DA BEARS did it! Looks like Rex turned up something as a combo of Jeckyl and Hyde and played well enough to not lose the game.
DA BEARS!! DA BEARS!!

Which one of the two personalities will show up today to play ball? The Dr. Jeckyl edition of Rex Grossman or the Mr. Hyde version?

Will the good Rex or the lousy stinking Rex show up? Sorry to pound on a Jew, but Rex really needs to pull his act together today.
That will likely be the key to whether the Bears beat the Seattle Seahawks today in the first round of NFL playoffs.

Go BEARS!!

Yesterday, Ahmed Tibi, and Arab MK who also serves as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, called, from the podium of the Knesset, on Fatah supporters to continue the struggle [against Israel] until a Palestinian state is created.

Tibi is well known as a "sympathizer" with the Palestinian cause. Actually he is known as far worse than a sympathizer. He is a former adviser to Yasser Arafat. Many suspect that instead of looking out for the interests of the Israeli Arab public, he is really using the Knesset as another front in his battle against Israel.

He drew the ire and criticism of the whole spectrum of Israeli politicians. Even members of the far left Meretz party criticized him, something they usually do not do, saying Tibi crossed the line calling for continued struggle, a euphemism for terrorism rather than just his usual identifying with the Palestinians and members of Fatah.

I heard an interview today on the radio with Ahmed Tibi. I would call this the "interview question of the day". The interview started off with Tibi defending what he said and explaining what he meant.
Tibi went on talking about Fatah and their struggle to achieve peace and create a state using the 1967 borders. The interviewer, I think Razi Barkai, then asked Tibi how that could be if Fatah was created in 1965, yet their goal has always been for the 1967 borders. They began their struggle even before 1967 and were attempting to take what is considered within the Green Line of Israel. How could Tibi then say their goal has always been a state using the '67 borders.

Let me tell you that was a great question. He nailed Tibi. Tibi had no response. He hemmed and hawed for a couple of moments and gave some answer that was not even on the topic.

Unfortunately the next question asked, which closed the interview, was basically Barkai throwing Tibi a softball. Rather than penning him in and continuing on the tough questions, he lobbed him an easy question giving Tibi an easy way out with a closing declaring his sympathies for the Palestinians and how bad the occupation has been to them..

In the past few days we have been inundated with statistics. I do not know if it is a certain time of year that the media has to run and publicize these studies, or if it is just "coincidence" so many studies coming at the same time.

Anyway, a couple of the more interesting stats that the media has been headlining:

• 85% of Israelis think there is a lot of corruption in the current government.

That makes me go hmmmm.. What do the other 15% think? After all, The Prime Minister is under investigation for 3 separate criminal probes, including bribery, tender fixing, and fraud, among others. The Finance Minister is now under investigation for obstruction of justice and embezzling funds upwards of 5.5 million shekels. The Justice Minister is on trial for sexual harassment and indecency. The President is under investigation and nearly under indictment for sexual harassment and possibly rape, along with illegal wiretapping and obstruction of Justice. The head of the Defense Committee is under indictment for job fixing. The Minister of Strategic Affairs is under investigation for various things such as fraud, bribery and other things. Those are just the investigations that I remember off the top of my head.

Aside from that there is the fact that the people in the main positions in government are inexperienced and more adept at political spin than at running a government... That includes today's appointment of the latest minister - the Minister of Science and Technology. The inexperienced Defense Minister appointed to a this position a man (MK Raleb Majadele) who is a high school dropout. The appointment is being explained by the pundits as an attempt to draw support from the Arab community (Raleb Majadele is the first ever Muslim Arab to be appointed minister in an Israeli government) in anticipation of the upcoming Labor primaries. So the inexperienced Defense Minister appointed an inexperienced Science Minister for personal and political reasons, rather than for professional reasons.

So I am not sure why 15% of Israelis do not think the government is overloaded with corruption..

• 1% of Israelis think that PM Olmert is doing a "very good" job.

This, too, makes me go hmmm. Who is this one percent? Ehud Olmert's immediate family? Nah, can't be. Most of them do not live in Israel. Maybe it is the people who are members of his coalition and government. I do not know why anybody would think he is doing a "very good" job. Maybe 1% would think he has not done horribly, but "very good"? I do not get it. What can be attributed to Olmert that rates his job as being well done? by any standards?

• This one is my favorite, but it is really a poll and not a stat (though the stats come from polls, so maybe they are all equally poll and statistic): If elections were held today, Kadima would sink to 12 seats.

