spoiler: he likes Israeli music..
debating whether to post part 1, as it includes music videos I dont really want up here, but it is overall very good..

Walla News is reporting that the authorities, led by the Ministry of Health, is considering canceling the Tel Aviv Marathon scheduled for this Friday, due to fear of the Corona Virus and travelers entering Israel for the marathon.

The issue was raised in a discussion today among authorities among a list of possible measures to be taken to prevent the spread of Corona.

The Tel Aviv Marathon event draws about 40,000 participants among the variety of races, plus police, MDA and members of other organizations securing the event.

According to the report, the authorities will weigh the chance of people who might have been exposed to and possibly carrying the virus and the risk it presents to the event participants, versus the event itself.

Various health professionals are quoted as saying this needs to be taken seriously but the decision should be weighed carefully. And the concern is not being exaggerated.

It sounds exaggerated to me, though obviously if the risk is real canceling would be the right move. It seems more like the common CYA method of making decisions here. Sort of like back when a runner in the half marathon of Tel Aviv about 6 or 7 years ago died from heat stroke and then for the next couple of years they made all runners sign waivers and take stress tests, until they somehow realized they were being stupid. Hopefully the risk won't be significant, and they'll determine that the events can proceed as planned.

A group of tourists from South Korea have been foudn to be infected with the Corona Virus, and came into contact with a group of 30 Israeli students while touring in the Beer Sheva region.

The 30 Israeli students have been placed in isolation/quarantine, and are receiving guidance and instruction from the relevant officials.

TOI says that the group of Korean tourists also visited Netanya, Caesarea, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea, Beersheba, Jerusalem and the West Bank, and possibly other places.

If you think you might have come into contact with them, contact your doctor or a health ministry official.

I must say, I am happy right now that Bet Shemesh is a relatively boring city and not a major tourist attraction...

Ynet is reporting that Rami Levi, the supermarket magnate, has decided to forgo the Rabbanut kashrut in his "Rami Levi BaShchuna" and Super Coffix" chains of stores.

Seemignly, this will not affect, for now, the larger Rami Levi supermarkets.

According to the report, Rami Levi is doing this to cut costs. The Rami Levi BaShchuna shops are smaller shops, not full supermarkets, and they do not have their own internal bakery sections. Being that the products sold in the shop are packaged goods, each with its own label and hechsher, there really is no reason to pay the Rabbanut to certify the store as kosher.

The 6 branches of Rami levi BaShchuna have already implemented this change and removed the |Rabbanut, as have some of the branches of Super Coffix. Soon the remaining 30+ branches of Super Coffix follow suit. The Rami Levi full supermarkets will keep the Rabbanut certification.

The statement put out by Rami Levi's spokesperson said that "we respect the Rabbanut and do not want to get into any conflict with the Rabbanut and hope to soon come to an agreement with them".

The Rabbanut has been sending out letters saying these stores are no longer under any kashrut supervision (only the Rabbanut is allowed to provide actual kashrut supervision, and without the Rabbanut no other agency is allowed to say they are kosher).

The Rabbanut has sent a warnign letter to the Rosh HaAyin branch for using the word kosher wthout the Rabbanut certification, and if they continue to do so they will be slapped with a 1000-2000nis fine. The rabbi of the chain is preparing notices explaining the changes to be posted in the shops and will also explain the fresh produce as all being supervised (not using the word kosher) - explaining that all vegetables come form the central logistics warehouse in Modiin where they are all certified kosher by the local Rabbanut there along with the additional Badatz certification, and truma and maaser is separated carefully mehadrin min hamehadrin. Packaged goods are all certified under the responsibility of the gaency on the packaging. The notice will conclude saying that the notice is not a kashrut certification of the Rabbanut, as specified by law.

Rami Levi explained that the larger stores need the hechsher because of the butcher station, a cheese station, and the baked goods section, but the smaller shops don't have that and have no need for the expensive certification which is already covered anyway by the certifications on the packaged goods and the certification already on the vegetables. All it does, he says, is make everything more expensive, having to pay for the teuda and to pay a mashgiach's salary.

Supposedly Coffix will soon follow suit as well, since nothing is made on site but all comes from the factory in Yavne which is certified by the Rabbanut and the Badatz Beit Yosef.

The problem with this is that certification generally ends as soon as the certified item leaves the premises and is not sealed with the hechsher. People can choose to do what they want about buying such an item that is open (like vegetables or pastries in Coffix), but the certifying agency generally will say that their hechsher ends as soon as the item is taken out the door without continued supervision.

I suspect that in more "mehadrin locations", they might keep the local hechsher because people tend to understand that and still want the hechsher. In more generic places, people will be fine with saying the rabbanut already certified it and nothing changed, so we don't care.

Kikar is reporting about an unusual situation and an unusual psak.

A haredi couple that got married this week was meant to go to Beitar Ilit for the Shabbat Chattan (aka Shabbos sheva brachos). They slept late and woke up in their apartment in Haifa 20 minutes before Shabbos. Obviously there was no way they could get from Haifa to Beitar before Shabbos.

