Sadly, a deal has been struck struck.

Just when you thought that the community had finally decided Berland was beyond the pale and finally fully rejected him, you get a slap of reality in the face.

The news is reporting that head of Shas party Aryeh Deri struck a deal with the Shuvu banim people. In exchange for them instructing their people to vote for Shas, rather than abstain from voting altogether, Deri will obtain a letter from one of the rabbonim on the Rabbinic Council of Shas instructing people to not talk about the Berland situation.

Hush money. Just keep it quiet. We want you to vote for us, so we will tell our people to not talk about the heinous crimes your leader did.

Nobody is quite sure how many votes Shuvu Banim is worth. Some say Berland himself has said in the past that they are several hundred strong, while others in Shuvu Banim claim up to 6000. 

Despicable. Dancing with the devil. I hope they realize who they are getting into bed with.

Nobody needs to guard me from the right. It is I who needs to keep an eye on others, that they shouldn't hold secret negotiations with Gantz. With my body I stopped withdrawals form Eretz Yisrael, with all my talents, that God blessed me with.

  -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Sure, such as when he voted in favor of the disengagement 3 times and only changed his vote after it no longer made a difference. Or at the Wye River Memorandum...

PSA:

according to an announcement put out by Mayor of Bet Shemesh Dr Aliza Bloch, in honor of election day, tomorrow all parking in blue and white painted locations will be free around Bet Shemesh.

You still cannot park illegally (eg red and white, on sidewalks, etc) - but paid parking is free.

There is no need to activate Pango or Cellopark when parking tomorrow.

Go Vote!


בהנחיית ראש העיר ד"ר עליזה בלוך וממונה הפיקוח העירוני חבר המועצה הרב שלמה ברילנט:

לרגל יום הבחירות מחר, החנייה באזורים המסומנים בכחול-לבן תהיה בחינם לאורך כל היום! אין צורך להפעיל פנגו, סלופארק או איזיפארק.

זכרו! החנייה באזורים המסומנים באדום-לבן או באזורים המיועדים לבעלי תו חנייה אזורי - אסורה.

מצביעים ומשפיעים! צאו להצביע!

דוברות עיריית בית שמש

Today is Naftali Bennett's day. The best thing possible just happened for him.

With Itamar Ben Gvir announcing that Otzma is not pulling out of the race the night before election day, Bennett might be able to breathe just a little easier. While Otzma staying in the race means some right wing votes get wasted, it also means that the focus of Netanyahu's last minute "gevalt" campaign will likely be focused this time on Otzma voters and not on Bennett's voters.

Bennett and Yamina probably gain the most form Otzma staying int he race, even though it might hurt the right wing bloc a little bit

Tomorrow is election day.

I propose (as suggested by one of my boys) that if this political stalemate is not resolved this time around, next time we have a national boycott of the elections. Nobody should vote.

That would throw everything into chaos and upend the entire system. We need electoral reform, but not a single party is talking about it in any significant way.

In the meantime, go vote. For whichever party you prefer. Just go vote.

Kikar reports that Rav mutsafi is upset that rabbonim are giving shiurim to women. He even somehow connects this to the spread of the Corona virus, saying that the deadly virus is spreading around the world and the Heavens are signalling with every alarm "you want to go to the women?"..

Rav Mutsafi says that never before did rabbonim give shiurim to women, but women were int he womens section of the shul and heard the drasha just like the men - suddenly the women cant hear the drasha in the shul?

Rav Mutsafi then refers to, and criticizes, some rabbonim who say they go to give such shiurim but when they enter and leave they close their eyes so as not to see the women. He calls it a joke, even worse - leitzanus. Women should be giving shiurim and surely there are enough learned women who can speak before women!

Rav Mutsafi further asks, are all the men taken care of? the issues of the men have all been dealt with that all that remains is the women? Have you checked if the men are davening? and how they daven? Are they learning regularly and consistently?  they aren't out smoking a bong and chewing gat? Look how they attack the food table at different events, he says!

Honestly, many many years ago I remember commenting similarly about girls schools and seminaries that are run by men with many male teachers. In a community where we are so strict about separating genders and tzniyus and are strict about not creating situations where men would look at women, it is strange that when ti comes to these schools so many men are administrators in these schools and teachers. Yes, now many such schools have many female teachers and even some women running the schools, but there are still many men involved in many of the schools for women.

I find his comment about there still being enough work  for teachers with the men to be funny. I commiserate with his issue, somewhat.  I am not against men teaching women, per se. I just think we should teach consistency. If you believe there should be no contact between men and women [who are not married to each other], then men should also not be teaching women. Nowadays there are many women who are educated and scholarly and knowledgeable who can, and do, teach. And yes, I know [of] rabbis who do not give shiurim to women only.

Finally!

Berland has been indicted for the crimes he has been under investigation for, including fraud, extortion, attempts to cause serious harm, and more. The prosecutor also wants Berland's remand to be extended, considering him a flight risk.
source: Maariv

It is about time. Considering all the video evidence readily available and considering all  the people upset at him and surely willing to testify, it is wondrous how it took so long to put this together.

In other Berland news, the followers of Berland in Shuvu Banim are upset about a recording of Rav Chaim Kanievsky that recently came to light in which he is heard saying that Berland is crazy. Because of what Rav Kanievsky said, the followers of Berland are threatening to not vote for UTJ and to persuade as many people as possible, anybody connected to Shuvu Banuim and other sects of Breslav that might be sympathetic, to not vote for UTJ in the upcoming elections. Shuvu Banim reps have said that they will do whatever they can to prevent UTJ from getting the 8th mandate they have been trying for.

After that the Shuvu Banim people stepped up their threat to seemingly make it a final decision. Because the UTJ MKs did not speak up and fight on behalf of Berland when he was arrested, they will definitely not participate in the elections.  A group of Shuvu Banim rabbis have put out a "kol koreh" calling on the Shuvu Banim to not vote, and also to persuade others, especially family members not part of Shuvu Banim, to also not vote.

If there was one thing that would make me vote for a particular party - if I were a one-issue voter and Berland was my one-issue, this would definitely get me to vote for UTJ.

While Life in Israel remains a fan and supporter of Israeli Orthodox Mother Of Five world-class runner Beatie Deutsch, you would be mistaken to think that she is the only world-class runner coming out of Israel. She is the only frum mother of five world-class runner, but not the only runner. She is not even the top Israeli [female] runner, but she is in the top group in our book!


Israeli runner Lona Chemtai Salpeter won female 1st place in the Tokyo Marathon this morning, and even better is that her finishing time was world-class. Lona set a new women's record for that course, running at 2:17:45. Only five women ever have run faster times than Lona in a full marathon, and Lona's finish time is 8th best women's time ever.


Congrats Lona. If Beatie can't be in the Tokyo Olympics because of the changed date to Shabbos, at least Israel is still well-represented..

You can watch the final moments of Lona's race and of her crossing the finish line from about the 3:56 marker..

cute. a medley of Jewish songs sung by using google translate