----------------------------------paid referral----------------------------------

Purim in Israel, outside of Jerusalem and a few other cities, falls out this year on a Friday. That actually works out very well because Friday is a short day and it will be difficult to find time to do everything that needs to be done.

If the WebYeshiva was having this series of Shiurim for Purim on Friday, we would all really be up a creek trying to find time to participate. It would be impossible.

Instead, the Web Yeshiva is having this series of great Shiurim for Purim, on Sunday. It gives us a few days heads up to prepare properly for Purim. And even better, it is all free.

The special Yom Iyun for Purim will boast a lineup of teachers such as Rabbis Twersky, Brovender, Zuriel, Geller, Mrs. Saks, Mrs. Twersky, and more. The shiurim lineup will include topics such as:

• Why don't we Recite Hallel on Purim?
• Secrets for Life - From the Pages of the Megillah
• Where is the Kedusha in Megillat Esther?
• Purim - A Holiday in Disguise
• How the Jews Beat Haman - Understanding the Particular Power of the Jewish People

and much much more...

So head on over, see the itinerary, register, and enjoy a day of great Shiurim from the online WebYeshiva!

------------------------------------end of referral---------------------------------

Gad Elbaz has been involved recently in a few projects to raise awareness of what the residents of Sderot are going through. Elbaz most recently recorded this new song and music video in Sderot, with children of Sderot.

14:24 Barak: Palestinians have no desire or ability to fight terror (Haaretz)

I love how politicians make statements that they have no problem contradicting later. I would like to file this one away for a later time when Barak announces that the PA is a true partner for peace and is putting forth great effort in fighting terror...

Just yesterday PM Ehud Olmert went to visit Ashkelon to see what they are suffering through with the onslaught of Kassam and Grad rockets falling upon them. He says he did not go to offer solutions (because he seems to have none, possibly?), but to empathize, and to see what they are going through. To learn from them.

That's fine and awfully nice of him.

What he told them, though, was fairly ironic. He told them that he can offer them no solution to the rockets. he said they have always been shooting at us and always will shoot at us. He said, "This has been the reality of Israel for 60 years, it requires strength and restraint."

Pretty ironic for the guy who ran his campaign on the slogan that he would make Israel a country that is fun to live in.

“We can fight back against terror , and we must not get accustomed to terrorism, just like we can oust a failed, corrupt prime minister, who has succumbed to terror and mocks Israel’s citizens.”

------MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union)

Obviously we have had a difficult time ousting our failed, corrupt prime minister, so I am not sure how he is making this comparison....

Moshe Feiglin recently received a letter from the British Home Office informing him that based on information and complaints received from other government departments and agencies, he would not be allowed to enter England. This is because of previous statements that define him as a radical, in which he called for war with the Palestinians.

Feiglin, at first, thought it was a joke so he ignored it, as he had no trip to England planned anyway. Soon after, a British journalist asked him about it, so he realized it was not a joke, but very serious.

Feiglin wrote to the British Home Office letting them know that he has no interest in traveling to England, in light of its pro-terror policies. This takes into consideration their banning of him but allowing top officials of Hizbollah to visit England at the same time without saying anything.

JoeSettler has penned his own letter to the British Home Office requesting they also ban him from entering England.

I find it a bit ironic that they banned Feiglin because of previous statements calling for launching a war with the PA. His most recent statements made, while everybody was calling for a military invasion of Gaza due to the Kassams shot on Sderot, was to reject calls for war. Feiglin was the only one to say we should not go to war in Gaza.

Granted, his reason is not because he has become a pacifist and is against such a war. The reason was because he knows Olmert will not enter such a war to win, rather just to (attempt to) transfer control of Gaza to Fatah instead of Hamas, and Olmert will not stay in with the determination to win. Considering that, it is not worth risking soldiers lives to transfer Gaza from one terrorist group to the hands of another terrorist group.

But the fact is that he, and only he, called for Olmert to not go to war in Gaza.

And England banned him while letting in Hezbollah's people.

Train stations and bus depots, the world over, are blessed with an interesting variety of people passing through. Not only that, but they are blessed with an interesting variety of people who do not pass through, but choose to hang around the station. there are the homeless just looking for a warm spot or a handout (or both), there are those playing instruments hoping people will throw them a few coins, other forms of entertainment, etc.

We get blessed with all sorts of interesting people in the station I pass through in tel Aviv - 95 year old panhandlers, African musicians, other musicians, a guy who played for the Russian Symphony Orchestra, some other random misfits...

