A young man on Kibbutz Tirat Tzvi, a religious kibbutz in northern Israel, named Nateh Eiger in 11th grade qualified for an international competition in chemistry. He traveled to Europe to participate in the event. 5 other young chemists went from Israel to participate along with Nateh. Eiger advanced through the first two rounds with excellence but had to bow out when he discovered the third round would take place on Shabbos.

While it seems organizers had promised Eiger that if relevant he would be able to do his presentation no either Friday or Saturday night, when push came to shove they did not allow him to and he decided to bow out of the competition rather than to be mechalel shabbos.

He left the event early and went home for Shabbos where his community prepared a grand welcome to celebrate his success and his decision that Shabbos has priority, despite having prepared 3 years for this.

That is an amazing story. This is a kiddush hashem. And Nateh Eiger is a direct descendant of the great and famous Rabbi Akiva Eiger. I am sure he is shepping nachas right now up there..

Kikar adds another twist. MK Uri Maklev (UTJ) has called upon the Ministry of Education to award Eiger with some sort of respectable compensation for this. Maklev says the system should stand behind Eiger, and as a Jewish state, keeping Shabbos is a central value held by the State. Eiger should not lose because of Shabbos. Minister of Education Yifat Shasha Biton said she would consider it, and would look into making official arrangements for future international competitions so things like this should not happen again.

Not exactly "pay for slay" but not that far off....

The sign is really a posting of a price list of sorts for fighting with the police in Meorn on Lag B'Omer.

Whoever is behind this says that they have achieved funding for people who will be harmed by the police, according to the following price list:

If you get arrested, up to 1 day: $200

if you get hit by the police (better with it being documented): $100

if you get a fine: double whatever the fine is

Qualified participants should leave a message on the various system lines (I guess the relevant people know them, as they aren't included in the sign)

Accompanying the lower picture of a police bus to hold detainees, they write that even 50 of these won't be enough.

Looks like it will be leibedige on Lag B'Omer, though I really think their bark is worse than their bite... there probably wont be too many of these whackos...

It isnt a bad price list for people who dont have any other regular income... I do wonder if they get $100 for every time a policeman hits them, for each klop on the head, or is it $100 overall for being hit but not for each punch or slap?

I wonder how much money they were able to raise for this incentive program - they could not even afford to print a real sign but printed it on a home printer using A4 paper....

They accuse the government of trying to take over Meron and take the treasures of Meron and the area for itself, and to that end have destroyed shuls and batei medrash and the tzniyus roads and paths (which the government built in previous years in the first place)...

The Badatz calls on its adherents to not follow the rules of the government and to go to Meron without cooperating and without needing any favors or goodwill from those evil people.

I am not sure what they are expecting to happen - are they buying tickets to get in and just dont plan to follow the rules once there? Are they going to go without buying tickets and plan to fight their way in? Are they just talk and bluster and really will play along very nicely? Very often their public fights get a lot of public Haredi support from young hotheads. The issue of Meron is unique. Because of what happened last year I am not sure people form the general Haredi community are going to support them in this approach.

The last thing we need in Meron right now is to see the Edia zealots going to Meron and fighting their way in, attacking policemen and policemen attacking them to keep them out, or even getting in and then messing up the logistics in place...

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel

------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel

------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel

------------------------------------------------------

It has always been said, at least since I have ever heard about Eurovision (never before I came to Israel), that Eurovision is always political. It might be a song/singing/music/weird costume  contest but the voting is always political.

With Ukraine having won, it seems in 20/20 hindsight (or even maybe in foresight among people who think about Eurovision more than I) that no other country ever had a chance, because of the war, so I feel even less bad for the Israeli contestant who failed because he never actually had a chance.

Ukraine has already beaten Russia on one battlefield. Let's see what happens on the other.

the big question is how Ukraine plans on hosting next year. Even if the war finishes before then, and even if the country Ukraine remains after the war, how will they rebuild fast enough to host the competition?

In light of last year's tragedy at Meron in which 45 people were killed on Lag B'Omer, among the changes for this year's festivities, entry will only be permitted to those carrying tickets. Tickets are meant to stagger the numbers of participants so there won't be too many at any one given time, with entry permitted for up to 4 hours. When purchasing a ticket, the ticket will be for a specific time. 

I guess it was bound to happen. With tickets limited, whether by number or by time, someone was going to forge them. I assume there will also be scalping at some point, if there isn't already. Some people probably bought large amounts of tickets, ostensibly for groups, and will resell them at a higher price.

Interestingly, one of the men arrested, a 19 year old Haredi from Jerusalem, is being defended by a lawyer who has claimed that he did not do it. His argument is that this young man has no knowledge of computers and only holds a kosher phone, so there is no way he could have done this. The phones confiscated during the arrest have no connection to the Internet and with his lack of knowledge in how to use a computer, it is an unreasonable suspicion to think that this young man is unreasonable for the forgery.

source: Behadrei

I dont know that any of this need necessarily be an impediment to forging documents and selling them (his partner could have done that part of it while he handled other aspects of the plan), but I obviously dont know that he did. The police will have to make their case.