I am actually surprised they would get so many seats, but 12 seats is also a good sign. The analysts are saying that 12 seats in the polls indicate that the Kadima party is on its way to oblivion, following in the trail blazed by The Shinui party and the Merkaz party...

Rabbi Yitzchak Adlerstein has posted a good article on Cross Currents questioning whether the recent "Bais Yaakov edicts" coming from the gedolim in Israel are appropriate for the Jewish community in America or not.

Today was the last day the Yisraeli" newspaper was printed. They have closed their doors.

It seems there have been fights between the owners and the investors, along with possible embezzlement and skimming.

It is a shame because the "Yisraeli" newspaper, aside from being free, was a very good paper. They had tidbits of news that the other outlets don't bother with, and it had right wing leanings, which is rare in the newspaper industry in Israel.

Recently, distribution of the "Yisraeli" has been highly erratic. They have not had the paper at our train station in BS since the beginning of January. At the station in Tel Aviv it has been spotty, some days they had it and some days not.

Oh well, another one bites the dust.

Maybe someone will buy it out and re-open...

Jameel posted about an anonymous email he received. The email was about an elderly couple who is offering a young couple 5000 shekels for the couple to name their baby boy Haim Eliezer.

It seems this elderly couple only has daughters and only grand-daughters. They never had the opportunity to name a child after her (or was it his?) father.

So they are asking for someone willing to name their child after her father and they would pay 5000 NIS for that zechus.

Jameel checked out the story and sure enough it is somebody he knows. He has verified the details and the whole thing is true.

If you are in a position to do such a chessed for these people, head on over to The Muqata and leave Jameel a note. He will put you in touch with them.

BTW, if I understood correctly, the family must be living in Israel (and planning to stay).

Much has been written about the fight in the park in Ramat Bet Shemesh this past summer. For those of you who do not know what I am referring to, I will briefly recap the events.

The city of Bet Shemesh with Kupat Holim (HMO) Meuhedet were inaugurating a walking path in the neighborhood. As part of the festivities, they made an event in the main park with the local boys choir, Kol B'Ramah, as the featured entertainement.

The event was not declared "separate seating". It was mostly people milling about in a "family oriented" atmosphere. About 80% of the people there were women and kids with a few scattered men.

During the performance, a group of thugs led by their leader (a local Rabbi) attempted to break up the performance. They crashed the stage and tried to pressure people to leave the area. At one point one of the thugs pushed one of the kids from the choir off the stage physically.

Basically the thugs were run out of the park and the show went on.

I was just alerted to a video clip of a few minutes of the event. In the video you see the thugs screaming wildly on stage, you see the microphone get cut off after being grabbed by the leader, and then the show continues...

enjoy, or not..

The train from Bet Shemesh to Tel Aviv is a fairly busy line and has been considered extremely successful by Israel Railways. A while back they added Jerusalem to the line.

The line Jerusalem - Bet Shemesh - Tel Aviv is relatively slow. The section from Jerusalem to Bet Shemesh cuts through the mountains and is very circuitous, thus limiting the speed. It takes about 45 minutes to get by train from Jerusalem to Bet Shemesh.

The Bet Shemesh - Tel Aviv section is a bit better, because it is on level ground, not hilly. Only certain sections near the beginning have serious curves, but most of the way is fairly straight. The limitation, however, is that there are sections with only one track. That means that there are points where the train has to wait a few minutes (sometimes up to 10 minutes) for a passing train before it can continue. The ride from BS to tel Aviv takes, officially, 38 minutes (to the first TA station).

That means someone travelling from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv by train had to travel for a minimum of an hour and 20 minutes and likely more.

The only people who considered such a trip worthwhile, rather than taking a bus, were people who lived in Jerusalem in the neighborhoods right next to the train station. Most other people prefer the bus, which takes between 45 minutes and an hour. For those living near the train station, to get to the bus station they would have to spend 20 - 30 minutes in morning or evening city traffic, which makes the trip by train more or less equal to the trip by bus.

The Railways authorities found the Jerusalem part of the line was operating at a loss. They were getting decreasing numbers of passengers. They decided the line was not worth continuing. However, they did not want to cancel service to the capital city, so they devised a new arrangement.

On January 1 they split the line.

The line is now Bet Shemesh - Tel Aviv. The Jerusalem line is now considered a suburban connection of Bet Shemesh.

Meaning, a commuter from Jerusalem who needs to get to Tel Aviv (or vice versa) will take a train from Jerusalem to Bet Shemesh. He will switch trains in BS and get on a train to Tel Aviv.

