I was initially saving this topic for tomorrow, but then realized that if I wait, some people might miss an opportunity so it is important for me to post it today... you're welcome :-)

Mayor of Tiberias Ron Kobi seems to find every opportunity to push his agenda of turning the sleepy town of Tiberias into a happening place, specifically on Shabbos. The Tiberias Marathon is set to be run this Friday, as it has been for many years already. Kobi is pushing for taking advantage of all the visitors in town for the marathon and the festival surrounding it and calling for a street party to take place on Friday (after the marathon) and Saturday on Kishon St. - this is in the area of the hotels and the boardwalk, where the tourists are and where the start and finish of the marathon is. Kobi says there will be food, wine, live music, a techno D.J., and socializing with a celebratory weekend atmosphere.

Obviously this call for explicit chilul shabbos upset the local Haredi residents and representatives, to which Kobi justified it saying this is not a breach of the status quo as this is only going to happen in the tourist area and not in the residential part of the city. The city will stay open on Shabbos, as it always has been, in the touristy and entertainment areas of the city and he will not allow the Haredi coercion to take over the city.

In response, local mekubal, Rav Dov Kook, has called upon local residents to fast on Thursday as if it were Tisha bAv.
source: Kikar

Most of Tiberias is a very traditional city. I don't know what the non-Haredi residents think about this. Perhaps it is "out of sight, out of mind" - because it is in the hotel area and not the residential area maybe they dont care, or maybe they do care or maybe they like the new mayor and his pushing of such events on Shabbos. The only complaints I see are in the Haredi press from the Haredi residents, not form the general public, unlike with the Shabbos fights in Tel Aviv over small businesses opening in which the local fight was led by secular small business owners who felt they would feel the pressure to open on Shabbos and lose their day off of work.

I am not sure where Kobi is getting the money for this. He says the city is in tremendous debt and right now does not even have money to clean the streets. Maybe he has the party sponsored by businesses or other donors. Or maybe he figures it is an event that will bring money in so it is worth spending money on.

Rav Yitzchak Zilbershtein, rav of Ramat Elchanan neighborhood of Bnei Braq, was asked by an avreich who is a baal teshuva if it is ok to let his children go to visit the grandparents who are not religious, and specifically if they can eat by the grandparents - even though the food is kosher, but because the grandparents are not religious the kids might hear inappropriate discussions at the table.

The father asking the question indicates he is ok with his kids visiting to say hello and to show respect, but is it ok to go for longer visits and to have meals there?

Rav Zilbershtein responds with an answer based on an explanation of the story of Yaakov and Lavan that he heard from Rav Mordechai Eliyahu. He shows how when Yaakov had to eat with Lavan, he himself had to but he made sure to send his kids away so they would not eat with them, but generally at other events the children were able to participate (see the original article for the more detailed explanation of the psukim).

Rav Zilbershtein says from that that people should be careful to not create a situation in which the non-religious grandfather will cause harm to the grandchildren. When eating together a certain bond is created that in such a situation can cause a cooling off of the children's Yiras Shamayim and irreparable harm can be caused. Therefore, the children should not be allowed to go visit the non-religious grandparents to eat with them.
source: Actualic

NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.

Book Review: Israel for Perplexed Beginners, by Angelo Colorni

The book Israel for Perplexed Beginners is the third book in Colorni's "Israel for Beginners" series. Colorni describes Israel and Israeli life, after decades of studying Israelis and Israel since he immigrated from Italy in 1973 in a humorous and witty manner, drawing on his own personal experiences and his observations.


The book is not going to make you belly-ache and die from laughter nor will it make your face hurt from smiles and laughter, but it will make you chuckle and pass some time smiling and laughing reading about your country. If you live here or have visited, you will surely find much that is similar to your own experiences, and the way he describes them will surely bring a smile to your face as you see this more humorous perspective. Even his acknowledgements is cute. If you don't live here and if you have not experienced Israel very much, this can very well be a good introduction to Israel for you, though take the humorous descriptions as just humor and not as literal expectations.

Reading Israel for Perplexed Beginners will definitely lower your stress levels and bring a smile to your face. For that alone it is worth it.

• buy Israel for Perplexed Beginners on Amazon.com
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NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.

This blog, Life in Israel, is not about social media, digital marketing or anything like that, but the following will still be interesting to many.

New Years Eve. The Facebook account for the City of Tel Aviv posts a status that is basically trolling the City of Jerusalem. One simple line. What follows is epic. The thread takes on its own life with cities from around Israel, companies, organizations and people all participating and getting in on the fun. Most of it is hilarious. And later, the Facebook account of the City of Jerusalem trolls back and it starts all over (but not as epicly)

So here are the two posts. Enjoy.

Tel Aviv:



Jerusalem:

Another religious singer competes on The Next Star for Eurovision..

whoa... wait until they name the kid...

It seems that in Tom's River there have been a number of car accidents involving pedestrians wearing dark clothing, i.e. black hats, black pants and black jackets and coats, walking in the roads in the dark. It has become serious enough that the local rabbonim have had to issue a warning, calling it pikuach nefesh, with instructions for the community members to wear reflective materials and not just walk around in the dark wearing dark clothing.

I am not sure why people don't realize this on their own. I have complained about it as well, not in Tom's River but in some areas in Israel where the roads are not lit well. Pedestrians wearing dark can be very difficult to see. Pedestrians generally do not have the perspective of a driver and perhaps do not realize how difficult it can sometimes be to see them.

Please make sure, to the best of your ability, you are visible on the roads. Nobody wants to get hurt or to hurt anybody else. It is the last thing anybody needs. And it is pikuach nefesh.

The Machane Tzioni leader, Avi Gabbay, today sent Tzippi Livni packing, informing her that he is breaking up the union and sent her packing.

Gabbay made this move on live television, with seemingly not having informed Livni in advance.

Goodbye and good luck to Tzippi Livni in finding her newest political base, having moved around way too many times in the past decade.

Still, while there was exciting drama in Gabbay's announcement, and I love some good political chaos, this was really inappropriate. It is fine to decide to break it up, but have the decency to tell her and let her react. Doing it on live tv is cruel. Perhaps Gabbay wanted to craft his own image as a powerful leader, an image that until now needed a big boost, but I am not sure this is the way...

תודה!
עסוקה כעת באתגר חשוב אחר. מוזמנים להצטרף לעיר העתיד של ישראל.

— עליזה בלוך (@aliza_bloch) December 31, 2018

Translation:
Aliza Bloch tweeted: Thank you! But right now I am busy with a different important challenge. You are invited to join the city of the future of Israel!

Bloch was responding to a tweet in which the someone in the Women's Forum of Habayit Hayehudi commented that the men running Habayit Hayehudi won't be able to bring in a single vote beyond their core supporters, and that isn't enough. The writer proposes bringing in Aliza Bloch to head the national party for Knesset.