Oct 31, 2023

Tweet of the Day





"sinkholes", lol

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going into battle

THE IDF has already sent ground troops into Gaza over the past couple of days but in small numbers. The IDF is now expanding the ground invasion sending in more troops, though I have not heard any official statement that the ground invasion has begun.

One of my son's is among the troops sent in today. The commander allowed the soldiers to call their families before taking away their phones in advance of entry into Gaza. I assume the two main reasons for taking away their phones is:
1. so they can stay focused rather than worrying about calling friends and family or being distracted by sending and receiving messages
2. security. so the enemy can't track GPS signals and follow troop movements like that.

A commander (of a different battalion) gave the following rousing short speech to his troops right before entry:





Additionally, an IDF social account posted the following "battle page" written by the commander of my son's battalion just before entry:


Translation:
Today we are going into battle!
We are going out to fight, to destroy the enemy, to win.
We are going out to restore our national honor.
This is a battle with a depraved and cruel enemy. An enemy that slaughtered our kids, our wives, our youth and our elderly.
We will avenge the blood of our loved ones.

Beloved friends,
I am confident in you, have faith with all my heart, that our excellent battalion, will be victorious in every encounter. I have faith in our cohesion, I have faith in the great power within us. We are the messengers of all of the Nation of Israel who are in war together with us.

Hashem Yisbarach, who gives us strength and power to fight, should protect our coming and going peacefully.
Be strong and courageous
and do not let your hearts be faint

Hashem should watch over them all and protect the young men and women fighting for us.



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Mobilizing To Help Or Learning

Rav Dov Landau, one of the two leading rabbonim of Degel Hatorah, doesn't like what he has been seeing, what we have all been seeing, over the past few weeks since the war began on Simchas Torah with the Hamas massacre in southern Israel.

We have seen Israel go to war, and at the same time that the front lines mobilized, the home front also mobilized, and the Haredi community has mostly been a big part of the home front mobilization. We see people from the Haredi community getting involved as much as anyone else - whether it is raising funds to buy equipment for the soldiers, whether it is donating for the various causes, grilling for the soldiers, bring soldiers food and equipment, tying tzitzis, visiting army bases and raising morale, helping the displaced people from southern Israel, tefilla and learning for the success of the soldiers and for the return of the hostages, and even with over 2000 Haredi men voluntarily signing up for army service.

While most of us have loved the spirit of all Israelis at this time, and of Jewish communities around the world, including the Haredi communities, as the saying goes in the yeshiva world, daas baaleibatim hefech daas torah - the wisdom of laymen is the opposite of the wisdom of daas torah. Rav Landau does not look at all that spirit and volunteerism and home front mobilization as a good thing.



Rav Landau published an open letter about this to the Haredi community today in the Yated Neeman. In the letter Rav Landau writes that all Torah learners and all Haredim should know that we only have torah learning and nothing else. Those involved in other activities who pretend that they are bringing salvation from the dangers around us should know they are causing damage to themselves, their children and to their families and to others.

A phrase that has been used a lot in other contexts over the past year applies here, as well. What was, will no longer be. I can only imagine that this letter is a result of the fear, or maybe just awareness, of that.



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Israel-Hamas War: Piers Morgan vs Yuval Noah Harari | The Full Interview (video)








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Eli Beer on CNN with Jake Tapper (video)







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together (video)







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HIDING OUT IN TURKIYE... (Israel/Palestine War) (video)








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Lenny Solomon Live (video)







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Yaniv Madar: Haderech Bchayai (video)








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Oct 30, 2023

Quote of the Day

Lebanon is in the eye of the storm. We want to save her from the war and stop the Israeli provocations on the border. The Lebanese nation does not want war.

  -- Prime Minister of Lebanon Najib Mikati

if they don't want war maybe they should do something to reign in Hezbollah and stop them from attacking Israel from Lebanese territory. Take some responsibility for the areas and people under your authority..