Once in a while you get to see something other than the standard interesting people. Somebody who just came back from his backpacking trip through Thailand or India or Australia. He will be sitting in the station with his robes or whatever strange dress he picked up and will be playing a musical instrument never before seen in this part of the world.

I once posted about some guy playing an unusual instrument that ended up being identified as a didgeredoo.

I just saw another interesting instrument. I have no idea what it is called. It looks like an upside-down garbage can cover - maybe even a pita maker. The guy bangs on it, but it does not sound like a drum or a bang. It has a soft sound and kind of tony...

here it is...

anybody able to identify it?

Let the buyer beware!

This is in no way uncommon - we tend to expect buying in bulk to be cheaper tha buying individual packages of items. For example, one box of tissues would cost 3.5NIS, for example, and they would sell 3 for 9 NIS.

Yet that is not the case. One could meander into a supermarket and look at the bulk deals. More often than not, one will pay more for the bulk items than for individual items.

As a matter of fact, I recently read in a newspaper that a study was conducted by some organization to analyze whether it was cheaper to buy in bulk, including 2 for xx or 3 for xx and including buying larger size packages, or not. The overall conclusion of the study was that in general it is cheaper to not buy in bulk (in Israel), both because of the price and because of the waste (people who buy bigger packages because it comes out cheaper per gram to tend to throw out more, as they do not use up the whole package of food).

One example of how if one does not pay attention, he will get enticed to buy "in bulk" when he really is not saving any money, and even paying more, can be seen in the following picture I took when I was in the supermarket the other day. This case is not extreme, I have seen much worse. I just happened to have my camera with me at the time and noticed it.
As you can see, to buy one package of frozen burekas would cost you 8.99, but for the all low price of 18 you can get 2 packages!

To me, "Davening G'mach" sounds like it should be a gmach where if you cannot make it to davening one day, somebody else would daven that day for you (I would so overuse that kind of a gmach!).

Actually, it is not that, but read the email below that was sent to a local email list... and here you have the "Davening G'Mach"...

Chazal tell us that if someone davens for the needs of his friend, and he
needs the same thing, he will benefit first.
Many of us have something which we daven for (health, parnassa, children, etc) and there are others that need the same thing.
We have created an anonymous tefillah exchange program. Let us know what it is you need, and we will give you the name of someone who needs the same thing. You daven for them, they will daven for you. It is free, and completely anonymous. Email us at KolHamispalel@gmail.com

Poll: 20% of Israelis believe state provides inadequate welfare services (Army Radio)

----

Another way of putting that statistic would be to say 80% of Israelis think the welfare services provided by the state are adequate. This way makes the statistic seem pretty good.

And, would it be unreasonable to assume that this 20%, or at least most of them, who are not satisfied, are people who are living on welfare and want more money?

guest post

The family of the terrorist (or "infiltrator" or "so called terrorist" if you only watch the news on MSNBC) has set up a mourning tent to publicly mourn the loss of their child, brother, martyr.

The mourning tent came under scrutiny, as the family and others put up flags of Hamas and Hezbollah. The police did nothing, in effect letting the Arabs of East Jerusalem fly Hamas flags in the capital city. After criticism and great public outcry, the police finally moved in and removed the flags.

Avi Dichter, the Minister in charge of Internal Security, should be ordering the police to dismantle the mourning tent. He claims there is nothing wrong with it, and there is nothing illegal about their mourning him, just no flags.

If there is nothing illegal about it, something should be made illegal about publicly mourning this cockroach. If they want to mourn him in private, let them sit on the floor of their living room and cry their eyes out. We condemn the way they support terror in the PA and rally around the death of their martyrs calling for the destruction of Israel.
Here we have the situation within Israel and we let the same thing happen.

We should be dismantling the mourning tent, we should be razing his house to the ground, we should be expelling his whole family, and possibly his whole neighborhood, from Israel as punishment for this. His body should not have been returned for proper burial, rather it should be held "hostage" to exchange for Israelis held by Hamas (Gilad Shalit) or others held by others. That is if they refuse to burn it and smear lard all over it and keep it held in pigs carcass.

Let other Arabs know that this will not be tolerated and there will be a steep price to pay for terror.

Gila from My Shrapnel is hosting Haveil Havalim #157...

By now you all know about the terrorist attack in Jerusalem tonight. Below is a clip from the news. The reporter interviewed the Yeshiva student who shot the terrorist in the head.