One of the big news items exciting the media is the prime minister's announcement that he will submit a law to include the Jewish nature of the State in the law books. Israel will officially be a Jewish State by law, assuming he submits it and garners enough votes to pass it.

Some are in favor, some are against. all the regular blabber all over the radio about Judaism, halachic state, democracy, etc.

I am in favor, because Israel was established not just to be a democracy but also to be Jewish - to have some sort of unique charcter connected to Judaism.

The problem is that while the law might say, if it passes, that Israel is a Jewish State, there will not be any definition of what that means in the law. Will halacha rule? Will mishpat ivri be in effect?

Such a law should really require more than just a general statement of "Jewish State", but it should delineate how the laws will be affected to reflect the jewishness of the State. Without that, the law is just a farce, only for show, and maybe to upset some people (whether on the Left, on the Palestinian side, or maybe even further out).

And for all those afraid that such a law would be a slippery slope towards a halachic state, I am pretty sure that even most religious people are not interested in a halachic state. We have flourished and grown up in democracies. I doubt too many people want to give up our democracy and turn it into a halachic state. At most a few laws would be adjusted a bit, but the nature of our State would not really change all that much.

the psak mentioned in the title is intriguing, but it was not directed at Jews. It was a "psak" issued by religious leaders in the Muslim world.

39 Muslim "poskim" signed on the new fatwah at a conference in Amman entitled "The road to Jerusalem".

The psak, or fatwah, says that visiting Har Habayit, Al Aqsa, is not a sign of normalizing relations with Israel, and anybody holding a European passport along with 450 million Muslims living outside of the Muslim countries, can, and should, go to visit Har Habayit. They explicitly annulled a previous fatwah that banned foreign Muslims from visiting Har Habayit under the guise that doing so would appear to be a normalization of relations with Israel.
source: NRG

how can we not lose this issue, when they visit, and call on their people to visit, Har Habayit, while we tell our people to stay away?

Rav Moshe Shternbuch, Raavad of the Eida, had some very important things to say in his weekly lecture. What he said was not really anything new, but many  have forgotten these positions and what is behind this lifestyle, and think it can easily be changed, whether by being nice, by making things attractive, or even by legislation.

Bechadrei quotes some of what Rav Shternbuch said:
Remaining in isolation, and educating our children in extremism, is crucial and the way to ensure our children will remain strong in Yiddishkeit. Keeping them in isolation from those who are free and raising them in a way that through their entire life they will be protected and different will ensure that they will be completely detached from the evil ones.

Regarding staying separate from the Dati Leumi community, whom he still uses the outdated term of "the Mizrachi" to refer to them by, Rav Shternbuch quoted the Chazon Ish who said in response to a rav who claimed that we should not fight against the Mizrachi, as they believe in the tenets of the Torah, they keep Shabbos and don tefillin, eat only kosher food - so why fight them so strongly? the Chazon Ish responded to that the Mizrachi are against the extremists by policy, as they say it hurts "darkei shalom" - trying to build peaceful relations. The truth is, just the opposite is true, it is extremism that stands guard and saves from compromise. If we would go the way of the Mizrachi, said the Chazon Ish, the free ones would rule over us and take us all away from religion, so we must fight the Mizrachi.

So, Rav Shternbuch said, it is true that not every Jew is an extremist, but those who fight against extremism are definitely causing a great churban to the nation of Israel.

using legislation or goodwill to encourage integration is nice, and might work with some people on the fringes, but with the haredi community idealizing isolationism and extremism, it won't work for the mainstream. Unless the Eida and the Chazon Ish no longer represent the average haredi fellow - but I am not convinced that that is the case.

everything Bibi says here is true.. except for the fact that everything he does, everywhere he goes, Bibi has a dozen or more photographers taking pictures non-stop, while we regular people need to take our own pictures.. but really he is still right and we are too connected to our gadgets..

Bet Shemesh has been in the news for a number of things recently...

1. Gideon Saar, the Minister of Interior, has said, in response to a query on the issue from MK Meir Porush (UTJ), that dividing Bet Shemesh is not on the agenda.
source: Bechadrei

Obviously, just because something is not on the agenda today does not mean it will not be on the agenda tomorrow, but it does show what Saar thinks of the idea. And Saar, if the plan advances, is the one who would be responsible for it.

2. Regardless of what Saar said, Bet Shemesh City Councilman has taken what was a bad and negative idea, splitting the city to two separate municipalities, and has made it ridiculous.

Peres introduced his new plan for splitting the city. His revised plan now includes a wall dividing the two cities.
source: Mynet

There is some debate about whether Bet Shemesh has the halachic status of a walled city, in relation to the relevant halachot of Purim. This brings some new meaning to the idea of Bet Shemesh as a walled city.

Maybe Richard Peres can import the stones from the dismantled Berlin Wall and use them to build his Bet Shemesh wall.

Peres can also arrange a twinning with Berlin.

3. 2 shuls in Bet Shemesh, in RBS B, were vandalized and ransacked on Monday. In one f the shuls the Torah scrolls were thrown on the floor, in addition to other damage done and items stolen (such as a valuable Moroccan shofar as well as silver and wooden Torah cases). From the second shul, the Torah scrolls were stolen. The Torahs were later discovered discarded in the nearby forest.
source: Kikar

There has been a lot of back and forth on the issue of Egged buses in Jerusalem displaying images of women in the ads. After some destruction to their property, Egged formulated a policy of avoiding advertisements on the sides of the buses with images of women.

After much fighting and legal battling, the situation quieted down with Egged changing their policy to not displaying images of men either. Obviously that was a policy that was doomed to failure.. who is going to spend a lot of money advertising without being allowed to use human images in their ads?

It has been pretty quiet, on that front, for the past two years. The issue, though, is now looking to come back.

Egged has now, reportedly, agreed to display images of women in the advertisements on the sides of buses in Jerusalem and Bet Shemesh - just as they do everywhere else in the country. They came to this agreement due to the lawsuit that has been ongoing. Doing this will negate the lawsuit. As part of the agreement, the State will cover the costs of any damage done due to the advertising.
source: Ynet and Kikar

It's gonna be a hot summer!

it is a noisy video of a noisy rally... but it is an interesting way to fight the BDS movement...

they are protesting outside a Federation building in New York for them having invited some pro-BDS groups to join the Israel Day Parade

this is a bit freaky cool!

It doesnt show how the robot moves down to print a second line and if it comes out straight and even.. I wonder..

what a fascinating story!

Dr. Bernd Wollschlaeger, author of the book "A German Life: Against All Odds Change is Possible" describes his struggle growing up in Germany in the shadow of his Father, a highly-decorated WWII tank commander and Nazi officer. He eventually converted to Judaism, emigrated to Israel and served in the Israel Defense Forces as a Medical Officer. Dr. Wollschlarger was the Guest Speaker at our 21st Annual Tribute Dinner, held on November 19, 2013 at the Old Westbury Hebrew Congregation.

Rsbbi Lau is always worth listening to..