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Picture of the Day




our soldiers in Gaza.... "We have returned to Gush Katif"





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Oct 29, 2023

Picture of the Day




For the first time since 2005 (since the Disengagement), the Israeli flag was flown in Gaza (yesterdaY0 as ground forces increase activity in Gaza



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Halacha Headlines: 10/28/23 – Shiur 440 – Guns in Shuls | Burying the Kedoshim – Hear from the front lines (audio)







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Fmr Prime Minister Bennett special interview with Piers Morgan-on the Hamas-ISIS war (video)







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American survivor of Israeli music festival attack 'happy to be alive' (video)







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Jerusalem During the War. Life in the Heart of Israel. From City center to Market (video)








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Avinu - Prayer for the State of Israel - The Maccabeats, @Six13Sings, and @YStudsACappella (video)








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Oct 28, 2023

Shlepping Nachas: Shalom • Saalam - שלום - سلام 🕊 (video)








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Benny Friedman & Baruch Levine - Vshavu Banim (video)







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Oct 27, 2023

Motty Atias - Likras Shabbos (Music Video)







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Piers Morgan interviews Hamas founder's son who became a spy for Israel (video)








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Itai Levi: Bglal HarUach (video)








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Oct 26, 2023

Am Yisrael Cheyeglasses

while hanging out overnight on this expedition with his division from the army, my son broke his glasses.

Because he is a local boy, they let us pick him up to go get the glasses fixed. There was a little bit of pressure because he had to be back by a certain time, and making glasses usually is not an immediate thing. 

My wife took him to Einit Optical. 

They made him new glasses in 10 minutes and it was free!

And we got back in time to where he needed to be!

Check out the note circled in green



 The note says: No charge for a soldier at war, with God's help he will return healthy and complete quickly. Huge hug from Einit Bet Shemesh. Am Yisrael Chai!!! 

or, Am Yisrael Cheyeglasses!






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Truckin on!

My son's army division, or the one he is attached to right now, is moving around to different parts of Israel for different training exercises in different terrains. 

The other night they slept in my town. No, he couldnt sleep at home but they did let him come home for just a little bit to visit. Some other local boys as well. 

He went back to their local base of operations and found his truck (he is a truck driver in the army) plastered with a sign full of words of encouragement and gratitude and wishes of success to the soldiers!





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Quote of the Day

I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using. I have no notion if Palestinians are telling the truth...I'm sure innocents have been killed and it is the price of waging war

  -- President of the USA Joe Biden, after a reporter asked him about the death toll in Gaza, citing Hamas statistics that 6000 Gazans had been killed in Israeli attacks. 

good for him not trusting Hamas numbers.


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BRS-R/BS words of chizuk (video)







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Parents of Israeli American hostage speak out l GMA (video)







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IDF: 35 things you can do while waiting (to go into Gaza) (video)

for the soldiers out there....





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Lenny Solomon Live (video)







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Neria Granot: Mee Shebeirach lchayalei tzahal (video)








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Oct 25, 2023

US involvement

All the news sites are reporting that PM Netanyahu agreed to postpone the ground invasion into Gaza. This delay is due to the request by the US government and President Biden. They now want time to put out defense systems in different areas to protect its troops stationed in different places in the Middle East region from missile attacks.

I am not going to say this is good or bad, but I think it is unprecedented in Israel and we have seen other such unprecedented demands, or really acquiescences, since the start of this war.

Israel used to proudly state that we will take aide (which is mostly spent in the USA on equipment and supplies) but we will never take active help from foreign entities. no US (or any other) soldiers will fight for Israel, only Israeli soldiers will.

We have seen Anthony Blinken participate in a cabinet meeting discussing strategy. We have seen President Biden requesting delays, dictating policy, and talking tactics publicly with Israeli leadership.

Again, good or bad that we are letting the US increase its involvement I dont know but it is an interesting development and change.


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Picture of the Day




Yesterday, El Alfilled a cargo plane with 20 tons of supplies for IDF soldiers, displaced families, and hospitals in Israel. Pictured here are 200 seats on board that were also filled with supplies and pictures of the hostages still being held by Hamas. It sends chills down my spine, to see the enormity of how many they have taken from us.
AmudimOrg
and Phoenix Insurance partnered to help with this flight.
source: DansDeals


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Tweet of the Day




wow, this is a crazy tweet. Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel's National Security Advisor, praising Qatar while they host Hamas leadership, while they continue to fund Hamas, is insane.

Hanegbi has come under a lot of criticism for this statement.

Personally, I am confident that as dysfunctional as the government has become, there is no way Hanegbi can possibly really have meant it when he made this statement. I am confident Hangebi made the statement in order to brown-nose Qatar a bit, praise them, make them feel good, massage their egos a bit, in order to facilitate any possible deal they are working on to release the hostages.

I think people can debate whether making such a deal is a good idea or not, but I cant believe Hanegbi is really praising Qatar.





