי מעייף ומדכא.

— Daniel Goldman (@goldman1007) May 19, 2023

The Haredim are not blood suckers, the Leftists are not traitors, the Religious are not fascists. Political opponents do not need to go to hell or to get lost. Secular people can be in favor of the judicial reforms and religious people can be opposed to it. Serving the nation is a higher value and learning Torah is the foundation of the existence of the Jewish nation. The public and political discourse is is tiring and depressing..

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classic Israeli behavior... poor Julia, the rarely seen seal in Israel swam ashore several times over the past week. The public was asked to not pester her and leave her alone, let her get her rest...

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Residents of a neighborhood of Bnei Braq sent a letter to Rav Yitzchak Zilbershtein, rav of Ramat Elchonon neighborhood, asking what to do about a rat infestation their neighborhood is suffering - what segula could they perform to get rid of the rats, as exterminating them has not worked. They asked, what segula should we do and what ( ie of our failures and bad character traits) should we repair to rid our neighborhood of the rats?

Hamechadesh brings the response of Rav Zilbershtein to this question.. Rav Zilbershtein said there are several known segulas to rid one of a rat infestation (he doesnt mention it but one of the popular ones today is hanging the picture of Reb Shayale of Kerestir in the area), but now, he says, is not the time for segulas but the time for action. Rats go to areas that are generally dirty and where they have food in abundance, especially from garbage, and water, and old disposed of furniture they can hide under. 

Rav Zilbershtein said the presence of the rats in this area is a chilul hashem because it means these areas in Bnei Braq, which is the city of Torah, are filthy, while streets and courtyards in the areas nearby abutting Bnei Braq are clean and do not have rats.

Rav Zilbershtein says the idea that they should be more concerned about spirituality than about physical beauty and cleanliness is not true. There is a mitzva to beautify Eretz Yisrael, especially areas where talmidei chachomim live. And not being clean does not just result in an area not being pretty and clean but it also brings infestation and disease, and scares children and women. Before looking for segulas, clean up the filth! Rats naturally will be attracted to such a filthy area. Possibly they should also look at the presence of the rats as a sign from Heaven that they should clean up.

Rav Zilbershtein advised a campaign, in coordination with the municipality to encourage and fund the campaign to spruce everything up and clean the courtyards and buildings entrances, but not just clean but actually upgrade everything and make it look nice, plant grass or astroturf, cleaning campaigns for the courtyards, set up a neighborhood committee to administer all this, etc...

I love it - they ask the rabbi for a segula to get rid of rats and he tells them to just clean up their mess.

Gafni explains the significance of Har Habayit and the destruction fo the Mikdash, along with the severity of ascending Har Habayit. Gafni writes that today we are seeing more Ministers and MKs going up to Har Habayit, but with the decision being in your hands (ie PM Netanyahu's hands), Gafni requests to prevent any further ascension for both diplomatic reasons and for security reasons. Diplomatic reasons because of how countries around the world look at this situation. Security reasons because of the incitement it causes as well, especially in the Arab world. And the main reason, Gafni says, is because there is no reason to go up - it does not show any sovereignty and only causes a desecration of the holiest place.

I understand 100% where Gafni is coming from, even though I disagree with his assertions. However, if Gafni is so bothered by the desecration and wants PM Netanyahu to put an end to it, why does he not also demand the end of the desecration of the place by the Arabs? If he is just worried about protecting Jews from kareis, so he doesnt care about the divine punishment the Arabs will get from their presence and behavior there, but he doesnt say that this is his concern. he is concerned about the desecration of the place (along with the diplomatic/security fallout). If he is concerned over the desecration, at least request shutting it down to everybody forever.

Gafni also must realize what an order from Netanyahu will effect - Ben Gvir, already teetering on the edge of the coalition, would create such a ruckus over an order to stop them from ascending. Gafni must know Netanyahu will not respond positively to this because of the ramifications that would have. This letter is for show, and nothing more.

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Not everyone likes reheated chicken though. In the current standoff, Ben Gvir and his party members skipped the session today in protest demanding more money for the office of the periphery. So far the standoff is holding strong. Ben Gvir and his people stayed away and Opposition proposals won their votes. Coalition heads and members are angry at Ben Gvir and saying he wont get another agora, and if he doesnt like it maybe it is time for him to collapse the government.

