song for International Holocaust Day

I am not quite sure how to describe it, but I think that in my Jewish practice and belief, I believe I can be described as fairly (though not completely) rational, while also being fairly traditional. I don't chase after rebbes for brachas, but I don't discount them, I am not a big grave hopper, but I do go on occasion to some, I am not very mystically oriented and I don't put much power in segulahs and the like, but I am aware of and respect their place in our tradition and practice and even find myself doing some as well... while at the same time in my politics I find myself more liberal than conservative..

So, many of these issues that we are witness to today leave me a bit confounded as to what the proper approach might be. I am thinking specifically of situations like Women of the Wall, and now the women who want to put on tefillin (such as in the SAR high school).

I am a firm believer in equal rights and opportunities for women, while recognizing that men and women are not the same. But I am confounded as to what is the right approach. I am traditional and admit that it grates on me to see the womens minyan at the Kotel, women wearing tefillin - even though there can be halachic justifications and allowances - the fact is it has not been traditionally done. Doing it now, with all the explanations and justifications in the world, is breaking with tradition.

On the other hand, it can be justified both socially and halachically. And, even more, I do not see how it can be stopped, which means it should probably be ignored.

And, just curious, but if Rashi's daughters wearing tefillin (whether they actually did or did not does not matter) is such a strong argument, why hasn't it been done [publicly] in the 900 or so years since then? Why do we have to go back 900 years to look for a good example of women wearing tefillin? Sorry, but that argument always bothers me. I don't think it helps their cause.

Anyways, is it really so significant and serious to the frum community if two women put on tefillin (there are probably some more who do it with less public fanfare anyway)? Does it cause so much damage to the Jewish community? We are 14 or 15 million strong, and an overwhelming majority of those are not religious, and many are not even affiliated at all - so does it matter if a few daven in a minyan or put on tefillin? I am more inclined to ignoring the phenomenon than to fighting it.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu has been receiving praise for "keeping shabbos" while in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, by walking, with his wife, more than 2 kilometers back to their hotel in the snow rather than being driven.. They first participated in Shabbos services and meal sponsored by the jewish community, and then prepared for their snowy walk and went on their way. And he deserves that praise for publicly keeping Shabbos in the name of the State of Israel.

Unfortunately, at the same time, it became public knowledge, when the PM himself let it slip, that his son is dating a girl from Norway.

 Sandra Leikanger is Yair Netanyahu's girlfriend, and they've been dating for months. They met at IDC in Herzliya, where she is getting a degree, as is Yair. Unfortunately, while her family is very pro-Israel, they are evangelical Christians...

Parents don't always have control of what their kids do and don't do, especially when they are already adults, and he shouldn't necessarily be blamed for it,  but it is not good that the Prime Minister's son is dating a non-Jew... they haven't gotten married yet, so they could still break it off, maybe she is planning on converting, or it might just not work out, so there is still hope..

As we head closer towards the shmitta year, we get closer to the fights over hetter mechira that we saw in previous shmitta years.

The smartest approach to it is that expressed by Chief Rabbi Dovid Lau in the recent rabbinic conference on shmitta issues.

Rabbi Lau said "we prefer that farmers will completely cease all work, as commended in the Torah, and we should propose to them the option of 'Otzar Beis Din".. and even those who choose to rely 'bdieved' on the hetter mechria they should do so according to halacha and precisely follow the instructions relevant to the four types of work that are prohibited.... I recommend that instead of every seven years that rabbis speak against each other and present their arguments in their opinions regarding shmitta, that each person should follow his rabbonim and respect others."

Rabbi Lau also said that today arguments between rabbonim are unfortunately painted as chilul hashem and divisiveness. Every word from a rav that is said put of place can cause a great chilul hashem and lead to disregard for rabbonim and other people.

I would qualify Rav Lau's words and point out that nobody expects all rabbis to agree with each other. it is not for the opposing opinions that leads to an impression of divisiveness and chilul hashem. it is the bitter way in which some rabbis try to impose their opinion on everyone else and expect other rabbis to not have any other opinion (regarding shmitta as equally as regarding many other topics of halacha).

Rabbi Lau's conclusion is perfect, but we already know what the chances are of this happening..

The tragedy in Jerusalem in which 2 young girls died from poisoning and their brothers are still fighting for their lives has led to an unfortunate but interesting psak halacha.

On Thursday Shimon and Michal Gross buried their daughters while still accompanying their sons in the Schneider Hospital in Petach Tikva.

The dilemma of the situation is that the parents should be sitting shiva for the daughters, while being there in the hospital for the sons. What to do?

They asked Rav Ezriel Auerbach, rav of Bayit Vegan in Jerusalem, what to do about mourning the daughters while dealing with the sons situation.

Rav Auerbach paskened that the parents do not have the laws of mourning right now and should not sit shiva. The reason is based on Shulchan Aruch that says someone sick and his attendants are exempt from sitting in a sukka.

Obviously the boys need their parents by their bedsides, and it is clear that of not for the mourning the parents would definitely be there, so they are exempt from all mitzvos and should not now sit shiva. Rav Auerbach added that if they insist on sitting shiva now, the mother should not sit at all but should stay with her children, and the father could sit for just a few minutes after the morning services.
source: Bechadrei

Rav Auerbach did not say, or at least it is not quoted in the article, but I would guess that when the boys get better, IYH, then the parents will need to sit shiva on the daughters.