The problem with this is the schedule. Most of the day is ok. The Jerusalem train is scheduled to arrive in Bet Shemesh about 10 minutes prior to the departure of the Tel Aviv train. However, there are certain hours during the day that, due to scheduling conflicts, the train arrives in Bet Shemesh about 20 minutes after the other train left to Tel Aviv.

Because there is currently only one train per hour between Bet Shemesh and Tel Aviv, that means the commuter during those hours will need to wait an additional 45 minutes or so for the train to Tel Aviv.

The travel time increased from 1:20 to nearly 2:30.

One week later this is all over the media. People are complaining on radio talk shows, they are calling the Railways authority, and today it is in various news sources, including Haaretz and TheMarker (Ha'Aretz's business newspaper).

This situation would have been avoidable, had the line been prepared properly prior to its installation. However, Ariel Sharon, then the man in charge of making the decision, made the decision to go ahead. In 2005 the State Comptroller criticized Sharon and the government that they had approved the upgrade of the line (to Jerusalem) without performing any economic analyses.

The train is a very comfortable ride. Much more so than buses. No company can justify operating at a loss, even a government controlled one, so the current need for changes is understandable. However, the changes implemented are simply untenable. It is ridiculous that a commuter will need two hours and thrity minutes (minimum) to get from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, in this day and age.

Though it happened because there were not enough passengers, they are now driving away (pun intended) the rest of their passengers on that line.

They need to rework the schedule to ensure that, excluding unusual delays, the trains are scheduled to arrive in Bet Shemesh with enough time to make a switch to continue the route with minimal waiting time.

Alternatively, and this is a solution that will solve the current problem as well as improve general service between Bet Shemesh and Tel Aviv, I woudl recommend adding at least one more train to the line. If there is a train between BS and Tel Aviv every half hour (instead of every hour), the waiting time will be cut down dramatically.

In addition that will help all the people in Bet Shemesh who are now limited to a once-per-hour train.

This could be added for only during the busier hours of the day, mornings and evenings. During these hours, the trains are pretty full and adding a train to the schedule would not mean a train running empty. During the quieter times of day where passengers are limited, they could keep it at one train per hour.

I still have not located a video of Matisyahu's appearance last week on Jay Leno's Tonight Show, but here is the clip of Matisyahu on Jimmy Kimmel last week...

enjoy..

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach pens a frightening analysis about the problems with the guys and girls who come to Israel for yeshiva and seminary in the one year post high-school programs.

What do you think? Is it as bad as he says?

In my day, when I was in yeshiva (post highschool), it was limited to a few select yeshivas that had these problems. The average yeshiva did not have these problems (or if they did it was individuals in the yeshiva/sem and not widespread).

I have heard from some people that the problems are more prevalent now, though usually it is smoking a hookah and some drinking. Rabbi Boteach is describing something much worse than what I have heard.

Is it as bad as he says?

Haveil Havalim #101 is up.. Esser Agaroth gets it done!!

A British newspaper, The Sunday Times, published information today saying that they have leaked information that Israel is planning a nuclear strike on the Iranian nuclear facility.

Needless to say, this information made waves and spread like wildfire. The PM refused to deny it or confirm it. Some think the information was leaked for the specific purpose of being a veiled threat against the Iranians, so they should realize "we are serious" and prompt them to back off their plans.

This has been all over the news today and is splashed all over the front of all the newspapers.

I consider this media irresponsibility. The media, in an attempt to sell newspapers (and advertising) look for the splashiest, most provocative information and publish it. We constantly read about "secret" meetings between enemy countries (specifically Israel and various Arab countries, but also other warring states) that are no longer secret because of the newspaper and his leaking source.

There is an issue of national responsibility and that should be preserved. If the national representative feels the need to meet secretly with the rep of another country, it is because he feels that the publicity will only harm his efforts. Yet the next day that meeting is frequently no longer secret and all gains are washed away because of a leak (granted, sometimes it is media spin and is intentional for the purpose of letting people think you are actually doing something like holding secret meetings).

In this case we have a similar situation. I read in the newspaper today a glaring headline saying that a source says Israel is already practicing a nuclear strike in test sites in preparation of an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Because we successfully destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor in an amazingly successful strike, everyone is just assuming that it is no problem to take out the Iranian problem.

They forget that a large part of the success in Osirak was the element of surprise (aside from the element of G-d). Nobody had ever heard of such plans and the attack was executed with such precision that the whole world was shocked and surprised, not just the Iraqis.