This is the same story every couple of days between Ben Gvir and the government. Reheated chicken, and nobody is a fan of that.

  -- PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, speaking at a United Nations conference to commemorate the "Nakba"

this is pretty impressive for someone who is a Holocaust denier....

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Kol Hai News is reporting on a proposed law.

The law proposed by MK Almog Cohen (Otzma Yehudit) would make it illegal to wave a Palestinian flag, or the flag of any enemy/hostile entity, in Israel.

The vote passed its first reading 54-16 and will be prepared for second and third readings.

The law would make it illegal to fly the flag of any entity hostile to Israel, or any entity that does not allow the Israeli flag to be flown - tit for tat. Violators will be subject to a prison term of up to a year.

I wonder if this includes waving the Palestinian flag in the "occupied territories", over the Green Line, East Jerusalem, and the like. With so many Palestinians living there, are they just going to arrest them all? Will they not be allowed to fly the flag they consider their own?

MK Almog Cohen explains in his proposal that as a democratic country people are allowed to protest any issues they in dispute with the authorities over. Legitimate protest is fine, but waving the flag of a hostile entity that doesnt allow the Israeli flag to be flown is a red line.

It seems the Israeli students dont like the slow pace of the davening, so they prefer to daven elsewhere.

In an effort to bring the Israeli boys back, the yeshiva has set up several incentives.

One of those initiatives is a ten minute learning group after davening to study Mishna Brura, only for Israeli students and conditional upon being present for the yeshiva's minyan. This learning group will including testing and stipends for participants. Additionally, participants will get breakfast served.

Nice incentive.

The more interesting initiative is that from now on, for the foreseeable future, as long as there is no "chiyuv" present, only Israeli students can lead the morning services. This initiative has sped the pace of the davening up and cut it down by ten minutes. It seems the American, or foreign, students previously leading the services were too slow for the Israelis and this is meant to entice them back.

Good move. The Rosh Hayeshiva must be a smart guy to realize that, and practical to also not stick to his guns and say they have to put up with our pace, slow as it may be.

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I am thinking of it sort of in the same way as I think of the judicial reform. Reform is needed but they are trying to fix one problem by creating another. They are fixing a system that is unbalanced with too much power to the courts by going the opposite way and giving too much power to the government.

They are fixing a supposed unbalanced distribution of resources that eventually led to the better off cities having the ability to attract businesses with higher levels of arnona by taking away some of the money they worked hard for and giving it to poorer cities. Maybe the government should just give more resources to the poorer cities, the way they gave to the richer cities 50 years ago, rather than taking away fromt he rich cities now.

That being said, I now understand Bet Shemesh would be set to receive 20 million shekels a year from this program if it passes, so I guess I should support it... :-)

Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon posted to his family whatsapp group this story that had just happened on the plane. I guess one of his family members publicized it...

Rav Rimon writes:

I am ont he plane, and on all the screens it displays a message "Good job Noa, we are proud of you". I saw someone sitting near me (it is business class so the seats are separated). I asked her? Do you know who this Noa is? She answered: I am Noa!

Rav Rimon continues, I asked her, so what did you do? Why are there signs for you? She responded, I won third place in Eurovision. So I asked her, what is your last name? She was surprised I didnt identify her and responded, I am Noa Kirel..

She and her mother then proceeded to tell me about their grandfather who was a rav and sofer stam, Noa said that the morning of Eurovision she said the morning brachos and did not use her phone on Shabbos. She then asked me what I do. I told her, I am the Rav of Gush Etzion, if you ever have a question, feel free to call me. She got emotional and asked for my number. She then took a selfie and sent it to me..

I am not surprised he didnt recognize her. I am not sure I would have either. Maybe I would have thought she looks familiar...interesting that he flies business class...they had a nice conversation and treated each other well and respectfully despite their differences... both good people (Rav Rimon is a good person and I already knew that as I know a little bit about him and have read some of his writings and follow him a bit. From what I have read of Noa Kirel the past few days because of Eurovision I am learning she is also a good person and not the classic celebrity - though maybe most celebrities arent quite the classic stereotype celebrity...)

