For many unfortunate families Yom Hazikaron, is a year long, life long event.

Take a minute to watch this:

It's short, bitter and to the point.

"He who mourns for Yerushalayim, shall be merited to witness its Salvation".

The jig seems to be up.

Both Ynet and NFC (NFC is a news source owned by journalist Yoav Yitzchak - he is responsible for breaking many of the corruption scandals of Olmert and his info led to a number of the investigations) are reporting, using Al Jazeera news as their source (I have no idea how reliable Al Jazeera is, but they are both quoting Al Jazeera), that Olmert has decided to suspend himself from the position of Prime Minister until the investigation is complete. The PMO denies the claim.

Considering the police have done everything but formally announce that next week Olmert will likely be indicted, it seems like a moot point.

Anyways, if it happens, Tzippi Livni will move into the PM chair until either the investigation is completed with an exoneration and Olmert returns to his office or new elections. I think when the PM suspends himself, the Acting PM only has the position for a period of 100 days, after which new elections must be called.. I might be wrong on that though.

CBS News 60 Minutes somehow got permission to get an inside look at the Israeli Air Force and interview some pilots. They posted this amazing video of the experience...

Some of the quotes I thought were worth excerpting:

• "Here you are, a key member of the defense establishment of the state of Israel. Is it a little bit risky to have you flying once a week in different war planes?" Simon asks. "Risk is part of my job," the major general explains.
• How did they find a uniform so small?
• "I must tell you, your face, your manners, your demeanor, you don't look like a killer. And yet, what you do a lot of the time, when you're over Gaza, you're killing,
• we didn’t have smart bombs, we had smart bombers

and now for the video.....

Ben Pakua. A ben pakua is when you slaughter a cow and find a baby cow inside the womb of the slaughtered mother. The ben pakua is unique in the sense that it can be eaten without sehchita, as long as the shechita on the mother cow was kosher.

I spoke to a couple of people who raise cows, and to a couple of shochtim about the ben pakua, and was told by all of them that it is very rare nowadays to find. The reason it is rare is twofold:

1. Everything is very closely supervised by veterinarians and supervisors, while it used to not be.
2. Financial reasons - if a grower realizes he has a pregnant cow, he will not have it slaughtered. He will wait until the calf is born before he slaughters the cow, as that gives him another cow to raise which will be worth a lot more when it grows up, then it is worth at the time as a calf.

Being that it is rare, I was surprised when my nephew in Chicago sent me a message that his Rebbe somehow got hold of a ben pakua and brought it in to class for them to see (he has not yet told me how his rebbe got hold of it). I stole his pictures from his Facebook photo album and present some of them to you here.... Thanks Matis.


Warning: the following pictures might burn your eyes out of your head, if you are sensitive.

To hear the audio clip of the original interview with Amnon Levi I wrote about in the previous post, see the following Youtube clip (it is only audio)

Cross-posted on DB

I was listening to the radio tonight and the host of the talk show was discussing the Yom Ha'Zikaron siren. He mentioned an interview from earlier in the day that raised a very interesting point.

The interview was between some other radio host, Yaron Dekel, a secular Jew, and Amnon Levi, another secular Jew who is a journalist for Yediot Acharonot among other news media. Amnon Levi is an interesting character. he is extremely secular and extremely left wing, but he worked for a while as a correspondent to the Haredi community, and also wrote a best-selling book about Haredi lifestyle. That gave him the opportunity to understand the Haredi position and lifestyle, somewhat, and despite his previous prejudice and his worldview on other issues, he retains a sensitivity and understanding of Haredim that other journalists do not have.

Anyways, back to the interview.

So Dekel is talking to Levi about the Yom HaZikaron siren and asks him, due to his "expertise" on the topic of Haredim, about Haredim not standing still during the siren.

Levi's response was very interesting.

Levi said, first of all that most Haredim do stand (at least in public) still and are not provocative. It is some who do not, but they should not be lumped together.

Regarding those who do not, he explained that the drive by the majority of Israelis (in the press), secular Jews for the most part, to insist on Haredim standing still is really a form of secular coercion and the insistence on following around haredim looking for the one who does not stand still and then attacking Haredim because of those who do not is really a form of incitement..

Levi explained; Let us imagine that Shas, or another Haredi party, took over the government and was the ruling party. Let's say they decided to change the rules and say that the way to commemorate Yom Ha'Zikaron (and Yom Ha'Shoah) was not to stand for a moment of silence, but to go to the nearest shul and say Kaddish for the memory of your fallen relatives/friends.

Imagine that scenario. He asked Dekel what would your reaction, as a secular Jew, be?

Dekel's response was that no way would that be acceptable. Religious coercion and the like.

Levi turned that around and said that it is the same thing but the other way. The Haredim have their own way of commemorating their fallen. And they also have people who died in wars or terror or the Shoah, and they too commemorate them, in their preferred methods. So it does not include standing still, rather it includes tehillim or kaddish or something else.

It is not like they are not commemorating the fallen, just they wish to commemorate the fallen using the methods they believe in and their religion advocates. For us to impose our method upon them is secular coercion and incitement. We should let them, and others, commemorate the day in the way that they believe is appropriate.

Of course, I would like to add, that does not give anybody the right to act like the crazies that made the news tonight for rioting against Yom HaZikaron....but it does refer to most of the Haredi public.

