After speaking at an African-American church in Detroit, the Great Faith Ministries, the pastor draped a prayer shawl, a tallit, over Trump's shoulders and gifted him with a Jewish Heritage Study Bible.

from CNN

That is all fine and good. It just makes me wonder, why? do they not have any of their own prayer accessories? all a church in Detroit could find to gift a presidential candidate is Jewish paraphernalia? weird.

This fight over working on the train systems on Shabbos has become a big one. There are a lot of details in this fight, including but not limited to; different places in which work has been done, how long it has been going on for, for how long it has been ignored by the religious parties, why now they are choosing to stop ignoring it and instead turn it into a serious issue, the possible abuse of the terms "pikuach nefesh" to justify getting permits to perform such work on Shabbos, what each side really wants - and this might involve the closing of makolets and supermarkets on Shabbos as the real goal, the political fights between Netanyahu and Yisrael Katz, airports on Shabbos, the fact that stopping this work also includes demands to cut train service on Friday afternoons and Saturday nights to fewer trains, and more.

It has been difficult to follow and make sense of, considering how much is involved in this.

The one point that gets me every time such demands are made by the religious parties, especially now that they are turning it into a serious issue that they won't back down from, is that we still have never seen the religious parties, rabbonim, and askanim agree or offer to delay Lag B'Omer celebrations in Meron, when the calendar schedules them for Saturday nights, despite the massive chilul shabbos it causes.

Another point is that the Haredi parties have so far made it very clear that this is not an issue over which they will leave the coalition, or even threaten to. Why is it pretty much only money issues (for yeshivas and kollels) that are serious enough to leave the coalition over but not idealistic issues like chilul shabbos?

It also makes me wonder if this is going to be, in hindsight, the straw that broke the camels back, and will end up being the cause for the eventual operation of public transportation on Shabbos. We are already seeing some protests against the Haredi demands and Netanyahu's capitulations. Will the opposing momentum grow to great enough proportions that thigns will change? I will note here that Moshe Grylack, the editor of Mishpacha Magazine, wrote in this week's editorial that it is only a matter of time until public transportation will be approved to operate on Shabbos - whether it happens next year or in a few years, it will eventually happen - connect what he sees anyway as momentum to such change with the anger and opposition to the new Haredi demands, and it seems even clearer that it is going to be forced into a major issue sooner rather than later..

pretty funny

Join Radio host, MC and music maven Yossi Zweig as he drives around with superstar Shlomo Simcha who just released his new album "Ani Kan," the first in almost 9 years. Find out how Shlomo got his first big break, some home remedies he uses to keep his vice in shape, and of course some singing.

Professor Yehuda Hiss, former director of the Institute of Pathology of Abu Kabir, has said something that many people are happy to hear. Hiss said, and will testify to in court, that the bullet shot by Elor Azaria did not kill the terrorist, but he was already dead from the previous shooting.

If Hiss is correct and the court accepts his testimony, this would get the case Azaria dismissed, though perhaps new, lighter, charges would be brought against him.
source: Israel Hayom

II don't know what Hiss is basing his testimony on as he admits to not having examined the body itself. Perhaps he had access to the records and that was enough for him to make such a determination.

Either way, while Hiss's conclusion surely makes many happy and gives them hope and optimism, I am not sure how to approach this. Hiss was disgraced, and at the heart of controversy, multiple times in his long career at Abu Kabir, including the incidents that were the cause of him eventually being fired from his post. The religious community in particular always had a beef with Hiss, considering his style and his anti-religious bent..

So, do we accept what Hiss has to say, and celebrate it, now because it is in line with what we want to hear, or do we say Hiss must have something up his sleeve and while Azaria's legal team will use him for their needs, the public need not celebrate Hiss's involvement?

It is always upsetting and troubling when teachers, or employees in any profession, get fired from their jobs for reasons that have nothing to do with their ability to perform their responsibilities, nothing to do with professionalism.

That is true of the Haredi kindergarten teacher in a public school in the Tel Aviv region who was fired for being Haredi (until a Ministry of Education spokesperson backtracked on the reason), and that is also true of the Haredi teacher in the Haredi school system who was fired for learning how to drive (I am not sure if it is relevant that the reason she learned how to drive was to be able to drive her special needs daughter to treatments and that she had permission from her rav to do so).

There are angles to consider:
1. if the Haredi school scan discriminate against non-Haredim and non-religious teachers and refuse to hire them, why can't the non-Haredi schools discriminate in return?
2. If the Haredi schools can discriminate against Haredim and that is allowed to happen, can people really get so upset when non-Haredi schools discriminate against Haredim?
3. Is it wrong for schools, whether Haredi, Secular or Dati Leumi, to want to employ teachers who match the lifestyle ideals the school wishes to impart to the children?
4. or, perhaps the school should show diversity and be open to exposing their students to other types of people and ideas and as long as the teacher is professional and acts professionally, the teacher should be given the platform to teach.
5. or maybe any teacher should be hire-able in any school, as long as the teacher is qualified and professional. I assume schools could have guidelines for teachers - dress codes, topics that should or should not be discussed, etc. and as long as the teacher is willing to follow those guidelines, nothing else besides for professional reasons, should be a valid reason for firing.

A Guest Post by Dr. Harold Goldmeier

In response to those who said Tel Aviv is not a holy city:

TEL AVIV IS A VERY HOLY CITY

We wrapped Tefillin with 262 men in just under 10 hours and set a WORLD RECORD!



I am not sure how they know it is a world record, but good for them, whether it is or isn't... and no indication of confirmation by Guinness...

Meet Elisheva, an artist who has moved to Bat Ayin because of its openness to unique thinkers and out-of-the-box religious Jews.

A baal teshuva, Elisheva spent much of her early life looking for a home, both spiritually and physically. It was in Bat Ayin that she finally found it. And in this episode of "Bat Ayin" she tells us about her life in the community, her approach to religiously-inspired Jewish art, and the journey that brought her there.

Enjoy!

not bad..