UPDATE:

Rav Rimon has sent out a notice explaining that this was supposed to stay private and not be publicized. A friend of the family saw it and publicized it (ie a kid showed it to his/her friend who then publicized it) and it has since gone viral. Since it is already out there in the public, Rav Rimon says he is ok with thatץ He would have preferred if his shiurim would go viral, posts on mishna or halacha or information about chessed projects, but since this already went viral, ok but he wants to stress that the takeaway should be that we should all be kind to other people, especially to other Jews, and with that we will merit to connect with the nation of Israel with love

As far as I understand it, in what is supposedly an effort to effect a decline in housing prices, the government is trying to pass what is called the "arnona law". Every city collects municipal taxes from its residents, and from businesses located within municipal borders. This arnona revenue is meant to be the bulk of any city's revenue to be used for funding garbage collections, maintenance around the city, education, activities, and whatnot. Cities collect one fee for residential properties and much higher fees from commercial properties. It seems that some cities choose to focus more on developing commercial property and build less residential, so that they can collect more arnona at the higher, commercial, rates. This supposedly causes housing prices to skyrocket due to a shortage of available housing. And there are some cities and towns that collect very nicely and are considered wealthy cities, while other cities and towns are poor with a lot of residents paying discounted arnona rates along with little commercial properties in their environs.

This supposed discrepancy is behind the arnona law. The arnona law would create a fund in which the wealthier cities in Israel would have to deposit a portion of the arnona revenues they collected (I dont know what the percentages are) and that fund would then distribute monies to the poorer cities to help "narrow the gap". This would also affect housing prices as it would somehow incentivize cities to build more residential housing, cutting down the shortage of supply of housing and stabilizing and lowering the prices.

Just on the face of it, this is socialism. Taking from the wealthier cities to give to the poorer cities. There is nothing right wing about these economics. Just on that alone it makes me think this is a bad idea. We need a freer economy, not a more restrictive one. It makes sense to me, I think, that residents pay their town municipal taxes in order to get municipal services. I dont want my municipal taxes going to pay for another cities issues. I already pay general taxes to the government and dont see why my municipal taxes should be redirected to other cities instead of being used to provide me with more and better services.

If the government wants to bridge the gap, it surely can find ways to do so without taking away my municipal services that I paid for - and cities who have money taken from them will surely cut municipal services.

Additionally, Minister of Finance Betzalel Smotritch has found a way to exclude the cities and towns in Jude and Samaria, over the green line from participating in this. Actually, they will retain the right to receive money from the fund but will be exempted from having to pay into the fund. There were also reports earlier today (though I dont know if anything will come of them) that the Likud is trying to find a way to exclude cities that are Likud strongholds so they do not get hurt by this.

I dont know if my city would receive money from this fund or if it would have to pay money into the fund. Obviously if my town will get money I will be in favor of this program because then I will benefit from it rather than lose from it :-) ... but seriously, this looks like robin Hood or some form of socialism/communism and cant be good. If we take away their revenue from investing in business and employment, what incentive will they have to continue?

It is interesting that the left wing parties are opposed to this saying it is a way to take money from the rich and give it to the Haredim and settlers. That might even be true (partially), but still - isnt that a big part of the left wing agenda? a bit of socialism, sharing the wealth, and all that? 

I am open to hearing why my impression is wrong and why you think it is a good program.

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Arbel came up with a plan to open the Population Registry offices in the four big cities and make passport applications available with no previous appointment - ie back to the way it used to be before the appointment system went into place with far longer hours every day for the coming month. So far, on the first alone of this campaign, over 3300 applications have been processed. I dont know what the daily count normally is but it isnt even close to that. Lines are long and patience is required, but at least if you need a passport or whatnot you can now hope to get it.

Good job, Minister Arbel.

I would like to see something similar being made available in smaller cities. Maybe it isnt necessary everywhere but lots of mid-size cities could use a similar option. Maybe once he sees the success of this program in the big cities he will consider expanding it, though maybe they dont need to go until 10pm every day in the smaller cities...