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‘You Can’t Deny There’s a Humanitarian Crisis!” Piers Morgan Debates Israeli Ambassador On Gaza (video)







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President and Founder of United Hatzalah, Eli Beer, on The Ben Shapiro Show (video)








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A message from Dr. Phil on Israel, Hamas, and our own moral compass (video)







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Jerusalem Chronicles During the War. From Old City to Machane Yehuda Market (video)







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Aryeh Hurwitz sings Acheinu feat. the Holocaust Survivors Band (video)







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Oct 24, 2023

Interesting Psak: Seudas Hodaa

A survivor from one of the towns attacked by Hamas on October 7 in which the Jews were brutally massacred and the towns ravaged and destroyed sent an interesting question to Rav Yitzchak Zilbershtein, rav of Ramat Elchonon neighborhood of Bnei Braq.

The survivor was able to save himself and his family as the terrorists rampaged through his town by locking himself in his safe room with his family and fighting off attempts of the terrorists to get in to murder them all.

He sent a question to Rav Zilbershtein asking if he should make a seuda to thank God for saving him from the horrors, in light of the fact that so many in his community are injured or have been killed and people are suffering so much? He understands he needs to make a seuda to thank God but maybe it is not appropriate now considering his friends and neighbors. He asked Rav Zilbershtein what to do.

Rav Zilbershtein paskened, after some back and forth regarding a relevant gemara, that he does need t make a seudas hodaa but he cannot do it in his home community. People there are suffering, the blood is still flowing, the people are still crying and mourning, it would not be appropriate for him to celebrate there while they are suffering so strongly. Rav Zilbershtein said he should travel to the center of Israel and make a seudas hodaa there for yeshiva boys or avreichim to partake in, or he should even just give out sweets, and thank Hashem for the miracles done for him, while also including some chapters of tehillim and prayers for Israel's salvation
source: Hamechadesh



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is 3 months enough?

Exactly one week from now, October 31, 2023, was supposed to be the day of municipal elections in cities across Israel.

The war that began with the brutal Hamas massacre of October 7 put a wrinkle in that. With a war ongoing it would be difficult to hold elections. The Knesset has been discussing delaying the elections. 

I see several issues making holding elections now difficult, such as public safety, campaigns that have been cut short, large swaths of the population that are unavailable to vote (people called up to the Reserves and are on the front lines or wherever they might be), towns down south that need reorganization, candidates and incumbents that maybe have been killed or injured in the initial massacre, etc.

To that end, today the Knesset approved the law delaying municipal elections. The law passed schedules the new elections with a 3 month delay, for the date of January 30 2024. Additionally, the law allows the government to approve, without having to pass a new law, an additional delay of another month if it deems this necessary. Meaning, if the war is still going on and the situation at the end of January doesn't allow for elections to be held, they can delay for another month and hold the elections on February 27, 2024.
source: Maariv

I honestly think 3 months or four months wont be enough and we will need another delay. I think they should have postponed it by 6 months or even a year.

The way the government is talking, they expect the war to last a few months or even longer. If they are telling anything remotely similar to the truth and to real expectations, we wont be able to hold elections in either January or February. And even if things quiet down by then, the candidates will need time to campaign and as mentioned, in many towns, especially down south and possibly up north by then, they will need to reorganize with time for new candidates to step forward and do everything necessary including campaigning and whatnot.

Unless of course a 3 month delay is indicative that the government actually expects this to be short, despite what they are saying publicly.





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National Day of Mourning and Celebration

A discussion was initiated a few days ago by some Knesset members requesting the government declare a national day of mourning for the people and communities ravaged in the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, the day of Simchat Torah.

Today, Yossi Fuchs, Cabinet Secretary, has put the discussions to rest. For now.

Fuchs decided that while a national day of mourning for what was the worst tragedy, the worst attack, since the founding of Israel, the time for it is not now while we are still at war for what happened at that day, and just at the beginning of the process of that war.

Fuchs said there will be a time to set that day of mourning, but that day is not today.

I think that was a good decision and a wise decision. The government is dysfunctional enough and it needs to stay focused on the war it is trying to wage against Hamas and not be distracted by conducting ceremonies and memorials, and speeches that may also bring down morale and cause sadness and more grief among the population and among the troops.

The day does deserve a National Day of Mourning of some sort.. I dont know what day that might be, the religious will not allow that day to be on a Simchat Torah, the day it happened, because of the need to be joyous n the holiday in coming years. Maybe the 30th day of mourning can be declared the ay of mourning, maybe the 7th day, maybe another day. Whatever day is to be chosen as the day can wait until the end of the war. And maybe, just maybe, we will also be able to declare a National Day of Celebration for the eradication of Hamas by then.


