your Pesach shopping just got a little bit cheaper..

The tariffs committee of the Knesset approved a measure to allow certain foods to be imported customs free.

the customs allowance will be for:
1500 tons of beef
1000 tons of lamb
5500 tons of frozen vegetables
4500 tons of frozen french fries
2000 tons of olive oil
1500 liters of grape juice

The purpose is to get this in before Pesach to make Pesach shopping just a bit easier for people this year. The distribution of these allowances is being given with priority to importers who have in the past translated the benefits into lowering prices for the consumer.
source: Ladaat

way to go! I can't wait to see the change on the supermarket signage,...

Why does the crazy stuff so frequently have to involve Bet Shemesh?

A little bit of investigative reporting has revealed a number of "discrepancies" between what MKs report as expenses in the "connection to voter" budget and what happens in reality.

One of those items has MK Menachem Eliezer Mozes (UTJ) paying 5000nis per month from this budget for an extra-parliamentary office outside of the Knesset in which he would meet people who need his help. The office is listed at an address in Bet Shemesh. The journalist went to the address, and to another street with a similar name, and discovered that no such office exists, but at the address is located a Vizhnitz shul...
source: Twitter and Behadrei

I think by now whenever anybody does something wrong they just throw Bet Shemesh into it, because why not? It kind of explains everything by now...

Chicago West Side Synagogues, part 4. focuses on area between 14th and 16th streets in greater lawndale area

I think this show is great. Sort of like a watered down version of Undercover Boss that lets the minister see what people really think of him and his work.. unfortunately the clip only shows the beginning of his response. In that moment it shows him saying how much he did, instead of actually responding to their specific complaints. I would like to see the full response, and I hope he does not just look at the big picture but also tries to deal with actual problems of the people..

this was very interesting, in general for people interested in Jewish life from the early 1900s, and especially for people from Chicago.. it is all before my time, obviously, but I still found it interesting, and even heard a few familiar names..

Chicago West Side Synagogues, part 1


Chicago West Side Synagogues, part 2. focuses on west garfield and austin neighborhoods



Chicago West Side Synagogues, part 3. focuses on area between 15th and 18th streets in greater lawndale area

kol isha alert..



Official music video of Esa Einai from Nefesh Mountain's new album releasing May 20, 2016. Nefesh Mountain is husband and wife duo Doni Zasloff and Eric Lindberg, accompanied here by special guests and bluegrass greats Sam Bush, Mark Schatz, Rob Ickes, and Gary Oleyar. Also joining them on their record is banjo extraordinaire Scott Vestal. Shot by Jeff Carpenter of Readylight media in studio at the Sound Emporium in Nashville TN, and in the beautiful hills of Asheville NC. 

The kosher food on Lufthansa Airlines must be pretty good.

Some guy flying Lufthansa from Brazil to Zurich ordered his kosher meal but never received it during the flight.

Yitzchak Kopler sued the airline for $5000. 4 years later he won his lawsuit and was awarded $1400. The court said the customer has the right to receive the product he paid for. A kosher meal is not a luxury or accessory, but due to his religious ideals is something very important to the passenger.
source: Ynet

We were always taught by our Jewish mothers that whenever we get a flight, to anywhere, we bring some food with us... Even if he had that would not absolve Lufthansa, but at least he would have had some food to eat. Truth is, maybe he did - the article does not say he had to sit hungry for the duration of the flight, but he did not get what he ordered and needed.

El Al probably gives a $20 voucher for a lost meal.

In recent years before Pesach a number of singers would get together and have a nice evening of music for yeshiva bochurim.

Sounds like good, kosher, fun. No women allowed, all kosher music, kosher singers. Shouldn't be a problem.

This year it was set to take place on the 10th of Nissan, April 18, and to include Mordechai Ben David, among others.

Shortly after it was announced the event was already canceled.

Mottka Bloi, the head of the Guardians of holiness and education, or whatever they call themselves, announced shortly after the initial announcement that the event has been canceled, as the event is against the wishes of the gedolim, as they disapprove of all such types of events.

It is canceled for now, at least in its current format. Maybe it will be changed and get put back on the table, or maybe not.

It seems the problem with it is that this event is being advertised as an erev shira and not a kumzitz. It seems erev shira is problematic (though I dont know why), whereas a kumzitz would have been acceptable.

As well, Mordechai Ben David refused to sign a commitment that he would not appear in other events that did not receive the approval of the gedolim.
source: Kikar

Seemingly good kosher fun, but some people did not have authority over it and could not get the participants to grant them control, so they had it canceled. I don't know what is different about what was supposed to happen this year than what happened in previous years, or if it is just a matter of this time they were successful in thwarting the program.

The holiness and education people should just not be surprised when the bochurim who are bored during vacation and looking for interesting things to do find things that are slightly, or not so slightly, less kosher to do.

Crowdfunding comes to korbanot. Maybe we will see this become a normal way to fund Judaism and Jewish institutions...

The Joint Committee of Mikdash Organizations has opened a crowdfunding campaign on the Headstart website to raise money in order to have a practice event for the ceremony of the slaughtering of the korban pesach.

Like all crowdfunding ventures you get to choose how much to donate from a list of options that offer the donor prizes, or gifts, commensurate with the level of his/her donation.

So, for example, for 18nis you will be part of the actual korban pesach and get a kzayis of meat, should it become possible to perform.
For 50nis you will get a kzayis of meat from the lamb slaughtered during the practice session.
For 100nis you get tickets to machon Hamikdash
For 700nis you get to carry the lamb to the oven after it will have been slaughtered and skinned.
among some other options..

Usually, from what I have seen, the higher gifts generally include some form of the lower gifts but add on to it. It does not say that is the case here, so I dont know if donating 50nis for the practice meat will also get you the real meat if it should be allowed to take place.

So far, as of this writing, they have raised 7124nis from 72 people, while setting the goal at 25,000nis.

best of luck to them!

I wish I understood what they were saying...

(as translated by Google from the original in Arabic)
Produced "Production Net" company made ​​a documentary titled "under Al - Aqsa," reveals the dangers of excavations carried out by the Israeli occupation under Al - Aqsa Mosque and the foundations, which are likely to penetrate the bottom of the maximum distances are difficult to quantify due to the confidentiality of some of these excavations. 
The film shows scenes recently filmed and shown for the first time about ongoing excavations under Al - Aqsa mosque, especially in the southwestern corner of the mosque area and the bottom of the Mughrabi gate, the film also deals with the road from the entrance to the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood and even the bottom of the Buraq Square tunnel.



you can get more of the story from the article about the video in the JPost

Meir seems to always have some antics going on...

this was a good series..

  Each of the six women from One Table summarizes her experience, meeting other women from different backgrounds, religions, ideologies. This is the final chapter of One Table.

and a clip describing the background of the song...