That is David's Sling (a new version of the Iron Dome system, but meant for longer distance rockets, if I understood correctly) tracking and taking down a rocket on Friday. The explosion was overhead as sirens blared in Bet Shemesh

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Ben Gurion met the Klausenberger Rebbe, and asked him what’s the minimum he’d want to see religiously in Israel and what’s the most he’d want to see.

“The minimum,” the Rebbe said, “is that I should be able to wear a shtreimal openly—the most is that *you* should wear one too!” pic.twitter.com/yyOjNt4U3Z

— David/Dovid Bashevkin (@DBashIdeas) May 9, 2023

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  -- MK Almog Cohen (Otzma Yehudit)

maybe he should go back to Sderot and put an end to all this

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While I am not sure in what way it is being manifested at this time besides for being expressed verbally, reporters on Twitter are saying that Haredi community leaders are angered by this.

1. no surprise there. not much of a scoop.

2. I totally get it. People dont want outside influences targeting their kids or the youth of their communities. They have worked hard to create a certain environment and this targeting is threatening that.

3. the thing is, if you think it is ok to target kids with religious activities to influence them closer to religion, and we (or most/many frum Jews in Israel) usually do, this isnt any different, just from the other perspective. Everyone should stop targeting youth or everyone should be ok with it.

4. If they are targeting people over 18 that is an entirely different story. They are adults and are fair game, all around.

5.  Haredi leaders want to keep their communities in the closed "ghetto" style that they have worked well with for so long, while at the same time joining the general public in leadership (ie politics) and influencing broader society. It doesnt really work that well if you try both ends of it at the same time

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While personally I think it is not necessary, I do not see any big deal in this. People pay for the electricity. The people using the "kosher electricity" , necessary or not, will be paying for it in their electric bill. I wont be paying for anyone else's electricity, no matter where they get it from. It is even a good thing, with so many communities generating their own electricity illegally using generators and hooking up apartments and synagogues in dangerous ways that are not according to any standards, supplying it properly from the electric company will put an end to that, maybe. I am sure someone out there will still say it isnt kosher enough and will still operate a pirate generator, but most of those who want it will hook up to the official system. So this will minimize the danger to the public.

That being said, I wonder how many hechshers this electricity will have to have. Will it be Rabbanut, and if it is will the Haredim rely on it? Will it be Eida? will it be two or three hechshers certifying the electricity as kosher? Will there be a choice of regular and glatt electricity?

And I dont understand why this has to be passed as a law? Can't the electric company just decide to supply kosher electricity to those who want it without passing laws for it?

They are seemingly considering this primarily because they are upset at PM Netanyahu over his backtracking on several promises, primarily the promise to pass the Draft Law in tandem with the budget. In addition to that they see an opportunity to attach themselves to the Gantz bandwagon, and they think they can help him form a government without Yair Lapid and the other more left-wing parties. Additionally, this would be relieved of partnering with the extremist Ben Gvir, they would be rid of Amir Ohana, the current Speaker of the Knesset who is openly homosexual and while they have lived with it until now they don't like it, and it would temper the anti-haredi sentiments around the country while at the same time achieving the budgets they want and need for the yeshivas and kollelim as opposition to their budget demands would almost disappear if they help Gantz form a government.

Personally I think this is bogus. Whether they should do this or not, I do not see it happening. I see them floating this possibility purely to pressure Netanyahu to cave on some of the issues he has been backtracking on. Unless the next government is Gantz, Likud and the Haredi parties, which isnt likely to happen, I dont see how they think they can help Gantz form a government with Gantz while leaving Lapid out. The numbers arent there. Even if Gantz gets the 30+ seats he is polling at, adding the 18 or so Haredi seats to that (between Shas and UTJ, assuming they all agree to this), still leaves them far short of 61, and they need Lapid or some other parties to complete that. Smotritch and Ben Gvir wont make up that shortfall because they are too extreme for a Benny Gantz led government. of course it is possible a dark horse might appear and do that, something like a successful Naftali Bennett return, but I dont think that is something they can count on.

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