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Picture of the Day





That is Rav Shlomo Aviner, rosh yeshiva of Ateret Kohanim and formerly rav of Bet El among other communities. 

At 80 years old Rav Aviner joined the IDF Reserves and put on his uniform and went to strengthen the soldiers and give chizuk. I assume he is serving, if in an official capacity, in the IDF Rabbinate.

According to Wikipedia Rav Aviner as a younger man served in the IDF partaking in both the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War rising to the rank of Lieutenant.

Be Safe and Godspeed!






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Quote of the Day

There will not be a Gaza any longer. Not one worker will enter from Gaza to here. There will no longer be any crossings between Gaza and Israel, only from Rafiah to Egypt. We have made clear to Biden that Gaza is erased from our perspective. We will not pass to them even a crumb and their workers will never enter Israel again. It was important to Biden to give humanitarian aide so we agreed to pass aide under our conditions certain basic necessities and only to Southern Gaza.

  -- MK Aryeh Deri

well, let's see what happens...



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Noa Tishby Speech | FIDF on Oct 17 in NYC (video)




and here is a Noa Tishby interview with the BBC







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Israel-Hamas War: Piers Morgan vs Palestinian Ambassador Husam Zomlot Over Gaza Hospital Strike (video)

this is amazing. and yes, I actually laughed out loud when he did his moment of silence for the victims..

and anyway, where are the images and video of the victims being pulled from the rubble?






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Shema Yisrael (video)

there is a story from October 7, the Hamas massacre, that when IDF soldiers came to rescue people, some who were locked in their safe rooms refused to open the doors unsure who was really trying to get in, maybe it was more terrorists. They demanded the people behind the door say Shema Yisrael to test them to make sure they are Jews.





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Amb. Friedman to Arutz Sheva: Biden must give Israel the time it needs to defeat Hamas (video)







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Udi Damari and Ami Maimon: Am Hanetzach (video)







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Oct 23, 2023

Interesting Psak: Evacuating on Shabbos

With the war going on and residents needing to evacuate areas under fire, Chief Rabbi Rav Yitzchak Yosef has issued a psak on the need to evacuate on Shabbos.

According to the psak of Rav Yitzchak Yosef, if the security forces give an order to evacuate a town or an area out of concern of danger, the residents must listen and follow all the instructions of the security forces even if and when it entails "desecration" of Shabbos.

If the security forces say, as they do during evacuation, to shut off all electricity, to prevent possible fires from breaking out or from causing danger to security personnel, one must do so. If possible, shut the breakers employing a shinui - via an unusual method such as using your elbow or whatnot. 

Those who need to evacuate as per the security forces, in addition to necessities that they are told to take with them, they can also take with them personal belongings, even to an area outside of the eruv and in transit in an area where there is no eruv. They can take personal belongings even if they are not needed such as to prevent pikuach nefesh, such as tefillin, talis, toilet paper, clothes and anything else they might need. Better if possible that they not carry these items directly but they can be place din the vehicle transporting them. 

Rav Yosef does qualify the above by saying it only applies to items that are not muktza and prohibited to move or items that even if prohibited to move are needed due to pikuach nefesh such as a cellphone or wallet as per instructions of the security forces. Any item that is prohibited to move that is not needed and has no use in preventing pikuach nefesh cannot be taken with, cannot be added to a backpack or suitcase or put into the car. Even just putting such items in the car or suitcase is an unnecessary violation of Shabbos.
source: Kipa


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Quote of the Day

I definitely bear responsibility [for the Oct 7 attack by Hamas]. I served as Prime Minister for 12 months. There were things I wasnt able to do in that time and then the government collapsed. I definitely bear responsibility.

  -- former PM Nafatali Bennett



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including hostages in the law

The Knesset, and government, is working on passing a law quickly that will consider the hostages taken by Hamas as victims of terror, victims of hate attacks, so that the families can be given compensation quicker.

I do not understand how this works.

Every time someone is killed by a terrorist, or injured or taken hostage, they have to pass a new law to include that victim?

If there is already a law in the books that refers to compensation for the families of victims of terror, shouldn't new victims be included automatically?

it seems backwards that a new law should need to be passed for this. And if it does need to be passed, pass it once and for all and include all victims, future victims included (may there not be any!), so that they do not need to go through this idiocy every time separately.





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Picture of the Day

not sure which...




1st picture is a Haredi teen on a bus focused on tying tzitzis for a soldier.
2nd picture is a group of young Haredim at the draft board volunteering to be drafted despite having previously been given exemptions. From what I read, an official in the Haredi enlistment division said that 120 had registered and were told to appear today, and 200 actually came to the location.