Such a sad and unfortunately necessary psak.

Jewish Actress Scarlett Johansson has come under fire recently from supporters of the BDS movement - for contracting to advertise for an Israeli company in the upcoming Super Bowl.

The advertisement she will act in is for the Israeli company SodaStream. Soda Stream has factories in the West Bank and is therefore a regular target for the boycotters. The irony of the Soda Stream boycott has always been that Soda Stream employs hundreds of Palestinian Arabs in their factories and pay them decent wages - equivalent to those of the Jewish employees. Soda Stream treats them well - they get better employment conditions working for Soda Stream than they do working for Palestinian companies.

Soda Stream should really be supported by these people, but they promote a boycott, in essence attempting to harm the Palestinians who benefit from their factory.

So Scarlett Johansson has agreed to advertise for Soda Stream in the greatest venue of television - the Super Bowl. She has therefore drawn the ire of the boycotters to target her.

After a week or so of incessant attacks on Johansson. she has finally spoken up in response.

From The Huffington Post:

While I never intended on being the face of any social or political movement, distinction, separation or stance as part of my affiliation with SodaStream, given the amount of noise surrounding that decision, I'd like to clear the air.I remain a supporter of economic cooperation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine. SodaStream is a company that is not only committed to the environment but to building a bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine, supporting neighbors working alongside each other, receiving equal pay, equal benefits and equal rights. That is what is happening in their Ma’ale Adumim factory every working day. As part of my efforts as an Ambassador for Oxfam, I have witnessed first-hand that progress is made when communities join together and work alongside one another and feel proud of the outcome of that work in the quality of their product and work environment, in the pay they bring home to their families and in the benefits they equally receive.
I believe in conscious consumerism and transparency and I trust that the consumer will make their own educated choice that is right for them. I stand behind the SodaStream product and am proud of the work that I have accomplished at Oxfam as an Ambassador for over 8 years. Even though it is a side effect of representing SodaStream, I am happy that light is being shed on this issue in hopes that a greater number of voices will contribute to the conversation of a peaceful two state solution in the near future.

good job, Scarlett, and stand strong. You are doing a good thing.

If you aren't using SodaStream for the health and financial benefits, you should consider supporting SodaStream to oppose the boycott efforts..

cute

he has a nice voice, but somehow doing this in Auschwitz disturbs me a bit...

The Badatz announced yesterday that we should add the tefilla aneinu for rain - despite having already had some serious rain, but recently we've had 40 dry days..

Now Chief Rabbi Dovid Lau has also called for people to say the aneinu prayer for rain. Rabbi Lau said the Rabbanut will be publicizing the call for rain prayers in the coming days.

Rav Yaakov Ariel, Chief Rabbi of Ramat Gan, also called for aneinu to be recited.
source: INN

This is Rabbi Leonard Matanky of Chicago who tweeted this picture and wrote "Met the Pope today. Suggested he might want to try an ICJA kippah! :) "

ICJA is the Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Chicago

 looking for an update about the hearing in the Supreme Court about the Bet Shemesh elections request for appeal?

There has been no decision yet.

Lawyers for all relevant parties presented their arguments. When arguments concluded, judges left, said decision would be announced in coming days.

Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Rav Eli Ben Dahan has been working on reforming the system of the local Rabbinate. One of the changes is putting all new local city or town rabbis appointed to be under a system of supervision by the Ministry of Religious Services.

The new system will include that the rabbis will need to clock in and out at the beginning and end of the workday. They will also need to report monthly about vacations days used, and every three months they will have to submit a report about the services they provided during the period.
source: NRG

Obviously the rabbis are not happy about this. Just like in any workplace, the employees don't like changes to the system, especially when it makes things harder for them or possibly indicates a certain lack of trust.

The truth is that i think for most rabbis this will be damaging, if not irrelevant. I think the vast majority of rabbis provide service far more than what a workday might include. Is the rabbinic workday defined as 9 to 5? Maybe it is 7 am until 3 pm? Maybe some other range of hours? Many rabbis start their day early in the morning, with services and maybe a shiur before or after davening, and end in the wee hours of the night responding to questions, consulting and hearing people's problems, giving shiurim, etc.

How will clocking in and out define the workday of a busy rabbi? And if a set of hours is defined, will rabbis employed by the State now stop taking those late night calls because they already clocked out?

Sure, there are probably some rabbis that abuse the freedom the current system provides. And I don't question the need for improving the current system in some ways. And I dont see any problem with having the rabbis submit monthly and quarterly reports on their activities. I just don't know that having them clock in and out will actually improve rabbinic service - I think it might even hinder it.

Hmmmm.. a group of religious female soldiers, ina  program through Midreshet Lindenbaum meshing Torah studies for women with army service, have just completed a grueling 5 month army course. They celebrated the completion of the course, as soldiers sometimes do, but in a different way than how most soldiers celebrated.

These female soldiers celebrated their successful completion of the course by completing a couple of tractates of Gemara and making a siyyum. Some finished Gemara Brachos, and others finished Gemara Chagiga.
source; Srugim

So, does army service mean you also cannot do any learning during the duration of the army service? Does serving in the army for 2 or 3 years mean that for those 2 or 3 years learning Torah will not be possible or allowed?

If these girls can do it, the yeshiva boys can't?

Is this better or worse then girls putting on tefillin?