On the other end of this story were the families preparing for Shabbos in Beitar, wondering where the chattan and kalla were. Some thought they were resting in the rooms they were meant to be staying in, but it was soon discovered that they were not there.

When the parents finally reached the young couple by telephone, likely waking them up by the incessant ringing of the phone just 20 minutes before the onset of Shabbos, they all realized the problem.

Further complicating the matter was the poor health of one of the parents involved. If the young couple would not show up for the Shabbos, it would possibly upset the ill parent and put his life at risk.

According to the article, leading poskim were called (who all remain unnamed) and the psak was given that the young couple should call a taxi to take them to Beitar. The driver of the taxi must be a non-Jew and he must also open and close the doors of the car for them. Because of the possibility of pikuach nefesh, they should do this even though it will mean driving on Shabbos.

the chattan was, understandably, hesitant and did not want to do this, despite the psak that he was being told. They got one of the gedolei hador, also unnamed, on the phone to tell the chattan directly that this is what he must do. So they did it.

The article says the young couple arrived at the entrance to Beitar 1 hour after Shabbos began, though that sounds too quick to me, especially considering they only woke up 20 minutes before Shabbos and still had to deal with calling gedolim and getting a psak and convincing the chattan to follow it, and then to drive form Haifa to Beitar. But anyway, hey got there during Shabbos and got out of the taxi. They then walked from the entrance of Beitar to the Shabbat Chattan location in the town, taking about another hour, and went on with the celebrations.

Kikar adds that family members mentioned that they could not recall ever having a Shabbat so happy with a chattan and kalla that were do "moser nefesh" to make everyone happy..

Further, an additional note added is not to apply what was said here to other situations, as similar as they might sound. If you find yourself in such a situation, call your own [unnamed] gadol.

my comments on this episode were:
I appreciated the opinions rendered along with your arguments. I personally have no opinion if it is right or wrong to vote in the WZO elections. My stance is that I do not really care. They have done a fine job building the country until now and the frum community has grown during the past 100 years of WZO by leaps and bounds and has hardly, if at all, been negatively affected by them, so I see no big threat that requires sudden intervention, but I can also appreciate the drive to be aggressive now and take the fight to them.

I have two comments on the interviews:

1. Rav Lerner spoke about taking over and changing it from within by voting and influencing where the budgets should go. If it is suddenly allowed to work with the reform and decide where the money will go, you asked if that is right considering frum jews dont really donate to WZO, so is it right to decide where their money goes but I ask even further - if this works out and is a good idea, why not have the frum community join all the reform organizations and shuls and vote to change the way all these organizations function. Pay some membership money and then turn them into more pro-torah organizations! it sounds absurd, but why is this any different?

2. Rav Malinowitz was mistaken about the issue with Women of the Wall. The Kotel Agreement was that women of the wall would control the mixed area by Ezras Israel and would no longer hold their services by the general Kotel area where everyone else is. That was agreed to by all parties and then rescinded. They are not trying to change the charedi community by approving the agreement and letting them daven at the kotel the way they want - they would be taking them away from the kotel and putting them in a different area and letting them do their own thing.
While there might still be very valid reasons to oppose the arrangement, it should at least be presented properly. Justifying a big change in policy by providing false information does nobody justice.

the full video itself, again:

Just a couple of weeks ago Minister Baftali Bennett called for a reciprocal boycott of Palestinian produce in Israel. The Palestinians were boycotting Israeli cattle and livestock and were not relenting to pressure to give up the boycott. Bennett came along and threatened a reciprocal boycott, refusing to import Palestinian produce.

According to INN, the threat worked. The Palestinians have officially lifted the ban on Israeli cattle. In exchange, Bennett officially re-opened agricultural imports from the PA.

Way to go

For years I have been saying that the Litvishe community has been adopting chassidishe and sefardic practices and absorbing them into their own customs and behavior. The most glaring ha always the turning of the Litvishe gedolim into chassidishe rebbes, in the form of brachos and segulos and whatnot.

According to a report on Behadrei, Rav Chaim Kanievsky should soon be called Baba Chaim, or maybe Santa Chaim, instead of Rav Chaim or Rav Kanievsky. And this is not a knock on Rav Kanievsky, but on those doing this to him.

According to the report, with elections just over a week away, Degel Hatorah feels there is a sense of complacency and frustration among the people. They are worried that many people just won't bother turning up to vote. People are tired of the political stalemate, they see no point in getting involved or being passionate about it.

To that end, Degel is working on coming up with ideas that will motivate people and get them out. The latest plan is that Degel activists will go out daily to different communities around the country, especially in the periphery and will bring with them a trailer with a mobile home that will also be carrying the chair of Rav Chaim Kanievsky - the same chair he sits on every day for hours while learning Torah.

The people participating in these rallies will each get an opportunity to sit, for a minute, on the chair of Rav Chaim Kanievsky and say some tehillim, accept upon himself a good deed/As well, the participants will be able to write down a personal request from Rav Chaim.

The article says that some of the members of the Kanievsky house are opposed to the idea, but ultimately it will be brought to him for approval and he will decide.

Mixing religion and politics always does more damage than good...