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Behind the Bima: Updates from Israel w/ Extraordinary People (video)








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Fmr PM Bennett to BBC: “You’ve taken the side of Hamas. Shame on you” (video)

Bennett continues to provide the leadership the government isnt providing, and to do its work







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WATCH NY LEFTISTS SUPPORT HAMAS SLAUGHTER (video)








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Stand With Israel - MLB Edition (video)







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The children of Israel are calling- Stand by me (video)








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Oct 22, 2023

lulavs and esrogs against Hamas

In a shul in Ashdod they performed some ritual today in which they did the hoshanos, yes from Sukkos, with their lulavs and esrogs, to call for the downfall of Hamas.



I read elsewhere that a shofar was involved as well, but not quite sure in what capacity.

Are we Jews strange or what?




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Interesting Psak: visiting the grave at the end of shiva sown south

Chief Rabbi Rav Yitzchak Yosef issued a psak affecting the bereaved families in southern Israel.

Mourners in southern Israel who are mourning for their loved ones murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7 asked the Minister of Religious Affairs Michael Malkieli about the custom of going to visit the grave at the end of the 7 day mourning period, at the end of the shiva, as per the common custom. The concern is that there is still a danger in the area and going out in these times might not be safe, especially under regular rocker fire.

Malkieli passed along the question to Rav Yosef, the Chief Rabbi. Rav Yitzchak Yosef responded that anywhere that has even a slight possibility of danger, one should not go to the grave at the end of the shiva. One can instead say kaddish and learn some mishna for the merit of the murdered. When the danger passes they can then go to the grave with a quorum of ten men and say kaddish at the grave and perform whatever memorial each family has the custom of performing.

And what about erecting a headstone? Some do that at the end of the shiva, some at the end of the 30 day period, and some at the end of the first year. Should that be delayed because of danger?

Rav Yosef paskened the chevra kadisha should cover the grave with a slab of cement at the end of the shiva and that will satisfy the custom. The actual headstone can be erected after the danger has passed.
source: JDN



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Quote of the Day

If Hezbollah decides to enter the war, it will pine for the days of the Second Lebanon War. We will hit it with such strength that it cannot even imagine, and the meaning of it will be destructive for it and for the country of Lebanon

  -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu



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Good Time to Invest in Israel Businesses

A guest post by Dr Harold Goldmeier

A Good Time to Invest in Israel Businesses

Dr. Harold Goldmeier is a business & investment consultant, teacher, and writer. He worked for US governors, and the Surgeon General, and was a research & teaching fellow at Harvard. He taught in Tel Aviv and teaches Politics at Touro College. He can be reached at Harold.goldmeier@gmail.com

Investments Complement Charity

In response to the October 7th invasion of Israel and its declaration of war on Hamas, we urge value investors to seek out and invest in Israel-based businesses that are publicly traded on one of the American stock exchanges.  Investors need to consult their tax attorney or accountant when buying foreign-based stocks.

It is our position that investments outweigh charity in sustaining this American ally in troubled times. Substantial investments will demonstrate confidence in Israel’s wherewithal to suffer and build back bigger and better. Investments will keep Israel’s economy humming, facilitate the means for workers to keep their jobs, and ensure economic opportunities are not lost.  

NGOs are experts at soliciting donations (charity) and selling Israel Bonds (investment). We applaud their awesome expertise and stupendous success.

Two examples: on the night of June 6, 1967, following news reports about the outbreak of the Six-Day War, our Chicago synagogue raised $1M in donations, in one night. On the investment side, since 1951, over $48B of Israeli investment bonds have been sold to individuals, +90 U. S. state and municipal pension and treasury funds, corporations, insurance companies, and others because Israel has been a rewarding investment destination. 20 years later, U. S. House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski talked to me about modeling a bond program in the image of Israel Bonds to build Poland’s economy following Solidarity’s overthrow of the communist system and Russian domination.

Israel’s Vibrant Economy

First, know that Israel will win this war. Israel’s vibrant economy will hum again. The International Monetary Fund describes “Israel’s impressive (and remarkable) economic performance” for it prowess and innovations. Its GDP is about $522M and grows about $% per annum most years. We fear it will stagnate from a prolonged war. In Israel, reservists are civilians kept away from their tech jobs, as laborers, and factory workers. But when they return, the economy will boom again like America in the 1950s. 