Some food for thought.

Why is it that when Haredim impose a ban or cherem (or consumer boycott in more modern terms) on a product or company because it goes against their worldview, they get nothing but bad press, yet when secular Jews impose a cherem on a company because it acts against their beliefs, as a cherem has been announced against Fox clothes because they signed Bar Rafaeli (the top Israeli model who is also a draft dodger) as their presenter, they get nothing but good words and support?

Something to make you go hmmm...

If you are interested in making a little extra cash on Yom Ha'atzmaut, you might be interested in this post....

the kannoim of RBS B have advertised in the shteiblach on Rechov Hillel (Kiryas HaRama - their stronghold) that anybody willing to fast and wear sackcloth on the holiday of the Zionists can register and earn $100.

Granted, it is not even minimum wage, but, as they say, every penny counts.

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I have not done much shooting of weapons. Guns were just not our thing, when we were growing up. The only shooting I have done is as part of mishmar ezrachi - shooting those old World War 2 M1 carbine rifles in target practice a few times. I almost had to shoot one once while on patrol, but that is another story.

Caliber3, a special anti-Terror training site in Gush Etzion, has opened their doors to the public. Now all of us wanna-bes can go and practice shooting and get anti-terror training and get that adrenaline rush we are always looking for.


Consider Caliber3 as another option for what to do on Yom Ha'atzmaut during your vacation day, or check them out for any other day you are looking for an exciting experience.

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I don't know if this is the whole story or just part of the story, but if you are wondering what is the big deal, what the investigation into Olmert's activities has produced, and what the gag order (in Israel) is about, the NY Post claims they have the info and they are the first to publish it.

I thought the following email sent to me offers an interesting educational experience.

Please look for the New Moon tomorrow Tuesday 6^th May 2008. From Jerusalem and similarly from the rest of Israel the Moon may be visible staring at 19:13. At the start of its appearance the Moon will be at azimuth 289° and altitude 18°. From the southwestern USA The Moon may be visible with optical aid tonight. The Moon will not be visible till the Wednesday in Australia and may only be visible with binoculars tomorrow in South Africa.

On Wednesday 7^th May 2008 there will be a reconstruction of receiving eyewitness testimony of the Moon by a religious court in Jerusalem. Whoever sees the Moon on Tuesday is invited to report to the court (beit din) at 8 Beer Sheva St., Nachlaot, Jerusalem between 14:00 and 15:00. If it is difficult for you to get there, please call the court secretary on 025661962, 025664137 or 0506733831 to set another time or, if there is no other choice, give your report by phone. (This is only a reconstruction. The court has no intention of changing the calendar and I would not cooperate with such a move unless there was wide ranging agreement to it by the rabbis and people of Israel.)

The Machon something or other about the New Moon (I forgot the name of the Machon) is running this, and if I have the time, maybe I will try to go and see what it is like... What would really be cool is if after the testimony is given and the beis din "declares" the new month, if we go out to the mountaintops, as prescribed in the mishna, and lit large bonfires to pass the message to outlaying communities. That would really make it worthwhile....

The newspapers are full of "Yom Ha'Atzmaut projects" - such as the best Israeli songs form the past 60 years, Israeli memories, Israeli military successes, Israeli science success, Israeli economic success, memories, jokes, etc.

Yediot Acharonot, Israel's leading newspaper, printed the following on the front of their Finance section.It lauds the success of some home grown products. Cows, for example. While I don't think cows were created in Israel, maybe they are lauding the success of the milk production - the highest per cow in the world.
2 of the 6 images that are on the list of "home grown products" are Stanley Fisher (head of the Bank of Israel) and Professor Aumann (recent winner of Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in Game Theory). 2 of the 6 images (these 2) are not home grown products. They are both imports from the USA (granted Prof Aumann was imported much longer ago than Stanley Fisher, but still...)

Anybody recognize who that is in the top left corner? I don't.

(HatTip: Yoni R)

Lazer Beams is right on the money, as usual. I just want to know why everyone gives falafel a bad name (Dov Shurin used to call Israeli politicians "falafel heads") by connecting the corrupt rulers of Israel with falafel. I think falafel is great.

These are the posters that were pasted up around RBS last night...
(I uploaded both pictures, because one has the whole pashkevil, but is fuzzy. the second is clearer but the pic was cut off)

They say: "On the day that the Zionists mark 60 years of rebellion against Hashem and the Torah, Haredi Jewry of Bet Shemesh will declare its loyalty to Hashem and the Torah and its rejection of the Avodah Zara of Zionism.. We will go out in the streets dressed in sackcloth on Thursday at 1:00PM. Anybody who denies Avodah Zara is called a Jew."

As Olmert is facing what looks like will finally be an indictment sometime in the next few days, suddenly he manages to have an amazing breakthrough in the peace talks and announces he is ready to make tangible changes in the West Bank...

I just want to know how many people have not expected this to happen since the police showed up at his door on Friday...

How come I only find out about these events after the fact!!!???

People stand around a large plate of hummus in Jerusalem May 5, 2008. In an attempt to break the Guinness Book of world records for the largest plate of hummus, the plate of hummus measuring about 4 metres (13 feet) in diameter was displayed on Monday at a fruit and vegetable market in Jerusalem. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM)What other records will they be trying to break in honor of Yom Ha'atzmaut??