999 Fun Facts goes through the USA, state by state, with about 20 or so fun facts about each state. This book is not particularly Jewish, until one considers the bonus. Each state also has a bonus fact after the initial 20. The bonus fact for each state is a Jewish fact - some quirky fact about some Jewish aspect of the state.

This book is a quick read. It is light and entertaining with facts like where the first female mayor was elected, , where the first potatoes in America were planted, and who invented the Frisbee and where (all three selected randomly).

There is not much to write about this book. It is a small book, but as I said, it is fun, it is quick and it was far more interesting and captivating than I originally expected. Read 999 Fun Facts aloud with your family or read it alone in a couple of sittings while you relax and relieve some tension. Either way it is a good fun read.

At the time the discussion was that this would be the first step with eventually the tax being expanded to include all shops, not just supermarkets.

MK Yorai Lahav-Hertzano (Yesh Atid) has proposed a law that would now expand the original tax to include medium and small businesses being required to charge the 10ag tax for plastic bags. Additionally the proposal would allow the Minister of the Environment to set the maximum tax at 1nis per bag instead of the maximum today of 60ag per bag.

According to Ynet, since 2016, when the tax first went into effect, there has been an 80% decrease in the use of plastic bags. In recent years though there has actually been a slight increase again, with 2020 being marked with a 9% increase over 2019, and both 2018 and 2019 seeing a 5.5% increase.

While Israelis initially did not want to pay the tax and largely stopped using the bags, it seems we got used to it little by little and also thought the 10ag charge was not significant enough to change our habits. Personally, I still use them much of the time. 

I think that as important as this tax, or its goal, might be, now might not be the best time for it, considering the general rise in cost of living we are going through right now. 

That being said, I do wonder why they only charge 10ag per bag if they have been allowed to charge up to 60, and now up to 1nis if the proposal passes. It is not like any government to charge less tax than allowed. And why expand the law to small business rather than first charge the maximum allowed?

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel

------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel

------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel

------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel

------------------------------------------------------

  -- MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ)

it is interesting to watch Gafni and Deri bickering. they are both sharp and can attack at the most hurtful spots. Deri has been attacking Gafni for recently inviting Yair Lapid to participate in his birthday celebrations. Gafni retorted attacking Deri for being responsible for the Oslo Accords. Deri didnt vote in favor of Oslo - he had Shas abstain at the time instead of vote against. Shas at the time was propping up Rabin's government. Voting against would have collapsed the government and put an end to Oslo Accords, but he abstained. Later in the votes of Oslo 2 Shas voted against. Deri has ever since tried to erase the claim of Shas having supported the Left and Oslo, and Gafni hit the most painful point by raising the issue again and accusing Deri of this.

At this rate they will bring down the Opposition before they bring down the Coalition

I do not begrudge anyone their personal preferences of what type of community they want to live in.

That being said, if I want to live in a specific type of community I will seek out such a community and try my best to move there and settle in. I do not think it is legitimate to move into a community that is not as preferred and then try to use discriminatory practices and bullying methods to keep others out so it will hopefully become the community I want.

While we saw the other day a call to residents in RBS D to continue building the community there as a heimishe community and not rent or sell to "others" that was a personal call made by an anonymous person. Someone like that can be marginalized or ignored. What is one person going to do? He might garner up support for his plan but at this point he is just one person. Reject him but he can basically be ignored.

RBS E/H/5/Hei - aka RBS Hei - was built as a more diverse community. The plans, prepared by then-Mayor Moshe Abutbol, was to plan and market Hei to 3 different sectors, 1/3 Haredi, 1/3 Dati and 1/3 Secular. Anyone buying or renting and moving to RBS Hei knows in advance that this neighborhood was designed to be a more diverse neighborhood. Over time market forces might lock that down in some way with some moving out and others moving in and it turning to develop some more specific character, but in the early stages it is meant to be a diverse community.

There is now a call by a group of Haredi rabbonim and activists to push out the non-Haredi sector and only allow Haredim to rent or buy apartments in Hei. They have put together a set of "takanos" for RBS Hei....

That is different than the guy in RBS D - that was an individual, a nobody. This is a call out, with a published letter signed, by a slew of local rabbonim. This is not a private individual stating his opinion, but it is community leadership, it is the "system", it is official.

They can do what they want, no matter how wrong it is. but if and when calls anywhere in the country get put out to not sell in a certain area to Haredim, they are the first to scream discrimination and call people anti-Haredi. And it used to happen in the earlier days of Bet Shemesh when the newer neighborhoods just started being built and Haredi communities started being developed here and some even started spreading out and buying in older areas that had a secular or dati atmosphere. There were calls to not let them buy in those areas, and they were rejected but they were also condemned, and the Haredi communities and leadership, even at the national level, screamed bloody murder at such calls. I would like to see a reporter take such a poster to Moshe Gafni or Yaakov Litzman or Aryeh Deri and ask them what they think about it. I would like to see them reject such behavior and use the Degel or Aguda or Shas resources to put an end to it.