Stockanalysis.com compiled a list as of October 11th of 111 Israeli companies listed on U. S. stock exchanges. These Israel-based companies have a total market cap of $154.37B generating revenue of nearly $70B. We are happy to share the list and provide links to investment articles.

Big Picture: War and Markets

Briefly looking at how stocks fared in the past during and after wars, we see investors are initially shaken but soon shrug off war. Investors may shift priorities. Ben Carlson, an institutional asset management leader, tells how the Dow Jones Industrial (DJI) was +50% between 1939 and 1945. When the Korean Conflict and Cold War dominated the news in the 1950s and 1960s, through the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s, Mid-East oil embargos, the Yom Kippur War, and chaos in Iran in the 1970s, 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa, and the Ukraine into 2023, the S&P 500 return on investment has yielded 11.2% per year.

Following the Yom War, the Dow dropped 16.5% in 1973; it fell another 27.5% in 1974 at the height of the oil embargo and a recession. By 1976, the Dow was storming up +38% in 1975.

 After a week of trading days, the Tel Aviv 35 Index is down a blip 3% to 5% and the Dow has barely moved up or down.

They will be more volatile over the next days and weeks, as Israel prepares to carry out a ground invasion in Gaza.

 Takeaway

We expect the declared war against Hamas will last weeks or months depressing share prices of Israeli-based companies with shares trading on U. S exchanges. It might be weeks or months but the 111 stocks we identified have their greatest risks and rewards attributable to intrinsic matters rather than extrinsic conditions. Israel will not militarily lose this war. A flood of investment funds will forefend slowing economic growth and a faltering GDP of an American ally that needs investments more than charity. Give to the charity of your choice but invest in Israel for the long term. If not now, when? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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No, CNN, there aren’t two “narratives” to the Gaza hospital blast. Go do your goddamn job. (video)








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Son of Hamas leader breaks silence: They must be stopped (video)







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Lenny Solomon Live (video)







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Ariel Zurayev: One Nation (video)







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Oct 20, 2023

Ani Yehudi (video)

this song should be the anthem of the day...






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Eyal Golan: Am Yisrael Chai (video)








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The Prayer for the IDF Soldiers (video)








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Oct 19, 2023

Hamas Ignites BLOODY Massacre Of Israeli And Palestinian Citizens (video)




I dont know anything about The Young Turks or this guy (Cenk Uygur) in particular but while he is speaking against Hamas, he is more upset at them for being so bad he cant even criticize Israel...



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Hamas is as reliable as the Kremlin (video)







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A Glimpse of a United Beit Shemesh during Wartime (video)








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YAD VASHEM. The World Holocaust Remembrance Center. Jerusalem (video)







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Am Yisrael Chai - (עם ישראל חי (מחרוזת חיזוק - Feat. Benny Friedman (ביחד ננצח video mashup)







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Oct 18, 2023

Caption Contest

Our modern day heroine, one of many from the past ten days, Rachel from Ofakim, aka Yael (married to Hever the Kenite) met with president Biden today




I think Biden said "you came empty handed? No cookies?"

how would you caption this?



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12 years since Gilad Shalit's release

On October 18, 2011 Gilad Shalit was released from captivity in Gaza, in exchange for 1027 Palestinian terrorists that were being held in Israeli prisons.

Today's war, 12 years later, has us finding that several of those terrorists released back then are involved in today's war, some in senior positions. Some have been killed since the war began.

Obviously the Shalits are not at fault for that. Gilad was held captive. he did not negotiate the deal. He isnt responsible for Israel's decision. 

I am not sure what my point is. The timing of the anniversary is striking. I hope we learn or have since learned the lessons of how to do these types of arrangements if God forbid it is ever needed again.






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Interesting Psak: mitzva to donate to soldiers

Hamechadesh is reporting on an interesting psak issued by Rav Meir Mazuz.

Rav Mazuz was asked if people can use their maaser money to donate towards helping the sldiers - sending tzitzis, tefillin and other holy items, but also for sending food , battery packs, blankets, toilet paper and any other supplies they might need.

Rav Mazuz paskened that it is allowed and a mitzva to donate t the various organizations and for the soldiers. One should not forget and abandon the poor people that one normally donates to, but should also donate for the soldiers. Donate some to the poor and some to the soldiers.

Rav Mazuz continued saying it is a big mitzva to assist, physically and financially, in any way possible to bereaved families and to the soldiers, whether by getting holy items to them, with money or with other necessities, with condolence calls, visiting the injured and sick, and with words of encouragement.


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