Yet ,because of that, we have no element of surprise today in the case of Iran, yet everyone expects a similar attack, despite the more difficult conditions. All the media can do is talk about it. Does the press think that the Iranians do not read Israeli newspapers? Maybe they do not read the Sunday Times in the U.K.?

Such leaked information only harms the cause and there are times where it would be more prudent for people to keep the information secret.

I only hope that it really was leaked for the sole purpose of scaring the Iranians. If Israel really is planning and practicing an attack, that leak will likely be at fault if such an attack takes place and fails.

It seems final that the agreement between El Al and the organization authorized by Rav Elyashiv to negotiate has been signed.

It is in the general media, but I have not yet been able to confirm it from the haredi media or other haredi sources. (UPDATE: IT IS CONFIRMED)

One interesting point: part of the delay in signing the deal had been what happens if they violate the agreement and fly. The haredi organization was insisting on El Al refunding the cancellation fees to its haredi customers. El Al refused (I do not know why). The negotiated agreement compromises that in such a situation El Al will pay the money into a fund that will be used for subsidizing medications not included in the "health basket" subsidized by the government. The Gerrer Rebbe is supposedly the source of this interesting solution.

More details after shabbos...

Have a great shabbos everyone

Shlomy Sheffer penned a great analysis in the Haaretz business section (TheMarker) of Olmert's involvement in the current crisis/scandal regarding the tax authority scam.

TThe other day Teddy Kollek, former mayor of Jerusalem, died at the age of 95. I posted a brief notice of his passing with some words of praise for his having built the city of Jerusalem as we know it today.

Since then, many postings have gone about around the Jewish blogosphere regarding Teddy Kollek. Most of them have been critical in nature (to say the least) and only a few have been positive.

Because his funeral is going on right now, as I write, I would like to elaborate a bit more and fortify my thoughts with another positive post on Teddy Kollek's behalf.

Teddy Kollek was a controversial figure in Jerusalem politics. He was considered divisive, and he is branded as a leftist. You are probably surprised to hear he was devisive, considering all the obits you might have read that talk about how he unified the city. The truth is, he is remembered as one who unified the residents of Jerusalem because he greatly improved the living conditions of the Arabs of East Jerusalem. He unified the city in its Jewish - Arab issues.

Kollek was documented a number of times of being discriminatory against the haredi and religious public. He slandered them on occassion, most famously when he declared his wish in 1972 to burn down Mea Shearim (because he was against their shabbos protests).

In the pre-state British-Mandate era, Kolleck served as chief liaison between the Haganah and the British. Menachem Begin's Irgun Zvai Leumi blamed the unit under Kolleck's control for handing Irgun members over to the British and for torturing young Irgun fighters during the period known as the "Season".

However, despite all that, I think Teddy Kollek has merit. He built Jerusalem into the beautiful and vibrant city it is today. Even after he was defeated by Ehud Olmert for the mayorship of Jerusalem in the 1990's, he continued to work and invest his efforts on behalf of the success of Jerusalem. He continued raising phenomenal amounts of money for Jerusalem.

That is not a point that is debatable. He is the person responsible the modern-day Jerusalem we all love.

The Talmud talks about King of Israel Omri who built a city in Samaria to rival Jerusalem. He was considered an evil king. The Talmud says that the reason he was successful and his reign continued in three of his desendants when other evil kings did not last is because of the merit he had by adding a great city to Israel. That is despite the fact that that great city he built was one of the manifestations of his evil! In the Navi Melachim I (16:25), Omri is described as having been evil and even worse than the evil kings that had proceeded him. He is faulted with leading the Israelites astray.

Eim Habanim Semeicha uses this story of Omri as proof that even if someone was a complete rasha (and I do not know if Kollek qualifies for that description just because of those events described earlier), but the mitzva fulfilled properly of settling the Land of Israel by bulding cities gives him great merit, enough merit that he deserved the kingship of Israel for three generations. It might not make him a tzaddik, but it does give great merit.

(Rav Teichtal in Eim Habanim Semeicha goes on and discusses how the founders of Israel all have merit despite their beeing evil and anti-religious. They have the merit of building Eretz Yisroel. The book is well worth a read. If you do not have it, go buy it. If you can, the (original) Hebrew edition is much better than the English translated edition. If you want, read it online at the link above.)

Even if you think Teddy Kollek was not a good person, or even possibly evil (as many do based on the various posts on blogs and in online forums frequented by the religious public), he still has the merit of having built the great city of Jerusalem. For that alone, his memory should be blessed.